Help, I think I'm being scammed, but I can't put my finger on it... I bought an item from a seller on a website, with my credit card through PayPal, it's going to my businesses UPS mail box. The seller sent me an order status/tracking number forwarded from PayPal's official email and he send me a cropped picture of the USPS receipt from himself...., it shows all of the correct things; estimated delivery date May2nd, city, state, zip, weight, tracking number, and correct insurance amount....
According to online USPS tracking today Wednesday May 1st, it has made it to a USPS destination facility in my city, and it updated being delivered early May1 instead of May2....
However, I called 1-800-ASK-USPS earlier today and the clerk said the package will be delivered to an address that's missing the first # in my intended address, no box number, and a completely different zip code across town.
I googled the address and it's an unlocked side entrance to a pool hall. The main address to that building is 1200[street name] on the corner, then there's a cross street, and 1100[street name] on the next corner.... The package is addressed to a number in between.
What am I missing here? I really need this package and I hope I'm not being scammed. What should I do? I can pm the tracking # if someone can help.

𝑫𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑨𝑻𝑰𝑵𝒀,
Recently, there's been a flood of new information coming out. Our aim with this megathread is to gather all the essential details in one place, making it more convenient for everyone to access.
Here's what's covered in this megathread: - ATEEZ - GOLDEN HOUR : Part.1 - ATEEZ 2024 WORLD TOUR [TOWARDS THE LIGHT : WILL TO POWER] IN NORTH AMERICA - ATINY MEMBERSHIP Renewal Details - Fanmeeting - Wiki on ATEEZ - Moderation
Feel free to ask questions or point out any inaccuracies in the comments.
𝑨𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔
ATEEZ - GOLDEN HOUR : Part.1 Release: May 31, 2024 (1PM KST) Distributor: KQ Entertainment
Official Accounts ATEEZ Official Platform ATEEZ Official YouTube ATEEZ Official Twitter ATEEZ Official Instagram ATEEZ Official TikTok ATEEZ Official Facebook
ATEEZ Japan Official Site ATEEZ Japan Official Twitter
ATEEZ Staff Official Twitter
KQ Official Homepage KQ Official YouTube KQ Official Twitter KQ Official Instagram KQ Official Facebook
Official Content April 22 - April 26, 2024 Concept Photo 1 April 29 - May 03, 2024 Concept Photo 2 May 06 - May 10, 2024 Concept Photo 3 May 13, 2024 Title Poster May 14, 2024 Tracklist Poster May 15 - May 17, 2024 Concept Photo 4 May 18, 2024 GOLDEN HOUR Intro May 20 - May 21, 2024 ? May 23, 2024 ? May 24, 2024 Preview May 24, 2024 Online Album Cover May 27, 2024 MV Poster May 28, 2024 MV Teaser 1 May 29, 2024 MV Teaser 2 May 30, 2024 D-1 Poster May 31, 2024 D-Day Poster May 31, 2024 Release
Official Schedule Pre-order: Friday, April 26, 2024 Online: Friday, May 31, 2024 Offline: Early June, 2024
Other Comeback Related Threads Comeback Megathread Release Information Tracklist Streaming & Sales Music Shows & Performances Reality & Variety Shows
ATEEZ 2024 WORLD TOUR [TOWARDS THE LIGHT : WILL TO POWER] IN NORTH AMERICA Annoucement Tour Megathread ATINY MEMBERSHIP PRESALE ATEEZ LIVE PRESALE
Dates & Venues in North America July 14, 2024 Tacoma, Tacoma Dome July 17, 2024 Oakland, Oakland Arena July 20, 2024 Los Angeles, BMO Stadium July 25, 2024 Phoenix, Footprint Center July 28, 2024 Arlington, Globe Life Field July 31, 2024 Duluth, Gas South Arena August 3, 2024 New York, Citi Field August 6, 2024 Washington DC, Capital One Arena August 8, 2024 Toronto, Scotiabank Arena August 10, 2024 Rosemont, Allstate Arena
Tickets will be sold from websites designated by the venues. This includes axs.com / ticketmaster.com. For more information please refer to ATEEZ LIVE FAQ.
EUROPE: JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2025
ATINY MEMBERSHIP Renewal Details Announcement
The membership card and membership kit concept of the ATEEZ OFFICIAL FANCLUB ATINY MEMBERSHIP (hereafter referred to as membership) will be newly changed.
Renewal Schedule: May 3, 2024
Precautions: - The above schedule is subject to change depending on the situation. - Membership kits currently on sale will end on May 2nd (Thursday) at 23:59 with the concept renewal. - You can purchase up to one membership kit per concept per ID during the membership validity period. - If you purchased the 4th membership KIT after signing up for membership on July 15, 2023, the 5th Membership KIT will be available for purchase 1 time before the membership expiration date of July 15, 2024.
What is renewal? Membership re-subscriber within 15 days from the expiration date after the expiration of the existing membership (The initial membership subscription date will be maintained when the renewal payment is completed with the same ID as the existing membership.)
Please check TOKTOQ for more information about ATINY MEMBERSHIP.
Fanmeeting The fanmeeting will be held in July, 2024.
April 27, 2024 FROM A TO Z April 27, 2024 TINY UNIVERSITY NEWS April 28, 2024 TEAM 'A' PLAYER 81 April 28, 2024 TEAM 'A' PLAYER 11 April 28, 2024 TEAM 'A' PLAYER 01 April 28, 2024 TEAM 'A' PLAYER 52 April 28, 2024 TEAM 'Z' PLAYER 77 April 28, 2024 TEAM 'Z' PLAYER 99 April 28, 2024 TEAM 'Z' PLAYER 89 April 28, 2024 TEAM 'Z' PLAYER 00 April 30, 2024 TEAM A vs TEAM Z
More coming soon.
Wiki on ATEEZ As our community continues to grow, we would like to remind you that they're rules for posting on ATEEZ. Please check out our Wiki before posting.

1. Content: Please ensure that your post complies with our rules and the general Reddiquette. If it's a discussion topic also ensure that this specific topic hasn't been discussed already recently (within the past month). You can find a more detailed explanation in the content guidelines.
2. Flair: Please make sure to flair your posts. Not only does it help to avoid re-posting, it also keeps the sub organised. Posts without a flair will be automatically deleted.
3. Naming Conventions: Please refer to our naming conventions guide when titling your posts. This also greatly helps in keeping posts searchable and organised. If the title of your post does not follow the guidelines, it may be removed by the moderators and you'll be asked to resubmit.
4. Low Effort/Spam: Please do not post low effort or spam posts that do not engage the subreddit. Please do not post any photos that can be considered memes, or that are not from legitimate sources.
5. Weekly ATINY Tavern: Our Weekly ATINY Tavern is a place for casually chatting with fellow ATINY. You're free to talk about whatever you want in there - be it ATEEZ related or not. We may redirect certain big topics to their appropriate megathreads in the future, but we will communicate about this if/when it arises.
6. Rule Change Overview: At the bottom of our guideline page you can find a summary of all rule changes that have been implemented over time for better transparency and to avoid confusion.

Moderation We're currently seeking 2-3 ATINY who are interested in planning and running events for ATEEZ. If you're uncertain about what's possible, the rest of the mod team will offer guidance and support.
Are you interested in joining our team? We'd love to hear from you! Details can be found here.
This thread will be regularly updated.

"O the depth of the wealth and wisdom and understanding of God! How unexamined are His judgments and unsearchable His ways! Because who knows the Lord's thoughts? Or who would be His adviser? Or who gave Him what before, to return to Him? Because everything is from Him and through Him and in Him. Glory to him forever. Amen."
Rom. 11:33-36
Human beings with their limitations do not have enough capacity to fully understand God's essence, but we still have enough information to understand the essence of what God wanted to tell us.
Apostle Paul was a great disciple of God and as such he possessed a lot of knowledge and truth because God himself revealed it to him, but he also had doubts because he realized how little we as humans know, so he asked himself:
,, O the depth of the riches and wisdom and reason of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unsearchable His ways!"
Rom. 11:33
and immediately after in the next verse:
"For who knows the mind of the Lord?"
Rom. 11:34
Paul wonders,, who is that man who dares to say that he has grasped all the wisdom of God and knows God so well that he could be his adviser, is there a man who thinks that he could give something to God, what can we give to God and that before that we did not receive it again from God because He is the one who created everything and sustains everything."
There are no such material things, they don't exist - everything we did, created is not ours, we just maybe shaped it in one way or another, and in essence it is God's creation because we used some material good that we found in nature that God created, took reworked and then used to shape some of our ideas. So we used God's creation to make something, and now we should give that creation to God because maybe God will need it. This is essentially limiting God and lowering himself to the level of man, and we know that God is not limited by anything, so this kind of action is in direct opposition to the essence of God, which we do not know enough, but quite enough to see that we should not do such things. Here is what God once said to his people about sacrifices and offerings:
"What good will incense, which comes from the Sava, and good cinnamon from a distant country do to me? Your burnt offerings are not pleasing to me, nor are your offerings pleasing to me."
Jer. 6:20
And now Paul concludes that only what is right is still something that God expects from us and that God is pleased to hear, there is something that we can "give to God:
..To him be glory forever. Amen."
Rom. 11:36
The only thing we can "give" to God is to thank and glorify God for the immeasurable grace and grace that He gave us abundantly and which He still gives us abundantly.
Although God is Vast and Unfathomable for our concepts because we read that it is written that "God's ways are unsearchable and unexamined and that no one knows the mind of the Lord", this does not mean that we should not try to find out at least a small part of God's vastness and unfathomability.
We should try to search and learn because we read that God tells us:
"All letters are given by God and useful for learning"
2 Tim. 3:16
If God tells us to learn, then it means that we can grow in the knowledge of God and the truths that are revealed to us in such a way that we will search, question and think about God's word that is given to us in the Bible.
In order to try to understand God's immensity and inscrutability, we need to ask ourselves what we know about God's creative power and power. We live in a time when technology and science are at a very high level, but despite this, there is no clear answer or confirmation is our country and environment. There are many ideas about what actually happened and how our world functions, but they are all vague and not one of them gives the correct answer and will not give it because only God knows the true answer and everything else is human attempts to give some reasonable solution of course without the presence of God. and there is a problem because without God there is no answer or solution to that question. The most honest thing would be to say that we don't know how our world was created because we don't have that much knowledge and we don't know how everything works perfectly because in order for everything to work like this God's knowledge is needed because an incredible number of processes per second takes place, and in order for someone to control it all, it would be necessary to be God, because that requires an incomprehensible amount of knowledge and wisdom for us humans.
And such knowledge is possessed only by God, who is unfathomable and unfathomable to the human mind.
Here is what the psalmist says about this topic in the eighth psalm:
"Lord, our Lord! How glorious is Your name throughout the earth! You have raised your glory to higher heavens. In the mouths of little children and those who suck, you praise yourself in the face of your enemies, in order to silence the enemy and the restless. When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set; What is man, and you admonish him, or the son of man, and you follow him? You made him a little lower than an angel, you married him with glory and honor; You made him lord over the works of your hands, you put everything under his feet, Sheep and oxen all, and wild beasts, Birds of the sky and fish of the sea, whatever goes on the sea roads. Lord, our Lord! How glorious is Your name in all the earth"
Psalm 8:1-9
And Job:
,, Who makes things great and untestable, wonderful, of which there are no number; Who sends rain to the earth and sends water to the fields; Who scatters the thoughts of the cunning so that their hands accomplish nothing; Who catches the wise in their cunning, and overthrows the purpose of the wicked; During the day they encounter darkness, and at noon they grope as in the night. He delivers the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. Thus there is hope for the poor, but wickedness shuts its mouth. Behold, the blessing of the man whom God chastises; and therefore do not reject the chastisement of the Almighty. For He inflicts wounds and howls; He strikes, and His hands heal. He will deliver you from six troubles; evil will not touch you even in the seventh. He will deliver you from death in famine and from the sword in war. When the tongue whips, you will be hidden, nor will you fear the desolation when it comes. You will laugh at desolation and famine, nor will you be afraid of the beast of the earth. Because you will be in faith with the stones of the field, and the beast of the field will be at peace with you. And you will see that there is peace in your tent, you will build your house and you will not be deceived. You will see how your seed will multiply, and your birth will be like grass on the earth. You will go to the grave old as the grain is brought to the stack in its time. Here, let's look at it, that's right; listen and understand."
Job 5:5-27
"He moves it upstairs, so that no one notices; he overturns them in his anger; He moves the earth from its place so that its pillars shake; When he threatens the sun, he does not come out; He seals the stars; He crucifies the sky alone, and treads on the waves of the sea; He made the stars of chariots and staffs and Vlašićs and others in the bottom; He makes things great and untestable and wonderful, which are without number. Behold, he passes by me, and I do not see; it passes and I don't notice it. Behold, when He catches, who will make Him return? Who will say to Him: What are you doing?
Job 9:5-12
"He scattered the north over the void, and hung the earth on nothing. He binds the waters in his clouds, and the cloud under them does not penetrate. He holds his throne, he prophesies his cloud above it. He has placed a circle of water in the middle until there is an end to light and darkness. The pillars of heaven shake and tremble at His threat. He split the sea with his strength and broke its fury with his understanding. He decorated the heavens with His Spirit, and His hand created a striped serpent. Behold, these are the parts of His ways; but how little is it that we hear of Him? And who will understand the thunder of His power?"
Job 26:7-14
,, And who could build a home for Him when the sky and the heavens above the heavens cannot contain Him? And who am I to build him a home? But only to burn incense before Him"
2 Days 2:6
,, But will God really dwell on earth? Here, the sky and the heavens above the heavens cannot contain You, let alone this home that I am building?"
1 Kings 8:27
"Don't you know? Haven't you heard that God the eternal Lord, who created the ends of the earth, does not stop or get tired? There is no measure to His understanding"
Isa. 40:28
"Just as you do not know which way the wind is or how the bones form in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the works of God and how he creates everything."
Ecclesiastes 11:5
We have seen verses that tell us how vast and unfathomable God is in His knowledge for us humans, we have seen part of God's creations and knowledge to which we do not have answers because we simply do not possess that much knowledge, we are only God's creatures and God has always been, is and It will be God.
We can only confirm the following verses:
"O the depth of the wealth and wisdom and understanding of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unsearchable His ways!"
Rom. 11:33
"Your knowledge is strange to me, high, I cannot fathom it."
Psalm 139:6
"The Lord is great, and He should be praised, and His majesty cannot be reached"
Psalm 145:3
,,...To him be glory forever. Amen."
Rom. 11:36

I yelled and woke with a start. Sweat dripped down my face. My breathing was hard and desperate. I could have sworn I had just been falling. The stickiness of sleep meddled with the cogs of my mind. Slowly my eyes adjusted to the gloom of my bedroom and I found myself alone, safe and warm. No danger here. My heart rate slowed and I chuckled nervously. Soon all fear had seeped from my mind and all memory of my dream had faded. I rolled out of bed and shivered. Quickly I pulled on a sweater and put on my furry slippers. It was cold in this cabin in the middle of the forest. Although internal plumbing and an electric generator had been added, there was still no central heating. This did not bother me much because I always enjoyed having an excuse to light the fire in the living room. I absolutely loved traditional fireplaces.
​
I was whistling happily in the kitchen, sipping on a glass of cold water as I poured fresh coffee beans into my electric grinder. The sound and smell of coffee being ground always left me feeling content. As my coffee brewed in my French press I cracked two eggs into a bowel and began to whisk. Fifteen minutes later I carried a steaming hot cheese omelet and large mug of coffee out onto my front veranda. I stood in the open doorway, surveying the beauty of the outdoors in the early morning light. The air was cold and fresh; pregnant with complex mixtures of pine and lavender scents. I looked up to see the sky was a deep blue and devoid of all clouds. The thin, dark silhouettes of the trees that surrounded the cabin stood silent and ominous in the soft half-light of the morning. White coats of frost sparkled and melted on the grass as the sun climbed and brightened. I could hear the distant sound of the stream and the call of morning birds.
​
I sighed deeply with satisfaction and sat down on my wooden chair. This is what I loved more than anything. More than the city that bustles and bursts with busy human lives. More than squeezing myself between strangers on the underground train. More than the sickening smell of the streets and the soulless lack of any natural sounds. In the city there were no crickets, no owls, no frogs. Out here there was an abundance of beauty. The trees were so patient and still. So very different from the rushed, ill-mannered commuters I had as my usual morning partners. I definitely preferred the trees. I took another deep breath. I blew on the steam that rose from my coffee mug and sipped cautiously. The coffee was rich and delicious and scalding hot. Perfect. I began to eat my omelet letting the serenity of nature continue to wash over me. My mood had not been so elated for many months and I was seriously thinking that I should move here full-time. Currently I was working as an English teacher and had decided to come out here to work on my novel and take a break from the city. From my life. Once my excellent breakfast was complete I walked back inside and decided to start a fire to warm up the cabin. As I stooped to check the small wicker basket near the fireplace, that should contain the dried firewood, my eyebrow arched when I found the basket empty. Huh? I could have sworn it was half-full yesterday. Puzzled but not at all alarmed I picked up the basket. Soon I put on my large, worn black coat and made my way outside.
​
The frosted ground crunched under my large leather boots as I waded through the woods. Finding dry branches for the fire would be fairly difficult at this time of day as most of the ground was damp by now. However, my plan was just to dry them out in the oven before I used them. After spending a few minutes stooping to inspect sticks of various sizes and dampness I finally filled the basket. “Ok, time to go home.” I muttered eagerly as I rubbed my hands together. The air was still cold enough to make my breath visible and I rubbed my hands together. Suddenly I stopped. My eyebrows furrowed. I did not recognize where I was. But how? I had been exploring the woods for days now and not one time had I gotten lost.
​
My eyes darted back and forth and my head swiveled in confusion. Very soon a creeping panic began to climb from my stomach up into my lungs. My heart began to thump loudly. I looked up at the sun, the voice of my old man ringing in my mind, “Learn to navigate by the stars and sun and you’ll never lose your way”. I smiled, remembering his warm eyes and loud laughter. I missed him. I closed my eyes, concentrating. “Ok, that must be East, so that means I should walk…” I stretched out my arm and hand, index finger pointed. I turned on my heel. “North. That way.”
​
After a few moments I found my path blocked by a sudden sheer drop. I was facing an enormous quarry. My face blanched. “What… where the hell did this come from?” Again, panic seeped into my blood. “There aren’t any bloody quarries around here!” I moved forward to peek over the edge and peered down. The drop must be at least fifteen meters! I looked from left to right and saw no stairs or bridges. How the hell was I supposed to get across? My confusion grew and grew. Suddenly I froze. There, lying at the very bottom of the quarry, just near the cliff’s bottom, was a mangled body. The light in the sky was still too young to properly illuminate the quarry’s depths, but I could tell it was a body! My eyes bulged and my mouth opened wide with astonishment. “Jesus! Hello? Are you okay down there?” I yelled. Nothing but cold silence pressed against my ears. Suddenly I noticed a path that I had not seen before. It started to my right and wound down the slope before me. Quickly I started hurrying down towards the person; maybe I could still help? Soon I was at the bottom and I ran up to the body that lay still on the ground. As I got closer and the sun grew brighter I stopped dead. The body that lay crumpled at my feet was – me. “No way. There is just absolutely no way!” I shouted. I trembled as I took a step backward. My foot slipped on a large stone and I felt myself begin to fall to the ground.
​
Suddenly I yelped and my legs kicked out. I blinked in the sudden darkness and found myself on my sofa in the cabin’s living room. “What the hell? It was just a dream?” I said out loud as I sat up. I felt the softness of the couch cushions beneath me, I could smell the citrus scents leftover from the wash I’d given them recently. I stood up, my breathing still fast. The large windows showed a stormy afternoon. Rain pelted the glass heavily and the wind howled loudly. “What the hell? It was just a dream?” I repeated. I checked my watch. It was nearly two o’clock in the afternoon. I raked my brain, trying to figure out what was happening. But the details of my dream were fading. “I was in the forest looking for firewood. Then I found that body in that quarry.” It had been so real. I felt quite disoriented. Was I truly awake now? Or still asleep? And that body? What had been so terrible about it? The dream had already seeped away. I couldn’t remember.
​
Still confused I made my way quickly towards the front door. Just as I opened it there was a deafening peal of thunder and a bright fork of lightning lit up the darkling sky. My mouth dropped open. There, just beyond the veranda, as if it had always been there, was the quarry. That cliff! I closed my mouth. “But… how…” Ignoring the icy rain, I walked towards the edge and once again peeked over. In the cold light of another flash of lightening and rumble of thunder, I saw my own body twisted and broken on the ground below. I gasped. My mind reeled. My heart fluttered. “What is going on?” I yelled looking around for some sort of explanation. When I looked back down again my face turned white. The body, my body, was gone. Suddenly I felt the eyes of a stranger on my back. A feeling of dread crept up my spine. A twig snapped. I spun around.
​
I stood face to face with my shadow. But he did not look like me. Not exactly. Darkness coated his body like a skintight suit and I could not tell what he was wearing. He may have even been naked for all I know. I could see most of his face and hair, but his eyes were cloaked entirely in semi-circles of shadow which fell below each of his brows. He seemed utterly unconcerned about the storm. “You poor thing. You poor, wretched thing.” When he spoke, his voice was not mine. It was deep and commanding, yet gentle. His words came out slow and calm, almost lulling, “I caught you as you fell. You have made a half-choice. You can be at peace forever. But you must choose now.” He stretched out a tenebrous hand and pointed toward the edge of the cliff. Suddenly I noticed something new appear in his hands. It was a book. It was my book. The one I had been writing. Had I already finished it? Or had I just started?
​
He turned to one of the middle pages and read, “‘Life is the antithesis of peace. Death is the antithesis of suffering.’” He snapped the book closed and turned again to face me, “How trite. Yet, so often the plainest truths are. All you want is peace, is it not? You are right in thinking that life can never provide this.” A cold smile curled his lips. “Even the living forests you so admire are crawling with suffering and conflict. Even the trees that appear so peaceful, so still, are wordlessly fighting each other for light. Racing against each other to claim their own space. It is the nature of the living to struggle.” Confusion fought with terror in my mind. I stammered. “I…I don’t understand. What is this place? Who are you?” Suddenly the man robed in darkness leapt at me and clasped my wrist, “You know who I am”. Small crimson lights flared to life like ignes fatui in the depths of his sockets. He began to pull me towards the edge. “No! Wait!” I shouted, digging my heels into the wet grass. But he was too strong. He snarled, “Isn’t this what you wanted?” and before I could stop myself I was crying from desperation. Then with a strength that could not be human he lifted me above his head, and threw me over the side of the quarry. Lightning flashed as the air rushed through my hair. I screamed as I plummeted to my death.
​
I yelled and woke with a start. I heard the soft beeping of monitors. I felt the scratchy linens of a hospital bed beneath me. Pain followed swiftly and exploded through my limbs. My voice was croaky and dry as I spoke, “Where…what the hell…what happened?” A nurse rushed to my side. “It’s alright love, you’ve ‘ad a bit of a tumble. Doctor’s got you all sorted. Just rest now”. Her voice was warm and comforting, like a cup of tea.
​
My memory returned to me slowly. My family did not own any cabin in the forest. The day of the accident I had been jogging in the woods and took my usual route near the abandoned quarry. I remember exactly what had happened. For a long time, I have been overwhelmed with my work and underwhelmed with my life. I wanted nothing more than to finish my novel and bail on all my teaching responsibilities. My father had also recently died after a long and horrible fight with cancer and it was the first time I realized that at my age life stops providing and starts taking. I realized that soon all those things, all those people, I could once rely on were not going to last forever. An invisible fire was lit in my flesh and I felt my time was rapidly running out.
​
I jogged far, leaving the city limits. As I stood at the edge of that quarry, panting, my sadness hanging on me heavily, I had, for a moment, contemplated jumping. I had thought about it often before. As I stared down, I imagined my broken body at the bottom of the cliff. Then, like in all my low moments, I let the cold inhumanness of the universe fill me up.
​
With my eyes closed all I could hear was my mother crying over my father’s corpse. All I could hear were the endless calls from the funeral home asking for their money. All the constant knocking of debt collectors on our door. All I could see were the endless medical bills flooding the postbox. All I felt was loneliness. A horrible, unrelenting, unsolvable loneliness. I had no great love, no amazing career, and my writing would never be good enough to publish. All I could feel was the gaping hole my father had left behind. It hurt. For just a moment I convinced myself I did not belong here anymore. My lips trembled. I walked right up to the edge. I felt my sadness swell in my chest. I clenched my fists tightly. I imagined taking a single step forward. It would be so easy. I imagined the air rushing past me. Falling to my doom. I imagined the horrible pain of the impact. But I also imagined the peace that would come after. A peace I craved. I imagined a picturesque cabin in the woods. A beautiful fireplace. A shelter from the city. A place where I could rest. It was in that moment of contemplative despair, before I could fully commit to the act, that the old unstable ground of the quarry crumbled beneath my feet and I had slipped from the edge and fell. Only the shadows were there to catch me.
​
Recovery was slow. My mother and sister came to visit me multiple times and made the stay at the hospital bearable. How many dreams had I had? How much had I awoken and then re-awoken? Could I be sure I was truly awake now? As I pondered this I tried to remember. But all I could recall was that very last dream. Those dark horrible eyes. The terror of that very last fall. In that moment, I had realized what I wanted. Now I felt rejuvenated in a way I had not felt for many years. The exhaustion of my spirit had finally been ameliorated. I actually looked forward to getting out of bed. I actually wanted to go to school again. My passion for teaching was reignited. Soon after my recovery I even managed to get my novel published but did not make much money.
​
Many years have passed since my fall and I’m in my 60s now and retired and have never married. I now know that those dreams were not just dreams. That phantom I confronted has remained with me. Whenever the stresses of life pile up and I become fatigued, he comes to me. He still waits for me. He is real. I see his eyes covered in shadow. Tiny pinpricks of red-light flicker therein. At first, I only saw him rarely; glimpses in dreams. As time went on and I grew older and weary of the world once more I began to see him in the corner of my room every night. What’s worse was that in those moments when I feel the lowest I find myself craving the solitude of that cabin. The peace it brought with it. All this I craved despite the price.
​
Last week I attended my mother’s funeral. It was a small affair, most of her friends having died many years before. I saw my sister there with her husband and children. They are so happy and full of life. I feel a pang of jealousy but also relief. My life was always to be a solitary one. My sister and I cried during the service. When we chatted later we tried in vain to comfort each other. It was then I began to mention the strange man I’d been seeing. But my voice died in my throat as I looked up.
He was there with us at lunch, standing behind me. I saw him in the mirror. My sister saw him too. She yelled, leapt out of her seat and fell to the ground when she saw him. “Oh my God, what the hell is that?” she screamed. Then, just as swiftly as shadows retreat from light, he was gone. “But how? What was? Who was that?” she asked loudly, eyes wide, the other people attending the restaurant had stopped eating to watch us, obviously confused. My sister was pale and I stood to help her to her feet, “Now do you believe me?” Lunch ended there.
​
Flustered and disturbed we returned home. I returned alone to my home in London while my sister returned home with her husband and children to Edinburgh. She seemed a lot less shaken up once she’d met with them at the station. I wonder if she’ll tell them what she saw?
​
Since the funeral I see him constantly now. Often his shadow-hidden hand stretches out and he holds a revolver. But he does not mean to shoot me. No. He holds the revolver’s ivory handle toward me. Sometimes he holds out a hangman’s noose. Sometimes it’s a long, ornate dagger. Most recently he holds out a canister of helium gas. And a plastic bag for my head. Each time he does this I resist him. Sometimes, when I’m alone, I even yell at him to leave. His face remains dark, stony and enigmatic.
​
None of this would scare me quite so much if I had not just realized one terrible detail. What turns my blood to ice from fear is that every time I see him he is infinitesimally closer. How had I not noticed before? Perhaps it was a kindness. Gooseflesh runs down my neck as I see him standing insidiously in my cold bedroom. He is near the edge of my bed now. He is patient and has respected my choice so far. Nevertheless, he holds out that same revolver. That same noose. That same dagger. I tremble with fright because I know I will not be able to resist him much longer. Perhaps soon I’ll know if this was all a dream too.

edit: please.. i know it's long but i need opinions..
note: this is very long and i covered our entire relationship timeline, if you skim to the end you should probably still get a general idea of why i suspect this.
i'm recently out of a relationship and i have been going back and forth in my head for the last couple months trying to understand what happened, why did it end, did i do something to deserve the treatment i was getting after the breakup? i'm still there, in my head, trying to figure it out.
we were very long distance for the entire relationship, meeting online originally. when we very first got together things were very uncertain and there was no communication. to the point i didn't even know if we were really together. they left me the first time at the end of december, which lasted a whopping 12 hours or so. but we got back together under different circumstances, they suggested a third partner in a poly relationship. this arrangement lasted 5 days, the third partner was local to me and we were able to see each other in person leading to some jealousy and the ultimate decision for us to break off the third partner and try monogamy just the two of us because neither of us truly wanted to be in the arrangement and only agreed to keep the other around.
it's at this point i'd say our relationship officially started despite us saying we had been together the entire time and ignoring the other breakup/relationship we went through together. it's important to note that this was my first queer relationship as well. at the beginning, the day after we decided to be officially monogamous and serious about each other there was a revival in the extensive flattery i was receiving as well as flowers delivered to my house. this wasn't a red flag to me, from the start of january through the end of our relationship mid march they purchased the following for me: flowers twice, 3 semi expensive stuffed animals, custom matching tshirts, a plane ticket, a necklace, a few small things i can't recall off the top of my head and a ring (with the promise of forever, but never THE question.) i returned their energy in the beginning, posting each other frequently, talking often, gushing over each other. i didn't have the financial ability to return the gifting gestures to the extent they did but i did buy them this stuffed animal flower pot because they didn't have any florists near then to send an actual bouquet, a necklace, friendship bracelets i made them with meaningful lyrics (and matching ones with each others names), a few small things, and a ring. i did buy the ring for them after they hinted that they bought me a ring a couple times because while it felt really i loved them so much and knew if we were promising forever i'd want that with them. around a month into the relationship after a plane ticket had been purchased for us to meet in person (i was invited to join my partner and their friend on a trip where they would be closer to me for a few days so we could meet, the trip was not planned with the intention of me joining.) i told my mom about the trip i had planned to see "a friend" i had met online and this was going to be my first ever flight and my first ever trip "alone" as an adult. this information concerned my mother and caused her to snoop on my online presence in which she discovered that i was gay and the person i was going to see was much more than a friend. my mother then sent many very long and hurtful messages to me in a few where she expressed that she was mainly concerned for me because she was convinced that with the two bouquets i had received at that point that i was dealing with a narcissist and that my partner was actually manipulating me into the relationship and using me. my mother also messaged my partners parents informing them of our relationship before she had the chance to tell them (they were out to their family already but they hadn't told their family about me yet or the trip.) through this whole ordeal i ended up coming out to my family and leaning on my partner and mutual friends for support. during this time they assured me we could get through anything together. this time does stand out to me as a turning point in our relationship. this was shortly before valentine and despite stating they would send valentines flowers they stated they didn't want to "because they didn't want my mom to think they weren't being manipulative." weird but okay... until we met in person this as the end of the gifts. we met in person at the end of february. for a few weeks leading up to this trip i could feel the distance, my partner was avoiding me and not communicating what was going on . they posted less about me and were far less flattery than before while i tried to keep up the same level of affection and posting we had at the very start. as the trip approached the excitement of seeing each other seemed to revive their interest in me. the trip was very nice, it went well. we explored the local areas, watched movies, played board games, went to a museum all as a group with her friend. on the trip i had my first queer sexual experience with my partner. i was clueless and didn't get much guidance. very much played the role of a pillow princess at these times. (relevant later) it was on this trip we exchanged rings with each other, the rings weren't accompanied by any promises or questions. it was like trading friendship bracelets but in my mind it meant so much more. on the trip i started by wearing the ring on my left ring finger but after noticing she hadn't done the same i moved it to my middle finger. after a couple days together and a devastating airport goodbye we both headed back home over a thousand miles apart. immediately after the trip i could feel the distance again. they were pulling away and avoiding me and not really talking me what as going on. during this relationship both our attachment styles were very prominent and very different. they were more avoidant while i was very anxious. this dynamic made us both extremely anxious and when they pulled away i would get scared they were going to abandon me and i would freak out and text them, one time in particular it was quite a few messages. this is where this really started to confuse me on why and how this had to happen. after this deal out my partner expressed they needed space and they were testing me to see if i could give it to them if they ignored me all night cause i took a nap and they went to bed early so there was less time of us both being awake to expect conversation at all. after this i tried to respect their request for space and went to a friend for advice because i felt like she had been avoiding me so much since our trip that my needs weren't being met but she wanted space so i didn't feel i could talk to her about it and i was scared she was gonna leave me. she had told me that my constant posting her made her uncomfortable because she wasnt the type to post relationships all the time and my texting all the time was smothering. my friend advised me to look into attachment styles which is what led me to my observations regarding my anxious attachment style and her avoidant attachment. this also led me to discover i had become somewhat codependent on my partner. i then talked to my partner about what i discovered and promised to work on my anxiety about abandonment and make efforts to be more independent to give her more space. this space i was trying to give was however interrupted by our ex third partner resurfacing and creating unnecessary drama on social media. this filled an entire weekend and forced my partner and i to essentially form a united front against our ex. during this time i noticed my partner intentionally avoiding statements i made that solidified our relationship (ie. i said our relationship was strong and she intentionally didn't agree with me, she ignored my statement. and she later confirmed ignoring it.) she was avoiding telling me she loved me etc promises of forever. a couple days later she had liked an astrology post stating her sign was with the wrong person and i sent the post to her asking if everything was okay, she replied with a breakup message. we had a phone later that night where she told me that the distance was too hard after meeting in person when we hadn't been able to establish a solid base relationship in person and that it was the "responsible" thing to do to end our relationship because realistically neither of us would be able to afford to close the distance anytime soon and she had overspent on the last trip and she couldn't afford to do that as frequently as she'd want to see me. we ended by agreeing that we wanted to keep each other in our lives and that if circumstances were ever different we might try again. that same night we watched a movie on facetime together because earlier that day i had asked for a date night and she still wanted to do it.
for about 3 weeks following the initial breakup we continued to talk daily and she expressed uncertainty in her decision to end our relationship. i told her repeatedly that as much as i loved her and didn't want it to end i couldn't make the decision for her and that she had to decide what she thought was best. we even had a 3 hour phone where we agreed to stay together in this in-between place where we weren't broken up but weren't together while she decided. however in the first few days a mutual friend would send me 9mins straight of voices memos of her talking shit about me, telling them that the breakup was for many small petty reasons she had never mentioned to me (she blamed me for how much money she spent on the trip even though she refused when i initially asked her if i would need to pay for anything and she told me no, i walked too slow, her friend that was on the trip with us said i was talking shit about her because i told my partner that i had a great time on the trip and couldn't wait to go on a trip just the two of us, that i was too stuck on getting back together and it would only happened if i changed everything about my personality and calling me "gaslighty" for saying "let me know when you miss me i guess" after she ignored me for hours and told me she needed space) as well as a comment that the sex (my first time, remember) was bad.
after those first few weeks of our half breakup i noticed the energy had shifted and she and her closer friends online were avoiding me and i messaged asking if things had changed since we last talked and she said yes and we proceeded to officially end things 3 weeks after the initial breakup.
this is where things get hairy. (again)
it's now been 6/7 weeks since the initial half breakup, in that time i was initially posting on my private twitter account about being depressed and being hurt, i will admit part of me wanted to know if she cared still but felt communication was not an option anymore. even broken up and sending only streak on snapchat every day for our only communication, she expressed she still didn't have enough space. she shouldnt have seen those posts on my private but she did see some of them and began subtweeting me from her main account. i was primarily expressing sadness while she was making petty digs with song lyrics about not caring about me, being happier than ever, calling me obsessed and desperate and even directly posting on her private account about how good it made her feel that i was relating to heartbreaking songs on a new album while she related to the songs about being relieved after leaving a relationship and starting something new. eventually it got to the point where she was posting something daily about me. my posts started getting more petty and more public as well as it continued. now these last couple weeks she has started talking to a new girl. she has been posting references to our relationship but associating them with her new gf. she has compared me and the new gf in public posts repeatedly. bragging about the distance being better, being more in love than she was before, etc. she has been saying anything to hurt me because she knows im looking because i keep reacting. in this time i have now done two things that were very out of character for me that i regret. i quoted her new gfs tweet with a petty response and immediately deleted it. her and her finds then called me a "psychotic freeloader" and this also got me blocked by both of them on all accounts. following this i did make a few very direct and petty subtweets since i was blocked and still amazed to see my ex and her new gfs tweets from a group account we shared with others. now i do want to say that in the moments i chose to act on these petty impulse i was very overwhelmed with hurt and anger but i also understand those feelings don't excuse my behavior. now to the worst thing ive done in reaction to seeing her moving on while im still grieving the end of our relationship. while very drunk and full of rage, i had the shell of an old instagram account with no posts/followers or anything and i changed the username to my exes new gfs full government name + a threat and proceeded to like a bunch of her new gfs instagram posts. there were also some tweets that my friends called concerning on my private twitter account (i continue referencing my private account because i had a private and a public account as did she) in which i made a comment along the lines of "because burning her house down would be wrong and require a plane ticket" with a photo of the polaroid i burned (just another picture to burn idk it was cathartic and i meant it as a joke but it concerned people.)
friends brought my actions to my attention and expressed their concern for me the following morning and i have made the decision to stop drinking (this as a recent habit to cope with the breakup) as well as deleting all social media at least until i have healed from this experience. i have apologized to all my friends for my actions (i couldn't apologize to my ex or her new gf bc im blocked everywhere.)
multiple people have come to me multiple times unprovoked since she got the new gf and told me that they've seen what my ex is doing to me and that i don't deserve the treatment and that they wish they could warn her new gf.
at this point i know i crossed a line with my actions, and i may have lost some friends for it but moving forward if im going to heal i need to understand what i also need to fix/work on so that nothing like this happens again. i can control my own actions but i can't tell if i acted out because im secretly manipulative or if its because im simply reacting to the way ive been treated.
ive been trying to reframe our relationship in my mind to see it for what it really was so i can work on accepting that it was never as serious as i thought it was and that i was being used for a majority of the relationship but what if i've been the problem the whole time and just been convincing myself that it's not me when it is? was it both of us the whole time? are neither of us narcissists? are we both?
edit: i have been in a constant downward spiral since the breakup while she is "happy" and "moved on" and my presence on social media was a lot like self harm to watch her moving on so publicly on the same platform our relationship started and was shown off for months while i knew she was also seeing me struggling with everything and i have deleted all relevant social media apps at this time.

I don't know why I'm telling you this. Maybe as a warning. Maybe I just want to know that there's someone, anyone, who will listen to what I have to say and react appropriately.
I live in a small town at the base of a semi-famous mountain, somewhere in Northern California. I’m not going to disclose exactly which town, however it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to figure it out. Our population is 3,165, a large percentage of which consists of rich old people and weed smoking hippies. Objectively, it’s a beautiful place: there are nice restaurants for the tourists, long hikes concluding in crashing waterfalls, and views from even the downtown windows that could be called breathtaking. To the locals like me, of course, these perks are somewhat watered down by years at the tiny, poorly funded high school and the thirty minute drive to get to the nearest Walmart. But even with that being said, the spirits here are generally high, especially during the summer.
I won’t lie, it’s not like I’ve never noticed strange things. I think something paranormal or otherworldly can be said about any town, especially ones that get boring after living in them your entire life. Rumors spread, stories are born and passed around like souvenirs. My town is no exception to this rule. However, until a couple of weeks ago, these stories only scared me when it was dark outside.
Something started feeling seriously wrong on a perfectly sunny Sunday afternoon. My friends and I went to the city park, as we sometimes did when sitting inside, playing GTA, and shit talking the same people we knew in high school again (did you hear that Jessica got pregnant? No way, I thought she was still in jail...) got boring.
We sat by the rusty, slightly off-putting, 12 foot metal clown by the jungle gym (why did they never get rid of that thing?) eating our supermarket sandwiches and trying to subtly hit a blunt from behind our sweatshirt sleeves, as the park was swarming (compared to usual) with the spring rush of tourists, enjoying the sun and each other's slightly high conversation. Laughing at something my friend had said that I no longer remember but must have been funny at the time, I looked around the park. Everything seemed particularly lighthearted that day - there were children playing tag on the other side of the grass plain, people picnicking, dogs chasing sticks and joyfully returning them to their owners, and a family standing side by side, staring up at the white peaks of the mountain in what seemed like awe.
"Shouldn't the snow be gone by now?" My friend said, following my gaze and motioning for the half smoked blunt balanced between my fingers. "It seems like it stays longer every year."
"Because it snows later and later," I replied, glancing around before passing her the weed I'd been babysitting. "Global warming and whatnot."
"Weird," Marcy called from behind us. She was hanging upside down on the bars, her long hair nearly brushing against the gravel. "It seems wrong for there to be that much snow up there in the middle of April."
"There isn't any snow down here, at least," Naomi said absentmindedly next to me, taking a long drag. I watched her flick her short blonde bangs away from her increasingly reddening eyes.
All three of us went quiet for a moment, listening to the warm breeze dance in the head of the metal clown behind us, creating a hollow sort of chime. I kicked at the rocks at my feet, enjoying my buzz. The sounds of the kids running around seemed far away to me, almost like my friends and I were in a little glass box.
"God," Naomi scoffed, breaking through the comfortable silence. She tried to hold in a snort. "Fuckin' tourists. Haven't they ever seen a mountain before?"
"I know," Marcy laughed.
I looked up from my shoes, looking around for who they were talking about. It was immediately obvious. The same family that I had noticed before were still standing there, facing the mountain. They were turned away from us, but I could still tell that their eyes were locked directly on the peak, their heads synonymously tilted upwards. They hadn't moved an inch. How long had it been?
As if reading my thoughts, Marcy swung down from the bars, landing with a clumsy crunch.
"Maybe I'm just high," she mumbled, frowning at them. "But haven't they been standing there a while?"
Naomi scoffed again. "Why don't they just take a picture?"
I swallowed my absence of saliva, shifting uncomfortably. My mouth was suddenly unbearably dry. Even from here I could see the camera straps around the parents necks, untouched. A small dog, maybe a Jack Russel Terrier, scurried in circles around them. It stopped and pawed at the child's calve, dropping the tennis ball in it's mouth and yapping. The kid didn't react. None of them did.
"That..." I didn't know what to say. I felt like all of the breath was being sucked from my lungs. "That's weird, right?"
"Super weird."
Marcy shifted uncomfortably. She had gone silent. She took the blunt from Naomi's hand and stubbed it out against the metal jungle gym, flicking the roach to the ground and stepping on it. "I think I should get home. I've got laundry to do."
I didn't think she was telling the truth, but I felt a little uneasy too. I nodded, pulling my sweatshirt tight around my chest.
As we made our way across the grass toward the parking lot, I couldn't help but glance back at the family. Something seemed so off about them, like something was deeply wrong and I just couldn't put my finger on it. But when I turned to look, it was like it never happened. The dog was yipping happily as the kid threw his ball, and the parents were sitting on the grass, aiming the cameras around their necks at the mountain and snapping away.
Over the next week, everything seemed normal. I had almost forgotten about what had happened at the park. I spent most of the time that I wasn't at work, like usual, indoors, glued to my couch, watching the same Adam Sandler movies over and over again. Most people seemed to think that the nice weather made them happier, or somehow changed things - for me, it wasn't like that. Something about this town seemed to drag you down, and keep you there. Even people who managed to move away, make something of themselves after high school... they always came back. This town drew you in somehow.
I was snapped out of my work-sleep-eat cycle, finally, the next Friday night. I heard honking outside my bedroom window and threw on my slightly more presentable pair of pajamas, rushing outside to find Naomi's dad's beat up Toyota Corolla parked haphazardly against the curb.
"Fancy a drive?" She called out the window in a terrible British accent.
I faked a laugh and climbed into the passenger seat, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "Sure. Why not."
Our late night drives were far more common when we were teenagers, but now, we seemed to take them less for granted. She cranked up the staticky stereo, some shitty local pop station nearly deafening me.
"Sorry," she barked over the music. "No bluetooth."
A pile of empty beer bottles and cans clanked at my feet as I hopelessly knocked them around, reaching desperately for the handle on the ceiling.
"Are these yours or your dads?" I asked, trying not to let my voice shake as she careened around a corner.
"Probably a little bit of both," she yelled back with a smile.
She took another rough turn and I slammed against the passenger side door. I had remembered our drives in high school being a bit more relaxing, but then again, maybe I had been the one behind the wheel. I subtly turned the music down a few notches as we took the narrowing road out of town, the lights from windows growing in scarcity and the evergreens swallowing us as we took off into the forest.
"Remember when we used to drive up here and smoke? And watch those weird PSA videos?" Naomi shouted. She was rolling her window down, letting in the icy breeze and making it even more difficult for me to hear her.
Up here? I looked out the window at the inclining and increasingly windy road. She was taking us up the mountain.
It wasn't like that was crazy or abnormal for us, but for some reason, my heart sank into my stomach. I closed my eyes, and all I could see was the back of the heads of that family, perfectly still, staring up at the skyline.
I didn't open my eyes again until the car rolled to a stop. I hadn't noticed it happening, but the music was quiet now, the static sound overtaking most of any of the discernible lyrics.
"Woah," Naomi said. I blinked, my eyes adjusting to the light.
Wait. The light?
We were parked at the bottom of the mountain, where the hikers that often climbed to the top usually set up basecamp. The mountain was biggest from here, stretching across the horizon, towering above us like a monolith. We had come here so many times, and it had always been a little breathtaking, but now...
I let out a wheeze.
The sky was as bright as daylight. The snow covered peaks seemed to almost glow, or even swell. I swore I could even see clouds in the sky, peeking out from behind the trees.
I checked the time on the car's dashboard. 1:13 AM. It had been pitch dark out moments ago, yet I would have sworn it was long past sunrise up here.
The stereo crackled to life with a horrible sound, making me jump. The static seemed to creep up my arms and under my T-shirt, giving me goosebumps.
"D... D... D..."
"Naomi," I whispered, frozen in place. She was already reaching for my hand, digging her fingernails into my sweaty palm.
"D-D... Don't... Stop..."
"What the fuck," she exhaled. Both of us were like deer in headlights, staring dumbly at the radio. In my peripheral vision, the mountain glowed.
The voice didn't sound human, nothing like the optimistic pop artist that had been singing before. Nothing like anything I had ever heard before, or could even have even conjured up in my head. Certainly nothing I can explain in words now.
"D-D-Don't... Stop... Looking..."
Both the terrible screeching and the voice stopped at once, engulfing us in terrifying silence, and I found my gaze snapping back to the mountain. Right then, as crazy as it sounds, I knew it was breathing.
I could almost feel it next to me, like a mouth right next to my ear.
"Look at us," it whispered, in clear and perfect English.
I didn't need to say anything, Naomi was already shifting gears and peeling out of the parking lot. Neither of us said a word the entire drive back to town, and when she finally parked in front of my house, we took each other's hands and walked inside.
She slept in my bed that night, and neither of us said a word until it was bright outside, properly bright, and the birds were reassuringly chirping outside my window.
The next few days were a haze. Luckily I had the whole weekend, so there was no need to leave and go to work. Naomi stayed over until she was confident enough to drive home alone, and although it was nice to have the space, the house felt eerily empty without her. I couldn't even wrap my head around what I had seen, what I had heard. All I knew was I didn't want to leave, didn't want to see that mountain again, even for a second.
I shielded my windows with curtains, and when that didn't feel like enough, I boarded them up. I put my computer, my radio, everything but my phone in a closet at the end of the hall. I didn't want to take any chances. I didn't ever want to feel that way again, the way I had at the base of that mountain.
I couldn't sleep or eat. By the end of Sunday, I felt ready enough to sip at a bowl of chicken noodle soup from a can, and climb into bed. I could feel the dark circles under my eyes getting worse, threatening to swell and swallow them up altogether. With my room completely blacked out by the boarded windows, I could finally close my eyes.
I don't know why I woke up when I did. Maybe I had tripped on something. All I knew was I was back exactly where we had been that night, where we had sat in the car and the radio had spoken to us.
I remember not quite knowing if I was still asleep or fully awake, but I could feel the ground beneath my bare feet, aching and raw as if I had walked for hours. The wind whistled in my ears, my thin pajamas doing little to protect me from the cold.
I tried to keep my balance in my strange dream like state, looking up.
There was a man. Or what looked like a man.
His silhouette was almost completely indistinguishable, it was impossible to make out any details. It was like a child had taken scissors to where the rocky terrain met the backdrop of the mountain and tried to cut out the shape of a person.
He was moving. I couldn't tell if it was towards me or away.
I stumbled forward blindly. I felt scared, so scared I couldn't breathe, but it was like the cold was numbing all of my emotions, or like they were buried deep inside of me somehow. I didn't feel like myself, only like a body. Only like a pair of legs.
"Hey," I called out weakly, my voice swallowed by the screaming wind. It sounded like a thousand voices whispering, drowning out my own.
"Hey!" I tried again, louder.
The man didn't respond. He didn't react at all. As I grew closer, I realized he was walking away from me after all, toward the mountain.
My eyes were drawn up toward the mountain again. Glowing, breathing. I had to narrow my eyes until they were almost closed in order to focus.
There was less snow. It seemed ridiculous, but that was what immediately popped into my head. There was far less snow on the mountain than there had been a few days ago, as if large patches had suddenly melted away, but it hadn't gotten any warmer outside.
In fact, it looked like it was melting before my very eyes. It looked like it was moving. Shifting.
Migrating.
I strained my vision, trying desperately to understand what I was seeing.
My blood ran cold.
It wasn't the snow melting. It was people.
There were people up there, thousands of people. Moving.
Somehow I made it back down. It's hard to remember what happened after that.
No one seems to want to listen to me. Even Naomi seems to be forgetting what we witnessed. Everyone wants to brush me off, or tell me I'm another conspiracy theorist, like so many of the people who live here. I don't know how to convince them of what I saw. But I saw it. I don't know what to do.
There are people up there.
There is something wrong with the mountain, something that calls to them. I don't know what it does to them, or how. It almost got me that night.
Every night I hear it breathe. And every day I see more tourists, staring. Walking towards the base.
If you're ever driving through the mountains of Northern California and you feel compelled to stop your car and walk, keep driving. And, I'm begging you, turn off your radio.

This isn't really going to be super in-depth or even that well structured, I just really want to share my thoughts on the game having just beat it.
Old school jank: I wanted to get this out of the way quickly, because it's not super interesting. Not going to complain about the old graphics or lack of QoL stuff, as it didn't worsen my experience much. There are only two moments in the game that really made me cry foul, the mariposa military base force fields, and the secret door in the cathedral. The force fields are total bs and I'm sure most people realize that. Now if there was a dialogue saying that the radio was supposed to be used on the shields I missed it, so I will assume that's on me (if not that's even more bs). Even without that, the stupid drop down menu thing was never used throughout the game. The other is the secret door in the cathedral. This is the only part of the game where I thought the lack of clarity with the skills was excessive, I had no clue that I needed to use trap on that bookcase in order to open the secret door, I thought I needed some kind of item. Aside from those, everything was well telegraphed through dialogue, and just required you to engage with the game and world, which is entirely fair.
Exploration: Didn't really like it. Most of the dungeons were lacking in interesting puzzles, but they were enjoyable enough. The real problem is the overworld. Most of the overworld encounters were just boring combat encounters. And encounters with NPCs were cool at first but eventually became repetitive (just the brotherhood of steel, that one musician, and the hub guards). If there were other random encounters, the encounter rate was so low I never found it.
Combat: I quite enjoyed the combat of the game. In the early game I felt like I really had to use the environment to my advantage to avoid dying against non melee enemies, and I had to combine shooting with movement in order to reduce the amount of melee my enemies could do to me. Companions were also very useful for additional damage. Then around the middle of the game, I went to the brotherhood of steel, and there I ended up getting power armor, and after that almost all combat was a joke. Almost nothing could kill me at that point. Not long after that, I fully explored the glow and got a turbo plasma rifle. I also used both Fast shot and bonus rate of fire this playthrough, so I was doing like 90 damage a turn after defenses. I ended up ditching companions at this point since they barely added any damage and were constantly at risk of death. Not complaining though, I'm glad the game rewarded my exploration and engagement with the world, only thing I would have liked is being able to give my companions better armor so that they wouldn't just die and I could keep using them.
Characters: Their were shockingly few memorable characters in this game, the only ones that come to mind are Harold because of his cool as hell backstory, the lieutenant due to his design and philosophy, and the master due to his design, general presence, and his amazing backstory. The others just didn't come off as particularly memorable, they were just kind of normal people.
Worldbuilding: This is one of the areas the game really excels, learning about the fucked up pre-war world in the glow and the mariposa military base was really cool. Reading through those logs really helped to show the state of the world before the bombs dropped, and helped establish how the world came to be. But the pre-war stuff wasn't the only cool thing, the world in general is fantastic. Each location has it's own unique feel. Shady sands was a great starting area, this little community struggling and ultimately succeeding to survive after tragedy. They're a good representation of humanity as a whole. The raider base established how dangerous the wasteland is not only from the mutants but also from humans. The mariposa base had a feeling of despair with all the mutants and the fev vats. The glow is similarly dreadful, one of the few places that is purely a remnant of the old world. The human settlements (the hub, Junktown, and the boneyard) all showcased various ways in which communities came in conflict with themselves. The brotherhood of steel has a feeling of strength, but with that strength the people had become complacent. The cathedral is incredibly creepy even on the first visit, and when you see the vault and the way followers act, slowly going insane with it being unclear as to whether this is due to the master's interference, or if this is due to the pure desperation these people feel.
Story: One thing I really love from the game's story is that it isn't purely a depressing crawl. This is of course assuming your going with a "good route", but the game clearly shows that your characters actions can affect the world for the better. Killing off the raiders allows Shady Sands to thrive, similar with killing Gizmo in Junktown. Fixing the water pump in Necropolis allows the ghouls to start doing well. You can also stop the underground in the Hub, and kill the regulators in the boneyard. The ending shows that all of these actions help out the world, with Necropolis, Shady Sands, and Junktown all thriving should you help them. All of this reinforces the idea that despite how broken the world is, good people doing good things can genuinely help the world for the better. All of that of course, makes the ending all the more bitter sweet. Despite all of the good the vault dweller does for the waste land, despite...perhaps because of all of the lives they have saved and improved, they're still forced to leave. That final scene with those iconic lines, "You saved us, but you'll kill us. I'm sorry. You're a hero...and you have to leave." That's some of the best stuff in gaming history.
Overall, I liked Fallout a lot. It has some frustrating moments, but the good and even fantastic moments absolutely outweigh the bad. The game absolutely deserves it's cult classic status and I understand why people love it. Can't wait until I beat fallout 2.

Part I
The last case of my life was, regretfully, one that I didn't manage to solve. I remember it well - a young college student, blonde and slim, had gone missing sometime in winter. An orphan, she lived on her own, school had been out that week, and unlike most of her peers, she had been inactive on social media, so it had been difficult to ascertain when exactly she had gone missing. She was finally found in a field when the snow had melted, her throat mangled thoroughly with what appeared to be a sharp object. The weapon was never found, and neither was a suspect. I had worked on this case for weeks until I had come to my own untimely demise in a car accident, killed by a drunk driver.
That murder (because isn't that what DUI is) had been easy enough to solve - and it was my very first in the afterlife. It was sweet going back to the land of the living with my visit permit and haunting my killer in my spectral form: the bloody mess of barely-held-together flesh and bones and organs that I had been at the scene of the wreck.
After that, I had scoured the afterlife for the girl in the unsolved case, trying to track her down and find out her side of the story, but it turned out that her life had been so miserable and her life cut so short that, out of goodwill, Admin had sent her on for reincarnation a few years early. In the year since, I had solved twenty-odd (I suppose "twenty odd" also covers it) murder cases, but I often think about that unsolved case. From updates on the news from the land of the living, no one had solved it yet.
But all that might change today, as my twenty-third client sat in front of me.
Her flaxen hair shone gold as she twisted locks around her finger in agitation, her eyes welling up with tears. One of the recently departed, then - the ones who had been dead longer usually would have gotten their emotions under control.
"I need your help - I've been murdered," she said. "My body hasn't been found yet, so they probably just think I'm missing - but I'm in a field, buried under mounds of snow." Her slender form flickered. Newly departeds need tons of practice holding on to a specific form: our default form is the state in which we died, but, as you would imagine, that is often unflattering. The afterlife kindly gives us the option of appearing as ourselves at any point in our lives - it just takes energy and thought. For a moment, I caught a glimpse of a mutilated throat, and the familiarity of the whole set-up hit me.
But similar though she was to the girl in the unsolved case, she was clearly a different individual. I checked the calendar on my desktop computer (needing it more than ever in my cases, as the afterlife has no seasons) - it had been about a year since the last case.
My thoughts whirled. Similar crime, similar-looking victim, same time of the year - the murders were clearly connected. But was this a copycat crime, or a serial killer? Oh, if it were the latter! I could finally crack my unsolved case. It wouldn't matter how long it would take - I had all eternity to solve it.
"Tell me what happened," I said, my hands poised over my keyboard, ready to type away. "Did you see the face of your killer?"
"Yes," she said.
Perhaps it wouldn't take eternity after all.
"Tell me everything."
"I left my office at 5pm on Christmas eve and took a shortcut through the back lanes to get home as I was late - I was supposed to be preparing Christmas dinner so I could FaceTime my family and have dinner together - we live in different states, you see." She paused to take a shuddering breath, even though technically we don't need to breathe anymore. "There was a man with a jeep on the road, with a car jack - he waved me over and asked me where the nearest repair shop was. He was pretty good-looking - about thirty-five, I'd say, brown hair and blue eyes." Her voice trembled and she spoke faster. "I told him it'd be closed but I could give him the number of the man who runs it, and as I was scrolling through my phone, he came over and covered my face with a cloth - there was a sweet kind of smell. Then the next thing I know, I was staring at my dead body in the middle of a field while he's shovelling snow over me."
She ended with a stifled sob and couldn't speak for a while. It usually happened, even for those victims whose murders had happened years prior. The moment of realisation that you had ceased to be a living breathing individual tended to do that to you. But I was looking at the calendar. If it was right, then today was Christmas.
"So this happened yesterday?"
She nodded, wiping teary eyes. "They processed my enrolment quickly as a favour, because, you know, Christmas."
There was a knock on my door. Automatically, I said, "Come in!"
The door swung open, and there was an even more recently departed. With blonde hair and a willowy figure, she could have been the sister of the girl who sat next to me. This one hadn't gotten her form under control yet, and her throat was a gaping hole, slick with blood. My twenty-third client turned around in her chair, and gasped.
I leapt to my feet. "When did the murder happen?" I asked the newcomer tightly.
"Today - Christmas," she said. My twenty-third client pushed her chair back and stood up, letting her default form show through. The newcomer's trembling hands moved to cover her mouth, which had fallen open in shock. They walked to each other and embraced - sisters by circumstances.
"Brown hair, blue eyes?" I asked, feeling terrible for interrupting this emotional moment, but I didn't have time - last year's murder must have been a trial, and this year it seemed that the murderer was on a killing spree.
They broke apart, and the newcomer nodded mutely.
"Location of where you live? I'll need to hear it from both of you."
They both uttered names - I pulled up the search engines and found that they were neighbouring towns.
"Come with me," I told both of them, as I took my coat from the hanger and swung it on. "We've got a permit to get and a bastard to stop."

I have encountered this postage stamp somewhere in the internet. It's said to be printed in Surinam in 1984.
https://preview.redd.it/h7odztxmcrxc1.jpg?width=422&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=99f9e95ef509234686ef5a1d91007ec695a5a188
I'm curious, what is depicted in the middle stamp? Is it some kind of finger game?

Hi, just need opinions here. So i was in the process of parking and of course it needed some time as i was aligning my car. Now in the middle of aligning (my car half in and needed to out again), there was this person (kind of speeding in a parking lot in my opinion) needed to stop because my car was out again.
Soon as i reversed and my car was full in, this person just stormed off while giving me the finger.
Whose at fault here? The person was speeding, my car was not full in, even if i gave way, the person would need to take other person's lane.
If it was me, i was just wait until the parking car is settled. But that is just me.
Opinions please? TIA

Allah loves sneezing, and yawning comes from Satan. Don't yawn, otherwise Satan will laugh at you.
Bukhari book 73 hadith 245
Oversleeping is caused by Satan peeing in your ear.
Bukhari 54:492
Treat women well, because a woman is made of a fragile rib
Book 55: 548:
A dog as a pet costs you a portion of your heavenly reward every day.
Bukhari 67:389; Ditto 54:541
You may spit while praying, but to the left.
Sahih Muslim 42:7149
Bukhari 54:496
If you ask yourself; “Who created Allah?” these questions come from Satan. Then seek refuge in Allah and give up such thoughts.
Book 6 Number 315
The Prophet said: “At each womb Allah appoints an angel who says: 'O Lord! A drop of semen, O Lord! A clot. O Lord! A small piece of flesh.' Then when Allah desires (to complete) its creation, the angel asks: (O Lord!) Will it be a man or a woman, a wretched one or a blessed one, and how much will be its provision? And what will be his age?’ So all that is written while the child is still in the mother's womb.”
Book 58, Number 119:
Do not bother me by harming 'Aishah, for the divine inspiration never came when I was under a blanket, except under the blanket of Aisha.
The Prophet said: “When evening falls, keep your children close to you, because then the devil will scatter. An hour later you can release them; and close the gates of your house (at night), and mention Allah's name on it, and cover your utensils, and mention Allah's name on it, (and if you have nothing to cover your utensil), then you may put something over it place (e.g. a piece of wood).”
Bukhari 54 :500
Sura 75:6+7
We were created from a fluid, emanating between the spine and ribs
A man must hold his genitals with his left hand while urinating.
Sahih Muslim 2:512
You have to wipe your private parts with an odd number of stones.
Bukhari 4:163
You should not try to pray at sunrise or sunset, for the sun rises between two sides of the devil's head.”
Bukhari 54:494
If you hear a donkey bray then it sees Satan, then seek refuge in Allah from Satan.
Muslim 35:6581:
While the angels are talking among the clouds about things that are going to happen on earth, the devils hear one word and pour it into the ears of a soothsayer, and she adds a hundred lies to it.
Bukhari 54:508
Yawning is from Satan and if any of you yawns, he should restrain his yawning as much as possible, for if any of you should say (while yawning): 'Ha', Satan will laugh at him."
Bukhari 54:509
You must rinse your nose with water every morning because Satan sleeps in everyone's nose all night long.
Bukhari 54:516
Anyone who has a dog as a pet loses out on rewards in heaven.
Bukhari 4:541
If someone says a hundred times in one day: “None has the right to be worshiped except Allah, the One Who has no partners, to Him belongs the dominion and to Him belongs all praise, and He has power over all things (i.e. Almighty )”, one will get the reward of freeing ten slaves, and a hundred good deeds will be written on his account, and a hundred bad deeds will be wiped out or erased from his account, and further that day he will do from the morning until the evening will be protected from Satan, and no one will be superior to him except one who has done more than he has done.”
Bukhari 54:514
A good dream is from Allah, and a bad or evil dream is from Satan; so if any of you has a bad dream that scares him, he should spit on his left side and seek refuge with Allah from his evil, for then it will not harm him.
Bukhari 54:513
A black dog belongs to the devil
Muslim, 4:1032
Listening to the prayer call will benefit you on the Day of Judgment
Bukhari 54:517
If any of you wakes up from sleep and performs ablution, he should wash his nose by putting water in it and then blowing it out three times, because Satan has remained in the upper part of his nose all night.
Bukhari 54:516
A baby cries at birth because Satan touches it
Bukhari 55:641
Nice dreams come from Allah, not nice dreams come from Satan
Bukhari 87:114
You can protect yourself from bad dreams by spitting to the left
Bukhari 87:115
You should always put on your right shoe first
Sahih Muslim 2:514
You should always take off your left shoe first
Bukhari 72:747
If a fly falls into your food or drink, you should dip it completely in it. Because in one wing there is a disease and in the other wing there is the medicine.
Bukhari 54:537; ibid 71:673
Angels do not enter a house with an image in it.
Bukhari 54:449
Angels also do not enter a house with a dog in it.
Bukhari 54:448
Later: All dogs, except those used for hunting and herding, must be killed.
Sahih Muslim 10:3814
Ultimately: black dogs with circles around their eyes should be killed. Those dogs are from the devil.
Sahih Muslim 10:3813
Women who deny their husbands sexual intercourse are cursed by angels until the next morning.
Bukhari 54:460
Satan farts to avoid hearing the Islamic call to prayer (adhan).
Bukhari 11:582
You will be tortured in the grave later if you don't pee squatting.
Sunan Ibn Majah 1:347
Most torture in the grave is because of urine.
Sunan Ibn Majah 1:348
Camel urine is a medicine.
Bukhari 82:794; Sahih Muslim 4:1671
The Islamic prayer is invalid when a woman, a dog or a donkey passes in front of you.
Sahih Muslim 4:1034
Water containing dead dogs, menstrual towels and human feces is still drinkable because water cannot be contaminated.
Abu Dawood 1:67
Believing Muslims all get multiple virgins in paradise.
Sura 55 verse 56; Sura 78 verse 31-33; Sura 56 verse 22; Bukhari 55:544
The virgins in heaven will have a beautiful front entrance and the men will have an eternal erection.
Sunan Ibn Majah 37:4337
Breastfeeding a grown man as if he were a baby makes him a permitted visitor when the women are home
Sahih Muslim 8:3425
Mohammed's companion claims to have witnessed the stoning of a female monkey by other monkeys. This is because of adultery.
Bukhari 58 :188
A stone ran away with Moses' clothing, something that angered the prophet.
Bukhari 55:616
Kiss the black stone and your sins will be forgiven
Bukhari 26:667 ; Sahih Muslim 7:2913
Shooting stars serve as missiles against devils.
Sura 67 verse 5
Taking a bath helps against the evil eye
Sahih Muslim 26:542
Eating seven dates also helps against the evil eye
Bukhari 65:356 ; Sahih Muslim 23:5081
The sun sets in a muddy puddle and people live there
Sura 18 verse 86
Summer and winter are caused by Allah allowing hell to breathe twice a year.
Bukhari 54:482
When you pray, during a certain phase you should hold your thumb and middle finger together and move your index finger.
Sahih Muslim 4:1202
A child will resemble the parent who comes first during the sexual act.
Bukhari 55:546
Lost wind? Then Allah will not accept your prayer.
Bukhari 86:86
Drinking while standing is not recommended
Sahih Muslim 23:5017
If a rooster crows, it has seen an angel, if a donkey brays, it has seen a devil.
Bukhari 54:522
If it weren't for the Jews, food would never spoil
Bukhari 55:611; Sahih Muslim 8:3472
If you are wounded in the fight for Islam, that wound will smell wonderful on the Day of Judgment
Sahih Bukhari 52:59
If you take care of a horse for jihad, you will be rewarded in heaven.
Bukhari 52:105
Solomon said one day that he was going to raise up 90 soldiers for Allah from his harem. But because he forgot to say 'Inshallah' (God willing) Allah gave him only one deformed child.
Bukhari 78:634
The prophet told. The sun rises between Satan's horns.
Sahih Muslim 4:1807
The prophet told. The moon and sun give light and are folded on the Day of Resurrection.
Sahih Bukhari 4:54:422
The prophet told. The eclipsing of the sun and moon is a sign from Allah to frighten believers.
Sahih Bukhari 2:18: 158
The prophet told. Whoever says “inshallah” during sexual intercourse gives birth to a son, a soldier for Allah.
Sahih Bukhari 4:52:74
The prophet told. A black spot on the face means being under the influence of the evil eye; treat her with exorcism.”
Sahih Bukhari 7:71:635
The prophet told. Spinal bone does not decay in the earth.
Sahih Muslim 54: 179
The prophet told. Desert heat comes from the raging hellfire.
Sahih Bukhari 1:10:513
The prophet told. An angel among angels is responsible for the clouds. He has a piece of fire to which he drives the clouds. The thunder you hear is the beating of the clouds as it propels them to where it is ordered.
Sunnah Al-Tirmidhi-Vol. 1, Book 44, Hadith 3117
The prophet told. A water source with menstrual clothes, dead dogs and smelly things is clean drinking water. Water is pure and not contaminated by anything.
Sahih Muslim 1:66
The prophet told. He who plays chess is like one who smears his hand with the blood of pigs. Chess is bad.
Sahih Muslim 28:5612
The prophet told. Drink milk and urine of camels [urine contains waste products and toxic elements]
Sahih Bukhari 7:71:590
The prophet told. Black seeds [cumin], cures all diseases except death
Sahih Bukhari 7:71:592
The prophet told. The black stone came down from paradise, and it was whiter than milk, then it turned black because of the sins of mankind.
“Jami 'al Tirmidhi Vol. 2, Book 4, Hadith 877
The Prophet said: “ Prophet said, "If anyone of you stands for prayer, he should not spit in front of him because in prayer he is speaking in private to Allah and he should not spit on his right as there is an angel, but he can spit either on his left or under his left foot and bury it .
Book 8 Hadith 408
When news of the Prophet's arrival in Madinah reached 'Abdullah bin Salam, he went to him to ask him about certain things. He said: 'I am going to ask you about three things that only a Prophet can answer: the first sign of the hour? What is the first food that the people of Paradise will eat? Why does a child draw a resemblance to his father or his mother?” The Prophet replied: “Gabriel has just informed me about it.” Ibn Salam said: “He (i.e. Gabriel) is the enemy of the Jews among the angels. The Prophet said: “As for the first sign of the hour, it will be a fire that will gather the people from the East to the West. . As for the first meal that the people of Paradise will eat, it will be the caudate (extra) lobe of the fish liver. As for the child, if the discharge of the man proceeds from the discharge of the woman, the child attracts the likeness of the man, and if the discharge of the woman produces that of the man, then the child attracts the likeness of the man. woman.”
Book 55 Hadith 546
We can therefore conclude that the above absurdities are human fabrications because they go against the dictates of common sense. Are these hadiths contrary to science? Yes, 100%. What does that say about Islam as a whole? Fictional. What does this say about Muhammad? A conman.

My first language isn't english so sorry if there were any grammar errors
Fall fest(1950): fall fest was created by Henry with two animatronics carnie and dreadbear as as fall fest is both a Halloween carnival and autumn festival With customes such as circus Freddy, circus Bonnie, circus chica (the art from pinky pills that was copyrighted by Scott I just named them circus animatronic)
Fall fest(1973): Henry decided to make the costume that he had into animatronic
Fredbear's opening(1979): although Henry was an great engineer he is not that good when it comes to business so he needed an partner that he meeted William Afton. William Afton recommended that they both create a new restaurant as fall fest aren't going make them that much money so they created fredbear's family dinner with two animatronics fredbear and spring Bonnie with spring Bonnie being recommended by William. They wanted the spring Bonnie and fredbear to be both costumes and animatronic thus making the spring lock animatronic though it was very dangerous as very little mositer will make the spring locks go off . so they made only two spring lock suit other's were spare customes of Spring Bonnie and fredbear if fredbear and spring Bonnie were in animatronic mode they use the spare costume to entertain the customers
Freddy's opening(1983):fredbear's was a huge success so they decided to make an another restaurant Freddy fazbear pizza Henry refurnished the circus animatronic since they looked realistic and creepy and made them look simple and cute with giving them 4 finger's (og animatronics I'm talking about)
Fazbear entertainment origin(1983): they decided to make an entertainment thus creating fazbear entertainment inc.
Burned down of fall fest (1983): Michael Afton friend Jeremy accendentialy burned down fall fest all though Henry and William were angry they didn't really care since fredbear's and Freddy's were already giving more money than fall fest although both Carine and dreadbear were burned herny decided to kept carnie as he was less damaged than dreadbear and use him some day if needed.
Puppet created(1983): Henry created the puppet to be a security guard and keep the kids inside the restaurant that puppet was kept in Freddy fazbear pizza. Henry also program the puppet to protect Charlie as his wife divorced him because he was giving all of his attention to Charlie and not Sammy so charlie is the only family he has now.
C.C truma (1983): C.C williams middle child saw two employees getting spring locked failure which caused him to get the turma and afraid of the animatronics as he thinks that they will hurt him.but William doesn't want C.C to tell anyone about the spring lock as that the two employees were in the safe room when the spring lock happened as it was guided by William that if anyone were to happen to be spirnglocked they should head to the safe room immediately. So William doesn't want C.C to ruin fredbear's reputation which led to William constantly watching C.C through through the fredbear and giving him instructions since fredbear is c.c favourite animatronic
Bite of 83 (1983): Michaels friend's were bullying C.C as he was afraid of the animatronics so they decided to prank him on his birthday by putting his head inside fredbear's mouth but fredbear was on animatronic mode so his jaw snapped shut with C.C popping out of his skull from the bite (C.C eyes coming out of his skull will be important). Which gave Michael truma and Jeremy truma. This event caused fredbear's to be closed. It also made William in grief he was angry at Henry since fredbear was made by Henry.
Charlie's death (1983):he headed to Freddy's where Henry was working on newer animatronics until he saw charile outside locked with William decided to kill Charlie he stepped out of his purple car and killed her he throwed her body near the garbage cans and left. The security puppet which was supposed to protect Charlie was locked by the kids but putting presents on the box that the puppet was in.the puppet immediately start going to charile because charile was given a green bracelet which the puppet will detect and track location. Puppet unable to move and was shock circuited because of the rain and lies with Charlie's body. Charlie's body was reported to police which made Freddy's to be closed for an year.
MCI incident (1985): Freddy's reopened after charile death the fredbear and spring Bonnie animatronic and the puppet were sented to the Freddy fazbear pizza location by fazbear entertainment Henry vanished after his daughter death.william was able stay in the Freddy fazbear pizza as he was the co owner. William wanted to kill again as when he KILLED charile he felt happy so he wanted to kill again using the spring Bonnie suit he was lure 4 kids Susie, Fritz, Jeremy, Gabriel with Susie being the first that he killed he lured them into the safe Room where he stuffed them inside Og animatronics.the fifth kid William choose to kill was Cassidy as he was lonely and no one was playing with her so William decided he will be his next target as it will be easily when no one is looking he lured Cassidy and her spring locked as William wanted to try a different method of killing surely after the Freddy's was closed though fazbear didn't want William to be involved in the company as when they checked the cameras they saw spring Bonnie luring kids and they know William is the only one who have the knows how to wear the spring Bonnie suit properly and move in it although they didn't have any proof they didn't want to take chances so they kicked William Afton out of the company.and waited for an another 1 year to reopen
FNAF 2 DCI and Bite of 87 (1987): William Saw Freddy's was reopened so he decided to kill kids again but not as the co owner but as a security night guard though he wanted to be the day guard since then only he can lure children in the day but they said he have to work for an week before he was moved to be the day guard but when he was working on his week he saw the animatronics move they told it was because their facial recognition was bugged but William knows that they aren't because facial recognition and something else something like they were possessed William he saw shadow Freddy but shadow Freddy was different it was not attacking him it was just staring at him a Polar opposite of golden Freddy which try to attack him and kill him . William found these very interesting. After he finished his week he became the day guard and he KILLED 5 more children and he didn't even stuff their body though he saw w.freddy and puppet try to stop him but William was able to over power them. After this William started his about the thing's that he saw. Freddy's was closed once again.micheal friend Jeremy they're are still friends after the bite of 83 worked in FNAF 2 before it was closed and got his frontal lobe bitten of by mangle.micheal wanted to investigate so he Joined as a security guard though he was not the greatest since he wasn't being helped by phone guy because he was investigated by the police but he was able to survive and he tampered with the animatronics to see what was wrong with them but he couldn't find anything.
Divorced and the death of Mrs Afton (1988): Mrs Afton wanted the custody over Michael and Elizabeth because William became more abusive over Michael after the bite of 83. William manipulated Elizabeth into making talk bad about her mother which broke Mrs Afton and William was able to get the custody over the kids soon after Mrs Afton suicied.
Freddy's reopened (1993): William realised Freddy's was reopened again but he didn't want Freddy's as he has the plane to make his own restaurant and doesn't want Freddy's to be a competitive so he manipulated Michael and sented him to the fnaf 1 to disable the animatronics.micheal did what William Said he disabled the animatronics causing Freddy's to close in the end of the year.
CIRCUS baby pizza world and circus baby entertainment and rentals open(1994): William opened circus Baby pizza world with animatronics being circus baby,ballora,funtime fox, funtime Freddy but these are made to lure kill children and kidnapped children for his experiments though his daughter Elizabeth wanted to see circus baby so bad though William didn't allow it since if she goes near her she will get killed so he said no but Elizabeth didn't listen and goes to circus baby and got killed by here. William immediately closed circus baby and opened circus baby entertainment and rentals at the same day saying he closed circus baby pizza world due to gas leaks. William Saw circus baby eyes turn form blue to green same eye colour as Elizabeth he realised Elizabeth was possing circus baby but he wanted to know if use the og animatronics to his own will so he went to Freddy's break the 4 animatronics melted them and putted them in the funtimes and it worked but the animatronics became frantic uncontrollable William had to make a shock system to control the them.he still have to bring remnant from the puppet and fredbear but before that Michael wanted some answers from his father about what happened to Elizabeth but William respond with to Michael to check the cassette tape that he has and leaves to get remnant from the puppet and fredbear.
Death of William Afton: William was Able to destory fredbear but before he can melt fredbear he was ambushed by the souls of the MCI kids William rushed to the spring Bonnie suit because he knows that the kids thinks that he an animatronic rather than William Afton but he got spring locked from the spring Bonnie suit because of the water that was stepping from the celling.but he wasn't dead he fused with spring Bonnie which then keeping him alive for 30 years.
Sister location (1994): Michael after hearing William cassette tape enters the sister location. He finds the blue print's of the funtimes which shocked him and gets scooped in the 5 night with his body being used an skin suit for 1 week ennard left his body because his body was fully decomposed. But from the remeant of the MCI kids and Elizabeth remeant he was able to survive.but after seeing the Blue print's from the sl bunker he no longer works for his father and will try his best to kill him for good
Fazbear frights (2023): a new location was opened fazbear frights a horror attraction created by a small group to publicize from the horror of Freddy fazbear pizza Michael joins there as the security guard and works for 8 days(the 8 days is when Michael was hanted and had nightmares of FNAF 4) and leaves for the 9 day as he was bored because he wasn't able to find any clue of his father in the 10 day however he found spring trap burns him .but William Able to survive
Fnaf6 (2023): Michael joins as manger of the new pizzeria where he will take care of taxes and money that was created by Henry. Henry needed manager since he himself is not good at business and FNAF 6 fire happens

Hey guys, so basically I'm looking to get into reading comics a lot more right now because I recently re-read invincible after the TV show and I think that comic book is my favorite piece of fiction ever, so because of that I've been trying to get back into comics but I don't even know where to start, I read some of invincible iron-man 2023 but it's honestly so boring to me, it's just iron-man going on adventures where no one dies and the status quo will never change and it'll stay like that forever and now they're talking about stock prices or some stupidly boring stake, before that I read deadpool kills deadpool and I loved it though so I don't think I dislike marvel comics in general, I also read the star wars comics when they were first coming out and loved them, does anyone have any good recommendations on this? If possible, I'd like a self-contained story like invincible, where I can get a beginning, middle and end in a reasonable time-span of reading but I know that's probably hard with marvel comics specifically so it's not a big requirement, also I've already read old man logan, that said I'm interested in basically any super-hero, I lean more towards spider-man, thor, iron-man and the guardians of the galaxy but if it's a good enough story I think I'd enjoy any super-hero.

So this phone has been nothing but a nightmare since I've gotten it. I've had it about 6 months, and I think the only reason I still have it is because I'm still trying to decide what to do. So, about a month ago, the phone got a crack across the middle of the screen right where the folding crease is. The entire screen stopped working, and after a process that I can only describe as Olympic gymnastics, I was finally able to take my phone to a repair center where it was done free of charge. The only one close to me was an hour away. This is despite the fact that I already live in a town of 140,000 people. Decent size. So, they told me that even though I was having an overheating issue, the part they were replacing should replace the battery and everything else. It's basically like having a new phone besides the memory. However, my phone is still having the same overheating problems it always has. To put it in perspective, I can't video chat and open my web browser at the same time, because if I do, my video chat window will close, and the phone will give me an overheat warning as well as the phone being really hot to the touch. Some people are saying this is not happening to them, and others are saying it's happening all the time. I want to see if I can try to get some more definitive answers because phones shouldn't be overheating this easily. I had a Galaxy s20 Fe that I traded in that didn't give me these issues, and I wish I would have just kept it. I literally cannot be video chatting in Facebook messenger and in a Chrome browser at the same time. This has happened to me since I received the phone, and even though I followed all the advice suggested on other threads in this group such as adjusting the performance mode and the brightness, frame rate, etc, nothing seems to actually make a difference. I kind of just want a refund at this point. Wash my hands of it and get something else.

Here’s a genuine question for y’all. How many of you didn’t know lizards had bones??? I’m asking for a friend…👀😂🤦‍♂️
So get this… Me and my coworker are standing behind our registers and the couple walking past us on their way out start freaking out. All of a sudden the chick screams with her hands in the air and everything. Some water lizard is crawling at her, on the pounce ready to get himself a good licking of this bimbo having a melt down in front of me. To be fair this chick just disturbed his nap on the middle of the tile floor. Anyway, this think sprints at her head on ready to give this girl a good biting. Mr. Honcho (her bf) grabs the fucker by the tail and starts walking out the front entrance holding this thing by its tail. As the fucker is waiving back and forth attempting to whip its head around its backside so it can bite the pricks fingers, this man launches this poor reptile across the fucking parking lot never to be seen again.
The ordeal took place no longer than maybe 30 seconds. I go “I’m surprised the things tale didn’t fall off…” My coworker than says “well I am too. I mean lizards don’t have bones so”
At this point I look over at him with that face that goes “are you fucking serious rn”
As me and my coworker are going back and forth with me trying to understand how this man brain works, out other co-worker walks in ready to clock in. I’m intrigued at this point so I go “ hey (name here), do. Lizards have bones?” Her looks at me with all seriousness and, I swear to god, I about lost it. “No, why???”
I’m quitting tomorrow…SMH

Damaged Goods -8

Memory Transcription Subject: Annek Ugani, Skalga Armed Forces
Date [human standard time] October 20, 2159
“*Yo Hades, how you doing up there?*” Natal’s voice crackled on my radio piece Me and Lee had lost our squad raffle for who got overwatch duty, forcing us to lay flat in the dirt and enjoy the Skalgan forests for the next few hours.
“Hades? That’s Human.. Greek. Why are you calling me that?” I replied, using my free hand to thumb the radio switch on my vest while my other rested on my deployed weapon.
“*Cuz’. All you do is try to look cool and brood.*” Came the casual reply over the radio
“Fuck you Netal. “ I gave a simple reply, although the hint of a chuckle could not help but run off my tongue
Lee was beside me, eyes fixed down the path of a spotter's scope. His tail slightly twitched every couple seconds, an evolutionary side effect of our prehistoric days. There was a time where those twitches were a way to measure our stability, so we could ram without toppling over.
His ear twitched, an indication that his watchful gaze had caught something. Prompting the human to shift on his side and tap my shoulder, putting a finger over his mouth to indicate to me to stay silent. I shifted away from my weapon to peer through his scope.
In the brush where we overlooked we saw two squads of hostile soldiers pushing past the foliage. They were attempting to flank around our main defensive lines to hold our operating base hostage by the looks of it, but the harsh terrain was a purposeful choice on our part. One would not expect a forest to be so hostile to human movement, but with the full loads that these soldiers were carrying, each misstep was a chance to fall or even worse.
I leaned back over to my emplacement. “Thoughts?” I whispered to Lee, barely audible to someone who did not have the ear implants.“W-we call Freya and Netal to try and p-pincer them.” Lee dug into his vest and produced a small regional map. His gloved finger jabbing a spot in the middle of the forest.
“T-they are a twenty minute h-hike from us..” Lees free hand balled as he tried to stave off his verbal slips
“Terrain s-shouldn’t be an issue with the tails.”
“It would be too late by then, we need to engage now. We have the advantage” I argued as I took a glance at the group through my emplacement’s scope.“We hit one and they scramble.. Then we lose our advantage.” Lee calmly advised me as he returned to his scope
“That is not how getting shot at works, I can put enough rounds down range to cut through them two times over. Without even needing a reload.” I continued to argue, and my claw pulled up to the plastic trigger on my weapon
“Not e-everyone is wearing hard shell, y-you know.” Lee said as he pulled his rifle off of his back, anticipating that I was not going to back down from my stance at all
I squeezed the trigger on my weapon, causing it to kick back into my shoulder as its burst fire shredded down range.
The volley connected with two soldiers, causing them to raise their arms up in the air and declare themselves hit. However the rest of the soldiers dropped to the floor, under the brush where my optic couldn’t get a live feed.
A small metal device was raised over the vegetation, and my ears popped. They had just pinged our location for everyone connected to the local tac-net to see.
We quickly became victims of our own success as rifles were lifted up over the brush and blindly fired where the sensors said we were.
The fire was brutal, as two squads of soldiers shot automatic bursts in our direction. If this were a real battle, the vegetation around us would be shredded already by all the fire coming our way. The hard shell I had on me gave me two chances to survive a hit, but I felt as though if I had moved even an inch, fire would quickly wear through my two spare lives
“S-shit Annek what did I say” Lee hissed as he thumbed for his radio. “We are taking heavy fire from a position to our northeast, r-requesting you divert manpower to our aid.”
“Already on our way, we heard the shots from here.” Freya’s voice responded over the radio
“Oh shit.. Shit what- what do we do?” I sputtered as the fire began to slow, but we knew that they were just conserving ammunition now. “N-nothing.” Came the reply from Lee. “We wait until the other two get here so they can flush them out of their p-position. If you had waited just a little more, we could have taken them from two sides. Preventing e-exactly this exchange.” Lee admonished me, and despite the voice, the punishment to ego rang true
“Y-you know what it seems like to me?” Lee questioned me a few minutes into our covered waiting game
“H-h-hade-es.. Is going to stick. F-for a long time.” He commented as he dug into his vest for a bright orange bottle of pills. Popping open the cap with his gloved fingers and placing two of the round tablets in his mouth before returning the bottle to his vest.He let out a sigh as the pills slipped down his throat.
“What.. do those do?” I questioned, although I knew I was in no position to question anything that my superiors did anymore
“T-test-tosterone pills. Gas fucked up my hormones so bad that I go docile without them.” Lee replied as he rested his head against a particularly nicely shaped stick.
I felt bad for the guy, it seems like out of everyone here he lost the most outwardly. However I had already let my persona slip too far already.
“Hm.” I grunted in reply
“S-so.. do you have a guy- or lady Skalgan waiting for you at home?” Lee asked me from his comfortable stick spot
“No. I joined the Armed forces as soon as I reached adulthood.” I replied sharply
“Fifteen.. You know where w-where we come from, t-that is still a child soldier.” Lee said
“In my opinion I think fifteen years of life e-exp-perience is to l-low to have control over who l-lives and dies. But maybe you guys are i-intelligent, quicker or s-something.” Lee shrugged and tapped the body of his rifle rhythmically
“Maybe we are just better than you.” I shot back, although my ears quickly fell to the back of my head as fake bullets whizzed past my face. Spurred on by my subconscious act of leaning up to argue
I let out a sigh as I fell back down
“A-after Natal ch-hews you out. Wanna play more videogames with u-us?” Lee offered me with a small flash of his teeth
I had to resist the urge to eagerly accept the offer. The nights before had been so much fun, I had almost forgotten that I was supposed to represent the strength of my species. That was a mistake of course, more than once did Netal get his sticky fingers on my fur, and due to the video game taking my attention I had not been able to respond quickly enough to stop him before he got a few good squeezes in with his short dull claws.
“I.. yeah. Sure. This time I’ll pay for the Skalgan character.”“You know *other* r-races exist right?” Lee teased my preference for only the Skalgan avatars
The sound of rifle fire sounded out in the air, although this time it was not directed at us. That was our cue to turn back to our stations and open back up again with renewed energy. This time the humans had been cornered, and were forced to flee through open positions. Allowing me to cut down the most obvious clumps of soldiers.
As we cleaned up the group, there were grumblings among the enemy soldiers along the lines of, “Not fair… tails.”
Sucks to suck. That applies to biology as well.
The win had almost made me forget that we had almost been outed thanks to my actions, but Netal paced up to me rapidly, and I knew that I was going to be reminded very soon.
“Lee tells me you disobeyed his order to stay put.” Netal admonished
“T-they were so exposed and.. I had no idea.. You could be so-.. Fast.” I shakily tried to defend my role in the attack
“It doesn’t matter Annek, you’ve got to listen to what people are telling you.” Netal said with a disapproving shake of the head
“No one got hurt so we are still in the lead, but know that you now have an outstanding favor for us to call on at any moment alright?”
“A-..alright.” I repeated with my ears folded down in shame
“Are, we still.. Up to play more of that human game tonight?” I meekly asked as Netal turned to walk away
“Of course- maybe that name will boost your confidence enough to maybe win some matches.. If you don't think too hard about it of course.” Netal joked as he started towards the brush, soon joined by Freya before they slinked back into the forest
FirstNext

It felt like any other day. Fall was settling in and I was excited because that night everyone was going to get together and hang out. What happened however was much different than I could ever have imagined...
I saw Demetrius standing under an alcove around the back of the school. He was there with an older guy who looked like he was almost thirty. I thought it was kind of weird and made my way over to them.
Demetrius noticed and turned to the guy he was standing with. The older guy handed him something and they both nodded. Then the man put up his hood and briskly walked away.
"Hey D, what's up? Who was that?" I said trying to sound cool about it.
"Oh... yeah... that was my man Keaton. He's the connect. Look at this." he said, a mischievous grin spreading across his face.
In his hand I saw a some small square pieces of paper with pictures of random characters: a game character, a guy from some anime, etc.
'Oh...' I said uncomfortable knowing what it was. 'That's acid right?'
"Nah. It's not acid.' Demetrius put the baggie back into his coat.
"Keaton said it's something new they cooked up. Supposed to be wild."
"Cool..."
I was starting to resent the recent drug trend in our group.
Due to peer pressure I had tried them a few times but, it really wasn't for me. They made me feel really weird. Lately though, it seemed like it was all the group wanted to do.
"We're gonna try it tonight!" he said excitedly grabbing my shoulders as we walked.
"Tonight...?!"
That night the school was hosting an overnight event as the culmination of a fundraiser. It was supposed to be clean wholesome fun (obviously) and drugs were definitely not allowed, and also probably not what any of the other attendees had in mind.
"But we're staying at the school tonight? I mean... why tonight?" I said trying not to sound annoyed. "Let's do them some other night" I said; not sure I even wanted to 'do them' at all.
"Bruh, stop." Demetrius said. "You don't have to if you want, but I know the other guys will."
I was really getting tired of every time we hung out turning to an occasion for drugs.
"Well... what even is it?" I said trying to feign interest.
"Honestly, I don't know" he said. "Keaton told me it was unlike any other drug. He knows some people who know some people. Really good stuff apparently. He said it was like all other drugs combined. None of the side effects either."
I played along like I was excited, but I was starting to dread even going to the event now.
***
The other guys showed up and we all went to the fast food place down the street. They all seemed much more excited than me about Demetrius's new 'score'. The group was buzzing with excitement.
We got to the school a bit later then the rest of our classmates. We really hadn't participated in the fundraiser and we're just there to hang out at the school for the novelty of it.
To be honest I was surprised they even allowed it... Tony and I had been the year before and sort of just walked in, the plan was the same. The sun was setting. I tried the front door and it opened. We entered the common area and saw a bunch of people hanging out.
"So what do you guys want to do?" Thomas said.
There were five of us. Demetrius, Tony, Thomas, Stevie and Myself. Thom said his girlfriend would be there, and her and her two friends would meet up with us.
We hung out for a bit in the gym playing basketball and then there was an arm wrestling competition. There were a few teachers 'supervising' but everyone was so well behaved I guess they usually just disappeared into the staff room or something.
It was getting late, around ten when Thomas and his Girlfriend's group walked up.
"Hey Tony" one of the girls said and waved turning her wrist, her arm tight to her chest.
"Hey Kaisah" he said. It was Kaisah, Sara, and Delayla, Thomas's GF.
"Are you guys ready to get messed up?" Kaisah said playfully and started laughing.
"Definitely" Stevie said his voice low.
"Yeah... but we can't do this here? Right? I mean not right here in the middle of the cafeteria around all these 'goodie two shoes' fundraiser kids" Tony said.
Tony and I used to hang out all the time and were 'straight edge', but lately it seemed like he had really taken to doing drugs with Demetrius. It's not like anyone in the group was an 'addict' or anything, none of us really f-ed with the 'hard stuff' because last year a few kids overdosed on some laced pills. Plus all those rappers that passed away... but still, it was like every social gathering was focused on us getting high or drunk.
"Nah, nah, not here...we're going upstairs" he said.
"Upstairs..." I said suprised. The second floor of the school was locked during the event. Metal slats rolled over the doors. There was no way we could get up there.
"Yes, up-stairs dumbass" he said annoyed.
Thomas spoke up "Delayla and I were hanging out while skipping last week and found a fire escape that leads upstairs. It's near the science department."
We made our way to halls of the science department. No one was really hanging out there because there wasn't much over there. We saw some others playing some board game or something, and a couple making out against the lockers but other than that there was no one.
"It's right here" he said pointing to a door that I had never noticed before next to the janitors closet.
"Oh really?" Tony was surprised
"Yeah, trust me. Look..." Stevie said as he opened the door.
I half expected the fire alarm, but it was silent.
Stevie and Delayla started making their way up and the rest of us followed. The red light of the fire sign illuminated the stairwell. I wondered how much trouble we would be in if we were caught, but... no one had specifically said not to go up there.
"Watch out!" Demetrius said jokingly and Sara gasped quietly, clearly on edge from 'rule breaking'.
'Idiot' she said embarrassed as the rest of us snickered.
"See" Stevie said with a grin as he put his hand on the push handle at the top of the stairs. The door opened.
"Woah..." Kaisah said as we reached the second floor. "The school looks so different in the dark"
It really did, it was kind of eerie. Even though we spent every day in these hallways it looked almost alien.
"It really does."
***
We walked along the hallway, Stevie leading us to where would 'camp out' for the rest of the night. I walked behind the group with Tony.
"So..." I said awkwardly "Another night getting high..."
"Yeah..." he said his voice trailing
"Hey... Tony. I don't want to be a buzzkill but..." Tony was my closest friend in the group and I just had to say something.
"Do you even want to do this stuff? For real, I'm kind of done with 'getting high' all the time"
"I mean..." he said thinking "Nah dude, not really. I mean, I sort of was just going along with everyone all this time to be honest." the rest of the group was too far ahead to hear us.
"Oh really... yeah same." I said. "You know what... I'm not even gonna do this shit tonight." I said
"Oh you're not...?" he said thinking "Yeah, then you know what I might not either"
"Yeah we can just hang out and babysit the others" I said laughing
"I know Demetrius will bitch about it though if we don't do it, we should just fake it"
"Hmm... yeah you're probably right, and honestly we don't even know what this is. I was there when Demetrius got it, some guy named Keaton gave it to him. Looked like he was like 30." I said
"Hmm... Keaton? My brother knew a guy named Keaton. He was like some chemistry prodigy or something. I heard he went on to work in pharmaceuticals or the government or something."
"Probably not the same guy. Why would he need the extra money and risk jail time selling drugs to some high school kids?"
"Yeah. Doesn't make sense I guess." he said.
***
We sat at some benches near the glass windows in the intersection of the hallways. The school was divided into two wings, the common areas were in the center. We could see down below to where our classmates were hanging out below though glass windows, but the areas were separate; they couldn't hear us or see us unless they were really trying to.
We sat for a few minutes and joked around. Then Demetrius spoke.
"Well... who's ready to get lit?" pulling the container our from earlier. He opened it and passed the sheets out to the group. They were small 1 by 1 squares.
"Is this acid?" Kaisah said curiously
"No it's not acid. It's something new. Designer... apparently it's incredible according to my guy"
"Oh... I didn't really like acid, kinda mid tbh. As long as it's not acid..." she said sounding kind of timid. Clearly she did not have a good time on acid.
"It won't be mid." Demetrius said confidently
"Well... ready guys?" he looked around the group and put the paper on his tongue
I looked to Tony who was also looking up at me, confirmation we would both not partake... I faked putting the paper in my mouth "Let's do this..." trying to sound enthused.
"Yeah, let's get it..." Tony said awkwardly slapping his hand to his face, if anyone was paying attention they would have noticed. No one was.
I watched as the rest of the group took the papers of the mystery drug. It looked like they all did it.
"I'm so ready for this" Delayla said excitedly.
***
For the next ten minutes the group seemed to be having a good time, joking around with eachother. They said it was relaxing and they didn't really feel much. Most of them other than Stevie and Demetrius. Right away the two them seemed to go quiet and sort of stare off into the distance.
"Demetrius..." I said wondering what he feeling.
"Eh...' he said weirdly.
"De-me-trius" one of the girls said waving her hand in front of his face.
There was no response, he just kept staring.
"Is this a hallucinogen? What is he staring at? I feel nothing" Kaisah said seemingly weirded out.
"Yoooo!" Tony said laughing. 'D!' he shouted. "HEY D!" he said getting louder.
"Quiet!" Sara said harshly 'were not supposed to be up here remember!"
Kaisah and Dalayla were laughing to eachother hysterically. "What is wrong with him! Pfffttt...."
I looked at Stevie who didn't seem to be doing much better. It was like he was trying to speak but could only move his lips. It was really weirding me out. Suddenly he stood straight up and started speed walking, eyes laser focused.
"What the-" Sara saying what the rest of us were thinking.
"Steve! What are you doing?" Delayla got up and ran over to him and pulled on his arm while saying his name. He wouldn't respond. Suddenly he raised the arm she was holding onto and whipped it down in turn causing her to fall to the ground.
I looked at Thomas who I expected to hear explode in anger, Stevie had basically just pushed his girlfriend to the ground.
"Hey... yo... ch-chill... Steven" his voice sounding half asleep as he slowly raised his hand like a sloth moving between trees.
"Thomas... are you good?" I said concerned.
"Fu-!" we heard Demetrius yell as he stood up. His eyes fierce with anger. At first I assumed he was going to confront Stevie but.. he didn't. He just started grinding his teeth and walking in circles. It almost seemed like he was growling... like a dog.
"Demtrius wtf... calm down" Kaisah said laughing.
In fact... it was like she couldn't stop laughing.
She had been laughing non stop for the last ten minutes, and now that I realized it, it made me uncomfortable. It must have been painful... I looked at her wondering. She was grimacing now, her face muscles straining.
"Uh Kaisah... are you okay? It's kind of serious?" Tony spoke up quietly, apparently he had noticed as well.
"Ha, yeah I'm fine, ha-ha-ha... I just can't stop laughing... I'm sure... ha... it will stop" suddenly like she had been hit in the gut she bent over. "HAH-HA-HAH" she laughed unnaturally. "HA-HA-HA-HA" it continued. Her face contorted looking almost inhuman, tears now streaking down her face. She pointed to the light fixture still laughing hysterically... "IT LOOKS SO FUNNY' she said tears streaming.
"This is getting weird AF" Sara said arms tight across her chest, looking around suspiciously.
I looked back at Delaylah who was now on the ground sobbing.
"Lay? What's wrong" Tony and I rushed over. I looked down the dark of the hall and saw Stevie walking slowly like a zombie deeper into it.
"I... can't... be-lieve... my... friend... STEVIE..." every word punctuated, a break in her tears.
"Would push me down..." she said it as if it was the most disappointing thing she had ever heard. Suddenly she started wailing and moaning, hand hitting the floor in agony. "W-w-why Stevie... why!".
"I didn't even think Delaylah liked Stevie that much..." Tony said looking worried.
Suddenly I heard a banging from the wing opposite the one Stevie had voyaged into.
"F- F- F- F-" a violent tirade could be heard in the distance. Banging and clashing as if the metal lockers were being beaten to oblivion.
"What the frick is wrong with him?!" Sara said sounding half panicked. Sara and Tony and I looked at eachother in disbelief. The rest of the group was in shambles.
"Sara... you seem... normal" I said cautiously.
"Yeah well... I didn't do that crap. It looks like you guys didn't either?" she said shrewdly her arms contstricting her knees tightly to her chest.
"Uh... nah... we didn't" I said kind of embarrassed, even though clearly we had made the right choice.
"Well great." she said rocking back in forth. Just us three idiots trapped in the madhouse with a crybaby, hothead, and chuckles over there. Never mind sargent dead stare, she said nodding to Thomas.
Demetrius was still banging away at the lockers. It sounded like he was on a rampage...
"Someone is going to hear him... he's going to get expelled, or worse!" I said.
"He already has a record" Tony said.
"Though I think they have a DJ playing right now downstairs... 12-2, no one is going to hear him"
"I'll go... HA... talk... HA HA... with him" Kaisah said. All of us surprised that she was still with us.
Kaisah was still laughing... It had to have been close to half an hour by now.
"Kaisah... I don't know if you should. He sounds... unstable." I said
"It's Demetrius. He-HA-HA isn't HA like that!" like she had just told an absolute gut buster.
We watched as she walked down the hall into the blackness.
"You know what I'm going to get an adult who can help. This is too much. I think Ms. A is here... she's cool. She won't get us in trouble." Sara said standing "Be right back."
She flattened her skirt out and brushed off her shoulders.
"Alright" Tony said, just me and him left. We stared at eachother uncomfortably both caught in this bizarre situation. That's when we heard it... Kaisah.
"Dem! This isn't you! HA-HA! Let me go! HA HA HA." she sounded somehow petrified and humoured simultaneously.
"ST-STOP-HA-HA-HA. DEM, No..." next thing we heard a strange sound coming from down the hall. Slow patter of footsteps and a wheezy bubbling sound. Then we saw Kaisah emerge from the shadows. She was covered in blood, she was still laughing... well trying to.
"K-KAISAH!" Tony said running over. "What did Demetrius do! NO!" he cried.
Delaylah looked up the tears stopping. Her face was white as a ghost. She slowly rose and walked over to her friend like a specter. The tears began to pour again, gradually falling harder and harder until she got to her friend and hell to her knees. Her mouth agape unable to speak.
When she realized that Kaisah was gone she couldn't take it. There were no tears now but the grief on her face was like anything I had ever seen. Then she just... sort of fell flat to the ground clutching her heart.
"Layla..." Tony said in shock. "Layla?!" tears falling down his face as he checked the pulse of his one lifeless friend atop another. "LAYLA!" he cried out. He looked at me pained 'they're gone' he said hardly able to speak.
My mind was numb, everything was numb. What the hell was going on? Demetrius... killed someone? One of our friends? Kaisah... This didn't make sense. He was a punk... a drug dealer... not a killer...
I looked over to Thomas and felt sick to my stomach. He was just staring. His face completely cold and emotionless.
"Thomas..." I said barely able to get a word out.
"THOMAS!" I was yelling now. He loved Delaylah... I knew he loved her! They were going to get married. Why was he just sitting there? "THOMAS WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?" I yelled emotion pouring out.
"What's wrong?" he said looking to me eyes dead as a fish.
"Wh... what's wrong..." I said in disbelief... "DELAYLA IS DEAD" rage overwhelming. "DON'T YOU CARE! DON'T YOU FEEL ANYTHING!"
"Uhh..." he said looking away and raising his hand up as if to brush me off annoyed.
"I have to get out of here. We have to get out of here. Tony we have to go" I said strugling to lift him off the ground. He was inconsolable.
The capophony of metal still clanged in the background.
***
When we got to the stairs I was in disbelief. It was Sara... she was just standing there breathing hard.
"Sara what's wrong..."
She looked at me like a wounded animal. "STAY AWAY' she said.
She now looked like the rest of them... "Sara you don't look so good what's wrong... I thought you didn't take any of the drug..."
"I DIDN'T!" she barked "GET BACK!"
"I only put it on my tongue and spit it out! YOU'RE ALL IN ON THIS!" she said looking around paranoid.
"I thought you were going to get help... Delaylah... Kaisah... they're dead"
"No.. no.. The door... is locked! ITS THEM.. THEY ARE DOING THIS. THEY'RE EVERYWHERE" she said pointing around us.
She had spit the drug out and this was how it affected her?
"I'm gone... I have to go..." she said panicked.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" she said yelling into the nothing around her. Then she turned around an started sprinting. "I HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!"
She started kicking the glass window at the end of the hall, suddenly it shattered.
"Sara! Stop, it's too high! You won't make it" I cried and started running towards her.
"GET AWAY! IT'LL BE FINE. I CAN'T STAY HERE. I'LL LAND ON THE AWNING!" she looked around wildly and shrieked...
"GET AWAY FROM ME ALL OF YOU!"
"SARA NO!" I watched as she climbed out hands hanging on the sill and disppearing. She wouldn't have made the awning... it was much much too high.
"Sara...” I said breathless.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him. It was Stevie. He was doing three finger push ups, his shirt ripped off and turned into a head band. He had always been fit but not like this... I saw him stand up, like he was called to attention. He picked up a broom stick and angled it over his shoulder like a riffle.
“St.. Stevie?” I couldn’t believe it. He didn’t hear me, he just marched of in the direction of the main foyer where he would find the bodies of his friends. I jogged back, after he vanished from sight. Fearful of him and for Tony. When I got there I was greeted by a blood curdling sound.
Demetrius and Stevie were fighting... to the death. The sounds from their wing were horrendous. I could hear the sounds of the bones breaking all the way in the lobby. It was guttural and brutal, like two cats in an alley fight but human.
Tony was in the corner curled up in the fetal position and Thomas was just staring into space. It was so loud... they had to be able to hear the sound of the fight down stairs. I looked down through the glass in the roof at my class mates laughing and dancing. Lights flashing. They were completely unaware.
It wouldn’t matter because I heard two deafening yells and then the screaming stopped. The fighting had stopped. I slowly made my way down the hall to where Demetrius and Stevie were. I can’t say that what I saw shocked me... I was already traumatized. My two friends... had killed eachother.
I sat down against the lockers and put my hand to my head and closed my eyes.
***
They found the carnage the next morning.
The authorities corroborated what Tony I told them with the evidence. They were shocked as we were but had no reason to suspect us.
Even with Sara, they had camera footage from outside and could tell it was accidental.
They gathered the drugs as evidence from Demetrius body. I was in shock when the black car pulled up and two men in suits in glasses approached the police. I saw them talk for a moment and one man flashed a badge.
The cops gave him the drug in the evidence bag. It was the Keaton... the ‘dealer’.
There was nothing I could do or say. No one would believe me, probably not even most you reading this now...
Tony and I never really talked again after this. He was always distant. I tried to make friends and achieve some sense of normality after what happened that night but I don’t think Tony every will.
He will never be the same.
As for Thomas... well... for all intents and purposes Thomas died that night as well. He was basically a vegetable, he never snapped out of it. He was never the friendly cool, passionate friend I once knew. People said it was because of what happened to Delaylah... but I knew. He didn’t care... about anything. He would just stare at the wall saying and doing nothing.
And that... that’s the story of what happened in my last year of High School.
I never found out why what happened that day happened. I tried to let it go. I tried...
I admit for a while I looked up ‘Keaton’ and various news articles and records but found nothing. Only a few stories of bizarre incidences here and there but nothing conclusive. We were the test subjects... base level, so to speak.
***
Please... I beg you, don’t mess with drugs. They aren’t ‘cool’. Every time you do, there is the chance of ending up like me and my friends. In one night everything was destroyed.
Out of eight of us, only two of us truly survived what happened.
Drugs, not even once...

27F. Took 3 doses of macrobid for UTI (I went to the ER after 1.5 days of pretty severe cramps). I ended up with pretty unbearable pain in my joints. My left knee, right foot/toes, and right middle fingers felt worse but the pain was all over my body. It felt like every joint was painful and even hurt when breathing because of back pain. I honestly thought it was the way I was sitting or the way I slept but the pain didn't lessen. After a whole day at work, I noticed that I had rashes on my feet. Called the ED and told them about what was happening, and they said to go back to the ER or to go to my PCP. I went back to the ER. The team there didn't find anything in the blood and urine samples they took. I'm not sure if they even believed my symptoms or the amount of pain I was in. Overall, it was a horrible experience.
I've never had reactions like this before to anything. This pain's probably the worst I've ever felt because it's all over my body. I work with kids in schools and have to be pretty active. How do I treat this fast? Please help.

I want to provide some context upfront—I don’t believe my sister actually attempted suicide. The situation seemed more like a manipulation tactic.
Here’s the backstory: My half-sister, Lynn (23F), and I (21F) didn’t grow up together and only met in middle school when our other sister, Amber (22F), sought out all our half-siblings. Despite the initial awkwardness, we managed to build a relationship. However, there were always tensions and arguments, with Amber often blaming Lynn for various dramas.
As time passed, the drama intensified, and my stepmom blamed Lynn for causing problems and ultimately cut her off from the family. I was in middle school and didn’t pay much attention to the conflicts, focusing instead on my own turbulent home life.
Fast forward to my late teens, and Lynn and I grew closer while Amber and I drifted apart due to ongoing drama. I had a habit of cutting off stressful relationships, which led to me being no contact with several family members. After marrying and moving across the country, Lynn and I became even closer, despite ongoing family drama. Eventually, I decided to reconnect with Amber after she turned her life around. This decision led to strained reassurances to Lynn that my relationship with Amber wouldn’t change our bond.
However, drama resurfaced, with Lynn feeling sidelined and Amber becoming pregnant. Despite attempts to maintain peace, tensions escalated, culminating in Lynn’s pregnancy announcement and a bizarre apology from her, admitting to starting drama to feel validated. Feeling betrayed and exhausted, I distanced myself from Lynn, who attempted to manipulate Amber into believing I’d return to her side. Her behavior became controlling, with intrusive messages to me and my husband, along with unfounded conspiracy theories. It felt like I was nothing more than a toy or trophy to Lynn, as she made disturbing claims to Amber, such as suggesting she alone could be my sister and insinuating that my husband was controlling me. These unsettling remarks reinforced my decision to cut ties with Lynn, prioritizing my own mental and physical well-being and safeguarding my child from such toxicity.
Recently, Lynn’s boyfriend claimed she attempted suicide over me cutting her off, but the circumstances seem suspicious, and I fear she’s using it as leverage to regain control. This was hours after Lynn and Amber had a FaceTime call where Amber told her exactly why I don’t message back, she texted later saying, “just to get it straight, she isn’t messaging me because I talked about her… Just to get it right for my therapist,” to which Amber responded, “no, it’s because you said to her that you started sh!t just to feel sided with and ruined her relationships because of it.”
Amber and I already have a feeling that she is going to use the “I almost killed myself because of you” argument to try to get me back and wrapped around her finger, but I just can’t. Furthermore, every message she sent to me before ended in some version of “I don’t even care, but I want answers” or “I don’t even care about you; this is just for me.”
So, AITA for cutting off my sister, given the tumultuous circumstances?