The smell of old worn out and dusty books filled the air as I entered the old thrift store by the corner of my house it had recently open not too long ago I’d say about two months ago? Perhaps later I couldn’t remember when it opened that much I don’t recall it but I think it has to be two months no later than that?

I grabbed an old worn out book as I flipped through the thick leather cover, I’d grabbed off the bargaining shelf. Half way through as I opened the book the pages resisted quite a bit I was afraid that I would rip it but I pulled a little harder it opened at last, it was held apart by something stiff tucked in the corner of the book it looked as if it was a.

Polaroid the glossy chemical finishes had turned slightly golden around the edges as they were also folded quite a bit I didn’t think that much about it. The image still looked to be about sharp my eyes tracked the image slowly and carefully as I observed every small detail, the dark oak desk against the far wall the old chair the rug near a bed.

The iron bed frame that was rusted a little bit in the corner, the low window by the side of the wall sill I couldn’t quite put my mind into it I focused as I tried to remember this place had been familiar? I put my mind really hard into than I realized what it was my own room, every notch in baseboards but my thumb brushed the bottom border of the Polaroid picture.

The date was printed in a deep violet color as it caught the light of the sun, October 78?. My building that I live in wasn’t even built until the mid-nineties, I slowly but surely flipped over. Written in light shaky pencil was single straight line “Room 4B. He still thinks he’s alone.” I was afraid but deeply curious at what it was?

I bought it took it home as I slowly walked up to my apartment I softly opened my door closed it I didn’t even bother to change clothes as my curiosity grew further I went to my own room that I had seen in the Polaroid picture. I sat down on my desk I opened the leather book and I took out the picture again.

The ticking of my clock on my desk suddenly sounded quite off beat not enough to notice if you weren’t paying attention but I listened closely, it sounded like it was doubled, like two pendulum’s swinging out of sync. The overhead bulb flickered slowly once twice and then it died plunging the whole room into a dark room.

When the lights flickered softly slowly again back on a second later, it was low, a warm amber that it had never been. The air smelled thick with old kind of cigarette smoke. On my desk in front of me, right next to my notebook sat a heavy iron cast iron typewriter with a yellowed sheet of paper rolled into the carriage.

Typed in a rush faded black ink were five words “DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR!” From the hallway outside of my bedroom, three slow soft heavy knocks echoed throughout the deep brown oak door. Than I realized what it was it was a cycle that had never been broken the thing outside the door was non other than myself my past self trying to get back in.

To break the cycle I point downwards at the floorboards surrounding my desk. The flash illuminates dozens of faint, glowing chalk outlines or tally’s scratched into the wood marks that only show up in the cameras film, and proving that I have lived through and have died and suffered in the exact room 100 times before.

I write on the back “iteration #101. Stop trying to leave through the front door use the fire escape” I put the picture back into the heavy leather book.

As I smile and drop a soft tear knowing that I myself won’t get to experience the breaking of the loop but my other self will as I look through the window one last time as. The clock hits midnight all I think about is how my other self will know how to escape as everything finally goes dark.

about me: i’m 21 and a well-built guy, although i’ve gained quite a bit of weight over the years. i used to be an athlete and played badminton in high school, but i became less active after i stopped playing.

as i got heavier, i didn’t realize how much my body had changed. i always assumed i was smaller than i actually was.

one day, i jokingly compared myself with my phone and was surprised to discover that i was a lot taller than it. apparently, the extra weight had been hiding more than i realized.

Here’s last parts story
https://www.reddit.com/r/stories/s/awmVi6lO9b

So I forgot to even update after the date happened because what happened on the 24th was a lot for me to think about and didn’t leave me the brain power to write an essay right after.

I’ve also gotten comments on my last post claiming my story is fake and people need to stop wasting time with me? Someone else called the whole story fiction because “Muslim parents dont do that”???? Like what? Genuinely what are these atrocious comments. I’ve got morals. Why would I lie about a pregnancy and who are you to decide what a religion should do?

Anyways. After I got the 100 bucks for the date and my friend confirmed she wants to come, I started looking for a nice place that wasn’t too far but also a good restaurant in a nice place. Ended up in downtown Toronto near the union station but that’s the most romantic place ever. So I found a really good steakhouse. Crap ton of people were wearing suits and dresses. Others doing semi-formal clothing. I chose a suit of mine. A nice blue colour with a white button up, no tie. I sent a photo of my outfit on the hanger to my friend and she told me that she wants to try and match with me. Now I didn’t know what she would wear but I was expecting something more baggy like shes been wearing nowadays.

So later on, before the 24th obviously, I got permission to borrow the car. The amazing Mitsubishi Lancer Hatchback. It’s a nice car to be honest and it’s not everyday you see a Lancer Hatchback either and I love driving this car too since it’s so small and parking is never a problem as long as it’s legal. So I tell my friend I’ll pick her up around 4:40 and by the time we get to the gardener there won’t be as much as traffic as there usually is.

So the 24th arrived quicker than I had expected. I got home from work around 2 and took a shower immediately. Gave myself the everything shower minus shaving my beard. I got ready around 3:20 and left the house at 4:25. I pulled into her mom’s driveway at 4:35, grabbed the bouquet of flowers from the back and walked to the front door and her mom’s boyfriend was there with the door opened before I even reached the storm gate.

I don’t think i mentioned this but this dude genuinely does not like me at all. He looks at me as if i offended three generations of his family, speaks to me as if im not worth the effort or time and I could tell he didn’t want me around my friend, I’ve heard him mention it to my friends mom before, telling her that “he’s probably using her for himself. Teenage boys are like that.” Like EXCUSE me but this dude is genuinely 13 years OLDER than his girlfriend. I don’t have a big problem with a ten year age gap considering my parents have one but I personally wouldn’t want that. But when your gf is 46 and you’re pushing 60 in just a few months? He can’t take all the blame though considering my friend’s mom is consenting. Anyways he allows me in reluctantly and tells me to bring her back home by 11. I haven’t even said hello yet to anyone and I have yet to see my friend and he’s playing dad and talking about curfew already. I just nod because what else am I supposed to do. Her mom appears eventually, thank god, and she just hugs me and I could feel the dudes eyes pointing daggers into the back of my skull. Her mom tells me to just drive safe and don’t worry about the time too much and just enjoy myself. I was surprised she said that but why would i refuse?

So a good two minutes pass and I hear heels clicking down the stairs and when I look up… oh my days. I kid you not that she was absolutely stunning. Genuinely beautiful. That was probably the first time she’s seen me stunned and jaw dropped because she just laughs as she reached my side and she just pushes my jaw back up and I couldn’t just contain my smile. I hand her the flowers and I get a hug in return. Her mom tells us to stand together by the wall for a picture, I know I haven’t mentioned this one but her mom loves taking “perfect” photos. We stood side my side like smiling statues and her mom takes a single photo, looks at it and gives us a solid “tsk tsk tsk.” She starts to rearrange how we’re standing and where our hands are(this is important.) she made my friend hold the flowers at a certain angle so that it covered some of her and me. She made her lean slightly more into me and made me put an arm around her waist. She took the photos and we finally left.

So as we were getting to Toronto, listening to drake(very fitting) she was quieter than usual. I asked her if somethings wrong and she tells me she’s just happy we’re doing this after a few stressful weeks.

We finally found parking, I paid the nine bucks and we walked to the restaurant. We find a nice two seat table and sit down, place orders and just sit with each other for a bit. I ask her how she’s feeling so far. She smiles and tells me she’s just really happy. But shes also trying her best not to think or talk about the “thing” because she knows I put effort into this and she doesn’t want to ruin the night. I tell her that she doesn’t need to do that or have to be ashamed about the pregnancy because it may have been a mistake but it also let us get closer in a way we never expected. She looks at me for a moment, fully silent and I thought I said something wrong but she instead held my hand from across the table.

Food comes out, we didn’t order steak at a steakhouse which now that I think about it, im confused why we did that. We instead got pasta. She got some pasta that had bits of meat in it, i got a pasta with wagyu beef in it. It was banging. We finish dinner, sat for a while longer, talking and laughing and left about 30 minutes after dinner. We walked around a while. She got cold and like the gentleman I am, I handed her my suit jacket. We walked to the harbour front and even though it was dark we still sat together. Huddled close for warmth at first and then it turned into sitting close to just be close. We talk more. I don’t even remember what we talked about but those are usually the best conversations.

Now i got a comment on one of my earlier posts, i don’t remember who exactly asked me but they asked “do you love her?” I really didn’t have a straight answer at first but ended up with yes. So eventually we got quiet and I really don’t know how it happened but we just kissed. Only once. It wasn’t a long kiss but it wasn’t short either. Long enough for her to hold my face for a bit before we pulled away. And to be honest, that kiss was a lot better than what happened in bed a few weeks ago prior to this.

We got in the car by 11 and I dropped her off later on. The drive was quiet but we did hold hands on the centre console thing and I felt that was the most romantic thing I’d ever done before. Luckily her moms boyfriend was asleep by the time I dropped her off.

When I got home, my brothers were still awake, asked how dinner was and if I brought left overs. Told them dinner was good and I really left it at that. I still haven’t told anyone what happened that night, im really not planning to tell anyone in my family. Maybe a few close friends but that’s it.

I’ve been thinking about the date itself and I haven’t seen her since considering I had no school today. Im looking forward to seeing her tomorrow morning and being close with her

*Trigger Warning* depiction of depression and negative emotions

Lines from some old Christmas song blared, waking him with a start. Moaning, his hand fumbled with the snooze button long enough to hear who was kissing Santa Claus before he rolled over. Eyes opened, he studied the little red screen until he understood that it said 7 AM. He had no idea why he had set the alarm for Saturday, but since he would not be able to sleep now, there was no point in lying there much longer.

Charlie sat up. He heard the cracking of his back as he stretched. Rising, he stifled a yawn as he trudged to the bathroom. Taking care not to glance in the mirror, he stripped and got in the shower.

Knowing the hot shower could not last forever, Charlie concentrated on how nice it felt, ignoring the faint tugging at the back of his mind. Today would be good. It had started a little early, but Charlie was sure he could keep his mind peaceful for a day.

As soon as he shut the water off, the cold enveloped him. Charlie knew it would not be long before he showed up to force the chill into Charlie’s core. Grabbing a towel, Charlie stepped out and pressed his hands to his temple, trying to engulf his mind in distractions. Staring straight into the mirror, hating everything he saw, he realized it was no use today. He was already with Charlie.

He dressed slowly, wanting to prolong the moment, wanting anything to keep from leaving the tiny, warm room. He heaved a deep sigh and opened the door, his heart sinking. He had awoken in a good, happy mood. But, of course, that never seems to matter, clearly displayed by the smiling man standing by Charlie’s bed.

Lu. What a name. It was much too simple for so complex a man. There he lounged, long and slender, dressed in his usual black attire, his white face grinning, eyes bright. At first glance, he looked like a charming man; he held himself casually and his deep eyes hardly appeared red from a distance. When Charlie entered the room Lu chuckled softly, a melodic, terrifying sound. He knew Charlie would ignore him, and that just would not do.

“Why such a sour mood? Aren’t you glad to see me?” Lu inquired placidly. “You wish for someone with whom to confide; yet when I offer just that, you turn away. Very rude indeed, Charlie.”

His smooth, light voice forced warmth and kindness, yet underneath held something more sinister. Charlie heard this, as he always did, and chose to look away, afraid Lu’s eyes would read the depths of his own.

Lu glided closer and rested a hand on Charlie’s shoulder. He said, “You really should learn to speak up. I hear your thoughts clearly, but you could at least humor me with actual conversation.”

He gave Charlie’s shoulder a sharp squeeze and Charlie was shocked with the image of his father, stumbling through snow, searching for a road sign or phone or anything. Two white lights flashed behind him and Charlie was shaking, standing again in his room, realizing what Lu had just done. The bastard was going to give him hell today.

Shaking Lu off, Charlie stepped a few paces away, looking into those deep, knowing eyes he wished he had never seen. He sighed deeply and said, “I want to be left alone today.”

Lu frowned. 

“You really don’t care for my feelings at all do you?”

“You really don’t care for mine, either.”

“Oh, but I do. I care for them very much… I merely prefer the ones that you don’t,” Lu said, smirking. 

Charlie closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and said, “I see. You like sadness and anger and hatred. You get off by making me feel like sh-”

“Who are you talking to?”

His eyes shot open when he heard Ruthie’s voice, and he was shocked to see that he was alone but for her. 
He turned to see her standing in the doorway. She was still in her nightie and was rubbing her eyes sleepily. 

His initial reaction was to tell her to leave, but he realized he had raised his voice before and awakened her. He could not be angry with her when she stood there looking up at him with innocent concern. She was only eight and would not understand if he tried to explain to her, but she loved her older brother too much to be sent away without an answer.

Charlie thought for a moment and said wistfully, “I was reciting some old play from English class. It was nothing. How about I make you some breakfast?”

Ruthie’s blank expression quickly shifted to eagerness as she agreed to his proposal and ran to the stairs, her tangly, brown curls bouncing around her face.

Charlie went to follow her as a white, spiderlike hand touched his arm, causing him to turn. He knew Lu had not actually left, but the disappointment still etched his face. This only brought the other man amusement. He swiftly pointed to the nightstand before stepping past Charlie and disappearing down the hallway.

Charlie looked at the nightstand and regretfully grasped the tiny, glinting piece of metal. Stowing it away in his pocket, he lightly ran his forefinger along the tiny blade, utterly aware of the scars hidden beneath his sleeve.

After an eventful morning flipping pancakes, coloring Muppets pictures, and scrubbing syrup out of Ruthie’s hair, Charlie felt warm. He sat in the living room watching Ruthie do a puzzle. He would have helped her right away, but she always insisted on doing it herself, though she ended up asking Charlie to help anyway. He laughed a little thinking about it.  

He stared at the blank television screen, not even thinking to turn it on. They did not have cable and the local stations never had cartoons. Just as he was about to ask if Ruthie was done attempting to force the wrong piece into place, Kathy walked by. He glanced up to see her still in her robe and looking as though she would keep it that way all day. She opened the fridge and the light emphasized the bags under her eyes. Looking away when her eyes wandered over to him, Charlie stared ahead, furrowing his brow and crossing his arms.

He heard Kathy sigh and start shuffling off to her bedroom. Charlie felt the guilt immediately and turned to her. 

“Good morning, Mom.”

Kathy halted and looked at him, searching his eyes. She replied, “Good morning, hon.” 

She began to leave again and he said, “I thought I would take Ruthie to Cheryl’s today. You know, since she likes to play there and it would be nice to get out…”

Kathy smiled an odd smile, nodding her head and agreeing. Charlie knew the smile was there to mask the sadness in her eyes. He grinned at her, attempting to tell her with his expression that he did not wish her to be sad. She nodded again, understanding, and walked off to her room, leaving Charlie to ponder her behavior. She had been mourning, just as he had, but she had also stopped caring. He knew that she still loved him, but she had turned to alcohol recently, which left him to care for Ruthie more and take her away when he knew Kathy was going to drink. She was never violent, but she had become rather mean at times and said things Charlie knew she had never meant. Still, he felt better when Ruthie was out of the house and was not exposed to her mother’s problems.

Charlie leaned forward and told Ruthie to gather up the puzzle and put on some clothes. She trotted off without picking up the puzzle and Charlie grabbed the pieces and tossed them into the box. He put a few toys in Ruthie’s little backpack and handed it to her as she came down the stairs. Wrapping her puffy green jacket around her, Charlie guided her to the front door and hollered goodbye to his mother.

They walked along the street holding hands. Ruthie hummed a tune while Charlie kept her out of the road. Without realizing what he was seeing, Charlie stared at the person walking a couple meters ahead. It was not until they were approaching the driveway of Cheryl’s house when Charlie noticed how thin the man was. He wore all black and underneath his white blonde hair his neck was ghostly. Charlie frowned and walked Ruthie to the door. He exchanged “hellos” and hugged Ruthie goodbye. He did not want to walk back home now.

He meandered along the drive and glanced down the street. No one was there and he sighed freely.

“He seems to be gone.”

Charlie turned with a start and stared angrily into Lu’s face. The latter merely smiled in his way, lazily placing his hands in his pockets. 

Charlie decided to find a distraction, so he started toward the busy shopping street. Lu stepped easily into place beside him and spoke not a word more, enjoying Charlie’s annoyance too greatly.

How hideous he felt when Lu was near him. That is what he did to him; he made him feel sick to his stomach. When would he leave Charlie alone? Just as Lu most likely had intended, Charlie’s scars seemed to burn in an irritating way, tingling only in his mind. He fiddled with his sleeve, wishing for anything to rescue him now. 

As they entered the busy street, Charlie cringed at the sight of Lu’s hungry eyes searching the crowd, picking out the weak ones. They passed by a medical clinic and Charlie faltered for a moment when he noticed a young woman stepping outside. She looked petrified and wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering with sobs. Wondering what could be the matter, Charlie noticed Lu watching the girl. Lu’s eyes danced and he smirked a terrible smirk that chilled Charlie’s insides. Wanting to be away from the poor girl, Charlie quickened his pace, hoping Lu would follow. He looked over his shoulder and his heart sank.

Lu drifted forward and began whispering in the girl’s ear. She did not appear to see Lu, but clearly heard his voice in her head. Charlie racked his brains for something to do when he noticed something bright on the girl’s arm. It seemed to glow in one spot and it must have felt warm; the girl seemed to notice it anyway, for she placed one hand on the spot and looked stunned. Lu saw it as well and his face contorted with rage. Charlie, on the other hand, grinned widely.
 
“Tom.”

As he spoke the name, a tall, slightly built man with thick curly hair and plain white clothes faded into view beside the girl. Charlie was astonished; he had stopped speaking to Tom so long ago that he had forgotten his name until now. How he could forget Tom seemed quite senseless. The quiet man never intruded, yet he had stuck around until Charlie had completely forgotten him. 

Lu straightened up and stepped away from the girl, the anger in his eyes unyielding as Tom spoke softly to the girl. Her face was stained with tears, but she was no longer sobbing. She kept glancing around, obviously wondering if someone was actually speaking to her.  She seemed to not care in the end and merely allowed Tom’s words to carry her back inside. She looked around once more as she stepped through the door and smiled to herself.

Charlie watched as the two men before him bore into each other’s eyes, gray into red. Without a word, Tom looked away and his eyes found Charlie’s instead. His soft, serious face broke into a wide smile as he walked forward, arms wide. Charlie accepted the hug more than willingly and knew Tom would only let go once he did. Stepping back, he looked up into the face of this friend he had so missed. Tom looked right back, his old, wise eyes somehow fitting perfectly on his young face. The two stood this way until Lu broke the silence.

“How very sweet. I might just vomit. Charlie, how can you embrace this man? I thought he had forgotten you. He left as soon as you ceased speaking to him. He can’t handle the fact that you choose to spend your time in my company instead,” he said scathingly.

Tom’s eyes widened as he took Lu in. He spoke softly, “I never forgot Charlie. I have always been with him. You know that. I think you have led him astray long enough.”

Charlie bit his lip and leaned away from Tom, looking down and saying, “But you did leave. I haven’t seen you in months. I hardly remembered your name just now… because you’ve been gone.”
  Charlie was glad his eyes were averted because Tom’s piercing stare would have been too much to handle. He waited patiently, though, for Tom to respond. He unconsciously rubbed his arm, running his fingers along the rough skin. He only stopped when Tom’s warm hand grasped his arm and he looked up to see sorrow in those old eyes.

“I never left you. Charlie… you never wanted to listen when I tried to help, you said that getting better was too much work, so you ignored me. Even so, I have always stood by. You woke up one day and chose not to see me, and so you did not. Charlie, you would have left this world by now if I had not held onto you. Every time you fight Lu and choose to be happy, I am with you. I will never leave you,” Tom said at last, while Lu scoffed unintelligibly.

Charlie stood between the two men, one of light, the other of darkness, and was torn. He could not think why he would be torn between these two. One forced misery upon him, the other offered hope. 

Just as he began to say something, Lu reached out and grabbed his arm, pushing Tom’s hand away. His eyes flashing, Lu smiled his awful smile and Charlie was thrust into a whirlwind of dreadful memories: himself, taking the blade to his arm; his mother, drinking her sadness away; his father, in the hospital, breathing his final breath. Lu laughed eagerly as Charlie shuddered and stumbled back into an alleyway. 

With every heaving breath, the pain of sorrow ached his body more heavily. Charlie dropped to his knees and stared up into the white, chaotically joyous face above him. This was the end and he was ready. He wanted the world to vanish and leave him to be nothing, alone. Just as Lu leaned over him, guiding his hand to his pocket, a stronger hand pushed Lu back with such force that he stumbled and fell over.

Tom stood over Charlie, his jaw set and brow furrowed. He tried to push his fear away, but Charlie was utterly shocked. Not only had Tom acted violently, he was angry. Charlie had never seen him angry before, and he did not think that he liked it. He crawled away from Tom, cutting his hand on some glass. He swiftly wiped it on his jacket and attempted to get up. Tom, his expression softening, leaned over and lifted Charlie into his arms, humming a lullaby he recognized from another life.

Charlie, limp in Tom’s arms, felt a warmth spread through him as glorious images syphoned their way into his mind: the lullaby Tom was singing, but coming from his mother’s smiling face; Ruthie coloring picture upon picture of Muppets; his mother again, only in her robe, humming the lullaby and sobbing, looking at a picture of Charlie and Ruthie. He closed his eyes to the warm moisture he felt, trying to hold in every feeling and emotion he had been hiding since his father had died and Lu had begun tormenting him. 

Lu was standing a few paces away, looking at the sight of Charlie in Tom’s arms with disgust and fury. He lost all of his cool composure and shouted, “You could end it all now, Charlie! This worthless excuse for a man can never make you happy enough! Your life will never be perfect and your father will always be dead! You are worthless and have no purpose here!”

He spat on the ground at Tom’s feet, standing his ground. At this, Charlie stepped once again between the two men, torn. He observed Lu, confused by his lack of coolness. He had always seemed so sure, yet now he showed his weakness: a challenge. To Charlie’s right stood Tom, serious and concerned, yet sure.  Charlie wanted him to speak, to tell Charlie that Lu was wrong, to tell him that he should stay.

Tom sighed deeply and looked to the sky. He spoke with measured words when he said, “You have the ability to do whatever you please, Charlie. Only know that the good parts of life will always make the bad parts worth it. Know that there will always be at least one person who loves you.”

On the last word, Tom pierced Charlie with his deep, gray eyes. He glanced at his left arm, lined with sadness, and knew what he wanted. He knew now more than he ever had what the right thing to do was. 

He turned and pushed the man away, falling into the other.

Charlie and Ruthie came inside and put away their coats. Charlie glanced into his mother’s room as he walked Ruthie to get ready for bed. Kathy was doing a crossword while some game show flashed on the television. He kept walking.

Once Ruthie had brushed her teeth and changed, Charlie tucked her in and went downstairs. He lingered outside his mother’s room for a moment before stepping inside. She looked up as he entered and put down her pen. She stretched and smiled at him as he sat on the edge of the bed. He looked down at the picture in his hands and grinned. He leaned over and placed the photo in his mother’s hand and watched her face. She gave him a teary smile and kissed his cheek. He laid his head on her lap and began humming his childhood lullaby, happiness spreading through him as his mother stroked his hair and joined in.

When he left her room an hour or so later and grabbed the bottle that was next to her bed, and she did not object, which he took to be quite a good sign. He had kissed her goodnight and left her singing happily. He shuffled up the stairs and made his way to bed. As he lay there, he rubbed his arm and smiled, knowing that the scars would fade. Life could be beautiful.
He felt a warm hand touch his head and he whispered goodnight. 

I wonder if some people have this feeling that they're either having sort of...memories? from a past life, or even concurrent ones. I do. Several. And in at least one of them I'm/was mentally retarded. And this is very beautiful girl who loves me. I think she's my wife, and I've done some stupid things in the past and she would stand there and berate me for like 10 minutes while I'm staring at the void barely understanding a thing she says. I'm pretty sure we do the deed every now and then too. I can feel she loves me deeply, and there's something reassuring to her about the total lack of judgment from my part. I go even farther "off-grid" when we are intimate, if you know what I mean. Nothing in the world makes sense. Sometimes I hear my own voice and I don't know if I'm actually talking or not. Am I deaf or hard-of-hearing or something? I don't know. But I like doing chores like shoveling snow and blowing leaves as well as mowing the lawn. There's this pet I learned to feed. Even the pet knows to not rely on me for what it wants. The girl takes better care of him and all of us. She has a kid. I don't know if it's mine. The whole world is a blur.

The end.

I am currently on vacation. This story involves two people (fake names) Joel and his daughter Lily. Lily had ordered a peach iced tea which either of them had tried and joel ordered a beer. Joel wanted to try the tea and Lily said that If he wanted to try her tea she wanted to try his beer. He said sure. Lily is 10, he gave his 10 year old daughter beer cuz he wanted a sip of iced tea

I am terrified of skunk encounters in the wild, for obvious reasons. I think they’re adorable when I see videos of them but I get freaked out when I see them in the wild. Today I’m convinced a skunk knew this and decided to torment me at work.

I have a job that involves a lot of maintenance and upkeep of ornamental gardens at an arboretum, and the actual curators for the gardeners are some older people who volunteer their time to tending their exhibits. I’m here to mostly help with any tasks they need me to do that they physically can’t do. One garden exhibit needs some mulching done, but the area is on a slight slope, so some kind of barrier needs to be put into place to prevent the mulch from washing away in the event of rain. So me being the young spry buck I am I was going to go along the creek in the woods next to the arboretum and collect large rocks to try and make a natural looking barrier.

And then the skunk appeared. I opened the fence gate to scout out the best trail to carry the large rocks to my wheelbarrow and the smell of skunk lingered. No big deal, we’re outside anyways. But then I saw the fucker running towards me, and I was maybe 20 feet away. I freaked out, assumed it was rabid or after me and jetted away and locked the gate. I walked back to the office to cool down a bit and someone driving by said they saw the skunk take off across the street. I returned about 5 minutes later assuming the coast was clear.

I ended up getting all the rocks I needed and was moving them to the wheelbarrow care free, when I saw the skunk running at me AGAIN. At this point I just assumed it’s rabid, why is it actively seeking out a person? I couldn’t get to the gate without running directly at the skunk so I ran up to the fence line and scaled the 8 foot fence like a convict escaping prison and watched the skunk run along the same trail I was collecting rocks from, not a care in the world for my presence. I followed it from behind the fence until it disappeared.

I was so on edge because what the hell is it doing?? Why did it come back a second time? I ended up taking the risk and finished moving the rocks and by the time I got them all to the gate, I was about to take the first load in the wheelbarrow when I saw the skunk in the distance coming back a 3rd time. I had plenty of time to move so I hid behind the fence, watched him run along carefree. I just moved all the rocks to inside the gate and locked it up before making wheelbarrow trips and washed my hands of this bullying.

I have never in my life been bullied so hard by a wild animal. I yelled at the skunk the 3rd time it came back “why do you keep coming back” kinda hoping it’d stop and maybe scratch the ground on edge at me but it just ignored me and kept running along the trails. I am the skunks bitch.

Okay, so girl… I need you to sit down for this because WHAT HAPPENED TO ME IS ACTUALLY INSANE.
So basically, for the past few months, I had this weird feeling that someone was watching me. Every time I left work, I’ve been getting strange texts like “ you looked beautiful today” or “ new scrubs?” Sometimes I’d notice the same guy in the emergency room, or standing across in the parking lot.
At first, I thought I was being dramatic.
Until I started getting anonymous letters in the mail as well.
The first one was a note w rose petals and a single kiss candy. I didn’t bother to read it just threw it all away. But
Girl. I GOT ON My Phone & blocked the THE NUMBER i was getting any strange texts from.
And made a report, I cant stop mail but i can stop the texts. Then another message came through from a different number.
“You really shouldn’t walk to your car alone.”
Like um EXCUSE ME?!
I started checking over my shoulder everywhere I went. I even reported it, but nobody could figure out who was doing it.
Now, here’s where things get CRAZY.
One night, I got off work late. It was raining, my phone was dead, and the parking lot was practically empty.
I was walking to my car when I heard someone behind me.
I turned around, and this random man started asking me questions.
I tried to ignore him, but he suddenly grabbed my wheel and trying to make his way into my car, he pulls me out slammed me against the ground.
I STARTED SCREAMING.
He covered my mouth and tried dragging me. I was fighting for my life, literally. I genuinely thought I was about to die.
And then a guy shouted “ hey, hey let go of her now. .”.
And guess who was standing there?
THE GUY WHO HAD BEEN IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM AND PARKING LOT SOMETIMES.
I WAS SO CONFUSED.
The attacker told him to mind his own business, but this man just stood there staring at him like he was about to lose his mind.
He said, “I’m not going to tell you again.”
From there he charged at him, and the two of them started fighting and attacker ended up running away.
I ran in the opposite direction and I scrambled toward the building and called the police.
Then the attacker ran.
Andthe guy
He immediately came to look for me and said he texted me not to walk to my car alone at night.
Thats when it hit me this guy was my “stalker” idk what to even call him but he saved me but im also extremely uncomfortable. This guy has sent letters to my house knows where i live and is following me. Yes he saved me. But idk what to think about all of this. Absolutely crazy. Police ended up showing up took a report and yes i made two reports that night. Idk its has to been the freakiest thing to happen to me. Ill be moving soon thats for sure.

I was molested at 6, then again twice when I was 18. At 18, I also got pregnant with my boyfriend and had to go through an abortion. The same relationship lasted two years, during which he cheated on me while I was dealing with health problems. When the truth came out, he made up an entire story and told our university that I was the one who cheated. I almost quit university at 20 because of everything. Eventually, I went to therapy, and life started getting better.

Then I lost my pet. Four months later, I watched my grandmother lie in a hospital for 22 days, unconscious, struggling to breathe, fighting for her life while all I could do was stand there and hope she would somehow make it through. I watched her suffer. I watched the uncertainty, the machines, the endless waiting, and the helplessness of wanting to save someone you love more than anything but not being able to do a damn thing.

And here I am, just 22 years old, carrying all of this.

I’m numb, but I’m okay, I guess. I tend to run away from my feelings by distracting myself, and eventually, I accept things without letting them hurt me as much. I don’t know if that’s healing or just my way of coping.

But sometimes, when I look back at everything I’ve survived, I genuinely think I’m the strongest person I know.

I’m not saying I’m unbreakable. I’m just amazed that after everything life has thrown at me, I’m still here, trying to live.

Maybe I don’t need to be strong all the time. Maybe I deserve some peace, too.

I’m not saying I’m strong because none of this affects me. It does. I’m not saying I’ve healed from everything because I haven’t. There are things I still haven’t completely processed, things that might hurt me years from now, and things I don’t even have the words to explain.

I’m only 22. I should be worrying about my career, making memories, figuring out who I am, and enjoying my twenties. Instead, I’ve already experienced things that have fundamentally changed the way I see people, love, loss, and life itself.

I work in a 6 floor apartment complex as a maintenance guy. Fixing leaky faucets, simple plumbing and electrical servicing, painting and doing repairs in suites after residents have moved out, stuff like that.

Now this particular Monday morning, I pooped before I left home. And as I was leaving home, I did not have any sensations of, “I am going to have to poop soon,” or “I still kinda have to poop.”

However, shortly after coming off the the highway exit to get to the building, a sensation came over me. By the time I was at the stop light, the threat was mounting. By the time I had turned into the parking lot, it was an emergency. It had to happen now.

At this point, I need to be in a bathroom immediately. I knew right where I wanted to go and I prioritized an empty suite I had worked in recently. 225.

I beelined across the parking lot for the bicycle entrance with urgency, a storage room on the corner of the building nearest my parking spot that only bicycle owners have access to from the inside or outside.

From there, I would go up the stairs right inside the just inside the building, dash down the second floor hallway, and get to 225 so I had privacy to poop in peace.

I get inside 225, and it’s a 2x bath unit. I check both bathrooms. No toilet paper. Oh no, I could have sworn I left a roll in here.

This is a problem. By this point, my butt is cramping from keeping those muscles engaged, holding the door closed with all my might.

Hold the door. Hol dador. Holdador. Holdor.
Hodor. Hodor. Hodor.

I dash to the elevator. But when I say “dash” it’s more like a penguin power walk.

There is another empty suite. 410. It’s the last room I was working in on Friday. I know there is toilet paper there. But when I get to the elevator, I accidentally hit the down arrow instead of the up arrow. So I quickly hit the other button.

Now, these elevators are kinda funny. They pick a direction based on whatever button you push on the wall, and prioritize that direction. So if I hit “down” first, the elevator that reaches me first will be prioritizing going down. Which means if I enter the elevator and hit floor 3 or up, it won’t register IF someone on the 1st floor is calling the elevator down at the same time. So if I’m on the 2nd and I want to go to the 4th but I step in an elevator called by me pressing the down button, and someone on the 1st floor is trying the use the elevator, I will have to ride down to the 1st floor first, and then ride the elevator back up to 4th with whoever just stepped on.

I could not look any other human in the eyes right now.

When I first entered the building, I took out an earbud and heard people down the hallway, near the entrance.

The likelihood of someone calling the elevator down was a gamble at this point. If the elevator doors fully close and I’m mashing the 4 button, I will still go up if no one has called it down.

So, here I am, 2nd floor elevator hall, with a butt pocket full of death and chaos. The elevator arrives. It has a down arrow illuminated. I roll the dice. I let it close. I hope and pray the second elevator is en route, prepared to receive me and chariot me to my throne.

I’m in luck. It arrives as the first elevators doors are closing. I see my guiding light, an illuminated arrow pointing up. 4th floor button pressed, followed by the “close door” button pressed with fervor, mashing it multiple times.

The doors open, I penguin power walk through the hallway, suite 410 in my sights. My master key finds the lock. I’m inside. I’m on the toilet. Toilet paper on the counter safely. And I release the beast.

I have not had to shit that bad in a really long time. Full blown poomergency. But today was a victory. Today is a day that will be remembered in the annals (anals 🤭) of history. One of triumph in the face of adversity. One of success.

Something a little fun about this whole experience though, is that on my way into work this morning, I was listening to music. I had found a 3+ hour Breaking Benjamin playlist. Mostly Breaking Ben with some other similar songs from that era. It’s a band I strongly associate with Halo, and I had spent several hours on Saturday playing the Halo CE remake with Breaking Ben playing.

And this was still playing on my ear the whole time I’m fighting for my life. So in an attempt to make the situation a little less stressful, I used my 🌟imagination🌟 to pretend I was fighting some enemy force, holding a line in battle against some overwhelming enemy. A crucial exit, a door, a bridge, some position I had to defend while bad guys attacked.

At the moment when all hope seemed lost, reinforcements arrived and the day was saved. I won’t say that it made the experience of my stupid asshole fighting to ferociously shit my pants “fun”, but at least more tolerable, if not a little more intense. I had various war faces on most of the time.

WARNING:

This is a story my father told me, so maybe I don't know all the details. But I still think it'd be interesting to share.

My father, who's now retired, worked for over 40 years in a large metalworking company, even becoming a shift manager. He had a friend there, whose son also started to work there. His son, who's now in in his late 30s, got hired when he was in his early 20s or something, and worked for about 15 years there. Let's call him Dennis for convenience (fake name, obviously). The managers appreciated his commitment and competence, so they entrusted him with the task of training the new, young employees, with whom he spent time during breaks. In his private life, he had a girlfriend.

About one or two years ago, a Chinese guy was hired, let's call him Ming, and placed under Dennis's responsibility. Suddenly though, after a few months, Ming handed in his resignation overnight. He asked my father to make him sign the papers, which was kind of unusual, because usually the responsible (in this case, Dennis) has to countersign it. My father even said that Ming was a bit in a hurry, because apparently he had found another job and had to sign the contract quickly.

Months later, one of his colleagues told him that Ming didn't actually found another job. Apparently, he resigned because Dennis had made explicit advances to him, leaving him shocked. My father was disturbed by this, but since he had no solid prooves and it was just a rumor he decided not to tell the bosses. I don't blame him, you can't just accuse a person of something based on a rumor, risking to put an innocent person in trouble.

More months later though, when my father had already retired (so he knew about the rest of the story from former colleagues), Ming eventually sued Dennis, and chaos exploded. It turned out that Dennis was a closeted bisexual and that, for years, he molested almost every new hire he was teaching. He even used to periodically cheat on his girlfriend with a ladyboy he had met in Thailand. Nor his parents, nor the bosses, nor his girlfriend knew anything about this. Plus, in the past, Dennis used to be a soccer coach in a team of teenagers. Nobody knows if he did anything there, but everybody hopes he didn't, for obvious reasons. Eventually, the company fired Dennis and also sued him, along with Ming. My father said that, after Dennis was fired, pretty much no one ever heard anything about him again.

In general, this person was clearly sick. But at least somebody has the guts to sue him. I hope more victims will decide to sue him too. And my father was also impacted by this, because we're talking about the son of a friend he had known for years. And from Dennis's parents' perspective, imagine finding out your son is a serial molester, it must be so devastating.

‎My family is a broken family, I used to live with my father while my mother works abroad, one day, she decided to come back to our country and bought me and my little brother to her mother to take care of us.

‎ ‎Living with grandma mean I live with two of my mother's cousin too, they're both guy's, one and two years older than me, we used to play games and house with my little brother, but there was a time they become a little more closer than usual.

‎ ‎I was six and innocent, since they are older than me, I used to listen and do as I was commanded, as I am teached for. One time, we were playing house, they're working to build a house made of cushion and blanket, and they told me to lay on my front inside the "house."

‎ ‎And because I just listen and act, I did, while playing on phone, while waiting for them to finish, they would lay on my back while I'm on my floor, I just ignore them, but they get a little too far it was uncomfortable, with clothes on, but the harassment was there because he was humping on me.

‎ ‎I never liked any of it, that's why I decided not to play with them anymore. But that wasn't it, the next time was while I was laying on bed, playing by myself, they would climb up and cover me with them in the blanket, I was overwhelmed so they told me to close my eyes...

‎ ‎But with eyes close, I still could feel the disgusting parts of them whenever they tried to grab my hand and force it to touch their private parts. I was told not to tell it to anyone, but because I was scared, I listened.

‎ ‎A lot time passed, during that time, I become close with girl best friends, we played something that will have us telling our secrets to others, but because I don't have any secrets except one, I told it to them. And finally at the time, I realized my wrong doings and they told me to tell it to my parents. I decided not, because I was scared.

‎ ‎But in six grade where I often avoid them, the guy who is one year older than me come to me while I was playing on my phone. He told me to play with him, the same game we used to play when we we're kids, but because of my friends, I finally learned what it means and avoid him, refusing and saying "no."

‎ ‎At that time, I was so disgusted by myself and them, because he said that "I liked it too..." I didn't, I was disgusted, sickened, horrified, scared and mad, I never once thought that I'm not awkward and crushed everytime I dream about the fog nightmares of memory stuck like cycle on my brain.

‎ ‎At that time, I started hating them even more, I become avoidant, introvert, close minded and slowly drowning in resentment each second passes. But I decided to let it go just one last time.

‎ ‎By the time passed, something happened again, with the guy that is one year older. I was just sleeping in bed with my cousin, but because they went out to play, the guy went to the room, to lay in bed with me, I was sleeping, but I woke up on the part where he was touching my breast and grabbing my hand to please his private part.

‎ ‎I felt the nauseous tightened on my throat, I immediately looked at him disgusted, run to the bathroom and wash my hand with dry throat. I was thinking at the time, "This... This is no longer fucking forgivable." So I went to my province, while I was clearing my mind, my friend who knows my situation finally forced me to tell it to my mother.

‎ ‎I did, I told them every single thing... But, nothing change... I was told, "let it go, there were just kids, you can't win over them." And I felt the weight, the very moment I thought I have the right to speak, was also the very moment I was shut off.

‎ ‎So letting shit go become a habit, I was teached to not tell the wrong, so I force myself to everything that they think was right. I was still disgusted by myself, but it's only just myself that I could trust.

‎ ‎I drown, and never felt to swim up, I have feelings but decided to reduce the emotions I let out, I tried to accept things that I never wanted to know, and I started hating myself as I change into a even worse person.

But as I keep changing, somehow, I started craving things I hated... That's on another story, cut me some slack please

My friend was texting her through my phone and when the step dad found out he sent police to my house to accost me. Didn’t think much of it til friend tells me he’s in jail and what for.

So yeah basically the title. Im a tattoo artist and we have been together 5 years. Initially she didn't care if I did tattoos from the house or who I did them on. But I will admit I cheated on her. It was literally only once with one client. Ever since then she has been bat shit crazy and doesn't want me doing female clients at all and doesn't want me doing tats in the house . This all came out and started abt 2 years ago . I'll admit she has tried to leave me but I always am able to get her back . Anyways we have had an ongoing issue with me doing females tattoos. It got to the point when they would come over she would be so rude and run them off . So I stopped doing females tattoos for a while (unless I have time and she is not at the house to know ) I have a main job and make enough to live comfortably tattoos are just a side hustle. Well she went to go to her families for a family reunion a couple weeks ago and I had my home boy and his new gf over . I did a tat on her side . My bm/girlfriend found out and went absolutely ballistic. I told her she was tripping and needs to get over it and that I did nothing wrong. She then stops crying and says yk what? Do as many bitches tats as you want . Tell them to enjoy that ' Spink ' . I was like wtf is Spink? She just started laughing . Then she said she knew I've been doing this behind her back and lying and she hopes everyone enjoys their Spink. All I can assume is spit in the ink? Could it mean something else ? She won't speak anymore abt it and is acting weirdly calm. I threw out the ink but now idk if it's safe for me to do tats anymore . I love her with all my heart and I fuck up sometimes and that is part of life. I'm really starring to think she is a cold hearted unforgiving psycho.

Edit: I'm not saying she for sure did and I don't see her actually ever doing something like that but, it's just a bit far to even say or put in my mind . Literally threw away 3/4 a bottle of ink cuz she won't clarify what that meant or speak to me. Ik she is mad so I'm giving her space but she needs to learn how to communicate and not play mind games .

I am the sailor, the ship, and the seas

The sailor stands out front, navigating as waves crash into his ship

The ship holds beneath him, strong, willing but only guided by the sailor

The sailor, strong, determined, and readily to be switched on at all times

He often grows tired of the people on his ship and often feels lonely

All while being surrounded by his crew, he sees the light in all of them, the pain, the suffering, the stories, the smiles, and frowns

But sometimes the sailor feels he is used like a worn rag, on days when the rain pours heavily his crew they grow angry at him

The sailor tries to reason and show patience because, after all, they are a part of his ship

But sometimes he feels they treat him unfairly they steal, they lie, they cheat.

However, the sailor he must navigate this. He has made his ship and now must move forward

The ship bellows beneath him, another thing the sailor must navigate

The ship is a part of him now. Without it, he would be a man stranded at sea

The ship to the sailor feels like his protector

It is steady for the most part

It represents the part of himself that he knows is sure, that he doesn't question, that feels like he is always a part of him

He stays true to the ship. In the ways he is true to himself

The seas

Most people would think the seas are not the sailor. They are not the ship

The seas are life

However, the sailor disagrees

The seas are also a part of him, he cant deny that yes, the seas are unpredictable, are changing, are wild and free

But then again, that will never change

Yes, there will be days when the seas are calm

But then to be followed by rough waves and scary storms

So the sailor has come to accept this part of himself, the part that knows there will be up days and down days

But for the most part, it's how he looks at it

If he judges the seas, hates it

It will still be untamable, unmanageable

However if he embraces the seas, as apart of him, apart of life

He manages them better, he works with instead of against

He knows with certainty that he has no control over this part

Only the way he perceives

I was late, had to work a bit overtime to pay my bills. It was 10 at night, and the train was mostly empty. I sat in the last row.

My eyes were shutting on their own. My triceps were heavy, as if someone had put a hundred kilos on my arms. My legs felt as heavy as my school bag did when I was younger. My lower back was in so much pain that I just wanted to lay down on the seat, but how could I? My basic civic sense just wouldn't allow it. It's a public place, and anyone might want to sit there. I couldn't disturb them for something I could do at home. I can't steal their comfort just to ease my own pain. Unless they somehow want me to... lol.

The noise of the train honking, the sound of the wheels rolling on the tracks, someone scrolling their socials on loud volume, cars honking in the distance, and of course, my never-ending thoughts wouldn't let me sit quietly. It's their job to hurt my brain and test my patience. The rage I felt in that moment, if not controlled, could have ruined everyone's mood in there. So I sat quietly, looking out the window, while my eyes tried to shut themselves off and my body yearned for rest. I just sat there.

Then I heard the friction of the train stopping getting loud: I knew my station had come. So I stood up, my eyes closed halfway to a new moon. I stood near the door while the train yearned to stop. As it halted, the door opened with a creaking sound... obviously, what else do you expect from public transport. The dull yellow light flickered on the platform. Seats were lined perfectly, but near the dustbins, people had spat gutka and paan and made it dirty. Absolutely zero civic sense.

I got out of the train and walked to the exit. It was entirely empty at this time of night. This is the kind of aesthetic I used to imagine when I was a teen, and although it was still cool, as an adult it was painful. Back pain, every muscle in the grasp of exhaustion, mind in a state of depression. I used to think I would be a creative person earning through design, sketches, social media, and creative writing, but adulthood hit me hard as fuck. There's no proper pipeline for earning in the creative field, and I soon realised this was not for me. It was painful to imagine I couldn't do creative things, and so I took the only option I could see, became a corporate slave, paying taxes, working for the government, and not for self-relaxation.

And here I was, every inch of muscle aching as I reached the exit gate of the platform. Walking down the stairs, I looked up at the stars and could only think of one thing: How?... How did I end up In this situation?... Where did I mess up?... Did I lose my will to this unfair world?...

I am a college student... I recently knew that one of my teacher (calculus teacher) is using A.I. to make all the questions and discussion, the teacher didn't even bother checking the things A.I. have put, some parts of the questions and discussions are just wrong or did not match, like there's this one time when the calculation of the teacher did not match the calculation of the A.I. and he said "let me double check this" And I saw him opening CHATGPT on his phone, after that, he just fricking copied the calculation of CHATGPT. I'm not an A.I. hater because I see A.I. as a way to make some activities faster and save time, but a teacher using A.I. to make everything in the class is just so messed up. It also spreads mis-information. Should I transfer in another school?

A group of three immortal beings from the year 3030 travel back in time to uncover ancient mystery’s. They are not able to go forward or backward in time from where they started but are able to reactive messages from the Future. This association is called WOT wings over time. The three immortals are set up in the year 4000 BCE on a satellite going around the earth. Sometimes this group has to go down for messages or ancient text but when they do they are able to control people by entering a mediation state called rattling through this they view the world through their othered eyes. As the time passes they have a constant flow of questions from the WOT but are able to deliver them back on time because they send it to the exact point they sent it.

Throughout the story they find out the WOT is not trying to find out what happens in the past but is really trying to rewrite the past to make sure people follow there form of dictatorship government and to make sure nobody is able to rise agiast them.

As Hermes realizes this he decides to go rogue leaving the ship and drift off into space. But during this time he control the minds of people through rattling and try’s to make sure all the events happen.

These three immortals were raised and experiments on WOT since they born. Their main purpose is to know how to rattle into people minds through mediation.
There names are and attributes are
Anansi
She is the cleaver one who takes the largest role in reporting back to the WOT and dosnt want to deny any of there beliefs

Hermes
He a charm to the group through meditating with the others by telling story’s. He is also the one that is shown to be the best at rattling along with him being the one that goes down the most. But one day he go rouge and leave everyone.

Indra
This character is the leader of the group based on the design of the WOT. But she also has a secret dark purpose being told that she wasn’t just sent to be a story messenger but was also told of the true purpose of the WOT. There her mission is to make sure that everyone keeps their place in order. Being promised any wish she wants when she returns. Her wish is to not be immortal but it turns out that’s not possible.

Imagine going trick-or-treating dressed as a witch, a ghost, or a monster... only to discover that a mysterious spell has turned everyone into the very thing they're dressed as!

📖 **In this illustrated Halloween story:** Discover a world where Halloween costumes are more than just dress-up, magic is afoot, and an ordinary Halloween night becomes something extraordinary!

Https://youtu.be/cE-lHS0GIqg?is=-K3iZxf2vh3ImDvS

so i confronted my dad about the woman. he denied it at first but eventually admitted he’d been seeing her for years.

my mom overheard the commotion. she asked what it was about we both stayed DEAD silent. my mom was already suspicious as if she already knew. my mom and dad gets into an argument over it and my dad packs his bags and leaves to sleep at a motel.

the next morning, i call my dad and he finally admitted it. he’d been paying for an apartment across town for years and visiting them while telling my mom he was working late or going fishing.

my mom was right by me when i called him. turns out she’d known about the woman for almost a year. she’d found messages on his ipad and confronted him privately. he’d promised her he would end it, and she’d kept quiet because he told her mom would never recover from it.
she’d been carrying this alone for a year.

i genuinely don’t know what happens now. my mom won’t speak to him, my sister is in utter disbelief after she found out, and my dad keeps texting me like we’re supposed to have a normal conversation.

the part i can’t get over is that i only found out because some random uber driver recognized my last name.
i still have his number in my ride history. haven’t deleted it.

not sure why. i guess i just keep thinking about how many other people knew before i did.

I wanted to talk about happened when i went to delhi for an exam few days back. I stayed in my old pg. The last time i had went there last month, i had stayed with a one friend who has a single room and not in sharing. He told me that he felt like something was missing from his daily routine, although he did everything same from night routine to morning one, he felt like something was missing, coz he might have just developed a habit of staying alone. I caught that as his intention to state his discomfort with me staying in his room. So this time i avoided that. I asked 2 other friends from before but they had gone home due to festival season. Now there was noone i knew from before other than people i might have interacted just a handfull of times. So i asked them now. It felt so odd to ask people for permission to stay, requesting them for this favour. That place had been my home for so long. I have seen a time where i had multiple rooms where i could just stay as long as i wanted and noone would question my presence. I got a place on conditional bases that the guys roommate might come back. I stayed, it was ok. But on night before my exam, that guy had his first year anniversary of dating his gf and said he wanted the room. I took all my stuff and left. Standing in the hallway is felt so bad, not knowing which room would welcome me now. Coincidentally, a guy i had met just the previous day, coz he was the roommate of a guy i had met twice, mainly in my last visit and was familiar with, asked why i had my bag in hand in middle of night and where i was going. I said i was going downstairs too (lied) and told him what had happened in the room (oh, when i had nocked the door to the room i was staying in earlier, the guy has greeted me half naked, so i know he was getting freaky on call with his gf). I went downstairs, and said I'll sit in the hall and study, he asked if i was sure and i said i am. The guy told his roommate (the guy you can say I'm friends with somewhat) that i was outside. He came to ask if everything's ok, i said to just leave the door open in case i have to use the bathroom in the morning before leaving. He said but where will you sleep, i said on the sofa in the hall. He got a sorrowful charge up, like what!? Why would you sleep in the hall!? I'll find a room for you. He asked around and found me a room in minutes. I went with him and he pointed out and asked why i seemed so "sehma sehma" and it didn't seem like me. I was on verge of tears at this point coz his act of finding a room had touched me deeply and it broke my courageous face of indifferent to feeling unwanted in a place i called home. He left for few minuted seeing i wanted space to gather myself. We went to smoke afterwards, it was fine after that. But i again felt super bad and couldn't study a word when i finally got alone. I called an old friend (elder brother figure) from before, cried to him and told him everything at 2:30. Talked for almost an hour and was finally able to console myself. The other day i was dead tired when i came from the exam center. Didn't sleep last night because of the events and was exhausted by the travel and exam pressure. I became unconscious (literally) for like an hour without knowing when after i had came to pg until someone woke me. I didn't even know where i was who i was and had to ask which date it is i am waking up on because of the sorry state my mind was in. Previously, if i was half this tired, i would have stayed another night there to gather my strength and return the next day. I thought of doing that but something in me just didn't want to anymore. I told that guy (who got me a room) that I'll leave. We went to get chai and a smoke, then i said my goodbye and left. He asked that i still haven't told him what happened last night, i told him everything now coz it femt easier to do after i had already narrated the whole thing once before, and he said he had an incling that thats the reason. I left, and got home very late 1:30 a.m. by bus. 4 hrs travel. I slept sitting upright somehow during the ride

When I was nine, my parents relocated our family to Alabama. They went to the house a week before I did while I stayed with my cousins to be out of the way during the process.

My cousins drove me to the new home. After we explored the inside of the house, we ventured outside to check out the yard. We noticed some strange stones in the woods next to the house and walked closer to check them out.

They were headstones. It was a long-forgotten graveyard in the woods next to my home. Many of the headstones were dated to the mid 1800s and there were a lot of children buried there.

Needless to say, my parents were shocked when we told them they bought a house next to a graveyard.

From that point on, anytime something strange happened in that home, my mom would joke that it was the Cotton Street Ghost up to shenanigans. Whenever her friends asked her what it was like living next to a graveyard, she always said, “They’re the best neighbors ever. They’re so quiet and never complain.”

But they weren’t always quiet and strange things happened from time to time.

The first time I had a boyfriend during Valentine’s Day, he gave me a foil ballon in the shape of a heart that said, “I love you,” on one side of it.

When I say that balloon would follow me through the house, I’m not exaggerating. Up and down the stairs, to each room…….it followed me. I told Mom and she just said it was the Cotton Street Ghost and laughed and said I had quite an imagination.

But then, while I was at school, it followed HER around the house. She didn’t dare tell me about it. I overheard her telling Dad about it. It was satisfying knowing it wasn’t just me.

And this happened any time we had a balloon in the house.

One night when I was visiting my parents when I was in college, I got home late. I was changing into my pajamas when a music box started playing on its own in my bedroom. The music box was inside of a teddy bear of mine. “Playmate, come out and play with me and bring your Dollie’s three, climb up my apple tree,”——yeah, THAT SONG.

I told my parents about it the next morning and Mom reminded me that there are a lot of children buried next door. Then she laughed again at me.

It became a family joke. Mom and Dad would tease me about it………until………it happened to Mom with a different music box. She was up late playing on the computer in the spare bedroom when a music box in the closet started playing.

“Who’s the crazy one now?” I remember saying that to her.

Other than music boxes and balloons, not too many other things happened in that house while I was growing up. Sometimes things would get knocked off of shelves with no explanation. Sometimes we’d hear footsteps. No major issues though.

But then, I had a family of my own. One night when we were visiting my parents, my son saw something in their hallway. He screamed and never did anything like that before. He couldn’t explain what he saw. He was too little.

I knew what he saw though: the Cotton Street Ghost.

I swear living with women has permanently changed my perspective on people. Before this, I thought half the stuff you see online was exaggerated for entertainment. Turns out some of y’all are living in a completely different universe.
For starters, there are literally around 10 women fighting over ONE trans man who apparently wears a strap-on, allegedly doesn’t even clean it properly, and somehow gets more action than actual dudes 😭😭😭. And apparently some of the appeal is that he does it for the game. BRO WHAT GAME??? THE LEAGUE??? THE PLAYOFFS???
Meanwhile, these women are arguing, getting jealous, and starting drama over this one person like he’s the last man on Earth. I’m sitting here watching the whole situation unfold like I’m trapped in a low-budget reality show that nobody asked to renew.
And the hygiene situation? The internet has genuinely failed to prepare me for some of the things I’ve encountered living with other people. The “girl you want to smash vs. how she actually lives” meme is no longer a joke to me. It’s investigative journalism.
I also think people forget that the women you see at school, work, or out in public aren’t necessarily representative of every social circle out there. There’s a whole other side of life you don’t see until you actually end up living around certain people.
I’m not saying all women are like this, and I’m not an incel crying because women won’t date me, I’m in a relationship right now, I’m literally watching women fight over a dude while basic hygiene and common sense are apparently optional DLC.
I genuinely don’t think I’ll ever look at people the same way again

Let me set the stage: It is late June 2025. I am D, a local stand up comic with just under 2 years of experience.  

Only one of the two local comedy clubs allowed me in their summer competition in 2025. I lost in the second round in a heart breaking way. I went number three of nine, the first and second person more or less bombed in front of a tight, cold crowd. But I broke it open and the show was rocking by the time I left the stage 5 minutes later. A local pro/headliner (we will call him N) came to me unprompted and said “That was great you popped the cork, and the crowd is into it now”.

Fast forward an hour later and the host is announcing the top 4 that will move on. When they called the name of the runner up I looked at who was left and thought “I did better than everyone else left, I think I won!”. Then the host said over the mic “and the winner of the night is… S!”

I was crushed, N came to me and said “I don’t know if this means anything but you should be up there. There is no way you were not one of the top 4 tonight.” But I left with my head up, keeping in mind that everyone saw me do great and the competition is kind of just filler for the slow summer season. “They will remember D now!” I told myself. They did not, in fact this is the last time I was able to perform at that club in 2025.

The “other club” gave me 2 short spots on their amateur night in 2025. One of those spots I again went in front of a cold crowd and murdered! A few people told me to talk to “other club’s” owner and ask for more time on stage. When I talked to “other club’s” owner he told me “enter my competition” the one I did not get in for the last two years and doesn’t start for another 10 months. He did not say f off, but it’s what I heard.

The first half of 2026 was hard. I was forgotten by both clubs and I scrambled to get what I could. After a gut check I decided not to quit my little hobby and to start doing the harder stuff. So I started running my own charity shows and took any chance that I was given to get on stage.

Somehow most of the community did not notice me getting better. So in July when I somehow got into the “other club’s” competition, I was ready. I told the people at work all day that they had no idea what they were about to see. Reports came in that the show was sold out and I would stand in front of 130 people that night.

I felt lost getting there, reporting in and getting a pep talk from “other club’s” owner (who did not remember me). But once the show started I knew what to do. Countless crap open mics in front of people who hated me made this the easy part!

I jumped on the stage and grabbed the mic and waited for a count of 5. I just stared at the crowd… My first joke was five words .The crowd popped! I had them. In fact, I needed to cut a few jokes on the fly to stay in my time since they took  so much time laughing.

Every comic in the house found me after the show and told me I had a great set. One comic said I was "undeniable". But life is not a fairy tale… yes I killed in front of a hot crowd, but the judges said that two others killed more and I took 3rd place of the 9 on that night. 

Still, I proved that I am funny and that I should get more chances and that’s the win I was looking for. It’s been 3 months since then and I now need to turn shows down since I'm so busy. 

This story is only a bump in the grind that is stand-up. I’m good for an open mic’er sure, but there are bigger hills ahead.

for a little context i dyed my hair a fantasy color for the first time in the summer of 2025, after that i kept dying my hair pinks, reds, anything among that color spectrum. Anyways september rolls around and i decided to do full on purple, like grimace shade im talking about. about 3 days later my dad passes away, a very tragic death that still affects me to this day and has impacted my life severely. of course this is sad but i never thought about my hair having something to do with it. anyways this color washed out fast, and i went back to the pinks and started swaying towards back to brown. months pass by and it’s now february, i decided to put purple over my brown hair to add some pop again, my step grandpa gets very sick, ends up in the hospital, and passes all in the span of 1-2 weeks. now this is where i made that connection of the color and the deaths, i would joke to my friend about it, calling it a really freaky weird coincidence. anyways fast forward to about last week. my hair was brown light brown to be exact and im missing my colored hair, so i add this pink type color but some dye i used was straight up purple. so like a plum colored but it looked more purple. 3 days later it was my cousins wedding and some family came in from california, take a wild guess of what happened. the next day we get a call that someone that came in from california had passed here. very sad but didn’t think much of it, and i didn’t like the color much so i just ended up going back to brown. fast forward to yesterday and i’m telling my friend what happened (the same friend i joked about the coincidences with) and she said wait wasn’t your hair purple? that’s the whole story and i won’t be dying my hair that color anymore that’s enough for me to believe it. im one of those people who believes everything happens for a reason. if you have a similar experience or even an explanation please let me know.