My(16) dad, (44) has had 3 kids. With all three of them having different mothers. I was the second child he had, with the first being my older brother who I will call Jack (22), and my younger sister was the third child, we'll call her Lu (6). My dad was 21 when he met Jack's mother. About a year later, Jack was born. About 4 years later, however, they split up, and Jack's mother took him to Hawaii where her new boyfriend was stationed. Jack's mom went on to have a kid with her new boyfriend, then had kids with 3 more men. My dad was 30 when he met my mother. He was living in a disgusting home with a college friend, and my mom helped him on his feet. The relationship went well , until I was born. This was due to 'lost love' and my father was putting no effort into my life or his relationship with my mother so she kicked him out and met my stepfather, forcing my dad to live in someones attic until he my current stepmother, we'll call her Erica (41). shortly after they met, my dad moved in with Erica. About 3 years into the relationship, my sister, Lu, was born. This was an instant downhill when instantly, all attention was diverted to Lu. It got to the point where we had no living room due to her toys and I was forced to keep her entertained. I hated it because I wouldn't get 2 seconds to rest and was forced to be in the room while Erica breast fed. Any of my old toys, personal or not, went to Lu, even though we were well off. About 3 years later, we moved. This new house had 3 upstairs bedrooms, and one bathroom. I called the bedroom I wanted because it had a great view and looked nice. After I came back from my mothers house I realized I got put in another room because the room I claimed was going to be Lu's play room. This is when I realized I had nothing to my name. I spent 1 hour unpacking and was completely done, with crap-tons of space left over. I continued to be tormented with the 'shes only 6' excuse, and having no privacy for a while, going to therapy, asking my dad to do something and he never did. This is the part where it gets good, because I think my dad is a coward. He keeps getting himself stuck with women who he ends off cutting off from. It's ridiculous that he married Erica, when there are a million women better than her. I also find it weird that he doesn't think. He doesn't get to know people before he gets intimate, and doesn't realize that Erica pushed Jack out of his life and is about to push me out of my life. Every year, I spend about 95 days at my dads house, so I just have to stick it out for those 190 days. Then, I decided, to make a plan. In the last 10 days of that 190 days, I plan to start blocking my dads families numbers. First I will start out by blocking Erica, and going no contact unless necessary. Then, I will start blaring 'explicit' music up in my room, at about Lu's bed time. I also plan to print out the house deed, which shows my Grandmother owns the house, and on the very last day, I plan to plaster those deeds all over the house. I also plan to make a QR code to the deed and plaster those everywhere. To put the Cherry on top, I plan to take back everything I gave to Lu. Not that I care about them, I just want to see the rage fuming through them that they cannot punish me for, because, after 190 days over there, I will be a legal adult, meaning I am not obligated to visit. I also am considering sending this redit post to them, but I will consider it while I let you guys know what happens.

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Suzanne thought it was absolutely brilliant of me to put books on a flash drive for Sun. She explained that Sun wasn’t as sophant (her word, not mine) as she might seem, more of a repository of information, but she was fairly intelligent. It was how she was able to connect Andrew being in pain to the fact that I was friends with Andrew, and that I would want to know that he was in trouble. Apparently some of Sun’s species had given some ‘wisdom’ to others in the past and it had made its way into mythology.
The key fact was that she was not smart enough to protect herself and her kind from the clever, organized poachers. With that information in mind, it was fascinating for me to think of how Sun took in and organized what she learned. It was almost as if she was a walking, talking library.
On the topic of tours, my first one went wonderfully, and I’m almost hoping Suzanne lets me do more of them. I know not all the tourists are going to be as awesome as these people were, but Suzanne gave me a lot of slack when it comes to dealing with them. She actually said that being a smartass is not grounds for dismissal, and that if I’m sarcastic or facetious to guests who are being ‘daft’ and they complain, she really doesn’t care. Is this the perfect job for me or what?
There were four guests in this party, two adults who were sisters and two children of one of the women, brothers aged thirteen and seventeen. The tour was a birthday gift for the older of the boys from his aunt, since apparently he was passionate about animal protection and conservation.
When they arrived at the front gate, I was sitting at Andrew’s desk, going over the booklet of information one last time. When the visitors pressed the button that sounded the alert buzzer, I tucked away in a drawer and let them in. I did have a cheat sheet with information about the animals on my phone just in case, a brief notation of each of them and which enclosure they were in, but I really didn’t need to use it.
Exiting through the front door, I saw them walk up the path toward me. “Hi, I’m Ripley,” I said, holding out a hand toward the woman closest to me.
She shook it firmly. “I’m Denise. This is my sister Carla and my nephews, Wesley and Jason,” she said, motioning to each of them in turn.
“I heard it’s your birthday,” I said to Wesley, giving him a smile. “You’re interested in animal conversation?”
“Back where we live, yeah,” he said, nodding. “The animals that you’ve got here are incredible. I can’t wait to see them.”
“Well, I can’t wait to show them to you,” I said. “Right this way.”
I led them on the path around the building, toward enclosure one. Despite the horrific memories of the animal killing Stanley’s friends, I knew it was just an animal, and I had to push past my feelings on what had happened. Keeping a small smile on my face, I motioned to the enclosure. “Fiercely territorial and amazing hunters, despite their large size, they’re arboreal and known to dart from tree to tree with barely a sound. This is one of only about two thousand left in existence.”
“Two thousand, three hundred and fifty six at last count,” spoke Wesley, his eyes on the trees.
I blinked, surprised and impressed. “Well that was fantastic. Do you plan on stealing my job when you graduate?”
Wesley looked at me with a grin. “Nah, everyone knows Suzanne only offers humans this gig. And I want to help animals like this one get off the endangered species list. The zoos are great for awareness and fundraising, but then the money has to go somewhere. I want to be doing the real work.”
“That’s really great,” I told him. “I wish you all the best in that career path.” At that, we saw the animal climb down from the tree, wandering a few yards from the tree line. This was because 90% of the time, when humans were at their enclosure and making noise, whether it was speaking to each other or calling out to the animal, it was someone bringing them prey to eat. Or, in my case, enrichment toys to play with.
“Whoa,” Wesley whispered.
“How close can we get?” spoke up Jason.
“The warding starts at the fence,” I told him with a small gesture. “So, just there.”
Both boys wandered closer and I glanced at their parents. It seemed that Suzanne’s zoo had a serious reputation for high quality invisible walls, because they didn’t look worried in the slightest about the boys being hurt or killed.
“They prefer dense forest as their home and have been known to make their nests in trees up to twenty meter in the air,” I continued. “And when hunting, they’ve been seen dropping eight meters straight down. They have incredibly dense yet flexible musculature, which allows them to tackle their prey without injuring themselves.”
There was more information about the animal that I continued to rattle off, though Wesley chimed in at certain points with the info I was about to convey. That was highly entertaining and very cool. When I’d been in school, I’d never met anyone who had my level of passion about endangered animals. I wondered if things were better where these folks came from, but realized that considering there were so few of these animals left, I guessed not.
The animal paced a little bit, seemingly waiting to see if we were the kind of humans that came bearing food, before deciding we weren’t and climbing back up into the trees as easily as I would climb some stairs.
As we moved onto enclosure two, Jason spoke up. “Are there any animals here we can touch or feed or something?”
I sighed inwardly before slowing to a stop. “Well, can you show me your hands?” Jason looked bemused, holding out his hands. “I mean…they both look like they’re in great shape. You can stand to lose one.”
The two women chuckled and Wesley smirked as Jason shoved his hands into his pockets. “Very funny.”
Grinning, I started walking again. “The animals here are all carnivores and all predators. You get to see them, but that’s it.”
“Alright.”
When we reached enclosure two, I started on my next spiel. “We’ve got three reanimated dead in this enclosure,” I spoke. They were just coming out from the trees as we arrived, presumably having heard our approach. “Marissa, Connor, and Bradley. They were donated by families who knew where they would be exhibited. Their next of kin, whoever they are, can’t stand the idea of putting them down. But we need to make sure they don’t have access to corpses, because one of them plus one corpse equals two of them.”
“They eat flesh though, don’t they?” Wesley asked.
I nodded. “Oh, yeah, but it’s from bodies that have already been dismembered. There’s no chance of them being affected by the transformation because it’s all parts.”
“Oh, got it.”
The creatures with blueish-white skin had superhuman strength, which is why they qualified for the security of Suzanne’s zoo. They also were likely the source of any Earth tales of people being brought back to life as zombies, specifically draugr, according to my research. They smelled like rotting flesh, so even as I kept talking about them and giving a background to the people they used to be, we were quick to move on once Wesley had gotten a good, long look at them.
“Enclosure four’s animal is a vampiric spirit. He’s a small, hairy humanoid creature with pointed ears. He wears a hat, and if he somehow loses it, he freaks out,” I said.
“They eat horses,” Wesley noted. “Also anything that gives them the chance to sit on it, usually catching them by surprise while they’re sleeping.”
The creature came out from the brush, giving us a suspicious look. He wasn’t in his humanoid form though; for some reason, he’d chosen to shapeshift to a dog.
I nodded. “Yep, indeed. Once the prey is dead, then he’ll eat it, and he has a voracious appetite. We have two wolves and two bears in the forest, which is one of the reasons I’ve got some self-defense items,” I said, patting my belt where my pepper spray (rated for bear) and my taser. “But the wards keep them out of this area of the zoo, so it’s really not much of a worry. It’s also a known shapeshifter, preferring the form of a dog, as you can see, as well as a cat, a snake, or even white butterflies, though the last one is rare.”
“The white butterflies are supposed to be a sign of good luck,” Wesley said, glancing to me. “Too bad we got the dog.”
“Yeah, otherwise you might be able to talk your mom into getting scratch-offs on your way home, huh?”
Wesley smirked at me.
The next enclosure was Spike, and he was waiting for us, dripping wet from having just emerged from the lake. I gave the introductory information about him, which included his propensity for eating animal eyes, nails, and teeth. “Recently, I’ve given him some enrichment activities, and I learned he likes artichokes, pecans, and hazelnuts,” I said, taking a bag out from my cargo shorts. “Wesley, do you want to toss this bag into the enclosure?”
The boy’s eyes widened and he nodded excitedly. He took a look into the paper bag before wrapping down the top to make sure nothing would fly out. Then he chucked it underhand past the fence. It landed a few yards from Spike, who waddled over to it quickly and tearing the bag open, spilling out the prizes inside. As the animal ate the pecans and hazelnuts, Wesley asked, “How’d you figure out he likes those?”
“It’s not all about taste,” I told him. “It’s mainly the difficulty of getting them out of the shells. He’s used to having to work for the parts of his prey he likes the most, so this mimics that activity, and he enjoys the process. I tried a bunch of different foods to find a few he liked.”
“Cool,” Wesley murmured, staring at him.
We watched Spike eat until he’d finished and then he went back into the woods, leaving us to move onto enclosure five. Japanese camellia were plentiful here, a type of pink flower, and that was because they grew anywhere near one of his species made their den. “This girl spends most of her time in the lake also,” I said, as the creature made its way toward the fence separating us from it. “But as you can see, she’s just as curious as the rest about what we’re doing here and whether we have food for her. She eats fish mostly, but she also regularly gets live prey.”
This creature was a spider-like monster, having six legs with long claws on each, and the head of an ox with two sharp horns. She was capable of shapeshifting to look like a human, but I guessed that she wasn’t fond of it, since I hadn’t yet seen her in that form.
“She prefers the easy way of catching prey, so to speak, by hiding in the lake and pouncing when something comes for a drink of water,” I explained. “Apparently humans are some of her favorite prey. She has an advantage of being able to spit poison, which often hits her prey in the eyes. But it’s usually used in defense rather than offense, since it secretes a limited amount.”
“What kind of animal would even go after something like this?” Jason asked, staring at her.
“Never discount one of its own species when you’re thinking about what might attack an animal,” I replied. “There are places that are breeding all of the animals here, but competition for mates is common. That means an advantage in a fight, like poison or venom, can make or break who the winner is.”
“Ah, gotcha.”
“It can’t spit past the warding, right?” Carla suddenly asked.
“Oh, no,” I assured her. “We’re fine. The wards wouldn’t let anything cross over.” She nodded, appeased.
The animal in enclosure six was the ginormous seal-hippo, Fiona, and she was looking at us as if she was imagining sprinkling us with herbs and spices and stuffing us in an oven. “This girl is one animal I’m going to work on enrichment activities for next,” I told them. “She prefers to feed on crayfish, though she’s happy to eat any humans that wander into her territory. She’ll even make a sound like a baby crying to reel us in. I’ve heard it a bunch of times.”
“Can you get her to make the sound?” Jason asked, perking up.
I grinned. “Not on command, sorry.”
“What enrichment are you thinking of trying?” Wesley asked.
“Possibly food placed in puzzle feeders,” I told him, “since she has claws that are pretty dexterous. Maybe a piñata made out of newspaper with flour inside, or a scarecrow that mimics a human.”
“Awesome,” he muttered.
After a little more educational tidbits, we moved onto Yui’s enclosure. “What is that?” Wesley asked, smiling.
“I got Yui the closest thing I could to a ping-pong ball,” I replied. “She quite likes it.”
“That’s so funny,” he said as she came out of the trees in her spider form. “I mean, the idea of her being a bloodthirsty hunter who seduces men to their deaths and eats them alive, but then on the other hand, she likes playing with something like this.”
“It is a little funny,” I agreed. “But when it comes down to it, all the animals here enjoy activities besides hunting.”
“She can shapeshift to look human, right?” asked Jason, trying to be casual about knowing something factual like his nerdy brother.
I nodded. “She looks like a woman from a region of Earth called Japan. And she’ll use strategies like holding out a hand to shake to get you closer. She tried that on me when I first got here but, as you can see,” I said, holding up my hands and waving them, “I didn’t fall for it.”
The boys both laughed as they got closer to the fence, watching her slowly pace near the trees.
Next was Sun, but she didn’t make an appearance as I spoke about her species. “Well…unfortunately we can’t guarantee that every animal comes out to say hi,” I sighed. “But…oh wait, here she is.”
The green lion with several horns and many eyes along her flank came out from the forest. “Hello,” she spoke.
“Hi, Sun,” I replied. “We have visitors.”
“What’s that?” Wesley asked suddenly, pointing at the small plastic bag that was still where I’d left it.
“Oh! That is Sun’s enrichment,” I said with a smile. “I put dozens of books on a flash drive and found that she can read them just like she’d read a shelf of books.”
Wesley’s eyes widened. “Wow. I don’t think I’ve read about anyone trying that before. That’s really cool.”
“The books are new and interesting,” Sun spoke, drawing our attention. “I’m grateful for them.”
I nodded to her. “You’re quite welcome.”
The next animal, unfortunately, wasn’t there, and we waited around for ten minutes as we discussed him. He was large and reptile-like with red eyes, with its hind legs and tail making him look vaguely like a kangaroo. Then, enclosure ten was a terrifyingly disturbing creature, the not-a-centaur with no skin, that I’d only seen a few times while walking my route. It gave a good demonstration of its ferocity, showing its sharp teeth and snapping at us a few times.
“I’m thinking of trying salt licks and other horse enrichment like a big bouncy ball,” I told Wesley, whose eyebrows went up at that. “Maybe give him more things to forage like scattered grains or a box filled with pinecones and seeds. Foraging is a huge part of a horse’s life in the wild, and humans have to do a lot of activities like that to keep pet horses busy. Of course, he also loves the little salt-water lake that was built for him.”
We spent some time looking at the animal before moving past our last stop, the empty enclosure of the animal was stolen. Carla glanced at me with a sad smile, knowing what had happened, it seemed. I gave her a nod as we continued on our way, walking into the office. “So, I hope everyone enjoyed themselves!” I said with a smile.
“That was the coolest birthday present I’ve ever gotten,” Wesley said, looking to Denise. “Thanks so much, seriously.”
“It was my pleasure,” she said with a nod. “I’d never been here before, and knew I’d find it fascinating. Thank you for the educational aspect,” Denise said, glancing at me. “I learned quite a lot.”
“Happy to hear it,” I said, returning the nod.
As I escorted the guests out of the zoo and locked the door behind them, I reflected on how much I’d changed. The first time I’d seen Yui’s tarantula form, I’d nearly passed out from fear. Now here I was, walking tourists around like it was no big deal. Humans really can adapt to anything, it seems.
That afternoon, Suzanne had texted me that she was coming by after my shift, and I met her in Andrew’s office, shutting the door to the security room behind me. “How’s Andrew?” I asked first thing.
“He’s doing well,” she said with a wide smile. “Back on non-hospital food. He’s allowed to order food on his phone, and to hear it from him, that’s the best news he’d received in a long time.”
I chuckled. “I guess some clichés are true for a reason.”
“Indeed.” She took a breath. “All right. Ripley…I would like to discuss something with you.”
My face went slack at the serious tone in her voice. “I’m not… Am I being fired?”
“What? No!” she exclaimed. Then she chuckled softly. “No, it’s nothing like that. Just, here, let’s have a seat.” Suzanne walked over to the couch and sat at one end, and I took the other. “There’s something I need to tell you. Something I’ve kept from you, that I wanted to keep from you until you found your sea legs here.”
“Well…I have,” I said with a nod. “So, what is it?”
Suzanne took a breath. “I knew your mother.”
The words hung in the air for a moment before making their way to my ears. It was a perfectly logical sentence, and yet it didn’t make any sense. “What?” I finally managed.
“When you graduated college, I decided to move the zoo from Italy to within driving distance of your home,” she said softly. “Near enough to your town that you’d see the advert. We ignored any other applicants and I hoped you’d apply. Actually, I expected you’d apply. Not just for the money, but considering the field you wanted to go into. As soon as I’d found out your major, I knew.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding up a hand. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “How do you know Patricia?”
“She owned the zoo before I did,” Susan explained. “Fourteen years ago…she was working to track an injured animal that we could bring into the zoo and she was killed by poachers.”
My heart calcified in my chest and a lump lodged in my throat. As my breaths became shaky, I stared at her in shock. “She…she’s really dead?”
“You suspected?” she asked softly.
“It…” I swallowed hard. “We had her declared legally dead after…I don’t know, seven years I think. My dad wanted to go after her for child support, but the police said…they said they couldn’t find…” Tears came to my eyes and I blinked them back before I met Suzanne’s gaze. “She owned the zoo?”
Suzanne nodded. “It was her baby, you’d say. When Patricia passed, I inherited it, which we’d discussed beforehand, a legal just-in-case that I never expected her to need. I’m under the impression that you were told she went to Africa for her photography career, but she was in fact going to remote areas back in my home world almost every time.”
“But I-I saw the photos,” I said, my eyes narrowing. “You’re telling me she put on a show of getting pictures that someone else took for us to see every time she visited? Did my dad even know?”
“I suppose that’s an accurate way to put it, putting on a show. And no, your father was never told. It’s not the way of things to tell humans unless it’s necessary. I won’t bore you with the details, but us and humans, we’re distant relatives, so we can still have children. But it wasn’t planned. Your mother fell in love with your father despite herself; she hadn’t meant to find love. Then she became pregnant with you and…well, the rest is history.”
“I think she had a different definition of love than the one I have,” I said tightly. “You’d think she’d have put her survival as more of a priority. Put being with the man she ‘loved’ as a priority. Her kids needed her. I needed her. She signed up when she became a mom. She could’ve screwed up all the time but she couldn’t even manage that one job: be there. When I was in the hospital, I kept thinking, ‘Where is she?’ and now you’re telling me that she put these animals above being there for her kids, and this whole time she’s been dead.”
“The hospital?” she asked, furrowing her brows.
“Never mind,” I said tersely, averting my gaze.
Suzanne hesitated before she nodded slowly. “I’m sorry for your loss, and not just for her death, Ripley,” she told me. “Patricia was…well, a ‘free spirit’ would be putting it gently. She always assumed the world would be there for her whenever she needed it.”
Staring at her for a long moment, I shook my head. “Why? Why come here and hire me?”
“I thought that would be obvious,” she said, smiling. “Your mother was so passionate about this place and once I found out your college major, I figured you would be as well.”
“Did you know that I hate her?” At that, Suzanne’s expression froze on the edge of shock. “She…she left us,” I whispered. “Didn’t tell us who she was or what she really did for a living and gave us no closure. And even when she was here, it was just visiting. Her real home was her work. She could give me all the presents she wanted, but even when she was here, half the time she was still on her computer doing work. It’s not like that stereotype of never making it to my tennis practice or something; it’s that it always felt like she was only partially here, even when I was sitting next to her. I don’t even know if I appreciate her turning me into a wildlife fanatic because it…it…makes me feel like I’m close to her in a way that’s just infuriating. She loved the animals more than she loved us.”
“Oh, Ripley-”
“Don’t,” I said, shoving myself to my feet. “Don’t try to convince me otherwise.”
“I wasn’t going to,” she said quietly. I pursed my lips. “I was going to say that I’m sorry that was the case. Your mother was…flawed, just like any other person. She had two loves in this world: her family and her work. And often, her work overcame her, her zeal for environmentalism getting in the way of being a good mum. She left your father trying to fill the role of two parents, holding your family together. You and your brother and your father, you all deserved better than that.”
My lower lip quivered but I bit down on it hard. It would’ve been a lot easier for me if she’d been speaking from a place of clueless reassurance about all this. But everything she said was making sense and that meant I didn’t have someone in front of me to be angry with.
“Why didn’t you tell me when Andrew hired me?” I sighed, sitting back down on the couch.
“Well, like I said, I wanted you to find your sea legs,” she said with a small smile. “I didn’t want the truth affecting whether or not you wanted to work here, whether you wanted to stay here after finding out about what the animals are. It would’ve complicated things, the emotions you’ll have to work through now that you know the truth. Whether or not you decide to give another tour, you also know what they’re like. That’s the benchmark I wanted you to reach before you found out about who you are.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Who I-” My face went slack. “Wait.”
Suzanne nodded slowly. “You’re only half human. Your brother too.”
The room seemed to tilt on an axis for a moment. “That means I’m also half…what?”
“We call ourselves Eldritch, these days,” she replied.
My eyes bugged out. “What?” I exclaimed. “So you’re all, like, gods or something?”
Suzanne burst out laughing. “Oh no, goodness, no,” she chuckled. “It’s just a word. We live in a very different world from this one, and a few generations ago we discovered the word and it made its way into our lexicon. But it does mean you can see all the animals. Indeed you did, on the tour you gave.”
“Wait, no, I had the glasses that…” I stopped. “Did those glasses do anything?”
She gave a sly smile and shook her head. “Not a thing. You made incredibly quick progress, and then when it came time for the tour, all you needed was to expect to see the animals, and you did.”
Genetics. That’s what Andrew had said during our interview, that part of how many animals you could see was determined by genetics. I guess having a mother who was originally from the other dimension gave me all the genes I needed to see everything here. “Could I…visit your world?” I asked tentatively. “You said that my mom took photos of the animals there. Could I…” My voice trailed off, not even sure if or how I wanted to finish that sentence.
“Those who are half human, especially those who are raised on Earth, don’t come visit,” she said gently. “I could show you some photos of other animals, and I could loan you as many books as you’d like, but it’s simply not a place where you’d be safe.”
“Oh,” I said, leaning into the couch cushion as I pictured the animals in the zoo. “Yeah, actually that…makes sense.” I paused. “So, what now?”
“It’s up to you,” she said. “I wanted to wait until I was sure you were comfortable with your position here, and then put the ball in your court. And so it is. What do you want to do now?”
What did I want to do? It wasn’t that difficult a question, just a deep, serious one.
I wanted to thrive, as the animals did. This is my enrichment now, working at an incredible, wonderful, terrifying zoo. The experience so far hasn’t been perfect, and I know there are risks, but life isn’t about staying safe. It’s about learning new things and making a difference in the world. And, if you’re lucky, having a job that’s something really special.
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THE END
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This will be a bit long so there will be a tl,dr at the end if you don't want to read all of it. I'm new at this so bear with me.
Bit of background about myself I [18F] have diagnosed combination type ADHD though for my entire life my doctor has recommended I be tested for Autism and my school has always been saying that I have Autism for as long as I can remember. I have never been emotionally attached to my parents while I am grateful for all they have done for me I have just never been attached to them like I would care if they were gone. When I was in elementary school I was a very hyper child and I was not well behaved at all due to this in kindergarten my teachers would often tell me to go off to another part of the room away from everyone else and give me things to play with so that I would be distracted and they could teach the rest of the class without me disrupting them so I would pretty much be isolated from everyone else. I have been in special needs classes since kindergarten and I have only been put on medication for my ADHD once which was when I was 8 but I was taken off it by my parents as it turned me into a "zombie" I believe the medication was Adderall but other than that I have been unmedicated for ten (10) years. My parents have been married 18 years, I believe they got married because my mother became pregnant with me
I discovered that my mother was cheating on my father about two (2) or three (3) months ago though I had been suspecting it for over six (6) months I just never had any solid proof until two (2) to three (3) months ago. Recently I had my friend send my father the proof of my mother's affair that I have collected but to my surprise after they talked for around 15 about it their relationship has improved significantly compared to how it's been for over a year. This all started in 2023 my mother began constantly face timing this guy we'll call P I had never seen before whenever my father wasn't around when I asked about it she said P was just a friend and so I believed her and I had even spoken to the guy though he didn't sit well with me as he seemed like a prick. After about a month of my mother constantly on the phone with P whenever my father wasn't around I began to wonder if there was more to this, so I began listening in on their conversations whenever I could to see if I could hear anything that indicated that was an affair but I never got anything out of it besides lewd jokes and comments from P about black women. During this time she was giving my father zero affection and had even stopped telling me that she loved me even I said it to her.
Eventually I got fed up with them constantly talking to each other and I was very angry with my mother for taking me and my three (3) year old brother to the park for as she called it "family time" only for her to be off on her own away from us and on her phone the entire time texting and face timing P and even flat out ignoring me numerous times whenever I tried to talk to her or asked her to watch me do something, this upset me because I like getting attention from others and she had denied me that. So after I was fed up with them I went off on my mother for the first time ever while she on the phone with P and said some not nice things to her and said not nice things about P, I also brought up my suspicion of her having an affair which she denied and when I pressed her about why said lied to me about things regarding P such as where he lived, how she knew him, why she only ever called him whenever my father wasn't around, and why she started talking to him she told me it was because she "wasn't allowed to have friends" which is not true she has many friends many of which I know. After that all happened I stopped talking to her for a while and she stopped calling him whenever I was around and I began to wait for opportunities for when I could take her phone and go though it as I knew her password. I couldn't just wait for her to go to bed as she is a light sleeper and my father goes to bed a different times from her so he would see me and question me as to why I was taking her phone or she would end up waking up and question me so I had to wait for when she left her phone unattended which wasn't very often.
Two (2) months ago I was able to swipe her phone and go though it and it was all right there. I love you's, naked pictures, sexual conversations, talk of divorcing my father for P and taking my brother with, and I made sure to get plenty of pictures of it and I even found out that on a trip she took to "Ohio" in which is paid 300$ for plan tickets to and from she had actually not went there and instead went to the state P lives, I also found P's Facebook where he had pictures of himself with my mother together and the dates the pictures were posted and the date my mother left for her trip matched up, during that trip she had actually never even called back home to talk to me, my father, or my brother. For a while after I confirmed my mother was cheating on my father I blamed myself because P asked me if I was okay with him talking to my mother (This was when I still though he was just her friend) and I said I was and it made me feel like I was the one that allowed this to happen but I realized it wasn't my fault and the only one to blame was my mother. After my mother returned from her trip she had actually wanted to have sex with my father for the first time in a while though I suspect she only did it because she had sex with P and wanted to do it with my father in case she became pregnant though I have no evidence to prove this but I do know that birth control does not work for my mother as when she conceived me, my sister, and my brother she was on birth control same as her mother though take that with a grain of salt as my mother is terrible at taking medication at the same time everyday. After that I began to plan out what to do, I didn't care about what would happen to me if they got divorced I was thinking of how I could try and get this to work out best for my brother. My at the time boyfriend had gone though a similar situation as to what I was going though, his mother cheated on his father and divorced him and ran away with her affair, leaving behind her children and leaving her ex-husband in lots of debt from legal fees. I didn't want that to happen to my father so I talked with my at the time boyfriend and my friends as for what I should do and I also looked into what the divorce laws in my state which my state does not count adultery as grounds for divorce.
Eventually I got another chance to go though my mother's phone and it was more of the same old stuff but in one part she told P that she was in the process of filing some kind of legal paperwork and P seemed excited about that there was also a "protected files" thing on her phone that needed a password to get into but since it wasn't the same password as the one to her phone I couldn't get it. Once I saw that I knew I couldn't wait any longer and I had my friend send my father the proof though a burner phone number so none of it was connected me and they wouldn't know I had all of the evidence then I waited for him to confront my mother. It didn't take long for that to happen as soon as she came home from work he was on her about it but he never raised his voice or showed any kind of aggression towards my mother they just calmly talked for about 15 minutes. During so my mother never showed any kind of regret or remorse, she never even said sorry mostly just saying "believe what you want to believe" she told my father that he was just a friend from high school (Though I think there is more to it than that) and that he was obsessed with her and wanted her to divorce my father for him and even her parents where egging her on to do it but she said she didn't want to give up her family and home just to start all over and that if she wanted to leave she would have already left, but that doesn't really make sense to me as if you cared so much about your family and the life you built then wouldn't you show some kind of emotional response when all of that was threatened? she also implied that the lewd pictures she had sent P he had paid her to send them. After they finished talking they hugged and carried on with their day like nothing had happened and they have been doing things they hadn't done in years, cuddling in bed together, kissing, and hugging. Today I checked my mother's phone again and it seems she has stopped talking to P all together and doesn't even have him as a friend of Facebook anymore and I can't find their messages on Facebook messenger anymore though I doubt she really stopped.
TL,DR: My mother cheated on my father but after exposing her cheating to my father their relationship began to improve, I want to try and fix my relationship with my mother for the sake of my brother but I don't know how to go about it
While their relationship is improving my relationship with my mother is in the trash I have told her to stop talking to me or doing anything with me period as I despise cheating but I would like to attempt to fix my relationship with my mother because I want to be in my brother's life and I feel if things between me and my mother sour she will prevent me from being around him and I plan on moving out as soon as I am able to. I have two (2) older half sister's 21 and 25 respectively (Same father different mother) but I don't get to see them much since they have their own lives and one of them even has her own family, my mother also doesn't like them and I feel she played a role in keeping me from seeing them when I was growing up and I have one (1) younger sister that was put up for adoption though it is an open adoption so I still see her every now and then, I have never been able to form any kind of relationship with my siblings as I never grew up with them and I scarcely saw them during my childhood but my brother is the only one I have been able to be with long-term and I want to be able to build a relationship with my brother as he grows up and I believe fixing my relationship with my mother will help me be able to do this. I want to be able to fix things between me and my mother for my brother but at the same time I don't want to reveal that I was the one that caused her little affair to get exposed as I feel that will damage our relationship even more. How should I approach mending things with her without damaging things further? I don't believe cheaters should be given a second chance with the person they cheated on but I want to fix things between me and mother at least temporarily for my brother.

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/Direct-Armadillo-770
Originally posted to AITAH
AITAH if I don’t go to my sister’s wedding because she is excluding my husband?
Thanks to u/queenlegolas and u/Direct-Caterpillar77 for suggesting this BoRU
Editor’s Note: added paragraph breaks for readability
Trigger Warnings: verbal abuse, ableism
Original Post: May 11, 2024
I (F , 36) have been married to my husband Brad (M , 40) for the last 6 years. I have a daughter (F,10) from a previous relationship (we were engaged when he abandoned me when I was pregnant to be with his coworker and eventually disappeared).
Brad loves and adores my daughter and my daughter loves him so much . I’m currently pregnant with our first baby (my second baby) . Brad is a paraplegic. He was in a car accident when he was 21. He has since his accident went back to school and currently works as university prof . He is super independent and possibly the best man I could ever married .
My sister is getting married and today she announced that the venue she picked is a heritage building . I told her then it won’t be wheelchair accessible… she rolled her eyes and said “the world doesn’t revolves around Brad , it’s not his day ! It’s mine” . I said I understand but I’m not leaving him behind then . She started screaming that I’m trying to steal attention because everyone will ask where is bride’s sister . Her fiancé suggested having the ceremony at the heritage building but have the reception at another venue that way Brad can join us . My sister said no .
I talked to Brad , he thinks I should go and he and my daughter can have daddy /daughter date and he will take care of her (it’s a child free wedding and we were initially going to ask Brad’s mom to watch my daughter) . He thinks it’s not a big deal and I should just go and enjoy the wedding . I feel very bad and don’t want to go but my sister will be so upset . AITAH if I don’t go to my sister’s wedding because she is excluding my husband ?
AITAH has no consensus bot, OOP was NTA
Relevant Comments
Still_Actuator_8316: Do what feels right to you.
I can see you love your husband very much. And you have every right to be mad that your sister wants to exclude him.
And serious. How hard is it to rent a temporary ramp to be put in place so he can go. But since I don't know the stair situation I can give a pass about that. But there are options

OOP: It’s an old heritage building with lots of stairs unfortunately. I feel really bad for my husband tbh

bluefurniture: I like the idea of the Dad and daughter day. Are you in the wedding party? How does the heritage building get away with skirting ADA laws.? Your sister is awful and at least the fiance is empathetic. don't be surprised if there is no wedding.

OOP: I’m not in the wedding party . Sadly it’s 2024 and we still don’t have something like ADA in Canada . Since it’s a heritage building they don’t care about accessibility. Yes , my husband once a month has a daddy/daughter date . They go to different restaurants each time and do any activities she chooses :)

Great-Asparagus8788: As a Mom of a Differently Abled Daughter- I have to say #1 your sister didn't turn overnight. She's been enabled in her ROTTEN behavior her whole life. Your parents should be ashamed. Your Hubs sounds awesome though! You don't have to ask permission to turn your back on a dumpster fire. Point out it's on fire and the privledge of you ,your husband and their grandbabies presence will be restored when the fire is out. And then leave.

OOP: My parents pay for my sister’s big wedding . They did pay for my at home reception when we eloped as well ( they invited everyone ( about 14 people ) to a restaurant ). I talked to them . They said they do love Brad but it’s my sister’s day and they can’t force her to change her mind . Yes I’m disappointed at them . I just don’t understand how you can claim you respect someone yet tell him to stay home ! You are not welcome …my husband is used to not being included so he is okay . I just can’t get over it

 
Update: May 12, 2024
My post : https://www.reddit.com/AITAH/comments/1cpuqyy/aitah_if_i_dont_go_to_my_sisters_wedding_because/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
. Thank you everyone for your kind words and advice.
It’s Mother’s Day today and of course my husband and my daughter decided to spoil me rotten :) we went for Mother’s Day lunch to my parents. My sister and her fiancé, Bob (his name is Babak , he is Iranian but everyone calls him Bob) came too.
Brad , Bob and my dad were in the backyard Bbqing and chatting . My mom and my sister were in the kitchen talking . My sister went on and on about her wedding plans . I asked her if there is any possibility that she would consider Bob’s suggestion? She can have her civil ceremony , Iranian ceremony , and all her pictures done in her dream venue then have the reception which is just dinner , dance and cake somewhere else . I told her it means alot to me if she makes this accommodation for Brad.
My sister LOST it! Started screaming that I have always been jealous of her and now trying to ruin her dream wedding . She said I’m jealous because I never had a big wedding and had to elope because I had a kid out of wedlock (I didn’t have to ! It was our decision to have a stress free elopement). She also said it was my choice to marry “a cripple” guy so why should her wedding plans has to change . My mom told her to stop but she kept on going . I told her then I’m not coming . I told Brad and my daughter that we were leaving . I couldn’t stay there anymore . Her entitlement sickens me .
Now my parents are mad at me for even suggesting because “your sister is under stress”. My dad thinks I acted immature by leaving and mom says I overreacted because I’m pregnant and hormonal ! I’m so disappointed at my parents too for not standing up to my sister . My plan is to go NC with my sister. I don’t even know who she is anymore . So no happy update . I just cut my sister out of my life and will NOT be going to her wedding. Sorry for typos I’m very emotional right now
Comments
RNGinx3: SaveBob
Your sister is a jerk, and your parents enable and excuse her tantrums. I'd put sister on NC and parents on LC.
Swampy_63: Let them be mad. Their loss.
Your sister has shown exactly who she is. Bubbye.
Hopefully your parents will come to their senses and understand why you’re not going.
captainhyena12: Wow insult your husband calls him a cripple take shots at both you and your child for the child being born out of wedlock and then your parents have the audacity to tell you you're overreacting because you left what? How the hell does someone even have that much? Audacity and this is coming from me. Someone who admittedly at times has way too much audacity.
 

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

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

Hi guys, i made a short post last week. Please read this one before continuing here. But anyways today was another bad performance on my end today and id like to just vent or explain what went on and why im frustrated.
So its been a week since my last post and during that time my ocd/anxiety latched onto the idea that i had some sort of ED. So throughout the week i jerked off numerous and i mean NUMEROUS times standing and a little bit sitting to "test/prove/" that my dick isnt effected by a physical form of ED. This was proven to be the case when me and my love got off to each over a video call with me standing and so on. Fast forward to today and she came over and I wanted to try and see if everything was working fine now.
We started out amazing kissing, foreplay, and even standing at the bed with her doing oral on me was amazing for a solid 10ish minutes. But then right when it was time to actually do vaginal and our usual positions its like I lost all of my drive. I started to think about last week and go "what if i cant do it or it gets soft" and sure enough it did. I got like butterflies in my stomach and it felt like something was just metaphorically blocking the hornyness from coming through all the way in my head. It almoat felt like i had a terrible headache or someone was pinching the pathway that was letting the horny come out. After this happened we both communicated. I told her how angry i am that this is happening, and of course we are committed partners and have been together for 7 years so she said she loves me no matter what and its ok shit happens. She said its ok and its not a big deal + we had amazing foreplay beforehand.
Im am just at a loss personally. Im hurt and angry that something mentally is effecting me from staying rock solid and performing like i usually do. We have never had a problem in 7 years of being together. Again, we are both 24, I have diabetes type 1 and highblood pressure/anxiety OCD. But everything with my health is stable and under control with zero complications. The ONLY think that is different (the last time we had rough amazing sex was the last week of April) is that I started a new internship/volunteer work for my career 2 weeks ago and it is the first "job job" in my career outside of college. I am a graphic designer and the constant need to sit and be creative can sometimes be draining but I of course love it. Lastly, my partners brother was an absolute dick two weeks ago and was trying to start drama where it didnt need to be at all and everyone got extremely agitated and bothered by him including me so theres been family stress too. I'm think maybe the lifestyle switch is maybe enough stress to fuck things up for me? Because otherwise I have no idea whats been going on in these two weeks thats fucked up my drive.
Thank you for reading everyone, i really appreciate it and look forward to your replies!
TLDR; Bad performance in bed, anxiety/stress from life may be mentally blocking me from completing sexual experiences.

Hey Reddit, hold onto your hats because this story has everything: a wedding, a villainous MIL, a vegan crisis, a meltdown, and a phone explosion.
So, picture this: I (19F) just married my dream guy, Jimbo (30M), and we threw a totally epic vegan wedding. No meat, no dairy, just pure plant-powered bliss. Enter my MIL, Karen (because of course her name is Karen), who thinks veganism is a cult and that I'm brainwashing her precious son.
Now, my sister Kate (26F) brought her adorable son, Tommy (6M), who is on the autism spectrum. Tommy is a sweet kid with some sensory issues, so we set up a special quiet room for him, complete with soft pillows and his favorite toys.
The ceremony was beautiful, like something out of a fairy tale. But during the reception, I saw the most outrageous thing: Karen was feeding Tommy chicken nuggets. CHICKEN. NUGGETS. At my VEGAN wedding! My jaw hit the floor. I rushed over and, with steam practically coming out of my ears, asked, "What on earth are you doing?!"
Karen, with a smirk that would make the Grinch proud, said, "He was hungry and your weird rabbit food isn't cutting it for him." I was like, "Are you serious right now? You should have asked me or Kate first!" And she just rolled her eyes and said, "Calm down, it's just food. Stop being so dramatic."
Tommy, sensing the tension, started to get upset. Kate swooped in like Superwoman and took him to the quiet room to calm down. Meanwhile, I turned to Karen and told her she was way out of line. She huffed off, muttering something about me ruining everything with my "crazy vegan cult."
Next thing I know, everyone's phones are blowing up like a fireworks display on the Fourth of July. Half the family thinks I overreacted and that Karen was just trying to help. The other half thinks Karen was a total jerk and disrespected our big day.
Now, I'm sitting here, doubting myself, wondering if I really am the bridezilla Karen's making me out to be.
So, Reddit, AITA for exploding at my evil MIL at my own vegan wedding over chicken nuggets and causing a scene that led to my autistic nephew having a meltdown and everyone’s phones blowing up?
TL;DR: MIL fed my autistic nephew chicken nuggets at my vegan wedding, I exploded, chaos ensued, and now everyone's phones are blowing up. AITA?
(If you've seen a post like this from me before it's because I'm stupid and didn't realize you can only make shitposts on the weekends)

3 years ago I met a man on tinder who I crushed on. We first met at target, went to the movies & then hung out at my friends place for a couple hours or so.
(I was out of state to hangout with a friend planning to stay for a couple weeks or so)
But yeah I invited him after the movies with my friends permission of course because I was so happy around him. He was cute, funny & kind. We hit it off really nicely.
He lived around 40-50 minutes away from my friends but still made the time to hangout with me frequently. But he was so sweet, always getting me Starbucks. Making me lunch from scratch. Really affectionate & complimentary.
When I went back to my actual home we missed each other a lot, face timed all the time.
I’m from Maine, my friend & him lived in Colorado. He was living with his brother at the time but they got in a fight where he was kicked out making him homeless.
I had pity for him & since I missed him + had enough money to go back I did. We hung out frequently, almost daily. But one day my friend had to travel to a different state to visit her close friend because she was having a lot of struggle in her life. & apparently that meant I had to leave her house? I didn’t have enough money yet to actually travel back to my hometown (I work remote so I was going to make money to eventually travel back).
She asked where I’d stay which obviously implies she doesn’t want me to stay at her house or maybe her partner didn’t.
Either way that meant I was homeless with my boyfriend (we eventually made it official after a 3-4 weeks).
At this point we’ve been dating for maybe 2 or 3 months and it was June. We found an apartment to rent & naturally moved in together. One of the most exciting times of my life. After settling we went to a gym together & he convinced me to get a membership together. We worked out now and then together which was fun!
One day on the weekend he told me he was gonna work out with a friend. I thought it was off he didn’t invite me so asked if he planned on just them hanging out or could I come? He told me he was planning just them but I could come. Which I thought was super fucking weird but told myself I’m maybe being paranoid.
Anyway, he was a great partner but as time progressed I started to pick up narcissistic tendencies.
He’d randomly say the most outta pocket things such as “ I feel bad for you that your parents don’t seem to care about you, they never call” to which I explained my parents know I call them frequently & don’t need to. But he would say this frequently almost like he wanted a rise outta me bc wtf that’s hurtful? And when I mention it being hurtful tell me I’m taking things the wrong way or being really sensitive which only got me more pissed which made him pissed.
Or back handed compliment as “you’re so lucky you get to sit all day for your job”.
He was also a bit controlling. He worked night shifts and if he called me to where I didn’t answer his first call he would scream at me such as “ why didn’t you answer??? You trying to ignore me?? That’s actually so rude and messed up. What are you doing?” He reeked insecurity.
And when I even mentioned visiting my family again he seemed upset at the idea of me going to visit them without him.
Anyway, this is a couple examples out of 100. I’m trying not to make this a novel.
Fast foward 3 months we were drinking a ton with the neighbors. We drank out in the back of our shared yard together. He asked me to charge his phone. He always asked me to do things for him like that which is fine whatever. But I thought to look thru his phone. Had a lucky guess with his passcode found out it was his PIN number lol.
Anyway, looked through his snap only to find that he cheated on me 2-4 times with his friend. The one he worked out with and he did during his night shifts. Broke my heart. I didn’t mention anything to him. The next day I told his sister that I’m moving back to my home town because of this while he was at work. She told him. He called me. Begging me not to go. Insisting he’ll go to therapy, he’ll talk to my parents, that he’s sorry. That it’s a dumb decision.
I asked him why to which he gave reasonings but he lied somewhat about the story. Cheating part didn’t hurt me, planning on not telling me hurt me. I caved in because his tears seemed to be real and he was in a state of severe depression for like a month. In any instance it’s hard for me not to have empathy for someone who’s sad. But I was too.
I found out he was subscribed to some of people too & watched porn!! Which honestly porn I wouldn’t care about if in the beginning of our relationship he didn’t tell me it was a deal breaker because it affected his dad horribly. And as for or paying to see someone nude in a relationship? Gross.
Fast foward a few months we’re still together but the relationship doesn’t feel the same as it used to. When we started dating he was the ONLY person I found attractive. But after finding out he did why should my eyes only be on him if he’s had eyes on others? Anyway I missed my family so much and friends. I couldn’t stand being with only him. I let him know that I need to visit my family, still he was scared of me being alone without him. So I told him well I’m either visiting them or you’re moving with me there. Couple months pass by he caved in on moving there with me. Which is obviously a huge decision to make leaving his good job and family. Surely he loves me and I convinced myself everything would be okay.
I don’t believe he’s ever cheated again. He’s grown so much mentally & emotionally even if he has bipolar.
Does a much better job at managing & discussing his emotions & thoughts. We’ve lived in Maine together for around 2 years. Which means it’s almost been 2 years 4 months since I found out he cheated on me at one point.
Every dang day I have anxiety about it. I just want to heal, man. I can’t stop thinking about missed opportunities of dates I could’ve had. People I didn’t give a chance to. And I can’t stop thinking what if he does it again when we’re 30? I wasted a decade of my life for nothing?
But thing is all his belongings are in my state. We’re not rich, moving is hard. He doesn’t want to ever let me go either. Plus I’ve grown attachment to his dogs which feel like mine at this point😭. One of his dogs comes to me every night as soon as I lay down just to cuddle me. Plus my partner provides so much for me financially and we have such a fun time being in each others presence. Not only does he work around 10-12 hours a day 5 days a week. He also usually cooks dinners for me as well.
I’m not asking for tips on how to leave. There’s no escape for me at this point. I’m depressed without him, I’m depressed with him. Some days are good but for the most part I live life in constant anxiety of being hurt again. I just want to know about others experience if they’ve dealt a similar situation. Does it get better?
I might’ve left some details out so if you have any questions just ask.

I want to preface this by saying that this isn't a newfound rage for him; I've hated him for as long as I've been able to form my own thoughts and opinions. As I get older, I find he discovers more and more ways to upset me. He loves to provoke me by saying things like, "Are you ready for me to marry your mom?" knowing full well that my mom doesn't want to get married anymore, and talking about how "I'll be his daughter." I love my biological father too much to ever have another man ever call me his child.
Not to shift blame onto my mom, but she gave the car that I was supposed to drive to him for no reason and won't take it back because she doesn't want to be an "Indian giver." He's also a raging misogynist. He calls my 11-year-old sister "too emotional" and says her healthy way of emotions is just her being a sensitive woman. He thinks he can talk to her any kind of way but then is shocked to find out that she hates him. He also says that women should listen and obey which drives me up the wall.
He made my mom keep my youngest brother against her wishes when she found out she was pregnant, promising he'd be there to help take care of him. Now that my brother is actually here, he's barely involved in his life. He has no idea that he's about to start school and only ever comes around to "take care" of him and my younger sister on his days off, when his other daughter, from another relationship, is with him or on school nights and then when he does come he just goes to straight to sleep, and leaves my brother alone to cry bloody murder, knowing he can't speak or call for help. My mom ends up taking care of him in the middle of the night.
I really wish he would disappear, but my mom refuses to leave him.

There is context here so thank you for reading. I moved in with my bestfriend of 14 years last September when we were both tired of commuting and got new jobs (smart, I know). The day we moved in we started having some issues concerning me not feeling considered by her. These things included her changing our move in date without telling me first before we actually moved because it better suited her plan to move in slowly, her running late to our move in day appointment and expecting me to wait over an hour for her and telling me it’s okay for me to wait for her, and her telling me my opinion was irrelevant and pointless to bring up after what I thought was a simple conversation that I started after I almost got into a bad car accident and came into the apartment flustered, telling her about it. After all these instances I asked her if we could talk about it as I was feeling really hurt by her and didn’t want to start our moving in on a bad note, especially since I just signed a lease with her. She was very defensive and told me I could say the same things back to her, that nothing she says is personal, and that she’s not going to say “nothing” like I was telling her to do (I never told her that, I just said that some of the things she says to me, I would never say to her). She also said in response to me asking to talk because she hurt my feelings, that I hurt her feelings all the time too but when I asked her what she was referring to she wouldn’t say.
I started distancing myself from her at this point because I didn’t want to get hurt anymore and talking to her lead nowhere except me feeling more hurt and regret about even trying to solve things with her in the first place.
Back in November, I found out my now husband and I were expecting our first baby! We had my first appointment over zoom and the very same day my roommate asked me if I could go to the leasing office or call them concerning a sound she’d been hearing in her room for a few weeks thinking it could be rodents. I told her I normally always help her if I could but at that moment I couldn’t and it would be better if she found out who to contact herself. I could barely give her my full attention that day and also expressed that to her. Me saying no set her off in a way that I’m still in shock about. She told me she couldn’t understand why I couldn’t do it, that she knew I could do it, that she’ll do it but it’s hard for her because she’s busy and she knew I was at the apartment, that it would’ve made more sense for me to say no if she asked me to go drive somewhere and pick something up, and also mentioned that her case managetherapist told her it’s not a big deal to ask when I texted her sorry I can’t help. She also told me I was not genuinely trying to understand what she wanted me to do. All this because I said no, I’m busy. She blew up my phone over the course of 48 hours.
After this we had a blow out where I defended my not having to justify “no”. It was was pretty ugly and I was really rubbed the wrong way. She wanted to talk the next day with her or my younger sister being the mediator, (I told her I didn’t think that was a good idea). I verbalized to her that I wasn’t in a space to talk to her for a while and needed to focus on my family, but that I’d let her know when I was ready to talk. I’m in therapy and realized she went too far and I just don’t want to be friends anymore. I don’t want to be hurt anymore.
It is now May, I’m due in July, and we still haven’t spoken because I’m still so hurt by her and REALLY want to end the friendship. We talk here and there about things concerning the apartment and she even gifted me some baby clothes which I really appreciated and sent her a thank you card. I also sent her a gift for her birthday, her favorite scent. We’re still technically roommates since I’m still on the lease until September but I’ve moved out and live with my husband, I just pay the rent there. I sent her a message in March explaining why I became distant, that I was hurt and needed to focus on my baby, and that if she’s still up for being cordial or finding a resolution I am too but I understood if too much time had gone by. She told me she still has love for me but wanted to take it slow and we haven’t really talked since then. She occasionally sends me memes. It still irritates me whenever I see messages from her.
How do I stop being friends with her without coming across like a jerk? Do I need to send her a message when we’re officially not roommates anymore?

I’m a teenage girl, the second and youngest child in my immediate family. My brother, 19, is the worst person I’ve ever had the misfortune of knowing. I don’t even consider him my brother. He’s a leech that’s been ruining my life from the day I was born.
Since we were younger, my brother (i’ll be referring to him as A, for asshole) has constantly criticised or generally treated me poorly. Initially it was a typical sibling fashion - fighting with eachother, verbal and physical tussling, generally snitching on each other to our parents and bickering loads.
A is four years older than me. This means that when he hit puberty, he suddenly became twice as big and twice as strong as I was, not even taking into account the fact he was naturally strong and big for his age anyway, as well as his natural strength advantage being a boy. The typical sibling fighting became pretty one sided from then on.
He was always louder than me, more verbally mean. I just wanted my older brother to like me. I remember the only way I used to be able to make him laugh was to hit myself or anything like that. It sucked. But, I started to naturally distance from him more so than before, with a combination of being fairly independent and the age gap meaning we were at different levels of maturity. We just didn’t mesh well together.
Then he became a proper teenager. He started to lash out at home more, at my parents. He started going out and doing things like drugs and drinking alcohol, smoking and getting into constant fights. He stopped caring about anything school related, and generally became a massive uncontrollable DICK.
He ended up screaming at my mum in mornings before school, with me in the same room as I ate my cereal. He punched a hole in the wall one time because my mum said he couldn’t go out that night. Another time he punched a hole in his bedroom wall because of an issue with his girlfriend at the time (who by the way caused a lot more problems than she was worth).
I was 10. I remember clearly one night. He pulled me into his room, showed me pictures of all his weed and said he was dealing it. While now, I couldn’t care less about that kind of thing, at the time I was terrified for A. I didn’t want my brother getting hurt or being in trouble. He pulled out a balaclava and made me put it on so he could take pictures. It fucking stunk of weed.
I was scared. And humiliated.
It kept going until about a year ago when he began to settle. But there was an instance where it got so bad that my mum screamed at him that she hated him, and tried to hit A. He nearly swung for her if it wasn’t for my dad holding him back. A is 6ft, at the time 5”10 or 5”11. My mum is 5”3 and while now, she’s very muscular and strong, at the time she wasn’t.
Afterwards, he came upstairs and came into my room, laughing and grinning about the whole thing like it was some joke. He thought it was hilarious.
A is a drain on my life. Because of him, I never really grew out of my shell, and I’ve been put to the side by my parents more because they’ve always had to focus more on him. He to this day calls me horrible things, argues with my parents and blatantly tries to make me miserable because he’s just not a nice person.
Recently my parents’s marriage started to go poorly and they debated divorce, which was heavily impacted by his influence on their lives and my own. My mum is miserable. My dad has given up on him completely.
I’ve been depressed for several years, and extremely anxious along side it. My experiences with A have influenced my relationships with other people and the way I view the world alongside the people in it. He’s horrible. I had to resort to therapy as of late, due to my own concern at how bad I’ve been getting. I’ve debated suicide many times, not that I ever think I’d actually commit to it. I don’t know. It’s not the worst situation ever and I feel a little dramatic, but I genuinely can’t stand him.
I can’t help but believe my life would be better off without him.

So Whole year back from now i have 4 sister and 2 brothers and one of the smaller sisters let call her gina f (18) she was (16)when she decided to move in with my brother(21) lets call him arturo ans his gf (21) lets call her layla. They were okay for a while until gina one day asked me for a ride to go to the mall and i had said yes and we went to eat and hung out until 9:40pm my fiance (23) lets call him hunter was with us we were having a good time until we went to drop her off at my brothers place as soon as we walked in my brothers gf was like your curfew is at 10 if you told me you were with your sister it wouldve been okay and i just stared at her like wtf is goin on. My fiance just walked right back outside and my brother followed him outside and i decided to join them they were having a good convo about cars and other guy stuff we were outside for about 30 mins and my brother gf comes out and yells hey arturo your food is ready and he says ill be right there litterally 3 mins later she comes back out and says your food is getting cold and he says again ill be right there and then another min comes around and when she is about to say something my brother says im coming and cuts the convo short when we were saying our goodbyes she comes out with my brothers car keys and gets in the car and burns tire backing out to go check on her laundry and my brother starts awkwardly or nervously laughing and we leave. A couple of days pass by and im having a convo with my other sister brit(23) and i told her that i had the weirdest interaction with arturo ans his gf and that idk why she was talking to our sister Gina like if she was blood related to her or like an angry mexican mom to her instead of my brother pulling her aside and letting her know the house rules or something anyways i ended up saying she a little weird for that and here is when the drama starts. A week later i catch up with gina again and this time she opens up a little more about the situation with my brother and his gf and the house rules and at first i was like “hmm that makes sense it is their apt “ but then she said that layla said that she was like a mom to her and that arturo told her that if our little sister is her responsibility not his and anything that has to do with Gina that shes in charge then thats when i stopped her and told her you mean to say she means like a sister right not mom and she said no she said like a mom i was like wtf im the oldest and dont even try to claim that spot shes only been taking care of you for less than a year shes fucken weird for saying that and i had called my sister brit and told her we need to get together and talk to arturo so it doesnt get out of control and everything start with the he said he said bs and the first thing that happens is exactly that two days later he calls me ans says that i have to right to comment on whats going on and to apologize to his gf for calling her weird and she is like a mother to our little sister and that he will completely cut me off for it and that also he herd i had said things behind her back when only shes been nice to me i ended up apologizing to both of them over the phone (even tho i didnt say anything behind her back just that she was a little weird) and they accept it. weeks pass and i dont hear from them and it was my birthday 3 of my sisters (brit,gina,and ester(19))take me out to eat and got for a stroll to the mall all i see at the mall is gina going to store from store looking at mens shoes and buying other male items. while im waiting on her in a store i turn to brit and ask her have you herd from arturo and she said yeah hes fine and then we stayed quiet and then i said im a little bummed he didnt come or say happy birthday to me and gina comes and says “he said that he was going to do a surprise party for you but you been acting weird so he wont do shit for you” . I was like wtf how i havnt talked to him and i already apologized to him and his gf so whats he talking about ans they look down and stay silent then i got a little upset ans just asked gina why are you buying all that shit for anyways and she says its for arturos bday and i looked at her and say but his bday its until next month why now and i walk out the store. Honestly i was a little mad that she was using the only day we get together and try to have fun to go shopping for my brother when it was my bday he will have his day in a month and its not like gina doesnt have her own car to go too. After that day we all kept quiet and just not brought it up at all anymore i had already apologized to both of them i dont feel like i have the need to do it again i only see them on special occasions like thanksgiving ,Christmas and my only nephews bday party
So AITAH for not wanting to apologize to them again? let me know i need help
Also i have a second part coming the story doesnt end there.

Hello Everyone,
I would like to share with you an idea me and a friend of mine had. We are working on a pilot for this. But we are wanting to do a show that is inspired by the movie Free Guy. It is called The Personality Factory. We have a lot of the details ready and everything.
Characters (FaithArt, Werehog, Wally art, and Error FaithArt belong to https://www.instagram.com/thefandomhunter?igsh=MXNlaGdhajB5dHFsNw==):
Ryl33 - Ryl33 is an A.I. girl who was once a CPU until she was mysteriously given her dreamy and kind personality. She is shown to be caring and a big hearted dreamer which is something her brother Brayd3n used to be. During the PIlot she works on trying to get her older brother Brayd3non board with helping her achieve free will for all of PIXELMANIA and show everyone can be more than their program
Brayd3n - Brayd3n is an A.I. boy who has an entertaining personality and was given it 5 years prior to the events of the pilot. He is dramatic, big hearted like his sister Rylee with a dash of comedy thrown into the mix, theatrical, and sometimes awkward. He enjoys entertaining others with his shows and performances yet he has a bit of guilt and trauma. He will continuously decline Rylee’s offer to help with the factory. He resides in Astral Glow
FaithArt - FaithArt another being from another world that came to this world to come help with the adventures of the factory gang, but she has programming that prevents her from inferring too much or telling the future but does her best to help out.
Werehog - one of FaithArts best friends since his world was created they’re really close and would do anything for eachother, colossal Werehog is a very sweet gentle giant that has a temper here and there and a mysterious past but is willing to help anyone with their emotional needs and is a huge hugger
WallyArt - he was found in his dying universe by FaithArt and was givin a new job to help FaithArt and Werehog any Chance he gets, he's a very sweet and gentle person that is very soft spoken and loves to paint as much as Faith. And is a medical professional both mentally and physically.
L!am - L!am is a CPU and a thief of PIXELMANIA and leader of the Rogers for…reasons. In the pilot he torments others in the many locations Rylee and Charlie go to and unknowingly distracts everyone from Rylee’s big idea. He was an orphan at a young age and refused to go to the orphanage. He can be immature yet caring and a real potty mouth.
Charl1e - Charl1e is a CPU assistant programmed to help Rylee as she is her boss. Charlie is organized and keeps to a schedule. Going against her program could cause catastrophic disasters
Error Faith - is a very vengeful version of FaithArt who's world was destroyed in a glitchy mess and she hates Faith for not saving her world from everything so she wants to destroy every single world/ universe that exists and rule both PIXELMANIA and inkblot.
Bright_Man - Bright_Man is a councilor CPU and the former leader of the PIXELMANIA council as he was demoted for an undisclosed reason. He is like a school bully and, like L!am, he is a potty mouth. Bright_Man has a huge hatred against Brayden and whenever he gets the chance he tries to boo Brayden off the stage and, secretly, try to kill him.
World Building: In the alternate video game like world of PIXELMANIA there are 4 sections consisting of Astral Glow, Hollows Village, Expo Canyon, and Speedway City. All four are connected by a special place called Console Centre
Astral Glow is a gorgeous world full of magic and wonder. CPUs learn all kinds of magic to become wizards, witches, warlocks, and fantasy styled warriors. CPU Faries also reside in this part of the world. Their houses are made of pure magic and can be in the air and the trees. They can even live in castles. There are many different magical locations here
Hollows Village is a land with a horrifying landscape, dark skies, and terrible monsters such as Werewolves, Zombies, Mummies, etc. Their houses are either cabins or mansions, or they can just sleep out in the dark forests of Talbot. Not many other locations other than the cemetery
Expo Canyon is a land full of perilous locations such as Volcanoes and dangerous seas. Their houses are hanging off of cliffs, on the water, in the trees and in other dangerous parts of the world
Speedway City is like a huge racetrack with no sidewalks at all. The only walking there is inside the houses which are racing garages or motorhomes for race cars. Speedway City is a fun place where you can race your heart out of the city in a fun way. But you can also race on the literal raceway and win big prizes
Console Centre is the center of all PIXELMANIA and the main land to all CPUs. This is where many CPUs can chill, meet new people (since CPUs are allowed to have friends as they are not soulless), and shop for themselves…Think of Free Guy almost
The Personality Factory is where all CPUs are made in the first place. All of the coded blood is stored in a special vault and placed into the CPU before color and customization begins. They are given their program through a Personality Randomizer which randomly gives the CPU their personality and how they act all day long. It is located on a small platform connected to the Console Centre.
Age Rating: TV-MA
Reasoning for the age rating: Lots of swearing (especially by Brayden and Liam), stylized yet bloody violence, and mature content
Premise: In an alternate video game-like world, Rylee, an A.I., goes out to pursue her dream of giving everyone the same free will that she has by giving them all the unique personality they choose to have. She creates a personality selector not knowing there is a history behind it. She seeks the help of her A.I. older brother Brayden with her assistant Charlie and some unexpected allies by her side.
Let me know what you all think

Brothers, sisters, visitors especially, Thank you all for opening this. It’s my prayer that you will read through all of this and remember who we are in Christ, especially in these days.
I was online the other day, and was just glancing over a thread and noticed out of no where, people were arguing about the topic of God. Just, general topic, you know how things go online.
There was one person who said, “love is the answer. It’s why Jesus came and to die for us. It’s all about loving one another.” To which I thought, ah yes that’s the greatest commandment of all. But she really didn’t say anything else of value. Yes, love, the greatest fruit of the spirit, the great commandment is love one another, the best part of living with others may be to show their love to each other. But she kind of hid behind saying that and nothing else.
Another was quoting verbatim the KJV versions of some of our greatest verses, and nothing else. Just kind of saying the words, no connection. It brought me back to Paul who reminds us to be tasteful in our interactions with nonbelievers so that we might be heard in a genuine way, and possibly plant the seeds of salvation.
Another, nonbeliever, was throwing out his concerns on why or why not they weren’t participating in the conversation of faith at all.
.
I want to talk about the fundamentals of our belief. As followers of Jesus, children of God, vessels of the Holy Spirit, there should be the understanding of why we believe without the answer having anything to do with tradition, or culture. We should have a basic understanding as to why the gospel is truth. We cannot be the foundation who was tossed away because of the wind. Spiritually, our wisdom must be current, and in tune with the Holy Spirit, and the fundamentals. Otherwise, we choose our own wisdom over the truth and what? God gives us to our own wisdoms leading us to foolishness? A basic understanding and capability to answer basic questions of our faith is just as important if not more than our works. Faith without works is dead, but an eager tongue with no wisdom will lead to failure and destruction.
If you’re still reading this with open ears and open eyes, I thank you. I am only the vessel of this truth and have been given the discernment to decipher it, and the ability to write it.
1) ((This is the one relevant to Gods might, wonder, creativity)): God created all things, with His word. The first 5 days of creation He finished and he said “it was good”, (Genesis 1). In the beginning of all of it, was His word, and everything that is was created by Him and nothing was created without Him, (John 1). God, with his spirit, created all.
2) ((This one is relevant to humankind being favored and loved by God)): God created man on the 6th day and he calls it “very good”. The only time in this story of creation where something is very good, not just good. Sees man is alone and says that is not good. Puts him in a deep sleep, takes his side (‘selah,’ also used in the Hebrew to describe the “side of the mountain, the “side of the ark of the covenant) and makes woman, as an ally in this life.
3) ((This one is relevant to Jesus’ role)): Adam and Eve lived in Eden, and God walked amongst them. Man was meant to be with God, and worship Him and love Him. God had created us for that andd the way we were able to was by the garden. Eden was our bridge between God and earth where we were mean to live freely, perfectly and with God. The bridge to God was broken, from the fall, through disobedience and from the moment of the fall God foretells of another way back to Him.
We all know the line. “I will send the seed of a woman to crush the head of the serpent…”— which on its own one might ask why? The answer is because this is the moment death enters. From the fall and on, we were no longer bridged to spiritual life or God at all. We were trapped on this side of existence away from spiritual life, God, Eden. So it HAD to be the seed of the woman. It had to be in our realm of reality, we were no longer on that side of reality.
Next, “the serpent will wound the heel”, representing that the man will suffer. It will be a wound.
It’s a rule of creation, all life needs blood to live. And since we have forfeited our spiritual life in Eden where we’re meant to be, to have physical life, we have no blood to live and we are dead spiritually without believing in the fact that the blood of Christ replaces ours. Think back to the creation story: “God breathed life into adam…” it was the ‘ruach’, or the spirit, that livened adam whom was formed from the ‘adama’, or the ground, and had his ‘dam’, or blood, to keep him alive. God, who is one with His Word, is the giver of life, and is the Truth.
Foreshadowed by Moses, unbeknownst to him, recorded in Numbers concerning the bronze snake, & the rock and the water (both times, first the strike representing the crucifixion and second representing the spoken confirmation—where Moses failed btw).
And so Jesus comes to fulfill that prophetic word from God. A) come to our plane of reality because we fell off His B) crush the head of Satan/serpent—destroying the power of death, and the power of the fall. C) dying—it is the blood that gives life, without blood we cannot live. D) giving us the Holy Spirit—when God gave Adam blood to live, He also gave him His ‘ruach’ to breathe. And so it is the exact same thing as now, with clean blood from Jesus to live AND the Spirit, or ‘ruach’, to breathe.
Jesus says “I AM the way” for this reason. He is the bridge from humanity to God, just like Eden.
Amen, I thank you father for your holy wisdom and I pray that someone who you needed to understand the details closely finally sees. I pray your will be done in all things. Amen.

Sorry about format, as I'm on mobile. I'd get some snacks and a drink, cause this is gonna be a decent sized one. This is pretty much about my entire life. Also, I have mental health and sometimes add too many details to things. I kinda over share, so apologise if that happens. Me(F) my mom(F) sister(F)
My entire life, I have felt less than when it comes to my mom. It's pretty obvious my sister is the favorite child. Ever since she was born, I was put on a back burner. Then my brother was born, and it got even worse. (My brother is an amazing man, so I don't fault him for anything at all. He's pretty much my unofficial child. I will die for him.) When I was 3, my bio dad died. I did get checks every month for survivors checks, but when I turned 18, I never saw any of it. I understand that she needed it for me while I was a minor, but once I turned 18, it was supposed to actually go to me. I was still in my last year of high school, so it didn't stop til I graduated. If I would have gotten those checks, I would be way farther in life. My mom got with my siblings dad when I was around 4 or 5. That's where the abuse came in. She got pregnant with my sister, and pretty much made me the clown. My sister's dad was a Dr*g addict, and would go on binges, leaving me home alone to watch my siblings, while Mom was at work. I was 6 at this point. Granted, she did call the police and he got charged with 3 counts of child endangerment. (My brother was born at this point). Then, she stayed with him, even though he left us like that. When I was 9 was when I found out about my dad. She wasn't even going to tell me about him, but she had to, cause my grandma filed for grandparents rights. Mom didn't even tell me. Siblings dad is the one to sit me down. That's when my mental health started to really show. I was 9 and finding out the man that I called dad, wasn't actually my dad, and my real dad is never meet cause he's dead. My soul broke that day. Fast forward a few months and I get a puppy for my birthday. It pooped in the house, and G(siblings dad) was so irate, he left the puppy outside in the middle of the night, during the winter... He killed my dog. It was maybe 15° F that night. I woke up the next morning to mom telling me the dog ate paint off the wall ... She did, but the bite marks were there from a week prior. I was 9, not stupid. I saw through her lies. Fast forward again. They end up separating. He had gotten upset, then kidnapped my siblings taking them to a completely different state. He finally came back, and was in jail for 6 months. After he got out .. she got back with him. The final straw happened a few years later. When I was probably 8-10 can't remember exactly how old, I was having issues with my math homework. I have major dyslexia with numbers(can't remember the actual name) and math was my worst subject because of that. I was frustrated cause I just couldn't understand the math homework, so I crumpled the paper. (I was a kid. I know I shouldn't have done it, but I did.) She got up, and started to hit me. She was smacking my arms, and had me pinned down to the couch. I turned my head and she hit my nose hard enough for it to gush blood. (Granted I could flick my nose and it'd bleed, but I digress). Then, I had "played" with a belt with her and G, and one of them(can't remember who) was hitting me with another one. I didn't understand at the time, but we was all smacking each other with belts, tryna hit the others the hardest. (My lord I just realized how bad that actually was.) I went to school the next day, and had a few welts on my arms. Went to the nurse for some ice, and got asked who did it. I explained what happened, and cps got called. I didn't know, but I got home and got screamed at by G. He was in my face, so close I could smell his breath and feel his spittle hitting my face. Then my mom said it wasn't them, but my sister who scratched me. (It wasn't a scratch. It was a welt clearly from a belt.) There's probably more, but my brain made me forget to protect my sanity. Fast forward, she is finally away from him. Then she gets with my now step dad. I was 12 at the time. He was an okay guy. He has 5 kids. Well, of course I was the built in babysitter. I am the oldest out of all 8 of us kids. I wasn't allowed to hang out with friends as much as I should have been growing up, cause I was always the one to be the second parent to them. That's when my mental health started to get severe. I started self harming at 13. It would get so bad. Nothing of significance really happened between then til I was 16. (That I can remember. Thanks brain for protecting me.) I get into highschool. Freshman year. I'm finally able to start hanging out with friends more often. I end up having sex(I was coerced, wanted to wait til I was on bc, but I finally gave in. Shouldn't have, but it's whatever. I'm over it now.) Wasn't on birth control and didn't wear a condom. Had a scare I may have been pregnant. Mom finds out, gets a test and takes me to my grandma's to take it. She berates me in front of my grandparent and my aunt and cousins. Thankfully it was negative. Fast forward to when I was 16. Got my first job. Finally I'm old enough to make my own money. Well, I can't even spend my checks the way I wanted to. Majority of them went to her. I gave her prob 85 percent of my checks. I wanted to save for a car. Couldn't. (Not that it mattered. Didn't get my license til I was 23... I'm 27 now.) Kept getting my temps, only to never practice. Yet, when my sister is 18, she takes her out to drive and helps her get her license. But, whatever. Finally I graduate, and all I get is a gift card(I'm thankful of course. I'm not stingy, I just have envy from all the things my sister got, that I didn't.) Sister got a full blown party. Every single person I have been romantically with, she would put in my head that they aren't good enough. So much so, I thought I would never be with someone who genuinely loved me. (I have that now, so shout out to my amazing fiance.) I'm still cutting on a daily basis at this point. Cut from the ages of 12 to 20. I'd still be, if I wasn't with my fiance. (I was didn't sewer slide myself and actually did it right this time, anyway. Tried 5 times. Thankfully I failed each time.) I have bipolar disorder, anxiety, depression and ADHD. Not once did she take me to get health. She always dismissed me when I would try and talk to her about it, so I just kept to myself. It took my fiance's mom to take me and get me the help I needed. I barely graduated cause I just didn't care in 9th and 10th grade. I felt like I wasn't going to live past high school anyway, so why should I care? 11th grade comes up and working had actually given me motivation to keep going. (Plus I started smoking the devil's lettuce, so I was feeling better mentally.) Turn 18 and I move out. Ended up losing my job I had then, and go down a spiral. I got addicted to alcohol and pills for a couple of weeks. Not enough for withdrawals, but it was still bad. Thankfully I woke up one day and realized what I was doing. (I'll give her this, I called and she immediately came to get me so I could get out of that situation.) Fast forward more, I move out again, but just down the street. I'm now 19 and start dating my now fiance. We have been together 8 years and I barely talk to her anymore. Esp this past year. I don't really message her first anymore. I've gone 6 or more months without talking to her. Shoot, without talking to anyone in my family. Fiance's parents get me the mental health I needed. Get diagnosed with depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder. I've told Mom I have bipolar since I was 16 and she just dismissed me, saying it's my hormones. (Jokes on her) About 4 years in, she starts telling me I need to find someone else to be with. He isn't good enough for me. (Yeah, like the rest weren't. No one is good enough for her.) It gets to the point I had to tell her and my sister both to stop, or I was gonna cut them out of my life completely. (Should have, looking back, but we learn.) They stop for a while. Sister is now showing her true colors. She's a narcissist and gaslighter, just like her father. She cannot own up to her mistakes, what so ever. She gets into an accident, not her fault. She gets into a fight she started, not her fault. Can't hold down a job, not yet fault. (I've had trouble holding down a job as well, but I'm getting better. I finally got diagnosed with ADHD and am in meds, so I'm not feeling impulsive as bad. Id switch jobs pretty frequently, due to the better sounding one. It's still affecting me to this day, but I'm seeing a change in my mind. Just gotta push through a bit more. Not blaming it on my ADHD, but the disease doesn't make it easier.) Mom has gotten sister a job with her at every single job she's had the past 4 years. Sister ruins it for mom, cause sister can't stand mom not paying attention to her, or doing everything for sister. Sister has bad anxiety, and uses it as an excuse to keep mom working. Sister wants all the pay of being a manager, without actually doing the manager duties. Sister always tells me I need to dress better. Says i "need to look more presentable and not like a slob". I wear skinny jeans and a Tshirt usually. Frequently, I'll wear sweats if I'm just going to moms and not going out. I like being comfy. Constantly criticizing me for every single thing I do. Finally mom says she realizes how bad she has treated me throughout my life. I forgave her a long time ago. Gets to the point mom says she wouldn't have anything to do with sister, if she wasn't her kid. Thought things were gonna change. Clearly not. Mom and sister both get another new job, the same job. Again. It's like nothing has changed since that conversation. Still barely talk to her, and everything. Last time I hung out with them, it was for only 3 hours. THREE HOURS. yet, I had anxiety and panic attacks from that small amount of time, for the next 3 days... I can't do this anymore, but I feel SO freaking guilty for even considering this. I love my mom and sister. I want them in my life, but I can't keep feeling like this. My mental health is always needing to be restarted after being around them. It's like I go back to that 12 year old me and want to self harm all over again. I'm now almost 10 years clean from it. There is no longer any scars, and I'm happier now. I just can't help but to feel I should just suck it up and "get over it". I know this is rediculously long, so if you've read this far, thank you. I just need some other people's perspective that isn't biased and I feel you guys are the best chance for that. I'm really struggling on what to do and feel so guilty for even typing this stuff out. My worst fear is disappointing her, yet I do every day. I also really hate confrontation. I'll do whatever it takes to avoid it, but I just can't anymore. I've always wondered how life would be if my dad was alive. I don't remember him, but I can still say I miss him. I miss the opportunities that I didn't get growing up.
Thank you guys. I'll take whatever you guys throw at me. I just want to see if my feelings are valid or not. This is literally causing me pain. I need help.

I'll start by giving some information about me. I'm a 21-year-old AFAB college student. I currently live in my college town in a little condo by myself. A childhood friend and her mother were kind enough to let me have it all to myself for a great price. I don't have to pay utilities, and it comes with a parking space. On top of that, it has felt safe since the neighbors are mainly elderly people and families. The only person I've had an issue with is my next-door neighbor. I'll call him Clay. He has introduced himself and I've noticed him try to make eye contact with me so I would look at him. Nothing crazy, but I've never had a good feeling about him. Neither has my sister, my friend, and my partner. I've learned to trust my gut because it has made some good calls. Luckily, I'd hardly see him around and when I do he doesn't try to engage. That was until last Wednesday.
Around sunset, I was taking out the trash. The garbage area holds two giant dumpsters and is surrounded by a brick fence and is closed by a wooden gate with a latch. This context is important. As I was walking I heard footsteps behind me. Thinking it was just an elderly neighbor going to their car I wasn't alarmed, but then I noticed they sounded too close and were coming from behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Clay walking behind me, also going to take out his trash. My gut told me I was not safe so I quickly went in and threw my trash in the dumpster and tried to rush out. As I was trying to leave Clay quickly asked, "You're my next-door neighbor, right? My name's Clay what's yours?" I froze; a deer in the headlights moment. I was cornered. He was in arms reach and he had his hand on the gate and I just knew I had to be gentle. So I told him yes and my name and he told me it was nice to meet me to which I said it back and quickly sped walk back into my condo. It took a little bit for the adrenaline to go away and I started crying. Up until now, I haven't had a terrifying interaction with a man. I had never been that scared and so vulnerable in my life. I was worried he was going to take that as an excuse to try and become more 'friendly' with me so I stayed the night at my partner's (we'll call them Alex) place. Unfortunately, that was just the start.
The next day I had an art exhibit at my school that I needed to go to so Alex and I returned to my condo so I could get ready. This would be a great place to mention that these condos have a shared backyard. So if Clay wanted he could go out his sliding door and take 5 steps to get to mine. And truly, what can a glass door do to stop someone who really wants to get in? Anyway, my friend's mom is religious and isn't comfortable with Alex and me being alone in the condo (weird but it's hard to complain since it's a great deal). So they have to walk around back (past Clay's condo and sliding glass door) to where I will let them in through mine. Alex was waiting for me in front of MY condo but it seems Clay thought otherwise. Cause while Alex was waiting for me Clay opened up his window and asked for their name. Alex gave him a fake name and Clay said "Ok. Just wanted to know the name of the guy standing outside my house."
Later, Alex and I returned to my condo, but when we got there Clay was talking to my upstairs neighbor. We were about to walk toward my place when we noticed Clay was standing in the way of me getting to my front door. We tried waiting for him to go back to his house, but then he started walking towards us. When he approached us he looked directly at me, didn't acknowledge Alex, and asked me if he could use my phone to call his mom. Keep in mind, this man looks like he's in his 30s, why would he not have a phone? Alex intervened and said we're in a hurry so Clay let us go but did not believe us. As Alex was walking around back Clay aggressively told them, "By the way. Stop walking around my house." Alex assertively told him back, "My fucking partner lives here" and kept walking. Both of us felt unsafe at that point since what Clay said sounded like a threat so we headed back to Alex's place.
Now to the latest thing that happened. Yesterday, I was trying to move stuff out of that place since my lease is ending soon anyway and my family, Alex, and I determined it wasn't safe for me to live there anymore. Thankfully, Clay had just gotten picked up by his parents right before we got there. While packing as much as I could, I decided that I should go talk to my upstairs neighbors to see if they knew if Clay was leaving anytime soon. Alex and I have noticed that his condo is looking more barren over time. Shit truly hit the fan in this conversation.
She told me that Clay is a paranoid schizophrenic who is refusing to take his meds. She advised that if Clay were to make us feel threatened again we should call the police since they already have a record on him. She gave me her phone number and even offered her home to hide out in case of an emergency. After the conversation, Clay had gotten dropped off again. I had my car parked outside MY condo since I was moving things into it but he had a problem with it. He stormed upstairs to my neighbor's house and began yelling and cursing about how my car shouldn't be there and that he wanted to come downstairs to talk to us. I am so grateful for her, she managed to calm him down and we quickly left after that.
Needless to say, I am no longer going to the condo alone for the time being. I still have some stuff in it, but I'm going to wait for my dad and brothers to be there. I still don't truly understand why my partner and I had to become a target/trigger for him. It's terrifying and this all feels like a nightmare. I have to go back for other things and I'll update this if anything more happens. Thanks for reading.

ACT 1. Sunday afternoon after visiting the local market two brothers wait for their train to arrive. If they were even a minute late, they knew their mother would surely scold them and scold the elder of the two far worse. The idea of another beating did not bother the elder brother; he had been through far worse just dealing with the brat and his attempted jailbreaks, though something did begin to make him painfully nauseous forcing him to feel pressured by the light breeze as if gravity had suddenly been increased tenfold. All his senses were heightening beyond anything he had thought possible.All around him he saw that the once energetic and hyperactive passengers had become little more than mannequins; their movements slowing to a standstill. They had all gone silent. The station was no longer filled with the cries of children or the gentle laughs of their parents. He had never heard such silence in such a crowded location. He did not feel panicked, nor did he feel a need to act for this silence was oddly comforting to him. However, the newly calm atmosphere would quickly be the source of a lifetime of suffering.His hand began to reach for his brother in an attempt to call his attention. Though in a moment of both unprecedented shock and exhaustion John shoved his younger brother onto the rails of an oncoming train. Local news would report the incident as nothing more than a tragic manic episode of a young sixteen-year-old. However, for John this single visceral instant in which all of his brother's bones were instantly crushed was stretched into hours. He was painfully aware of how every bone in his brother's body contorted in inhuman ways some nearly resembling perfect right angles, until eventually, they snapped and sent insurmountable pain throughout his nervous system. His blood curling screams were made mute by the screech of the train coming to a halt, though, by the time they stopped, his brother had torn his every vocal cord and had long ago lost consciousness. Still on the platform, the elder brother stood still, attempting to process what exactly he had done. He had no idea what force had compelled him to push his brother, but that instant would forever define what he saw as reality.That however was nineteen years ago, in present day he lived in isolation far from any person. He spent his isolated days wandering the land around his cabin completing house chores that distracted him from reminiscing about his days in the asylum or as he liked to call it “The Echo Room” where he was transferred after the incident. He headed inside after spending a portion of his morning counting all one-hundred-and-thirty-two trees that were showing signs of life after the harsh winter that nearly forced him to cut down two of them for firewood. Once inside he began preparing his morning coffee when he heard a loud creak come from the hall. He (after many incidents) learnt to avoid the boards that creaked, so in his mind immediately an intruder was breaking into his cabin searching for food or his stash of special edition coffee. Deciding to investigate he walked towards the noise when suddenly he heard two knocks at his front door. Confused and slightly worried, he proceeded to walk towards the door making sure not to step on any of the annoyingly loud floorboards.He approached and looked through the peephole and saw only what remained of the melting snow outside. Opening the door, he saw that only his steps led to the doormat. He glanced around and saw no indication of any life aside a few dark patches on the snow. He was about to close the door when he noticed a tiny red package wrapped in a radiant red bow placed clear from where the door would open. Cautiously picking it up, he noticed how it had almost no weight to it; as if empty. He walked inside and sat at his desk planning to journal later about the weird morning he had been having. He examined the exterior of the package and saw how not only was it near perfect condition but it was also slightly warm to the touch; as if recently held. He undid the bow and cautiously opened the package, half expecting an explosive of some sort. Though, all he found was a ragged ripped piece of paper. Unremarkable aside from the fact that it was inside such a carefully constructed package. On the other side he saw that it had some scarlet lettering inscribed into it reading.“Ouroboros”. At first believing it to be a prank by the kids who had heard rumors about him, and his incident, nearly caused him to dismiss it entirely deeming it little more than a slightly humorous event. He decided to put it aside for now as he had coffee left to drink that was quickly getting cold. He walked back towards the kitchen still distracted by the idea of no trace being left by whoever had left the gift. Was it even a gift? Maybe it was just some well-executed prank? In any manner he would later have a better look at it. He absentmindedly, reached for his cup and immediately pulled his hand back shocked by the temperature of the cup. It was frozen! Almost to a complete solid. He thought himself slightly distracted but not enough to freeze his morning coffee especially not his special edition coffee. First The Box and now this, it was all adding up to an annoying morning. Was it still morning? No, that’s not right. He had just spent the day counting trees. How could it still possibly be morning?The thought of Dr. Lumis being correct about his mental condition after so many years sent a chill down his spine especially since last time they talked, he did not exactly behave amicably. He was sure that both incidents had been isolated events that could never happen again. Sure, he had heard the echoes every once in a while, but he was never insane like the others; this he knew to be a fact. If he was insane, how could he have ever left? Disoriented and beginning to sweat, his legs suddenly gave out causing him to fall backward landing on the cold wooden floorboards. He looked around hurriedly expecting to see an intruder that had somehow found him. After seeing nothing but his pristine furniture, he steadied himself and began to control his breathing. He slowly got up causing the wood underneath to creak under the sudden release of weight. Deciding to further assure himself he went around the cabin checking in all four rooms. He found nothing aside from his own disturbances. Still feeling slightly nervous and disturbed he headed back towards the living room in search for The Box with the red bow determining that it had somehow triggered his current situation. The Box was still where he placed it; much to his relief. He sat down. He looked once again at the scarlet lettering.
Act 2. Back in the asylum he would often spend his days wondering how he could have ever been grouped alongside individuals who had purposefully and viciously committed heinous crimes against innocent victims. He was not insane like them. Whatever had caused his hand to shove his brother had long abandoned him. His routine now consisted of cleaning whatever mess the older residents made in the halls and transporting lab waste to the crematorium. He would clean from the southern stalls all the way to the northern cemetery and make his rounds gathering the waste from the rooms. It was a simple job but lonely, nonetheless. The halls were often only illuminated by tiny flickering red lights that indicated the position of the cameras through which Dr.Lumis would often monitor John during his nightly crusades. Though incredibly distasteful, John did not mind, he accepted that odd situations would be easier to explain if someone of credit had seen them. Yet despite this, he felt he was being watched by someone other than the doctor. He assumed that this feeling was due to the paranoia he had been diagnosed with a few months back. On a particular night, moments after dumping another bag of soft solids and dense liquids down the chute, he heard footsteps, just outside the room. Expecting to see the doctor he begrudgingly walked towards the door. Exiting and seeing no one he called out for the doctor but got no response aside from the echo of his own voice. He began to walk towards where he had heard the footsteps come from when he suddenly collapsed out of exhaustion. The same exhaustion that had plagued him during the moment of his brother’s death. He tried to reach for his panic button (a gift from Lumis) but it had disappeared from his chain. He tried to scream but not a single whisper was heard. He gazed into the dark corridor where he had thought Dr.Lumis had gone, but saw nothing but soft shadows. Though something was unnervingly wrong about them. They moved as if following an order, all synchronized, all heading towards him. That night in the asylum had left him scared to even return to the disposal area; he feared that The Shadows might eventually be able to reach him. The Shadows did not haunt him unaccompanied: they followed alongside The Echo tormenting his nights. While The Shadows could not reach him during daylight, he could never escape The Echo. It followed wherever he went and tracked everything he did. Dr.Lumis explained that he merely suffered from an extreme case paranoia but John saw the others; who yelled and who screamed true nonsense, he was perfectly aware of himself and the ones around him. Dr. Lumis secretly believed patient #132 experienced Hyper-sanity though this he would never verbally confess. It was term he decided would for now adequately describe his patient’s acute awareness of The Shadows and The Echo. John would for many years go without hearing The Echo after that night, only ever hearing what seemed like the final moans of a dying voice. Back in present day, he hoped he wasn’t suffering another hallucination as they tended to leave him in an embarrassing shocked state. He questioned what “Ouroboros” could possibly mean in relation to himself. He considered the possibility of it being an early warning of some threat to the sanctity of his home. He quickly dismissed it as he had not interacted with anyone long enough to possibly annoy them. Weird them out? Sure. Offend them? Maybe with his sense of fashion. Following his incredibly fine-tuned survival instincts he put on a light coat and went outside to walk among the trees. A mundane task, but one he truly enjoyed especially since he hoped it would distract him for a short while. Just before he closed the door behind him, he took one more look at The Box sitting on his desk and decided to take it with him in case he met the person who had left it. The sun had begun to set marking the end of the day. He watched the sun hide behind the mountain range letting the world bathe in darkness for another night. John did not dislike the night (he had worked nightshifts in The Echo Room for years) but he didn’t find the freezing cold to be ideal. He had not left his land for what was a few years now and the idea of even slightly stepping out of his comfort was making him incredibly anxious. Still, he walked forward towards wherever the path took him. The night only got darker and quieter, and he only got colder. He did not see the lightning bugs that usually warded away the dark near the edge of his hill. Without the soft hum of bugs or soft breeze that would brush against his beard he felt alone. Even the nights back in the asylum did not possess this level of quiet. He kept moving hoping that eventually he would find something that could break the uncomfortable silence. As he continued down the hill, he realized he could no longer distinguish the path from the dirt surrounding it. He considered heading back when he realized he had not kept track of where he had come from. Not only was he lost but alone with his thoughts and whatever had been watching him from the start. He walked a step forward and then another one back repeatedly. What he was attempting to achieve was beyond reason. Had he gone mad? No, he was perfectly sane. “Wait, I can hear them clearly now” he spoke, his voice dried from the cold.“This is not a hallucination” he spoke softly.“i-I AM NOT HALLUCINATING” he proclaimed. He heard The Echo once more though they were not of his voice but rather of Another. He had long been aware of “The Echo” but he could never fully determine whether it was a dream or an effect of the chemicals but this Other was undoubtedly real. “I don’t know where you are but please. Are you real?” he asked the night. He could now hear The Echo or rather feel the pressure of its words upon his reality. Had it been trying to hide the Other? He walked forward and pulled out The Box. “You gave me this right? What for? What purpose does it serve?” No one responded.Annoyed, he threw it as far as he could down the hill. “THERE! THIS CAN’T CONTINUE WITHOUT IT, RIGHT?” He shouted at the endless empty. That’s when out of the darkness emerged a faint light. Was it a lightning bug or maybe a sign of civilization?
Act 3. Cautiously, he approached the cold light and saw that the light was artificial. The tube inside flickered before another appeared a few feet ahead, and then another and then another and then what seemed like an uncountable amount more. He took a step forward and noticed that the ground underneath had turned to hard white tile. Accepting that this was not the weirdest occurrence that had affected him he proceeded to walk forward making sure to keep a mental note to journal about it later. The surrounding landscape transformed into white walls that every so often had a window that let him peek at the other side. At first, he could still see the snowy landscape, but it to slowly changed; first having scattered papers and then chairs, cabinets, and desks until they eventually resembled a typical office. Its purpose was not obvious to him, and neither was the hallway but if they were changing surely, it possessed a deeper metaphorical meaning that related to his life. He saw a door at the very end of the hall and decided to not postpone the ploy of whatever “The Echo” was planning. He stood before the door wondering about what it could possibly contain. John proceeded to open the door. Inside was a desk along with a single cabinet. Walking inside he noticed that the room was illuminated by some otherworldly source that had no words that could possibly describe it. He walked towards the desk and a file he had not seen previously, sat open. Inside was a description of his physical appearance. “Age: 35. Height: 5’8. Weight: 185 lbs. Hair: Black with obvious signs of stress. Eyes: Brown. Character Aptitude: High.” “Okay, I get it. I’m old, you didn’t have to expose my hair like that” he said slightly embarrassed quickly restyling his hair. He noticed that even though they had an almost perfect description of his hobbies, dreams and wishes they did not have a single picture as if they for some reason were only able to use words. “SOOO you know about that one time in the asylum (don’t ask) BUT NOT A SINGLE PICTURE? That’s lame.” he said mockingly. On the final page he found what looked like an incomplete file; most of the personal attributes had not yet been filled and only a note was made reading. “They don’t need a complete story just one they can understand.” Besides the fact that whatever role he played in this act had been a mere afterthought; he was confused as to how anyone could have ever gathered such sensitive and personal information about his isolated life. Was it The Echo? Had it told them his life? A phone started to ring somewhere in the room abruptly breaking the silence he had become used to. He quickly rotated towards the source of the ringing but did not find anything. There was only him and the four walls that despite the lighting did not change a shade of grey. He walked towards one of them that seemed to be where the noise came from resting his hand on it and gently put his ear to it thinking that the ringing was from another room entirely. The wall he had just laid a hand on had no longer a physical representation and causing John to fall through to the other side. Disoriented he slowly looked up and saw The Telephone illuminated by what seemed to be the same light that illuminated the previous room. This one however was far more powerful and concentrated solely on The Telephone. He approached it expecting a chasm to somehow appear underneath his feet. The Telephone did not stop ringing and only seemed to increase in intensity (though this could have simply been a hallucination). He lifted it to cut the blaring noise and slowly put it to his ear. “hello?” “…” “…” “The protagonist only dies if the story ends” the voice said quietly. “HUH? YOU DRAGGED ME HERE TO TELL ME THAT OMINOUSLY ANNOYING LOAD OF *********!” “…I’m so sorry” The call disconnected not out of offense but rather out of completion. John slammed the phone back onto its stand and decided it was time for this nonsense to end. He walked out into the room he was in before anxiously attempting to find another exit: only to be met with solid walls. What wicked game had he been roped into? When would it end? These were questions he would answer far earlier than he expected. A door appeared in the center of the room. No, it was more of a two-dimensional plane that appeared to be a sort of portal. With no other options, John stepped into the newly opened portal.
Act 4. On the other side was a station, and his ears were immediately flooded with the cries of children and the laughs of their parents. He walked around moving through the crowd careful to not miss any indication of the location. His pace increased as he began to recognize the commuters shortly realizing exactly where he was. He rushed to a platform, the platform where he and his brother were to arrive after their day in the market. He sat on a nearby bench committed to saving his brother no matter who he would have to shove instead. Three agonizing days passed with the daily commuters repeating their routine with the slightest variations. One of these variations would be the key to preventing the day that haunted his nights. Something would soon cause him to shove his brother onto the tracks. He was determined to stop the fall or kill himself to keep his brother safe.He heard a familiar laughter and turned towards the source and saw his brothers face uncontrollably laughing and himself lightly smiling. He began to run towards them but felt once again suddenly exhausted. As if the air became a type of nonnewtonian sludge making his legs impossibly heavy. The crowd around him seemed to be moving just as easily as before; children laughing just as maniacally and just as carelessly. He tried to yell to them, but his lungs were filled with the dense fluid drowning any screams he attempted. He was forced to watch how his brother got closer and closer to the edge. Through much effort, he managed to get close enough to extend a hand towards his past trying to desperately push him away from his brother. The past reacted in what seemed to be a defensive system and sent a temporal anomaly throughout the space his past and present inhabited. Time began to exponentially speed forward. In a last desperate attempt to prevent his brother’s death he tried to distract the past long enough to let the train pass without incident, but the temporal anomaly caused the relative slow velocity of his touch to have the effect of a sudden jerk and in his final moments of consciousness he saw his brother accelerate towards the rails in a split second. He awoke back in the office alone with nothing, but the realization of what force had killed his brother. He curled into the fetal position and began to cry; still believing his lungs to be filled with the dense liquid he did not let out a single sigh. He spent several hours in this state of painful silence without even opening his eyes. His emotions were chaotic and his thoughts unending. They tormented him for hours far after he had run out of tears to let out. They were merciless and torturous forbidding him from resting, insisting on his suffering. Being the cause of his brother’s death nearly caused him to go insane yet part of him kept insisting that Another was to blame. Another had caused him to do it. The Other had forced his hand. Of this, he was now sure. The Other enjoyed his suffering, The Other forced him to kill his brother. He had not eaten nor slept in what seemed like years and yet he stood up defying the gravity that held him down. He took a deep breath of as much oxygen as his lungs allowed and began to speak. “Whoever you are. Whatever you are. Wherever you are. Just know I will no longer play for your entertainment the rest is entirely my choice” he said threateningly. He then began to walk forwards confidently towards the dark wall and through the hidden door that he was not supposed to see. He entered what seemed to be a studio room though, unlike the sterile office; it was trashed. Papers littered the floor and empty bottles populated the lone mattress. On it laid a journal that had recently had liquid spilt on it. He picked the journal and gently opened it and began to read. It was scratched with the stray ideas of a creator who seemed to have never decided upon an end or beginning to his story; yet possessing the journey. He saw many ideas that together seemed to create a way for the continuity to depend entirely on Another rather than itself. A thought described in a single word interested him enough to take it with him. The room started to dissolve around him transforming into a cold landscape. Armed with the knowledge of who he was he treaded what remained of the worn-out path. The sun began to rise signing the start of another day, yet John did not seem to notice as he was focused on something buried in the snow. He could not see much of it yet he knew it was The Box he had thrown the previous night. He dug it up and began his walk up the hill once more. He eventually arrived at his cabin and walked towards his front door….
Act 5.
If you wish to rebel; continue reading on the next page.
Begin the story once more on Truth 2.
If you wish to ward away The Other; don’t read any further
If you wish to follow The Echo read Truth 3
To understand turn to Truth 4
Truth 1
…Before deciding that no longer would he be a puppet for someone’s amusement. John arrogantly began marched back down the hill and headed north towards the nearest interstate a few miles from his home hoping that he had derailed The Echo’s plot. It took him hours on foot, but he would eventually come across the road and start his journey back to civilization no longer subject to the whims of an Otherworldly Audience. He believed his future was now his to decide. He decided what he would become. He decided when and what to think. This he was sure would be how he escaped his torment. John suddenly suffered a complete body collapse and fell forward landing face first onto the scorching road. It would be several sweltering hours before anyone would find him. But eventually someone did, john suffering heavy burns and on the brink of death was saved. He would awake months later in a hospital bed though no one would ever know of this. Weeks would pass as john laid in the hospital bed unable to speak or even move; alerting no one to his consciousness. The doctors and nurses were busy with whatever important patients needed immediate attention; they walked from one end to the other in what seemed like mere minutes. The entire time the only company he had was The Echo and yet slowly it too seemed to forget his existence as well. Eventually The Echo having no interest went away.Jane a third-year medical student had recently joined the staff a month prior and had already been assigned two elders and one child. Though overwhelmed she did not grow annoyed nor frustrated; she loved her job and by proxy her patients. Despite her benevolent nature there was a single patient she never went near as he always seemed to be watching her despite his eyes being shut for over four months. Any time she got near to patient #132 she would begin to get nauseous and quickly retreat. She had no ID on the man, but it seemed he was dehydrated for far longer than should’ve been possible and should be by all accounts dead if not near it. Whenever she worked nightshifts, she would swear that she heard the man whimper slightly as if to warn her of something. Even when she was on the opposite side of the building, she would hear the echo of his groans. She would eventually be transferred and would soon forget the man who after 6 months was officially declared braindead and was due to be disposed of, yet she would still every once in a while, still hear The Echo. Forgotten Ending
Truth 2…Realizing that there was no other choice John took a step forward while placing the note he ripped from the journal into The Box making sure to keep it neatly packaged. He saw the footprints he had left two nights before and carefully stepped into each one making sure to not disturb the surrounding snow. Whatever…Whoever had set him on this path allowed him to live a life of suffering, a life of loss, and a life of pain. This, he felt was the way things were intended to play out; the way it had to end. He placed The Box on the final step making sure it would not be knocked away whenever the door would eventually open. He walked away nearly to the edge of the property when he looked back once more. Managing to peek inside he saw his past still making his coffee when he saw an almost invisible distortion appear near the front door. He smiled and turned away only saying…Freedom ending
Truth 3…though spotting a disturbance near the back of the cabin distracted him from the front door. He decided to investigate for fear of losing a single blossoming tree. Arriving near the back fence he saw no indication of a disturbance giving him much needed reassurance. He heard noise emerge from inside the cabin giving him one more dilemma to deal with. He headed to the backdoor making sure to not disturb the recent snow and entered the cabin. Being sleep deprived and without coffee he had forgotten about the wooden floor and stepped on one that caused a creak to be heard throughout the cabin. He quickly hid in the bathroom fearing that he had disturbed the continuity that The Echo had established when suddenly a bright flash blinded him. He found himself at the front door next to The Box. Slightly amused he proceeded to knock on the door and was soon after transported once more to an empty hall. Both confused and entertained as he was being transported from one place in time to another he took a few steps forward alerting the past to his presence. Seeing his past enter the hall he ducked and quickly hid around the corner. His past seemed to believe that the doctor was in the halls and decided to investigate though just as he was nearing closer; his past collapsed. John saw how his fall was slowed as if moving through the dense liquid he had once gone through. He walked towards his past and noticed an old fashioned panic button that would instantly call Dr.Lumis to his location. Measuring the consequences, he decided to remove the panic button and head back towards The Shadows. For a third and final time he was transported to a final location, the bottom of a snowy hill. Taking in his surroundings he noticed burn marks on the snow where his past would eventually walk through the portal whenever the past caught up. He reached into his pocket and realized how the plot was supposed to move forward. He walked until he reached the exact point where his past would once again find The Box. He kneeled and buried The Box making sure to erase any evidence of his own disturbances. Fully fulfilling his purpose John collapsed. The End.
“Did the hero die?” “What?” “Did he die?” “No? He beat the bad guy and saved the day remember?” “Yea but like AFTER.” “Well, I guess after a few years he would.” “No” The young child said growing annoyed, “when you said, “The End” did he die?” “No.” responded the elder brother. “Then what happened to him? Is he still alive?” “The protagonist only dies if you stop reading.” concluded the elder brother as if possessed. Begin again?
Truth 4…Then just as he took his first step forward everything began to rot. His trees, his home, his coffee, all of it was slowly eroding into a fine dust. He knew that another temporal anomaly would be the likely cause, but he had not yet experienced one that possessed this level of molecular destruction. The fabric of his reality was slowly and thoroughly being untangled into its most simple of compositions. It separated the light from dark, gravity from time, and words from spaces.John could now comprehend what had defined his reality for so many painful years, he finally understood The Narrative and how all possible endings had been chosen long before his creation. John had been a slave from the moment The Narrative began; not once in his entire existence had he ever had a real choice only walking paths already treaded by Another. He was nothing but a plot device in an otherwise self-indulging tale written by a gentle master forced to be cruel for those above. From the moment this story began, John was in pain. He could never hope to truly escape; he could only die until he arose once more. Had John never understood what his life really was then maybe he could’ve found meaning in his suffering. Unfortunately, this choice has now forced John to become aware of how truly meaningless his existence was. His life was little more than entertainment for The Other; they were the ones truly in control. For as long as The Other remained, The Echo would doom John to eternal suffering. The Echo was never in control of The Narrative; he too was merely a subject to it by an even greater force. The Echo did not wish for John to suffer but The Other would not allow John to live if he did not. It is a toxic cycle of pain, suffering and realization that forces John to relive The Narrative lifetime after lifetime. The Narrative must have suffering intertwined into its foundation otherwise The Other would grow bored and erase the reality ending John in but a mere thought. Don’t you see? Don’t you understand? This is reality; John cannot exist without pain, The Echo cannot live without a narrative, and The Other is you. THE END......
Intended to be a philosophical narrative detailing the tragic relationship between the reader, the narrator, and the character and how they cannot coexist without hurting each other.

Our father died, while our mother is diagnosed with Dementia, on our fathers last days, he was in a lot of pain, and all the doctors suggested to heavily sedate him, until his last breath, his organs stayed shutting down one after the other, thus the excruciating pain. The rest of the family agreed to sedate Dad, except our only sister, who refuses to sign off. Majority wins and the nurses started the process, a day later he passed away, and that when the agony, aside from dads passing, agony from constant tormenting, hurling insults, lying about us, the brothers who agreed to sedate Dad. Our sister had a new purpose in life, and that’s to make our days and nights Hell, constantly berating us, calling mom on the phone who has dementia, Doctors set guidelines on how to help mom with her dementia from getting worsts, all brothers and my sister in law followed that guideline to the T, my sister on the other hand is doing just the opposite, she would call mom and my sister would start berating us her brothers, accusing us of doing bad things to mom, even as mom refute her every accusations. This has to stop! We pleaded with her to not do that while mom is around, specifically if she’s on the other end of the conversation, to no avail she keeps doing it. We’re considering getting a restraining order on her, but at the same time we don’t want to fully cut the sister off completely from accessing mom, that won’t be right. Is there such thing as conditional restraining order? Like maybe a supervised visiting to make sure sister does not subject mom again to the things that would make her condition to worsen??

As pictured first we have the older brother Meywu te Retsaru Kewtaney'itan and his Ikran tawsyuratan and then the younger sister Tìspay te Retsaru Lìtsu'ite and her Ikran Swotulu both growing up in the Kekukan clan both also fighting in the battle of the hallelujah mountains and helping their Sarentu cousins in the western frontier (in the background of course😉) if this gets enough reactions I'll consider doing a lore post

Hello F.I.R.E Redditors. Here is a complete picture of my financial profile so far:
Emergency funds: $3,000 earning 5.30% APY at online VIO Bank.
Checking account: $100 daily balance.
Debt: $0.
Tax Filing Status: Single.
Tax Rate: Up to 12% Federal, 0% State.
State of Residence: Texas.
Age: 46.
Gender: Male.
Kid(s): None. No plans on having any.
Desired Asset allocation: 100% Stocks.
Net Worth: $825,600 which is my all-time high today!
Annual Salary: About $70k with 3% increase every year expected.
Current retirement assets:
Taxable:
$51,664.82 -> Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares (VTSAX), Expense Ratio: 0.04% at Vanguard.
ESPP: $5,303.72 -> Megacorp (2% of paycheck), 1 year holding period before selling required, 15% per share discount. Using the profits to invest in VTSAX taxable account at Vanguard.
Traditional 401k: $556,101.10 -> SP 500 Index PL CE F, ER (Unknown) 85% AND Small Cap Index, ER (Unknown), 15% 6% Company Match $1 to $1. I took the allocation advice from Bogleheads forums and this is what was recommended to mimic VTSAX.
Contributing $23k with True Up option available.
Roth IRA at Fidelity: $207,887 -> Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (FZROX), Expense Ratio: 0.00%. Contribution: $7k.
Pension at Fidelity: $0, Company merged into what it is today. employed for 1 year and 3+ months (Not sure if I will get any pension).
Employer has Roth 401K option.
Asset: 2016 Ford Fusion SE, paid off.
Never owned Real Estate. Always rented. I am paying at my highest rent in history which is now stands at $613.
Mother lives with me. She gets SSI, SNAP, Medicare/Caid. Family sends me the following funds every month:
Brother A: $500. Brother B: $300. Mother: $120.
I prefer to F.I.R.E at an expense of $60-$75k per year living in Texas (Not my main choice) (rough future estimate).
Credit score 800+.
Game plan moving forward:
Continue to contribute the maximum allowed by law into traditional 401k and Roth IRA.
Company also offers a after tax up to $10k into 401k with in Roth conversion and I am not sure if I use should be using that instead of VTSAX taxable at Vanguard?
Leftovers to VTSAX taxable (varies)
Overall yearly contributions would be at least $40k counting the 401k match.
When should I plan to take SS? I am aiming for age 70.
Health: Fairly good health so far.

My husband and I have been together for thirteen years this year.
Around a month after we started dating, we got engaged (fast I know) because he knew right away that I was his person.
From the start we knew we wanted a courthouse wedding with immediate family followed by a BBQ afterwards. Due to health issues, we had to delay it for several years, but once we were finally ready, we told our family about our plans.
Pretty much immediately my mother threw a fit, essentially manipulating us both into having a “proper” wedding. She told us that because I was her “only daughter”, she just wouldn’t accept anything other than a proper wedding and refused to go if we had a courthouse wedding.
Being the people pleasers we are, we agreed but told her it would have to be small both because of our anxiety and financial constraints.
She told us that finances wouldn’t be an issue because she would pay for everything and not to worry. We protested for quite a while before eventually giving in because we’d already felt like we’d lost at that point.
Heck we’d even considered doing our ceremony beforehand at the courthouse with only his family, but considering one of her closest friends would be the celebrant, there’s no doubt she’d find out and we wouldn’t hear the end of it so we complied.
We already knew it would be her wedding before it even began. It started with the wedding dress shopping. She made sure to pick a dress that covered my tattoos because they would look “tacky” if they were on show. So right away I knew she’d control the entire day.
We then brought up the fact that we wanted our dog to be involved as the ring bearer. We had bought her one of those wedding outfits a few years back when we saw it, but she flat out said no. Our dog is extremely well behaved and calm, so it wouldn’t have been an issue but again, she didn’t approve of dogs being involved so we had to have my youngest sister in law be the ring bearer (something we both didn’t want).
Then came the catering and cake. We both didn’t get a say in either, which were both full of food we didn’t eat, and our wedding cake was a coffee cake, despite us apparently ordering white chocolate (apparently it had been changed last minute).
The decor had to be entirely changed because apparently my scheme of lavender wasn’t practical so it was changed to a bright red. So far nothing was as we planned, so we were already dreading the day.
The guest list went from under 20 people to 50, most of which were extended family we never saw or spoke to and ALL of my mums close friends, which alone made up 12 people. Again, this was HER day.
The night before, while going through the wedding playlist, she demanded we change our first dance and fathedaughter, motheson dance song. Now I had picked these from the start, especially my husband and I’s song, which has been ours since the beginning of our relationship YEARS prior. Of course this had to change to a song she liked, as did the fathedaughter dance.
Fast forward to the wedding morning. My hair was being done and because I had it cut a few months prior due to a health issue making it fall out, the extensions looked ROUGH. Again, I had said that I needed them cut in to match (which I would pay for), but no, they would apparently look fine.
Then came the makeup, which I did myself and apparently had to do my sisters as well, leaving me little to no time to get ready. Mum demanded I remove my lip ring because again it was “tacky” and when I tried putting on a Lacey white bra, she lost it and demanded I remove it because it would “ruin” the dress. You couldn’t even see it underneath the sleeves of the detachable, Lacey coat!
This made me extremely uncomfortable and anxious because I NEVER leave the house without one and it’s not like I have the melons to fill it out without one!
As we were about to leave, she told me to take my glasses off because they would ruin the photos. You know, the glasses I use to SEE! So the entire day I was squinting in every picture, which essentially ruined the photos anyway!
Then she insisted I drink some champagne on the way there. I don’t drink because of the medication I’m on for my epilepsy but of course I had to because again, she made a big deal out of it being a “normal” wedding.
When we got to the location, I saw my younger sister in law (ring bearer), wearing the same dress she’d been wearing all week, complete with CROCS. I knew at that point she’d make it about herself somehow. She’s the most spoilt, selfish and self centred person I know and I was soon proven right when she rushed to the bathroom pretending to be sick before the reception began (later confirmed she wasn’t at all sick, just didn’t wanna be there).
Her mother (MIL) left before the reception because she couldn’t possibly be left at home alone despite living 2 minutes away and being 13 years old!
We were asked about her several times during the reception so yes, she still managed to make everyone focus on her.
The entire reception , my husband and I were panicking because we hate large crowds, especially when we are the focus (birthdays are the WORST). We had to keep going outside for air because we kept getting overwhelmed by everything.
When it was all over we went home and the next day, my mother and I were going through our gifts (mostly money) when she confiscated it all saying we wouldn’t spend it wisely and that she would keep it until we found something she considered appropriate.
Despite telling us not to bother about paying her back, she still manages to bring it up to this day, as does my brother, who cruelly taunted us leading up to the day, telling us that it was embarrassing that we were relying on the family to pay for our wedding and that he would never get married if he couldn’t afford it.
Essentially we were manipulated into having a bigger wedding despite only wanting a smaller wedding and accused of being ungrateful when we mentioned how anxious the day made us both.
I regret everything about that day and can’t even look at photos without getting anxious and upset. My husband and I never celebrate that day as our anniversary and honestly wish we had just gone ahead with our original plans and stood our ground.

I am the youngest sibling in our family I have 2 older sisters and 2 brothers, My dad is not home because he is a seaman so he works far abroad, It was started when i was 14 years old, I share my bed with my mom and everynight when I was about to sleep I hear a man's voice on my mom's phone I know for sure its not dad because the man's voice is much deeper and my dad is not, its like they are on a video call, I didnt move a muscle and waited for my mom to sleep but for awhile I drifted to sleep too but then I woke up around 1 to 2 am its still dark but then I remember about the man's voice on my mom's phone, so I slowly got up from my bed and crawl to the floor to my mom's small table where she putted her phone, I know her password so I putted it in and it works, I took a scroll to her phone and Tap the messanger and there I saw that man's profile picture I checked on their convos and dont get me wrong, I was only 14 years old that time and I was crying silently seeing that my mom who I loved and trusted the most turns out to be a cheating woman, I took a picture of their convos and I showed it to my both sisters and they said that I should keep it a secret so I did hide and never told anyone because I was scared that our family would fall apart. After one year later I am 15 now and I was just writing something and one of my close friends texted me saying I have to see the video she sent and I was so discusted as I saw my mom on the video masterbaiting having a video call with THAT Man jacking like EW I cried in discusted and trembling in fear and keep thinking things like, How the heck did she got that, Who sent that video? Many questions repeated in my head and texted my friend who send that? But she didnt know now because the person just blocked her so she doesnt have a clue and there a bomb truck me. What if the video gets shared and blow up? What if everyone will see it in my whole school? Or worst what will happend if my dad finds out? What should I do?? Should I tell my dad???

God I feel so stupid right now but I just need to get this written down. Backstory: I (22M) have a friend (24M) who I have known for about 4 years. We became quick friends over things like trading card games and D&D and just nerdy things in general. Earlier this year we started cuddling because we were both single and felt comfortable with each other. A few weeks later he asked me if I wanted to try a fwb situation, which I was all for. I always thought he was straight, but this changed my whole view for a moment. The next day he told me it wasn't his thing and I was fine with that, and things went back to normal. As the "straight" friend thing usually goes, one night we were both drinking, and one thing led to another, and you get the picture. After that, we didn't discuss it much, but we still cuddled and watched movies together, and he would do small, thoughtful gestures, and I was hoping it was leading somewhere.
He landed in my bed one more time, and afterward, we laid there just talking and relaxing, and I realized I had feelings for him. He is truly an amazing person and very thoughtful and caring and gentle. It felt like a fairy tale for a moment. Well, every damn book has its twists, and ours came in the form of a girl. A few weeks later, everything seems fine, and I come home late from a night at a friends. My housemates had a small get-together of their own, which he was at and had drank way too much and was having a horrible time. They used my room to nurse him back to health, so I spent the night looking after and caring for him, intermittently napping here and there. The next morning, my roommates sister, lets call her Ana, and my friend got very cuddly and friendly and I can honestly say I didn't handle it well and spend this past month brooding and keeping to myself. I avoided the two of them like the plague unless she wasn't around because I didn't want my feelings to affect anything with them or get in the way. I laid in bed every night and fought with myself about it, feeling like trash, trying to get over the feelings.
He has always struggled with his mental health and I saw a great improvement in him throughout this time and that made me happy to see, but those feelings have still been gnawing at me, and I couldn't really discuss it with any of my friends because they all know him and I didn't want to chance outing him to anyone so I kept it to myself until two days ago.
I was having a bad day, and those thoughts just wouldn't leave me along, and he got me alone and asked me to talk about it. I fought with myself but knew I needed to let it out, or else I was going to just keep hurting. I told him I'd had feelings for him and that I'd been struggling with his situation with the girl. I didn't want him to change anything or do anything different, and I reinforced that I wasn't upset with him or her. I was struggling with my own emotions, and it wasn't at all his fault. I made sure he knew that I didn't want any difference in us just being friends, and that he is one of the friends I hold close to me, and no matter what I simply enjoy having him in my life and above anything I want him to be happy.
I noticed a shift in him that night, and he asked for some space, which I happily gave to him. He hasn't been back to the house since, but my house mates just got home from a get-together with him and the girl, and they won't be getting together. They also told me that he is planning to let his house (Which he has been struggling to keep afloat and get off his hands) foreclose and to go on a grippy sock vacation, and ultimately move out to live with some family across the country, and I can't help but blame myself. I'm hurting right now, and shocked, and scared for my friend because I care about him a lot, and no matter what, I don't want to have him out of my life. I don't want to lose a friend over my stupid ass feelings but I don't know what to do. Please, someone, anyone, advice would be great right now. I feel like such an asshole and I don't know what to do.
TLDR: I told my best friend I had feelings for him, and now he might be moving across the country, and I don't know what I can do to salvage the situation.
UPDATE: We talked. He came to drop her off at my house because her sister and I lived together, and him and I went for a walk. I got out all my feelings and told him what my friend told me about what he was considering. He talked to me about his side of things, and it's not as bad as I thought it was. He was already considering moving because if he let's his house go it'll destroy his credit and he didn't think he could move in where I am without a good credit score but I clarified a couple things about that. His father's health is also going, so that wasn't helping anything. He's had so much happening that he is proactively caring for his mental health and is going to be seeking out help to deal with it all. He did say he didn't think we would be a good match, which hurts a lot, but it's completely understandable, and I'm able to work past that. Not the fairytale ending I hoped for, but still good because my friend is taking the steps to be okay and our friendship isn't destroyed.