My wife, Mia, and I were driving cross-country. It was our first attempt at the “Great American Roadtrip.”
Mia and I rented a small RV; more of a camper than a full blown RV. We packed up a couple suitcases with plenty of room for any souvenirs and we hit the dusty trail.
We started our journey on the “Mother Road”-- Route 66-- driving south from Chicago until we connected to i-70 and shot straight west through Missouri.
The goal was to see those parts of the country we had never seen before, stopping anywhere that seemed interesting. From the plains of Kansas up through the badlands of Wyoming and South Dakota.
In Missouri we saw the world’s largest cap gun. In Kansas we visited the Evel Knievel Museum and the World’s Largest Belt Buckle.
We love all those kitschy, tourist trap places.
Eventually, we made it to Colorado and after a few hours more of driving through amber waves of grain, we saw them... the Rocky Mountains.
We made an exit and headed north through the winding mountain highways.
The Rockies were gorgeous. Snow capped in the middle of summer, some of the peaks pierced through the white fluffy clouds.
We saw a sign that read “Traffic Tunnel - 3 Miles.”
A little further and sure enough, there it was, a large tunnel bored directly through the mountain in front of us.
A large sign read, “Pike Tunnel - Longest Traffic Tunnel in the Nation! - Please turn your headlights on now.”
“How long is it?” asked Mia.
“That’s what she said,” I quipped.
But she was right, there was no information beyond the detail that this was the longest tunnel in the nation.
“Can’t be more than a mile or two,” I said as I watched the little white car ahead of us slip into the darkness. A moment later we joined it.
The tunnel was lit by fluorescents that gave everything a greenish yellow tinge. On the left hand side was a raised walkway behind a railing for maintenance access.
Initially I was struck by the incredible amount of work that went into the construction of this man- made marvel.
“We’re under a million tons of rocky mountain right now,” I said.
“How many years before this caves in?” Mia responded.
I shot her a look--
“Let’s save the cave-in talk until we’re out on the other side.”
“I’m just saying, nature will take this back eventually,” she continued.
I scanned the empty road ahead of us.
“Where did the other car go?” I asked.
We were now alone in the tunnel, no cars ahead of us nor behind us.
“Huh... they must have sped off ahead. Maybe they’re scared of a cave-in?”
My Spotify playlist had stopped playing. Mia looked at the phone.
“No cell service.”
She turned on the radio and spun the dial only to find static.
“You’re not going to be able to pick up a station in here,” I said.
She turned the volume down.
“Just wanted to check... If only we had some CDs. This tunnel really keeps going.”
“I would have thought we’d be through it by now,” I replied.
I looked at the RV’s odometer, 45,600 miles. I picked up speed. I wanted to try and catch up to the little white car.
Up until this point, the tunnel was a straight shot, but now the tunnel started to curve to the right. It may have been my imagination but it also felt as though we were descending…
Mia felt it too and she started to get antsy.
“Where did that other car go? How long is this tunnel?”
There was an urgency in her voice.
I was getting nervous, claustrophobia was not usually a problem for me but when I looked down at the odometer and I saw that it had gone up by 3 miles, my mind began to wander to unsettling places.
We were descending in altitude. I could feel it. I could see a slope in the lights on the ceiling and the railing of the maintenance walkway. I could feel a pressure in my head, and I was getting cold.
“Could you grab me a coke from the back, Mia?”
I couldn’t have Mia getting anxious, that would only start a chain reaction and make me freak out which would then make her freak out.
She unbuckled and ducked into the back of the RV to where we had a cooler stocked with drinks and food.
Just as she stepped into the back, I saw something.
There standing on the side of the road was a MAN wearing a reflective safety vest and a hard hat. He was WAVING to me as I passed him by.
Something about him looked... strange…
I watched him in the side-view mirror as we passed and he was still watching the RV, still waving at the back of our vehicle as he faded into the distance.
Mia reappeared from the back of the RV, Coke in hand. She popped it and handed it to me.
“You look worried.”
“I’m fine,” I smiled and took a sip of the Coke.
“Eric, slow down!”
I slammed on the breaks as I saw what made Mia scream. In the road in front of us was a roadblock.
Two reflective traffic sawhorses blocked both lanes of the tunnel. Beyond the roadblock, the lights of the tunnel were dark. There was nothing but a void of blackness.
Standing in front of the roadblock was another man wearing a reflective vest and a hard hat, only this time his hard hat had a light on top which obscured his face.
We came to a jolting stop.
I turned to Mia
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I’m fine,” she replied. “It’s a cave-in isn’t it?”
“God, I hope not.”
I rolled down the window, leaned out and yelled to the man in the hard hat.
“Hey! What’s going on?!”
The man was about 5 yards away. He took two steps towards us and then raised a hand to his mouth and yelled.
“Just doing some maintenance!”
“How long is it going to take?!” I yelled back.
The man made a hand gesture as if he didn’t hear me.
“How long is it going to take?!” I called again.
He made the same gesture. I unbuckled my seat belt and grabbed the door release.
“What are you doing?” Mia asked.
“I gotta know what’s going on.”
“Eric, just stay here, it might not be safe.”
“I’ll be just a second,” I said.
I pushed the door open and stepped down from the RV.
“Stay in your vehicle!” the man yelled.
He took a couple steps towards me with his hand out telling me to stop.
“What’s the hold up?!” I shouted.
The man was a bit closer now but I still couldn’t see his face through the shining light on his helmet.
“Please stay in your vehicle!” he shouted.
There was something off about him.
Then I heard it–
“EEEAAAUUUUUUGHHHHHHHH!!!”
A scream, or something, rolled from deep in the tunnel. The worker turned and looked into the darkness. Then he ran past the barricades and soon all we could see of him was the light on his helmet.
The light disappeared a moment later.
“What the hell was that?! Is someone hurt?” Mia asked.
“I have no idea,” I said.
“Should we do something?” Mia asked.
I just sat there and watched the pitch black tunnel in front of me. I had no idea what to tell her. I checked the sideview mirrors. There was still nobody behind us.
“Where are the other cars?” I asked.
“They must have gotten through before the roadblock... Or maybe they caused the roadblock?” Mia replied.
“I saw another worker a little ways back. We could try to go back and talk to him.”
“We’d be going straight into any oncoming cars.”
“There’s a maintenance walkway. We didn’t pass him that long ago. We can probably catch him on foot.”
“Maybe we should just wait for the guy to come back.”
She reached over and grabbed my arm. I squeezed her hand.
She was right.
I looked out at the tunnel ahead of us. I turned on the RV’s high beams but all I could see beyond the roadblock was more tunnel and more road.
I checked my phone. Unsurprisingly, there was no service still.
We waited, but the man never came back.
“It’s been twenty minutes,” Mia said, “How come there hasn’t been another car behind us?
I was having the same thought. I rolled down my window and stuck my head out. I looked back at the road behind us. It went back about 200 yards before curving out of sight.
There was no sign of that first worker I saw on the maintenance walk way. I looked at the roadblock ahead of us and clicked on the RV’s high beams. There was nothing beyond the roadblock but more tunnel. It didn’t look like it was under construction, just very dark.
“I think we should keep going,” I said.
“What about the roadblock?”
“We’ll move those sawhorses out of the way and just drive past,” I said as I opened my door.
Mia looked at me, then she cast her eyes to the dark tunnel ahead of us. I knew she was processing the same limited options that I was.
Driving backwards would be a huge risk in the instance of another car finally coming along.
Getting out and walking would take God knows how long, we could have driven 10 miles at this point.
Forward was our best option.
“Let’s do it,” Mia said.
We jumped out and quickly pulled the two sawhorses out of the right lane. I pulled the RV up past the barriers, then we jumped out again and put the sawhorses back where they were. We didn't need another car to come barreling through.
We were finally moving again, slowly. It was pitch black save for the high beams of the RV.
We crept forward at around 15 miles per hour. As the tunnel turned and twisted, my eyes started to play tricks on me. I kept seeing shapes at the furthest point of the tunnel.
I kept seeing something standing just at the end of the next bend but as we roll forward, there was nothing there.
“Where are the workers?” Mia asked.
“I don’t know.”
I was done rationalizing. This was all wrong. Traffic tunnels are never this long.
My mind started to wander to all the road trip urban legends I’d read about; The Killer in the Backseat, The Disappearing Gas Station, The Pale Man In The Corn Field.
Did we stumble into some strange outlier location? An in-between point on the endless roads that cross this country?
Then I saw it–
“Look! A person! Thank god!” Mia shouted.
As we rounded a curve in the tunnel, a group of maintenance workers entered our view.
The three of them stood on the left side of the road behind two more sawhorses topped with flashing lights.
Two of them faced towards us, the third was facing the other two.
The one with his back to us wore a light on his hard hat. Was this the same guy we saw earlier? How did he get this far away?
I approached slowly and rolled down the window.
“Hey! You left us waiting back there!” I yelled.
There was no response.
In fact, all three men were completely silent, and it was hard to tell in the flashing light of the sawhorses, but they looked to be standing COMPLETELY STILL.
“Hello?!” I yelled again.
I pushed open my door and stepped out onto the pavement.
“Eric wait--”
I held up a finger to Mia.
“Just a second.”
I slowly stepped towards the 3 men.
“Hello?”
No response… What the fuck?
The bright lights of the sawhorses obscured their faces.
I kept moving closer.
“Hey, what’s going on--”
Then I saw it.
Their faces... They were plastic.
In front of me stood three mannequins.
I backed away toward the RV, then I turned and walked hurriedly to the vehicle.
I was seriously freaked out but I didn’t want to alarm Mia. I climbed into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut.
“They’re mannequins.” I said.
“What?”
“They’re mannequins.”
”Why?... What?...”
“I don’t know…”
I looked back over at the three figures and my blood ran cold…
The Hard Hat Mannequin had somehow TURNED AROUND to face us. All three figures appeared to be watching us now.
Then we heard it--
A loud resonant banging on the side, and then the roof of the RV.
“What the hell was that?” Mia whispered.
We listened, holding our breath. Then--
A shuffling sound--
Something was moving ON or IN the RV.
“Stay here.” I said.
I got up.
“Eric, wait!”
I moved to the back of the RV.
It was dark. I went for a drawer in the kitchenette space and pulled out a flashlight.
I moved to the rear of the RV, the bedroom. My flashlight illuminated an empty room.
“Whoever is back here, I have a gun…”
A shitty bluff. But I didn’t see anything.
I shone the light out of the windows of each side of the RV. Nothing.
Then I heard it–
A shuffling sound, from right above me.
I looked up and screamed–
“Fuck!”
On the roof of the RV, staring through the skylight was a woman with vacuous black eyes and a dead smile.
Her stringy black hair dangled down towards me casting thing black shadows across her horrible pale face.
“Mia, drive! Fast!” I screamed.
Mia JUMPED over to the driver’s seat, shifted into gear and STOMPED on the gas. The RV was clunky but it could move when it needed to.
We lurched forward and I fell back.
I trained my flashlight up onto the skylight again and the woman was gone.
I scrambled to my feet and looked out of the side windows.
Did Mia shake her off? There was no sign of the woman. I moved to the passenger seat, breathing heavily and sweating.
“What happened?” She asked, keeping the RV at a steady 50 mph.
“There was a woman on the roof,” I said flatly.
I realize now that I was in a kind of shock.
“A woman?”
“Her eyes were black.”
Mia just looked at me, then back at the tunnel ahead of us.
“There’s something wrong with this tunnel.” I whispered.
Mia pointed at the road ahead, “Look.”
I looked out at the tunnel. There were more mannequins. A LOT more mannequins. They were positioned on both sides of the road.
They were all facing us and even though I never saw them move, when I looked in the side-view mirror, they were somehow STILL facing us, turning to watch us as we drove past. Watching without eyes.
“Just keep driving.” I said.
As we drove on, the mannequins crowded the sides of the road more and more. There were thousands of them. Eventually they were so close that some of their outstretched arms hit the side of the RV.
They were closing in on us. Squeezing our path forward. One stood in the middle of the road.
“I don’t think i can get around it.”
“Run it over. Don’t stop.”
The RV smashed into the mannequin. Its head shot forward and bounced against the windshield and the vehicle shuddered as it rolled over the body.
Soon there were two in the road. Then three.
I could see where this was going. Pretty soon there would be too many for the RV to ram through, but goddammit we were going to get through as many as we could.
“Speed up, Mia.”
CRASH!
The sound was surreal, smashing into mannequin after mannequin at nearly 60 miles per hour.
Hands, legs, heads and torsos flew.
The windshield cracked, the RV shuddered and screamed and eventually slowed down, despite the screaming engine.
I’m certain the axle was jammed up with lifeless, plastic body parts. Eventually we came to a stop.
“She won’t move,” Mia said.
She pressed on the gas but it was no use, the RV just rocked a little bit.
“Try reverse.”
She shifted and pressed on the gas, we got some decent movement before running into another jam.
“Fuck.”
“Should we get out and look?” Mia asked.
“I’ll go,” I said as I grabbed the flashlight and popped the passenger door. Mia unbuckled her seatbelt.
“We’ll go together.”
We stumbled out of the RV on the passenger side. It was like stepping into Hell.
Countless, lifeless faces stared out at us from the darkness. The only light came from the headlights of the RV and my flashlight.
We clumsily made our way along the side of the RV. The ground was littered with mannequin pieces.
I thought to myself, if we could get a couple yards cleared out behind the rear tires, we might be able to back out and get enough momentum to reverse all the way back out of here.
Instead, when we got to the back of the RV, my stomach flipped and my heart sank.
I was expecting to see a trail of flattened mannequins, instead the RV was now surrounded by thousands of perfectly intact mannequins standing at attention. As if their ranks had some how been replenished after our vehicular assault.
“This is impossible.”
She started to cry. I held her close.
“We’ll keep moving.” I said.
“It will never end. The tunnel makes no sense. It only curves one direction.”
I looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
“This whole time the tunnel has only been curving to the right. it would sometimes straighten out or go left for a few yards but before too long we were curving to the right again. We’ve either been driving in circles or spiraling downwards.”
“So we’ll go back the way we came and hope we’re not going in circles.” I said.
We had been driving for hours at this point. Walking back out the way we came would take days. But now that I thought about it, Mia was right, we’d only been curving to the right.
This tunnel seemed to be very gradually taking us downwards into the earth.
Going forward would not get us any closer to escape.
“We’ll need food from the RV,” Mia said.
I nodded and we stumbled our way back to the front of the RV, the mannequins’ lifeless faces watching us the whole time.
I stepped up to the passenger door and nearly fell back when I looked through the window.
“What the fuck?” I breathed.
What I saw were two mannequins sitting in the driver’s and passenger’s seat.
How they got in there? I have no idea, but what really made my blood run cold was that they were dressed EXACTLY like MIA and I.
They wore identical sets of clothes. The one in the passenger seat had my same New Order T-shirt and black jeans. The one in the driver’s seat had Mia’s green striped sweater and denim shorts.
Their plastic faces stared out through the shattered windshield at the endless crowd of mannequins staring back at them.
Mia stepped up and saw the uncanny display.
“What the fuck?” Mia echoed.
I pulled myself up into the RV and slowly stepped around my mannequin doppelgänger. I avoided looking into its face but I swear i could feel it watching me as I stumbled around it.
Mia followed and we made our way into the back of our dark RV. Luckily we had just stocked our cooler full of deli meat and water not long after crossing the Colorado state line.
I handed Mia the flashlight and pulled open the cooler. I filled a backpack full of food and water.
I turned and saw them–
My mannequin double had somehow moved. It was standing in the aisle watching us.
Mia’s doppelgänger was still seated in the driver’s seat but had turned to peer back at us with its eyeless gaze.
Mia saw the look in my eyes and turned. She screamed when she saw them and backed into me. I put my arm around her and we stood there a moment, letting our skyrocketing heart rates return to Earth.
“Let’s get out of here,” I said.
I slid the backpack onto my shoulders.
Mia joined me at the door. I looked into her eyes. “Are you ready?” She nodded. I kissed her.
“I love you,” I said.
“I love you,” she said.
The look on her face killed me. She was terrified. I’m sure the look on my face was similar.
I opened the door and we stepped out…
We again stumbled to the back of the RV. Once we were clear of the RV and all the crushed mannequin body parts, it became easier to find footing, though weaving through an endless crowd of lifeless people was a slow process.
It was pitch black. Without the flashlight we wouldn’t be able to see a foot in front of us.
As I walked, the beam of light created the illusion of movement in the crowd. At least I hoped it was an illusion.
The limbs of the mannequins seemed to stretch and turn, but the only sound was that of Mia and I shuffling our way through the crowded tunnel.
Things went on like this for what felt like hours. Mia and I were sweating and aching. I was about to suggest we stop and rest, but then I saw it and I froze…
Out in the crowd, beyond rows of blank faces I saw a pale face, black hair and a dead smile.
I saw two vacuous eyes staring right at me.
“Mia, do you see her?” I whispered.
“See who?”
I slowly raised my arm and pointed.
It was the woman, or whatever it was, that stared back at me through the skylight on the roof of the RV.
“Oh my god!” Mia squeaked.
I could see now that the Pale Faced Woman was tall. A few inches taller than the mannequins.
As I pointed, she stared back at me with that terrible grin.
“What do we do?” Mia whispered.
I raised the flashlight and pointed it right at the Pale Faced Woman. I thought maybe this would scare her off.
I was wrong.
The light only made her appear more unsettling as she stared back, unflinchingly.
“What do you want?!” I yelled.
She only stared back at me. She was as still as the mannequins.
“We have to keep going.” I whispered.
Mia didn’t respond. Her body was tense as she held onto me.
“We’ve come this far, we can’t turn back again,” I continued.
I pulled Mia’s hand and we continued on our way through the mannequins, keeping the distance between us and her as wide as possible.
As we moved past, she kept watching us. Though her movements were imperceptible to us, her eyes never left us. Like one of those portraits whose eyes appear to watch you no matter where you stand.
Finally, we got far enough that she was out of sight. But the thought of her being somewhere behind us only unsettled me further and I quickened our pace.
As the hours wore on, there was no sign of the Pale Faced Woman and the crowd of mannequins began to thin out. They still populated the tunnel from one end to the other, but there was more space between them, allowing Mia and I to walk more freely.
The mannequins on the maintenance walkway on the side of the tunnel seemed to thin out as well and I decided it would give us a better vantage if we were walking up there.
I helped Mia climb up the railing that bordered the walkway, then I climbed up behind her. The walkway was elevated 3 or 4 feet above the roadway. We could easily see over the heads of the mannequins in both directions.
There was, of course, no end to the tunnel in sight.
We kept walking.
The mannequins continued to thin out, but they were different now.
There were mannequins dressed as maintenance workers again, but also mannequins dressed as families and businessmen. There was even a group of mannequin nuns standing in a single file line, heads bowed in prayer.
Needless to say, we passed none of this on the way in to the tunnel. I was feeling very hopeless that we were going to be able to find our way out.
I was far beyond speculating how this was at all possible. It’s NOT possible. And even if it were, there is no good reason for someone to do this to us.
The only explanation was the supernatural. Then I saw Her. Rather, I saw THEM.
Arranged in the middle of the tunnel was a circle of mannequins with long black hair and tattered cloth.
They looked exactly like the Pale Faced Woman, minus any facial features. I kept a close watch on them as we passed to make sure they didn’t start following us.
“A door!” Mia shouted.
Mia pointed a few paces ahead of her. There was a door leading into the wall of the tunnel.
We ran towards it. Mia grabbed the handle, turned it and pulled. It was heavy and Mia had to brace her foot on the wall to get it moving.
The metal door groaned as if it hadn’t been opened in years.
Finally, it was open enough to see past.
It was a hallway. It went out about 5 yards then turned right at a 90 degree angle.
The strangest part was the design of the hallway.
It wasn’t cement or pavement like the tunnel.
The walls were wood paneled and the floor was covered in a thick carpet, like a house from the 1970s.
“I say we see where this takes us.” Mia said.
There was no reason to disagree, but I wasn’t going to get us trapped in there.
I opened up my backpack and took out a water bottle. I opened it and handed it to Mia. She drank half, then I drank the other half.
I slowly closed the door, shoving the empty water bottle in the crack to keep it from closing all the way.
I turned to Mia-- “Okay, let’s go.”
We slowly made our way down the quiet hallway. We got down to where the hallway cornered to the right and that’s when we heard it–
KA-CHUNK!!!--
I whipped around. The door had closed behind us. I ran back to it and tried to push it open, but it was no use. There was no way it closed on its own.
Someone had to have removed the water bottle. Our path had been chosen for us.
There was no turning back.
We continued down the hallway. We turned right. The hallway continued, then turned right again. That should have led us right back to the tunnel. But it didn’t. This part of the hallway went on far longer than was possible without running into the tunnel. Then it turned right again.
It went on like this. Sometimes a section of the hallway was 20 feet long, sometimes it was 20 yards long, sometimes it was 3 feet long. But it always turned to the right.
At first it was a relief to be somewhere other than the cold, dark tunnel. But the hallway very quickly became claustrophobic and before too long, I heard someone walking behind us.
We had stopped to take a break and I heard a third pair of footsteps on the carpet coming from behind us. I backtracked to the last corner.
I was terrified as I slowly peeked around the corner, tense and waiting to see the vacuous eyes and inky black hair of the Pale Faced Woman... but there was nothing there. I wasn’t about to backtrack any further.
“There was no one there.” I whispered.
Mia slumped against the wall and slid down to the carpet.
“I think I need to rest.” She said.
I put my backpack down on the ground for Mia to use as a pillow. She laid her head down and was passed out in seconds.
I had no idea how long we had been walking at this point. I stood leaning against the wall. My body was telling me to rest but I couldn’t risk falling asleep. I had to keep watch. I knew SHE was following us.
I took in the details of the hallway for the first time. The carpet was a dull brown and the walls a cheap wood paneling. The hanging lighting fixtures were shaded by stained glass, something you might see in an old diner.
Who built this place? Did someone pick out the carpet and the lighting fixtures? Did a team of workers blast these tunnels into the Earth? Or has this place always existed? Was this Purgatory?
I began to feel dizzy. I was panicking. My heart felt like it was trying to escape my chest. I slumped to the floor and tried to slow my breathing.
I closed my eyes... –
I SHOT up in a panic. I had fallen asleep while I was meant to be keeping watch.
I snapped to my feet and looked around.
Mia was still asleep on my backpack.
Then I noticed that the hallway had changed. A few paces away there was now a plain wooden door in the wall.
I slowly approached it. I put my ear to the door and I could hear what sounded like TV static and the low murmur of voices.
I discreetly grabbed the door handle and turned it slowly. I felt the latch bolt clear and I carefully cracked the door just enough to peek inside.
It was dark, so it took a second for me to register what I was seeing. I saw a small board room. A long table in the center was surrounded by seated men in suits.
At the end of the table stood another man next to an old CRT TV that was playing static. This was the only source of light in the room and all the men around the table were turned towards the tv.
Suddenly the screen flickered from static to a solid dark background. And some warped new age style muzak began playing.
Then the words appeared on the screen that terrified me like nothing else before. In plain text the words read–
“YOU WILL LOSE HER.”
I froze as I knew these words were meant for me I watched with terror as the men seated around the table slowly turned toward me in unison.
They were mannequins.
The TV screen then clicked off and they continued staring at me as I could barely make out their forms through the near pitch darkness.
I quickly pulled the door shut. And whipped around to look at Mia, I had a horrible feeling of dread that when I turned around she would be gone, like the message on the TV promised–
“Eric? What are you doing?” Mia was leaning up and staring at me.
Thank God. There was Mia, right where I left her.
I pointed at the door and said, “This door appeared and I--”
“What door?” she interrupted.
I turned and sure enough, the door was now gone.
I explained what happened to her, but I left out the message that appeared on the screen.
-- YOU WILL LOSE HER –
Those words still burned in my brain. I tried to force them out.
We drank water, ate granola and then got moving again.
Hallways. Endless hallways.
After a couple hours of walking we started to hear music. There were small speakers in the corners of the ceiling.
I recognized it as the same new-age muzak that played on the TV in the board room. The melody drilled into our minds. Combined with the dull aesthetics of the quiet hallways and the endless right turns, the music had a hypnotizing effect.
The lengths of the halls became more uniform. That is to say, the straight section of hallway was about 7 paces, then a right turn, then 7 paces and a right turn.
“I think we’re walking in circles... or a square,” Mia said.
I looked at her and took out a bottle of water. I peeled off the plastic label and dropped it on the floor.
Then we kept walking.
7 paces, right turn. 7 paces, right turn. 7 paces, right turn. And there it was... Mia was right.
The label from my water bottle lay in the middle of the hallway. Somehow we had been led into a loop. I lost it.
“FUUUCK!”
I kicked the wall repeatedly and screamed. Mia just leaned her back against the wall.
This was our dynamic. If one of us lost it, the other became zen and thought of a solution. More often than not, I was the one to lose it.
I finally stopped freaking out
“There has to be a way out. A door,” Mia said.
“We would have seen it,” I replied.
“A hidden door,” she said.
She turned around and ran her hands along the cracks of the wood paneling.
“Most likely on the outer wall,” she said.
She beat her fist on the wall, listening for a change in the sound. I exhaled heavily, sweating and tired, and I started searching the wall as well.
We checked the whole first wall, nothing. We checked the second wall, nothing. The third, nothing.
The final wall... Nothing. I gave up and slumped on the floor. Mia immediately went over to the other side of the hall and started checking the inner wall.
“What are you doing? I thought you said it would be on the outer wall?” I asked.
Then we heard it.
Mia beat the wall and instead of the dead thud, we heard a resonate BOOM –
A door…
I shot up and started tapping the wall with Mia until we found where the door ended. It was the width of about 4 wooden panels. I lined myself up in the center, lowered my shoulder and pushed–
IT MOVED! It barely moved but it was enough to confirm this actually was a door! I re-centered and tried again, lowering my center of gravity, I pushed as hard as I could. The door pushed inward about 3 inches, then Mia joined in. We slowly moved the door, 5 inches, then 10, then 15, then 20.
Then Mia slipped inside.
I had a moment of panic as she disappeared into the darkness and those haunting words came back into my mind, “YOU WILL LOSE HER.”
I darted past the doorway, falling through the threshold and hitting the concrete floor.
I looked up and there was Mia, thank God. I promised myself I’d never let her out of my sight again.
“The exit...” Mia said.
She looked and sounded as if she were a thousand miles away. I got to my feet and followed her gaze. What I saw nearly brought me to tears.
We were back in the tunnel, but there was light. About a mile down was the mouth of the tunnel, and daylight pouring in. Beautiful daylight. I grabbed Mia tight and kissed her.
“Thank God...” she cried.
We started moving. Nothing was going to slow us down this time. We sped up into a RUN down the maintenance walkway towards that beautiful sunlight.
As we approached, something else came into view. Parked in the middle of the roadway was a large vehicle…
It couldn’t be…
It was!
Our RV sat in the road waiting for us. We ran all the way to it, pulled open the passenger side door and climbed in. There were no mannequins to be seen.
I fell into the driver’s seat and Mia handed me the keys. I turned over the engine, the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. I shifted into gear and floored it towards the sunlight.
As we got closer, I could see the green of trees and the blue of the sky. We were maybe one hundred yards away.
I turned to Mia, tears in my eyes…
And what I saw turned my blood to ice.
Just beyond Mia’s window, that horrifying pale face grinned at me.
The Pale Faced Woman was somehow floating outside of the RV.
Before I could say anything, her hand smashed through the window and gripped Mia by the throat, then in one horrible motion the thing PULLED MIA SCREAMING THROUGH THE WINDOW AND…
Disappeared…
I SLAMMED on the breaks just as the RV passed through the exit of the tunnel and sunlight flooded the cab of the RV. I threw it in park and shot out of the door screaming.
“Mia!? Mia??!!”
I screamed over and over. I rounded the front of the RV and looked back at the tunnel –
-- and what I saw shattered my mind…
The tunnel was gone.
There was only open road.
I had lost her.

Let me start this off by saying I’m being completely serious. The date in this first image is from October 17th 2015 I was 12 years old and was just getting into Facebook and social media so I had decided to take a webcam photo for my Facebook account since I didn’t have a phone at the time, anyways I never noticed anything off about these pictures when I first posted them could be my shitty monitor at the time or just keep not really looking for anything out of the ordinary but about 4 years pass I was 16 and my ex girlfriend was going through my old Facebook pictures, we were laughing at some of the goofy stuff I had posted over the years and then she sent me this picture and asked me what or who is that in the background when I looked closer I got the chills this weird transparent cloaked figure is standing in my brothers doorway, I’ve shown him the image too he confirmed that he had nothing hanging up and there was nothing to hang anything from in the door way but anyways back to the story. I was kinda mortified. The more I looked, I couldn’t help but notice it looked like something I saw as a kid at night in my parents bedroom when I lived in a small town called McKenney in an old Victorian home that was haunted as shit, but that’s a whole other story. I believe this entity is attached to me or my family. Right after this image was taken, I went into a horrible depression and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital at only 12 years old. I was doing research recently into shadow figures and apparitions, and I believe this entity is what the Native Americans would call an impa shilup. Nalusa Chito, also known as Impa Shilup, was the soul-eater, a great black being. If individuals allowed evil thoughts or depression to enter their minds, Impa Shilup would creep inside them and eat their souls. Many people of the Choctaw Nation will not say his name out of fear of summoning the spirit. I believe something of this nature has been tormenting me and my family for years. Everything has become so horrible, and my family has become so negative. I haven’t seen this thing again, but I can’t help but feel like it’s lurking around. Still, I’ve tried blessing the house in several different ways, but to no avail. I try to just pray to God that this evil thing has left us. This image has not been edited in anyway if you really want to check it’s on my Facebook still lol and at the age of 12 I barely knew how to install Minecraft let alone photoshop a creepy abomination behind me in a Facebook webcam pic. Maybe I’m crazy or all of this coincidental but can’t help but to feel that there evil in this world and things we can’t explain that’s been around for ages.
Any advice for me or my family to ensure this thing is gone? Just in case it is real and devouring our souls💀

I applied for a car loan with my bank and got approved. Purchased a new 2024 car from a dealer in Feb with less than 100 miles. Maybe a month and a half later I hadn't received the title or letter from the bank stating how much my monthly payments would be so I called my bank. They told me they sent the check back to the dealer at the end of Feb because it was not endorsed properly on the dealers behalf and missing a signature from one of the two of us on the loan.
I called the Dealer to see if they received the check back and why they hadn't called us. They investigated and of course they have the check back but gave no explanation just asked us to come and sign again, which we did.
Another month and a half later, still nothing. So I call the bank again and ask if they received anything, they haven't. I called the dealer and they investigate and turns out they overnighted the check to their bank but their bank never received it. They are asking me to get another check from my bank and come up there and with it and we do this process over. The car is almost at 5000 miles and is not paid for cause of their mess up, and they did not follow up.
Honestly, I don't even want the car anymore. Can I give them the car back? Technically this is the Dealers screw up and I had to do the dive to figure out what is going here. It seems a little shitty on my part but is it legal? Am I breaking a contract giving the car back? I really wanted to give it back a week later and they said I couldn't and I feel like this could be a blessing.

I (30F) genuinely don't know anymore; I got my degree towards User Experience Design with a focus on accessibility and a background in print thinking I'd be able to make this my life. I loved that job so much; I immediately had offers lined up right out of college back in 2017 and it seemed like I was truly building a life for myself. One of my family members got sick, so I decided to work "only" 32 hours to be able to combine taking care of them with my job without getting in much trouble (having one scheduled day for hospital visits works wonders!)
but that all came crashing down. The company that I accepted the offer of to get the experience I needed to truly get my foot into the industry went bankrupt. I ended up having to accept a front-end development job at another company where I suffered Sexual Harassment that still is effecting me to this day. The company after that was absolutely amazing for the first 2 years; but then got an new CEO and suddenly I was expected to work 40+ hours on my 32 contract because they expected 32 hours of ticket work from me despite scheduling me for at least 15 hours of meetings a week; only to then accuse me of "refusing to adapt" and "just wanting to slack off". I eventually got an offer from an old coworker that went to another amazing sounding company because they were looking for someone just like me.
I made the switch in 2022. and at first everything was amazing until they suddenly dumped the workload of 8 people on me causing to work 100 hour weeks. between work and taking care of my family on top of some other private issues I was going through (My relationship had fallen apart and my ex was giving me death threats on top of my family member passing away and another one getting sick and now requiring care) I completely burned out. Eventually they stopped giving me work; undoubtedly in the hopes I would resign myself out of boredom; something I didn't. They eventually ended up firing me in December 2023 with a good Severance package.
I know the job market has been incredibly rough and especially my field has been hit hard with the introduction of AI; but I had hope I could eventually find another job with my Severance package giving me 6 months of time.
Those 6 months are now running out. I applied to 1000's of jobs. Often hearing back that they found someone with more experience, I didn't have enough experience, that I was under qualified, that I was overqualified, that I didn't talk about loving coffee enough in a motivational letter (yes, really. no; it was not for a coffee company)
I even started broadening my horizons and applied to jobs to work in a daycare which we have a severe shortage of workers in, which is a field I always had in mind as a backup. I told them my motivation, how much I was willing to learn and even pay for the course myself. I got denied because I was "overqualified" and "You strive to improve yourself too much and we are afraid you'll get bored might leave us soon"
I'm starting to genuinely give up; I don't really see any options anymore and I genuinely feel like I lost my entire life. I don't have much; because of the housing market I'm forced to life with family and because of that earlier mentioned breakup I'm single and in no way ready to date and build a life that way anymore. My job was my last tether to what feels like an "adult life" and I completely lost it.
I feel completely lost and I'd honestly love some advice.

Student subleasing affordable and cozy bedroom.
Very private furnished single bedroom/single bath and in a 4-bath 4-bedroom apartment. Lease from 07/25/2024 to 07/27/2025 (1570 sq ft). Each room has an individual lease, so you don’t have to worry about finding roommates. The other 3 roommates won’t be confirmed until September if they will be present. The bedroom is on the second floor with the first floor frontroom/kitchen being a communal living space.
$800/month for the single bedroom/single bath is paid through the resident's website. Electricity and Water are not included and are also paid through the resident website (usually not exceeding $30/month together).
10-minute bike ride and a 4-minute drive from Monroe Park. There is also a shuttle service to take you to Monroe every 30 minutes. Trash and High-Speed Internet included. Amenities also include a Fitness Center and a Pool.
Washer, Dryer, and Washing Machine within the apartment. The living room is furnished with two couches, two coffee tables, a dining table, and 4 chairs. The kitchen is furnished with a fridge and microwave. The bedroom is furnished with a full-size bed, a wardrobe, a chair, and a desk.
Free street parking and Paid lot parking for $50/month.
Pets are allowed for a fee. $50 Pet Application Fee and an additional $25/month pet rent. There are no pets in the living space now.
There will be a background and credit check and you may/may not be charged or require a cosigner depending on what they find.
Address: 601 W Bacon St, Richmond, VA 23222-5216, United States
Pictures: https://imgur.com/a/housing-photos-FsXtgOR

Hi,
My name is Thasnim Begum (F). I'm twenty-eight and I live in England, near London. I love arts and crafts, days out, nature and the great outdoors. I'm a big bookworm, and absolutely love tea, rain and chocolate! I'm self-confessed shopaholic (shop till I drop, that's me!) and I love a good bargain and meeting new people! I love writing letters, with a wax seal of course with lots of goodies.
I'm an undergrad at The Open University and I graduate this year! I study an Open Degree where you can study a mix and match of subjects to make yourself a customised degree. Class of 2024, that's me! I'm beyond excited, cap and gown, here I come!
I'm also a proud Muslim and I am very accepting of people of other faiths and backgrounds and love to learn about different faiths and cultures. We can talk about life, love, death and everything in between, I love a good natter!
All are welcome here :)
A stranger is a friend you haven't made yet, that's what I always say.
Message/comment if you're interested!
Can't wait to hear from all of you.

Student subleasing affordable and cozy bedroom.
Very private furnished single bedroom/single bath and in a 4-bath 4-bedroom apartment. Lease from 07/25/2024 to 07/27/2025 (1570 sq ft). Each room has an individual lease, so you don’t have to worry about finding roommates. The other 3 roommates won’t be confirmed until September if they will be present. The bedroom is on the second floor with the first floor frontroom/kitchen being a communal living space.
$800/month for the single bedroom/single bath is paid through the resident's website. Electricity and Water are not included and are also paid through the resident website (usually not exceeding $30/month together).
10-minute bike ride and a 4-minute drive from Monroe Park. There is also a shuttle service to take you to Monroe every 30 minutes. Trash and High-Speed Internet included. Amenities also include a Fitness Center and a Pool.
Washer, Dryer, and Washing Machine within the apartment. The living room is furnished with two couches, two coffee tables, a dining table, and 4 chairs. The kitchen is furnished with a fridge and microwave. The bedroom is furnished with a full-size bed, a wardrobe, a chair, and a desk.
Free street parking and Paid lot parking for $50/month.
Pets are allowed for a fee. $50 Pet Application Fee and an additional $25/month pet rent. There are no pets in the living space now.
There will be a background and credit check and you may/may not be charged or require a cosigner depending on what they find.
Address: 601 W Bacon St, Richmond, VA 23222-5216, United States
Images: https://imgur.com/a/housing-photos-FsXtgOR

Hi all! After a crazy, but incredibly fun and rewarding year earning my pilot certs, I wanted to make a write-up of my experience in hopes that it’ll be helpful for any other aspiring or current pilots. To summarize, I went from zero aviation experience to CFII in 13 months, Part 61, paying as I go and on the pretty cheap side. I do want to emphasize that I was ~incredibly~ lucky and had some very generous people who helped me out, and I could not have done this as efficiently and cheaply if it weren’t for them. I’m going to list all my takeaways below, but I think my biggest piece of advice is to network as much as you can because there are some amazing, generous people in this community that want to see us all succeed.
Background:
For context, I’m in my mid to late twenties and have been in the workforce for about 5 years. Through a combination of factors I decided to make a career switch to professional pilot but was hesitant because I did not want to take on debt. I have a family member who is an airline pilot who helped me devise a plan. I moved home and kept working my job remotely so I was able to put all my paychecks towards flying.
Private Pilot – 3 months, 75 hours TT, $12k
I did my private in a Piper Archer owned by my local FBO. The owner allowed my family member to be my instructor and gave me a small discount for pre-paying hours. We flew almost daily. I also took ground school at another local FBO in-person, and that was much more helpful than having to learn everything on my own because I was brand new to aviation. I took the private written exam as soon as my ground school concluded which was also the week of my checkride (bad idea in hindsight, but it worked out).
I solo’d around 25 hours and took my checkride with about 60 hours in the Archer (15 additional hours were in a friend’s airplane). The checkride was challenging, but straightforward and I was well prepared. The DPE said good things about me afterward and I was officially a private pilot! I’d be happy to answer questions or do a writeup in a separate post on any of my checkrides but for the sake of brevity I’ll skip that for now.
~Key takeaways from private:~
Fly as often as possible and make sure your instructor is aligned with that. Also stay on top of ground school. Also, don’t rush to take the checkride before you’re ready, it’s okay to have a lot of practice first. Lastly, I know DPE availability is a big issue in lots of areas and can cause people to have to wait on a checkride even though they’ve been ready for months. In my experience, if you try hard enough and call around, you will find someone. However, it might mean you have to travel a little bit which I know is not possible for everyone.
Instrument – 2 months, 150 hours TT, $14k
I was feeling a little fatigued after private so I was slow to start studying for instrument. I started by doing a lot of flying for fun, mainly flying in the Archer by myself on little cross countries to check off some of the requirements (in hindsight I should have found someone to split time with).
I did my instrument at a flight school in one of the adjacent states. This particular school specializes in accelerated programs, but they do not have a formalized instrument course. I went in-person and spoke with the director of flight operations to discuss my options. Since I had to take PTO to do this, the goal was to finish my instrument in one week with the checkride at the end. I paid a flat rate for the airplane and instructor time. I also stayed over there during that week so I had to pay for housing as well.
Before I went over there, I did some prep in the Archer that I did my private in and took the written exam (Sheppard air). I also purchased Sporty’s Instrument course and used that to prep and for the endorsement needed to take the written. The week I spent at the flight school was honestly a blast, and I was able to take my checkride on day 7 with 20 hours in the plane and about 4 hours of sim time. Again, happy to discuss the checkride in the comments or another post.
~Key takeaways from instrument:~
TAKE THE IRA, FII, AND IGI EXAMS AT THE SAME TIME. You only have to purchase the IRA Sheppard course and can take all 3 exams back to back. Also, again stay on top of ground school because instrument flying requires a lot of technical knowledge. But it honestly is really fun!
Commercial – 3 months, 263 hours TT, $8k
The biggest challenge for commercial was time building, of course. This is where networking saved me. I made friends with another instructor who frequented my local FBO who also owns a plane. He needed the time as well so we flew together a lot and I paid for the fuel. I also had another friend at the airport who owns a plane that he doesn’t fly often and offered to let me time build in that (again, I’ve been so lucky to come across some very generous people).
I did my checkride in the Archer that I learned in with my family member signing me off, and with the same DPE who did my private. Commercial was probably the easiest one I had done so far, but it still was no joke! I will say I was amazed with how much easier things came to me by this point versus when I first started, which was a great feeling.
~Key takeaways from commercial:~
Network, network, network. Spend as much time as you can at your local FBO or flight school and make friends with everyone. Like I’ve said, there are some very generous people out there who love to help out new pilots, and I could not have made it this far without them.
Also, in retrospect, it would have been a really good idea to have done commercial from the right seat. I’ve heard of a lot of people doing that and if I had, I would have been able to knock out CFI a lot sooner and cheaper.
Multi-engine add-on – 1 week, 298 hours TT, $4.3k
Shortly after getting my CPL, I had a week of PTO and decided to knock out my multi add-on. I found a flight school with a Seminole and got ahold of their MEI, and we figured we could knock it out during that week. I contacted the DPE who did my private and commercial and we scheduled my checkride for the end of the week. This flight school was about 2 hours driving from home, and I was able to stay with friends while I was there.
This one was a little challenging because this was in January in the midwest and we were seeing a lot of low IFR days. We ended up getting weathered out the first half of the week, but luckily the Seminole was an easy transition for me and we got me trained up in 3 days, 8 hours of flying. I took the checkride as scheduled and passed (I will say I have had extremely good luck with weather for all of my checkride days so far).
Sidenote: Prior to this checkride, I also took the AGI and IGI exams and asked the DPE who did my multi checkride to sign off on the ground instructor certificate at the same time. I did this because I’ve heard it helps when applying to CFI jobs (shows a little extra effort) and it was easier to do it this way versus having a FSDO issue the cert. Cost me $50 to the DPE.
~Key takeaways from multi:~
Do your research to find an airplane at a good rate. I paid $395 per hour which included the instructor, but I’ve seen some schools charging a lot more. Also, I looked into schools with accelerated courses that you pay as a package, and based on my experience I would not recommend because I was able to do it much cheaper my way.
My instructor did a good job of making sure I knew all the aircraft systems well enough to teach them in case I go for my MEI (which I would like to do soon). Since the MEL is light on material, I highly recommend this. Also, when I was doing research I was told to look for a Seminole or DA-42 because they’re easy trainers, which I would agree with based on my limited experience.
CFI – 1 month (on top of all my experience thus far), 316 hours TT, $5k
This was the scariest one for me. I had heard all along that CFI is the hardest and longest checkride and for the most part I would agree. I originally was planning on going to a school with an accelerated program for this, but after asking around I decided to do it on my own (with my family member signing me off).
This one was heavy on ground school. I got some lesson plans from various people as I heard that’s what everyone has prepared for the checkride, but I hardly ended up using them. I also had a friend send me PowerPoints he made for the technical subject areas. I edited them/made them my own and these are what I ended up using for the checkride along with a couple props.
As far as studying goes, the thing I found most helpful was watching random YouTube videos before bed every night. Although it was all review, I picked up a lot of tidbits that weren’t quite drilled into my brain as I still feel new to aviation overall. As the DPE described it, to be a good CFI you basically need to be a nerd about everything aviation and that’s what I tried to do. I would guess that I studied a few hours a day for a month and a half or so. As for the flying part, I had a little bit of right seat experience prior to buckling down for CFI (probably under 5 hours), so I’d guess it took me about 5 more hours to feel comfortable in the right seat. I took the checkride with the same DPE who did my private, commercial, and multi and passed! The checkride was 8 hours total so definitely a long day. As we were debriefing, I went ahead and scheduled CFII with him as well.
~Key takeaways from CFI:~
Start nerding out now (if you aren’t already). Keep a running collection of links and videos that explain concepts well or teach you something interesting, they will be useful for the checkride. Also, don’t buy lesson plans. As my DPE put it, there are really only like 5 lesson plans for any given topic and we all steal them from each other, so no need to reinvent the wheel or pay for them if someone else can give them to you. I’d also recommend really getting to know the PTS, because it lays out very clearly what you are required to do on the checkride (for example you know you’re going to need to teach runway incursions so it’s a good opportunity to be really prepared). I’m sure my last point is most applicable to those doing CFI on their own since you won’t have a school telling you exactly what to expect.
CFII – 1 month, 368 hours TT, $1.3k
CFII was possibly the easiest checkride to prepare for. I did this one in a friend’s airplane – a Mooney with a G750 and GFC 500 autopilot. It probably took about 10 hours of flying (I already have lots of time in this plane) to be ready. For studying, I reviewed Pilot Cafe, YouTube videos, and obtained some lesson plans from a friend. I did not use PowerPoints or anything for this one. I also had already completed the written exam back when I did my instrument rating. I’m not sure what else to say about this one, but I did it with the same DPE again and passed. It feels amazing to be done with checkrides for a while!
~Key takeaways from CFII:~
Select an airplane with a good autopilot. This made the flying portion of the checkride super easy. For the oral, I highly recommend working with instructors who send students for a lot of instrument checkrides. I feel like there are so many very specific questions that DPEs like to ask on instrument/CFII checkrides, so it helps if you have someone who knows what those questions are going to be. Also, FlightInsight on YouTube and Boldmethod were my favorite resources for this one. Lastly, make sure you know your avionics and autopilot really well, including reading and being able to teach all of the limitations that are in the user manuals.
Notes regarding cost:
I did a decent job of tracking all my expenses throughout this process. I noted in the title that the total cost to me was about $50k, which consists of the ~$45k that I discussed above plus some additional expenses. I also did my commercial ASES rating at Jack Brown’s seaplane base which cost me about $2.5K total (of course this was just for fun). The remaining amount consists of things like buying a headset, books, random accessories, and even some things I called “unnecessary expenses”. I temporarily paid for a membership at a flight school that I barely ended up using, so I put that in that category. While I did everything pretty cheap, I was definitely not perfect!
Here is a further breakdown of my expenses:
Airplane rentals/fuel - $36.9k
Instructor fees - $2.5k (bear in mind I got a lot of free instruction from friends & family)
Ground school - $1.3k (includes actual ground school and books)
Flight accessories - $1.2k
Written exam fees - $1.2k (8 exams total)
DPE fees - $5.8k (7 checkrides; this includes seaplane)
Medical fees - $290
Housing - $900
Misc/unnecessary expenses - $1.2k
Total: $51.7k
Overall Takeaways:
- For those doing Part 61/pay as you go, I highly recommend finding an independent instructor with a flexible schedule. This was key for me because I had a work schedule to work around.
- NETWORKING/MAKING FRIENDS. Go to every fly-in you can, always stop into the FBO to say hi to people, etc. etc. Having friends in aviation was monumentally helpful for me and saved me SO much money. Cannot stress this enough!
- If you are on a timeline, make sure you set specific milestones and when you are going to hit them. Make sure your instructor is on board too.
- Do your research! Reddit has been a fantastic resource for me throughout this process. Talk to people who have achieved the things you want to achieve. I really cannot thank you all enough for all your help and insights on your experiences!
Again, I am more than happy to answer any and all questions. I also apologize if anything is jumbled or confusing; this took a long time to write and I’m sure I missed things. I will also disclaim that while I did a good job of tracking all my expenses, I was not perfect and YMMV for sure. I just hope this gave a somewhat helpful picture for those hoping to do something similar to what I did.
As for next steps, I am aiming for the airlines one of these days! I have a couple interviews at flight schools coming up so I am planning to quit my job and finally start flying full-time soon. I want to do my MEI sometime soon as well but I haven’t figured out how I’m going to pay for the PIC time yet.
I also want to say that I absolutely love general aviation and hope to always be involved in it. I have made so many friends, had some incredible experiences, and learned way more than I could have ever imagined in the past year. For anyone thinking about flying, hopefully this is your sign to just do it! Feel free to comment with questions!

Saw an IG reel that hiring companies buy/sell data from resumes when they send them to a broker to do background checks.
-What data from resumes is useful for companies?
-How can the public prevent this data mining? Especially those who have been laid off or fired from employment.

I (30F) genuinely don't know anymore; I got my degree towards User Experience Design with a focus on accessibility and a background in print thinking I'd be able to make this my life. I loved that job so much; I immediately had offers lined up right out of college back in 2017 and it seemed like I was truly building a life for myself. One of my family members got sick, so I decided to work "only" 32 hours to be able to combine taking care of them with my job without getting in much trouble (having one scheduled day for hospital visits works wonders!)
but that all came crashing down. The company that I accepted the offer of to get the experience I needed to truly get my foot into the industry went bankrupt. I ended up having to accept a front-end development job at another company where I suffered Sexual Harassment that still is effecting me to this day. The company after that was absolutely amazing for the first 2 years; but then got an new CEO and suddenly I was expected to work 40+ hours on my 32 contract because they expected 32 hours of ticket work from me despite scheduling me for at least 15 hours of meetings a week; only to then accuse me of "refusing to adapt" and "just wanting to slack off". I eventually got an offer from an old coworker that went to another amazing sounding company because they were looking for someone just like me.
I made the switch in 2022. and at first everything was amazing until they suddenly dumped the workload of 8 people on me causing to work 100 hour weeks. between work and taking care of my family on top of some other private issues I was going through (My relationship had fallen apart and my ex was giving me death threats on top of my family member passing away and another one getting sick and now requiring care) I completely burned out. Eventually they stopped giving me work; undoubtedly in the hopes I would resign myself out of boredom; something I didn't. They eventually ended up firing me in December 2023 with a good Severance package.
I know the job market has been incredibly rough and especially my field has been hit hard with the introduction of AI; but I had hope I could eventually find another job with my Severance package giving me 6 months of time.
Those 6 months are now running out. I applied to 1000's of jobs. Often hearing back that they found someone with more experience, I didn't have enough experience, that I was under qualified, that I was overqualified, that I didn't talk about loving coffee enough in a motivational letter (yes, really. no; it was not for a coffee company)
I even started broadening my horizons and applied to jobs to work in a daycare which we have a severe shortage of workers in, which is a field I always had in mind as a backup. I told them my motivation, how much I was willing to learn and even pay for the course myself. I got denied because I was "overqualified" and "You strive to improve yourself too much and we are afraid you'll get bored might leave us soon"
I'm starting to genuinely give up; I don't really see any options anymore and I genuinely feel like I lost my entire life. I don't have much; because of the housing market I'm forced to life with family and because of that earlier mentioned breakup I'm single and in no way ready to date and build a life that way anymore. My job was my last tether to what feels like an "adult life" and I completely lost it.
The state of the industry is awful, and I'd honestly love some advice.

slowly i’m getting my grades back from my classes and im getting Fs in all my courses. i fucked up terribly this semester and i’m on academic probation. (i know im my last post i said i got off. just checked, and it turns out im still on! whew!) my cumulative gpa is tanking horrendously and when my mom finds out, it’ll crush her. financially and emotionally.
i feel terrible about it. in my last post i didn’t go into detail about why my gpa when from a 2.29 to the possibility of getting dismissed, and long story short, the semester was intense for me, and not just academically. my mom suffered from really terrible food poisoning and we thought she was going to die. i carry immense guilt within me from that situation because i had taken a tylenol that day and was knocked out, only to be woken up to the sound of her vomiting everything up. i was the only one at home at the time. i was with her when i called the ambulance, when we got to the hospital, and when she was seen by a doctor. the sight of seeing her like that ruined my emotional stability for weeks after.
i don’t know if it’s worth mentioning this in a potential appeal letter because i don’t want to compromise my mother health status or have her come to the conclusion that i might be using her health in a situation like this. but it came to a point where i barely had the energy to leave bed because i had cried myself to sleep thinking about where things would have been if i hadn’t woken up in time.
i have meetings with my advisors tomorrow and im torn about bringing this up in conversation. should i do it? i know i have to be honest, but im honestly scared to even bring this up.

So I was thinking of doing another campaign, but using OP builds is boring so I did some research. Basically, this strategy utilizes party members to buff a main character and max out Stealth.
Even tho we're maxing stealth, i think the damage output of this build is still strong ( in normal battle )
You can do this multiple ways, and here's some choices I came up with. All of this info I got from bg3.wiki and my memory from build tutorials I read/watched before, so special thanks to all of them.
TLDKeypoint:
Lightfoot Halfling character with 24 Dex + Greater Invisibility (from someone) + Expertise Stealth + Advantage in stealth check + ton bonus stealth check via gear, guidance and pass without a trace + Lucky from Halfling
Not enough? go for 11 rogue to get reliable talent
**Character Creation**:
* Race Selection : any or Lightfoot Halfling for an advantage and a reroll on a 1 on stealth checks
* Background (if Tav): any or Urchin / Criminal for Stealth Proficiency
* Class: Explained on later section ( Multiple ways to do this ), but you could choose Rogue/FighteRanger for now
* Main Ability: Go for 17 dex, the rest, up to you, personally I then max Constitution, and then Charisma (if Party Face) or Wisdom and dump the rest
* Skill Proficiency: Maxing Stealth for proficiency and expertise, rest up to you
**Class Selection**
Overview:
Your character should have access to:

• Maximum dexterity of 24
• Stealth skill - Expertise level
• Pass without a Trace spell ( For easier setup, else someone else cast it )
• Disguise Self (if you are not a gnome and no other party member able to cast seeming)

* How to get 24 Dexterity:
17 initial dex + 1 Hag HaiAthlete Feat + 2 ASI + 2 Mirror of Loss + 2 Nimblefinger Gloves
* The build:
If you use hag hair
Go for classic 5 Gloomstalker (disguise self + pass without a trace) / 4 Champion / 3 Assassin / 2 of your feat being +2 ASI DEX and Sharpshooter and picking stealth expertise.
Fighting style: Archery and Defense
If not:
Go for 8 Champion Fighter (Athlete/ASI, ASI, Sharpshooter) / 1 rogue (Stealth Proficiency & Expertise) / 3 trickery cleric (disguise self+pass without a trace)
Fighting style: Archery
The order of taking level is up to you, but if you want to stealthing as soon as possible, prioritize getting pass without a trace and upgrading your dex/stealth skill, once a party member has access to greater invisibility, go nuts!
—-------------------------
**Stealth Gear Choices**
This list of gear will give stealth check bonus, if you think you have enough stealth bonus, feel free to change it, my goal is to make the enemy can’t see me,

• Glove: Nimblefinger Glove (+2 Dex as gnome, work if disguised as gnome)
• Shield: Gloomstrand Shield (+2 AC, Guarantee +1 Stealth)
• Armor: Leather Armour +2 (13 AC, Guarantee +1 Stealth) or Penumbral Armour (+3 stealth while obscured [i hate this, cause obscured is so situational, but if u want go for it]) or The Graceful Cloth (advantage in dexterity check, if you are not lightfoot halfling, or no one able to cast Enhance Ability / Blessing of the Trickster on you )
• Main Hand (optional in case you somehow still don't have advantage on stealth check): Assassin's Shortsword.

With your 24 dex, shield, and armor alone, you are able to get up to 13+7+2=22 AC, If you want more you could do via gear or spell, but I don’t think you need high AC cause you will be attacking while invisible, do a high AC never hurt :D.

• Ring 1: Shapeshifter ring ( +1d4 to all skill check while disguised, synergized with nimblefinger )
• Ring 2: Smuggler ring (Guarantee +2 stealth)

*Rest of the slot: up to you, none of it can improve stealth so this is what i like/generally good item

• Head: Saverok Helmet for guarantee -1 Critical threshold or Soul Perception (+2 to atk roll, init, perception)
• Cloak: Cloak of Protection (+1 AC) or Cloak of Displacement
• Boot: Evasive Shoes (+1 AC) or Disintegrating Night Walkers (misty step) or Boots of Persistence (longstrider + freedom of movement)
• Amulet: Amulet of Greater Health (23 Con) or Amulet of Bhaal (bleeding) or Amulet of Misty Step
• MainHand: Knife of undermountain king or club of hill giant strength ( if titanstringBow and no str elixir ), there is
• Ranged Weapon: Deadshot or Titanstring bow
• Elixir: STR elixir (if titanstring bow) or collosal elixir (extra 1d4 damage ) or bloodlust (nerfed in honour mode)

—----------------------
So with all of that setup, your character on level 12 in Act 3 with the best condition should have:

• Advantage on Stealth Check, reroll if got a 1
• Flat bonus +7 (24 dex) + 4(prof)+ 4 (expert) + 10 (pass) + 1 (shield) + 1 (armor) + 2(smuggler)= 29
• dice bonus: 1d4 ( guidance ) + 1d4 (shapeshifter ) + 1d6 (rupture)
• Greater Invisibility ( double the duration with sorcerer, so 20 turn :D)

You are gone, the enemy can’t see you, you will only fail if you roll at least 4 nat 1 in a row ( if my understanding of advantage + lucky is correct ), 0.000625% chance of failing.

• Your roll should be at minimum 2 (dice) + 1 + 1 + 1 ( dice bonuses) + 29 = 34 and maximum of 19+4+4+6+29 = 62, Holy hell.

It may not be the strongest build, but I feel like it will be super fun just being invisible for 20 turns and having the enemy search for you.
—---------------------------
Thank you for reading until here :D. (Haven’t yet tried this but on paper looks fun hahaha) if someone already created a similar type of build before, or i’m just repeating what already known, so sorry, just wanted to share this with you guys.
—----------------------

Quick background. I used to smoke weed, but I quit back in February. I decided to join the Air Force. I started the process, took the asvab (got a 73), and took the personality test. After passing those, I went for my physical at MEPs on Friday (May 17th) where I also did my swear in.
On Friday after MEPs, my recruiter was able to see that I passed all the medical stuff but that we had to wait for the drug screen/blood work. I was still able to put my top 9 jobs that I was interested & qualififed for in the system in the mean time.
It is now Tuesday (May 21st) and the only update my recruiter has for me was that MEPs contacted her for needing a last known address for my Father (who is non existent in my life) and that Unknown was not acceptable. I was able to give that to her. I asked for any other updates and she said that’s the only update she has for me.
My question is, if MEPs is contacting her for background check info 2 business days after my drug test, does that mean I probably passed? Or does not having any update on that by now not a good sign?
When do they typically show drug test results to the recruiters? I’ve seen some answers that say if it’s longer than 48 hours, it means it probably went to further testing because it came up positive. I’m now overthinking this and my recruiter is being cryptic with her responses so I just wanted to know where I stand so far.
I’ve been working out and drinking lots of cranberry juice since I quit back in February. I’ve passed 3 of those DrugConfirm tests from CVS on separate days before going to MEPs. I just hope I passed and would like some answers on what to expect for the wait time.

Hello, I'm submitting my application for ILR SET(M) in a few days and I'm really stressed I've missed something crucial. I would really appreciate if someone could check through my document list.
Application documents

• Passport
• Passport Pages
• Expired Passport
• Expired Passport Pages
• Signed Family Consent Part 1 & 2
• Signed Spouse Declaration

Indentification/Travel History

• Partner's British Passport
• My Biometric Residency Card
• My Previous BRP
• Email copies of all flight itinerary over past 5 years

Other

• Marriage Certificate (UK)
• Life in the UK Test Pass Confirmation
• Statements of Support

Finances

• My employment contract
• My letter from my employer
• My payslips (12 months)
• My stamped bank statements (6 months)
• My digital bank statements (12 months)
• My most recent P60s
• My promotion letter and pay award letter
• Partner's employment contract
• Partner's letter from my employer
• Partner's payslips (12 months)
• Partner's stamped bank statements (12 months)
• Partner's most recent P60s
• Partner's promotion letter

Accomodation

• Mortgage Agreement
• Mortgage Statement
• Land Registry Title
• Latest Council Tax Bills
• RICS Home Survey (Level 3)

Cohabitation (2.5 years from Dec 2021 to June 2024, is the spacing okay?)

• Council 1 Tax Bill (Previous Address - April 2022)
• Joint Bank Statement (Previous Address - August 2022)
• Council 2 Tax Bill (Current Address - January 2023)
• Joint Bank Statement (Current Address - June 2023)
• Water Utility Bill (Current Address - November 2023)
• Water Utility Bill (Current Address - February 2024)
• Miscellaneous Correspondence (in case more evidence is needed)

Any help or advice is appreciated. I'm mostly worried about the accomodation requirement, there's nothing in my mortgage documents that details what kind of house it is which is why I included the survey, but that survey document is more than a year old now.

Some Background:
I am a 35-year-old female with type 1 diabetes. I've had type 1 for 24 years and have managed it pretty well with diet and exercise. I am generally a healthy person with a low BMI due to eating low-carb (40-50g/day) meals to help manage my disease easily and staying pretty active 5-6 days a week. My insulin usage is usually and consistently small, which I have found over the years is what has kept me at a smaller size for so long. I see my endocrinologist regularly every six months to have my A1c checked (5.0% with a fasting glucose level of 90mg/dL) and to make corrections IF NEEDED to my insulin regimen.
My complaint:
In the last 10 months, I have rapidly gained 60lbs unexplained and suffer from the following:
-Extreme fatigue.
-Having to go to sleep after eating.
-Up and down mood swings.
-SEVERE anxiety and depression episodes.
-Rough/thick dark patches of Facial hair around the chin and mouth area that I have to shave or pluck daily. If I don't, it's extremely noticeable to others around me.
-Dark hair on my stomach and around my breasts.
-New and sudden skin issues.
-Severe bloating in the abdominal area.
-Agressive in communication.
-Brain Fog
-Excessive insulin usage to keep my blood sugars in a normal range and where they are supposed to be (the kicker for me)
-Weird and unusual cravings (not pregnant)
-Difficulties completing normal workouts or cardio routines due to sudden fatigue.
-Unable to lose weight.
I've had numerous discussions with my Endocrinologist about my health issues, and she has diagnosed me with low thyroid function. I've been prescribed Synthroid to alleviate the symptoms. However, my complete thyroid panel shows normal results, except for the presence of antibodies indicating Hashimoto's Disease. My symptoms have NOT subsided and have only gotten worse over time. She does not feel any further investigation is necessary.
I then decided to meet with my general practitioner and get a second opinion there. He decided to test my hormone panel which showed HIGH testosterone, DHEA-SULFATE, and Prolactin levels. In his own words, "This indicates Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, which would be the ROOT cause of your symptoms," and that it was necessary for me to have a pelvic and transvaginal ultrasound done.
NOTE: I do not have irregular or missed periods nor do I suffer from any acne issues.
Once my ultrasounds were completed, my GP notified me of the results. My ultrasound did not show any Polycystic ovaries, but that I do have a hemorrhagic cyst component that has ruptured and that it is slowly resolving itself. According to my GP, this would NOT cause my symptoms, symptoms of PCOS, or create high levels of the hormones that were tested and concluded. He then "undiagnosed" me with PCOS and decided that there was no necessary action needed. He wished me a good day and to "take care".
My Endo has now decided that due to my frequent fluctuations of insulin needs, to just come off of my insulin-to-carb ratios and give as much insulin as necessary (BLINDLY) to cover anything that I am eating or doing as the new way to manage my diabetes as we can not determine an appropriate ratio based on what my hormones decide to do on a day to day basis. WHAT?!?!?!?!
I am at a total LOSS and back at square one with these ongoing uncontrollable symptoms with ZERO help from either one of my doctors. I still do not have a diagnosis and was unfortunately PRAYING that this was going to be the diagnosis I have been waiting for.

I'll start with the questions, and leave the background waffle to the end if anyone's interested.
UK-specific
1. Where to learn, from zero? I checked out https://www.gliding.co.uk/club-finde - and three clubs are all around 45 minutes (1hr with traffic) from me in North London (Finchley).

1. Booker
2. Chilterns
3. Dunstable

Does anyone have any direct experience/feedback on any of those? If I go ahead, ideally I'm looking for something fairly intensive as I have 6 months off work. Dunstable is the home of London Gliding Club, and seems to be the biggest/most established of the three. https://www.londonglidingclub.co.uk/fixed-price-to-solo seemed tempting - but when I called, it seemed to not be particularly organised.
I also read several mentions of https://www.lashamgliding.com/ residential course, and one Redditor from UK said they learnt in Hawaii, for the dependable wind.
2. Related to the above - given my middle-age, I sort of want to kick start things. Would a club be able to help with that, or would a dedicated course be better? I'm totally fine (in fact, like the idea of) going a bit slower after that, and being around to help others the whole day etc. But I don't want to spend two years of sporadic weekends in the initial stages, especially when I have weekdays available.
General
3. In the title I say "pretty sure". I was totally sure until I started watching "Pure Glide" on YouTube, and began to understand some of the risks. Also, two of the top results for "gliding uk reddit" are:

• https://www.reddit.com/Gliding/comments/137vqvu/how_safe_is_gliding_in_the_uk/
• https://www.reddit.com/Gliding/comments/15twbh9/two_gliding_incidents_in_the_uk_today/

It's not a deal breaker - but I guess I'm just looking to hear from (more) people how they rationalise that/deal with it. The Pure Glide guy seemed to be of the opinion some people managed it just by thinking it was never going to be them.
4. Looking for feedback on any folks that learnt in their forties/fifties? Did you find it manageable?
Background Waffle
I went for a glider flight on my 16th birthday, but it's only now, three decades later, I find myself having the time (or at least, the mental space for it). Part of me is worried I'm a bit too old to be starting, but hey ho.
I went for a trial flight out of Alford (Lincs Gliding Club), and even though conditions weren't great (apparently) for a winch launch, the kindly gentleman there happily took me up for two 3 to 4 minute flights. There was (understandably) no time for me to take the controls. Several other people helped prepare the glidewinch. Something about the community aspect appealed. I asked the instructor (who started flying when I was born), what he thought about gliding vs powered - and he said gliding is a sport, powered flight is transport.
Nonetheless I also tried a 1hr training flight from Elstree in a Cesna 172. On the plus side - the difference of just being able to fly for an hour was clear. But, there wasn't that community feel. And there also seemed to be a great deal more radio/taxiing process. Finally, my partner is scared of heights, and I have a dog. I don't imagine myself therefore actually flying anywhere in order to actually get there.
In short - I'm nearly ready to push the button on glider training, and looking, I guess, to hear some further opinions/ideas/suggestions I might have missed in my research thus far.

Hello all,
I got accepted into UCSB for computer science next quarter and am thinking about transferring. Currently, I am at UC Merced, and the only thing really holding me back right now is my timeline there. I’m not really sure how my classes are going to transfer over (I’ve done everything they’ve said to do in the planner for cs) but there’s no way to actually check the articulation from UC to UC. I’d love to go, but doing another full year doesn’t really seem worth it. I also scheduled an appointment with a transfer counselor but not sure how much that will help. Ive also done the letter of reciprocity as well. Anyone have any experience similar to this? Thank you!

(Rant)
I have been with my current company for 5 months now working in an industrial quality control position. I have not liked this job from the beginning because I was not told the severity of the working conditions, I’m covered in fiberglass everyday but was told I would have “minimal contact” with it, and the schedule is not was I was told during the interview & hiring phase, was told it was rotating 8 hour shifts Mon-Fri but it has been rotating 12 hour shifts Mon-Fri. I started off just working Mon-Thurs, 12 hour days (48 hours/week), but for the past two months I’ve been on Mon-Fri , 12 hour days (60 hours/week). Also, they just hired my old terrible boss from my past job to be my new boss at this job.
I was able to handle these conditions, but when I went into work last night, there were papers posted in various locations throughout the plant informing everyone that we will be on a 24/7, 4 on 2 off, rotating schedule effective at the start of the next week. I have now given up on the prospect of just sucking it up and working here until I find a new job and want to resign at the end of this week, 3 days.
I have a Bachelors in Biology and am not using my degree at this current job, so I am not too concerned with “ruining” my professional background, but I don’t want to burn bridges if a future job contacts them. The paper also informed us that we will be working this Saturday and Memorial Day, Monday, and I already have out of state plans I am not going to back out of.
(Important bits)
I don’t feel confident in putting in a 2 weeks notice just to tell them the days I will not be able to work during it. I feel like it might be best to tell them I resign with a 3 day notice.
What do you think? How should I word my resignation letter? Btw, I am working night shift this week and will not be seeing my supervisor during this time.

Hey everyone,
I need some advice and insight on transitioning back into the field of biology, specifically into a Clinical Laboratory Scientist (CLS) program in Los Angeles, after taking a couple of gap years. Here’s a bit about my background:

• I graduated with a BS in Biology from UC in 2022 with a 2.9 GPA.
• After graduation, I attended a coding bootcamp and worked as a software engineer at an open-source company for 10 months.
• Due to some job struggles in the tech field, I'm now looking to get back into biology and pursue a CLS program, potentially at CSUDH or CSULA.

Given that I've been away from biology for 2 years and have no current biological work experience, I'm concerned about my preparation and competitiveness for these programs. Here are a few specific questions I have:

1. What steps can I take to prepare myself for a CLS program after a gap in biological studies?
2. How important are letters of recommendation, and what can I do if I can't obtain any recent ones?
3. Are these programs mostly geared towards recent graduates, or do they also consider applicants with a less traditional path like mine?
4. Is it even worth trying to pursue this given the competitiveness of these programs?
5. What additional schooling or exams do I need to be aware of before applying to these programs?

Any advice, personal experiences, or insights would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Hello there,
Before we dive in, let's talk dealbreakers. These are non-negotiables for me, so if any apply to you, it's best to skip my post. (Please respect my preferences, and refrain from dismissing them as delusional.)
Dealbreakers: - You're not open to relocating in the future. (I've got roots - a home, farm, and a non-remote job. I cannot leave that.) - Hygiene isn't a priority for you. - You're not into anything 'esoteric/occult.' or you think this is bullshit - You're deeply devoted to Christianity, Islam, or Judaism. (I'm Pagan; our paths won't align.) - You thrive in big cities and can't imagine village life. - Exotic travels are your thing. - You're just here for casual dating, not something serious. - You deny the reality of mental illnesses. (I'm on my way to becoming a therapist.) - You're not a fan of girls with piercings and tattoos. - Basic live skills like cooking or cleaning aren't your forte. - You're without a job or driving license. - Future children aren't in your plans. - Monogamy isn't your style.
If you don't check any of those boxes, let's continue:
Bonus Points if: - You're into Slavic/Nordic folklore. - You reside in Europe. - You're curious and love to learn. - You're open to a Female-Led-Relationship (FLR). - Phone calls about your day, thoughts, and dreams are your jam. - Fantasy, games, and all things nerdy excite you.
About me:
I stand at 150cm, currently 75kg (and dropping), a curvy brunette. Though my background is in IT engineering, I've veered off that path. However, if you're in the field, I can still keep up with the tech talk! Glasses, piercings, tattoos - they're all part of me. I believe that love transcends appearances; I'm more interested in brains and skills than looks. In your first message Tell me something about yourself. What is your favourite flower? Feel free to slide into my DMs (untill i will find my Prince Charming)
I'm looking forward to getting to know you.

Hello everyone! I am a female disabled veteran. I was illegally evicted (from my townhome I had lived in for 7 years) during Covid and despite having section-8 I cannot find a place to live. The eviction results in an automatic denial of every application I have submitted. I am looking for a private landlord who will rent to me.
For some background information (I will try to make brevity my strong suit): I was in the USAF for 8 years. My husband and I went in together on the join-spouse program. We had our first child 2 years later, then the military did away with the program because there were so many married couples enlisted. We got out, had our 2nd child 8 months later and soon afterwards, bought a house. I obtained my bachelor's degree in nursing, then worked as an RN for 28 years. We sadly were divorced after 21 years, and I have been my sole means of support since that time. I moved into my townhome in 2015 and had no issues until 2021. I severely injured my back moving a very large (298lb) patient off of the OR table, following an emergency C-section. I struggled with back issues the rest of my career. In February of 2020 I was laid off from my job as a corrections nurse due to Covid. I was on unemployment but still paid my rent on time every month. In June of 2020 I allowed my oldest daughter to move in with the agreement that she would pay 1/2 of the rent and utilities. This turned out to be a disastrous decision. She had struggled with SA since she was 15, but swore to me she was clean. She was addicted to heroin, couldn't keep a job, created drama constantly, and never paid a penny's worth of her half. She was often rageful, as was her son who visited frequently. They did damage to the townhome in the form of her bedroom door, which my grandson made 2 large dents in with his fists, and the bottom of the staircase, which my grandson pulled the bottom of the handrail away from the wall. Those 2 items were the only damage.
In March 2021 I applied, on the 1st day it became available, to Biden's federal assistance program for tenants in danger of becoming homeless. I notified the property manager, and requested that he send in the required paperwork from management to complete the application. He came over to talk with us and he understood the program. I had applied for SSDI in March of 2020 due to back issues, major depressive disorder, and emphysema. I could no longer perform my duties well as a nurse. Everything was fine until June 2021 when he was replaced. The new property manager was a schoolteacher who was a longtime friend of the owner. She admittedly knew nothing about property management. I first met her on the day I had just been discharged from the VA hospital. I had been in the hospital for 12 days, so I came home and was resting in bed when my daughter came to get me saying, "The owner and a new lady are at the door screaming." They were indeed screaming at me because May's rent had not been paid. I tried to explain the program and the fact that the previous manager knew about it. The law protected residents who had applied from being evicted. I requested an appointment for the following day so we could talk civilly. At this point, TN had only released 6% of the millions of funds available. Finally, my funds were released in September. All arrears were paid, and 3 months into the future were paid, with the option of 3 more months being paid if the tenant was still struggling to pay. When the complex accepted the funds, they signed a federal agreement which stated they could not attempt an eviction based on non-payment of rent, could not create a new lease, and could not harass the tenants (my daughter was on the lease, too). They broke all of these conditions, starting with asking ONLY ME to sign a new lease 3 weeks after receiving the funds. They were requesting me to pay pet deposits for my 3 pets, a dog and 2 cats, in an amount $100 over the normal amount, then get rid of the pets immediately. The pets had not done any damage. The new lease increased the rent by $300. They had already been paid for the rent with the federal funds. Immediately following this "new lease" they sent a letter to both of us, saying that the new rent had not been paid on time and we were being evicted. They would not allow maintenance to come repair things. I had requested 6x that they repair both upstairs toilets, which were leaking at the base, to the point that their were stains and leaking on the living room ceiling! They filed for eviction in January 2022. They only named me, knowing that all of the rent payments were done by me. The case was dismissed because they had filed before it was legal, due to the agreement. I asked the judge if it would be necessary for me to appear in court on the next date if I moved out prior to the date, but he said, "That would be a moot point. You cannot be evicted if you have already moved out." We DID move out before the next court date, but their management went to court ANYWAY, saying we were still there and an eviction was granted!! I looked into filing an appeal, but the cost to file was $695, and I didn't have the money to appeal.
Luckily, a place opened in a VA sponsored home for homeless women. My time is up here and I have applied to a multitude of properties but my applications are always denied, based on the eviction. I am working with a lawyer who has written a letter on my behalf, as well as a letter of recommendation from the program director. Still, I have had flat denials from every property.
The assistance I am requesting is names of property owners who will work with me. If any of you kind Redditors know someone, or ARE someone who would work with me, please let me know. I am out of time at the VA home and I have nowhere to go. I never pictured myself at 64 years old being homeless. Thank you in advance to anyone who can help. I have SSDI, as well as VA compensation, so my income is secure and reliable. I am desperate for a safe place to live.