Stephen Smith Grand Jury Calling Witnesses, Reviewing Evidence - Cold case heats up …

Stephen Smith Grand Jury Calling Witnesses, Reviewing Evidence FITSNews - Will Folks - Staff
TLDR: SLED is considering two persons of interest in connection with Smith’s death – 25-year-old Patrick Wilson and 25-year-old Shawn Connelly. “The location of Smith’s body in the middle of the road was totally inconsistent with a vehicular strike – but the massive blood loss observed on the asphalt seemed inconsistent with him being murdered at another location,” I noted in a recent report.
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A statewide grand jury in Columbia, South Carolina is actively investigating the 2015 homicide of Stephen Smith, multiple sources familiar with its deliberations have confirmed to this news outlet. In fact, the grand jury is scheduled to reconvene next week to review evidence and hear testimony related to the murder of the 19-year-old from Hampton, S.C.
In other words, it’s increasingly likely arrest warrants will eventually be issued in connection with this eight-year-old cold case – which gained international attention via its purported proximity to the ‘Murdaugh Murders’ crime and corruption saga. Interest in the Smith case escalated even further after it was prominently featured in the hit Netflix documentary, ‘Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal.’
Confirmation of the grand jury’s empaneling should come as no surprise to those following the case.
Two weeks ago, Lexington, S.C. attorney Eric Bland – one of the attorneys representing Smith’s mother, Sandy Smith – said he believed a grand jury had been empaneled based on his conversations with chief Mark Keel of the S.C. State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
“(Keel) told me subpoenas are being issued – as well as warrants – and I believe there is a grand jury empaneled,” Bland said during a May 25, 2023 panel discussion on CourtTV.
Bland was right …
According to our sources, the grand jury has been meeting for several weeks and has already heard critical evidence related to this unsolved murder – including evidence which “conclusively proves” Smith was killed at the site where his body was found.
Forensic expert Kenneth Kinsey has reportedly confirmed this assessment based on a review of the graphic crime scene photos of Smith’s murder. Kinsey was hired to review the evidence in this case as part of an independent investigation launched by Bland’s law firm.
To recap: Smith’s body was discovered by a passing motorist (a tow truck driver) at approximately 4:00 a.m. EDT on July 8, 2015 in the middle of Sandy Run Road near Crocketville, S.C. Initially deemed gunshot wound – and later a vehicular hit-and-run – the investigation was originally handled by the S.C. Highway Patrol (SCHP) “Multi-Disciplinary Accident Investigation Team” (MAIT). It wasn’t until nearly six years later that it became an active murder case handled by SLED.
SLED opened a homicide investigation into Smith’s death shortly after the savage slayings of 52-year-old Maggie Murdaugh and 22-year-old Paul Murdaugh on June 7, 2021 at Moselle – a 1,700-acre hunting property straddling the Salkehatchie River which until recently belonged to the Murdaugh family.
Disbarred attorney Alex Murdaugh – a scion of this once-dominant legal dynasty – was convicted of those killings and sentenced to life in prison in March of this year.
What was the Murdaugh family’s connection to Smith’s death? It’s not immediately clear. According to 26-year-old Buster Murdaugh – who has been accused by many on social media of being involved in the crime – there is no connection.
“These baseless rumors of my involvement with Stephen and his death are false,” Murdaugh said in a statement released back in March. “I unequivocally deny any involvement in his death.”
Others close to this story – including Sandy Smith – believe otherwise. In fact, Smith wrote a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the fall of 2016 detailing the Murdaugh family’s alleged involvement.
“Stephen had on more than one occasion mentioned to friends and his twin sister that he was involved romantically with someone from a prominent family in the county who was hiding his sexuality,” Smith wrote in her letter. “He said it would shock people to know this person was gay. We suspect this could be the young man Stephen was referring to, though he never named him.”
As this news outlet reported earlier this year, SLED is considering two persons of interest in connection with Smith’s death – 25-year-old Patrick Wilson and 25-year-old Shawn Connelly, both of Brunson, S.C.
Both Wilson and Connelly lived in the area near where Stephen Smith’s body was found … and there is information obtained by SLED investigators which has reportedly drawn a sharper focus on them as potential suspects. Several of these same leads were followed by producers and investigators associated with the Netflix documentary – as well as the initial legal team retained by Sandy Smith. In November of 2021, Charleston, S.C. attorney Andy Savage – who at the time was representing Smith’s family – gave an interview to WCIV TV-4 in which he indicated the Murdaughs were “unconnected” to Smith’s murder and any speculation related to their involvement was “unfounded.”
“There are suspects we have in sight that are unconnected to Murdaugh,” Savage told reporters Anne Emerson and Drew Tripp. “The focus any in the media have on Murdaugh may be unfounded.”
Sandy Smith recoiled at that revelation – and parted ways with Savage as her attorney shortly thereafter.
As previously reported by this news outlet, on December 18, 2015 – five months after Smith’s murder – SCHP investigators received a tip from Wilson’s self-described step-father, Darrell Williams of Varnville, S.C. According to Williams, Wilson informed him that Connelly – another Hampton County teenager – was driving a vehicle which “struck and killed Stephen Smith.”
Who told him to share this information? Randy Murdaugh – Alex Murdaugh’s older brother.
According to case notes contained in the MAIT report, Williams “stated that the reason he was passing this information on was because Randy Murdaugh told him to call.”
As I have often noted, the crime scene in this case is “a study in contradictions.”
“The location of Smith’s body in the middle of the road was totally inconsistent with a vehicular strike – but the massive blood loss observed on the asphalt seemed inconsistent with him being murdered at another location,” I noted in a recent report.

Horror Movies! Here are options for downloading or watching The Boogeyman streaming the full movie online for free on 123movies & Reddit, including where to watch Stephen King’s horror adaptation movie at home. Is The Boogeyman 2023 available to stream? Is watching The Boogeyman on Disney Plus, HBO Max, Netflix, or Amazon Prime? Yes, we have found an authentic streaming option / service.
➤►▶((>W𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 On Reddit: The Boogeyman 𝘍𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 on Free Online< 𝘌𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺The Movie))
“The Boogeyman,” a horror-thriller from the mind of best-selling author Stephen King, opens June 2, 2023, in theaters nationwide. High school student Sadie Harper and her younger sister Sawyer are reeling from the recent death of their mother and aren’t getting much support from their father, Will, a therapist who is dealing with his own pain. When a desperate patient unexpectedly shows up at their home seeking help, he leaves behind a terrifying supernatural entity that preys on families and feeds on the suffering of its victims.
The Boogeyman (2023) is the latest adaptation of the Stephen King classic. Here’s when and where you can watch the horror flick.
It’s not real? Keep telling yourself that! For the first time since 2022’s Firestarter, the legendary master of horror Stephen King, will have yet another one of his classic tales told with The Boogeyman. Directed by Host filmmaker Rob Savage and based on King’s short story of the same name, this terrifying story follows a young girl named Sawyer (Vivien Lyra Blair) as she is tormented by a malicious monster known only as “The Boogeyman.” What first sounds like a simple case of a child being afraid of the dark to Sawyer’s sister Sadie (Sophie Thatcher) and father Will (Chris Messina) turns out to be anything but, as this children’s tale turns out to be very real and very dangerous.
Stephen King adaptations are infamous for their variations in quality. For every masterpiece like The Shining, Misery, and The Shawshank Redemption, there’s an adaption less than stellar like Sleepwalkers, Maximum Overdrive, and Cell. In the case of The Boogeyman, it thankfully looks like we’re getting one of the better cases of a Stephen King story. Following its premiere at CinemaCon 2023, reactions to The Boogeyman have generally been quite positive, with Collider’s own Chase Hutchinson describing the film as a “frequently petrifying” adaptation.
The Boogeyman follows Sadie Harper and her young sister Sawyer after the recent death of their mother. Sadly, their father, Will, is not able to give them any sort of support through this as he is dealing with the death in his own way. A stranger comes knocking, claiming to need help from Will, who is a therapist, but what they allow inside their home is an evil entity.
With a strong start through decent reviews, The Boogeyman is bound to attract dedicated members of the horror film community. To learn more about how you can see Stephen King’s nightmare come to life, here is exactly where and how you can watch The Boogeyman.
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When is the Release Date for The Boogeyman?
Make sure you got plenty of batteries for your nightlight ready by next month because The Boogeyman will officially begin terrifying audiences everywhere starting on Friday, June 2nd, 2023. However, check your local theater listings for advanced screenings, as some theaters release the film as early as Wednesday evening on May 31st, 2023. Any parents eager to take their kids to go see Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse that same weekend should definitely make sure they’re walking into the proper theater, so they don’t accidentally scar their children for life with the titular monster.
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Is The Boogeyman in Theaters?
The only way to see Chris Messina take on a child-hunting monster is to head to your local movie theater, making the Boogeyman’s torment of the Harper family only viewable on the big screen. No plans for a streaming release have been made, but more on that in a moment.
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Where To Watch The Boogeyman Online:
➤►▶((>W𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩 On Reddit: The Boogeyman 𝘍𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘔𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 on Free Online< 𝘌𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺The Movie))
As of now, the only way to watch The Boogeyman is to head out to a movie theater when it releases on Friday, June 2. You can find a local showing on Fandango.
Otherwise, you’ll just have to wait for it to become available to rent or purchase on digital platforms like Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Apple, or become available to stream on Hulu.
The Boogeyman
How to Watch The Boogeyman
There’s been no official announcement regarding The Boogeyman’s streaming release date, though we know it will eventually be released on Disney+, rather than Netflix or HBO Max.
Since the movie was originally supposed to have a streaming release, we don’t doubt it will become available on streaming services at some point, with the most likely being Hulu since that had been the plan to begin with.
That would be Hulu. Don’t hold your breath on it, though! We strongly believe this is where the 20th Century Studios film will go, but this won’t be for a couple of months (or more) after the movie’s theatrical release. As soon as we learn more details, we’ll update you!
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When Will The Boogeyman Be On Streaming?
While no official streaming plans have been released by 20th Century Studios as of yet, given the recent release patterns of other films under the ownership of The Walt Disney Company, we can likely expect to see The Boogeyman arrive on streaming no more than ninety days after its theatrical release. Given that the horror film is a 20th Century Studios production and monsters eating children isn’t exactly “Happiest Place on Earth” material, The Boogeyman will likely be making its streaming home on Hulu rather than Disney+ (at least, for now).
Before we get into the various pricing plans for Hulu, we should also mention that The Walt Disney Company is confirmed to be planning a merge between Disney+ and Hulu, effectively putting all the massive media conglomerate’s content under one roof by the end of the year 2023. No specific date for this merger has been given yet, but the company has already begun purging their least profitable content to prepare for the transition. With that information in mind, the following subscription options for Hulu may not be valid for long, so be sure to be cognizant of that before signing up.
As of now, Hulu has two subscription plans: an ad-supported and ad-free plan. The ad-supported option offers most of Hulu’s streaming library with limited ads for $7.99 USD per month or $79.99 USD per year. The ad-free option removes most ads for a higher price of $14.99 USD per month. There are also the Disney Bundle options, including Disney+ and/or ESPN+ in addition to Hulu, but these will likely be reworked or removed entirely in the coming months with the upcoming merger.
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Is The Boogeyman on Netflix?
The Boogeyman isn’t currently available on Netflix, but you can catch it in theaters from June 2, 2023.
However, there is a great selection of Netflix horror movies, so you’ll still be able to find plenty to be scared of on the platform. And if you don’t currently have the service, we’ve got all you need to know about the Netflix price.
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Will The Boogeyman Be On HBO Max?
No, The Boogeyman will not be on HBO Max since it’s not a Universal Pictures movie. Last year, the company released its films in theaters and on the streamer on the same day. However, they now allow a 45-day window between the theatrical release and the streaming release.
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Is The Boogeyman on Disney Plus?
The Boogeyman isn’t currently available on Disney Plus, given that it’s showing exclusively in theaters for now.
It’s also probably not going to end up on there, since Disney Plus isn’t well-known for its horror catalog. That said, it may end up being the option for UK subscribers since Hulu and Disney content often merge for UK-based viewers. There are also plenty of Disney Plus movies and Disney Plus shows you can get stuck into otherwise.
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Is The Boogeyman on Prime Video?
The Boogeyman isn’t available to watch on Prime Video right now, but we’ll let you know if it does end up getting distribution there. If you’d like to see what else Prime has to offer, you can sign up for a free trial subscription here.
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Is The Boogeyman Available On Hulu?
Viewers are saying that they want to view the new horror movie The Boogeyman on Hulu. Unfortunately, this is not possible since Hulu currently does not offer any of the free episodes of this series streaming at this time. It will be exclusive to the MTV channel, which you get by subscribing to cable or satellite TV services. You will not be able to watch it on Hulu or any other free streaming service.
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How to Watch The Boogeyman Online For Free?
Most Viewed, Most Favorite, Top Rating, Top IMDb movies online. Here we can download and watch 123movies movies offline. 123Movies website is the best alternative to The Boogeyman (2023) free online. We will recommend 123Movies is the best Solarmovie alternatives.
There are a few ways to watch The Boogeyman online in the U.S. You can use a streaming service such as Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Prime Video. You can also rent or buy the movie on iTunes or Google Play. You can also watch it on-demand or on a streaming app available on your TV or streaming device if you have cable.
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The Boogeyman Cast and Characters
The Boogeyman was written by Stephen King and directed by Rob Savage. It stars the following actors:
Sophie Thatcher as Sadie Harper
Chris Messina as Will Harper
Vivien Lyra Blair as Sawyer Harper
Marin Ireland as Rita
Madison Hu Bethany
LisaGay Hamilton as Dr. Weller
David Dastmalchian as Lester Billings
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What is The Boogeyman About?
High school student Sadie Harper and her younger sister, Sawyer, are still reeling from the recent death of their mother. They’re not getting much support from their father, Will, a therapist who’s dealing with his own intense pain. When a desperate patient unexpectedly shows up at their house seeking help, he leaves behind a terrifying supernatural entity that preys on families and feeds on the suffering of its victims.

Hello, does anyone have tips for how to deal with visits after going NC. My nephews birthday party is coming up. I'm no contact with 1 sister and my parents. I know they'll be there and I'm getting really anxious about seeing them. I know my parents are gonna day some dumb crao to my kids about me unreasonably with holding them(my 5 and 6 year old understand why because they favoritism and inconsistencies toward my kids vs. My nephew are what was my final button). I just don't want to deal with it. But it's not fair to my nephew that we do see regularly.😮‍💨😮‍💨 also idk if my husband will be able to come with to be a buffer

TL;DR: my sister who I don’t have a great relationship with, committed workplace misconduct and looked into my health journal where all the most private stuff about my mental health is and I feel incredibly violated now.
I’m 19F, almost 20 and my sister is 4 years older than me. We are both living at home this summer before moving away to study in August. I have never really liked her that much. I have always been chubby and she bullied me alot for it when I was a child, which ruined my confidence and my relationship with food. My parents also contributed to that, as they were constantly hinting at there being something wrong with my eating habits and my weight. It’s no surprise I ended up struggling with disordered eating. They also shamed me for being mentally ill. If I was crying, having panic attacks, or just visibly depressed they would make fun of me or get genuinly angry at me. I knew from a very young age that if I felt negative emotions or had sad thoughts then I had to hide away. They would compare me to mentally handicapped people as a way to poke fun at me. They weren’t abusive just stupid, incompetent and sometimes simply just mean. I have great friends that I would rather spend time with than my family. I don’t like talking to my family or spend time with them. When I went to therapy, which I no longer can afford because my bad mental health has made it difficult for me to work, and I’m also too scared to ask my parents to pay because of their view on mental illness, I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder and depression. I talked to my therapist a lot about my family issues. My illnesses and a general rundown of what environmental factors perhaps caused my mental issues is in my health journal. Just the most private, personal stuff is in there.
My sister works at the local doctors office during this summer, she does blood work and blood samples and all that stuff. In the past few days, she has been acting weird, as in kinder. It seemed really fake to be quite honest. A few minutes ago, she burst into my room without knocking as I was about to take a nap. She wanted to grab a chair in my room that was apparently hers, this is something she often claims. That and that is hers, so she can take it and do whatever she wants with it. I was irritated and asked her to leave my room. She got upset and started saying that she should be allowed to talk to me but no matter what she says or does, I get irritated at her. She asked what my problem was with her and that she just wants to talk and figure out my issue. I know that sounds great or whatever but I didn’t give a shit. I seem like a cold person, but I can’t just tolerate an evil witch like her, she has done so much to me that I don’t have time to explain. I have a huge issue with how she is as a person and her morals, she’s a racist and she’s homophobic (mostly lesbophobic)and I’m a closeted bisexual. I kept telling her to just leave me alone and my main issue with her is how intense and annoying she is. She kept begging me to talk to her and then she said that she is aware of my mental health problems and that I’m diagnosed with anxiety and depression because SHE READ MY HEALTH JOURNAL. ALL MY MOST PERSONAL STUFF AND ISSUES WAS IN THAT GODDAMN JOURNAL AND SHE FUCKING READ IT. I don’t care that she’s more aware if my issues now, there’s a reason I don’t tell her shit and there’s a reason she’s not supposed to read it. I feel ashamed and disgusted at myself. I feel rotten. This creature that I have never loved did something incredibly intrusive. I can’t report her to her workplace because she’ll know it’s me and I’m scared even thinking about what she may do to me.

Concept Creation Contest May 2023; Voting Finals

^{At least May still has flair to use :})
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Hello Creators and Visitors!
The Group Phase of May has come to to it's finish, and are are onto the finals! I just want to give a quick thank you to those who participated by commenting and reviewing concepts, those who voted in the group stages, and everyone who submitted a concept.
Thank you, everyone, for bearing with the delays we have had lately.
Without further or do, I present, our finalists!
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Finalist 1	Finalist 2	Finalist 3	Finalist 4
Sjalk, Shield of the North	Lexi, the Future Traveler	Cade, Tyrant of the Rails	Zalira, the Harmonic Hunter
by u/TheHeraId	by u/HardGhoulem	by u/TommySeashell	by u/Kuraikari

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Remaining Schedule for the May Contest

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June 9th to June 14th	Voting Finals
June 15th	May 2023 Winner Announced

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If I have missed anything, please let me know!
Have a wonderful rest of the day.

Oi listen up. Post from moderator u/1Darkest_Knight1 who also mods /askanaustralian, slightly reworded for this shithole.
A recent Reddit policy change threatens to kill many beloved third-party mobile apps, making a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price to make calls to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader.
Even if you're not a mobile user and don't use any of those apps, this is a step toward killing other ways of customising Reddit, such as Reddit Enhancement Suite or the use of the old.reddit.com desktop interface.
This isn't only a problem on the user level: many subreddit moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.
What's the plan?
On June 12th, many other subreddits will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren't able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn't something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
We're probably not gonna do shit here at /straya. But feel free to do the following shit below.
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• Complain. Message the mods of reddit.com, who are the admins of the site: message reddit: submit a support request: comment in relevant threads on reddit, leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this post.
• Spread the word. Rabble-rouse on related subreddits. Meme it up, make it spicy. Bitch about it to your cat. Suggest anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join us at our sister sub at ModCoord- but please don't pester mods you don't know by simply spamming their modmail.
• Boycott and spread the word...to Reddit's competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th- instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
• Don't be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.

Hi :) I am not entirely sure if I am doing this correctly because I have never used reddit before. I have written a little under half of an adult fantasy novel, and I am looking for feedback. I will take any and all feedback, but I am mostly looking for unbiased parties to tell me if I have an potential at all with this story/as a writer. Honestly I am mainly looking for peers/friends. I am happy to read your work in return (though I am mostly only familiar with fiction/fantasy work)! If you are interested, comment below or chat me (IDK how that works but I shall figure it out hehe).
Content warnings: So far the story is not spicy but I do intend to take it there. I am 22 and the characters are around 20 so I am looking for older readers, not minors. I wouldn't be comfortable discussing that sort of things with younger readers though you are still ofc welcome to read it! There is very minor violence but nothing too grim. There is also some LGBTQ+ rep so bigots stay away!
Disclaimer the first chapter is only one of the main characters, but I do have to say, once they meet there is some wonderful witty banter so I swear it gets more intriguing.
First chapter:
Chapter 1: Bearnas The innate driving force of human nature is vengeance. This was a certitude I had come to realize from a young age, and it was a concept I relied on as I got older. Vengeance was the primary motivator for my people. It was our currency. The way we managed to survive. I didn’t stop to consider the morality of this outlook. I didn’t like to contemplate the state of my existence. Found that to be a waste of time. I focused on the here-and-now. The mutable present. It was simply the way the world was, so I had to deal with it like a man should. This was an ideal my father had instilled in me since the time of my birth. I was the son of a victorious warrior. Osgar Nieva was a well-respected war lieutenant during the Great Slaughtering. He never let me forget that I had a legacy to uphold. I knew my father hated me. I figured his disappointment began from the moment I received my name. In Dolag, tradition dictates that the father names their son. Names were believed to be prophetic. Osgar had a strong name-befitting of a warrior. His name meant “divine spear.” My grandfather claimed he could sense that Osgar would be a brave warrior from the moment he was born. So he was prophesied to be graced by the luck of God in battles. Typically, women were only allowed to name the baby if it was a girl. I was the exception. The process of my birth brought my Mother to her deathbed. The doctor was certain that she wouldn’t recover. As she lovingly admired the newborn baby boy in her arms, her attention was drawn by a bird pecking gently on the window. Tears streamed out of her eyes as it took off soundlessly into the winter dawn. “Wren.” She’d muttered softly, still gazing peacefully out the window. The room of family members and midwives stood in puzzled silence. The world seemed to pause in wait for her next words. She turned her head back to meet Osgar’s eyes. “He shall be named Wren. He will be gentle. Beautiful. Free.” She reached down to caress her baby’s face. “And he will be loved.” Despite my Father’s protests, the council voted to accept the name. The wishes of the dying outweighed naming traditions. Only my Mother never died. Doctors considered her survival a miracle. She returned back to full health only a few months later. She and I have paid for her decision every day since. Osgar refused to call me Wren. Anyone who referred to me as such, other than my Mother, was punished accordingly. To the rest of the world, I became known as Bearnas Nieva. Bearnas was the name Osgar would have chosen for his son if he had been given the opportunity. Bearnas. Meaning bringer of victory. My father did everything in his power to ensure that I would fulfill this destiny, whether it was the result of prophetic nomenclature or resolute determination. The story of my name was all I could think about as I prepared for my sendoff. I was tightening my last bootstring when a small hand clapped me on the back with a force intended to knock me off balance. “The famed Bear Nieva preparing for his grand expedition. What luck I must possess to witness you in all your glory.” I was grateful for El’s arrival, despite the copious amount of sarcasm she brought with her. My sister's presence was probably the only thing that could pull me out of my thoughts right now. “Using mockery as a mechanism to cover up your total despair about my departure, I assume.” I tried to keep my tone light, but in truth it was myself I was worried about. El held the chief role in keeping me sane throughout the later part of my life. She was my only tether to my true self. I worried about how I would stay grounded on my Hunt without her there to tease my worries away. El flopped on my bed with feigned anguish. “Yes, whatever will I do without my idiot older brother around to hog all the scrambled eggs at breakfast. Oh, how I will miss the putrid scent you plague the house with after training all day. Your constant nagging about my lack of tidiness will be missed most ardently.” I swatted her gently with my leather gloves. “Speaking of, get your disgusting outdoor shoes out of my clean bed immediately.” I shooed her out of my room, and chased her towards the door, nearly colliding with my father as a result. “This isn’t befitting behavior for a man about to begin his First Hunt” Osgar admonished. “Elowen, go to the kitchen and help your Mother tidy up before we head to town.” El skirted around our father into the hallway. Safely out of his eyeline, she directed one last mocking tongue in my direction before slinking away. “Are you ready to go?” He raked his disapproving gaze over my gear, searching for any flaw he could call attention to. “Yes, sir.” I responded. I did feel ready. This was the moment I had been preparing for my whole life. My body was honed by years of workouts and my skills were unquestioned. I had graduated top of my class in my training group. I was certainly ready to leave the house, as I wanted nothing more than independence. Besides my Mother and sister, I had nothing keeping me here. Not anymore. So I grabbed my bag and walked out the door. When my family was all ready, we began the walk to the edge of town where the sendoff was taking place. There we would eat, drink, dance and say our goodbyes. I spent my time standing on the outskirts of the group, hoping my stern face would signal everyone to leave me alone. I didn’t have any desire to get my ego fluffed by a bunch of people who just wanted to get in the good graces of my Father. I just wanted to leave. The one person I actually wished had come to bid me farewell had decided not to show up, not that I could blame him. Eleven other men would be sent off at the same time as me. We were all being sent in different directions, but we were all given the same instruction: go kill a witch. That is exactly what I intended to do. Success rates had been much lower over the past few years. After the Great Slaughter fifty years prior, there were only so many witches left to kill. In fact a witch hadn’t been successfully hunted in around 4 years. Most hunters came back many months after their departure unable to track any down. The people of Dolag figured the warriors of the Great Slaughter had ushered the witches into near extinction. The only evidence we had that they weren’t entirely eradicated were the cases of the men who never returned. Every once in a while, there was a man who was assumed to have met his demise at the hands of one of the remaining witches. So the Hunts continued on. After a few hours of festivities, it was time for us to set off. I was ready to say my goodbyes. I knelt down so El could wrap her arms around my neck. Her hot tears dampened the fabric covering my shoulders. “Promise me you will come back,” she said. I squeezed her a little tighter. “Don’t worry, you’ll get a few months of the stench free, scrambled-egg-filled, only-child experience and then I will be right back to boss you around.” El released me from her grip in order to look me in the eyes. “I’m not kidding around Bear.” Her piercing gaze mirrored the intensity of her voice. “Promise me.” Even though I knew it wasn’t something I could realistically guarantee, I hugged her once more and said “I promise, Elly.” After a moment, I stood up and ruffled my little sister’s hair. Then I turned to my Mother, who watched with watery eyes. The hair that had escaped from her tight bun was wisping around her face in the gentle breeze. The sun shining behind her produced an effect reminiscent of a halo. She embraced me with a level of care only a Mother could deliver. “I love you, Wren. You will always be my darling songbird,” she whispered into my ear. I released myself from the hug, and smiled one last time at my adoring Mother. I nodded once before forcing myself to turn to my Father. “Don’t disappoint me, son.” He stuck out his calloused hand and I shook it begrudgingly. It felt like cold leather in my grip. That was it. That was my final farewell from my Father. ‘Don’t disappoint’. No good luck, no I love you, nothing of the sort. Only a damn handshake. I knew I shouldn’t have expected anything different, but it still put me in a sour mood. What a great start to my expedition. I looked one last time at my sister and Mother in an effort to preserve some positive thoughts about my home. When I cemented this image in my mind, I omitted the withering glare of my Father beside them. I spun around and started down the path towards Deirtalamh. I marched towards witch country without so much as a glance over my shoulder. I was days into my trek when I came across the cabin. Being the son of Osgar Nieva gave me claim to the most promising Hunt. My journey was actually mapped to this location, whereas the rest of my group had to resort to aimless meandering. I heard the gentle melody of a person humming drifting out from within the house. How odd. My superiors swore it was a witch that lived here. A hunter from a few years prior reported catching a glimpse of a cabin before he was suddenly lost in the woods. Who could be humming so pleasantly within this peaceful home so deep into witch territory? I maneuvered my head to look through the open window and saw the source of the cheerful noise. She appeared like the sun incarnate. Her dark skin contrasted beautifully against the pale yellow of her clothes. Her hair curled unbound around her face. She stirred a pot of stew as she swayed softly to her own music, the fabric of her dress swishing mesmerizingly around her thighs. Beautiful suddenly seemed like an insufficient word to describe someone of her standing. I knew she was not the witch I had come to hunt. Of course I was no fool, I was aware that witches could glamor themselves to be beautiful. But their false beauty was always like that of a succubus, unnatural and deadly. No witch would have been able to conjure up the effortless and soft beauty of the woman in front of me. I was sure of it. Never mind the fact that if she were a witch, I would most certainly be dead. She would have sensed me coming from the moment I stepped foot onto her land, and she would have been ready to strike. If I had let myself get distracted for this long in the presence of a witch, I would have paid for my mistake in blood. I wondered how she had come to live in Deirtalamh. I’d heard tales of villagers who’d tried their luck here out of desperation, choosing to brave the dangers of witch territory rather than living in the impoverished slums of Dolag. I’d also heard of extreme cases where dangerous criminals were exiled here. This woman looked neither criminal in nature nor desperate to survive. She looked content. Regardless, I must get her to safety. I walked briskly over to the door and entered the cabin.

You may have seen Reddit’s decision to withdraw access to the Reddit API from third party apps.
So, what’s going on?
On May 31, 2023, Reddit announced they were raising the price of access to their API from being free to a level that will kill every third party app on Reddit, from Apollo to Reddit is Fun to Narwhal to BaconReader, potentially even Reddit Enhancement Suite (RES) and old.reddit.com on desktop too. This threatens to make a great many quality-of-life features not seen in the official mobile app permanently inaccessible to users.
This isn’t only a problem on the user level. Many moderators depend on tools only available outside the official app to keep their communities on-topic and spam-free.
On June 12th, many subreddits, including /phish, will be going dark to protest this policy. Some will return after 48 hours: others will go away permanently unless the issue is adequately addressed, since many moderators aren’t able to put in the work they do with the poor tools available through the official app. This isn’t something any of us do lightly: we do what we do because we love Reddit, and we truly believe this change will make it impossible to keep doing what we love.
The two-day blackout isn’t the goal, and it isn’t the end. Should things reach the 14th with no sign of Reddit choosing to fix what they’ve broken, we’ll use the community and buzz we’ve built between then and now as a tool for further action.
What can you do?

• Complain. • Message the mods of /reddit.com, who are the admins of the site. • Message reddit. • Submit a support request. • Comment in relevant threads on /reddit. • Leave a negative review on their official iOS or Android app- and sign your username in support to this protest. 

Suggest that anyone you know who moderates a subreddit join the protest at the sister sub /ModCoord, but please don’t pester mods you don’t know by simply spamming their modmail. Thank you to those that messaged us, we’ve heard your voice loud and clear.
Boycott and spread the word using Reddit’s competition! Stay off Reddit entirely on June 12th through the 13th. Instead, take to your favorite non-Reddit platform of choice and make some noise in support!
Don’t be a jerk. As upsetting this may be, threats, profanity and vandalism will be worse than useless in getting people on our side. Please make every effort to be as restrained, polite, reasonable and law-abiding as possible.
For more information, go here: https://old.reddit.com/Save3rdPartyApps/comments/13yh0jf/dont_let_reddit_kill_3rd_party_apps/

given that day and night versions are now confirmed, do you think theres any credibility to this story leak? Lucky guess maybe?

I (25 f) have an ex (31 m) from about 2 years ago who has a wife of 9 years and a 2 yr old son. He did tell me he had a child from a previous relationship but he lied about being married.
We broke up when I caught on to too many red flags about his relationship with his baby mama (actually his wife), and went no contact. Sure enough, I was right. A few months after we broke up his wife reached out to me on Instagram, having found pictures of him and I in his phone, and I gave her the whole story. I felt so guilty, as my actions had indirectly hurt her, while also feeling mortified having been "the other woman." She felt too embarrassed to tell her mom and sisters and I felt empathetic to her position, so I let her reach out to me when she needed support for about 2 months. I tried to encourage her to go to therapy and make a plan to leave him. However, it got to a point that I wanted to move on and not talk about the situation anymore. I told her that I have told her everything, what she does now is up to her, but I didn't want any involvement so i can't communicate anymore, then I blocked her and made my personal account private. Then she flipped a switch. She must've confronted him after this and he must've manipulated the story to her because she sent spiteful, mean messages after that, each message from a new, fake account she created. The messages would include calling me names and accusing me of trying to get back with him, which confused me because I had been on no contact with him since we broke up. She has been doing this on and off for the past year and a half. I had not done anything to stop it because everytime I considered taking legal action, the messages stopped. I hadn't heard in awhile until recently, she now has contacted my current boyfriend (25 m), having found him through my business account (don't know how she found out that was my business account) telling him I'm a bitch, he deserves better, and to break up with me. I filled in my boyfriend on the situation long before this, so he has my back and is supportive of however I want to handle this. I had him reply to her that if she contacts either of us and anyone associated with us that we would take legal action, but now I'm thinking that would affect their kids who are innocent in all of this. AITA?

My PIMI husband (who i am leaving) live and breathe to make jokes about women or say things as bold as "women have it easy" "the Incel community are the way they are because they're treated bad" and my favorite "woman would rather chat with friends then have hobbies".......
AT THIS POINT I CANT tell if its the community we were raised it, social media, or personality. Which I hear things from the platform that are constantly sexist but they always twist it "I know this sounds harsh sisters but this isn't what this means" etc.....
I am a 25 F, (yes, a touch feminist for good fucking reason) a PIMO for the last three years. My husband, who I have deicide to divorce, at least if I'm forced to be a PIMO, I can be on my own rather then have a prejudice, sexist man PIMI breathing down my neck forever.
What do you think? Does the org unintentionally support this behavior? Are men my age a dying breed of just showing respect for struggle or women?

We had been dating a year and a half and he blindsided me with a breakup after just talking to me about moving in together and starting a family. We were broken up for a few months and I know during that time he was seeing someone else. He didn’t cheat on me. I confirmed that when I messaged the other girl and asked her when they met. I started talking to him again during the holidays after his sister invited me over for thanksgiving. At this point him and the other girl had broken up. When we got back together I told him that he needed to remove the other girl from social media and block her number and he didn’t hesitate to do it right in front of me. Since we’ve been back together things have been pretty good. We’re living together and looking in to buying a house. But periodically I still feel insecure about our relationship. I’ll check his social media to make sure he hasn’t added the other girl again, which i never used to check his socials before this. I also occasionally have dreams about him cheating on me or leaving me for the same girl. Last night was the most recent dream that happened and it became very violent. Sometimes I get flashbacks of me going through the breakup, like when i would be crying in my car or crying myself to sleep and it makes me feel sad again.
I just don’t understand why i still think about it when things are going well for us and we are getting more serious about our future together. Has anyone gone through this and how did you manage to let go of the past?

Hi i'm Luna I'm semi lit and I want you to be too I only RP on Kik
Kik:julie9556
Kinks: incest, impregnation, deflowering, degration, praise,kissing , grobing , I like when you talk dirty to the girl as she gets raped even if she isn't conscious, rape, sleep rape , semi rape
Limits:no shit , piss, gore , vomit , beastiality

1. This plot is about a college virgin girl who goes to her first college party she didn't really like parties but thought why not I am in college see she was invited by a college senior who's throwing the party she found it odd since they never really talked before but accepted but she wasn't invited by accident the college seniors have a tradition that at the first party of the year they have to drug and rape a virgin freshmen so why she's sitting alone the guy who invited her started chatting with her and slips her a pill in her drink it's a drug that makes her more docile and horny and really out of it and than he helps her to a bedroom at the party where his friends wait and thats where the fun begins
   
2. this plot is about a highschool girl who's is a real trouble maker who always prank the teachers and talk back to especially her English teacher who's also her homeroom teacher and has been her homeroom teacher for 2 years now her English teacher was already having a tough time his wife left him and took his daughter with him and now he has to deal with this little brat so one day he gave detention again for talking back to him again but furring detention he got so tired of hearing her little smart ass mouth he when she wasn't watching slipped a drug in her water and when she drunk it she was knocked out and why she was unconscious he decided he was going to teach this little bitch a lesson and raped her even taking her virginity and impregnating her
   
3. This plot is about a girl who went out to the club with some of her friends wanting to have some fun but as they all get drunk her two friends leave with some guys forgetting her and she's left in the middle of the dance floor hardly able to stand swaying to the music plastered when two guys notice her and decides it's their lucky night one of them goes up behind her and starts dancing with her and touching on her as he slowly gets her out the club with the help of his friend where they take her to the back of their suv and they both slowly start to rape her
   
4. This plots about a father and his perfect little girl she makes perfect grades , perfect behavior and has the perfect body though the father never looked at that before it hasn't been easy he and his wife hadn't touched each other in years and there's no secret their not really in love anymore though they play the role in front of their daughter but he then started noticing how much she developed he was messed up with himself from looking at her like that but he couldn't help it when one night after a fight with his wife he goes to his daughters room to check on her but seeing her there so beautiful he couldn't help it he slid into bed behind her and starts to touch and kiss on her and when she starts to wake up he shushs her and begins to rape her
   
5. This plot is about a 21 years old brother and his 13 year old petite sister his parents have always traveled a lot for work so leaving him and his sister home alot so he is use taking care of his bratty little sister see his sister likes to make bets with her brother to get money or make him do something and what he hated about that she always won the bet well one day she made a bet with him if she won this video game he'll have to go to the store and by her ice cream well of course as always he lost but when he came back from the store he noticed his sister fell asleep at first he tries to wake her up but than he noticed how cute she got and he's been single for 3 years now and hasn't been with a girl in a awhile when he started by groping and touching her than he ends up raping her while shes asleep
   
6. This plot is about two childhood friends who are completely opposites they work at the same company well actually he's the CEO who hired her to help her out but he's big on following rules he's always lecturing her he can come off as Abit stick up she on the other hand is Abit of a flirt she's always late to work and stays out all night partying but she's the best at her job secret is he's always loved her but never realized when one day he over heard her on the phone with her new boyfriend he didn't understand at the moment why this pissed him off but than that night when everyone else left he found her in his office sleeping on the sofa there at first he was going to wake her up but the more he looked at her and her body the more pissed and jealous he got and knowing she's a deep sleeper he started to touch her than raped her
   

Me and my partner are from different countries. We want to move together by the next year. One of our goal is to start a family. We haven't decided yet who will the one moving abroad to reach the other one but there are many chances it will be me. In any case our future child will grow up two and half hours flight away from one branch of his extended family. And even if it's still a manageable distance it scares me because I have a wonderful relationship with my mum and my sister is basically my best friend. I want that my future children would love them too and could count on them. I am worried cause I have an aunt and a cousin living just few car hours away but I barely know them (probably I wouldn't even recognise my cousin if I would meet him). I am terrified something similar could happen especially because probably we could see each other just few times every year. So I was wondering what's your experience with far away close relatives. How did you make it work?

I am a 19 year old girl who was "gifted" with a disease that made me gradually lose my sight and for two years now I can't see anything anymore, I even see some blurs when the environment is bright but it's not much. I still can't get over all this shit that happened to me, in my mind it's not fair. My luck is that I don't have the courage to end it all once and for all, but who knows, maybe one day it will happen.
This week there are a lot of people here at home, it seems that everybody decided to take a vacation here. There were a lot of people here and I don't know why but I get bewildered when there are many people talking at the same time near me, the noise makes me uncomfortable. I was in the living room and wanted to go to the kitchen, on the way I bumped into the wall, I even hit my head on a picture. This is nothing new to me, it has happened many times, the big problem was that everyone laughed at me, my parents, my sister, my cousins, everyone. Even my mother was laughing, she laughed and said "this happens". I went to my room touching the walls so that it wouldn't happen again and, to be honest, I want to stay here until I die.
Maybe you think that I am exaggerating, that it was just innocent laughter. But only those who go through this know how humiliating it is. Living like this is shit, reading, writing, typing, cooking, everything is harder. It's horrible this feeling of being good for nothing but a joke for others to laugh at. Why exactly did I have to be born with this? Nobody else in my family is like this, so why did I have to have this disease? I can't help but think this is unfair.
I'm sorry for what I'm about to say, but I can't wait to be lying in a coffin and never get up again.

Tw: domestic violence, child harm
He's become the most vile person. He tried so hard to isolate her from me. I wouldn't let him. He even assaulted me 20 years ago, but I still stayed close to her. They've been together since high school, so over 25 years.
She was so close. She left him for a little while but went back. Then covid happened and his dad closed his business and sold it. It was going to be passed on to him but he couldn't keep his hand out of the cash register. She worked in health care but burned out after the first year of covid. He also wasn't getting their kids to school to the point that child services was involved, so she couldn't work any more.
She was only back for a few months and she had enough video evidence of his physical and mental abuse that he was charged with several crimes including assault and stalking. She got a restraining order against him and he was out of the house.
That lasted a year, then, because nobody was paying the mortgage, she let him come back. He promised to take care of everything. He sold the house and now they live in a rental with their daughters.
Child services is still involved. Currently, neither of them work. She does all the chores, child care, everything. They're living on the money from the sale of the house. He lies in bed all day drinking and getting high, then gets up and starts fights with her. He's never sober. The last time he went to detox, he got the child services worker to pick him up 2 days early and she brought him to my sister's house. WTF! How is that part of her job? Just another person in his fog.
He thinks if they split up he's getting full custody. He's so delusional. It's a small town and he'll call himself the mayor because everybody loves him so much. If he only knew how many people laugh at him behind his back. But a lot of people are taken in by his whole show. It's unfortunate. He's dropped the mask to pick up alcohol and it's a dangerous combination.
He's been to rehab once and detox at least 5 times this year. He had a seizure last time and that child services lady thought it was a good idea to bring him home early? I really want to report her, and I probably will. Or my therapist will because when I talk about my sister she always tells me she has to report some of the things I tell her. Which is fine.
He still stalks her. If she goes to a friend's house he screams at her for not coming straight home. He's driving around a small town, drunk, looking for her car if she's gone more than a half hour. This happened last week so it's not getting any better.
She's in so much danger right now and she has no clue. He's ready to break and I don't want to lose my sister. She says she isn't worried because he's too weak from all the hard core drinking to really hurt her. Plus all the drugs he's getting from doctors to help him stop drinking. He's primed for a break from reality and doing some serious harm to her.
I only see my sister when we're not at her house. Last weekend we went out for lunch to celebrate my new promotion and things are so bad for her right now. She refuses to go to a lawyer, her oldest daughter will never forgive her. She could easily call his probation officer and ask for the restraining order back. I can't help her. I want to but it's not my life to control.
She wants me to visit her this weekend and bring my dogs. I miss hanging out with her but I know there's going to be an ugly confrontation if I go. There always is. And she gets the worst of it. So do I go? I'm not the type to sit back and take abuse from anyone. And at this point I think that there's nothing I can do for her. I just want her to be safe but I don't think that's ever going to happen. He'll kill her and the kids and then himself before he lets her go. Or I can go and just ignore him. It's really hard for me though.
My niece, she's 7, tells me things that hurt my heart. I've promised her I won't tell her mom, and I keep these promises. I do talk to the child services lady, and my sister has given me permission. I'm trying to be a safe person for her. She hates him and wishes he would go away. I don't blame her. I saw a couple of the videos my sister used to prosecute him and seeing my niece like that? My sister should be in a city 1000 miles away by now. I wish I could help her.

So for a bit of background, I [24M] met my girlfriend 2 months ago abroad. We live thousands of kilometers away from each other. I live with my parents, sister and a dog. Now, my girlfriend has booked flights to see me soon, but those plans align exactly with when my parents are leaving for their vacation, and they want me to stay with my sister [18F]. For the first time in my life, I want to prioritise myself and spend time with my gf alone. Keep in mind, if I don't see her now, we won't see each other for at least next 2 months. All the plans were made last minute. AITA for wanting to do that?

I had a breakdown today because I got triggered when my boyfriend puts my newly washed clothes on top of my sister’s really really smelly clothes. The resentment has been piling up for a while now.
A little bit of my background: I am about to start college in September. Right now I have a lot of things on my plate. Me and my boyfriend are almost 9 months into dating and we live back-and-forth in each others’ house.
However, I’m starting to notice that he doesn’t care about house maintenance and organizing as much as I do.
Not only him, when I’m staying at my own house, my younger sister is the worst. She would pile up unclean laundry in the bathroom to the point it collapses and fills the floor; she would also never washes the dishes no matter how many days they’re left in the sink and wait until I do it for her. She claims herself to be a perfectionist and gets mad whenever I said I don’t think she is one. I don’t know maybe it’s some 16-year-old’s common issues during puberty. So when I am in my own house I’m always cleaning already, I would also use my own part-time salary to buy different items for the house to look tidier. Yet my stepmom (I’d rather call her my dad’s wife) would still complain that I am messy and a germ to this family. It kinda explains why I’ve been building that resentment in me.
One day I heard my boyfriend arguing with his mom about clearing the clutter in the house. Apparently he doesn’t care about house maintenance as much / prioritise it at the moment, I do always notice that he doesn’t mind if the room is messy or if anywhere is not tidy in the house, he can just live with it. This fact bothers me.
Maybe it is because I have always been taking care of my sister’s mess while still being complained as a messy person. I tried my best to maintain the house already and even prioritise it over all my studies and sleeping schedule, and people still can’t see it.
I want things to work out between me and my boyfriend. I’m scared I can’t handle it if it’s going to be like this in the future. Today’s breakdown really make me realize how heavy this has been on me and I feel like people around me doesn’t understand how messy the house is and how hard I’ve been trying to maintain it.
I tried meditation, I tried effective communication (with my boyfriend, cannot with my sister cause she thinks the whole world is against her), I tried gratefulness, I tried breaking down tasks and divide workload (he always leaves mess or things undone behind). Please tell me what I can do anymore, before I have another breakdown again.

So i'm (13M) and I absolutely hate him, his job in the house is just making us hate ourselves and making us feel poor (me and older sister) first of all, he fat shames us, I'm not even fat and so is my sister, but he keeps doing it saying: "you started to eat a lot, you'll be surprised about your weight in about two months" and lots of other things like that, he also doesn't have a job (well, technically he does, he's a writes but he stays in front of his laptop all day to write and the money that comes from it isn't a lot) so when my mother spends a lot of money he starts yelling at her, and also we are currently in the process of renovating our house so every single penny he cares about, if I buy a pack of chips he questions me about the money, which in result makes me and my sister feel like we live in a poor family, and he yells at us for every little fricking thing, let's say he tells me "where's the TV remote?" I tell him "I don't know" then he yells at me saying "I don't want to hear you saying I don't know, get up and search for it" and today, I had football practice, which I didn't go to cause all of my football shirts were dirty, so I didn't go (and also my father and mother were out, and I even if the shirts were not dirty I wouldve not went cause I didn't eat all day) so when he came back he told me "did I go to football practice?" I told him "no" then he started yelling at me saying "are you a girl? You could've wore any shirt to go.. etc" so when I was gonna tell him that I didn't eat anything and that I had tried calling him he wouldn't let me answer and kept yelling, so after he ended his dumb speech I took my food and went to my room, I was crying and absolutely angry (the reason I didn't eat all day was because of him fat shaming me the night before). So that's all.

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've seen this issue discussed before. There's some sort of "lost generation" between Dick's gen and Tim's gen.
A lot of Connor Hawke fans are upset that DC is setting him up so often with Tim and Damian. Previously, he was not close to particularly either. He's also supposed to be several years older than Tim. His little sister figure, Mia, is in Tim's gen...
So, who's in Connor's age group? Who does he get to hang out (with beside Kyle Rayner)?
Tim's group is the 17-19 year old heroes like Wonder Girl II, Impulse, Superboy, Miss Martian, etc. Dick's is the older 25-30 year olds like Donna Troy, The Flash III, etc. So, there's a gap there for 20-24 year olds...
I've seen people being up Rose Wilson as an option, but she feels like a Tim contemporary to me. Mia Dearden has also been brought up as a character that should co-exist with Jason, except she's also Tim's generation.
When Tim was Robin, the current concept of a bunch of kid superhero co-existing wasn't a thing. There was a general lack of sidekicks and teen superheroes at the time. The main teen superheroes were the Teen Titans, who were aging out of the age group.