All Names used are Fake!
Context: In 2022, I (14FtM, haven't transioned bc parents don't support) changed class periods in my old school, I met him (15M, let's call him Jake) on my new class bc the seating chart put me infront of him. We got along really fast since we were both part of the community and didn't have accepting parents, he told me he was Pansexual and the only reason that they woudn't curse at him was that they believed it was a phase and he would go back to his senses. We became best friends and spent the entire year hanging out and having fun, he would go to my house to do school projects so my parents knew him, i only met his parents months later because his mom invited me to a sleepover. Jake also told me that the reason his parents liked me was because they saw me as a 'well behaved girl' and that i was a good influence on Jake. On january 2023, my parent decided to move, so we packed our bags, said goodbye to family members and friends and went to live in a different city 3 hours away.
All of the main people mentioned in this post know eachother from the same class in 2022.
Story : In 2023, a week after our friendship bithday, his mom invites me to go on a trip with them to an amusement park (she said she would pay for me), I ended up going and we had a really good day. At the end of day when we were leaving the park, Jake stops me and gives me a silver ring with his name engraved into it and shows me his hand with a matching ring (we had matching jewelry already, matching bracelets and those bff necklaces, so i didn't think much of it and just brushed it of as another gift). After the trip I went back to my city and we didn't see each other until 3 months later (we would travel every few weeks to visit family, but my parent had been really busy). When I came back to visit, we got together to throw a secret birthday party to a friend of ours the day of the party comes, our friend was super happy because she thought she was going to be spending her birthday alone, it wasn't a big party either, just our 5 friends in Jake's parent's house, a few presents and a pretty cake but we were all having fun. Less than an hour after the party started, his godmother, who was in the house with us to make sure we didn't do any stupid teenager thing, calls for me and Jake and says that she wanted to take a picture of the rings to send it to they're family groupchat, I was confused but let her take the picture anyway, then she asked me when could they meet my family so that we could be an official couple. That's when it dawned on me that I was dating my best friend for almost 4 months and didn't know. I spent the next 3 months lying to him and saying that my parents were to busy with work and that we wouldn't be visiting for a while, when in reality we were actually there already, many anxious nights asking a few trusted friends on what I should do, because while I didn't have any romantic feelings for him and didn't want to be in a relationship, he was still my best friend and I knew that it wouldn't be the same after it (also the fact that my parents didn't know about this and were already upset with me because my grades weren't the best). After all this time ignoring him I ended up losing the ring and couldn't bring myself to ever look him in the eyes again so I deleted his number and just never messaged him again.
Now this year, he made a few moves to try and get in contact with me after i moved again (still 3 hours away, just moved to a nicer house) so i went ahead and changed numbers, i've heard from the 2 friends i kept contact and still hang out with that he sometimes questions about me, but as per my request, they just give vague answers. (Important to mention that these friends are also Jake's acquaintances, and it doesn't bother me that they talk, even if it did that would be my personal issue)
I hadn't heard from Jake since march, until last weekend. We went to visit family again and i had planned to hangout with my friend (16M) on saturday, we just walked around the city, got ice cream and talked for the few hours we were together and it was really fun, we also posted a few things on social media. And it was from these pictures that a girl from our class in 2022 (Anne) that still followed me on Instagram, messaged me and asked if i was dating this friend, to which i responded with no, and then just a few hours later my friend told me that Jake had messaged him and talked about Anne, saying she had been exposing my texts with her from 2023 ever since jake announed that i had broken up with him. Turns out she was telling him all about texts from when i was looking for advice on how to break up with Jake up to pictures on my socials of other male friends from my new school, she would always ask me on every single photo i had with a boy if i was dating them and always be really pushy about getting a 'Yes' for an answer, which she never did.
After my friend told me about this i blocked her on all acounts (she had 3 and followed me on all of them) I also deleted every text i had with her. I hope i never have to see her again.

"You gotta know that there's an art to it, Ezra," Hitch said, cutting another piece of duct tape.
The sleeves of his weather-beaten coat were shoved all the way up his arms, to stop the fabric from falling over his knuckles while he was working, and goosebumps lined his skin. He was strapping a rubber chicken to the back of his truck, over the lens of the shattered backup camera, with the legs pointing down so that they hung a couple inches above the ground. There were dents in the hood from the crash last week, and scratches along the door from scraping into a curb. The chicken, hopefully, would keep him from breaking anything else.
"You can't go cheap," Hitch said. "The cheap rubber chickens only make noise when pressure lets go. That's no good. As soon as I back up into something, I want this chicken to be screaming like it’s in the depths of hell."
“Sure thing,” I said in a monotone, leaning against the side of the truck.
There were scrambled electronic parts piled in the back of the truck, the innards of a radio, a broken computer, tangled wires, a couple loose pairs of earbuds. He found the parts in alleyways or bummed them off his friends for a couple bucks or stole them from the vacation homes that were left empty for most of the year. Then he sold them for a profit at the scrapyard. Hitch had bounced between minimum-wage jobs for a while after high school, spending a couple months as a bagger at the grocery store or as a seasonal worker at the farm two hours down the highway. He'd never stuck with it. At the very least, the scrapyard got him enough money to eat and occasionally spend a night in a motel when he got tired of sleeping in his car.
Hitch pressed the last piece of tape in place and grinned up at me. "I've got something for you, duck."
The nickname came from when I’d broken my leg as a child and waddled around in a cast until it was healed. I hated it with a burning passion, and I glared at Hitch with the ease of twenty-one years of practice. He had a duck tattoo at the base of his thumb that he’d gotten in a back-alley shop as a teenager. He said that he’d gotten it to remind him of me, and the fact that I hated the nickname was just a bonus. It was shaky-lined, with an uneven face, but he loved it anyway.
The handle stuck when Hitch tried to open the door, a consequence of the rust collecting in the crevices of the car and running down the sides like blood from a cut. The car groaned when the door finally popped open, a metal against metal screech that had me flinching away. Hitch dug through the cluttered fast food containers in the passenger-side footwell, eventually coming up with a crinkly paper bag. He waved away the flies buzzing around the opening of the bag and held it out to me.
The last time Hitch had brought me food, I’d gotten food poisoning because he’d left it out in the midday sun for two days. The donut was squished slightly, and the icing was stuck to the bag. I still ate it, grimacing at the harsh citrus flavor. Taking Hitch’s food was an instinct engraved from the days when Dad had given us a can of kidney beans for dinner and Hitch had drank the juice, leaving the beans for me.
I rarely went hungry anymore, three mostly square meals a day and granola in my pockets just in case, but habits didn’t die easy.
These days, Hitch only brought me food when he wanted my help, like when he saw a place he wanted to hit but was worried about doing it alone.
I got in the car, like I always did.
We drove past the cluster of seafood-themed restaurants with chipped paint decks, the beachfront park where there were always shifty-eyed men sitting under the slide, the single room library where all the books had been water damaged in the flood last year. The change was quick as we drove across Main Street, heading closer to the beach. The roads were freshly paved, the concrete a smooth black except where the sun had already started to pick away at it. The three-story homes lining the sides of the street were crouched on elegant stilts, with space underneath for a car or three. Most of the garages were empty, with the lights off and curtains drawn in the house. Come summer, the streets would be swarming with tourists and vacationers, but until then, most of the buildings nearest to the beach were unoccupied.
Hitch stopped as the sun started to go down at a house that was leaning precariously out towards the beach, tilted ever so slightly, the edge of its foundation buried in the shifting sand of the beach. It certainly looked deserted, with an overgrown yard and blue paint peeling off the door in sheets.
Hitch took his hammer out of the backseat, hoisting it over his shoulder. It was two feet of solid metal with rags wrapped around the head to muffle the sound of the hits. Hitch squared up, bending his knees and holding the hammer like a baseball bat. Before he could swing, though, the door creaked open on its own, the hinges squeaking. The house beyond was dark enough that I could only make out general shapes, glimpsing the curve of a sofa to the left, what was maybe the shimmer of a chandelier on the other side.
Hitch lowered his hammer, looking vaguely disappointed that he didn’t get to use it. “That’s…weird as hell.”
“Maybe the deadbolt broke, maybe they forgot to lock it, it doesn’t matter,” I hissed, checking our surroundings for other people again. “Just hurry up and get inside before someone calls the cops.”
Hitch flicked the lightswitch on the wall, and the lights flickered on. They were dim, buzzing audibly and blinking off occasionally. The walls were plastered with contrasting swatches of wallpaper and splattered with random colors. There was neon orange behind the dining table, a galaxy swirl in the kitchen, and on the ceiling there was a repeating floral pattern covered in nametag stickers. Each of the stickers was filled out with The Erlking. Chandeliers hung in every room, three or four for each, and rubber ducks sat on every table. A miniature carousel sat in the corner along with a towering model rocket.
Sand was heaped on every surface, at least a couple inches everywhere. It was piled in the corners and stuck to the walls, and it covered the floor in a thick blanket. Our hesitant steps into the house left footprints clearly outlined in the sand.
Hitch took a cursory look around and headed immediately for the TV mounted on the wall. “Look out the windows and tell me if anyone is coming.”
I shook the sand out of the blinds and pulled them open, then had to brush sand off of the window before I could see anything.
Hitch was quick, practiced at finding and appropriating the things that were worth taking. He came back to me with an armful of electronics and chandeliers, dumping it at my feet before turning to head deeper into the house again.
There was a thump, somewhere upstairs, and then footsteps, slow and deliberate. Hitch froze at the threshold of the room, then ran for the door with me just ahead of him, sand flying out from under our feet.
My hand was almost brushing the doorknob, close enough that I could see the light from the streetlamp outside streaming in through the cracks in the door. My fingers touched the wood and it gave under my touch, becoming malleable and warm. I yelped, stumbling backwards, and the door started to melt. The paint ran down in thick drops, pooling at the bottom of the door, and the wood warped like metal being welded. The soft edges of the door ran into the walls until there was no sign of an exit ever being there.
“Well, well, well,” said a cultured voice with just an edge of snooty elitism. “What do we have here?”
The man was well over eight feet tall, with long black hair covering his eyes. He was wearing a yellow raincoat with holes cut out of the hood to accommodate the deer antlers jutting upwards from his head. There was sand settled on his shoulders and hovering around his head like a halo.
“Who the fuck are you?” Hitch said, inching towards a window.
He smiled, just a little bit, and his teeth shone in the dim light. “I am the Erlking.”
Hitch nodded, and seemed about to respond. I grabbed him by the hand and pulled him towards the window. I could feel sand in the wind roaring against my back as the Erlking growled in anger, the grains scraping harshly against my cheeks.
We were almost to the window when Hitch was ripped away from me, and I came to a startled halt. The sand had formed long grasping arms that pressed Hitch against the floral wallpaper. His wrists were held tight, and as I watched, a sandy hand wrapped around his mouth and forced its way between his teeth. He gagged, and sand trickled out of the corners of his mouth.
The Erlking strolled towards him, not seeming to be in any sort of rush. “You know, I’m not very fond of your yapping.”
He made an idle gesture and the sand wrapped around my ankles, tethering me in place.
“I yap all the time,” Hitch said. “Three-time olympic yapper, that’s me. Best to just let me go now and save yourself some trouble.”
The Erlking tapped a manicured nail against Hitch’s mouth, hard enough to hurt, judging by the way he flinched away. “But why would I ever let you go when I’ve gone to this much trouble to catch you and your sister? It’s so hard, these days, to find people that no one will miss.”
Hitch struggled against the sand, trying to escape and failing. “What do you want with us, then? You just said it, we’re nobody.”
“I’m fae, dear one,” the Erlking said. “I get my power from my followers. And I think that you two will make lovely additions to my flock.”

He flicked Hitch's nose and Hitch gasped. Feathers started to form on his arms, popping out from under his skin in a spray of blood.
Hitch pushed off the wall, using his bound hands as a fulcrum, and his knees crashed into the Erlking’s stomach. The Erlking fell backwards, wheezing, and the sand around my ankles loosened.
Hitch made desperate eye contact with me as feathers shot up his neck and jerked his head towards the window. The message was obvious. Run.
The last thing I saw before crashing out the window and into freedom was Hitch’s body twisting, his arms wrenching into wings and feathers covering every inch of his skin. By the time I landed on the concrete outside, he was a small black bird, held tightly in the Erlking’s hands. The whole building was sinking into the ground, burnished-gold sand piling up over top and streaming from the windows.
Thirty years later, I saw Sam’s Supernatural Consultation and Neutralization written in neat, looping handwriting on a piece of paper taped to the door. The tape was peeling at the corners and the paper was yellowed with age, but there was obviously care put into the sign, in its perfectly centered text and looping floral designs drawn over the edges in gold marker.
I knocked, hesitantly, drawing my woolen coat closer around my shoulders. I’d bought it as a fiftieth birthday gift for myself, and I took comfort in the heavy weight of it over my shoulders.
“Coming!” someone called from within the depths of the office.
There were a couple crashes, and the sound of paper shuffling. Eventually, the door was opened by a young woman with ketchup stains on her shirt and pencils stuck through her hair.
“Hi, I’m Sam, I specialize in supernatural consultation and hunting, how may I help you today?” Sam said, customer-service pep in her voice. She stood in the doorway, solidly blocking entry into the office.
“My name is Ezra, I’m for a consultation. I emailed you but you didn’t respond?” I shifted in place, suddenly feeling awkward.
“Oh! Yeah, I lost the password for the email ages ago. Sorry for the bad welcome, I get lots of people thinking I’m crazy or pulling a prank and harassing me.”
She ushered me into the office, clearing papers off one of the chairs to make room for me to sit down. There was a collection of swords along one wall, all of them polished to perfection, several with deep knicks in the metal which indicated that they’d been used heavily.
“So what can I help you with?” Sam asked again, more sincere this time.
“Thirty years ago, my brother was turned into a bird,” I started. I’d told this story so many times that it barely felt ridiculous to say anymore. I was used to the disbelieving looks, the careful pity. But Sam just nodded along, face open and welcoming.
“I’ve almost given up on finding him, at this point,” I said. “But I saw your ad in the newspaper, and…here I am, I suppose.”
“Here you are,” Sam echoed, smiling. She pulled one of the pencils out of her hair and took a bit of paperwork off of one of her stacks, turning it over so that the blank side sat neatly in front of her. “Tell me everything.”
I told Sam everything, and she wrote it all down, pencil scratching along the paper.
The last part of the story was always the hardest to tell. “I left him there. I ran and I didn’t look back.”
I had been to dozens of detectives and investigators over the years, once the police had dropped Hitch’s case. I’d been to professional offices with smartly-dressed secretaries and met scraggly men in coffee shops. All of them had given me the same look, pity and annoyance all mixed up into a humor-the-crazy-lady soup. Sam, though, just seemed thoughtful.
Sam leaned forward and put a hand over mine, carefully, like she thought that I would pull away. “Sometimes you have to leave people behind.”
I tightened her hold on Sam’s hand and drew it towards me, like I could make Sam listen if only I squeezed tight enough. “But that’s why I’m here. I don’t want to leave him behind.”
“Okay then. I’ll do my best to help you.” Sam agreed, finally. Then she paused, and said softly, “You know…I think I met your brother once. He might have saved my life. He’s certainly why I started in this business.”
“Really? What happened?” I asked.
This is the story that Sam told me, related to the best of my abilities:
It was a new moon, so the only illumination came from the stars gazing idly down and distant porch lights shining across the scraggly brush of the dunes. Sam’s neighbors were decent people who cared about baby turtles, so the lights were a low, unobtrusive red, and the ocean sloshed like blood. Sam walked on the beach almost every night, drawing back the gauzy pink curtains and clambering out her bedroom window. She didn’t often bother to be quiet; her mama worked the late shift and came home exhausted. As long as Sam got home before the sun, her mama would never find out that she paced the shoreline and dreamed of inhaling sand until her lungs became their own beach.
The sky was lightening. The sun would come up soon, and that meant Sam’s time on the beach was over. She needed to get back to her real life, go to her fifth grade class and stop that nonsense, as her mother would say. Her mother loved to say things like that, pushing Sam into her proper place by implication alone.
“She’s a good kid, of course, but she’s a bit…” Her mother would trail off there, usually getting a commiserating expression from whoever she was talking to. Sam always wondered how that sentence would have finished. She’s a bit strange, maybe. She’s a bit intense. She’s a bit abrasive. She’s quiet enough but when Jason tried to steal her pencil in math class, she stabbed him in the hand so hard that the lead tattooed him.
Her mother was better, for the most part. The days of her stocking up the fridge, and leaving a post-it note on the counter, and leaving for days at a time were gone. But Sam still stepped around the place on the kitchen tile where her mother had collapsed and caved her head in, even though the bloodstains had been replaced with new tile.
“Your auntie got an abortion, you know,” her mother had said from her place on the couch, slurring her words. “Pill in the mail and then bam, no more baby.”
She had clapped her hands together to illustrate her point. Her mother jerked forward and grabbed Sam by the wrist, then, staring up at her until Sam met her eyes.
“I love you, you know? But sometimes I wonder…” She settled back onto the couch. “Yeah. I wonder.”
She’d gotten up, then, back to the kitchen. She’d been stumbling, a shambling zombie of a woman. The ground in the entryway of the kitchen was raised, ever so slightly, and her mother went down hard. Her head cracked against the tile, chin first, and she didn’t move.
Sam had been the one to call the ambulance. She had stared at the scattering of loose teeth on the ground while she waited, and considered what her life would be like with a dead mom. Not so bad, she thought, and immediately felt guilty for it.
Her mom was better, now, for the most part. But Sam still stepped around the place on the kitchen floor where she had collapsed. There was still a matchbox hidden under her bed with the gleaming shine of her mother’s lost teeth, two canines and a molar. It was nice, having a piece of her mom to keep. Even if she left again, Sam would still have part of her.
Sam sighed, and turned away from the ocean. As she faced towards the low dunes further up the beach, she saw a sandcastle sitting nestled among them. It was such a strange sight that her eyes skipped over it at first, almost automatically, disregarding it because it was so out of place.
Sam found sandcastles out on the beach sometimes, usually half-collapsed and on the verge of being washed away by the waves, but she had never seen anything like the sandcastle in front of her. It was life-sized, something that wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Scottish highlands, with spires shooting up above her head and carefully etched out bricks lining each side. The front wall was dominated by an arched set of double doors, twice her height, with a portcullis nestled at the top, ready to be dropped. All of it was lovingly detailed, down to the rust on the tips of the towers and the wood grain of the door. It was made out of wet, densely-packed sand, held together impossibly. It had not been there two hours ago, when she had come to the beach.
There was a bird sitting on the overhang of the door, small and black.
As soon as she took a step towards the sandcastle, the bird shook out its feathers and swooped down towards Sam, landing at her feet with a little stumble.
“Hey, kid, get out of here,” said the bird.
Sam closed her eyes, very deliberately. When she opened them, the bird was still there. Sam considered herself a very reasonable person, so she immediately drew the most logical conclusion. The bird was, she was almost certain, a demon.
“Trust me, you don’t want to run into Mr. Salty, the queen bitch himself,” the bird said.
“Mr. Salty?” Sam inquired, polite as she knew how to be. She edged to the side, trying to get a good angle to kick the bird like a soccer ball.
The bird did something similar to a wince, all its feathers fluffing up then settling back down. “Ah, don’t call him that. He’d turn you into a toad.”
The bird gestured with its head, towards the looming sand structure. “That’s his castle. He’s in there, probably scuttling along the ceiling or some shit because that’s the sort of weirdo he is.”
Sam nodded, encouraging. She pulled back her foot and lined up her shot, the way she’d seen athletes do on TV. She aimed right for its sharp beak and let loose. The bird saw it coming, its beady eyes widening, and it cawed in distress. It flapped away, avoiding her kick only to fall backward into the sand in a scramble of wings.
“What’s your fucking problem?” it squawked. “I was trying to help you!”
“I don’t need the help of a demon,” Sam yelled, trying to remember the exorcism that her mama had taught her once, because her mama believed in being prepared for anything.
“I’m not a demon,” the bird said indignantly.
It was at about that moment that Sam gave up and just decided to roll with it.
“What are you, then?” Sam asked.
The bird shuffled its clawed feet, looking about as awkward as it could, given that it didn’t really have recognizable facial expressions. “Technically I’m a familiar of the Erlking, prince of the fae, but I prefer to be called Hitch.”
“You can’t blame me for assuming, though,” Sam said. “Ravens do tend to be associated with murder.”
“Hey, excuse you,” Hitch said. “I’m a rook, not a raven. Ravens are way bigger.”
“Sure,” Sam said, not really paying attention. Her eyes had caught on the details of the sandcastle, and she was transfixed by the slow spirals of the sand, the strange beauty of it. She found herself stepping towards the great doors, lifting a hand to knock, and as she did, the sand warped in front of her eyes, heaving itself towards her with bulging slowness. The door creaked open before her, revealing a vast, empty room. Just before she stepped inside, she felt a piercing pain in her foot, and she yelped, leaping backwards.
Hitch pecked her again, really digging his beak in. “Don’t be an idiot.”
Sam glared at him, rubbing her foot. About to retort, she finally really took in the room inside the sandcastle, and her words died in her throat.
There was a body just past the threshold of the door, face down and limbs hanging limp at its sides. Long hair splayed out in a halo around its head.
“Don’t,” Hitch warned, suddenly serious. “Just leave, kid, I mean it. I’ve seen too many people go down this road and you don’t want to be one of them.”
Sam ignored him. She made her way across the beach, slipping with every step. The sand felt deeper, piling up around her feet in silent drifts. She picked up the nearest stick and poked the body with it through the door, ready to leap back if anything went wrong, staying firmly outside of the sandcastle.
This close, Sam could tell that it used to be a woman. Her head wasn’t attached to her body. It hadn’t been a clean amputation, either. Her upper body was bruised, with chunks taken out of it, and the bones in her neck hung mangled, not connected to anything.
“Well, I warned you,” Hitch said, defeated. “I did warn you.”
Sam nudged the head with the end of the stick, nudging it over so that she could see the face. Her mother stared back at her, torn to pieces, breath still wheezing from her lungs. She wasn’t blinking, just gazing forward with glazed eyes. Sweat dripped down from her hairline.
Sam screamed and dropped the stick, tripping over herself in her haste to get away.
Her mother’s eyes were wide and pleading, and she was mouthing desperate words at Sam. Her vocal cords were broken to bits, and the only sound that came out was a strained groan.
The head rolled, inching closer to Sam like a grotesque caterpillar.
Her mother gasped for air, torn lips fluttering. Finally, comprehensible words came out. “Help. Help me, daughter.”
“That’s not your mother,” Hitch said, quiet.
Sam knew that. Her mother was sleeping back at home, and anyways her mom had never asked for her help. She had an aversion to accepting charity, as she put it.
“Okay,” Sam said, shaking all over. “Okay.”
She backed away from the sandcastle, not looking away.
“Failure,” her mother hissed as she stepped away. “I never wanted a daughter like you.”
The sun came up over the horizon. The sandcastle, Hitch, and her mom all disintegrated into sand as the light hit them.
The beach, the next night, was almost exactly how I remembered it. The beams of our flashlights sent light bouncing across the dunes, illuminating the waves, and I imagined faces in the foam of the waves.
“I’ve been back here a hundred times. There’s nothing left,” I said.
Sam took the car key out of her purse and pointed it at the sand, adjusting the sword slung over her shoulder in order to do it. The key had belonged to Hitch; Sam had requested an item of his, and it was the only thing I had left. She rested the key on the sand and drew a circle around it, inscribing symbols around the borders.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
Sam shrugged. “Not much, really. I’m…I guess you could say that I’m knocking.”
The key laid inert on the sand for long enough that I was just about to give up and go home, admit to myself that Hitch was dead and that I was a fool to believe that Sam could actually help me. Then a building started to take shape, flickering in and out like it was struggling to get away. With a pop of displaced air, the sandcastle settled into existence.
Sam banged on the entryway. Nothing happened. She did it again, harder, and scowled when the door still didn’t open.
“We demand entrance, under your honor,” Sam yelled. There was a hard rush of wind, and I gripped Sam’s arm to keep my balance, but the doors cracked open reluctantly.
The inside of the sandcastle consisted of one enormous hall, the roof arching up out of sight. Rafters crisscrossed from wall to wall, and a cobbled path led further into the building, but other than that, it was completely empty, except for the birds. There were thousands of them, perched on the rafters or hopping along the ground. They parted in front of Sam and I, and reformed behind us, leaving us in a small pocket of open space. They were all black-feathered, with sharp beaks and beady eyes.
The Erlking sat on a throne at the end of the hall, lounging across it with his feet up on the armrest. He watched them as they came forward, the soft caw of the birds the only sound.
“I am here to bargain for the life of my brother,” I said, with as much dignity as I could muster, before the Erlking could say anything.
The Erlking ignored her, tilting his head to look at Sam. “I remember you. I almost got you, once.”

Sam glared at him but didn’t respond.
“You want your brother,” The Erlking said to me, and he almost sounded amused. “Then go get him.”
As if by some sort of silent signal, every bird in the room took flight at once, and their cawing made me think of screams. I covered my head against the flapping of their wings, and my vision was quickly obscured by the chaotic movement of them. I found myself on my knees, just trying to escape them.
A hand met my shoulder. Sam urged me to my feet, and together we ran for the edge of the room, where the swarm was the thinnest. We pressed ourselves into the corner and the swarm spiraled tighter and tighter at the center of the room. It went on until there seemed to be no differentiation between the birds, all of them fused together into one creature.
When the chaos died down, the birds had become one mass, with wings and eyes and talons sticking out of its flesh, thrashing and chirping. Human body parts stuck out of it, bulging out from the feathers. It was hands, mostly, with a couple knees or staring eyes. The bird amalgamation had no recognizable facial features, but there was one long beak extending from the front of its head. Most of the body parts were concentrated around the beak, and they peeked out from where the beak connected with muscle, or grew from the tongue, nestled between the two crushing halves of the beak.
It turned its beak down and crawled forward, using the hands to balance. The fingers scrambled over the ground. I was afraid of centipedes as a child, and I felt that same crawling dread when it started moving.
“Holy shit,” Sam whispered, which was rather disappointing, because I had been hoping that at least one of us knew what to do.
The creature turned, a lurching movement that crushed some of the hands underneath it, and started heaving itself slowly towards our corner.
“Better hurry up!” the Erlking called from his throne.
It was blocking the exit, by then. The shifting body of it had moved to block us off. It ambled towards us and I tried to sink further into the corner.
As it approached, getting close enough that I could smell the stink of it, I saw a flash of a tattoo on one of the hands. I leaned in, trying to find it again, like looking for dolphins surfacing in the ocean. And again, I caught a glimpse of a duck tattoo, the tattoo that Hitch had gotten on his hand as a teenager.
I ripped away from Sam’s death grip and ran for the monster.
I fell to my knees in front of it, wincing as I impacted the ground, and reached into the nest of hands. I could feel them tearing at my forearms and ripping into me with their sharp nails, but I kept going. I pressed further in, up to my shoulder in a writhing mass of limbs, aiming for the spot where I had last seen that tattoo.
The hands were tugging at me, wrapping around my back and hair. They were pulling together, trying to draw me completely into the mass of them. I was aware of Sam at my side, anchoring me in place and bashing any hand that got too close with her sword or the sparks that leapt from her hands with muttered words. But I didn’t think it would be enough. They were too strong, and there were too many of them.
I was up to my waist in the hands when something grabbed my palm. I felt the way it clung to me, and the calluses on its palm, and I knew that I had found my brother.
I flung herself back. The hands didn’t want to let me go, and they fought the whole way, but slowly, I made progress. I kept hold of Hitch’s hand in mine the whole time, gripping it as hard as I could. I finally broke free, Hitch with me, and Sam was immediately charging the creature, able to use her sword with much greater strength without being worried about injuring Hitch. She swung it forward, and it sliced through the wrist of one of the hands. It fell without a sound, red sand flowing out of it. It deflated until it looked like dirty laundry, just a piece of limp flesh. The creature shrieked, scuttling away enough that the door was finally accessible. The three of us ran for it, Sam and I supporting Hitch between us.
I looked back as I left and found the Erlking staring right at me.
“Interesting,” he murmured, his voice carrying impossibly across the vast space between us.
The sandcastle collapsed behind us, the great walls falling in on themselves. We were out in the morning sun, the sandcastle disappearing as we watched. Hitch was on the ground in front of me, as young as he’d been thirty years ago, when he was captured. He started laughing, feathers puffing out of his mouth. He laughed until he cried and I hugged him in the way that he’d held me when I was young, in the times when my life had been defined by hunger and fear.
Hitch left, afterwards. He scratched at the pinhole scars covering his body, where feathers burst through his skin, and pulled his long sleeves down around his wrists. He didn’t know where he was going but he told me that he needed time
I had spent thirty years worth of time without him. I wanted to grab my brother by the shoulders and beg him to stay. But he flinched when I hugged him goodbye and he refused to go near sand and he stared distrustfully at the birds chirping in the trees. Hitch needed to go away and I loved him too much to stop him.
I sat out on the beach every morning. I felt the sun on my face and I waited for Hitch to come home.

Hi I am new and delete if not allowed.
So.,..I'm still hurting after this "breakup" we weren't even together officially. Me Rubi 21fm and him JP 24m we met at a young adult work conference. And we clicked immediately because we are both the only diabetics.we spent the next 2 days attached at the hip. Doing coupley stuff after day 1 because we liked each other ((atleast I did a lot) I gave him my number. He didn't have a phone sadly ik strange. But gave me his mom's. Well long story short he falls asleep on me in the bus ride home and he misses his stop. He goes to my town and I wait with him till his ride gets with him. We kiss good bye sorta I pull away I was scared I ruined it and we hugged and he said bye. We separated. We kept in contact mabey 3 days. Remember we weren't together so I gave him space. I invited him to my town to come watch a new premiere and he said he would love to.....till the next day I get woken up by a phone call by him. He says it's not going to work. Yada yada. I tell him it's ok that I'm proud of him and that he's beautiful in and out and I hope that he had a bright future.he never gave me a reason that's what hurts the most right now. It's about to be 2 months since that call and I'm still hurting still hung up. I had never been interested in anyone in years. Last person I was with was 4 years ago. but I tried I guess but idk I'm trying to get over it but it's hard when all the memories are right here in my phone and I can't delete them because they are engraved. We shared so much in 2 days music stories memories. Pictures.. I have his f*****g socks for goodness sake. He called me princessa he called me beautiful. When I never thought I was even after him seeing the scars on my arms and legs. (From the meds and pumps and surgeries) I am hurting. Idk I want him out so badly. Amazing what 2 days can do. Thank you

I am NOT OOP, OOP is u/Born_Analysis8995
Originally posted to self
My (16m) mom (40f) confessed that she is my sister and I now feel bad
Trigger Warnings: death of a loved one, past sexual assault, teen pregnancy, drugs and alcohol use, mentions of overdose
Original Post (Wayback Machine): May 11, 2024
Idk why I feel so much guilt about this whole situation. This happened 5 days ago, 1 week after my 16th birthday.
So my mom (sister) explained our entire family situation. Her mom (my bio mom) was assaulted as a teenager (15) and was forced to keep the child because of her parents, eventually giving birth to my mom. They struggled a lot during this time and my mom was resented by her mom so she moved away as soon as she was 18 and went NC. Her mom began spiralling with drugs, alcohol, etc once she left and eventually ended up pregnant again with me around the time my mom was 23. However, she was deemed unfit to raise me so they managed to contact my mom and she agreed to take me in. My bio mom never really recovered and ended up overdosing a year later.
This completely surprised me because I genuinely never had clue I wasn't actually my mom's child. We look very much alike and she went to great lengths to become my mom. She said that I don't need to call her mom anymore and that I deserved to know the truth before I turn 18. This upset me and I absolutely disagreed with her and said that no matter what she would always be my mom and I would always call her that because she is in every way my mom. And we both cried over this and hugged and I thanked her for telling me the truth also.
The thing that is eating away at me though is that she sacrificed so much to raise me and I can't repay her in any way. Like she hasn't dated at all even though I know that she wants a partner. She also changed professions to better accommodate me. She has done so much and I can't repay her in any way. And I haven't always been the best to her either. I was definitely difficult as a child and recently I haven't really been listening and respecting her as much as I should be. And I know I've probably said some mean things over the years, mostly around wanting to be with my dad (she initially said that she had a husband that abandoned us when I was born). All of this just made me feel so much guilt and sadness. And I know if I talk to her about it she'll just reassure me that she is happy and I shouldn't worry but I can't get rid of this feeling.
I've decided that I'm going to be the best son ever and do everything she says from now on. But I still can't get rid of this feeling. I don't know what to do.
Relevant/Top Comments
YoungeCurmudgeon4: Your sister is an amazing woman and an incredible person and deserves all the love and respect in the world.
As for you, handling this so well takes a lot in a person. Be proud of yourself. And always believe in yourself.

OOP: Thanks I'll try my best ❤️ My love for her is probably at an all time high. I wish I'd know earlier so that I could have always treated her this way.

TraditionalShop6800: Talk to your mom, thank her and tell you are grateful for how she raised you. And now, she should think about herself too. Encourage her to date again and find a partner.

OOP: Okay I will. I think I'll take some time to figure out the right words to say to her 😅

Galactus1701: Repay her by being the best person you can be. Help her, be respectful, study and always be grateful.

OOP: Absolutely will be the best son I can 😅

BiasCutTweed: You have to also give yourself a little grace here - your mom sounds amazing and deserves all the best, but what she clearly wanted for you was to give you a normal, stable childhood. And it’s very normal for children to act out sometimes, to say things in anger, to be difficult. It’s all a part of growing up.
The good thing is that it’s easy to see from your reaction to what she told you that she did an amazing job and you’re well on your way to becoming a great person she will be proud of. Take all of this and let it strengthen those good qualities. Do your best for her and yourself but don’t beat yourself up for past mistakes you can’t change. You don’t need to repay her for the choices she made, you just need to live a life that makes you both happy.

OOP: Thank you for the advice ❤️ I'll definitely try my best to feel proud of myself and also make her happy

 
Mini Update: May 12, 2024
I've literally been tearing up from all the comments and messages from everyone. I am honestly so grateful for all the kind words and reassurance. Genuinely thanks so much ❤️
Not much of an update really but I thought I would still share. I took a few pieces of advice and have done them randomly during day. Firstly Happy Mother's Day everyone. Hope you had a great time. Me and my mom had a few things planned for today and I got back just over an hour ago now. We went to the cinema then a restaurant and ended the day with bowling. Honestly had an absolute blast and she was happy throughout. I got her a gift too, it was a photo engraved bracelet which I gave her at the end of bowling.
One advice I got was saying things that show her I care about her so I said "Your the best" and hugged her after the cinema. I also said "I love you" when giving her the bracelet which made her cry 😭
I still do feel the guilt but I'm not gonna let it get me down. Don't want more stress especially with exams coming up 😅 I saw a lot of comments mentioning that I shouldn't keep my feelings bottled up so I am planning on conveying all my feelings to her soon. I'll probably write a letter because I know I'll probably start crying before I even start speaking 😂 I think that will definitely give me some peace of mind. Thanks all again for taking the time to read this ❤️
(Also I completely forgot how biology works in my last post 😅 She would be my half-sister not sister since I doubt our father's were the same. But regardless I'm still going to call her mom 😁)
 

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

THIS IS A REPOST SUB - I AM NOT OOP

Angry Journal, 05/18/2024: To my attackers:
So apparently, Nick, is slightly overweight right now isn't he? You know he has a bit of a snarly voice. And is the most rude, evil, thing, to be known to date. He is a black hole in society, that just sucks in everything good around it, and gives absolutely nothing good back to anyone. At least I did nice things for the people around me, like get my girlfriend a gold locket for her birthday when I was a young adult and had it engraved with our initials, or buying my friend in the hospital who happens to suffer from a severe brain injury, a new vintage charging cable when someone stole his, or buying a homeless guy dinner downtown and lending him my phone and telling him to call his mom and tell her he loves her. Little big things matter.The amount of a liability someone like Nick is, is outrageous. You chose him over me, who is actually a good person, who never did anything criminal to anyone or ever would. I loved my friends and family and girlfriends from 20 years ago, and it's weird that you think I was some sort of giant asshole all the time, when I really wasn't. I was a confused kid once too and I am a person, not just a number in your system. Oh, and also I am not attracted to anything I shouldn't be.You treated me as sub human, when I was actually better to the people around me on average than you are, or ever will be. So, If you got me killed by this system, or group within a system, of mislead people, then everyone will know. It's not like it will be a secret.The damage you have done to my body is probably astronomically huge by this time I figure anyways. You essentially tortured me to death. I will likely get cancer and die from it, if the primary more immediate effects don't kill me first. (My neck and spine have been snapping and crackling. ~1:30AM). They say they gave me cancers, and they have been ringing in my head strongly. They say they will kill me in my sleep or on the spot, but hell, if the choice is only between more completely illegal torture all night, and day, or them illegally and immorally killing me, in cold blood, then I may as well post!If I am dead, then eventually information about you will pop up everywhere spontaneously, you should know this. It's probably going to go downhill, since you would not address the problem (Nick) and sided with him and his associates. He bragged about how he gets away with this over and over again.So, grab a beer and just watch it all burn. A life (my life), completely ruined, and a person (Me), wrongfully murdered, over things I never did, to people that I don't even know, and they tell me that the people attacking me will never know the truth about what happened to me, and how I was framed for things and made to look guilty of things that I am not. I was found innocent before they started. So everything they said to me, affected me, and I became a byproduct, of their influence on my life. ~2016/17

• Robert William Christie

SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST OMEN!!
So the new movie was actually pretty decent! But there's some lore stuff that seems to be conflicting with the original.
At the end of the first omen it is revealed that the main character is pregnant with the antichrist (Damien). It's suggested that satan must breed with his offspring to give birth to the antichrist, and it turns out that main character lady actually IS his offspring and has the 666 symbol on her head. In a somewhat cheesy moment, she suddenly remembers a night she'd previously forgotten wherein the devil does indeed impregnate her. At the end we get a glimpse of satan, and he has jackal-like features.
But the scene I most vividly remember from the original is when they find the grave of Damien's mother. They open it up and there's the bones of a jackal inside.
Now, it has always been my understanding that the jackal was Damien's mother. That satan, uh, got a jackal pregnant and it gave birth to the anti christ. But this new movie seems to have contradicted all this, showing that the mother was human, and that satan himself is a weird doggy-man.
NOW IT GETS EVEN MORE CONFUSING. because I checked the omen fan wiki, and the wiki says ""Maria Scianna" is a name engraved on a cement slab that covers the buried carcass of a jackal — the same animal Father Brennan tried to reveal to Robert Thorn as the true father of Damien. " But. Thats wrong. I just watched the scene and they both are very clear, this is the grave of the MOTHER. not the FATHER.
I'm very puzzled. Also, IMO, the thought of the mother being a jackal is much creepiemore shocking than the mother just being a woman. And them making satan look like a jackal in the new movie just... confuses me more lol.
My assumption is this new movie is just ignoring the canon and made the mother an actual women. Possibly, this was once a script that was totally unrelated to the omen, as the actual 'twist' ending where it shows the baby is damien felt very tacked on. Idk. either way, I much more enjoyed the thought of a creepy jackal mom, and not some poor scared woman. But am I mistaken?
PS the women gives birth to twins and she escapes with the daughter. No idea what kind of sequel shenanigans THAT is about. guess we'll see.

This is gonna be a long one; but one that I’ve wanted to get out of my system for a while.
Throughout most of the calls, a theme that always repeats is ‘spending your time wisely’. They engrave it in your brain, to be honest. It’s always that. They ensure that, of course. After all, that’s why they are there, right?
I remember that I had a call with Gabriel once…I don’t remember what number, I think it was already in the double digits. But he did ask me a bunch of questions. First time for everything, right? I answered most questions for the first time. Most of them, of course: one of them included what I was majoring in. Which at the time, was criminology.
I have no clue how, but throughout the next few calls, the theme of ‘spending time wisely’ was being engraved more than I’d like at the moment.
And I think it finally broke me around the time I met the Geometer. I have no clue what caused it, no clue what even started this train of thought, but all I could think about was how I wasn’t happy. I was wasting my time.
And yeah, I always felt like I was loosing my goddamned time. Everyday I woke up thinking just- ‘wow. I could die today and I would’ve done nothing with my entire life’. And that thought never scared me, it was just a thought.
But after that session? That scared the shit out of me. The thought of majoring in something that was sucking my soul out of my body, something that I wasn’t strong enough to handle, something that I hated…it just seemed unfair.
I had one more call with Gabriel. I was in New York when I took this call, little trip I went on. I wish I could remember what happened on this call, I really do, but I neither recorded, nor took notes.
All I know is right afterwards I emailed my uni and dropped out. (My mom wasn’t too happy about that).
It’s been a blur after that. A big BIG blur….uuuntil yesterday.
When I met the Alchemist.
I think…I think she did a better job at helping me define myself. Helping me see who ‘Theta’ was, instead of just a blurred line. Instead of being someone who has no clue who she is.
We talked about my likes, and one of them is writing of course. I love writing theater stuff- mainly immersive/interactive stuff (think sleep no more).
So idk why, but I guess I’m now gonna try my best to become a writer?
I guess what I’m trying to say is: Lennox mutual….thank you for making me realize I truly was just wasting my time.
Thank you for giving me the goddamned courage I never had, and finally taking a step for myself, instead of for someone else.
I’m slowly approaching the end of this story, and it’s bittersweet. But it has impacted me so much that I’m sure I probably will never forget about it. About the decisions it led me to take.

This was an amazing transaction.
I purchased 3 of his engraved Harry Potter house rounds and got them quickly and they were well packaged.
I told him one was for my mom's birthday and he engraved it with her name. The last name starts with an F, and he designed it to look like a lightning bolt. This is going to make it very special for my mom. I seriously can't wait to give it to her.
My package also came with a sticker of his business as well as some candies in the package.
The package was done very well and arrived very fast.
Can't say enough good things about this seller. Awesome guy!
Thank you again!

timestamp: https://imgur.com/a/jbE4RwU
hello there fellow degens. I'm back, and unfortunately I've brought these absolute travesties against the 2nd amendment.
I won't be stopped. I can't be stopped. I AM HIM.
I feed off of supplying like minded fellow degens and pissing off the purists.
my therapist has ghosted me.
there is an unmarked white van that sits outside of my house most days but I never see anyone in it.
my mom's basement reeks of Dew, Cheetos and crunchy waifu pillows.
but goddamnit through my struggle I will bring you joy. or anger. or whatever the fuck it is that these make you feel. I do not judge if they make you feel aroused. just remember that the 🅱️oint at 🅱️enis trend is overrated and out of style. I know I'm late on these, apparently the place I was getting blank grips from was not honest about the actual on hand stock so they cancelled my order until they could make them.
so here goes:
these are full size 1911 grips that I have laser engraved with my own designs and finished in a weatherproof dark walnut finish. they are $25/set shipped, I take PayPal and Venmo.
what I have this round:
2 sets of Ahegao SOLD OUT
1 set of fudds PENDING SOLD OUT
1 set of BLEM Ahegao grips, blem is pictured and is the set on the bottom right with "weeb" double burned. I'm far from perfect and it's really hard to work a laser engraver whilst downing pizza rolls and scrolling 4chan. the second pass on the laser slipped and caused it to not be aligned. I'm offering this set and this set only for $14.
please comment with the set you want, then PM me by going to my profile and selecting "send a message". title the message with the grips you want and I will message you with payment info.
I WILL NOT PM OR CHAT YOU FIRST BECAUSE THATS SOME SCAMMER BS.
I love y'all, and I love this group. let's make our local ranges or trashpiles a better worse place with these❤️

i dont really know how to describe the horrible relationship i have with school and how much i regret pouring in so much of my heart to it to recieve nothing in return. school has always been so incredibly draining for me and competitive and i fucking hate how it just consumes my whole life. i dont regret getting my degree, i just immensely regret how much of my life i felt like i put on hold because of it- and i have been doing it since middle school.
i was placed in a advanced program that was taking classes two years ahead of grade level and it was such a massive turning point for me because i started basing my whole worth and personality on it. which i know is entirely my fault, but i feel as though it was just sort of engraved into my head. i feel like i always had to be the best and top of the class and it just made me incredibly depressed. i was super suicidal (which maybe everyone was back then), but i still continued doing it because i felt so unworthy without it. i grew up with a twin who was vastly different and didn’t grow up with the same pressure, and i notice it ALL the fucking time and how it sort of crafted the people we became and just how betrayed i feel by everybody who kind of fed into this for me and pushed me to continue doing it.
flash forward a little bit, carried the habits on to high school and barely gave myself a moment to breathe because now i had a reputation to keep up with- except this time i needed to pack on more. it wasn’t just school now, it was music, arts, sports…
my grandma started doing poorly and im so fucking upset with myself that toward the end of her life, when she was in the hospital, i was doing fucking homework instead of talking to her and being with her.
flash forward to the fucking HELL my undergrad was, i fucking hated myself and on top of it kept pushing. nothing was sort of enough to fill what i would say was instilled in me, and again had no time to really develop myself as a person- i was so career oriented and just idk an absolute mess because of how much i feel like i put on hold to focus on school.
my dad started doing poorly… i often just ignored his calls because i was so overwhelmed with school to even step out of the black hole i was in and i didnt want any distractions- i remember he called once while i was studying (i had no idea he wasn’t doing well) and we talked about calculus and he was just trying so hard to relate to me and find something to talk about and i just wrote it off and remember wanting to hurry up the conversation so i could get back to preparing for an exam and that KILLS me and i hope he didnt notice or that he at least understood. about a week later, he called again and i didnt respond because i was so busy with everything going on and he left a voicemail. i listened to the voicemail later that night and it wasnt really any words, kind of like he forgot to hang up the phone. my dad had a bit of a drinking problem and i hate that UGH idk i never said anything about it or like talked to him more. anyway, a couple days go by and im at the library studying for a really important exam and my mom calls- i dont answer- she texts me that it’s important and i have the BIGGEST pit in my stomach at this point. i finally answer and she tells me that my dad is in the hospital and they dont think hes going to make it. i remember literally every detail of who was around me and their reaction to me just bursting into tears and rushing out of the library. like it fucking absolutely broke me and i never got to speak to him again and have this voicemail with no words.
i just feel like school has been such a negative experience for me and i hate who i was and who i am with it. i hate pieces of my life it took away from me and inspired me not to have. i took a WEEK off of school and one of my professors still made me submit homework- and i did it. WHY DID I JUST WASTE SO MUCH TIME DOING THINGS THAT DONT FUCKING MATTER. idk im just so upset with how i balanced my life and i really didnt know any other way- it was how i grew up and how the pressure was distributed.
anyway, here i am in a graduate program because i dont know how the fuck to stop and am at a point where im waiting for this all to be worth it- maybe i land a really good job that makes me feel like the sacrifice was worth it, maybe i could buy my mom a house or shoot for financial freedom. i am so unbelievably tired and still so goddamn unhappy, but dont do anything about it and feel so stuck and caught up in the current. have been and will be and i honestly feel like im never going to be happy or just forgive myself. i feel like i fucked up so terribly and theres so much more to it and all of it is meaningless to me.
anyway, i just really needed to vent and am just really hurt

Background: I'm a single Mom with an almost 9 year old son. He's currently finishing up second grade in our local public school and I'm torn between staying in public school for third grade, which is a different building with only 3rd and 4th grade in it, or going back to his private school which he attended for kindergarten and first grade. My son has an IEP due to his Autism, but is considered high functioning in comparison to others.
My son did an assessment through is previous private school which is a school designed for special needs children on the spectrum, and was officially accepted today. The Pros of this school is that he's already been there previously and knows the layout and what's expected. The classroom he would be in would have the same children as before, with the exception of maybe 2-ish kids that had left the school the same time we did. The classroom is a max of 16 children on the spectrum/ learning challenges, but does have two intervention specialists. The cons would be that the scholarship doesn't cover the full amount and I would be required to pay $2,200 for the school year, which as a single Mom in nursing school is a lot for me to be able to do each month, if they even accept payment plans. His Dad wouldn't be helping foot the cost (he already told me no). The school also requires uniforms which is both a pro and a con. I found that uniforms seem to be easier to deal with than everyday clothing, but the shirts alone are like $30 each since it has to come from a particular store and needs to be engraved with the school's name. There's no busing available so I would be required to drive him to school which is about 15 minutes away. The district would reimburse me $500 at the end of the school year since they don't offer transportation to the school since it's out of district.
As far as the public school goes, I live in a top 10 school district in my area. The Pros is that he would be going to a different building that's actually closer to home (less than 8 minutes away). The classroom size is larger than the private school with about 24 kids a class, but luckily he would have a second teacher in the class that's an intervention specialist. He would still get his speech therapy, be pulled into smaller groups during some activities, have the opportunity to go for a walk in the hallway if he needed a moment, etc. Pros here is that he would be in a mainstream classroom, which he's done well with, but I'll be honest, these public school kids have been mean this year. They've told my son that he isn't stylish (whatever that means to a bunch of 8 year olds), that he's weird, and has had some classroom disputes with two boys that he used to be friends with at the beginning of the school year which he isn't anymore. Along with that, one of the girls in his classroom has been an issue all year which i had brought up numerous times so I don't think they'll be in the same class next year (she literally hit him in the face with her lunch box).
The school recommended him stay in the district since his biggest issue is socialization and he would have a better opportunity to learn to better interact with people of all backgrounds instead of just children on the spectrum, which i agree, but I'm also aware that with the scholarship, the cost comes out of the district's budget so I could understand them trying to sway me one way so they don't lose the $40k.
The private school is also not in session 34 days out of the school year which is a bit more than the public school at 26. I'm only somewhat concerned by this because I'm his main caregiver and would struggle to find childcare on the days the private school isn't in session since they don't have any programs. They do have aftercare which is $10 an hour in the gym. The public school has a YMCA program, but we wouldn't be doing it again next year since we didn't have a great experience. The intermediate school has after school clubs, but another childcare center would be an option as long as i sign up early. The $10 hr charge is more expensive than the daycare center would be.

Payment via Zelle (strongly preferred), Venmo, CashApp, or Paypal FF. High value orders and new to the sub Zelle only.
Shipping via USPS. $6 for less than 10oz. $10 for over 10oz. This includes $100 insurance and tracking. Free shipping on orders over $500. Additional insurance over $100 is optional at buyers liability. Additional insurance runs $0.80 per $100 coverage. I can ship other methods at buyers' request.
All of these items have been verified for authenticity using acid tests or a sigma. I offer a full money back guarantee on the authenticity of all items listed. I am happy to send a video of an acid / magnet test if requested.
If you need more pictures or info don’t hesitate to ask.
ORDERS SHIP THE FOLLOWING BUSINESS DAY!
PROOF: https://i.imgur.com/r2mu0cm.jpg
All Prices rounded up to the nearest $0.25
Coins:
Mexican Gold 2 Peso 1945 Restrike (2x) - $130ea
Gold Jewelry:
14K Gold 18.5" 3mm Omega Chain / Necklace 22.514g Signed 14K Italy & MI - $969.50 (2.5% Below Spot)
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14K Mom Heart Pendant Signed JCM 3mm clasp 0.987g - $45 (Sold)
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10K Harley Davidson Heart Pendant 3.75mm x 1.5mm bail 1.682g - $51.75 (2.5% Below Spot)
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14K Yellow Gold Chain / Necklace with Heart Pendant and CZ Signed 14K & Makers mark 5.274g - $230 (Below Spot)
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14K Yellow & White Gold Two-Tone Ring Size 6-3/4 Signed 14K Makers Mark 5.267g - $227 (2.5% Below Spot)
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10K White Gold Fuchsia CZ Heart Necklace and Earrings Set with 18” Rope Chain Signed 10K 4.39g - $135 (2.5% Below Spot)
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Sterling Silver Necklaces:
16” Italian San Marco Chain with 7” San Marco Bracelet 62.3g - $115
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31” Puff Heart Necklace with Italy Rope Chain 15.4g - $35
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30.5” Box Chain with Owl Pendant / Brooch (has attachments for both) 11.63g - $33
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18” Italian Byzantine Chain / Necklace 12.21g - $27.50
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19” Italian Square Herringbone Style Sterling Chain with Czech Pendant - 6.28g - $20
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18” Italian Sterling Box Chain with Ross Simon Cross Pendant 2.61g - $20
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20” Italian Gold Vermeil Fancy Rope Chain 5.34g - $20
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17.5” Lotus Studio Aventurine Sterling Necklace 2.11g - $12
https://imgur.com/a/puIPsH9
16” Sterling Abstract Glass Pendant Necklace 15.96g - $25
https://imgur.com/a/c2X7Ykq
18” 925 Box Chain with Synthetic 14x10mm Sapphire Pendant & Matching Earrings with 10x8mm Sapphires 8.12g - $30
https://imgur.com/a/8WAi9jl
18” 925 Gold Vermeil Box Chain with Pear Cut Ceylon Sapphire Pendant & Matching Triangle CZ Earrings 12.13g - $30
https://imgur.com/a/DbenkRb
20” Italian Millefiori Necklace with Circular Glass Pendant 3.18g - $25
https://imgur.com/a/UxC0pBf
15.5” Italian Millefiori Bead Necklace 3.98g - $20
https://imgur.com/a/OXOxnYk
15.5” Italian Murano Style Necklace (Note the wire is ferrous for strength, clasp and non-stone charms are sterling) - $15
https://imgur.com/a/UoyGHPq
15” Native American Fetish Necklace (Note the wire is elastic material for strength, beads and pendants are sterling) - $30
https://imgur.com/a/4OQKVFr
17” Sterling Bead / Clasp Turquoise Nugget Necklace (Note the wire is ferrous material for strength, beads and clasp are sterling) - $15
https://imgur.com/a/5ikva93
Sterling Silver Bracelets & Pendants: https://imgur.com/a/pTEmQf7
Sterling Flower Filigree Bracelet 8” 10.19g - $30
Sterling Rose & Garnet Tennis Bracelet 7.5” 13.43g - $35
Ross Simon Sterling Rose Quartz Aventurine Tennis Bracelet 7” 9.50g - $30
Sterling Native American Bear Bracelet (Note the wire is ferrous for strength, clasp and non-stone charms are sterling) - $40
Sterling Silver 2-Strand Malachite Bracelet 7” 2.32g - $20
Sterling Clasp Faceted AB Crystal Bracelet with amazing sparkle (Note the wire is ferrous for strength, only clasp is sterling) 7” - $15
Taxco Hummingbird Pendant / Brooch (has both attachments) 11.95g - $24
Sterling Pink CZ Butterfly Bracelet 7.25” 7.5g - $27.50
Sterling Silver Earrings: https://imgur.com/a/rTrTKTE
Larimar Dangle Earrings 1g - $12
Dolphin Jumping through Hoop Drop Earrings 6.86g - $15
Taxco Sterling Half Circle Bohemian Hoop Earrings 9.24g - $20
Taxco Sterling Triangle Drop Earrings 9.43g - $18
Taxco Sterling Shell / Feather Drop Earrings 6.01g - $15
Taxco Sterling Triangle / Bead Drop Earrings 21.79g - $25
Flower Drop Earrings with Aquamarine Stones 9.28g - $25
Teardrop Shaped Earring with Black Beads 5.13g - $15
Concentric Oval Earrings 2.05g - $12
Leaf / White Opal Studs (Brilliant Luster on these) 2.22g - $40
Circle / Bead Design Clip-Ons 27.61g - $18.25 (20% Below Spot)
Elephant Ear Shaped Clip-Ons with large stones 26.98g - $18 (20% Below Spot)
Vintage Filigree Sterling Drop Earrings (Super intricate) 14.33g - $20
Vintage Sterling Dragonfly Earrings 12.39g - $20
Heart Shaped Drop Earrings with Lapis Stones 5.22g - $15
Sterling Silver Rings: https://imgur.com/gallery/65jVHip
Bali Swirl Design Sterling Ring Size 7-1/2 11.06g - $27.50
Large 925 Ring with CZ Size 6 5.97g - $18
Large 925 Ring with CZ and Flower Engraving Size 6 9.28g - $18
925 Ring with Bands of CZ Size 6 5.9g - $18
Wedding Band Style 925 Ring with Moissanite Size 6 2.41g - $18
Shablool Didae Israeli Filigree Style Ring Size 7.5 One-of-a-kind 8g - $25
Sterling Silver Spoons: https://imgur.com/a/wdIK10J
La Touraine by Reed & Barton Sterling Tea Spoon 30.34g - $25.25 (Spot)
Lunt Lus60 Sterling Silver Salt Spoon 2.94g - $10
English Shell by Lunt Sterling Silver Soup Spoons (4) 135g - $112.50 (Spot)

I have decided to come up with a list of Amazing Gifts Ideas for Dad's and fathers.
Most of these are Sold on https://Amazon.com FREE Shipping So here is the List.
I recommend the following top items personally

1. Leg Messager
   
2. Picture Frame for memories
   
3. A Tool Rack.
   
4. Michael Kors Watch.
   

Here are the gifts grouped for dads with Category and Product name:
Massage/Relaxation Gifts:

• MOUNTRAX Foot Massager Machine with Heat
• UMARMUNG Leg Massager with Heat
• RENPHO Eyeris 1 Eye Massager with Heat
• Gifts for Dad Mom Men Women Christmas Mother Day Father Day, Air Compression Massager with Heat
• COMFIER Shiatsu Neck Back Massager with Heat
• ALLJOY Cordless Neck Massager with Heat
• Snailax Back Massager for Back Pain with Heat

Tech/Gadget Gifts:

• Canupdog 10.1 WiFi Digital Picture Frame
• Gifts for Men Dad Husband, PU Leather Wireless Charging Station and Valet Tray
• ANERIMST Outdoor Bluetooth Speakers with Torch Flame Light
• Novium Hoverpen 2.0 Interstellar Edition Ballpoint Pen
• VFZO Temperature Control Smart Mug
• 2win Engraved Wooden Watch

Tools/Utility Gifts:

• CCCEI Modular Power Tool Organizer Wall Mount with Charging Station
• KingTool 325 Piece Home Repair Tool Kit
• CCCEI Power Tool Organizer Cart with Charging Station
• Kitchen perfection Handmade Meat Cleaver Knife

Clothing/Accessories:

• Hey Dude Mens Wally Sox
• Fossil Nate Men's Chronograph Watch
• Michael Kors Oversized Slim Runway Men's Watch
• Carhartt Men's Rain Defender Quarter-Zip Sweatshirt
• UGG Men's Scuff Logo Slipper

Food/Drink Gifts:

• Dan's Gourmet Gift Basket - Sausage, Cheese, Chocolate
• Ultimate Jerky Lover's Gift Box
• Personalized Whiskey Decanter and Stones Set
• Cooking Gift Set Co. Wood Smoked BBQ Grill Set
• CASABREWS Espresso Machine

Other:

• LEGO Star Wars/Harry Potter Building Sets
• 2024 Dad Jokes Boxed Calendar
• Golf Practice Net
• Ufree Professional Hair Clippers for Men
• Condolences Gift Basket for Loss
• Grillbot Grill Cleaning Robot

The following is an original work of fan fiction. It will only make sense if you’ve read Corpies and SP4
“Fucking bullshit cock-garglers!” Hannah, formerly known as Hexcellent, uttered louder than she intended.
Luckily, she was sitting by herself in a third floor private room in the brand new wing of the Sizemore undergraduate library. On the main floor, any sound louder than a fart would’ve earned a collective, “shhhhh,” and annoyed stares from half the people studying. And frankly, as difficult as these Gen Chem practice exams were, the former PEERS would be spitting out a few more expletives before she was done.
Hannah glanced at her watch and sighed heavily. It was 4:43 PM. She still had two and a half hours before she’d need to head to the lift to meet Devon and Kacey, two other first year HCP students, for some evening training. Okay, you got this girl. You just fucked up some amped criminal supers, you can handle goddamn mass to mole composition formula and stoichiom-whatever-the-fuck, she thought to herself. With resigned determination, the HCP student began swiping through class presentation slides on her tablet, reviewing problems she had trouble with. For a solid 2 hours her eyes never left the material and she honestly started to feel more comfortable with what she needed to know. Hannah was in the zone. That was until she was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“What. The actual. Fuck?“ Hannah said slowly as she looked up towards the door and the adjacent window.
The summoner saw two boys standing outside, one of whom was a short muscular guy with dark brown hair that she recognized. She was fairly certain his name was Lucas, and that he was another HCP first year. He was in the alternative class though, while Hannah was in combat, so they hadn’t been around each other a whole hell of a lot. The other seemed familiar, but she couldn’t put her finger or on where she’d seen him before. They were each moving their mouths, and pointing a finger at themselves and into the room clearly asking if they could come in. Hannah got up and opened the door.
“Hey, Helen, right? You think that we can study in here with you? All the good tables downstairs are full. I just met Tristan here and he’s in the same predicament as me,” said Lucas before he lowered his voice to a whisper, leaned his head in, and pointed to the boy he referred to as Tristan. “He’s in the same ummm…special program as us. In his 2nd year.”
With that information, Hannah realized where she’d seen that guy. He was at the freshman party hosted by the second years. She remembered thinking that he came off as kind of a douchebag by the way he was standing around, nursing the same drink with a smug look on his face the whole time.
“Yeah, sure, whatever. As long as you guys dont act like complete assholes and make a bunch of noise. I gotta focus for about another 30 minutes then the room is yours. Cool?”
“Cool,” the boys said in unison.
“And it’s Hannah by the way. Not Helen. You’re Lucas, right?” She held out her hand towards him.
Lucas politely shook her hand. “Sorry about that Hannah. I’m terrible at remembering names,” he said with a slight shrug. “Just gonna grab a seat on this side so I can stay outta your way.” He held out his arm towards the opposite side of the table from where Hannah had been sitting and started walking over there.
Tristan walked in and closed the door behind himself. He gave Hannah a simple head nod and smirk but never formerly introduced himself. Very similar to his demeanor at the party; as though he couldn’t be bothered.
Yep, arrogant douche, she thought. Then she pictured the look of surprise on the 2nd year’s face if she were to manifest her big furry friend to accidentally-on-purpose kick him in the balls.
Hannah had often wondered if anyone in the HCP realized her summon was the same giant bunny that helped save Brewster almost a year ago. Titan had told her the DVA would hide any association between the tower-sized rabbit and her PEERS persona but she figured that once classmates saw her summon for the first time they’d make the connection. That didn’t seem to be the case though, at least as far as she knew. It helped that when she summoned Hopcules these days, he was about the same height and stature as Titan. None of her combat training took place outside yet, so no one in HCP got to see her manifestation at his full potential size. He’d also taken on more humanistic facial expressions lately and had been appearing in a variety of different clothes and accessories. Hell, the last time she trained with Kacey, the hulking rabbit materialized in a denim vest, a blue bandanna on his head, metal spiked leather bracelets around his wrists, brass knuckles, and with gold chains around his neck. Kacey couldn’t stop laughing during their sparring session until Hopcules had her bound and hog tied. Even with her enhanced strength, she couldn’t break free of what evidently weren’t just plain gold necklaces. It hadn’t dawned on Hannah until later that, the night before, she’d fallen asleep to an old 80s action flick about a renegade cop taking on a vicious street gang. She wondered if tonight her childhood protector would show up in a lab coat, holding a periodic table. The Sizemore freshman briefly shook her head to snap herself out of her thoughts and sat down to resume her work. She’d gotten fully back into her study mode until…
“Yo, does sound carry out of this room?” Tristan asked.
“Seriously?! You do remember that whole bit about NOT being obnoxious assholes, right?”Hannah asked incredulously.
“Damn girl chill. I just wanted to ask my guy here a question and didn’t want to risk being overheard. You should smile more girl. You know what I mean?“
Relax. Breathe. You don’t want to be seen as a troublemaker. It would not be a good idea to kick this fucker’s ass while inside of the school library. Or would it be? No. No. Definitely not a good idea, she thought to herself.
“Well unless you two were standing outside of here practicing at being mimes as a back up in case you don’t make it to graduation, I’m pretty sure this room is well insulated to sound.”
Tristan grunted in indignation and sarcastically replied, “you’re hilarious.”
“I’m definitely going all the way through. No way I won’t graduate,” Lucas chimed in, seemingly oblivious to the tension that’d just arisen between the other two people in the room. I’ve known I wanted to be a hero ever since I was little. My parents have spent a fortune sending me to an elite training camp for the last seven summers to make sure I’d be as prepared as possible for the HCP. Plus I’ve had personal coaches work with me for years on new ways to use my power.”
“Bro! That’s what I was wanting to ask you about. I saw the logo on on your bag. Holy shit, did you do the SETA training camps?” asked Tristan.
“Yeah, I take it you’ve heard of it.”
“Hell yeah I have. The Super Elite Training Academy. Who hasn’t? I hear those workouts are so intense. No wonder you’re so jacked. You must’ve been in great shape for your first day here. Mad props bro. Is it true you get to fight against human looking robot…”
“Hey! Tweedledum and tweedle-dickless, I honestly didn’t know there was such a thing as a two-man circle jerk, so I really appreciate the show but is there any chance I can get back to work without any more distractions?“
Lucas had mixture surprise and guilt run across his face. He opened his mouth as though he was about to say something, but glanced over to Tristan and stayed silent.
“What? You mad because you’re realizing you can’t stack up against the competition. Guess what. My guy here isn’t the only one who’s been preparing for this program long before he was admitted. I’ve been getting ready for years too. Trained in jiu-jitsu and boxing on top of honing my super abilities. Have you even done anything? Or did you just apply and cross your fingers?”
Hannah could see where this was going in. She decided in that moment to just let it play out. Fuck it, she thought. She was basically done studying. Even if she failed the final, which she was confident that she wouldn’t, she’d still pass the class. She stood up, pressed an icon on her tablet touchscreen and began putting other things away in her bag while she spoke. “Actually, I never had any special training as a kid. To tell you the truth, I shouldn’t even be here. I got into some trouble years ago. The kind of trouble that normally prevents one from getting admitted into an HCP. But, I was on a PEERS team for years and I got to do a lot of…
“Ha! You’re telling us you’re fucking a Corpie. Can you believe this, dude?“ Tristan nudged Lucas, looking for his agreement. To his credit, Lucas appeared visibly uncomfortable and leaned away from the other boy.
“Don’t know what it says about your class if they’re letting Corpies in,” continued Tristan with a sneer. “I guess you really do need to study. Obviously you’re the one that needs a back up plan. And here’s another thing little girl. It’s not just about how much you’ve trained beforehand, it’s also about who you know. And I know people. My mom‘s best friend is related to the Hero, Unseelie. So I’ve actually met a few Heroes who I’m sure will vouch for me when the time comes. Pity you can’t say the same. We all know Heroes don’t give two shits about Corpies.”
For a moment Hannah’s face expressed a flat affect. Then suddenly she burst into laughter. And not just some derisive laugh as though she was trying to convey to Tristan that she didn’t take his comments seriously. But an eye watering, oxygen depriving, honest to the Gods belly laugh. The kind of laugh that would’ve been contagious had she been around friends. She carried on for a minute until her amusement died down to a just a mild chortle. Hannah wiped her eyes. “You know people?“ She started laughing again, even louder than the first time. “Oh my Gods. Stop. Stop. I can’t breathe. Is this your fucking power?” Hannah was bent over at the waist still laughing hysterically, holding out one finger as to communicate, “give me a second.” After another minute, she wiped her eyes again, took a big gulp of air, and collected herself. “Woooh. Now that was some funny fucking shit.”
“Who in the hell do you think…“ Tristan started to say through gritted teeth.
“No no no. Please don’t get me started again. I don’t think my ribs can take it,“ said Hannah still chuckling some. “Let’s see what have I done and who do I know? You know I always knew that eventually I’d tell people about this, I just didn’t think it would go down like this.” The summoner raised her hand, then slowly curled it into a fist. Standing 3ft tall and leaning into the corner so as not to be visible to anyone who happened to be looking into the room at that moment, was Hopcules, adorned in the same armor he’d worn on the day he helped to save Brewster. “Look familiar to anyone?”
“That looks like the giant rabbit that fought robots with Titan. Hare-a-clees or something like that. My little sister has like 5 of its t-shirts,” Lucas responded.
“Wow kid, you really are shit with remembering names. Hop-cu-les is the name I gave him when I was just a child. Surprised the shit outta me that he came out the size of a skyscraper when those robots nearly killed me and my team, ” Hannah stated nonchalantly as she waved her hand and made Hopcules fade away.
With a grudging realization, Tristan began to ask, “wait, you’re not actually saying…”
“Oh look, captain mc-douche-nozzle is catching on. Somebody give the kid a prize. Yes, dumbass, I’m actually saying I fought with Titan, yes, thee fucking Titan, with every other Hero team in Brewster to stop those mechs from destroying the entire city. I’m saying the strongest hero alive is my personal mentor and it was his recommendation that got me into this program.”
Lucas looked back and forth between Hannah and Tristan having already realized that the sophomore might be one of those guys who’d lash out over his perceived inferiority. Lucas was so curious though he had to ask, “but… But, that rabbit is everywhere these days. Not just T-shirts. Toys, a cartoon, and I just read there’s going to be a next-gen console video game based on his character. If you own the rights to that image, you’d be loaded.“
“Eh,” Hannah said with shrug. “Youre leaving out the movie deal Lenny just got for me, but not something I talk about too much . It leaves me enough to be comfortable and to be able to donate a library wing to the university thats giving me a shot at being a hero.” Hannah responded. She gave Tristan a quick wink and glanced over her shoulder towards the door.
Tristan looked in the same direction and noticed something he hadn’t bothered paying attention to before, a small engraving on the center of the door of a bipedal rabbit. This would’ve been the most surprising thing that he’d seen since he set foot in the room if it wasn’t for the photo that appeared on Hannah’s tablet now facing him. It was an image of five people: Graham De Soto, the new head of the DVA, Titan in his iconic Hero costume, Dean Jackson, a large muscular young man with a shit eating grin who Tristan didn’t recognize, and another person in a generic gray mask, presumably female, and wearing a smile of malicious enjoyment, the same as the woman standing before him.
Hannah saw what caught his attention and picked up her tablet. “Oh, did you notice this? I love this picture. Titan called me in for back up as a Temporary Emergency Hero Asset. We beat the shit out of a literal army of enhanced criminal supers and took this picture after everything calmed down. All the other HCP deans were there too. Mr. Desoto actually told me if I ever needed a favor, he owed me one.” Hannah wore a wistful expression as she thought back on that day with fondness.
“Anyway, I gotta get outta here. S’posed to meet up with my training partners. Cause no matter what your background is or who you know, no one is a shoe-in for the final 10. Lucas, feel free to meet us in the combat cells tonight if you want to get a work out in and get tired of hanging out with this fuckwad. Later losers!” Hannah said this last part as she turned around and headed towards the door while holding up her middle finger for all to see.
Tristan was obviously livid. His hands had been visibly shaking as he stood and listened to all the ways this 1st year had accomplished more than he’d even thought possible for student. Who does this little bitch think she is? She’s full of shit. She has to be. I’ll show her. From his elbows down, Tristan‘s arms began to darken. In seconds the two appendages looked like small tree trunks, with his fingers elongating into barbed tendril-liked branches rapidly moving towards Hannah.
Although Lucas had worked for years to improve his ability to cast his energy based illusionary environments-referred to by one quirky coach in the past as a “holodeck”- speed was an element that he continued to struggle with. He began to cast a simple illusion of darkness, so as to blind Tristan, but he knew almost immediately that it wouldn’t reach him in time. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw furry white movement. The miniature Hopcules had reappeared and was running towards the back of the chair Tristan had been sitting in. With a parkour maneuver that would make Jackie Chan jealous, Hopcules leapt from the floor to the chair, then from the chair to the rear wall. He torpedoed off of the wall with the force of both hind paws and made contact Tristan’s head, knocking the arrogant second year to the floor. He laid there dazed and confused about what had just struck him as his branches retracted and his arms returned to normal. The summon vanished before he even touched the ground.
Hannah smiled as she exited the room. Thanks be to the Gods. I was hoping that piece of shit would try something so I could have self-defense as an excuse. Kacey and Devon better be ready. I’m already warmed up.

I (34F) celebrated my second Mother's Day as a mom yesterday. I'm hoping for some help figuring out if my disappointment and frustration with my husband (35M) about how he celebrated me yesterday and just wondering if it is warranted. We have been together for 15 years, married for about 2, and have an 18 month old daughter.
We both work full time. We've had a decent amount of overall stress over the last few years ( first baby, job changes, moving/first home etc), and overall I'd say we are just scraping by when it comes to basic adulting tasks like keeping a clean home and putting passable meals on the table. I'd say we both struggle in these areas, but I do feel like I take the lead when to comes to trying to make progress in better managing our lives and environment. He does participate in caring for our daughter, is a good dad, and does some chores (sometimes more than I do!), but I often feel like if I didn't specifically ask him to do things and follow-up he would just never do them or think about them at all. While I'm not exactly world's best housekeeper myself, I feel like home related things (like it being an embarrassing mess, needing to upgrade one thing or another, needing to think of new things to feed our daughter) bothers me a lot more than they do him and like I spend more mental energy on our home life.
In general I tend to put a lot of time and thought (and stress) into trying to find gifts for people in our lives for different holidays and events (probably too much). Last year was my first mother's day, and TBH I was struggling at the time. I had returned from maternity leave a few months before, was struggling being away from my daughter, had a ton of job stress pertaining to an upcoming transition, and was struggling to pump enough milk. To be fair, he had some work transitions going on as well which was hard for him. We were both tired from our daughter not sleeping. There was stress over what to give our mothers, who help us a lot with childcare. Mother's Day weekend was/is hectic, and we've spent it with his mom on Saturday and mine on Sunday.
Anyway, last year Mother's Day comes, and he gets me NOTHING. No flowers, no card, no balloons, no gift. Just nothing. I was so hurt and just angry. I felt so unappreciated..I had been through a really hard pregnancy, was overall struggling and exhausted. I just wanted to feel like my efforts to be a good mom and everything I went through was seen and valued. And I got just zero. It was crushing. I tried to vocalize how I felt and I thought he understood. I understand that we were so busy that weekend, but I just needed SOMETHING. Even a note or letter saying that I was doing a good job would have been meaningful.
I shared how I felt and I think he did feel really bad, and said he would do better.
I tried not to carry that anger around and be resentful, but honestly don't think I really succeeded. I started looking around at all the ways I felt he wasn't doing enough, getting frustrated and asking for more. I told him he needed to start washing my pump parts, for example, and he did. I had already planned what I was getting him for Father's Day, so I went ahead and ordered it (a rocks glass with the baby's footprint engraved on it, and matching T-shirts for him and the baby, a balloon, etc).
I do feel like I've held on to resentment over this. I also focus on things that he doesn't do for our home probably more than is fair, considering I don't have my act together either and it's not like he doesn't do anything around the house. I didn't end up getting him anything or doing anything for his birthday in the fall. I was exhausted from starting a new job and from planning my daughter's birthday (10 days before his), and he was really understanding about it. But I think part of why I couldn't think of anything for him was because I was still cold hearted about Mother's Day. Even at Christmas it was more of the same, and I got him a very late gift. When we exchanged our belated gifts he had gotten me a few thoughtful things that I was happy with.
Anyway, Mother's Day comes around again. On the Friday two days before I asked if he would be willing to run out and drive a good 20 min away to pick up the matching outfits that I had ordered for myself, my mom, and the baby to wear on Sunday. He hesitated a little bit, but did go out and get them when he could tell it was important to me. I felt guilty asking, but also sort of not because I was thinking he probably hasn't prepared anything for me anyway, so might as well ask him to go out of his way to do something for me that I would like. On Mother's Day I ended up sleeping in a little and he did get up with our toddler and went out and picked up some things like flowers, pastries, chocolate covered strawberries, and a balloon.
So I should be happy, right?
Am I being unreasonable to still be hurt? Part of me still feels like he didn't put much thought into Mother's Day. He didn't think of anything in advance or that was specific to me, he just ran out that morning and picked up some stuff he thought looked good. If I had woken up, would I have been left at home giving our toddler while he went out and did that? He got his mom a Kindle (which I'm all for, as she again does a lot for us and is great, and he got it himself). He said he got me a card but he hasn't written in it yet.
Anyway, he's trying, right? How disappointed is it okay to be? Why am I still sad?
Thanks in advance for any thoughts/perspective.
TLDR: Husband didn't get me anything for Mother's Day last year. This year he went out the day/morning of and picked up flowers, treats, and a balloon. I'm still disappointed that he didn't seem to me to put thought into it in advance. Is that fair? And I being unappreciative?

Hi! I'm searching for cool people to chat, share life experiences and interests with. I'm a busy working mom from the EU so I might not always answer right away but that doesn't mean I'm not interested in you or the things you want to chat about. Not looking for underage people or romantic relationships, just someone to shoot the shit with, discuss te day or maybe gave someone advise if they want.
I've been a huge nerd my whole life basically. Some of my hobbies are engraving glass, making stained glass(just started), drawing, gaming, building lego projects, butchering pokémon cards (3d art) I've also watched some anime here and there. Im open to chat about pretty much anything and open to people from all walks of life. Let's get to know each other!

Trigger Warning: SA and Homophobia
Hello. This will be my very first post in this subreddit. Actually, I find myself uncertain of the purpose behind this writing. Perhaps it serves as a channel for me to unravel the complexities of my life while maintaining anonymity.
Let me start by "introducing" myself. I am a 22-year-old college student who remains financially reliant on my parents. Over time, I've perceived my thoughts and perspectives as diverging from the norm, a perception that endures to this day. Despite encountering individuals with shared experiences within the community, I find it challenging to establish meaningful connections—a somewhat unexpected occurrence given my self-awareness as an empath.
It all started when I was really young. I got exposed to concept of sex at a really young age. My memory of it is vague. I was probably around 7 or a couple of years older. A cousin from my father's side has been living with us for several years; he was around 15 when he first came to stay. During one of his visits, two of his older brothers, who were on vacation, also stayed with us. One of them, who was particularly talented in drawing, was studying to be a seminarian. As a child who loved art, I admired him greatly and eagerly anticipated his visits to our home. One day he and the cousin that was living with us invited me to their room while my parents and sister was away. They told me "Tuturuan ka ni Kuya mag drawing if laroan mo to". I'm sure you know where this is going naman na. Both of them were able to convince me to do it to both of them. The reason I mention this because I have become hypersexual and I think this is the main factor. Ever since then, I craved the feeling and became engaged in hook-up culture during grade 7. I did have interest in romance but it never really worked out since I really craved it and I was always seen as dirty and in turn I see myself that way as well.
My family is far from perfect, like any other family, I will not be talking about it here. I will just mention a part of it that is relevant to what I'm trying to convey (whatever that may be to be honest). For context, my father is extremely homophobic and emotionally unavailable. Most of the loving that I receive is from my mommy. Anyways, I have a medical condition that manifested during late high school and got worse in senior during high school. An incident happened at school wherein I had one of the attacks caused by my condition so I needed to be sent home. My mom was unavailable at that time so they had to call my Father. When he came to pick me up from school, he put up a good face sa infirmary nurses and doctors. But when we reached the car. Sobrang galit niya sakin because apparently I inconvenienced him. Our house is far from my school and the entire 30-minute ride home he just kept shouting at me and telling me how much of a burden I am to the family and to him. We arrived and he immediately left. As soon as heard gate close I broke down. I screamed and shouted "I wanna kill myself" our helper was there trying to comfort me. But then my Father came back cause he forgot his wallet and he saw the whole thing. His rage came back. He went straight to the kitchen and took a knife out and pointed it at me. "Sige na ako na gagawa para sayo" our helper dragged me out of the house and into our outhouse and our other helper was there and locked the door and she called my mom. All we heard from there was plates and glass breaking and screams. My mom rushed home and tried to calm my Father down. My mom has long known about my sexuality and she thought the only way he would calm down was telling him about it. And it "worked". The ruckus stopped and I was called to go back. They were all seated sa lounge and he talked to me. Told me these words non-verbatim "Tanggap kita. Pero sana di mo makalimutan kung sino ka. And di mo kalimutaan na alagaan sarili mo. Simula ngayon kailangan mo mag-aral mabuti para yumaman ka kasi mga katulad mo kailangan ng pera para may magmahal sayo. Tingnan mo sina Vice Ganda mayaman kasi sila kaya may nagmamahal. Si Ate mo may magmamahal diyan kasi babae yan. Eh ikaw wala. Kaya tandaan mo yan." So that's basically how I came out to my Father. His words still echo in my mind. Until now, I believe that no one will love me. Damaged goods some would say. I'm ugly, an "adaptive" personality that some perceive to be a flaw, and extremely low self-esteem."
This homophobia from my Father continued throughout and has continued to haunt me. I once brought a male friend over for a sleepover that I asked permission for. He apparently did not know that I brought a guy. He immediately assumed that I was gonna have sex with that guy in my room. He went to my room gun in hand and called me out. Talked to me outside while my friend was inside. Sabi niya sakin "Wala ka na ba respeto sakin sa bahay ko pa talaga? Anong klaseng tao ka na ba talaga? Demonyo ka na ba? Ang dumi-dumi mo na. Pauwiin mo na yan." It was 12 am that time, and I had to ask my friend to leave. I wasn't even allowed to take him home or even walk him to our gate. After he left, my dad sat me on the dinner table and continued his sermon "Ano na ba plano mo sa buhay? May sakit ka na nga tapos ganyan ka pa? Abnormal ka na tao! Hirap mo na nga tawagin na tao! Kailangan mo na bumawi kaya sana naman bumawi ka gumawa ka ng mabuti."
While all of this is happening I have never cried. I have grown used to all of this. Sometimes, in order to cry, I just need to look at rain or listen to something or just sit in silence, or even experience something happy. And for context, I am not a rebellious child. I have always asked for permission, and I do well in school. "Nasa culto ka na ba. Ano na nasa future mo? Ano na gusto mo mangyari? Abnormal ka eh wala na ako makita para sayo? Paano ka na magfufunction. Sa sakit mo palang tapos ganyan ka pa na tao! Ang hirap!" He continued.
Another time is when I was hospitalized for a month, and one night he was the only one available to be my guardian he told me this "If given the choice na sasabihan ako ng doctor na hahayaan ka nalang na mamatay. Papayag ako, mas pipiliin ko mommy mo at sister mo." He told me those words while I was in a hospital bed with tubes and wires attached to me as he held my hand. These are just some examples of the words and memories that echo and are engraved deep in my mind. I titled this post I am abnormal because it is what I believe to be true now. It's how I see now. I think writing this now will help me unpack everything. In any case, I will strive for change because amidst all of it, I really love my mother. No matter how much I hate myself. My love for my mother is what keeps me going. Perhaps in the future, my personal outlook will change. Perhaps, I may find the person I can feel love for and can feel love for me no matter how ugly I am both inside and out. We never really know. So cheers to everyone struggling, I believe that we all have the capacity to thrive in our own ways. As for me, I am on a journey to find my strength for that capacity.
Anway, that was pretty long. I'm sorry I had a lot to say. Thank you for reading this rant/storytime. Advice and Inputs are very much welcome.

First, I’m relieved to be part of this community today. Only you all get it.
To preface this, I’m “observing”, not “celebrating” Mother’s Day today. My family knows about my miscarriage. They know the name we were going to give her. I’ve had extensive conversations with them individually when they sat with me to help me through the physical recovery.
Today started off with my family chat going off with “Happy Mother’s Day!” comments. Strike one. My sister added “Happy Mother’s Day to [Mom] and [Sister-in-Law]!”, very specifically mentioning their names. Strike two.
Then my husband comes home from work. He told me yesterday that he had ordered something for me but because it was being engraved it would take a while to arrive. I was expecting something with our lost child’s name on it. It turns out it was a pet name tag with our favorite video game emblem on it. I was a little confused at first, but thought it was still considerate of him. Then he said he engraved the name of the pet cat we’ve talked about adopting for years. We don’t have the cat yet, but a few months ago we’ve been picking up the conversation again.
That was strike three. I felt like I was the only one today who was thinking of our little girl. I broke down into sobs and tried to explain to my husband how lonely I felt and he said that he was indeed thinking of her, and that adopting the cat we’ve always talked about adopting would help.
I didn’t want to spend today “moving on” or thinking about the future. I wanted to spend today honoring what could have been. I’m currently in the TWW of my seventh medicated cycle with a fertility clinic and I wanted to spend today thinking about the one I lost since thinking about the one I may or may not have in me now is stressful.
Now, a few hours later, my husband understands. He sent a photo of me (with the charm on my bracelet that has our lost one’s name on it) to the family chat and said “we’re also observing Mother’s Day today”. I was comforted that he stood up for me with the family, until I got a call from the same sister who had specifically called out our mother and sister-in-law. I let it go to voicemail and read the transcription after. She said she wanted to congratulate me on my pregnancy and that she was so happy for me.
I haven’t called her back yet. I wanted to throw my phone. The tiniest part of me acknowledges that she probably misunderstood my husband’s message. But when the photo shows our lost one’s name (that I had told my sister the backstory of, so it’s not like she didn’t know), it’s hard for me to give her the benefit of the doubt. PLUS she left the voicemail after my mom replied to my husband saying that she’s keeping us in her thoughts.
Anyways, the day is almost over and I’ve been crying all day and feeling alone. I’m furious at my sister, disappointed that my husband didn’t get it until I had to spell it out for him, and overall just exhausted by being stuck in this grieving cycle. I’m reading other people’s posts here and you all are the only ones today who get it with no extra explanation. I’m grateful to have this community.

I've literally been tearing up from all the comments and messages from everyone. I am honestly so grateful for all the kind words and reassurance. Genuinely thanks so much ❤️
Not much of an update really but I thought I would still share. I took a few pieces of advice and have done them randomly during day. Firstly Happy Mother's Day everyone. Hope you had a great time. Me and my mom had a few things planned for today and I got back just over an hour ago now. We went to the cinema then a restaurant and ended the day with bowling. Honestly had an absolute blast and she was happy throughout. I got her a gift too, it was a photo engraved bracelet which I gave her at the end of bowling.
One advice I got was saying things that show her I care about her so I said "Your the best" and hugged her after the cinema. I also said "I love you" when giving her the bracelet which made her cry 😭
I still do feel the guilt but I'm not gonna let it get me down. Don't want more stress especially with exams coming up 😅 I saw a lot of comments mentioning that I shouldn't keep my feelings bottled up so I am planning on conveying all my feelings to her soon. I'll probably write a letter because I know I'll probably start crying before I even start speaking 😂 I think that will definitely give me some peace of mind. Thanks all again for taking the time to read this ❤️
(Also I completely forgot how biology works in my last post 😅 She would be my half-sister not sister since I doubt our father's were the same. But regardless I'm still going to call her mom 😁)

Forgot to take pictures of these coasters I made for my mom and step siblings, no clear coat, just raw slate and clean engravings thanks to my trusty iKier K1 Pro 24W Laser. Can’t believe how well they have held up.

Payment via Zelle (strongly preferred), Venmo, CashApp, or Paypal FF. High value orders and new to the sub Zelle only.
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All of these items have been verified for authenticity using acid tests or a sigma. I offer a full money back guarantee on the authenticity of all items listed. I am happy to send a video of an acid / magnet test if requested.
If you need more pictures or info don’t hesitate to ask.
ORDERS SHIP THE FOLLOWING BUSINESS DAY!
PROOF: https://i.imgur.com/gM79ySS.jpeg
All Prices rounded up to the nearest $0.25
Coins:
Ancient Islamic Tabaristan Hani Hemidrachm AD 787-791 - $35 each
Interesting pieces of 1200 year old Islamic silver the size of a quarter but very thin (Approx. 1.8-2g each). Nice starter piece for people who want to add an ancient to their collection without breaking the bank. Pick the number you want.
SOLD!!!!
https://imgur.com/a/zxZbrI5
Mexican Gold 2 Peso 1945 Restrike (2x) - $130ea
Gold Jewelry:
14K Gold 18.5" 3mm Omega Chain / Necklace 22.514g Signed 14K Italy & MI - $980 (Below Spot)
https://imgur.com/a/KA3iKzo
14K Gold Woven Chain / Necklace 6.588g - $300 SOLD
https://imgur.com/a/QRpcifj
14K Beverly Hill Gold Cross Pendant 5.2mm x 4mm bail 2.410g - $110 (Sold)
https://imgur.com/a/EXL2ylO
14K Mom Heart Pendant Signed JCM 3mm clasp 0.987g - $45
https://imgur.com/a/DgImm6L
10K Harley Davidson Heart Pendant 3.75mm x 1.5mm bail 1.682g - $53.25 (Spot)
https://imgur.com/a/Qr9uNdV
14K Yellow Gold Chain / Necklace with Heart Pendant and CZ Signed 14K & Makers mark 5.274g - $230 (Below Spot)
https://imgur.com/a/w7oEvip
14K Yellow & White Gold Two-Tone Ring Size 6-3/4 Signed 14K Makers Mark 5.267g - $233 (Spot)
https://imgur.com/a/1APzy8K
10K White Gold Fuchsia CZ Heart Necklace and Earrings Set with 18” Rope Chain Signed 10K 4.39g - $135 (Below Spot)
https://imgur.com/a/6K5i5E7
Sterling Silver Necklaces:
16” Italian San Marco Chain with 7” San Marco Bracelet 62.3g - $115
https://imgur.com/a/9IS5uhF
31” Puff Heart Necklace with Italy Rope Chain 15.4g - $35
https://imgur.com/a/LXEXGG5
30.5” Box Chain with Owl Pendant / Brooch (has attachments for both) 11.63g - $33
https://imgur.com/a/pTaT52q
18” Italian Byzantine Chain / Necklace 12.21g - $27.50
https://imgur.com/a/pqTT6mz
19” Italian Square Herringbone Style Sterling Chain with Czech Pendant - 6.28g - $20
https://imgur.com/a/ANY2KWM
18” Italian Sterling Box Chain with Ross Simon Cross Pendant 2.61g - $20
https://imgur.com/a/L8DjEYl
20” Italian Gold Vermeil Fancy Rope Chain 5.34g - $20
https://imgur.com/a/SRXaAsV
17.5” Lotus Studio Aventurine Sterling Necklace 2.11g - $12
https://imgur.com/a/puIPsH9
16” Sterling Abstract Glass Pendant Necklace 15.96g - $25
https://imgur.com/a/c2X7Ykq
18” 925 Box Chain with Synthetic 14x10mm Sapphire Pendant & Matching Earrings with 10x8mm Sapphires 8.12g - $30
https://imgur.com/a/8WAi9jl
18” 925 Gold Vermeil Box Chain with Pear Cut Ceylon Sapphire Pendant & Matching Triangle CZ Earrings 12.13g - $30
https://imgur.com/a/DbenkRb
20” Italian Millefiori Necklace with Circular Glass Pendant 3.18g - $25
https://imgur.com/a/UxC0pBf
15.5” Italian Millefiori Bead Necklace 3.98g - $20
https://imgur.com/a/OXOxnYk
15.5” Italian Murano Style Necklace (Note the wire is ferrous for strength, clasp and non-stone charms are sterling) - $15
https://imgur.com/a/UoyGHPq
15” Native American Fetish Necklace (Note the wire is elastic material for strength, beads and pendants are sterling) - $30
https://imgur.com/a/4OQKVFr
17” Sterling Bead / Clasp Turquoise Nugget Necklace (Note the wire is ferrous material for strength, beads and clasp are sterling) - $15
https://imgur.com/a/5ikva93
Sterling Silver Bracelets & Pendants: https://imgur.com/a/pTEmQf7
Sterling Flower Filigree Bracelet 8” 10.19g - $30
Sterling Rose & Garnet Tennis Bracelet 7.5” 13.43g - $35
Ross Simon Sterling Rose Quartz Aventurine Tennis Bracelet 7” 9.50g - $30
Sterling Native American Bear Bracelet (Note the wire is ferrous for strength, clasp and non-stone charms are sterling) - $40
Sterling Silver 2-Strand Malachite Bracelet 7” 2.32g - $20
Sterling Clasp Faceted AB Crystal Bracelet with amazing sparkle (Note the wire is ferrous for strength, only clasp is sterling) 7” - $15
Taxco Hummingbird Pendant / Brooch (has both attachments) 11.95g - $24
Sterling Pink CZ Butterfly Bracelet 7.25” 7.5g - $27.50
Sterling Silver Earrings: https://imgur.com/a/rTrTKTE
Larimar Dangle Earrings 1g - $12
Dolphin Jumping through Hoop Drop Earrings 6.86g - $15
Taxco Sterling Half Circle Bohemian Hoop Earrings 9.24g - $20
Taxco Sterling Triangle Drop Earrings 9.43g - $18
Taxco Sterling Shell / Feather Drop Earrings 6.01g - $15
Taxco Sterling Triangle / Bead Drop Earrings 21.79g - $25
Flower Drop Earrings with Aquamarine Stones 9.28g - $25
Teardrop Shaped Earring with Black Beads 5.13g - $15
Concentric Oval Earrings 2.05g - $12
Leaf / White Opal Studs (Brilliant Luster on these) 2.22g - $40
Circle / Bead Design Clip-Ons 27.61g - $18.25 (20% Below Spot)
Elephant Ear Shaped Clip-Ons with large stones 26.98g - $18 (20% Below Spot)
Vintage Filigree Sterling Drop Earrings (Super intricate) 14.33g - $20
Vintage Sterling Dragonfly Earrings 12.39g - $20
Heart Shaped Drop Earrings with Lapis Stones 5.22g - $15
Sterling Silver Rings: https://imgur.com/a/STH70rN
Bali Swirl Design Sterling Ring Size 7-1/2 11.06g - $27.50
Large 925 Ring with CZ Size 6 5.97g - $18
Large 925 Ring with CZ and Flower Engraving Size 6 9.28g - $18
925 Ring with Bands of CZ Size 6 5.9g - $18
Wedding Band Style 925 Ring with Moissanite Size 6 2.41g - $18
Shablool Didae Israeli Filigree Style Ring Size 7.5 One-of-a-kind 8g - $25
Sterling Silver Spoons: https://imgur.com/a/wdIK10J
La Touraine by Reed & Barton Sterling Tea Spoon 30.34g - $25.25 (Spot)
Lunt Lus60 Sterling Silver Salt Spoon 2.94g - $10
English Shell by Lunt Sterling Silver Soup Spoons (4) 135g - $112.50 (Spot)