Poems about crushes

So, I've been liking this boy for almost one year, but it doesn't feel like a year only but years. As someone who loves counting the days when I had a crush, this boy is so different to the other boys I liked. I never count the days/months I liked him. I really like him and I'm always having a hard time expressing it, but for him I find it easy. He's the first guy I had the courage to confess on him many times. I bought a lot of gifts for him too, which I don't usually do. I also gave him a letter, and I never give someone a letter even if it's my crush, he's literally the first person. Lastly, I made a poem for him, in which I threw because I'm trying to move on. One of my friend who's friend with my crush told me that my crush liked my bsf. I thought I would be mad, but I just accepted it. Who am I to get mad, right? I have no rights. What I hate is he gave me a lot of mixed signals, and he would never reject me, yet he doesn't like me. I never get mad at him, really. Even if I think about something bad about him, I really never get mad.
As I was gaslighting myself saying "I don't like him anymore" I had another crush and we had a thing, but we never had a label. But after that, I always think of that specific crush I had, he's just so different and I miss it.
After all that, I still like him. I always find it hard to move on from him. I really need help.

4 years together. 2 living together. I loved him. He didn’t feel the same way I guess. 18 days since we’ve broken up no contact.
fuck you for not answering me. fuck you for leading me on. fuck you. fuck you for getting that one last fuck in. fuck you for letting me believe we were still gonna be friends. fuck you for being okay. fuck you. fuck you flr never defending me. fuck uou for everything you did during the relationship. fuck you. fuck you. i was never going to be enough for you. i was never going to be what you so dreamed of. no matter what i was never going to be it for you? you were it for me. fuck you for pretending like you loved me. fuck you for letting me believe a lie for years. fuck you. fuck you. fuck you for not moving to Victoria. never ballsy enough to end it but to let me live in misery. fuck you for being miserable with me. fuck you nathan. i hope one day you see this and think about how much you miss me. i hope you think back and realized that i loved you so hard and raw. i hope you realize what you did. i would’ve never slept with you or stayed with u for that night knowing you had no intention of continuing it. fuck you. fuck you. you let me believe you still loved me. you let me have hope for having you in my life. fuck you for everything you did. fuck you for letting me love you. fuck you for the way you handled this breakup. fuck you. fuck you. fuck you. fuck you for never being there for me. fuck you for letting me cry myself to sleep next you to after i got diagnosed. i made you dinner after i got literal chemo. i had spots on my brain. you didn’t even hold me after. you were not there for me. you let me sob and didn’t even look me in hen eye. fuck you. fuck you. i tried to be a cool girl with you. I will never be cool enough. did i ever mean anything to you? was i just a body to keep you company? how can you just be fine? fuck you for wrecking my college experience. fuck you for pretending to love me. how could you love me and still be okay? fuck you for not wishing me a happy birthday. fuck you for never being vulnerable. fuck you for letting me believe i was worth anything to you. fuck u for becoming this twisted villain. i wish i could go back and erase you. i wish you never dated me. i would never have to feel like this. i would never have to be this alone. fuck uou for not trying. i begged you to love me. i begged to be enough. i sobbed to you BEGGING for a change. i beg and beg and beg and you never verbalized anything. i made you love letters, playlists, poems. i planned our future. you played video games. i am pretty, fun, funny. i am kind. i am a good person, and you destroyed me. do you hear me telling you that? you wrecked me. you took my spark and ate it. you took my beauty and stomped on it. you never said or with your words but your actions. i was worthless to you. i wasn’t even worth making dinner or a date. i wasn’t worth dinner to you. I would’ve been your wife. I would’ve been your wife. I would’ve been your wife. do you hear that? i would’ve started a life with you. actually, i did! i derailed my life for someone who couldn’t even make me fucking dinner. do you feel like a man now? do feel like one of the boys now? fuck you. how can i be friends with a man that so blanatly doesn’t care about me? respect me? did you ever? and now you’re gonna go on and paint me the villain, but i think we both know how hard i loved you. remember when i asked you if you thought we were soulmates? you said you didn’t believe in soulmates. neither did i but my love for you was so intense i started too. your love for me was so dull you can just throw me away. i fell so madly in love with you for so long and you thought i was just fine. i was nothing to you. i was just to keep you company? better than being alone? the most sick and twisted part is i do wish you the best. i want you to live a good life and fall in love and feel so much love. i want you to be okay, just wish you could’ve missed me like i miss you. if only for a little while i wish you couldve loved me like i loved you. i want you to have a wife and kids and the life you deserve, i just wish it could’ve been me. i wish i could’ve been enough for you. you loved me like a first love, but you weren’t my first, just my best. this was puppy love for you, but this was soul crushing intense love for me. you’re never supposed to read this, so if you are i on a whim decided to send it. you can take it however you want. you can paint me however you see fit, but just so you know i loved (love) you. i still crave your skin, your mind, your hair. i think i might forever. you hurt me. you hurt me so deep. i feel used. maybe im angry, or depressed, or maybe i just feel disgusted by how much of myself i gave you. you told me we would continue to see each other after (if only to be friends, or maybe more) but you looked me in the eyes and promised we would still see each other, so we had sex. so i continued to be vulnerable with you. but you never intended to stay friends with me or continue hanging out. you just wanted one last fuck. we had sex better than we have in months. is it because you knew it would be the last time? when you dropped off my stuff you kept the car running. im not even worth it to stop a minute? im not worth a hug goodbye? im completely worthless to you. you never even listened to the playlist i made you. how could i expect you to love me? how could i expect you respect me? how could i expect anything at all? i don’t know how to be a person anymore. you never looked at the posts i sent you. you never wanted to go out. you never wanted me. you never wanted me. you never wanted me. i don’t understand how you can just be ok. im sick to my stomach. everytime something happens i just want to call you. i just want to hear ur voice. i just want to see your face. i know you never want to see me again and it’s so hard. the worst part is i don’t hate you at all. i love you so much. why didn’t you love me? how am i ever going to be okay again? how am i ever going to live with this constant pit in my stomach. how can you not want me back? how can you possibly be ok right now? why wasn’t i good enough for you? how are you still laughing and being funny and having a good time? why didn’t you wish me a happy birthday? why don’t you miss me ? why don’t you miss me? why don’t you miss me?

I a (29F) have been friends with my what I thought was my best friend (25F) for about 2 and a half years. We met on hinge as dating prospects and after a little over a month of talking she called it off romantically and tried to pull away (little did I know she was still talking to her ex and hoping they’d get back together.) She had told me that her ex had cheated on her previously but never divulged any deeper into the past.
(For context: they met in high school and have been on and off for 9 years. He is extremely possessive and starts fights and is very controlling of her. She never told him about me because, “he would not like that you had feelings for me and would blow up.” So every time he came to visit her she would tell me and I would not be allowed to speak to her until he left. I had confronted her about that being stupid before and she just said, “I do this to everyone when he’s here I just turn my phone off and ignore everyone to spend time with him.” I found this incredibly weird and controlling of him. Before I met her on hinge she was living with him and a few of his friends in an apartment when she found out he was talking to some girl and he was being sexual with her over the phone. He let her read all the messages and she slapped him across the face. Months later he told her he and his friends were basically pushing her out of the apartment and made her leave. They broke up where she had to live with her mom before she found a cute new apartment she loved and put her soul into. )
Back to now.
I of course told her she deserved better because she truly is a wonderful person or so I thought. Fast forward to now and in between me getting over my feelings for her and now being in a very loving relationship with another person her and I remained very close friends. She ultimately got back with her ex after me and he broke up with her again right before Christmas claiming he loved her but was not in love with her. She was completely crushed. She would tell me basically everything going on her life including what has been going on her ex. He lives in AZ while she lives in CA. She started to date other people but most of them never stuck. She ended up meeting a really amazing guy. Let’s call him Rob. Rob and my best friend hit it off on shared interests and soon became boyfriend and girlfriend. I told her that she should rush too into things because she was still recovering from her ex and it seemed like things with this guy were progressing super fast. (They were already talking about moving in together, marriage and children) They were only together less than a month. But she has this pattern where she talks to men and once one bores her she moves on to the next. This was the first that actually stuck as a boyfriend. Things seemed good with them for a bit and he even flew them both to Vegas. He spoiled her with dinners and drinks at 5 celebrity restaurants and even stayed in a fancy hotel. Upon their return she mentioned to me about how happy she was and how good of a guy Rob was. I agreed and said this was a super healthy relationship and I was happy for us both being with people we deserved. A day later she told me her ex had found her second account on instagram where she posted poems about her life as a coping mechanism. She had before blocked him on everything when she found out he was clubbing and picking up strange women. She had ripped him a new one and told him she was really disappointed in him before blocking him on all social media and phone. I told her to block him on that account as well and move on. She was with a really great guy that was treating her very well and was healthy for her. Her ex had caused her PTSD from the serve mental abusing he put her through. Claiming he was the reason for her success in life. He also hinted as resenting her a bit for stunting his growth in life because he put all his love and support into her.
Apparently they kept talking behind everyone’s back because she had called me at work balling her eyes out that she told her ex about Rob and he was losing his shit. He was begging to know who it was and was blaming her for not waiting for him to get his life together. She said it was confusing her and causing issues with Rob because she liked Rob but she felt like she would always love her ex too. After I calmed her down she texted me that night that she may need to take a break with Rob in order to resolve this issue with her ex. I told her it was a good idea because it wasn’t fair to Rob she was talking to her ex and her feelings were becoming clouded. She told me that the weekend of mother’s days she already made plans with her family and Rob and she couldn’t bail because she didn’t want her family to know something was up with her and Rob. (Her family also HATES her ex for everything he put her through.) I thought I was a terrible idea and she should just make an excuse that Rob couldn’t attend. But she told me no because her mom wanted to get to know Rob better so he would be spending the night with her at her mom’s. I told her ok but he needed to go home to his mom on Mother’s Day and she needed to be with her own. She needed a break and a day to just let her hair down with her mom. On Mother’s Day she told me her and Rob woke up and she broke up with him. She sobbed for an hour because he was a really great guy. After that she told me she was going to reach out to her ex to resolve the issue. I thought this was also terrible but bit my tongue and supported her because she needed someone. Later that day she told me that her ex was on the way and driving to her place from Az. I told her “DONT TELL HIM YOU ARE SINGLE.” It was already too late he knew everything. I also told her don’t let him stay at your house. Last time he broke up with her she had booked a non refundable hotel room for $300 as she wasn’t allowed to stay with him because his mom HATES HER. So she lost $300. I told her make him go waste $300. Alas she didn’t listen to me. He arrived they got back together immediately and he slept in her bed that night. When I found out the next day I was LIVID. To me it felt like she went back to her abuser. He said just the right things to draw her back in. When I confronted her she feed me typical lines of: He’s changed It’s different this time I love him He was always trying to come back to me I wish you could see him like I do.
She brushed all this off as I tried to break her rose colored glasses and told me to stop being a jerk and rude. They were both attending therapy in the next 20 minutes. I couldn’t help but think the only reason he is on his best behavior is because he knew she was with another person and was finally trying to be happy. I chose my words carefully no cursing, no name calling just told her I was disappointed. I told her how hard this was for me as her best friend to see her enter this abusive relationship again. I told her this was wrong. I told her I was morally not ok with her having one man in her bed in that she pretend with and broke up with and then her ex in her bed that night. At this point I was DONE. She told me they will be moving to AZ together and renting a new house once her last day of teaching was done at the end of May.
My heart broke for that apartment she loved so much and finally made it the way she loved as an individual. I told her my heart broke for her family. For her nieces and nephew that love her so much. I told her dear god I hope this guy is the right answer to all her life’s issues and hope that he is worth it. I took old screen shots of old conversations where she told me how much she was glad she moved on from him and that she felt like she wasted her time with him and ultimately hurt herself. My last ditch effort to try and get her to see the light. She never responded. I blocked her on all social media and silenced her motivations on my phone. I still leave them open just in case things blow up Again and if she may need me.
AITAH?

Island Headcanons:
Ezekiel: Loves to make up stories and put on shows for his parents as a "school project"
Eva: Secretly enjoys the idea of taking gym selfies to show off her progress
Noah: Isn't actually lazy, but is one of the most active people you will ever meet with his favorite sport being dodgeball
Justin: Is cousins with Alejandro and absolutely loved doing his make up when they were younger
Katie: Can Easily make friends with tons of people and makes clothes for her entire town as a small secret business from Sadie
Tyler: Doesn't actually like sports, but moreso tinkering with things to see how they work, like the scoreboards for Basketball games
Izzy: Escaped a mental hospital she lived in all her life and lived with a strange woman who she was convinced was her mom
Cody: Loves coding things he thinks will impress his fellow students, but doesn't have the guts to show them
Beth: Is actually one of the most popular students, well, not for the right reasons anyways
Sadie: Has a secret hair styling business that Katie doesn't know of
Courtney: Has abusive parents who push her into doing things she doesn't want to, but she has an absolute secret love for horseback riding
Harold: Loves making poems for all the girls he falls in love with and see them try guessing which jock wrote them
Trent: Loves making cars, trailers, camper vans and motorcycles in which he wants to be able to survive any and everything that would be a threat
Bridgette: Loves snowboarding during the winter and has even won a couple of competitions
Lindsay: Has learned to make her own makeup and tests it out on a dummy her dad got her for her 13th birthday and plans to open a business
DJ: Opens a restaurant at his home town in which everyone comes to try him and his mom's cooking
Geoff: Has 6 older brothers who his grandparents have the habit of comparing him to, considering they're not as wild as Geoff and his 4 younger brothers
Leshawna: Can actually dance and just acts like she doesn't for show
Duncan: Enjoys seeing angry looks on his parents faces when he gets in jail for absolute no reason
Heather: Has always wanted to be either a queen or a hair stylist and secretly envies Gwen for being brave enough to dye her hair
Gwen: Secretly envies Alejandro and has a huge crush on Heather
Owen: Knows how to say Alejandro and calls him Al just to annoy him
Blaineley: Is secretly a teen and lied about her age so Chris would never know, but Chris does actually know
Sierra: Secretly has a huge crush on Chris but covers it up as a crush on Cody but loses her crush when he gets mad at her for blowing up his plane, but she still has that crush come all stars
Alejandro: Secretly has a huge crush on Courtney even after he didn't find her of use anymore
ROTI Headcanons:
Anne-Maria: Loves doing Zoey's hair and has a huge crush on her instead of Vito
B: Knows ASL is just scared that the other contestants don't know it so he chooses not to talk, only Dawn knows this
Brick: Is secretly gay
Cameron: Is actually more stronger and even works out with Jo sometimes
Dakota: Is best friends with Anne-Maria, who used the money from the diamond to help her be able to control Dakotazoid
Dawn: Has one weakness nobody knows, and that's Jo
Jo: Secretly has a crush on the aura-reading girl.
Mike: Izzy zapped him and now he's forced to live with his personas as his family
Lightning: Didn't lose the season and made his dad extremely proud of him
Sam: Loves creating video games for Dakota to play to calm her down so she doesn't become Dakotazoid
Scott: Loves making things out of wood and tried making Fang a gift so he would leave him alone, it didn't work well
Staci: Only lies because she's afraid to never make friends
Zoey: Loves making clothes for all the female contestants
PI Headcanons:
(Note I don't have much)
Sammy: Is much more popular than Amy at school so Amy tries to make her life hell at home
Shawn: Has schizophrenia and escape a mental hospital when he was 6 years old and the "zombies" he sees in his mind are the doctors
Reboot Headcanons:
(Also not much)
Julia: Secretly is jealous of Nichelle, MK and Wayne and has a huge crush on all of them
Priya: While she's trained all her life, she is not ready for high school yet
DC1:
(Also not much so do bare with me, for the last four seasons there isn't much headcanons)
Ellie & Jake: Are secret siblings who have never met up until Disventure Camp cause their parents divorced when they were 1 years old. Tom and Gabby find this out and start acting hostile towards' the other's lover
DC 2:
Tess & Aiden: Are also secret siblings (cause I love the idea of them never knowing until later in life) and Aiden's "parents" decide to take Tess in so they can have sibling time they never got to have
What do you guys think?

im 21 and she’s 20, we met in college and never were that close until a few months back when she messaged me out of the blue telling me that she really admires me and can’t stop thinking about me. I had sensed some tension between us before never really paid heed. Since then we’ve been talking to each other almost everyday on social media- sending each other reels and memes etc. a lot of the stuff she sends me does end up being kinda romantic like poems and stuff.
We recently had a basketball match and our college team won (our mutual friends are in the team) after the match everybody was heading home but we were just hanging out near the almost empty court- smiling, looking at each other and hugging (I don’t usually hug people & here I was on my tippy toes with my arms wrapped around her:)) when a couple of our friends from the team walked by and asked us what’s happening and whether we were secretly dating. I laughed it off as maybe and she replied to them that even if we were they should support us to which they said “of course we do.” She gave me a small handwritten letter telling me thank you for existing. That’s the only time we did anything beyond texting.
The texting has been continuing since then and we keep trying to get to know each other more and ask each other about her days (very wholesome- the only person who asks me about my day atp) but still I’m just very unsure of whether this is all romantic (my friend thinks so, even my mom implied it) But she’s never told me if she’s queer and I’ve only heard her talk about male crushes (not assuming her sexuality)
how do I ask her this without creeping her out.

im 21 and she’s 20, we met in college and never were that close until a few months back when she messaged me out of the blue telling me that she really admires me and can’t stop thinking about me. I had sensed some tension between us before never really paid heed. Since then we’ve been talking to each other almost everyday on social media- sending each other reels and memes etc. a lot of the stuff she sends me does end up being kinda romantic like poems and stuff.
We recently had a basketball match and our college team won (our mutual friends are in the team) after the match everybody was heading home but we were just hanging out near the almost empty court- smiling, looking at each other and hugging (I don’t usually hug people & here I was on my tippy toes with my arms wrapped around her:)) when a couple of our friends from the team walked by and asked us what’s happening and whether we were secretly dating. I laughed it off as maybe and she replied to them that even if we were they should support us to which they said “of course we do.” She gave me a small handwritten letter telling me thank you for existing. That’s the only time we did anything beyond texting.
The texting has been continuing since then and we keep trying to get to know each other more and ask each other about her days (very wholesome- the only person who asks me about my day atp) but still I’m just very unsure of whether this is all romantic (my friend thinks so, even my mom implied it) But she’s never told me if she’s queer and I’ve only heard her talk about male crushes (not assuming her sexuality)
how do I ask her this without creeping her out.

im 21 and she’s 20, we met in college and never were that close until a few months back when she messaged me out of the blue telling me that she really admires me and can’t stop thinking about me. I had sensed some tension between us before never really paid heed. Since then we’ve been talking to each other almost everyday on social media- sending each other reels and memes etc. a lot of the stuff she sends me does end up being kinda romantic like poems and stuff.
We recently had a basketball match and our college team won (our mutual friends are in the team) after the match everybody was heading home but we were just hanging out near the almost empty court- smiling, looking at each other and hugging (I don’t usually hug people & here I was on my tippy toes with my arms wrapped around her:)) when a couple of our friends from the team walked by and asked us what’s happening and whether we were secretly dating. I laughed it off as maybe and she replied to them that even if we were they should support us to which they said “of course we do.” She gave me a small handwritten letter telling me thank you for existing. That’s the only time we did anything beyond texting.
The texting has been continuing since then and we keep trying to get to know each other more and ask each other about her days (very wholesome- the only person who asks me about my day atp) but still I’m just very unsure of whether this is all romantic (my friend thinks so, even my mom implied it) But she’s never told me if she’s queer and I’ve only heard her talk about male crushes (not assuming her sexuality)
how do I ask her this without creeping her out.

im 21 and she’s 20, we met in college and never were that close until a few months back when she messaged me out of the blue telling me that she really admires me and can’t stop thinking about me. I had sensed some tension between us before never really paid heed. Since then we’ve been talking to each other almost everyday on social media- sending each other reels and memes etc. a lot of the stuff she sends me does end up being kinda romantic like poems and stuff.
We recently had a basketball match and our college team won (our mutual friends are in the team) after the match everybody was heading home but we were just hanging out near the almost empty court- smiling, looking at each other and hugging (I don’t usually hug people & here I was on my tippy toes with my arms wrapped around her:)) when a couple of our friends from the team walked by and asked us what’s happening and whether we were secretly dating. I laughed it off as maybe and she replied to them that even if we were they should support us to which they said “of course we do.” She gave me a small handwritten letter telling me thank you for existing. That’s the only time we did anything beyond texting.
The texting has been continuing since then and we keep trying to get to know each other more and ask each other about her days (very wholesome- the only person who asks me about my day atp) but still I’m just very unsure of whether this is all romantic (my friend thinks so, even my mom implied it) But she’s never told me if she’s queer and I’ve only heard her talk about male crushes (not assuming her sexuality)
how do I ask her this without creeping her out.

I just remembered one of the most embarrassing times of my life that if I could go back in time, I would stop myself.
I was used to be bullied in my primary school for the whole 6 years I have spent there. I still am processing most of those years and putting my self esteem back together. But this one incident just comes back from time to time to haunt me.
I was like 10 or 11 years old, you know the age when kids starts to have little crushes. That first crush, yeah. I was known to be the "fat" girl in school. (Later realised I was chubby and thick boned but still got bullied)
I had this crush at a boy one year below my grade, he was actually awful to me, and we went to tennis lessons after classes in the same group. But for some strange and stupid reason I was gooshing over this guy, and Valentines day was approaching in school.
This was actually one of the first ever occasion that the whole school took it seriously by introducing the Secret Crush letter service.
The point is, you had to write a love poem by yourself, put it in an envelope and with name and Grade given on the front, put it in a box.
I don't know why I did it, I was stupid and should have known that I shouldn't have done it as its just causing me problems in the long run.
One of my classmates who was bullying me here and there asked who did I write the letter for as she noticed me putting a letter into the box. I was reluctant to answer and here is where I made my mistake.
She pressured me saying "she won't tell..." Kids will be kids, so innocent. I told her, who it was and in 10 minutes the whole school knew.
The boy I had a crush on came to the classroom, had such a disgusted face saying he doesn't want a poem from me, and that I am gross. My classmates made jokes about it the whole day, and he was joining in the mockery, even laughing his arse off.
Needless to say my crush faded instantly and exchanged with hatred. The next day when he received the letter,, he didn't came to the classroom, not even after, people kept mocking me the entire month but then found something else to mock me about and forgot about it.
My past is a big part of who I became now sadly, but I can say I made progress on my life for the better. I am soon to be married (not to the guy who I wrote the poem to) to the love of my life and I can't wait to see what my future holds. I think if I was much stronger back then, I would have been able to stand up to my bullies, but I don't blame anyone anymore. Kids will be kids, some grew out of their manners, and some won't.
Thank you for reading this post, if you had similar encounters, I send you a big hug and my condolences. Keep your chins up babies!
Btw my wedding is on 11th of July this year! Wish me good luck! ❤️❤️❤️

FIRST CHAPTER
PREVIOUS CHAPTER
This product is a fanfic of the Sexy Space Babes/Between Worlds product of u/Bluefishcake and one I highly suggest you read. It was created with permission, but give the OG works some love.
Imgr gallery of Comissioned and Fan Artworks
I'm Back Bitches! Again!
//////////
Junior Systems Engineer First Class Che’keero knelt before a semi-sparking control panel and sighed. She, and a large band of her fellow Engineers with Marine support, had boarded the pirate frigate with the singular goal of ensuring that the pirates didn’t scuttle their floating hulk and doom the slaves aboard to a, if they were lucky, a swift death in space.
The problem, of course, came with the pirate’s maintenance schedules and decisions to forgo certain… safety measures when it came to repair.
Like the panel before her. Usually a perfectly functional control system for the reverse-magnetic bulkhead doors that ensured void seals in power outages, some pirate at some point in their dumb, dumb life decided to fix the panel blowing a fuse… by ripping the fuse out and replacing it with a high density power cable. Which meant the entire thing was one massive shock hazard and actively sparking as the reactors deep in the ship flickered and surged due to damage.
Che’keero swore as an arc of electricity flashed towards her face after a tool that was not supposed to be magnetized, cheap dick WaDepth requisitions, caught a magnetic field, fusing the entire system shut and turning the formerly barely functional control system into nothing but pretty, decorative wiring and cheap solder. She punched the now utterly unfunctional control box and toggled on her radio. “Three-Two to Three-Lead, this door’s fried. You’ll need to bring in the cutters if we want to get to the rest of the ship. Might as well also bring in an inflatable airlock, I’m not liking how some of the metal strain sensors are flashing at me.”
A semi-synthetic voice replied back to Che’keero, “Three-Lead copies. I’ll be over there shortly with the stuff. Double check those sensors, I’m not getting the same readings, so let’s make sure something isn’t blocking errors from reaching me.”
“Copy that Three-Lead, Three-Two ou-” Something tapped against the back of her helmet and Junior Systems Engineer First Class Che’keero mentally swore.
“Now, now, lassie, how about you sit right there and don’t move.” A nasally, unfamiliar voice called out to her while tapping what a camera she set up to watch her back revealed to be a laser pistol to Che’keero’s helmet. “I think that you’re going to be our new best friend and way off this dead end ship.”
Che’keero paused, letting the situation settle in her mind, “Wait, what? Are… are you taking me hostage?”
“Yes!” The pirate replied.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you taking me hostage? This won’t work, none of the shuttles are jump capable and if you try anything, you’ll just end up jumped by marines. They specifically train to deal with pirates taking their engineers hostage. If you want to survive, you should just surrender and take the penal colony when it’s offered.” Che’keero mentioned, shrugging and continuing her inspection of the door.
The pirate seemed baffled at the sheer nonchalance of this response, the pistol slowly falling to merely point at her upper back instead of her head, “You… you really aren’t taking this seriously. I’m a pirate! I’ve killed people! I’ve killed boys, and you’re just sitting there like this doesn’t mean anything!”
“I mean… I wouldn’t say that.” Che’keero replied.
“THEN WHAT DO YOU MEAN!” The pirate screamed, the pistol moving away from Che’keero’s body by a fraction of an inch during an angry gesture.
It was at that point, a ceramic alloyed, carbon steel blade punched clean through the back of the pirate’s suit, slicing through their central nervous system and striking with enough force to shatter the faceplate of said pirate’s helmet on the way out. Muscles twitching, the laser pistol fired off randomly, missing Che’keero and slagging a chunk of bulkhead.
“I’m just buying time,” Che’keero replied cheekily.
“You really need to remember to check your cameras,” The semi-synthetic voice of Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns commented as the ex-pirate fell to the ground and blue blood dripped from the long blade sprouting from her right arm and a toolbox hanging from her left hand. “This isn’t the first time you have been flanked, and this one wasn’t during training.”
“Look, I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” Che’keero replied a bit testily.
“I’m sorry…” Ventures Forth prodded.
“I’m sorry, Ma’am.”
“Much better. Right, now what do we see in this- yeah you were right on it being fried.” Ventures Forth gently shoved the Junior Systems Engineer aside and took her place at the control panel. “Do a sweep of the strain systems. I don’t want this section of the ship breaking apart. Feel free to call up our hull patches. We’ve got plenty to share and this might have to be a lifeboat.”
“Aye, ma’am aye,” Che’keero replied with a crisp salute before rushing off to her duty.
Deeper inside the ship, Ventures Forth could hear laser fire, clashing of metal on metal, and cries for help.
The pirate ship was doomed, it was shattered and broken, but it was not destroyed. Not yet. \
And if she had her way, Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns would keep it that way.
//////////
Roshal stood still as her steward continued to clean the dark blue and rapidly congealing blood off her armored form. “Comms,” She called out, “Do we have any contact with the shuttle we sent to the station?”
“Negative, ma’am.” The comm officer replied. She wasn’t the same one that was present when Roshal left to fend off the boarders. At the unspoken question, the woman continued “Communication’s Mate Second Class Lev’tal, ma’am. My superior got a concussion when the pirate ship rocked our ship during boarding. Strap snapped, prior damage. I took over.”
Roshal nodded approvingly, “Good initiative. Send a message to the station, see if we can’t rai-”
“Ma’am! Contact!” One of her sensor techs called out, “Belay that, two contacts. First contact, nav point 782 spinward, possible bogey, cruiser weight. Unknown movements. Second contact, nav point 102 coreward, aerospace assets inbound. Small flight. Hard to determine numbers due to damage. No less than two, no more than five.”
“Focus on getting a hard contact on that possible cruiser. Weapons, what is the status of our anti-aerospace.” Roshal demanded, holding her sword arm out for the steward to scrub at a particularly clotted chunk of blood splattered over her wrist.
The weapons officer shook her head, “If we’re lucky, then we’ve got 20% coverage on half our sides. If we’re very lucky, I might be able to bump that number up to 35%. Not going to quote doctrine, but that’s not nearly enough to fend off a flight of Aerospace assets on a strike run, and that’s assuming they don’t hit us on an unprotected flank.”
Roshal nodded once more, “Sound general quarters and get weapons and tactical back online. Tell the damage control parties to not be distracted and focus on critical systems first. Engine room, report. Can you give me maneuvering thrust?”
The nearby ship phone chimed in with a staticy hiss, “Negative, ma’am. The shot we made with the spinal mount tripped breakers up and down the reactor room. This isn’t an engine problem, we need to make sure our reactor doesn’t blow up when we siphon power. Before you ask, emergency power is still flowing and none of their circuits tripped, but that means we’re down to life support, basic systems, and dockyard thrusters. It will take at least 20 to get the reactor in a safe state. If you want 10, send the chaplain down so we have someone praying for good luck. The fact most of our structural engineers are doing an EVA boarding to ensure the pirate ship next to us doesn’t go critical and render the entire exercise moot isn’t helping matters at all.” The engine room replied Roshal bit down a bit of annoyance at the snark, but engineers were always a finicky sort with authority. They were the first to remind uptight officers that while the Captain’s word may be iron law, it was their work that truly moved the ship.
“Confirmed, engine room.” Roshal instead replied. “Chaplains will be arriving shortly. Do what you can and inform me when you’re three minutes out from full power.”
The engine room didn’t even bother replying, just sending over the affirmative light as they got to work. Roshal approved of that. Sometimes, you just had to insult someone in order to get it working right.
“Captain, we have confirmation on contact. He’s an Alliance Karcharidon class Heavy Cruiser on intercept course. Energy readings are spiking… they’re charging their guns, ma’am!”
“Issue a hostile challenge and give me a firing solution with any gun still functional.”
“No response, ma’am. Hostile Karcharidon is increasing speed. Hard contact in 15 minutes.”
Roshal snarled, emotion breaking through her mask. “Of course, the pirates had one more vessel. Helm, fire our maneuvering thrusters, use the pirate hulk as cover. Weapons, get whoever’s left of our Interceptor flight to engage the enemy. Comms, get me in contact with the merchant fleet, tell them to evacuate. We’ll provide cover.”
“Aye ma’am.” The Communications Mate Second Class said with a shiver in her voice. “Sending-”
“Update on Aerospace assets!” Her sensor tech called out.
“Deliver!” Roshal demanded, cutting off the comms officer with a slice of her hand.
“Weapons fire. Definitely less than four contacts. Seems to be two grou- negative, only two contacts remaining- weaponsfire- one contac- IFF received, oh goddesses, IT’S RUNOFF THREE! FRIENDLY AEROSPACE INBOUND!”
//////////
Milk gripped her crash harness hard as Cookie slammed the Interceptor’s fusion torch clean past its safe thrust marker and into the red as g forces crushed her chest. “Last target down.” She reported after Cookie’s final laser burst hit something critical inside the final Aerospace fighter’s frame. “That’s 20 for 20. All enemy bogeys down. All standard munitions are in the black. Static drive is 48%, dump core ejected. All we’ve got left is our ASM and front laser.”
Cookie flashed back an affirmative signal.
“We going for that cruiser?”
Another affirmative.
“Well, I’m braced and ready on the release. Ready.”
“Ready.” Cookie spoke, his voice horse.
It’s funny what people think when their lives are on the line. Because charging towards a fresh enemy Heavy Cruiser, nothing but a single anti-shipping missile worth a damn, no allied support but the faint glimmer in IFF screens of their fellow flight doing the same… all Aoibhinn McDermott could think of was a poem she had read at least a decade ago or more at the Naval Academy.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the Valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
//////////
Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns could do nothing but furiously swear as the basic sensor system her engineering team had restored on the thoroughly ventilated secondary command bridge of the pirate hulk revealed an enemy Heavy Cruiser bearing down upon their homeship.
“Weapons are trashed. We cored their reactor, anyway.” One of the tangential engineers reported, “Other teams are calling in. Things are worse where they are. We’ve found the slaves, though, luckily it was one of the few airtight bays. Also, have some more captives, but that really doesn’t matter right now.”
“No shit.” Ventures Forth replied, “Can we do anything?”
The engineer looked back to her, visor depolarizing so the Gearschilde can look into the black and yellow eyes of her Shil coworker.
“Pray.” The woman replied simply.
Ventures Forth Bravely Into Great Unknowns did just that.
//////////
Low chanting filled the engine bay as a small group of priests stood around the engine praying to whichever god that would listen to allow them one more shot. One more fight.
Around them, black handed engineers scurried, ripping out blown fuses and replacing them with soldered in high strength wire. A final measure of desperation. Sparks flew as engineers swore and chaplains prayed, power still remaining in circuits needing to be bled out before bypasses could be installed, turning every bit of solder and every ripped out fuse into a deadly gamble.
Already, someone was lying on the ground, no longer twitching.
They didn’t have time to check on their fallen comrade, the work was too important.
A clock ticked down. Four minutes elapsed.
//////////
Lieutenant Commander Cenywyn swore as she watched Runoff 2 die.
Their single Interceptor had mistimed a maneuver and had been caught dead in the middle of an Anti-Aerospace array, shredded in an instant. The only consolation she could take was that, seeing as the first shot went clean through the cockpit, they didn’t even notice they died.
“Runoff 4, stay in formation.” She ordered over the radio, “We’ll lead you in for the run.”
“Yes ma’am.” The hesitant voice of Junior Flight Lieutenant Griogill replied. She swallowed, “We’re- we’re ready when you are.”
“No fear, Lieutenant,” Cenywyn called back to the child she was leading to her death. “We’re pilots in the Imperial Patrol. We do our duty. No fear.”
A clock ticked down. Six minutes elapsed.
//////////
“Talk to me!” The last remaining senior engineer in the reactor bay called out to anyone who was able to reply.
Someone, she didn’t even bother looking to see who, called back “We’ve bypassed 60% of the fuses. Should be able to give ourselves a burst of combat power. No more than 10 minutes of it before the entire system overheats and we either die, or the reactor shuts off.”
“Any chance we can get more than 10 minutes?”
“Not before that Heavy Cruiser delivers us straight to the stars.”
“Fuck it, good enough.” She slammed her fist on the ship phone’s dialing button resting near the console the engineer had just ripped the last safety override out of. “Captain. We’ve got your power. You give us the word, and we’ll give you ten minutes.”
//////////
Roshal breathed in, breathed out, and nodded. 10 minutes of combat power before the entire ship shut down into uselessness. She’d done more with less. She couldn’t remember when, but she had. Luckily, this was a Patrol Carrier instead of a standard ship, so it was more than capable of combat maneuvers with nothing but RCS thrusters. That should give her some time.
Movement, movement was going to be the key.
“Comms, tell the engineering crews on the hulk that they are ordered to figure out anything that could draw the attention of the Heavy Cruiser,” She began, “Systems, break our mooring lines. We’re going to have to split from the hulk. Helm, prepare for maneuvers. RCS only. We are going to have to do this carefully. Engineroom, prepare for power activation, but hold until my command.”
This needs to be perfect, Roshal thought, A single mistimed action ruins it all.
A clock ticked down. Ten minutes elapsed. The Karcharidon had entered maximum weapon’s range.
//////////
He of Slender Tail shivered where he stood. The secondary command bridge was silent as Roshal began giving orders to fight. This was… this was insane.
They were in a ruined ship with nothing but a merchant fleet beginning to flee and a three thirds dead pirate hulk on their side against a fresh Karcharidon class Heavy Cruiser.
They couldn’t win.
This was suicide.
They would die here.
\ So why didn’t He of Slender Tail feel afraid?
He stood at his post, a secondary bridge console where he would relay orders to other departments, freeing up the other Watchkeeper to collate those orders, there was nothing he could do to help win this impossible battle, and yet…
And yet he felt heat blossoming inside his chest with every single order delivered.
“Mooring teamsss, you are to cut your linesss immediately.” He relayed to a crew of Shil scurrying around the ruined bulkheads, “Damage control, prepare for electrical firesss and arcsss.” He commanded, switching between teams instantly.
He didn’t feel fear. He could see his Watchkeeper shiver every time the sensors reported the enemy contact was still closing, but he didn’t feel the same.
What he felt… was indignation.
How dare this pirate scum threaten his vessel, his crew. How dare they ambush this valiant ship after they had fought so hard to win. How dare they.
He let his fangs fold out as he spat the next order, “Anti-Aerossspace teamsss, prepare your batteriesss for grouped fire. Gunnery calculationsss are on their way.”
How dare they stand up to him.
A clock ticked down. 12 minutes elapsed. Weapons fire.
//////////
Roshal swayed slightly as she could feel the ship beneath her feet move. Movement is life in naval warfare, movement is death. “Right RCS fire, bring us clear of the hulk. Bow thrusters, up twenty.”
“Aye, ma’am, aye, right standard and bow up twenty.” The Helmswoman replied.
“Confirmed. Next maneuver, give us rear thrust-”
“Torpedo!” The sensor operator called out in a shrill voice, “Two marks on intercept course! Range, twelve K and closing fast!”
“Decorum!” Roshal snapped at the panicking sensor technician. “Comms, order Runoff flight to divert and intercept those torpedoes. Rear RCS to full, give us momentum.”
Roshal turned away from the bridge as affirmations were shouted, and the ship began to move, “Engineering, prepare to activate combat power on my mark and prepare for hard maneuvers. Mark in five.”
//////////
Griogill swallowed bile and tried not to feel too thankful that the enemy vessel had fired torpedoes at their home ship. Being diverted from an attack run had a much higher chance of survival than striking through an AA bubble.
“Runoff 4 engaging far torpedo. Moving in for intercept. Bre’kas, give me lock.”
Griogill’s backseater muttered something, and a target lock appeared on the far torpedo as Runoff 1, their previous Drill Sergeants, dashed by in a hard burn and blazed away at their own target.
“Right. We can do this. We can do this. No fear.” The rookie muttered as the sight of her friends in Runoff 3 being turned to vapor echoed in her mind. “I can do this.”
The target locked. She fired. The torpedo detonated.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Mark in four.”
//////////
The Heavy Cruiser loomed closer as the comparatively tiny Patrol Carrier spat its defiance in the form of two Interceptors dancing between the stars.
As a pair of torpedoes detonated, four more were launched, the anti-shipping weapons built for this specific purpose. Destroying disabled vessels.
And so the last two remaining Interceptors on CAP dove into the fray, risking themselves against an ever approaching AA bubble in order to save their ship.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Mark in three.”
//////////
All Cookie could do was stare and push his meager aerospace fighter further on its nuclear thrusters as shimmering dots of torpedoes lanced out from the Heavy Cruiser attacking his new home.
He pushed his hand forward and felt the throttle once more push back against him, the lever pushed all the way past safe thrust and into the further setting on his console.
The Interceptor was fast. It didn’t feel fast enough.
And so he spoke the words he spoke once before, back when he’d had to listen to his backseater’s screams of pain and the rush of wind after shrapnel pierced his fuselage, and the hospital was so, so far away.
Father, I pray that you will not hide your face from me. Whenever I pray, Lord please hear me and answer me speedily in Jesus' name. God, I pray that you will grant me speed through your help.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Mark in two.”
//////////
The Heavy Cruiser shifted, engine flaring and it began to close the range. A single disabled ship on emergency RCS thrusters and a pair of Aerospace fighters was nothing it would have to deal with.
It fired a third spread of torpedoes.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
They took the bait. Roshal thought with a vicious grin.
“Mark in one.” She paused, “Execute.”
In an instant, power flowed through the ship, emergency lights flickered off as the burning red boarding lights returned their fiery glow. The entire ship shook as the main thruster came back online, and capacitors began to charge for maneuvers.
“Hard burn, full thrusters, right, on my mark.” Roshal watched as the Heavy Cruiser began to react to her movements, the enemy ship was alive, you needed to roll to broadsides to begin bombardment, come on come on…
Roshal watched as a torpedo flickered out of existence, Runoff 4 gaining another kill.
Come on, dammit, you don’t get put in charge of a Heavy Cruiser without- THERE!
The Heavy Cruiser flinched, turning her bow away from the no longer stricken vessel, preparing for broadside.
The Captain’s grin showed more teeth than smile. “Execute! Full right thrust!”
“Full right thrust! Aye ma’am aye!” Her helmswoman called out as maneuvering thrusters dead cold roared to life and physically threw the vessel to the side, causing everyone not strapped in on the bridge to rock as a barrage of fire flew past their former location, manual targeting systems in play since the automatic systems would still be getting warmed up.
“Full thrust forward, prepare to divert all power to secondary weapons. Weapons, give me a firing solution.” Roshal commanded, hand raised and pointed at the enemy’s display as if she were commanding from a tall ship.
A chant of “Aye ma’am aye” flowed out across the bridge as the weaponsmistress was silent before calling out. “Port side is up to 45% secondary fires and 32% point defense. That’ll be our best bet.”
Roshal nodded. “Make it so. Target their main weapons. Helm, get us that facing.”
“Ma’am. We’re getting a call from Runoff 3. They are entering the AO and are asking for a target.”
Roshal smiled, “Weapons, shift target. Aim for the anti-aerospace systems. Let’s give Runoff 3 the opening they need.”
A clock ticked down.
//////////
“Cookie, we’ve got a targeting path.” Milk called forward. “Putting it up on your HUD.”
“One second… I’ve got it. Moving to comply. Did the Captain give us a plan?” her front seater replied, causing her stomach to do funny things as the Aerospace Fighter maneuvered while under high thrust.
“Something like that. She asked for a munitions report and specifically about our anti-shipping weapon.”
Cookie paused.
“Ah.” He finally said.
“Yeah.” She replied.
“Well, let’s hope they’re able to open us up to a window of opportunity. Or this will be a short charge.”
“Not our place to question why.”
“Just our place to do and die.”
Time to target… three minutes.
Into the valley of Death, rode the six hundred.
A clock ticked down.
//////////
Two vessels, three Aerospace fighters, one chance.
Six minutes of power remained. All actors took their places on the stage.
One hundred kilometers, close enough to check the weld quality of hull seams, the two ships danced across from each other. Maneuvering.
Five minutes of power remained.
The Karcharidon Heavy Cruiser rolled itself trying to keep the vulnerable top deck away from the Patrol Carrier’s presumably still working main gun as Roshal’s vessel jumped to the side. Thrusters roared.
Four minutes of power remained.
Runoff 1 and 4 shot towards their formerly separated comrade, forming up behind them in a wedge. The trio climbed towards the sun as their captain continued to chase and harass the Karcharidon.
Three minutes of power remained.
Roshal spoke. The lances of her vessel fired. Laser blasts carved across the hull of the enemy ship as it rolled.
The rolling ceased. A helmswoman swore as a full broadside caught the Patrol Carrier in the flank. The port hangar pod was ruined, armor shattered and all inside exposed to hard vacuum. Those who could scream died the fastest. The Interceptors had their opening.
Two minutes of power remained.
Silent wings swept through vacuum as three Interceptors began their dive, their formerly speedy arrowhead shape giving way to an inverted t as their wings swept out for stability, the ASF dove and dove and dove.
Five Kilometers away.
The range was too wide. They had one shot. It had to be perfect.
One minute of power remained.
The Into Harm’s Way spat its defiance into the world, limited power drained to give her pilots a seconds more of time.
30 seconds of power remained.
Three Kilometers.
Hard Lock! Milk shouted from the back seat of Runoff 3. Cookie was silent. The range was still too wide.
15 seconds of power remained.
Two Kilometers.
The Karcharidon seemingly began to roll before the Patrol Carrier once more fired, its last remaining weapons spouting their defiance against the world. Deep in engineering, systems began to blow, wires that replaced fuses sparked power and delicate circuit boards shorted out into useless scrap.
The lights went out.
No power remained.
Roshal, in her head, began to count down as lances of light began to sweep across her ship. Damage control did what they could, but the beams began to cut like an overly enthusiastic shipbreaker.
Five.
One Kilometer.
Four.
Cookie’s thumb depressed the firing stud as the Interceptor screamed at him.
Three.
The ASF launched its deadly payload.
Two.
Three Interceptors pulled back hard on their sticks to avoid colliding with the deck.
One.
The thruster of the anti-shipping missile roared as it rocketed the point blank aerospace distance to target.
Impact.
The armor piercing tip of the missile punched into the upper deck plating of the Heavy Cruiser, classified alloys allowing it to pierce into the armored plating just enough to allow the shaped charge to open up a hole as momentum kept the weapon moving.
Within the frame of a single second, the warhead of the missile had entered the ship and, before the alarms even had time to sound, detonated.
A new sun appeared in the void for a split second as a plasma-fusion warhead detonated inside the Karcharidon heavy cruiser’s hull.
//////////
Roshal allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief inside her head as the emergency power lights flickered overhead and the gravity ever so slightly lightened. What was left of their sensor arrays showed the enemy vessel powering down. “Engineering. Good work, your 10 minutes were just what she needed.” She called out, picking up the ship phone.
There was no answer from engineering.
She signed externally before pointing at one of the marines guarding the bridge, “Find a crewmate in a void suit. I have need of runners.” The marine clasped a fist to her chest before leaving to execute her captain’s commands. “Comms, do we have any contact with the engineering teams on the pirate hulk?”
The Comms officer held up a hand, Roshal waited, “No, ma’am. We aren’t getting- wait. We’ve got visual on flashing lights from the hull. Apparently, something shorted, so they’re having to rebuild broadcast arrays. They can receive just fine, though.”
“Good, once we can maneuver, bring us broadside of them. What’s the status of the merchant fleet?”
Navigation spoke up now, “Still heading for the Jump Point. Should we send the recall order?”
“Not yet, we are still unsure if the area is safe. If we have any sensors remaining, begin sca-”
The mentioned sensor technician interrupted Captain Roshal, “Ma’am, new contact, signature unknown. Just jumped in from outside the starlane!”
“Give me details. Course, range, and speed?” She demanded.
“Signal confused, can’t get a lock!” Navigation called out, “Can’t tell if confusion’s from them or us.”
Not another one… Roshal sighed, “All forces prepa-”
“Ma’am, we’re being hailed.” Communications called out.
“On squawk.”
“This is Captain Al’yosha Cal’rada of Her Imperial Majesty’s Ship Spear of the Knyaginya, responding to Merchant vessel distress calls. Imperial Patrol Carrier, are you in need of assistance at this time?”
Roshal recognized the voice. A junior officer from her days in the Navy and a fellow Sevastutavan. The memory of the fresh faced girl when she’d joined her as an Ensign straight of the Naval Academy flashed before her eyes. “Captain Cal’rada. Your timing is impeccable as always.”
“Admiral?” Roshal could hear the shock in her old protege’s voice.
“That’s Captain, now, Al’yosha. I require your aid in ensuring the disabled vessel still glowing from an ASM strike remains disabled along with Search and Rescue teams for our sister Carrier.
“Whatever you want, you’ll have it, Admiral_… Helm! All ahead flank and plot course to intercept. Launch gunships and prepare to deploy Bluejackets. We’ll test our _Orcas’ teeth today!”
The line cut out a moment later than it should have, and Roshal nodded in approval.
“Captain, I still don’t have a read on new contact. What is it?” Sensors asked.
“A Drep’na inspired vision, come to life.” Roshal watched, feeling an odd sort of parental pride as Al’yosha’s experimental warship began closing the distance towards the Karcharidon at breakneck speeds. “A swift sailing vessel and ten carriage guns…” Roshal murmured the line from an old Vaasconian poem from the ancient Age of Sail. She had heard Cal’rada had succeeded in petitioning the Navy to build her dream-ship, burning every favor and passing out favors to any and everyone to see the program through. Now, there she was, standing on the bridge bearing down on a ship twice her size, but if the rumors were true, only half her guns.
“Ma’am, contact is still not resolving, but IFF confirms Imperial Navy designation. An Akula Class Attack Transport. I’ve… I’ve never even heard of this class.”
“Perhaps we shall hear of them more in the future. Fortune favors the active.”
“Contact is disgorging multiple signals, moving at speeds consistent with aerospace assets.”
“That is our signal we may disengage. Comms, inform the merchant fleet that the area is secure and to begin refueling procedures. Helm, get us alongside the pirate hulk, we have people to recover. Marine, get me a runner to the MP’s, we shall need the port hangar prepared for an old tradition the Navy has regarding pirate prisoners…” Roshal commanded. The fight was over, it was time to begin the cleanup.
//////////
So… that took a while. Sorry about that.
Turns out when a combination of writer’s block, decision paralysis and LIFE hits you over the head, it becomes a touch difficult to get your shit together long enough to write something down.
On the plus side, we are out of the “unplanned bits” and right back into the parts I have brainstormed, so I won’t be staring at a screen trying to think how to make things connect as much anymore. On the other hand, that means we are now entering the epilogue of book 1 of Top Lasgun.
Don’t worry, the story isn’t ending, I’ve got “three” books plotted out in my head, so we’ll see how that shakes out, but for the most part, this is where I start wrapping up plot threads, laying down threads for what comes next, and all that other good stuff.
So yeah, next chapter is going to involve everyone wrapping up what happened here, some fun little Military Justice, and potentially a bunch of plot. Also, I’m planning on starting a “rewrite”/edited version of this to go up on AO3, so keep an eye out for that. Early installment weirdness is a bitch and I’m not proud of what the older stuff looked like.
Well, I hope you have a wonderful morning, afternoon or evening whenever you read this and I will see you next chapter.
[NEXT CHAPTER]

1. Admist a storm of passion, I'm lost, Blinded by the temptation of despair.

The way of love is a court of death, And I am the lowest of witness, Bound to the dullest of stands.
To seek a light so far yet bright, I'm all too familiar with, It's a chain of blossoms that keeps me silent, How silent I've come to be.
Amongst roses and lilies that rain down from above, With every fall of a petal, I dance with the master of it all.
It's a symphony, And in the end, I dance alone.

1. She carved out my heart with a blade so cruel, The pain of every new plane it reached, Enveloped me in a rush of agony.

How she tore out my soul with such apathy, I cannot bare for any longer, Yet i stay and stare as she throws it away, Never giving it a second glance.
How slowly she crawled in, Each step so tender, I ache for her to leave, yet I beg her to continue.
She rests there, Beating for as long as the earth spins, For as long as the water flows from stream to stream, She's my heart.

1. Let death rests its gaze upon my hollow soul, And carve my mortal being out of this cursed world.

Let the tides wash my sins away, And bless me with a new day, Free of worries free of fear.
Let the masked maidens carry me out, As they cover me in white chrysanthemums, And bury me in its love.
Have the light disappear, Have my life fade away into the ground of the earth.
When will the end come and engulf me, With the mercy of a willow.
Dip my body in the water, And let me drown in my demise.
They aren't very good lol i think im giving the vibe that im trying tooooo hard to be goth and depressing and stuff but its how i feel lmao :3 i'm open to critiques or explanations to any of the lines i've written but i hope its good :DD i also don't really rhyme bc it's kindaaa hard but i think it'll sound better so if you have any suggestions pls let me know :D

For context, I was at a small special education school at the time. In 2020, I (20M at the time) had a crush on this woman (20F at the time) who I'll be calling E. In December, we finally admitted we liked each other and we decided to make it "official." As someone who had never had a gf at the time, this seemed normal. I didn't know how dating worked and my diagnosed social anxiety makes it especially difficult. I was so happy to have someone who liked me. It turned out that she was a manipulative pos.
After around two weeks, I texted "hey babe." A few messages later, what stated as an innocent "hi" resulted in "I can't do this anymore" and that she was only with me to make up for her lack of self-love and so on. After I asked if she was breaking up and she said "I'm sorry." Then she blocked me.
A month later, she apologized and tried to be my friend again. Unlike previously, I decided to take time to think instead of immediately crawling back to her. A week later, she starts to show her true colors. She gets another bf that she never shut up about for MONTHS, and was clearly trying to get to me.
For additional context, I've also been writing poems since late 2020. Mostly as a coping mechanism, but I wrote a total of 102 by the end of 2021. The second was about her and trying to empathize. Starting during early 2021, the school let me show one of my poems each week.
Flash forward to December, one year after the relationship started. I was showing my poems on Fridays and the first Friday that December so happened to be exactly one year after our "relationship" started. She bursts into homeroom announcing that she just broke up with her bf.
Enter revenge. On that day, 13 E poems later, I showed a poem about her to EVERYONE. The title was her name, but I changed it to "Daisy" and changed every place her name was in it. It was one of the few poem of her that showed any level of empathy. My friend read it out. Before he did, he asked me if I was sure I wanted to go through with it. I said yes, despite the fact that I was extremely anxious which was causing my hands to shake so badly that couldn't type. I tried to stall for a moment because E was getting her meds.
Eventually, I couldn't stall anymore and my friend read it. E came into the room when my friend was partway through. She sat down and immediately glanced at me. I was planning to wink when she inevitably looked at me but my social anxiety stopped me. After she looked away, her hand shot up. After my friend finished reading, E asked "who's Daisy?" My eyes were locked on the table in front of me as I simply replied "classified."
A couple weeks later, I show the poem that I wrote to empathize with her. This resulted in her throwing a temper tantrum, a common occurrence. She didn't directly say that the poem upset her, but it was pretty obvious to me. Nobody except my friend and a few teachers knew who "Daisy" was.
I had planned to show a month later that was more harsh. It was a duet called "I'm Sorry" where I paraphrased things she said to me for the first half, starting every sentence with "I" with an aggressive rebuttal from me. It was still read, but unfortunately classes changed that week and so she never heard that one. I wish she was the had because her reaction would've been priceless.
Since I failed to place the final nail in the coffin, this wasn't the most pro revenge, but it was so close so I thought I'd share.

I’m not entirely sure why I’m writing this or what I hope to gain from it. There are many things wrong with me, and it feels overwhelming.
Here are some preliminary things about me to get as much context as possible. I'm 20 years old. I'm turning 21 in July. I'm Indian-American. I will graduate college half a year early in December in a subject I hate. I'm currently on anti-depressants (a small dosage).
At first, I thought my depression was just stress about the future or my obsession with a crush. I barely know him, and he’s more a character I've created in my mind. He’s probably straight. A losing game. I know I’m destined to be alone. I’m superficial and plagued by insecurities about my body that nothing can fix.
I’m not smart enough for STEM. Forget being average—I’m not even competent. This leaves me feeling like I have nothing else. Whatever small talent I have in writing seems useless because I lack the strength, willpower, and discipline to achieve anything significant.
Moreover, I hate my parents. I've realized that I've let their burdens unfairly affect me, and I feel guilty about this. I'm still grappling with whether this guilt, or even this hatred, is valid.
I’m always confused and tired, and sharing these feelings with others makes me uncomfortable. I have a therapist who makes me feel heard, but I don't think I've been improving through our sessions.
I've stopped being able to enjoy anything anymore. Writing poems helped for a bit, but now I get drained even thinking about doing anything. I wish time would stop. I wish my brain could just shut the fuck up and turn itself off.
I just don’t know anymore...

I’m not entirely sure why I’m writing this or what I hope to gain from it. There are many things wrong with me, and it feels overwhelming.
Here are some preliminary things about me to get as much context as possible. I'm 20 years old. I'm turning 21 in July. I'm Indian-American. I will graduate college half a year early in December in a subject I hate. I'm currently on anti-depressants (a small dosage).
At first, I thought my depression was just stress about the future or my obsession with a crush. I barely know him, and he’s more a character I've created in my mind. He’s probably straight. A losing game. I know I’m destined to be alone. I’m superficial and plagued by insecurities about my body that nothing can fix.
I’m not smart enough for STEM. Forget being average—I’m not even competent. This leaves me feeling like I have nothing else. Whatever small talent I have in writing seems useless because I lack the strength, willpower, and discipline to achieve anything significant.
Moreover, I hate my parents. I've realized that I've let their burdens unfairly affect me, and I feel guilty about this. I'm still grappling with whether this guilt, or even this hatred, is valid.
I’m always confused and tired, and sharing these feelings with others makes me uncomfortable. I have a therapist who makes me feel heard, but I don't think I've been improving through our sessions.
I've stopped being able to enjoy anything anymore. Writing poems helped for a bit, but now I get drained even thinking about doing anything. I wish time would stop. I wish my brain could just shut the fuck up and turn itself off.
I just don’t know anymore...

Welcome to Digital Reality...
Link to Part 1
Link to Part 35 (contains links back to Parts 2-34)
Link to Part 36
Link to Part 37
Link to Part 38
Link to Part 39
Link to Part 40
Link to Part 41
Link to Part 42
Link to Part 43
Link to Part 44
Link to Part 45
Link to Part 46
Link to Part 47
Link to Part 48
Link to Part 49
Link to Part 50
Link to Part 51
Note: This story is meant to be read after completing DDLC Plus. All credit for the original DDLC and DDLC Plus characters and world goes to their creator, and this story is not affiliated with the official DDLC content. Some concepts like the Universal Constructor and the concept of AI rampancy are also borrowed from other series (most notably the original Deus Ex), though their use in this story is my own idea. With a few exceptions, my original characters in this story will generally not be named and their descriptions will be kept vague, so anyone reading this who wants to see themselves in one of the original characters can more easily do so. I'd welcome any feedback and will post more parts as I write them. I hope you enjoy the story.
Credit for Sayuri's character design: Hoeruko. Credit for Sayuri's sprites: Ian and Itz_Matic.
Here is Part 52 of the story. Sayori, MC, and the FXI team try to keep Yuri calm while waiting for Natsuki to arrive. But they may have a much bigger problem than Yuri's behavior. Custom Dialogue: A Serious Problem
Part 52: Solutions and Problems
“The fourth construction is proceeding,” UC senior engineer Lauren Medrano reported, raising her voice to be heard above the pinging noises coming from the Universal Constructor and the commotion in the control room, “System estimates fifteen minutes to completion.”
UC project manager David Kent nodded, “Our construction time is getting faster with each run. Very good.”
The FXI President picked up his phone and sent a text to the FXI CTO.
Natsuki should be here in fifteen minutes. How are you holding up?
A few moments later the FXI CTO replied.
We’ve kept Yuri talking and she seems a little bit calmer. She’s demanding that you come back to the conference room so that she can confess to me in front of all of my friends.
The FXI President shook his head as he typed back.
I’ll be over in a minute. At least you have managed to keep her talking and she hasn’t gone totally out of control.
He put the phone down and turned to Ive Laster. “I’ll be right back. They’re asking for me in the conference room. Seems like they’ve been able to keep Yuri talking so far.”
Laster nodded. “Okay. My system will be pretty much locked up for the next twenty minutes or so running the diagnostic scan. It’s a scan of active processes, so while it’s fairly quick it still takes a ton of resources. Do you mind if I use your machine if we need anything from VM1 while mine is unavailable? I’ll text you if anything comes up or if the construction finishes while you’re gone.”
“Yeah. Sure,” the FXI President replied as he stood up from his chair, “I’ll let you know what happens with Yuri.”
The FXI President turned, walked out of the UC control room, and walked down the hall to the conference room where Sayori, MC, Yuri, and the FXI CTO sat. Sayori looked uncomfortable. MC appeared to be intently studying his can of soda. The FXI CTO’s expression was somewhere between shock and exhaustion as he sat next to Yuri, who held his hand as she continued to grin.
Yuri’s eyes lit up and she stood as the FXI President entered the room. “Good! We’re all here! Now we can begin.
“What can we expect here?” the FXI President whispered to MC.
“Probably a monologue of a confession,” MC whispered back with a sigh, “You might want to grab yourself something to drink or a snack. This could take a while.”
Yuri stared with intensity at the FXI CTO. “Ever since we met, I knew we were meant to be together. Not even the distance between your reality and my digital world could keep us apart. And you found a way to bring me here! So I can stand before you and confess my love for you!”
“Yuri, I…I have to admit that I was scared of you AIs at first given the potential for what could happen if self-aware code were to go out control,” the FXI CTO said cautiously, “But over time as we interacted with all of the members of the Literature Club, your humanity became clear.”
“Yes!” Yuri agreed enthusiastically, “You saw something in us that nobody else did. You fought for us…you fought for me! How could I not fall in love with you? And if you were willing to do so much to bring me to your reality, you must feel the same way!”
The FXI CTO started to reply, but Yuri cut him off and continued to speak, the tone of her voice varying between passionate and pleading.
“I’m sorry…I’m normally more eloquent than this…but I just can’t help myself. My mind has just been racing nonstop thinking about you! It’s like my heart is just screaming your name!”
“Do you even know my name?” the FXI CTO asked.
“Don’t be silly…of course I do!” Yuri quickly replied with a giggle, “I know everything about you. It’s very easy for an AI to search the internet and quickly find out a lot about a person.”
“Like what?” the FXI CTO inquired, “Tell me something that I’m interested in.”
Yuri gave him a smug grin. “Well, for example I know that you like to read cyberpunk novels and conspiracy theory books. Soon we will read together! It will be so much fun!”
The FXI CTO’s mouth fell open. “How did you…yeah. AI. Maybe my initial feelings of concern weren’t wrong. Or maybe I should just delete my social media accounts.”
“It’s not nice to invade people’s privacy,” Sayori said, looking up at Yuri, “It’s one thing to have a crush on someone, but it’s not okay to dig into their private files.”
Yuri glared at her. “Don’t judge me. You weren’t the one trying to find a way to love someone who was in a completely separate reality. I didn’t get a childhood friend programmed to fall in love with me like you did.”
Sayori looked away, her expression showing dismay and hurt feelings.
“That’s uncalled for, Yuri,” MC interjected, “The initial script may have been programmed so that Sayori and I would have feelings for each other, but we were given the choice and we chose each other.”
“And I chose him!” Yuri retorted, grabbing the FXI CTO’s hand possessively, “It isn’t wrong to want to get to know the one you love!”
“Right, but you have to give me a chance to respond to your confession first,” the FXI CTO pointed out.
“Yes, you are right,” Yuri agreed, her manic expression flickering for a moment, “I just need to find the perfect words and we’ll be together forever! But…I can’t find the words. Why can’t I find the words?”
“Feel free to take as long as you need,” the FXI CTO reassured her, “It’s okay.”
Yuri paused for a long moment, her eyes rapidly looking around the room. “This isn’t working. Why isn’t this working? What’s wrong with me? I need to think…I need to clear my head and organize my thoughts. I know! Get me a pen!”
“You want a pen?” the FXI President asked, “Just a pen, or paper too?”
“Of course! Paper too!” Yuri replied, “What would I do with just a pen? I can’t write on the table!”
“What are you going to write?” MC asked.
“I figured it out!” Yuri said excitedly, “The perfect way to confess my feelings is through poetry! There are so many vivid images that I can create with a poem.”
The FXI President looked through one of the cabinets in the conference room and came up with a notepad and pen with the MES logo on them. He pushed them across the table toward Yuri.
“Okay, Yuri, I look forward to reading your poem,” the FXI CTO said, “Should we give you some space to write?”
“No, no, you’re not going anywhere!” Yuri replied, her expression returning to a manic grin, “I want to stare into your eyes as I ponder every word that I will write for you! But the rest of you should leave and give us some space.”
The FXI President looked to the FXI CTO. “You going to be okay?”
The FXI CTO gave an exhausted smile. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Go check and see how long it will be before Natsuki gets here.”
Yuri’s expression became one of annoyance. “Why would you ask about her? Nobody cares about that little pink brat.”
Sayori winced in emotional pain as she stood from her chair. “Yuri, please be nicer to our friends. We’ve all been through a lot today.”
Yuri ignored her and began furiously writing on the notepad. Sayori shook her head sadly as she followed the FXI President and MC out the door of the conference room toward the UC control room.
“I really don’t like seeing her like that,” Sayori said glumly, “I like when everyone is happy, and when Yuri gets like that or when she and Natsuki fight it just makes me so sad.”
“Well maybe Yuri will calm down after she’s able to write for a while,” MC offered hopefully, “Or if she doesn’t, Natsuki should be here soon anyway. How does she get Yuri out of that state anyway?”
“I don’t know. I’ve only briefly seen her like this before. I think most of the times in the original script that she was like this was after I…” Sayori replied, trailing off as unpleasant memories came back to her, “No. Sorry MC, I don’t want think about this right now. It led me to memories that really hurt…some of the worst rain clouds.”
“Sorry, Sayori,” MC apologized, “I didn’t mean to make you think about that.”
Sayori nodded, accepting his apology, but remained silent.
The FXI President opened the door to the UC control room and followed MC and Sayori in. The room was filled with the noises of the UC and the conversations of the engineers.
“How’s construction going?” the FXI President asked.
“Finishing up now,” Medrano replied with satisfaction, “The system is running final error checks…call it another two or three minutes. The UC has surpassed all of our expectations today.”
The FXI President nodded and walked over to the table where Ive Laster and Paula Miner sat behind his computer. “How’s the scan going?”
“It hasn’t turned up anything so far, but unfortunately the scan is using a ton of resources,” Laster said, “It’s degrading system performance on VM1 to the point where it’s going to slow down the next transmission significantly.”
The FXI President grimaced. “That’s not ideal.”
“No, not at all,” Laster agreed, “How are things going with Yuri?”
“We’ve been stalling for time and trying to calm her down,” the FXI President explained, “She seemed to be getting a little bit better and decided that she needed to write, so we gave her a pen and paper.”
“See? Your fears were clearly unfounded,” Miner said to Laster with a smile, “We made the right call by proceeding.”
The FXI President shook his head. “Not entirely. She’s still in a manic and obsessed state.”
Miner waved her hand dismissively. “We’ll deal with that later.”
The FXI President turned back to his computer and the terminal window to VM1, where Monika and Sayuri anxiously awaited news of Natsuki.
“Any updates?” Monika asked.
“Almost done,” the FXI President replied, “Should only be about a minute or two more until Natsuki gets here.”
“How’s Yuri doing?” Sayuri added, her voice full of concern.
“She’s a little better, I think,” the FXI President explained, “She’s still in her obsessive state, but she’s decided that she can better express her feelings through writing. We gave her a pen and paper.”
“That’s at least a bit of positive news,” Monika said with some relief, “Just keep an eye on her until Natsuki arrives. And at least she’s writing and not using the pen for…never mind.”
The FXI President frowned as a console window unexpectedly popped up on the terminal screen.
UNLOAD STAIRWELL.LOC
UNLOAD STREET.LOC
STAIRWELL.LOC OFFLINE
STREET.LOC OFFLINE
He turned his laptop to face Laster. “Is this normal?”
Laster looked at the console message. “Rea told me that some assets that aren’t being used might be offloaded during the scan but keep an eye on it and let me know if it keeps happening.”
The FXI President nodded.
“Construction complete,” one of the UC engineers announced, “Removing nanites from construction chamber.”
“Nanite removal confirmed,” another engineer reported, “Clear to open the UC chamber.”
“Excellent,” Medrano said with a nod, “Reset the system for the next construction.”
Laster, Miner, Sayori, MC, and the FXI President walked to the windows in the control room, as the light above the door to the UC chamber flipped from red to green. The construction chamber at the center of the chamber slid open, and a short, pink-haired young woman stepped out.
“Wow. Her pink hair and eyes really are striking in person,” one of the engineers observed.
Natsuki looked around the room. “I’m here! Start the party!”
From the windows above the UC chamber Natsuki saw Sayori and MC waving to her. Returning their smile, she walked up the stairs and through the door to the control room.
“Natsuki!” Sayori yelled, running over to her friend and giving her a huge hug, “You made it!”
“Oof…you’re squeezing me a bit tight there, Sayori,” Natsuki said, loosening the embrace.
“Ehehehe…sorry,” Sayori said, stepping back from Natsuki, “I’m just so glad that you made it okay.”
Natsuki turned to Laster and the FXI President. “So you’re the guys we’ve seen as fuzzy silhouettes in our world?”
“That’s us,” the FXI President confirmed, “We’re glad you made it safely.”
“Yeah…” Natsuki said quietly, “Thanks for everything. Nobody has ever cared about me much before, so…yeah. Thanks.”
“Of course,” Laster replied, “We do need your help with Yuri now. You said you had a way to snap her out of her obsessive state?”
Natsuki thought for a moment. “Oh…yeah, I should be able to help. Where is she?”
“Come with us,” Laster said, leading Natsuki to the door to the UC control room, “She’s in a conference room down the hall. We also have some snacks there if you want something to eat.”
Natsuki, the FXI President, Sayori, and MC followed Laster down the hall to the conference room where Yuri and the FXI CTO sat. Yuri was furiously writing on her notepad, pausing frequently to stare at the FXI CTO.
Yuri looked up as Natsuki stepped into the room. Her expression became one of rage as she stood.
“You! Don’t you dare interrupt me when I’m trying to write the perfect confession!”
“Well hello to you too, Yuri,” Natsuki said, “Please calm down. I’m not trying to steal him from you.”
“Nobody cares what you have to say!” Yuri yelled, her tone increasingly agitated, “Just get out, you little pink brat!”
Natsuki sighed as she stepped closer to Yuri, “Yuri, you’re my friend. So I’m really sorry to have to do this.”
*SLAP*
Natsuki slapped Yuri across the face. Sayori gasped and looked away as MC cringed.
Yuri staggered for a moment and fell back into her chair.
“That was your solution?” Laster asked incredulously.
Natsuki held up a hand. “Give her a minute.”
Yuri blinked rapidly several times. She looked around the room, meeting eyes with Natsuki, Sayori, MC, Laster, the FXI President, and the FXI CTO in turn.
“W-what…what happened?” Yuri asked. She looked down at her notepad, which was filled with barely legible scribbles.
“You…you weren’t yourself,” Natsuki explained, “And smacking you across the face is the only way I know to get you to snap out of that state.”
Yuri looked from Natsuki to her notepad to the FXI CTO as she thought for a moment before bursting out in tears.
“I…I’m so s-sorry,” she sobbed, “This is why I was so afraid to come to the real world. Everyone will think I’m just a mess now…that I’m just a crazy yandere. I’m n-not like that. I don’t know what came over me…I don’t know what to do…my passions just overcome me sometimes…”
Yuri put her head down on the table and continued to cry softly. Sayori walked over to where she sat and embraced her.
“Yuri, everyone knows that wasn’t the real you,” Sayori said, “We know you’re a passionate person. We’ve enjoyed reading your poetry and seeing your passion in your writing. And most of all we’ve been so glad to have you as a friend.”
Natsuki joined the hug. “Yeah. We won’t always get along, but I’m glad that you are part of the Literature Club and I’m happy you’re my friend.”
Yuri looked up, her eyes red from tears. “B-but everyone in the real world thinks I’m crazy. This is why nobody has ever liked me…I don’t know how to be normal.”
She turned to the FXI CTO, who had been sitting silently in his chair. “I’m so sorry for everything that happened today. I know I made you uncomfortable but please…I don’t know how to prove it to you but please know that isn’t the real me.”
The FXI CTO gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s okay, Yuri. I know that’s not what you’re normally like. And at least you didn’t pull out one of your knives on me. To be honest, we wanted to not send your file to the UC until you were feeling better, but we were overruled.”
Yuri smiled weakly. “Thank you for understanding.”
“Whoever made that decision is a complete idiot,” Natsuki said, “I would have volunteered to go before Yuri to give her time to calm down.”
“Hey…we may have had our disagreements, but Paula’s support has been important to getting this all done and she is a friend of mine,” Laster interjected.
“The same Paula who said it was okay to delete Sayuri?” Natsuki asked, her tone becoming dark.
Sayori, MC, and Yuri all looked at Laster with suspicion in their eyes.
“Hang on a minute,” Laster replied, holding up a hand, “I’m not asking you to like Paula or be friends with her, but I need you all to stay calm until this is all done. Let me handle her. She and I have known each other for years and we work well together. And remember, two of your friends are still in the digital world and we need to make sure nothing prevents them from getting here.”
Natsuki continued to glare at Laster for a moment before her expression finally lost its anger. “Fine. But just make sure everyone gets here, okay?”
Laster nodded. “Speaking of which, we need to head back to the control room to get ready for the next construction. You all can stay here and relax for now.”
“Can…can we watch?” Yuri asked quietly, “The whole concept of constructing an entire person using nanotechnology almost seems like something out of a science fiction story. I would also like to take the opportunity to demonstrate to all present that I am now in a much better mental state than when they first saw me.”
Laster shrugged. “Sure. Just stay out of everyone’s way and don’t touch anything.”
Laster, the FXI executives, and the members of the Literature Club filed out of the conference room and returned to the UC control room.
Paula Miner looked up as the group entered the room. Her face flickered when she saw the members of the Literature Club, but she maintained her composure. “About time you guys came back. They’re ready for the next file.”
Yuri and Natsuki walked to the windows overlooking the UC chamber as Laster and the FXI executives sat down at the table with their laptops. Sayori and MC stood behind them, observing the room.
“Are you…feeling better now?” Medrano asked Yuri cautiously.
Yuri nodded slowly. “Yes. Thank you for asking. I apologize...I was in an alternate mental state when my file was transmitted to your machinery, causing the unusual behavior that you saw.”
“It’s okay,” Medrano replied with a smile, “You’ve been through a lot today. But please let us know if you have any other issues.”
Medrano turned to Laster and the FXI executives. “Our system is ready to proceed with the next construction. Transmit whenever you’re ready.”
The FXI President turned to his laptop and the remaining members of the Literature Club on VM1.
“Okay, Sayuri, you’re up next,” he said, “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes, I am ready…though it’s not like I had much to get ready,” Sayuri said flatly, “I don’t have any personal items or even a change of clothes.”
He turned to Laster. “Looks like we’re ready to go here, Ive.”
Laster nodded. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
The console window reappeared on the FXI President’s terminal window.
STAIRWELL.LOC DELETED
STREET.LOC DELETED
UNLOAD CORRIDOR.LOC
UNLOAD CLOSET.LOC
CORRIDOR.LOC OFFLINE
CLOSET.LOC OFFLINE
CORRIDOR.LOC DELETED
CLOSET.LOC DELETED
The FXI President turned his laptop to face Laster. “Ive, look at this. Something is very wrong here.”
At the same time Laster’s ThinkPad sounded a warning alarm and a dialogue box with a red border appeared on the screen. The color drained from Laster’s face as he read the message.
WARNING: MALICIOUS SOFTWARE DETECTED
LOCATION: MES.LOCAL\\VM1
SYSTEM STABILITY COMPROMISED
RECOMMENDATION: IMMEDIATE QUARANTINE AND REMOTE DEEP SCAN / CLEANING
“What was that?” UC project manager David Kent asked, looking over at Laster.
Miner shook her head, but Laster ignored her. “We just received an alert from our security software. It’s detecting malicious code on VM1.”
Kent’s eyes widened. “Your system is connected to the network that the UC is on. Is there a risk of it spreading to our system? Do we need to shut down?”
“No, we can’t shut down now!” Miner exclaimed, “We are so close to complete success.”
“I can appreciate that Paula, but at the same time we can’t risk bricking the UC if this thing is a threat,” Kent replied.
“It appears to be deleting files on VM1,” Laster explained as he furiously typed commands into his laptop, “I’m trying to see if I can isolate it but I don’t know if I’ll be able to. But if this thing is doing what it appears to be doing, we’re going to lose VM1 soon.”
“Lose VM1?” Miner asked, concern appearing in her voice, “As in the AIs too?”
Laster quickly shook his head. “No. Their files should be protected by the encryption, but if everything else goes down there won’t be a virtual universe for them to exist in.”
Laster picked up his phone and dialed Rea Vorte in the server room. She picked up quickly as Laster set the phone down and put it on speaker mode.
“Rea, are you seeing this?” Laster asked, “We’ve got a serious issue down here.”
“Yes, I am,” she replied, “Ro and I are reviewing the process list right now to see if anything stands out.”
“We’ll work as quickly as we can,” Ro Teether added, “But if the system becomes unstable that could really slow us down.”
The console window continued to add more lines to text to the list.
UNLOAD BEDROOM.LOC
BEDROOM.LOC OFFLINE
BEDROOM.LOC DELETED
“We just lost another room!” the FXI President announced.
“What’s happening?” Sayori asked as she looked over the FXI President’s shoulder, “Are Monika and Sayuri okay?”
“For the moment,” the FXI President replied, “We need to transmit now so we can get them off of VM1 ASAP.”
Kent nodded solemnly as he turned to Medrano. “Lauren, is there a threat to the UC?”
Medrano thought for a moment. “The UC itself shouldn’t be at risk; it runs on proprietary code that only exists in its control system so the odds of a virus being able to attack it are almost zero. What I’m more concerned about are the file servers that we use to store our data logs. Those could be highly vulnerable to a virus that destroys files.”
“Not good,” Kent replied, “Ive, how fast is this thing moving?”
“Hard to say,” Laster replied as he scowled at his laptop, “But based on what has happened so far I’d say we may not have more that a half an hour before VM1 goes down.”
Kent sighed. “Okay. Lauren, what do you think?”
“While I understand the importance of completing this project for the AI team,” Medrano said, an apologetic note in her voice, “And while I’m sure Ive is giving us his best guess on how long we have before this thing might spread, we can’t take risks with our data.”
Laster gave Medrano a look of disappointment. “So are you shutting us down?”
Medrano was silent for a long moment. She glanced at the clock on the wall of the control room before replying. “Let me do some quick checks on our systems to see what our backup status is. Shouldn’t take me more than a few minutes and if we’re lucky you’ll isolate this nasty code quickly.”
“Thanks, Lauren,” Laster said as he turned back to his laptop.
The UC control room had become largely quiet as Medrano worked with her engineers to check the security of their file servers while Laster continued to try to track the malicious code. Sayori, MC, Yuri and Natsuki looked increasingly anxious with each passing minute.
After several minutes, Medrano turned away from her laptop. “We checked our file servers, and our backup process won’t run again until seven tonight, so there is a threat to data that hasn’t been backed up. Out of professional courtesy, I’ll give you five minutes before we have to terminate the connection to your system. That should be enough time to transmit another AI to the UC. I know you wanted all six, but I can’t risk our data so we’ll just have to settle for five.”
“So only one more?” the FXI President asked.
Medrano nodded.
Sayori, MC, Yuri and Natsuki looked horrified as the meaning of Medrano’s words hit them.
“No,” Sayori mouthed silently, tears forming in her eyes.
Laster covered his eyes with his hands for a brief moment as he thought. “Thank you, Lauren. It’s definitely not the outcome we wanted but I appreciate the five minutes to transmit one more of them.”
Miner picked up Laster’s phone, which was still connected to Vorte and Teether.
“We’re going to send one more AI to the UC. Once we confirm that the transmission is complete, move the remaining AI to cold storage.”
“Understood,” Teether replied, “We’ll shut down VM1 as well to prevent this thing from spreading.”
“Are you ready for me to go?” Sayuri asked from the terminal window on the FXI President’s laptop.
Laster turned to the FXI President. “Should I tell them?”
The FXI President shook his head. “I’ll tell them.”
He turned back to his laptop. “There’s…there’s been a problem. A virus appears to be attacking VM1 and deleting files. We don’t know how long we have, but the UC people will only let us send one of you before they terminate the connection. I’m sorry.”
Monika and Sayuri did not immediately reply, but the stunned and scared looks on their faces said more than words.

(May 12, 2024 - 11:17 PM)
I hope you never find this.
hi E----, it's me again., si migs. If you don't remember who that is, I'm the guy who courted you, who gave you letters and poems, who you called your "human diary". And I know it's been a while, antagal na rin nating hindi nag-uusap, hell antagal na rin kitang hindi nasusulatan ng letters. But this is the final letter, I'll ever dedicate to you and I hope you never find this. Actually matagal ko na tong gustong gawin, I could just never face the truth dati. The naked truth na takot akong bitawan ka.
Pero dati na yon, I'm all good and I've actually moved on na rin. Heck, di ko na nga talaga to dapat gagawin pero something came up and here I am.
I'm letting you go.
I know haha, it's quite ironic na ngayon ko lang nasabi 'to sayo kahit na ako yung nagsabi ng "please, let me go". It's hilarious and yes I admit medyo nakakalito (believe me kahit ako na confuse as to why ako ganito non). But naked truth, you were very hard to let go.
One, you're fucking pretty. Your pictures, your voice, your mindset, everything about you was beautiful, and maybe it was just infatuation or maybe obsessed lang talaga ako sayo.
Two, you were everywhere, nung time na blinock kita, which was 8 months ago (damn), I couldn't smile for weeks. Because everything beautiful reminded me of you.
It fucking sucks to be a poet, because it shed light to the truth of the saying that "you could never really appreciate beauty once you lose the person you love" and that's true because I loved you. When you were gone, I saw you everywhere, I saw you in sunsets, in flowers, in the clouds, even in songs, all I could think of was you, anything beautiful tol, nandun ka. And I couldn't enjoy anything for weeks kasi nga maaalala lang kita. I couldn't even enjoyn reading kase nung nakabili ako ng libro, I printed some of your pictures (photocard size) and used it as bookmarks, kase photocards talaga bookmarks ko. So for months talaga di nagalaw mga books ko and once I started reading them again, BOOM mukha mo, ang ganda, shet tiklop nanaman.
Three, you were my home. I've come to associate that term with you, ever since you recommended me that song on facebook. "oh home, let me come home... home is wherever I'm with you." Rest, solace, comfort, I found that in you. And as we got to know each other more, I found the freedom to become myself. Which is why I always felt safe whenever it was you. And likewise rin sayo, as you said noon.
But why I'm letting you go is because I realized that I didn't deserve the treatment you gave me. Throughout the time na nililigawan kita, I always felt alone. During that time I was always trying to rationalize why I felt that way and what I could do to fix it. But you can't rationalize emotions, you feel them. And that was my mistake kase I bottled it up but it eventually broke through me, then it broke me. I tried to communicate that naman, but nothing really changed, and lumala lang. Kaya yeah.
I'm done looking at it through rose colored glasses.
As you can see medyo nahirapan talaga akong mag move on kasi whenever I thought of you, all I could remember was the sweet moments natin, even if we had few. Never the sleepless nights, never the breakdowns, not even the times that I apologized because I was hurt that you couldn't have time for me. Listen I understand it now, how hard it is maging senior high. And I tried to understand it then. It's draining and minsan talaga nakakawalang gana makipag usap sa tao. But I tried naman, I adjusted, you know that. Saan ka man comfortable, sige dun tayo. Once a week nalang mag usap? sige goo.
I thought I knew what price I was paying but, that gradually crushed me. How I would update you throughout my day, fucking send 14 messages na may mga paragraph pa, only for you to reply with 4-6 messages, sometimes none. And yeah idk why but ako pa rin yung nag a-apologize nung time na yon. Maybe it's because of how I was brought up, but I considered it my fault that I was feeling that way.
I'm done apologizing.
Did you know that this letter has had about 7 drafts already, throughout different times I tried to write this final letter and I always gave up after the first paragraph. Wanna know why? Because in all 7 letters, the most recurring words were "I'm sorry".
"I'm sorry if you felt like you were responsible for my feelings" "I'm sorry I was hurt" "I'm sorry that I became a burden on you"
I always felt so bad after attempting to write this letter then, it was like having a knife to my neck. Well I'm done with that already. I'm done apologizing for things I shouldn't be.
Listen I'm not mad at you, I don't hate you, nor am I asking you for an apology. You're not obligated to do that to me. It's okay. We don't have to apologize to one another, I've forgiven you and I'm choosing to move on na. Not for you, and especially not for love, but for me.
How could you.
I just wanna address the whole telegram thing, cause I feel the need to. It was just a little insensitive kasi nga we weren't on the best of terms nung time na yon. Yun yung nag pa block ka sakin. And yeah you know naman what we were going through. Medyo nagulat lang ako na you just talked to me like that, so casually. I was hurting and healing at the same time pero damn. tas sinabi mo pa yung "kung tayo, edi tayo" line and that seriously fucked me up. Kase at the time I was trying to give up on that na, cause I thought you did too. Pero yeah, now I've given up on that na, I hope u do too.
(Also I told u non sa pasko mo ko ichat ulit kasi I wasn't ready to talk to you again that time. Pero you stood me up, so yeah, fun christmas.)
Move on too.
I know this may seem late but move on too, although I think you already did judging on your replies sa sayout ( i don't remember typing that, so it must be someone else). But yeah move on na rin and give up on the idea that we'll ever meet and be together. Kase I've given up na. I've grieved losing you long enough. I hope that you move on, find someone new as well, and hopefully see that person in your future. Good luck sa future mo, I hope you pursue engineering, whatever you choose to do, you have my support, as your friend.
P.S. I found God
Well more like he found me again, nung time na nililigawan kita, I was distant from God for reasons beyond you, pero I still had a little amount of faith. Kahit distant ako non I prayed for you on two or three seperate occasions, one of which (namention ko na to sayo) was on the same week I considered being an atheist. Back then I was asking God for a sign if you were the one and he never gave me one pero pinilit ko kase kaya yeah. Then, I would've turned my back on God's plan if it meant I would be with you. But now balaka jan I'm walking with the man who saved my soul. And same thing happened with this girl I like sa church. Man 10/10 talaga siya but prayer ko lang for the girl is "your will be done Lord". And I guess 'di talaga will ni Lord kaya I surrendered it to God, but man she's so pretty.
yun lang, oh and ang ganda ng buwan tonight.

Honestly, I don't even know what I'm typing this here but I feel like I really need to let this out so let me preface this by saying imoved to a different school na lol and so konting context around September last 2022 I started having a " happy crush" to this guy in my old school he's ur typical cute "boy next door and golden retriever" sort of guy he's smart, top of our class and part of the student government, stuent journalist and we're both part of the choir, he also likes to write poems and he would sent it for me to read and i'd melt kahit na hindi naman about me yung poems. Somehow we found ourselves in the same friend group and we became best friends; we'd be each other rant buddy, exchane advices and would talk everyday and would update each other about our days and me being so delulu my feelings started to grow to the point na i would also write poems and cheesy stuff abt him i was not planning on telling him that i liked him kasi i dont ever make the first move. There was this one fateful day in april where we were holding choir auditions and kami naghahandle and theres this girl from a lower grade na apparently had a crush on him shes pretty naman and a bit shy as well in person and she would slide in his dms and he would entertain her and he would tell me how annoying and jeje the girl can get so siyempre i didn't bat an eye about it and then one day he just told me that he starting to have feelings for the girl and girl when I read that text, I found my whole world crumble because I had bottled up all of these feelings for him and I didn't know what to do to the point that i cried the whole night because i did love him even thought its or v one- sided. I eventually gathered the courage and sent him a letter confessing everything the day after that ( dumb move i know) and he said it would be better if we were friends and so we did i would still talk to him nothing changed much in texts but its so awkward irl sometimes when i go home and hang out with my province friends and hes there and btw him and the girl are dating na for almost a year and they seem happy sometimes i just wonder if i would have confessed earlier would that have changed things? I dont think there was day where hindi siya pumasok sa isip ko (cringe i know) lol ive had my fair share of heartbreaks and relationships but theres something really sad about loving a person you cant be with. Ppl say i should move on but for some reason after a year i still think about him and i still talk to him since were “best friends” idk if i should wait but maybe i can

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day. I spent the evening with my living children. A month or so ago, I suddenly mentally relived the entire ordeal of my stillbirth, which occurred about 15.5 years ago. My late husband really began drinking and cheating a lot after that happened, and the loneliness of that time and experience really crushed me as I thought back on what I endured during it. I usually don’t feel so raw about it except for in November around his birthday. He seems to be heavier on my mind recently. I can’t imagine how difficult it would be to be a widowed single mom of five since I’m already a widowed single mom of four. But I wish he was here with us. Here is a poem I wrote for him when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter, many years ago.
The Stone
The joy on the faces Everything pink and fair How different it all feels From memories held so dear… My heart recalls a boy I carried before this little one Ducks, mint green, and yellow The pride of having a son… But there is a block of granite That is planted on a hill Engraved with proof he was ours And that he remains ours, still
Rest easy, my sweet baby boy

Long story!
Please read till end to know the full context.
So, there is this girl I found on Instagram in October 2022. I followed her and she followed me back. One day I put a story on my Insta about that anonymous messages and she was interested in dating me back then, so she asked me different types of questions and I asked her. After some days, she deactivated her ID. Fast forward to early 2023, I was in depression and we were talking and she helped me find a therapist. After 7-8 months, my situation got better and I thanked her.
Now, in the beginning of April, I asked for her whatsapp number and she agreed to share it. I was still interested in her after 1.5 years of being in contact with her. One day, I asked her to watch a movie together online and she asked, if this is normal or I want to have a movie date with her? Due to some reasons, I couldn't say that I want to have a movie date with her, so I said it was normal. Then she told me she was seeing a guy she met on a dating app and my heart shattered. I wished her all the best but I was hurt. So, I decided to tell her everything and she said she's flattered that I still like her but she's seeing someone else, so she would go with him and I said, that's alright.
Just after 3-4 days of this incident, we watched a movie together and she told me that guy ghosted her. I felt sorry for her and she seems to be disappointed too. After some days, we began to talk more often than earlier. We watched movies online but I was the one who initiated it for first 2 times. Now, she's the one asking me to watch movies and I say yes. I don't know if I'm being her coping mechanism to get over that feeling of being ghosted or she's actually interested in me. I asked some of my friends and they advised not to talk to her about dating or know her dating life for next 1-2 months to finally be sure that she's not using me. So, I choose to wait now. I don't want to have her backup option and I also don't want to sound desperate that even after saying she doesn't share same feelings for me as earlier, I'm still hoping to date her. But somewhere I feel like she's interested in me but she's not saying that. And I can be wrong too and it is just my overthinking and I'm treating her nice friendly behaviour as a sign of her being interested in me.
She's the intellectual type of girl. The one I always look for. She is interested in politics, ethics, philosophy, movies, songs etc and I have the same interests and thought process. Yesterday's night we were watching movie and I told her that I wanted to write a poem. She didn't ask me who I'm dedicating to this poem. And I told her I've not written it yet. She said, okay. Just after talking to her, after 2 hours, I wrote a poem thinking about her and I expressed my emotions and unclear thoughts related to her whether I should talk to her again and ask her if she want to date me or like me or not. I asked my friends and they said, it is upto me to decide whether I want to show it to her or not cause she can easily guess from the poem that it is her I'm talking about and things may get awkward or she'll think I'm a desperate person and I don't want her to think like this. What should I do now?
TL;DR Crush had feelings for me earlier but not now when I asked her few days ago, she got ghosted by the guy she was seeing, now we both are talking well and I wrote a poem for her and I'm confused whether I should show it to her or not and I don't want to look desperate to her, so I'm so confused.

Long story!
Please read till end to know the full context.
So, there is this girl I found on Instagram in October 2022. I followed her and she followed me back. One day I put a story on my Insta about that anonymous messages and she was interested in dating me back then, so she asked me different types of questions and I asked her. After some days, she deactivated her ID. Fast forward to early 2023, I was in depression and we were talking and she helped me find a therapist. After 7-8 months, my situation got better and I thanked her.
Now, in the beginning of April, I asked for her whatsapp number and she agreed to share it. I was still interested in her after 1.5 years of being in contact with her. One day, I asked her to watch a movie together online and she asked, if this is normal or I want to have a movie date with her? Due to some reasons, I couldn't say that I want to have a movie date with her, so I said it was normal. Then she told me she was seeing a guy she met on a dating app and my heart shattered. I wished her all the best but I was hurt. So, I decided to tell her everything and she said she's flattered that I still like her but she's seeing someone else, so she would go with him and I said, that's alright.
Just after 3-4 days of this incident, we watched a movie together and she told me that guy ghosted her. I felt sorry for her and she seems to be disappointed too. After some days, we began to talk more often than earlier. We watched movies online but I was the one who initiated it for first 2 times. Now, she's the one asking me to watch movies and I say yes. I don't know if I'm being her coping mechanism to get over that feeling of being ghosted or she's actually interested in me. I asked some of my friends and they advised not to talk to her about dating or know her dating life for next 1-2 months to finally be sure that she's not using me. So, I choose to wait now. I don't want to have her backup option and I also don't want to sound desperate that even after saying she doesn't share same feelings for me as earlier, I'm still hoping to date her. But somewhere I feel like she's interested in me but she's not saying that. And I can be wrong too and it is just my overthinking and I'm treating her nice friendly behaviour as a sign of her being interested in me.
She's the intellectual type of girl. The one I always look for. She is interested in politics, ethics, philosophy, movies, songs etc and I have the same interests and thought process. Yesterday's night we were watching movie and I told her that I wanted to write a poem. She didn't ask me who I'm dedicating to this poem. And I told her I've not written it yet. She said, okay. Just after talking to her, after 2 hours, I wrote a poem thinking about her and I expressed my emotions and unclear thoughts related to her whether I should talk to her again and ask her if she want to date me or like me or not. I asked my friends and they said, it is upto me to decide whether I want to show it to her or not cause she can easily guess from the poem that it is her I'm talking about and things may get awkward or she'll think I'm a desperate person and I don't want her to think like this. What should I do now?
TL;DR Crush had feelings for me earlier but not now when I asked her few days ago, she got ghosted by the guy she was seeing, now we both are talking well and I wrote a poem for her and I'm confused whether I should show it to her or not and I don't want to look desperate to her, so I'm so confused.

I: The Admiration
Cassandra Adair was born on December 12, 1989, who had astonishing and adoring parents, and a sister. Marion Adair and Marcus Adair, as her parents, and her little sister, Emily Adair. Their parents had careers which can only be achieved on rare occasions, “POETS”. She always dreamed of being a famous writer and poet, so she can inherit the family career. When she turned 7 years old, she started writing with a glass quill and paper, writing poems that are unique and interesting. When she turned 13, she started doing poem readings in her school auditorium. People discovered her talent and adored her, like what she always dreamt.
TIMELINE: 2006
When she turned 17, the opportunity of a lifetime came to her. A famous poet came up to her and offered her to join a writing competition, where she would write poems.Of course, she accepted the offer. The poet told her that the competition was in a week. Throughout the 6 days, she practiced and practiced her skills in writing, as she was determined to complete step number 1 of achieving her career, WIN A WRITING COMPETITION. Then the day of the competition came. She was scared because she might make mistakes.
“Good morning everyone, welcome to Lyricism, the contest for soon-to-be poets. The rules are simple, each poet has 5 minutes to complete one stanza. If you hear a bell ring, they have no choice but to write the next stanza. BUT, if the poet still has time and finished the poem, they can go back to the stanza they haven’t finished and complete it. Lastly, there should be NO corrections at all. Please settle down everyone. Poets, are you ready? Go!”
The poets started scribbling. Cassandra on the other hand was nervously writing. She was at the second stanza, but unfortunately the bell rang, knowinkg she had no choice but to move on to the next stanza. Half an hour passed by, and luckily, she still had time to finish the second stanza. And the bell rang, just in time she finished it.
“Congratulations everybody! You may take a break while our tabulator can calculate the scores. Thanks for your patience!”
There she was, trembling with fear that she might not get ranked. Until she saw a handsome boy in the distance. His name was Blake Solace. She was staring at him really hard, her mind on the other hand was blank. Her feelings was like the New Years, full of fireworks.
“Hello, my name is Blake Solace. Nice to meet you.”
She came back to her senses after that.
“Oh huh? Oh hello. I’m me. Oh uh. I’m C-C-Cassandra.”
“Oh it’s alright, I don’t bite.”
He laughed. She knew, from the bottom of her heart, she had a big crush on him.
“Oh.”
“Uhm, Cassandra?”
“Huh? Oh. Hello! I’m Cassandra”
Then, Blake stepped away slowly, until he was out of sight.
”Oh my God Cassandra! What’s wrong with you?!” She thought to herself.
“Welcome back everyone! We have tabulated and ranked the scores. Congratulations…..”
Cassandra was waiting nervously for the MC to announce the winner.
“Congratuations, Cassandra Adair!!!!”
Cassandra jumped happily and excitedly and called her mom from the other row.
“MOM! I WON!”
“I know honey! I’m so proud of you!”
“Where’s dad?”
“She went to work honey.”
“So, his work is more important than me?”
“I’m sorry honey. It’s okay.”
“I’m alright mom. It’s just that my own dad never attended to any of my activities in school, or anywhere.”
“He will make it up to you. He loves you very much.”
Then, the famous poet that offered her the contest came up to her again.
“Good day to you both. Congratulations, Cassandra. I just want to remind you that you got qualified to a regional poem contest. I also wanna add that if you win all of the 2 contests, you will get a contract to be an official poet. You will travel all around the world, reciting and sharing own your poems!”
“Thank you kind sir! We accept it.”
“Ehem”
“I mean Cassandra accepts it.”
“Good! Wish you the best of luck Cassandra. I know you will make it. Also I’m Malcolm Solace. Call me Malcolm, have a good day and good luck! The contest is in a month.”
“Solace?” she whispered.
**FLASHBACK**
“Hello, my name is Blake Solace. Nice to meet you.”
Oh huh? Oh hello. I’m me. Oh uh. I’m C-C-Cassandra.”
“Oh it’s alright, I don’t bite.”
“Oh.”
“Uhm, Cassandra?”
“Huh? Oh. Hello! I’m Cassandra”
**PRESENT**
“Could it be a coincidence? Hm, maybe I’m just thinking things.”
The next day, Cassandra’s mom called her.
“Honey, someone’s at the door”
As Cassandra came downstairs, she expected the boy to be at the door. She opened the door, but to her surprise, the mailman was at the door.
“Good morning miss. An anonymous person gave you a letter.”
“Anonymous?”
The mailman gave her the letter.
“Thank you.”
She opened the letter.
“Dear Cassandra,
I’ve admired you from afar and have been wanting to ask if you’d like to go out sometime. Coffee, perhaps? No pressure, just thought it would be nice to get to know each other better. Please know that regardless of your response, I deeply respect you and value our friendship. If you’re not comfortable with the idea, I completely understand, and I hope we can still maintain our connection.
Meet me at, Lincoln Street 145 376, Block 7 at 8 PM.
Here’s my number (9867-123-435)
Sincerely, Someone :)”
She was curious on who the person was, so she called the number.
“Hello? Who are you?”
“Remember me, Blake?”
She felt her heart flutter..
“Is this the time I find my true love?” She thought to herself.
“Oh, hey Blake! Sorry about that last time. I probably made you uncomfortable.”
“It’s alright, a lot of people I know that met me for the first time, acted like that, even boys”
They laughed. Their call lasted for about an hour.
“Alright, thanks for this lovely conversation, Cassandra.”
“My pleasure, Blake. See you later.”
Then their call ended. Cassandra jumped excitedly. She told her parents about it and they were ecstatic.
A few hours later, 7:30 PM, she went to the place where Blake told her to go.
When she got there, she found herself looking at a beautiful table with food and fancy lights. Then, a black car pulled up in the driveway.
PART 2 NEXT WEEK!
TITLE:
II: You’re Special To Me, But I Need to Keep It Under Wraps.