This thread is about to be very long, and I will be adding to it frequently, but this is how I would write season 3 of Euphoria since Sam is obviously preoccupied with god knows what. This came to me in a dream so call it fate ig.
Background- since season 2 ends with the card that Rue stayed sober through the rest of junior year, and Lexi’s play takes place in the spring, I thought it’d be best to pick up on the first day of their senior year in the fall. This means that Cassie, Maddie, and Nate have all graduated, leaving us with Rue, Jules, Lexi, Elliot, Bobbi, Ethan, BB & Kat. Also Gia, the Parents, and Ali. Anyways here goes.
Episode 1- I Stayed Sober (Mostly)
[Scene 1]: The Last First Day Episode One opens with a black screen that has flashes of red and blue, like police sirens, that increasingly become more intense and vibrant, to indicate Rue coming out of a dissociative state. She narrates over the screen:
“You want to know the worst part about staying sober? It’s not the withdrawals or the cravings, even though they’re pretty fucking bad. It’s not even the depression or the emptiness you feel without your poisonous security blanket protecting you from your worst thoughts and emotions. The worst part about staying sober, is that you’re trapped back in the fucked up world that made you want to do drugs in the first place”
The red and blue screen shifts to police sirens with cops yelling in an attempt to evacuate everyone from the school. It’s raining and the sky is gray and muddy. All the students are now wearing muted uniforms in the school colors, blue black and white (the uniforms are explained later) The scene looks very muted and drained. As the students flood out of the school in a frenzy, we see Rue and Lexi standing at the exit, uninterested in the theatrics and significantly changed from last season.
Rue has a brighter disposition to herself, appearing more soft and bright, while keeping her moody demeanor. Her look shows that she is trying her best to be more optimistic, despite going through hell from her plethora of mental illness that have now taken over due to her sobriety. Still, she looks healthier and brighter.
Lexi, on the other hand, has a more goth like appearance. In addition to her new dark black hair with red colored streaks (red to signify her stepping into her power) she also looks less approachable with more gothic motifs such as skulls and roses on her increased accessories. We learn later that this is an attempt to reinvent herself after last year’s play incident and fez dying. She seems uninterested and annoyed, but has a more confident air after being put in the spotlight and no longer having to live under her sisters shadow. She has become more monotone, speaking her mind and embracing her realistic perspective of life.
They begin walking to the parking lot, looking for Lexi’s mom among the waves of chaotic students pushing past them.
Rue: Of course, just our fucking luck that someone decides to shoot up the school our first day of senior year.
Lexi: It wasn’t even a real shooting. I heard some kid brought a gun to show off and got tackled by his teacher. Everyone started freaking out, and now I’m missing the first day of my AP English class.
Rue: Not like you need it. I think you proved that you can write a good story that makes waves and changes lives (sarcasm)
Lexi: 😐 that’s not funny Rue. That play is all anyone could talk about all summer. Everyone hates me because they think it’s my fault that we all have to wear these stupid uniforms.
Rue: actually that was Cassie’s fault, that fight got a new edit every week. My favorite was the #mollywhop dance (starts doing a dance that is significant of Maddie slapping Cassie and Cassie riding a carousel)
Lexi: Rue I’m serious. I got so sick of living in the background that I put my entire life on display in front of all of East Highland just for my sister to make everything about her.
Rue: Well good writing is supposed to be controversial. And take it as a victory, at least you’re not a nobody anymore.
Random Guy: Hey Lexi, I got a horse you can ride (does the dance)
Cop: Keep it moving sir!
They get to the end of the parking lot and sit on the pavement.
Lexi: 🙄of course she’s late.
Rue: hey, it’s a new year. You’re no longer the girl whose sister was the hottest cheerleader in school and I’m no longer the resident drug addict that everyone is waiting to die.
Lexi: you’re right. That’s Elliot. Or Jules. Have you checked on either of them since his overdose?
Rue: no…fuck them both. They seem happy in their stupid relationship with their stupid anniversary posts. I had to block them both before I killed myself or worse. They can die for all I care.
Lexi: well he almost did. I heard he had a stroke and is in a wheelchair until he learns how to walk again.
Rue: trying to hide that she’s concerned really?…i mean i don’t care, but that’s what he deserves right? Can’t do drugs that carelessly without consequences. Ask me how I know.
Lexi: I don’t think anyone deserves to OD. I hope he gets some help.
Rue: he has help, that bitch is playing housewife which she probably loves. Attention seeking whore. You know I’m sick of talking about Jules and Elliot and Cassie and every other narcissist with a victim complex that keeps trying to make themselves the main character. pulls her closer with a shoulder hug this year it’s about us. Starting over and getting a chance to finally make it out of this stupid town. You have colleges lined up at the door and I’ve been sober for almost a year. No one is going to take this year from us. That why you blocked Cassie, and that’s why I had any memory of Jules permanently erased from my brain. Out of sight out of mind.
Lexi: I guess you’re right. New year, new us.
Rue: alright. Now call your mom so we can get out of the rain. I hate cops more than I hate being fully clothed and wet.
Lexi: (finally smiling) almost as much as they hate you
Rue: hey fuck you, I still have to go to court for that.
Lexi: too soon? 🤭
Rue: just dial the fucking phone
Rue [vo while it shows Suze driving up and the girls walking across the parking lot]: Despite how terrible last year was, I feel like Lexi and I finally got back to how things used to be. Before the drugs, before the funerals. Just Rue and Lexi like it’s always been. Sometimes I forget how great life was when I was just a kid. But drugs tend to take away everything that makes life, life. I just wish Fezco had stayed alive long enough to finally see me sober. Then maybe Lexi wouldn’t be so serious and emo these days. But she took care of me, and now it’s my turn. I just don’t know what’s worse, losing the love of your life before you get a chance to say it love you (shot of Lexi rubbing a cross chain fez gave her looking at the sky before getting in the car) or thinking you found the love of your life just to end up as strangers. (As Rue opens the door to get in, she sees Jules wheeling Elliot across the parking lot. She stares for a bit before getting in the car.) Either way, we all died. (Rue gets in the car before Jules can see her.)
Jules looks over at the car but doesn’t see anyone. She looks distraught, hoping to catch a glimpse of Rue, who she hasn’t seen since the play. She’s dressed in a mostly black school girl uniform with a short skirt and corset that she’s clad in neon accessories and coquettish garters and bows. Her hair is longer than in season 2 but shorter than season 1. This is to signify that she’s embracing her femininity more with Elliot, but is stepping into a more powerful, dominant version of femininity. She’s content with her relationship, and rebuilding herself after the abuse she endured in relationship with rue. Now she’s just worried about repeating the same story with Elliot. She looks off into the distance, paused in a state of reflection.
Elliot: babe are you good? Jules: what? Yea just thought I saw something. (Continues wheeling him across the parking lot) Elliot: It was probably a ghost. HEY CASPER, LOOK BUT DONT TOUCH HOMIE Jules: (laughing) you’re so unserious Elliot: what do you mean? I’m serious. I don’t want his ectoplasm fucking up your makeup. Jules: You’re the one who keeps fucking up my makeup Elliot: and I’ll do it again kisses her winces ow fuck Jules: relax dude. You know the doctor said you can’t stretch your spine much after your stroke. Elliot: and you know I told that doctor nothing can kill me and I’m basically a god Jules: even when you’re sick you’re still crazy Elliot: crazy for you Jules: yea yea, just be happy it was a stroke and not a death sentence. whispers in his you know if you would’ve died I would have to kill you. Elliot: besides the fact that that makes zero sense, you know it wasn’t my fault Jules: I’m just glad that Laurie lady got put behind bars. Who the fuck puts fentanyl in Weed? Elliot: a plug who can’t find enough junkies to buy their fentanyl. That’s why I always sniff my weed before I smoke it. Jules: and that sniff put you in a wheelchair, so who’s god now? Elliot: mmmm, still me. I live close enough to the school that I don’t have to pay for a van, and I have a hot chick with a huge dick as a nurse. Not to mention loads of settlement money from suing the biggest plug in our area and a med card with all the unlaced weed I can smoke. I’m up as fuck. Jules: or too high to be traumatized Elliot: And (dances her around his chair like a waltz until she falls in his lap) my dick still works. Jules: nice try Romeo, but your ego is showing (zips up his pants and continues pushing) Elliot: fuck, has it been like that all day? That’s embarrassing Jules: no more embarrassing than the whole school thinking you’re in a wheelchair because you couldn’t hold your oxys Elliot: it was Percs actually, thank you very much. And fuck what those bots think, I’ve been sober since that intervention. I guess you can say Rue knocked some sense into Me. Jules: (avoiding the topic of rue) did you see the comments on our last post, they called us percinstein and the coke bride Elliot: damn I guess they did know it was Percs (Now on his front porch)
Jules: (standing in front of him looking in his eyes with sentiment ) Elliot I’m serious. I’ve been the topic of conversation ever since I moved to this fucking town. I just want to have a normal year for once in my complicated life. Elliot: babe listen it’s high school. Everything is the topic of conversation and no one is normal. People talk shit because they’re bored and have no personality or sense of self outside of the useless drama they can create in their minds. But you have a life, and a future. You have an amazing, sober boyfriend who loves you and a portfolio that can get you into any art school in the world. You’re at the last step before your real life begins. I’m just happy that I have the privilege to watch. And you know I like to watch. Jules: you’re a lunatic. Elliot: I love you. Jules: I love you too. kiss
Elliot: Are you sure you can’t stay tonight Jules: I wish, but my dad is serious about making sure I get into the best school, which means spending hours look at boring virtual tours and applying early admission. Elliot: ok well I’ll be here figuring out how to pee without standing up Jules: how do our conversations always center back to your dick Elliot: I can’t talk about anything else, it’s too hard Jules: wow, you sound like my dad and I’m turned off [starts walking away] Elliot: it’s not me it’s the weed. now you make sure you make it home safe. There’s a shooter on the loose. Jules: [grabbing her bike] the gun wasn’t even loaded. besides, getting shot would not be the worst thing to happen to me. Elliot: you’re American. It always gets worse. Jules: [riding off] that’s depressing Elliot: text me when you’re home Jules: [almost gone] you have my location! Elliot: [to himself] and I still never know where you are

I’ve been best friends with sally since second year of undergrad. We’re now in our early 30s. Our friendship had one hiccup in the past but we’ve been strong since. We’ve travelled to so many countries together and have been there for each other. We also went through dental school together. She recently got married and within the past year id say is when I started to get really turned off by her behaviour.
Before she got engaged, she was very distant and barely made any effort to hang out or update me on her life, which didn’t bother me much bc we’re both adults and have busy lives. Then she got engaged and made me her MOH, which surprised me tbh bc we haven’t been as close recently. She didn’t have any expectations from me other than making a speech at her wedding. But I took it upon myself to plan her bachelorette fully. I planned the entire thing for months, and ended up splitting the cost with the other two girls that joined so that sally wouldn’t have to pay a cent. I made sure everything we did aligned with what she would want to do so she would have the most fun. What surprised me was that for the entire 5hr drive home from the bachelorette she didn’t say thank you once. Then the next day she texts me saying “tell me how much I owe you” I reply saying “nothing it’s on us”, I get crickets in return. No response. No thank you, nothing.
Anyway I dismissed it as her wedding was approaching and she had drama with her in laws so I figured she’s stressing. Wedding day comes closer and she plans a rehearsal dinner. No invite. Till the day of the wedding I had no idea what is happening, what time she needed her bridesmaids, when and if I’m making a speech, etc. I know nothing. I know she had a rehearsal bc a groomsman told me they had one and he showed me the wedding schedule. How embarrassing that I (the supposed MOH) had no idea what’s going on.
Day of wedding comes, and it’s in a different city about 3hrs away. She originally told us she needs us with her at 11am so I got a hotel room for three nights bc driving there the day of would be too stressful. Then day before, I ask her again to clarify what time she wants us, and she changes it to 1:30pm. Had I known I would’ve saved on one night of paying for a hotel room in a big city, which Ofc is expensive. Anyway again, I assumed she’s too busy and stressed out with wedding stuff.
Wedding day is here, me and the rest of the bridesmaids are all showering her with attention and love etc. during the ceremony, I ended up almost passing out from standing on my feet in heals for so long. I quietly walked away before I passed out, took a breather and went back to the front. Not once did she even acknowledge that I almost passed out from standing for her ceremony. I had strangers ask me if I’m okay and offer me water and food. Nothing from her even tho she did realize that I almost fainted. I gave my speech. She didn’t say anything about it. The only thank you we (the bridesmaids) get from her is just in the bridesmaids group chat. Nothing one on or.
Anyway she goes on her honeymoon the next day, and I catch up with her when she gets back and get her a house warming present. She gets me nothing from her honeymoon. Which knowing her, is very strange bc she is the type to get everyone and their mother a souvenir when we travel together.
Fast forward 8 months, we hangout again and she starts telling me about how much money some of her coworkers gave her and it makes me start thinking that maybe she thought I didn’t give her enough as her MOH. I gave her $600 for 3 ppl that attended. Not a crazy amount but also not cheap. I feel like she was def making a point to say that even her coworkers gave similar amount to me.
Am I over analyzing or is ending this friendship justified? And before you ask, no I didn’t speak to her about any of this as I find it awkward. Her actions speak for themselves. Idk why she made me her MOH, maybe bc I have $$ and could throw her a bachelorette? I feel like she’s more of a fake friend than anything.
Any input is appreciated.

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. I'm a single dad and my daughter just graduated from college. I invited my twin brother to the ceremony. He has narc traits (golden child, I was the outcast). He's not an outright narc but enough that I don't let my guard down around him and limit my time spent with him for mental health reasons. My daughter is the only Grandkid in that generation that wanted a degree. I raised her alone. Her mom just wasn't around. She came around later but couldn't help out financially. When she did I was just glad she was stable and present. My little girl worked her butt off and so did I to get this degree for her. We had other obstacles earlier along the way like a cancer Diagnosis that we battled together alone before mom came around as well. Needless to say, she and I are close. Covid robbed her of walking the stage for her diploma, so this commencement ceremony had extra special meaning. I was probably embarrassing trying not to cry as everything over the past 6 years just flooded over me into 15 minutes. That and an incredible speech from a classmate and watching her walk on stage and look for us. I just couldn't hold back the tears any longer. Afterwards we did the pictures and went on our way. One of the annoying things about being a twin is that we share a lot of the same friends from high school, family etc. After getting home, unloading everything etc and starting to look at my phone, I notice my brother has already posted on fb about her graduation. I mentioned that I thought it was messed up and got a lecture about how weird that was so I hung up. I honestly don't care. I've worked hard for this. I wanted to post about it. I felt like it was my news to share not his. Or at least he could have waited until we posted . It's our news . Right? I feel like he is just always an attention piggy. Am I off here?

A personal note from Sargon Of Akkad…
As a proud and vocal defender of free speech, I am pleased to announce that I am moving my YouTube channel and podcast to a new location: the bathroom of my local McDonald's.
Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "But Sargon, why on earth would you choose to broadcast your content from a fast food restaurant's bathroom? Won't that be unhygienic and uncomfortable for both you and your audience?"
Well, let me tell you. The McDonald's bathroom is the perfect location for my content. For starters, it is a publicly accessible space, which means that anyone can come and listen to me speak my mind without fear of censorship or persecution.
Furthermore, the bathroom provides the perfect acoustics for my voice. The echo chamber effect will make me sound like the powerful and persuasive speaker that I am, and the background noise of flushing toilets will add an exciting and dynamic soundscape to my content.
But most importantly, the McDonald's bathroom is a space where I can truly be myself. I won't have to worry about being judged or criticized for my controversial opinions, because the people who frequent the bathroom are likely to be too preoccupied with their own personal business to pay attention to me.
In short, the McDonald's bathroom is the ideal location for my YouTube channel and podcast. So, if you want to hear the unvarnished truth and the unfiltered opinions of a true free speech warrior, come on down to my local McDonald's and join me in the bathroom.
Together, we can take back the public square and defend our right to speak our minds without fear of reprisal. And hey, if you get hungry while you're there, you can always grab a tasty McRib sandwich (while supplies last).

Overview

1. Kennedy on the state of our union (9 min)
2. 2024 candidate comparison chart
3. Overview of Kennedy (3 min)
4. Fixing huge issues Biden & Trump don't fix (1 min)
5. Policies on Kennedy's website
6. Who is Bobby Kennedy? (30 min)
7. Kennedy's Record vs Biden's Record vs Trump's Record
8. A Hero Of The Planet
9. Kennedy's podcasts
10. Kennedy's books

Countering common smears

1. Kennedy isn't a grifter, or a plant to help Trump or Biden; Kennedy is a legitimate candidate who can win
2. Kennedy isn't anti-vax
3. Kennedy isn't a conspiracy theorist
4. Kennedy fully recovered from the brain worm incident over a decade ago and doesn't have cognitive issues
5. Kennedy isn't a spoiler
6. Kennedy isn't antisemitic and didn't claim covid-19 was an ethnically targeted bioweapon
7. Kennedy didn't claim atrazine causes transgenderism
8. Kennedy respects the 2nd amendment and isn't going to take people's guns away
9. Kennedy isn't authoritarian and didn't say climate change deniers should be jailed
10. Kennedy isn't responsible for the measles outbreak in Samoa
11. Kennedy has a solid stance on abortion that most Americans would agree with
12. Kennedy isn't a drug addict; he has now been clean for over 40 years (he understandably had previously turned to them in his youth in the wake of his father's and uncle's assassinations)
13. Kennedy wants the right kind of environmentalism that both sides can agree on, not authoritarian scams
14. Kennedy cares about both Israelis and Palestinians and wants peace

Evidence supporting counter-narrative claims

1. Science supports Kennedy's claims about Big Pharma corrupting our scientific system
2. Science supports Kennedy's claims on Covid, vaccines, EMFs, glyphosate, microplastics, and more
3. Science supports Kennedy's mercury-related claims
4. Science supports Kennedy's fluoride-related claims
5. Science supports Kennedy's Ivermectin-related claims
6. Science supports Kennedy's frog-related claims
7. Science supports Kennedy's claims about Wifi, 5G, and radiofrequency radiation
8. Science supports Kennedy's claims about syringe-injectable electronics
9. Science supports Kennedy's claims regarding different populations potentially having different levels of susceptibility to Covid
10. Kennedy's claims about NATO and Ukraine are supported by strong evidence
11. Kennedy stands up to the corrupt establishment

Short-form content

1. The truth about Ukraine (3 min)
2. Inflation, war, and banks (2 min)
3. Rising above partisanship and the duopoly (4 min)
4. Making housing affordable (3 min)
5. Not a conspiracy theorist 1 (5 min)
6. Not a conspiracy theorist 2 (3 min)
7. Calling out Fed, MIC, Oil, Pharma, CIA (2 min)
8. Persuasive memes
9. Truth to power and fighting for freedom (3 min)
10. Chronic disease (3 min)
11. Fighting factory farming corruption (3 min)
12. Making our government tell the truth (3 min)
13. Making our farms and food healthy (1 min)
14. The right kind of environmentalism (4 min)
15. Kennedy vs Biden for democracy comparison
16. Kennedy can win 1 (1 min)
17. Kennedy can win 2 (3 min)
18. Draining the swamp (2 min)
19. The truth about Trump's swamp record (2 min)
20. Fighting the great reset (2 min)
21. Mercury in vaccines (15 min)
22. Fighting against totalitarianism (13 min)
23. History lesson on Ukraine (4 min)
24. Vaccines: science vs orthodoxy (10 min)
25. Kennedy's covid record vs the duopoly's (4 min)
26. Kennedy can beat Donald Trump in 2024, Biden can't
27. Kennedy vs Trump on draining the swamp
28. Looking at vaccine science vs trusting Bill Gates (2 min)
29. Pro vaccine safety testing, not anti-vax (13 min)
30. Neither right nor left: what we stand for (2 min)

TW for s/h mentions, self end mentions, and abuse mentions
Obligatory clarification that this was a few months ago, I just regularly feel guilty about it and wanted to see if I'm right in feeling that guilt. Also, apologies in advance since I think this is going to be a long post.
I(20ftm) was abused in multiple ways by my stepfather(46m). I filed a case against him two years ago, which finally got picked up after my younger sister(16f) ran away from the house. During these two years, no one in the family talked to me, as he convinced everyone that I was a liar, a manipulator, and was doing everything as an act of revenge on him for "treating me with the respect I deserved". He was sentenced last October to 15 years in prison, and then they began to investigate my mother(38f) because she knew about the physical/verbal/mental abuse of all of us kids(there were five of us, ages will be given as children are mentioned), and about the s/xual abuse toward me. I live out in Arizona, however when my mother lost custody of our siblings, my older sister(25f), who well call Molly, reached out to me asking if I would be willing to come back up to Ohio, my home state, to help her take temporary custody of the children. The plan was that I would come back up to Ohio, live with my old roommates, get a job, and watch the children in the morning to get them on the bus and afternoon until Molly got home from work. This was something that was agreed upon by everyone, and it was decided that due to a job opportunity I would be going back to Arizona in three months. I immediately explained to everyone involved that I would not flake out on these plans unless my mental health got to a point where I was actively considering self ending. Molly requested that she get "some sort of notice" before something like that we're to happen, and I told her that the best I could do was actively pointing out signs of mental health decline as they happened so she would know where I was in my headspace, to which she agreed.
Fast forward to the day I'm to fly up, and I get a call from Molly. She explains that our grandmother is giving her her old house in exchange for the childcare until my mother got out of jail should the worst case scenario happen, and she wanted to know if I could live in full time with her. In exchange she would pay my way through driving school and get me a car off Facebook marketplace, which would roughly equal out to three months of paid labor. She explained that I wouldn't have to do any chores(though it would be nice) and she would support me financially so that I didn't need to get a job(though I also could if I wanted to) and I could put my full time and care toward the children. This seemed like a fair deal to me, so I agreed. We talked about a few other minor details, such as my room(I wouldn't have one, and would be sleeping in the corner of the living room) and food(I requested that she get healthy food because eating excessive amounts of junk food triggers my ED, which she agreed to but more on that later).
I fly up and reconnect with all of my siblings(I hadn't talked to any of them in person since the incident two years ago), and talk with a close friend of mine, who I'll call Buddy. Buddy expressed that he didn't think that me moving in full time with Molly was a good idea, and tried to imply that she might try and take advantage of me while I was there and overstep boundaries. I told him that I trusted her not to do so, and she and I had agreed that I would be spending weekends with him at his place to decompress and regularly assess my mental health. This was almost immediately backtracked by Molly, saying she didn't expect me to actually take the whole weekend and she requested Saturdays to be her "day off", which I agreed to. About a week and a half after I arrived and was settled in, we started having violence issues with the youngest(10m), and they were mostly directed toward me. We assumed that this was because my stepfather had fed the kids a story about how I had left because I didn't care about them, and he was too young to understand the truth of the situation. Molly was very attentive to my needs at first, making sure to buy fruits and vegetables as well as having the children upstairs by 9 pm so that I could have some private time to relax each night. All was good other than the violent outbursts from the youngest(who I'll nickname Chris).
After about a month, we had to give Chris to an aunt due to the violent outbursts becoming more frequent and the police having to be called several times just to get him to stop attacking me. I explained to Molly that it was affecting me pretty badly, and she and I sat down and talked it out, deciding I wasn't at a point that I needed to leave yet, however if we kept him I would be. So we let Chris go up to my aunts, who we'll call Aunt Hayley. After that things calmed down in the household, with there only being two major fights between the remaining three children. During this time, Molly began to talk about how stressed she was about finances, as well as she signed up for a college course and got a boyfriend. I didn't see this as a big deal at the time, but it compiled with everything else. Molly began coming home at 6-7 and immediately going to her room, and I would end up keeping watch of the children for the remainder of the night. This didn't bother me too much at the time, as I saw it as helping her, however I could. Before this, she and I had pretty evenly split chores, with both of us doing dishes, laundry, and trash periodically. Once she began this college course, I took up the entirety of the dishes, laundry for all of the children, and majority of trash. Molly tended to her room and mandated when the children cleaned their rooms and their upstairs bathroom, but other than that was in her room either doing classwork or hanging out with her boyfriend. During this time she also stopped getting the healthier foods, despite me helping with grocery lists and requesting healthier foods, opting instead for snacks or frozen foods such as pizzas, hot pockets, bagel bites, etc. This upset me seeing as I had already explained to her my issues with said foods, but I didn't feel I had a right to make comment seeing as she was still financially supporting me.
During this time, my no contact order with my mother was lifted, and I agreed to speak with her again, seeing as she had eventually denounced her borderline worship of my stepfather and told the police everything, and was now in therapy and parenting classes. To be clear, from the moment I had arrived in Ohio, I had wanted nothing to do with her, and the only reason I had agreed to talk to her was to give her one last opportunity to man up and explain everything properly. She did, and as I had suspected, he had been severely abusing her in every way as well. I still didn't trust her, but I decided to give her a second chance at a relationship on the condition that she not bring any more men into my siblings lives until they were all 18 or older(which she agreed to). I began to visit her semi-regularly, and Molly and I agreed that I would go to her house Saturday nights for dinner, seeing as I was already going to Buddy's around 7 pm Saturday nights anyway, which meant it wouldn't really change any of Molly's plans. At this time I began having a friend over, who we'll call Max. Max is a close friend of mine since middle school, and Molly approved him to be around any time, however I only really had him around on Tuesdays due to his work schedule. As soon as Max met Molly, he said he didn't really like the way she talked to me, and when I didn't understand(I have autism) he explained that a lot of how she speaks to me sounds like she's talking down to/making fun of me, and that when I say something she doesn't seem to take me seriously. I brushed this off, thinking that it was just him not being used to her somewhat abrasive personality.
Molly continued to complain about finances, and I continued searching for a job as I had been since I got there, and then came the first weird incident during this. One day Molly said that our mother had offered her a motorcycle, but that she had a feeling that she wouldn't actually give it to her, and so she was going to go buy her own. I didn't mention how counter intuitive this was to her finance problem, though I should have in hindsight. She also went out that weekend to get her nails and hair professionally done(which she had told me at one point all together was around $200), as well as I believe the next weekend to get a $180 tattoo shaded. Seeing as Molly had gone out and bought a motorcycle, my mother instead offered me the bike, which I accepted. Molly then began making comments about how she knew my mother was going to give me the bike, and that was why she had gone out and gotten her own(despite the fact that I had asked for the bike before I knew it was supposed to be given to Molly, and was told only if she didn't want it because she got first dibs).
During the last month, my mental health began to hit the decline I had warned Molly about. I informed her of when it became hard to get out of bed, when I was having guilt or s/h urges, and then eventually I reached a point where I requested she take back up at least some responsibility of dishes and laundry because my mental health couldn't handle it. She got somewhat indignant about this, saying that because I was living there rent free I should be doing the majority of the chores. By this time, I had very much seen what Max had been saying about her talking down to me, however I wasn't in the mental state to go against her, so I just reiterated that I really wasn't doing well. She said that her classwork, job, and social life wouldn't allow her to have time for it, and since I had none of those I didn't have any reason to feel the way I was. At this point, Buddy and my two old roommates(who we'll call Rat and Iroh) started insisting that I should go back to the original plan and only go down in mornings and until she got home from work, however I felt obligated to help her so I stayed. They repeatedly reminded me that she still hadn't followed through on any of her promises regarding driving school, car, or respecting my triggers. I continued to stay, partially to help her and partially because I knew at this point that it would backfire on the children as well if I left.
Two weeks before I was supposed to leave, Molly pulled me aside and told me that due to financial concerns, she would be letting the children go to a foster home in two weeks, once I left. This confused me seeing as a) I hadn't been bringing in any financials, and b) she insisted on keeping the 16 year old(who I'll call Fiona) but refused to keep the other two, because (in her own words) "Fiona is the easiest to handle". I felt as if I was to blame for this because the way Molly had presented it to me made it seem like the only reason she was letting the children go was because I was leaving, and a few days earlier she had been trying to push "if you could only stay another month". This plummeted my mental health, and about a week later(a week before my stay was supposed to end) I hit the point of actively wanting to self end. I informed her of this, and she got cold with me, saying she wished I had told her sooner. I reminded her that I had vocalized every step for things going down hill, and she insisted that it wasnt enough and I should have given her more notice, as well as claiming she could have done this whole thing without me and that I was more trouble than I was worth at points. She then started saying that I had only come back to get close to our mother and that I didn't actually care about her or the children(as I said, I hated my mother when I arrived). I told her that I would stay till that Friday night as it was Thursday and I didn't want to force her to try to find last minute childcare so late at night. At some point in this conversation we got a call from the middle(14nb, whom we'll call Sora) child's school saying that Sora had assaulted another student. This student had been making fun of Sora for months, claiming that they deserved the abuse they went through and that she hoped my stepfather got out of jail so that he could hurt Sora worse. I requested Molly not be too intense on the punishment, seeing as this had been an ongoing issue that had been brought to both the principal and Molly's attention, and been brushed off by both. Molly started beating me about how disgusting it was that I was condoning violence, and I clarified that while I didn't condone it, this situation had been hard enough on Sora. At this point in time, I had had enough and told her that if she didn't want my input and wanted to belittle me and "put me in my place", then she could put her money where her mouth was about being able to do this without me and I would leave that night. She said fine, but that she knew I wasn't actually wanting to end myself and was just using it as a convenient out of the situation. I began to pack. As soon as she got home she said that I had been taking her tone wrong, and that she hadn't meant to attack me. She then started saying that I wasn't screwing her over in this, I was screwing the children over. This was while the children were out of the house, and I did raise my voice, telling her that I wasn't trying to screw anyone over, I was following exactly the boundaries I had set, as I should have from the beginning. Buddy came and picked me up, and I went and spent the night with my mother.
The next day I was informed that Molly had told our caseworker that I had bailed, and that the children were to be picked up the next day(all except Fiona, who would stay in Molly's care and eventually the possibility of Molly adopting her was discussed). That Friday was the court case which was to decide what was to happen with my mother. Molly had expressed throughout this entire process that she didn't want my mother to go to jail, and that she would do almost anything to keep her out. The prosecutors had also expressed that they didn't want her to get a full 3 year sentence. During the court proceedings, Molly was the only one in the room requesting the maximum sentence for my mother, and during her speech was consistently deadnaming and misgendering me, which no one else in the court room was doing. My mother walked out with a 60 day sentence, which wasn't terrible, but the damage was done to mine and Molly's relationship, seeing as it was already strained before I found out she had been lying to me for months about her stances on this. She and I had had several conversations about this, while I hated my mother and whole I was healing my relationship with her, and her stance of wanting her to stay out of jail had never wavered. I unfollowed her on most medias, but kept her unblocked on everything. Three days before I was supposed to leave, I realized that my leather jacket and my keys to my boyfriend's collar were still at her house, and I tried to contact her to ask for them back. I texted her twice, neither of which she responded to, and then Buddy called her. She claimed she hadn't seen them, but refused to let us come over to look for them, despite the fact that the last time I had seen either one was in the house because I had been too depressed to leave the house. She continuously refused to let me come check, or even let someone else come check, claiming that she didn't trust me to put things back the way they were, despite me never showing any inclination of touching anything that wasn't mine. I went to text her again on the matter and found that she had blocked me on all platforms. Shortly after this Fiona would start claiming the same things about me not actually wanting to end myself and just using it as an excuse, showing that she had been talking to Molly about this, and her views on pretty much everything shifted to Molly's views. This caused a rift to the point that while I have strong contact with my other siblings, I don't have much contact with Fiona.
I feel as though it was wrong to leave the children in the situation they were in, and I desperately wish I could have done more to help, but I knew that once I hit that mental state I was no longer safe to be around them and only ran the risk of traumatizing them further if I had stayed.

Hey, so you ever get a birthday present that's so not your style, but you really can't return it because it'd be really awkward? Normally it's like, I dunno. Shoes, or shirts or something like that, right?
For me it was four fire-breathing horses.
Okay, so I should clarify. My dad didn't really give me four fire-breathing ponies to keep. It was more of a test for him to treat me like his son again.
See, I just recently got out of a Styx oath that would have led me to eternal damnation if I didn't fulfill it. It's a long story, but to keep it short: I swore an oath on the Styx to be a brave hero by my eighteenth birthday when I really should have just pinkie promised. But yeah. My dad, God of War and dad of the year took it well. …In that he pretty much said that I was a waste of space, disowned me and he'd personally hand me over to the Styx for eternal damnation.
Nice guy. Really should get into motivational speeches.
The night before, after riding the high of not having the threat of being sent to Super Hell I had a pretty bad dream. I mean, it wasn’t the normal David nightmare. It wasn't me killing endless hordes of monsters while my dad laughed at how pathetic I was.
Well, half of that. It was just my dad. To be honest, rather I’d take the monsters.
He was laughing at me, with that smug face of his, in that all-leather biker outfit with the shades that made him look even more like an asshole, as if that's hard to believe.
Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to cuss. Anyways yeah. Me and my dad. Not the best relationship, even by demigod standards.
He gave me a toothy grin, like a shark’s as he circled around me. I instinctively stood up straight, at attention. As much as I hate my dad, ticking off a god is a pretty dumb thing to do. Plus, I was pretty dumbfounded to see him here in my dream of all things.
“Well, color me surprised. To be honest, boy, I thought I'd end up taking care of this myself. So, congratulations on that front. But, sorry to burst your bubble, it might be good enough for ol’ Styxy but…it’s not good enough for me. But, you know, I'm a generous guy! Prove me you're a warrior. Do that, and I'll welcome you back in the family with open arms. I even got the perfect way for you to prove yourself.”
Without warning, he tossed me a set of keys with a miniature boar-headed keychain and a really big switchblade on the end of it. I fumbled with it before slipping it into my pocket.
“An oldie but a goodie. Used to let my sons prove themselves to me all the time with this one. Now, I'm sure once you see what I got planned you'll know the rules, considering you're a fuckin’ nerd. But in case you forget…”
He lowered his shades, revealing balls of fire as he glared right at me.
“Sundown. My temple. Don't be late or I'll toss you in the Styx myself. Well! Have fun, yeah? I'm looking forward to watching you fail this one, like your last quest. Now, get up. Clock’s ticking after all…”
“Gaah!”
I snapped my eyes open, falling out of my bed and onto the hard floor under me. As soon as I hit the floor, I could hear one of my many siblings start to stir from their sleep. Immediately, my sister Tiffany started to sigh as she shot up from her bed. I could see her pastel pink sleep mask perched on her head as she glared into the darkness of the early morning. She groaned in frustration, her words cutting through the quiet of the dawn.
"What the hell are you idiots doing?"
To be fair, I could see why she’d think that. Most of my siblings were fond of pranking each other every now and then. The chaos of the Ares cabin was unmatched from most cabins, except maybe Hermes. But, when you cut off her beauty sleep, the threat of an angry Tiff was usually was enough to make nighttime a truce. Usually.
My sister rubbed her eyes and looked down at me. I sheepishly gave a smile as I rubbed my head, still sore from when it hit the floor.
"Seriously, David?"
Tiffany got out of bed and silently made her way to me. She wordlessly held out a hand and I grasped at it as she pulled me up.
"Thanks Tiff. I had this dream, where Dad called me a nerd and was talking to me about testing me now that my Styx Oath is..."
I felt something hard and metallic poke against my leg, from my sweats pocket. I pulled out the unfamiliar object and to my surprise, there were the same keys from my dream. My eyes widened as I realized that my dream was a little bit more than usual demigod stuff.
"Oh. That...wasn't a dream."
She raised an eyebrow as she looked at the keys that sat in my hand. I played with the accessories, absentmindedly feeling the boar head and the switchblade knife. She leaned in, peering at the keys as the dawn started to rise.
"What the hell are those for?"
She looked to the keys, then back at my face, and then the keys again. She looked at me as if I just said that Kronos was about to come back and throw an ice cream party courtesy of the Titans.
"You're telling me Dad gave those to you or something? You're joking. Have to be."
I shook my head, but I could see why she thought so. I was pretty sure I was near the bottom, if not at the bottom of his list of favorite kids. If I was being honest, I was pretty sure he wanted me dead more than a few times.
"Tiff, you know that I'm not exactly Dad's favorite by a long shot. Why would I say something like that and risk him getting even mad more mad at me because of my lying? Dad disowned me, remember? He mentioned something along the line in my dream that if I pass his test I'd be treated as one of his sons again but he didn't mention what it..."
The gears started turning as I looked at the keys in my hands.
”A test…keys…sundown…oh no. Oh, no.”
I immediately pocketed up my keys and started putting on my shoes. No time for pants, sweats would do just fine, I just had to make sure to take my wallet with me, considering I was going to New York now. I had to be quick or this test was over before it even started.
"No. I...I think I know what it is. But if I'm right, then shoot I gotta get going then! Before our brothers take it."
In hindsight, I probably should have told Tiff a bit about my thoughts. But, the more I delayed the more issues that could have cropped up. I just had to make sure it was safe.
"Take what? Where the hell are you going?!"
I burst out of the cabin, staring at what was in front of our cabin. I felt a bit of nervousness bubble up as my thoughts were proven true. Tiffany was close behind me as she walked outside our cabin. I looked at her face and caught an expression of wonder as whatever she was going to ask me was forgotten. Parked in front of the cabin was a red and gold Harley. The seat was white leather and gave a sorta…humany vibe to it that I did not wanna think about. Only one thing came to mind, something I knew instinctively from the moment I saw it. Dad's War Chariot.
Or as the god of war would call it, his chariot.
"I...I think dad wants me to take his ride for a spin."
I ran my hand over the cold metal, and I realized what Dad meant about the “oldie but a goodie.” A while back, before the Second Titan war ended, and all of the children of the gods had to be claimed, there was a ritual all sons of Ares went through. It was something all my brothers did at fifteen. Drive around his Chariot and return it before sundown. It wasn't easy, my Godly siblings, Phobos and Deimos both loved to mess with whoever was in charge of the chariot at the time. And you had to deal with monsters too, but overall when it came to demigod stuff it wasn’t the most dangerous around. I dunno if that says a lot about how dangerous this life can get though.
But, shortly after the then-counselor Clarisse La Rue became the first girl to do it, Dad pulled the plug. I dunno if it was good ol’ sexism, someone totaling it, or dad not wanting to let all of his kids drive his ride, either way it wasn't super common nowadays. It wasn't like he stopped, but it was something given, not a right. Dad letting me do this was him at least giving me a chance to prove myself to be one of his kids, which was more than I expected to be honest.
I took a breath as I looked at Dad’s ride, feeling a pit of unease in my stomach as I started to climb in. If it wouldn't end up with me being tormented for the rest of my short life, I'd tell him no and go back to sleep. But, telling a god no, especially my dad is a neat way to be turned into a rodent. Or a fine red paste. Or a rodent that would be turned into said paste.
Tiffany's brows furrowed as she processed my words, a layer of disbelief on her face as she chewed over it.
You? He wants you to drive it? I...that...what the hell?"
I fought off a wince as she looked at me, then the ride, then back at me again. I could tell she was a bit annoyed. I mean, yeah from her perspective I was singled out by dad to do something she probably wanted to do for a while. I felt a pit of guilt in my stomach, it wasn't fair, really. But at the same time I had to do this.
"I mean, seriously? He must be out-"
She cut herself off. Calling my dad crazy was another way to get turned into a rat that would then be turned into a fine paste. Actually a lot of things carried the threat, my dad is kinda a jerk. I sighed, figuring I might as well tell her about why Dad was doing this. I didn't wanna hide it, but it's not like I like to talk about the fact that I've been disowned for two years. She knew, most of us did. But it's not something I like bringing up, because yeah. It sucks.
"I read a bit about previous Ares campers. He used to do this more often, at first only his sons did, but later his daughters could. I dunno why he stopped but, this isn't really like he's doing it because he's proud of me. I'm sorta disowned, remember? He said if I can drive the chariot, he'll take me back as one of you guys again. It's...more of a test to earn myself back into his good graces, I think.”
Tiffany listened to my explanation, not saying anything for a bit She looked a bit bothered about the fact that I was chosen to drive the Chariot, which again, not surprising.
"Ugh, I guess that makes sense."
I could hear the frustration in her voice as she crossed her arms. I winced again, preparing for her to resent or hate me. But to my surprise, I heard her add more in a softer voice.
"Well, don't get yourself killed trying to pass this stupid test, I don't want to have to explain to everyone why you're not coming back."
Her icy tone defrosted as she looked back at me with a bit of concern in her eyes. She seemed less annoyed and more worried about me, which was sweet. Not that I'd let her hear that. I hoped that maybe, dad would let her give it for a spin later down the road. If anyone deserved it, it would be her. I gave a nervous laugh as I took the keys out of my pocket.
"Of course, I passed my Styx Oath, didn't I? It'd be really dumb of me to die right after barely avoiding that, right? Oh, yeah. If Ellie asks for me, tell her about dad's little test he has for me. Hopefully it won't be too long but you know how it is with godly stuff. I should be back in time for us to hang out for the rest of my birthday once I do this for dad. I'll bring back something cool!”
I felt my trepidation fade away as I prepared to drive. Lots of my siblings dreamed of piloting the chariot. It wouldn't be right to reject the opportunity when it was given to me. And, who knows? Getting back in Dad's good graces (or as much as one can get in them) might help me out. At least I would have one less target on my back. As I sat down in the white leather seat, I put the keys in the ignition and instantly it began to morph.
OOC:Read this while listening to whats coming up
The front split apart into one steel horse that slowly split into two, and then four cream-colored horses that looked around with a cruel intelligence. The seat dipped, and warped before it became a horse-drawn chariot I was now standing in. The chariot was gold and blood red, adorned with the lovely images of people dying gruesome deaths, because Dad's taste in decor is somewhere between military surplus and serial killer, apparently.
“Okay…so, I need to get to Dad's temple before sundown. I don't know New York highways though, so how can I…oh hey! A gps!”
My fingers brushed against a touch screen set up on the chariot and punched The Intrepid into the coordinates. I gave one last wave to my sister before I lashed the horses and they immediately took off. I led them out of camp easily enough, but as we reached the highway they sped up to an impossible speed for a chariot. Their speed was even faster than any cars on the highway, rivaling the time that Aphrodite camper drove us to the beach once. I pulled back on the reins, trying to get them to slow down. Instead, they gave a rebellious snort and went even faster.
I would like to say that I embraced my inner Ares kid and relished the challenge. But I'm not going to lie, when you end up going past 80 MPH in a chariot, you tend to think you're going to die, fun fact. I screamed for most of the way, yanking and pulling at their reins so we could bob and weave through traffic.
It's a bit of a drive from Camp Half-Blood to New York City, I know it well, it’s a pretty common place for me to go for some monster slaying. But, up until now, I've been in the passenger seat while Argus drives. The speed of the horses really made the time go by faster. As we entered the city, the horses started to slow down and I felt a ray of hope as I started to steer them through the city. I gave a triumphant laugh as I looked down at my ETA. It was surprisingly quick, considering how congested New York can get. And I didn't see hide or hair of either one of my godly brothers, so I felt pretty good, all things considered.
“Huh. That's weird. There's not many cars today…my luck must be turning around!”
“Traffic update: Incoming Monsters. Rerouting. Cannot reroute.”
“Huh?”
Immediately, a massive boar the size of a garbage truck burst from a nearby alley way behind me. Behind the massive pig, two armored bank cars recklessly merged into traffic. One leaned out, revealing a gray-skinned human in body armor brandishing a shotgun.
“Of course! I had to open my big mouth! Is there anything that I’m going to have to deal with?”
“You are on the fastest route!”
“Well that’s just GREAT! Now I can be on the quickest way to the underworld!”
”Rerouting to: D.O.A. Records, Los Angeles.”
“Woah, woah, woah, no! Keep me on The Intrepid! The Intrepid!”
Seeing all these enemies together though, I started to put a thought in my head. They all had something in common, now that I saw them all in front of me. A boar was sacred to Ares, Spartoi too came from a dragon sacred to him. I put the pieces together as I saw the monsters come out of the woodwork and all to me. Now things made sense. The lack of Phobos and Deimos, the sacred beings to Ares, the lack of mortals on the street.
I didn't see my siblings because Dad wanted to mess with me personally.
Even now, I don't know if he wanted to test me in a Spartan way, or if he just wanted to get rid of me without kinslaying. Either way, I couldn't back down now. Not when I was so close. I snapped on the reins and the rebellious horses continued on their path, bickering and weaving left and right as they snorted and whinnied.
I heard the wiz of something traveling through the air and quickly moved out of the way. A metal feather hit the chariot, bouncing off the hull and onto the ground. I looked up and saw a few birds. They were black and crow-like, but their feathers had a metallic sheen, like iron. Their wings flapped and I heard the sound of metal on metal as they soared above me.
“Dad called in feather-shooters too? Come on!”
I steered left and right as I evaded the metal feathers shooting at me. The newcomers behind me quickly gained as I bobbed and weaved. I had to figure a way out of this, and fast. Problem was, I was quickly outnumbered and outmatched. I wasn't the best at archery, and my sword could shoot a blast of force, courtesy of the then Forgemaster. Main issue was it took a bit to charge, and I couldn't take them on so high up.
I couldn't run. I needed to fight out of this. But even if I could fight the two Spartoi and the big pig, the problem was the birds. I didn't have a ranged option…or did I? I looked to the horses, breathing embers as they huffed and pulled the chariot further on. Ares kids couldn't talk to horses, but these were godly horses. They seemed smarter than your average horse. Maybe I could talk them into behaving, the same way I got some of my siblings to listen to the plan during Capture the Flag.
“Hey guys, are you bored? I'm sure Dad and my brothers take all the good fights, huh? You know, if you guys continue fighting each other, I might lose this and you guys will miss out on a good fight.”
At first, I thought it fell on deaf ears. But then, they stopped their jostling and started to take a more unified path as we raced along the streets. Like I thought, they enjoyed a good fight as much as their owner did.
“That's what I like to see. Look, we're pretty surrounded right now. What do you say we rampage a bit before I take you guys home?”
An evil-sounding whinny came from the horses. I couldn’t really speak horse, but I took that as an okay and pointed at the birds above us. Did I feel stupid? Kinda. But as long as it worked, I couldn’t complain.
“See them? All yours. I'll cover you guys from the ground forces, and in exchange, you guys fall in line. Alright?”
A burst of fire came from one of the horses in response and I heard a loud squawk as it engulfed one of the feather-shooters. I breathed a sigh in relief as the rest of the birds started to scatter. They veered left and right in an attempt to avoid the flaming streams that were now sporadically being fired in their direction.
“Alright! Good job, I'll leave it to you!”
I gave a smile as I turned behind to my land-based foes, quickly gaining on me. I could hear the occasional woosh of fire as the horses fought the birds. One of the armored trucks caught up to my right and one of the spartoi leaned out of the vehicle. They aimed down the sights and pointed their shotgun at me.
“Sudden traffic in your area. You will be delayed by…five minutes. You are still on the fastest route!”
“Woah, that’s not fair! Come on Dad! A gun? Really!?”
I felt a tug in my stomach. It wasn’t something I could do a lot in a row without being exhausted, but I had some sorta pull when it came to weapons. When I gave a command, they were able to fall right out of their owner’s hands.
“Alright, let’s even the playerfield shall we?”
I held out my hand and they dropped it, the gun fell onto the ground, crushed by the wheels of the car. The second caught up to my left and once again, a spartoi leaned out of their car, weapon in hand.
“Another one!? Come on! How am I going to…”
I was jerked to the side as the horses suddenly veered right. At first, I thought it was the horses misbehaving again, but then a monstrous squeal came from behind me, rushing forwards.
Crash
I heard the sound of steel groaning as the boar rushed past the truck, pushing their truck out of the way as they aggressively charged forward. It was a good thing I managed to get out of the way, or else I would have been in trouble. I could see the spartoi shaking their fist as they spun out, their car massively dented with a massive gash in the armor. Now that I had to deal with two enemies, I decided to use the boar’s momentum to my advantage. I pulled back on the reins and the boar kept barreling on, too fast to stop as I made the chariot suddenly stop and then take a sudden turn away from the temple. The boar ran straight into a brick wall, seemingly dazed but otherwise okay.
”Rerouting...”
That temporarily took care of two of my enemies. Now that I had one to worry about, and my horses were pretty steady, I could start this fight in earnest. I kept one hand on the reins as I grabbed my Miku keychain. I unclipped it, and the keychain turned into a katana, with said keychain still on the bottom. It was my sword, Anime (I want to clarify, my friend Jules named it, not me). One of the Spartoi readied a spear and lunged at me. I parried it with my blade, and stabbed at their chest. I felt my blade plunge into their body. I pulled away at it, slashing at it again to tear it apart. To my disappointment though, the monster quickly reformed.
I don't know what I expected, to be honest. They wouldn't be much of an immortal soldier if they died after the first hit. But it bought me valuable time as we pushed forward. Almost as soon as its bones knit back together, it struck at me. I guarded once again, my sword starting to glow brighter and brighter with each strike. Our blades clashed and separated again and again for, I don’t know how long to be honest. I was putting up a good fight, but I just couldn’t gain the upperhand in that fight. For starters, if it was a monster or even a demigod it’d be ten ways to Tartarus at the moment. But, no matter how I sliced or diced it, the immortal soldier kept on coming back. Also, I just wasn't used to multitasking like that, I held on as tightly as I could, but the brief times I practiced Chariot combat with my friends Jules and Cel, I was either driving or fighting. Both at the same time was hard, and I was lucky that the horses were so cooperative.
I heard the whinny of one of the horses ahead as I looked back to the front. No sign of the birds meant that there was a few extra-crispy feather-shooters along the road somewhere, which was good news. But then, I looked out in front and realized that there was a big problem. One of the trucks we left behind somehow got in front of us, blocking the road with their car. Five spartoi were standing outside of the car, swords and spears drawn as they headed the chariot off.
At this moment, I knew I was screwed. I was too fast to just stop. And, even if I did stop, I’d have to deal with all the angry skeleton men chasing me down. I just winced, bracing for impact. But then, I heard a neigh as the horses pulling my chariot started to turn into steel and combined once more. The chariot started to shift, the creak of metal folding and turning. I quickly sheathed my sword as the reins turned into chrome handlebars which I gripped like my life depended on it. The chariot continued to morph until once again it was a motorcycle with flame patterns. I veered as left as I could, narrowly avoiding hitting the side of a nearby building as I sped past the skeletal blockade. I braked, motorcycle now turning back into the chariot form as I turned back and watched as the car that was chasing me slammed straight into the other.
The now pissed spartoi stumbled out of the wreckage and started to scream undead obscenities to each other. I couldn’t speak ghost, but whatever they said seemed to be pretty rude, because both sides started to unsheath their swords and get into an all-out brawl. One of the spartoi sliced the other in two, and they didn’t reform this time as their essence slid into their black sword.
Huh. Well, that was one way to deal with them.
“Whew! Good horses.”
I turned, ready to snap the reins once again, but I stopped as I saw what was waiting for me at the other end of the road. The boar, still very much on my trail stood in front of me. It pawed at the ground in front of it, and my horses started to do the same. I stared at the boar, unsheathing Anime once again as we stared off.
“Keep straight for…500 feet.”
The thing about boars is that they can be pretty deadly. They’re brutish and aggressive, and they go down fighting. You know the crossguard that’s near the pointy end of a spear? That’s so the animal doesn’t run up the spear to take you out with it. You don’t think them being that dangerous, but there’s a reason that dad’s symbol is a boar.
I had to make this quick, and efficient or I’d end up maimed, or worse. I snapped the reins one more time, and the horses started to dash down the street. The boar squealed as it barreled to me. I could see it get closer and closer. I grit my teeth, holding my blade in my right hand as it started to shine more and more brightly. My hand held onto the grip tightly, bracing for my next action.
I’d have one shot at this.
I miss, I’m dead.
I hesitate, I’m dead.
I don’t hit the vitals, I’m dead.
Time started to slow around me as I watched the boar rush at the chariot, enraged as it reached the point where there was no stopping it now. I could see the powerful muscles push and pull, the beast using all its power in an attempt to off me for good. I felt heat coming from the front as all four horses breathed a stream of flames at the swine. The boar kept on charging forwards, through the fire as the flames engulfed it. An angry squeal erupted from the inferno as it lept up from the sea of flames, still on fire as it used its strong legs to clear the horses and go straight for me.
Breathe in
I felt a sense of calm wash over me as I pulled my sword hand back. My blade shined brilliantly, even in the May sun. I watched it fall ever closer to me, the flames still eating away at the flesh. I stared into its ever-angry eyes, burning brighter than the flames surrounding it. I don’t falter. I’ve faced monsters that have crushed my bones. I don’t feel fear. I’ve fought creatures that could have killed me in five seconds. This is it. I need it to be perfect.
Breathe out.
SHING
I swung my blade and a rush of air followed it, making an arc that flew to the boar. I don’t doubt my skills. I simply watch, confident that this will end the monster once and for all. The blast, charged from my fight flew unimpeded. The beast’s chuffs turned into surprised squeal as it sliced the boar cleanly in two, bisecting it from the snout down. I sheathed my sword and put both hands back on the reins, eyes on the road as I barely watched what came next. The flaming boar started to fade into dust, still falling through the air until only a tusk was left. I held out my arm and caught it with my right hand.
“Oh hot, hot!”
I juggled it a bit with one hand before placing it down on the chariot floor. I grinned triumphantly as I realized what happened. Dad tried to test me, to see if I was “worthy” or he genuinely tried to kill me. Either way, I beat him this time, proving to him that I was more. That he underestimated me when we first met, that I was a brave warrior all along. In the end, I proved to him that I could fulfill my Styx oath even past what was expected of me. I laughed as I sped up, I felt pretty good about my victory. I wondered how his face would look, or if I could read his expression past his dumb sunglasses.
But as I rounded the corner, a terrifying sight came to my face as my glee turned to sorrow. I watched with horror as I realized Dad’s influence on the fight kept a more dangerous foe than any before at bay. Now that the fight was over, he had no reason to keep it around, and for once, I wasn’t sure if I could get through this unscathed. I gulped as I put my hands on the reins, not ready to face the impossible challenge alone. I hoped it wouldn’t break me as I prepared what little I had to fight this foe.
”There is an unusual amount of traffic in your area today.”
“Now you tell me…”
None other, than New York traffic.
I’d like to say that I did something else. Like I defeated an army of drakons on my way, or managed to fight off crazed demigods sent by my dad…but no. It was pretty much just traffic the rest of the way there. It was long and arduous, but I managed to make my way over to The Intrepid. After that traffic,I had to say, the amount of crazy drivers was almost San Francisco bad. I’d have taken as many spartoi and boars as dad could throw at me, if it meant I wasn’t drowning in the sea of cars. I drove down Pier 86, feeling a sense of relief as I got closer and closer to the aircraft carrier turned museum. As I got within eyeshot, I realized that dad said to take it to the temple, but not where to drop it off at.
It would be really stupid to end up failing just because I wasn’t sure where to leave dad’s ride. I got off the chariot, and was eyeing the prices of a ticket.
“Adults are thirty-six, Seniors and College Students…thirty four… Oh hey! Children of Ares get in free! Now, how do I wheel dad’s chariot through the front…”
Suddenly the side gate opened, lights flashing and clanging as it automatically retracted. The person standing in the booth waved me over and I hopped back onto the chariot, driving it by cautiously. They were dressed like a security guard, shades covering their eyes as they looked down onto their phone that they were absentmindedly playing with. Eyebrow piercings peeked out from behind the shades. They were tall, looked about early twenties, and seemed like your average bored museum guard, if not for that sorta godly aura I got from them.
“Take the chariot this way, Lord Ares will be at the end of Pier 86. Can’t miss him.”
I eyed the godling suspiciously. They seemed like one of those myriad younger and minor gods I saw when I was on Olympus. Not anyone I’d know, but if they wanted to stop me, it’d be annoying to get past them. They didn’t seem to be that dangerous, at least right now. But when you were a demigod, you learned to be wary of free handouts.
“Uh…look man, I’m going to be honest. I just got through some hellish traffic to get through here. So if like, you’re leading me into a trap or if my godly brothers are going to show up to try and take this, can you just start the fight and save me the trouble? It’s been a long morning, and I just wanna get this over with.”
I stared back at my reflection through their mirrored shades. Growing up, I always thought of myself as gangly and awkward. I could see my messed up hair, tousled from the wind. I stood tall, and although I wasn’t the buffest Ares kid around, you couldn’t call me skinny anymore. I looked almost heroic as I held the reins atop the chariot. Was that how I looked now? The godling shook their head as they chuckled, putting down their phone as they looked at me in the eyes.
“Kid, even for a god like Ares who likes conflict, you don’t do something like that in a temple. You can’t just attack his kid on his own grounds. Plus, it's part of the rules of war to respect neutralized zones. Trust me, you’re home free.”
“Oh. Um, thank you.”
He nodded and went back on his phone. I snapped on the reins and the chariot trotted along, even fire-breathing horses had to follow traffic laws apparently. I was on guard, not taking the godling’s words at face value. Mortals in a daze parted around the chariot, a few snapping pictures at me. I freaked out for a split second before I heard the tourists being in awe at what I heard to be a “vintage bomber”. Dumbfounded, I stopped for a brief second. It didn’t even have wings! But, I could see the mist shimmer around me and for a brief moment, see the silhouette of the plane around the chariot. It was an old fighter, a single propellor with flaming horse art on the nose.
“P-40B Warhawk? Alright, guess we’re working with that.”
I frowned a bit, trying to think if I knew that before this, from a school project or if it was more demigod shenanigans. I was never into fighter jets, but when you’re a demigod sometimes your parent’s godly influence shoves itself into your head and it’s always confusing when it does.
I drove the “plane” to the end of the pier, where I could see my dad sitting down on a barricade, blocking off a massive plane above him. It wasn’t used for war apparently, because I had no clue what type of plane it was. Looked cool though, it was really narrow around the nose end and the wings were all near the back end. He had a big wicked-looking combat knife in his hand that he used to clean his nails. He looked up at me, disinterestedly, before going back down to the knife.
“You’re alive.”
I couldn’t tell from his tone if that was a good or bad thing. It seemed… neutral. Like he was stating the sky was blue. But, overall I’d take that as a good thing, considering our last meeting. I spoke a bit warily, not sure if he was in a good or bad mood considering my victory.
“Uh, so Father. I’m finished with what you-”
“No. You’re not.”
“I’m not!? Do I need to do anything or-”
A moment of panic snuck up into my chest. For a brief moment I was afraid he was going to pull a twelve labors on me, but then he whistled and held out his hand.
“Not until you give me the keys kid, then it’s done.”
I hopped out of the chariot, the reins in my hand turning into keys as the horses went back into their motorcycle form. I somewhat clumsily tossed it to my dad, who grabbed it. He pushed himself off his perch, first making sure his motorcycle was unharmed. Then, he turned to me, eying me up and down as he circled around where I stood. I stood still, at attention as I felt my heart racing in my chest. I felt like a deer, cornered by a wolf just waiting to strike. Yet, the first pang of anxiety soon settled down. If he wanted to take care of me, he would have done so already. Or sent something more dangerous like a Drakon at me when I was driving. I felt my heart leap up into my throat as he clapped a big hand on my shoulder. The gesture wasn’t hostile, if anything, the motion seemed friendly. But his grip was anything but. His hand, like the claws of a tiger dug into my shoulder as he grinned at me.
“I have to say, I thought you were a lost cause, but look at you kid. Took you long enough, but I guess you have enough of me in you after all. Well, a late bloomer is better than being completely useless, but man! You were one of my most pathetic kids when you took that oath. I don’t think I had a kid as wimpy as you in a long time. Well, I’m glad my little nudge helped you keep that oath up after all. It would have been a waste of a perfectly good warrior if you didn’t shape up.”
I looked at him, dumbfounded. He helped me? He didn’t do anything! I wasn’t stupid enough to point it out, but I guess he knew what I was thinking as I felt his grip tighten as he growled.
“Come on, don’t give me that look, kid. Oh, don’t look so surprised. Tip of advice: don’t dip your toes into cards. You have a horrible poker face. Your mom was the same way. But, yes. I helped. Not that kids these days would understand. Parents these days are too soft, including most of us gods. Back in Sparta, we’d leave our kids to fend for themselves. Just give them barely enough food and let them hunt or steal the rest. If they end up dying in the hunt or starved, well that’s fine. They were too weak to do anything of note anyway. You should consider yourself lucky I was generous enough to just turn my back on you.”
He chuckled low, and my blood ran cold as he shook me. I shook my head, fighting off a wave of dizziness as he threatened to take off my arm.
“Oh, but that’s in the past! You passed your agōgē period, all by yourself. Now that is true strength.”
His evil grin widened as he gave me the closest thing to an approved look he’d ever given me. I furrowed my brow as I shook my head. This credit, it wasn’t mine to take, was it? Before I could think, I spoke what was on my mind.
“I’m sorry, but I didn’t do this by myself. Everywhere I went, I had someone to help me out. If it wasn’t for the help from my friends, I don’t think I would be standing here. I didn’t-”
My dad’s good mood instantly soured as his grin warped into a snarl. His grip, although somewhat friendly now seemed dangerously tight as he frustratingly interrupted me.
“Oh for the love of! I’m complimenting you, kid. Look. I don’t care about those other twerps one way or another. Allies are fine enough in war, as long as you don’t make them do all the work. Kid, you’ve gotten strong all on your own, like a true son of mine. Don’t deny you and me the kleos you rightfully deserve ever again. Shut up and just take the honor.”
“I…uh…yes, Dad.”
I was surprised that all it accounted to was a mild scolding. My dad, too seemed to calm down after I agreed with his words, as he went back to a smile. He put his hand back into his pocket as he started to walk up to his chariot. He ran his finger across the chrome finish, taking out a cloth and cleaning off my fingerprints from the metal.
“About your joyride. Not bad, not bad at all. It took you a bit to embrace your birthright, but you ended up not even scratching my ride. Nice. Nice. Saves me the trouble of buffing it out. Now, if you could only stop complaining at everything that opposed you. You’re a man, aren’t you David? Start acting like it. If you think a bag of bones and a pig are hard, just wait until your future. The stronger a warrior gets, the stronger their foes get. Make sure you’re strong enough to stand up against them before you end up a stain on the pavement.”
I heard the engine rev as he got into the seat. He threw a bag at me that I clumsily fumbled with before I fully caught it. I opened it, and a few golden drachmas shined back at me.
“Since your agōgē finished up, consider yourself un-cut off. Even I’m not heartless enough to leave a son of mine stranded in New York. Keep the rest. Feel free to hang around my temple, and help yourself to the gift shop if you want, it’s on the house, happy birthday and all that. Just don’t go overboard.”
He turned the motorcycle, wheeling it around so he could leave the pier. He turned around, giving me a few more parting words he shouted over the roar of the engine.
“Don’t think you’re done yet, David. You got a lot more to grow. Especially now that you can receive my blessings again. What, did you think that taking a good hit was all you can do? You’ll see sooner or later. See ya kid! Don’t disappoint me.”
He revved his engine one more time and took off, leaving me behind on the pier. As I watched my dad leave, I realized that with that resolved, the last of what made my Styx Oath so suffocating was finally finished. A part of me felt that I’d always keep the consequences of it with me. Either dad would continue to disown me, or I’d be horribly injured from my jobs. But, to my surprise, everything worked out alright. I worked as hard as I could, and now everything was over, truly over. I…wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I mean, like obviously I didn’t wanna have them with me for the rest of my life. But, for all of my oath’s lifespan I had the deadline looming overhead, and my expectation was that something would happen to me as a result. I was glad to have it over with, but I never felt that I could relax until now. The feeling of not having the anxiety of my imminent demise was something I wasn’t familiar with, and to be honest I still have trouble relaxing. As he disappeared into the afternoon traffic, I realized that, so too did my previous life.
Maybe…maybe I could afford to enjoy my life now after all.
OOC: And there we have it! The final David storymode relevant to this storyline! I meant to have this yesterday but I didn't see the modmail that gave me the okay until literally an hour ago oop. Which means that yes, the Chariot and Ares both are approved from the mods.
Big thank you to Tiffany's writer, angelspoint for helping me with her parts, I had a blast working with them! Hope you enjoyed David's Victory lap!

I honestly don't know where else to go for advice. Google can only do so much. I have a 6 year old brother who's diagnosed with autism, and is mostly nonverbal (he's improving a lot, but still struggles with comprehension and focus). The online school my mom has him in doesn't seem to be suited for him and he has a very, very low attention span. Or maybe Mom just sucks at making school fun for him, that's possible. Mom has been getting a lot of pressure to put him in public school, including from a speech patholigist that had previously recommended us to use AutismSpeaks as an education resource. He's at risk of being kicked out of the online school program he's in.
I don't know what to do. I'm not a fit teacher for him. My mom isn't either. I don't think either of us know how to parent, honestly, and she's doing her best but her best isn't doing so hot. My dad is taking the hands-off approach for now, and it should stay that way. Both he and I know he should never attempt to parent ever again. He needs to keep on doing what he's doing, which is pretending we don't exist.
The speech pathologist isn't really helping, really. All she did was recommend a compression shirt that one time and now urges Mom to send him to public school. He has weekly or biweekly appointments with someone who's supposed to also tutor him virtually, I don't know who or what they're supposed to be, but I listen in on their lessons and damn he doesn't focus at all. So even his specialized care isn't having much of an effect.
We're left with so little options. We all love him, do our best to express our love and talk to him, but none of us know exactly what to do.
It's to the point where I'm considering hiring a tutor for him, to meet him in person (l'll sit in on the meetings). But I don't know where to find any that are specialized in teaching kids with autism that are his age, and how to weed out the bad ones. My mom keeps on saying the government might take him away from us if we don't fulfill our educational duties and get him verbal, and I don't know how true that is considering he literally has a diagnosed disability that is well known to affect speech and development. Is there a time limit or something? It has me really anxious and stressed.
How do I even go about finding a tutor for him? Or is public school a better option?

I am NOT OOP. OOP is u/Honest_Version_8785
Originally posted to AITAH
Previous BoRU #1 + BoRU #2
[New Update] - AITA for telling my friend that he deserved to have his GF cheat on him and then get his ass beat by her affair partner?
Trigger Warnings: abuse, infidelity, emotional abuse and manipulation, verbal abuse, physical violence, mentions of depression, possible mental issues, exploitation, financial abuse, codependency, isolating and obsessive behaviors
RECAP
Original Post: December 21, 2023
My friend, Mark (M18), has recently been having a lot of relationship troubles with his girlfriend, Leah (F18). They got together back in February of this year (when we were still in high school), and their relationship has become a complete train wreck. Mark was (and still is) head over heels for Leah; he has told me and my other friends that she is “definitely the one” and that he eventually plans on marrying and settling down. This all seemed both premature and immature to me, but it's beside the point.
Leah, on the other hand, is a nightmare. She’s cheated on Mark several times now and every time she does, she gives Mark some lame story about him not being supportive enough or that she made a mistake or that she wanted to see him get jealous for her sake. He gobbles it up every time. According to Mark, Leah largely acts like this because her father was very abusive towards her and her mother, and therefore she carries a lot of trauma with her. Mark constantly reiterated that he wants to help her work past that, but things haven't really been going his way.
Since September, Leah has been seeing this other guy, Derek (M22), and she’s 100% infatuated with him. I only know this based on what my other friends (and Mark) have been telling me because I was in another state for college.
Mark has been arguing a lot with Leah about Derek, and she has threatened to leave Mark if he doesn’t just simply accept her for “who she is.” He did. Not only that, he and Leah have entered what he calls a semi-open relationship. This means, according to Mark, that Leah is allowed to see Derek as much as she wants, but Mark isn’t allowed to see anyone else. This is because Leah feared Mark would become emotionally invested in them and leave her. Mark begrudgingly agreed to this and has been seething for months about it.
Since about November, Leah has been seeing Derek more than she does Mark. While Mark doesn’t admit to it, our other friends have told me that she is essentially in a full-time relationship with Derek and only comes to Mark for money and emotional support.
Fast forward to this week, and I’m back home for the break. Mark started texting me on Saturday, saying that he hated Derek for “trying to steal his girl” and wanted to beat his ass that night. He said that he wanted me to come along since all of our other friends couldn’t (they made up excuses not to go; they have told me this, but Mark doesn’t know). Since I just got back home the day before, I was still exhausted, so I point-blank refused Mark’s request. I told him that Leah was a lost cause, and I wasn’t going to fight some people I’d never seen for her. Mark started begging me, saying that Leah is the love of his life and that he needs my help. I refused again. He then says that he’ll go on his own, but I told him that he probably shouldn’t.
I woke up Sunday morning to more than 300 messages on my phone from Mark and all our friends. Long story short, Mark went over to Derek’s place to bring Leah back. He ended up getting his ass kicked by Derek and his friends. They only stopped when Leah asked them to. I called Mark and told him that he should probably talk to a lawyer or something, but he refused since Leah asked him to not escalate the situation.
I then told him that he was being dumb, and this triggered him so much. He started saying how I was a bitch and a snake for not backing him up and how I was a fake friend. I was so irritated at this point, so I told Mark that he deserved to get jumped and that it made sense why Leah preferred Derek over him. He hung up on me, and we haven’t spoken since.
Since then, my other friends have been saying that I’m an asshole for how I handled the conversation, but they do agree Mark is a dumbass.
AITA?
AITAH has no consensus bot, but based on the comments, OOP was NTA
RELEVANT COMMENTS
Big-Philosopher-2735 NTA! He's delusional. Your other friends should've been honest with him. Maybe if everyone was honest, he'd get it. Good for you for not getting involved in the fight.

OOP We've all been trying to get him to leave her, but he keeps on insisting that she is the most spectacular person in the world beneath all of the shit she gets up to

 
Update #1: December 24, 2023
Some of my friends and I ended up going out with Mark to see how he was doing. We didn't want to go to his parents' place since Leah was now living there with him and we didn't want to see her. He does look very beaten up (black eye, bruises all over his face and arms, busted lip, etc.), but he was surprisingly in a good mood and even insisted that I didn't have to apologize for how I spoke last time.
He told us that Derek ended up dumping Leah a few days after the fight. Apparently, he asked Leah to dump Mark. She refused, and they argued (I'll spare you most of it). Their conversation ended with Leah being kicked out of his apartment in the middle of the night, and Mark had to come pick her up. He has refused his parent's (and our) request to escalate the situation at Leah's request.
Mark has said that Leah has been very depressed about Derek dumping her and spends a lot of the days crying. Mark just says he's incredibly thankful to be there to comfort her and emotionally support her. He keeps on saying that when it comes down to it, Leah chose him over Derek, and nothing can take that away. Like I said above, Leah has decided to return to living with Mark, she can technically go to her mother's house but doesn't want to.
Here's the real kicker: Mark says that he has a very good reason to believe Leah might be in the early stages of pregnancy now. My friends and I assumed the child was Derek's, but Mark insisted that regardless, it would be his kid. We asked him to get paternity testing, and he has refused since "he can't do that to Leah." We've told him that the relationship is toxic, but he didn't want to hear it since that was a "matter of perspective." Also, his parents have no clue about the potential pregnancy.
He says that in the future, he doesn't want us to say anything about Leah unless it is the absolute truth (his speech of singing her praises). My other friends and I all left pretty stunned, and I'm thinking that at this stage, I'll slowly be removing myself from Mark's life.
It sucks since I've known him for a long time and do enjoy his company. But I don't think I'll be able to remain friends with him in good faith if I'm not able to speak honestly to him.
RELEVANT COMMENTS
CIMARUTA Dude is trying to ruin his life as fast as possible

OOP 100% he is. It's tragic to watch him give up everything for this pointless "relationship"

lotusbiscoffbaby Forgive me for this, but me personally, I wouldn’t even bother with someone like Mark. He’s delusional and stupid at this point, and he can’t even see how manipulative Leah is being. He’s willing to throw his whole life away for a girl who has no respect for him and for a baby that probably isn’t even his. OP, it’s probably best to just keep your distance or go no contact with Mark, seeing as he’s made his choice.

OOP Yeah, I'll be keeping my distance. Its just so awful that he's throwing his life away for the most useless reason

butterpiescottish I, in Mark's mother's place, would kick Leah out of my house and tell Mark that the child would not enter my house without a paternity test and I would no longer be supporting him financially.

OOP If his parents try anything, he'll go no contact with them. He told us that between his parents (dad and step mom) and Leah, he's choosing Leah.
It really does suck, and I feel like it is extremely unfair to them.

 
Update #2: January 21, 2024
Last Post I've been receiving some DMs from people asking what happened with Mark. Since the winter break ended, I have returned to college so I haven't seen him since the day he spoke with me and the other guys. All the information I've been receiving about him has thus come from our Whatsapp group or what the other guys have been telling me. I've only texted Mark himself twice since then and both instances were about things unrelated to Leah.
However, there are some updates. As of last weekend, Mark confirmed on our group chat that Leah is indeed pregnant. He is excited about "becoming a dad", also we'll probably never know if the child is his or Derek's since Mark has rejected the idea of a paternity test and asked us to not bring it up again. However, my friends told me that they are fairly certain the kid's Derek's based on the timeline.
Mark and Leah are still living with his parents and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Mark works part-time in addition to taking some online courses at a college. Therefore, he and Leah are still largely being supported by his parents. Mark did message us telling us that his parents did argue with him a bit, but he managed to convince them to keep Leah and a child with them. He also told us that Leah told him that she preferred staying with him instead of going back home to her mom. It's only speculation, but some of the other guys and I assume that Mark may threatened no contact with his own parents if they don't accept Leah and the kid since he hinted at that during our last conversation.
Mark has also been trying to convince Leah to go into therapy but so far she has refused all of his persuasions. On the bright side, Mark has told us Leah is no longer interested in open relationships (possibly due to her fallout with Derek) and is dedicated to only him.
RELEVANT COMMENTS
Black_Pearl47 Leah probably tried to convince Derek to stay with her and take over the baby and he refused and the only one left was Mark.
I hope she realizes that Mark is a good person who is willing to cut off contact with his own parents to stay with her and the child even though it might not be his and starts to value him.
On the other hand my fear is that she find someone else who is in a better situation than mark and who is willing to take it on with a child and she abandons mark again.
And the part where Leah no longer wants an open relationship I think is due to the fact that Mark regains consciousness and leaves her and the son, I hope I'm wrong and that Leah has in fact changed and become a better person.

OOP Honestly, I've been slowly distancing myself from the guy so I'm not sure which direction he plans on going. That being said, he has reiterated that who the kid's biological father is means nothing to him as he plans on raising it as his own

 

----NEW UPDATE----

Update #3 (rareddit): May 11, 2024 (4 months later)
It's been a while since my last post, mainly this is because I've had very little communication with Mark and have been focused on my studies. Now that I'm home for summer vacation, I was able to catch up on all the Mark bs.
Firstly, Mark and Leah got married. It was a very small, town hall-type wedding just to get a marriage certificate. This happened about a month and a half ago.
Since then, Mark has become a complete POS. He regularly fights with his step-mom and dad since he thinks they make Leah feel "unwelcomed". It got so bad that they had Mark and Leah move out to an apartment on the other side of town. They give them about 2k a month to cover their living expenses and Mark works part-time to cover everything else they need.
Since getting married, all Mark ever posts on our group chat is how amazing Leah is, and how wrong we were for trying to get him to leave. Tbh, I find it so annoying, that I've put the group on mute. Some of the other guys and I have since made another group chat with everyone except Mark in it because we are all tired of his bs.
Mark has also started treating some of the other guys in the group like shit. This one guy, Alan, helped Mark and Leah move to the apartment and then Mark started accusing him of trying to make a move on pregnant Leah 🤢. Alan of course denied it, but Mark still accuses him from time to time. It is so uncalled for, tbh it ruined the entire group's opinion of Mark.
A few days ago, when I got back home from school, I decided to drop in and see Mark in person. He was chill but then started going about how he again thought Alan was trying to move in on Leah. It was awkward, I told him he was imagining it and nobody aside from him would want Leah, he kinda jokingly kinda seriously called me a dick and I haven't spoken to him since then. Thank God Leah wasn't home at the time because I didn't want to see her.
Ngl, myself and the other guys sometimes joke that "Dereck" needs to come back and set Mark straight again. But on a serious note, I have decided to no longer have ANY contact with Mark, and if I post in the future again about trying to build up a relationship with him or interacting with him in any way I'll be a hypocrite, a lying POS.
Leah is now very noticeably pregnant. Mark told us that the doctor told them that the due date is probably going to be in mid-August.
Nobody has heard of Derek, but rumour has it Leah tried to contact him again a few times though he ghosted her when he found out about the pregnancy.
Honestly, I think my life will be a lot simpler when I drop Mark and his family out of my life, most of our other friends group is doing this and I'll encourage those on the fence to do the same.
 

DO NOT COMMENT IN LINKED POSTS OR MESSAGE OOPs – BoRU Rule #7

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

I had always remembered my deeply rooted envy at a girl at my old high school. Alyssa Howard, Home Room 207. It hadn't been long since I graduated there. I was in Class of '22, in a homeroom that I simply didn't fit in. It was isolating since everyone in my homeroom was in groups of friends, everyone was their own designated groups.
Alyssa was in the Choir group, consisting of 8 girls. They were girls that were a part of Choir Class, an elective that made no sense why I took it. Along with Alyssa Howard, there was Brianne Becker, Fiona Figueroa, Leslie Smith, Hannah Klidford, Emma Kelly, Mandy Lake, and... Karla Reyes. Karla Reyes was one of them I knew very well. In fact she is the reason why I'm typing this out.
Karla was my childhood friend, we met in 5th grade. Her family was from around Texas, and she recently moved to this small town of Meadows Dale. I didn't have friends at that age since most kids thought I was...well weird. I didn't comprehend why I was weird to them at the time, I just simply thought I wasn't cool enough. I remember vividly that I was walking far from the rusty playground, to a hill that pretty much if going more up north, you'll be at the Centennial Park of the town.
That sunny day in 5th grade felt like it was just yesterday. I was walking up a hill, my Elsa shoes making every step feel like a chore. I sighed, looking down at my shoes, feeling embarrassed that my mom had gotten them for me. All the other kids in my grade were wearing Converse or cool sneakers, and here I was, stuck with sparkly, princess-themed shoes. I flopped down on the grassy ground, feeling like the biggest outcast in the world.
I sat there, lost in my own thoughts, I noticed a girl with dark hair and tan skin walking towards me. She looked a bit nervous, fidgeting with her hands as she approached. I recognized her from my homeroom class.
"Hey," she said, trying to sound casual. "These hills look like a pair of butt cheeks, don't they?" She giggled, and I couldn't help but laugh too.
I signed back to her, using my hands to mimic the shape of hills and then making a silly face to show that, yes, they did look like butt cheeks. Karla laughed, and I was surprised. Not many people in my class knew sign language, and it was nice to have someone to communicate with in my own way.
"Do you know sign language?" I signed, curiosity getting the better of me.
Karla nodded, her dark hair bobbing up and down. "Yeah, my aunt was born deaf, so I learned to communicate with her."
I signed back, asking her if she thought it was cool that I knew sign language too.
Karla grinned. "Yeah, that's really cool! I'm Karla, by the way."
“Lily,” I signed my name, and Karla sat down next to me on the grass. We chatted for the rest of recess, discovering that we had a lot in common. We both loved DreamWorks movies better than Disney, and our favorite music group was Fifth Harmony. I was obsessed with them back then, and Karla was too. We both wanted to be like Camila Cabello when we grew up.
From that day on, Karla and I were inseparable. We'd sit together at lunch, partner up for group projects, and even started a Fifth Harmony fan club in our class. Karla would always lend me an earbud so we could jam out to our favorite songs together. Our friendship was effortless, and I felt like I'd finally found someone who understood me.
It was perfect until the start of Freshman year of Meadows Dale High School. I held my scheduler tightly in my hands as I climbed the stairs to the kitchen, my stomach twisted in knots. My heart sank as I scanned the pages, taking in the fact that most of my classes were designated for students with special educational needs. Homeroom and choir were the only exceptions.
I made my way to the living room where my mom was seated, tears brimming in my eyes. "Mom, why do I have to take these classes?" I signed, frustration etched on my features. "I don't need this kind of help. I can handle regular classes just fine."
My mom looked at the schedule, her expression sympathetic. "I know you don't seem to need help, sweetie, but the school requires you to take these classes. It's just protocol."
I sighed, feeling a wave of frustration wash over me. "I'm going to feel like even more of a freak than I already do," I gestured angrily, trying to hold back tears.
From the living room doorway, my father's deep voice cut through the silence. His ears perked up from the conversation. "Hey, kiddo, what's going on?" he asked, his voice gentle.
I signed again, rapidly gesturing my fingers "I don't want to take Special ED classes, Dad. I can do normal classes. I can hear the teachers very well!"
My dad walked over to us, his eyes scanning the schedule. "I know it's tough, Lily, but the school is just trying to help. Plus, You're not a freak. Not in our eyes, anyway. If anybody gives you trouble, I'll personally see to it that they regret it." His tone was lighthearted, but his meaning was clear. He was the sheriff, after all, and his reputation preceded him.
I rolled my eyes, signing, "Dad, please. You're only making things worse."
Ignoring my pleas, he ruffled my hair affectionately before leaving the room. I retreated to my bedroom, collapsing onto my bed in a heap of tears. The night passed in a blur, and soon enough, it was time for me to wake up and face another day.
I woke up to the sound of my dad calling me from downstairs. "Lily, time to get up! First day of school!" I groggily got out of bed, still feeling the emotional hangover from the night before.
My dad drove me to school in his police cruiser, which only added to my embarrassment. I remembered feeling weird being in the cruiser, with its flashing lights and sirens. As we pulled up to the school, my dad turned to me and said, "No matter what, you'll always have me and Mom, okay? We love you, and we're proud of you."
He hugged me tight, and I felt a lump in my throat again. I nodded, trying to hold back tears, and got out of the car. Finally me into the world of Meadows Dale High School.
The enormity of the building hit me hard as I stepped inside. The halls were bustling with activity, and the noise level was overwhelming. The classes flew by, and I couldn't help but feel like my Special ED classes were too easy for me. The teacher aides were sweet, but they were busy helping other students, leaving me to feel like I was just going through the motions.
As I walked out of my Literature class, I noticed a boy sitting alone next to a locker. He had ginger hair and was a bit overweight, and he was using a big headset to listen to music. There was something about him that drew me in, so I walked over to say hi.
He removed his headphones, looking up at me with a nervous smile. "Hi," he said, his voice a little shaky.
I signed back, "Hi."
He laughed, a little awkwardly. "Sorry if I'm a bit awkward. I'm not really used to talking to people."
I signed, "You're not awkward at all."
He smiled, looking relieved. "Thanks. I'm Matt Weston."
I nodded, signing, "I'm Lily."
Matt's eyes lit up. "Sweet. What's your homeroom?"
"207."
Matt's face brightened up. "No way, that's my homeroom too!"
I smiled, feeling a sense of excitement. "That's amazing!"
Matt stood up, walking towards a bookshelf. "Homeroom's next class. Want to walk with me?"
I nodded, following him as the bell rang. We exited the class, and suddenly we were swept up in a sea of students pushing and shoving to get to their next class.
We finally arrived at class 207, which was already filled with students. I saw Alyssa sitting in the back with her group of friends, looking like a star athlete. Matt went to sit in the front seat, and I sat next to him.
Just as we were settling in, one of the guys from Jr high football, Ryan Peterson, hit a football at Matt, saying, "Can't believe we got 'Butterball' in our class."
Matt rolled his eyes, saying, "At least I don't have a father who cheats and spreads gonorrhea."
Ryan's friend, Warren, said, "Ohhh sick burn,"
Ryan huffed, whispering to Matt, "Just because you're special doesn't mean everybody likes you."
I got mad, flipping Ryan the finger, which made him laugh. "You're lucky I ain't telling the teacher, because I don't want any issues with your old man!" Ryan walked away with Warren, leaving me feeling annoyed.
The homeroom teacher arrived, a young guy in his 20s with cedar brown hair and a pair of glasses. "Hello Students! Like that you are all sitting in neatly placed groups. My name's Mr. James and I'll be your homeroom teacher for Freshmen till Senior Year. Hope you excited as I am!"
Just as he was about to start writing on the white board, a beautifully dressed Karla emerged late, looking older and more mature with a lot of makeup on. I looked up, happy to see her, only for her to not notice me and sit down next to Alyssa's group.
Matt whispered to me, "Do you know that girl?"
I signed, "No."
Matt nodded, looking curious. "She looks familiar, but I don't know her name. Was it Kayla or Karly?"
"It's Karla," I shrugged, feeling a pang of disappointment. It seemed like Karla had moved on to a new group of friends, leaving me behind. I don't know how this change happened, since Karla and I went on a trip to Orlando, Florida, three weeks ago. I thought we had the best of our life's during that trip.
I was stumped, watching from afar as Karla chatted with Alyssa and her friends. I felt a twinge of jealousy and sadness as I realized how easily Karla had seemingly moved on and found a new group to hang out with. I mean, I thought we were best friends. It felt like Alyssa had stolen her from me.
I turned my attention elsewhere, not wanting to dwell on it. That's when I noticed a teenage boy sitting alone a few rows in front of me. He had jet black hair and there was something familiar about him, although I couldn't quite place it. I wondered who he was and why he was sitting alone.
"Hey, Lily," Matt said, following my gaze. "Do you know that guy? He looks kind of like a mini Detective Loomis."
I shook my head, signing that I had no idea who he was, but now I was curious too. Detective Loomis had been a family friend for years, and I knew he had a son, but I hadn't seen him in a while.
Matt chuckled nervously and waved his hand as if to dismiss his own question. "Just wondering. He kind of looks like him, that's all."
Just then, the boy turned around in his seat and our eyes met. He raised an eyebrow, clearly having overheard our conversation. "Yeah, that's my dad," he said, a hint of challenge in his voice. "Why?"
Matt shifted uncomfortably in his seat, clearly not expecting such a direct response. "Oh, um, no reason. Just curious, that's all."
The boy, Brandon Loomis, as I now knew him to be, nodded slowly, as if accepting Matt's explanation. Then, to my surprise, he introduced himself with a small smile. "Brandon Loomis. And you are...?"
"Lily Anderson. Nice to meet you, Brandon."
“I'm Matt by the way,” Matt chimed in.
A flash of something—was it pain?—crossed Brandon's face, but it was quickly replaced with a smile. "Nice to meet you both. Your dad's a good man, Lily. He helped me out a lot."
I could only imagine what Brandon had been through. I remembered hearing snippets about his kidnapping a while back, but I had no idea what he must have endured. No wonder he hadn't been in school until now.
"Well, I hope the rest of the year goes well for you," I signed sincerely.
Brandon smiled at me again, and I felt a warm glow spread through my chest. "Thanks, Lily. I hope so too."
As the homeroom continued, Mr. James had us all introduce ourselves and played some icebreaker games to help us get to know each other better. It was actually kind of fun, and it took my mind off Karla and her new friends for a while.
One of the things we had to do was share a fun fact about ourselves. When it was Matt's turn, he revealed that he was the son of Mayor Weston and a great friend of my dad's. No wonder he seemed so familiar! I knew my dad would be thrilled to hear that Matt and I had become friends.
Before I knew it, the homeroom was over, and Matt, Brandon, and I headed out into the hallway together. I was relieved to find out that we all had B lunch, so I wouldn't have to eat alone.
"So, where do you guys usually eat?" Brandon asked as we made our way down the crowded hallway.
"I don't know about Lily, but I usually just grab something from the cafeteria and eat outside," Matt replied.
I signed, "That sounds good to me. I like being outdoors."
Brandon nodded. "Yeah, me too. Although, I usually eat my lunch at Dillard's Diner since I work there after school. You guys should come by sometime. The food's pretty great."
"Definitely!" Matt said enthusiastically. "I love diner food. And hey, maybe we can even help you out sometime if you're short-staffed."
Brandon laughed. "Sure, why not? It can get pretty crazy on the weekends, so any extra hands would be appreciated."
As we made our way to the cafeteria, Matt started talking about his favorite band, Deftones. I had to admit, their music was a little too heavy for my tastes, but Matt was so passionate about it that I found myself getting drawn in.
"You know, you should check out their album 'White Pony,'" Matt said. "It's a classic. My dad actually introduced me to them, and I've been hooked ever since."
I signed with a smile, "My dad's always trying to get me into his favorite bands too. He's a big fan of The Beatles and Queen."
"Oh, those are classics," Brandon chimed in. "My dad's more of a country music guy, but I've definitely grown to appreciate some of the older stuff."
While we ate lunch, I pulled out my sketchbook and started drawing, something I often did when I was feeling nervous or needed a distraction. Matt and Brandon were curious and asked to see my drawings. I showed them some of my anime-style sketches, and they both complimented my work.
"Wow, Lily, these are amazing!" Matt exclaimed. "You're gonna be like Picasso one day."
I signed, feeling my face heat up with embarrassment. "Thanks, Matt. That's really nice of you to say."
Brandon nodded in agreement. "Seriously, you're really talented. I wish I could draw like that."
As lunch came to an end, Matt and Brandon suggested that they walk me to my next class. I was surprised but pleased that they wanted to stick together. My next class was Choir, and thankfully, it was just down the hall.
"So, Lily, do you sing?" Brandon asked as we walked.
I signed, feeling a little self-conscious. "A little. I mean, I really want to sing, but I'm not sure I'm any good."
"Don't be shy, Lily," Matt said with a grin. "I bet you have a great voice."
I felt my face flush again, but I was glad that Matt and Brandon seemed so supportive. As we reached the choir room, I took a deep breath and prepared myself for whatever the class might bring. I slowly pushed open the door to the choir room, unsure of what to expect. The room was dark, but as my eyes adjusted, I could make out the outlines of rows of chairs facing a small stage. The room had a strange beauty to it, with its blue and white color scheme and intricate design carvings. I made my way to an empty chair near the exit, wanting to keep a low profile.
Before long, a flood of girls began to pour into the room, chattering and laughing. I recognized many of them from the Meadows Dale Advanced Academic Program. My heart sank a little as I spotted Brianne Becker, one of the most popular girls in school, deep in conversation with Meg Peterson. They were giggling about some guy they both apparently liked. Brianne's eyes suddenly landed on me, and her smile faded. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, feeling self-conscious under her gaze.
Alyssa entered the room, and the atmosphere seemed to brighten. Brianne's face lit up, and she rushed over to give Alyssa a hug. "I'm so happy you're in this class!" she exclaimed. Alyssa smiled back, her warm hazel eyes shining. I felt a small sense of relief seeing her friendly face.
Following Alyssa were Mandy, Fiona, Leslie, Hannah, Emma, and Karla. They all seemed to be deep in their own conversations, and I felt even more alone. Karla was telling Fiona about getting her nails done, and Fiona was expressing her dislike for acrylics. I stood up and waved at Karla, trying to get her attention. She had been one of my few friends in middle school, but something had changed between us lately.
Alyssa, however, made her way over to me and offered a genuine greeting. "Hi, Lily! It's so great to see you in this class," she said, her eyes sparkling with sincerity. I felt a small smile tug at my lips. At least there was one person here who didn't seem to mind my presence.
Entering through the red velvety curtains of the stage, a woman with brunette hair, who looked to be in her early 40s, emerged from behind the stage. She had an air of enthusiasm about her as she introduced herself as Mrs. Becker, Brianne's mother. I remembered hearing that they were related, and at the time, I had thought it was sweet that a mother and daughter shared the same class.
Mrs. Becker instructed us all to take our seats and explained that this class was for girls only. She then asked each of us to come up on stage and recite the Do-Mi-Re-Fa-So syllables so that she could group us into sections of eight. My heart sank as I realized I would have to sing in front of everyone.
One by one, Mrs. Becker called each girl up to the stage. Some of the girls had okay voices, while others were truly talented. Then it was Brianne's turn. Her voice was like an angel's, a beautiful soprano that filled the room. Fiona and Emma also impressed me with their deep, rich alto voices. Mandy, Leslie, and Hannah had high-pitched, yet well-controlled voices that blended beautifully.
Alyssa and Karla were the last to go, and they both had perfect voices. Alyssa's voice was like honey, smooth and warm. But it was Karla who really stood out. She sounded like a pop idol, her voice clear and powerful. I found myself getting lost in the music, forgetting my worries for a moment.
Then Mrs. Becker called my name, and my heart sank. I nervously made my way up the stairs to the stage, my hands trembling at my sides. I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself. As I opened my mouth to sing, an awful, screeching noise escaped. My throat instantly sting, as the aftertaste of metallic overwhelmed my mouth. It was so bad that Mrs. Becker immediately cut me off.
"Why are you in this class, Lily?" she asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
I looked at her sadly and signed, "I don't know. I didn't choose this class."
Mrs. Becker softened a little, seeing my dejected expression. "Well, you better discuss these matters with a counselor about switching, because there are better candidates out there who want a spot in this class," she said bluntly.
I felt my cheeks burn with embarrassment as I made my way back to my seat at the very back of the room. I could feel the eyes of the other girls on me, and I heard their stifled laughter. Karla's laughter rang out the loudest, stabbing me like a knife. Alyssa was the only one who didn't join in, her face a mask of disappointment. I wasn't sure if she was disappointed in me or in the other girls' behavior.
It was next week, I got out of my algebra class heading towards the office. I had to wait till Monday, since during the first few days, my assigned counselor was not available. I was already antsy of finally getting out of that Choir class, I couldn’t deal another day with a class I clearly didn’t fit in. My schedule in my hand, I pulled the door open, being greeted by the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip muffins. Nervousness ran through me, wondering what type of counselor Dr. Wells would be.
The door was wide agape, leading me into the source of that muffin smell. Sitting there on a working desk, was a man typing on his laptop. He looked a bit exhausted, almost to the point that he slumped on his chair. Tilting my head, I nudged on his shoulders, trying to shake him awake. I couldn’t help but feel warmth radiating in my cheeks.
“Huh? Oh, hello there Lily. What brings you here?” Dr. Wells jolted up, probably noticing how close I was to his face. I backed away, sitting down on a red couch next to him.
“I want to change classes please.”
Mr. Wells nodded off, scooting his chair back towards his mahogany desk. He searched up my schedule, turning his laptop to my view. “Oh, I see. In what class do you want to change?”
I nervously let out a breath, as I finally let out what emotions I was holding. “I don’t know why you assigned me Choir, but everyone in that class hates me. I really need that class changed, Dr. Wells.”
I saw my counselor's lip repeatedly twitched a bit, before he gathered his composure. Dr. Wells looked up from his desk, his kind face softening as he saw me. "Lily, I want to apologize profusely for putting you in that situation."
I signed, feeling a little comforted by his words. "It's okay. I did want to be in that class, but I just... I felt so out of place with all the other girls laughing at me."
Dr. Wells sighed and rubbed his temple. "I'm truly sorry, Lily. I was told you loved music and thought you would enjoy the class. But it's clear that it wasn't a good fit. Do you have another class in mind that you'd like to take instead?"
I nodded and signed, "Art class. I heard my friend Brandon is taking that, and I've always loved drawing."
Dr. Wells typed something into his laptop. “Consider it done. I'll have the change processed by tomorrow, if not sooner. In the meantime, help yourself to a muffin. The library teacher made them for me, and they're delicious."
I smiled and took one of the muffins, taking a bite. "Are you and the library teacher... a thing?" I asked, feeling a little bold.
Dr. Wells laughed, a deep, hearty sound that filled the room. "No, no, nothing like that. Just colleagues. She knows I have a sweet tooth, so she often shares her baking creations with me."
I felt a wave of relief wash over me. It was probably one of the few times I'd developed a crush on someone, and as usual, it was harmless and something I'd get over quickly. Dr. Wells was one of those crushes indeed. I stood up from my chair, feeling much better than when I arrived. "Well, thank you, Dr. Wells. I better head to class soon."
Dr. Wells smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Of course, Lily. And remember, if you ever need someone to chat with, my door is always open."
Later that day, during lunch, I made my way to our usual table with Brandon and Matt. They were already deep in conversation about their morning classes.
"PE is a nightmare," Matt was saying. "All the athletes make fun of me because I'm not as fast or strong as they are. It's frustrating."
Brandon nodded sympathetically. "I heard you beat Ryan on the pacer test, though. That's impressive."
Matt shrugged, taking a bite of his apple. "It was just luck, honestly. Ryan got too cocky and sprained his knee on the seventy-ninth lap. I just kept a steady pace.”
I signed to Matt, "You should still be proud. I bet your dad was happy."
Matt smiled. "He was. It's not every day I get to impress him, especially when it comes to sports. You know how Mayor Weston was a star athlete back in his day."
I laughed, and then took a bite of my sandwich. "Speaking of impressing people, I have some news. I'm switching out of choir class and into art elective. Hopefully, I'll be in the same class as you, Brandon."
Brandon's face lit up. "That's great! I'm so glad you'll be joining us. Art class is a lot of fun.”
Matt nodded in agreement. "I'm happy for you, Lily. But why are you leaving Choir? I thought you loved singing."
My smile faltered, and I looked down at my lap. "It's just... it's not the right fit for me," I signed.
Matt frowned, chewing on his apple. "Is Mrs. Becker too mean? I've heard she can be hard on students who aren't part of the popular crowd."
"No fair," I signed, my eyes pleading with him to understand.
Brandon nodded. "It really isn't fair, Matt. That's why I prefer to keep a low profile. Popularity contests aren't worth the hassle.”
Just then, I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I turned to see Karla standing there, a sad look on her face. "Lily, can I talk to you?" she asked, her voice soft and hesitant.
I hesitated, signing, "Why?”
With a strand of hair tucked behind her ear, she leaned in and whispered, "I want to talk to you in private."
I glanced at Matt and Brandon, signing, "I'll be back, okay?"
Matt nodded, his eyes curious. "We'll be here. Take your time."
I followed Karla to the girl's bathroom, my heart pounding in my chest. I wasn't sure what this was about, but I sensed it was important to her. Once we were inside, Karla pulled out a juul vape from her pocket and took a hit. The sweet smell of watermelon filled the air.
"Want a hit?" she offered, holding it out to me.
I was curious, so I signed, "Sure."
I took a cautious drag, expecting to choke, but surprisingly, I didn't. Karla laughed, "I guess you already know how to smoke. Not so innocent after all, huh?"
I rolled my eyes. "I learned from watching Effy in Skins. It's not like I've never seen it before."
Karla laughed again, a genuine sound that seemed to break through the tension between us. "Look, Lily, I wanted to apologize for what happened in the choir. I shouldn't have laughed. It was mean, and I'm sorry."
I stayed silent, unsure of how to respond. A part of me wanted to accept her apology, but another part was still hurt by her earlier behavior. Before I could say anything, Karla cut in, "I know it doesn't make up for it, but I want to make it up to you. How about I take you to the skating rink this evening? It's one of our favorite places, remember?"
I hesitated, considering her offer. Finally, I signed, "Okay, I guess."
Karla's face lit up, and she gave me a quick hug. "Great! I'll text you the details. See you later, okay?" And with that, she left the bathroom, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I walked back to the cafeteria, my mind racing. Matt rushed over to me, his eyes full of questions. "How did it go? What did she want?" he asked.
"It went okay," I replied, signing as I continued. "Karla invited me to the skating rink this evening."
Brandon's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't know, Lily. Karla hangs out with those choir girls. I don't think we can trust her, especially after what happened."
I bit my lip, understanding his concern. "What if I sneak you and Matt in too? That way, if anything goes south, we'll be together."
Matt's eyes lit up. "That's a brilliant idea! I'm in."
A small smile tugged at my lips. "It's settled, then. We're going skating."
That afternoon, I waited on the porch for Karla to pick me up. The sun was starting to set, casting a warm glow over everything. My dad emerged from the house, dressed in his sheriff's uniform. "Why are you wearing your uniform on your day off?" I asked, curious.
He chuckled, patting my back. "Got called into work. Something strange is going on. Don't worry, I'll be fine."
I signed, "Be safe, Dad."
“I will, honey. Have fun with Karla, okay.” He smiled and gave me a thumbs-up before heading off. A minute later, a black Chevy pulled up, and I recognized it as Mrs. Becker's car. Karla leaned out the window and waved me over.
I took a deep breath and climbed into the back seat. Besides Karla, there were a few other girls from the choir class—Mandy, Hannah, Emma, Leslie, Fiona, and Brianne. Alyssa was noticeably absent.
Noticing my curious glance, Karla explained, "Alyssa had track practice. She couldn't make it."
I signed, "That's nice."
Brianne turned to Mrs. Becker and asked, "Can we get some McDonald's shakes? Please?"
Mrs. Becker smiled. "Of course, sweetie. Does anyone else want one?"
Everyone nodded eagerly, and Mrs. Becker placed an order for nine shakes. Emma and Leslie wanted vanilla, Brianne wanted the seasonal spice pumpkin flavor, Hannah and Fiona requested strawberry, Karla and Mandy chose chocolate, and Mrs. Becker asked about my preference.
"Mint, please," I said, making a gesture of a mint leaf.
Mrs. Becker smiled. "Mint it is. Anything for my girls."
I felt a warm glow spread through me. Maybe, just maybe, they were starting to like me. I took a long sip of my mint shake, savoring the cool, refreshing taste.
"Chocolate is definitely the best flavor," Mandy declared, taking a sip from her own shake. "Nothing beats the classic."
"Pumpkin spice is where it's at," Brianne interjected, taking a sip of her pumpkin spice shake. "It's got that perfect blend of sweet and spicy. It's like autumn in a bite."
"Are you kidding?" Mandy scoffed. "Chocolate is timeless. It's the ultimate comfort food. Pumpkin spice is just a fad.”
"Oh c'mon! Pumpkin spice is leagues better," Brianne retorted. "It's a limited edition for a reason."
The other girls joined in, each defending their favorite flavor. I snickered at their playful bickering, feeling a sense of warmth despite the earlier tension.
About ten minutes later, Mrs. Becker pulled into the parking lot of a magenta-colored building. The girls piled out of the car, and I followed them inside, curious about our destination. Mrs. Becker turned to Brianne and said, "I'll pick you girls up at 8 pm sharp. I need to head home and take care of your little sister."
Brianne gave her mom a quick hug and yelled out, "Okay! Love you, mom!" Then she joined the choir group, whispering something in Karla's ear that made her smile in an unsettling way.
Karla walked over to me and whispered, "Hey, Lily, I want to take you to our hiding spot. It's been a while since we hung out there."
I brightened at the idea, signing, "I've missed that place. We used to act like it was our studio booth."
“Uh-huh,” Karla led me to an abandoned janitor's closet that was blocked off with a "Do Not Enter" sign. She opened the door, and I slid inside, feeling a rush of nostalgia. I slid inside the small, dimly lit closet and sat criss-cross on the floor, my heart racing with anticipation. Karla joined me, and for a moment, we just sat there, our knees touching, the silence comfortable between us.
"I've missed you, Lily," Karla signed, her expression softening.
"I've missed you too," I signed back, my heart warming at the sentiment. "It feels like it's been ages since we really talked." I looked down, my smile fading slightly. "I've missed the old Karla. The one who was always on my side, no matter what."
Karla furrowed her eyebrows, her face a mask of confusion. "What do you mean? I haven't changed, Lily. I've just matured."
I scoffed, shaking my head. "Matured? Making fun of someone less popular than you isn't mature, Karla. It's just mean spirited."
Her eyes widened at my words, and I could see the hurt flash across her face. "I haven't been making fun of you, Lily. I—"
"Yes, you have," I interrupted, my anger bubbling to the surface. "I know exactly what you and your new friends have been trying to do. You've been pretending I don't exist, like I'm not even worth acknowledging.”
Karla's face contorted with frustration. "That's not true, Lily! You always have to make everything about your disability. If anyone's changed, it's you. You used to be so happy, always laughing and joking around. Now, you just cry and complain when things don't go your way."
I signed angrily, my hands moving frantically. "How can you say that, Karla? I don't mind if you want to be more popular, but you're acting like you don't even know me. You're trying to pretend we're not friends."
Her eyes filled with tears, and her voice shook. "Maybe I don't want to be friends with you anymore, Lily. Maybe you're too held up in the past, too stuck in your own little world. You're a sad, pathetic sap, and I—"
Before she could finish her sentence, I punched her squarely in the face. The force of the blow knocked her back, and she stumbled, her hand flying to her nose.
"I wish I'd never met you, Karla!" I angrily figured my fingers around, my breathing being audible in the small space. "I wish you'd never been my friend! I wouldn't care if you dropped dead right now!"
Karla's eyes widened in shock, and tears began to stream down her face. Without another word, she turned and ran out of the janitor's closet, leaving me alone in the dimly lit space. I trembled as I crouched down in the corner, my heart pounding in my chest. I had never hit anyone before, and now I wished I could take it back. It was rather immature of me to end that way with Karla. Especially when this was the last memory I had of her alive.
Suddenly, a blood-curdling scream pierced the silence, freezing me in place. It was Karla. My eyes widened in horror as I realized what I had done. I rose to my feet and ran out of the closet, my heart pounding in my chest. As I turned the corner, I came face to face with a masked man. He was tall and imposing, his mask was painted like a 1940s woman with green eyeshadow, vibrant red blush, and blood-red lips. His copper-blonde wig fell in sleek waves, contrasting with his all-black suit.
The man walked slowly towards me, his gloved hand reaching out. I kicked him in the abdomen, my fear fueling my strength. But he was too strong. He grabbed me by the waist, his gloved finger pressing against my lips.
"My little flower, I am so happy to see you." he whispered, his voice deep and gravelly.
Before I could scream or struggle, he covered my mouth with a rag. It took a while for the chloroform to finally take effect, as I remembered my last thoughts were about Karla. Sometimes I wished this encounter was just an elaborate prank played by Brianne. However it is never the case.
When I woke up, I woke up to the sound of a girl's voice, soft and melodic. My eyes felt heavy, my body sluggish as I tried to lift my head. The singing was familiar, reminding me of Karla. My heart stirred at the memory of my friend, and I tried to shake off the grogginess that clouded my mind.
As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I realized I was restrained to a bed, my wrists and ankles bound. Panic surged through me, and I struggled against my bonds, my heart racing.
The singing continued, and I finally located the source—a television mounted on the wall across the room. My eyes widened as I recognized the singer. It was Karla, her face bruised and beaten, her eyes closed as she sang "Once Upon a December" from the animated movie "Anastasia." Her voice was shaky but serene, and tears pricked my eyes as I watched her performance.
I opened my mouth to scream, but only a weakened screech escaped my throat. I tugged at my restraints, desperation fueling my strength. I had to get out of here. I had to help Karla.
Catching me off guard, the door swung open, and the masked man from my encounter at the janitor's closet stepped into the room. My heart sank at the sight of him, and I shrunk back against the bed, my breath coming in short gasps.
He carried a plate of applesauce, his gloved hands setting it down on a table by the bed. "Good morning, my little flower," he said, his voice deep and distorted by the mask. "Your friend has a lovely voice," he remarked. "Have you ever wanted to sing like that?”
I shook my head, my eyes never leaving his face. I mouthed the words, "Let her go.”
The Masked Man smiled sadly. "Your friend has been let go. Don't worry, she's no longer suffering.”
I wanted to scream, to demand that he release me, but my voice failed me. The masked man approached the bed, his eyes cold and unfeeling. He picked up the spoon and dipped it into the applesauce, then brought it to my mouth.
"Open up, sweetie," he cooed. "You need to keep up your strength."
I turned my head away, my body rigid with fear. I didn't want his help, I didn't want anything to do with him.
"Now, now, none of that," he chided, his gloved hand gently tilting my chin back towards him. "You need to eat. And one day, my little flower, you will sing too. And it will be the most beautiful voice anyone has ever heard."
Tears slipped down my cheeks as he forced the spoon into my mouth, the applesauce tasting bitter on my tongue. I choked down the food, my throat constricting with fear and anger.
The masked man set the plate down and pulled me into a tight embrace, his gloved hands stroking my hair. "Shh, my little flower. Everything will be alright. I'm here to take care of you."
I sobbed into his chest, my body shaking with grief and terror. I had no idea where I was, no concept of how much time had passed since I had been taken. All I knew was that Karla was in danger, and I was powerless to help her. The masked man held me until my sobs subsided, then gently laid me back down on the bed. "Rest now. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow."
With that, he turned and walked out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts. I closed my eyes, my mind reeling. The next time I woke, it was to the sound of my mother's sobs. I blinked groggily, my vision blurry as I tried to focus. I was in a hospital room, my mother sitting by my bedside, her face wet with tears. Matt and Brandon, my closest friends, were also there, their faces etched with concern.
"Mom?" I raised one of my hands, my fingers weak and stiff.
My mother's head snapped up, and she rushed to my side, her hands grasping mine. "Lily, oh, Lily, you're awake!" She smiled through her tears, her voice shaking. "I thought I'd lost you.”
I placed my palm to touch her cheek, my throat too dry to speak. Matt and Brandon stood by silently, their eyes filled with relief.
I then asked the big question, signing, "What... happened?"
Matt nervously stuttered, "We... We found you inside an old shed near the skating rink. You were... you were unconscious, and we called for help right away."
Brandon added, "Before that, you were missing for roughly 33 hours. We searched everywhere for you.” His voice cracked, and he cleared his throat, unable to meet my gaze.
"You're safe now, Lily," my mother said, stroking my hair. "That's all that matters. There's nothing to worry about anymore."
I shook my head, my eyes flying open. Where was Karla? I signed, "Where's Karla?”
My mother's face crumpled, and fresh tears slid down her cheeks. "She's... she's still missing, Lily. We don't know where she is."
I closed my eyes, the weight of my guilt crushing me. If I hadn't fought with Karla, none of this would have happened. It was my fault she was still out there, alone and in danger.
The days turned into weeks, and Karla remained missing. The police conducted an extensive search, but there were no leads, no clues as to her whereabouts. I blamed myself, replaying the events of that fateful day over and over in my mind.
Three weeks after my rescue, the news channel delivered a devastating blow. Karla Reyes, aged 15, had been found dead, her body buried near the Yellow Rock River. She had suffered multiple bone fractures, and the unsettling detail—she had been missing her vocal cords and larynx.
I recalled the day vividly, the sun shining brightly through my hospital window as the news anchor delivered the grim update. I had broken down, sobbing uncontrollably, the reality of what had happened hitting me like a ton of bricks. I remember wanting to just die, to pay for what I have done. If I hadn't had my friends Matt and Brandon, I wouldn't have been alive writing this. And yet, I never told anyone about The Masked Man or what had transpired that day—until now. Sometimes I wonder if Karla could hear my prayers, wishing that she deserved better than this, and I'm sorry for causing her death. I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what I needed to say next.
Karla Reyes may have been the first victim, but she certainly wasn't the last. There were 7 more Choirs Girls left.

(Sorry for typos or grammatical errors I’m on my phone and it’s a ton of info to edit.)
At this point I’m a 99 percent sure Diddy is the one pulling the strings behind the Kendrick and Drake beef.
At this point I’m a 99 percent sure Diddy is the one pulling the strings behind the Kendrick and Drake beef. I believe that Al B. Sure! was planing to release all the info he had on Diddy in 2022, but may have been poisoned beforehand similar to theories about Diddys’s ex wife Kim Porter who was originally married to Kim before Diddy stole her away along with Al’s son, also Diddy’s stepson Quincy. Diddy has also been directly tied to the murders or mysterious deaths of at least a half a dozen more people who were close associates from the beginning of his career and were key players in the formation of Bad Boy. Coincidentally many of the victims had either exposed or were threatening to expose evidence related to all of these crimes. They are also using Keefe D. to take the charge for 2Pacs murder so he can spin the story and leave out and ties to Diddy who ordered the hit or did it himself.
Unfortunately for Diddy, unlike the rest of the people he had successfully silenced in the past, Al ended up coming out of his coma and revealing all the info he had on Diddy, including that he was responsible for him falling into a coma. After he came out of the coma Diddy knew he was about to go down and before the raid he destroyed and staged all of his homes with evidence that would verify all the claims related to other celebrities over the age of 18. Meanwhile he got rid of all the videos involving murder, sa, child abuse, bestiality and other evidence that would bring major charges. This is so he can cooperate with the Feds and help reduce his sentence. If he hid all the evidence they would know and work overtime to find it. Instead he lied by omission and corroborated the accusations that won’t completely destroy him. He can then release all his dirt to seem like he made all the blackmail with the intention of bringing down known predators who were able to get away with the same things he’s guilty of.
In the video of Diddy in the wig, he talks about partying with Drake and The Weekend and I believe he was able to acquire the blackmail. He then released the blackmail to selected people to ensure they leak at the appropriate time. The plan is to publicly out Drake for sex crimes so the rest of Hollywood knows not to testify against him. During the auction mentioned by ebony prince they are going to auction off all the dirt Diddy has collected the last 30 years. This includes dirt on Trump, which may be the reason behind all of this. The auction is four days after Election Day and will be used as a fail safe in case Trump wins the election.
I’m trying my best to add everything, just struggling because I have like 30 pages worth of write ups. If you want more evidence I have a ton, on my other account, I don’t want to spam so just dm me if you want additional evidence. The full post above is multiple pages long so I just chose the important part because very few people on here have the attention span for it.
You don’t have to believe it, it’s just my personal opinions, but they are based on facts and about 80 hours of research.
https://www.reddit.comRationalSchizo812020/s/IsgRSkK8KM
Check out the post covering Diddy, Drake, Kendrick, and Kanye
Two articles about modern sex cults still in operation: https://amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/28/new-york-satanic-cult-764-fbi
https://www.complex.com/life/a/brad-callas/accused-cult-leader-nature-boy-sentenced-to-life
Yesterday I found Ye’s full interview with The Download from before the beef blew up. It discusses a lot of my connections and hints that Ye is partially involved. You can skip to around 13 minutes in.
(Recently the charges against Lucian Grange were dropped showing he most likely is working behind the scenes as well and has some influence. He may be related to the leak as well. He could have also been the one who supplied the blackmail. Another alternative is Diddy went to the feds on his own accord, but when multiple lawsuits pop up very quickly, especially after thirty years of avoiding charges related to tons of sketchy shit, it usually means there is some type of coordination. Look at TI and his wife’s allegations and what lead up to those events.)
Full post:
This is all speculation so please don’t victim blame or spread conspiracies about a possible survivor of C.S abuse. This is why many don’t come forward. All I’m trying to do is point out the large amount of details surrounding the rumor that stand out as odd to me. By no means does this dismiss his claims. I’m not a lawyer, but if he was suing my client, this is some of the evidence I would use in the case.
Before I start I need to put in a small disclaimer. **The subjects I covered in my essay are well known to be linked to conspiracy theory communities that have been equated to terrorist groups. The end goal of a lot of these communities is to promote political divide, antisemetism, homophobia, and violence. I think the ultimate goal is to create such a massive gap between the left and right that the two party system fails and we fall into anarchy allowing the people who really pull the strings to restructure and in order to retain their power. It’s already evident that Biden isn’t able to do nearly as much as he could do if he didn’t have to consider the opposing party’s majority vote as well. Whoever wins I feel the results will be the same, violent protests aiming to reverse the vote. If this is achieved it will be the death of democracy in America.
I highly encourage anyone who identifies with either political party and are attracted to controversial subjects or consider themselves to be contrarian to please look out for any conspiracies that seem to be targeted towards you or the community you’re a part of. If they share similar ideas to the findings I made in my research, please do not engage.
I’ve watched the conception and the eventual downfalls off the P-gate and Q conspiracy communities. It didn’t take me long to figure out the eventual end game and step back from the community while continuing independent research. If you’re letting someone else to the research for you, you really need to be sure to trust the source and be aware of possible ulterior motives. It’s really dangerous territory though, filled with hidden traps that can draw you in and send you so deep that you either end up going into psychosis from the stress and paranoid, or you do what I did and step back for the sake of your mental health. I hate even sharing things like this because I know it may not have the effect I intended, but on the other hand people who are new to these subjects and conspiracies really, really need to take them seriously. They are not just games on the internet and there is a reason members of these communities have to hide in the shadows and lure people into their dark corners. There is also reason why they target the groups they do and I’ve noted a huge effort to indoctrinate people in rap community, the content creator community, and the celebrity gossip communities. I’ll let you guys draw your own conclusions as to why this is. I assume if you read this far you’re not dumb.
Once you’re stuck in their web it’s very difficult for most people to find their way back to society without seeing examples everywhere. I hope this is able to at least help one person who might be teetering on the edge of these rabbit holes. It’s not worth it and if I wasn’t sober and taking my meds, Id probably end up having a psychotic break. If you feel like you may be approaching that point you can still quit while you’re ahead.
Here are just a few of the things you can do to keep yourself from spiraling.
Take a step back for a while and focus on other things. Taking a hiatus from social media is crucial. If you can’t control yourself maybe detach from the news and internet entirely for a couple days. Even a long weekend can make a MASSIVE difference.
Try to get a good nights sleep and consider taking melatonin or an over the counter sleep aid.
Spend some time with friends or loved ones.
Eat some good, somewhat healthy, food and stay hydrated.
Try to get some sun and consider taking a walk or doing some other form of exercise.
Volunteer or do something to help your community if you want to continue working to benefit society.
Try to read a book or spend some time doing your favorite hobbies that aren’t related to any of the subjects I discuss below. Without further ado…
Ties Between Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Violent Antigovernment Conspiracies
I recently saw an article about Bryshere Gray, a rappeactor best known for his role in Empire. He was born in Philadelphia and started rapping at 16. His manager Craig Mack, who facilitated his big break by getting him a role on the TV series Empire, is life long friends with Will Smith. Currently there are conflicting claims about whether he is currently suing or planning to sue Will Smith and P. Diddy for s. abusing him as a minor. It’s rumored he is trying to get 50 million dollars in damages. That number alone seems suspicious to me. That’s 20 million more than Cassie got and she dated and lived with Diddy for over a decade.
One of the other things I noticed off the jump was the fact that the only sources regarding the case were on social media along with one article on MSN, which is known for being a nest of clickbait journalism. Essentially they are the written version of gossip videos made by content creators. The only evidence I could find in these videos were a few short clips from his socials where is talking about the negative sides of fame and a clip of him on the red carpet with Will Smith. This might hint towards suppression, but I’m leaning toward this whole story being bullshit.
The only connection I found between him and Diddy is a song he did with 2 Chainz and Fabolous, the latter being signed to Bad Boy. He ended up getting signed to Columbia which falls under the Sony Music Entertainment while Bad Boy is under UMG. Considering these rumors came about a while back he hasn’t mentioned it at all as far as I know. Some might argue this could be a product of friction between labels or that he included Diddy because everyone knows he’s going down. On the other hand if he is a victims he may not have wanted his story told and doesn’t want to stoke the rumors by responding whether they’re true or not.
One of the biggest things that led me to question the validity of the claims is the fact that 90 percent of the sources I found were using a three minute clip from an interview with one of the top content creators on YouTube, I’ll call her J. At this point I’m 99 percent sure J is an opp, whether she knows it or not. She told his story in vivid detail accusing Will and Jada of luring young artists with promises of mentorship, then involving them in their bedroom activities.
It’s not really a stretch to think that Will might have a cuckold fetish and probably swings both ways. Two things that could ruin you in the 90’s, but neither or them could do more damage to their careers then they have already done by airing out intimate details of their relationship to the public. However the allegations involving minors are complete heresay. This leads me to believe these are just rumors from the 90’s updated to include modern conspiracy theories. J clearly also clearly has some homophobic tendencies, but uses her bisexuality as a pass to bash on most black gay men and even straight men who she claims to be gay. It’s all too obvious she still holds onto resentment over her career never taking off while a lot of the people she collaborated with turned into megastars which is a huge motivator for her content. She clearly still lives in the nineties when these type of allegations alone could seriously damage your career.
In Bryshere’s case, regardless if any of the details she shared were true, they shouldn’t have been aired to the public by anyone but Gray himself. This isn’t the first time J has leaked recordings, exploited, or stolen from victims she claimed to be advocating for. She has even doxxed victims by starting a women’s group for sa survivors and recording all their meetings. She eventually leaked some, claiming they were trying sabotage the group. When the rest found out or were threatened themselves, the group was quickly dissolved and covered up. Considering her track record it’s not unlikely that if true, she released Gray’s story after trying to ask for a payoff and not receiving it. Considering their is no evidence they’ve even met, it’s more likely she’s just reporting on local rumors considering her and Gray are both from Philly and now both live in the Dallas. It’s very important to look at J’s history to see the bigger picture here.
My theory is J was given permission to share her story detailing the dark side of the industry and promised protection if she also included certain details that they provided to her. If true, the motive could have been to help her home channel gain credibility and attract a large viewer base so they can manipulate the message. I believe these people do know some shit about some people, and they want to get out ahead and make sure they only go after their rivals.
I followed J, an up and coming influencer, to examine to see if I noticed any obvious agendas and stumbled upon a full blown conspiracy. I use as an example started with very levelheaded claims that were easy to digest and over the course of five years this influence lured in their viewers with insider knowledge that turned out to be true and by the end was spouting rumors that are easily traceable to certain movements that have been tied to antisemetism, anti LBGTQ, and violent ideologies. It started slow with a few buzzwords and before you knew it the comment sections had been taken over. She started by luring in the celebrity gossip community, specifically people over the age of 40, who treat gossip blogs like the gospel. It’s obvious why this community has been chosen as a target, and I’ve seen recently to rap community is not much better. I imagine whoever is orchestrating this campaign probably wasn’t expecting it to be this easy.
We very well may be witnessing a controlled takedown and the purpose usually is to take out any liabilities while painting their innocence. If a lot of sick people get outed for terrible crimes most people will assume the Feds weeded out all the bad seeds. It would be a public win for the FEDs and would address any criticism aimed at them and those in the industry who have been facing pressure to deal with these types of issues for at least 3 decades. It will also assuage a lot of the conspiracy communities who have been trying to bring light to these issues. I definitely believe the people they chose to take the rap are going to take the charges for all their co conspirators, so those close to them don’t catch any charges. This would be very important in a R.I.C.O. case.
After they’ve completed their mission and their message has been delivered they will then allow these messengers to continue to capitalize on their channel’s popularity. This way they could still manipulate to spread whatever they choose whenever it’s deemed it to be necessary, It probably won’t work too many times before people catch on. In they want to continue making content they can force them to dig up their old dirt. They could also easily provide them with a list of names they are and aren’t allowed to talk about. My guess is they know that most of them aren’t going to be able to find anything, and since they picked people willing to to say any thing for money, they know they will continue to do it with or without relevant information.
They could also continue aiding her in an effort to further the spread disinformation as a preemptive measure. They may threaten harm or violence if the view counts dip below a certain amount to prevent the messenger from self sabotaging in case they need to get their message to the massesIf in the future. If they do ever need them again to do the same thing or are themselves being targetted, they can use their messengers to discredit the facts about them and shine light on those who are leveling the allegations.
You may be wondering what if the enemy finds them and pays them more to doublecross their handlers? They can then use their messenger’s mental illness and paint them and their viewers as violent or mentally ill members of a disinformation cult and either blackmail them into retracting their claims or label them and their listeners as a disinformation cult that happened to be right about some things. Mental health issues can also help paint the narrative that the messenger is suicidal so they can take her out easier if needed. In the case of J it’s not out of the realm of possibility considering her recent struggle and probably played a big part in choosing her to be their mouth piece. since they can use her mental illness at any time to discredit her or create plausible deniability if any connection is made between them and they need to go to court to prove the opposite.
She’s such a wildcard their is no way they would’ve recruited her if they didn’t have an iron clad manipulation tactic with multiple failsafes in place. Usually threatening to kill someones entire family works just fine, but she doesn’t seem to be too worried about her families safety. This is why I think it’s the big labels going after their own artists because they know they’re probably going to get busted soon. Also studios rarely sign you and give you a good deal if they don’t have some type of dirt in case the artist to keep them in line, and use them for their own personal gains. They can also keep them from going after the messenger and better ensure their safety. If they had her go after another label’s artists they probably wouldn’t be able to cover all the bases when it comes to protection, which with J is necessary since she never has any security detail and constantly doxxes herself and her family on live.
While going though her interviews it became very clear to me something was very fishy off the rip. It became obvious after watching sections from all four of her main interviews that as time went on she began incorporating more and more lies and more and more ridiculous conspiracies into the narrative. For most people as soon as they hear a blatant lie they immediately write off anything coming from the source. Most people don’t do their own research so if the messenger tells a couple little white lies with a dramatic flair they can get away with it for a while. The more lies though the higher the chance of them getting called out and losing a portion of their audience as well as making any truth information that can’t be verified sound sketchy.
As I’ve said before J first two interviews do have a lot of verifiable claims, juxtaposed with her life story, and a few blatant lies. One thing I noticed is the majority of her allegations are against artists from her hometown in Philadelphia who were breaking into the industry around the same time as she was and managed to make their way to the top of their respective industries. Sadly neither of J’s two albums were well received and she lost her opportunity because of her combative personality mixed with major narcissism.
After her music career didn’t pan out she moved to Dallas, Texas to try to rebrand. After her son was murdered in 2018, similar to her career, her mental health took appeared to take a nosedive. Before the first interview in 2020, apparently rumors were floating around she was living out of cars and motels. She then met her husband who was ex-military and it seemed like he really built her up and helped her, possibly even writing the stories. In that first interview she accused multiple artists of mistreatment as well as assault. It went semi-viral and a good portion of the accused either provided evidence to contradict her or said the don’t want to go into it, and they seemed to know the situation and feel bad for her. The rapper Common, who she claimed had abused her even said he hopes she’s ok and wished her well. A lot of her fans took this and twisted them into him being guilty because he didn’t go off on a rant trying to claim his innocence and shit on J like they were expecting.
I belief either before or after the first interview got some attention she was contacted and either paid or blackmailed into doing another interview where she was fed information, some truth some lies, and told to mix it in to her life story. I also think her husband may have been one of her handlers. My suspicions stem from the fact that he popped up not long before the first interview and married her after like 3 weeks. I also noticed his way of speaking was also was very similar to J’s and he’d even use similar vocal inflections and speech patterns. They also displayed a lot of similar quirks. Another coincide is he claimed he was responsible for most of the technical support and played a huge part in establishing her online presence. He claimed to have learned everything in a day, and apparently people were shocked at how quickly he learned how to code websites and manage her accounts. A few weeks after getting married she had already made him a fifty/fifty partner for the a new television network she was promoting around the time, but was designed to steal peoples money.
She returned for a second interview in December 2022 and during her second video she mentioned Diddy and dropped a lot of information regarding his current case, his connections to many celebrities, and many specific details about their lives only an insider would have access to. Still there wasn’t much evidence to verify a good portion of her claims until Cassie filed her lawsuit a couple weeks later. I’m almost positive whoever is trying to bring Diddy to justice is connected to whoever is giving her all this info. During the interview J once again eloquently details the dark side of the industry.
Unfortunately her second interview was overshadowed by two separate incidents that both occurred only a few days later and were also caught on her live stream. First she was arrested at a Chicago airport for losing her mind at the security checkpoint. Not much longer after that during an apparent psychotic break, she was filmed in a barbershop parking lot abusing her husband then taking her sons ashes and throwing them her husband and his friends while acting like she was literally possessed. In a later interview she claimed to have Dissociate Identity Disorder from all the trauma and admitted that it was the cause of her psychotic breaks, which totally applies if someone was severely abused at a young age like she has claimed is the case. Eventually she was restrained by the police, strapped down, and tied to a stretcher.
After she got out of a mental hospital a couple days later, her and her soon to ex-husband did a couple separate interviews followed by one where they both discussed to situation together. Before the joint interview their original stories did not line up at all. From their description of events it’s obvious she was cheating and he seems intelligent enough to that, but instead claims the now leader of the Carbon Nation sex cult we’ll call Sol. According to their story he hypnotized her the first time they met and manipulated her into joining her and her husband on their planned weekend roadtrip after meeting in person for the first time. He also forced her into saying she wanted to kill her husband multiple times and letting him touch all over her while they were all in the car together. After that she went on and shared a painfully detailed description of the abuse she suffered as a child all they up until she left the industry. Not much longer after that her husband filed for divorce, further contributing to the spiral.
About three months ago she did another interview that clearly was made by someone else and was loaded with editing mistakes and long gaps without sound that are so muffled you can barely hear them. She also obvious took clips of the interviewer from previous interviews and pasted them together to form new questions and edited them in between her responses. This is also where her claims were all either recycled or included the wildest pizzagate rumors. Then as always she included them in her personal anecdotes so people feel bad for questioning her. The last interview I saw came out less than a week ago and it was even worse than the last and it seems like she’s now just shitposting and seeing how much she can get away with and sadly as expected most people are still eating it up out of the palm of their hand. People who literally worship these influencers like Gods.
Sorry for the giant tangent, but it seems obvious to me that the husband and the two interviewers were all working together. He dressed her up, got her sober and kept her on her meds so she could deliver these interviews. At the same time she was the one who agreed to literally sell her soul and I believe she conscientiously made the decision to scam others. I think everything with Sol was either planned by the three of them or at least the two men who both appeared randomly and were obviously both manipulators. They used their, “divorce,” to really kick things into overdrive and then either both left her there jobs were done. In my humble opinion it’s more likely that they are all mentally ill, desperate for money, and playing roles that were assigned to them for a very specific purpose. I’m almost positive the whole marriage was a sham to help contribute to the narrative that everything in the first two videos was true, until she lost her mind because of the DID, PTSD, and stress.
The last thing I’ll mention before getting back to Bryshere Gray is how I found it interesting that she chose a DID diagnosis. Bipolar used to be a big one, but most people these days know at least one person with it, and it’s easier to tell when people are faking. DID and BPD are the trendy ones now because they aren’t as well understood and easier to fake or play up for the camera. The large numbers of people obviously faking their symptoms, based off the symptoms of some influencer who is also faking. This makes it very difficult to know what’s . It’s also commonly brought up in more radical conspiracy groups as being part of the satanic agenda or brainwash people. I think they were intentionally trying to attract people who would get anything related to the movement send to the deep corners of the internet where those types tend to hide.
This all leads me to the wildest connection of the story. In 2015, when Gray joined Columbia Records, he was signed alongside his future Empire costar Jussie Smollett who ended up playing his older brother. For those who don’t know or remember in 2019, Jussie Smollett was found guilty of staging a hate crime against himself somewhere around the 4th season of he show. The expensive investigation revealed the motivation was political after revealing Michellle Obama’s form chief of staff reached out to Smollett’s lawyer and requested the case be handed over to the FBI. His lawyer then forward the request to Chicago’s Superintendent who approved the request and the case was dropped. After a massive uproar, pitting democrats and republicans against each other, he was resentenced in December 2019 and to this day his legal defense team is still trying to drag out the case so the prosecutor just drops the charges and they don’t have to admit guilt. (If interested the Wikipedia article sums up the whole thing very well.)
Up until his arrest for domestic violence over three years ago where he was caught multiple times lying to the police in his interview, he was found guilty. Seemingly overnight his career tanked and he essentially disappeared and clearly seemed to be dealing with some mental health issues. I find it interesting that after four years of silence he’s just deciding to come out now, and if this case is real in the first place I wonder if anyone is going to draw all these connections.
Aside from Smollett and Gray, the cast list attached to the TV series Empire reveals a lot of connections to a lot of high powered figures with strange connections to this whole conspiracy. A good example of one of these connections is Terrence Howards’s character, a top record label president named Lucious. After skimming the first season’s plot points, some appeared to be directly based on attributes commonly associated with Diddy.
When I looked a little deeper I found that Howard, who also originates from Philadelphia, was cast as the lead actor on the show, while still finding the time to deliver his infamous guest lectures around the world. The main focus of the lectures was discussing the theory he hypothesized which he appropriately named, “Terryology.” This came after being blacklisted from the industry for nearly seven years prior for beating up a crew member and being convicted of multiple domestic violence charges. After the incident with the crew member in 2008, it was revealed Howard had been replaced by Don Cheadle in the sequel to his last hit movie, Iron Man.
Around the same time in 2008, he also signed a record deal with no other than Columbia Records. This came a few years before his infamous on screen sons joined a the same label years later. This can definitely be connected to Howard’s relationship with Gray’s manager Charlie Mack. Some other people who made guest appearances on the show include Naomi Campbell, Cassie, Cuba Gooding Jr, and Mary J. Blige.
The creator of the show Lee Daniel’s, the popular democratic activist whose connections go all the way up to the Obama’s, Oprah, and the Clintons. (Before I go any further, please don’t go down this rabbit hole much further, and to the people who use these type of stories to promote their agendas and spark even more political discord. Now more then ever we need to reel in both the far left and far right and meet as close to the middle as possible or else both candidates are going to continue to be worse every election. Please keep any comments politically neutral. I hate both candidates and I’m simply making connections and could care less who wins the upcoming election.
I think what we’re seeing now regarding Drake, Kendrick, Diddy, and people like Bryshere Gray and J and other influencers and content creators are all be used as weapons to distract people from something major going down and the fact that it’s only getting crazier every day, it appears whatever I’m referring to is yet to come, but won’t be long. Please keep all of this in mind before you start trying to research subjects like these. You may realize that some of the ideologies that have been chastised and tied to violence have been saying these types of things for years, and most of their evidence has been proven already or align with everything we’re seeing.
The paid protestors at Columbia is another example of political theater. Here is where people make the connection to Semetism and where most subscribers theories go off the fucking rails. Just because a lot of these things can be tied to Israel and Jewish Americans, a lot of people like to blame them for all the worlds problems, what they don’t realize is most of this stems from cultural traditions and generational wealth that was gained through hard work and promotion of high education. This has resulted in the majority of Jewish Americans holding more wealth than the average Christian household and most if this stems purely from jealousy and fucking Hitler. This is why the majority of people who go all in on these types of theories don’t have any further education than a high school diploma.
I know this doesn’t make them all dumb, but even a lot of very intelligent people like Ye and other major public figures got sucked into these communities without realizing they were part of the same agenda they were trying to expose. That’s how you end up with Ye saying he loves Hitler in a public interview and promoting Trump for president and supporting the fucking, “white lives matter,” movement along with the Candace Owen, the republicans answer to AOC. Even people with more formal education and fewer biases can and have been successfully targeted by these communities. It’s been shown time and time again that many of these recruiters who have been in their respective communities since their inception usually end up end reaching the same conclusions and the more people there are to confirm your beliefs or suspicions, the more likely it is you’ll accept everything else in they say as true. (This is a very similar conclusion the one I reached in my essay about J).
My belief is someone from the same circle that J was in during her singing career are the same people who reached out to Katt Williams and other blacklisted artists with long recorded histories of mental illness and substance abuse problems to lie by omission and allowing them to release preselected pieces of evidence without repercussions. They could easily know what information the Feds were able to acquire. They then had her leak those details to the public so when the details to come out it makes she can work with the Feds and dismiss any other allegations even if they are true. Obviously it won’t determine the outcome, but it can definitely go a long way in making sure certain details of the defendant choosing can be struck from the record if the evidence isn’t good enough.
At this point I’m a 99 percent sure Diddy is the one pulling the strings behind the Kendrick and Drake beef. I believe that Al B. Sure! was planing to release all the info he had on Diddy in 2022, but may have been poisoned beforehand similar to theories about Diddys’s ex wife Kim Porter who was originally married to Kim before Diddy stole her away along with Al’s son, also Diddy’s stepson Quincy. Diddy has also been directly tied to the murders or mysterious deaths of at least a half a dozen more people who were close associates from the beginning of his career and were key players in the formation of Bad Boy. Coincidentally many of the victims had either exposed or were threatening to expose evidence related to all of these crimes. They are also using Keefe D. to take the charge for 2Pacs murder so he can spin the story and leave out and ties to Diddy who ordered the hit or did it himself.
Unfortunately for Diddy, unlike the rest of the people he had successfully silenced in the past, his dirt ended up coming out right around when Al ended up coming out of his coma and I think it’s likely that if my theory is correct he released all the info he had on Diddy. He even may have hinted in an interview at him being responsible for him falling into a coma. After he came out of the coma Diddy knew he was about to go down and before the raid he destroyed and staged all of his homes with evidence that would verify all the claims related to other celebrities over the age of 18. Meanwhile he got rid of all the videos involving murder, sa, child abuse, bestiality and other evidence that would bring major charges.
This is so he can cooperate with the Feds and help reduce his sentence. If he hid all the evidence they would know and work overtime to find it. Instead he lied by omission and corroborated the accusations that won’t completely destroy him. He can then release all his dirt to seem like he made all the blackmail with the intention of bringing down known predators who were able to get away with the same things he’s guilty of.
In the video of Diddy in the wig, he talks about partying with Drake and The Weekend and I believe he was able to acquire the blackmail. He then released the blackmail to selected people to ensure they leak at the appropriate time. The plan is to publicly out Drake for sex crimes so the rest of Hollywood knows not to testify against him. During the auction mentioned by ebony prince they are going to auction off all the dirt Diddy has collected the last 30 years. This includes dirt on Trump, which may be the reason behind all of this. The auction is four days after Election Day and will be used as a fail safe in case Trump wins the election.
When people who already have even the slightest political biases and less formal education, it can be very difficult to look at these things and not choose a side. This is their agenda to promote centrism and split the left and right even further to promote chaos and anarchy. I advise anyone who identifies as democrat or republican to be extremely cautious when exploring these topics and watch out for the type of things I mentioned. If the information is specifically pointed towards whichever party you identify with, they are trying to suck you in and fill your head with their beliefs.
*Update 2- I’ve never seen this amount of negative responses on any of the bullshit reposts and memes. Clearly people don’t want to actually think for themselves and are just trying to shut down any theory that contradicts their own. Y’all need to stop trying to disprove shit that actually promotes alternative ideas. This is exactly why this community was created. You don’t have to agree with everything, but if you see anything of interest you can do some more research if you’re interested if not just move on and mind your business. Either read it if you’re interested and do your own research or move along and mind your own business.

My 2.5 year old went through the ADOS-2 evaluation and scored on the mild-moderate concern for ASD; however, the clinical psychologist said that because his eye contact and joint attention outweighs all the concerns, she won’t diagnose. Now, I’m no autism expert but I do believe he 100% is on the spectrum, maybe on the lower end? But regardless, I have been a mixed bag of emotions for the past year bc he simply is not neurotypical. He has an expressive speech delay and has been in speech therapy for a year now making ok progress, was pretty delayed in gesturing, an extremely intense door obsession (opening and closing) to the point where he’ll throw a mega tantrum if we try to steer him away or redirect when he’s in the zone of opening/closing, NO interest in playing with his peers or younger brother, loud sensitivity (covering his ears and shutting down when around a ton of kids screaming at school). I have a lot of anxiety taking him outside bc he won’t listen to me and stay next to me. During play, he gets mad when you try to take turns with him. He does have many strengths, though. He does have excellent eye contact and loves to be playing around adults as long as it’s not playing with his toys.
He is a smart and incredibly energetic toddler. I love him to death but I honestly feel crazy right now. I am trying not to concentrate too much on a diagnosis, and even if he is on the spectrum we are doing everything we can for him right now. He’s in speech, OT, and will start ABA through the regional center until he turns 3 bc they won’t continue without a diagnosis after he turns 3.
The reason I feel crazy is because I feel like I can’t talk to anyone about it. My husband and I are on the same page except he does not dwell on it like I do. I guess I’m just being selfish for wanting my concerns to be validated, if that makes sense. I’m tired of going back and forth telling my friends/family he was not diagnosed even though I still have concerns. It’s driving me insane.
I guess I’m just wondering if anyone has gone through something similar ? And their kiddo has been diagnosed years later? I appreciate you reading.

• from an exhausted mom

This year’s games took place at the Ghostly Lake. Capital viewers were treated to a dark and ominous sight as the cameras panned through the arena. A forest biome littered with dark green pine trees spanned throughout this year’s arena. There were no mountains or hills, but interest was piqued when a couple caves were discovered. However, the crown jewel of this arena was the lake in the middle. It spread one kilometer in diameter and was covered by a blanket of mysterious fog. Hidden inside this fog, unbeknownst to the now rising tributes, was a small island. The cornucopia was placed on western shore of the lake, the only spot with an open area. The semicircle of podiums circled around the cornucopia which was barely two meters from the water. The clearing held the usual weapons and supplies one would expect with one peculiar exception. There were several flashlights and small lanterns with battery pouches attached. Viewers speculated that these must have a purpose. All in all, the Capital appreciated a more laid back arena compared to the meticulous detail put into the previous year’s games. Tributes rose up to the surface and felt the gloom and despair upon seeing the gray cloudy sky and the strange fog hovering over the lake. Cameras spotted grins on the faces of Harbor and both tributes from 7. Harbor was placed between Colt (3) and Sean (14). He searched for his allies and spotted all three of them. Jacqueline was near the end of the semicircle between Zest (9) and Malona (2). There was slight tension between the two. Facet was at the far end of the semicircle with only Dorothy (12) as his neighbor. He spotted Harbor and pointed towards Jacqueline, Harbor understood and signaled him to help her since he was closest. Brook on the other hand was between Atlas (6) and Lee (11). She felt slight relief upon seeing her district partner and diverted her attention back to the cornucopia. When the gong sounded, it was absolute pandemonium. Fifi (6), Zulu (10), Lassie and Sean (14) were the only tributes that ran away from the cornucopia. Malona (2) didn’t hesitate to chase after Jacqueline. Jacqueline was swifter however and she sprinted for the cornucopia. She approached the first supplies and thinking quickly, swiped one of the flashlights and hurled it towards her pursuer. Her throw struck Malone in the face and she fell back. Jacqueline ran further into the cornucopia to fetch a weapon. Facet was running behind the chase that was happening and chuckled at Malona’s fall. While Jacqueline ran to the cornucopia, Facet ran to Malona and kicked her back down. He grabbed the flashlight and proceeded to whack her sharply on the head knocking her clean out. He was interrupted by Amarylio (7), who had attempted to strike him with an axe. Facet rolled out of the way and retreated to the cornucopia towards Harbor, who was holding his own. Harbor was one of the first to make it to the cornucopia. He grabbed a trident and immediately dispatched Atlas (6). He covered for Brook by killing a surprisingly fierce Scarlet (8). Brook quickly grabbed a trident and was scrambling to find supplies. She was nearly stabbed by Lee (11) but she managed to slice his throat. She spotted Crane (2) cutting down Hargree (12) with his back turned. Brook decided to use this opportunity to attempt to kill him. She charged towards him but was not expecting him to turn around. Crane quickly sidestepped and tripped Brook. She begged for her life and promised her family’s money without thinking. Crane busted out laughing and called her a “gutless fish”. Before he could give the killing blow, Facet hopped over Crane’s shoulders and Amarylio (7) collided into Crane. The two men fell over and Facet pulled Brook off the ground. Crane and Amarylio fought for a few seconds before Amarylio ultimately decided to retreat instead, taking out Volta (5) on his way out. The four careers continued to gather supplies and fight more tributes until everyone was gone. So much happened in such a short amount of time that it was hard seeing the order of events. Camilia and Silica ordered a death toll for the bloodbath. The fallen included Malona (2), Darlene (3), Volta (5), Atlas (6), Scarlet (8), Zest and Mazin (9), Mateo (10), Lee (11), and Hargree (12). Ten cannons rang out through the arena. The commentators nearly asked for who killed who but the careers were already comparing kills. Harbor boasted about his three kills, them being Atlas, Scarlet, and Mazin. Facet sported just two kills, them being Malona and Zest. Jacqueline cursed to herself, saying she was going to go back for her but appreciated him looking out for her. Jacqueline said her only kill was Darlene but claimed to have wounded Daisy (11). Cameras confirmed this to be true. Brook said she managed to kill Mateo and Lee but sulked for failing to surprise Crane. Harbor scolded her for trying to face him alone but she wasn’t fazed. Facet said it was worse that she tried to bribe him with money. Jacqueline was quick to say, “That was stupid. What’s money going to do here?” Brook was red with embarrassment. Facet said what mattered was that they had the whole team in case they ran into Crane again. They all knew he would be angry and craving vengeance. After two hours of inventory, the four discussed their next move. Jacqueline commented on how mysterious the arena felt and had a nagging feeling they were being watched. The rest felt it too but knew it was too soon for an arena event. Facet noted how they couldn’t just dive into the forest as all the tributes went there. Harbor agreed but was still dumbfounded over what they should do. He pointed out the lake and wished the fog would let up so they could see the other side. Brook finally suggested they walk along the shoreline around the lake. The three stared at her in surprise. Brook said, “What? Being rich doesn’t always mean being dumb.” The three agreed to her plan and they all set off. Facet speculated the addition of the flashlights as they were never added to the arenas before. Harbor guessed it to be a future arena event or potential mutts. Jacqueline made her own guess that since they arrived at a dark arena, it would stay dark the entire duration of the games. Brook changed the subject to current threats. It was unanimous that Crane (2) and the pair from 7 were their biggest threats, especially the latter for this being similar to their home. Harbor optimistically pointed out that being from District 4, they had the expertise to navigate the lake. Brook was unsure about that, admitting to feeling a sinking dread everytime she stared at the lake. Almost as if something was under the surface looking back at them. Harbor and Facet shrugged it off but Jacqueline shared Brook’s discomfort. The four exited the clearing and were now in the forest. They maintained a short distance from the lake and kept a watchful eye on the dark forest to the left of them. The forest noises made them jump a couple times. Viewers knew they didn’t need to worry about other tributes as the closest ones were Lassie and Sean (14). The career pack finally decided to settle down in the northwestern sector. Harbor and Brook started fishing for a couple hours. Jacqueline joined them while Facet organized rations for dinner. Jacqueline noted that the lake still was covered in fog and wondered if anything was out there. Harbor said that while he couldn’t feel fear or dread like the girls can, he did sense something was off. He had a feeling the lake would somehow be utilized for the finale as it was the center of the arena. Brook snarkily said, “Good thing I’m a good swimmer.” Harbor scoffed and declared himself the better swimmer. The two began a humorous argument over who the better swimmer was, both reaching for their training feats while doing drills in Gottagrin Bay. Jacqueline was cracking up at their exchange. Facet finally shut them up and had them eat dinner. The four told each other stories about their training regimens, finding remarkable similarities. The four were startled by a cannon in the distance, belonging to Carter (8). Carter was discovered by Crane (2) and was mowed down after a short chase. Soon enough, night fell and the tributes began to sleep. Facet kept the first watch. The portraits of the fallen arrived and displayed all those that fell on the first day. The fallen included Malona (2), Darlene (3), Volta (5), Atlas (6), Scarlet and Carter (8), Zest and Mazin (9), Mateo (10), Lee (11), and Hargree (12). This left fifteen tributes remaining.
Day 2
The next morning just as Brook was waking up her allys to begin their day. Facet kept the group in high spirts by telling them about many sparing matches he was in at the Ritshlund academy. Jacqueline asked “Didnt you win oly 50% of them.” As Facets face blushed bright red Harbor laughed replying that it was still
“Honorable”.
Facet smiled before asking Harbor if he or Brook were any of teh training academys. Both brook and harbor looked at each other in a beliwdered look before Harbor replied “Were kind of a secondary carrer district are mentor has one but she has been in the captial lately.” Jacqueline chimed in that it “Didnt matter that they werent carrers they were still strong enough in there eyes.”
This honorable moment of honesty garnered many “Awwws” in the capital with Silca replying “Thats an efficent carrer pack I hope they last.”
As one cannon sounded the 4 jumped up and looked around there camp before Harbor shoutted at Facet to duck. As he obliged Brook and Harbor simatensoly hurt led there tridents into Fifi from 6s heart. As her cannon then sounded. Viewers in the captial saw that Colt from 3 had been chassed down by Fifi and Crane a suprsing alliance that shocked many viewers. As Colt’s cannon sounded Crane had pointed to the “Carrrer aliance”and told Fifi to get them. However as she protested he took out his sharp dagger that had been genersouly sponsored by his mentor Herminia gold. And as Fifi’s cannon sounded Crane laughed before running away. Facet had thanked Harbor for defending him from the “Loony girl.” Harbor smiled and told him “not to worry.”
Facet smiled back viewers in the captial and even Harbor noticed a small blush cross his face. He walked over to the near by camera jokingly saying “Dont worry Melanie He and I arent dating”. As ripples of laughter crossed the capital and even district 4 Melanie let out a guilty smirk as she was being interviwed by peacekeepers in the district.
Afterword 4 chimes of sponsor gifts flew down for the alliance,Jacqueline and Facet smiled gleefuly at there bread baskets and news set of weapons. Harbor walked behind a tree and opened it seeing a small dagger with a note saying “handle with care,keep your eyes peled your doing good so far’’ from S.
Harbor smiled softly at the note before thanking Sienna before hearing a loud gut wrentching scream. Brook had unforeanutly been attacked by this years vampire bats mutts. Forteanutly it was her arm that was striked before Jacqueline shoutted at teh group to run. Viewersin the captial were shocked seeing Vampire bats shooting down at the tributes like hawks. Luckily for the carrers they were only stroke 2 more times with the group hiding behind a hiding by a cave entrance. Facet quickly pulled out the flashlights and handed them to everyone, figuring that the light might deter the bats. Indeed, as soon as they switched on the flashlights, the bats screeched and retreated, uncomfortable with the sudden brightness. Harbor helped Brook inside the cave, where Jacqueline started to bandage her wounded arm.
The careers took a moment to catch their breath and evaluate their situation. Facet was the first to break the silence, commenting on how the flashlights seemed to be more useful than they initially thought. Harbor nodded in agreement, suggesting they keep the lights on while inside the cave to avoid another surprise attack. As a few more bats attacked the group they turned the flash lights made the bats screech louder the carrers rested in exhaustion as the bats dispersed to the other tributes. A sponsor gift quickly flew down for the carrers as Jacqueline smiled seeing a medical kit and a vaccine that could remove toxins from the bat bites. Brook grimiced as the wound was being cleaned causing Jacqueline to shush her.
Facet soon asked Harbor if he was “Fighting for anyone”. Being taken a back by the question provided Harbor said “No just wanna get back home if I can get out.” Facet shrugged before saying “My boyfriend im fighting for.” Harbor smiled before saying “I change my answer wanna win for my girl and family.” Camiilia and Silca both gasped in awe saying that they “defintly wanted one of them to win” as there popularity rates skyrocketed over night. After the cannon of Darian from 5 sounded. Brook pointed to Lassie and Sean from 14 running away from the bats. Facet hurled his knife as it whistled into Seans neck his cannon sounded. Jacqueline high fived him on the kill before Jacqueline chassed after Lassie. As Lassie’s canon soon sounded the vampire bats flew back up to the control room leaving an eerie quiet sensation in the arena.
The carrers then rested for the rest of the afternoon with Brook’s condition restoring as her arm turned back to the usual white color. However there rest was sharply interputed when Crane from 2 shouted in early joyful manner that he “Found the little mice.” As Crane hurled his weapons at the four Jacqueline and Facet when darting at the phsyoctic boy from 2 with Brook quietly whispering “Should I offer him my money again”. Harbor smirked before slapping her good naturedly before yelping as Facets knife nearly hit the pair from 4 on accident. However this encounter wasnt with out its losses. Crane managed to stabed Jacqueline in the heart causing her to wheeze in pain. Micarseolu both she and Jacqueline raged on before whacking a near by rock onto Crane’s head. As jacqueline soon lost concoious her cannon also sounded. Facet looked werily out before Harbor placed his hand on his shoulder and said he was sorry.
“She wasnt much but she was from home.”
Facet soon sighed before stabbing Crane sevral times in the back saying “Disqusting 2s”. As his cannon sounded Harbor walked him back to there orignal camp. As they soon looked on in a tired heep at they looked at the lake. As a ghostly figure known as a swamp monster popped out. Camilia imedtlay popped the interview with game maker swan. She soon told to all of panem that this swamp monster wasnt violent until provked. Which made most of the captial citzens gasp. Harbor soon was picked up by the monster as he screamed out Facet hurled his knife into the monsters leg. As it screamed out it kicked Facet into a tree he managed to get back up. However as the swamp monster grabbed its leg in pain Brook softned before cleaning its wound. Harbor soon pated the giants head causing it to smile. As a rather cute momemnt started to unfold. Facet bowed his head as an act of an applogy. The monster accepted the appology before picking him up in its shrub hands.
“The monster just wants a friend.”
Facet laughed before feeling the flowers of the monsters hand as it walked over toward the perimeter as it covered the group in its aborial hands. As this convent opportunity allowed all three tributes to rest they had a breif dinner and slept as horn of plenty played at midinght featuring the fallen. Jacqueline from 1 Crane from 2 Colt from 3 Darian from 5 Fifi from 6 and the pair from 14 leaving Facet from 1 Brook and Harbor from 4 Bloom and Amarylio from 7 zulu from 10 the pair from 11 and Dorthoy from 12 remaing.
Day 3
Earily in the morning the following day the cannons of the pair from 7 awoke most of the tributes after they were ambushed by Zulu from 10. After the carrres awoke the monster returned them to the lake. However just before Camilia revealed the top 3 tributes on the captial’s good books Facet had been quietly wandering over to Brook with a tomahawk in his possession.
Harbor looked at him with a sarcastic expression saying “Drop it.” However as Facet did not listen Brook got up and grabbed her trident saying “ 2 against one doesnt seem fair does it.”
As Facet spat out he through his tomohawk toward Harbor as he ducked he grabbed Brook by the arm and through her to teh ground. And tried to stab Brook Harbor grabbed his flashlight before shinning it into Facets eyes as he sreamed in anger as Brook grabbed her trident before hurling it into Facets neck. As his cannon souned Brook smiled softly saying “Sorry for being a dush bag to you when we were kids”.
Harbor smiled before nodding as the hovercraft soon flew over to take Facets body. The pair keot each other from boredom by talking about the acadmys and on what they would do if they made it back home. Viewers were surprised hearing Brook saying she would “Try to make amends with everyone she wronged.”
“You started with me and were good Jacqueline would want you to continue on.”
Brook smiled before Harbor and Brook walked around teh forest again for the time being. As they heard the cannon of Zulu sound in the late afternoon. Game maker swan made alive announcement she congratulated the remaining 4 tributes that afeast would take place at evening and would feature anything the tributes desired.
However suprsingly only Dorthoy from 12 died. Brook and Harbor rested at there first camp for teh remainder of the day as horn of plenty played featuring the fallen Facet from 1 Bloom and AMarylio from 7 Zulu from 10 and Dorthoy from 12 leaving Harbor and Brook from 4 and the girl from 11 as the final 3 tributes remaing,
Day 4.
Imedtllay after the remaing 3 tributes awoke the cannon of the girl from 11 (Cherry) sounded after she tried to run away from the vampire bats but got chomped on neck causing her to bleed out in seconds. Harbor looked forward seeing Brook suddenly have a vindictive smile.
“You really thought I was sorry hahah your such a dumass.”
After hearing this sudden delcartaion many citizens in snow square started to jeer at the girl with Camilia saying “Thats one way to kill your repuation.”
Harbor smiled before saying he knew she “Never was sorry.”
Brook smiled before hurling her trident at Harbor many viewers in snow square and evenn Sienna and her 2 friends Aj Carnvile victor of the 104th games and Quintin Mahoney the only 3 mentors left in the mentoring gallerly shouted at Harbor to defend himself.
Harbor through himself to the ground only grabbing his dagger that Sienna had sponsored him and darted to the corncopuia as game maker swans announcment had been barley audible due to the loud screams in snow square and in the arena.
Luckily for harbor the same swamp monster that had sheltered the pair on the second night came back. It shot its ivy roots out allowing Harbor to hide within it. Harbor smiled sadly seeing Facets bow and arrow he had been sposnored the second day before holding the bow before pocking out of the bushy arms. However after hearing Brook’s gut wretching scream after a violent monster hurled her into the corncopuia wall he stuck teh arrow out and let it fly. As it flew intoo her heart her cannon sounded. As the sun popped out over the grim arena. Harbor let out a small smile as brook’s cannon sounded. The swamp monster soon placed him back on the lake as game maker swan crowned Harbor Zanders of District 4 to be the victor of the 114th hunger games. Once he boarded the hovercraft he smiled seeing his mentor before melting in her arms causing her to embrace him as the hovercraft left the arena.
Harbor was adorned in a light blue pirate suit with his curly black hair dyed a crispy shade of brown. He was also given a pirate hat which in general came as a surprise to many viewers. Camilia was dressed in a golf uniform fashioning a rainbow suit golf hat and even a rainbow golf club.
Camilia appluaded Harbor on his victory before joking “Must of been tough having the high school bully with you.”
“Yeah she was a nightmare in its self when we were at school”.
As the crowd laughed Camilia went over the strategies of the carrer pack and his allies mistakes/kills. When Facets death was shown he softned before saying Facet was a “good ally” causing Camilia and the audience to sigh symptheaticaly. She then revealed to Harbor that his victors nickname was “The swamps soul”. HArbor laughed before saying that “it wasnt to horrendous>’ As teh crowd cheered Harbor bowed before game maker swan was welcomed with high appluse.
She was adorned in a sliver suit with a yellow bountiner. However it came to a surprise as Game maker swan remained quiet only saying to “Whatch out for flying objects.”
As teh citizens in the studio questioned this mysterious hint a few bits of appkuse sounded Camilia ende dthe interviews there. Harbor returned home to district 4 moving into the victors village with his family and girl friend. Unforeanutly not even after a weak he was stabbed by Coral Brook’s father luckily he was able to be reusiated and healed. He would later go on to marry his girl friend Melanie and had 4 kids with him naming his oldest after his ally Facet. Harbro would go on to be a decent mentor to the furture male tributes of the district manging to get 2 wins in the following 1 and a half decades. Also opening up a seaside bar naming it "Shellys" becoming quite famous for their seafood and cianttis. After the hideous end to the 137th hunger games he would go on and become one of the many victors who helped Sienna obtain her presidency after president Mcaines removal. He would then become incharge of panems coastal forces.
And that is the end of story 114 I do hope you alll enjoyed. In my own opinion I do think this is one of my better writen tales. Also I would like to thank Mortimer Whimwick for helping me on writing the blood batha nd the remainder of day 1. One thing to note the european file will be delayed I do belive I will try get fully up after I finsh the 116th games. But yep I do hope you all have a wonderful mornung noon or night or what ever time it is for you and as we always say panem today panem timrow panem forever.

Sitting here, in this chair, it's hard to believe the view from my window used to be the endless stretch of the city. Now, it's all trees, hills, and the most picturesque town you could ever imagine. They call it Big Sky, right outside Yellowstone, which suits it perfectly. I've been here for six months, and honestly, I've never been happier to be out of the city.
But I don't think I deserve this peace after what happened. Ten years I spent as a cop in LA with little to no incident. That's why they only fired me, I suppose. Ten years and one day, I made a mistake that changed everything.
I responded to a bank robbery call, and half of the force was downtown in seconds. With no clear leadership, chaos ensued. I'm not sure who shot first, but it triggered an eruption of bullets toward the robbers.
We're trained to react in a second to situations like this. So, after only five seconds, every gun was empty. For some reason, I paused. I didn't pull the trigger. When I realized what had happened, I panicked and shot at the first thing I saw move while everyone else was reloading.
It was a mother and her daughter trying to run away from the shots. Everything stopped in my life at that moment. I saw every cop's eyes on me; some were confused, but some who realized what happened had a look of sympathy.
The media frenzy was insane, and I don't think I'll ever fully recover mentally. I've grown my beard, and my hair is longer than usual. I've successfully gone under the radar, except when I tell someone my full name. I can sense their looks of disgust, even though they never say anything.
There's not a night that I don't see the mother and her daughter in my dreams. Their faces haunt me, and their screams echo in my mind.
It's funny how things change, you know? One minute, you're a cop; the next, you're a park ranger. Well, not really a park ranger; more of a forest ranger. The forest's solitude amplifies the guilt that gnaws at me every day. Every rustle in the leaves and every gust of wind feels like a reminder of what I did. And yet, I can't bring myself to leave. It's as though I'm punishing myself, living in this quiet, isolated place where my only company is the ghosts of my past mistakes. Sometimes, I catch myself thinking about what their lives would have been like if I hadn't made that fatal mistake. Would they still be alive, laughing, and enjoying life? The weight of their loss is a burden I cannot shake.
Out here in Big Sky, it's not like dealing with bears and mountain lions; it's mostly just tourists lost in the woods and the occasional poacher. And then there are the kids... God, the kids. They're always sneaking into places they shouldn't be, trying to find a thrill.
The air is clean, the sky is blue, and the trees stretch for miles in every direction. The only time you see a cop around here is when they're escorting a senior citizen across the road.
And then, just like that, everything changed. Two hikers went missing. At first, it was just another day. I went about my rounds and checked in on the usual hotspots. But then I saw their faces. They were young, probably in their early twenties. Their faces were plastered across every news channel and every billboard in town. It was almost as if they were haunting me.
The first few days were chaotic. Search parties were organized, and the entire force was called to help find them. But as time passed, and there was no sign of them, the search began to die. It was as if everyone had accepted the fact that they were gone.
I couldn't help but feel a weight on my chest every time I saw their faces. It was like they were a constant reminder of my own failures. I tried to push the thoughts away to focus on the task, but it was impossible.
The search parties continued, and with every passing day, the hope of finding them alive dwindled. It felt like I was holding my breath, waiting for a miracle. But deep down, I knew that miracle was unlikely to come.
And with each passing day, the guilt weighed heavier, sinking me deeper into despair. Every time I looked at the faces of those missing hikers, it felt like a punch to the gut. Their disappearance was a haunting echo of my failure, a stark reminder of the lives I had unintentionally shattered. The knowledge that my hesitation and mistake led to this tragedy was a burden I could hardly bear. It felt like I was carrying the weight of their absence on my shoulders, and no amount of searching could alleviate the guilt that consumed me.
I decided to go where the hikers were last seen along the trail. They'd passed another group of hikers around the five-mile marker, but who knows how far and in what direction they have gone since their last sighting.
As I get to mile marker 5, I notice a tree that looks freshly fallen. The inside was splintered with fresh, healthy lumber in the middle of the tree like someone or something had pushed or fallen on it. I went to investigate and noticed large footprints leading further into the woods, but I'd never seen anything out in these woods big enough to create something this large. My mind immediately went to dinosaurs, but I quickly shook that off.
The footprint was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Enormous and ominous, it stretched deep into the earth, leaving a chilling impression of what had passed through the forest. Each claw mark was etched deeply into the soil, as though whatever creature had left it had tremendous power behind each step. For a moment, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. It was a footprint like that of a wolf but far larger and more menacing, a stark reminder that things in these woods were far beyond my understanding.
With a shiver, I followed the footprints' trail into the woods, my heart racing. The air seemed to grow heavier with each step, as though some immense weight was pressing down upon me. The trees seemed to close in, forming a menacing canopy overhead, blocking the sunlight and casting the forest into a cold, eerie twilight.
The footprints led me to a small clearing, where I caught sight of movement out of the corner of my eye. My heart leaped into my throat as I whirled around, but there was nothing but a small opening for a cave on the side of the mountain.
I walk closer to peer in, but it's too dark to see anything. I contemplate using my phone light when I hear a huge thud in the trees behind me. I turn quickly, but I can't see anything. Thinking I was too paranoid, I decided to walk back to the path. I walk past the spot where I thought I heard the thud, and it looks like a fresh pair of prints. I have to be going crazy. I return to the path and make it to the station as the sun sets.
I can't stop thinking about those footprints and that cave. As I lay in bed later that night, every time I fall asleep, I dream about the entrance to the cave and the two hikers screaming for help inside. It's like there's an invisible wall preventing them from escaping. I see their faces better as I approach and realize it's the mother and daughter I shot in LA. I wake up covered in sweat every time.
The following day, I asked Lauren, one of my coworkers and the only person who treats me like I'm not an outsider from a secret club.
"You should ask Henry; he can access any record we've ever kept. Maybe he can find something about the cave in that clearing." She told me.
"You think he'll help? Since I've arrived, everyone has been so distant, like they're hiding something from me." I reply, hoping she feels enough sympathy to ask Henry herself.
No luck as she replies, "Yeah! Henry's a good one. Look, you've only been here, what, six months? Give it time; I know people will warm up to you."
"Thanks, Lauren," I say, disappointed, as I head to Henry's office. He's been here longer than anyone, so he must know something. When I knock on his door, he looks up at me over his glasses as wrinkles form inquisitively on his forehead. I wait for a greeting, but it never comes; there is only an awkward silence before I break it.
"Hey Henry, how's it going?" I ask awkwardly
Henry sighs and leans back in his chair as he folds his arms, waiting for me to ask him to do his job.
"Um, yeah, so I found this small cave entrance near the Hart Trail. I saw a tree that must've just been torn down from the middle a few days before I arrived, and I saw these giant, weird-looking footprints. I followed them, and I found the cave entrance. Do you know anything about that cave?" I ask, hoping he'll be more willing to help.
Henry's unamused look faded the more I told the story. He knew exactly what I was talking about.
He leans forward, resting his forearms on his desk, looks up at me, and says, "Nope."
I waited for him to expand, but once again, he left me to marinade in the awkwardness.
"I mean, can you look at least? And even if it's not recorded, don't you think you'd want to put it on record?" I ask, annoyed at his unwillingness to act like he wanted to help.
My frowns and sits back in his chair and says, "Are you telling me how to do my job, rookie? I've been here longer than most of these townsfolks were even conceived," He started to raise his voice the more he talked, "and you come in here after what you did to that poor mother and daughter. Yeah, you didn't think anyone knew?" I knew people were aware, but hearing him say it, it stabbed through my chest like a serrated knife made of ice.
Realizing that he has lost his temper, he calms himself and cleans off his glasses, "Get permission from Forest Supervisor Reggie, and I'll be your personal Google." He looks back down at his computer and continues doing whatever he does.
Still stunned, I stand there, not knowing how to react to this interaction. After a few seconds, I slowly turn around and return to my desk.
The rest of the day is a blur as I try to focus on my other tasks, but Henry's words keep replaying. Every time I close my eyes, I see the footprints and the tree that was torn down. Everyone in this office knows something they aren't telling me.
Finally, after what feels like an eternity, I muster up the courage to go see Reggie. I knock on his door, and he calls me in. He's an older man with white hair and a kind smile.
"Sir, I-" I say, but before I can continue, Reggie puts his hand up to stop me from talking and chuckles.
"Please, just call me Reg. Sir, sounds like we're in the military." He said as he placed his hand down on his desk.
A little thrown off, I continued telling him about the tree off the hiking trail, footprints, and the cave I found. Just like Henry, Reggie's face dropped as I explained. He stares at me briefly before fixing his face and responding, "Oh, yeah, that sounds like old Grungers Cave. It's probably recorded somewhere."
"Yeah, that's why I'm here. Henry said I needed your permission to get more information about the cave." I reply
He looks at me, puzzled and weary, "What kind of information are you looking for, exactly?"
"Well, I don't really know yet. Something about it gave me a weird feeling, so I thought I'd look into it." I said
Reggie looked at me briefly before changing gears, "With all due respect, you don't have anything else to do?"
I was caught off guard, not expecting him to shut me down like that, "Yeah, you're right. Sorry sir, Uh, Reggie."
I turned around and left the room. As I thought of how to get information without letting anyone at the station know, I decided to try the library.
The library is quiet, with a few people here and there doing their own thing. I asked the librarian if they had anything on Grungers Cave, and she directed me to the local history section. I spend hours pouring over old newspapers, books, and archives, trying to find anything to help me.
One book, written by a local historian, has some information on the cave. According to the author, Grungers Cave was found in 1917 and nothing in particular sticks out except for a short passage that briefly mentions local tales about a giant creature who is said to live near this cave. After about an hour, I gave up and decided to go out there again to see for myself, making sure to bring a flashlight.
As I drive back to the trailhead, I wonder if the stories about the giant creature were just a cover-up for something else. Maybe there was something else in that cave that people didn't want found. Tonight, I'm going to find out.
It's getting dark as I return to the hiking trail and the cave. I can see my breath as I walk, and the air is crisp and cold. The trees loom overhead, their branches swaying gently in the breeze. I can almost feel the presence of whatever has been haunting me since I found that footprint.
I take a deep breath and steady my nerves as I approach the cave entrance. The entrance is narrow and covered in moss, making it appear almost organic. I flick on my flashlight and step inside, bracing myself for what I might find.
The cave's interior is more extensive than I expected, with jagged stalactites hanging from the ceiling like teeth and jutting stalagmites rising from the floor around me like bones. I move further in, feeling a sense of dread creeping up. There's an unsettling silence here, broken only by the echo of my footsteps and the distant sound of water dripping from above.
I shine my flashlight around, searching for anything unusual, and my eyes fall on a large, irregular shape half-hidden in the shadows. As I approach, my heart starts to race. It's a pile of bones, human bones. The realization hits me like a punch to the gut. This is a crime scene.
The hair on the back of my neck stands on end as I carefully move around the cave, finding more and more evidence of foul play. The further I go, the more confident I am that something terrible happened here. The bones of at least four people are scattered about, and there are signs of struggle everywhere. I try to remain calm, but I can feel my breath coming faster and faster.
Suddenly, I feel the air get thick as I hear the rumble of big footsteps in the shadows before me. My heart pounds against my ribs as I realize what's about to happen. Before I can react, the creature lunges at me, its massive form filling my vision. Its skin is pale and rough, covered in dirty and matted fur covered in moss and twigs, like it's been living in these caves for centuries. It's a monster, a beast that shouldn't exist in the modern world.
I manage to dodge out of the way, but it's not fast enough to escape its grasp entirely. The creature's claws rake down my arm, tearing through my jacket and leaving long, deep gashes that fill with blood. I stumble backward, feeling the cold, hard stone of the cave floor beneath me. My heart is racing, and all I can hear is the sound of my own panicked breathing.
The creature looms over me, its putrid breath washing over my face as it growls low in its throat. Its eyes are like two burning coals, glinting in the light of my flashlight. It's not human, not anymore. Whatever this creature was once, it's been twisted and warped by whatever horrors it's faced in these caves.
I try to stand, but my legs are weak and shaking. The pain in my arm is excruciating, and I can feel warm blood trickling down my side. The creature circles around me slowly, claws clicking against the stone floor. It seems to be studying me, sizing me up. I can't move, I can't breathe, I can't even scream.
It turns its back, and I take a moment to get on my feet and run out of the cave, hearing the creature's roar echo against the cave walls. I can hear its giant footsteps getting closer and closer until I finally reach the entrance and throw myself out. The creature doesn't follow as I sigh in relief on the floor.
Shaking uncontrollably, I try to catch my breath as I look at my bloody arm. The cut is deep, but I don't think it's life-threatening. I need to get out of here and call for backup, but first, I must find something to use as a tourniquet. I look around and spot a nearby tree, its branches laden with vines. I rip some of the vines off and quickly tie them around my arm, trying to staunch the flow of blood.
Once I'm sure I've done what I can, I return to the station, my heart pounding. My vision is blurry from the pain and shock, but I manage to make it to the front desk. I collapse into a chair, trying to catch my breath. The receptionist looks at me with wide eyes, concerned for my well-being.
"What happened?" she asks, her voice shaking. "Are you okay?"
I try to calm my breathing before responding. "I...I think so. But I need to tell you what I found." I gesture to my bloodied arm, and she jumps to her feet, looking horrified. "No, no, it's not as bad as it looks. Just...get a first aid kit."
She practically runs out of the room, and I lean back in the chair, closing my eyes for a moment. When she returns, she carefully cleans, stitches, and bandages my arm, all the while listening to my story. I told her everything that had happened, but I could tell that she didn't believe me.
"You're sure you didn't imagine this?" she asks, her voice filled with doubt. You should get some rest and reconsider your story in the morning.
I nod, trying to convince myself as much as her. "I know what I saw. It wasn't a dream, and it wasn't a hallucination. That thing...it wasn't an animal. It was some sort of Monster. And it's still out there."
She sighs, looking unconvinced. "Look, I'm sure you've been through a lot tonight. Why don't you just go home and get some rest? We can deal with this in the morning, okay?"
Reluctantly, I agree and head home, hoping word doesn't get around to Reggie that I went back. The rest of the night passes in a blur of nightmares and restless sleep. I can't shake the image of that creature from my mind, and every time I close my eyes, I see its razor-sharp claws and ravenous yellow eyes.
When I finally muster the courage to return to the station the following day, I find that the receptionist didn't report my little expedition after all. Maybe she thought I was crazy too. I feel a strange relief as if admitting my story would make it real.
I make my way to my desk, still shaken from the events of the night before. The station is bustling with activity as usual, but it's difficult for me to focus on anything but the Monster. I try to convince myself that it was just a dream, a hallucination brought on by stress and exhaustion.
I went through my day on autopilot, trying to make it through my shift. When I went home, it was only 8, but I went to sleep as soon as my ass hit the couch. I had dreams of the creature and what it could do to me. I woke up in a cold sweat; looking at the clock, it said 2:03am. I knew I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, so I decided to start my morning early by brewing some coffee.
The Monster still plagued my mind as I showered and groomed for the day. I dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, the injury on my arm itching slightly as I pulled a long-sleeved shirt on to hide them. I didn't want to draw more attention to myself than I already had.
I decided to head to the station since I had nothing else to do. As I drive, I start concocting a plan to get the information from Henry. I knew he wouldn't be in for a few more hours so I could snoop around his office. I park my car and go to his office; I take a deep breath and slowly open the door. The room is just like I remember, messy and full of clues. I sit at his desk, feeling guilty but determined to find what I need to know.
I begin by searching through his files, looking for anything that might have a connection to the secret society. Finding a few files with suspicious names and symbols doesn't take me long. As I flip through them, I notice a hidden drawer in the desk. I pull it open and find a stack of even more incriminating files. They're filled with names, dates, and locations of people who have disappeared, all linked to something called The Covenant of the Hound. I feel a mixture of fear and determination as I slip the files into my bag.
With the evidence in hand, I know I have to do something about this. I can't just ignore it and hope it goes away. I decided to see if I could find anything else on The Covenant of the Hound. I search the dusty shelves and find an old, leather-bound book. The title page reads: "The Covenant of the Hound: Values".
I carefully open the book, expecting to find some twisted code or hidden message. Instead, I'm met with seemingly innocuous paragraphs about loyalty, obedience, and protection. As I read on, however, a darker undertone begins to emerge. The Covenant seems to be less about helping others and more about controlling them. There are mentions of ancient rituals and bloodlines and a monster demanding complete submission from his followers. In return, the Monster provides protection from any threats brought to the members. This had to be the Monster I saw in the cave.
Shaken by what I've read, I quickly close the book and put everything back in place. I can't help but feel a sense of dread as I make it to my desk. I know that I have to do something about this, but at the same time, my mind is running about who exactly is a part of the Covenant.
I decided to start with the files I found earlier and see if I could find any connections between the names on the list and Henry's friends or acquaintances. As I searched through the files, I came across Henry's note that he was meeting someone important early in the morning at a local diner. The time said 4:30am, an hour away. I decide to find the diner and wait for them.
I drive to the diner, parking my car discreetly down the street as I wait until I see them. I watch Henry's car pull up, and another person pulls up behind him. They exchange words before Henry hands something over, and the other man leaves. Henry returned to his car, likely heading to the station, so I did the same.
As I follow him, I can't help but feel a sense of dread in my stomach. I don't know what I will do, but I know I can't let him get away with whatever he's involved in. Maybe if I confront him, he'll tell me the truth. Perhaps he's not part of it, and this was a misunderstanding. But then, why did he have those files on his desk? And why did he meet that man at the diner? I decide to keep the information to myself and act like I know nothing as I park my car at the station.
I walk into the station, trying to act casual and approach the locker room. There's a strange atmosphere in the air today; everyone seems on edge. I quickly change into my uniform and head to my patrol car, hoping to avoid awkward conversations.
As I drive through the forest, I can't help but feel a sense of unease. Every shadow, every movement, every sound makes me jump. I try to push these thoughts away, telling myself that I'm just being paranoid.
When I get to my post, I notice Lauren sitting in her car. Was she waiting for me?
I get out and knock on her window to get her attention, and she rolls it down.
"Hey, you okay?" Lauren asks, noticing the look on my face.
I take a deep breath and try to compose myself before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just... I think I might have made a huge mistake." I tell her about finding the files in Henry's desk and seeing him at the diner earlier, giving something to a mysterious person. I leave out the part about the Covenant, just in case.
Lauren listens intently, her eyes narrowing as I speak. "And you think Henry's involved in something shady?" she asks.
I nod, feeling a mixture of fear and anger. "I don't know what to think, but I know I can't ignore it."
Lauren sighs, her expression softening. "Look, I can't confirm or deny anything, but I can tell you this: if you're worried about Henry, you should stay away from him. He's not who he seems."
I nod, feeling a mix of relief and fear. "What about you? Can I trust you?"
Lauren gives me a small smile. "You can trust me. I've been watching out for you, even before all this. I want to help you, but we need to be careful. The people you're dealing with are dangerous."
I nod, still not entirely sure what to think. "What do I do now?"
Lauren looks around, making sure no one is watching us. "We need to be careful. I can help you, but you need to trust me. And you need to understand that this goes deeper than you think. The people you're dealing with are powerful and dangerous."
"How do you know that?" I ask hesitantly.
"Let's just say I have my sources," Lauren replies cryptically. "Now, listen carefully. You need to keep your guard up at all times. The people you're dealing with are smart, and they're watching you. They'll try to make contact again, probably through someone close to you. You can't trust anyone."
As she says this, I can't help but feel a chill run down my spine. "So, what am I supposed to do? Just wait for them to make the first move?"
Lauren shakes her head. "No, you need to be proactive. You need to find out more about this secret society. You need to find out what they want from you and why they're after you. You need to figure out how to stop them. If my research is correct, we need to kill the Monster."
I take a deep breath, my heart racing. "Kill the Monster? What do you mean?"
"The secret society is called the Covenant," Lauren explains. "It's been around for generations, and it's behind some of the most horrific events in the town's history. They're led by a man called the Master, who you saw at the diner earlier. He has a pet name for the creature: the Dogman."
I don't know what to do with this information. Ironically, I trust her less now that I'm aware she has ties to this Covenant; even if they're loose ties, it still makes me weary. I try to gather my thoughts, but my mind feels like puzzle pieces. "So, what's our plan?" I ask, not seeing any other direction to turn.
Lauren leans in closer, her expression serious. "Our plan is to kill the monster."
I get into her cruiser, and we drive toward the cave, not knowing if I will make it past today alive.
"I don't understand why they're after me," I say as Lauren navigates the narrow path to the cave. "What do they want from me?"
"You know too much, James, and they know it. You've been asking questions about things you shouldn't have. You were getting close to something they've been trying to keep hidden for a long time. They want to control the information, and they can't do that if you keep digging." Lauren says as she parks the car, and we both get out.
She takes a deep breath, steeling herself before continuing. "They're not going to let you go easily. They'll come after you again, and getting away might not be easy next time. We need to be prepared. You need to trust me, and I need you to trust yourself."
I nod, feeling a mixture of fear and determination welling up inside me. "Okay," I say, taking a deep breath. "Then let's do this."
We approached the entrance to the cave, and I quickly set up bear traps that Lauren had stored in her cruiser. Lauren watches me intently, offering advice and suggestions when needed. As I work, I can't help but feel a strange sense of purpose, as if everything in my life has been leading up to this moment.
Once the traps are set, we both step back, our hearts pounding in our chests, "Now, we just wait." Lauren said
Hours have passed as we sit in a bush, out of sight, and still no creature or signs of anything. Lauren, ever so patiently, is chewing on her fingernails, making my stomach turn. I look at her, and she looks back at me, worry etched on her face. We've been sitting here for an eternity, and I'm curious if I've made the wrong choice. I should have run away, hidden somewhere, and tried to forget about this whole mess. But I can't shake the feeling that I'm not supposed to leave this place, that there's something more I need to do.
Hours pass as we tell each other our life stories. I must admit, at some points, I'd forgotten the danger we were in and found myself having fun. Lauren's an interesting person. She's lived a life of adventure. She's seen things that I can't even begin to imagine. And yet, here she is, sitting beside me, waiting for a monster to come out of a cave.
My eyes grow heavy as the sun starts to set. It's completely night when I open my eyes, and I panic, forgetting where I was and why. As it all starts coming back to me, I look for Lauren, but I don't see her anywhere. I get up, trying to stay quiet, to look at the traps. One is closed and has a blood trail leading to the cave entrance. I frantically look for Lauren but still don't see her. As I peer into the cave, I can see light flickering like the cave was lined with torches the further you go in. I continued to follow the torches with my flashlight in hand when I heard an uneven sound of giant footsteps behind me. When I turn around, I see the vast creature limping into the cave, so I find a crevasse to hide in.
As I carefully peer out, I see the creature limping slowly, periodically stopping to lick its wound. I try to shallow my breath and stay as quiet as possible. The light flickers brighter as it draws closer, and I can see it better now. It's massive, with skin like burnt leather and eyes that glow with an eerie yellow light. Its limbs are like a twisted and deformed wolf, moving with a strange, jerky grace.
As I carefully shift my weight, a small pebble, just big enough to make a noise, tumbles. The creature jerks its body in my direction and roars. It sounds like a mixture of a human screaming and a lion roaring. It takes a step closer to me, its yellow eyes piercing the darkness. I try calming my breathing, praying it doesn't hear or smell me. The creature takes another step and another, inching closer with each move. My heart feels like it's going to beat right out of my chest. I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to face this creature in a fair fight.
Just as I'm sure it's close enough to smell me, I hear what I can only assume is Lauren screaming at the top of her lungs. The creature quickly limps away, further into the cave. I'm momentarily relieved but then realize that I have to find her. I carefully follow the creature's trail, hoping it leads to Lauren. The cave winds deeper and deeper into the mountain, the air growing colder and more damp. As I round a bend, I see a flickering light in the distance. My heart pounds in my chest as I cautiously approach, wondering if it's Lauren or the society.
I enter a pitch-black round room. As I swing my flashlight, I can't see anything in the room until I hear Lauren whisper, "Pssst, James."
I go toward the sound, but I can't find anything. When I turn around, my flashlight catches the creature before me as it lunges toward me. I was able to jump out of the way, just in time, but he was able to scratch my cheek a bit, but nothing life-threatening. On the ground, I frantically search for something to defend myself with, and I find a sharp, long rock and pick it up.
I looked up and saw the creature lunging at me again, but this time, I wasn't fast enough to move as it grabbed me with one hand, tightly by my waist. It lifts me up to its face, but before it can do anything, I plunge the rock into its left eye as it drops me onto the floor.
It roars and stumbles around as it runs into the walls, falling to its knees periodically. I slide my body on my butt until I hit a wall. I get to my feet and follow the wall, making sure to avoid the stumbling creature. I finally found an entrance, but it's different from where I came in. Finally gaining composure, the creature sees me leave and stumbles toward me. I run deeper into the new tunnel, praying it leads to safety.
I hear voices further into it, and I sprint as I make my way into a room of about eight individuals dressed in brown cloaks. Some of them have a hood, hiding their faces. Startled by my entrance, they all look up, and I recognize most faces. Reggie, Henry, Freddy the theater owner, Larry the elementary school principal, and the most surprising one, Lauren.
One of the men I didn't recognize, who looked to be the leader, opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, the loud footsteps limping is heard echoing toward us. The man smiles wide and relaxes himself, likely confident he controls the creature. As I hear the footsteps, I run toward what I assume was the exit, but I'm tackled to the ground, and everyone cheers and laughs.
I look up and see Lauren on top of me, the one who tackled me. Her smile is horrifying and not at all like the Lauren I know. She leans close, her breath hot on my face as she whispers, "I'm sorry, James. I had to do it." The creature enters the room, still stumbling as it accidentally crushes two members under its foot, not seeing what it is doing. The leader begins screaming mysterious words that I can't remember, which seems like it snapped the creature out of its destructive ways for a second before realizing the pain in its eye again.
It continues destroying everything in its path indiscriminately, killing most of the Covenant members. Lauren was still on top of me, and neither of us was moving in shock about what we saw. I snapped out of it and used the moment to get the advantage, so I grabbed a nearby rock and hit Lauren over the head with it, causing her to fall to the ground, still conscious but unmoving. I run toward the exit, but I look back one more time and see the creature tearing bodies apart as blood and the screams of something I've never heard in my life fill the room.
As I run, I can faintly hear Lauren begging me to help her, but it turns into a blood-curdling scream that echoes in my ears to this day. Finding my way out took about half an hour, as the cave was like a maze. When I make it out, I head to Lauren's cruiser and dig through her stuff, hoping to find something to help destroy the cave entrance. Finally, after too many minutes, I see a pickaxe, which, thinking about it now, looks pretty odd. But then again, Lauren was never the person I thought she was.
I use the pick and attempt to remove enough rock on the sides so the top will cave in and cover the entrance. I was doing this for about 45 minutes when I heard the faded, limping footsteps of that creature heading out of the cave toward me. I hurried my pace, but I'd already done a good amount of work on both sides. My arms are starting to give, but my mind won't let them quit as I hear the footsteps, which are now accompanied by the roar and growl of the creature getting closer. I only have about 5 more minutes until it makes it to me.
As the growl gets louder, I finally remove enough rock, and it all comes tumbling down on top of the entrance, sealing it shut. I fall backward onto the ground, exhausted and out of breath, as the growling gets louder. When it finally reaches the caved entrance, I can hear it howling and roaring in anger.
Looking around, I see I'm now at the forest's edge. I stand up and walk away, still in shock at what had happened, not knowing where to go.
Walking, I feel something warm and sticky dripping down my arm. I look at it in horror and realize that it's blood. I've been wounded, somehow. I try to remember if it was from Lauren or the creature, but my mind is still reeling from the night's events.
I keep walking, figuring out where to go or what to do. The forest around me is eerily quiet, almost as if it's holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. The trees loom overhead, their branches swaying gently in the night breeze. I try to remain calm and focus on my surroundings, but the adrenaline from the attack keeps pumping through my veins.
I look down at my arm again and see that the blood is still seeping out, staining my shirt and dripping onto the forest floor. The pain begins to set in, and I realize I have no idea how badly I'm hurt. I can't get to a hospital in time; hell, I don't even know where I am. Feeling weak, I sit with my back against a tree and slowly fall asleep.
When I wake up, I'm in a hospital surrounded by doctors. I feel an immense pain in my arm as they wheel me into the ER. I pass out again and wake up four days later.
Doctors tell me that another ranger found me and brought me in. My heart sank as I thought of the possibility of the Covenant saving me for some reason. I started to panic and asked about discharge, but they told me that they had to do surgery on my arm since it had gotten too infected.
Long story short, I had to be sedated for a month straight, and I lost my arm. Every day, every moment I wasn't sedated was filled with panic. I dreamt of the creature and Lauren. The creature scared me, but Lauren's betrayal hurt me the most. I know I didn't know her for long, but she was the only one there for me. I now realize that she was probably planted to ensure I stayed away, and when she realized I wasn't going to back down, she led me to a trap.
The doctors kept telling me I was lucky to be alive, but I didn't feel lucky. I felt like a failure. A month passed, and I finally fully woke up from the sedation, feeling restless and angry. I demanded a discharge, and after hours of arguing, I was back on the streets.
That was eight years ago, and I still dream of the creature and Lauren every night. Whenever I have trouble with my missing arm, I think of them. At this point in my head, they have become the same Monster.

I wasn't exactly expecting for my previous post to get as many comments as it did (I tried replying to all of you but there's something like 800 comments on it... Sorry if I never did), and so now there is a lot of people that wanted an update on what happened once I graduated. This is gonna be a pretty long post btw I'm sorry in advance, lot of shit happened yesterday during graduation.
Here's a reminder if someone here reading doesn't want to go read my other post, if anyone wants to skip all this scroll down until you see the dashes. I am a kid who has bad social anxiety because I have been homeschooled my entire life and have never had a single friend before for 16 years. But in 2022 I bit the bullet and decided to go to school after my sister convinced me to. I shockingly managed to obtain Salutatorian status, and because of that, the school made me do a lot of things that I didn't exactly want to do but had to do regardless because of my status... One of those things being: perform a speech in front of hundreds of people at graduation.
So, you see where things start to screw up here right? You're putting a kid who has been alone and in solitude their entire life up on stage in front of everyone... and those are two things that don't mix.
My counselor was the one to have first told me about this speech about a month or go in advance, and she's kind so I told her my issues I have with anxiety, she said she understood and tried to find some compromises for me, so I wasn't worried too much at the time. But then a month later, our one teacher (who is the wife of the principal... and no one there likes her because she's honestly very rude and she has also tried sabotaging a kid previously a year or two back. The woman practically runs the school, she makes all the decisions despite the fact she's just a teacher) tells me that I need to write up a speech and send it to her, keep in mind this is during class and she's saying this all out loud, I tell her that I have issues with speaking (I mean, she should already notice that, she already brings up a lot that I just sit in the corner and do my work and be quiet, that's not for no reason...) and then I tell her what my counselor told me, and she's sitting there like "UH no, you have to do a speech, I've never had this happen before I've never had a kid come up and ask me this before. The speech is a requirement." then she laughed, right in front of the whole damn class, like damn woman... Anyway, she was really snooty about it and so I just shut up and nodded before going back to my work. Well, an hour later I'm in class and then the principal of all people come in and tells me to come with him. Queue more anxiety and everyone is looking at me cause like... the principal just walked in. I go out with him to the hallway and he just tells me again that its required and to just suck it up and write the speech and I'll be fine. Meanwhile, his wife is literally hiding in the room nearby listening (cause I'm sure it was her that made him come tell me). I'm standing there trying not to cry because I can't stand confrontation and I'm getting worried over graduation.
So, that is the day I make the original post to figure out whether or not they can withhold my diploma or transcript from me if I choose to skip out on graduation (because I honestly don't doubt that this woman would try to do something against me because she has to another kid. And actually last year they 'forgot' to give me and another kid some of our awards, and coincidentally the other kid is another one she doesn't like, and I don't think she likes me either because she hates my sister and my sister was a teacher there before). Anyway, I started googling if they legally could if I did a no-show, verdict showed that no, they legally couldn't and if they did I could most likely get them in trouble for it. So, my plan ever since then was to not go to it. I told my dad, he was supportive of anything I did, my sister understood, and I thought I could get my mom to support me but... for weeks we kept fighting over it and she'd cry to me for hours because she wanted me to go but I kept telling her over and over I have anxiety I can't do it, like I physically feel ill when I'm talking in front of others. I can handle just walking in front of people cause I know not everyone's looking at me, but during speeches literally *all* attention is on me. It's not so much the fear of embarrassing myself because I couldn't care less what people think about me, I just hate having attention on me. I've been trying to get better at it by doing presentations and mock interviews and some other stuff too, but I still freeze up and shake and can't get my words out because I'm literally not used to talking out loud. I've had literally no one to talk to my whole life except for like my mom because my sister is way older than me and has a family elsewhere, and my parents are divorced, so it was literally just me and my mom and she was always gone for work from like day to night so I never saw her anyway. I'm sure a lot of people here will downplay it because you're not in my shoes, but I'd say that bad of anxiety is to be expected when yourself is the only person you know.
I'm going on a rant, so anyway, weeks of fighting leads to my mom admitting defeat and accepting the fact I wasn't going to go. I had two other ceremonies (an awards ceremony and baccalaureate) that I told her I'd go to, plus I have my college one which will be next year, so she finally said alright. I go to the other two and things feel good, this was wednesday and I felt like it was all going to be okay cause I was just gonna skip out on graduation and go home and be free.
------------Thursday----------- It's the final day of school, I show up to go do the graduation practice anyway to help with setting it all up (cause all of us seniors is supposed to go decorate and set up all the chairs etc.) and also they take us out to eat. Alright so here's where things get fucky, because I didn't plan on going to graduation, I was saying bye to the few friends I somehow managed to make during school, and gave one of them my national honor society stole thing to them for them to return it to the school AFTER graduation was done (because we couldn't keep those, it was supposed to be given back after graduation). I specifically tell her AFTER graduation because I was actually planning on coming back that night for pictures that they do before the ceremony, and then I was gonna dip before anyone noticed (my mom was begging me to go do pictures at least, otherwise I probably would've skipped it too), so I didn't want my teacher bitching at me some more while I was there taking photos.
Emphasis on "after". ...My friend didn't do it after. 6pm rolls around and we're heading to the school for pictures and I get a text in the parking lot of my teacher saying that my friend returned my stole and that if I don't do my speech I'll lose all my scholarships and my Salutatorian status and medals/awards. I sit there fuckin bewildered and I was already feeling sick from eating earlier and now I was feeling horrible. My mom and sister are there and this starts a huge argument between all of us because now I don't want to go in because the teachers now know I was planning on skipping, my friend snitched on me for some reason, and now I was going to lose everything because of a stupid ass speech. My mom is pissed at my teacher for forcing me to do this, she's yelling in the parking lot which is making me and my sister embarrassed. I feel like I'm going to throw up then and there. My mom threatens to go cause a huge scene with my teacher if I don't go in there and take pictures, I'm begging and pleading her for us to just leave but I'm sitting there trying not to cry but no one's listening to me. She starts walking to the school and we're yelling after her and then my sister starts getting mad at me and telling me to go get my ass up there and take the pictures because otherwise my mom is about to embarrass us a lot more by causing a scene in front of *everyone*. I panic and throw myself out of the car and run after her and tell her I'll take pictures and for her to stop.
I show up and my friends are very confused to see me, and apparently other kids knew too because they were shocked to see me too and I honestly just wanted to run away and just go live in the woods cause I cannot handle people man, this is honestly one of the worst things I've ever been through. My teacher spots me and she's like wtf, I tell her I'm just there for photos and she gives me back my stole for a bit to take pictures. Then she pulls me aside again and tells me to reconsider going to graduation because I'm a salutatorian and have to do my speech and blah blah blah... Again, I can't stand confrontation, I'm yet again standing there avoiding looking at her trying not to cry. She finally leaves me be to think on it and then I go take the rest of my pictures, and then my counselor sees me and pulls me aside this time. Thank god for this woman honestly, she's really nice to everyone and helpful. She tells me she understands I'm afraid, and that if I want I can just go up and say thank you and go down. This genuinely does make me reconsider because it's just not worth losing all my shit over a speech. They were all waiting on my decision (literally the ceremony was being delayed because of ME) so I gave in and just said okay fine I'll do it.
Graduation went on as normal, they called me up, it was kinda awkward cause all of the other Sals and the Val had long speeches and I just went up, cleared my throat, and said "Thank you all for coming out to tonights graduation ceremony", shook hands with the principal, walked back to me seat.
The end part was a bit awkward too cause my teachers came up and tried comforting me but I really don't like people doing that. I said goodbye to my friends, and headed home. Couldn't sleep lastnight but, I got it over with I guess. Even though school is over I still feel anxiety over it and probably will for a long time because honestly yesterday was the most stress I felt in years and my family didn't make it any easier, and I'd really rather have skipped all of it so that I wouldn't have had to go through that, but at least I have my scholarships and status still for my resumes I guess...
Some of you guys said that I would've regretted it if I didn't go, but honestly, I would have felt so much better if I didn't. The school didn't teach me shit and most of the people there sucked, including teachers, if it weren't for my status and all that then I would have never worried about going. Ceremonies don't mean anything to me, people say "Oh your whole life has led up to this point", like no it hasn't, my life isn't over yet, all of my effort I put into school was not so that I could go to a ceremony it was so I could get an education and experience to help me in life. Sorry for the long post, I'll try to take time to reply to you all since you all went out of your way to comment. Sorry if I don't immediately respond, thanks for reading to anyone that suffered through this rambling.

I’m unable to work or live completely independently because of my Autism, but I still live what I consider to be a happy and meaningful life. I participate in sports and cooking classes for people with developmental disabilities, which I really enjoy, and I’m going to start volunteering this summer. I have other Autistic friends, as well as some typically developing friends.
I have a support staff of four people who alternate every morning for two hours and every evening for two hours. They support me to live semi-independently in the community.
To briefly answer the questions every AMA includes—I’m 24, and I was diagnosed at age 9. I may have been diagnosed earlier had I come into foster care and gotten medical attention at a younger age—before I came into care I had never seen a doctor. I didn’t attend school until I came into care, and when I came into care I attended only public school from there on out, both in a separate classroom and in a mainstream classroom—my days were a mix. I was diagnosed before levels with moderate Autism, so I would guess I’d be a level two were I to be diagnosed today.
I had therapies after coming into care, including speech therapy and social skills training. I can’t answer the question about the age I began speaking (my birth parents were not reliable sources of information), but I know I spoke by the time I was taken into care at age nine. My speech was very, very difficult for other people to understand until I took some speech therapy. I’m completely verbal now, and while I had verbal shutdowns into my late teens, I haven’t had any in many years.

Previously, on Hell’s Kitchen…
The final 10 were given a challenge not seen in over a decade, creating their own menus in the revival of Red vs Blue Menu Night. While the blue team worked together, with a strong concept provided by Melody, the red team found themselves being led by Thomas, whether they liked it or not. However, as the chefs were returning to the kitchen to begin cooking their dishes, disaster struck, as Travis re-injured his ankle, and had to be taken to the hospital. Despite being down a man, and Grace feeling shortchanged by not getting anything on the menu, the blue team’s cohesive selection still managed to impress Ramsay and his special guests: three previous winners of Hell’s Kitchen. The red team’s menu had mixed results, which led to friction between Thomas and some of his teammates
In service, the blue team’s menu had the edge in popularity, but thanks to poor communication between Grace and Carole, the kitchen ground to a halt multiple times. Meanwhile, the red kitchen managed to push out their food in a timely manner thanks to strong teamwork on entrees. With the red team named the winners of service, it was time for the blue team to nominate two chefs to send home.
At elimination, though, everyone was in for a shock when Travis, who had been one of the early favorites, returned and announced that due to injury, he would be leaving Hell’s Kitchen for good. Ramsay still insisted on hearing from the blue team’s nominees, who were Grace, Carole and Melody after they failed to come to a consensus. But with Travis’ dream of becoming the next head chef at Gordon Ramsay Steak in Vancouver, British Columbia already having come to a heartbreaking end, Ramsay gave everyone another chance to show him why they were the chef he was looking for, but assured them that he was not taking any more excuses from now on.
https://reddit.com/link/1ctwn9g/video/oifsieupww0d1/player
And now, the continuation of Hell’s Kitchen…
After witnessing the shocking withdrawal of Travis from the competition, no one was in a celebratory mood as Ramsay dismissed them to the dorms for the night. Carole said in her confessional that he had been the main one supporting her in the blue team, and now it felt like she was truly on her own. As the blue team returned to the dorms, a very upset Melody unleashed her frustration, saying that Travis did not deserve to go home tonight over either Carole and Grace, and they needed to cut the bullshit and start thinking and working as a team. Lauren said in her confessional that it seemed like something snapped in Melody tonight, as she was well and truly fed up with the drama, which definitely made two of them. Even so, after noticing that Melody was sitting alone and nearly in tears, Lauren went over to comfort her, as Melody admitted that she hated to have to talk that way to her teammates, but she was sick and tired of the drama. Lauren assured her that it had to be said, and was proud of her for stepping up. Meanwhile, Grace said in her confessional that Melody seemed to be losing her composure, and would hopefully go down in flames soon.
On the red team’s side of the dorm, Faye was also feeling sadness over the way Travis had gone out, as she admitted to Michael that it reminded her too much of her own exit last season, only at least she had made the choice to walk away, while Travis never had one. Meanwhile, another chef had mixed feelings on the sudden turn of events, as Thomas said in his confessional that Travis had been a strong chef and a good person, and while losing him would cut the competition down, he would have rather seen him go out with dignity. Ramona and Everett, meanwhile, continued to stick closely together, with Ramona saying in her confessional that it felt good to have the security of the immunity pass, because she and Everett were definitely the most likely to be nominated if service went wrong, though she admitted she would feel some guilt if he went out because of it, but this was her career and future at stake. Everett said in his confessional that he couldn’t afford to worry about what might happen if he went up on the chopping block, and was just focused on trying to help the red team win.
The chefs were still trying to take in all the events of the night, but finally, tiredness overtook them, and they turned in for the night.
Challenge
The next day, the final 9 came downstairs to find Ramsy waiting for them, as well as a detailed diagram of a cow. Ramsay explained that he still had not forgotten the disaster that was Steak Night, and that was why, for this next challenge, he wanted to give both teams a chance to prove how far they had come by preparing dishes using five cuts: ribeye, top sirloin, hanger, flank, and striploin. Thomas said in his confessional that the red team had no business fucking this up, as they had several chefs who were strong on the meat station in services, while Lauren was nervous in her confessional, as she wasn’t sure about Grace or Carole. Since the blue team had one less member, one chef would have to prepare two dishes, which Lauren volunteered to do. With their instructions having been given, Ramsay told the chefs that their time started now.
The chefs rushed into their respective kitchens and quickly tried to sort out who would be responsible for which cuts of steak. In the blue kitchen, Lauren decided to take on the hanger and flank steak, while Grace took the ribeye, over Carole’s objections, and Carole was left with the striploin, while Melody took the top sirloin. Grace said in her confessional that she fought for this ribeye and she was going to carry her team to victory whether they liked it or not, while Carole said she would’ve felt much safer if anyone else were cooking the ribeye besides Grace. While Carole still seemed undecided on which direction to go with her New York Strip, at least one chef already had her dish planned out, and that was Melody, who went into detail in her confessional on how she wanted to plate her top sirloin. Meanwhile, Lauren was working hard to manage two separate cuts of meat, saying in her confessional that taking on the extra workload could either make her look really good in front of Chef Ramsay or totally blow up in her face.
In the red kitchen, Thomas was on the top sirloin, Ramona had the ribeye, Faye had hanger steak, Michael had flank steak, and Everett had striploin. Ramona said in her confessional that she had to deliver on the ribeye, as she already had the most losses of any chef here, and didn’t need to add any more to her resume with black jackets approaching. Thomas was confident that he could handle the top sirloin, as he said in his confessional that no one still here should have any issues cooking meat, and he would be disappointed in himself if he didn’t achieve perfection on this dish. Michael noticed Ramona seemed to be having some trouble with her ribeye, and tried to offer some advice, but Ramona said in her confessional that she had to do this alone, and told him she had it under control. Michael was annoyed, saying in his confessional that this was still a team effort, and it was no time to let egos get in the way. Meanwhile, Faye and Everett were seemingly in good spirits, with Everett saying in his confessional that meat was where he felt the most at home, and if he failed at this challenge, he might as well go home now, while Faye said in her confessional that it was nice to see Everett so energetic, and she hoped his dish could match that.
With the time nearly up, the chefs put the finishing touches on their dishes as Ramsay called out the final seconds and told the chefs to bring their plates to the pass. Ramsay then announced that he would be joined by a special guest judge for this competition, who was a familiar face to viewers of MasterChef: Ramsay’s former co-host on that show, Graham Elliot. The chefs were starstruck, with Melody saying in her confessional Graham was the best, and easily her favorite judge on MasterChef…after Ramsay, of course. After exchanging a warm greeting, Ramsay said it was time to get down to business, starting with the battle of the flank steak. This round would pit Lauren against Michael, with Michael saying in his confessional that this was his first time going against Lauren in a challenge, and he knew it wouldn’t be easy to take her down, given how consistently strong she had been. After tasting Lauren’s dish, both Ramsay and Elliot had high praise, saying the meat was tender and nicely cooked, although Elliot did say he might have done something different for the garnish. Lauren was second-guessing herself in her confessional, but In the end, both judges gave it four stars out of five. Michael said in his confessional that as expected, Lauren put up a good dish, but he was confident in his as well. Indeed, Michael’s flank steak was also found to be nicely cooked, and despite the somewhat simple presentation, Ramsay said this was a great start for both teams, as again, both he and Elliot each gave it a four.
With the score tied at 8, it was time for the battle of the hanger steak. Lauren stayed where she was while Faye brought her dish up to the pass. Elliot was impressed that Lauren had cooked two dishes for the challenge, although he noted that the hanger steak could’ve used a little more cooking time, which Ramsay agreed with, saying that was the one thing holding it back, and Lauren kicked herself in her confessional, as she said she should have been able to stay on top of it. Elliot only gave it a three due to the undercooked steak, though Ramsay said it still delivered enough flavor to get a four. Faye’s dish also got mixed reviews, as both chefs praised the cook of the meat, but questioned her garnish choices, with Ramsay pointing out that the presentation seemed slightly off. Elliot said she got the most important part right though, and gave it a four, to which Ramsay agreed, which put the red team ahead 16-15. In the third round, the teams’ ribeye dishes went head to head, for which Ramona and Grace stepped forward. Unfortunately for Ramona, her ribeye was badly overcooked, and Ramsay took her to task for serving something practically inedible to him and his guest. Ramona groaned in her confessional, as she couldn’t believe she had fucked up this badly. Both judges gave her a one, and Ramsay said she was lucky to get even that. Grace’s dish got mixed reviews, with Ramsay saying the presentation was shocking, while Elliot noted that the ribeye again was overcooked, though not nearly as much as Ramona’s. Ramsay said this was not what he expected from these chefs at this stage of the game, and gave Grace a one, but Elliot was more generous and gave it a two, as at least it had some flavor.
With the scores now tied at 18, it was time for the battle of the top sirloin, as Thomas and Melody brought their dishes forward. Melody’s dish earned praise for it’s stylish presentation and garnish, and after tasting the steak itself, Ramsay noted that it was cooked perfectly, and said this dish was a strong four, but Elliot went a step further and said it deserved a five, which made Melody giddy in her confessional, as she never could have imagined hearing those words before. Next was Thomas, with Elliot again noting the stunning presentation, and after tasting, he said that these two had really raised the bar today. Ramsay agreed and said it was the best pair of dishes yet, and this time, he would be giving out a five. Elliot agreed, giving Thomas a perfect score, which he took with a calm smile in his confessional, as he said Melody gave him a good run, but he never had any doubts. With the red team now back in the lead 28-27, it was time for the final round, as Everett and Carole would face off in the battle of the New York Strip. Everett went first, with Elliot saying, after a long pause…that the strip was absolutely delicious. Ramsay agreed, also praising the presentation, and said this was one of Everett’s best dishes yet in Hell’s Kitchen, as that deserved a very strong four. Elliot gave the same score, bringing the red team’s total up to an impressive 36, meaning Carole needed close to a perfect score to keep the blue team in it. Everett was absolutely fired up in his confessional, saying this was just the boost that he needed, and there was no stopping him now. Meanwhile, Carole presented her dish, which got good marks for presentation, but as Elliot sliced into the strip, he said it looked undercooked, to which Ramsay agreed, and said it was a great shame. Though it was only a formality, both Elliot and Ramsay gave the dish a two, giving the red team a 36-31 win.
Reward / Punishment
Ramsay thanked Elliot for helping him judge the challenge, and once he had left, Ramsay turned back to the chefs and congratulated the red team on winning the challenge, in particular praising the efforts of Everett and Thomas. He then said they were in for a fun reward, as he was sending all of them off for a day of paintball, followed by dinner at an exquisite LA steakhouse. Ramona was relieved in her confessional, as she knew she could have blown it for the red team with her ribeye, while Everett was ecstatic to have redeemed himself in this challenge, as he said in his confessional that he was still a beast at cooking meat. While the red team ran off to get changed, Ramsay turned his attention to the blue team and said that for today’s punishment, he had decided to put it towards a good cause by volunteering them for community service, which meant picking up trash on the side of the road. Grace moaned in her confessional, as she said that they always seemed to save the worst punishments for her. Ramsay reminded Melody that she still had that punishment pass, and offered to let her use it. Melody replied that she was never a paintball type of girl, and would rather help out the environment. Ramsay accepted her choice and told the blue team that they too would be changing…into their stunning orange uniforms.
The red team came back downstairs, and Michael joked in his confessional that it looked like Hell’s Kitchen had turned into a prison, while Faye apologetically said goodbye. While on the way to the paintball ground, the red team talked amongst themselves in the car, with Thomas saying that no one else was going home from the red team, and Michael agreed, saying they were all getting black jackets. Faye wondered aloud who their biggest competition might be from the blue team, but everyone quickly agreed that Lauren was the strongest. Ramona said in her confessional that she knew everyone was sleeping on her, but she would simply have to prove them wrong in service. Later, the chefs arrived at the paintball ground, and Faye said she hoped none of them would go easy on her just because she was a woman. Everett joked that she had nothing to worry about there, and the team ended up having an enjoyable afternoon, with Ramona and Everett trying to team up against Thomas, but he was able to shoot both of them. Michael said in his confessional that it felt great to just get outside and let loose without having to do some exhausting punishment. As evening approached, the red team were then taken to dinner, which Everett said in his confessional was some of the finest quality steak he had ever tasted, though not quite as good as the home cooking back in Oklahoma, which got some laughs from the others. Faye said that the next winner was sitting right here at this table, to which the others enthusiastically toasted, and the chefs continued to bond as a team over their meal.
While the red team were living the good life, the blue team were working in the hot sun to ensure that the environment could do the same. While the others tried to get on with their task, though, Grace’s constant complaining quickly got on all of their nerves, as Carole said in exasperation in her confessional that they were all well aware of the fact that Grace didn’t want to be here, and she didn’t need to broadcast it every five seconds. Lauren joked with Melody that she wouldn’t mind going on that paintball reward just to take a few shots at Grace, which Melody said in her confessional was tough to argue with, as even her optimistic outlook was being challenged right now by Grace’s incessant whining. Carole said in her confessional that she and Grace were definitely the most vulnerable on the team, but as long as Grace kept this up, she was making the decision easy for everyone, and as far as Carole was concerned, that was perfectly fine. Despite having their patience tested, the blue team worked through their physically exhausting community service and, for the most part, left feeling that at least some good had come of it.
Back in Hell’s Kitchen, the blue team arrived first and tried to unwind in the dorms until the red team returned later in the night. Grace quickly became annoyed with the red team talking about their reward, while Ramona said in her confessional that she didn’t mind rubbing it in her old rival’s face a bit. Lauren said in her confessional that the red team could have this one, as she was keeping her eyes on service. As the night dragged on, another topic came up, that being Travis, as everyone on the blue team aside from Grace admitted to missing him, and Lauren jokingly said even the punishments just weren’t the same now. Faye sympathized, as she said it was tough to watch a chef who had put everything on the line and pushed through an injury go out like that, even if this was a competition. Thomas agreed and said that everyone here deserved a chance to fight for their dream, as for these chefs, it was a potentially life changing opportunity, and he knew he would be devastated to lose it. Michael said in his confessional that it was no time for fucking around anymore, as they all needed to cook like it was their last night in Hell’s Kitchen.
The chefs chatted amongst themselves for a while longer before finally trying to get some sleep.
Pre-Service
The next day, the chefs went downstairs to begin prep, as Ramsay said that this was the stage in the competition where he wanted to see the best begin to shine, and warned that there would be nowhere to hide for chefs who were struggling to keep up. With that, he told the blue team that despite being a man down, he expected absolutely nothing less than a stellar performance, and told the red team not to get too comfortable with their challenge win, as they still needed to be locked in for service. With all nine chefs seemingly read to go, Ramsay allowed them to get started on prep.
In the blue kitchen, Melody and Lauren were in good spirits, though Melody admitted she still missed having Travis here, despite the fact that the blue team was all women now. Carole said in her confessional that the ladies should have no problems taking this service, as while she didn’t mind the format change, having all girls on one team was how it was done in the old days, and it would be even better if Grace was gone. Grace, meanwhile, seemed to be in a bad mood after her ribeye flopped in the challenge, as she said in her confessional that it couldn’t have been as bad as Ramsay said, as much as she respected his opinion, and refused to acknowledge Melody’s attempts to talk to her. Melody said in her confessional that nobody wanted Grace here, but the least she could do was try to reach out, as futile as it seemed. Lauren said in her confessional that in order for the blue team to win tonight, they needed Carole and Grace to step up big time, as she and Melody couldn’t do all the work here.
While the blue team was hoping for a miracle, the red team seemed loose and ready to go, with Michael saying that he had a good feeling about tonight, as there were no excuses for losing to the blue team now. Ramona said to Everett that this was their redemption night, with Everett agreeing and saying they were going to kick some culinary ass, and Faye said it was great to see both of them committed to bouncing back and leading the red team to another win. Everett replied that Grace was going home tonight for sure, which got some laughs from the others, as Michael said in his confessional that this was the one thing he was sure literally everyone else could agree on. Thomas, though, said in his confessional that everyone being this hyped up actually worried him, as he hoped they weren’t getting distracted and forgetting that they still had to earn the win. Michael encouraged him to lighten up, as they had a virtual all-star team here, but Thomas still maintained his serious demeanor, with Ramona saying in her confessional that this guy seriously needed to get a hobby.
Ramsay reminded the chefs again that he was looking for these chefs to show him why they deserved to become the head chef of Gordon Ramsay Steak, and with that, he called out to Marino and told him to open Hell’s Kitchen.
Dinner Service
Guests began to enter Hell’s Kitchen by the dozens, as it was once again the center of the culinary world for tonight, filled to the brim with celebrities and Hollywood elites. It was not long before orders began to make their way back to both kitchens.
In the blue kitchen, they were looking to Grace on appetizers and Carole on fish to give the blue team an early edge, while Lauren was on garnish and Melody was on meat. Early on, Grace managed to successfully deliver her first table of lobster tail risottos and capellini, with nicely cooked tails from Carole along with an acceptable order of scallops. Carole said in her confessional that they absolutely needed to keep this up, as both of them were effectively cooking for their lives right now. Unfortunately, communication issues cropped up again, with Grace not talking to Carole and bringing up her dishes without waiting for Carole’s scallops. Ramsay called out for the scallops, saying food was dying at the pass, and demanded to know why the fuck they couldn’t just work together as a team. Carole did eventually bring up the scallops, but they were raw, much to Ramsay’s disgust, and Grace said in her confessional that Carole just needed to get out of here as she clearly wasn’t cutting it. Despite these issues, and an overly salty risotto from Grace, the blue team did manage to finally start getting appetizers out into the dining room, with Ramsay even praising Grace’s risottos at one point, and telling her that’s what she could do if she would focus more on cooking than starting shit with her team. The blue team did eventually complete appetizers and began working on entrees.
In the red kitchen, Everett was working appetizers, while Michael was on fish, Ramona was on garnish, and Thomas and Faye were together on meat. Everett was glad to be working closely with Michael again, as he said in his confessional that they made a good team in the last service on meat. Early on, that familiarity seemed to be paying off, as Everett and Michael worked in sync with each other on the first few tickets and got their orders out in a timely fashion. Things did get bumpy, however, when Everett served mushy, overcooked capellini, and started dragging on orders, while Michael served overcooked scallops due to them getting mixed up on their times. Michael said in his confessional that they needed to get it together quickly, as they couldn’t afford to be falling behind so early in service. Meanwhile, Ramsay wanted to know where the energy was, as right now, Everett was going quiet and not responding when asked for times, and nothing was going out. Michael urged Everett to wake up and fight through it, and Everett did manage to get his next attempt at the capellini accepted. In his confessional, Everett said he was trying his best to keep it together, and admitted he had been thrown off his game, but he was far from done. With Everett’s newfound determination, the red kitchen finally had some life again, and after Ramsay praised both Michael’s scallops and Everett’s risottos, the two of them managed to get their rhythm back and serve the rest of their tables.
In the blue kitchen, they looked fo Melody to lead the way from the meat station, and thanks to strong communion between her, Lauren on garnish, and Carole on fish, they managed to get their dishes to the pass for the first table, but Carole’s turbot was undercooked, which left the entire order waiting for her, but she was able to recover quickly on her second attempt. On meat, Melody said in her confessional that it was pretty overwhelming to have to serve all of the blue team’s customers by herself for the first time, but despite dragging a bit on orders, she managed to push high quality Wellingtons and New York Strip out into the dining room consistently. Lauren, meanwhile, seemed at home driving tickets from the garnish station, and the blue team was finally starting to settle into a groove. Melody did serve a rare New York Strip, while Carole served raw turbot, but both were able to bounce back, and entrees were soon flying out to grateful diners. Melody and Lauren once again had no problems communicating and working in sync from their stations, with Lauren saying in her confessional that she and Melody could probably run the kitchen by themselves. But it was Carole who once again held up the kitchen when she inexplicably fired off halibut despite it not being on the ticket, which got her schooled by Ramsay for not paying attention to the ticket when he was standing less than five feet away. Despite this, the blue team managed to complete the rest of their entrees, and were soon ready to get started on desserts.
The red team was starting on entrees with Thomas and Faye on the meat station, and Faye said in her confessional that with meat being a station she felt comfortable in, she hoped tonight could be the night she stood out for the red team. On the first ticket, she and Thomas managed to serve beautifully cooked Wellingtons and New York Strip, along with nicely cooked turbot from Michael, but Ramona was holding the table up by dragging on garnish. Though she eventually managed to bring it up, Ramona would continue to drag on her section, frustrating her team, but especially Ramsay, as he kept calling out for times, with Ramona becoming flustered and not responding to her team. Ramona said in her confessional that the nerves were absolutely getting to her right now, and she seriously needed to bounce back. Meanwhile, Faye ran into some trouble on her Wellingtons, as she undercooked them for one table and said she would need several minutes for a refire, though she was able to recover. Thomas also had a rare mistake as he served undercooked New York Strip, and Ramsay said he didn't expect that from the executive chef. Thomas kicked himself in his confessional, saying that could not happen again, and he did manage to serve a beautiful New York Strip on his refire. However, on the next ticket, Ramona served a pot of runny mashed potatoes, and also seemed lost on what was actually going, as she couldn’t recall the ticket when Ramsay asked her. Ramsay had seen enough and took her into the pantry, asking her what the fuck she was doing, and if it was some kind of joke to her. Ramona insisted it wasn’t and said it was just nerves, but Ramsay replied that she needed to shake those nerves right now, or he would send her out the front door, immunity pass or not. Ramona said in her confessional that it was do or die, and she did manage to finally serve acceptable garnishes. Faye was still dragging on Wellingtons, which frustrated Ramsay, but finally, the red team managed to complete their remaining entrees.
Both teams finished their desserts in good time, and Ramsay told them to clear down.
Post-Mortem
Ramsay had the teams line up and started by saying that this was still not the complete performance he had been looking for. For the blue team, appetizers had been underwhelming, but they improved on entrees. For the red team, it was a decent start on apps, followed by a nightmare on entrees. However, he noted that one team in particular had a slight edge, and that was the blue team, as despite their issues, their customer comment cards gave them a satisfaction rating of 90%, to 84% from the red team. Ramsay said that the fiasco on entrees cost the red team this service, and told them to think long and hard about which two should be going up for elimination tonight. With that, he dismissed both teams to the dorms.
Back in the dorms, the red team’s deliberations were kicked off by Thomas, as he said he hoped everyone could agree that Ramona had dropped the ball tonight on garnish. The others seemed to agree, with Michael saying it was her worst performance in a while. Ramona only half-heartedly fought back, as she said she was better than this, and knew she still deserved to be here, but said if they wanted to put her up, it was their choice. In her confessional, she said she knew that immunity pass wouldn’t last forever, and it was better to get her bad service out of the way now, than during black jackets. With the first nominee having been an easy choice, the second would be more challenging, as Everett acknowledged that Michael and Thomas both had great services despite each having a mistake, and didn’t deserve to go up, which left either him or Faye. Thomas said that he felt Faye had struggled on meat, and that Ramsay rightfully had high expectations of both of them, due to his experience and her being a past chef, so he would vote for her. Michael, though, said that he had to vote for Everett, as he was just too inconsistent at this stage. Faye seemed torn but said she had to vote for Everett, even though they were friends, as he had struggled the most of the available options. Ramona was left with the deciding vote, and said in her confessional that it was impossibly difficult, as Faye had been a mentor for her here, while she had also bonded with Everett.
On the blue team’s side of the dorm, everyone was pleased to have won service and avoided having to send anyone home…well, almost everyone. Lauren admitted to Melody that it sucked having to put up with Grace for another day, while Melody tried to get her to think more positively, as if they were winning with Grace on their team, Ramsay definitely had to be taking notice. Lauren smiled and said she was definitely right about that, and the two of them continued chatting together while Carole sat off by herself and pondered her future in Hell’s Kitchen, In her confessional, she said she was damn lucky that the blue team won tonight, as she and Grace would have gone up otherwise, and that could have been it for her and her dream. Meanwhile, Grace felt that she had done well, and could have done even better without Carole getting in the way, saying in her confessional that it would be nice to get rid of dead weight, but she would settle for seeing someone from the red team go home.
Elimination Ceremony
The red team entered the dining room anxiously and lined up before Ramsay, who said that this was supposed to be the best five on the red team, but instead, it looked like two completely different teams, and while he didn’t know what the hell was going on, he was going to get to the bottom of it. With that, he asked Thomas for the red team’s first nominee and why. Thomas announced that the red team had nominated Ramona, due to her terrible performance on garnish, and being the weakest chef on the team. Ramsay asked for the second nominee and why. Thomas hesitated briefly before announcing that…the red team was nominating Everett, due to his declining performances and up and down service on appetizers. Before getting to any elimination pleas, though, Ramsay told Ramona to step forward and had her hand over the immunity pass. As she did so, Ramsay said that if not for the pass, Ramona would have gone home tonight, and urged her to take advantage of this second chance, before sending her back in line. Ramona appeared visibly shaken as she went to rejoin the red team. Ramsay said that the red team now had 30 seconds to talk amongst themselves and come up with another nominee. In the huddle, the chefs quickly determined that Faye would go up, as she had been their other consideration. As they broke the huddle, Thomas announced that Faye was the red team’s new nominee. Ramsay accepted this and told Everett and Faye to step forward.
Deliberation music
First, Ramsay asked Faye why she should stay in Hell’s Kitchen.
Faye: “My time away from Hell’s Kitchen gave me a whole new perspective on cooking, it made me realize why I’m doing this. It’s for my family, it’s for me, I can’t imagine doing anything else. That’s why I’ll never give up on myself or my team.”
Ramsay asked Faye if she thought she was a better chef than Everett.
Faye: “...Everett is a fighter, chef, and a good teammate, but yes, I do believe I’m stronger than him in terms of consistency and leadership.”
Ramsay moved on to Everett, asking him why he should stay in Hell’s Kitchen.
Everett: “This competition is a marathon, chef. I’ve had my ups and downs, I’ve had my stumbles, but I feel like I’m just on the cusp of hittin’ my stride.”
Ramsay said he had been waiting and waiting for Everett to emerge, and it seemed like he was trending downwards.
Everett: “I’ve had a slump, chef, I ain’t gonna deny that. But I’m fightin’ through it. I know I can be your next head chef.”
Ramsay asked Everett if he thought he was a stronger chef than Faye.
Everett: “Chef…”
Dramatic music
Ramsay waited on Everett’s answer, and after a tense moment, he finally spoke…
Everett: “Chef…at this time, no, I can’t say that I am.”
Faye glanced over at Everett in shock, as did everyone else from the red team, and even some of the blue team.
Ramsay: “I appreciate the honesty. Please, give me your jacket, your time is done in Hell’s Kitchen.”
Elimination music
Everett handed over his jacket and shook Ramsay’s hand.
Everett: “Thank you so much for this opportunity, chef.”
Ramsay: “Let me tell you something, young man, you have so much passion and fightback within you, I’ve seen it throughout this competition. Unfortunately, I didn’t see enough of it in service, or just now, but I hope you can find it again, because you are bloody talented. I wish you all the best.”
Everett thanked Ramsay again and waved goodbye to his team as he exited Hell’s Kitchen.
Everett’s comment
“Oh man…when I first entered Hell’s Kitchen, I never thought I’d be walkin’ out the door like this. I thought I was headed straight for the top, no problem. Each day was like this crazy mixture of anxiety, thrills, and drama. I fought, and I fought, and I fought for my place, until, I guess I just couldn’t fight no more. I’ll always have good memories of my time here, but I sure as hell wouldn’t do it again! (laughs)

With Everett’s elimination, Ramsay told Faye to get back in line, and addressed the chefs collectively as the final 8, saying that tonight should be a reminder to each of these chefs that a downward spiral at this point was unacceptable, as things were not going to get any easier. With that, Ramsay told them all to get some rest, because tomorrow, he was going to start separating the chefs from the cooks.
As the chefs went back to the dorms, several of them had confessionals. Thomas said that Ramona was definitely a bigger liability than Everett, but hopefully losing her immunity would wake her up. Michael said that it sucked that Everett left when he was far from the worst tonight. Ramona was clearly still shaken from the experience, as she said she felt awful about Everett going home when she had a worse performance, and knew she had to bounce back tomorrow or it would all be over for her. Melody said that between Travis and Everett, watching their fellow chefs go home was just getting more and more difficult, but she knew there were still seven more between her and the grand prize. Grace said none of these chefs were on her level, and she was going to keep being herself and kicking ass in the kitchen, regardless of her team’s hate for her. Lauren said that with only four on each team, there was nowhere left to hide, and everything they had done up until now was just the warm up for the real tests that lay ahead.
​Placement
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Have you ever experienced something that shook you to your very core? Something that makes you remember every single little detail of your surroundings from that moment in time? Even years after? I can remember so vividly the moment I realized something was wrong with me. I was in my junior year of high school sitting in class, just like any other day. I remember the smell of erasers and cheap cologne that permeated off my classmate who sat next to me. I remember the scratchy tag on my t-shirt and how I was resisting taking it off in the middle of class just to cut it off. I remember what my teacher, Mrs. Brown, was talking about; 'the fall of Constantinople'. My mouth felt dry and I kept looking at the clock, counting down the minutes until I had lunch so I could get a soda. The sound of a pen clicking behind me was synchronized with the song that was stuck in my head.
All those things were going through my brain at once. My ADHD mind went a million miles per minute when it all came down to a cashing holt when I felt it at 11:23
I felt what I can only describe as a hand grabbing at the inner lining of my stomach. It didn't necessarily hurt, not at this point. That's not why I got so scared. You see, not only do I have ADHD. I also have OCD that manifests itself in the fear of anything growing or moving inside me. Even if I think about the concept of blood moving in my body or a heart that is beating in my chest, I have to think of something else. I've had full-blown panic attacks because of it. The closest term for this is 'Tokophobia'. That's technically the fear of pregnancy. I'm a guy, so it's not completely accurate but it's really the closest term. I mean, I also do have a huge fear of pregnancy. Not necessarily of me being pregnant, but even though I knew I could never get pregnant, the thought of it still made me feel sick
I bet you can imagine the terror that overcame me as I felt something moving in me. I made an audible groan and grabbed my stomach. My whole class turned to look at me. even my teacher stopped talking to ask if I was okay. I stood up and started to run to the nurses' office without even acknowledging my teacher. My first thought wasn't thinking that something was actually in my body. Even stomach aches and the feeling of gurgling in my stomach made me feel this way before. I didn't have anything on hand to help with a stomach ache, unfortunately. However, the nurse always did.
I sprinted across the school hoping and praying that my stomach wouldn't make that awful feeling again before I got there.
I turned the corner into the nurses' office with my tennis shoes squeaking in the process. I saw the school nurse, Mrs. Kennedy sitting on the couch in her office reading a magazine. She looked up at me with a sweet smile that quickly turned into worry.
"Sam, what is it? How can I help?" She said as she stood up and hurried over to me. Putting her hand over mine which was grabbing my stomach tightly.
"It's…It's my stomach. Something is wrong with it." I mumbled with a red face.
She shuffled her way over to her large medicine cabinet and she motioned for me to sit down.
She asked me questions about my stomach. Asking if it was pain, grumbling, cramps, nausea, etc. As she was asking me what my symptoms were and digging through bottles, The feeling happened again. However, this time was different. It felt like fingers grassing against the inside of my body. I screamed and wrapped my arms around my torso. Mrs. Kenneddy ran over to me to comfort me.
"This seems a lot worse than normal, maybe we should call your parents." She said as she put her hand on my back.
It felt like some days I saw Mrs. Kennedy more than my teachers. Any small ailment would distract me so badly from class that I had to go see her. Sometimes multiple times a day. She knew at this point when something was really wrong.
Within about 30 minutes both my parents were there with us. That may seem fast, but I'm an only child and my parents are very aware of my tendencies. They know I can spiral and like to be around if it happens.
They kept asking me where the pain was. I think they assumed by the way I wasn't responding to their questions the pain must've been really bad. The reality was that I just didn't know how to tell them what was going on.
I got so frustrated after they asked me over and over again that I just yelled at them.
"Something is inside me! Get it out, get it out, get it out!" I lifted my shirt and was ripping at my stomach. Leaving red nail scratches and cuts. My mom and dad ran to either side of me to grab my arms. Mrs. Kennedy had seen me go pretty crazy, but this was the worst I've ever gotten in front of her. My parents however had seen a similar situation before. Not exactly like this, but they didn't skip a beat on trying to help me.
"Sam. Breath, sweety. Just remember everything is in you for a reason. It's keeping you alive. Nothing is going to hurt you." My mom said softly to me. Trying to calm me down with the words my therapist gave her. "Ice cubes, get him ice cubes!" She said to Mrs. Kennedy as I started to hyperventilate.
Mrs. Kennedy grabbed a ziplock bag and started to fill it with ice cubes. My mom went over to her and grabbed an ice cube right out of the bag, opened up my hand, and put the ice cube in it. This worked in the past to distract me, I knew that's what she was doing, and trust me. I wanted it to work too, but this was different. I kept trying to tell myself that it was just a different feeling I hadn't felt before. That it wasn't possible something was physically inside my body. But I couldn't help it.
Everyone in the room could see that this was getting intense. I think they assumed it was just a mental breakdown and that nothing was physically wrong with my body but I didn't care. I just wanted help.
My parents got me into the car with my mom even sitting in the backseat with me. She kept trying to distract me with conversation but my mind was only on that awful feeling in my stomach.
We pulled up to the ER and my mom guided me in while holding both my wrists. It felt like she was walking me on a leash but I didn't fight it. I knew she was just trying to stop me from scratching my stomach.
We walked in and I spoke to the receptionist. All I said was that I had terrible pain in my stomach. I didn't want to sound too crazy. I just needed a doctor to look at whatever was going on.
After giving the receptionist my name and insurance information we went to sit down. I was sitting in between my parents and I could see my mom lean back to try and mouth something to my dad without me seeing. I didn't think much of it. I was way more worried about other things.
My dad then went up to the receptionist. He pointed over to me and she looked a little concerned. I saw her pick up the clipboard that had my information on it and she started writing something else on it. I asked my dad what he did and he just said to not worry and that he wanted to let her know it was urgent.
No more than 10 minutes went by and I felt a terrible moving sensation. I cringed and grabbed my stomach. Immediately followed by not just the feeling of a hand grabbing my insides but also scratching and pinching. I yelled out in pain as the other people in the waiting room looked at me mortified.
A doctor and a couple of nurses came running over to me and helped me up. But I couldn't stand up. I was in too much pain. They put me in a wheelchair and started to head for a room. However, they didn't take me through the normal big ER doors that went to the standard examination rooms, they took me and my parents through a smaller door to the side that had a padlock on it.
We walked through a white hallway that was very quiet. The doctor and nurses showed us to my room and helped me into my bed as I was wiggling and wincing. I had one parent on either side of me. Patiently waited to stop my arms from scratching.
The doctor was trying to ask further questions but he could tell it wasn't going anywhere. I knew that my dad probably told that receptionist about my OCD tendencies and that I needed to go to the psych ward. Not just to the stranded side of the ER.
I couldn't take it anymore and blurted out that something was inside my stomach and it was trying to get out.
The doctor just looked at my parents for a reaction and they gave him a sad nod. It was like they warned him that this could happen. The doctor didn't just think I was crazy, my parents did too. The doctor took a deep breath and came up to me. I knew I was about to hear some kind of dumb speech about how this was just my OCD and everything was going to be okay.
As he came closer to me, I pulled up my shirt and he gasped. Not only was my stomach scratched up like crazy, but we saw movement. It looked like when a pregnant woman can see her baby kicking. But this was so much stronger. It was stretching my skin.
My parents stood up and gasped while the doctor looked frantic and unprepared.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" The doctor said as he backed out of the room. "Hang on! We are getting this taken care of, just hang tight."
Just seconds later a nurse came in to give me some painkillers. I started to feel the pain slip away, but something so much worse started to creep in. I heard a voice. Not my own. Not some creepy-sounding creature, but the voice of a normal-sounding man that I'd never heard before. But that wasn't the scary part. The scary part was what he was saying to me.
"Get me out. Get me out. Get me out!"
It started in a normal tone, but slowly became more urgent and rushed. Then demanding.
The voice would coincide with the moment inside me.
It was getting so loud that I was having a hard time hearing the people around me. The doctor came in just a few minutes after I last saw him. He was red and sweaty. Like he'd just run a marathon. He told me they needed to do just a few tests on what was inside me before taking action.
I was trying so hard to pay attention to the words coming out of his mouth but all I could hear was the voice. The voice stopped for just a second and changed what he was saying. Now he started repeating,
"Cut me out, cut me out, cut me out, now!" I now knew this thing didn't just want out but it wanted out now. I begged the doctor to just get it out now but he wouldn't listen. The voice spoke up again.
"This is taking too long. Don't be afraid. Get me out yourself."
I think it could feel me resisting. Without realizing it, I was looking around the room for something. It was like I didn't even have control over my head or eyes anymore. I knew the voice was looking for a knife but I was trying to ignore the feeling. I knew there weren't any knives around. I was in a very safe place.
Just as I had the feeling I was safe, it was immediately taken away. The thought passed through my head that my dad probably had a pocket knife on him. My heart sank. I knew this thing could hear my thoughts. I knew what it would try to do.
The next thing I knew, I was on my feet, leaping for my dad. My body hit his. luckily, he's in pretty good shape for his age and had no problems putting me in my place.
He got on top of me and pinned me to the ground. All while I could barely hear my mom in the background. Yelling at my dad to be careful. My dad knew something was going on and that I just needed to be on the ground until I calmed down.
My body tried to flail but it wasn't successful. The whole time the voice in my head, now yelling and screaming. Not saying any distinguishable words, but just having what felt like a tantrum. What made my dad the most uncomfortable was the kicking feeling coming from my stomach.
After a couple of minutes, the voice calmed down and I felt in charge of my body again. My dad slowly got up and attempted to help me up. At this point with an audience of hospital staff that looked like they were getting ready to take me somewhere for more tests.
Just as I stood up straight, I felt the voice take over and I lost all sense of my own body. I felt like a shell of myself. My dad gave me a soft yet worried smile, and in that instance, I grabbed him and reached into his pocket. My heart sank as I felt his pocket knife. The room started to panic and about 5 people tried to grab it from me. The last thing I remember is plunging the knife into my stomach. I felt a blinding pain and everything went black.
Several hours later I started to wake up. Everything was extremely blurry and fuzzy. I could hear a very faint voice telling me to relax. As the minutes passed by, things started to become a little bit clearer. I looked around and saw I was in a large room with a few other patients. A nurse was going up to all the beds and checking in on them. I tried to sit up a bit to get more comfortable and noticed an incredible sourness in my stomach. I moved my hospital gown out of the way and saw a huge scare. About 6" across. Most of the scare looked very surgical. Like what I'd imagine a c-section surgery would look like. Except where I remembered the knife going in. It looked like a bunch of extra stitches had to be added where it went in. It also looked pretty bruised. I can imagine that a dull 10-year-old knife that was harshly shoved into a body really wouldn't cleanly cut through and leave some damage.
The feeling of shock from looking at my stomach was quickly gone when I realized that meant whatever was in me was now gone. I didn't hear the voice, I didn't feel a hand in my gut anymore, I didn't see that vile kicking anymore. I felt like I could breathe.
I asked the nurse what they found and she looked flush.
"Uh, that's something that you, uh. Your doctor will talk with you once you eat something and can speak clearly." She said as she scurried off looking upset.
Shortly after that, I was wheeled into a recovery room and my parents came to see me.
As they walked in they had a very similar look on their faces as the nurse did. They looked pale and didn't want to look me in the eye. I kept asking them questions about what was going on but they said the doctor needed to discuss it with me and he wanted to make sure I wasn't feeling high from the anesthesia while we had a conversation.
The doctor didn't come and see me for another 10 hours. Which felt strange. And to add to the strangeness, my parents were taking shifts hanging out with me. There was only overlap when they switched and the other parent took over while the other one left the room. I would understand if they weren't both with me for the whole time. I'm not that needy, but they were only both in my room together for about an hour. That was the hour before the doctor came to my room.
Finally, the doctor came in to talk to me. When he walked in, the room was cold and quiet. It was evident he didn't feel the same relief I was feeling.
He seemed awkward. Like he was talking way too long to get over to me. He grabbed a chair and scooted it close to me.
"Listen Sam. I know this last 24 hours has been very challenging. I apologize for not explaining what happened during your surgery sooner, but we all needed time to figure it out, and quite frankly, process what happened. We feel we have enough information to let you in on what is going on." A silence filled the room. It felt like no one was brave enough to break it.
"And?" I said with confusion.
"I think it'll be easier if we just show you."
The doctor along with my parents helped me into a wheelchair and we started to make our way across the hospital to an entirely different section. I couldn't believe all the things running through my head at what we were about to see. It felt like cruel and unusual punishment to leave me in anticipation and not just tell me what I was about to see.
When I went around the corner I couldn't process what I was looking at. I thought they were showing me a large tumor or growth of some kind, but why would a tumor be in a big incubation chamber with tubes connected to IVs and machines coming out of it?
As I got closer, I started to see human fetchers on it. It was mostly just a 6-pound lump of flesh, but I could see a hand sticking out of it. It was small, but what made it creepy was it looked like a fully developed man's hand. Just small. I could see a patch of hair coming out of what I assumed was its head. It had no discernible facial features. Just a few teeth scattered in one section.
As I looked at it with disgust, coming to terms with this thing that was just in my body, I had a realization. I wasn't feeling sick at the thought of something being in my body. Sure, I was grossed out that this particular thing was just in me, but the thought of the bacteria in my body didn't make me want to throw up. I thought about all the blood pumping through my veins and I felt… normal. Not only was the voice and kicking gone. But my OCD was gone too. I didn't have a mental illness. It was just this thing. Trying to find its way out for years.
As I was staring at the creature, the doctor came and put his hand on my shoulder.
"We believe this is your twin brother." I immediately looked up at my parents who looked very disturbed and upset. I let the doctor finish talking. "We believe that you absorbed him in the womb and that he has been living inside you your whole life. This is an extremely rare condition called fetus-in-fetu. It seems he didn't quite have the best opportunity to develop normally. That's why he looks the way he does. Despite his appearance, he has all the organs he needs to survive. Looks like he's missing a lung and his gallbladder. Also a piece of his liver but other than that, it looks like he will live for at least a few years. He won't be able to leave this room due to him needing a feeding tube and a few other things that his body can not do on its own. He needs lots of support just to live. What makes this situation extremely unique is that your twin is still alive despite your body not sustaining him anymore. Even though we have him hooked up to a few IVs and machines, It is unexplainable how he is living while outside of your body."
I was in complete shock. I didn't want to believe it. I asked my mom why she never told me I absorbed my twin in the womb, she said she had no clue. There was never a sign when she was pregnant with me.
He also mentioned that sometimes even in pregnancies women will go their whole pregnancy without even getting a belly. It's called a 'Cryptic pregnancy'. I've always had a bit of a gut but never anything big enough to cause suspicion. I guess in my case I had a fetus-fetu and an experience similar to a cryptic pregnancy. Even though it was in my stomach. At least that was the doctor's best guess. Although, it all sounded like BS to me.
The doctor and my parents kept trying to explain more and more details to me. I don't know why they didn't slow down a little bit for my sake. How could they not tell I wasn't processing any of this?
I noticed something while they were trying to explain things to me. They kept calling it a 'He'.
Now listen. I'm not some kind of asshole that won't respect someone who wants to be called a specific pronoun. I've never been that kind of person. But this is where I draw the line.
Not just that. But this thing had a name. My parents named it and said today was its birthday. While they told me all this information, they didn't look happy about it. It seemed like they were forced to do all this nonsense. And now it was my turn to be convinced. I could tell they were trying to force it.
The doctor told me despite it not having a high probability for a long life that we should still try and give it the love it deserves. Of course, the doctor referred to it as a 'He' but I refused to.
This disgusted me. This thing tried to kill me and ruined my quality of life for so long, and now we are going to treat it like it's some kind of prince? No, absolutely not.
Luckily, it seemed like it would never leave the hospital, but my parents planned on going to visit it daily. Visiting it? Are you kidding me? it has no eyes, no ears, it's probably miserable and has no concept of people even being around it.
I'm refusing to ever see this thing again or acknowledge its existence again.
I could get in trouble for even talking about this. The hospital or anyone involved has signed NDAs to not share any information about this until it officially dies. This is because it's a medical anomaly and the first of its kind. They want to do the proper research on how this all occurred before coming out with a statement. I just have to get this all off my chest. I feel like I'm the crazy one here when I know I'm not. I don't care if I get in trouble.
I am scared that the doctors are trying to force my parents into giving this thing a proper life. I think that's why it took them so long to tell me. I think they scared my parents into keeping it alive and guilting them or even forcing them into being its parent.
I'm all for every life being important and all that stuff, but I have a feeling my parents are terrified of this thing just like I am.
I am convinced they gaslit my parents into believing this thing is my brother. If there wasn't any sign of him while my mom was pregnant with me, could this thing be something else?
This all happened about two years ago. It's still alive and they are still researching it. My parents continue to visit it despite everything. My therapist told me that I'm probably just struggling with jealousy now that I'm not an only child anymore and so much of my parents' attention is on him now, but it's so much bigger than just jealousy.
Since this thing showed up and my OCD is pretty much gone, I've hardly seen my parents. I know I'm not just jealous. There is something more to this. I know it.
Something just feels so off about this whole thing. What is this thing? Where did it come from? And what does it want?

Unsnark: I can’t believe we are swinging so far in this direction. Please vote!
Ladies and gentlemen of the Class of 2024: I would like to start off by congratulating all of you for successfully making it to this achievement today. I'm sure your high school graduation was not what you had imagined, and most likely, neither was your first couple years of college.
By making it to this moment through all the adversity thrown your way from COVID, I hope you learned the important lessons that suffering in this life is only temporary. As a group, you witnessed firsthand how bad leaders who don't stay in their lane can have a negative impact on society. It is through this lens that I want to take stock of how we got to where we are, and where we want to go as citizens and, yes, as Catholics. One last thing before I begin, I want to be sure to thank President Minnis and the board for their invitation to speak.
When President Minnis first reached out a couple of months ago, I had originally said No. You see, last year I gave the commencement address at my alma mater, Georgia Tech, and I felt that one graduation speech was more than enough, especially for someone who isn't a professional speaker. But of course, President Minnis used his gift of persuasion. [Laughter] It spoke to the many challenges you all faced throughout the COVID fiasco ,and how you missed out on so many milestones the rest of us older people have taken for granted. While COVID might have played a large role throughout your formative years, it is not unique. Bad policies and poor leadership have negatively impacted major life issues. Things like abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as a growing support for degenerate cultural values in media, all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder.
Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the Sign of the Cross during a pro- abortion rally. He has been so vocal in his support for the murder of innocent babies that I'm sure to many people it appears that you can be both Catholic and pro-choice.
He is not alone. From the man behind the COVID lockdowns to the people pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America, they all have a glaring thing in common. They are Catholic. This is an important reminder that being Catholic alone doesn't cut it.
These are the sorts of things we are told in polite society to not bring up. You know, the difficult and unpleasant things. But if we are going to be men and women for this time in history, we need to stop pretending that the "Church of Nice" is a winning proposition. We must always speak and act in charity, but never mistake charity for cowardice.
It is safe to say that over the past few years, I have gained quite the reputation for speaking my mind. I never envisioned myself, nor wanted, to have this sort of a platform, but God has given it to me, so I have no other choice but to embrace it and preach more hard truths about accepting your lane and staying in it.
As members of the Church founded by Jesus Christ, it is our duty and ultimately privilege to be authentically and unapologetically Catholic. Don't be mistaken, even within the Church, people in polite Catholic circles will try to persuade you to remain silent. There even was an award-winning film called Silence, made by a fellow Catholic, wherein one of the main characters, a Jesuit priest, abandoned the Church, and as an apostate when he died is seen grasping a crucifix, quiet and unknown to anyone but God. As a friend of Benedictine College, His Excellency Bishop Robert Barron, said in his review of the film, it was exactly what the cultural elite want to see in Christianity -- private, hidden away, and harmless.
Our Catholic faith has always been countercultural. Our Lord, along with countless followers, were all put to death for their adherence to her teachings. The world around us says that we should keep our beliefs to ourselves whenever they go against the tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion. We fear speaking truth, because now, unfortunately, truth is in the minority. Congress just passed a bill where stating something as basic as the biblical teaching of who killed Jesus could land you in jail.
But make no mistake, before we even attempt to fix any of the issues plaguing society, we must first get our own house in order, and it starts with our leaders. The bishops and priests appointed by God as our spiritual fathers must be rightly ordered. There is not enough time today for me to list all the stories of priests and bishops misleading their flocks, but none of us can blame ignorance anymore and just blindly proclaim that “That's what Father said.” Because sadly, many priests we are looking to for leadership are the same ones who prioritize their hobbies or even photos with their dogs and matching outfits for the parish directory.
It's easy for us laymen and women to think that in order for us to be holy, that we must be active in our parish and try to fix it. Yes, we absolutely should be involved in supporting our parishes, but we cannot be the source for our parish priests to lean on to help with their problems. Just as we look at the relationship between a father and his son, so too should we look at the relationship between a priest and his people. It would not be appropriate for me to always be looking to my son for help when it is my job as his father to lead him.
St. Josemaría Escrivá states that priests are ordained to serve, and should not yield to temptation to imitate laypeople, but to be priests through and through. Tragically, so many priests revolve much of their happiness from the adulation they receive from their parishioners, and in searching for this, they let their guard down and become overly familiar. This undue familiarity will prove to be problematic every time, because as my teammate's girlfriend says, familiarity breeds contempt. [Laughter]
Saint Josemaría continues that some want to see the priest as just another man. That is not so. They want to find in the priest those virtues proper to every Christian, and indeed every honorable man: understanding, justice, a life of work — priestly work, in this instance — and good manners. It is not prudent as the laity for us to consume ourselves in becoming amateur theologians so that we can decipher this or that theological teaching — unless, of course, you are a theology major. We must be intentional with our focus on our state in life and our own vocation. And for most of us, that's as married men and women. Still, we have so many great resources at our fingertips that it doesn't take long to find traditional and timeless teachings that haven't been ambiguously reworded for our times. Plus, there are still many good and holy priests, and it's up to us to seek them out.
The chaos of the world is unfortunately reflected in the chaos in our parishes, and sadly, in our cathedrals too. As we saw during the pandemic, too many bishops were not leaders at all. They were motivated by fear, fear of being sued, fear of being removed, fear of being disliked. They showed by their actions, intentional or unintentional, that the sacraments don't actually matter. Because of this, countless people died alone, without access to the sacraments, and it's a tragedy we must never forget. As Catholics, we can look to so many examples of heroic shepherds who gave their lives for their people, and ultimately, the Church. We cannot buy into the lie that the things we experienced during COVID were appropriate. Over the centuries, there have been great wars, great famines, and yes, even great diseases, all that came with a level of lethality and danger. But in each of those examples, Church leaders leaned into their vocations and ensured that their people received the sacraments.
Great saints like St. Damien of Molokai, who knew the dangers of his ministry, stayed for 11 years as a spiritual leader to the leper colonies of Hawaii. His heroism is looked at today as something set apart and unique, when ideally it should not be unique at all. For as a father loves his child, so a shepherd should love his spiritual children, too.
That goes even more so for our bishops, these men who are present-day apostles. Our bishops once had adoring crowds of people kissing their rings and taking in their every word, but now relegate themselves to a position of inconsequential existence. Now, when a bishop of a diocese or the bishop's conference as a whole puts out an important document on this matter or that, nobody even takes a moment to read it, let alone follow it.
No. Today, our shepherds are far more concerned with keeping the doors open to the chancery than they are with saying the difficult stuff out loud. It seems that the only time you hear from your bishops is when it's time for the annual appeal, whereas we need our bishops to be vocal about the teachings of the Church, setting aside their own personal comfort and embracing their cross. Our bishops are not politicians but shepherds, so instead of fitting in the world by going along to get along, they too need to stay in their lane and lead.
I say all of this not from a place of anger, as we get the leaders we deserve. But this does make me reflect on staying in my lane and focusing on my own vocation and how I can be a better father and husband and live in the world but not be of it. Focusing on my vocation while praying and fasting for these men will do more for the Church than me complaining about her leaders.
Because there seems to be so much confusion coming from our leaders, there needs to be concrete examples for people to look to in places like Benedictine, a little Kansas college built high on a bluff above the Missouri River, are showing the world how an ordered, Christ-centered existence is the recipe for success. You need to look no further than the examples all around this campus, where over the past 20 years, enrollment has doubled, construction and revitalization are a constant part of life, and people, the students, the faculty and staff, are thriving. This didn't happen by chance. In a deliberate movement to embrace traditional Catholic values, Benedictine has gone from just another liberal arts school with nothing to set it apart to a thriving beacon of light and a reminder to us all that when you embrace tradition, success — worldly and spiritual — will follow.
I am certain the reporters at the AP could not have imagined that their attempt to rebuke and embarrass places and people like those here at Benedictine wouldn't be met with anger, but instead met with excitement and pride. Not the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it, but the true God-centered pride that is cooperating with the Holy Ghost to glorify him. Reading that article now shared all over the world, we see that in the complete surrender of self and a turning towards Christ, you will find happiness. Right here in a little town in Kansas, we find many inspiring laypeople using their talents.
President Minnis, Dr. [Andrew] Swafford, and Dr. [Jared] Zimmerer are a few great examples right here on this very campus that will keep the light of Christ burning bright for generations to come. Being locked in with your vocation and staying in your lane is going to be the surest way for you to find true happiness and peace in this life.
It is essential that we focus on our own state in life, whether that be as a layperson, a priest, or religious. Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 2024, you are sitting at the edge of the rest of your lives. Each of you has the potential to leave a legacy that transcends yourselves and this era of human existence. In the small ways, by living out your vocation, you will ensure that God's Church continues and the world is enlightened by your example.
For the ladies present today, congratulations on an amazing accomplishment. You should be proud of all that you have achieved to this point in your young lives. I want to speak directly to you briefly because I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now about to cross this stage and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.
I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother. I'm on the stage today and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation. I'm beyond blessed with the many talents God has given me, but it cannot be overstated that all of my success is made possible because a girl I met in band class back in middle school would convert to the faith, become my wife, and embrace one of the most important titles of all: homemaker.
[Applause lasting 18 seconds]
She is a primary educator to our children. She is the one who ensures I never let football or my business become a distraction from that of a husband and father. She is the person that knows me best at my core, and it is through our marriage that, Lord willing, we will both attain salvation.
I say all of this to you because I have seen it firsthand how much happier someone can be when they disregard the outside noise and move closer and closer to God's will in their life. Isabelle's dream of having a career might not have come true, but if you asked her today if she has any regrets on her decision, she would laugh out loud, without hesitation, and say, “Heck, No.”
As a man who gets a lot of praise and has been given a platform to speak to audiences like this one today, I pray that I always use my voice for God and not for myself. Everything I am saying to you is not from a place of wisdom, but rather a place of experience. I am hopeful that these words will be seen as those from a man, not much older than you, who feels it is imperative that this class, this generation, and this time in our society must stop pretending that the things we see around us are normal.
Heterodox ideas abound even within Catholic circles. But let's be honest, there is nothing good about playing God with having children — whether that be your ideal number or the perfect time to conceive. No matter how you spin it, there is nothing natural about Catholic birth control.
It is only in the past few years that I have grown encouraged to speak more boldly and directly because, as I mentioned earlier, I have leaned into my vocation as a husband and father, and as a man.
To the gentlemen here today: Part of what plagues our society is this lie that has been told to you that men are not necessary in the home or in our communities. As men, we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction, and chaos set in. This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation. Other countries do not have nearly the same absentee father rates as we find here in the U.S., and a correlation could be made in their drastically lower violence rates, as well.
Be unapologetic in your masculinity, fighting against the cultural emasculation of men. Do hard things. Never settle for what is easy. You might have a talent that you don't necessarily enjoy, but if it glorifies God, maybe you should lean into that over something that you might think suits you better. I speak from experience as an introvert who now finds myself as an amateur public speaker and an entrepreneur, something I never thought I'd be when I received my industrial engineering degree.
The road ahead is bright. Things are changing. Society is shifting. And people, young and old, are embracing tradition. Not only has it been my vocation that has helped me and those closest to me, but not surprising to many of you, should be my outspoken embrace of the traditional Latin Mass. I've been very vocal in my love and devotion to the TLM and its necessity for our lives. But what I think gets misunderstood is that people who attend the TLM do so out of pride or preference. I can speak to my own experience, but for most people I have come across within these communities this simply is not true. I do not attend the TLM because I think I am better than others, or for the smells and bells, or even for the love of Latin. I attend the TLM because I believe, just as the God of the Old Testament was pretty particular in how he wanted to be worshipped, the same holds true for us today. It is through the TLM that I encountered order, and began to pursue it in my own life. Aside from the TLM itself, too many of our sacred traditions have been relegated to things of the past, when in my parish, things such as ember days, days when we fast and pray for vocations and for our priests, are still adhered to. The TLM is so essential that I would challenge each of you to pick a place to move where it is readily available.
A lot of people have complaints about the parish or the community, but we should not sacrifice the Mass for community. I prioritize the TLM even if the parish isn't beautiful, the priest isn't great, or the community isn't amazing. I still go to the TLM because I believe the holy sacrifice of the Mass is more important than anything else. I say this knowing full well that when each of you rekindle your knowledge and adherence to many of the church's greatest traditions, you will see how much more colorful and alive your life can and should be.
As you move on from this place and enter into the world, know that you will face many challenges. Sadly, I'm sure many of you know of the countless stories of good and active members of this community who, after graduation and moving away from the Benedictine bubble, have ended up moving in with their boyfriend or girlfriend prior to marriage. Some even leave the Church and abandon God. It is always heartbreaking to hear these stories, and there is a desire to know what happened and what went wrong.
What you must remember is that life is about doing the small things well, setting yourself up for success, and surrounding yourself with people who continually push you to be the best version of you. I say this all the time, that iron sharpens iron. It's a great reminder that those closest to us should be making us better. If you are dating someone who doesn't even share your faith, how do you expect that person to help you become a saint? If your friend group is filled with people who only think about what you're doing next weekend and are not willing to have those difficult conversations, how can they help sharpen you?
As you prepare to enter into the workforce, it is extremely important that you actually think about the places you are moving to. Who is the bishop? What kind of parishes are there? Do they offer the TLM and have priests who embrace their priestly vocation? Cost of living must not be the only arbiter of your choices, for a life without God is not a life at all, and the cost of salvation is worth more than any career.
I'm excited for the future, and I pray that something I have said will resonate as you move on to the next chapter of your life.
Never be afraid to profess the one holy, Catholic, and apostolic Church, for this is the Church that Jesus Christ established, through which we receive sanctifying grace.
I know that my message today had a little less fluff than is expected for these speeches, but I believe that this audience and this venue is the best place to speak openly and honestly about who we are and where we all want to go, which is Heaven.
I thank God for Benedictine College and for the example it provides the world. I thank God for men like President Minnis, who are doing their part for the Kingdom. Come to find out you can have an authentically Catholic college and a thriving football program. [Laughter and applause]
Make no mistake: You are entering into mission territory in a post-God world, but you were made for this. And with God by your side and a constant striving for virtue within your vocation, you too can be a saint.
Christ is King.
To the Heights.