My girlfriend and I have been dating for a few years and are looking to move in together. She is the loml and I am sure she will be my wife one day. However, she has these annoying traits that are making me resentful of her. Often when I try to approach a level of intimacy, she will shut it down with some form of rejection.
Recently, I got her food and picked her up from her house. After we ate, we laid on the bed and almost immediately she starts a play argument and refuses to cuddle or even let me touch her leg. She then doesn’t speak to me until she grabs my foot and ask for a ride back home. She’s then very affectionate on the ride back home. Other instances she will get dramatically “play offended” and shut down flirting, wrapped herself in covers so we couldn’t cuddle, and vocally refuse to respond to acts of affections.
When I have approached her about this, she has told me that she thought we were joking or playing a game. And that she had no idea I wasn’t also in on the joke. I don’t at all see what so fucking fun about putting up barriers between intimacy and affection with someone you say you’re in love with. And I wouldn’t feel that it mattered, if it wasn’t happening so frequently. It has affected our romantic and sexual relationship. And it also feels like I’m with someone that sees my feelings as a game to be played with. I’m at the end of my rope. What should I do?

Hi, we recently discovered that mice have been climbing into our birds cage at night. We are trying to kill the mice with traps outside the cage but is there anything we can do to prevent them from getting into the cage? We cover her at night so I’m thinking maybe not covering her for a few days while we try to kill off the mice population? We also will be cleaning her cage before and after bed, removing her food at night, and sweeping any food she drops. Any other ideas?

If you’re reading this I am begging you to believe me. Especially if you have children. My name is Leon and I have been investigating strange disappearances for four years. I am not an official investigator or a journalist. Before I started this whole thing I did not believe in ghosts or the paranormal. For me to believe in something I had to see it with my own two eyes! Everything had to be factual and everything had an explanation.
At least this is what I used to believe until my wife was murdered four years ago. They found her at work completely skinless. She was drained of blood and was missing all of her nails. They told me the precision required to accomplish this was not heard of yet. I waited months for answers and they never came, so I decided to go get them myself. I had no idea where to start or who to speak to so I went back to the store to try and dig up as much information as I could find.
Her manager eventually told me that she had gotten into a fight with a customer that day and that he assumed she went home on time. When her body was found in the employee break room he was shocked. He had no idea she was still in the building. He said he told me exactly what he told the police. I asked him if there was any footage of the man she was arguing with but he told me the security cameras were not working that day. I vividly remember wanting to punch this guy in his damn face. He was no help and I was determined to solve my wife's murder.
I ended up searching for the guy for months. I asked every one of her coworkers if they saw the argument and a couple of times I even had a run-in with the cops. They insisted that I should let them do their jobs and that they had everything handled. There was no chance I was going to listen to them. I had to take time off from my investigation to attend her funeral and make sure I got all of the preparations right. In hindsight, I was not growing properly and I really should've taken some time to reassess.
So fast forward another month and I finally get a lead. Something I assumed the cops didn't have, this meant I could finally get some answers before being stonewalled again. I ended up finding this guy, Will Brookes at a fucken motel off of the highway about three miles from where my wife worked. I waited for two days before I saw him leave his room to get ice. Once I knew what room to find him in I knocked until he opened the door. He was rightfully pissed but not as pissed as I was. It took every ounce of willpower in my body to not kill him on the spot.
“Why did you kill my wife?!” I snapped as I forced myself into the room and slammed the door behind me. He looked shocked.
“I did not kill her!” He screamed and tried to move around me. So I grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him into the wall next to the tv. This guy was not very heavy and not very strong. At that moment I was wondering how he could kill anyone.
“You were the last person to be seen with her alive!” I barked. I wanted to push his body through the wall. I wanted to crush him.
“I was bringing her the papers she requested for a job offer she accepted in a place called LittleBrooke!” The man said. He was shaking so I put him down and pushed him to the side. “Show me the papers,” I demanded. My wife had told me twice that she had gotten a new job offer. I was extremely excited! I work from home and would be happy to live wherever she wanted. All she had to do was say the word and we could’ve left as soon as possible. But she never made it home to tell me the news.
I watched as the shaking man handed me a stack of papers and even a suitcase. “Here, take it and please leave me alone!” He shouted. “Okay.” I left the motel room and went right to my car. I put everything on the passenger seat and went home. Once I got there I sobbed in the driveway for over an hour before finally getting out and heading inside. I never got to see her body and I never got to say goodbye. Being in this house felt like I was walking into a damn shallow grave of sorts.
I went right to the master bedroom and packed up as many clothes as I could. I even took some of her favorite items, I don’t know why. I took a couple of pillows and two blankets, and after that, I went around to search the rest of the house. Once I had finished in the master bedroom I went and grabbed all my items from the bathroom. After that, I went into the nursery. We were planning on trying to have a baby once she got her new job. I looked around the nursery and took some stuffed animals and blankets, nothing too crazy. I also made sure to grab our family photo album. Finally, I made sure to grab all of the savings from the jar we had plus anything I kept in the safe. I also made sure to grab our wedding video and once I had everything I thought I could need I left the house. On my way out I made sure to tell the building goodbye.
Once I got back into my car I decided to drive a bit. No way in hell was I going to the same motel as that guy so I drove until I hit a hotel far enough away from my house. I did not end up checking in though. Once I got close enough I backed up and just kept driving. I eventually hit a truck stop after a couple of hours and decided to rest my eyes for a while. I was exhausted and there were way too many questions rushing through my head. I knew if I kept driving in that state I would probably crash or something.
After sleeping for four hours I decided it was time to look through the papers and figure out what I was going to do next. I took the first paper from the stack and started to read it. For the sake of time here I will only tell you guys what I found that was interesting.
Paper One: You have been accepted to work as a store manager! Please review your employee packet for more information.
So as I am going over this first paper a couple of things stick out to me. Whoever wrote this was trying not to be specific. The whole paper was one big announcement for a new store opening up in a place called LittleBrooke. There was no state mentioned anywhere on this paper, I would later find out that this place was supposed to be in Washington D.C.
I decided to dig around and eventually found the employee packet. She accepted a job at a mega-store called BrightMarketZ. I thought it was a pretty weird name but what stood out to me was what they were offering to pay her. $22.00 an hour! I couldn't believe it. No wonder she said yes and didn’t bother to ask any questions.
Paper Twenty: To find LittleBrooke please enter [REDACTED] into your GPS device. You will be staying inside apartment 307. All rent for your first month in LittleBrooke is covered by your employer. Please note that all apartments are two-bedroom only. If you have a larger household please speak to Sydney May at Town Hall for bigger accommodations.
After reading this I decided to just go to LittleBrooke and get answers. I was assuming that I would find out what the hell happened if I just went. I wanted to know what my wife died for and I wanted to know why this was some big secret in the first place. I went back to bed and as soon as the sun came up I put the information into my GPS and headed for LittleBrooke.

Year One in LittleBrooke

It took me three weeks to reach LittleBrooke and I could tell that something was wrong the moment I found the town. If I wasn't so damn desperate for answers I would've turned around as soon as I saw the library. The building itself wasn't big but the two huge lions on either side of the staircase gave me the creeps.
After that I passed a mechanic, the whole place looked run down as hell. There wasn't a single car to be seen but the sign said open. The man standing outside of the building waved to me so I gave him a slow wave back. He looked weird. At the time I couldn’t place my finger on why but now I know it’s because he was not human.
The theater was kind of cool to look at in a vintage kind of way. They were not showing anything when I drove by and I made the decision early on to stay out of the theater altogether. After the theater, I saw a small building that said LittleBrooke Press. If anything else I figured I could write for the paper.
As I approached the apartment building a woman was standing outside. Her face was weird as hell. It looked like she had far too much plastic surgery like her face was threatening to pop at any moment. “Hi, can I help you?” she asked me. Her voice was shrill, it was gross to even hear her speak. It sounded like she was putting on a fake voice just to speak to me. “Hi, my wife accepted a job offer. Unfortunately, she has passed away. I would still like to claim the apartment left to us. I can work at any place that currently has an opening.” I offered.
“LittleBrooke Press has space for two more writers!” She smiled and handed me the keys to the apartment. She never asked my name and she knew exactly where I wanted to go. I thought it was weird but I didn’t argue. Instead, I took the keys and thanked her. I spent that whole day getting settled into the new apartment. A couple of things, the front door had four different locks on it. I thought that was pretty weird. I also did not see or hear any other people until my third night in the apartment. I called the LittleBrooke Press about a potential job and they told me to email my submissions. There was no need for me to come in person and honestly, I liked this deal a lot.
For the first few months, I spent my time writing about whatever came to my mind. After that, I would send it in and get my money back. The editor never told me what to do and they never requested anything. It was sweet. As December rolled around I could feel myself slipping into a seasonal depression. At that point, I had made no progress in any of my investigations. I did not know the town well enough and frankly, I felt like I was wasting my time. That night I decided to check out the local bar. It was pretty hidden, you had to drive further into LittleBrooke to find it. Once I got there I was shocked! The place was packed. I sat down at the bar and ordered a drink.
The bartender was hot as hell, too hot. She was so even looking so perfectly symmetrical that it made me extremely uncomfortable. There wasn’t a single hair out of place. “So are you new in town?” She asked me. “Yeah, I just got here a couple of months ago. My now-deceased wife accepted a job offer here.” I said bluntly and dryly. I wanted to finish my drink and go. It was like the bones in my body were screaming at me to leave. The woman looked shocked. “Tell me, does that happen often? Do people accept a job offer in LittleBrooke and turn up dead a couple of days later?” I hissed. It was a genuine question but she did not take it too kindly. She took my drink from my hands and told me to leave.
As I made my way back to my car I could hear someone coming up from behind me. I turned around as fast as possible and had to take three steps back. It was the bartender, but she did not look the same. Half of her face was weighed down like she had no bones at all. Her eyes were bulging out of her head. She gurgled at me. “You need to leave!” She finally snapped and swung her arm in my direction. I moved back before she could hit me. As her hand hit my car window it shattered like it was made of ice. I watched as her arm popped and clicked. I could see it slowly getting longer. Before I knew it her arm was dragging on the pavement! She lunged at me so I punched her in her stomach. She gurgled again and sunk her teeth into my jacket. I screamed for help as we hit the pavement. She was trying fucken eat me! I grabbed her by her hair and threw her backward as hard as I could. As I scrambled to my feet and looked at her I screamed again. Her skin was pulled back. Now hugging the bones on her face. Her eyes were completely exposed! I turned and dove into my car as fast as I could. I slammed the door behind me and sped out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.
The next morning I received a letter under my door. “Sorry, you had problems last night! Please accept our sincerest apologies.” -Mayor Brookes. There was $300 included with the letter. Now, I thought about leaving but decided I had to stay. Something was going on here and I had to find out what. I removed my jacket to see if the woman had injured me, she didn't but the experience was still terrifying. For the first time in a very long time, I was scared. But I also felt closer to the truth than I have ever been before.

Year Two in LittleBrooke

I spent all of January writing about the women who attacked me. I even contacted the police. I quickly learned that the police were going to be completely useless. My editor never sent the story back so I had assumed it was published.
At the end of the month, I left to shop for some supplies. Let me tell you, the grocery store in LittleBrooke is something else. They don’t have any brands you’ve ever heard of and at first, that drove me nuts. However, I quickly came to fall in love with the food here. It was comforting to have something to enjoy. Like always, I made sure to shop for two to three months at a time. Shopping was easy, I used the self-checkout to make sure I didn’t have to speak to anyone.
Once I got home I put everything away and decided to look around the apartment building. My whole floor started with 301 and went all the way to 310. The first floor was 501 to 509. There was a technical second floor but none of the doors were labeled. It looked like someone was renovating the place.
I got to see some of my neighbors too. An older woman, two men, and I were living next door to a lady the whole time. I had never seen or heard from these people before. It seemed like everyone wanted to keep to themselves too. I wanted to try and talk to someone but every time I approached them they turned and walked away. For what it's worth they looked completely normal.
So I left the apartment building and ventured around the property. There were no other apartments anywhere close to the one I was staying at, or so I thought until I found one about thirty minutes away. It was so out of the way you wouldn't find it unless you were looking. Against my better judgment, I opened the doors to the building and walked right inside. The place smelled like rust and soot.
I went to explore the first floor and was shocked to find blood trails on the floor and the ceiling. I followed the trail and made sure to look at the numbers on each door. This floor was numbered 1-10. Most of the doors were locked and I wasn’t going to try and knock anything down. I opened the door to apartment 10 and walked right inside. There was just enough light from the sun to illuminate the place. It looked like the whole place had been ransacked. I checked the tables and cabinets before heading into the bedroom. I searched the dresser and under the pillows before finally checking under the bed. When I looked under I spotted a black box. I grabbed it and that is when I got the feeling again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt something sharp dig into my shoulders.
I screamed as loudly as I could, my face slammed off of the carpet and I clenched the box with one hand. Before I could figure out what the hell was happening I was tossed backward. I went into the bedroom door and rolled a couple of times until I reached the torn-up couch. I slowly lifted my head and to my horror what I was looking at was way too far from human to be real.
It looked like a dog ape thing. It was mostly skinless aside from some skin on its torso and face. The creature had thick, long claws and was standing on its hind legs. It barked at me. Its fangs were huge! I quickly scrambled to my feet and rushed out of the door as fast as possible. I could feel the blood running down my back. Never once did I consider letting this box go.
“Help!” I screamed as I burst through the apartment complex doors and started to run back to the main road. My heart was pounding, I could feel my chest getting tighter with each step. I could hear the beast behind me, it was screeching. I thought I was going to die for sure, there was no way I could continue to outrun this beast. That’s when I heard a car and before I knew it I could see it! A woman was waving me over, she was just up ahead! I had to push a little harder. I had to be just a little stronger.
When I felt the embrace of the car door I ripped it open and dove inside. She sped away and I looked out of the window. The beast did not follow us any further. “Are you insane!” She snapped at me. That’s the last thing I remember before passing out.
When I woke up I was laying on my stomach on an extremely comfortable couch. I could smell someone making pasta with meat sauce. My stomach was going insane. Everything hurt though, especially my back and my left side. I figured I had hurt my side when I was tossed across the room.
At this point, I did not dive into the box yet. I could barely move. “Hi.” I heard a woman say from the kitchen. “Thank you,” I replied before trying to sit up. I was so concerned that this woman would be another monster. When I saw her though I knew she was normal. She didn't look so damn perfect and that was a breath of fresh air.
“What's your name?” She asked me as I watched her prepare two bowls of food.
“Leon,” I said before closing my eyes. “You heard me screaming?” I asked her seriously.
“I did. I’m pretty sure everyone in our building did. You got hurt pretty badly, I did my best to patch you up.” She paused and laughed. “My name is Ashley.”
So I ended up crashing at her place. During this time I tried to focus on recovering. Sleeping became hell, I was having constant nightmares. I also spent a lot of time working on articles. I ended up giving Ash the keys to my apartment so she could get my laptop. It was a big move to trust anyone here but I am glad I did.
​

Year Three and Four in LittleBrooke

During my recovery, I spent most of my time writing. I wanted to write about everything I have seen and experienced. I had a lot of questions and way too much time with my thoughts. Ash and I got to know each other too.
I told her about how my wife had died mysteriously. I eventually opened up about her being skinned and drained of her blood. Ash told me she had come to LittleBrooke with her older sister. Her sister went to work one day and never came back. She was working at the theater. Ash had told me that she was stuck here, she didn’t feel right leaving with her sister still missing. Every time she would try the cops would meet her at the town line.
It was during this time that we both shared that we had never seen a police station. We talked about the monsters too. Her first run-in with one was at the grocery store. I told her about what happened to me at the bar. She told me that she heard rumors of the beast living beyond the apartments. The first time she saw it was when it was attacking me.
As I started to recover more we discussed a couple of things. First, the neighbors here suck. She could hear me screaming and came to help but no one else did. Second, neither of us has seen any families since we moved here. It was at this point I decided I wanted to leave and I offered to take her with me. We could both get out come hell or high water. She agreed but there was something I had to do first.
I showed her the box I had taken from the apartment.
“You almost died for a box?” Ash asked me. “Yes,” I said seriously.
I opened it and blinked. I found a picture of a girl with black hair and bright green eyes. It read, Stephanie. I found a missing persons report too. This girl had been missing a year before I got here. I decided that my last article would be about her. I had written about a couple of missing people before this. For example, the old lady in our building vanished and her apartment was rented out two days later.
I also found a badge inside the box. It read F.O.P.P. and there was a name! Jack Bridges. We tried to look up the organization's name but we came up empty-handed. I ended up writing the story about Stephanie and the next day Ash and I got packing. We decided to take my car since the cops know what hers looks like. I packed up the essentials all over again and we piled into the car. “We should check the other direction. Before we leave.” I suggested. Ash knew about the bar already but neither of us knew what was beyond that point: This suggested changed the course of our lives forever.
So we started driving in the other direction. We passed the bar where the woman had tried to eat me, we passed a convenience store I didn’t know this town had and we just kept driving. Eventually, I could hear Ash speaking to me, “Holy shit! The police station.” she pointed out. I couldn’t believe it either. I did not stop driving though but I wish I did.
Eventually, we saw a sign that read, LittleBrooke High. Go Bears!
I started to slow down a bit until the school was in view. The place looked run down as hell. There were holes in the walls and leaves growing up the side of the building. The parking lot was massive and full of buses. I pulled the car into the parking lot and told Ash to get into the driver's seat.
“You’re not serious?” She asked me. I could tell she wanted to go but I said, “This is it! This is the last place of note in this fucken town. Just take the wheel and I will be right back.” I said as I jumped out of the car and went to look around.
As I approached one of the buses I grabbed the doors, they were already open a crack. I pulled them open and was hit with a horrible stench. I had to step back and puke and no I am not going to describe what I saw in that fucken bus. At that point, I decided I had seen enough and it was time to fucken go.
“Help!” I heard someone cry from a couple of buses over. “Please!” I heard again. I wanted to slap myself because I knew better. I had already decided it was time to leave but I went to investigate anyway. I went to the bus and pulled the doors open. It smelled like stale piss and blood. “Back here!” A girl screamed out to me. I made my way to the back of the bus, stepping on school jackets and over backpacks. That is where I found them. Two teenagers are tied to the leg of a bus seat. They looked horrible, caking in blood and sweat. They were both injured. “Stephanie?!” I exclaimed as I bent over to free them. I recognized her face the moment I saw it.
“Can you move? I asked the blonde girl.” As I started to let her go. “Everything hurts.” She told me. I opened the emergency exit and called for Ash to pull the car over. It took her a second to hear me but she came as fast as possible. “I am going to get you guys in the car and we are going to get out of here, okay?” I told them. I wanted to tell them everything was going to be okay, but I couldn't. It felt like that would be a huge lie.
Ash stepped out of the car and helped get the girls into the backseat. As I stopped to look around I could feel the bus shift in weight. I turned around and inhaled sharply. Standing before me was a creature wearing a jacket that said COACH on it. He looked sickly, and pale, and his veins were protruding from his face and hands. As he ran at me I jumped out of the emergency exit door just in time to feel something slam off of the back of my head. I looked down to see a barbed football. I could feel blood trickling down my neck, I stumbled forward and felt a hand grab my arm. Ash was shoving me into the car. She slid over me, closed the passenger door, and backed the car up. I thought she was moving like lightning.
At this point, everyone was screaming. My heart was threatening to jump out of my fucken chest. I was so sure we were all going to die here, just like everyone else I had seen on the buses. But no, Ash sped out of the parking lot. The coach chased us to the school limits but for some reason, he did not follow us anymore.
I know we should've stopped to see if the kids could find their parents but we didn't. Instead, Ash just kept driving. Eventually, we could hear the cops behind us but that did not stop her. It took us six hours to finally see the You Are New Leaving LittleBrooke sign! I couldn’t believe it. This place was not that big at all.
So listen, if you’re invited to take a job in LittleBrooke. Don’t take it. It’s not worth your life.

If you’re reading this I am begging you to believe me. Especially if you have children. My name is Leon and I have been investigating strange disappearances for four years. I am not an official investigator or a journalist. Before I started this whole thing I did not believe in ghosts or the paranormal. For me to believe in something I had to see it with my own two eyes! Everything had to be factual and everything had an explanation.
At least this is what I used to believe until my wife was murdered four years ago. They found her at work completely skinless. She was drained of blood and was missing all of her nails. They told me the precision required to accomplish this was not heard of yet. I waited months for answers and they never came, so I decided to go get them myself. I had no idea where to start or who to speak to so I went back to the store to try and dig up as much information as I could find.
Her manager eventually told me that she had gotten into a fight with a customer that day and that he assumed she went home on time. When her body was found in the employee break room he was shocked. He had no idea she was still in the building. He said he told me exactly what he told the police. I asked him if there was any footage of the man she was arguing with but he told me the security cameras were not working that day. I vividly remember wanting to punch this guy in his damn face. He was no help and I was determined to solve my wife's murder.
I ended up searching for the guy for months. I asked every one of her coworkers if they saw the argument and a couple of times I even had a run-in with the cops. They insisted that I should let them do their jobs and that they had everything handled. There was no chance I was going to listen to them. I had to take time off from my investigation to attend her funeral and make sure I got all of the preparations right. In hindsight, I was not growing properly and I really should've taken some time to reassess.
So fast forward another month and I finally get a lead. Something I assumed the cops didn't have, this meant I could finally get some answers before being stonewalled again. I ended up finding this guy, Will Brookes at a fucken motel off of the highway about three miles from where my wife worked. I waited for two days before I saw him leave his room to get ice. Once I knew what room to find him in I knocked until he opened the door. He was rightfully pissed but not as pissed as I was. It took every ounce of willpower in my body to not kill him on the spot.
“Why did you kill my wife?!” I snapped as I forced myself into the room and slammed the door behind me. He looked shocked.
“I did not kill her!” He screamed and tried to move around me. So I grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him into the wall next to the tv. This guy was not very heavy and not very strong. At that moment I was wondering how he could kill anyone.
“You were the last person to be seen with her alive!” I barked. I wanted to push his body through the wall. I wanted to crush him.
“I was bringing her the papers she requested for a job offer she accepted in a place called LittleBrooke!” The man said. He was shaking so I put him down and pushed him to the side. “Show me the papers,” I demanded. My wife had told me twice that she had gotten a new job offer. I was extremely excited! I work from home and would be happy to live wherever she wanted. All she had to do was say the word and we could’ve left as soon as possible. But she never made it home to tell me the news.
I watched as the shaking man handed me a stack of papers and even a suitcase. “Here, take it and please leave me alone!” He shouted. “Okay.” I left the motel room and went right to my car. I put everything on the passenger seat and went home. Once I got there I sobbed in the driveway for over an hour before finally getting out and heading inside. I never got to see her body and I never got to say goodbye. Being in this house felt like I was walking into a damn shallow grave of sorts.
I went right to the master bedroom and packed up as many clothes as I could. I even took some of her favorite items, I don’t know why. I took a couple of pillows and two blankets, and after that, I went around to search the rest of the house. Once I had finished in the master bedroom I went and grabbed all my items from the bathroom. After that, I went into the nursery. We were planning on trying to have a baby once she got her new job. I looked around the nursery and took some stuffed animals and blankets, nothing too crazy. I also made sure to grab our family photo album. Finally, I made sure to grab all of the savings from the jar we had plus anything I kept in the safe. I also made sure to grab our wedding video and once I had everything I thought I could need I left the house. On my way out I made sure to tell the building goodbye.
Once I got back into my car I decided to drive a bit. No way in hell was I going to the same motel as that guy so I drove until I hit a hotel far enough away from my house. I did not end up checking in though. Once I got close enough I backed up and just kept driving. I eventually hit a truck stop after a couple of hours and decided to rest my eyes for a while. I was exhausted and there were way too many questions rushing through my head. I knew if I kept driving in that state I would probably crash or something. After sleeping for four hours I decided it was time to look through the papers and figure out what I was going to do next. I took the first paper from the stack and started to read it. For the sake of time here I will only tell you guys what I found that was interesting.
Paper One: You have been accepted to work as a store manager! Please review your employee packet for more information.
So as I am going over this first paper a couple of things stick out to me. Whoever wrote this was trying not to be specific. The whole paper was one big announcement for a new store opening up in a place called LittleBrooke. There was no state mentioned anywhere on this paper, I would later find out that this place was supposed to be in Washington D.C.
I decided to dig around and eventually found the employee packet. She accepted a job at a mega-store called BrightMarketZ. I thought it was a pretty weird name but what stood out to me was what they were offering to pay her. $22.00 an hour! I couldn't believe it. No wonder she said yes and didn’t bother to ask any questions.
Paper Twenty: To find LittleBrooke please enter [REDACTED] into your GPS device. You will be staying inside apartment 307. All rent for your first month in LittleBrooke is covered by your employer. Please note that all apartments are two-bedroom only. If you have a larger household please speak to Sydney May at Town Hall for bigger accommodations. After reading this I decided to just go to LittleBrooke and get answers. I was assuming that I would find out what the hell happened if I just went. I wanted to know what my wife died for and I wanted to know why this was some big secret in the first place. I went back to bed and as soon as the sun came up I put the information into my GPS and headed for LittleBrooke.

Year One in LittleBrooke

It took me three weeks to reach LittleBrooke and I could tell that something was wrong the moment I found the town. If I wasn't so damn desperate for answers I would've turned around as soon as I saw the library. The building itself wasn't big but the two huge lions on either side of the staircase gave me the creeps.
After that I passed a mechanic, the whole place looked run down as hell. There wasn't a single car to be seen but the sign said open. The man standing outside of the building waved to me so I gave him a slow wave back. He looked weird. At the time I couldn’t place my finger on why but now I know it’s because he was not human.
The theater was kind of cool to look at in a vintage kind of way. They were not showing anything when I drove by and I made the decision early on to stay out of the theater altogether. After the theater, I saw a small building that said LittleBrooke Press. If anything else I figured I could write for the paper.
As I approached the apartment building a woman was standing outside. Her face was weird as hell. It looked like she had far too much plastic surgery like her face was threatening to pop at any moment. “Hi, can I help you?” she asked me. Her voice was shrill, it was gross to even hear her speak. It sounded like she was putting on a fake voice just to speak to me. “Hi, my wife accepted a job offer. Unfortunately, she has passed away. I would still like to claim the apartment left to us. I can work at any place that currently has an opening.” I offered.
“LittleBrooke Press has space for two more writers!” She smiled and handed me the keys to the apartment. She never asked my name and she knew exactly where I wanted to go. I thought it was weird but I didn’t argue. Instead, I took the keys and thanked her. I spent that whole day getting settled into the new apartment. A couple of things, the front door had four different locks on it. I thought that was pretty weird. I also did not see or hear any other people until my third night in the apartment. I called the LittleBrooke Press about a potential job and they told me to email my submissions. There was no need for me to come in person and honestly, I liked this deal a lot.
For the first few months, I spent my time writing about whatever came to my mind. After that, I would send it in and get my money back. The editor never told me what to do and they never requested anything. It was sweet. As December rolled around I could feel myself slipping into a seasonal depression. At that point, I had made no progress in any of my investigations. I did not know the town well enough and frankly, I felt like I was wasting my time. That night I decided to check out the local bar. It was pretty hidden, you had to drive further into LittleBrooke to find it. Once I got there I was shocked! The place was packed. I sat down at the bar and ordered a drink.
The bartender was hot as hell, too hot. She was so even looking so perfectly symmetrical that it made me extremely uncomfortable. There wasn’t a single hair out of place. “So are you new in town?” She asked me. “Yeah, I just got here a couple of months ago. My now-deceased wife accepted a job offer here.” I said bluntly and dryly. I wanted to finish my drink and go. It was like the bones in my body were screaming at me to leave. The woman looked shocked. “Tell me, does that happen often? Do people accept a job offer in LittleBrooke and turn up dead a couple of days later?” I hissed. It was a genuine question but she did not take it too kindly. She took my drink from my hands and told me to leave.
As I made my way back to my car I could hear someone coming up from behind me. I turned around as fast as possible and had to take three steps back. It was the bartender, but she did not look the same. Half of her face was weighed down like she had no bones at all. Her eyes were bulging out of her head. She gurgled at me. “You need to leave!” She finally snapped and swung her arm in my direction. I moved back before she could hit me. As her hand hit my car window it shattered like it was made of ice. I watched as her arm popped and clicked. I could see it slowly getting longer. Before I knew it her arm was dragging on the pavement! She lunged at me so I punched her in her stomach. She gurgled again and sunk her teeth into my jacket. I screamed for help as we hit the pavement. She was trying fucken eat me! I grabbed her by her hair and threw her backward as hard as I could. As I scrambled to my feet and looked at her I screamed again. Her skin was pulled back. Now hugging the bones on her face. Her eyes were completely exposed! I turned and dove into my car as fast as I could. I slammed the door behind me and sped out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.
The next morning I received a letter under my door. “Sorry, you had problems last night! Please accept our sincerest apologies.” -Mayor Brookes. There was $300 included with the letter. Now, I thought about leaving but decided I had to stay. Something was going on here and I had to find out what. I removed my jacket to see if the woman had injured me, she didn't but the experience was still terrifying. For the first time in a very long time, I was scared. But I also felt closer to the truth than I have ever been before.

Year Two in LittleBrooke

I spent all of January writing about the women who attacked me. I even contacted the police. I quickly learned that the police were going to be completely useless. My editor never sent the story back so I had assumed it was published.
At the end of the month, I left to shop for some supplies. Let me tell you, the grocery store in LittleBrooke is something else. They don’t have any brands you’ve ever heard of and at first, that drove me nuts. However, I quickly came to fall in love with the food here. It was comforting to have something to enjoy. Like always, I made sure to shop for two to three months at a time. Shopping was easy, I used the self-checkout to make sure I didn’t have to speak to anyone.
Once I got home I put everything away and decided to look around the apartment building. My whole floor started with 301 and went all the way to 310. The first floor was 501 to 509. There was a technical second floor but none of the doors were labeled. It looked like someone was renovating the place.
I got to see some of my neighbors too. An older woman, two men, and I were living next door to a lady the whole time. I had never seen or heard from these people before. It seemed like everyone wanted to keep to themselves too. I wanted to try and talk to someone but every time I approached them they turned and walked away. For what it's worth they looked completely normal.
So I left the apartment building and ventured around the property. There were no other apartments anywhere close to the one I was staying at, or so I thought until I found one about thirty minutes away. It was so out of the way you wouldn't find it unless you were looking. Against my better judgment, I opened the doors to the building and walked right inside. The place smelled like rust and soot.
I went to explore the first floor and was shocked to find blood trails on the floor and the ceiling. I followed the trail and made sure to look at the numbers on each door. This floor was numbered 1-10. Most of the doors were locked and I wasn’t going to try and knock anything down. I opened the door to apartment 10 and walked right inside. There was just enough light from the sun to illuminate the place. It looked like the whole place had been ransacked. I checked the tables and cabinets before heading into the bedroom. I searched the dresser and under the pillows before finally checking under the bed. When I looked under I spotted a black box. I grabbed it and that is when I got the feeling again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt something sharp dig into my shoulders.
I screamed as loudly as I could, my face slammed off of the carpet and I clenched the box with one hand. Before I could figure out what the hell was happening I was tossed backward. I went into the bedroom door and rolled a couple of times until I reached the torn-up couch. I slowly lifted my head and to my horror what I was looking at was way too far from human to be real.
It looked like a dog ape thing. It was mostly skinless aside from some skin on its torso and face. The creature had thick, long claws and was standing on its hind legs. It barked at me. Its fangs were huge! I quickly scrambled to my feet and rushed out of the door as fast as possible. I could feel the blood running down my back. Never once did I consider letting this box go.
“Help!” I screamed as I burst through the apartment complex doors and started to run back to the main road. My heart was pounding, I could feel my chest getting tighter with each step. I could hear the beast behind me, it was screeching. I thought I was going to die for sure, there was no way I could continue to outrun this beast. That’s when I heard a car and before I knew it I could see it! A woman was waving me over, she was just up ahead! I had to push a little harder. I had to be just a little stronger.
When I felt the embrace of the car door I ripped it open and dove inside. She sped away and I looked out of the window. The beast did not follow us any further. “Are you insane!” She snapped at me. That’s the last thing I remember before passing out.
When I woke up I was laying on my stomach on an extremely comfortable couch. I could smell someone making pasta with meat sauce. My stomach was going insane. Everything hurt though, especially my back and my left side. I figured I had hurt my side when I was tossed across the room.
At this point, I did not dive into the box yet. I could barely move. “Hi.” I heard a woman say from the kitchen. “Thank you,” I replied before trying to sit up. I was so concerned that this woman would be another monster. When I saw her though I knew she was normal. She didn't look so damn perfect and that was a breath of fresh air.
“What's your name?” She asked me as I watched her prepare two bowls of food.
“Leon,” I said before closing my eyes. “You heard me screaming?” I asked her seriously.
“I did. I’m pretty sure everyone in our building did. You got hurt pretty badly, I did my best to patch you up.” She paused and laughed. “My name is Ashley.”
So I ended up crashing at her place. During this time I tried to focus on recovering. Sleeping became hell, I was having constant nightmares. I also spent a lot of time working on articles. I ended up giving Ash the keys to my apartment so she could get my laptop. It was a big move to trust anyone here but I am glad I did.

Year Three and Four in LittleBrooke

During my recovery, I spent most of my time writing. I wanted to write about everything I have seen and experienced. I had a lot of questions and way too much time with my thoughts. Ash and I got to know each other too.
I told her about how my wife had died mysteriously. I eventually opened up about her being skinned and drained of her blood. Ash told me she had come to LittleBrooke with her older sister. Her sister went to work one day and never came back. She was working at the theater. Ash had told me that she was stuck here, she didn’t feel right leaving with her sister still missing. Every time she would try the cops would meet her at the town line.
It was during this time that we both shared that we had never seen a police station. We talked about the monsters too. Her first run-in with one was at the grocery store. I told her about what happened to me at the bar. She told me that she heard rumors of the beast living beyond the apartments. The first time she saw it was when it was attacking me.
As I started to recover more we discussed a couple of things. First, the neighbors here suck. She could hear me screaming and came to help but no one else did. Second, neither of us has seen any families since we moved here. It was at this point I decided I wanted to leave and I offered to take her with me. We could both get out come hell or high water. She agreed but there was something I had to do first.
I showed her the box I had taken from the apartment.
“You almost died for a box?” Ash asked me. “Yes,” I said seriously.
I opened it and blinked. I found a picture of a girl with black hair and bright green eyes. It read, Stephanie. I found a missing persons report too. This girl had been missing a year before I got here. I decided that my last article would be about her. I had written about a couple of missing people before this. For example, the old lady in our building vanished and her apartment was rented out two days later.
I also found a badge inside the box. It read F.O.P.P. and there was a name! Jack Bridges. We tried to look up the organization's name but we came up empty-handed. I ended up writing the story about Stephanie and the next day Ash and I got packing. We decided to take my car since the cops know what hers looks like. I packed up the essentials all over again and we piled into the car.
“We should check the other direction. Before we leave.” I suggested. Ash knew about the bar already but neither of us knew what was beyond that point: This suggested changed the course of our lives forever.
So we started driving in the other direction. We passed the bar where the woman had tried to eat me, we passed a convenience store I didn’t know this town had and we just kept driving. Eventually, I could hear Ash speaking to me, “Holy shit! The police station.” she pointed out. I couldn’t believe it either. I did not stop driving though but I wish I did.
Eventually, we saw a sign that read, LittleBrooke High. Go Bears!
I started to slow down a bit until the school was in view. The place looked run down as hell. There were holes in the walls and leaves growing up the side of the building. The parking lot was massive and full of buses. I pulled the car into the parking lot and told Ash to get into the driver's seat.
“You’re not serious?” She asked me. I could tell she wanted to go but I said, “This is it! This is the last place of note in this fucken town. Just take the wheel and I will be right back.” I said as I jumped out of the car and went to look around.
As I approached one of the buses I grabbed the doors, they were already open a crack. I pulled them open and was hit with a horrible stench. I had to step back and puke and no I am not going to describe what I saw in that fucken bus. At that point, I decided I had seen enough and it was time to fucken go.
“Help!” I heard someone cry from a couple of buses over. “Please!” I heard again. I wanted to slap myself because I knew better. I had already decided it was time to leave but I went to investigate anyway. I went to the bus and pulled the doors open. It smelled like stale piss and blood. “Back here!” A girl screamed out to me. I made my way to the back of the bus, stepping on school jackets and over backpacks. That is where I found them. Two teenagers are tied to the leg of a bus seat. They looked horrible, caking in blood and sweat. They were both injured. “Stephanie?!” I exclaimed as I bent over to free them. I recognized her face the moment I saw it.
“Can you move? I asked the blonde girl.” As I started to let her go. “Everything hurts.” She told me. I opened the emergency exit and called for Ash to pull the car over. It took her a second to hear me but she came as fast as possible. “I am going to get you guys in the car and we are going to get out of here, okay?” I told them. I wanted to tell them everything was going to be okay, but I couldn't. It felt like that would be a huge lie.
Ash stepped out of the car and helped get the girls into the backseat. As I stopped to look around I could feel the bus shift in weight. I turned around and inhaled sharply. Standing before me was a creature wearing a jacket that said COACH on it. He looked sickly, and pale, and his veins were protruding from his face and hands. As he ran at me I jumped out of the emergency exit door just in time to feel something slam off of the back of my head. I looked down to see a barbed football. I could feel blood trickling down my neck, I stumbled forward and felt a hand grab my arm. Ash was shoving me into the car. She slid over me, closed the passenger door, and backed the car up. I thought she was moving like lightning.
At this point, everyone was screaming. My heart was threatening to jump out of my fucken chest. I was so sure we were all going to die here, just like everyone else I had seen on the buses. But no, Ash sped out of the parking lot. The coach chased us to the school limits but for some reason, he did not follow us anymore.
I know we should've stopped to see if the kids could find their parents but we didn't. Instead, Ash just kept driving. Eventually, we could hear the cops behind us but that did not stop her. It took us six hours to finally see the You Are New Leaving LittleBrooke sign! I couldn’t believe it. This place was not that big at all.
So listen, if you’re invited to take a job in LittleBrooke. Don’t take it. It’s not worth your life.

I am looking at the WeatherTech tonneau cover. Do any of you have any experience with it? Is it a good value and good quality bed cover? I know a lot of people like the backflip cover but I am interested in the WeatherTech. Any advice? Thanks

so yeah i went and pissed the bed last night. i have a mattress cover but it got through that and i’m washing all my bedding but how do i actually help clean the spot on my mattress?

Pt 1 If you haven't read it yet.
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Pt 2 If you haven't read it yet.
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Pt 3 If you haven't read it yet.
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Pt 4 If you haven't read it yet.
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Pt 5 If you haven't read it yet.
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The sun had begun to set, so I made my way over to the metro station we agreed upon as the rendezvous point. The walk took me about 20 minutes so by the time I got back the streetlights were beginning to switch on as the last red rays of starlight dipped below the horizon. It was there I anxiously awaited for Tromō, expecting him to take longer. I stayed for about a half hour, but at that point my stomach had slowly begun to sink with dread. My mind raced. In an attempt to dismiss these fears I reached for my communicator to check his location (I know, I know, risky in a public location but I had made my way over to a much quieter location.) I found him en route to the warehouse district, about 20 kilometers north-northeast of my location. Something had gone terribly wrong. Sensing the worst I quickly commandeered a nearby truck, hot-wired it, and hauled ass back to the hotel. I was never particularly any good at combat so
a different strategy would be required. I also had many moral qualms at the thought of murder, but since Tromō would likely have his identity compromised, protocol states clearly that anyone who comes in contact with that knowledge must be promptly terminated, and the blind rage made quick work eliminating that psychological barrier.
On the drive back to the hotel I began to plot his rescue. My mind, overcome with anger, jumped to a most unorthodox manner of dealing death. The plan I had settled on was to deploy a gas, engineered to only affect Ix. The gas would serve as the medium for the transmission of a specially designed virus to act as a genetic trojan horse to gain access to their cells, and disable their DNA from being read. None of their immune systems could cope with such a virus, allowing it to wreak havoc on their bodies unimpeded. Now, I did design the virus to prevent itself from spreading to new hosts and would only last a few milliseconds while outside the gas.
Getting back to the hotel room I sequenced the Ix's genome so I could tailor the virus. How it would work is a CRISPR protein would be released once access had been gained to the cell, this would identify active strings of genetic code, and replace them with deactivated strands, which the body wouldn't read for. Repeat this 100 or so trillion more times and you have a rather unpleasant appointment with the grim reaper in just 48 hours. The gas, however, would paralyze them, preventing any movement while the virus made its way through the body.
I worked for the next 4 hours, as quickly as I could, making sure to inform Bridge about what had happened to Tomō, but only mentioned that I was "Handling it." when it came to finding a solution. Captain didn't follow up as there was a general understanding that you don't talk about what you had to do on a rescue mission. At regular intervals I checked his location and vitals making sure that not only was he not moving, but also still remained alive.
Leaving the hotel I got back in the truck and went as fast as I could to the warehouse they were keeping him in. Rage and fear boiling over. What were they doing to Tomō? Is he hurt? I'm gonna kill those fuckers. They fucked with the wrong person and now they're gonna be in a world of hurt unlike anything they could possibly imagine.
Slamming on the brakes when I got there, I took in my surroundings. The building was small, no larger than a barn, with a slanted roof with two skylights. Surrounding the building was a tall fence, nothing I couldn't climb and the entrance was padlocked shut, both the gate and the door. After scaling the fence I climbed up a dumpster and up onto the roof, making sure to crawl whenever I could. Peeking through the skylight, which was cracked open slightly, allowing me to not only see but hear what was going on inside.
It was a most distressing scene, Tomō, tied to an iron column, all bruised and bloodied, with four other people, 2 men and 2 women, standing nearby. I was lucky to have calibrated the dose for 5 people.
"It's been 5 hours, your little friend isn't coming to save you." One of the men said approaching Tomō
Fearing that he could hurt him once more I readied the bow with the special arrow that would release the gas on impact.
Release.
The arrow landed right in-between the man and the three others. They all turned to look at me, but I had quickly hidden myself from view.
"Looks like your friend is here after all. Shame he missed!" He shouted.
"I didn't need to!" I shouted back, clicked the button that would release the gas along with the virus.
I crawled back over to the skylight to see my creation take action. They began to cough. One of them fell down.
"You don't know, do you?" He said, laughing and still coughing.
"We knew where you were. That tracker is on you too. Oh, and that little bioweapon you designed, it doesn't work on us."
He pulled off a sort of latex disguise. He was not Ix, none of them were. They were all Trexel, the sworn enemy of The Federation who they had been fighting with, largely in the form of border skirmishes and territorial disputes for the last 200 years.
"Get him." The man said, pointing at me as the three others began running out of the building.
FUCK SHIT FUCK FUCK FUCK
I quickly climbed down the roof and only had time to get onto the top of the dumpster, I was unarmed, or so I thought, remembering the pair of scissors I kept in one of my pockets. I did ditch my bow and at this point it was dead weight to me.
"You're gonna fucking pay for what you did to Tomō." I growled.
"With a pair of scissors! HA!" one of the women said.
"You fucked around..."
Splitting the scissors in two, I grabbed one of the halves and threw it.
"ACK" Was her last word as the blade pierced right through her neck.
THUMP was the noise her body made collapsing onto the floor as she bled out and choked. Her peers readied their swords. (Kinetic weapons would make too much noise and Energy weapons could have some... unintended consequences.) I grabbed a short, half-meter pipe and taped the remaining half of the scissors to one end.
"with a human.. and now... you find out."
I jumped down from my position, while that did mean sacrificing my high ground, I needed to make the quickest work of the two in order to get to Tomō as quickly as possible.
They both charged me at the same time, trying to flank, but I just circled around, making sure to keep line of sight.
Eventually one charged me, I let her attack me, always making sure to move out of the way, this kept the both of them in motion, never quite getting close enough to strike.
Leading them in circles I eventually picked the man who didn't seem as skilled due to his lack of participation compared to his other colleague.
Lunging towards him I made quick steps towards, when I got inside striking range he I had to sidestep his sword, but in the end that didn't matter, a swift stab to the chin and I just pushed him aside with the other end of the pipe to bled out.
Now all that was left was the woman standing there, alone, and moderately terrified.
Adrenaline coursing through my veins in ever increasing quantities, and desperation coursing through hers, we charged at each other, and I stabbed her in the torso, striking one of her vital organs.
But I was but a 10th of a second too late, and the steel of her blade sliced about 2 and a half centimeters into my right shoulder. Adrenaline quieted the pain, but it still hurt like hell as the blood trickled out and I began to lose feeling in my right arm.
Pulling my communicator I hit the SOS button.
Pushing her body to the side I ran as fast I could to the door and charged the last man toppling him to the ground. But he was prepared, holding a knife in his hand, stabbing and slashing until his last breath. When all was done I ran over to Tomō but collapsed just centimeters from freeing him as the amount of blood I lost grew, and the pain returned.
I waited for 2 minutes, but it felt like eternity, barely being able to open my eyes, and the pain shooting throughout my body, all while I could hear Tomō struggling to break free to try and treat my wounds.
But at the end of those two minutes I was lifted up into a medevac shuttle.
"Tomō?" I groaned, forcing the word out with every fiber of my being.
"Yes we have Tomō he'll be okay but our priority is you right now."
I recognized the voice, it was Jiply, the ship's doctor, but I could barely parse it out through the noise of other doctors and whirring, beeping machines as the crew of doctors attended to my injuries.
By the next time I had opened my eyes I was lying down in a cold room by myself, dressed in my underwear and a knee-length hospital gown, hooked up to a heart rate monitor and a pack of blood to replenish what I had lost. Nearby though was a call button, which I sat up slowly to reach, upon sitting up I inspected myself, noticing that my torso had 5 scars from the fight, and I estimated another 2 on my back judging by the tenderness of the skin. I pressed the button repeatedly until someone came.
"Well I see you're awake!" Smiled Jiply.
"Would you like me to tell the crew you're awake?"
"Just Tomō for now, I'll tell the crew myself" I said, groggily.
"Oh and could you get me something to wear please?"
"Sure thing I can get you something!"
She left the room and shortly afterwards brought me a pair of pants, the same color as my gown and made of flannel. Since I couldn't get out of bed quite yet she put them on for me.
"Thank you." I whispered.
Jiply left once more to get Tromō, I didn't have to wait long until I heard him bursting through the door.
"You're okay!" He exclaimed while crying.
"Oh thank the stars you're okay!"
He bolted towards me, tightly wrapping his arms around me.
"Too much squeeze, too much squeeze!"
Not only was he hugging me too tightly, but it also irritated my tender scars. He quickly loosened his hug, allowing me to feel his soft, wrinkly skin, and hear the pitter-patter of his hearts.
"So good to see you're okay too."
We were both crying tears of joy, and while I knew whatever just happened would only be the start, I would always have someone I could rely on. Tomō would always have my back, and I would always have his. I fell asleep mid-embrace.
When I woke up once more, it was already the next day, and while the bag of blood had been removed, its place was a clear IV bag to, you know, prevent me from starving.
I just laid down, facing the ceiling, taking in the calm. Savoring it. For about... 5 minutes, after that I got bored, so I pressed the call button. To no-one's surprise by this point, Jiply walks in shortly afterwards. I strongly suspect that she was personally overseeing me as it likely got priority over Klob'lar freaking out over stubbing their toe again.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" She asked
"Could you get me a cane, I would like to tell the crew that I'm okay."
She handed me a cane, carefully lifting myself back onto my shaking legs.
"So what's the damage doc?"
"Well, your liver got punctured but we were able to repair that, and we had concerns about the long term viability of your L-3 vertebrae and your right shoulder so we replaced the both of them."
"Not too bad." I chuckled.
I slowly made my way over to the door one hand clasped around the cane, and the other around the IV bag stand. It took me about half an hour to head down the hallway over to the bridge. The door opened and I belted out as hard as I could
"IMM BAACK!" *Cough* *Cough*
Everyone stood up to face me and began to clap, which I signaled for them to stop since I didn't care for the noise. I was smiling though
"We figured you were okay, Tomō seemed happier than ever before so we assumed it meant good news for you!" The captain said walking over to me.
"Awww man he spoiled the surprise!" I laughed.
"Oh please, seeing you walking is plenty surprise enough."
"So how did you manage to rescue me so quickly without being discovered?"
"Oh we didn't, we unfortunately had to prematurely inform them of other life in the galaxy."
"You're fucking with me aren't you."
"After how you fought, we all respect you too much to fuck with you like that."
"Well shit." I said, the smile I had was wiped from my face.
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So that's it for Pt 6, hope you liked the fight scene! Pt 7 should be coming out in another 2 days. As always, thanks for reading!

First: https://redd.it/11e34ce
Previous: https://redd.it/142fe2y
Chapter 32
As Mae had previewed, the weeks that passed since the incident in the Logistics Bay were fraught with speculation and feeding the rumor mill. Quin felt he couldn’t walk ten paces on Nemo before meeting some askance gaze of a crewmember or hearing the murmurings of a conversation that abruptly stopped when he would round a corner. Mae was right though that, after a while, the incident became old news and the ruckus died down a bit. Certainly, there was always an inappropriate joke to be had during dinner or dark looks from certain members of the crew, but as the time passed, people turned once again to daily happenings onboard, when the next stopover would take place, and the perennial favorite: who happened to be sleeping with whom.
This last item tended to occupy people to no end, and Quin felt a bit unfortunate that this news also pertained him. Mae and Liza’s breakup and the apparent spat that he and Pepper had ran through the corridors just as fast as the news about Nova. Quin was honestly unsure which conversation he dreaded being brought up more. It seemed that individuals he had never or barely even met knew more about his world than he himself was aware. It was during one of these conversations with two people from the Engineering section that Quin accidently lost it and stormed off, an act he regretted immediately for furthering the gossip chain.
“So is it true that you had to hold Mae back so she wouldn’t punch Liza?” the guy had asked.
”What? NO. What the hell?” Quin responded, flabbergasted.
“Well, I heard from someone in the officer’s corridor that there was yelling and someone got hit. Do you know who got punched?” The other person was practically on their toes with anticipation.
“NO ONE GOT PUNCHED!” Quin shouted, ready to leave the conversation as soon as possible.
“Jeez, why are you yelling?” as the first person, blind to Quin’s growing frustration.
“Don’t you know, Liza’s friend broke up with him the next day because of the fight?” The second person remarked to the first, now completely cutting Quin out of the conversation.
“WE WEREN’T EVEN DATING! WHAT THE HELL?!” Quin screamed, turned on his heels and stormed off to nowhere in particular.
Thankfully, this was probably the worst interaction he had had as a result of those unfortunate few days, aside from the actual conversations themselves that he experienced with Pepper and Nova themselves. He would have appreciated any interaction with either of them at all, if he was honest. The silent treatment from the both of them was practically unbearable. Mae’s words of encouragement, “Time, give it time,” only helped so much when he would pass by Pepper in the corridors or when he had to work directly with Nova during his long shifts in the lab. Nova had limited their conversations to something like a comment box, dropping in parcels of a conversation to the syslog, to be taken up at her leisure and delivered at inconvenient times in the middle of the night. But at the very least, Nova was responding, albeit specifically for work and solely related to their responsibilities together. Pepper, on the other hand, was completely mute. Painfully so, Quin noted as she passed by him going into the cafeteria and didn’t even afford him a glance.
The level of complete non-interaction with Pepper and the invasion into his life by everyone else was beginning to wear on him, and he felt more cut off from the rest of the crew than ever before. He had stopped visiting Bostwick’s chamber for fear of the look of pity that the Commander often wore when passing by him. At least Mae had somewhat of a ‘tough love’ approach to cheering him up. Bostwick’s uncompromising warmth and sympathetic looks made Quin feel guilty rather than comforted, and shameful rather than encouraged. In fact, in the two and a half weeks that passed since Nemo had left the Rhea stopover and Quin passed the night under the watch of the Commander, Quin had only exchanged glances with Bostwick.
Then there was the insomnia. At first, Quin felt nothing but lethargy as he felt the different components of his life crumble around him. The inability to communicate with Tess, the intolerable pity of Mae and Bostwick, the unbearable silence from Pepper and Nova, the frustration expressed by the command staff, and the whispers and side-eyes from the rest of the crew all contributed to the complete physical and mental shutdown he experienced after leaving Rhea. He would steal away to his chamber during break periods to nap, and he would skip meals in order to stay in his room, profiting from the odd bits of food Mae snuck out of the cafeteria. However, after several days of feeling an inability to motivate himself to be out of bed, he started to find that he would lie awake, staring at the ceiling, or glancing at the clock and fretting that it was already 4:00 in the morning.
It was on one of these early mornings that Quin saw the numbers 3:22 at the top of his tablet, and he felt as if it would be impossible for him to find any sleep that night. He had laid down in bed at 22:05 with every intention of forcing a good night’s sleep, but with five hours passing by and no respite coming, he sat up on the edge of his bed and rubbed his eyes a bit. He figured that the coffee station in the kitchen would probably have some hot water with which to make tea, and that could possibly help him. He threw his jumpsuit and boots on and strolled out of the room.
The ship was deserted and peaceful, the type of quiet that Quin relished. It was almost trance-inducing, the soft hum of the ship that Quin felt coming through the very walls themselves. He felt the sound reverberate through him and it was soothing. He set off toward the kitchen. The sleet grey walls of Nemo’s interior usually made for a serious backdrop, but at this hour, it had the effect of dimming the corridors and adding to the sleepy atmosphere of the ship. He stuffed his hands deep in his pockets and followed the sleek lines of the hallways with his eyes as he passed. He came upon the cafeteria doors and walked by them to skirt the main room. He was heading for the back area, the sparkling room with gleaming metal and white tile and a peaceful getaway. Upon swiping his arm against the pad, though, he found that the space was already occupied. A voice greeted him before he had an opportunity to look up.
“Hey Quin, can’t sleep? Is it another bad dream?” Bostwick was sitting on a stool with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand and his illuminated tablet resting on one of the food prep work tables. The man had a weary look around his eyes but Quin could still discern the warmth that emanated from the wrinkles near his temples and the large smile he wore. Quin froze, unsure whether to step into the room and submit himself to another round of pity or try to find some excuse for leaving and head back to his room. In his uncertainty, he ended up standing in the doorway, causing the automatic doors to try to swish shut but freezing and retracting, over and over again.
“Well? Are you just going to stand there, mouth agape, or are you going to come get something to drink like you had planned?” Bostwick said with an eyebrow raised, his mouth now reflecting a knowing smirk. Slowly, Quin trudged into the room, his hands clenched in his pockets as he tried to suppress the nerves that were boiling in his stomach. He gingerly walked over to the coffee station and put a tea bag in a cup and pressed the release valve to allow boiling water to fall over it. Then he set the cup down to steep. He kept his eyes fixed on the surface of the brewing tea, though he felt the hair on the nape of his neck stand as he guarded himself for Bostwick’s eventual conversation starter. But after a minute, it didn’t come. Quin stood there watching the deep brown tea diffuse throughout the water but did not hear a word come from Bostwick. Hesitantly, Quin looked around and saw Bostwick tapping on his tablet, seemingly composing a message.
Quin shuffled his feet a bit before clearing his throat lightly. Without even looking up, Bostwick said, “I’m able to read signs, Quin. If you don’t want to talk to me, I’m more than happy to oblige your intention to be left alone.”
Quin’s eyes shot up to look at Bostwick, who kept on typing as if he hadn’t spoken. Quin was left a bit taken aback. Oh hell, he thought, is it that obvious or can he read my mind? He shuffled again and then picked up his tea cup. Quick, say something, you idiot, his mind was screaming at him as he struggled to put together his words.
“Look, uh, Commander, I—“ Quin started, but was immediately cut off.
“Louis, but please continue,” Bostwick said, looking up at him and smiling.
Whatever momentum Quin had built up in trying to speak, he lost it with Bostwick’s interruption. He started to second-guess even his need to speak if Bostwick was going to be able to anticipate the conversation. His mentor apparently picked up on his nervousness, because he relieved Quin’s tension by taking up what was going through Quin’s head.
“Quin, listen, I understand that you feel like you want to be left alone,” Bostwick said, his tone soft and unassailing. “And I’m sensing that you feel a bit embarrassed about being vulnerable in front of me. That’s a totally normal human feeling. I hope you aren’t feeling, though, that I overstepped any boundaries by not waking you up immediately when you fell asleep in my room?”
“No, uh, Louis, it’s not that,” Quin said abashedly.
“Good, I’m glad. So if you are feeling ashamed about the way I show that I care about you, please just tell me, and we can talk about how I can change that.”
Again, Quin was at a loss for words. It’s not that I don’t want him to care about me, he thought, it’s that I want him to be mad. Why wasn’t he angry at all? That I could deal with. But he’s so kind that I feel like I want to scream. Quin lifted his eyes and finally met Bostwick’s own piercing gaze. Bostwick seemed to interpret the silence and took up the conversation again.
“Unless…perhaps you are feeling ashamed about your own reaction?” Bostwick posited. “Quin, it’s almost the twenty-third century, well actually, for everyone not aboard this ship, it already is. We are long past the cultural stereotype of men not being able to cry. I’d say that your expression of deep emotion is quite masculine, and I for one would—“
Quin interrupted him, “No, Louis, it’s not that either.”
Bostwick fell silent for a moment, then continued gently, “Okay, again, if you wouldn’t like to discuss it right now, you can simply have your tea and we can sip our respective beverages in silence. Though I will note that a 3am excursion raises all sorts of eyebrows that a lesser XO would rush to conclusions. Thankfully for you, I’m not a lesser XO.” He ended with a smirk, returning to his tablet with a very self-satisfied look on his face.
Quin let the silence fill the room again as he turned his cup in his hands, the warmth slowly radiating through his cold fingertips and seemingly giving him a bit of courage. After a moment, he slowly walked over to the work table and set his cup down. Again, without looking up, Bostwick pulled a stool out from underneath the table and pushed it toward Quin. Quin couldn’t help but smile a bit at Bostwick’s level of tact in assuming. He took the proffered stool and plopped himself down, elbows on the work table and eyes fixed on the tea cup. Hesitantly, he glanced at Bostwick, who was humming a tune and slowly shaking his head back and forth in rhythm as he completed his message and hit the send button.
Quin cleared his throat and made his attempt, “Commander, uh sorry, Louis, it’s not that I don’t appreciate everything. I really do. I just…I was just wishing you would be less…I don’t know…understanding? A little more mad?”
“I have no intention of being mad at you Quin. That would be counterproductive and a waste of energy. Wouldn’t you say?”
“Well, I um, what do you mean?” Quin shook his head as his eyes fell.
“I’d imagine that your self-imposed reclusion and the restrictions imposed by Captain Fuentes would be a sufficient punishment, and you are probably looking for a friendly face, especially after things with Ensign Jefferson, erm, Pepper, have recently soured. That would leave you with Mae to seek some company and I daresay that Lieutenant Rohlwing has her own mission responsibilities and personal tumult to deal with, no?”
Quin was staring with his mouth open at Bostwick, who yet again was wearing a rather pleased smirk on his face. How in the hell did he know all of that? Quin thought, unable to keep an astounded look off his face.
Bostwick chuckled, then seemingly replied to Quin’s thought, “You people think the command staff are a bunch of old farts out of touch with the inner workings of the social network among you youths, but I too hear things. I have my spies on board.”
Quin laughed, causing Bostwick to perk up a bit, “Oh alright,” he rejoiced, arms up in the air. “Ten points to Bostwick for making the moody one laugh.”
Quin laughed more heartily and took a sip of his tea. When he looked back up he saw Bostwick was staring at him with an encouraging look on his face, as if to say May I keep asking questions? Quin sipped his tea again and nodded softly, almost to himself as he continued to chuckle.
“So, I take it you and Ms. Jefferson have not spoken much since we set off from Rhea?” Bostwick asked, eyebrow raised.
“No, that would require her wanting to speak to me,” Quin said dryly.
“How do you know she doesn’t want to speak to you?” Bostwick asked.
“Well, she seems to avoid or ignore me, so I’m trying to take the hint,” Quin said, trying to be nonchalant in his tone.
“Do you still like her?” Bostwick continued.
“Yeah, a lot. I thought we were doing well, really well on Rhea, but I said some stupid things in defending Mae to her, and I know I need to apologize, but she basically called me a coward, she said I needed to ‘grow a spine.’” Quin quickly gave Bostwick the back and forth of what constituted Pepper and his last conversation.
“I don’t think you are a coward. You do have a tendency to take your relationships with everyone very seriously, which is for the most part endearing, but I can see how she would find that stubbornness a bit frustrating when she is trying to argue with it.”
“So now you are on her side?” Quin said sharply.
“I wouldn’t dare try to take her side, but you don’t need to bite my head off for trying to give you some advice. I can see it’s not welcome though,” Bostwick said flatly, falling silent.
“No…wait, I’m sorry,” Quin said, changing his tone immediately. “Please, Louis, help me. What should I do?”
“An honest apology to start, you would be surprised how far being honest and sincere gets you. People seem to forget that. Then I would try to start seeing Ms. Jefferson outside of your interactions with Mae and Liza. Give yourselves something to talk about other than your common friends. That way you don’t revert into difficult territory immediately.”
“Like what?” Quin asked. “Watch a movie with her or something?”
“That being your strong, go-to approach, sure you could start there,” Bostwick said. “As an extra hint, I hear that the kitchen has some late-night snacks stashed away back here, and if you know someone, you can get good movie food. You could even, you know, call it a date or something. Don’t be afraid to ask her to do something at the next stopover too. Again, call it a date. If she sees you taking her seriously like you do everything else, she’ll probably appreciate you being intentional about it. That’s my guess. Anyway, Cronus is supposed to be a little bit more of an open schedule, so you can be more creative.”
Bostwick was making all sorts of sense. His was the type of advice that Quin had been looking for all along. Quin found himself shaking his head, as he processed everything. Bostwick seemed to misinterpret it.
“What? You’re thinking a different approach?” he said, a bit surprised.
“NO! No, sorry, it’s just…I’ve been such an idiot. That’s really good advice, I’ve just been stupid not talking to you. I don’t know why,” Quin finished, again shaking his head.
“Because you are young, and you guys don’t like getting romantic advice from someone your parents’ age,” Bostwick said, smiling.
“You aren’t that old,” Quin said, “I know we joke about it, but you can’t be more than…”
Bostwick laughed. “Be careful how you finish that sentence, Mr. Hammond.”
“Well, anyway, you aren’t that old. You just…I don’t know, you have this way about you, it made me want to avoid you. I felt ashamed that you were being all sympathetic, and it made me blind to the fact that I really needed to talk to you. What I mean is, you are a good listener, and I forgot that when I was unable to think straight. I felt all of these things happening around me, and you were there when that stuff happened with Nova. I know you were just trying to be nice. I’m sorry I was such an ass.”
“Well, if you were looking for honest and sincere apologies, Quin, you just found yourself one,” Bostwick said, putting his hand on Quin’s shoulder. “Change it up a little to be specific for her, and I’m sure you will have a good result. Don’t forgot to take care of yourself when you are trying to fix everything else, you know? It’s not possible to be perfect, so don’t make yourself sick in trying to be.”
“Yeah, right,” Quin said softly. “I wish I could fix everything, just like that.” He snapped his fingers.
“That would be nice, but unfortunately, we aren’t computers, and life isn’t all math problems. Sometimes life just needs time and a bit of decent humanity.” The two of them were silent for a little while as Quin stewed in his thoughts. Despite the hour, he was wide awake and appreciative of his little night excursion. After the pause had continued much longer than Quin expected, he looked up and saw Bostwick studying him. The man opened his mouth and then hesitated, before beginning tenderly, “Speaking of, how are things going with Nova?”
Quin sighed a bit, collecting his thoughts. Then he decided it was for the best and recounted to Bostwick the last conversation that Nova and he had face to face. The two of them had really not spoken since that evening some weeks ago. As Quin was narrating the story to Bostwick, the Commander was slightly chuckling and shaking his head. Astounded, Quin finished his story and confronted Bostwick.
“What’s so funny?” he demanded. “You’ve been laughing the entire time.”
“She’s quite brilliant, you know,” Bostwick said, scratching his forehead, eyes wide. “She presents these neat little ethical quandaries as if they were nothing and yet, scientists and philosophers have been asking the same types of questions about artificial intelligence for maybe two hundred years. It’s only now that we have got a being that is the walking and talking example of that.”
“Yeah, well, she’s another one that’s not talking to me,” Quin said.
“Well, Quin, I’m afraid I must give you the same advice. You should apologize. In her view, and I think objectively, you were somewhat of, if I may borrow your words, ‘an ass.’”
“This time I think you are definitely taking her side,” Quin said, sourly.
“Indeed. You created her. She takes her direction from you. You are kind of like her father, her brother, her friend, and her crewmate all rolled into one. The obligations of any one of those roles would be enough to say you needed to be there for her, and unfortunately you found yourself too busy being in your own head. Perhaps this is the root of your problem with both Ms. Jefferson and Nova. You are so busy letting everything weigh on you, being worried all the time, that you are unable to focus externally and be present for other people.” Quin’s eyes were downcast, his shoulders slumped. Well, if this is his form of a closing pick-me-up, I don’t think it’s working, Quin thought, sighing deeply.
“Fortunately,” Bostwick continued suddenly, “I think the solution is relatively simple and similar. You need to apologize to Nova, sincerely this time, and you need to spend some time with her, outside of work, so that you can normalize being around her. If your point was that you sometimes forget that she is only part human, then you need to do more human things with her in order to sensitize yourself to how she acts. She shouldn’t have to change for you, it should be the other way around. She can’t just be a mantelpiece in your career, Quin. She thinks.”
Quin sighed aloud, saying, “Yet again, another piece of sound advice from the ever-so-sage Commander Bostwick. And yet again, the solution is that I was wrong.”
Bostwick laughed. “Well, welcome to being an adult, my friend. Everything is complicated and you are usually wrong.” He patted Quin on the back. “Sarcasm aside, it’s okay to be wrong, just own up to it.”
Quin nodded slightly, acknowledging Bostwick’s counsel. The room was silent for a bit longer. The Commander downed his cup of coffee and looked into it, as if inspecting the bottom.
“You know what,” he said, looking up. “I think I’m going to have some tea too, but I’ve been keen to try some of the apple honey they brought me, you want some?” Quin nodded slowly, lost in his thought. Honey, he said to himself, honey, something about…honey.
“Can you believe they make all of this on Rhea?” Bostwick said over his shoulder. “I honestly can’t understand how their entire ecosystem, let alone their economy, operates off apples. It’s nuts.” Bostwick chuckled to himself. “Sorry for the pun.” Apples and honey, Quin’s brain was churning, but at this hour it was too fuzzy. …and honey.
He set two new cups down in front of them, still steaming and with the tea infusers bobbing around on the surface. He pulled a jar down from one of the kitchen cabinets and ladled a small bit of honey into each cup. After stirring a bit, Bostwick took a sip and smacked his lips, grinning satisfactorily at Quin.
“Oh my, that’s so good,” Bostwick said, relishing the taste as he took another draw. “You should drink it while it’s hot.”
Quin brought the cup to his lips mechanically, though he could have sworn that he was missing something. He felt himself distracted by Louis enjoying his cup of tea, the early hour, and the lack of a good night’s sleep for several days. I could have sworn that I just remembered something, he thought, growing frustrated at the lack of ability of his brain to recall what it was that was escaping him. Resigning himself, he took a long swig, his eyes closing automatically when the taste of the sweet and sour apple-tinged honey hit his lips. Instantly, he was transported back onto Rhea, where he savored several fleeting moments of being away and being happy. Unfortunately, his happiness was suddenly ripped away from the call from Nemo. What I wouldn’t give to be back there to have some more time with Pepper and Mae, he thought while recollecting the honey tasting in the orchard. He remembered the smile on Pepper’s face, how infectious it was, and Mae’s giggling at him.
“Hmm,” Bostwick said into the silence, “it’s just about time that the command deck wakes up. Some of the buzzing should start soon.”
“Buzzing?” Quin asked distantly, almost half-consciously.
“Sorry, yeah, buzzing. Message traffic. Unfortunately, a lot of the lingo revolves around bees.”
“Bees?” Quin asked, his brain slowly coming to.
“Yeah, bees,” Bostwick said, studying Quin curiously. “You know, Captain Fuentes being the Queen, the Deck being the hive, that sort of thing.”
“Bees!” Quin exclaimed.
“What?” Bostwick demanded, flabbergasted.
“Louis! BEES!” Quin shouted, shooting off his stool and slamming his cup down.
“Quin, I don’t-“ Bostwick began, but Quin wasn’t listening. The young man half-sprinted out of the room.
“BEES!” Quin shouted again, his face mixed with a smile and intense concentration.
“Okay, Mr. Cage,” Bostwick said, chuckling and shaking his head, his eyes and mouth reflecting a knowing smile as he watched Quin run out of the room.

He said, "What do you want?" All I could think of was peeling the skin of a Valencia orange in bed on a bright morning with someone pulling me into the covers because they want to spend two or three minutes nestling before starting their day. So I said, "Not much.” Pls help me

I was really young at the time, probably like six or something, when I moved into Haigen Oaks. I lived in an apartment in the room on the top left end. Well for my age, the room was huge, Including mine and my brother’s room. We shared rooms at the time. But even when we shared rooms, I was still afraid of the dark. I always thought that if the lights were off something would get me, so my parents always left them on until I fell asleep. But of course nothing got me. Weeks later I experienced strange things. Like for instance I would see in my peripheral vision that the bathroom light would cut on. And I know it would because I could shape everything in there, but as soon as I look over the light would be off. Most times I ask my brother if he’s been in there, but he would say. Those times I would be terrified.
It started to thunder one night, and I was completely scared. I mean at my age I was scared of everything. I woke my brother up and he got scared too. We ran as fast as we could to our parents room and started to bang on the door. I decided to look back and thought I saw something standing there in the hallway. But quickly disappeared. I caught myself, and continued to bang on the door. Eventually our parents opened it and we rushed inside and jumped under the cover on their bed. My dad turned the tv on and we all eventually went to sleep.
The next day was pretty fun. Our parents bought us floaties so we could go to the community pool. I couldn’t swim then so I just floated around. My dad sometimes would throw me around in the pool. It was fun.We eventually got inside by dark and changed into our pajamas. When I went to bed the light wasn’t on, so I had to go to sleep scared. I woke up, but not in the morning. It was in the middle of the night. I tried to go back to sleep but it felt like something or someone tapped my hand. I turned over to see nothing. But with my left peripheral vision I know I saw something looming over me with a large shape. It looked like it had a cult robe on with the hood over. But as I turned back over, it was gone. To this day I don’t know what or who it was and if it was the same one I saw in that hallway.

We have a chore chart, my three children have to 4 chores a day, they aren’t hard, like make you bed or sweep you carpet. If you get too them when you get home it takes usually 20 minutes in all. Every kid has different chores depending on age, can’t have the 7 year old take the kitchen trash out. It works really well overall and they can see there four chores each day for the month.
My son has been pawing of his chores to his youngest sister 12. So she basically has been doing 8 chores a day. My daughter came to me upset not understanding why I was giving his chores to her. I wasn’t she was lied to by him and since they usually do them when I am at work I didn’t notice.
So as a punishment since he had her due his chores for about a little over a month (36 days) He has to do 300 chores on top of his chores already. Since that basically the amount she has been doing for the time that month. He was not happy but really if he just does a ton of cleaning on the weekend it won’t be that horrible, and some chores overlap.
My husband hear about it and claims I am going overboard. That it is an upsetting amount. He tried to retract the punishment but I put my foot down. AITA is this too much
Since people asked, my daughter has the choice of take 36 days off or get extra allowance for the work she did. She hasn’t chosen yet

Our family needs help!
Something has been eating our ripe or partially ripe tomatoes at night. Started out of the blue a few days ago. It's been exactly one or two tomatoes per night and whatever it is eats the whole thing. The tomatoes being eaten aren't close to the ground either, but are in raised beds and high on the vine.
Last night we covered the entire raised bed in bird/animal mesh netting, and even staked it to the ground. Yet somehow the bandit got in and stole another tomato without getting trapped in the netting or even disturbing it from what I can tell. We haven't found any droppings or prints either, although with our mulch type soil prints would be hard to see.
Any suggestions or ideas??? Help please!

So here’s a sitch for you. I am driving with my uncle to a ranch of his outside my town (Texas, for anyone wondering). He has an improvised shooting range with nothing but hills surrounding it, and we were about to go and enjoy shooting some ragdolls on his new AR-15. Two hours of driving in and we pull over at a gas station surrounded by literally nothing with the truck parked literally behind the entrance. He goes it to get his coffee, with me staying in the car, when I figure I’d go for a quick leak while he’s in there. Clueless and comforted by the nothingness surrounding us I go inside, but with the car left unlocked... and guess what happens.
We come out together only to see the latches open on his truck bed (he has some cover that locks in) and surprise, the ammo is missing. Apart from the cashier dude at the cash register in the gas station being suspiciously unsurprised by what happened, and telling us: „Ay, gotta lock ya car boys”, we saw literally no one around that could have done that. Not a single CCTV in sight. And no ammo to shoot with at the range on my uncle’s ranch either. Well, at least the new AR-15 is still in place, and whoever got into the trunk bed didn’t dig deep enough.
This begs the question though, since we usually got the ammo from a website, with this specific ammo being the last one we got https://bulkmunitions.com/buy-ammo/rifle/223-rem-556x45-ammo/, and we didn’t want to wait for the delivery. I have a pal who made the same bulk acquisition recently and I was going to hit him up and offer to buy some of his, and I was very sure that it’s a done deal, until he told me that it’s illegal in Texas?! I have never heard of this and was quite surprised to hear this, I even initially thought that it’s just him not wanting to sell or share them, lol.
Do you guys have any experience with this? Anyone out here with the right legal knowledge to be able to tell me if my buddy is right?
PS. I know that we were irresponsible, and shouldn’t have left the latch and truck open with no one in the car. Lesson learned.

I found an ex Forrest service truck for sale, crew cab, long bed, 4wd, and that’s about it. Super bare bones truck but the interior appears to be in great shape and it has less than 90k on it. Dealership wants $18k it’s hard for me to justify spending that much on a 20 year old truck.
So my question is we’re these things selling for 10k in the before times? I don’t need the truck anytime soon, and it looks like the market is shifting.

When it comes to choosing a dog bed material that is easy to clean and maintain, there are a few options to consider.
Here are some popular choices:

• Nylon: Nylon is a durable and water-resistant material that is relatively easy to clean. It can be wiped down or spot cleaned with a damp cloth. Many nylon dog beds also come with removable covers that can be machine washed.
• Vinyl or Synthetic Leather: Vinyl or synthetic leather dog beds are known for their water resistance and ease of cleaning. They can be wiped clean with a damp cloth or sponge, and some models even have removable covers that can be washed.
• Polyester: Polyester is another material that is commonly used for large dog beds. It is resistant to stains and can be easily cleaned with a damp cloth or sponge. Like nylon, polyester beds often come with removable and machine-washable covers.
• Outdoor Fabrics: Some dog beds are made with outdoor fabrics like canvas or polyester blends. These materials are designed to be water and stain-resistant, making them easy to clean. They can be wiped down or spot cleaned, and many come with removable covers that can be machine washed.

Was camping in the mountaineers hut on day 20 of my interloper run, had a few meals of fish and was trying bulk up health for a trip to the storage bins. Stopped to pick cat tails, saw the bear was in my way and turned about. Not wanting to lose my progress, but starting to lose health to cold, I camped in cover and lit a fire to sleep an hour. Blizzard. Woke up to zero health. Nailed myself with my only epipen and picked up my bedroll stumbling. Managed to find ky way around the slopes back to the lake and followed it back to the hut navigating by the edges, and collapsed into bed as the drugs wore off. Much stress! But it's been blizzard all day and I ran out of timber. Should i persist or leave?

I have a JRB top quilt and soon to own a zip-on Dutchware Chameleon underquilt made by JRB.
Down quilts are not supposed to be stored compressed. I've read suggestions such as, laying them out under your bed at home, hanging them in the closet, loosely gathering them in a king-size pillow case and using a large dry bag with those moisture control packets. Probably all fine suggestions.
I also own an Anaconda (which is amazing by the way) that allows me to bundle my hammock, pillow, top & under quilt easily when packed. If you haven't seen what I'm talking about, check it out on YouTube.
The inside of the Anaconda has a long mesh sleeve, kin to snakeskin, that gathers all the components before they are compressed into the sack. I'm wondering if the mesh sleeve exposed and not compressed is an acceptable way to store the quilts when not in use? I can't imagine it being much different than using a king-size pillow case. I was thinking of just opening the Anaconda, and loosely laying the hammock and quilts in a storage bin and placing a cover on the bin.
Thoughts? Thanks in advance.
YouTube links for Anaconda:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lDz3a1hAeU&pp=ygUQYW5hY29uZGEgaGFtbW9jaw%3D%3D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VarGEmb7-wY&pp=ygUQYW5hY29uZGEgaGFtbW9jaw%3D%3D

The common argument is that being transgendered is a mental illness, but it isn't. When a child of any gender sees an object, that child will create their own feelings about the object. Some children might prefer flowers to fire trucks, or army helicopters to Barbies.. but despite what some trolls might say, that army helicopter is not a gendered item (nor is it a gender you can claim).
So, if in our purest innocence, we do not associate our reproductive organs with the objects we are allowed to play with or what colors we can use to represent ourselves, gender restrictions are clearly not a natural occurrence in the human experience.
As we grow, we see ourselves as our preferences, and we have to battle for what we love against society. Adults always telling me, AMAB, that I can't use a pink crayon. Little second grade confused me, in a Christian school, just innocently saying "but, pink is my favorite color and I want to use it."
I was literally put on a pedestal of shame in front of the class, and forced to admit, to the laughter of other children, that "pink is my favorite color".. but just a moment ago, when we were all still friends, I was coloring with the pink crayon and not a single other kid cared.
It wasn't until the adult told me to be ashamed and the other children were directed to scold and shame me, that it became a traumatic moment. Before that I was just a happy child with a pink crayon that made me even happier.
But unlike the other children, I was not dissuaded. I went home and put on my mother's makeup to do a fashion show for myself, or my Ultimate Warrior face paint to wrestle with My Pet Monster on my bed, because my hobbies were not gendered.
First time my dad caught me putting on makeup would also be around this time, and that would also begin the long standing tradition of him using the "F-slur" against me, as well as constantly calling me a "girl" to shame me, without realizing he was actually affirming my choices.
In response to my father's prejudice, his insults toward me became a reason for me to troll him. I knew he, and the other adults, were suffering from something I couldn't explain, nor was I able to learn Partially, I do thank ASD for my inability to feel ashamed of myself, and because I was never able to comprehend or adopt bigotry, the way my peers did. I didn't care what other people really thought of me, until they became violent over my existence.
Eventually, as I grew, I moved into more and more gender defiance, and by the time I was in middle school, I was being thrown out of both my parents homes back and forth because I kept bringing in dresses, or refusing to remove my eyeliner or nail polish. To me, it was a test of my parents love. It just hurt and was sad, that I was just making myself pretty with colors and fashion, but they found a reason to hate me for being happy. I needed love and acceptance, but instead was called an abomination.
My mother was worse than my violent father. She sent me too many crossed messages of what I was "allowed" to do. In my adult life, I asked her why I was even born and her response was "I was a bored house wife and wanted a baby doll to play with", and she was being genuine. I was tossed aside by her very quickly in favor of her own social life by the time my parents divorced at 4.
I didn't see my mother often because she went from being a "party" person to working full time at local bars and just never coming home. So at her house I just did whatever I wanted with no education or supervision. Which was better than being beaten by my dad, but then my mom found a man who was also transphobic and moved me into his house without me ever even meating the guy to see if it was a good fit. Spoiler: it wasn't
So this new guy proceeds to spend the first year trying to teach me to "man up" by taking me fishing, hunting and showing me construction. None of this was new to me, even at 12 I was having moral conflictions and refused to kill animals (I was pushed to kill a lot of animals as a child and I sincerely think it was way more shameful than the things I was told to be ashamed of), so clearly, this other "man's man" is now going around to all of his friends, calling his girlfriend's 12 year old son a "F-slur", and of course this is now my brand.
By the age of 14, I was calling myself the "F-slur", and using the term "queer" because I knew it made all these judgemental types uncomfortable. They love to call me that, but if I take it in stride, it's no longer a weapon they can use and now they're frustrated that the little lady-boy from around the block is getting the best of them.. so clearly, I was being physically assaulted more often now.
Keep going forward, and now that I am an adult, I tried to come out to my mom as gender non-conforming, and her immediate response was to gaslight me about it. Telling me she always supported me, or that I never showed any signs of leaning towards femininity as a default.. like, bitch, what?!?
I confronted my mom about harmful things she did, asking why she would throw away my dresses and makeup I purchased for myself if she was so supportive..
Her response? "Well, I didn't want MY friends seeing you LIKE THAT."
Like what?! As the person I am? You sacrificed your child's own happiness and comfort because YOUR reputation for gender conformity was more important than whether or not I unalived myself from being so hurtfully rejected by my own parents?
Long story not so short.. I am mentally ill, but my gender non-confomity has NOTHING to do with why I struggle to be happy. The reality is that SOCIETY has the collective mental illness. The CONCEPTS of TRADITION are so deeply rooted with rhetoric and propaganda that these uptight conservative types are the ones who are begging and enforcing their own oppression through a type of global Stockholm Syndrome.
Gender is complicated, it is imaginary, and it has absolutely nothing to do with what sits between your legs.
And that is all I have to say about this right now.