Swollen spots under tongue

M32 here, generally healthy with no smoking and very minor drinking just on special occasions.
https://imgur.com/a/dwHT5zu
Recently have had pain swallowing for 13 days. Swallowing food and drink is fine, but when just swallowing saliva I feel throat pain.
Also feel the need to cough a dry cough every 5 minutes or so. Every time I cough the right side of my throat has a sharp quick pain. Have had this symptom about 5 days.
Another symptom is the right side of my neck has a constant, almost warm-feeling, dull ache. Feels like a muscle pull but going to mention as in the same area as the rest and I can't consciously remember pulling it.
Finally, I've just been checking my throat and mouth and noticed three things under my tongue; being the dark red mark, the lighter red on the underside of the tongue and the swollen lingual frenulum.
Based on the above, could you please let me know if these symptoms point to anything and whether they should have me worried.
Thank you.

I (26F) have a grape-sized lump under my right jaw and it moves when touched. I noticed this 2 months ago and it was pea-sized back then, I didnt think much of it as I was also under antibiotics that time due to a carbuncle so most likely a swollen lymph node.
Yesterday I woke up to a pain on the right side of my neck (kinda like when you have a stiff neck) when I look up. Followed by a pain at the end of my tongue near my tonsils, on the right side as well. When I looked down, this is when I noticed that the bump under my right jaw got bigger and now a size of a grape. It doesn't hurt but it moves when I touch it.
What could be the cause of this?
Just to add up: • I also woke up to a very bad cold from allergies yesterday • I'm a heavy smoker of vape • I get out of breath sometimes even at rest • I feel like choked before sleeping, feels like my shirt collar is too tight even though it isn't • I didnt get to finish taking my antibiotics 2 months ago as I ran out of it (I'm poor 🥲)
I’m going to get it checked next week but I just wanna ask and know ahead of time so that I’m ready. I’m worried because this might be something serious.

I'm not sure where I or my marriage stands right now. Some background, I (M42) and my wife (F43) have been together since high school, and married at 21/22. We have 3 children with the oldest being 12. I haven't been a good partner for quite a while. Not abusive, but I have distanced myself and just flat out couldn't feel anything other than angeannoyance for many years. I did not provide her with any love that she needed, and we generally just existed together for 5 or so years. I checked out of the relationship, and she eventually did as well.
I didn't really understand any of this until the week after she returned from a trip away.
My wife had a girls trip with her sisters and a friend to get away from everything for a couple of days at a beach in Florida. When we were texting as she was at the airport waiting for her return flight one of my daughters brought my wife's iPad in for me to look at something as her game was not working right. As she handed it to me I had just sent a message to my wife and I saw it pop-up on her iPad. I was confused, and clicked on it, it took me a minute to realize that my wife's iMessage was signed into the iPad.
Right under my message was a message to a contact named just as a man's first name. I became concerned and read it, it was from that midnight/morning (when she was out at bars until 2AM) just after midnight with a simple "Hi/Hi" text, like she was just getting someone's number. This had me concerned and I then checked to see if her photos were synced, where I found the last picture taken was a nude selfie that she did not send to me.
I texted her and asked her who the man's name was, and why she was texting another man while at a bar, and who she had taken the nude picture for. She immediately told me that she was just getting the number of her sister's friend who they had bumped into, and that the picture was for me and she had thought that she had sent me earlier in the morning while we were texting saying that we had missed each other, and she had promised me some fun time when she got home. I bought it, and I believe her still about these things now.
She came home, and we talked, and had a nice night. The next day I decided that I needed to confirm if she was lying, and logged into her Facebook to see if I was crazy or she was lying. I found a message between her and a musician where she was messaging seeing where he was playing that night, and that they all wanted to see him perform again. When he replied that he was pretty far from where they were staying, she messaged that they (the 4 of them) would be at a certain bar if he'd like to come by after and have a drink with them. This is the second time I went off the deep end thinking she had cheated. We talked about it and she just said that all of them had liked talking and listening to him play, and that she had just messaged because she's better at tracking people down. I believe her, but still have a gut feeling that SOMETHING happened.
I checked her text message use through our phone provider the next day after she was home to find a TON (50+) of texts between a local Florida number and her, the night she was out late at the bar, then at 2:30, 3:30, 4:30AM, starting again the next morning at 8:30AM when we were texting back and forth about all of the kids stuff that Saturday that I had going on. She was stilI texting that person the morning after she came home. I checked her laptop to see what those messages were (iMessage on MacBook) and they were all deleted.
I confronted her about this and she told me it was a woman that she had talked a lot to that late night about being a mother, marriage problems, etc., and that they had messaged again in the morning as the woman she had met wanted to meet up again before she had to leave for the airport. I believed this and apologized for invading her privacy.
I need to also share that during full week (Saturday to Saturday) where the next part happens I was legitimately concerned that I was having a mental break of some sort, I couldn't eat, I was constantly sad and had what I now know was anxiety in my chest for a full week. Constantly questioning myself, and also during this whole time we were getting along so well, having a lot of sex and being so close to each other which we hadn't had in years. While enjoying this, I still couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
I was scared, and I had thought a lot about what was wrong with me, and we had talked about our problems in a way that I never cared to during our bad times. I was falling in love with my wife all over again, and just looking for a reason to trust her, and stop feeling like something was wrong. She had told me during this week that because I was so upset she had messaged the woman and told her that they wouldn't be meeting up again when she was coming to our home state, and told me that she had broken contact.
I told her that I was suspicious of how nice and loving she had been since she got back, and she told me it was because she had a very relaxing time, with no kids or any of the other dozens of daily worries, and also because of how much we had reconnected since she came home. She said she wanted to be close, and that I was turning her on with my actions.
This past Saturday night I invaded her privacy again to find that she had not stopped talking, and had just switched over to SnapChat as I could see the texts through our phone company. When I confronted her about this and told her that she needed to tell me the truth or I was leaving, she slowly and eventually told me the following.
While at the bar, after talking to her for a while the woman had consistently complimented her, and my wife liked this. She then asked my wife to come back to her house with her husband and have a threesome. My wife says she told her no initially, and that talk would stop for a bit before asking again. They danced "sexy" as my wife tells me, and this woman gave my wife a kiss on the lips which my wife promises wasn't a tongue kiss, and that it was quick and she didn't kiss back, or even want.
This woman then continued to ask, even bringing her husband over for him to try and ask. Then switched to just come over we can just keep hanging out and having fun.
I believe that my wife did not go back and have the threesome, I had checked her location a few times the night she was out late because I wanted to talk to her, but sincerely wanted her to have her time away and to have fun, and didn't want to ruin that. I was hoping to catch her back at her hotel, but every time I checked she was still at the bar, and then I finally went to sleep late.
What's really bothering me is that after all of our talk after this about honesty, open communication, no lies, no deleting texts, she's still doing it. I know for a fact that she has deleted messages from one of her best friends (that wasn't on this trip), and her sister that was there. Not the whole string, just individual messages. I have no way to find out if she is still SnapChatting her, and my wife told me that even after she went back from the bar that night the woman was still trying to get her to meet up. She wanted her to go on their boat the next day, come to their house for a BBQ, etc..
My wife told me that she told them maybe a few times, but only because she enjoyed the excitement of being wanted and complimented after all the years that I didn't give her that, but that she would NEVER cheat.
I don't know how to move past this, I still feel broken. I believe her that nothing physical happened, but I also can't get over that she still wants to talk to someone that tried to get her to cheat on her husband. I've never cheated, and also have never put myself in a position where there were temptations, I know that things can happen without a real choice being made to do something wrong, so I just don't put myself in that spot. My wife's one sister (who is really like her best friend) is and has always been protective of my wife. I don't think she left her alone ever during their trip, and I truly don't think my sister in law would be supportive or even tolerating of my wife cheating.
For the past week and change we have been so connected, we have been making love multiple times a day and can't keep our hands off each other, we hug so much, and it feels so nice, until the negative thoughts come back, and they keep coming back. When we're together those thoughts aren't there, but when we're not (even though I know exactly what she's doing) they come back.
I feel like I've been cheated on, but I feel wrong for feeling like this when I really believe her that nothing physical happened.
I guess I just needed to vent, and if there are any women out there that have been in a situation like this, please feel free to offer some insight, I'd really like to hear this.
To close this out, I'm not blameless here, I can fully admit to myself and her that I fully understand why she'd look for the compliments and feeling like she was wanted. I didn't give her that, and I knew all along that self-esteem was a problem for her. There are so many things in her life that cause her anxiety (which is a problem for her), me being only (even though big part) of it all. I've done quite a bit of soul searching, I've discovered that a lot of my anger comes from my own upbringing that I just buried, and am looking for a therapist to talk to. I've never been emotionally intelligent, and really just bought into men don't show their feelings. I'm unwinding it and have been brutally honest about what I'm seeing now that I have been feeling for all these years without knowing, and our relationship is in such a good place right now, and I hope for the rest of our lives. I've been different with my children, and the behaviors that they had that drove me nuts are stopping. I see now that it was always me that was the problem. I want to figure myself out now so we can keep what we have, it's all so great. I just can't shake this feeling of being betrayed but also questioning if it's my guilt over how shitty I've been or if it's the whole thing above that's still eating away at me.
Thanks for sticking around if you're still here.

I sit alone in my room on the seventh floor, writing what will surely be my last will and testament. The heroin which allowed me to forget and to sleep for the last couple of years has lost its power to keep the screaming terrors away. The drug destroyed my body and mind, gradually eating away at them like a corrosive acid. Now I have become a slave to it. And yet, without it, I do not sleep for weeks, but instead continuously see the scenes from that terrible night running through my head on repeat as worsening waves of madness crash on the shores of my consciousness.
In the caverns under the town of Frost Hollow, I found the meaning of true madness. Ever since I escaped that den of horrors, it is difficult to tell what is real and what is only the feverish delirium of an unhinged mind.
Even now, they wait behind the door to this cheap, bare rented room. They drag their claws over the wood. I hear them hissing in that strange, ancient tongue, the one I first heard in the tombs of rock that had been undisturbed for countless millennia.
***
I had first heard rumors of an unexplored cavern from my friend, an experienced caver named Sonia who had explored caverns all over the world. I had been looking for some excitement in my life, some break from the constant monotony and boredom of simply working and sleeping. I had gone caving quite a few times over the year leading up to the trip, but I was not nearly as experienced and had never explored a supposedly virgin passageway of cavern before.
“How do you know no one’s gone down there?” I asked, curious. We sat across from each other at a local diner, getting some early breakfast before our planned descent. The sunrise was still another half-hour away, the sky flat and dark. We would be joined by Sonia’s husband, Phil, who would meet us there shortly after sunrise. I repressed an urge to yawn, chugging half of the steaming hot coffee in one long swallow. Sonia leaned close to me, her nearly colorless blue eyes reminding me of chunks of ice floating down a muddy stream.
“Phil’s friend just found it randomly,” she whispered before glancing around conspiratorially, as if she feared someone would care enough to eavesdrop on a conversation about a cave. “Well, it’s in the middle of a farm, and Phil’s friend, Jack Graysole, owns the entire property and surrounding woods. Jack says he noticed the cows kept going over to a certain spot in the field when it got really hot during the summertime. They would all gather around this little indentation in the grass. After seeing it a few times, Jack got curious and went to investigate what the cows were doing.
“He found a small hole in the ground, almost entirely covered by weeds and grass. He said he felt a cool breeze constantly blowing out of the hole, a breeze that smelled like burning matches and charred metal. After bringing out some shovels and digging down a couple feet, Jack realized that the hole wasn’t a hole at all, but the beginning of a steep passageway leading deep into the bowels of the earth.”
***
The owner of the land decided to unofficially call the newly-discovered cavern Graysole Caverns. Out of respect for him, this is also the name we all used. This is the story of how I found myself in the bowels of a strange subterranean tunnel, a tunnel where creatures beyond my comprehension slunk and hunted, skittering monstrosities who would be more at home in a nightmare.
After grabbing a couple coffees to take with us, Sonia drove over to Graysole Farms. Cows stood out in the grassy fields, huddled in tight circles as they repetitively chewed. The thin silhouette of Jack Graysole waited for us next to the herd. He had a face like a raisin, I thought to myself. I watched his thin, shaking body standing in the middle of an overgrown grassy field. Jack stared down blankly at something only he could see. Sonia and I started unloading some equipment from the car while we waited for Phil.
Once we had the backpacks loaded with some simple supplies, such as water, food, headlamps, rope, a couple extra batteries, some buck knives, and radios, we headed over to accompany Jack. We weren’t taking much, as we didn’t really expect to be down there for more than six or seven hours at the most.
Jack Graysole’s withered old face was as slack and expressionless as that of a corpse. He stared down at the ground as if he were in a trance, waving back and forth slowly on his feet like a plant in a light breeze.
“Jack?” Sonia called out as we approached. I could hear the man’s teeth chattering as we got nearer.
“Hey, what are you doing over here this early? You interested in accompanying us down there?” Sonia joked. But Jack might as well have been totally deaf for all the reaction he gave. Sonia glanced over at me with an anxious expression. I wondered if the old man was having a stroke.
I quickly walked over to where he stood, staring down at a black circular hole about three feet across directly in front of his feet. The entrance to Graysole Caverns stared up at us like a sightless pupil. As I drew within a few feet of Jack and looked straight into his blank eyes, I noticed something alarming.
His pupils were quickly dilating and constricting before my eyes. They would shrink to tiny pinpoints, then, a couple seconds later, rapidly expand until they became dark and serious. I could see his thready, rapid heartbeat pulsating in a vein on the side of his temple. Alarmed, I reached forward and put my hand on his shoulder.
Instantly, he came to life, like a man waking up from a nightmare. Shrieking, he looked at me with fully dilated pupils, reminding me of a panicked deer surrounded by wolves. His quavering old man’s voice shook with ineffable existential horror and mortal fear.
He took a step back away from us, seeming to realize where he was and what he was doing. He looked around, confused, then straight at me and Sonia. His eyes focused with anger and fear, as if we were demons here to drag him down to Hell. His eyes flicked back and forth between us constantly. Jack raised a trembling hand and pointed it straight at my heart.
“It’s you,” he said, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper. His teeth chattered despite the warm spring air. His skin looked deathly pale. “You’re the one who will bring an end to humanity, who will release the ruler of nightmares upon us.” He continued to point accusingly for a long moment at me, his face turning chalk-white. Then his eyes rolled up in his head. Slowly, he stumbled and fell backwards onto the soft grass of the field.
“Jack!” Sonia cried, running over to the old man. Jack’s breaths had started to come in slow, drawn-out gurgles, like a man with a slit throat trying to breathe. Frothy blood bubbled from his lips as they turned blue. Staring up at the endless expanse of cloudless sky, he exhaled one last shuddering breath and died.
***
Phil showed up only a couple minutes later. He found me and Sonia in a state of utter panic, both of us bent double over the still body of Jack. Sonia was on the phone with 911, and I was trying to give Jack chest compressions. The way his fingernails and lips shone with that cyanotic blue cast made me feel sick and weak. I knew it was futile, that I was simply playing with a corpse at this point, but I didn’t know what else to do. I felt if I didn’t do something, I might explode.
I heard the faint wailing of sirens approaching as Sonia’s panicked voice continued babbling to the 911 operator. Phil stood by her side, his tall, dark features searching and lost.
“Oh God, I think he’s dead!” Sonia cried over and over to the operator, as if she thought the operator could do anything about it. I didn’t hear what the operator said in response. As the ambulance pulled in, I gave up on chest compressions. I stood up and took a step back, looking sadly down on the kindly old man’s dead body.
The paramedics ran over. Phil, Sonia and I stood back while they worked on the corpse, trying to shock the heart back into life. But Jack’s open eyes stayed glazed as they stared sightlessly up into eternity.
***
The paramedics left. A couple police officers stayed behind to ask us a few routine questions. Eventually, after an hour or so, they left, too.
“What a fucked-up day,” Phil said, shaking his head grimly. “Do you guys still want to do this? Maybe it’s an omen from God telling us to go home.” Sonia and I exchanged a glance, then we both nodded at the same time.
“Definitely,” she said. “It’s sad what happened to Jack, but realistically, we don’t know what’s going to happen to this property now that he’s passed away. It might get sold or taken by the bank for all we know. This could be our one and only chance to explore this cave.”
“I don’t believe in omens. I’m still down,” I said, feeling slightly sick from the experience. I still remembered how Jack’s body had cracked under the weight of my chest compressions, how his ribs had snapped like bones shattering in greedy hands. “We’ll do it in memory of Jack. I plan to put this up on YouTube.” I pulled my GoPro out of my bag, turning it on. Phil groaned at that.
“Do we have any idea how far down this cave goes?” Phil asked. I felt a sense of relief now that the topic had changed from the death of the old man.
“I sent a little camera down on a rope, but it only went about a hundred feet,” Sonia responded. “It’s pretty steep at first, then it levels out. I couldn’t really see much after it leveled out, but it looks like it should be easy to climb down. There’s plenty of handholds, lots of jutting rocks.”
Phil put on his headlamp and small pack. As he crawled down into the hole, his tanned face looked up at us and gave us one last devilish grin. Once he had gone down a few dozen feet, Sonia started descending. She looked excited and happy. I noticed how she couldn’t stop smiling as she disappeared from view.
I watched their lights grow smaller and dimmer in the circular tunnel. I marveled at how perfectly circular the entrance was. It almost didn’t even look natural.
Taking a deep breath in, I followed my friends down into the dark.
***
“This isn’t too bad,” I said as I climbed down. The jutting rocks gave plenty of handholds and footholds for us. It wasn’t so tight that it felt like a coffin, either.
“It only gets easier from here!” Sonia called up.
“How do you know?” I asked. “You said you’ve never been here before.” She laughed.
“I know. Probably just wishful thinking,” she said. Far below us, Jack’s voice drifted up, faint and weak. He had already reached the bottom.
“The tunnel really opens up down here, guys,” he called. “It’s somewhat… bizarre, though.”
“What do you mean by that?” Sonia asked. I looked down, seeing Sonia and I would reach the bottom in seconds. “Forget it, I’ll let it be a surprise.” I heard her drop down. Slowly and carefully, I lowered myself down the last few feet. There was a short fall onto a smooth granite floor. I looked up, seeing what Phil and Sonia were so mesmerized by.
“Oh, wow,” I said, speechless. I blinked rapidly, wondering if the image would clear like a mirage. The tunnel was cut into a perfectly triangular shape, each side about seven feet long. The ceiling met in a point above our heads.
All along the smooth walls of gray rock, I saw thousands of black orbs peeking out. They looked similar to obsidian, but they were perfectly smooth and circular, each about the size of an orange. They were formed into interlocking diagonal patterns and followed the tunnel straight down as far as the eye could see.
“What is this place?” Sonia asked, taking a tentative step forward. I looked up, seeing the distant pinpoint of sunlight far above our heads. Our voices continued to echo off down the massive tunnels, disappearing in eerie waves into the thick curtain of shadows.
“Are you recording all this?” Phil asked me. I laughed, giddy.
“Of course! This is internet gold right here,” I said. “No one’s going to believe that this isn’t man-made, however. I can’t even believe it. Do you think Jack was playing a joke on us or something?”
“Jack had the sense of humor of a wet paper towel,” Phil whispered, shaking his head. “No, he wouldn’t do something like this.”
“Well, let’s go check it out,” Sonia said, taking a step forward. Her headlamp bobbed up and down rapidly, throwing dancing shadows through the triangular tunnel. It continued straight ahead, without the slightest deviation or curve, disappearing off into a dark point in the distance.
***
We walked as fast as we could, excited to see where, if anywhere, the strange tunnel led. Phil, always the conspiracy theorist, babbled excitedly.
“This has to be aliens, man,” he said, running his fingers through his dark hair. “I bet that scientists will find out this shit is millions of years old when we get back up and tell everyone. Maybe aliens came to earth in ancient times and made a bunch of stuff underground.” Gradually, as we walked, I noticed the tunnel opening up. The pointed triangular ceiling rose up higher above our heads and the walls moved outwards, as we were walking up a triangular funnel. At first, it was so subtle that I didn’t believe it when Sonia pointed it out.
“No, look,” she said, raising her hand above her head. “When we first started down this weird tunnel, my fingers were only maybe a foot away from the top. Now it’s a couple feet.” I was about to respond when our headlamps illuminated something standing in the middle of the tunnel.
“What the fuck is that?” I whispered, stopping cold in my tracks. Phil and Sonia looked up at the abomination at the same time. Its back was to us. It stood nearly as tall as the tunnel, which was now about twenty feet high.
The bottom half looked black and spidery with dozens of long, jointed legs. A bloody, white spine rose out of the mass of legs. Inhumanly long, skeletal arms stretched out in front of it. Its face was pointed away from us, but the back of its head resembled an enormous pointed skull with deep fissures like the cracks of an earthquake running through the bone. The abomination stayed as still as a statue, and for a long moment, I wondered if we were looking at some macabre work of art.
Then, suddenly, one of its insectile legs twitched. A moment later, the other legs started jerking and twisting. There was a sound like bones shattering as it rose up to its full height, turning around to face us.
Its face was like something from a nightmare, melting and reforming constantly like dripping candle wax. I would see a black eye appear on its forehead, then a grinning mouth on its chin, then the features would get sucked back into the folds of melting flesh. After a few moments, two enormous eyes appeared on its face, dark and cold like craters on the surface of the Moon. The mouths and noses disappeared back into the dripping skin, and only the two lidless eyes remained, emanating a cold, reptilian consciousness beyond the ability of my mind to comprehend. I felt terror radiating from its body like freezing waves.
“Free me,” it cried in a gurgling voice that seethed with insanity. It had a shrieking, metallic ringing behind every word that gave it an alien quality. “Free me, and I will give you the waters of eternal life. Within me, I contain the seeds of immortality. Within the nightmares, we live forever, always together, never alone.”
“Who are you?” I asked, terrified. The black reptilian skin of the enormous beast glistened as it knelt down, its massive face drawing near to mine. A sideways mouth burst out of the liquified flesh, showing hundreds of fangs growing like tumors from its white, bloodless gums. The fangs varied in size from only a couple inches to long, sword-like projections that stabbed into the creature’s flesh, causing white blood glittering with rainbows to fall like raindrops all around me.
“I have many names,” it hissed, its thousand voices rising and falling in crashing waves of sound. “I was present at the beginning, when this planet was no more than dead cliffs and endless freezing oceans. Those holy ones who search for us, the ancient ones, call me Niralahoth.”
“How do we free you?” Phil asked, looking terrified. He held Sonia’s hand tightly.
“By letting me into your mind and body,” Niralahoth cried, shaking the cavern. “I was thrown down here, cursed and forgotten. I cannot leave this place of shadows within this body. But in the body of another, my consciousness can be free, and the seeds of new life can spread beyond this prison.”
“There’s no way anyone’s going to do that,” I said, my eyes widening as Niralahoth’s reptilian skull turned towards me in fury. “I mean, you’re asking one of us to give up our individuality, our lives, right?”
“I am asking you to become one with me and gain power undreamt of by mortals,” it cried. “I have within me the fountain of life, the waters that send death away screaming.” I glanced anxiously at Phil and Sonia, wondering if we would have to run.
“The answer is no,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, we can’t do that,” Phil said, backing me up. “But, anyways, I think our trip has ended. It’s time to turn around…”
“You will never return,” Niralahoth cried, skittering away from us. “If you will not accept salvation, then you must accept death.” Within seconds, it slunk away from us, backpedaling on its many skittering legs into the shadows.
***
All around us, a rumbling started.
There was a pounding that crashed through the rock tunnel, as if an insane blacksmith were hammering on a massive anvil. The ringing of crashing rock started off slowly, with a few stones smashing down around us with heavy blasts of sound. Within seconds, the cacophony sped up, rising into a constant stream of destruction. The black orbs were spinning in place all up and down the tunnel, their glossy obsidian surfaces flashing with sparks of blue light.
“It’s collapsing!” Phil cried, running back in the direction we came, holding Sonia’s hand as she tried to keep up with him. I could only stare for a long moment, not sure what to do. It seemed that the direction Phil was heading stood closer to total collapse.
“Wait!” I cried, but my voice was drowned out in the destruction all around us. I felt a rock smash into my shoulder, sending me down to my feet. I heard Phil give a scream of pain, then another stone came down and smashed into my forehead. I remember seeing everything spinning around me as the world went black.
***
I awoke to find my headlamp still shining straight up in the dusty tunnel. Large chunks of the tunnel had slid out of place and crashed to the stone floor. The granite chunks that had fallen looked unnaturally smooth, most of them in the shapes of cylinders or cubes and varying in size from that of an egg to that of a small car.
My head throbbed. It felt as if a tight belt of fire were wrapped around my temples. Groaning, I put my fingers up to my forehead. They came away slick with blood.
Slowly, I started pushing myself up on my feet. I was relieved that nothing seemed broken. I had a deep gash running from the center of my scalp down to my left temple and some shallower cuts on my shoulders and back, but I knew none of that was life-threatening.
“Sonia?” I whispered, my voice coming out weak and strained. I reached into my pack and found a bottle of water. I chugged it quickly in one long swallow.
“Phil?” I cried again, this time stronger. I heard a soft weeping nearby. Staggering, I followed the sound.
Sonia was bloody and covered in cuts and scrapes, sitting next to Phil’s prone form. I saw Phil’s right arm pinned under a massive slab of granite. His arm disappeared from the elbow down in a spreading puddle of thick, dark blood.
“Oh God, Max, I think he’s hurt really bad,” she wept. Phil’s eyes rolled wildly in his head, his face pale and bloodless. I looked down the way we had come, seeing the entire tunnel blocked by large slabs of stone, many with strange, black orbs peeking out like the lenses of cameras.
***
I don’t know how much time passed. My phone died after a day, and then we were counting the endless darkness in breaths and tears.
Phil swam in and out of consciousness as his arm putrefied and blackened around the crush site. After a couple days, Sonia and I agreed that something had to be done. We told Phil we would need to amputate his arm. He was half-delirious, but he came back long enough to understand us and nod weakly.
We made a fire with Phil’s pack, trying to find fuel to throw in it to get it roaring. As it grew, I saw one of the black orbs near the flames abruptly ignite, as if it had been covered in gasoline. Blue, almost colorless flames rose from its surface. We started throwing the small black orbs on the fire until it rose high in the air. I sanitized the buck knife with the flames and pulled a rope tourniquet tight around Phil’s arm. He was conscious but seemingly insane, talking to himself more than anyone else.
“How are we going to get the car started without a key?” he gurgled to someone only he could see. “We need to look around. It has to be here somewhere.”
“Phil, can you hear me, bud? We need to fix your arm. We need to get you out of this mess. OK?” I said as comfortingly as I could. Phil’s eyes rolled wildly, but they didn’t meet my own. I sighed and looked over at Sonia.
“Let’s do it,” I said, giving a grim nod.
I pulled the buck knife out, slicing quickly down through the flesh next to the tourniquet. His veins throbbed like fat worms as the blackened, necrotic skin split easily under the blade, releasing a rancid-smelling gas that hissed out of the wound.
I couldn’t believe how hard it was to slice all the way through the arm. It felt like I was stuck in that hellish task forever. Phil’s eyes rolled in his head as his skin turned the color of clotted milk.
“God, Jesus, make it stop,” Phil whispered over and over, exhaling ragged, pain-filled breaths. The blood spurted from the blackened, dying tissue all over the dust-covered cavern floor, covering my hands in its warm, slick embrace.
After what was probably only three or four minutes, but felt like hours, I had sliced all the way down to the bone. The infected tissue of his arm spurted great gouts of orange pus mixed with rivulets of blood. The hard part was over.
Standing up, I took my steel-toe sneaker and stomped down on his arm as hard as I could. Phil cried out in a powerful voice, as if all the agony and suffering in the world was contained in that one shriek. The bone snapped under my weight with a sound like a tree branch cracking. A moment later, Phil rolled away from the rock that had pinned me in place for so long. Something alien and spongy was shoved into my face, a mass of destroyed red tissue pulsating in time with a runaway heartbeat. At first, shell-shocked and revolted, my mind couldn’t comprehend that I was looking at the stump of Phil’s mutilated arm. I hardened my heart and forced the giddiness and madness to the back of my mind. The time had come to cauterize the wound.
“Sonia, give it to me,” I said with a tremor in my voice. I reached out a hand towards her, a hand stained with Phil’s blood. It looked as if I were wearing a wet, crimson glove. Sonia only stared blankly at me for a long moment, however. A surge of anger ran up my chest.
“Sonia, toughen the fuck up! He’s going to die if you just sit there!” I swore at her, hearing my deep, angry voice bounce around the caverns. Sonia pulled back, as if she were struck. Inwardly, I cursed having a woman as my only able-bodied companion in this situation. She was a competent enough caver, but what would happen if violence and blood came over us? What would happen if, or more realistically when, we needed to fight?
Grimly, Sonia leaned forward and yanked the burning black orb out of the roaring fire, handing it to me on the end of a buck knife that had just barely pierced its hard, strange exterior. The handle of the knife felt coarse and splintery under my filthy skin. I put it to the spongy stump of Phil’s arm. The stump twitched violently. Phil tried to pull away as black smoke rose from the burning flesh.
There was a smell like bacon sizzling. The searing meat of Phil’s arm blackened and crisped under the heat of the orb, which had become no more than a cylinder of glowing blue embers by this point. I felt simultaneously sick and giddy. I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh or vomit. I felt like I was on the verge of some kind of madness, that the stress and insanity of the experience had started to shatter my mind.
His eyes rolled back in his head and he appeared to go into a seizure for a few seconds. With a long exhalation of breath, he finally, mercifully, lost consciousness. It’s hard to admit it, even this close to the end, but a small, sick piece of me was jealous of Phil. Most likely, he would be dead soon, maybe within hours, while Sonia and I would slowly starve and dehydrate like animals over a period of weeks. I looked at her lithe body and soft skin, seeing the feminine curves of her hips and chest. She was a beautiful woman. I knew Phil to be a lucky man. At least, before this trip, he was.
I watched her body, wondering if I had what it took to eat her or Phil if I had to. Did I have an iron heart that would allow me to slice into my friends and consume their raw, cold flesh? Perhaps, by that point, it would be hunger and madness driving me forward, and I wouldn’t even hesitate. I shuddered at the very thought.
***
I fell asleep that night, having strange dreams of massive gods with melting faces sitting in judgment in a circle around me. We had very little food or water left. No one knew we were down here. Rescue was not coming.
When I awoke, I found myself alone. Phil had died from his injuries while I slept, the black streaks of septic shock spreading up his arm towards his heart. His eyes stared sightlessly up at the rock ceiling.
“Sonia?” I called out, my heart racing as I sat up. “Where are you?” My headlamp was growing dim. I looked in my pack, realizing I was on the last of my batteries. I saw a silhouette walking out of the darkness, the thin, pale form of Sonia. She was trembling badly.
“I saw them,” she said. “Niralahoth and its priests. The priests aren’t human. They look reptilian with sideways mouths and too many eyes.” She shuddered.
“Why would you do that?” I asked. Her eyes grew distant.
“You know we’re not getting out of here alive,” she said. “Not on our own. I wanted to see what it offered. It says that if we take a piece of its nightmare into us, we will gain the power to leave this place, that it simply wants to see the surface and spread its nightmares there.” I shook my head.
“Insanity,” I muttered. “We’d be better off dead.” Sonia nodded.
“My thoughts exactly,” she responded grimly. I didn’t realize what she meant until the next day, when I woke up and found her hanging next to Phil’s body, her tongue swollen and blue as it poked out of her cyanotic lips. And then I was truly alone.
***
Soon after Sonia committed suicide, the last of the batteries for the headlamp died. I had run out of food and had only a small sip of water left. I don’t know how much time passed in the darkness, starving and raving, following the tunnel by running my hands over the walls. I heard many things skittering in the darkness, and a few times, I heard the demonic voice of Niralahoth as it split and distorted.
“You are on death’s door,” it hissed. “Will you not drink from the fountain of life?” I couldn’t tell where the voice came from in the maddening blackness. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. I had lost nearly all of my sanity in that pit of shadows by this point. I tried laughing constantly to keep my spirits up, and when that failed, I simply cried.
“I’ll do it,” I wailed. “I’ll do it. Just let me see the sky again. Get me out of here, Niralahoth.” Everything went deathly silent all around me, then a laugh rang out like the grinding of glass.
In front of me, I saw a tornado of fire descending from the ceiling, surrounding the massive, spidery form of Niralahoth. It rose its skeletal arms upwards, as if it were Zeus calling down lightning. In the sudden brightness, I saw the fiery form of snakes slithering and centipedes skittering forwards in that tornado, each massive creature sculpted from flames in the spinning cyclone of energy. Niralahoth reached into the tornado of fire with its sharp points of fingers and plucked something small from it. The fire instantly dissipated. In its hand, I saw a tiny, swirling orb that looked like it contained a firestorm within it.
“The nightmare seed,” Niralahoth gurgled as it skittered forward towards me. I could only stare, open-mouthed and starving. I hadn’t slept for days, it felt like, and everything seemed slow and unreal.
In a blur, its skeletal arm shot out and forced the orb into my mouth. Despite the fire raging within it, it felt freezing cold. As it touched my tongue, it gave off a sensation like frostbite all throughout my mouth. I screamed and tried spitting it out, but it seemed to have a mind of its own. It started liquifying, dripping down my throat.
I felt something cancerous and sick spreading throughout my body, radiating out from my heart and stomach to every inch of it. I tried to scream, but it caught behind my teeth. I fell to my knees, clawing at my face as that insane, alien laugh continued resounding all down the tunnel. I fell unconscious and woke up under a beautiful sky in the fields of Graysole Farms.
***
Soon after, I realized that my life would never be the same. Everywhere I went, I could hear the wailing voice of Niralahoth. Behind the trees, I always saw skittering shadows, creatures with long, spidery legs that stalked me every day and night. I slept with every light in the house turned on, yet when I woke up, they would all be shut off, and I would find myself in darkness, next to something in the bed with far too many legs and a face that dripped like burning wax.
I sold everything I owned and tried to move far away, to give as much distance between myself and those cursed caverns as I could, but the nightmares followed me like a shadow. I realize what a fool I was in those ephemeral moments of madness. Sonia was much wiser than myself; I should have killed myself or died rather than allowing that thing inside of me.
Even now, I can feel it creeping through my heart, spreading through my blood. I feel it trying to crawl its way out of my throat, the thin, black legs peeking out at the back of my esophagus.
I only hope that, when I finally jump and feel my bones shatter against the concrete far below, I will kill whatever is inside of me. For I fear the consequences for the world if it were to escape.

PART 1:

 Every town has their own version of “The Boogeyman”. A monster, cryptid, phantom, whatever you want to call it, it’s all essentially the same thing- just a scary story they tell kids in an attempt to get them to behave. An urban legend is just a life lesson disguised as a horror story after all. For us folk living up in the tiny and once prosperous gold-mining town of Trillium, ours was known simply as The Locust Man. Now, let me start by saying, I realize how ridiculous that name must sound to you. “The Locust Man”?? Pftt…What’s he do, besides get stuck in the grill of someone’s pick-up truck. Destroy some crops? Oooh, he sounds real scary... yeah, I know. But yet, as I sit here today 20 years after the fact - a grown woman who’s wiser, stronger, and even more grounded in reality than she was at 12, I still hesitate to even write down that name. 

As a young child I had always thought it to be a little weird that our town was called Trillium, considering I had never seen a single one growing there. If you don’t know, a trillium is a small flower, usually white but they come in other color varieties as well, with three pedals and a bright yellow center. They sort of look like if you took a lily and tore off every other pedal playing “He loves me, he loves me not”. In school, about 2nd grade or so, we were taught everything about this elusive flower I’d never seen in real life, and told how proud our town was to be named after it. Trillium, Colorado was established in 1922 - A new town born in the wake of a great tragedy which befell the town that had previously sat in the same location. For us, and those that came before us, the trillium was supposed to be a symbol of hope. Knowing all that I know now, that sentiment almost makes me want to laugh - in a morbid way.

 Growing up in a small, mostly isolated town, there really wasn’t much for a kid to do. You’d have to drive 45 minutes to get to the closest mall and movie theater. The high school kids would usually all hang out at the roller rink downtown or at the old run-down burger joint called Slim’s that sat across it. But at that age, I wasn’t allowed to go hang out there by myself yet and for me, going with my parents tagging along wasn’t an option I was open to. My neighborhood was on a long dead end road leading up to a large patch of woods that separated the main part of town from the abandoned mine. The old trail the miners used was still accessible up until a point, and so me and the other kids from my street would hang out in those woods all the time. We had a “secret spot” which was, what we thought at the time, about half way through the woods, 10 steps away from a small shallow creek that pretty much ran the length of the area. Rain Creek, we called it. There was a small clearing there, and we had created our own little clubhouse using old milk crates as supports, half- broken wooden pallets as walls, along with some old lawn chairs one of the neighbors was throwing out one day. I made my contribution by bringing a tarp we had in our basement that served as the roof of our establishment. Our parents didn’t love the idea of five 10 to 12 year olds running around in the woods by ourselves, but as long as we stayed within earshot and made it back before the streetlights came on, they probably figured it was safer than us being across town galavanting unsupervised. 

It was me, Lacey, Devin, Mikey and Michelle. We were all best friends - pretty much inseparable, except the boys weren’t invited to the girls’ sleepovers and vise versa. Everyday after school, we’d get dropped off by the bus at the very beginning of our road, and it was a running joke between the Rain Street Gang (as we liked to call ourselves) for all of us to try and run off the bus as quickly as possible, while me, Lacey and Devin would all yell in unison ‘Last two home are some rotten eggs!!’, as Mikey and Michelle tried to push past us to get a head start. The aforementioned two were siblings, and lived in the very last house on our row right next to the woods, so they’d always get home last, regardless of their efforts. Although, the year that Mikey got a pair of Heelys for Christmas he finally got his edge over the rest of us, leaving Michelle to be the lone “rotten egg” until the next summer when one of his wheels broke off. The whole point of it all was just to get home and get our chores and homework done as fast as possible, so we could meet up at Mikey and Michelle’s house with enough daylight left to make our trek into the woods and back - together as a group. All five of us had made a pact to never visit the clubhouse without all members present, although us girls always had a sneaking suspicion that the boys thought themselves exempt from that rule. They, after all, were the ones that had discovered the spot in the first place, and not to mention, did most of the physical labor of dragging our provisions out there. Me and Lacey initially only heard about the spot a day after the boys found it; Michelle had walked into Mikey’s room in the middle of him and Devin talking about it, and immediately relayed the message to us. Michelle wasn’t necessarily more loyal to the girls than the boys, she was just the youngest among us and honestly couldn’t resist blurting out any mildly relevant information she thought she might have, in an effort to be included. But in that regard, if the boys had ever gone out there on their own, they would’ve had to be extremely sneaky about it, because Michelle’s number one objective in life was to gather any piece of intel she could. It was a seemingly normal Saturday morning when we learned our suspicions about the boys may have been warranted.
I had slept over at Lacey’s house the night before. We had just woken up and were still sitting on her bed discussing our possible plans for the day, when Michelle busted through the door with a look on her face that immediately told us she had finally gotten a hold of some juicy information, before she could even open her mouth to stutter out, “You-you-you guyssss, guess w-w-what!?!” Lacey gestured the nail file that was in her hand toward her, raising her eyebrows bluntly as Michelle tried to catch her breath. “So… Devin came to sleep over last night, annnnnd I was pretending to go to the bathroom so I could spy on them. Seeeeee, I was supposed to be sleeping but I -“ “Ughh come on Michelle, get to it! What’d you hear?” Lacey snapped “Ughh okay okay. So, I heard the boys talking, anddddd…. they’re planning to go explore the old mine today!!” “Alright Michelle! Good spying!” I chuckled, trying to encourage her after Lacey’s impatience. Lacey rolls her eyes, then immediately stands up. She takes the scrunchie off her wrist, ties her long blonde hair into a messy bun, and simply said, “Let’s go.” “Lacey..” I said “What??” She responds as if she hadn’t registered the tone of my voice at all. As I opened my mouth to begin explaining all the logical and practical reasons why even if the boys were stupid enough to go play around somewhere dangerous, we shouldn’t be, Michelle exclaims, “That’s where the Locust Man lives!!” I close my mouth in defeat, as I know Lacey will take this nonsense as a challenge, and because of that, no amount of my warnings concerning actual dangers would have any effect on her decision. Lacey dismisses her comment as she attempts to shove her foot into one of her new pink sneakers that she refuses to admit are too small for her. “Pshhh, don’t be such a baby Michelle, he’s not real, you do know that right?” Michelle crinkled her face and yelled back, “Yes he is Lacey! He is!! And th-th- that’s where he lives, and he eats kids that go there!” Lacey laughs at her and says “Oh yeah? You still believe in Santa clause too? What about the tooth fairy?” Michelle looked down at her shoes, and although she could admittedly be annoying, I found myself feeling bad for her. “Come on Lacey, she’s just scared.” Lacey shot me a look like she was expecting me to burst into laughter, but I just gave her a smirk and a shrug, and she rolled her eyes and said “Get dressed.”

 We walked in silence toward the end of the road, though the reasons for all three differed drastically. Lacey’s was determination and resolve, mine was comtemptousness and defeat, and Michelle’s was just fear. I found myself half-way hoping the boys had left already, but as we approached the driveway we caught them just as they were about to step off the porch. 

“Hey!!” Lacey yelled, in her trademark cheerleader cadence. “Where do you boys think you’re going without us?”. Mikey let a groan and rolled his eyes, while Devin said through a coy smile, “Well, we were actually just heading out to go to find you girls.” “Liar.” Lacey snapped, quickly wiping the grin off Devin’s face. “Michelle already blabbed- we know where you two are going and we’re coming too.” The boys looked at each other, then Mikey shot Michelle an angry look as she tried to shrink herself behind me, and said, “Fine, whatever, but no cry baby snitches allowed!!” Michelle then proceeded to prove both of his accusations correct by yelling back, “I am not a cry baby!! I’m telling mom if you don’t let me come with you!!” At that point I finally spoke up. “Alright, listen.” I said sternly, then once I had their attention I lowered my voice a bit to say, “Just for the record, I think us going to that grody old mine is a dumb idea and a big waste of time, but if one of us goes, we all go. That’s the deal, so make your decisions.” Lacey folded her arms in solidarity beside me, and with that we all had an unspoken understanding. So, with the boys out ahead leading the way, we headed toward the tree line.

 As we entered the woods, I felt a sense of dread wash over me - but to be fair, as a preteen emo kid who had already reached an adult level of cynicism, I felt a certain level of dread towards almost everything in life. So take my premonition with a grain of salt, but for some reason, this felt… different. I remember the woods being abnormally quiet that day. It took some time for me to even notice, but as soon as I did, I interrupted the mindless chatter going on to say, 

“Where are all the freakin’ birds?” Everyone turned to look at me as if I’d completely lost my mind. “Uhhh… What are you talking about?” Devin asked me. I pointed up toward the treetops. “Listen…. ” They all looked up, then looked around at each other in confusion. “Every time we’ve ever been in these woods, there’s always birds chirping back and forth. We’ve been walking almost 5 minutes now and I haven’t heard a single bird, have you guys?” “Damn, yeah, that is weird.” Mikey agreed. “They probably all just migrated!!” Devin goofily offered. “That’s stupid Devin, it’s spring. If anything, there should be more birds here, not less you moron.” Lacie argued. Devin flipped Lacie off, which was the best rebuttal he could usually come up with, and then turned toward me and said, “Okay whatever, what’s your point exactly?” “Just that - “ I looked over to Mikey, then back at Devin. “It’s weird.” I didn’t want to say what I was actually thinking. That the woods being too quiet was never a good thing. That when birds aren’t chirping, it could mean there’s a predator nearby. Besides, I was pretty confident that the boys, having both been in the scouts, knew what I knew, so saying it out loud would only serve to annoy Lacie and further frighten Michelle. Mikey broke his gaze that had been fixed on me, and while scanning our surroundings he said, “Let’s stop by the clubhouse on the way.” With a nod from me, we continued. When we arrived at our pit stop, Lacey hobbled over to the closest lawn chair and plopped herself down in it. “Ughhh, my feet are killing me!!” “I wonder why.” I mutter under my breath. “Excuse me, what was that?” “Just saying. Those shoes are gonna be the death of you Lace, you can barely walk in them.” “Pshhh, shut up. They just need to be broken-in okay? You’re just jealous cuz you’re still wearing your dirty old Vans from last year.” “Oooh yeah, you got me there. I am so sad I don’t have a pair of ugly pink Sketchers that don’t fit me.” She stuck her tongue out at me and we both laughed. I was just about the only person who could go toe to toe with Lacey’s sass. It’s part of the reason we ended up being best friends, besides being neighbors. In regard to style, personality and interests, we were almost polar opposites. But when it came to humor we were equals. And more importantly, we both had a mutual understanding when it came to our differences- I was me and she was her, and neither of us felt the need to try and make the other one be more like us. Besides, I was the only person who had ever really stood up to Lacey and didn’t take any of her crap, so I think she respected that. While that exchange had been going on, Michelle had started picking tiny pink flowers, and the boys were rummaging in the clubhouse for something. I yelled in their direction, “Hey! Big Mike and Dirty D!!” Me and Lacey giggled and she mouthed the word “big” with air quotation marks. They didn’t respond, so I walked over to the entryway and looked in. They were standing with their backs to me while looking down at an open metal box, and Mikey was reaching to grab whatever was in it. As he stood back up, I could see what it was. “What the fuck Mikey, seriously?” Hearing me cuss, Lacey and Michelle crowded in behind me. “Chill, it’s just a BB gun.” “I know it’s a BB gun Michael, what are you doing with it, and why is it here?” I was livid at the thought that he might be coming out here and shooting at animals just to be a shithead. I expected something like that from a goober like Devin, but not Mikey. Michelle butted in, “I’m telling mom!!!” “Nice try, dad knows I have it.” He looked at me and softened his tone. “It’s for protection, just in case we come across a black bear, or some weirdo creep out here. Seriously… it’s just to scare off something, not hurt it.” He knew how I felt about killing animals, especially for no good reason. A lot of people out here are poor and hunt for food, which I could accept as a reality. But hurting animals just for fun is psycho behavior, so I was relieved to hear him dispel my fear; I really didn’t want to have to hate him. “Do you even know how to shoot that thing?” Lacey asked. “Yeah, my dad showed me.” Devin clapped his hands together, making us all jump and himself laugh. “Well alright then, let’s get going!” I turned to Michelle, still holding the flowers. “You okay?” She nodded. “If you want me to walk back with you, I can.” I was slightly hoping she’d say yes so I’d have an excuse to get out of this excursion, but she just shook her head and forced a smile. I knew she was scared, but she was just too curious. Maybe I was too.

 We walked for what felt like half an hour. The trees had gotten more dense and the path narrowed from the overgrowth. Still no birdsong. I kept scanning the area in search of any sign of life other than us. Looking for movement of creatures scurrying away, listening for the sound of rustling as we passed, hoping for a squirrel, a lizard, even a bug. Nothing. 

“How much further is this damn thing?” Lacey groaned. Mikey answered without even turning around. “We should be coming up on it any time now.” “You said that like 10 minutes ago.” “Yeah, and now we’re like 10 minutes closer to it. And hey guess what, you insisted on inviting yourself - so suck it up buttercup.” “Hahahaha!” Devin laughed like a maniac at Mikey’s quip, while Lacey folded her arms and for once in her life didn’t have a snappy comeback. This time however, I did. “Well we really only came along to make sure you idiots didn’t kill yourselves.” “Oh, so you girls came out here with us to be our protectors, huh?” Devin laughed. “Ehh, more like babysitters.” Needless to say, I was flipped off for that statement. We rounded the next bend and suddenly all came to an abrupt stop one after another, starting with Mikey. Devin positioned himself beside him and let out a disappointed groan. “Shit Mikey!” A huge tree had fallen and was blocking the trail completely. There was no way we could climb over it because of all the leaves and branches - we’d have to go around it, which meant leaving the safety of the trail and crossing Rain Creek twice to get back to it. “Seriously???” Lacey exclaimed. “Maybe it’s a sign that we shouldn’t be going.” I shrugged. Mikey didn’t seem fazed by the obstruction at all. In fact, he seemed more confident. More calm. More sure of his intended mission. “It’s fine, we’ll just go around.” Michelle, who had been mostly quiet this whole time, finally broke her fear induced silence. “We are NOT supposed to leave the tr-tr-trail Michael! We could get lost!” “We aren’t gonna get lost Michelle, I have a compass. Plus, it’s literally just a few paces that way, then we cross the creek and circle back once we pass the tree and we’re right back on the trail.” “Oh you have got to be kidding me” Lacey said, “I’m not treading through that nasty water!” “Yeah Mikey, what about Lacey’s brand new shoes??” I laughed, and she playfully slapped me in the arm. Mikey’s patience was wearing thin with us. “Look, we already walked this far - if we turn back now, we’ve wasted the whole day for nothing. If you girls wanna be lame and turn around, then go for it - but me and Dev are going.” That’s all Lacey needed. A challenge to accept; someone to prove wrong. “I’ll show you lame.” She pushed past the boys and lead the way into the thick brush towards Rain Creek. It wasn’t very wide across, and there were lots of fallen limbs and large rocks spread throughout it. The current was barely that of a trickle, and the depth was no more than knee deep for us. It was definitely doable - just an inconvenience. And of course, one more ominous obstacle lying directly in our path. Another hint from the universe telling us to turn around. We didn’t listen. Lacey placed one foot on the closest limb and pushed down a few times to test its sturdiness. “I got this.” She stepped out onto it with both feet, then shimmied sideways until she was close enough to the large exposed rock in the middle of the creek, and hopped onto it. She turned around with a full grin and said, “Coming?” Mikey made his way across the limb as Lacey hopped onto a different limb which led her to the other side of the creek. Devin followed, then me, and then it was Michelle’s turn. “I’m scared to fall in!” Of course she is, I should have made her go before me. “It’s okay Michelle, it’s easy!” I reassured her. She didn’t look convinced in the slightest. “Come on Chelle, we’re leaving you!” Mikey yelled, already walking away. “Nooo!! I’m coming! Wait!” She made it across, but instead of just walking like everyone else did, she got down on her hands and knees and gripped the limb as if it were the only thing in between her and a 50 foot drop to the ground, which was funny to see but prolonged the whole process further. After all, we were about to have to do all of this again. Next go round went a lot smoother. The creek was more shallow here, and there were a whole lot more stepping rocks and debris built up. Having just crossed successfully a few minutes ago, we were all more confident in our abilities, including Michelle - who this time we made go first. “Just walk across like it’s a bridge! You got this!!”, we all cheered for her, and then clapped when she made it to the other side. Before we knew it we were back on the trail, and it wasn’t long after that we finally arrived at our intended destination.

 We all stopped and stared at it for a minute, carefully examining the dilapidated exterior of the place that had brought both prosperity and destruction upon our town. Mikey bent down, picked up a rock and threw it into the entrance. We heard it bounce a few times before it stopped. 

“Just to make sure nothing’s in there.” he turned around to clarify. “Did anyone think to bring a flashlight?” I asked. “It’s dark as hell in there.” I was hoping for just one more reason not to go. Devin reached into his cargo shorts pocket and pulled out a small keychain-sized flashlight, smiling with the satisfaction of finally being useful. “Okay, Mikey’ll hold the gun, I’ll shine the light and you girls follow behind us. Let’s go.” Mikey shifted the BB gun from its position of resting on his shoulder, to holding the barrel in his left hand and the butt in his right; trying his best to emulate a soldier’s stance. Something his dad had taught him I’m sure. We ducked down a bit to enter. “How far in we going?” Lacey asked. “Until we see something cool.” Mikey answered. I turned around to check on Michelle, still hovering in the doorway. “You coming?” I could see in her eyes that fear had finally gotten the better of her, and curiosity had taken a backseat. With wide eyes she shook her head. “The-the Locust Man lives in there.”, she tried to whisper. “I knew you were gonna be a baby about this!” Mikey yelled. I crouched down and put my hand on her shoulder. Against my better judgment, I say “How bout you just wait here for us and pick some more flowers. We won’t be long, there’s nothing in there, I promise. Just.. don’t move from this spot and we’ll be right back, okay?” I could feel her unease, but she seemed to accept my reassurance nonetheless. “Okay.” I smiled, then stood up and looked down at my watch to check the time. 12:46 PM. I turned and headed into the darkness, trying to catch up with everyone else. I didn’t feel good about leaving Michelle, but I didn’t feel good about letting the rest of them go in there alone either. And if I’m being honest, maybe a little part of me wanted to see what was in there too. When I caught up to Lacey she asked, “Where’s Michelle?” “Stayed behind at the entrance, she was too scared. I told her to pick flowers and wait there for us.” “Pshh, figures.” “Yeah. How’s your feet?” “At this point, numb actually.” It was so dark in there that even Devin’s rinky dink flashlight was illuminating the area enough for me to start taking a closer look at my surroundings. I looked around at the rock walls, they were covered in what looked like orange mold and green algae. There was a slight breeze coming in from the entrance, but the whole place just had a staleness to it. The boys stopped and turned around as we arrived at the first curve. “So ladies, what do you think? Cool huh?” Devin asked excitedly. “Smells like a fart in here.” I said.

 The most dangerous thing about exploring an old mine wasn’t getting lost in the maze of tunnels, or tripping on the rusted tracks and slamming your head against the wall - it was something simply referred to as bad air. Pockets of still air that have dangerously low levels of oxygen, the old men in town would call it “black damp”. There was also something produced from the old chemicals they once used called “stink damp”, which smelled like rotten eggs. Both were lethal. 

“I wonder if there’s dead bodies in here!” “Uh, Dev… we’re gonna be the dead bodies in here if we go in too far. I wasn’t just making a joke, you know that rotten egg smell can mean bad air.” Mikey interjected. “The entrance isn’t far behind us, there’s still enough fresh air coming in. We won’t go in too far, let’s just get to the end of this tunnel where it splits off and look around a bit, then we’ll turn around.” The fork in the tunnel really wasn’t that much further, and even though I knew once we rounded this curve I wouldn’t be able to see the entrance behind me anymore, I decided what the hell. Maybe a hundred more steps, then we can finally turn around and this whole dumb situation would be closer to being over with. When we got there, we looked down the length of the connecting tunnels each way. Everything looked unusually identical in its deterioration. I could see how someone could easily get disoriented and lost down here. “Hellooooo…” Mikey yelled to the left, his voice echoing through the corridor. Devin turned to the opposite direction and called out, “Hey yo, Locust Man!! You in here?” We all giggled, which made me think about Michelle, still waiting at the entrance for us, alone in the woods. I looked down at my watch. 12:46 PM. “Hey what the f-“ My cuss word was interrupted by a loud bang that came from the passageway Devin had just been hollering into. We all froze. I didn’t have time to process that my watch had stopped right as we entered the tunnel, or that Michelle had been left alone for who knows how long now, or that we had just heard what sounded like a support beam crashing to the ground, because next came a horrifying screeching buzzing sound. It sounded distant at first, but was quickly increasing in volume. We silently looked around at each other and backed away stunned at what we were hearing. Mikey never took his eyes off the tunnel though, and slowly he began to raise the BB gun to firing position. Without even thinking, I grabbed the barrel and pushed it downward. He quickly tore his eyes away from his target to look at me. I shook my head and managed to barely choke out the word, “Explosion.” He nodded and I let go. I looked down at the gun in his hands, and seeing his finger had already been on the trigger, I realized how lucky it was that I didn’t make him shoot himself in the foot. All of a sudden, the noise stopped. “What the hell was that?” Lacey asked. “I don’t know, nothing good.” I said. “Let’s just get the fuck out of here before this whole place caves in on us or something.” Another loud bang erupted from the right, extremely close to us. “Shit!!!” We all turned around and ran as fast as we could back toward the entrance. Devin tried to push past me, but as he did my elbow knocked the flashlight out of his hand. “My flashlight!!!” “Leave it!” Mikey shouted “The turn is right here, we won’t need it!” We rounded the corner, and using what little light there was illuminating from the entrance to guide us back, we ran like our lives depended on it. And they may have- none of us dared to look back, not like we would have been able to see anything anyway. When we finally made it out, we were all completely out of breath. I felt like I was going to throw up. I have to admit though, once we had made it back to safety I felt a rush of adrenaline like I had just had a near death experience. That feeling quickly faded into sheer panic when I looked around and realized Michelle was nowhere to be seen. “Uh, where’s Michelle?” Mikey asked me. “I told her to stay right here, she can’t be very far… Michelle!!!!” We all called her name, as loud as we could. No answer, no sign of her anywhere. “Alright look, she probably went off a little further looking for flowers to pick.” I tried to rationalize. “Let’s just split off in 4 directions and walk in a straight line while calling for her. She’s bound to hear one of us.” Everyone agreed, and even though I appeared outwardly as the level-headed calm person you need to take control in an emergency, inside I was petrified that something had happened to her, and that it would be my fault. I took the east, and headed out. It didn’t take too long before I passed a large tree and saw her sitting down behind it, looking at something on the ground. “Michelle! Oh thank god!! Didn’t you hear us calling for you??” She didn’t answer me, or even turn around. “Michelle, didn’t I tell you to stay by the entrance and not move?!?” My relief was quickly turning into annoyance as she continued to ignore me. I walked up closer to see what she was looking at, and my mouth dropped in awe of what she had found. It was a single white trillium.

 They say it takes 8 years for a trillium plant to produce a flower, and conditions have to be just right for it to bloom. That’s what makes them so special and rare. I stared down at it almost in a trance, like I was seeing a mythical creature. Michelle slowly reached out her hand towards it and I snapped out of it. 

“No!!” I grabbed her by the arm and she finally turned around to look at me. “If you pick the flower, the plant will die.” She ripped her arm away from my grasp and whined, “But I want to show my mom!” We heard Mikey calling from the north and I cupped my hands over my mouth to yell back, “I found her, she’s over here!!” I looked back at her. “No Michelle, come on, you can just tell her about it when we get back home.” I had enough, I was beyond ready to go and we still had at least another 45 minutes of walking to even get back to the clubhouse; an hour if Michelle kept up her crap. I grabbed her arm again and pulled her up to a standing position, looking back at the trillium as I walked her away. Mikey caught up to us, breathless but trying to hide his concern. “You little shit, we should have left you out here! What the hell were you doing?” I let go of her arm and she walked toward Mikey. “She was trying to pick a flower over there.” “It was a trillium!!” Michelle said, with the biggest smile on her face. “Wait, really?” He looked at me in disbelief. Before I could respond, a blood curdling scream echoed through the forest, coming from the west. It was Lacey. My heart dropped into my stomach and once again, every molecule in my body went into full blown panic mode. This time, I couldn’t contain my composure. “Laceyyyyyy!!!!!” A panicked shriek erupted from my lungs and I took off running. Mikey grabbed Michelle and sprinted after us. The trees became a blur; I didn’t even feel all the scratches and scrapes. Had she come across a coyote? A mountain lion? A bear? I didn’t even stop to think about the danger I might be about to come in contact with, I just ran. And then I found her. She was lying on the ground, holding her left foot. “Lacey!!” I said, trying to choke back the tears that were building up. “I think I twisted my ankle!!” “Oh god damn it, you bitch.” I struggled to catch my breath. “I thought you were dead.” “I might as well be, I have cheerleading practice on Monday!” Mikey and Michelle caught up to us. “What happened?” He asked “She’s being a drama queen, she just rolled her ankle.” I was angry. “Can you get up?” He asked her. She was able to stand, but as soon as she tried to put any pressure on her foot at all, she screamed in pain. We spotted Devin running over from the south as he was yelling out, “Hey yo, everyone alive and accounted for?” “Yeah, Lacey hurt her ankle.” Mikey yelled back. As he approached he looked concerned. “Can you walk on it?” He asked her. “No.” Without hesitation he replied, “Well alright then, looks like you’re gonna have to piggyback it all the way back home.” He lowered himself enough to where she could hop up onto his back, and we headed back toward the trail. Even though my nerves had begun to settle a bit, I knew we were still far from being out of the woods, in more ways than one.

“We’re a meat family,” my dad would proudly tell strangers. He’d wait for the quizzical look, then launch into detail, starting with how many freezers we had, how long we could sustain ourselves on the contents. It was just his way of starting a conversation, which made sense when you considered that raising and home-killing animals for food was, for want of a better term, his life-long hobby. His prize possession was one of those industrial-sized vacuum sealers: you could put half a pig inside and wrap it in plastic so tightly that every wrinkle and skin fold waxed unreal with shiny detail.
If we hadn’t lived in a rural area, albeit semi-urbanised, I guess it would have been pretty weird. But the mostly farming-stock locals only found his extra enthusiasm a little bit odd.
When he wasn’t being a bit embarrassing talking about it, I never really paid much heed to his hobby. I had a child’s vaguely grateful awareness that though our family went through some lean financial times, our stomachs never suffered like some of the families around us. All the beef, pork, ham and bacon in those big old chest freezers passed down from his dad really could have fed us for years.
I should preface all this by saying that I wasn’t a particularly bright kid, though neither was I dumb. I didn’t fail badly at anything in school, I just never achieved beyond a pass. I didn’t know it yet back then, still quietly dreaming about being a ballet star or a dressage champion, but mediocrity was my destiny. And I think that’s why I got on so well with my Aunt Liz.
Liz was my dad’s live-in youngest sister. She was one of those women who get described as ‘bubbly’ — not really pretty, not really smart, not a lot going on besides just being… well, all Liz. But she was salt of the earth; kind, caring, and great with kids. She was the only person who would willingly mind my two older brothers, who fought like hellcats and caused more trouble than the whole last generation of my family combined. People would privately lament to my parents that it was a shame Liz didn’t have kids of her own, but dad would just shake his head and say Liz liked it that way – that all the fun of looking after kids is being able to give them back to their parents.
I guess she was like me; nice, but mediocre. Lovely, but somehow forgettable when she wasn’t doing something for you.
But when Liz left us, I couldn’t forget her.
In hindsight, it was pretty weird timing that we had a big fortieth birthday party for Liz right before she disappeared. She was radiant that night; she’d hired a local girl to do her hair and makeup, and it was honestly the first time I’d ever seen her look pretty. She’d even worn a push-up bra under a tight red dress, which flattered her very plump curves well enough that the neighbour’s farmhand was spotted disappearing into the woolshed with her for a snog. In my dawning awareness, that gave a plain girl hope: if Aunty Liz could get a guy at forty, maybe things would turn out okay for me.
Anyway, I couldn’t forget how her pink cheeks, her eyes, her whole self, glowed that night before Liz went to bed. She said it was the best birthday ever, and that she was very much looking forward to the next stage of her life.
Would I have done anything different, if I had known? If I had realised what, exactly, that next stage was?
The week after the party, Aunt Liz said she was going on a little holiday up north, to visit some old school friends. She packed her things – she didn’t honestly have that many – and drove her little orange mini out onto the main road. And with a wave of one fleshy hand, she was gone. Nobody really thought much of it when she didn’t call, because nobody rural had cellphones back then. And Liz was, as I said, somehow kinda forgettable when she wasn’t right in front of you.
When we hadn’t had contact for six weeks, Dad tracked down the land line numbers for their old school buddies. They were surprised to hear from him — Liz had never arrived, so they had just assumed she’d cancelled her visit. No-one had thought to check. I eavesdropped on the conversation, and it sounded for all the world like *they* had forgotten about Aunt Liz, too.
From there it became a missing person case. The local cops came and talked to all of us; the farmhand who’d been seen snogging her was briefly detained, then let go, dad got grilled at length, even my hellion brothers were questioned thoroughly to see if this was one of their wild and dangerous pranks gone wrong.
But everything was a dead end. Nobody knew where Liz was, or what had happened to her.
The remains of her old mini were found halfway across the country, burned out on a beach, on a derelict stretch of ragged, rocky coastline. The police assumed murder and combed the area for remains. But even the most expert divers couldn’t conquer the incredible undertow and fast-shifting seabed of that coastline to look for evidence, so none was forthcoming.
Eventually the cops collectively shrugged and said that there was really nothing more they could do unless more information suddenly came to light. The locals knew nothing, no witnesses had come forward, and the trail was cold. As far as anyone knew, poor aunt Liz had been murdered on some desolate beach, far away from her home.
It didn’t feel fair to me. She’d once mentioned wanting her remains buried on our farm, in the graveyard plot beside grandma and grandad.
So, in my grief, I went into her room to look for something of hers to bury beside them.
Like I said, Liz didn’t have many things. Her room was pretty spartan, and her wardrobe was mostly sensible farm stuff. There was one exception: she, like me, did like to read, and she had a pretty good collection of well-thumbed books. I think it’s the escapism – even the most mediocre girl can lose herself in the plot of some trashy romance novel, imagine there’s still hope of being swept off her feet by that handsome stableboy, his inexplicable yearning for chubby plain girls.
So I set myself the task of going through the books, to find the right one to bury in the graveyard plot.
Most of them were exactly what you’d expect, but some of them were racier than I was used to. I felt various parts of my body flushing and tingling, as I read breathless prose about calloused hands touching the softest flesh of the protagonist. Okay, if I’m honest with myself, I might have got a little *too* invested in my project at that point. But that was also why I persisted going through her entire collection, until I found the ragged paperback from 1970, entitled Tawny Sands. And inside that trashy cardboard romance cover, I discovered not the tale of Tawny Sands, but some carefully hand-cut, stitched-in pages. A handwritten story in my Aunt’s rounded penmanship: Memoirs of a Long Pig.
I read her story twice in a row, utterly gripped.
Aunt Liz was no Stephen King – heck, she wasn’t even the Goosebumps guy – but her story was gripping and compelling, and I couldn’t put it down. Even if I hadn’t known her, I think that would have been true.
The gist of it was that Liz, when she was sixteen, had discovered that our family had a very long history of eating what she described as ‘Long Pork’. It’s an antipodean term, anglicised from the Pacific Islands: human meat.
Like me, young Liz still had some hopes and dreams. In one of her many failed attempts to find a special talent, she’d taken up cooking as a hobby. Naturally, with our family’s overabundance of meat, she’d scoured the freezers in the shed for ingredients: the racks of ribs and stacks of pork chops, butcher-paper wrappings all neatly labelled with the first letter of the name of the animal they came from.
She found familiar meat from Rodney, one of the pigs that had been recently slaughtered, emblazoned with an ‘R’ in her father’s strong, blocky lettering. There were cutlets labelled ‘M’ for Mary, from one of the lambs she’d hand-reared, and ‘F’ for Ferdinand, the steer they’d killed the month before. But she couldn’t explain the many, many curious parcels of meat on one side of the huge freezer, all labelled ‘J’ – at least, not until she took it all out and assembled it as well as she could on the scoured concrete floor of the killing shed. A big, frozen jigsaw puzzle without the box, her best attempt to discover what kind of beast the pieces had come from.
The animal, she quickly realised, was a Long Pig. Her own Aunt Jenny, who had died the month before – just after her fortieth birthday.
Fortunately, or perhaps not, for Liz, her father entered the shed right at that moment and realised his daughter had discovered the family secret. He sat down calmly on the lid of the freezer, and explained to her that this was a long-running family tradition, dating back to at least before his grandfather had been born.
“There are always people in life, Liz,” he’d said, “who won’t really amount to much. They want to be useful, want to be more. They strive and they strive, trying job after job, hobby after hobby, trying to hit on something they’re really good at. Something that makes them special. Those people can waste their whole lives, chasing dreams that never come true. Eventually they die unfulfilled, knowing that all their time has been wasted. That what they leave behind will fade quickly.”
His voice was oddly gentle as he leaned down and patted one of the neatly wrapped cuts of Aunt Jenny, still sitting frozen on the shed floor.
“Your Aunt Jenny was one of those people. So was my Aunt Irene.” He paused to gaze at his daughter, his next words peppered with emphasis. “But you see, my sweet Liz, they did find a purpose in life. They did find a way to be special, and they left this world utterly certain of their gift.” He stood up, stretched his back. “Let me show you.”
Liz waited while my grandad meticulously stacked the meat back into the freezer, all but one J-marked parcel that looked for all the world like a thick venison steak. He took her back to the farmhouse, and reverently unwrapped the deep red, heavily marbled meat to let it thaw. Then he laid it in the family’s ancient, cast-iron pan, basting it with butter and rosemary until a heavenly scent filled the kitchen, and Aunt Liz couldn’t stop her mouth from watering.
“Just try it. Let her show you. You’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.”
Even though she knew it was her aunt, Liz couldn’t stop herself from taking that first bite. There was something transcendent about the smell, overriding her natural revulsion that this was human meat, not one of their farm animals. For the first time, she truly realised it: we’re just another kind of animal. And weren’t her memories of Mary the lamb almost as fond as her memories of Aunt Jenny?
Liz explained then, in her curly handwriting, the explosion of taste that had assaulted her when she tried the steak. It was tender, it was succulent, it was rich beyond imagining. The fats melted on her tongue, lingering somewhere between pork and beef, but oddly neither. The flavour of the meat defied identification; something familiar, yet not.
But one thing she couldn’t deny; it was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten. Tears dripped onto her plate, mingled with the juice, the grease — not grief, but a pure, real, giddy delight.
“You’re tasting your aunt’s love for this family,” my grandad explained. “Her entire life was carefully curated, to eventually make unforgettable moments for us, just like this. This was her way of being special. This was the greatest gift she could possibly bring to our world – and because she realised that, she died with not a single regret. She knew her life had purpose. She was perfectly, completely fulfilled.”
I felt those words. I felt them lodge in my own belly, settling uncomfortably deep. I knew Aunt Liz, probably better than anyone else in the family. I’d seen how fucking happy she’d been on her fortieth, how goddamn fulfilled she was, despite apparently being a *nobody* and achieving *nothing*. Somehow, in the space of a single day, she had gone from being a forgettable background character to becoming the *main character*, immortalising herself in our family’s history with her sacrifice. Quite literally becoming part of all of us, forever.
I went to the killing shed after I finished with the book. I looked inside the freezers.
But there were no vacuum-sealed packages labelled ‘L’, no matter how deep I dug into the frozen stacks of plastic-wrapped flesh. Panicked now, not sure if I wanted to connect all the dots or unconnect them, I tried to think back over the last few months, recall any meals that had been unusually good. A few Sundays ago, we’d had a stew that really hit the spot and left me craving more. And I realised that the family had a really good night that night; my brothers behaved themselves, my parents didn’t fight, and grandma and grandad had been there. Hadn’t they looked far more… expectant than they should have?
I strained my brain, trying to recall if I’d seen the homekill bag on the kitchen bench – if I’d registered what letter it was. I knew it wasn’t an L. I would have remembered if it was an L.
And then it hit me, the memory, the connection, sizzling as if branded with a hot iron.
It had been an ‘E’.
E for Elizabeth. Not for Edward the pig.
I snorted at my own stupidity – of *course* Liz was short for Elizabeth – and as I comprehended my lack of smarts, I felt something give inside me.
I wasn’t clever, and nothing, nothing would ever make me smart. I had no big talents. I wasn’t beautiful, or even cute – and even if I had a million plastic surgeries, it still wouldn’t fulfill me. It wouldn’t be real.
I was a Liz.
I was a Jenny.
I was whoever the first aunt had been, the aunt who had dedicated her life to making her flesh as delicious as possible, who had worked every damn minute to be the best Long Pig she could ever be.
I wondered how many magical family evenings had been spent eating Aunt Jenny. How many glorious, satisfying, memorable dishes had been made out of her.
And… I wanted that. I wanted to finally know I had a *purpose* in life. One so simple, and so easy to achieve.
I wanted what Aunt Liz had.
***
It's my fortieth birthday today and I’m so fucking excited. For the last twenty-four years, I’ve dedicated myself to this moment; I’ve eaten exactly what I needed to, I’ve exercised just enough, but not too much, to maintain that perfect balance of marbling vs tenderness. I’ve relaxed and meditated to keep all those amazing flavours inside of me. I’ve researched all the greatest meats in the world, from prime Angus beef to A5 Wagyu. I really think I may have outdone myself.
I’m having my hair and makeup done at the local salon this afternoon, and I’m going to look so pretty; all prize piggy on show at the fair. I’m even going to have a big red ribbon in my hair, in memory of Aunt Liz.
Maybe there’ll be a cute boy I can snog in the wool shed, maybe there won’t – I don’t really care; because the most important, most certain thing is that I’m going to be the most delicious Long Pig in the history of our entire family.
I’m going to make everyone so damn happy, and I’m just so glad I can share my story with you all, instead of hiding it in a grubby book like poor Aunt Liz.
My only real disappointment? That you won’t get to taste me.
Reader, I have loved, loved my life. My Long Pork will be out of this world: once tasted, never, ever forgotten.

This fic flows out of me way too easily, so I'm riding the waves while I can. Glad to see people enjoying it too! We continue where we left off, trying to figure out where to go, both with universe at large and with poor, lost child...
As usual, thanks to SpacePaladin15 for his own great work and letting fanfiction flow, and everyone who supported and enjoyed the fic thus far. So, let's see where this goes from now.
First - Prev - [Next]
Memory Transcription Subject: Dr. Erin Kuemper, SETI Researcher
Date [standardized human time]: July 15, 2136
Before entering the conference room, I adjusted my dress suit. Even for official meetings, I usually just prefer simpler official outfits, but this time is different. Being invited to observe the first official diplomatic meeting between humanity and aliens, I wanted to be perfect for it, even if it was meeting the baby-eating monster aliens over a video call.
Stepping inside, I see the other people that would be present for it. Normally, as a SETI researcher, I would object to the presence of any military heads at such a meeting, on purely conceptual level, much less two. But with what we have learned I can’t help but almost feel like even entire room filled with generals wouldn’t be enough for this.
“Ah, Dr. Kuemper. Come in, take a seat. We plan to start hailing them in ten minutes.” Secretary-General motions towards one of free seats, so I take the one that’s further away from both generals. As I do though, General Jones starts talking to me.
“So, Dr. Kuemper, how’s our rescue doing? Were there any further incidents?”, she asked.
“No, not yet. She still hasn’t woken up since that last sedation. While we don’t understand nearly enough about her biology yet, drawing some parallels with biology of Earth life we can infer that while her life is no longer threatened, she will likely take a while to fully recover from blood loss and malnutrition. Much bigger problem will be communicating our intentions to her, as well as regaining her trust after... everything.”
“Is it really smart to assign Noah Williams as one of her main caretakers then?” She asked, raising her eyebrow.
“From analyzing the footage of the incident, she reacted the same way to all the humans in the room. I doubt it was Williams’ specific appearance that was the source of such intense fright. And that assignment is not just for the sake of the alien, but Williams himself. Him and Rosario are both, frankly, on suicide watch right now. They need a chance to try and do something to relieve their guilt.”
To that General Jones just hummed, before turning to the screen. I could also hear General Zhao, the Chinese general, snorting in amusement. I am not sure what he found funny about this, but I’d rather not know at all.
It wasn’t a rational call, I knew it, but if there’s anyone who can project most empathy possible towards our alien rescue, it’d be Noah. I have asked Sara if she wished to participate as well, but she struggles to even look at the child without throwing up, so for her, distancing might be for the best.
“We’re beginning to hail the Arxur Dominion now.” Secretary-General announced, standing in front of the screen, facing it. “Not sure how long it will take.”
“I bet time zones get a ton more complicated on interstellar level...” General Zhao grumbled.
Afterwards, there were long twenty minutes of silence, interrupted by an occasional cough or shuffle before finally screen shifted, and displayed the aliens. It appears they also were in a private conference room, like us. In the middle, standing tallest and looking at us was none other than Chief Hunter Isif from photos the Odyssey crew took. Behind him were two more arxur. One was similar to Isif in build and stature, though not quite as tall, and the other was notably shorter and scrawnier, with lighter scale coloration. Part of me almost assumed that was a female, before I remembered that in the data dump there were no signs of easily notable sexual dimorphism among the arxur. An adolescent then, perhaps?
“Humans. I am glad you responded to our invitation. I believe an introduction is in order. I am Chief Hunter Isif of Arxur Dominion.” The alien spoke, translators working already, translating the noises unlike anything human makes into discernable speech.
“Greetings, Chief Hunter Isif. I am Secretary-General Elias Meier. I represent the United Nations, or UN for short, a governing body meant to represent combined interests of all individual nations of Earth. Before we proceed, I need to ask. Will I not be speaking to your leader, Prophet-Descendant, today?”
That was on the agenda for the meeting, if I remembered correctly. Trying to interact with arxur other than Isif. To gauge just how far this goes. Though it doesn’t seem like it’s happening, considering Isif is the one who picked up and how now he was emitting a low hiss that almost felt like it was carrying amusement.
“No. No offense meant to you, humans, but we Chief Hunters are expected to conduct all business in our sectors on our own. You technically fall within my territory. Plus, why would I give up an advantage I have over other Chief Hunters so easily? We may not ever have war against one another, but the competition is fierce, and you might just be the edge I need to curry more favor.”
I noticed General Zhao scoffing at shameless honesty in arxur’s intentions for this ‘alliance’ they proposed in the databanks. Yeah, just use us to gain more advantage over his rivals. I can’t believe Secretary-General elected to deal with them after all.
“I see. I expected that. Still, even if we were granted an audience, our answer would have remained unchanged. Sorry to disappoint, Chief Hunter, but humanity simply cannot afford a full alliance with the Dominion.” Secretary-General spoke in neutral tone, but I could sense the strain in his voice.
The arxur on the screen had his facial features harden.
“I see. You’re still unconvinced of the prey’s threat to your unprepared world. You believe you may parlay with them.”
“Quite the contrary, we’re more than convinced and have no reason to believe you’re lying. However, while an alliance with you would grant us protection... It would also drag us into the war we wish no part of. We’re... grateful to you for showing hospitality to the crew of Odyssey, and for warning us of the threat, but we will not be diving into war we have no interest fighting.”
“You will not be able to hide forever.” Isif kept insisting, seemingly almost growing agitated. “We knew of you because they did, long before us. They may believe you dead, but all it’d take is one stray vessel for you to be doomed.”
Part of me wanted to be relieved that, despite the tense tone, the negotiations so far were going exactly as planned. Another part of me wept that we were intentionally alienating and putting distance between ourselves and the aliens. And a third part of me was disgusted at the fact that we were talking to them at all.
“Trust us, Chief Hunter, we do not plan to merely sit and wait to be discovered and exterminated. We will be preparing. We simply don’t wish to enter the fight without a good reason.” Elias continued, pushing on to the next topic. “That said, just because we don’t wish for alliance, doesn’t mean we can’t mutually benefit from one another still.”
I could see that the shorter arxur behind Isif was about to speak up, but flinched when the larger one glared at them. Isif himself narrowed his eyes at Elias.
“And what benefit do you see that isn’t us joining hands in battle for survival, Elias Meier?”
I couldn’t see his face, but I could feel Secretary-General smiling at Chief Hunter.
“Trade. Your people are, by your own admission, starving. We could provide a solution. What we lack, however, is information. In this universe, we’re blind, and just sending out probes risks discovery. If you’d be willing to supply us with intel on Federation, we’d be more than glad to relieve your hunger. Maybe not the whole Dominion... But definitely all of your sector’s arxur.”
Arxur behind Isif both slightly opened their mouths, eyes widening in almost human-like expression. Even Isif seemed to be taken slightly aback, though he composed himself much quicker, glaring at his subordinates to make them collect themselves. On our end, I could see General Zhao smirking, and General Jones tapping at her chin in contemplation, while I twiddled my thumbs nervously, waiting for rug to be pulled from under us.
“You promise a lot. Producing food in such quantities with just one planet, even if it were filled with cattle, is impossible. Simply unsustainable.” Isif replied.
“We have our ways, Isif. We solved hunger once, we can do so again. Not immediately, it will take time to ramp up production, of course... But once that happens, all you need to do is name your price in how much meat you need and we will provide. And all we want in return is information to better defend ourselves.”
There was a long pause of contemplation. When looking closely, I could see something that was either agitation... or excitement among Isif’s posse, but Chief Hunter himself remained unimpressed. Eventually he did speak up.
“Don’t think I will fall for such a trick, Elias Meier. You humans are still young, still naive to the cruelty of the universe. We were once like you, and were nearly wiped out for it. I will not have it happen to the only other True Sapient in the galaxy. I will trade information. But I can already sense what the first request will be, and you will not be getting translations for Federation languages.”
That made every human in the room except Elias tense up. I almost flinched at the accusation, Jones hid her mouth behind her hand and Zhao’s smirk turned into a frown. Only Secretary-General remained unshaken. Isif, in meantime, continued speaking.
“If you prove yourself capable of helping us, and manage to provide as much sustenance as you claim you can... I will consider it. But until then, I will not be accelerating your desire to commit extinction by Federation’s hands.”
“Then, if you need to benefit from us first before putting us at risk, we can only thank you again for your concern, Chief Hunter.” Secretary-General replied. I was surprised at how collected he remained despite the arxur completely seeing through our intentions with this ‘trade deal’. “Trust us, we have no interest in getting annihilated in antimatter fire, but we are willing to work to earn your trust. We will be sending lists of information we desire. I hope that partnership can strengthen the bonds between us further.”
“Indeed. We will review and return to you the amounts of food we will require for it. Show us what you are capable of, humans. Now let’s get this over with. Conversing like that is... tiring.”
Right. Arxur are naturally solitary, according to the databank they gave us. A species of biologically predisposed introverts...
“Farewell, Chief Hunter Isif.” Meier replied curtly, before the screen dimmed and camera light disappeared. Contact was over.
I let out a deep sigh of relief, realizing I’ve been holding it in for a while now. There... was a lot to consider about what just happened. I was told footage would be saved, so we can better analyze the arxur nonverbal cues later.
Elias turned to us and put his hands on the table.
“So, that didn’t go as bad as it could have. Any thoughts?”
General Zhao was first to speak up.
“We’ll need information on Federation tactics and weaponry. We’ll have to prepare a strong l space military regardless of whether they can be talked down, but it’s much easier to convince someone not to kill you when doing so risks their own life.”
“I’m more interested in whether there is any technology that could allow us to send spy drones into Federation space without leaving obvious trail back to us.” General Jones countered. “We might not even need arxur translators if we can decode the language via our own surveillance.”
Elias turned his eyes on me expectantly. I considered everything that happened, things Isif said and ways his presumably-lieutenants reacted to conversation, things we learned from their data bank... And it dawned on me.
“They... see us the same way we have seen them before learning of their horrid acts. First contact with someone who treats you like a person, and first people in the galaxy whom you can see as friends. We sought the stars seeking to not be alone in the universe, and while their ways are repulsive to us... It’s not true the other way. This cooperation to them is much more sentimental than it is to us. They want to be able to trust us and rely on us.”
Elias smiled and nodded at my assessment.
“Thank you for your input, everyone. We have a lot of work ahead of us. Dr. Kuemper, I hope you’re ready for tomorrow’s announcement and your promotion?”
Right. Tomorrow we’re revealing that First Contact has occurred to the public. It took a lot of effort to make it presentable without triggering mass panic, and some details will be omitted. That and I’m receiving a new position in the UN related to handling alien affairs. What a joy...
“As ready as I can be.”
“Then let’s get to it. It won’t be easy, people, but our entire civilization is at stake. We need to get this right, and in a way that won’t have our descendants condemning us.”
Right. Cooperation with arxur, this trade... I didn’t like the idea of it, but I understood. We needed their help. Perhaps through this cooperation, rather than them influencing us, reverse can be made true, unlikely as it may seem. Worst part was failing to secure any translators at all. While I’m sure generals are salivating at idea of cyber-espionage against the Federation, I just wanted to be able to communicate with the rescued child, and make sure we could properly help her recover. Still... We will do our best, even without them.
Memory Transcription Subject: Stynek, Venlil Test Subject
Date [standardized human time]: July 15, 2136
Second time I woke up; the memories came to me much faster. How I was captured during the raid. How I spent months in cattle pens. How I was used as a meal for mystery predators. How they took me with them. And how I was now in their laboratory, or whatever closest thing predators have in their feral science.
Of course, my first instinct was to try and escape, but I couldn’t. I found myself actively strapped to the bed. I was panicked at first, trying to break through the restraints, but to no effect. So I let my head fall back onto surprisingly soft pillow and lay there... Awaiting my fate. But fate wasn’t coming, and I found myself getting a bit bored. So I raised my head and examined the room.
It seemed different from the room I was in before. Most of the machinery was gone, and the only big machine beside my bed wasn’t actually hooked up to me anymore. There was a large, predator-sized closet in the corner, and two big tables with seats. Of course, there was also bed itself. If not for the fact that I was slated to be butchered on this bed soon, it’d be the most comfortable place I got to lay down on since my capture. As is... It felt like cruel irony. I felt my eyes watering again. Did predators want to taunt me? Give me this sense of near-comfort as one last cruelty?
Subconsciously I tried calling out for mom, but felt my throat burn and ended up coughing instead. I think all the screaming recently wasn’t good for it, and with how dry my mouth was it didn’t help. Looking around I spotted it. A glass of water on a small stand beside the bed! Except it was completely out of reach. I tried shifting my tail under me, to try and extend towards it, but I’d need to have the bed flipped to have the chance at reaching. They probably left it like that intentionally... Letting me feel thirst, see the answer, but not be allowed to take it, all to make me suffer more.
I attempted to shift and wiggle against the restraints some more, when it hit me. It finally hit me that my leg was gone, gone for good. Even if I could somehow miraculously break those restraints... And get out of predator captivity... And make it back home to Venlil Prime... It wouldn’t be the same. I’d never live a normal life. My vision blurred with tears again. Why couldn’t they just end it... Why did... they have to make me suffer more.
Then the door opened and my heartbeat quickened. I realized just what I asked for, and looks like the universe itself wanted to give me that. Through the door stepped a figure... No longer clad in big rubbery suit. They probably realized such deception won’t work on me. But which of predators it was made my blood freeze.
It was the same one again... The dark-colored one that was there in meeting with arxur, and when I first woke up... Why was it always this one showing up over and over? Did all those predators look like that? He was wearing different outfit, maybe it was a different predator? No, it’s too similar, it must just be... assigned to me. My personal warden. Just like the pens had specific wardens assigned to them that were in charge of picking out meals.
This is it then. They must have done everything they wanted to do with me while I was unconscious and now that I was awake to feel it, were ready to finish me off. I closed my eyes, squeezing them tightly shut as the predator approached. I lost count of how many times I was anticipating death recently, but this was it... This must be it, finally, right? Universe can’t be cruel enough to do more to me, can it?
And as I waited for my demise, with held breath I lay. And lay. And waited. Until I realized that by now predator would long be within reach of my throat. I slowly opened my eyes, and blinked a few times to get the tears out. Sight of predator right beside me made me flinch, as it sat down by the bed, looking over me with its hungry, binocular eyes. I could see its mouth, lips quivering in hunger. And yet it did not lunge... Why?! Why can’t they just finish me off already? I felt so exhausted and fatigued by it all...
Predator seemed to lock its horrid eyes with my own eye. The gaze was intense, and I felt frozen. I couldn’t move, not even a muscle, as it just stared at me and I stared back. I felt a tear roll down my face, contributing more to the clump of matted fur, grown stained with so many tears. And that’s when the predator reached its hand for my head. I closed my eyes, recoiling away to the best of my ability. I... I didn’t want it... Please... Why can’t I just wake up back home, why can’t it all just be a nightmare...
I was prepared for its claw to grasp my face, to twist my neck, to scratch at me... But the only thing I felt was a small caress right under my eye, where the tear ran, wiping it off and rubbing at clumped fur, getting bits of dirt out in process. And then it was over. There was no attack. It was just more prolonging of the inevitable. It was so... tiring. I opened my eyes again, to look back at the predator. Really look back in those cruel eyes, to try and understand why the universe would have such evilness exist at all. The binocular gaze was horrible, but no amount of my instinct telling me to flee could help when I had neither the limbs nor freedom to move. So I just looked back. Into those small eyes when they suddenly blinked. And what could only be a tear rolled down the predator’s face. This made me mentally recoil.
How? Did a predator just shed a tear? But that’s... impossible. Only creatures with empathy can cry. That’s the textbook prerequisite for crying! You need to feel things to cry! Predators don’t have that! Arxur don’t have that. We learn that since before school. One of first things parents teach their kids is always the dangers of predators. But this is... Maybe it’s something in the room? Some noxious agent irritating its eyes? Then why can’t I feel it? Is it simply copying me? But why would it do that? Can you even copy something you can’t understand, like feelings? I didn’t understand. Maybe their biology was way more alien? Their skin was naked and had no fur or scales or feathers, maybe their tears are different too? I tried to find any explanation at all, any possible answer to questions swirling in my mind, but nothing made sense. It’s like this one little tear shattered everything I knew about predators. Maybe... They were different somehow? No! That can’t be it. If they were, they wouldn’t... They wouldn’t have been ones to take part in eating me! They wouldn’t deal with arxur! It’s a trick... it must be... But tears are a sign of empathy...
“W-Why...”, I asked in my confusion. My voice came out as ragged and hoarse and I was reminded of how dry my insides felt. I glanced over to the glass at the bedside, still out of reach and now with a predator near it... I stood no chance at reaching it.
Then suddenly, the predator looked over at it as well, and picked it up. I was almost about to cry at the idea that it would drink it in front of me, taunting my thirst further. But it didn’t even bring the glass close to its horrid mouth, instead moving it towards my face. Naturally, I tried pulling back from predator reach, but still restrained, I couldn’t move much. And once the glass was in front of me, predator just tilted it and... left it hovering there.
Was it... offering me a drink? Does that mean the water is poisoned? Why else would it give me some? I didn’t open my mouth, but the predator kept hovering the glass in front of me... Clear liquid inside swishing a bit with unevenness of the movements. Tantalizing... My throat felt drier just looking at it. In the end, base instinct prevailed over reason-based self-preservation. Even if it is poisoned... I was as good as dead in this den of predators, this won’t matter, and at least I’ll die not feeling as dry as a piece of old tree bark. So I let my mouth open and I raised my head as much as I could within the restraints, putting the glass’s rim into my mouth.
That first sip was probably the most heavenly water I’ve ever tasted. It was just normal water, of course, but with how dry I felt, I couldn’t get enough as I started quickly gulping it down. The predator actually helped, tilting the glass, keeping up with how quickly I emptied it. Every gulp was a relief... It was no stale water of arxur pens. It was actually fresh water! But as quickly as it started, the happiness ended, glass fully tilted and empty. I smack my mouth, gathering little bits of moisture gathered on it with my tongue, while the predator moves the glass back onto the counter.
Well, if that had poison in it, I didn’t taste any. And if it was somehow tasteless... It was worth it. I still couldn’t wrap my mind around the predator and its actions, so instead I did my best to just ignore it as I savored the feeling of hydration. If I somehow live through this, unlikely though it may be, I will never scorn water again. Though I will probably still prefer some good juice over it...
The predator started moving again, removing the blanket-like sheet that was covering most of my body and reaching to where my restraints connected to the bed itself. It locked its eyes with me again, and this time it at least didn’t cry, but it did start to growl something. It was quiet and subdued, and of course I couldn’t understand any of it, but it didn’t lunge or reach for me directly and didn’t seem any different from earlier. Was it trying to say something?
Then I heard a small click. The light pressure I felt on my arms and chest from the restraints relaxed. Then the predator just tossed the restraint over me, revealing that they released me. I tested it by raising my arms slightly. Why...? Did they plan on taking me somewhere? I could try running but the feeling of lightness, of hollow emptiness where my leg used to be reminded me of how fruitless the endeavor would be, so I just kept laying in bed. The predator’s mouth curved in some wicked expression before they growled out some more of their crude words and got up.
They moved towards the exit, turning around to give me one last creepy staredown before stepping out of the room. And, unsurprisingly, I heard a soft click from the door itself. Right. I was just free to explore my new pen. But even with the freedom granted, I couldn’t bring myself to get out of bed. The shock of learning that a predator just shed a tear and fed me water was still too much. What is even happening?
It’s all so confusing. I grabbed the blanket and pulled it over my head, hiding in the dark. I tried to desperately convince myself to not get my hopes up, to remember what those predators did to me... But somewhere I felt like maybe things here will at least be better than they were in arxur pens. At least there’s that to comfort me. That’s right, they probably just... don’t want me to die yet because they haven’t finished experimenting on me... And the tears were just... I don’t know. It makes no sense! It’s stupid!
I let out a breath and snuggled tighter into the blanket. As long as it was dark and quiet like this, I could at least pretend that I was back home... That everything makes sense... That I am just fine... That I'll be okay...
First - Prev - [Next]

Hey! I got my tongue pierced for the second time 2 weeks ago tomorrow. The first time was over 4 years ago. When I got it pierced the first time, the swelling was gone in about 6 days but this time it still isn’t gone. I’m wondering if maybe piercing through scar tissue is the reason? It’s not super swollen and I couldn’t even tell it was swollen still until I tried to change the bar to a shorter one and found it didn’t have much extra room at all. I have been mouthwashing with alcohol free mouth wash after (almost) every meal, brushing twice daily, haven’t been playing with it or messing with it much. It doesn’t hurt at all. No signs of infection. There is just a white bump under my tongue around the piercing but I have read that can be normal. Just wondering if the prolonged swelling is a cause for concern or someone else’s advice.

"We're your mates." Mates? Six mates? How could it be?! "Wait a minute... you said all of you. That's not how mates work. Fated mates are two people, not an entire harem." I hissed as I shook my head. "This conversation is ridiculous because it's not real." Silence filled the space between us for several long seconds. "You really want us to leave?" My stomach twisted at his words. We just met, and yet he sounded devastated as he asked the question. I silently cursed myself for causing the change I heard. If I was a better person, I would say something else. "Yes." "Fine, we'll leave, but only on one condition. Buss each one of us. Then, if you feel nothing, we'll walk out of here without protest." ———————— I would die in this very spot, and no one would have a clue. Six hours... I'd been trapped under this pile of random things for six hours. My hips and back ached from how long I'd been stuck in this exact position. I'd tried everything I could think of, but the massive pile of unknown stuff never moved. Something heavy had landed on my back, keeping me pinned face down on scattered newspapers and the occasional book. How did I know there were books when I couldn't see them? Because of the sharp corners stabbing into me. If that level of depressing suckage wasn't enough, I had to pee. My bladder hurt... felt like it was about to burst. Because of course, the first time I decided to drink spirits, I'd end up faced and trapped under a pile of a hoarder's treasure. To relieve some of the pressure off my cheek, I dug my shoulder into the newspaper floor and tilted my head until my forehead pressed against the mess underneath me. The small amount of relief I felt from the change of position was enough to stop me from going insane. For now. Ding dong. "You've got to be shitting me." I grumbled into the ancient newspapers. Someone at the door wouldn't matter. I couldn't get off the floor... erm, pile of stuff that acted as a floor, to answer the door. Whoever was on the other side would eventually think someone wasn't home and leave. And so would my only chance at being rescued. "Ha." I couldn't stop the sarcastic laugh from escaping. Even if they did come in, whoever they were wouldn't want to sign up for this insanity. I didn't even want to deal with this nightmare my life had become. Thanks mom. Ding dong. Ding dong. Who rang the doorbell multiple times? Seriously, just go away and let me die. Sure, I would be in the hall of shame for dumb ways to go, but I'd already accepted my fate. Not only would I die in one of the most embarrassing ways in history, I'd go with the dullest life experiences. Why? Because I'd always done what I was supposed to do... every single expectation my parents had, I jumped at the chance to please them. I was an idiot. A boring, lame, not once destined to save the world, sheltered little girl that grew in an inexperienced woman. My life was pathetic. "Parker, are you okay?" The deep voice sent shivers through me. I imagined this unknown man growling in my ear. Then my senses came back to me. While I was on the verge of being crushed to death, someone had broken into my house. Great, just what I needed. Good luck mister robber. If you can find anything valuable, then you deserved it. The logical side of my brain caught up to current events. First thing, a robber wouldn't call out my name as he broke into my house. Second, I didn't know anyone with a voice so delicious... uh, I meant distinct. Yeah. Should I respond or hope they gave up and left? My mother would have insisted I remain silent. Her voice slid through my memory. "Men were a distraction to a woman's career." I rolled my eyes at the phrase she'd said throughout my childhood and even after I'd moved out on my own. If I was going to leave this world, it would be after doing something ridiculous. I'd call the man with the delicious voice over, then I could die from embarrassment. "I'm over here!" What I'd intended to be a shout came out more as a breathy moan. I barely had room to breathe. It seemed shouting was impossible. A burning hot pain shot through my neck as I tried to turn my head to see the footsteps that approached. Nope, that wasn't going to happen. My mysterious, silver tongued hero or burglar's looks would have to remain a mystery just a bit longer. "Over here!" Just like last time, his voice made me shudder. With a voice like that, the man had to be hot. I hoped he had a beard... and tattoos. Not only would it make my mother roll in her grave, I'd always loved looking at burly, tatted up, bearded guys. Add in hair that was long enough to pull and I couldn't think of a good reason to ever leave the house. The crushing weight finally lifted off me. I sucked in a deep breath, then immediately regretted it as I choked on the oxygen. My lungs seized as the rush of air shocked them. Hands grabbed my arms and shoulders, then the world tilted as they lifted me to my feet. I bent over and grabbed my knees as my equilibrium spun. Hands patted my back, helping me calm. Actually, there were more than two hands. I counted enough to equal three people. When I got my breathing under control, I dared follow the black boots that stood at the top of my vision. My gaze slid up, taking in black cargo pants that rode low on a pair of hips. Further up, a black tactical vest contained... bottles of cleaning solution. What the heck? The moment I went full vertical, my balance tilted again. I stepped back to catch myself. In front of me stood a massive man, the kind I had to look up to just to catch a view of his chin... his bearded chin. My fingers itched with the need to touch it. I didn't. It would be weird to stroke a hot stranger's beard. Wouldn't it? I shook my head. Of course it would be weird. I turned, taking in the four men and one woman standing all around me. The sound of newspapers sliding preceding my right foot slid out from underneath me. The giant of a man caught me before I fell on my hips in front of everyone. They all wore similar black tactical gear with cleaning supplies. Colorful bottles of solution, a duster, a roll of trash bags, and... was that a broom and a mop with shoulder straps? Who were these people? "Parker, are you okay?" The deliciously deep voice asked from behind me. After a few tries, I accepted the fact that I was speechless. My brain nudged at me, telling me I'd missed a crucial detail. Every brain cell misfired as I looked them over again. Correction, five of them wore black tactical gear. Every single one of them was drop dead gorgeous, and it made me feel out of place. One of the guys stood off to the side with his arms crossed over his chest. I blinked. No, that couldn't be right. I blinked again, but the sight stayed the same. A man stood taller than those closest to him. Peeking over his crossed arms was a ruffled white fabric with black lace woven through it and tied in a bow. There was even a small scattering of chest hair sticking over the edge. The hem of the skirt ended well above his knee, revealing a tattoo that covered his entire right thigh. My gaze traveled up to his face. A plush black beard contrasted with the skimpy maid's outfit he wore. "I..." Words failed me again. I gestured to the man whose outfit didn't fit the others. He rolled his eyes as he tightened his grip on his arms. "They thought it would be funny to prank me. Did you know, not only did they buy this ridiculous outfit, they stole the rest of my clothes, so I'd have to wear this?" "Uh, no. I don't even know who all of you are." For whatever reason, it hadn't dawned on me that all these incredibly attractive people were standing in my house. Like inside, where they could take in the horror of what my mother left me to inherit. Mortification slammed into me. They'd seen the awful mess. "You all need to leave." "Parker?" The burly man's voice from behind me caught my attention. He waited until I turned around to continue. "You don't remember asking us to come here, do you?" Ice slid down my spine. I'd been pretty drunk last night, but since I'd never had spirits before and I'd decided to take shots of everything in my mother's 'social hour' cabinet, I wasn't even surprised I'd woken up with a hangover. "How much did you have to drink last night?" "Seeing how I'm awake now, apparently not enough. Who are you, and how do you know me?" The man bared his teeth at me, making a sound that I could only describe as a hiss. "Never again. From now on, if you need something, you ask us." I dismissed him with a wave of my hand. "Why would I ask you anything?" "Because we're your mates." Hard stop. Mates? A giddy feeling in my belly told me he didn't mean a friend. I held a finger up for him to give me a minute. A sharp pain slid through my abdomen, reminding me I had yet to relieve myself after my drunken night of mistakes. One of the other men spoke up. "I know it's a lot to take in, and you're probably really confused, but we are all your fated mates." I'd read enough werewolf romance novels to know what they meant, and they were dead wrong. Shifters weren't real. "Yeah mate, tell us what you need, and we'll get it for you." "I need to pee." And with that, I stomped out to the nearest bathroom and locked myself inside. Why wouldn't the ground open and swallow me whole? I sat on the bathroom floor with my back propped against the wall and hugged my legs to my chest as I rested my forehead on my knees. Not only had people witnessed the horror I lived in, but they had to be the hottest people in the world. Even the woman had made me look twice and left me shoving a deeper desire I refuse to even consider right now. Knock, knock. "Parker?" It was the giant of a man's voice. Why couldn't they leave so I could be alone? "Go away." I heard sounds on the other side of the door that sounded like he'd sat on the floor. "Come out and talk to us." I pressed my forehead against my knee harder, trying to ignore the giant bearded intercourse god. "Or, just talk to me. We're worried about you." My chest seized as I forced myself to take a deep breath. Irrational anger surged inside of me. Why didn't they understand I didn't want them here? "You don't even know me." The sound of his deep chuckle sent a warm wave of desire through me. Stupid hormones. "Twenty-four hours ago, I would have agreed with you. After last night, I feel like I know you on a level most others never will." What did I do last night? I still couldn't remember what I'd done. I swore to myself I'd never drink again. "It was all lies." "Why are you trying to push us away? What would be so wrong with letting someone in to help for once?" Memories of my parents’ fighting came back to me. It was my tenth birthday. When my dad found out my mom bought a cake for my birthday, he'd attacked her. Everything was a blur until he'd pinned her against the wall. She held a knife to his crotch and threatened him. He'd left and never returned that day. My mind shut down, preventing me from thinking about it any longer. "Because I can't afford to pay you and no one does anything out of the kindness of their heart." I couldn't keep the sarcastic tone out of my voice as I said it. "Parker, you're missing a vital part of this dynamic." Silently, I chanted over and over for him to not use the word mates again. It couldn't be real. Paranormal romance novels weren't real... neither were shifters nor the perfect person walking into my life and devoting themselves to me. That was a fairytale, not reality. "Mates. Just to see a smile cross your lips, I'd clean this entire property. Throw in the others, and we'd do anything to see you happy." He tapped something on the door. "I can scent your annoyance through the door." "Wait a minute... you said all of you. That's not how mates work. Fated mates are two people, not an entire harem." I hissed as I shook my head. "This conversation is ridiculous because it's not real." Silence filled the space between us for several long seconds. "You really want us to leave?" My stomach twisted at his words. We just met, and yet he sounded devastated as he asked the question. I silently cursed myself for causing the change I heard. If I was a better person, I would say something else. "Yes." "Fine, we'll leave, but only on one condition. Buss each one of us. Then, if you feel nothing, we'll walk out of here without protest." I banged my head on my knee. That wouldn't work. They weren't even in the room with me and I already felt things. No way could I buss even one of them without having a reaction. "No." "Is that because you already know what I'm saying is true, or are you just being stubborn?" Before I could think about why he had said it, I jumped up and threw the door open to glare at him. "Are you always a jerk?" The confidence disappeared as I looked up into his eyes. He grabbed the doorknob and pulled it closed behind me, pushing me against him in the process. His gaze locked on mine as he lowered his head until we were almost bussing. "Never, but I'm not above riling you up to help give you the boost you need to confront a situation with confidence." Now that he was so close, I couldn't remember why I'd locked myself in the bathroom. Everything around us disappeared except the door his hard body pressed me against. His free hand caressed my cheek. "Can you genuinely tell me you don't feel the bond trying to form between us?" I clamped my jaw closed. If I didn't admit it out loud, then it wasn't real, but he was right. I could feel a... connection to him and the others. It didn't make sense, and I might not want it, but was most definitely there. His lips brushed against mine ever so slightly, sending a wave of fire through me. I gripped the straps of his black tactical vest to pull him closer, but he didn't budge. He chuckled as he moved from my lips to my ear. "Mate, if I buss you, I won't stop until you're mine. It might not be today or tomorrow, but I will claim you and make you mine." "And if I say we're not mates?" "Your mouth might lie, but your body and soul can't." I heard him inhale deep at my neck. "I can smell your need to claim me. It fills my senses until it's all I can think about. I've just found you and already you've consumed my entire world." It was bizarre, but I completely understood what he meant. Somewhere deep down inside of me, the idea of kicking out even one of them left me feeling raw. Six mates... and one of them was a woman. I'd known I was attracted to both genders from a young age, but I'd always locked that part of me away. My mom flipped at the idea of me dating a single man. I couldn't even fathom how hard she was rolling over in her grave at having six lovers. It was so much to process. "Come on, let's go back to the others." His voice pulled me back to reality. "Not yet." Suddenly, I didn't want to move. When I felt his body pull back, I gripped his vest tighter. My gut twisted as I decided to throw a lifetime of caution out the window. "buss me." He growled deep in his chest as his hands slid down my sides until he cupped my hips. A squeal of surprise escaped me as he lifted me up, then held me against his chest as he pressed me against the door. "You're mine... ours." Then his buss consumed me, mind, body, and soul. It felt as if our life forces bonded together. The mere thought of letting go of this man became too much. It was in that moment I realized I'd screwed up. I'd never be able to give him up, or the others, without ripping my own heart from my chest. I regretted so much in my life. What was one more? I sank my hands into his hair, gripping it at the roots, and tilted his head back. Our buss broke. A smug satisfaction slid through me when I realized he was breathing as hard as I was, but I wasn't done throwing out stupid rules my mother had forced on me. I pulled his head until I'd exposed his neck. The edge of a tribal tattoo peeked out under his shirt. I trailed the tip of my tongue along the dark lines, then bussed a trail along his neck. He moved until only one hand cupped my hips. His other hand caressed the back of my neck, urging me to do whatever I wanted to him. I tightened my legs around his waist, lifting myself higher as my busses moved along the edge of his beard. "That is hot." Another man's voice made it through my lusty fog. "Yeah, can't wait until it's my turn." Someone else said. I pulled back and realized my five other mates were watching us make out. All of them had a hunger in their eyes I'd never seen before...

I just finished this book, and I found it very entertaining! I've seen a lot of discourse on this book already, so I wanted to get my more random thoughts out there:
-Was it just me, or did anyone else think the story was going to involve COVID? I think the only date mentioned throughout the entire story is March 2020, when Adele publishes her takedown of June's Mother Witch with evidence. I thought this was foreshadowing that news of the pandemic was going to take over the media, and June's scandal would be quickly forgotten because of it, ironically being saved by this disease that originated in China and that resulted in a spike in Asian hate crimes. I really don't understand why the author included the date March 2020 otherwise....
-I guess I have to chalk this up to June's unreliable narration, but I got confused about how Athena said her WWI project was "finally finished," and it's emphasized how she doesn't let anyone see her work until she's completely done with it (she asks June to read it, meaning she's done with it for sure), but then June goes on to say it was not done at all and had a bunch of empty spots that Athena was gonna fill in later etc, etc.
-June also starts by saying how amazing the manuscript is and better than she could ever write in her lifetime, but this then becomes "it needed a ton of work" to "it was utterly unpublishable" lmao
-As insufferable and terrible as June is, I found myself rooting for her to get away with it... that is, until Mother Witch. At first, I thought it was completely fine that she was taking inspiration from that one paragraph Athena wrote. I didn't even think that paragraph was good (maybe I'm just not a literary scholar but it felt too vague and random to be interesting to me). But then it turns out June put that paragraph word for word into her opening????? JUNE WHY
-I'm not sure if this was intentional (to maybe show that June's not actually that good of a writer) or publisher error or stylistic choice by the author, but were there like... a ton of grammatical errors with the semicolons? Or do I just not know my punctuations lol?
Examples:
Geoff seems inordinately angry; far angrier than this response justifies.
^ should be a comma?
Sometimes her face is contorted in grotesque expressions; eyes wide, tongue wagging.
^ shouldn't this be a colon instead of semicolon?
-All of June's publishing team and friends advise her to keep her head down and not respond to any of the allegations, and I know this is good advice for the most part, but I think not addressing allegations AT ALL makes you look suuuuuper guilty. I think June's best bet would've been to issue one professionally written statement denying any of the allegations and then not speaking on it again, which is exactly what she ends up doing (later on) that initially turns the public back in her favor! (before the new Mother Witch scandal) Yes I know June had to make sure her "detractors" had no solid proof against her before putting out any statements, but her team who thought she was fully innocent didn't know that and still was advising her to say absolutely nothing. Idk, in my eyes, people who get accused of something terrible and don't address it at all are basically admitting their guilt with their silence.
-Speaking of, why do the characters keep insisting that June shouldn't be bothered by all these accusations as long as she's innocent? IF June were innocent, then she should be REALLY bothered that her name and career are getting dragged through the mud over something she didn't do. Who would possibly not be bothered by that?? She was literally losing connections and deals over it and people were treating her meanly.
-June literally says she wouldn't know how to explain to Eden why Athena's new Instagram post bothers her without having to admit that she's struggling with guilt from stealing. GIRL WHAT DO YOU MEAN. Someone hacked your dead friend's account, posted creepy photos of her being alive, targeted you directly--THAT'S NOT ENOUGH REASON TO BE BOTHERED?? GUILTY OR NOT?
-I'm confused about the timeline after Mother Witch's release. It says Adele's blog was posted 2 weeks after its release, and by the end of the month, Brett's saying it's "been awhile" since June worked on a new book. It's been.... a month....? That feels really short idk
-Was Patricia Liu's comment about "Athena would never write something like that" supposed to lead to something? I felt like that hinted heavily at an upcoming reveal into Athena's family dynamics but just got dropped
-Look, I get why Candice wanted revenge for getting fired, but seriously? She really thought leaving a one star review under her own full name and profile, for an author whose project she directly worked on, wouldn't hurt her professionally? Come on.
-How the hell did Candice convincingly photoshop multiple pictures of Athena where she was literally choking herself and lunging at the camera lmao?? And I'm assuming she got some recordings of Athena's voice to play at the Exorcist steps and spoke herself whenever her recordings didn't fit.
-June isn't driven by her passion for writing. She's driven by the idea of being famous and successful. She says herself that writing was only fun before she got to know how the publishing industry eats you alive, so if that's how she feels, she SHOULD be happy to pursue a regular stable income job and write in her free time instead, away from the publishing industry. But of course, that wouldn't yield her fame and fortune and envious glares from her colleagues, so she'd rather continue to dig her grave even deeper with the Athena scandal.
-I saw a lot of people were disappointed by the ending because we don't get to see June get punished but idk, I think we did? We spend the entirety of the novel in June's head so we know firsthand that she's... a mess. She is so deeply insecure and perpetually miserable, and she doesn't have enough self awareness to ever change that (though I do find it interesting how she will call out her own insecurities and projections and how things are her fault... But then always jump back into victimhood). On top of that, she DOES get dragged online and takes hits to her career like crazy for half the book, and she's gonna continue to get dragged once Candice releases her book. She's definitely faced her punishment; she just has the audacity to keep going lmao.

I first started noticing that something was wrong around 3 months ago. At the time, I was working from home and would usually light a scented candle while I worked, which usually helped me relax and stay focused on my work. I would usually burn through a candle a week, but over time, the candles started to take less time to fully burn up. At first, I thought that this was because of a change in ingredients the company that made the candles used, but the problem persisted after I switched candle brands, which I once again blamed on the candle manufacturers.
I kept this belief for another week until the first incident. While getting up from my computer desk, which faces away from the candle, to take a quick bathroom break, I caught a glimpse of the lit candle. A two-inch layer of molten wax rested on another three-inch layer of solid wax, the wicks rising out at first and being somewhat visible through the molten layer, finally breaking the surface and being slowly burned away. The flames flickered as I swung the door open and walked out of the room. When I returned 10 minutes later, the molten layer was gone, and the wicks had been shortened so that the flames rested right above the solid layer of the wax. At first, I thought that the glass jar that contained the candle was leaking, but after a short inspection, I was only able to find two small drops of candle wax that had solidified right next to the candle on the bedside table. I still had 2 hours of work left to do, but I was too lost in thought and was unable to do any work for the rest of the day.
Every night before I go to sleep, I like to read for at least 30 minutes, and while reading, I usually light a candle. Around 4 days later, I had mostly forgotten about the incident and went back to using candles. Due to my naivety, it returned.
I fell asleep while reading with a candle lit on my bedside table. I woke up to loud slurping noises. As I opened my eyes, the brightness of the light I had not turned off almost blinded me. As my eyes tried to readjust to the light and focus on what was in front of me, I saw a somewhat humanoid dark gray to light blue blur that contrasted with the white paint on the walls behind it. Another gray line stretched from the shape's head to the candle on my bedside table. I could feel my heart skip five consecutive beats. I opened my mouth and tried to force out a scream for help, but the pressure I applied to my throat was way beyond what it was able to handle, leading me to only produce a light wheezing sound. I tried to sit up or to at least prop myself up, but my muscles failed me. Trying to push myself up with my arms felt impossible. As I stared at the figure that had suddenly appeared in my room, my eyes finally managed to focus, making it possible for me to see the intruder who was now staring at me. The figure was a man at least 7 feet tall, fully naked; he looked bloated; his eyes were bloodshot and looked like they would pop out of their sockets; at any point, his skin was a grayish light blue.
HIS LIPS
His lips extended from his mouth like an elephant's trunk, which had been split in half. The lips extended from the man's face to the candle; the flames had been put out. He was using his lips as a makeshift straw, slowly sucking up all the molten wax from the candle, which had fully liquified while I was asleep. I laid in bed, unable to move, unable to scream for help, staring until he emptied the jar. His lips retracted back to his face, the molten wax solidifying on their tips and cracking, flakes of wax falling off the man's lips and falling to the floor. The man grinned, staring at me. The ridges and gaps between the teeth were filled in with wax, making it impossible to make out where one tooth ended and the next one began. The man opened the door he was standing next to, but instead of walking out of the room, he stepped behind it. His face peered at me from above the door, and then once again, like he had done to drink the wax, the man puckered his lips, which stretched from his mouth and floated to me. I shook and tried to roll over away from him. I wanted to get up and run, but my fear had taken over my body. Tears flowed from my eyes. He kissed me on the cheek, leaving flakes of wax and light moisture. He retracted his lips and lowered his head behind the door.
I don't remember falling asleep, but when I woke up, I saw the empty glass jar, which at one point contained the candle. Even though I had hoped that what had happened was a dream, it wasn't. I still had flakes of wax on my cheek, and on my bedroom floor, the wax in the jar had disappeared. I called the police, but they were unable to find anyone in my apartment; they also could not find any evidence of a break-in.
After the break-in, I started looking for a new apartment to move to, thinking that the man was tied to the building I was in, but even though I had thrown out all of my candles, I could not stomach spending another hour in my apartment, constantly looking over my shoulder or walking around with my back pressed up against the wall to not allow it to creep up on me. Thankfully, my friend Emma was able to let me stay over at her apartment while I looked for a new one for myself.
Me and Emma have been friends since we were 8, and we've been there to support each other when times get rough. This isn’t the first time I've had to stay over at her house for an extended amount of time; in fact, I have had to stay over at Emma’s as many times as she has had to stay over at my apartment, whether it was because of evictions after losing a job, breakups, or a candle wax drinking squatter. I didn't even know if it was human. I mean, sure, it looked like one, but human lips are not supposed to do what his did, and somehow it didn't have a reaction to molten wax being poured down its esophagus. I didn't tell Emma about what happened—the details at least—I just told her that a man had broken into my house and was watching me sleep. The only people I told the truth to were my therapist and the cops, and all of them disregarded what I told them as my mind making things up after a traumatic event.
For a while, I believed what they said—I mean, why wouldn’t I?—but then I started seeing him again. For a few days, I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me again like it had done during the night of the incident. For split seconds out of the corner of my eye, I would see the outline of a tall, bloated figure. At first, they were hours apart, but after a while, it became constant. He was standing in each room I passed, in every single dark corner I glanced past, and then he spoke.
“FeeD MeEeee”
It stood in the kitchen, peering over from a small gap between the fridge and the sink, where the trash can that had been knocked over onto its side usually stood. His voice was raspy, and every word that came out of his mouth was distorted as if he were gargling water, but still, I could somehow clearly make out each word he said from over 15 feet away.
“Please just leave me alone I… why are you following me?”
I shouted at the figure, the same fear that had taken over my body during the night I saw him for the first time paralyzing me, making it impossible for me to move anything other than my eyes, eyelids, and mouth.
“i’M sTarviNg, I nEEd You To FeEd ME”
It replied again. Now, stepping out from behind the fridge, he stepped directly onto a rotten banana. Its mushy brown content’s seeping out of the peel under the pressure of his decomposing foot, which was covered in scabs, and took up the same grayish light blue color as the rest of his body. He mostly looked the same; his bloodshot eyes bulged from their sockets, but now his tongue was swollen. It peeked out from between his bloated, cracked gray lips; it stared at me, waiting for an answer.
“Ok, I’ll.. I’ll feed you, but please just... leave me alone.”
I replied, the tone of my voice shifting into high-pitched squeals with every quick breath I took. He looked satisfied by my response. He somehow squeezed his bloated body back into the gap that was at least four times smaller than him. After peering over at me from above the fridge, he bent over backwards, his spine releasing a series of sickening cracks until he was fully obscured by the fridge, and then he vanished.
Still barely in control of my body, I limped over to the couch tucked away in the back corner of the living room, it took me at least 10 minutes to steady my breathing and 20 more to fully regain control of my body again but as soon as I did I ran out the house and to the nearest store, during the 15-minute walk he stared at me through dark windows and the backs of cars, peered out at me from gaps between leaves in the trees and bushes, he even followed me into the store staring at me from the middle of deserted isles before disappearing right before my eyes were able to fully catch him, once I finally got the candles I randomly picked four off of the shelves and rushed to the self checkout.
When I arrived home, I had 2 hours before Emma got off work. I didn't want to feed it while she was home, and I didn't want her to see it. I pulled out two of the candles from the black plastic bag and placed them on the kitchen table, the first a light blue candle named “Garden Rain” and the second a red candle named “Juicy Watermelon." I pulled out a lighter from one of the drawers Emma used after her stove stopped lighting on its own and lit each of the 6 wicks on the candles. As soon as I started seeing the wax melt under the heat of the burning wicks, I dropped the lighter onto the table next to the candles and ran out of the room. I could not stomach seeing that thing again; even just thinking about it made me shudder and hyperventilate. The paralyzing fear that seeing him caused me made me want to vomit.
At least 30 minutes later I started to hear it drink even though the living room and kitchen were separated by a wall, even though I had closed the door I could still hear what at first started as slurping sounds which were followed up by loud gulps, then it stopped, and once again 30 minutes later it started drinking, as the slurping started once again I heard the door to the apartment crack open, it was Emma, as she stepped through the door I saw her carrying two large brown paper bags of groceries in her hands, she was headed to the kitchen.
“Hey let me grab those for you”
I said running over to her, my voice shaking.
“Oh, thanks. Are you… okay, you look scared?”
My eyes shot wide open in a mixture of fear and surprise. I said the first thing that came to mind.
“Yeah just umm… I didn't expect you to come home so early and I got a bit spooked”
“shit sorry, I know I should have called you, work let me off early today,”
I started to turn away from her walking to the kitchen.
Trying to keep her away from the kitchen I told her to wait for me in the living room because I wanted to talk to her about something. I didn't know what I would talk to her about but that was a problem for future me to resolve, somehow it worked.
“What's that sound?”
She called out to me while walking towards the living room couch. It took me a few seconds to come up with an excuse.
“I think it’s the sink, or the pipes at least”
I opened the door to the kitchen with my eyes closed at first hesitant to look knowing what would be greeting me. slowly prying my eyes open I started to see its outline, my muscles started to lose strength as the details of the man came into my view, I felt the grocery bags start to slip from my arms, my knees buckled, face first I fell onto the kitchen floor scattering the groceries all over the floor, I mixture of a light scream and a yelp escaped from my mouth as my body made contact with the floor, Emma concerned for my safety ran into the kitchen, she didn't scream, using all of the strength and mobility I had left in my muscles I rolled over expecting to see her face drenched in terror, her body frozen still unable to move just like my body had done the first time that I saw him, but Emma looked concerned, the man was gone, she crouched down beside me.
“Oh my god are you ok? What happened?”
I looked around observing my surroundings.
“I um… I… I tripped on the little thing at the bottom of the doorframe”
I finally managed to blurt out another excuse, not being able to remember what the name of a door sill was. I started to sit up using a part of the energy that had returned to my body, pain pulsed through my chest and arms, Emma looked at me with a concerned face.
“You've been acting really weird since I got home, are you sure you're ok?”
“Yeah… I think I’m just having one of those days you know”
The confusion on Emma’s face said that she didn’t know and to be honest I didn't either, I guess my luck of pulling random excuses out of my ass ran out, Emma thought that she triggered some sort of PTSD response after barging into the house unannounced at first apologizing then trying to change the subject to stop my trembling which I was still unsuccessfully trying to hide from her.
“Did you buy candles?”
Emma asked picking the groceries apart from the garbage that spilled out the can that the man had knocked over, placing them on the table next to the now half-empty glass jars, the flames flickered above the inch or so of molten wax the man was unable to finish drinking.
“Yeah I’ve been struggling with work lately, they usually help me focus”
“Huh Interesting combination you’ve got going on here”
She looked at me and smiled slightly, I smiled back and chuckled to seem normal.
“Yeah even I don't know what I was trying to accomplish here, to be honest”
I tried to help Emma clean up the spilled groceries but she did not let me, she told me that I needed to recover like I had been in a car crash instead of having taken a little tumble. After a few seconds of silence, Emma spoke again.
“Anyway, what did you want to talk to me about earlier?”
A quick jolt of stress shot through my body, in a jumbled mess of lies and fear I had forgotten what I had told Emma, I sat there in silence for a few seconds unable to come up with an excuse
“I…umm… I don’t remember, it wasn't anything serious though”
“Damn did you hit your head too?”
She said once again proudly smiling at her joke.
At this point Emma picked up the last bag of potato chips from the floor and placed it on the table, then she opened the fridge and started loading the groceries into it.
“Anyway I gotta go get back to work’’
I blurted out after a few more seconds of awkward silence.
“Alright well good luck”
I walked over into the living room and sat down in front of my workstation, which now consisted of a laptop sitting on a small foldable TV tray that had just barely enough room left on it to fit a small USB mouse.
The last thing I remember, before I fell asleep, was me mindlessly scrolling through apartment listings while Emma watched a random 90’s horror movie I’m positive only had a budget of $500.
I woke up with a light stinging pain shooting through my dry throat, and a dim hissing sound caused by thousands of water drops striking the ground outside filled the room. I pressed the spacebar on my laptop, the brightness of the screen blinding me temporarily, after taking a few seconds to let my eyes readjust I managed to make out the time, 3:45 AM. A strong smell I was unable to make out the origin of assaulted my nostrils. Lavender.
The smell hitting my nose had the same effect on me that I would expect smelling salts would have on a weightlifter right before they set a world record. Before I knew it my legs were moving on their own at an almost uncontrollable pace, fighting back against my mind which was telling them to slow down after years of being used to navigating both mine and Emma’s apartment as steadily as possible to not bother the neighbors.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity I stood before Emma’s bedroom door, a faint, yellow, pulsating light radiated from a lamp and snuck out of a small gap between the door and the doorframe, reluctantly I pushed my left hand up against the door, my right hand grasping onto the door frame for a sense of stability, once the door was fully agape I scanned the inside of the room my heart skipping a beat for every humanoid shadow cast up onto the wall by the lights from the wicks which were set ablaze and were being slowly burnt away.
I walked into Emma’s room and made my way over to her bedside table to put out the candle, as I stepped closer towards her, her face became more defined, I could finally make out her features, she was awake, but no she could not have been, even though her eyes were wide open they never blinked, she didn't even move slightly, as I moved closer I finally managed to fully make out the expression of pure terror on her face, her mouth wide agape as if she was about to release a deafening screach, but she could not have, a single drop of solidified wax dribbled out of the corner of her mouth and clung to her cheek, my eyes traced the cream colored path back towards her mouth, first up her cheek then between the corner of her mouth and finally behind her teeth, there instead of her tongue or the roof of her mouth I saw a wall of wax which had filled in the entirety of her mouth.
I fell to my knees and hunched forward supporting my body weight with my arms, I was too late, I resisted the urge to vomit and got back up onto my feet, a mixture of tears and snot slid down my face and onto my lips, shaking now I slowly started limping over towards my phone which I had left on the couch next to where I had awoken just minutes before, just minutes before my life was destroyed because of my lies if I had just told Emma what I had gone through, if I had just told her what had happened on the night of the incident which now seemed trivial, even if she thought that I was crazy, I know that she would have complied just to make me feel comfortable.
It took me at least 30 seconds of repeated attempts to stabilize my hands enough to properly dial 911. “Someone broke into my apartment and hurt my friend” was the only reasonable explanation I could come up with that would not get the operator to hang up on me thinking that this was a prank call.
I sat there in the living room for an agonizing 10 minutes, crying, my sadness slowly transformed into anger towards myself, and my mind raced thinking of all the lies I’d told, I kept thinking that if I had just told her the truth she would not have been laying there in her bed, her body bloated, “every single orifice has signs of forced penetration and has been filled with what seems to be candle wax” is what was written on her autopsy report.
For a few days I was the main suspect in Emma’s murder, but due to the almost unstoppable crying and the unresponsive state that I was in when the police arrived, mixed with the lack of evidence of me having a way to produce 30 pounds of candle wax led to me being released out of police custody, but because I was the main suspect I was not told any details about what had fully happened to Emma, for days all I had to work off of was the image of her face frozen in terror, and a short glance I caught of her bloated body as she was being carted out on a stretcher.
I recounted every single word of our last conversations over and over again until they became permanently etched into my brain.
Emma’s parents originally wanted to cremate her, as that is what she had somewhat jokingly asked for whenever the topic of funerals came up, well she had joked about wanting to have had unpopped popcorn shoved down her throat before she was sent off to “scare the shit out of the guy cremating me” but due to all the wax which would have been impossible to get out of her body they were forced to bury her.
A few days before Emma’s funeral her body disappeared.
After Emma’s death, her parents took me into their home, after reading the autopsy reports and seeing her corpse they had thrown out every single candle they owned which made their home the safest choice I had, still, this did not stop me from buying a machete and keeping it under my bed, just in case.
I was laying on the bed in their guest bedroom The day that the police informed Emma’s parents about her disappearance, the bedroom is right above the front porch of the house, at first I heard them ring the doorbell which was followed up by 3 powerful knocks on the door, for about a minute I laid there on the bed listening to muffled voices exchanging distorted words I was barely able to make out which slowly transformed into distorted weeps, curious I lifted myself up from the bed, made my way over to the window and carefully lifted the bottom panel making Shure to not make too much noise, the distorted muffled sounds started forming into coherent words “We checked the security footage but the only strange thing we could see was a 5 second time jump” one of the officers spoke in a serious and almost monotone voice “which meant that the security guard who was the only person in the building had to climb down 2 flights of stairs walk through a 40 foot long hallway and then drag her body back up stairs and out of the building in 5 seconds” Emma’s mom let out yelp “ but don’t worry ma'am that’s actually good news because we know that her corpse is still somewhere within the building and was probably brought to the wrong floor by an intern, we’ve already warned all of the staff at the hospital to keep an eye out, and we also sent 5 officers to search the hospital”
I could not believe what I was hearing, my breathing quickened, but this time instead of fear I felt anger, that fucker stole her corpse and was probably in the weird separate plane of existence he always went back to after terrorizing me, cutting off chunks of her body, melting her, and drinking her.
I closed the window Emma’s mom's cries once again turned into a muffled rumble which was only possible to make out if you knew what to look for, I took a few steps back away from the window planning to lay back down, not wanting to bother Emma’s parents. I bumped into something, not something, someone, its fleshy towering form as solid as a wall sent me tumbling forward, I knew it was him, he had returned to take me too, to stretch his swollen cracked lips, push them down my esophagus, fill my lungs and stomach with wax. But despite all of that this time I was not scared, I was angry, and I was not going to stand there in terror like I had the last time I saw him.
I fell forward onto my knees my face missing the window sill just by mere inches, I put my hands onto the floor, lifted one of my knees, and rotated 180 degrees now facing the monster, to the right of him pushed up against the wall was the bed, light from the sun reflected off of the metallic button which kept my machete in it’s sheathe, the man started to stretch his lips, they were moving towards me, waving a wiggling through the air like a snake slithering towards me.
I dove towards the bed one of my feet pushing off of the floor and the other pushing against the wall which creaked under the pressure applied to it, I flew for a few moments before slamming down onto the carpet and sliding forward, the heat generated by my skin brushing against the carpet released a sharp stinging pain throughout my body, my outstretched arm landed just a few inches short of the machete, I quickly bent my arms, pushing my body up and crawled towards the machete. my fingers wrapped around the handle I spun around, my back pushed up against the bedside table, once again facing the man, he was still facing the window but his lips faced me and were just a few feet away from me, for what felt like minutes but was most likely no longer than a second, I struggled to hook my finger under the strap securing the machete into its sheath, as the lips inched towards me the man started producing gurgling noises, he was regurgitation wax.
I finally pulled the machete out of its sheath, I swung the blade at the man's lips, the blade was not met with any resistance as it sliced through the man’s lips which landed on the carpeted floor with an audible thud, the man did not have a physical reaction to my counter-attack, his lips kept creeping towards me, once again I slashed at the lips, still no reaction, I repeated this at least 3 more times.
I wanted to kill him, I wanted to take revenge for what he had done to Emma, but fighting back was pointless. I realized that no matter how much I tried to hurt it, I could not kill him, I could not get rid of him.
My rage dissipated and a mixture of fear and sadness crept in, and soon took over my body, I screamed for help, I screamed in fear, in agony, tears streamed down my face as the man's lips finally reached my face, he wasn’t met with any resistance as his lips snuck between mine, pried my jaw open and finally started to slide down my esophagus.
I heard the cops run up the stairs, they started banging on the door asking if I was okay only to have been met with muffled screams, hot wax started to pour down inside of me, the stinging pain of the heat made me want to plunge the machete which I had dropped onto the ground next to me into my stomach to create a gaping wound that the wax would hopefully funnel out of, the texture of the man's slippery, oily lips matched with the poison like flavor of the wax caused me to start gagging, I felt my insides bulging like at any moment my intestines would have been filled to the point where they would pop, I wanted to vomit, the drain myself of the filth I was filled with, but his lips had plugged my throat not allowing anything to get out.
Hearing my muffled screams the cops started kicking the door down, the man retracted his lips, the suction aided my attempts at cleansing my insides, I got onto my hands and knees streams of molten wax pouring out of me, solidifying on the the carpet, with another loud thud the door swung open slamming into the wall, the man was gone.
That’s the last thing I remember before I passed out, but according to one of the doctors who was in the ambulance that brought me to the hospital, I was still semi-responsive during the first 10 minutes of the ride to the hospital.
Approximately 13.4 pounds of wax were removed from my body, the doctors said that I was in a critical condition and some of them did not expect me to make it.
One of the officers who was there the day the man attacked me took a report of what had happened to me, due to the unmistakable evidence of what had happened to both me and Emma, and the fact that this was the 3rd instance of me reporting something like this the police finally started investigating who this man might have been.
Around a month later I was discharged from the hospital and once again have been staying in the living room of Emma’s parent's house.
I’ve been seeing the man again, candles were not allowed in the hospital I stayed at, which means that he’s probably very hungry, he’s close to attacking me again, I know it, he wants to finish what he started and I don't know if I have the power to fight back, I’m not sure if defeating him is even possible, I’m tired.
I’ve been seeing Emma too, her bloated, reanimated corpse often appears to be standing next to the man. If I let him take me will I get to join them? I’ve tried asking but they don’t answer, they just stare, I can’t keep living in constant fear, always looking over my shoulder, I miss Emma.

Thank you to all of you who have been following this story! Sorry about the delay in posting and responding to your messages, Matt and I actually had a weekend away together (chapter worthy material that I'll share down the road).
This chapter is another first for me, not for Matt. I had always been super self conscious about this one but Matt made it absolutely incredible and now a favorite part of our regular foreplay! I hope you all enjoy! As always, feel free to shoot me any feedback and critiques! ♡Avery
So this one kinda came out of no where. Not something we had really discussed because I was kinda self conscious about straddling a guy's face with my crotch, but I learned to get past all that. After work one Wednesday night...yes I remember the day because Matt and I had developed a routine at this point of alternating days at his house and days I spent in my barracks room. Anyway, one Wednesday evening, I had been driving Matt around on a convoy training mission all day. Alone in a truck with my hot as hell man crush boyfriend, and unable to do anything because we couldn't risk it at work. Of course he would spend it dropping little sly comments about "I bet you like xyz" or something like he doesn't know exactly what l like. Such a tease.
At this point, I've had enough and I just want him. I had showered and cleaned up before coming over, but the moment I walked in his door, I wanted to get dirty all over again. I pressed him up against the wall and pressed my lips to his. He grabs me by my petite waist and pulls me close as I wrap my arms around behind his neck and let my tongue intertwine with his.
I needed him. Like holy shit. I don't know what kind of mood he had put me in all day, but I needed my man and I needed to cum. He senses how frantic my kisses are becoming and he picks me up in his arms and carries me over to the futon in his living room. He lays me down and begins to suck on the soft spot of my neck, driving me wild as it's a mix of tickling and pleasure running through me. I run my fingers through his hair as I wrap my legs around his waist, pulling him down between my legs until his growing bulge is pressed against me.
He slips his fingers under my shirt and lifts my shirt and blue neon sports bra over my head in one swoop. My B cup breasts spill out as his tongue finds it's way to my rapidly hardening nipples and I let out a slight sigh of pleasure. I pull his shirt off, exposing his chiseled chest and abs and I reach up to plant soft kisses against my favorite spot to rest my head at night. His kisses soon trail down my ribs as he unzips my short jean shorts revealing a small green cotton thong that leaves very little to the imagination.
I raise my butt and he quickly removes both shorts and thong in the blink of an eye, tossing them to the side as he returns to kiss along the tan lines made by the one piece bathing suit I wore over the weekend. I'm fairly soaked at this point and I just want release. Instead of giving it to me, he sits up, slips off his shorts and lays back himself. He tells me he wants me to sit on his face but face away so he has access to everything.
I'm super self conscious about "down there" to start with. Oral laying on my back is awkward enough but this was a definite first. He takes my hesitant pause to reach and pull me by the thigh over his face. I keep my weight up on my thighs so that I don't crush his face (awkward sauce like I said). Softly at first I feel his tongue tracing my slit as the tip of his nose occasionally brushes against my butt. I let out a soft moan and fall forward, opening myself up as my lips spread at the shift in position and my butthole is exposed as I find myself inches from his rock hard 7 inch cock...quick note on size...no I don't want a monster cock, 7 is about all I can take without having to worry about not sinking down too deep and hurting myself on accident. So no, I don't want your 11 inch dick.
Anyway, back to my face next to his rock hard cock. He takes another taste between my lips and teases gently at my clit as I take him in one hand and lick along the back of his shaft from tip to base. He's shaved himself to match my completely smooth pussy and I lick again and again along his hard smooth shaft.
He begins to pay more attention to my clit as he spreads my buttcheeks wide with his hands, exposing both of my holes to the cold air of the room. I'm practically dripping at this point as I take the head of his cock into my mouth, swirling my tongue around, trying to encourage him to do the same on my clit.
I feel a finger and then a second hook their way into my tight hole, tickling at my g spot as he pulls me down lower onto his face, increasing pressure on my clit with his tongue. This drives me to moan with his dick halfway into my mouth, and he bucks his hips up, forcing his way deeper into my throat. I feel myself start to gag, but the pleasure between my legs over rides everything and I force myself to take more and more of him until he is all the way down my throat and my lips reach the base of his cock.
I'm practically drooling saliva on his shaft as he bucks his hips into me, with his cock buried in my throat. I hold it there as long as I can until his thumb finds it's way to my clit, finally threatening to through me over the edge of a massive orgasm that's been building as we've gone along. I pull my face away, a string of drool leading off my chin and grind my vagina into his face as his tongue presses in circles against my clit and his nose is against my bum. I take his shaft in hand and begin to stroke him, using my own saliva to lubricate him as i go faster and faster, trying to get him to experience the same release I'm on the brink of.
I'm fully raised up, with my pubic bone grinding into his mouth as I finally reach orgasm and cum slightly into his mouth (I'm not a huge squirter but I do cum). I moan his name as I continue to jerk him until he shoots a massive spray of cum of his own up towards my face, some landing on my cheeks while the rest sprays my chest and stomach before coming down and landing on him as well.
Covered in each other's release, I get up and kiss him passionately on the lips, thanking him for this introduction to a new found turn on. He takes me by the hand and we walk naked upstairs to the shower to clean off before dinner...and maybe another round(;
Thank you so much for continuing to follow my story! As always, feedback and critiques are more than welcome! Look for lucky #7 coming out in the next few days! ♡Avery

Bit of a longer into, skip down 2 paragraphs if you want to jump straight to the story
First of all, thanks for all of the (mostly) positive feedback on my first story, you guys are the best!
A little more description on me, for my reviewers who requested to know more. I'm Avery, 5'4, have slightly bushy brown hair down to the middle of my back. I'm on the olive completion side (my mom is Greek). As I said before, ittybittytittiecommittee, B cup breasts and a firm butt that I tone with a lot of cycling in my spare time. And yes, i shave everywhere(;
Two days after my incredible first experience with my Platoon Leader, my 6'1, muscular hunk that we'll call Matt, things had been awkward. I couldn't help but hope that things would progress further, but at the same time, I was aware of the complications of continuing any relationship with him. At work, we continued as normal, he's my boss' boss, and I go back to my daily job as a truck driver (88M life). In the evenings, it's been another story. He's been texting me and I've been longing for more but super hesitant to go for anything, but my god, I want more of him.
After 2 days, its Friday night and he asks me over for dinner again. "Just dinner", and nothing else so we can hang out and figure things out. I get dressed, wearing a cute little floral romper that is practical yet fashionable, and hoping to avoid a repeat of having to borrow clothes again, I pack an overnight bag, just in case.
Matt welcomes me to his house, meeting me on the front porch just like last time, ever the gentleman. Butterflies right from the get go. Thanks Matt.
When I walk inside, I see that he's prepared a chicken alfredo with broccoli. Can't say I'm not impressed, this man must have really been listening when I told him about my favorite comfort foods while we were in the field!
Over dinner, we make it through small talk and he finally asks the elephant in the room, "what are we doing?" I stutter out some mumbled stuff about me messing with his career as I'm in my last few months, getting ready to get out, and how this probably isn't a good idea and then I flip the question on him, trying to stop myself from rambling my way into killing any chance I have with him. His response melts my heart, "I'm trying to convince a beautiful woman to take a chance on me these next few months until I can come out and tell the world, that's my girlfriend"
Did he just ask me to be his girlfriend??? Was not prepared for that one. My mind is spinning with every conceivable way this won't work and yet there he is, with a reassuring look in his smile that he's going to find a way. He leans across the table, takes my and and kisses it, before asking me to be his girlfriend.
I quickly sputter out something along the lines of a yes before he leans across the table, kisses my lips as he holds my cheek in his hand and I confirm my yes with a firm reply from my lips to his. We part after a few moments and he just sits there smiling at me like a goofball and i fall for him. G.I. Joe has a softer side. Its perfect.
After we finish eating he asks if he can give me a present as he is now my boyfriend. I oblige him of course and he leads me upstairs to his bedroom, where I find the room well lit with candles and smelling of violet. On the bed is a note that says "one free massage"
I see that he's definitely put a lot of planning into this whole asking me out thing, and I'm once again blown away by the man. I ask him what I should wear for my massage, and he replies with "panties only"
I smile slyly at him as I unbutton my romper and let it slide off my shoulders, across my braless chest, and down to the floor, leaving me in just a pale purple thong. I proudly record the look on his face as I can tell that he likes what he sees. I lay face down on the bed and I feel cool lotion being planted down my spine, causing a rush of sensation as he straddles me to rub my back.
He massages my shoulders, paying close attention to the knots he finds along the way, before working his way lower, to the tight muscles right at the base of my spine. His hands feel incredible as they firmly trace their way across my bare skin and I can feel from his "growth" as he straddles me, that I'm not the only one at least slightly turned on by his touch.
He works his way lower, massaging my firm butt cheeks and the backs of my thighs before I feel a finger brush between my legs, over the thin strip of now damp fabric that has buried itself between my cheeks. He knows what he's doing, he can feel my arousal, and it's not long before he's massaging my butt while slipping a finger under my thong to tease at my vagina.
After another minute or two, he rolls me over and kisses his way down my body to my thong, taking it in his teeth and pulling it down my legs before tossing it to the nightstand. He spreads my legs slightly and brings his head between them, lightly kissing the crease where my legs and pelvis meet, right along my bikini line. So close to where I want him and yet so far.
I take my hands and run them through his hair, guiding his head to taste me. He runs the tip of his tongue between the lips of my vagina and settles on my clit, making small quick circles on my swollen nub as i gasp and moan. He continues as i hold his head there, my hands gripping his hair and begging him not to stop. He inserts one and then a second finger inside me which only adds to the pleasure building from his tongue on my clit.
After a few minutes i can't take anymore, my center entering sensory overload, begging for a orgasm to break, but not quite going over the edge. I pull his face to mine and kiss him deeply, grasping his butt and pulling him inside me as his weight presses down on me. I taste myself on his lips and it is purely erotic.
He thrusts deep inside me as I wrap my legs around him, not letting go. He picks up speed and I beg him not to stop as my orgasm finally breaks and my inner walls grip tight against his shaft.
I feel him swelling even larger and I know he's nearing his own orgasm quickly after so much time devoted to foreplay. I ask him where he wants to cum, knowing that anywhere is acceptable to me. He says he doesn't want to break apart so I grasp his hips, urging him deeper as he finds his release deep inside me.
I am utterly spent and overwhelmed by my Matthew and his performance. He rolls off of me and lays next to me on his side, his head cradled against my shoulder. I feel him leaking out of me as he softly kisses my lips again and again until sleep overcomes us.
In the morning, I finally go back out to the car to grab my overnight bag, and get ready to go on an actual date that he has planned for us. The thong from the night before stay on his nightstand, something to keep as a souvenir (;
More details about our date and more in the next story. Thank you for all the feedback! For those of you wondering, I'm about to start my ETS leave, Matt and I are still dating, and these are true stories about how we've both broadened our horizons as a couple, both sexually, and in terms of growth as a couple. Feel free to message with more feedback, or drop something in the comments! ♡Avery

Bit of a longer into, skip down 2 paragraphs if you want to jump straight to the story
First of all, thanks for all of the (mostly) positive feedback on my first story, you guys are the best!
A little more description on me, for my reviewers who requested to know more. I'm Avery, 5'4, have slightly bushy brown hair down to the middle of my back. I'm on the olive completion side (my mom is Greek). As I said before, ittybittytittiecommittee, B cup breasts and a firm butt that I tone with a lot of cycling in my spare time. And yes, i shave everywhere(;
Two days after my incredible first experience with my Platoon Leader, my 6'1, muscular hunk that we'll call Matt, things had been awkward. I couldn't help but hope that things would progress further, but at the same time, I was aware of the complications of continuing any relationship with him. At work, we continued as normal, he's my boss' boss, and I go back to my daily job as a truck driver (88M life). In the evenings, it's been another story. He's been texting me and I've been longing for more but super hesitant to go for anything, but my god, I want more of him.
After 2 days, its Friday night and he asks me over for dinner again. "Just dinner", and nothing else so we can hang out and figure things out. I get dressed, wearing a cute little floral romper that is practical yet fashionable, and hoping to avoid a repeat of having to borrow clothes again, I pack an overnight bag, just in case.
Matt welcomes me to his house, meeting me on the front porch just like last time, ever the gentleman. Butterflies right from the get go. Thanks Matt.
When I walk inside, I see that he's prepared a chicken alfredo with broccoli. Can't say I'm not impressed, this man must have really been listening when I told him about my favorite comfort foods while we were in the field!
Over dinner, we make it through small talk and he finally asks the elephant in the room, "what are we doing?" I stutter out some mumbled stuff about me messing with his career as I'm in my last few months, getting ready to get out, and how this probably isn't a good idea and then I flip the question on him, trying to stop myself from rambling my way into killing any chance I have with him. His response melts my heart, "I'm trying to convince a beautiful woman to take a chance on me these next few months until I can come out and tell the world, that's my girlfriend"
Did he just ask me to be his girlfriend??? Was not prepared for that one. My mind is spinning with every conceivable way this won't work and yet there he is, with a reassuring look in his smile that he's going to find a way. He leans across the table, takes my and and kisses it, before asking me to be his girlfriend.
I quickly sputter out something along the lines of a yes before he leans across the table, kisses my lips as he holds my cheek in his hand and I confirm my yes with a firm reply from my lips to his. We part after a few moments and he just sits there smiling at me like a goofball and i fall for him. G.I. Joe has a softer side. Its perfect.
After we finish eating he asks if he can give me a present as he is now my boyfriend. I oblige him of course and he leads me upstairs to his bedroom, where I find the room well lit with candles and smelling of violet. On the bed is a note that says "one free massage"
I see that he's definitely put a lot of planning into this whole asking me out thing, and I'm once again blown away by the man. I ask him what I should wear for my massage, and he replies with "panties only"
I smile slyly at him as I unbutton my romper and let it slide off my shoulders, across my braless chest, and down to the floor, leaving me in just a pale purple thong. I proudly record the look on his face as I can tell that he likes what he sees. I lay face down on the bed and I feel cool lotion being planted down my spine, causing a rush of sensation as he straddles me to rub my back.
He massages my shoulders, paying close attention to the knots he finds along the way, before working his way lower, to the tight muscles right at the base of my spine. His hands feel incredible as they firmly trace their way across my bare skin and I can feel from his "growth" as he straddles me, that I'm not the only one at least slightly turned on by his touch.
He works his way lower, massaging my firm butt cheeks and the backs of my thighs before I feel a finger brush between my legs, over the thin strip of now damp fabric that has buried itself between my cheeks. He knows what he's doing, he can feel my arousal, and it's not long before he's massaging my butt while slipping a finger under my thong to tease at my vagina.
After another minute or two, he rolls me over and kisses his way down my body to my thong, taking it in his teeth and pulling it down my legs before tossing it to the nightstand. He spreads my legs slightly and brings his head between them, lightly kissing the crease where my legs and pelvis meet, right along my bikini line. So close to where I want him and yet so far.
I take my hands and run them through his hair, guiding his head to taste me. He runs the tip of his tongue between the lips of my vagina and settles on my clit, making small quick circles on my swollen nub as i gasp and moan. He continues as i hold his head there, my hands gripping his hair and begging him not to stop. He inserts one and then a second finger inside me which only adds to the pleasure building from his tongue on my clit.
After a few minutes i can't take anymore, my center entering sensory overload, begging for a orgasm to break, but not quite going over the edge. I pull his face to mine and kiss him deeply, grasping his butt and pulling him inside me as his weight presses down on me. I taste myself on his lips and it is purely erotic.
He thrusts deep inside me as I wrap my legs around him, not letting go. He picks up speed and I beg him not to stop as my orgasm finally breaks and my inner walls grip tight against his shaft.
I feel him swelling even larger and I know he's nearing his own orgasm quickly after so much time devoted to foreplay. I ask him where he wants to cum, knowing that anywhere is acceptable to me. He says he doesn't want to break apart so I grasp his hips, urging him deeper as he finds his release deep inside me.
I am utterly spent and overwhelmed by my Matthew and his performance. He rolls off of me and lays next to me on his side, his head cradled against my shoulder. I feel him leaking out of me as he softly kisses my lips again and again until sleep overcomes us.
In the morning, I finally go back out to the car to grab my overnight bag, and get ready to go on an actual date that he has planned for us. The thong from the night before stays on his nightstand, something to keep as a souvenir (;
More details about our date and more in the next story. Thank you for all the feedback! For those of you wondering, I'm about to start my ETS leave, Matt and I are still dating, and these are true stories about how we've both broadened our horizons as a couple, both sexually, and in terms of growth as a couple. Feel free to message with more feedback, or drop something in the comments! ♡Avery

As the title implies, this is the first in a series of stories about affairs I had in the military. I've never been married, not really interested in being married, but I have been with four married men in my life. In each case, I knew what I was doing, but I loved the rush of doing something I shouldn't as much as I liked the relationship itself. I'll save you all the negative comments. I was the homewrecking whore, etc, etc. If that's what you're here to comment about, save your breath, I'll just block you so people who want to actually read my content don't have to deal with you. If this is your sort of story, I'd love to hear your feedback on content or how I can improve my writing! One quick author's note, i will not be using people's real names or naming specific units that my stories happened in. I was never caught in my sexual affairs, no wives found out and left their husband over me, and no one's military career ended because of me and I intend to keep it that way. This is for fun writing, not doxing someone's past transgressions to the world. Also let me know if you want to see more stories! <3 Hannah
First, a little about me. I'm 5'5ish, 135ish depending on the day, and have dark brown hair that falls part way down my back with brown eyes. My mom is a Crow and my dad is Italian so the olive complexion genes are active in my family. I've got a fairly petite/athletic build with a 32B chest and a toned butt. My nipples are dark brown, on the smaller side, and I shave everywhere. I'm a fan of tattoos and have a feather on my foot, flower pieces on my right hip into my lower ribs, left shoulder, and lower back, a small script piece in my left side bra line, a green carebear in my left bikini line and a large dream catcher down my left ribs. If there's a detail I've left out, feel free to ask ;)
Without further ado, my story:
I was an 18 year old private, 92F (fuel handler) working on a base in the heart of Bourbon Country. It was a huge culture shock for me, coming from a small town in Maine to a massive military base with more people in my division than my home town. I honestly felt a little lost and overwhelmed, which probably contributed to why I sought out a relationship where I felt wanted. It's easy on a base like that to feel completely ignored. My unit had long been integrated and was about 30-40% female on any given day, so no I wasn't getting hit on constantly, and no I wasn't sleeping with every guy in my barracks.
Speaking of my living situation, I was in a 4-story building with all of the junior enlisted soldiers in my battalion. There wasn't open bays and there wasn't all girls areas. We roomed by company in our own room with a bedroom, closet, bathroom, and a fridge/sink/1 burner stove setup by the door as a kitchenett. Barracks could definitely be a wild time, similar to a college dorm but contrary to your favorite porno, gangbang orgies with 20 guys "running a train" are something I never saw or heard of in my 4 years living there and I was/am a fairly sexually active adult.
Given my situation of being totally new and massively out of my element in terms of culture shock, I quickly turned to Bumble to help sort out my dating scene because the base really was a city and everyone is pretty insular when it comes to their unit, so trying to meet guys who also aren't your coworkers means turning to the swipe game. After a few days online and connections with everyone from the local off base that definitely has fewer teeth than fingers to the obviously fake bot that just screams scam, and swiping left on some guys from my own company (hey, 18-25 year old demographic has the same needs, I get it), I finally matched with a 26 year old, Dustin, from another brigade on our post.
Given 10 seconds on Dustin's profile, I could tell he was an officer and anyone with 10 seconds to spare on my profile could tell I was junior enlisted, but we matched anyway. He was handsome in a gentle sort of way. Sandy brown hair in a military cut, athletic features that let you know he was fit without screaming chiseled gymrat, and a style that screamed more laid back homebody than the stereotypical "bro vet" vibe that you get with some young officers....and a ton of junior enlisted. I took a pause and decided to message him despite knowing our ranks didn't line up because the way I saw it, we were in totally seperate brigades and there'd be no reason we would ever interact or influence eachother at work.
A few minutes later I got a reply back and soon I was texting back and forth getting to know a genuinely sweet guy with a love of the outdoors, fishing, camping, and an eye for photography, particularly some truly astounding landscape photos. The conversation came easy and I found myself happy to have a guy so interested in me. Before I got completely swept off my feet, I brought up the elephant in the room and mentioned that I was an E2 and he was an O3. He dropped the bombshell that "yeah but I'm just a guy on staff, that's not a big issue, the real issue is I need to be discreet because I'm married. Please don't hate me"
Boom. Of course the super easy to talk to makes me feel wanted and moves past my mention of our rank differences drops the counter-bomb of he has a wife. In all of my 18 years I thought I would have run away instantly. Nope. Not me. I was intrigued. I didn't run away, and I came to find out that his wife was doing a year long internship with a major corporation out of state and only really came to visit on long weekends and holidays. So Dustin had turned to Bumble to fill a piece of his love life that was currently 4 states away. Not ideal I told myself, but at least she isn't like...here on post with him and he's not coming home because he's with someone else...right? To 18 year old me trying to convince myself it was okay to be with the guy I obviously was attracted to it was sound logic. It worked. I replied back that I was up for seeing what happened with the understanding that no one was gonna leave their wife over this and no one was gonna get anyone in trouble over the rank thing.
A week of texting back and forth after moving off Bumble found Dustin and I building a fast relationship that came with similar interests and easy conversation. He wasn't overly pushy about becoming anything romantic and wasn't like "Omg send nudes". I guess he was feeling this whole thing out as much as I was. Eventually I got the text one evening of "you know you look really good in that pic you have with your friends at the beach on your profile"...I know the one. I'm wearing an electric blue string sided bikini that has pretty full coverage, rides moderately low on my hips and has basic triangle cups and string ties for the top. Okay, Dustin likes me in a bikini...this is the first obvious flirting from Dustin and I decide to be a little bold and sent him a mirror selfie in the generic black bra I had worn under my uniform that day with my uniform pants still on. I get a reply back in some stereotypical guy lingo that he really likes what he sees. I told him that if he wanted to hang out, I wouldn't put my uniform shirt back on. Cue the FaceTime call, yes Dustin I will video chat with your handsome shirtless self while wearing a bra and my uniform pants thank you very much. We talked for at least an hour and things didn't turn super sexual or anything but we did agree we needed a date that weekend. The week ahead though definitely saw a spike in "tension" between us.
I was more than a little excited by the prospect of being with someone again. I had had a little fling during AIT, but since coming to my first duty station, I had been in a bit of a dry spell. Bumble had finally come through for me, and the combined rush of potentially being with a guy again, plus the fact he was one of those forbidden officers, and married? I was on edge. I definitely had my moments of "holy shit I shouldn't be doing this" but those feelings were replaced by a feeling of almost insatiable excitement that had me counting down the days to Saturday. For the first time since highschool, I found myself putting some serious effort into some scandalous but not too "revealing" snaps to Dustin, teasing him with a peak of which panties I wore to work today, or hoping in the shower after PT with just my black Army tshirt on and sending a pic of it clinging to every curve and hiding just enough below my waist. Like I said, hard-core tease mode for four whole days.
Flash forward to Saturday and I was in my barracks room, getting ready to meet a guy I was 100% falling for just a little and I decided that no matter what happened tonight, I was not gonna be the girl who gives it all up on the first date. Definitely set myself up to potentially cock block myself, but I saw it as I didn't want to be the girl he slept with and left, I wanted to continue to tease him and leave him wanting more. I wanted him to want me. I slipped into a pair of almost painted on skinny jeans with a cute teal thong underneath with a black tanktop and matching pushup bra on top. I drove to Dustin's house somewhere in the on base housing that I'd never been and took a deep breath before walking to the door.
This was it. I was the new Private about to go see a married officer behind his wife's back. I almost chickened out and drove away, but found myself ringing the doorbell and quickly being invited in, pulled into a warm hug and a "wow you look even cuter in person" from the handsome man of my DMs, Dustin. He had apparently spent the day smoking some brisket because he had quite the spread laid out for us in the dining room as I got a quick tour of the common spaces of his home. Definitely nicer than my barracks room.
Dinner accompanied the two of us loudly cheering on a random football game on TV, sorta snuggled on the couch but at a "almost together " sort of distance. There were all sorts of reasons for us to brush up against eachother and it was almost this cat and mouse game of how far do we go as the evening progressed. Don't get me wrong, there was a ton of conversation and it came just as naturally as it had online, but now we had the palpable tension of two of us who had never been this far deciding where the limit for tonight would be.
Eventually Dustin cut the tension, saying, "you really do love to tease don't you?". Yes. Let's talk about how I've driven you wild for days and now you want me. I leaned into him, kissed him quickly but firmly on the lips before pulling away, leaving an inch between us as I looked into his eyes and whispered "yes sir". I found my face immediately in his hands, my lips pressed to his and our tongues intertwined. I gasped as he suddenly held me close and we made every effort to close any space between us as we passionately made out, his fingers running through my hair, my nails scraping his back over his tight tshirt and soon I was hot, breathless, and sure I wanted more.
I pulled away and told him he didn't get all of me tonight but he could still have dessert. I had him sit up on the edge of the couch and pulled his shorts to the floor, tossing them aside towards an end table holding pictures of him and his wife and our dirty dishes from dinner. I in turn lifted my tanktop off over my head, unclasped my black pushup bra and let it fall to the floor, kneeling between Dustin's spread legs as my small brown nipples hardened into firm nubs in arousal. I pulled back my long brown hair and tied it in a messy ponytail before bringing my face down to his firm, six inches between his legs.
I teased the length of his shaft with the tip of my tongue, feeling him twitch in expectation as I repeatedly, softly traced his length before circling his tip and heading back down the way I came. I grasped his base and swallowed half his length in one wet mouthful, a gasp of pleasure escaping his lips as my own pushed further towards his base, attempting to take his entire firm cock before the tip slipped down into my throat, triggering a slight gag reflex as I tightened around his shaft and I came up for air, a slight trail of drool connecting my lips to his tip. I stroked his now well lubed cock in a twisting motion as I asked him if his little private was doing well for him. A hand on the back of my head guiding me back to his shaft told me this wasn't too far for him. I swallowed him nearly to his base, grasping him with one hand as my free hand unbuttoned my jeans and slipped into the front of my now soaked panties, the arousal of the situation I found myself bringing me close to an edge myself.
I worked Dustin's shaft with a bobbing head, sucking lips and twisting hand that matched the rhythm I was working against my clit with the hand buried in my jeans. I increased my pace, with Dustin's hand making sure I still brought myself far enough down his length as my own pleasure came more and more to the forefront as my now soaked vagina craved more attention. I popped off his cock as I felt it begin to swell and told him to stand up as I scooted back from the couch, kneeling between his legs, looking up at him as one hand held my jeans open while the other furiously rubbed my clit as I came close to cumming myself. I moaned for Dustin to cum for me as I looked up at him, the inner walls of my vagina clenching in orgasm as the filthy phrase left my lips and I was greeted with thick streams of cum shooting over my head before falling on my uplooking face and bare breasts and Dustin climaxed after an apparently decent dry spell.
I knelt between his legs, cum covering my face and chest, my own arousal soaking my panties and in that moment I felt like the hottest woman on earth. I made a man forget his entire world and do this with me in a home that wasn't mine but his. I was addicted to the rush. Dustin reached down and offered me a hand to pull me up. He led me topless to the guest bathroom where I cleaned up, washing my face and chest before walking back to the livingroom and redressing. Neither of us made mention of the line we had just crossed together, but we sat on the couch, now cuddled like a couple with the ice broken and finished the football game that had been forgotten awhile ago.
After the game we both agreed that I should probably get going, but we agreed to see eachother again and made a date for a midweek hangout. I kissed Dustin goodnight and drove back to my barracks in my still wet panties that I hadn't changed out of. I sent Dustin a snap in them, a wet spot still visible in the front with a caption "the things you do to me(; "...needless to say he was proud of himself. I went to bed dreaming of what could come from this, and truly happy to feel wanted, even if it was from a man who wasn't all mine.
Thank you all for reading this far. Again, like I said before, any rude comments will just get you a block. If that's what you need to do to feel good about yourself, so be it. For those of you who enjoyed this, please let me know if you'd like to read more! I'm always open to constructive feedback and critiques to improve my writing! Have a great evening! <3 Hannah

Sort of a reference to this https://www.reddit.com/NatureofPredators/s/ASiX51M6GI
TELLUS’S DEPARTMENT OF CHILD SERVICES
ABOUT - Our story - How you can help.
HOME - Log In/Sign Up - News - Announcements
HELP OUR KIDS - Guardianship - Adopt - Volunteer - Donate - Jobs
RECOURSES - Caretaking Info - Online Store - Classes
CONTACT US - Talk to Us - Email
HELP - Language - Navigation - Helpdesk
TALK TO US.
Hey all! Welcome to the Tellus Child Services Q&A thread. If you got any questions about raising and/or caring for human children, ask away below or PM me directly. Your email address will not be publicly displayed and we will be discrete about your personal info, but we would appreciate if you would give your species so we can have some context to answer your questions with. Unless you chose otherwise, your species will be public and represented by an initial at the side of your user tag.
Please note that racist commentary will not be tolerated and will be taken down. I know there’s some hard feelings going on out there, but leave our kids out of it.
David Schneider, Head of Tellus’s Department of Child Services.
COMMENT HERE

• [ ] I am not a robot

What Species are you? - [ ] Smigli - [ ] Krev - [ ] Resket - [ ] Jaslip - [ ] Trombil - [ ] Ulchid

• [ ] (Hide race?)

User Name: —————————— GUEST ——————————-
Email —————————————-
—————————————-
COMMENT ———————————————————————————
———————————————————————————
SCALEOF1210 (K): What kinda of toys do human pups like?
DAVID: I dunno, what kinda toys do Krev pups like?
SCALEOF1210 (K): Oh.
DAVID: It’s alright. Just try to think through that lens and you’ll do fine.
_
GUEST (S): Why is being without your “clothes” so embarrassing? Is it religious?
DAVID: Not exactly. It started out as a way to stay warm when we migrated out jungles and savanna’s, but the side effect was that it made the absence of coverings a) feel insecure, and b) an open floodgate of carnal attraction. So actually, to answer your question, we’re covering our reproductive organs. It’s a modesty thing. The practice got applied to the kids anyway.
GUEST (S): Female humans have sex organs on their chests?
DAVID: No. but female mammaries become more pronounced as they mature and tend to draw male sexual attention.
GUEST (S): Whyyyyyyyy?
DAVID: Simply put: they remind us of mom.
GUEST (S): Ahhhhhhh!
DAVID: I was really trying to avoid spelling that out, y’know?
GUEST (S): Hey man, I don’t have have feet. Why would I care about tiptoeing?
DAVID: Huh. You know, I really think I’m learning a lot about Smiglis.
GUEST (S): Hey! Good for you! 🎉
_
GUEST (R): What’s wrong with regurgitation feeding? It helps with digestion.
DAVID: Maybe for avians, but It’s not sanitary for humans. We have a different digestion/immune setup. And no offense, It’s also just really, really gross to us.
_
GUEST (K): How do you hold a human pup?
DAVID: For Krev, cradle them in the your arm and be sure to support their head. That’s important because it’s too heavy for them to hold up by themselves. Again, no tail rides until they’re at least two years old.
_
SNOWFLOWER333 (J): Do humans kits really need to nurse well into adolescence? I don’t think I can keep it up for that long….
DAVID: Hang on, are you saying you’ve been NURSING one of your charges?
SNOWFLOWER333 (J): Right along side my own. I know Tommy’s not a jaslip and that it’s not human milk, but I figure it’s still better for him than formula. Should I not?
DAVID: Uhhhh… dunno. I’m gonna discuss this with my colleagues. In the meantime, stick to the formula we sent.
SNOWFLOWER333 (J): Alright, David. Though, about that first question….
DAVID: Long story short: we’d harvest milk from domestic bovines as a culinary ingredient and breakfast time staple, but breast feeding stops with infancy. You wouldn’t be sucking a teenager.
SNOWFLOWER333 (J): 😅oh good!
DAVID: Would be a little awkward, huh?
SNOWFLOWER333 (J):🤣A little.
_
GUEST (U): How do you hold a human pup?
DAVID: Cradled in your…. flipper. I guess. Just keep their head supported, it too heavy for them to hold up. You can also hold them to your chest with their head resting over your shoulder.
GUEST (U): We don’t really have shoulders.
DAVID: Nnnnnevermind then.
_
OBORSHINE (K): Is it okay to post my human child on the Internet?

DAVID: I suppose, but try not to embarrass him. OBORSHINE (K): 😜Aww but I’m a mom! Embarrassing him is my job! DAVID: In that case, we’ll send you his baby pics. 

OBORSHINE (K): Yeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssss.
_
CALLMESPEED (T) Is it okay to give my child cybernetic implants to cure conditions?
DAVID: That will depend on what condition we’re talking about, but yes, probably. Be sure that they are approved by a human doctor, though.
_
GUEST (S): "Why do you have so many wiggly bits!"
DAVID: Erm, wiggly bits?
GUEST (S): “Yeah! With all the toesy toes and fingery things”
DAVID: Oh! Um, well other race have them too, but I guess ours ARE quite long and nimble. Well, we specialized pretty early on in tool manipulation, soooooooo.
GUEST (S): Raaaaaaaad!
DAVID: Happy to impress. I guess?
_
GUEST (J): How do you hold a human Kit?
DAVID: I wouldn’t know how to hold anything with a prehensile tail, you’re the experts there. But however you do it, be sure that you support the kids head. A human infants head is too heavy for them to hold up by themselves.
_
CALLMESPEED (T): Damn Schieder, always forcing us to cope with the weaknesses of the flesh, and denying us the certainty of steel.
DAVID: Ah, hello Malcom. Does Speed know you’ve hacked his account?
DAVID: Look, that’s not solely my decision kiddo. We put it to a vote. Maybe things will change in the future, but in the meantime, just wait till you’re 18 before you chop your limbs off. You can probably still get an implant, though.”
_
SHOPCLASSREJECT (S): Yeesh, David! How can my kid hit me with a ball from across the room?
DAVID: 😁Talent, my friend. Did you know that humans are being trained as grenadiers in the Consortium army? We have excellent throwing arms. Oh! Uh, you weren’t hurt though, were you?
SHOPCLASSREJECT (S): Eh, A little. My cheek is swollen, but it’s not like I had any bones or teeth to break.. I was mostly just surprised at how fast it came at me.
DAVID: Sorry Shopclass, He should have known better, but it’s a pretty common childhood offense for humans.
SHOPCLASSREJECT (S): Got a new rule, though: no throwing things in the house.
DAVID: Sounds like a good rule.
_
MRS.DOGGY (J): Hey, just got home with my kids and when I was helping Heather remove her foot coverings….. having 5 hind toes is normal for humans, correct? I just want to make sure.

DAVID: 😁 Correct. And we don’t have dewclaws either. MRS.DOGGY (J): Oh good! MRS.DOGGY (J): Erm , that it’s normal, I mean. 

_
GUEST (K): WHY WAS I REJECTED! WHAT DID I DO WRONG?
DAVID: Im sorry sir, I don’t know, but I’m sure it was anything against your character. Given our situation and our unfamiliarity with non-humans, we are being excessively cautious with our young and more than 75 percent of applicants were turned down as a result. Perhaps you can try again in a year or two when humanity is a little more accustomed to other sapient species. Please forgive us.
_
BUNCHBERRIES (K): So I noticed one of my female charges has enlarged mammories. Does that mean she secretly has children?
DAVID: No. It’s means she’s a teenager.
DAVID: That’s a normal development.
BUNCHBERRIES (K): 😮‍💨 Oh, thank you .
_
GUEST (R): How do you hold a human hatchling?
DAVID: Cradled in your wing-thing. Just keep their head supported, it too heavy for them to hold up themselves.
_
GUEST (S): How would one hold a human hatchling?
DAVID: cradled in your…. noodley appendage. Support their head.
_
GUEST (K): Me and my wife would like to foster, but- forgive me for asking- can we expect dung throwing to be a problem?
DAVID: 🤣HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Nah. I understand why you’re asking, but we’re higher evolved than that.
_
GUEST (K): Can I have one?
DAVID: You can apply to adopt or foster a child, but that’s no guarantee. We are VERY discriminate about applicants, especially nonhuman ones. Before you put pen to paper, I would consider very carefully whether it’s a child you’re looking for or a pet.
GUEST (K): What’s a pen?
DAVID: Ah, the times we live in…
_
NANNYBIRD35 (R): Jackie has accurately described me as a “Big Bird”, but I cannot for the life of me figure out why he sings a song asking how to get to a place called Sess-Me Street every other time he sees me. Was there something special about that place? What does it have to do with ME?
DAVID: Ok, that’s funny! He thinks you’re a character named Big Bird from a children’s show called Sesame Street [Video link]. Btw, let me know if she ever calls a Krev “Oscar”. I’m gonna laugh.
_
MRS.DOGGY (J): What is a “doggie” anyway, and why do my kids call me that?
DAVID: I was WONDERING when that would come up. I didn’t think it would be useful to explain before, but we had these domestic canines back home called Dogs and you kinda resemble one. They were intelligent, trusty, loyal creatures that helped us hunt, herd livestock, guard our turf, and and were beloved members of our families. None of the kids have met a dog in the flesh, but they’ve been lionized in books and cartoons and your resemblance to them is strong enough to trigger an instinctive adoration we had towards them.
MRS.DOGGY (J): They…. think I’m a pet? Like with you and the Krev?
DAVID: Hey, if they haven’t told you to ”Sit” or “Roll over” I think you’re good. But the point is, the kids trust you implicitly, and when you’ve suddenly been thrown to aliens after living in a hole all your life, having a comforting face to keep you stable counts for a lot.
MRS.DOGGY (J): Oh! 😊Well, I think I can live with that.
_
OBORSHINE (K): How do I take care of Samsons head fur? It’s getting so long and tangled!
DAVID: Oh right. Only jaslips need to brush. We’ll send you a proper hair brush. In the meantime. Get a jaslip brush- one with wide bristle spacing- and gently comb the knots out, starting from the bottom and slowly working your way up. We can also try to get you in contact with a human who has experience cutting hair.
_
TEACUPGUY (K): Dang, I had no idea human fur would get longer. How much longer does it get?
DAVID: Down to their hips or farther. Doesn’t really stop. You’ll either want to get it trimmed or let grow so you can tie it up behind their heads.
_
GUEST (T): How do you hold a human hatchling?
DAVID: Cradled comfortably in whichever bionic limb is not capable of crushing a car. Make sure to keep their head supported. They don’t have the neck muscles to hold it up
GUEST (T): 😊 Oh that’s fixable.
DAVID: Thanks but NO.
_
BUNCHABERRIES (K): David! Jeremy’s caught the MONKEY POX!
DAVID: … The what?
BUNCHABERRIES (K): What do I do?! He’s been getting worse and worse all week!
DAVID: Stay cam Berries, What are the symptoms?
BUNCHABERRIES (K): He’s broken out in purple spots! And he’s aslo listless. Stomach ach. Head ach. Poor boy can’t even get out of bed! He just sits there and groans and today he asked if I was an “angel” I’m at wits end!
DAVID: Ah. THAT monkey pox. School’s in session, right?
BUNCHABERRIES (K): Is that really relevant?!
DAVID: Just trust me. Check his backpack. Is there a pen or marker that is the EXACT same color as the spots?
BUNCHABERRIES (K): There is.
BUNCHABERRIES (K): Why?
DAVID: Take it and draw a little dot next to the ones on his skin. Make it roughly the same size.
BUNCHABERRIES (K): Ok. Done.
BUNCHABERRIES (K): OH THAT SEAKY LITTLE-!
DAVID: My work here is done.
BUNCHABERRIES (K): HE IS SO GROUNDED!
_
HAPPYHATCHLINGS: David, this is Tisa at Happy Hatchlings Early Learning School. We’ve noticed that our human students can’t seem to get comfortable in their napping nests and keep hanging their feet over the edges. It’s like they can’t curl up!
DAVID: They can’t. Not long term, anyway, and not as tightly as other Consiortium races. You’re going to need longer, flatter beds that they can stretch out on and keep their spines relatively straight. We’ll be sure to send you some cots.
_
DADJOKE (K): 😉 Thanks for the sponges, but I think my wife’s got bathtime covered.
[Folder Attachments: 7 photos ]
[Pic 1: A shot of two shirtless human boys [ages 5 and 6] in makeshift “war paint” running screaming past the camera as a jaslip with a wild grin skids around the corner after them.]
[Pic 2: The victorious jaslip sits on her haunches with one of the boy hopelessly tangled in her tails and the other grappled between her forelegs. The latter is getting her full professional attention as she licks the warpaint off his face, ignoring his cries of disgust and attempts to wiggle free.]
[Pic 3: Said boy apparently opened his mouth at an inopportune moment and is now spitting and sputtering while Mama Jaslip laughs herself to tears.]
[Pic 4: One of the boys laughing hysterically as the jaslip pins him down across her forelegs and licks his belly.]
[Pic 5: a close up on one boy getting his hair worked on, wincing uncomfortably as Mama Jaslip get a blunt claw in his eyebrow while maneuvering his head this way and that for the right grooming angle.]
[Pic 6: Arm around the boys shoulder, Mama proudly presents her work to the camera; one mostly warpaint free human with a complimentary cowlick. The lock of hair is stuck straight up, stiff with spit, like an alfalfa leaf. Mama is winking at the camera and doing her best thumbs-up while the boy is shooting a disgruntled side eye at his brother who is laughing at the abominable hairdo.]
[Pic 7: Mama has one of the boys lying on his stomach while she leisurely grooming his back. He’s resting his chin on his arms, looking sleepy. His brother, nestled among Mama’s tails in the back ground, is yawning. Mama kinda looks tired herself.]
[Pic 8: All three of them are asleep. Mama seems to have nodded off on top of the boy she was cleaning, her head draped across his back. The other is lying against her side, his head barely visible above the nest of tails blanketing him].
DADJOKE (K): The kids have started calling her “The Kissy Monster” when she gets like this.
DAVID: Oh my gosh! This is so freaking cute! Do have them use the sponges, though. Tongue bathing isn’t really doable for longterm human hygiene.
DADJOKE (K): 😊Glad you liked it. But yeah, I get it. Most consortium races aren’t keen on the slobber fest either.
CRAZYTAILS (J): 😏Funny, YOU didn’t seem to mind the other night.
DADJOKE (K): 😳…
DAVID: 😳…
CRAZYTAILS (J):😏 You forgot this was a joint account, didn’t you?
DADJOKE (K): Just wasn’t expecting you to be logged in right now. Hi sweetheart.
CRAZYTAILS (J): 😊Hey scalyboi.
DAVID: Um, hey, before you two keep flirting dirty, what was it the boys were marked with?
CRAZYTAILS (J): Hm? Oh, just washable marker. They were playing “Viking Warriors” or something, running around, slaying monsters, ambushing DadJoke in his den, and beating each other silly with pool noodles for a two hour straight. That until I, the dreaded Kissy Monster, vanquished them both and subjected them to bath and bedtime! Muahaha!
DADJOKE (K): As for what you really wanted to know, she didn’t suffer from licking the stuff. The markers are made with Jaslip kits in mind, so they needed to be nontoxic and tasteless in case they or their parents have to clean up some body doodling.
CRAZYTAILS (J): same with Jaslip cosmetics, btw. Some are even flavored. Makes cleaning up after dates pretty fun, right Daddy?
DADJOKE (K): Fluffykins, if I say I’ll be leaving the office in half an hour, will you stop embarrassing me on a public forum?
CRAZYTAILS (J): 🥰I’ll be waiting with the candles.
_
GUEST (K): Is it ok to pet humans pups?
DAVID: Lemme put it this way; what do you call a Krev who goes around petting Krev children?
GUEST (K): Creepy?
DAVID: 👉Bingo.
GUEST (K): Huh? What’s that mean?
DAVID: It means yes, petting kids is creepy.
_
DR.WORM (guess): Hey, what’s an appropriate amount of holopad time for the kids, 10 hours or 12?
DAVID:…
DAVID: Doc- First of all; not a real doctor, i presume?
DR.WORM (S): Sure ain’t!
DAVID: 😉👉👉But you ARE a real worm?
DR.WORM (S): YES! I KNEW I picked the right pop culture reference!
DAVID: 👍👏🏻Sure did. Sure did.
DAVID: Sooooo let’s talk screen time.
DR.WORM (S): Yeeeeeaaaaah aright, I was kiiiiinda guessing 10 was a too much. Is 8 right?
DAVID: Try two.
DR.WORM (S): TWO?!?!
DAVID: Yup.
DR.WORM (S): TWO HOURS?!?!
DAVID: Yup, yup, yup.
DR.WORM (S): HOLY [expletive] MAN! I’VE BEEN FRYING THEIR BRAINS!
DAVID: You open sometime this week, Doc? We’re gonna help you out.
_
GUEST (R): You let jaslip take care of your hatchlings? Are you crazy?! [COMMENT DELETED]
_
CRAZYTAILS (J): What IS a wolf? The boys Insisted I be one in one of their games.
DAVID: This guy [attachment]
CRAZYTAILS (J): Woah. Now THAT’s a handsome face.
DADJOKE (K): Eh-hem.
CRAZYTAILS (J): Well, not handsomer than my husband’s.
_
CRAZYTAILS (J): Is growing long head-fur some sort of defense mechanism against grooming? Because it’s starting to work. Hard to get the stringy stuff off my tongue. Bleugh.
DAVID: heh. Sounds like the boys need a haircut. Swing by Tellus, we got some barbers that can shape em up.
DAVID: Or just let them grow it out until they can tie it behind their heads
CRAZYTAILS (J): The latter sounds like less trouble honestly.
_
BETWEENBILLOWS (U): Should I be concerned that Maria has a figurine of a dead human nailed to a T on a necklace? It’s kinda morbid.
DAVID: Believe it or not, that’s a religious symbol. Did she not tell you about it?
BETWEENBILLOWS (U): David, she barely talks to us at all. It’s been three weeks and she hardly leaves her room.
DAVID: Hmm... Well THAT might be cause for concern. Let’s talk over PM.
_

A shoutout and apology basket to u/kabhes and u/HeadWood_ who’s suggested questions I kinda stole. There were several others that I wanted to feature but couldn’t figure out how to work with.

Ok so September of 2023, I got an Order of Protection from my bio sister after she attacked me twice in 2 weeks and held me hostage the day after the last attack. Her testimony in court was rather laughable because she told the prosecutor (it's a small town so things go a little differently) one story then told the judge another.
She TRIED saying she NEVER touched me, but she (25F, running on 2 halves of a brain cell split in two fighting over which half is her better half) could not explain the bruises (it has now been 9 months and a part of my leg is still swollen with no feeling). The judge ordered that she couldn't be less than 100 feet away from me for 2 years.
The OOP has already been violated once as before the court date, one day while I was at work bio sister and other bio sister dropped by and stole my cat. They swore my mom to secrecy, and she kept the secret for 3.5+ months (give or take a few weeks) leaving my poor baby Cashew (yes after the legume, he's also Cashew colored) with asthma (clean your cats' litter boxes folks!).
My mom drove me since my tag was out (it isn't anymore thank CHEESE), and youngest bio sister met up with us at a midpoint. For whatever ungodly reason, this dunderhead decided to tag along, meaning that this giant sack of burnt slices of toast was less than 5 feet away from me. However, my mom threatened to leave me and Cashew on the side of the road and kick me out of her house if I reported it, so I didn't.
Tonight I was on the phone with her mother so she could get updates on one of dunderhead's cats (all 4 of whom have been under my care for 4 months) for his health and his scheduled vet appointment (since that is the ONE THING this rotten sack of mutilated potatoes is paying for). Her mother mentioned she was coming over to bring some food she had made, and she asked me if it would be okay for Stinky McStinkFace to come over if she sat in the car in the driveway.
Of course I said no as that is not 100 feet or more. Powerless Emperor Palpatine then starts raging about how she wants her cats back, how there isn't even an order of protection in place, yada yada yada. I snap back (still talking to her mother) that I would want my $200 I spent to keep her cat alive back then. I then explained everything her daughter would need to do to keep him alive.
What I've had to do for him is similar to what I have to do for Cashew but Cashew doesn't need antibiotics. What is needed: Crush L-Lysine pills into a powder, mix into wet food or soaked kibble Mix a teaspoon of bee pollen into wet food or soaked kibble Stab a 1000 mg fish oil liquid gel capsule, squeeze an eensy bit on his tongue Give antibiotic twice a day Use hypoallergenic detergent for bedding and air purifier in rooms most frequently visited Only use dust and scent free litter Only give filtered water Wash, rinse, and repeat
When I first took him to the vet, his lungs were "crap" (quoted from the vet who was struggling to not say sht). *I am the ONLY one taking care of the cats she can no longer keep at her current residence. I am the one maintaining their health. You would think she would be more grateful, but instead she took her mother's phone and hung it up and repeatedly hung up when I tried to call back. When I finally managed to successfully get her mother back on the phone, I could hear bio sister screaming about how I'm such a fcking btch because I'm trying to control her by threatening to call the cops if she violates the OOP cue Sam laughing or Riley if Sophia reads it because I typed it as OOP again.
We've got until September of 2025 before it's lifted, and I'm moving out of my mom's in less than that (definitely taking these cats with me, but don't worry I'll cashapp her the money for the vet appointment AFTER I deduct my labor fees for caring for them while she still claimed them).
BTW: After I got Cashew back, bio sister's engine blew up in a shed fire, and younger bio sister's car was nearly totaled. Regardless of if I'm an AH or not, Karma's a b*tch ain't she?

period: april 28th to May 14th 2024.
Nights spent in: Tokyo - Sendai - Fukushima - Koriyama - Nagoya - Hakata ( Fukuoka ).
If it's really off the beaten path or not you'll decide, some destinations visited are really particular, other are way more popular even if usually not what you'll visit in your first trip to Japan. let's say i've been to japan last summer and did all the usual things one do the first time he's there, probably even something more: Tokyo - Kyoto - Osaka - Nara - Nikko, Fukuoka, Matsumoto, Himeji, Miyajima. pretty much what almost anyone does for their first time if they have the opportunity.
Given the weak Yen and having still some time ( and money ) i could spend i decided to come back less than a year later, this time at the end of April up until half may in order to explore less popular destinations. I'll avoid to provide the usual tips anyone provide, like how to move from narita, how to get a Suica or how to book a train seat, how to operate a toilet and such things.
SOME TIPS
Concerning Suica: contrary to what most people suggest, i didn't buy one neither last summer or this time and frankly i've never missed not having it. I use my mastercard credit card, most places in japan accept it with zero problems and for the rest you can get Yen at any ATM machine that you can find in any combini with it and pay cash wich japanese still very much use
Concerning the period of the year: last year i went in August. I can confirm that moving around in April/May is so incredibly much better. The heat in august is some day even unbearable. This time the weather was mostly fine, got only one day of rain even if the temperatures were still a bit on the cold side overall. Unfortunately this year Sakura came early and I missed it by a week or two. But still apart from the cherry trees all the plants were blossoming and it was so nice to see flowers everywhere compared to the pain of the humidity and the torment of cicadas you have during summer.
Concerning golden week: one of the two weeks i was there was the golden week. I didn't book anything in advance but, maybe because of the fact i was moving off the beaten path, i almost never had problems booking trains or hotels during golden week ( i said almost, more details later ). Cant tell what's the effect when trying to book hotels in places like Kyoto.
concerning planning: my usual planning method goes the following: i book the plane, obviously. I buy JRP ( yes i still bought it even after the price increase ) and i book two days of hotels. The rest of my trip i have an idea of what i want to do and where i want to go but i book hotels and such, while going along. This gives me the flexibility to change my itinerary or react to bad weather ( last summer i run away from a typhoon with this trick ) or unexpected problems ( last summer i got food poisoning and i had to delay my program booking an hotel for three more days than expected: had i booked all nights in advance it would have been a huge problem ). I only book hotels using the booking website app and i can only say good things about it. I travel alone, maybe for couples or families this isn't as easy as it was for me.
Warning: I like to walk and I walk a lot. So if you need tips to move around, I’m not probably the right person because what you might want to do using a bus or a taxi I would probably do by walking. I’ve walked on average of 20 km a day and probably more and if a place is like 3-4 km from where I am I walk there without even looking if there’s a better option with a bus or something else.
I will give a vote to the places I’ve visited according to two parameters:
How off the beaten path it really is, judging by how many foreign tourists I met there. And an overall vote telling how worthy I feel the place is to visit. To make it short I will call them “OTBP VOTE and OVERALL VOTE”

SO LET'S START WITH THE ACTUAL TRIP REPORT:
Day 1: landing in Tokyo at midday in Narita. After finishing all the immigration process i moved to my hotel. This time i decided to book it for two nights in Omiya/Saitama. The place is less than half an hour from Tokyo Station and was the opportunity to see something different. I haven't seen much of the place but the area around the station was very lively, lots of restaurant and lots of people moving around. It was full of decoration with squirrells and a football team, i guess they were either promoting it or they won something cause decorations were everywhere, honestly didn't ask about. Well apart from checking in, recovering from the flight, looking for something to eat and checking a bit the areai didn't do much.
day 2: in the morning i took the train to Ashikaga Flower Park. I've seen picture of it online and according to the informations i gathered i might have been late for the sakura but the Wisteria were in full bloom and they had a lot of them in this park.
So i took the train, it was around an hour ride and Omiya was strategically on the way. I realized my trip plan was proably a good one when, once reached the Ashikaga flower park station ( there's a train station dedicated to this park ) all the people on the train got off. A little walk, ticket and i was in. The place, given the right time of the year, was AMAZING, UNBELIEVABLE. I can't begin to tell you how cool and how huge the wisteria plants were. they were in full bloom, and was something out of this world, it looked like something you see in the movie avatar. Like three or four wisterias as big as a basketball field if not even more, of different colours and kinds, plus a lot more of regular sized wisterias and a lot more flower plants of all kinds. Had to say, for some reason with all the flowers the air wasn’t at all full of their scent. I even got a wisteria flavoured ice cream, wich was probably a wisteria coloured ice cream cause it didn’t have any real particular taste. The place was packed with Japanese people and foreigners like me you could count them on the fingers of one hand. I arrived there early, so by early afternoon I was satisfied with my visit and moved away. A quick check on my train app and google maps and realized I could reach Kawagoe from there fairly easily.
ASHIKAGA FLOWER PARK OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 10
When I was on the train it stopped at the Tochigi station, it looked nice from the train so I decided to jump off and check the area a bit, because sometime I do that kind of things, and the idea wasn’t bad at all: the town itself doesn’t look anything special but there’s a canal wich was very picturesque, plus it was fully decorated with paper carps because of the time of the year and Japanese people were doing boat rides on the river on traditional little boats while singing songs. I won't say to go there specifically to see the place, but if you're on that train route or still around it, it might be worth a stop. So, once I finished checking the area I jump back on the train and finally reached Kawagoe.
TOCHIGI: OTBP: 10 OVERALL: 6 ½
Kawagoe is a small place north of Tokyo, not very far, wich is know for a small neighbourhood with old Edo houses. That neighbourhood is more far from the station that I expected, but still nice and worth a check. There’s a very cool bell tower there and one of the coolest Starbucks I’ve ever seen. I wouldn’t spend a whole day in Kawagoe if you ask me but If you’re in Tokyo and have an half day available that you don't know how to spend I’d say it’s totally worth a train ride. Had my dinner there and then moved back to Omiya where I would spend my last night.
KAWAGOE: OTBP: 7 OVERALL: 7
Day 3: woke up early, jumped on the train and moved to Sendai where I had planned to stay the next three nights. Once again Omiya was a good choice cause I could take the shinkansen right from there without having to move back to Tokyo.
Arrived in Sendai, left my luggage in the hotel where I couldn’t check in cause it was still to early and hopped on a local train in direction of Matsushima. By midday I was already in Matsushima. This is another very famous destination for Japanese people, one of the most known panoramas in japan. Have to say, the town is a typical sea town, definitely welcoming. I had one of the best Sushi I ever had in japan in a local restaurant ( check matsushima sushi kou if interested ). Visited Zuiganji temple and then walked a bit on the coast, crossed the Fukuurabashi bridge, the long red bridge that you probably have seen in some picture, and walked around Fukuurajima. Here you can have a walk around the island it’s not small but is small enough that you can walk it all fairly quickly and it has some nice spots to discover. You have to pay a small fee to cross the bridge. Then went back, checked the Godaido of Zuiganji and it’s worth mentioning that when walking along the coast I’ve stumbled across a couple of signs giving instructions on what to do in case of a tsunami and what happened back in 2011, wich I didn’t even think about up until that moment and suddenly the memories went back to what happened there more than 10 years ago. Last thing, my advice is to walk down to Oshima island. This little island is less crowded, you can reach it crossing a little red bridge and honestly to me it’s the best spot to admire Matsushima. I didn’t went for the ferry ride across the bay cause the weather wasn’t very good and I was starting to be a little short on time, so I moved back to Sendai.
MATSUSHIMA: OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 8 ½
Once back in Sendai, I went to see the sunset from the panoramic floor of the AER building near the station, wich is totally free even if finding the right elevator that takes you up might be a bit tricky, but the view is totally worth it, you can even see in the distance the big white shape of the dai-kannon and from the other side of the floor you can easily see the sea.
Talking about Sendai, I didn’t dedicate to the city the time that should have been necessary because I was always on day trips and I spend there mostly the late evenings, but my impression is that Sendai is a very nice city that should appear more often in peoples itineraries. The city is particularly vibrant and alive, lot of young people, lot of things to see and do, a covered shopping street that is almost endless full of restaurants and shops, way more green than many other Japanese cities. I’d recommend anyone who had the time and the opportunity to spend a little time here. Also it has a very distinctive identity and everything proudly revolves around the image of its founder Date Masamune who is everywhere in senday, even the penguin of the local DonQuishotte mall was dressed up as Date Masamune.
So after the panorama, I went in the hotel, finally checked in and then moved back to look for food. Walked down what I think is called ichibancho street, wich as I said before is an endless downtown road full of shops and restaurant and stopped to have a try at the most famous local dish, Gyutan, wich is grilled cow tongue. Never had tongue in my life and have to admit it, it’s not bad at all, I quite enjoyed it. Had a little more walk around then called it a day.
SENDAI: OTBP: 7 ½ OVERALL: 9
Day 4: today trip is to Hiraizumi, a UNESCO world heritage site, where you can admire some historically significant buddhist sites. You had to catch a coincidence in Ichinoseki but the whole ride is pretty straight forward and doesn’t really take much time. At 9 am I was already ready to explore. As I sad I’m a walker, so I walked the walk from the station to the Chuson Ji temple wich is around 2 km and I totally recommend it cause the town is quite nice to walk through, very small village, very cozy and intimate. Chuson Ji it’s a very beautiful complex to explore, it’s inside a forest, kinda reminds a bit of Nikko atmosphere if you’ve been there even if the buildings aren’t as spectacular. The whole wood was full of blossoming plants and here and there I was able to spot some late cherry tree still full of flowers, giving me an hint to what sakura must really be.
You stumble in the temple buildings one after another while you go deep into the wood. I reach the main building and there’s a ceremony in progress. I discovered later that the next day was planned the Fujiwara festival where all people dress up like in Edo period and do a parade in the city. The day I was there instead the children parade was planned, so it was full of kids dressed up and judging by how proud and elegant their parents were I tend to think it was a pretty big thing for them. I enjoy the situation for a while, then went back to exploring, till I reached the main attraction of the temple wich is the Konjikido, a golden pavilion that dates back to the XII century wich is amazing to see in person.
Once I finished exploring the whole Chuson Ji complex I went looking for a restaurant and had a nice ramen set, because the visit took the whole morning, then moved to the second stop wich was Motsuji Temple: as much as Chuson Ji impressed me, Motsu-ji disappointed me. The thing is, you pay to enter and in the end what you see is a place mostly empty, where the only building there are reconstructions and most places are just a bunch of rocks with signs saying “here once was this building” “here once was that building” and the main thing you’ll see there is a pond whose importance is that it dates back to the time when Japanese gardens were kinda dull compared to what they’ll become centuries later. So it’s kinda a pond that you would completely ignore in a different context. I mean, I totally get the historical importance of this place, but, honestly from the ignorant eyes of a tourist it’s really nothing you would invest your time visiting, according to my opinion.
Another place that would have been worth visiting was Takkoku-no Iwaya Bishamondo, but isn’t really that easy to reach, it’s a bit far to walk to and I was once again out of time, therefore I decided to skip it and went back to the station and to sendai where I again went to look for something to eat and had a little night stroll, nothing worth mentioning.
HIRAIZUMI: OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 8
Day 5: today I decided to go to Kakunodate. The town is a easily reachable by train from sendai but a bit far compared to the day before. Went off the station and once again started walking. The place is known mainly for its many samurai houses, all indications point to them so it’s not possible to miss them. The town itself for the little I’ve seen doesn’t really seem to offer much apart from that but the samurai distict it’s nice. Many of the houses have been converted into small museums, that you can visit paying a small fee. I entered one of them, there was a little tour showing the history of the city and the history of the family of samurai living there. Among the things you could do you had the chance even to hold a real katana ( it felt quite a clumsy and top heavy sword compared to what I had imagined ). In fairness, to my taste, there isn’t much to do apart from visiting the samurai district, yes you can visit the local museum, do some craft shopping ( I bought a very nice box made of cherry bark there wich is a typical local craft ) therefore after a late lunch I was back to Sendai. In my opinion if you want to see a Samurai district you can also go to Kanazawa and there’s much more to see there overall compared to Kakunodate, but if you like the atmosphere of a smaller village instead of a big city and you like something more “off the beaten path” then I’d say go to kakunodate.
KAKUNODATE: OTBP: 8 ½ OVERALL: 6 ½
Given i was back to sendai relatively early, that gave me the opportunity to walk ( yes I walked even there ) to see the dai-kannon. The walk was nice, it took me through some very quiet neighbourhood that you wouldn’t normally visit. When I reached the statue It was too late to go inside it but I still had a good view of it. That is a quite impressive sight, you almost have difficulty to grasp the actual size of it. The area around the statue has really nothing to offer, therefore my honest suggestion is take a ride with the sightseeing bus and use that to reach it and once you’re finished with the statue move to a more interesting spot.
And this was my last day in Sendai. My plan at this point was to book two nights at Koriyama but probably because of the golden week I wasn’t able to find a hotel to my liking there therefore I decided to book one night in Fukushima and the next night in Koriyama. These were the two more expensive nights of all my trip and still ended up spending only around 70 € a night.
Day 6: plan for the day: leave the luggage in the hotel, visit Yamadera, go back to sendai, pick up the luggage and move to fukushima to spend the night. Yamadera is truly easy to reach from Sendai and a very recommended destination if you happen to be in Sendai. The place is mostly known for a temple that is reachable walking an abundant number of steps up a hillside. You reach the town, wich Is a very little and cozy village in the mountains west from Sendai and the temple is very close to the station so it’s not possible to miss it. You can tell the whole village revolves around the temple but it still maintain an authentic spirit. Lots of restaurants and little shops to visit on the road that brings to the temple. The temple itself is very “vertical” : sets of stone stairs will lead you up the side of the hills, till you reach the main building and a couple of satellite building where you’ll be rewarded by an amazing view on the village below. If you don’t mind stairs you’ll be rewarded with a very relaxing atmosphere. Here too given the latitude and the altitude I’ve been able to enjoy a couple of late blossoming cherry trees. The weather was amazing that day and all the gardens where full of flowers, this made the whole trip particularly enjoyable. Luckly I’m an early bird because later in the day the place was really packed with visitors. Once I was finished I had a nice set of Yamagata Dashi Soba in a typical restaurant with Tatamis low tables and a beautiful view on the river that cuts in half the village.
YAMADERA: OTBP: 10 OVERALL 9
After a late lunch I jumped back to the train, went back to sendai to pickup the luggage and moved to the next stop, Fukushima. Here I had the first disappointment of my trip. As my usual I booked a hotel that was close to the main train station, wich is usally the place where you want to be. I had a walk around there and the impression I got from Fukushima was that the place was miserable, a place that has really nothing much to offer to a tourist and not even to a citizen because compared to all the other places I’ve been in japan the impression was that even the locals weren’t as lively and enjoying life that much. I hope I’m not offending anyone and for sure I can’t give a proper review of the place after just an evening spent there, but the impression I got was of one of those town, that you can find in every country you'll visit, where young people can’t wait to get old enough to run away from.
FUKUSHIMA: OTBP: 9 ½ OVERALL: 4
DAY 7: wake up in fukushima, move to Koriyama, leave the luggage at the hotel, and then visit Ouchi-Juku and Aizu Wakamatsu. If you’re wondering, the thing is doable but you need to move early. Once you reach Koriyama you take the local train for Aizu Wakamatsu. There you jump on another local train, wich isn’t entirely operated by JR so you’ll have to pay a ticket, to Yunokami Onsen station where you end up in one of the coolest train stations in japan because it’s built in the style of a traditional house with wooden interiors and a straw roof, and it has a feet onsen right outside where you can wait the train while bathing your feet in thermal water, how cool is that?
From here you take a bus and reach Ouchi Juku. On paper it sounds harder than it actually is but you have to plan your trip properly. Ouchi Juku is a post town all made of traditional houses that reminds you a bit of Shirakawa Go, I frankly don’t know how it isn’t more popular among foreigners cause it’s truly a one of a kind place. Most probably is because it’s so off the beaten path and hard to reach. Still it’s extremely popular among Japanese people because the place was crowded and, when I left, the car traffic was stuck by how many people where trying to reach the place by car. I have to tell you in all honestly the place is probably a bit too touristy because there’s not a single house that isn’t turned into a gift shop or a restaurant. But still the place is so charming and picturesque that is totally worth a visit, plus the surrounding woods, mountains and rice field really act like a frame around the most beautiful picture. So I spend the morning here and around 2 pm I move back to Aizu, because there are really not many bus runs in the evening taking you back to Yunokami Onsen and you better reach the place early.
OUCHI JUKU: OTBP: 10 OVERALL: 9
That gives me the opportunity to visit Aizu Wakamatsu. Ive heard about the city for its castle and for the legend of the Byakko Tai. I get off to Aizu Wakamatsu main station and walk across town till I reach the castle. Keep in mind it’s Saturday and along the whole walk I might have crossed three people. The city was deserted and one thing I’ve learned is, if people on a Saturday evening flee a city like that, then there isn’t much to do or see there, and that’s the impression I got, kinda like Fukushima, probably even worse. Still, I reached the castle: the park is very nice, the castle is a beautiful Japanese castle but, to my understanding it’s a modern reconstruction cause the original castle was lost during the Meiji restoration as Aizu was one of the spots that rised against the emperor. At least around the castle there were now many people. From the castle, wich I didn’t visit inside, I went back to the train station, this time I reached Nanukamachi station and I have to admit it the area there seemed more alive and interesting to stroll around than the area around main Aizu station, therefore maybe I just walked across the wrong part of the town, I honestly can’t tell.
AIZU: OTBP: 9 OVERALL: 6
From Aizu I finally moved by train to Koriyama. I really didn’t spend enough time there to have a proper opinion but the impression I got was of a laid back place, more relaxing than sendai and definitely more alive than fukushima. If I had more time I’d probably give it a shot for a day visit, it might be a surprise.

DAY 8: by this day I ended up with a terrible sore throath that I had to endure almost till my last day in japan. I never had a fever but there was definitely something going around, I kept hearing many Japanese people coughing on trains all around japan so there was definitely something going around, maybe it’s just the season changing, it happens during this season all the times to have some cold or cough. Anyway, the day I had to wake up early and move from Koriyama to Nagoya by Shinkansen, wich was a considerably long trip but at least it gave me the opportunity to take probably the best picture I’ve ever take of mount fuji, from the train. Once in Nagoya I left the luggage in the hotel ( wich, thanks probably to the fact that the golden week just ended, I happened to book for 4 nights for a whopping 25€ a night wich was a total steal even for current Japanese standard prices ). There I immediately jumped on another train and went to visit Inuyama.
The area around Nagoya is a bit tricky cause it’s full of railroads operated by a company that is not JR wich are not covered by the JR Pass but there’s a JR station a bit to the north of Inuyama that will do the job. The place is totally recommended for three reason: it’s overall nice, with the Kiso river cutting it, the castle is one of the few original ones and even if small is considered a national treasure and the whole area around the castle is very nice and worthy to spend some time on. So I visited the castle, the view from the top floor is awesome and in a clear day you can easily spot the skyline of Nagoya. Outside the castle there’s an edo style street full of shops, restaurants and street food that is nice to explore, totally recommended a walk there.
INUYAMA: OTBP: 8 ½ OVERALL: 10
Coming back to Nagoya I just had energy to look for food then I went back to my hotel for a good night of sleep.
DAY 9: a day trip from Nagoya to Ise. The trip isn’t that easy, you got to take a couple of trains if you move only by JR ( and a couple of stops of one of them aren’t even JR operated wich is a little confusing honestly ) and you end up in Iseshi station. From there I moved to Ise Jingu Geku, wich is the outer sanctuary and from there you can take a bus ( guess what, I walked instead ) to the main Ise sanctuary. If you don’t know Ise Jingu is the most sacred place in the Shinto religion and is regularly visited even by the emperor given his role in the Shinto religion. Inside the main temple one of the most sacred relics of Shinto religion is preserved.
Well, being totally honest here’s my impressions of Ise: it’s not simple to reach. The city itself, for what I’ve seen, looks like it has seen better days, meaning it looks like it’s falling apart. And the temples, there’s really not that much to see: they are in a forest, and the temples are not that spectacular, plus the most interesting parts are forbidden to visit. You can go to Atsuta Jingu without moving out from Nagoya and have a fairly realistic impression of what you would see in Ise without all the issues. I know people will attack me for what I’m saying, but that is what I’ve got from it. The most fun part was the edo style neighborhood that you can find right before entering the main Isu complex, wich looks almost like a theme park. I don’t say don’t go there, I say if you are, as you are probably, on borrowed time, with lots of places you want to visit and too few days to see them all, if Ise is in your list you might want to use the day to see something else.
ISE: OTBP: 6 ½ OVERALL: 6 ½
DAY 10: I decided to spend the day in Nagoya and take a look of the city, thanks also to the weather that was a bit rainy and really not inviting for another day trip. What I’ve seen in a day is the samurai exposition in Marunouchi. It’s free and it’s totally worth it, lots of beautiful samurai armours and swords. There’s another exposition that opened not many years ago that you can go nto too far but I didn’t visit so I can’t tell about that. From here I went to Nagoya castle. You pay to enter the complex but currently the Castle is under restoration and you can see it from outside ( it’s very impressive, Nagoya and Osaka castles are massive ) but not visit from inside. But the Honmaru Palace right beside it is open and totally worth a visit. From here took the subway ( yeah today I didn’t walk much so I got a subway day pass ) to the Osu Shotengai Shopping District, wich is the usual kind of covered shopping streets nest you can find in all the Japanese cities, and then moved again to Atsuta Jingu Shrine that, as I said, to me is a completely valid alternative to visiting Ise. The day went by without even noticing and I couldn’t see all the other places I had picked, like the Toyota museum, the tokugawa museum or the science museum, but that’s what you get when you only have one day dedicated to visit a city as big as Nagoya. Still I had time to get an impression of the city and I honestly don’t get the bad reputation it has among foreigners, the city looked to me quite interesting, nice, full of things to see and the people felt particularly laid back compared to cities like Tokyo or Osaka, it’s probably the place where I’ve seen the biggest number of tanned Japanese in all the country. To me Nagoya is totally worth at least two or three days dedicated only to visiting the city.
NAGOYA: OTBP: 5 OVERALL: 9
DAY 11: my original plan was to walk the Nakasendo from Magome to Tsumago. But the weather that day was kinda shit, I wasn’t feeling particularly In the mood of a walk because of my throath and I was starting to feel a bit tired, so I improvised and went for a day in Takayama and Gero Onsen. Takayama is pretty famous. I went there around 20 years ago and I remembered it as a very nice place. Getting back now, with all the Japanese places I’ve seen so far, I would say this: the train trip to Takayama is Spectacular, is a truly feast for the eyes. The town itself, it left me a little disappointed. The Edo style streets that its famous for, I’ve seen so many of them at that point around japan that it didn’t really leave a significant impression on me. And it was honestly smaller than I remembered it. Plus the weather, as I said, didn’t help. So overall the reality didn’t stand up to my memories and my expectations. Plus most of the houses there have now been turned in cheap souvenir shops with nothing giving you an authentic feeling. Don’t know, probably I wasn’t really in the mood that day.
TAKAYAMA: OTBP: 2 OVERALL: 6 ½
I took the opportunity on the way back to stop at Gero Onsen. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to actually stop for an onsen cause overall the whole day wasn’t planned and I mainly improvised. Still the town is very nice and probably, having no expectations or no knowledge of it, even more worth visiting than Takayama. Had a nice walk around the town, and at least had the opportunity to “feel” the thermal water cause there’s plenty of fountains with hot spring water where you can rest your feet or your hands. It was enough to make me aware that a proper onsen there must be a very enjoyable experience.
GERO ONSENS: OTBP: 8 OVERALL: 8
And after this I went to Nagoya where I spent my last night in the city.

DAY 12: moving to Fukuoka ( Hakata ). I booked a hotel near Hakata station so I jumped on the shinkansen and moved there. The ride was as confortable as any shinkansen ride can be and I reached the place sooner than I imagined. First thing was a good look of the city from the panoramic floor in the station. Then had a walk to the Canal City mall wich is a very weirdly and interesting designed mall that is a very popular location in town. Had a walk from there to Nakasu island where I got a quick dinner considering it was already time, and had another walk around the area wich unfortunately will turn out to be my only experience of Fukuoka. I’ll spend here three nights but the following days will be so full that won’t give me any chance to visit the town more, so in the end I don’t really have an opinion on Fukuoka if not that I should probably have spent more time there, but unfortunately the days you have are numbered and there’s so much to see that you have to give up something here and there, so i won't even give a vote to the city.
DAY 13: Destination is Kagoshima that it’s easily reachable by train. I went there with no real expectation and I was totally blown away. Something clicked and I instantly liked the town, I must say that probably the fact that one of the most beautiful girls I’ve seen in japan out of the blue started a conversation with me on the train probably helped a lot in putting me in a good mood.
From the station I walked downtown till the coast. On the way I stopped shopping a bit, found a local market where local artisans that day were exposing their crafts wich I liked a lot and went to the top floor of the Centerrace Mall to get a panoramic view of the city with an amazing view on Sakurajima volcano. If you don’t know it’s the symbol of the city and it’s said to be almost always active, the whole day I’ve been there he kept puffing little clouds of smoke from time to time, it was very cool. So, once reached the cost I walked ( you should know it by now ) till I reached Sengan-En wich is the garden and the palace of a local lord and it’s very beautiful, totally worth a visit, also compared to many other places in japan, this is more modern and therefore more unique both in the architecture of the palace and the style of the garden. I’d say if you are in Kagoshima you won’t regret visiting it ( maybe don’t do like me and take a bus cause it’s more than 6 km from the station ). After visiting Sengan En I went back to the ferries and took a ferry to Sakurajima. The ferry is very cheap, 200 yen, and quick to reach it’s destination, but on Sakurajima there’s really not much to do if you don’t plan to use a bus or some other kind of transportation. Since it was already evening, I had nothing planned and I had to go back to Hakata, I just took the time to have a walk on the Lava Trail wich is a walk in a natural park that has grown over an old lava flow, wich is a quite unique thing that I enjoyed more than I expected. Then I went back to Kagoshima, had dinner and moved back to Hakata. I have to say I really enjoyed Kagoshima, the city has a unique vibe, very laid back, the people seemed to be relaxed and happy and were much more open toward foreigners than anywhere I’ve experienced. If I’ll ever be back in japan I’ll surely manage to spend some more time in Kagoshima. I took the train and I was back in hakata at around midnight so I went straight to bed in hotel
KAGOSHIMA: OTBP: 10 OVERALL: 10
Day 14: Nagasaki. Another fairly easy destination to reach from Fukuoka. The city itself is very narrow and develops around its river. As a tourist I was immediately attracted to its atomic bomb museum, wich is north from the station. I went there, you don’t say, by foot.
And later, once I’ve done with the atomic bomb part, the Nagasaki near the sea.
And here starts the tale of the two Nagasaki, because it feels like two different places in one. The north part, wich I didn’t enjoy much, felt a bit neglected and it’s mostly houses where people live. And it’s the part where you’ll see more tourists because as I said all the atomic spots are there.
On the other hand the south part near the city was to me much more alive and full of life, I’m no expert but that’s probably where the locals like to spend their free time and on the other hand you’ll see way less tourists here.
Back to the morning, I did what most tourists do, and visited the atomic bomb museum, the peace park, the ipocenter, and went also to see the half standing torii that is one of the few authentic places left as testament of the bombing, around the city. Talking about the museum, I’ve been to both thins and Hiroshima and, even if Hiroshima is bigger and with much more to see, I would suggest if one has the opportunity to visit also the Nagasaki one, it absolutely has its own legs to stand on. On a side note, out of 10 visitors, 9 were foreigners, I guess Japanese already know their history and don’t feel the need to visit such a place on a nice Sunday morning.
The peace park it’s a park, there you can see the famous statue wich is one of the main symbols of Nagasaki and that, if you ask me, is one of the ugliest statues you can find in the world, but still if you’re in Nagasaki you probably don’t want to miss it.
After lunch I moved to the sea side, here I’ve seen DeiJima wich is the former artificial island where the Portuguese were segregated centuries ago, very interesting place, kinda like a mix of an open air museum and a theme park, felt a little bit plastic but still worth some of your time.
Then had a walk to the near seaside park wich is a very nice and relaxing place where flocks of eagles fly so low over your head that if you rise your hand you can almost touch them, and pretty much ended the day there before having to go back to Fukuoka.
NAGASAKI: OTBP: 5 OVERALL: 7 ½

Day 15 – 16 - 17: my last full days in japan. I was in need of some rest at this point and I needed to move closer to Narita where I had booked my flight for day 18, so i spent more than half of day 15 to transfer from Hakata to Tokyo. I booked my last hotel for three nights near Otsuka station, wich if you ask me is a nice spot to stay in Tokyo. When I arrived in the evening there was a rose festival and all around the station there were roses bushes in flower and there were people singing and the whole station looked alive but also quiet, if you like a place to stay In Tokyo that it’s not chaotic like Shinjuku or Shibuya I’d recommend Otsuka.
The last days aren’t really worth mentioning, I’ve spent most of the time shopping for souvenirs, and recovering for all the travel i did the two weeks before. I explored a couple of places worth mentioning that not everyone ever goes to in Tokyo, like Nakano Broadway ( a weird shopping district that feels like a little Akiabara ), Nippori where there’s a little known street nice for shopping, or Chiba where there’s one of the biggest mall in japan but apart from that nothing much that you can read in the report of anyone who have been to Tokyo.
And with this, I think I can conclude my report. If you want me to upload some picture and you have a site to suggest me where it’s easy to upload and you don’t have to make an account let me know and if there’s enough interest I will oblige as soon as I’ve finished downloading all the pictures from my phone.

Thank you to u/SpacePaladin15 for creating the NoP-verse and allowing fanfics!
This is a sequel to The Way of the Human!
Prequel startPrequel endFirstPrevious
Memory transcription subject: Thass, Arxur-UN Cooperative Liaison
Date [standardised human time]: 27th of November, 2136
I had decided to leave the camp for the night, still furious at the implication the Zurulian medic had made. To even suggest I would be defective in such a way that I would fall for prey... It sickened me. Barisis was a pet at best, a meal at worst. Agreements with humanity be damned, I would eat her if she also tried to suggest such a thing.
The temporary residence I had chosen was an abandoned home, likely left behind by the prey that once lived there, possibly even killed during the Dominion's short lived hold on this world. The entire building felt cramped for my large frame, but it sufficed. I didn't plan to stay here for long.
Foolishly I hadn't brought any rations with me, meaning that I would go hungry for as long as I was away, assuming I didn't find anything edible out here. While I was far from a stranger to going without a meal for extended periods of time, having once been under the gluttonous Vizz's command, my time with the humans had spoiled me, and now I was starting to get used to always going to sleep on a full stomach.
Abundance can be just as much a curse as it can be a blessing, it turns out. I've almost forgotten what it's like to starve. Maybe it's a good thing that I didn't have good with me. Keeps me from getting pampered.
The home wasn't unpleasant to view, though aesthetics hardly made my hunger any better. Prey were so often focused on form over function. All that was left behind was prey feed, which was inedible to me. The dilapidated bed was comfortable enough, so I doubted I would have trouble sleeping in spite of the gnawing hunger.
But just as I felt ready to try to sleep, or more accurately seethe and stew in my thoughts, I just barely heard the front door open. It seemed some foolish prey had unknowingly stepped into a newly claimed predator's den. Perhaps this was the homeowner, now returning only to find a nasty surprise waiting for them.
By the Prophet, am I hungry. Maybe... just one Harchen civilian won't be missed, will they?
Stealthily I rose from the soft mattress. My drowsiness was gone in a flash, replaced by hunter's instinct. A miniscule part of me felt bad for them, but sometimes fate was just cruel.
Sneaking through the door and into the wider building, I heard the steps approaching my position. I hid in the hallway gap, ready to pounce. As soon as I saw even the slightest bit of movement, the morsel that stepped in here would be dead.
A shadow approached from the side, illuminated through the windows by streetlights. And when they unwittingly closed the gap, I launched myself through the air, triumphant in my catch, and I prepared to bite down on...
"Barisis?"
"Hi..." whimpered the Kolshian. What the fuck was she doing here?! Had she followed me? If so, why? Didn't she understand that I was a killer to be feared!?
She squirmed in my grasp, far more uncomfortable with my jaw around her now than she did earlier today. Fear was in her eyes now. "Um... you gonna let me go?"
I could explain away her disappearance, couldn't I? There are pockets of resistance all over this city, who was to say I'm the one who nabbed her?
But as I looked at her again... Maybe it was a moment of weakness, or a lapse in better judgement. Whatever it was, it made me let her go.
"What the fuck are you doing our here?" I questioned the reckless prey, pulling her up on her two legs with my superior strength.
"Someone needed to go out and find you, and I volunteered," she answered simply. "You can't just fuck off into the city without telling anyone where you're going or how long you'll be."
I snorted in disbelief. "And they let you out here, alone and unarmed, in this highly unsafe city?"
"They did neither," she said, placing a tentacle upon a chest-holster. Doing so made her realise that the gun had flown out when I pounced her, and she grumbled in annoyance before looking around to search for it. "Shit. You're a prick, you know that?"
"You've become incredibly bold, little prey," I commented. "Insulting a superior being and thinking there won't be any consequences."
"Because there are none, you ass," retorted the Kolshian, walking all around the house, trying to find the lost gun. "You're all petals and no pollen."
"What?"
"Aafan term, means you won't follow up on your threats," she explained, a definite cheekiness in her tone.
I couldn't help but chuckle at her behaviour. "You're tempting me to break the trend. And while you've shown you're not defenceless, in theory anyway, you haven't explained how you're not alone."
"We split up, but Hans and Jesper are also looking for you. I'll radio in and tell them I've found you," she said, now kneeling down on the floor, still searching.
She made a noise of accomplishment, indicating that she had found the weapon, but then sighed in disappointment. After the mix of emotions, she tried to reach under a low-to-the-floor piece of furniture which served a purpose unknown to me. Her attempts to reach the weapon had her entire torso on the floor, swiping a tentacle under the tight space. The position she was in resulted in her bottom half-poking up into the air, swaying slightly thanks to her attempts to grab the gun.
I... why do I... like this view? What is this feeling? It's like hunger, but... Maybe it's just because it's been a while since I was this hungry. Yes, it's hunger. The lower part of her is plump, which would make good eating. The lack of food is messing with my head. Yes, that's what's happening. It's just her appetising form that's enticing to my starved mind.
She groaned in frustration, not being able to reach the gun she'd been given. "Help me out here, would you?"
While I wanted to help, I was too enamoured to look away from her form. I was drinking it all in, imagining how her delicious flesh might taste.
"I, ah... Yes, of course," I muttered, grabbing the entire object and moving it somewhere else. The prey doctor had now retrieved her weapon, seeming pleased about it.
Remembering what she said about informing the human command about where I was, I decided to scarf the topic down while it was still bite sized.
"You can tell the humans I'm here if you like," I stated, getting her attention. "But that doesn't mean I'll return."
She sighed, but didn't seem surprised. "I figured you'd say that, actually. That's why I brought this," she gestured at a bag wrapped around her that I hadn't noticed until now.
I failed to see what that had to do about it. "And? What's so important about the bag?"
She opened it, pulling out meat ration cans. She had brought food for me, predicting that I'd decline to return to camp. That was... considerate.
"Uh... Appreciate it," I muttered, grabbing one of the cans and opening it with my claw and quickly wolfing down its contents. Perhaps she had known how hungry I would be, and figured that bringing me food would save her. That was very clever thinking on her part.
Hopefully filling my stomach up a bit will stop my hunger-addled mind from fantasising about eating her.
She then retrieved a communicator from the bag and spoke into it. "Come in Captain, I've found the target. Seems we won't be returning to base tonight."
"What?" Both Hans and I said simultaneously.
"He's refusing to return, so I'm doing to stay with the big idiot and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
There was a moment of silence from the radio before the human responded. "Very well. Good luck with him, Barisis. Call us back in the morning so we know you haven't been chomped on."
I looked at her with great confusion. "Why?"
"I explained it already when I spoke to Hans, which you definitely heard," she sighed, sounding exasperated. "Are you dense?"
"You little-... You think you're so funny don't you?," I hissed, but I was unable to hide my amusement.
I felt an aura of smugness emanate from her as she replied. “You certainly seem to think I am, you big oaf.”
“Get me another can of meat, or I'm taking a chunk of you instead,” I commanded, not wanting to let her feel like she had won.
“Grumpy, grumpy,” Barisis joked as she reached for another ration. “Is the baby hungwy?”
She let out a yelp of surprise as I grabbed her by the torso, holding her up in the air and leaving her face mere [millimeters] from my snout. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.”
“Yes, okay, okay!” she shouted in panic as she squirmed in my grasp. “Just let me go, you bastard!”
I dropped her to the floor, making her land on all fours, huffing and gasping for air. Apparently I had squeezed a bit too hard when I took her off the ground.
“You're a dick, you fucking know that?” she cursed.
I laughed. “Learn to stop disrespecting me, prey.” She knew what would happen, but still she kept poking me, and now she was upset about the consequences? Such leaf-licker thinking.
“Then be worthy of respect, dammit!” spat the medic. “All you've done is be a massive asshole who threatens to kill anyone who ribs you!”
“Do you forget that my people are of a solitary culture?” I reminded the cocky Kolshian. “All the constant socialisation grinds my patience down to a fine powder. Despite having no obligation toward preykind like yourself, I still allowed you multiple chances to back off on your own.”
She glared at me with pure, unmistakable fury, before hurtling a ration can right into my snout with a surprising amount of force. I roared in pain and grabbed her, pinning her to the wall with one arm more than a [meter] above the ground.
“I should eat you alive for that, I truly should,” I growled, running my tongue across her face, making her shiver. “Do you think any other Arxur would tolerate even a fraction of what you disrespectful little fucker say and insinuate? All of you should be thanking every god, deity, saint and prophet in the Federation that I haven't ripped the lot of you to shreds.”
Barisis whimpered, struggling to speak. “Sh- she was-” she hacked a cough in my face,” -right.”
“Who was? Tell me now and I won't cunting gut you.”
“Hel…” she whispered in pain. “You really do have-” wheeze “-a thing for me.”
I dropped her like she was searing hot, backing away from the mad Kolshian. After what I just did to her, she could say that in seriousness?!
Why won't this accursed appetite leave me? Why do I still want to devour her? I had a filling meal!
“Just fuck off, please,” I half demanded, half pleaded. “You're making my hunger instincts go wild. If you value your own life, you'd leave this entire block.”
She stood up, and walked right up toward me, staring into my eyes like a human would. “No.”
“DO IT!” I roared. “That damn Zurulian is right, I do have a soft spot for you, so fucking leave before I lose control over my instincts… please...”
This admittance to weakness made me nauseous, but it was no lie. In spite of her wretched behaviour and smugness, I’d grown fond of the little Kolshian that had travelled so far from home and nearly got devoured by my former superior.
I should feel ashamed, and yet I don't. I only feel… relief. What the fuck had this creature done to me?
…
FUCKING DAMN IT, I DON'T WANT TO BE WEAK! I DON'T WANT TO EAT HER! I WANT HER TO GO AWAY! I WANT HER TO STAY! ARGH, WHY IS MY MIND SUCH A TERRIBLE MESS?
I was on the floor, doing everything in my power to resist giving in to weakness and bawling. Why had I become so defective? What had gone so wrong? When I came to Earth I was fierce, powerful, strong. Now, on Fahl, I was weak, pathetic and broken. I had become more unworthy than even fucking Vizz.
“Thass…”
Barisis moved towards me with slow, careful steps. Hesitantly, she placed a tentacle on my shoulder. I didn't shy away from it. I couldn't, unless I wanted to look even weaker than I already was and cry my eyes out.
The Kolshian wrapped her other limb around me, holding me in an embrace that I should've found disgusting, but instead craved in a way that did not befit a member of my species. “It's okay, big guy, I'm here. Everything's going to be okay.”
Her head leaned against mine, and I gave in to the weakness. Tears began to flow from my eyes as I remained curled up in a ball, holding my tail tight to my body.
“I'm right here, Thass..”
Why won't that fucking urge to eat her just leave my mind already…?

Sanae was sitting on the Moriya Shrine's steps, reminiscing. She missed dreadfully all threesomes she used to have with Kanako and Suwako, but since she had grown breasts and pubic hair they didn't seem interested anymore. "Maybe I should buy a razor from Rinnosuke..." she sighed.
Suddenly, Kanako walked out of the shrine, massive tits bouncing with purpose. "Sanae! I have an assignment for you!"
"Kanako-sama!" Sanae hurriedly pulled her hand away from her crotch. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to go to the outside world in the past and kill Hitler before he becomes dictator of Germany."
"Okay!" Sanae saluted her goddess and flew away from Youkai Mountain.
Kanako sighed, watching her shrine maiden depart. "Why did she have to grow up? That ass is just too big."
After about five minutes, Sanae realized two things. First off, she had forgotten to pack any tampons. This was a bit of a problem, considering that she had just hit her period and was leaking menstrual blood all over Gensokyo. She imagined the shocked faces of villagers when the red, gobbety splatters hit them, and licked her lips. Secondly, she had no idea on how to go back in time. The dilemma bothered her for about seven hours, during which time she munched on random mushrooms she found in the Forest of Magic. Watching Alice masturbate, however, she suddenly knew what she had to do. The dollmaker's moaning of "Sakuyaaaaa... Sakuyaaaa" while she fucked a life-sized maid doll made Sanae realize that elegant Izayoi was the one person who could help her. Sanae threw up the mushrooms, dismissing the dancing onions about her vision, and made off for the Scarlet Devil Mansion.
The sun peeked gently over the horizon, illuminating the calm waters of the Misty Lake. Fairies danced happily and played on the shores. Remilia walked Sakuya around on a leash.
Sanae alighted gently on the Scarlet Devil Mansion's front lawn. Hong Meiling started to approach her, a cheesy kung fu movie line forming in her throat. Her mistress, however, waved a hand, and Hong Meiling stood back. "Hello there, delicious Sanae-san~," purred the little vampire. "Won't you stay for breakfast?" Sanae suddenly realized how distracting her swollen love lips' discharge was, and crossed her legs hurriedly. "Um, well, I just wanted to ask a favor from Sakuya-" "If you let me have a little taste, I'll make her do anything you want." Remilia was drooling already. The menstrual blood of a living god was even better than a virgin's.
What had at first seemed a problem was now an advantage. "Of--of course!" Sanae giggled nervously, sitting down cross-legged. Remilia's nostrils flared violently, but her tone suddenly shifted. She whipped Sakuya's bare, gleaming ass with a cat o' nine tails. "Sakuya! Make me some tea immediately." "Arf arf!" The maid scampered off on all fours. A milisecond later, she returned, clutching an antique china cup with murky liquid in between her perfect teeth, and offered it to her mistress. Remilia placed it on the ground, and crooned "Sanae-san, please squat over the cup." Sanae did as she was told, and let a trickle of her sublime sanguinary slobber stream into the steaming tea. "That's enough," Remilia moaned, as she poured the tea over herself, letting a little into her mouth. "Sakuya, lick it off." The maid's tongue ravished the little vampiress, who moaned in ecstasy. "Ungh.... Sakuya, do whatever Sanae-san desires. And don't bark at her." Sakuya immediately stood up and bowed.
Sanae, mildly bewildered by the fetishistic antics before her, had been staring off into space. "Oh! Yes! I would like you to send me to the year 1904!" "As you wish."
The world melted around Sanae for a moment, and she passed out.
When Sanae woke up, she was at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. The sun had just risen, the fairies were frolicking in the air, and Remilia was still walking Sakuya around on a leash. "Wow, things really don't change in Gensokyo," she remarked.
Sanae flew off to the Hakurei Shrine to ask the miko there to let her into the outside world. When she walked through the torii, though, she did not find Reimu Hakurei. Instead, she found a MILF.
"How may I help you?" asked the sultry, curvacous miko, her bare hips jutting out of her modified hakama and her massive breasts hanging out the sides of her shirt. The Hakurei miko furrowed her brow when she looked closer at Sanae, and asked "Are you a shrine maiden?" "Yes! I am a shrine maiden from the future," Sanae responded cheerfully, wiping the drool away from her mouth with the detached miko sleeve that gave her away. "Will you let me through the Hakurei Border?" "Yes, that is my duty." The Hakurei Miko shrugged, then bowed, showing off cleavage that could have held Makai. She parted the border like the goatse man did his ass.
Sanae flew through the gap in the shimmering border. Her journey across the world mystified people across Eurasia, causing some to herald the apocalypse. Only one of the doomsayers were perceptive enough to connect the rain of blood with the virtuous girl in the sky; he went on to write a book that was banned in 45 countries describing how the Book of Revelations was just a manifestation of John's repressed fear of his sister's vagina. The book would have won a Nobel Prize, if it hadn't simultaneously offended and aroused all of the judges.
Sanae landed in Adolf Hitler's backyard after about 13 hours of flying. Covered in bugs and blood, she passed out on the lawn. Her last thoughts before falling asleep were "Wasn't I supposed to kill somebody? I can't remember who..." Her green eyelashes fluttered one last time, and her nubile frame slumped into the grass.
Adolf Hitler was going to pretend to be dead again. He had taken up this habit after his father had sent him to technical school, instead of art school, but so far the method of protest hadn't had any effect. Sighing, the 15 year old boy walked out into the backyard, noose in hand. Before his eyes, however, had appeared an incredible sight: a girl!
Not only was this the first female his own age Hitler had seen in months, this one had green hair and bizarre clothes. "What... who is this?" he asked himself in wonderment. He marveled at her perfect, exotic form. "This is... a goddess! I have to take care of her!" Displaying wonderfully German masculine instinct, Hitler picked up Sanae with no effort at all and took her into his house. He didn't even wrinkle his nose at her stench, which was now resembling that of a graveyard. Instead, he pressed his nose to her, and breathed in deeply. "So delicious..."
The goddess' eyes slid open, displaying lovely spring green irises. "Doku... atashi wa?" she asked sleepily. "Ack!" She pushed herself out of Hitler's manly arms, and started to run away. "No! Don't go, my goddess!" he shouted at her in German. Sanae stopped. "Goddess, did you say?" she asked in perfect German. As a child, Sanae had idolized Asuka Langley Souryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion, and had learned German to better emulate her. Sanae even insulted a local boy, then pretended to be comatose while he masturbated over her. He was mostly okay with the arrangement, since he had humiliation fetish. He didn't really like having to wear his mom's flesh and fight monsters, though.
"Yes! A goddess sent from the heavens to heal mankind!" Adolf's brown eyes glittered with the glory of it all. "You are the most beautiful thing on this entire earth," he spoke fervently. Sanae immediately pressed her body against him. Finally, she was the goddess! Not just a living god, not just a shrine maiden, but a true goddess! Fuck Kanako's desires, she thought to herself. What about me?? Delirious with the glory of finally being a goddess, she started ripping off her clothes. "You will be my greatest disciple!" She praised this boy, and immediately began to grind her slippery, bloody love-spot against his rock hard paintbrush.
With great speed, she undressed Adolf Hitler, whose body was rippling with muscles from hours spent painting landscapes. Sanae pushed him down to the floor and shoved his 12 inch long, veiny groinstick into her seething, stinking vagina. "I am unworthy of such a wonderful goddess," he moaned. "You are the most worthy out of any being on earth," she countered, impressed by his glistening form and unflinching adoration. She held down his arms with her divine power and rode him like a magnificent stallion. Sanae's moans and screams could be heard throughout the entire continent, toppling great cities, while her stench caused every person within 1000 miles to drop unconscious. Hitler's family and house was blown away by the power of their fucking, which lasted for seven days and seven nights. Every five minutes they came simultaneously in an eruption of ecstasy. Soon they were floating in a lake of fuckfluid, embracing each other even more. They did every position, from the cowgirl they started with to fisting to the inverted Mormon. Their clothes and Sanae's hymen lay in tatters, having been used for all sorts of purposes.
But, Hitler, devoted as he was, was only human; so Sanae called upon the gods to make him divine. Hitler grew a massive, manly beard, and his dick became a pulsating fire hydrant. It was the finest wang in all of Germany, or indeed in all the world; and Sanae was immensely satisfied with it. So satisfied, in fact, that she fucked him for another week, during which the world wept in ectasy as it engaged in a billion-strong orgy.
Meanwhile, in the Suwa region of Japan, two goddesses were very concerned. First off, they were inexplicably fucking, when before they had been rivals. Secondly, a living goddess heretofore unknown was calling upon them to cause this bizarre sexual happening. They didn't recall lending any power to her; yet, here they were, scissoring like a sorority in Santa Cruz.
"Kanako," Suwako moaned, "do you remember anybody like this?" "No, Suwako," after which Kanako orgasmed for the 653rd time. "Aaaaaaaaaaaahgngngh. We should probably stop her before everybody, hah, dies of exhaustion," she said while Suwako started sucking on her engorged clitoris. For a couple minutes, the conversation stopped ike that, since it was difficult for Suwako to talk while servicing Kanako's orgasmo-tumor, and after that they did 69 for a joyous hour.
"We... need to go to Germany...." Suwako gasped out between orgasms, though her wandering hands seemed to have different ideas. Kanako only nodded, doing nothing to stop Suwako's tiny child's hand from entering her anus. They flew to Germany, copulatingly furiously the entire time. It took a month for them to reach Germany, because they kept stopping to participate in the orgies going on below. Flying over Siberia helped a bit, but populated areas near Hitler's home took up weeks. During this time, over half of the world's population had died joyously, while the rest kept fucking the corpses. It was mayhem.
When they finally arrived, Sanae and Hitler were swimming around in the lake formed of their blood, shit, piss, and cum. The fluid bathed them and entered every orifice, lubricating them for each bizarre activity they attempted next. "You! Living god!" shouted Kanako, her hands caressing Suwako's petite lips. "Stop doing this immediately! It is not a joyous act of love, but carnal sin!" Sanae and Hitler swam over, and began to start a fourway. What little resolve to end the incident that Suwako and Kanako had worked up melted at the feeling of Hitler's enormous girth entering them and filling them with his semen. They fucked and fucked, and the world burned.
THE END

September 25th, 2023 Phoenix, Arizona
It's been fifteen years since I made it away from the creature in Manistee National Forest. My therapist said that I need to write about it, but every time I do, I don't know how to start. She told me to go through some old things from that time in my life and see if it starts any gears moving in my mind. I found a journal I kept that I'd completely forgotten about. I flipped to that day of the camping trip 15 years ago and wrote an entry for all the days we were out there.
I'd just graduated with a bachelor's in Journalism and mass communications. It'd been years since I'd seen my best friends and we decided to go camping. I'd write in my journal every day. I would write at the end of my day or a few days later if I didn't have time the night before.
My hand is shaking just writing this part, and I haven't gotten to the actual meat of the story. Ugh, Meat. That word makes me shutter.
I'll type the journal entries here:
September 25th, 2008, Manistee National Forest, Michigan
It's a beautiful day here in Manistee National Forest. The sun is shining through the leaves of the trees, and a light breeze is rustling the leaves. The scent of pine needles is strong in the air, and the sound of a nearby creek adds to the moment's serenity.
We've set up camp, and our tents are scattered about, creating a small community amid this natural wonderland. My friends, Remy and Will, are already starting a fire, laughing and joking as they work together to build a blaze. I feel a sense of nostalgia wash over me as I watch them, remembering the countless times we've been on adventures like this one.
I look around, taking in the beauty of our surroundings. The trees are tall and robust, their branches reaching up towards the sky like reaching arms. The underbrush is a patchwork of ferns and wildflowers, swaying gently in the breeze. There's a small creek not far from our campsite, its water clear and calm, perfect for swimming or washing up.
I make my way over to the fire, joining Remy and Will. "Hey, guys," I say, my voice filled with excitement. "This place is unbelievable."
Remy looks at me, his signature grin spreading across his face. "Yeah, man. I can't believe you talked us into this. You know how Will here hates camping." We both laugh while Will just rolls his eyes.
"Well, I figured it'd be a great way to reconnect," I say, glancing at Will. "You know, since graduation and all." An awkward silence hangs between us for a moment, and I can feel the tension that's always there whenever we're together. There's this invisible barrier we can never entirely break through since I left for college.
Remy leans in close, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "So, Landon, have you heard from anyone else? You know, old friends and whatnot?" He glances knowingly at Will, who shifts uncomfortably beside the fire.
I feel my cheeks flush red as I look at Remy. "Well, uh, not really. You know how it is. We all sort of went our separate ways after high school." I change the subject to focus on something other than the tension between us. "So, have you guys been out here before?"
"Nah, this is Will's first time," Remy says, nudging him playfully. "But I've been wanting to bring him out here for ages. I've heard these woods are teeming with wildlife. You know, bears and shit like that." He laughs, but there's a slight edge to his voice.
Will looks unconvinced. "Yeah, right. Bears in these woods? You just want to scare me."
"No, seriously," Remy insists, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "There are black bears out here. We could even go on a hike and find some. You know, get up close and personal with nature."
I glance at Will and then look back at Remy. We should stick to the campsite for now. You know, just enjoy the weekend and relax." Will says.
"Ah, come on," Remy whines. "This is the perfect opportunity. You might never get another chance to see a bear in the wild." He looks challengingly at Will as if daring him to refuse.
I decide to change the subject again, not wanting the tension between them to ruin our weekend. "Hey, guys, you want to help me gather some wood for the fire?" I ask, gesturing toward a fallen tree nearby.
Will looks relieved at the change of topic. "Sure, I can help with that." He stands up and follows me to the log while Remy remains by the fire.
We spend the next hour chopping wood and stacking it by the fire. The air is filled with the rhythmic thud of axes striking wood and the sounds of nature around us. The sunsets cast the forest in a warm, golden light. It's a beautiful sight, and for a moment, it feels like we're all part of something larger than ourselves.
Will and I continue to work in companionable silence, our minds drifting to our thoughts. It's odd how things change after high school. We used to be inseparable, but now our lives have gone in such different directions. I can't help but wonder if we'll ever find our way back to that closeness we once shared.
As the sun dips below the horizon, we join Remy by the fire. He sees the wood we've stacked with approval and pulls a few logs from the pile to keep the fire going. The flames leap to life, casting flickering shadows across our faces and dancing along the tree limbs overhead.
"So, Landon," Remy says, his voice taking on a more casual tone now that gathering wood is done. "How's life been treating you?"
"Oh, you know. Work's been good." I pause momentarily, trying to find the words to explain how different our lives have become. "It's just weird, you know...we don't see each other as much anymore. Our lives have taken us in different directions, you know?"
Remy nods, his expression somber. "Yeah, I know what you mean. It's hard to keep up with old friends sometimes, especially when you're both so busy." He glances at Will, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "But it's good to have you both here together, even if it is just for the weekend."
I feel a pang of guilt as I look between them. I've been neglecting them, focusing too much on my life and career. I've always considered them my best friend, but maybe that's changed over the years.
We decide to go to sleep after hours of reminiscing around the campfire. The stars twinkle above us, and the sounds of the forest lull us into a peaceful slumber. As I lay in my sleeping bag, I can't help but wonder about the weekend ahead. I feel a sense of camaraderie with Will and Remy, but there's also an underlying tension that I can't quite put my finger on.
Suddenly, I heard what I assumed was an animal moving just outside the campsite. I stood up quick and looked around but saw nothing. Will and Remy were asleep, their breathing slow and steady. The air felt tense, and the forest seemed to whisper secrets that I couldn't quite make out.
I decide to walk over to the edge of the campsite to see if I can spot anything. As I step carefully through the underbrush, I notice another noise like before, like something moving fast. I look up, trying to catch sight of it, but I can only get a blur moving out of sight. It moves so fast that it's hard to see where it went.
I return to the campsite, shaken by the experience. Will and Remy are still asleep. The air feels tense, and the forest seems to whisper secrets I can't quite make out.
I decided to get back into my sleeping bag and hoped it was just my eyes playing tricks on me. But as I close them, I feel the same sense of unease creeps back in. The air feels thick like something is watching us, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. I can't help but wonder if there's something or someone out there that we should be worried about.
I'm going to try to get back to sleep.
September 26th 2008
We woke up and made some eggs and bacon that we'd brought in a cooler. The air was cool and crisp, and the forest took on a different hue since last night. There was an edge to it, a tension that we couldn't quite shake. As we ate, we talked about our plans for the day.
After breakfast, we packed our camp and started hiking deeper into the woods. The trees grew thicker, and the underbrush more dense. The air felt heavy with the scent of pine and damp earth. I couldn't tell if it was my paranoia about last night, but I could've sworn I kept seeing something darting just in the corner of my eye. I sighed in relief when Will mentioned it, too.
"Are you guys seeing that?" Will asks in a shaky voice.
My head quickly turns to him, and we make eye contact, a silent understanding of our fears.
"What are you talking about?" Remy snapped
"I keep seeing something dart out of my vision," I say
"That's what I'm seeing too!" Will says in an excited relief that quickly turns to fear once again.
We kept hiking silently as the woods grew denser and the air grew heavier. I could feel the tension in my shoulders, my muscles tensing up.
"I swear to god something is following us." Will whispers as he looks over his shoulders.
Remy laughs, trying to sound more confident than he feels. "Guys, come on. There's nothing out there; it's just nerves." But the way his eyes dart around, I can tell he's not entirely convinced.
We continue to hike deeper into the woods, the air growing heavier with each step. The underbrush is so dense that it's hard to see more than a few feet in front of us. I can feel the sweat starting to bead on my forehead.
We find a small clearing and set up camp again. We brought some firewood with us, so Remy started a fire immediately. The sun is beginning to set and I can tell Will is still on edge about what we saw while hiking. Remy keeps himself busy with the fire, and I can tell Will's uncertainty makes him weary.
"I'm going to take a shit over here so no one disturbs me," Will says as he points toward some bushes and gets up.
"Need any help?" Remy asks playfully, but Will does not react.
Remy and I silently sit by the fire before I ask, "Will seems a little on edge. Is everything okay?"
Remy looks at me, his eyebrow arches in confusion, "Do you not know?"
I stare at him in silence, shaking my head, confused.
"Dani and Will broke up last month. He's not really doing great right now." Remy informs me
The news shocks me. Will and Dani were inseparable in high school, almost annoyingly so. We would never be able to hang out with Will by himself. Dani made his way into our friend group by force through Will.
"Oh shit. I had no clue." I say
Will walks over as he rubs hand sanitizer between his hands. "What's for dinner, boys?"
Remy pulls out the cooler and opens it. He rummages a little bit before pulling out an ice pack. He looks confused and flustered as he frantically tries to find something in the cooler.
"It's empty," Remy says as he slowly looks up at us.
"Stop fucking around-" Will begins to say before we hear the rustling on the outskirts of the clearing, we all quickly turn our heads toward the direction.
There's a sudden silence as we all realize what's happening. Something, or someone, is stalking us.
Will stands up and screams, "Who the fuck is there? Come out, you fucking coward!"
Silence fills the forest as all animals and wind stop suddenly. Will's face melts into fear. We all sit in silence as we wait for something to happen. When nothing happens after a few minutes, Will turns around slowly and makes eye contact with me. Suddenly, something large, like a black wolf but far more significant and almost human as it stood on only two legs, quickly jumps out behind Will and digs its large knife-like claws into both his collar bones. It pulls Will back into the forest, and we hear his cries fade the further he is dragged.
Remy and I stare at the empty space that once held Will in horror. My heart is pounding out of my chest, and I feel like I can't breathe. Remy turns to me, his eyes wide with fear, "We have to go now. We have to leave."
I nod in agreement, unable to find my voice. We both stand up and quickly gather our things, looking around wildly as we decide which direction to go.
As we grabbed things, I heard a large thud outside the clearing where Will stood. Afraid to look, I signal for Remy as he stares at something in horror behind me. I'm still too scared to look, but I force myself. I couldn't tell what it was at first. There, tossed carelessly, lay a pile of skinned human limbs, a torso, and a head. The fleshless appendages were jumbled together in a chaotic mess, bones jutting out at odd angles and sinew glistening in the dim light. The head, stripped of its skin, bore vacant, eyeless sockets, its teeth bared in a permanent, macabre smile. The sight was horrifyingly surreal as if a butcher had gone mad in some twisted nightmare. The air was thick with the metallic scent of blood, a stench so overwhelming it made me gag. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the ghastly scene, every detail etching itself into my memory with sickening clarity.
Before we could say anything, a loud, lion-like roar filled the forest and echoed into my skull. I swear I felt the vibrations of the sound inside my head.
Remy grabs my arm, and we start running deeper into the woods. I can hear the beast behind us, getting closer with each passing second. My heart is racing, my lungs burning for air. I don't know what's chasing us, but I know we have to keep running.
We run for hours through dense forests and across open fields. The sun begins to set, casting an eerie glow over the landscape. I try to keep my bearings, but I'm disoriented and terrified. Remy trips over a fallen log and lands hard on the ground, wincing in pain.
"Keep going," he gasps, struggling to get back up. "We have to keep going."
I don't want to leave him to limp, but I know we can't stay here. I nod, taking a deep breath to steady my racing heart and force myself to keep running. Behind me, I can hear Remy pushing himself up, his footsteps scrambling over the leaves and dirt.
We continue through the forest, the shadows growing longer and darker around us. The trees seem to close in, forming a dense, impenetrable wall that traps us within. I try to remember the way back to the car, but I'm so disoriented now that I'm not sure I could find it even if I tried.
I stop hearing the Monster behind us, so I stop to catch my breath. Remy runs up behind me, limping. He falls onto a rock, sitting down as he struggles through wheezing breath. He pulls out his inhaler, takes three big puffs, and holds it in. He struggles until he finally releases and coughs. I look at him, and he glares back at me. He's scared.
"I don't know where we are," I whisper. "I don't know where to go."
"We have to keep moving," Remy says, still slightly wheezing from his asthma attack. He pulls himself up onto his feet and offers me a hand, but I look away, still needing to catch my breath.
"I don't know where to go," I whisper, my voice barely audible over the sound of my racing heart.
Remy hesitates for a moment, his brow furrowed in thought. "Listen," he says, his voice quiet but steady. "If we stay here, we're dead. We have to keep moving."
He takes my hand and pulls me to my feet. I can feel the warmth of his skin, and it somehow grounds me. We walk again through the dense underbrush, our footsteps muffled by leaves and dirt. The darkness around us is almost complete now, but I can still see Remy's figure as I check on him behind me.
"Do you even know where we are going?" I ask
Remy stays silent as he continues to limp behind me. I focus on the sounds around us, hoping to find some clue as to where we are or where we should go. The forest presses in on us from all sides, blocking any possible escape. My heart is still racing, my breath coming in short, ragged gasps.
"Okay, we have to stop." I hear Remy say behind me. I look back and see that he's already sitting on the ground, carefully taking the shoe off the hurt foot.
He winces in pain as he struggles to get the hiking boot off. When he finally gets it off, he peels the sock off to expose his swollen ankle.
"Ah fuck!" Remy says in pain as he realizes his injury is worse than he thought.
I walk over to him as he rests his head back onto a rock in defeat, "I can't keep going."
I sit beside him, hopefully comforting him, but he looks offended.
"You can't stay with me, Landon. At least one of us has to get out of here." Remy says between breaths.
I ignore him and rest my head on the rock next to his. Before I knew it, he was snoring. I knew the pain wouldn't let him sleep for long, but he needed it. I also drifted off eventually.
September 27th, 2008
I was awoken by Remy's winces as he tried to sleep. I looked at my watch, and it was 3am. I knew we were both exhausted, but I couldn't help but feel restless. I decided to stand up and stretch, wincing as my sore muscles protested. I looked around, trying to find some sign of civilization, but the forest seemed to stretch endlessly in all directions.
I nudged him gently. "Hey, let's keep going," I said softly. He opened his eyes blearily and looked at me. He looked around for a second in confusion and then remembered the day prior as he let out a long sigh.
I put his arm around my shoulder and lifted him so we could keep walking. The pain in his foot was unbearable, but I knew we couldn't stop. After what felt like hours, we stumbled across a dirt road. It was faint in the moonlight, but we could make out the tracks from a car or truck.
I slowly let Remy down to sit as I decided to follow the road to try and find help. It was still pitch black all around me, but the moon lit the road.
After assuring Remy that I would be back, I went on my way. The dirt road wound through the dense forest, the trees pressing in on either side like they were trying to keep the light away from me. I tried to focus on putting one foot in front of the other, but my mind kept drifting back to Remy, wondering if he would be okay.
I was so lost in thought for what must've been hours as the sun started rising. I didn't notice the sound of something big following me from the forest edge. My mind must've been racing so much that I didn't notice. I couldn't hear the giant footsteps when I stopped. Only when I started walking again did the Monster continue to follow from the tree line.
I turned toward it, my mind tired and exhausted as I screamed, "What the fuck do you want?! Come get me; I'm right here!" I was too tired, both physically and mentally, to fight or run anymore as I accepted the same fate as Will.
I heard it move some more, and I closed my eyes and braced myself for what was coming. I heard something quickly leave the tree line and land before my feet. I waited, but nothing happened, so I slowly opened my eyes and looked down at my feet.
I saw another human body, limbs, head, and torso torn apart. I could see Remy's shirt torn within what I can only describe as 'Meat.'
I screamed as I realized this was Remy's remains. I fell back onto my butt and frantically scooted myself backward, away from the Monster that I knew hid behind the brush in front of me.
The creature slowly stands from a squat, fully revealing itself. It must have been over seven feet tall, jet black, leather skin and fur. Its face was like a wolf, but its teeth went on forever like a great white shark. It stood there, breathing heavily, staring me down. I didn't know what to do. I sat there forever, thinking about the pain I was about to be in. I thought about Will's screams as he was yanked into the forest.
Suddenly, a loud bang from a rifle fills my ears from behind me. I close my eyes, and my ears start to ring. I've never felt more disoriented in my life. Moments seemed to slow down as I opened my eyes and saw the Monster gripping its shoulder as it roared in my direction and ran further into the forest, away from the edge.
Time is still moving slowly. I look back and see an older man with a short military-grade buzz. It was white with age, and his full but kempt beard still had sprinkles of pepper.
Suddenly, time returned to normal as I observed my surroundings. I saw the pile of meat that Remy once inhabited, and I quickly made my way to my feet, backing away from the man with the rifle.
He cocks his head, looking at me curiously as I approach him cautiously. "Are you... okay?" he asks, lowering the rifle slowly to his side.
I stare at him in disbelief, unable to make myself say anything. He looks at me with understanding eyes and then gestures for me to follow him. I do as he says, walking slowly behind him as he starts back down the dirt road.
I look behind me at Remy's pile and stop, "I can't leave him here like this." I say, "We have to at least bury him."
The man lets out a sigh of annoyance but comes around after a few seconds and helps me bury Remy off to the side of the road.
I stand in silence in front of the pile of dirt as the man waits impatiently a few feet away. I start to think of all the memories all three of us had. I wished I could return to get Will, or at least whatever remained of him, and give him a semi-proper burial like Remy.
"We'd all met in fourth grade," I say out loud to the man waiting for me.
He looks back at me in surprise.
"We had Ms. Birtch. She was so mean, we called her Ms. Bitch." I chuckle to myself.
"Look, we gotta get out of here now. I know you just lost your friend, but we can come back later to reminisce." The man says as he looks at me, annoyed.
I look up and realize he's right. I kneel and place my hand on the dirty pile before getting up and following the man further down the dirt road.
We walked for about 30 minutes, and the sun glared in our eyes as it rose. The old man's name was Steve, and he seemed to be a former soldier, but he didn't talk about it much. He had a way of making me feel safe and protected. He led me to a small cabin nestled in the trees off the dirt road. The cabin was quaint and well-maintained, with a small garden out front and a few chickens scratching around in the dirt.
"This is my home," he said as he opened the door and gestured for me to enter. "Please, make yourself comfortable."
I enter the home and immediately ask, "Do you have a phone? Mine doesn't have service out here."
He shakes his head, but I follow him as he enters the kitchen. He opens the old white fridge door and pulls out a milk carton. He places it on the dining table and fetes a glass from above the sink. He grabs another one and gestures it toward me. I look down at the milk and shake my head no. He only grabs one glass and sits at the table as he pours himself a glass of milk. He takes a long gulp and places the glass back down. He gestures for me to sit, so I do.
"I don't have a phone here," he says, "but I know where we can get to a radio to get you out of here." The man says as he takes another sip of the milk.
I look at him, confused. "What do you mean get me out of here?" I ask, still sitting down at the table.
He looks past me, so I turn around and see a picture on the wall. It's the man but much younger. He was surrounded by three children and a woman. It must be his family.
"Does your family live here too?" I ask
He stops, moves his gaze back to me, sits back in his chair, and sighs.
"They used to." He says in his grizzly voice.
I waited for him to expand, but he never did.
"Did that... monster... get them?" I ask hesitantly, not wanting to offend the man who saved my life.
He gets up from the chair and goes to the window above the sink. He stares for a long time before speaking. "I guess technically they're still here."
I get up and stand next to him, looking into his backyard. It seems overgrown, as if it has not been tended to in years. The grass was growing between brick paths, and bushes reached across the path like thick underbrush. Everything was unkempt except for one square. In that square, there were four headstones. The man's family.
"Yes," the man says as I look at him, "that monster got them."
I helped the man do chores for the rest of the day until the sun went below the mountains.
The rest of the night was spent planning how to get to the radio tomorrow morning. He said it was in an old radio tower up in the mountains.
The man told me I'd need to rest for tomorrow, but as I slept in the cot in the living room, I couldn't stop dreaming about the Monster and what it did to Will and Remy or what it would do to me.
September 28th 2008
As expected, I didn't get much sleep, but when the man shook me awake, it was still dark out. He told me to dress warm, as the radio tower was a ways up the mountain and the air would be cold. I dressed quickly in the clothes he had laid for me, and we set off into the darkness. The stars were visible, twinkling above us as we hiked through the woods. The man led the way, moving silently through the darkness, his hand resting on a walking stick.
The man was more talkative today as if he hadn't had anyone to talk to in years. I learned his name is Gary, and he and his family lived in Boston. They decided to take a no-technology vacation out here four years ago. They rented the cabin he brought me to, which Gary now owns. He came from money, so that was never the problem.
When I asked why he lived out here, he paused briefly before saying, "I can't leave my family." That was the last thing he said before we reached the tower.
It took about an hour and a half to make it to the tower. It was overgrown, and Gary told me it had been years since he'd last climbed it. When we reached the top, the first rays of sunlight began to peak over the horizon. The radio tower was ancient and rusty, and the steps leading up to it were rickety at best.
"So, what's the plan?" I asked as I carefully made my way up the steps.
The man stayed silent and kept climbing the winding stairs. Something seemed off like the man had changed.
Gary looked down at the tree line below us. I looked too and only caught a blur as the creature ran off and the bushes swayed in its place. Gary grins and looks at me, "Go down."
Surprised, I stare at him, confused. He grabs me by the shirt and pulls me closer, "Go. Down." His hot, stinky breath envelops my face. He pushes me back, forcing me to grab the railing to keep myself from falling. When he sees that he failed in pushing me, he snarls and continues climbing the stairs faster, skipping a step.
I hear the Monster's roar right below us as I see it climbing up through the metal grate. I freeze, not knowing what to do. Then I hear Gary's voice over a PA system. It rings loud into my ears before he talks, "Kid, I said get the fuck down. You don't need to be another victim of this thing!"
Still frozen, even more confused by his words, I look down again and see the Monster climbing the metal poles that held the structure up. I watched the creature scale the radio tower with an eerie, almost unnatural agility. Each movement was swift and precise, powerful claws gripping the metal rungs effortlessly. The tower seemed to shudder under its weight, a low creaking sound accompanying each ascent. I could see its eyes glowing with a feral intensity, focused on something far above. The sight was both mesmerizing and terrifying, a primal fear gripping me as I watched this Monster get closer and closer to me.
Finally, I snap out of it when Gary's voice fills the sky again, "Let's fucking go, you mangey half-breed!"
The creature seemed to move faster at his voice like it knew him personally. As it finally made it to me, it leaped toward me on the stairs, but I could move to the side and almost dodge it completely. It jumped so far that it nearly flew off the side of the tower. As it reached for the railing to save itself from falling, it snatched onto my elbow, slicing it so bad I could see the bone.
Grabbing onto my wound, trying to keep my skin from peeling completely off, I started running back down the stairs. The Monster looks down at me, and I can tell it's about to pounce on me, but Gary's voice distracts it again, "You don't want that little shit, you mutt! Come get some seasoned meat!" The Monster starts climbing toward Gary again.
Gary starts laughing. A laugh only a person who has given up on everything could. It slowly turned to sobbing as I heard his last words, "I love you, Mary, Lilly, and little Amber. Margaret, I'm sorry, but I can't live without you-" Just then, the Monster made it to the top, where Gary was in a little structure attached to the tower.
Everything was silent. I started sprinting down the stairs, almost to the bottom, when my hearing went and I only heard a ringing. Again, things moved in slow motion as I looked up and saw an enormous explosion coming from the structure Gary was in. The ground started to rumble as things went back to average speed, and I tried to make it down in time before the whole rickety structure collapsed.
It must've been adrenalin that got me out in time. The tower began to crumble and toppled in the opposite direction of me.
I stood there, waiting for the Monster to emerge, but it never did. I sat down, still holding my wound as it seeped warm blood all over me. I sat there, knowing help was not coming, accepting my imminent death for what felt like hours.
I must've passed out because the next thing I remember was having water thrown onto my face as I lay on the ground. A man and a woman were tending to my elbow wound and, in my delirium, snatched my arm away and began running from the rescue team. I ran for what felt like hours before passing out. I later learned that I ran only about 50 feet before passing out. Now I'm in the hospital tending to my elbow.
How will I ever live with this? How could I go on?
September 25th, 2023
I only remember a little after that. I remember telling authorities about the Monster and how it mauled Will and Remy. I also told them about Gary, and they were able to find all three bodies, well, what was left of them. They never saw any sign of the Monster, though.
After telling them the unbelievable story, I have to admit, I would have a hard time believing I was a suspect in all their murders. After years of trying, they could never find any evidence against me.
After many attempts to end my life, I decided I wouldn't let that Monster win; even after it was out of my life, I refused to let it be the reason I go.

Hi. So about three weeks ago I noticed my upper eyelid on the right side was slightly hooded, but I assumed it was nothing. A couple days later I woke up to a lump under the skin of my right upper eyelid just bleow the outside of the brow. I believe it could be my lacrimal gland.
It’s been getting larger and firmer. It’s more swollen when I wake up and as the day goes on I start getting headaches and blurry vision. The headaches are usually around the right eye and in the back of my head. The blurry vision happens in BOTH eyes, one at a time, randomly for 10-15 seconds and worsens as the day goes on as well with the left eye having double vision occasionally. I also have a feeling of something being in my eye for a few seconds occasionally in the right eye.
My guess is the issues with my left eye vision are caused my eye strain since the right one has the lump. But I have no clue really.
My eye doctor ruled out a stye or chalazion but did say I have mild blepharitis. She referred me to an ophthalmologist but they are booked two months out.
I am also getting nauseated and feeling unbalanced at times.
Any ideas of what this could be? When I lift my eyelid the bump kind of goes toward my eye and pops out. It’s lumpy and veiny and red with a purple spot.