#and there i see them massacring my boy: autism

[thebongcloudopening]

i think half these kids and 20 year olds don't actually have autism

can i say something conservative

[theliterarywolf]

I think you were mentioning before how shit The Proud Family has become. Against my wishes, I’ve been exposed to clips from the newest season and just… they are MASSACRING my childhood! All these characters are just hostile aggressive assholes, like… even MORESO than in the OG!

So, with the current discussion around Louder and Prouder, I want to preface it with this:

They didn't suddenly make the show 'Woke' like some publications have been trying to claim. The Proud Family has always tackled serious, current issues in the midst of all of the sitcom randomness.

So that's not the issue.

The actual issue is that the writers just exponentially increased the cattiness of the characters: both original and new.

I haven't watched S2 but I remember reading a thread of comments where Penny and the rest of the gang were talking shit about Zoey behind her back because GASP a new cute black boy had the audacity to be interested in her but not any of them.

But going back to S1 of the reboot, I'm reminded of Penny going full-on Gaslight/Gatekeep/Girlboss in her beef with the makeup influencer everyone was raving over. Also how the new social activist character was pretty damn obnoxious with how she would berate Penny for not being socially-aware enough. But then I'm reminded of a plot point about either Penny or Oscar trying to out said new character's two dads because of something going down with Proud Snacks.

Like, the show overall is good and, from what I can see via clips, S2 fixed the sound-mixing issues and animation-hiccups of season 1. And scenes like the Black History Month presentation and CeeCee being confirmed to be on the Autism Spectrum were done very well. It's just the characters themselves having that cattiness that is kind of off-putting.

[local-redhead-bookworm]

I'm asking you about your autistic Eleven headcanons because I'm fascinated to hear about them, especially with the intersection between it and her post institutionalization syndrome

I’m more than happy to share my thoughts on this!

@strangerthings4theories actually was the person who first put this headcanon on my radar, so go check out this post by them on it. Full disclosure, I am not diagnosed autistic, although I’m about as sure that I am as possible without a clinical diagnosis. I’ve only been researching autism for a few months, so my understanding may be flawed in some areas, but I’ll do my best.

So, from my very brief research, post-institutionalization syndrome can result in behaviors that look autistic to an outsider’s perspective, in addition to some anger issues. Many of these traits include speech delays, repetitive motions such as rocking, difficulties with eye contact, and sensory issues, especially when pertaining to physical touch.

Based on this (admittedly inadequate and outdated) research, post-institutionalization syndrome seems to be something that can sometimes be acclimated out of during puberty, but it does often take years to unlearn. The two can look very similar.

So, reasons for my autistic El headcanon:

She struggles verbally and exhibits what I would label as echolalia. El says very little on her own at first, and she seems to learn words by repeating them. This could be connected to the coma she supposedly went into after the Hawkins Lab Massacre, but I still lean toward autism as the root.

She is deeply emotional but struggles to regulate those emotions. We’ve seen her express a wide range of emotions, but when she’s in emotional distress, she tends to lash out. She breaks Troy’s arm with her powers. When she sees Max with Mike, she immediately trips Max’s skateboard. She breaks several windows when she finds out about her mom. She attacks Angela with a skate and gives her a grade two concussion.

She has extremely high empathy. Her ability is quite literally to connect with people. She saves her friends by tapping into the emotions she has from good memories with them. She exhibits many of the same emotions as the person she is near. She is kind to Billy and uses his good memory of his mom to remind him, “you were happy.” And as silly as I think this was, her pep talk from Mike and her choice to focus on kindness and love over evil is what allows her to win. (This is kind of iffy toward the end, but it felt relevant)

She doesn’t fully understand social cues or boundaries, so she mimics others. She mirrors the boys in s1, she mirrors Hopper and Kali in s2, and she behaves like Mike and later Max in s3, and we also see her mirror Will in s4. We see her sit in the recliner the way Mike did in s1. She takes her cue from whoever she deems the most in-charge person in the group. She also mimics fashion from them too, such as her more boyish style in s2 and her more feminine look in early s3. Even her hair in s4 is strongly reminiscent of Joyce.

She feels inhuman and out of step with her peers. She says what she has to in order to seem normal and fit in. We hear her ask several times in the show, “am I a monster?” She tells Mike that she doesn’t fit in in Hawkins, at Lenora Hills, or anywhere. She’s also told she’s different by Henry, who makes her difference out to be a superiority.

She dresses primarily for comfort. This is especially evident in s2 with her cozy shirts and overalls, but it’s also true in other seasons. Even as bright as the colors are in some of her s3 outfits, they still prioritize comfort and freedom of movement. She wears soft and warm textures almost constantly in s4.

She has routines and safe foods. Eggos are obviously a safe food for her, considering her love for them. She also keeps careful track of when Hopper is supposed to be back from work. Even her preparation to enter the void is a sort of routine. She keeps the door open three inches, even after Hopper’s disappearance.

El’s initial reaction to the roller rink debacle comes across like sensory overload. This final detail was what really started the headcanon in full force for me. The noise, the feeling of the world spinning around you, being overwhelmed by the lights and all the people. It had me immediately going “that is sensory overload. That right there is what it feels like.”

So there you have it! I’ll be honest, I wasn’t aware of post-institutionalization syndrome before now, but I enjoyed the research. Most of my reasons for headcanoning El as autistic could go either way. The two look pretty similar sometimes, I’ll admit, but I think that there’s room for both interpretations in fan works, and I’m curious to hear anyone else’s thoughts if they’d like to add on!

[gingerhastoomanyobsessions]

yesterday I read dracula spinoff Renfield: Slave of Dracula by Barbara Hambly and it sure is Something. I have been compelled by forces outside of my control (autism) to create and share a bonkers play-by-play of particularly interesting or deranged plot points. spoilers for this book (but not for dracula dailies) below you’ve been warned

Heck Yeah and Hell No plot points have been intermingled in the below list; make of them what you will

prior to the Everything, this Renfield, named Ryland, was a merchant in India. The text is weirdly fetishy orientalist about this in the way that only white people obsessed with India can be

frames the ableism of the attendants and such as awful, but is kind of weird about the other patients

made renfield straight

he’s a serial killer but he’s not fully aware of the fact because he has memory blackouts. Despite this he’s portrayed as wholly sympathetic since he wasn’t in control at the time. his victims were all indian, which is. Hm.

this leads to him killing his wife and child. The book is his diary, addressed to his dead wife as an apology. This is a plot twist.

Dr. Hennessy is an alcoholic and a walking Irish stereotype

Hennessy also lets randos into the sanatorium for tours when Seward isn’t looking

Renfield’s fits in the day are either memory blackout rage episodes, bloodthirst, or him seeing through Dracula’s eyes and being pissed about it

he hates Dracula’s fucking guts. the entire time. the “master” thing is just a “please don’t eat me” attempt

Dracula SUCKS and he isn’t shipped with anyone

renfield is suicidal whenever he isn’t freaking out about dying. Paradoxical but damn buddy are you ok

the brides are here on a girlboss mission to fuck up drac’s plans.

renfield falls in love with the Token Good Nerd bride. reminds me of the upcoming renfield-themed romcom (yes this exists). Why are renfields falling in love all over the place?

however it’s based mostly on friendship and shared nerdhood and not lust because! Plot twist! he gets vampirized and vampirism zaps you with the ace beam. I’m not kidding this is canon in this verse

when vampirized he eats his abuser (a family member who was emotionally and financially abusive). Get Drinked, Bitch

speaking of lust it gave Van Helsing a canonical vampire kink. He kills vampires as a way to repress it. Help me I’m going to explode

renfield and the nerd girlfriend vampire are alive in India to this day eating rich assholes

she knows he eats bugs and is totally fine with this. She thinks it’s funny. he’s her right hand arm. man. her silly rabbit.

it had some Ideas, but they were outweighed by the racism, the ableism, and the aggressive hetero energy. in short, look how they massacred my boy

[house-of-slayterr]

Crossover!

Subject: Texas Chainsaw Massacre & House of Wax

Cw: Rslur and slight ableism (I have autism, I never actually use this slur irl, especially not in a hateful way. I only feel comfortable typing it when it’s in the context of it obviously not being ok to use slurs like this. I do not condone the use of this word whatsoever, but understand other mentally disabled people are fully allowed to reclaim it.)

Thomas and I were frantically running around the house, attempting to pack everything for a trip. Hoyt and Monty were drunk as usual, slurring obscenities at the television. Mama May was slaving away in the kitchen, preparing the festivities early for Thomas and I.

“Thomas! Be sure to pack Spider’s bowl! If we forget her food it’s gonna be a long weekend.” I shouted to my boyfriend.

Thomas and I had been together for about three years now, the first of which was mostly long distance, but I lived with him during the winter months for now. Hoyt always commented about how I was conveniently missing out on crop season but I didn’t let it bother me. The old coot could try my patience faster than anyone I knew.

“Baby did you hear me?”

When I got no grunt in response I got concerned, dropping my bag onto my bed and rounding the corner into his room. When I didn’t see him I was confused.

“Tommy?”

I felt a hand on my shoulder and nearly jumped out of my skin. I clutched my chest and turned to glare at my boyfriend.

“Not funny Thomas, when did you learn to be so quiet?” I joked.

“Sorry.” He signed.

I just laughed and pecked him on his cheek.

“Spider’s bowl, your suitcase.”

He nodded and caught my hand as I was about to exit his room.

“Yes my love?”

“Nervous” he signed.

“You have nothing to worry about, my brothers will love you!” I assured. “I’m gonna go help Mama finish dinner.”

He gave me a sweet smile and gestured me forward, holding the door open for me. I made my way into the kitchen and saw a stressed Luda May running around.

“Let me help you.” I offered.

“That’s real sweet baby, can you just stir the mashed potatoes for me and finish the salad?”

“Mama you didn’t have to make a salad just for me, I would’ve been fine without one.”

“Nonsense, my favourite girl is gonna get what she wants for thanksgiving.”

“Thank you mama, did you freeze Spider’s food?”

“Yep. Got her all covered for your trip. I’m glad you’re taking her with you, can’t promise Hoyt and Monty won’t try to cook her up.”

“Yeah after last time I’m not taking that chance ever again.” I shuddered.

Dinner at Tommy’s was chaotic as usual. The boys were howling over some disgusting jokes they were telling. Spider sat beneath my chair, curled up in a ball inside her sweater, her lack of fur caused her to get cold quickly.

My little girl was so precious, and Thomas loved her dearly. I’m pretty sure he’d cut off Monty’s arms before letting him try to touch her. After what her did to Mavis, I’d kill him if he tried anything. Thomas happily ate his dinner, complimenting Luda May’s cooking.

“Are you sure you have to go?” Luda plead.

Thomas nodded his head, reaching across the table to grasp my hand in his own.

“I’m gonna tell you a secret mama.” I whispered. “Thomas is gonna ask my brothers a very special question on this trip.” I winked.

Her eyes sparkled brighter than I’d ever seen them. A huge smile broke out on her face.

“Oh I’m so excited! You better give me grand babies you hear” she whispered back.

Thomas blushes furiously, you could see it even though he wore his usual mask. I used my free hand to reach across the table and pinch his cheek lightly, giving him a soft smile.

“Can’t make any promises”

The next morning Luda May sent us off with tears in her eyes. Thomas got into the back seat of my truck so he could properly stretch out. He held Spider in his lap, and pet her gently. Of course you couldn’t convince him to leave home without his trusty chainsaw. You remembered him signing to you worriedly in the middle of the night after waking you up “but what if something goes wrong and I need to protect you.” Not wanting to upset the man, and thinking it was quite adorable you just nodded your head and told him to go back to sleep. He dragged your body closer to his, placing you on top of him in a firm hold.

You knew the drive would be long so you made a whole playlist for the trip. It consisted of of songs from some of your favourite musicals. Some were new and some you’d listened to so many times that even Thomas was humming them from the back seat. Your ride went peaceful until almost like the twin was cursed, your car broke down just outside of Ambrose. You debated calling Lester to come pick you up but you wanted all your brothers to meet Tommy at the same time. It would make him more comfortable if he didn’t have to introduce himself more than once. You sighed.

“Thomas darling, we’re gonna have to walk. I promise it’s not far, my brothers will fix up the car tomorrow.”

Thomas looked at you like you were insane. He was used to hard labour, but he didn’t want you walking when the weather was like this.

“Baby I promise you it is more than safe. Besides it’s just like when we take walks back home right? Except I kinda feel bad you’ll have to carry our luggage.”

He grunted, as a way to say “don’t worry about it.”

You got our do the car and grabbed your backpack, also grabbing Spiders carrying case, that you conveniently packed all the food in. Thomas grabbed the heavy stuff and the two of you began walking toward your family home. You knew Bo would have everyone slaving away in the kitchen, this man took food related holidays very seriously. And this was the first time in two years you’d be back home for thanksgiving. The three of you paused outside the front door. Spider jumped off Tommy’s shoulder and gracefully wiped her feat on the welcome mat. You looked back at Thomas and he looked petrified.

“Oh sweetheart, you don’t have to be nervous, they’re gonna love you, you wanna know why?”

He nodded.

“Because I love you!” You lifted his mask to place a romantic kiss on his lips.

You watched as Thomas’s thick calloused hands hooked under his mask and began to remove it. You grabbed his hand and stopped him.

“You don’t have to take it off ok. Yeah Bo might make a few comments about your mask but he doesn’t mean it. You don’t have to change anything about yourself Tommy. You’re already perfect.”

He gave you a smile and placed his mask back down on his head. You knocked on the door.

“It’s open! If you’re not Tiny, I’ve got a gun!” You heard Lester yell.

You chuckled softly, blushing at the nickname your brothers had given you. You were the youngest Sinclair after all, and definitely the smallest. You opened the door and Spider made her way to the kitchen, running straight for Jonsey. You gently grabbed Tommy’s hand a guided the gentle giant into your house. You took at deep breath as you walked through the door, being immediately comforted by the scents filling the air. Before you knew it your were being lifted off the ground and Vincent was spinning you in the air. He held you in a death grip, almost as if he was afraid if he let go your disappear.

“Hey Vinnie” you smiled.

Thomas looked at you in panic, afraid that your brother would drop you. Jonsey jumped up on you, wagging her tail.

“Hi baby, did you miss me?” You pet her.

Lester was the next to greet you, totally ignoring the man at your side.

“Did you get shorter?” He joked.

“You’re hilarious” you deadpanned.

He ruffled the hair on your head and you swatted him away. It wasn’t until Bo turned around, taking a fresh tray of brownies out of the oven until anyone noticed Thomas. Without even greeting you your brother instinctively went into overprotective mode. He grabbed a knife from the counter and pushed you behind him.

“Bo, be nice.” You warned.

“Please don’t tell me this is the guy you’re seeing.” He spoke.

You glared at your brother something fierce, a look he’d never seen in you before.

“Garage, now.” You seethed.

When the two of you made it into the garage he prepared to make fun of you for your little freak out but paused when he saw you. You were practically shaking and steadied yourself with a few deep breaths. You finally turned to look at him.

“Bo I love you, that much is obvious. But I swear to god if you ruin this thanksgiving I will walk out the door right now and I will NEVER come back.”

He starred at you for a moment, you FNaF be serious can you. When he didn’t visibly react you continued.

“Tonight is extremely important to me ok. I’ve got all my boys here with me and nobodies more important to me than the three of you so please, Bo I’m begging you, just behave. You clearly put a lot of effort into cooking for us tonight and I really appreciate it.”

You knew your brother didn’t take well to be threatened so you eased up on him. He simply nodded, he went to follow you back inside, grabbing a pack of beers from the garage fridge before following you. What you saw when you reached the kitchen made your heart scream. There sat Tommy in the middle of the floor, Jonsey licking his face and giving him so much love. You weren’t sure if she was just trying to eat his mask or not and the thought of it made you chuckle, bringing the attention in the room back to you. Your brothers starred at you weirdly and having Thomas stare up at you for once broke you.

You quickly broke out into a full fit of giggles, clutching your stomach to try and quell the pain. Tears threatened to fall out of your eyes.

“Has she finally lost it?” Lester whispered to Vincent who simply shrugged.

Thomas watched you in horror, he’d never seen you laugh like that before. The sound made his heart melt, but you looked like you were in pain and it worried him.

“Oh Tommy!” You exclaimed, wiping the tears from your eyes.

You walked over to your boyfriend, leaning your head onto his.

“You look positively adorable.” You cooed.

Bo made a fake gagging sound at the affection.

“I should ask you to sit on the floor more often.” You finished your laughing. Laying a gentle peck on his face, adjusting his mask.

You reached out your hand to help Thomas up off the floor and he took it wearily. He was afraid he would pull you down with him, so he used most of his own strength to get himself off the floor, not wanting to hurt your feelings. Your brothers finished their thanksgiving day chores and joined you all at the table. You skipped over the sappy parts, simply wanting to get straight to the meal.

“Wait I forgot to feed Spider, hang on!”

You got up from the table and grabbed spiders mela from the fridge. You felt bad when you saw Jonesy excitedly trot over. You started at the dog with sadness in your eyes.

“Well I suppose you two can share for tonight.” You said before splitting the food into two bowls.

The pets are happily, simply enjoying the special treatment they got for tonight. You walked backed over to the fridge, putting away the container and grabbing one more before heading over to the table. Bo was going to question it before he was cut off by you talking.

“So Vinnie, how do you like Thomas’s mask? He made it himself, isn’t it lovely?” You bosted.

Vincent studied Thomas fully for the first time that night, looking over the man’s strange attire. Thomas had dressed up for the evening, wearing his nicest dress shirt and having his hair combed properly. Vincent noticed a bracelet peaking out from his left wrist, noting that it looked like your work. He took his time admiring the mask, deciding it was sloppy, but interesting.

“I suppose.” He signed lazily.

You weren’t satisfied with his answer.

“Well maybe after dinner you can show him your workshop, you guys can share techniques. Tommy’s signing has gotten much better recently, so you guys should be able to chat no problem.”

Thomas was glad his mask was covering his blush. He wasn’t used to hearing such high praise of him. Vincent simply nodded, realising it was a request and not one he should refuse.

“What’s it made out of?” Lester asked curiously.

You saw Thomas stiffen, and you bit back a giggle.

“It’s ok baby, you can tell em. They’re not gonna judge.” You soothed.

“People.” Thomas signed honestly.

Your three brothers looked taken aback by this. Lester seemed confused, thinking maybe he misread the sign. Vincent looked contemplative, like he was trying to understand Thomas’s artistic vision and why he would choose such a medium. And Bo starred widely, looking between you too. He tried his best to hold back his comment, but couldn’t resist.

“Pardon?” He asked.

The boys had already started preparing their plates while you were conversing, and it was just now they noticed that you where emptying the contents of the container onto Thomas’s plate and that he hadn’t touched any of the prepared food. Bo’s eye twitched slightly at this.

“Oh come on Bo. You had to accept that I wouldn’t end up with someone completely normal right?”

“Did you really have to go with the creepy guy who makes skin masks? Come on, I knew you were stupid but I thought maybe you’d maintain a shred of common sense when I let you leave this house.”

“Let me leave.” You scoffed. “Bo wether you like it or not I’m grown, I can make my own decisions. Besides don’t act like you can take the moral high ground here, your twin turns people into statues for Christ’s sake.”

You cringed inwardly, realising how disapproving you sounded of Vincent’s passion. You hadn’t meant to, and really you found it amazing how your brother could turn such vile creatures into beautiful pieces of art.

“I didn’t mean that Vinnie” you stuttered softly.

Bo took no care in your apology to you brother, just drilling in his dislike for you boyfriend further.

“And what is he too good to eat the food I spent all day preparing?” He seethed.

“It’s not like that Bo.” You tried to calm him.

“Than what is it like?”

He was looking right at Thomas now, almost challenging him. You unbeknownst to your brothers rested your hand on Thomas’s leg under the table in reassurance.

“Can’t eat. Special food.” He signed.

“Can’t even speak in full sentences? Great job picking the Spaz, guess you two are perfect for each other seeing as you’re both retarded.”

Thomas was shaking next to you, trying his best to behave and obviously having his PTSD activated, as he was hoping getting away from Monty and Hoyt meant he wouldn’t have to hear such things anymore. Seeing him like this broke you and that’s when you snapped. Thomas was too your left, but Bo sat to your right at the head of the table, his usual spot. Before you could stop yourself, your knife was slammed into the table.

“Damn it Bo, just can it!” You shouted.

It wasn’t until a couple seconds later you realised you’d actually missed the table, seeing the small pool of blood drip from your brothers hand. You looked horrified, quickly removing your hand from the knife and retracting it into your lap.

“Bo I’m sorry” you said panicked.

Lester starred at you bewildered, realising his sister had clearly changed in her time away. Despite you knowing about your brothers extra curricular activities they had never asked you to participate, and you never intervened. Vincent let out a small growl from across the table, glaring at you, clearly mad and rightfully so.

“Get out.” Bo said.

You were certain he was talking to you but his eyes were trained on Thomas. As your man was about to leave you stopped him, glaring down at your brother as you stood from your seat.

“You know what? No! I don’t even know why I apologised to you, cause you don’t deserve it and I’m certainly not sorry. If anything I should be apologising to Thomas, I knew you all were animals yet I brought him into the lions den anyways. Come one love, we’re leaving.”

You grabbed Thomas’s hand and made a break for the door. A whirring sound haunted your footsteps, you paused as your dinner knife was now embedded in the door frame next to your head.

“You’re not going anywhere with my sister.” Bo growled.

“Thomas, outside.” You simply said.

Thomas had seen you like this before, you’d get this way whenever Hoyt or Monty would pick on him. But he’d never seen you this angry before, and frankly it terrified him. What happened to his ever happy, gentle lover? He listened out of fear he’d make things worse for you, knowing you could handle yourself. Bo had forcefully grabbed your arm by the time Thomas had escaped into the garage. He began to drag you further into the house but you dug your heals into the floor.

“You know what, I’m sick of your protective bullshit! I get it, you’ll only ever see me as that little girl cowering from our farther, but honestly you’re no better than him!”

Bo’s fingernails dug into your skin. Lester watched from the table in fear of his older brother. He’d never seen you this bold before, and he was worried that Bo had finally snapped. Bo hated to admit it but he was the most fragile of the three brothers. He garnered the most trauma and ignored any emotion that crept up inside him. You ripped your hand away from him, shredding the skin on your wrist in the process.

“Im not one of your damn victims that you can boss around and scare Bo. I know you. I know every part of you. And I’m tired of being this fragile doll you all think you have to tip toe around. News flash, you can’t break what’s already broken. Thomas has been nothing but a gentleman to me since the day we met. Fuck he even cried on a way up here you know, he was so damn scared you’d hate him and lured him into a false sense of security. My mistake for thinking my brothers would actually give a shit about how I felt.”

Lester’s hand was now on your shoulder trying to console you, but you shook it off.

“Who cares if he eats people? Who cares if his family is full of vile monsters just like mine? Thomas deserves the world and I’m not gonna let you stop me from giving it to him.” You finished your rant.

That’s when you noticed Thomas had made his way back inside. He was worried with all the yelling, and the fact you hadn’t joined him outside yet. He didn’t want to hurt your brothers but he wasn’t above the thought if they took things too far. When he found you shaking and bleeding surrounded by the three men his heart shattered. Nobody would treat his treasure like this.

“I love him.” You sighed.

Thomas paused. His heart was warm. He’d heard you say those words to him a thousand times, but something about the way you said them now sounded different. You were honest, you heart out for everyone to see. You weren’t just defending you love for him, you were speaking as if it were a fact. Nothing could change how you felt for your Thomas and that thought made him the happiest he’d ever been. Thomas knew in that moment that you belonged to him and nobody else. You were brought out of your thoughts when you heard Thomas grunt from behind you.

Your heart swelled at the sight I front of you. There was the love of your life, down on one knee, professing his undying love for you in front of your brothers. Despite the disaster tonight had been, Thomas wanted nothing more than for you to be happy. You knew this was his way of standing up for himself, he didn’t care what your brothers thought of him, he didn’t care if they despised him, all he wanted was you. Your hand flew over your mouth in shock.

“Baby?” You asked, voice quivering.

“Mine?” He stated.

You stood in shock, the room seemed to freeze. Not once in the three years you’d known him have you ever heard the giant speak. His voice was gruff and sounded pained, but to you it was the sweetest symphony. You wanted to hear him talk again, to hear him say your name, the way his hands spoke his love were nothing in compared to his beautiful voice. Tears began to stream down your face, staining your delicate skin. For the first time that night you had been rendered speechless. You nodded your head slowly, but you didn’t dare move, you were afraid your legs would give out from under you. Lester was the one to bring you down to Earth.

“Go.” He simply stated.

You made your way across the kitchen and threw yourself into Thomas’s arms, nearly knocking over the poor man. You enveloped him in a hug, liken an anaconda constricting it’s pretty, you would never let him go. He picked you up and you let out a squeal. Your light laughter rang through the house and changed the previously dangerous mood that cling to the house.

“Thomas’s” he spoke once more.

You nodded, smiling.

“Thomas’s” you agreed.

You learned your forehead into his and drunk in every sensation he made you feel. Bo cleaned his throat.

“How sweet. If the two of you are gonna have sex don’t do it on my couch” your brother grumbled, walking away.

You laughed. A sound that made Thomas want to do everything in his power to hear the noise again. You this had been your brothers way of giving his blessing. Bo would probably be an ass to Thomas forever, but that’s simply how he was with everyone. Wether he liked it or not, Thomas Hewitt was now family, and you were now part of his. Bo would have to share his little sister with the outside world, which was something he wasn’t ready for, but if it meant seeing you this happy it was something he could handle.

Vincent signed a small congrats, but gave you a look that said “we’ll talk about this later” you knew he was still upset, but he’d get over it. You hadn’t meant to hurt Bo, or any of them, but they had to expect you’d come to be like them some way. You wouldn’t always be the sweet innocent one of the family, you were bond to be corrupted at some point. Vincent was oddly proud of you for stick up for yourself, and against his twin no less. Bo could be terrifying, but Vincent knew the two of you would work this out, forgiving you was inevitable. Nobody had ever stayed mad at you for long and that certainly wasn’t gonna change now. Vincent excused himself, sneaking down into his workshop, to unbeknownst to you work on a gift for the two of you.

Lester stood before you smiling like an idiot. He had Jonsey and Spider next to him, both looking at the situation with excitement.

“Welcome to the family Thomas, fair warning, it’s always like this.”

He snuck away with the pets, leaving Thomas and you alone to celebrate your newfound engagement. Thomas finally took this time to slide the ring onto you small finger. You looked at it like it was the most stunning thing on the planet, the same way he was currently looking at you.

“Thomas Sinclair, I think I like the sound of that” you quipped.

You knew he wouldn’t argue with you about taking your last name. Just like his family was important to him, yours was important to you. Even if you didn’t show it often, you were proud to be a Sinclair. Thomas simply grunted in response, pressing a gentle yet needy kiss to your lips.

“Wanna piss of Bo even more?” You smirked.

Thomas knew what you were insinuating, and while he normally wasn’t interested in such activities, he couldn’t resist you. Most people would look at your relationship and assume Thomas was the dominate, just judging by his size and his aura, but little did they know Thomas was putty in your hands. This man would do nothing short of murder for you, and he carved your praise. Thomas would be your good boy tonight, and any night you wanted him until the two of you were old and dead. His love for you was infinite and he’d make sure to show you everyday for the rest of your life.

An: Ahhh, I wanted to release this on thanksgiving but I’ve been soo busy. But god do I love this one. Both families are so dysfunctional and I love it. Thomas has been the only thing on my mind all month and I am in love with this man 🥵 let me know what you guys think. Hope you all had a good holiday!

[chronic-boogara]

Hello one of the most talented writers on this platform I’m here for a match up. I’d prefer a male slasher but women are ok too.

I’m an Infp, an aries and I have autism so that’s part of what’s wrong with me. I have a few dream careers. I would love to be an author or sfx artist. I mainly write poetry and horror stories outside of fan fiction. I also crochet. I’m still learning but I’ve made some cool stuff. I know how to hand sew and hopefully I will learn how to use this old sewing machine from my grandma without breaking it like I always somehow end up doing.

My main love languages are physical touch and gift giving but those are like 2% higher than the others so I’m pretty even. I’m really into slasher and horror movies, my favorite being Texas chainsaw massacre one or two. I can write essays about horror movies honestly. I know a decent amount of fashion history from the 1920’s to the 1990’s, very specific I know but it was my special interest for awhile.

My favorite artists are Strawberry switchblade and Melanie Martinez. I also listen to David Bowie, Siouxie and the Banshees, Hole, and Switchblade Symphony. I want to collect cds and vinyls and cassettes if I had a player for them.

I love dressing in a 70’s/80’s masculine style with occasionally being more feminine. I have a like grown out mullet hairstyle I’m trying to continue to grow out. My hair is dark brown and curly. Sometimes I tease it to be more like an 80’s hairstyle and choke on hairspray every time. I’m like 5’4 (short king) and I have my ears double pierced and my nostril pierced too. I don’t really plan on getting more but you never really know.

My favorite season is fall and I love Halloween. I also wanna collect vintage Halloween type shit (I know I want to collect a lot of stuff it’s the pigeon who likes shiny things in me) I’m decent at carving pumpkins and I love those foggy fall morning more than I love life itself.

I hope this is enough or not too much. I trust you’ll give me the best match up you can <3

𝐢 𝗺𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐲𝗼𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡- 𝐛𝐮𝐛𝐛𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐰𝐲𝐞𝐫➳♡

♡your perfect match is the infamous bubba sawyer. he’s just a big bundle of love and he’s so excited to give it to you. he’s honest, kind and extremely romantic (when he wants to be)

♡wowow you’re just so interesting y/n! please tell him everything about your interests. every story you write he wants to read. he doesn’t care what you think about it. he knows he’s going to love it. teach him how to read while you’re at it<3 he’ll want to write about you once he learns how to properly do so.

♡he is so infatuated with you so please tell him every single dream/goal you have. he may have no idea what sfx is but he is more than happy to listen to you explain it to him. he’ll do his best not to forget

♡bubba is v curious about your style. you’re always so handsome in his eyes. he doesn’t much like the hairspray though it makes him sneeze. he will try to style his hair like yours :). teach the baby boy how to style his hair and wash it and he’s golden.

♡he loves your height!! he doesn’t mind you being shorter than him. he would love to pick you up and spin you around. it’s also nice having a smaller person around the house to help reach under small places and lure in victims.

♡bubba owns a cassette player but has no tapes :(so if you have any he wants to listen to them with you. oh and don’t worry about him not liking your music. he is not picky in the least bit. all music is beautiful to his ears especially if he knows you like it

♡in all honestly bubba is indifferent to your autism. (he’s on the spectrum as well but isn’t really aware) he doesn’t see any reason to not love you because of it.

♡you like to sew!? oh my gosh so does HE! the amount of joy that fills his heart when he finds out that you have a similar interest is immeasurable. sewing is his outlet. he will want to show you everything he can do. and if you want he can show you how to make your own mask! you’re a fashion expert so teach him about clothes and what’s popular. he’d love to be up with the times. matching outfits y/n?

♡he shows his love through hugs and kisses and just lots of lots of touching so it’s a good thing you’re into it. he’s always hands with you but never in an inappropriate way more like a doting lover kind of way. and don’t even get him started on gifts. he loves giving you gifts. he isn’t too good with words so the less speaking that goes on the better. he knows a little sign language so he’ll say i love you that way as well.

♡horror movies scare bubba a lot (how ironic) so you’ll have to make things less scary for him when you talk about them. it’s not his first choice for movie night but as long as you promise to hold him tight during the extra scary scenes he will agree.

♡he wants you to be comfortable around his family as much as possible but they embarrass him constantly. calling you his sweet little boyfriend and other corny things like that. bubba wants them to appreciate and love you like he does. aside from the nagging from drayton and the light teasing from chop-top and nubbins you four get along great. and don’t worry about eating the “special meat” they also have a farm with other animals though they’re usually pretty scarce as well as vegetarian options. bubba would never make you eat it if you didn’t want to.

♡bubba has never been on a date so his blueprint for such things come from movies. most of your dates will be walks to the flower fields or little fancy dinners he sets up himself. he tries his best to make you comfortable.

♡bubba does his best to be the best boyfriend he can be for you. you’re his special someone and no one will take that away from him <3

[metal-caregiver]

Any advice on how to look after system regressers

Our host regresses quite a lot, and me being co-host I'm the one who looks after them the most. I don't mind this, but I can't really do it "properly". Yknow the being in the same body part, I cant touch them or anything. The most I can do is get things they like and watch them to see if they're okay. Sometimes we talk over text or writing, but most of the time they're just to young to do that. Our host will not/refuse to leave front, so I can't look after them outside of front either.

Any advice on how to help them more and actually like connect with them?

I have this same problem !! Im also part of a system (and have had 2 alters respond to this. One a caregiver, one a non-caregiver) for their input on how they handle fronting with a little alter.  If any of us feels that he's starting to front we try to make things a bit “nicer” for him. Like cleaning our room, getting out his favorite toys or putting on his favorite show. And when I'm fronting with him I do the same as any caregiver would. Ill put on our weighted blanket or pet our hand, sometimes hold it if i'm free when he's nervous. Ill talk to us out loud or “inside my head”,,small things like “dont forget to put on a clean shirt for school,,you did a great job (name), (mom) would be proud”,,,Its easy when we’re co-fronting to sort of “take over” for a bit to do things he cant like cooking, crowds, etc. For the most part my brother can do anything on his own. I’ve taught him to drive and he fills out our tax reports. If he wants to boil water on the stove to make pasta who am I to tell him no? Sometimes he has accidents and a harder time forming words, he gets overwhelmed very easily and is prone to “melt downs” (we’re autistic and I avoid using tantrum with him because its most often than not a mental health thing than him being a brat) - Alek  He's usually only a brat when he wants something we wont let him have. But its not like he wants toys, or candy or a 1am bedtime. He wants to watch Texas Chainsaw Massacre marathons. anywho- the rest of us really just make sure he doesnt accidentally run us off a cliff. The only times the rest of us really coddle him is when he has accidents. All of us have incontinence issues cause of our autism but he really struggles the most. Its a mix of his young age and just us having really bad body ques. Thats when the rest of us bust out the “lets get you cleaned up” and “good boy (name), I know you feel messy but theres nothing wrong”. All of us kinda do that to each other in a way when that happens. We always try to reassure each other that its something we cant really control and its just part of our disabilities - Corey long story short,,, - You can do anything a regular caregiver can! You just need to get a bit created. - Try to work a bit on communication and ways of doing it (talking out loud, AAC, communication cards, internal communication).  - Have things on hand that they feel safe with. A favorite stuffie, favorite show, coloring activity, outfit, smell, food, etc - Reassure them and make sure they’re safe even if you aren't talking. 

[tenthgrove]

yess thank you for letting me ask you about the lore >:3c so I have to get my absolute favorites outta the way first— what kinda lore and thoughts do you have for sorbet or gelato ( <- before they get together and the earlier years of them getting together if you need a specific period ) I have to also ask are you ok if I go down the “line” and get your thoughts in other asks about the rest of the la squadra babes? Thank you sm 💖💖 I hope you’re having a wonderf day/evening

Ah! Now this is one of my absolute favourites! Apologies to anyone who has already heard me ramble about my Sorbet and Gelato backstory ad nauseam on multiple occasions, but this is really an area where I can't help myself. Besides, this is my opportunity to go more in depth where I haven't before:

(Note after writing this: It's stupidly long. I'm sorry I just can't help myself with these backstories. I couldn't decide what to leave out so I decided nothing.)

(Also please feel free to ask me more lore questions because I love doing this)

We'll begin with Sorbet, born in Naples in February 1967 if you follow the canon timeline (although by default I write in modern AU so move the dates 20 years later). His situation at birth was absolutely dire, the eldest child of an incredibly vulnerable woman and one of her clients as a sex worker. Sorbet's mother was by all means a decent woman but her severe mental illness and drug addiction made it impossible for her to be a good mother, which of course had a bad effect on Sorbet growing up. After Sorbet, she had 5 more children, all through clients, and Sorbet was saddled with much of their care.

Though he loved his siblings, Sorbet was pretty much done with this life by age 12 and was easily swept up by older boys from the local street gang, who paid him well to peddle drugs when he should have been in school. This was a very underfunded neighbourhood so nobody questioned his truancy, and within the next couple of years he had stopped going to school entirely. Shortly after this, having acquired sufficient money through his crime involvement, Sorbet left his family to stay with his new friends, moving between them on a regular basis. He also discovered his sexuality around this time and dated a few male friends, though none of these relationships got very far.

By age 16, Sorbet had earned a reputation in the street gang for skilled and passionate violence, and was selected by the ringleader to commit the group's first planned murder, in exchange of course for a lucrative reward. Sorbet accepted, succeeded, and became the group's de-facto assassin whenever needed. He continued to hoard considerable money for the remainder of his adolescence, though continued to be functionally homeless since he didn't see it necessary when sofa-surfing was suiting him fine.

Before resuming with Sorbet, let's explain the life that Gelato came from. Gelato was born in October 1967 in St. Petersburg, Russia, (Note- I previously used the city of Minsk, unaware that this is in fact, in Belarus) to an upper-middle class businessman and his Italian wife, a distant relative of French Monarchy. Gelato's relationship with his parents was rocky from the start due to the fact they would have preferred a girl after three successive sons, but any parental love they had for their youngest child broke down entirely after he was diagnosed with both Autism and ADHD at age 5, in an evaluation intending to find the cause of some behavioural issues that were really, just a response to emotional neglect.

When Gelato was 13 he, his parents, and two of his three brothers (the eldest was already an adult by this time and elected to stay behind) moved to Italy to escape some allegations of corruption in the father's business. They moved to a rural village in North-West Italy where the community was very middle-class and quite stifling for Gelato, who had enough social rules to remember in the familiar, economically-diverse city he grew up in. His behavioural issues got worse and began to include things he would later regret, such as attacking and stealing from younger children, and things he would absolutely not, like attacking and stealing from teachers. By this point the family had largely written him off as a failure, revering instead their academically successful, well-behaved older children, which absolutely contributed to the spiralling cycle of behaviour issues Gelato faced.

Then, at age 17, Gelato failed a crucial exam and was expelled from high-school. His parents kicked him out on the spot, and with no other family in Italy Gelato had very few options on what to do next. He recalled, however, one older friend having links to a street gang in Naples, and decided to see if this boy might have a route out of destitution for him. Indeed, the friend did know of a man in Naples needing assistance within the gang, but could offer no help in getting Gelato there. Seeing no other way, Gelato walked the whole journey.

Arriving in Naples, the friend's associate announced that the position Gelato was after had been taken, but taking pity on his distress, informed him of another friend who needed someone to look after an unlicensed bar that served as one of the group's main meeting points. He agreed to arrange for the small apartment above the bar to be given as payment.

Gelato accepted, but although he had now solved the problem of homelessness his life was still incredibly miserable. For one, with his pay being the apartment he had to rely on measly tips to get by, which rarely left him with enough to eat let alone anything else. Additionally, as an outsider with little understanding of the way gangs work Gelato was an easy target for abuse, and was treated like absolute shit by the bar's patrons.

By this point in time, Sorbet had just turned 18. He was, incidentally, in the same gang Gelato had joined, and a regular at the bar he worked in. For a good couple of months they took no notice of each other, until Sorbet came to be in a coincidental feud with one of the men who was violent to Gelato at the bar. When Gelato witnessed the two of them in a fight, he made the spur-of-the-moment decision to join in on Sorbet's side, knocking the patron unconscious and leaving him too afraid to visit again. For his trouble, Sorbet gave Gelato a portion of the money he looted from the fight's loser, and flirted with him lightly before going about with his evening. Unknown to Sorbet, he had just sent Gelato falling head over hills in love.

Gelato found out about Sorbet's sexuality from other patrons and, delighted, attempted to flirt with him the next time they saw each other, but his attempts came off very poorly and Sorbet actually thought he was being insulted. Angered, he dragged Gelato into the cellar to demand what was going on. Gelato, terrified, admitted having a crush, which Sorbet found to be the sweetest and most genuine thing he'd ever heard. While he couldn't promise a relationship, he did agree to show Gelato more attention in the future. But, it was only a matter of days until Sorbet found himself loving Gelato back.

This whirlwind relationship continued happily for three weeks, Sorbet greatly improving Gelato's situation through his saved money and helping him fend off the abusive patrons. Gelato, in turn, offered Sorbet a permanent place to stay in the apartment, which he accepted. Sorbet was in the process of moving his things, and they had plans to refurbish the place to make it actually habitable.

But then, everything came crashing down. One night the bar was subject to a surprise raid by the police, operating by the false assumption it was empty. Sorbet and Gelato attempted to flee but were caught, and in a panic, Gelato shot a policeman dead. Rushing to his defence Sorbet killed two more, but a fourth escaped to tell the tale. The couple knew they were screwed. Running to the headquarters of their gang they begged for protection but were informed the small group simply could not save them from a charge this serious, and gave them only a single night of shelter to plan their next move. Gelato, who remember had never committed anything more serious than minor ABH before, had an absolute breakdown over this predicament that night, and whilst comforting him, Sorbet devised a blood pact with him to stick together no matter what came.

Over the next few days, Sorbet and Gelato fled north, avoiding the police through Sorbet's skills as a criminal and Gelato's very convincing Russian tourist impression. They were almost at the French border when Sorbet awoke one night to find Gelato missing behind him. He chased his tracks to the driveway of a rural house, a tearful Gelato clutching a knife at the shut door and trembling. He informed Sorbet that he had intentionally led him to the village where his family lived, with the intention to break in and kill them as revenge for the years of abuse. Sorbet warned Gelato that this would not be good for their attempts to flee, but said he understood fully and would help him if this is truly what he wanted. Gelato agreed, and together they broke into the house and slaughtered Gelato's mother and father, additionally killing one of his brothers after he woke from the noise. The other brother, the youngest other than Gelato, was spared, as Gelato felt his role in the abuse had been comparatively more minor and he did not deserve to die. This of course, left another witness.

The massacre in the village was quickly linked to the one at the bar and Gelato was promptly identified from a comparison of DNA found at the scene to his surviving brother's. Sorbet, a known criminal, was identified soon after. Not only were the pair now known but the police figured out what their plan was and informed the French police as well, making things exponentially harder for the couple.

They made do for a while by hanging low and keeping on the move, living off money stolen from the parents' house. Eventually however, they needed more, and began making deals with local crime organisations to carry out assassinations in exchange for money or temporary shelter. While Sorbet was already a pro at this, Gelato found himself a fast learner, and soon realised he shared Sorbet's adoration for the act of killing. He felt as though he was finally coming to meet his true self.

Though the assassination deals were lucrative, they did not help the couple keep a low profile and the attacks from police were relentless. Several times, they barely escaped capture. All this was not good on their mental states, and after two years, Sorbet knew it needed to end. He and Gelato returned to Naples in the hope their old gang might reconsider protecting them, but they were met with a surprise as their old gang had been completely overtaken by Passione. Even still, the new mobsters had heard a lot about Sorbet and Gelato's exploits and agreed to get them an audience with a local Capo, Pericolo, who was impressed by the men's skills and moved by the sense of honour suggested by their love for each other. He agreed to initiate them into the gang.

Soon after this, Sorbet and Gelato recieved stands which, although not very powerful, assisted them greatly in the art of assassination. Soon, they were natural choices for Passione whenever a hit needed carrying out in the Naples area. At some point a few years in, they befriended a man named Prosciutto who had been recently forced into Passione due to his heritage. Prosciutto was also funnelled into assassination jobs and, with less of a reputation for impulsivity than Sorbet and Gelato, was the one given the order to form a new assassination squad when the need arose, around 1993 if we're following canon.

(Note, I hc La Squadra was created by Passione in response to a real life government crackdown on the Italian mafia around 1992-93, in response to an incredibly scandalous series of assassinations. In such a climate, it would make sense for Passione to want to consolidate an elite squad of its best hitmen, do avoid future problems.)

Due to personal commitments Prosciutto did not want to be the captain, so attempted to give this responsibility to Sorbet, a request the boss promptly denied. Prosciutto was, however, allowed to add Sorbet and Gelato to the team's ranks, cementing the three of them as the first members of the team.

Prosciutto would, soon enough, find another person to give the title of captain to, but that's a story for another time.

[manie-sans-delire-x]

My thoughts/analysis of We Need to talk about Kevin

From abnormal psych class paper:

The character I chose to analyze and diagnose is Kevin Khatchadourian from the 2011 film, We Need to Talk about Kevin. Brilliantly depicted by star Ezra Miller and various other child actors, Kevin is an angry, emotionally detached boy who struggles in his complex relationship with his mother. We see the unhealthy relationship develop between the two through-out the film as Kevin grows from a baby to a young man, ending in tragedy as Kevin achieves his ultimate revenge against his mother by massacring the rest of their family as well as several classmates in a school shooting.  

After carefully noting Kevin’s behavior and the way he and his mother Eva interact when he is a young child, I have decided to diagnose Kevin with reactive attachment disorder (RAD). The diagnostic criteria from the current Diagnostic and Statistical manual (DSM-5) for RAD reads as follows: 

A. A consistent pattern of inhibited, emotionally withdrawn behavior toward adult caregivers, manifested by both of the following: 

1. The child rarely or minimally seeks comfort when distressed. 

2. The child rarely or minimally responds to comfort when distressed. 

B. A persistent social or emotional disturbance characterized by at least two of the following: 

Minimal social and emotional responsiveness to others 

Limited positive affect 

Episodes of unexplained irritability, sadness, or fearfulness that are evident even during nonthreatening interactions with adult caregivers. 

C. The child has experienced a pattern of extremes of insufficient care as evidenced by at least one of the following: 

Social neglect or deprivation in the form of persistent lack of having basic emotional needs for comfort, stimulation, and affection met by caring adults 

Repeated changes of primary caregivers that limit opportunities to form stable attachments (e.g., frequent changes in foster care) 

Rearing in unusual settings that severely limit opportunities to form selective attachments (e.g., institutions with high child to caregiver ratios) 

D. The care in Criterion C is presumed to be responsible for the disturbed behavior in Criterion A (e.g., the disturbances in Criterion A began following the lack of adequate care in Criterion C). 

E. The criteria are not met for autism spectrum disorder. 

F. The disturbance is evident before age 5 years. 

G. The child has a developmental age of at least nine months. 

Specify if Persistent: The disorder has been present for more than 12 months. 

Specify current severity: Reactive Attachment Disorder is specified as severe when a child exhibits all symptoms of the disorder, with each symptom manifesting at relatively high levels. 

Kevin displays behavior that meets both criteria A and B. As a baby he cried constantly, reportedly even when held, showing an inability or unwillingness to be soothed. As a toddler he shows defiance, disinterest in social interaction, and a refusal to engage in play, such as when his mother is attempting to play with a ball with him and he refuses to roll the ball back or respond in any way, instead staring at her with a sullen expression. Kevin also refuses his mother’s pleas to say the word “Mommy”. As a slightly older child, Kevin continues to act defiantly and shows anger, ripping up the paper when his mother attempts to school him, immediately soiling his newly changed diapers on purpose, throwing food against the wall and onto tables, breaking his crayons, making nonsensical noises to irritate his mother, and destroying his mother’s artfully decorated room. When he is taken to the doctor to be examined, he shows no expression, does not speak, and stiffens his body. When his baby sister is born, he purposefully sprinkles water onto the newborn, causing her to cry. It should be noted however that in one instance Kevin seems to relax his cold exterior and accept comfort from his mother, shown by the scene in which he falls ill and cuddles with his mother while she reads him a story. He even apologizes for her having to clean up his throw-up. Unfortunately, as soon as he is feeling well again he is back to being rude and rejecting any attempt of hers to take care of him, refusing her help to change his clothes.  

As for criteria C, although Kevin has not experienced extreme abuse or neglect, I believe Kevin suffered from a traumatic birth as it was mentioned that his mother was resisting. His mother Eva did not desire a child, especially not one as difficult as Kevin, so she emotionally neglects him and is cold to him. Eva makes it very clear to him that he is unwanted, telling him straight to his face that she was happy before she gave birth to him and not correcting him when Kevin mentions that Eva does not like him. In one instance, she is accidentally too rough with him and breaks his arm, which Kevin later refers to as being the most honest thing she ever did. Kevin also meets the criteria of D through G, and his symptoms are persistent. I would say Kevin has moderate to severe symptoms as he does exhibit all listed symptoms quite regularly.  

I believe Kevin’s psychological problems may also have developed into conduct disorder (CD) as an adolescent and then antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) or psychopathy in adulthood, especially after taking into consideration the mutilation of his sister’s eye and the killing of his sister’s guinea pig, his father, his sister, and several classmates. He shows no guilt or empathy, appears to have shallow emotions besides anger, and shows no evidence of having affection or emotional bonds to anyone. He is also very manipulative; putting on a fake act of normalcy for his father, turning his parents against each other, and navigating the legal system to get his best outcome. However, I know that children with RAD can also be violent and if not treated, behave in a way very similar to conduct disorder in adolescence and ASPD or psychopathy in adulthood. The main reason I chose to focus on RAD over CD or ASPD is because I believe the root of Kevin’s problem is immense pain at being rejected and unloved as a child and that he harbors a deep desire to have that connection but is unable to accept affection.  He is so focused on and consumed by his anger towards his mother, while someone with true psychopathy may be more detached and indifferent. I also leaned more towards RAD given that he showed symptoms from such a young age and did not seem to have any problems outside of his issues with his mother, such as acting out in school or engaging in petty, impulsive crime. I do wish that the film showed more of his interaction with his peers. Lastly, I felt RAD was a more accurate choice because of the subtle signs of it that are associated more with RAD than CD, such as stiffening his body when others try to hug him, making nonsensical sounds, and not making eye contact as an infant, although that may not have been intentionally put in the film. Either way, his parents certainly needed to talk to professionals about Kevin when he was a child. Had they done so, perhaps they could have prevented the tragedy of both his life and the pain he inflicted on others.  

Response to tumblr ask:

I agree! I would have loved to see how he interacts at school, what he does when he’s alone and has spare time, and more of his childhood.

I think he had multiple reasons:

1- To make his mother suffer since he obviously has a lot of anger and resentment towards her

2- Because he doesn’t feel much positive emotion and gave up on ever feeling pleasure or enjoyment from regular life. Normal life is incredibly boring for him. He wanted to DO something- real, meaningful, make something happen. He wanted to Live. I very much relate.

3- He enjoys the attention he gets from it.

We talked about this in my forensic psych club- whether we should give interviews and all this attention to violent criminals. Our society is fascinated by them to the point where we make movies and books. People sell and collect memorabilia. They have fan-girls writing love letters and showing up to their court sessions, even fighting each other over them. It’s pretty crazy. But on the other hand, it’s important that we study them. Or is it? There’s a debate about everything.

4- His philosophy and world view. 

He is very nihilistic, he doesn’t believe life “means” anything and right/wrong doesn’t exist/is just a matter of opinion or viewpoint. His actions don’t really matter either, nothing does. I used to think exactly like he did when I was a teen, and I still do in a way.

As for your last question, it’s easy to forget one way of thinking when you’re in another. It’s hard to remember how one state was when you’re in a different one. Also, as shitty as outside life can be, life in prison is even shittier. Makes you appreciate the ability of choice and being able to do things, even just to walk around outside or buy an icecream cone. He was also only 15 at the time of the crime, and in the last scene he’s 18. A lot of chemical changes and neural development happens in that time. He matured- his way of thinking about himself, the world, and the others around him changed.

[andfuckmcyt]

Prev okay yippe!! I get to talk about these guys spoiler warning though just in case

Ok so. I love mike wheeler so so so much. #willcore. Erm. Anywqy.. but the make us suffer brothers fucking massacred my boy 💔 So much and for no gawddamn reason. Unprompted. But i used to be an optimist and i thought I was because well maybe it was because. He's getting vecnad and it's gonna be sad and a big event and that's why he's acting so weird to will it's because his internalised homophpbia, and intrralised aphobia and undiagnosed autism made him a target for Mr henry /vevna /1 and so because he's a dumb teenager he thought he could make the curse gp away if he ignores will so he wouldn't be in love with him or something. BUT no taht it's isn't what happens and they gave him scene where he motivates el but the the way he motivates her hurts will and i was so mad but i was okay with it. It was ok. Maybe they can fix it.

BUT THEY CAN'T FIX WHAT THE DID TO MAX. max mayfield the only one ever btw. I love her 🌟 she carried the entire season she had the best episode ever and she finally got her satisyfing end in dear Billy ONLY FOR THE DUFFER BROTHERS TO KILL HER OFF AT THE END. Like what the actual hell is wrong with these people 😭😭😭😭 SHE HAD A GOOD END SHE WAS HAPPY. SHE SURVIVED. SHE WAS GONNA SEE A MOVIE WITH LUCAS ASDSAFDAAGDAHKG and then they made wl use the revive book on her and now she's in a coma. carrying the whole season got to her. Damn 💔

And you know what makes me really really mad. that the ending is 2 days after the whole thing. I needed to see the reactions of every single character not them making pb and js. But it's fine atleast some of them were happy.

Ok enough of me being mad at the duffer brothers I'm gonna talk about my specialest boy ever. Jonathan byers!!! I love him I love him and his weed smoking boyfriends.I love that he canonically used to be bitchless and friendless I love that he's a good brother I love him. He deserves the world . 😭😭🌟💔

Does anyone wanna hear me ramble about stranger things for a change

[ladyfantasist]

Reread, Rewrite or Burn - Book Tag

This tag is very popular on Booktube and even though I’m not a booktuber it looked exciting so I just couldn’t help doing it myself on paper! I saw it first a few days ago on BooksWithEmilyFox’s channel so PLEASE go check out her videos on Youtube or her Goodreads page if you haven’t already she is a wonderful Booktuber and a total sweetheart – watching her videos always makes me happy.

I chose a lot of my favorite books to make this as hard for me as possible… prayers are welcome. I ended up doing a lot of rounds because it was ridiculous addicting. Most people do like three to six but I did twelve because I’m just beyond extra.

Also I am a total nerd and decided to add a difficultly level to each round! Next to each round you’ll see either Normal, Hard, or Brutal. Normal meaning it was fairly clear from first picking them out which one would be which, Hard meaning it was a challenge to decide, and Brutal meaning it was absolute agony to have to choose between those books. I added this aspect to my own rounds simply because I’m not doing this via video but on paper – whoever is reading this won’t be able to see my reactions and won’t really know the difficulty each round was for me or how much time it took me to decide.

THE RULES:

- Randomly choose 3 books (I wrote down a bunch on slips of paper and put them in a hat to pick from.)

- For each group, decide which book to burn, which one to rewrite, and which to reread.

- Repeat until you completed however many rounds you want to do!

If you do one of your own PLEASE tag me in them! I’d love to see what you picked!

 ROUND 1 – Normal

Reread: Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas. This was fairly simple, I LOVED this book and was already planning to reread it anyways. It was also the only five star book out of this round.

Rewrite: Ice Massacre by Tiana Warner. Wonderful novel but I didn’t fully enjoy the magical aspect of the town and would rewrite it to focus more on the romance because the romance is A+.

Burn: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. I enjoyed this book a lot but the last time I read it was around when it came out which is I believe around 2009. So, I was a freshman in high school and 14 years old. I have a pretty good feeling I would feel differently if I read it now – especially since I don’t like any of Stiefvater’s other novels I’ve read as an adult. I think about rereading it sometimes but I just don’t want to break the façade.

 ROUND 2 – Normal

Reread: Wolfsong by T.J. Klune. I pulled out this one first and immediately put it here. Easy. This book is fecking magically wonderful and I could never ever do any wrong to it.

Rewrite: Dreams of Gods and Monsters by Laini Taylor. The books in this trilogy are some of my favorite books of all time. I have to say though, I would have to go back and add more backstory to some of the new elements we learned in this book because it just felt a little thrown in randomly.

Burn: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken. A good book but not nearly as good as the other choices. Can be a bit forgettable.

 ROUND 3 – Normal

Reread: Saga Vol. 1 by Brian Vaughan. Saga is my favorite graphic novel series. I thought about putting this in rewrite but honestly there isn’t one thing I would change about it.

Rewrite: Paladin by Sally Slater. Great unknown author who deserves more attention. This novel was originally posted on Wattpad and I fell in love with it. I think I would rewrite it just to make the romance a little more believable.

Burn: My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand. A feel good guilty pleasure book. Not enough love for this to replace the other options.

 ROUND 4 – Hard

Reread: Carry the Ocean by Heidi Cullinan. This book is so damned dear to my heart. A lgbtq romance novel between two boys one of which has autism and the other has severe anxiety and depression issues who are just trying to get each other through each day and be there for each other, their friends, and their family. If you haven’t read this PLEASE READ THIS.

Rewrite: Red Winter by Annette Marie. Japanese influenced novels are my kryptonite. Especially well written ones and this is one of them. The only thing I would ever change is maybe add a little less arrogance to Emi the main character – she can come off a bit prissy sometimes.

Burn: Consider by Kristy Acevedo. A great book that really makes you think, “what would I do in this situation?”. It’s a book you’ll be telling everyone about. Unfortunately it simply just lost out to two books I love more.

 ROUND 5 – Hard

Reread: The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. My favorite book of 2016. Russian culture has always been fascinating to me and this book made that even stronger. This book is a damn masterpiece.

Rewrite: Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I WOULD CHANGE, DON’T YOU DARE PRETEND YOU DON’T KNOW.

Burn: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. I’ll probably get hate for this one and I’m probably the only person who has chosen this but I’m sorry, I love it, it’s just not as dear to my heart as it is for most.

 ROUND 6 – Hard

Reread: Godsgrave by Jay Kristoff. Favorite novel of 2017 so far. There’s not a fecking chance I’m giving up Mia or rewriting one word of this book.

Rewrite: Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. My favorite character and pairing in the series is introduced in this book and I think I would rewrite it to be just a little less juvenile feeling in some places.

Burn: Uprooted by Naomi Novik. God I love this book I’m so sorry Uprooted… but as I was putting it in the rewrite slot at first I noticed how much I would actually change in this book and it was more than Scarlet, so it just had to be done.

 ROUND 7 – Brutal

Reread: The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon. All the feels are coming back… gosh I really need to reread this one. Nothing I would change about little Lark or her story. Full of magic and love and loss.

Rewrite: Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare. Emma and Julian’s relationship needs a little tweeking I think – make it a little less angsty and a little more real.

Burn: City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare. Okay I love this series and will to the end of my days. It’s awesome getting more to the story and seeing all the characters grow up even more and maturing… but, honestly I wouldn’t have been upset if the story had ended with City of Glass.

 ROUND 8 – Normal

Reread: The Host by Stephenie Meyer. This was actually the first “adult” novel I ever read. I read it in one sitting and laughed and cried and cried… I just loved it. I still go back and reread THE Wanda and Ian scene. I need to give this another read and even if I don’t love it as much as I used to it’ll be worth it. Now when IN THE HELL are we getting The Seeker and The Soul, Stephenie?

Rewrite: Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor. In my opinion, it was an amazing novel but I think she went a BIT overboard with the “magical, airy, dreamy” prose. It’s beautiful and perfect in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy but in this I think I would rewrite just to tone that down a little.

Burn: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. Fecking Mal, I hate him. Useless boy. Alina x Darkling forever.

 ROUND 9 – Brutal

Reread: Morning Star by Pierce Brown. I mean, this is the third book in my favorite trilogy of all time how could I not put this here? Darrow has been crushed into my heart for all time. If you haven’t read these books I’m not completely sure we can be friends.

Rewrite: The Door Within by Wayne Thomas Batson. Guys, this is it, this is the first novel in the series that single handedly turned me into a reader. Ten year old Lisa’s soul changed after reading this, not even slightly joking. This book is a big part of why I am who I am today. The only reason it’s in the rewrite is because it is a middle grade novel and it would be cool to see what it would be like if it was written for the age I am now.

Burn: Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare. Jem Carstairs don’t hate me, I’m so sorry Jem, you know I love you! I’m so sorry Will please forgive me. Cheers to the only great love triangle written, I’m so sorry all of you.

 ROUND 10 – Hard

Reread: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. Look I know these books have their flaws but I don’t care I simply love them and grew up with them I can’t change them or burn them I just CAN’T.

Rewrite: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. I mean yes this needs to be rewritten to death but I don’t care how ridiculous it makes me I’m a Twi-hard for life I just can’t help myself.

Burn: Scythe by Neal Shusterman. I really enjoyed this book but it didn’t impact me enough to replace it with either of the other two that impacted me growing up.

 ROUND 11 – Normal

Reread: A Court of Mist and Fury. I’ve already reread this book three times, it’s one of my all time favorites and Rhysand is my husband – I put this here before I even picked the other two out.

Rewrite: Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I’m just nitpicking with this one, these novels are damn amazing, there isn’t really anything I would change. If ANYTHING maybe make the high society balls and intrigue a little less present.

Burn: Bird Box by Josh Malerman. Just couldn’t live up to my current favorite YA novel and current favorite adult fantasy series.

 ROUND 12 – Normal

Reread: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell. Just can’t get enough of these two honestly.

Rewrite: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson. Maximum Ride has a special place in my heart and I just SO BADLY would love it to be rewritten for my age group I want it so badly.

Burn: Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore. A great novel but unfortunately the second half of this book is MUCH better than the first half.

[hansroller625624-blog]

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[shg11]

(CNN)It remains among America's most heinous nightmares: the lives of 20 little children -- dancers and swimmers, pianists and painters, budding readers, little sisters and big brothers -- extinguished in a flash of violence inside Sandy Hook Elementary.

Five years later, even those who have never set foot near Newtown, Connecticut, can conjure the scene painted by police of a first-grade classroom transformed into a killing field. Can see the faces of anguished parents desperate for proof of life, then later, tiny caskets overloaded with stuffed animals never to be named.

Since the 2012 massacre, a new school has been built for the students of a town known, now and for years to come, as a cradle of sorrow -- but also as the home of quiet resilience and untold love.

The 12 girls, eight boys and six women whose futures were stolen that day will be remembered, always. Here is a glimpse of what we learned about them in the days after they were lost:

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Charlotte was sweet, outgoing and full of energy, her grandmother told CNN affiliate WCCO in Minnesota.

"This is tough. This is surreal. You can't believe this could happen," Irene Hagen told the station. "The whole family is just devastated, and we're all trying to come to terms with it."

She said her granddaughter loved school and dresses. Her hair was a mass of beautiful red curls.

"It's horrible. It's really horrible," Hagen told WCCO. "It's hard to believe that someone would kill children, innocent children."

Daniel Barden, 7

Daniel earned his missing two front teeth, his family used to say. His "fearless" pursuit of happiness and life also earned him ripped jeans.

"Despite that, he was, as his mother said, 'Just So Good,'" his family wrote in a statement published in the New Haven Register.

Taking after his musician dad, he and his siblings -- brother James and sister Natalie -- formed a band. Daniel played drums.

He loved to ride waves at the beach and make s'mores around bonfires with his cousins.

"He embodied everything that is wholesome and innocent in the world," the family said.

Rachel D'Avino, 29

She probably didn't know it when she died, but her best friend was about to propose.

He had recently asked D'Avino's parents for their blessing, and he was planning to ask for her hand in marriage on Christmas Eve.

That and other details about D'Avino's life were described in an obituary posted on the website of Munson-Lovetere Funeral Homes of Connecticut.

"Her presence and tremendous smile brightened any room she entered," it read.

Born in Waterbury, D'Avino received her undergraduate degree from the University of Hartford and her master's from Post University. She was working toward her doctorate at the University of St. Joseph of Hartford.

D'Avino loved karate, cooking, animals, photography and her two younger siblings.

"Her passion, however, was her occupation as a behavioral therapist working with children within the autism spectrum," the obituary read.

Olivia Engel, 6

Her favorite stuffed animal was a lamb; pink and purple were her favorite colors.

Olivia's family posted a statement on Facebook with those and other details about their beloved daughter.

"She was insightful for her age and had a great sense of humor. She laughed a lot and always lit up a room including the people around her. She was very creative and was always drawing and designing things," her family said.

Olivia took art and dance lessons, played tennis, soccer and swam. She was involved in Girl Scouts and musical theater. She loved school and did well in math and reading.

Her family described her as a "grateful child ... never greedy." Each night, Olivia led grace at the dinner table.

Josephine Gay, 7

Josephine celebrated her seventh birthday just days before she died. In one picture, published in various news stories, she's smiling with glasses on the tip of her nose.

Josephine liked to ride her bike and sell lemonade in her neighborhood in the summer, The Wall Street Journal reported. The little girl loved the color purple.

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dylan and his family had moved from England to Connecticut two years before he died.

"We specifically chose Sandy Hook for the community and the elementary school. We do not and shall never regret this choice," Dylan's family said in a statement. "Our boys have flourished here, and our family's happiness has been limitless."

Dylan's family said he loved to cuddle and play tag with neighbors at the bus stop every morning.

"He was learning to read and was so proud when he read us a new book every day," the family said. "He adored his big brother Jake, his best friend and role model."

Dylan's parents also expressed gratitude to the educators who died with their son.

"We cannot speak highly enough of Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach, exceptional women who knew both our children," the family said. "Dylan's teacher, Vicki Soto, was warm and funny and Dylan loved her dearly. We take great comfort in knowing that Dylan was not alone when he died, but was wrapped in the arms of his amazing aide, Anne Marie Murphy. Dylan loved Mrs. Murphy so much and pointed at her picture on our refrigerator every day.

"Though our hearts break for Dylan, they are also filled with love for these and the other beautiful women who all selflessly died trying to save our children."

Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47

Hochsprung, who became Sandy Hook Elementary's principal two years before the shooting, was "really nice and very fun, but she was also very much a tough lady in the right sort of sense," friend Tom Prunty said.

And the students loved her. "Even little kids know when someone cares about them, and that was her," he said.

"I never saw her without a smile," said Aimee Seaver, the mother of a first-grader.

Hochsprung lived in Woodbury, Connecticut, with her husband, two daughters and three stepdaughters.

The career educator majored in special education for her bachelor's and master's degrees in the 1990s and had just entered the PhD program at Esteves School of Education at the Sage Colleges in New York. Hochsprung led a school district's strategic planning panel and was the recipient of a national school grant.

Her accomplishments included overseeing the installation of a new security system requiring every visitor to ring the front entrance's doorbell after the school doors locked at 9:30 a.m.

"My mom, Dawn Hochsprung, was taken tragically from me. But she went down in a blaze of glory that truly represents who she was," her daughter, Cristina Hassinger, tweeted.

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Sweet. Unique. Bright. Determined. Sparking.

Those are words Madeleine's family used to describe their little girl.

"She was an avid reader who loved running and dancing," they said. "She was a born leader."

Catherine Hubbard, 6

The little girl with bright red hair will be remembered for her smile and her love of animals.

Catherine is survived by her older brother, her parents, grandparents, great-grandmother, uncles, aunts and nine cousins.

"Her family prays that she, all the students of Sandy Hook Elementary, and all those affected by this brutal event find peace in their hearts," they wrote in her obituary.

A Facebook page honoring Catherine spoke of how she is now an angel.

"Such a beautiful little soul," the post read, saying the family's loss is heaven's gain.

Chase Kowalski, 7

What Chase really wanted for Christmas was his two front teeth.

"I saw him two days ago, and I asked him if he wanted to see Santa, and he told me that he wanted his teeth back, and it was really sweet," Chase's neighbor, Keeley Baumann, 13, told the News-Times newspaper.

At 6, Chase completed his first triathlon, but that was just one of his pursuits. He loved baseball. He was in the Cub Scouts. He looked forward to the kids' workshop at the local Home Depot.

"We are thankful to the Lord for giving us seven years with our beautiful loving son. It is with heavy hearts that we return him," the family said in an obituary.

Jesse Lewis, 6

Jesse loved math, riding horses and playing at his mom's farm, his father told the New York Post.

"He was just a happy boy," Neil Heslin said. "Everybody knew Jesse."

He told the newspaper that his son was planning to make gingerbread houses at school. Heslin was planning to help.

Instead, the last time he saw his son was when he dropped him off at school at 9 a.m.

"He was going to go places in life," Heslin told the Post.

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

"One, two, three, ready and go," Ana counts down in a homemade video provided to CNN affiliate WTIC.

The girl in pigtails stands in front of a piano as her brother plays. Her voice is clear, bigger than her size. Ana smiles and waves.

Her father, Jimmy Greene, is a jazz musician. His representative released a statement on Ana's death, describing the little girl as "beautiful and vibrant."

"The family has requested privacy at this time of heartbreaking loss," it read. They "have asked us to relay their sincere gratitude for the outpouring of support and sympathy locally, nationally and internationally."

James Mattioli, 6

As he was quick to remind everyone, James was 6 and ¾.

"He loved to wear shorts and T-shirts in any weather and grab the gel to spike his hair," his family said in a loving obituary. "He would often sing at the top of his lungs, and once asked, 'How old do I have to be to sing on a stage?'"

Indoors, he spent his time playing games on the iPad -- especially the lawn-mowing one. Outdoors, he loved to dive off the diving board, "swim like a fish" in his grandfather's pool and ride his bike -- without training wheels.

"I need to go outside, Mom. I need fresh air," he would often say.

He was born four weeks early -- because he was hungry, his family joked.

James had a voracious appetite. His favorites? His dad's egg omelets with bacon, and his mom's French toast.

He looked up to his older sister, wanting to do everything she could.

"They were the best of friends, going to school together, playing games together, and making endless drawings and crafts together."

The boy, whose family fondly called him "J," will be incredibly missed, they said.

Grace McDonnell, 7

Grace was the "light and love of our family," her mother told CNN.

She loved her brother, school, the beach and wanted to be a painter.

For her seventh birthday in November, Grace requested a purple cake with a turquoise peace sign and polka dots. And that's exactly what she got.

"She was all about peace and gentleness and kindness," Lynn McDonnell told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "Grace didn't have an ounce of hate in her, and so we have to live through Grace and realize that hate is not how our family is."

The family drew cupcakes, ice creams cones, lighthouses and seagulls -- all things Grace loved -- on her tiny white casket.

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

A hero. That's how a first responder reportedly described Murphy to her father.

He told Newsday that authorities told him her body was found in a classroom, covering young children killed in the shooting in an apparent attempt to shield them.

"She died doing what she loved. She was serving children and serving God," Murphy's mother, Alice McGowan, told the newspaper.

A married mother of four, Murphy was artistic and hardworking, her parents said.

"She was a happy soul," her mother told Newsday. "She was a very good daughter, a good mother, a good wife."

Emilie Parker, 6

She could "light up a room," Emilie's father said about his oldest daughter.

Robbie Parker described her as "bright, creative and very loving." Emilie was always willing to try new things, he said, except food. Her laugh was infectious.

"My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing up and giving her love and support to all of those victims, because that is the type of person she is," Parker said.

She was "an exceptional artist, and she always carried around her markers and pencils so she never missed an opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for someone," he said.

"This world is a better place because she has been in it," Parker said.

Emilie's aunt described her niece as the "sweetest little girl I've ever known."

The family is devastated that "someone so beautiful and perfect is no longer going to be in our lives and for no reason," said Jill Cottle Garrett.

Emilie's father, who works as a physician assistant in the newborn unit at the Danbury hospital, recalled his last conversation with his daughter was in Portuguese, a language he was teaching her.

"She said that she loved me, and I gave her a kiss, and I was out the door," he said.

Jack Pinto, 6

Jack was a first-grader, and his interests ran the gamut -- baseball, basketball, wrestling, snow skiing. But his first love was football, and his idol was Victor Cruz, then the New York Giants star receiver.

Cruz paid tribute to the team's young fan by scribbling "Jack Pinto. My Hero" on one of his cleats and "R.I.P. Jack Pinto" on the other for the team's game with the Atlanta Falcons the Sunday after the shooting. On his glove, Cruz wrote, "Jack Pinto. This one is 4 U!"

Jack participated in his first wrestling match not long before his death and won a medal, according to the president of the New Milford Wrestling Association.

"In life and in death, Jack will forever be remembered for the immeasurable joy he brought to all who had the pleasure of knowing him, a joy whose wide reach belied his six short years," Jack's family wrote in an obituary for the little boy.

Noah Pozner, 6

"He had a huge heart, and he was so much fun, a little bit rambunctious, lots of spirit," Noah's aunt told CNN. "He was really the light of the room."

Victoria Haller said her nephew loved playing with his cousins and siblings, especially his twin sister.

"He was a gorgeous, gorgeous boy, and he could really get what he wanted just by batting those long eyelashes and looking at you with those big blue eyes. You really couldn't say no to him," she said.

His siblings weren't told immediately how Noah passed away, Haller said.

"How do you tell them that's how their brother died?" she asked. "It's the unthinkable really."

Caroline Previdi, 6

"You were a sweet little girl and you will be missed."

That's the message that Caroline's aunt reportedly tweeted, saying good-bye to her niece, according to the online version of the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, California.

"It hurts even more to see a familiar name on that list," the report said Paige Tremblay also tweeted.

A Facebook page called "RIP Caroline Previdi -- Sandy Hook Massacre Victim" contains dozens of messages. One reads: "Rest in Peace, sweetheart. I know for sure that God is with you and all the other sweet little angels. I feel so very sorry for all these families who lost their precious kids, my heart goes out to all of you."

Jessica Rekos, 6

Jessica loved everything about horses -- horse movies, horse books, drawing horses and writing stories about them.

She asked Santa this year for new cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat. Her family had promised she could get her own horse when she turned 10.

"She was a creative, beautiful little girl," her family said in a statement, describing Jessica as their "rock."

"She had an answer for everything, she didn't miss a trick, and she outsmarted us every time. We called her our little CEO for the way she carefully thought out and planned everything," they said. "We cannot imagine our life without her."

Jessica also loved orca whales and playing with her two little brothers.

"We are mourning her loss, sharing our beautiful memories we have of her, and trying to help her brother Travis understand why he can't play with his best friend," her family said.

Avielle Richman, 6

Avielle was happiest when she was on a horse.

Her trainer, Annette Sullivan, told the Connecticut Post that Avielle would "giggle when she trotted."

Like kids her age, her first loose tooth was a sign she was growing up.

"She showed me her wiggly tooth, she was so excited," Sullivan told the newspaper. "She was the most delightful little girl you ever met in your life."

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Rousseau, a permanent substitute teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary, "wanted to be a teacher from before she even went to kindergarten," her mother said in a written statement. "We will miss her terribly and will take comfort knowing that she had achieved that dream," Teresa Rousseau said.

She grew up in Danbury, Connecticut, and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut and a master's degree in elementary education from the University of Bridgeport.

Rousseau "worked as a substitute teacher in Danbury, New Milford and Newtown before she was hired in November as a permanent substitute teacher at Sandy Hook," her mother said.

Mary Sherlach, 56

Sherlach, Sandy Hook Elementary's school psychologist, was with Hochsprung when they heard a "pop, pop, pop" sound around 9:30 a.m., a parent who was with both women at the time told CNN. Sherlach was shot to death after heading into the hall to find out what was happening.

"I ... am always ready to assist in problem-solving, intervention and prevention," Sherlach wrote on her website.

Sherlach earned her undergraduate degree in psychology at SUNY Cortland and a master's degree at Southern Connecticut State University. She worked as a rehabilitation assistant at a group home for disabled adults and as a community mental health placement specialist before becoming a school psychologist.

She worked in three Connecticut school systems before moving to Sandy Hook Elementary in 1994. During her time in Newtown, Sherlach kept busy as a member of numerous groups, including the district conflict resolution committee, safe school climate committee, crisis intervention team and student instructional team.

Sherlach and her husband of more than three decades lived in Trumbull, Connecticut, and, together, they were "proud parents" of two daughters in their late 20s. Her website listed her interests as gardening, reading and going to the theater.

Victoria Soto, 27

Soto, a first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary, moved her students away from the classroom door when she heard gunfire, which students initially "thought were hammers falling," according to the father of one of her students.

"That's when the gunman burst in, did not say a word, no facial expressions, and proceeded to shoot their teacher," said Robert Licata, whose 6-year-old son, Aiden, escaped by running past the shooter.

Soto's mother said her daughter was selfless.

"She would not hesitate to think to save anyone else before herself, and especially children. She loved them more than life, and she would definitely put herself in front of them any day," Donna Soto told CNN.

Soto had wanted to be a teacher since she was 3 and talked about her students with "such fondness and caring," her mother said.

Soto's cousin, James Wiltsie, said Soto "instinctively went into action, when a monster came into her classroom, and tried to protect the kids that she loved so much."

"We just want the public to know that Vicki was a hero," he said.

Soto had a dog she loved. The black lab Roxie spent Saturday wandering around Soto's apartment, apparently looking for her, relatives said.

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Ben loved The Beatles, lighthouses and the No. 7 train to Sunnyside, Queens, his family said in a statement.

He and his older brother Nate "filled the house with the noise of four children."

"Ben Wheeler was an irrepressibly bright and spirited boy whose love of fun and excitement at the wonders of life and the world could rarely be contained. His rush to experience life was headlong, creative and immediate," his family said.

Ben loved soccer and swimming. Recently, he performed at a piano recital -- a major feat for a little boy who rarely sat still.

Friday morning before school, he told him mom: "I still want to be an architect, but I also want to be a paleontologist, because that's what Nate is going to be, and I want to do everything Nate does."

Ben, Nate, and their parents, Francine and David Wheeler, moved to Newtown in 2007. Francine Wheeler is a music teacher and performer. David Wheeler is an illustrator and designer.

Two days after the shooting, Francine Wheeler's band posted the following message on its Facebook page:

"With heavy hearts, we inform you of our saddest news: Francine Wheeler, a founding member of The Dream Jam Band, has lost her precious 6-year old son, Ben, to the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Our prayers and love go out to Francine, David and Ben's big brother, Nate."

Allison Wyatt, 6

Allison once offered her snacks to a stranger on plane. That's just the type of person she was.

Allison was a "sweet, creative, funny, intelligent little girl who had an amazing life ahead of her," her parents said.

They described their daughter as kind-hearted. She loved to draw and wanted to be an artist.

"She loved to laugh and was developing her own wonderful sense of humor that ranged from just being a silly 6-year-old to coming up with observations that more than once had us crying with laughter," her parents said.

"Allison made the world a better place for six, far too short years, and we now have to figure out how to move on without her ... We love and miss her so much."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/14/us/sandy-hook-newtown-shooting-victims-profiles/index.html

[trendingnewsb]

5 years after Sandy Hook, the victims have not been forgotten

(CNN)It remains among America’s most heinous nightmares: the lives of 20 little children — dancers and swimmers, pianists and painters, budding readers, little sisters and big brothers — extinguished in a flash of violence inside Sandy Hook Elementary.

Five years later, even those who have never set foot near Newtown, Connecticut, can conjure the scene painted by police of a first-grade classroom transformed into a killing field. Can see the faces of anguished parents desperate for proof of life, then later, tiny caskets overloaded with stuffed animals never to be named.

Since the 2012 massacre, a new school has been built for the students of a town known, now and for years to come, as a cradle of sorrow — but also as the home of quiet resilience and untold love.

The 12 girls, eight boys and six women whose futures were stolen that day will be remembered, always. Here is a glimpse of what we learned about them in the days after they were lost:

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Charlotte was sweet, outgoing and full of energy, her grandmother told CNN affiliate WCCO in Minnesota.

“This is tough. This is surreal. You can’t believe this could happen,” Irene Hagen told the station. “The whole family is just devastated, and we’re all trying to come to terms with it.”

She said her granddaughter loved school and dresses. Her hair was a mass of beautiful red curls.

“It’s horrible. It’s really horrible,” Hagen told WCCO. “It’s hard to believe that someone would kill children, innocent children.”

Daniel Barden, 7

Daniel earned his missing two front teeth, his family used to say. His “fearless” pursuit of happiness and life also earned him ripped jeans.

“Despite that, he was, as his mother said, ‘Just So Good,'” his family wrote in a statement published in the New Haven Register.

Taking after his musician dad, he and his siblings — brother James and sister Natalie — formed a band. Daniel played drums.

He loved to ride waves at the beach and make s’mores around bonfires with his cousins.

“He embodied everything that is wholesome and innocent in the world,” the family said.

Rachel D’Avino, 29

She probably didn’t know it when she died, but her best friend was about to propose.

He had recently asked D’Avino’s parents for their blessing, and he was planning to ask for her hand in marriage on Christmas Eve.

That and other details about D’Avino’s life were described in an obituary posted on the website of Munson-Lovetere Funeral Homes of Connecticut.

“Her presence and tremendous smile brightened any room she entered,�� it read.

Born in Waterbury, D’Avino received her undergraduate degree from the University of Hartford and her master’s from Post University. She was working toward her doctorate at the University of St. Joseph of Hartford.

D’Avino loved karate, cooking, animals, photography and her two younger siblings.

“Her passion, however, was her occupation as a behavioral therapist working with children within the autism spectrum,” the obituary read.

Olivia Engel, 6

Her favorite stuffed animal was a lamb; pink and purple were her favorite colors.

Olivia’s family posted a statement on Facebook with those and other details about their beloved daughter.

“She was insightful for her age and had a great sense of humor. She laughed a lot and always lit up a room including the people around her. She was very creative and was always drawing and designing things,” her family said.

Olivia took art and dance lessons, played tennis, soccer and swam. She was involved in Girl Scouts and musical theater. She loved school and did well in math and reading.

Her family described her as a “grateful child … never greedy.” Each night, Olivia led grace at the dinner table.

Josephine Gay, 7

Josephine celebrated her seventh birthday just days before she died. In one picture, published in various news stories, she’s smiling with glasses on the tip of her nose.

Josephine liked to ride her bike and sell lemonade in her neighborhood in the summer, The Wall Street Journal reported. The little girl loved the color purple.

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dylan and his family had moved from England to Connecticut two years before he died.

“We specifically chose Sandy Hook for the community and the elementary school. We do not and shall never regret this choice,” Dylan’s family said in a statement. “Our boys have flourished here, and our family’s happiness has been limitless.”

Dylan’s family said he loved to cuddle and play tag with neighbors at the bus stop every morning.

“He was learning to read and was so proud when he read us a new book every day,” the family said. “He adored his big brother Jake, his best friend and role model.”

Dylan’s parents also expressed gratitude to the educators who died with their son.

“We cannot speak highly enough of Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach, exceptional women who knew both our children,” the family said. “Dylan’s teacher, Vicki Soto, was warm and funny and Dylan loved her dearly. We take great comfort in knowing that Dylan was not alone when he died, but was wrapped in the arms of his amazing aide, Anne Marie Murphy. Dylan loved Mrs. Murphy so much and pointed at her picture on our refrigerator every day.

“Though our hearts break for Dylan, they are also filled with love for these and the other beautiful women who all selflessly died trying to save our children.”

Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47

Hochsprung, who became Sandy Hook Elementary’s principal two years before the shooting, was “really nice and very fun, but she was also very much a tough lady in the right sort of sense,” friend Tom Prunty said.

And the students loved her. “Even little kids know when someone cares about them, and that was her,” he said.

“I never saw her without a smile,” said Aimee Seaver, the mother of a first-grader.

Hochsprung lived in Woodbury, Connecticut, with her husband, two daughters and three stepdaughters.

The career educator majored in special education for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the 1990s and had just entered the PhD program at Esteves School of Education at the Sage Colleges in New York. Hochsprung led a school district’s strategic planning panel and was the recipient of a national school grant.

Her accomplishments included overseeing the installation of a new security system requiring every visitor to ring the front entrance’s doorbell after the school doors locked at 9:30 a.m.

“My mom, Dawn Hochsprung, was taken tragically from me. But she went down in a blaze of glory that truly represents who she was,” her daughter, Cristina Hassinger, tweeted.

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Sweet. Unique. Bright. Determined. Sparking.

Those are words Madeleine’s family used to describe their little girl.

“She was an avid reader who loved running and dancing,” they said. “She was a born leader.”

Catherine Hubbard, 6

The little girl with bright red hair will be remembered for her smile and her love of animals.

Catherine is survived by her older brother, her parents, grandparents, great-grandmother, uncles, aunts and nine cousins.

“Her family prays that she, all the students of Sandy Hook Elementary, and all those affected by this brutal event find peace in their hearts,” they wrote in her obituary.

A Facebook page honoring Catherine spoke of how she is now an angel.

“Such a beautiful little soul,” the post read, saying the family’s loss is heaven’s gain.

Chase Kowalski, 7

What Chase really wanted for Christmas was his two front teeth.

“I saw him two days ago, and I asked him if he wanted to see Santa, and he told me that he wanted his teeth back, and it was really sweet,” Chase’s neighbor, Keeley Baumann, 13, told the News-Times newspaper.

At 6, Chase completed his first triathlon, but that was just one of his pursuits. He loved baseball. He was in the Cub Scouts. He looked forward to the kids’ workshop at the local Home Depot.

“We are thankful to the Lord for giving us seven years with our beautiful loving son. It is with heavy hearts that we return him,” the family said in an obituary.

Jesse Lewis, 6

Jesse loved math, riding horses and playing at his mom’s farm, his father told the New York Post.

“He was just a happy boy,” Neil Heslin said. “Everybody knew Jesse.”

He told the newspaper that his son was planning to make gingerbread houses at school. Heslin was planning to help.

Instead, the last time he saw his son was when he dropped him off at school at 9 a.m.

“He was going to go places in life,” Heslin told the Post.

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

“One, two, three, ready and go,” Ana counts down in a homemade video provided to CNN affiliate WTIC.

The girl in pigtails stands in front of a piano as her brother plays. Her voice is clear, bigger than her size. Ana smiles and waves.

Her father, Jimmy Greene, is a jazz musician. His representative released a statement on Ana’s death, describing the little girl as “beautiful and vibrant.”

“The family has requested privacy at this time of heartbreaking loss,” it read. They “have asked us to relay their sincere gratitude for the outpouring of support and sympathy locally, nationally and internationally.”

James Mattioli, 6

As he was quick to remind everyone, James was 6 and ¾.

“He loved to wear shorts and T-shirts in any weather and grab the gel to spike his hair,” his family said in a loving obituary. “He would often sing at the top of his lungs, and once asked, ‘How old do I have to be to sing on a stage?'”

Indoors, he spent his time playing games on the iPad — especially the lawn-mowing one. Outdoors, he loved to dive off the diving board, “swim like a fish” in his grandfather’s pool and ride his bike — without training wheels.

“I need to go outside, Mom. I need fresh air,” he would often say.

He was born four weeks early — because he was hungry, his family joked.

James had a voracious appetite. His favorites? His dad’s egg omelets with bacon, and his mom’s French toast.

He looked up to his older sister, wanting to do everything she could.

“They were the best of friends, going to school together, playing games together, and making endless drawings and crafts together.”

The boy, whose family fondly called him “J,” will be incredibly missed, they said.

Grace McDonnell, 7

Grace was the “light and love of our family,” her mother told CNN.

She loved her brother, school, the beach and wanted to be a painter.

For her seventh birthday in November, Grace requested a purple cake with a turquoise peace sign and polka dots. And that’s exactly what she got.

“She was all about peace and gentleness and kindness,” Lynn McDonnell told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “Grace didn’t have an ounce of hate in her, and so we have to live through Grace and realize that hate is not how our family is.”

The family drew cupcakes, ice creams cones, lighthouses and seagulls — all things Grace loved — on her tiny white casket.

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

A hero. That’s how a first responder reportedly described Murphy to her father.

He told Newsday that authorities told him her body was found in a classroom, covering young children killed in the shooting in an apparent attempt to shield them.

“She died doing what she loved. She was serving children and serving God,” Murphy’s mother, Alice McGowan, told the newspaper.

A married mother of four, Murphy was artistic and hardworking, her parents said.

“She was a happy soul,” her mother told Newsday. “She was a very good daughter, a good mother, a good wife.”

Emilie Parker, 6

She could “light up a room,” Emilie’s father said about his oldest daughter.

Robbie Parker described her as “bright, creative and very loving.” Emilie was always willing to try new things, he said, except food. Her laugh was infectious.

“My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing up and giving her love and support to all of those victims, because that is the type of person she is,” Parker said.

She was “an exceptional artist, and she always carried around her markers and pencils so she never missed an opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for someone,” he said.

“This world is a better place because she has been in it,” Parker said.

Emilie’s aunt described her niece as the “sweetest little girl I’ve ever known.”

The family is devastated that “someone so beautiful and perfect is no longer going to be in our lives and for no reason,” said Jill Cottle Garrett.

Emilie’s father, who works as a physician assistant in the newborn unit at the Danbury hospital, recalled his last conversation with his daughter was in Portuguese, a language he was teaching her.

“She said that she loved me, and I gave her a kiss, and I was out the door,” he said.

Jack Pinto, 6

Jack was a first-grader, and his interests ran the gamut — baseball, basketball, wrestling, snow skiing. But his first love was football, and his idol was Victor Cruz, then the New York Giants star receiver.

Cruz paid tribute to the team’s young fan by scribbling “Jack Pinto. My Hero” on one of his cleats and “R.I.P. Jack Pinto” on the other for the team’s game with the Atlanta Falcons the Sunday after the shooting. On his glove, Cruz wrote, “Jack Pinto. This one is 4 U!”

Jack participated in his first wrestling match not long before his death and won a medal, according to the president of the New Milford Wrestling Association.

“In life and in death, Jack will forever be remembered for the immeasurable joy he brought to all who had the pleasure of knowing him, a joy whose wide reach belied his six short years,” Jack’s family wrote in an obituary for the little boy.

Noah Pozner, 6

“He had a huge heart, and he was so much fun, a little bit rambunctious, lots of spirit,” Noah’s aunt told CNN. “He was really the light of the room.”

Victoria Haller said her nephew loved playing with his cousins and siblings, especially his twin sister.

“He was a gorgeous, gorgeous boy, and he could really get what he wanted just by batting those long eyelashes and looking at you with those big blue eyes. You really couldn’t say no to him,” she said.

His siblings weren’t told immediately how Noah passed away, Haller said.

“How do you tell them that’s how their brother died?” she asked. “It’s the unthinkable really.”

Caroline Previdi, 6

“You were a sweet little girl and you will be missed.”

That’s the message that Caroline’s aunt reportedly tweeted, saying good-bye to her niece, according to the online version of the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, California.

“It hurts even more to see a familiar name on that list,” the report said Paige Tremblay also tweeted.

A Facebook page called “RIP Caroline Previdi — Sandy Hook Massacre Victim” contains dozens of messages. One reads: “Rest in Peace, sweetheart. I know for sure that God is with you and all the other sweet little angels. I feel so very sorry for all these families who lost their precious kids, my heart goes out to all of you.”

Jessica Rekos, 6

Jessica loved everything about horses — horse movies, horse books, drawing horses and writing stories about them.

She asked Santa this year for new cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat. Her family had promised she could get her own horse when she turned 10.

“She was a creative, beautiful little girl,” her family said in a statement, describing Jessica as their “rock.”

“She had an answer for everything, she didn’t miss a trick, and she outsmarted us every time. We called her our little CEO for the way she carefully thought out and planned everything,” they said. “We cannot imagine our life without her.”

Jessica also loved orca whales and playing with her two little brothers.

“We are mourning her loss, sharing our beautiful memories we have of her, and trying to help her brother Travis understand why he can’t play with his best friend,” her family said.

Avielle Richman, 6

Avielle was happiest when she was on a horse.

Her trainer, Annette Sullivan, told the Connecticut Post that Avielle would “giggle when she trotted.”

Like kids her age, her first loose tooth was a sign she was growing up.

“She showed me her wiggly tooth, she was so excited,” Sullivan told the newspaper. “She was the most delightful little girl you ever met in your life.”

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Rousseau, a permanent substitute teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary, “wanted to be a teacher from before she even went to kindergarten,” her mother said in a written statement. “We will miss her terribly and will take comfort knowing that she had achieved that dream,” Teresa Rousseau said.

She grew up in Danbury, Connecticut, and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Bridgeport.

Rousseau “worked as a substitute teacher in Danbury, New Milford and Newtown before she was hired in November as a permanent substitute teacher at Sandy Hook,” her mother said.

Mary Sherlach, 56

Sherlach, Sandy Hook Elementary’s school psychologist, was with Hochsprung when they heard a “pop, pop, pop” sound around 9:30 a.m., a parent who was with both women at the time told CNN. Sherlach was shot to death after heading into the hall to find out what was happening.

“I … am always ready to assist in problem-solving, intervention and prevention,” Sherlach wrote on her website.

Sherlach earned her undergraduate degree in psychology at SUNY Cortland and a master’s degree at Southern Connecticut State University. She worked as a rehabilitation assistant at a group home for disabled adults and as a community mental health placement specialist before becoming a school psychologist.

She worked in three Connecticut school systems before moving to Sandy Hook Elementary in 1994. During her time in Newtown, Sherlach kept busy as a member of numerous groups, including the district conflict resolution committee, safe school climate committee, crisis intervention team and student instructional team.

Sherlach and her husband of more than three decades lived in Trumbull, Connecticut, and, together, they were “proud parents” of two daughters in their late 20s. Her website listed her interests as gardening, reading and going to the theater.

Victoria Soto, 27

Soto, a first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary, moved her students away from the classroom door when she heard gunfire, which students initially “thought were hammers falling,” according to the father of one of her students.

“That’s when the gunman burst in, did not say a word, no facial expressions, and proceeded to shoot their teacher,” said Robert Licata, whose 6-year-old son, Aiden, escaped by running past the shooter.

Soto’s mother said her daughter was selfless.

“She would not hesitate to think to save anyone else before herself, and especially children. She loved them more than life, and she would definitely put herself in front of them any day,” Donna Soto told CNN.

Soto had wanted to be a teacher since she was 3 and talked about her students with “such fondness and caring,” her mother said.

Soto’s cousin, James Wiltsie, said Soto “instinctively went into action, when a monster came into her classroom, and tried to protect the kids that she loved so much.”

“We just want the public to know that Vicki was a hero,” he said.

Soto had a dog she loved. The black lab Roxie spent Saturday wandering around Soto’s apartment, apparently looking for her, relatives said.

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Ben loved The Beatles, lighthouses and the No. 7 train to Sunnyside, Queens, his family said in a statement.

He and his older brother Nate “filled the house with the noise of four children.”

“Ben Wheeler was an irrepressibly bright and spirited boy whose love of fun and excitement at the wonders of life and the world could rarely be contained. His rush to experience life was headlong, creative and immediate,” his family said.

Ben loved soccer and swimming. Recently, he performed at a piano recital — a major feat for a little boy who rarely sat still.

Friday morning before school, he told him mom: “I still want to be an architect, but I also want to be a paleontologist, because that’s what Nate is going to be, and I want to do everything Nate does.”

Ben, Nate, and their parents, Francine and David Wheeler, moved to Newtown in 2007. Francine Wheeler is a music teacher and performer. David Wheeler is an illustrator and designer.

Two days after the shooting, Francine Wheeler’s band posted the following message on its Facebook page:

“With heavy hearts, we inform you of our saddest news: Francine Wheeler, a founding member of The Dream Jam Band, has lost her precious 6-year old son, Ben, to the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Our prayers and love go out to Francine, David and Ben’s big brother, Nate.”

Allison Wyatt, 6

Allison once offered her snacks to a stranger on plane. That’s just the type of person she was.

Allison was a “sweet, creative, funny, intelligent little girl who had an amazing life ahead of her,” her parents said.

They described their daughter as kind-hearted. She loved to draw and wanted to be an artist.

“She loved to laugh and was developing her own wonderful sense of humor that ranged from just being a silly 6-year-old to coming up with observations that more than once had us crying with laughter,” her parents said.

“Allison made the world a better place for six, far too short years, and we now have to figure out how to move on without her … We love and miss her so much.”

Read more: http://ift.tt/2Chrrh4

from Viral News HQ http://ift.tt/2B6XobU via Viral News HQ

[kansascityhappenings]

5 years after Sandy Hook, the victims have not been forgotten

It remains among America’s most heinous nightmares: the lives of 20 little children — dancers and swimmers, pianists and painters, budding readers, little sisters and big brothers — extinguished in a flash of violence inside Sandy Hook Elementary.

Taken with them on that chilly Friday in December — just 11 days before Christmas — were six adults felled by the same gunman as they refused to abandon their sacred trust to safeguard the smallest among them.

The 20 children and six adults killed five years ago at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut will be remembered, always. Here's a glimpse of what was lost. https://t.co/PHTWkka5u5 pic.twitter.com/MGsNImCKSq

— CNN (@CNN) December 14, 2017

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Five years later, even those who have never set foot near Newtown, Connecticut, can conjure the scene painted by police of a first-grade classroom transformed into a killing field. Can see the faces of anguished parents desperate for proof of life, then later, tiny caskets overloaded with stuffed animals never to be named.

Since the 2012 massacre, a new school has been built for the students of a town known, now and for years to come, as a cradle of sorrow — but also as the home of quiet resilience and untold love.

The 12 girls, eight boys and six women whose futures were stolen that day will be remembered, always. Here is a glimpse of what we learned about them in the days after they were taken:

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Charlotte was sweet, outgoing and full of energy, her grandmother told CNN affiliate WCCO in Minnesota.

“This is tough. This is surreal. You can’t believe this could happen,” Irene Hagen told the station. “The whole family is just devastated, and we’re all trying to come to terms with it.”

She said her granddaughter loved school and dresses. Her hair was a mass of beautiful red curls.

“It’s horrible. It’s really horrible,” Hagen told WCCO. “It’s hard to believe that someone would kill children, innocent children.”

Daniel Barden, 7

Daniel earned his missing two front teeth, his family used to say. His “fearless” pursuit of happiness and life also earned him ripped jeans.

“Despite that, he was, as his mother said, ‘Just So Good,’” his family wrote in a statement published in the New Haven Register.

Taking after his musician dad, he and his siblings — brother James and sister Natalie — formed a band. Daniel played drums.

He loved to ride waves at the beach and make s’mores around bonfires with his cousins.

“He embodied everything that is wholesome and innocent in the world,” the family said.

Rachel D’Avino, 29

She probably didn’t know it when she died, but her best friend was about to propose.

He had recently asked D’Avino’s parents for their blessing, and he was planning to ask for her hand in marriage on Christmas Eve.

That and other details about D’Avino’s life were described in an obituary posted on the website of Munson-Lovetere Funeral Homes of Connecticut.

“Her presence and tremendous smile brightened any room she entered,” it read.

Born in Waterbury, D’Avino received her undergraduate degree from the University of Hartford and her master’s from Post University. She was working toward her doctorate at the University of St. Joseph of Hartford.

D’Avino loved karate, cooking, animals, photography and her two younger siblings.

“Her passion, however, was her occupation as a behavioral therapist working with children within the autism spectrum,” the obituary read.

Olivia Engel, 6

Her favorite stuffed animal was a lamb; pink and purple were her favorite colors.

Olivia’s family posted a statement on Facebook with those and other details about their beloved daughter.

“She was insightful for her age and had a great sense of humor. She laughed a lot and always lit up a room including the people around her. She was very creative and was always drawing and designing things,” her family said.

Olivia took art and dance lessons, played tennis, soccer and swam. She was involved in Girl Scouts and musical theater. She loved school and did well in math and reading.

Her family described her as a “grateful child … never greedy.” Each night, Olivia led grace at the dinner table.

Josephine Gay, 7

Josephine celebrated her seventh birthday just days before she died. In one picture, published in various news stories, she’s smiling with glasses on the tip of her nose.

Josephine liked to ride her bike and sell lemonade in her neighborhood in the summer, The Wall Street Journal reported. The little girl loved the color purple.

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dylan and his family had moved from England to Connecticut two years before he died.

“We specifically chose Sandy Hook for the community and the elementary school. We do not and shall never regret this choice,” Dylan’s family said in a statement. “Our boys have flourished here, and our family’s happiness has been limitless.”

Dylan’s family said he loved to cuddle and play tag with neighbors at the bus stop every morning.

“He was learning to read and was so proud when he read us a new book every day,” the family said. “He adored his big brother Jake, his best friend and role model.”

Dylan’s parents also expressed gratitude to the educators who died with their son.

“We cannot speak highly enough of Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach, exceptional women who knew both our children,” the family said. “Dylan’s teacher, Vicki Soto, was warm and funny and Dylan loved her dearly. We take great comfort in knowing that Dylan was not alone when he died, but was wrapped in the arms of his amazing aide, Anne Marie Murphy. Dylan loved Mrs. Murphy so much and pointed at her picture on our refrigerator every day.

“Though our hearts break for Dylan, they are also filled with love for these and the other beautiful women who all selflessly died trying to save our children.”

Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47

Hochsprung, who became Sandy Hook Elementary’s principal two years before the shooting, was “really nice and very fun, but she was also very much a tough lady in the right sort of sense,” friend Tom Prunty said.

And the students loved her. “Even little kids know when someone cares about them, and that was her,” he said.

“I never saw her without a smile,” said Aimee Seaver, the mother of a first-grader.

Hochsprung lived in Woodbury, Connecticut, with her husband, two daughters and three stepdaughters.

The career educator majored in special education for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the 1990s and had just entered the PhD program at Esteves School of Education at the Sage Colleges in New York. Hochsprung led a school district’s strategic planning panel and was the recipient of a national school grant.

Her accomplishments included overseeing the installation of a new security system requiring every visitor to ring the front entrance’s doorbell after the school doors locked at 9:30 a.m.

“My mom, Dawn Hochsprung, was taken tragically from me. But she went down in a blaze of glory that truly represents who she was,” her daughter, Cristina Hassinger, tweeted.

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Sweet. Unique. Bright. Determined. Sparking.

Those are words Madeleine’s family used to describe their little girl.

“She was an avid reader who loved running and dancing,” they said. “She was a born leader.”

Catherine Hubbard, 6

The little girl with bright red hair will be remembered for her smile and her love of animals.

Catherine is survived by her older brother, her parents, grandparents, great-grandmother, uncles, aunts and nine cousins.

“Her family prays that she, all the students of Sandy Hook Elementary, and all those affected by this brutal event find peace in their hearts,” they wrote in her obituary.

A Facebook page honoring Catherine spoke of how she is now an angel.

“Such a beautiful little soul,” the post read, saying the family’s loss is heaven’s gain.

Chase Kowalski, 7

What Chase really wanted for Christmas was his two front teeth.

“I saw him two days ago, and I asked him if he wanted to see Santa, and he told me that he wanted his teeth back, and it was really sweet,” Chase’s neighbor, Keeley Baumann, 13, told the News-Times newspaper.

At 6, Chase completed his first triathlon, but that was just one of his pursuits. He loved baseball. He was in the Cub Scouts. He looked forward to the kids’ workshop at the local Home Depot.

“We are thankful to the Lord for giving us seven years with our beautiful loving son. It is with heavy hearts that we return him,” the family said in an obituary.

Jesse Lewis, 6

Jesse loved math, riding horses and playing at his mom’s farm, his father told the New York Post.

“He was just a happy boy,” Neil Heslin said. “Everybody knew Jesse.”

He told the newspaper that his son was planning to make gingerbread houses at school. Heslin was planning to help.

Instead, the last time he saw his son was when he dropped him off at school at 9 a.m.

“He was going to go places in life,” Heslin told the Post.

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

“One, two, three, ready and go,” Ana counts down in a homemade video provided to CNN affiliate WTIC.

The girl in pigtails stands in front of a piano as her brother plays. Her voice is clear, bigger than her size. Ana smiles and waves.

Her father, Jimmy Greene, is a jazz musician. His representative released a statement on Ana’s death, describing the little girl as “beautiful and vibrant.”

“The family has requested privacy at this time of heartbreaking loss,” it read. They “have asked us to relay their sincere gratitude for the outpouring of support and sympathy locally, nationally and internationally.”

James Mattioli, 6

As he was quick to remind everyone, James was 6 and ¾.

“He loved to wear shorts and T-shirts in any weather and grab the gel to spike his hair,” his family said in a loving obituary. “He would often sing at the top of his lungs, and once asked, ‘How old do I have to be to sing on a stage?’”

Indoors, he spent his time playing games on the iPad — especially the lawn-mowing one. Outdoors, he loved to dive off the diving board, “swim like a fish” in his grandfather’s pool and ride his bike — without training wheels.

“I need to go outside, Mom. I need fresh air,” he would often say.

He was born four weeks early — because he was hungry, his family joked.

James had a voracious appetite. His favorites? His dad’s egg omelets with bacon, and his mom’s French toast.

He looked up to his older sister, wanting to do everything she could.

“They were the best of friends, going to school together, playing games together, and making endless drawings and crafts together.”

The boy, whose family fondly called him “J,” will be incredibly missed, they said.

Grace McDonnell, 7

Grace was the “light and love of our family,” her mother told CNN.

She loved her brother, school, the beach and wanted to be a painter.

For her seventh birthday in November, Grace requested a purple cake with a turquoise peace sign and polka dots. And that’s exactly what she got.

“She was all about peace and gentleness and kindness,” Lynn McDonnell told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “Grace didn’t have an ounce of hate in her, and so we have to live through Grace and realize that hate is not how our family is.”

The family drew cupcakes, ice creams cones, lighthouses and seagulls — all things Grace loved — on her tiny white casket.

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

A hero. That’s how a first responder reportedly described Murphy to her father.

He told Newsday that authorities told him her body was found in a classroom, covering young children killed in the shooting in an apparent attempt to shield them.

“She died doing what she loved. She was serving children and serving God,” Murphy’s mother, Alice McGowan, told the newspaper.

A married mother of four, Murphy was artistic and hardworking, her parents said.

“She was a happy soul,” her mother told Newsday. “She was a very good daughter, a good mother, a good wife.”

Emilie Parker, 6

She could “light up a room,” Emilie’s father said about his oldest daughter.

Robbie Parker described her as “bright, creative and very loving.” Emilie was always willing to try new things, he said, except food. Her laugh was infectious.

“My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing up and giving her love and support to all of those victims, because that is the type of person she is,” Parker said.

She was “an exceptional artist, and she always carried around her markers and pencils so she never missed an opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for someone,” he said.

“This world is a better place because she has been in it,” Parker said.

Emilie’s aunt described her niece as the “sweetest little girl I’ve ever known.”

The family is devastated that “someone so beautiful and perfect is no longer going to be in our lives and for no reason,” said Jill Cottle Garrett.

Emilie’s father, who works as a physician assistant in the newborn unit at the Danbury hospital, recalled his last conversation with his daughter was in Portuguese, a language he was teaching her.

“She said that she loved me, and I gave her a kiss, and I was out the door,” he said.

Jack Pinto, 6

Jack was a first-grader, and his interests ran the gamut — baseball, basketball, wrestling, snow skiing. But his first love was football, and his idol was Victor Cruz, then the New York Giants star receiver.

Cruz paid tribute to the team’s young fan by scribbling “Jack Pinto. My Hero” on one of his cleats and “R.I.P. Jack Pinto” on the other for the team’s game with the Atlanta Falcons the Sunday after the shooting. On his glove, Cruz wrote, “Jack Pinto. This one is 4 U!”

Jack participated in his first wrestling match not long before his death and won a medal, according to the president of the New Milford Wrestling Association.

“In life and in death, Jack will forever be remembered for the immeasurable joy he brought to all who had the pleasure of knowing him, a joy whose wide reach belied his six short years,” Jack’s family wrote in an obituary for the little boy.

Noah Pozner, 6

“He had a huge heart, and he was so much fun, a little bit rambunctious, lots of spirit,” Noah’s aunt told CNN. “He was really the light of the room.”

Victoria Haller said her nephew loved playing with his cousins and siblings, especially his twin sister.

“He was a gorgeous, gorgeous boy, and he could really get what he wanted just by batting those long eyelashes and looking at you with those big blue eyes. You really couldn’t say no to him,” she said.

His siblings weren’t told immediately how Noah passed away, Haller said.

“How do you tell them that’s how their brother died?” she asked. “It’s the unthinkable really.”

Caroline Previdi, 6

“You were a sweet little girl and you will be missed.”

That’s the message that Caroline’s aunt reportedly tweeted, saying good-bye to her niece, according to the online version of the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, California.

“It hurts even more to see a familiar name on that list,” the report said Paige Tremblay also tweeted.

A Facebook page called “RIP Caroline Previdi — Sandy Hook Massacre Victim” contains dozens of messages. One reads: “Rest in Peace, sweetheart. I know for sure that God is with you and all the other sweet little angels. I feel so very sorry for all these families who lost their precious kids, my heart goes out to all of you.”

Jessica Rekos, 6

Jessica loved everything about horses — horse movies, horse books, drawing horses and writing stories about them.

She asked Santa this year for new cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat. Her family had promised she could get her own horse when she turned 10.

“She was a creative, beautiful little girl,” her family said in a statement, describing Jessica as their “rock.”

“She had an answer for everything, she didn’t miss a trick, and she outsmarted us every time. We called her our little CEO for the way she carefully thought out and planned everything,” they said. “We cannot imagine our life without her.”

Jessica also loved orca whales and playing with her two little brothers.

“We are mourning her loss, sharing our beautiful memories we have of her, and trying to help her brother Travis understand why he can’t play with his best friend,” her family said.

Avielle Richman, 6

Avielle was happiest when she was on a horse.

Her trainer, Annette Sullivan, told the Connecticut Post that Avielle would “giggle when she trotted.”

Like kids her age, her first loose tooth was a sign she was growing up.

“She showed me her wiggly tooth, she was so excited,” Sullivan told the newspaper. “She was the most delightful little girl you ever met in your life.”

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Rousseau, a permanent substitute teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary, “wanted to be a teacher from before she even went to kindergarten,” her mother said in a written statement. “We will miss her terribly and will take comfort knowing that she had achieved that dream,” Teresa Rousseau said.

She grew up in Danbury, Connecticut, and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Bridgeport.

Rousseau “worked as a substitute teacher in Danbury, New Milford and Newtown before she was hired in November as a permanent substitute teacher at Sandy Hook,” her mother said.

Mary Sherlach, 56

Sherlach, Sandy Hook Elementary’s school psychologist, was with Hochsprung when they heard a “pop, pop, pop” sound around 9:30 a.m., a parent who was with both women at the time told CNN. Sherlach was shot to death after heading into the hall to find out what was happening.

“I … am always ready to assist in problem-solving, intervention and prevention,” Sherlach wrote on her website.

Sherlach earned her undergraduate degree in psychology at SUNY Cortland and a master’s degree at Southern Connecticut State University. She worked as a rehabilitation assistant at a group home for disabled adults and as a community mental health placement specialist before becoming a school psychologist.

She worked in three Connecticut school systems before moving to Sandy Hook Elementary in 1994. During her time in Newtown, Sherlach kept busy as a member of numerous groups, including the district conflict resolution committee, safe school climate committee, crisis intervention team and student instructional team.

Sherlach and her husband of more than three decades lived in Trumbull, Connecticut, and, together, they were “proud parents” of two daughters in their late 20s. Her website listed her interests as gardening, reading and going to the theater.

Victoria Soto, 27

Soto, a first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary, moved her students away from the classroom door when she heard gunfire, which students initially “thought were hammers falling,” according to the father of one of her students.

“That’s when the gunman burst in, did not say a word, no facial expressions, and proceeded to shoot their teacher,” said Robert Licata, whose 6-year-old son, Aiden, escaped by running past the shooter.

Soto’s mother said her daughter was selfless.

“She would not hesitate to think to save anyone else before herself, and especially children. She loved them more than life, and she would definitely put herself in front of them any day,” Donna Soto told CNN.

Soto had wanted to be a teacher since she was 3 and talked about her students with “such fondness and caring,” her mother said.

Soto’s cousin, James Wiltsie, said Soto “instinctively went into action, when a monster came into her classroom, and tried to protect the kids that she loved so much.”

“We just want the public to know that Vicki was a hero,” he said.

Soto had a dog she loved. The black lab Roxie spent Saturday wandering around Soto’s apartment, apparently looking for her, relatives said.

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Ben loved The Beatles, lighthouses and the No. 7 train to Sunnyside, Queens, his family said in a statement.

He and his older brother Nate “filled the house with the noise of four children.”

“Ben Wheeler was an irrepressibly bright and spirited boy whose love of fun and excitement at the wonders of life and the world could rarely be contained. His rush to experience life was headlong, creative and immediate,” his family said.

Ben loved soccer and swimming. Recently, he performed at a piano recital — a major feat for a little boy who rarely sat still.

Friday morning before school, he told him mom: “I still want to be an architect, but I also want to be a paleontologist, because that’s what Nate is going to be, and I want to do everything Nate does.”

Ben, Nate, and their parents, Francine and David Wheeler, moved to Newtown in 2007. Francine Wheeler is a music teacher and performer. David Wheeler is an illustrator and designer.

Two days after the shooting, Francine Wheeler’s band posted the following message on its Facebook page:

“With heavy hearts, we inform you of our saddest news: Francine Wheeler, a founding member of The Dream Jam Band, has lost her precious 6-year old son, Ben, to the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Our prayers and love go out to Francine, David and Ben’s big brother, Nate.”

Allison Wyatt, 6

Allison once offered her snacks to a stranger on plane. That’s just the type of person she was.

Allison was a “sweet, creative, funny, intelligent little girl who had an amazing life ahead of her,” her parents said.

They described their daughter as kind-hearted. She loved to draw and wanted to be an artist.

“She loved to laugh and was developing her own wonderful sense of humor that ranged from just being a silly 6-year-old to coming up with observations that more than once had us crying with laughter,” her parents said.

“Allison made the world a better place for six, far too short years, and we now have to figure out how to move on without her … We love and miss her so much.”

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports http://fox4kc.com/2017/12/14/5-years-after-sandy-hook-the-victims-have-not-been-forgotten/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2017/12/14/5-years-after-sandy-hook-the-victims-have-not-been-forgotten/

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5 years after Sandy Hook, the victims have not been forgotten

(CNN)It remains among America’s most heinous nightmares: the lives of 20 little children — dancers and swimmers, pianists and painters, budding readers, little sisters and big brothers — extinguished in a flash of violence inside Sandy Hook Elementary.

Five years later, even those who have never set foot near Newtown, Connecticut, can conjure the scene painted by police of a first-grade classroom transformed into a killing field. Can see the faces of anguished parents desperate for proof of life, then later, tiny caskets overloaded with stuffed animals never to be named.

Since the 2012 massacre, a new school has been built for the students of a town known, now and for years to come, as a cradle of sorrow — but also as the home of quiet resilience and untold love.

The 12 girls, eight boys and six women whose futures were stolen that day will be remembered, always. Here is a glimpse of what we learned about them in the days after they were lost:

Charlotte Bacon, 6

Charlotte was sweet, outgoing and full of energy, her grandmother told CNN affiliate WCCO in Minnesota.

“This is tough. This is surreal. You can’t believe this could happen,” Irene Hagen told the station. “The whole family is just devastated, and we’re all trying to come to terms with it.”

She said her granddaughter loved school and dresses. Her hair was a mass of beautiful red curls.

“It’s horrible. It’s really horrible,” Hagen told WCCO. “It’s hard to believe that someone would kill children, innocent children.”

Daniel Barden, 7

Daniel earned his missing two front teeth, his family used to say. His “fearless” pursuit of happiness and life also earned him ripped jeans.

“Despite that, he was, as his mother said, ‘Just So Good,'” his family wrote in a statement published in the New Haven Register.

Taking after his musician dad, he and his siblings — brother James and sister Natalie — formed a band. Daniel played drums.

He loved to ride waves at the beach and make s’mores around bonfires with his cousins.

“He embodied everything that is wholesome and innocent in the world,” the family said.

Rachel D’Avino, 29

She probably didn’t know it when she died, but her best friend was about to propose.

He had recently asked D’Avino’s parents for their blessing, and he was planning to ask for her hand in marriage on Christmas Eve.

That and other details about D’Avino’s life were described in an obituary posted on the website of Munson-Lovetere Funeral Homes of Connecticut.

“Her presence and tremendous smile brightened any room she entered,” it read.

Born in Waterbury, D’Avino received her undergraduate degree from the University of Hartford and her master’s from Post University. She was working toward her doctorate at the University of St. Joseph of Hartford.

D’Avino loved karate, cooking, animals, photography and her two younger siblings.

“Her passion, however, was her occupation as a behavioral therapist working with children within the autism spectrum,” the obituary read.

Olivia Engel, 6

Her favorite stuffed animal was a lamb; pink and purple were her favorite colors.

Olivia’s family posted a statement on Facebook with those and other details about their beloved daughter.

“She was insightful for her age and had a great sense of humor. She laughed a lot and always lit up a room including the people around her. She was very creative and was always drawing and designing things,” her family said.

Olivia took art and dance lessons, played tennis, soccer and swam. She was involved in Girl Scouts and musical theater. She loved school and did well in math and reading.

Her family described her as a “grateful child … never greedy.” Each night, Olivia led grace at the dinner table.

Josephine Gay, 7

Josephine celebrated her seventh birthday just days before she died. In one picture, published in various news stories, she’s smiling with glasses on the tip of her nose.

Josephine liked to ride her bike and sell lemonade in her neighborhood in the summer, The Wall Street Journal reported. The little girl loved the color purple.

Dylan Hockley, 6

Dylan and his family had moved from England to Connecticut two years before he died.

“We specifically chose Sandy Hook for the community and the elementary school. We do not and shall never regret this choice,” Dylan’s family said in a statement. “Our boys have flourished here, and our family’s happiness has been limitless.”

Dylan’s family said he loved to cuddle and play tag with neighbors at the bus stop every morning.

“He was learning to read and was so proud when he read us a new book every day,” the family said. “He adored his big brother Jake, his best friend and role model.”

Dylan’s parents also expressed gratitude to the educators who died with their son.

“We cannot speak highly enough of Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach, exceptional women who knew both our children,” the family said. “Dylan’s teacher, Vicki Soto, was warm and funny and Dylan loved her dearly. We take great comfort in knowing that Dylan was not alone when he died, but was wrapped in the arms of his amazing aide, Anne Marie Murphy. Dylan loved Mrs. Murphy so much and pointed at her picture on our refrigerator every day.

“Though our hearts break for Dylan, they are also filled with love for these and the other beautiful women who all selflessly died trying to save our children.”

Dawn Lafferty Hochsprung, 47

Hochsprung, who became Sandy Hook Elementary’s principal two years before the shooting, was “really nice and very fun, but she was also very much a tough lady in the right sort of sense,” friend Tom Prunty said.

And the students loved her. “Even little kids know when someone cares about them, and that was her,” he said.

“I never saw her without a smile,” said Aimee Seaver, the mother of a first-grader.

Hochsprung lived in Woodbury, Connecticut, with her husband, two daughters and three stepdaughters.

The career educator majored in special education for her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the 1990s and had just entered the PhD program at Esteves School of Education at the Sage Colleges in New York. Hochsprung led a school district’s strategic planning panel and was the recipient of a national school grant.

Her accomplishments included overseeing the installation of a new security system requiring every visitor to ring the front entrance’s doorbell after the school doors locked at 9:30 a.m.

“My mom, Dawn Hochsprung, was taken tragically from me. But she went down in a blaze of glory that truly represents who she was,” her daughter, Cristina Hassinger, tweeted.

Madeleine Hsu, 6

Sweet. Unique. Bright. Determined. Sparking.

Those are words Madeleine’s family used to describe their little girl.

“She was an avid reader who loved running and dancing,” they said. “She was a born leader.”

Catherine Hubbard, 6

The little girl with bright red hair will be remembered for her smile and her love of animals.

Catherine is survived by her older brother, her parents, grandparents, great-grandmother, uncles, aunts and nine cousins.

“Her family prays that she, all the students of Sandy Hook Elementary, and all those affected by this brutal event find peace in their hearts,” they wrote in her obituary.

A Facebook page honoring Catherine spoke of how she is now an angel.

“Such a beautiful little soul,” the post read, saying the family’s loss is heaven’s gain.

Chase Kowalski, 7

What Chase really wanted for Christmas was his two front teeth.

“I saw him two days ago, and I asked him if he wanted to see Santa, and he told me that he wanted his teeth back, and it was really sweet,” Chase’s neighbor, Keeley Baumann, 13, told the News-Times newspaper.

At 6, Chase completed his first triathlon, but that was just one of his pursuits. He loved baseball. He was in the Cub Scouts. He looked forward to the kids’ workshop at the local Home Depot.

“We are thankful to the Lord for giving us seven years with our beautiful loving son. It is with heavy hearts that we return him,” the family said in an obituary.

Jesse Lewis, 6

Jesse loved math, riding horses and playing at his mom’s farm, his father told the New York Post.

“He was just a happy boy,” Neil Heslin said. “Everybody knew Jesse.”

He told the newspaper that his son was planning to make gingerbread houses at school. Heslin was planning to help.

Instead, the last time he saw his son was when he dropped him off at school at 9 a.m.

“He was going to go places in life,” Heslin told the Post.

Ana Marquez-Greene, 6

“One, two, three, ready and go,” Ana counts down in a homemade video provided to CNN affiliate WTIC.

The girl in pigtails stands in front of a piano as her brother plays. Her voice is clear, bigger than her size. Ana smiles and waves.

Her father, Jimmy Greene, is a jazz musician. His representative released a statement on Ana’s death, describing the little girl as “beautiful and vibrant.”

“The family has requested privacy at this time of heartbreaking loss,” it read. They “have asked us to relay their sincere gratitude for the outpouring of support and sympathy locally, nationally and internationally.”

James Mattioli, 6

As he was quick to remind everyone, James was 6 and ¾.

“He loved to wear shorts and T-shirts in any weather and grab the gel to spike his hair,” his family said in a loving obituary. “He would often sing at the top of his lungs, and once asked, ‘How old do I have to be to sing on a stage?'”

Indoors, he spent his time playing games on the iPad — especially the lawn-mowing one. Outdoors, he loved to dive off the diving board, “swim like a fish” in his grandfather’s pool and ride his bike — without training wheels.

“I need to go outside, Mom. I need fresh air,” he would often say.

He was born four weeks early — because he was hungry, his family joked.

James had a voracious appetite. His favorites? His dad’s egg omelets with bacon, and his mom’s French toast.

He looked up to his older sister, wanting to do everything she could.

“They were the best of friends, going to school together, playing games together, and making endless drawings and crafts together.”

The boy, whose family fondly called him “J,” will be incredibly missed, they said.

Grace McDonnell, 7

Grace was the “light and love of our family,” her mother told CNN.

She loved her brother, school, the beach and wanted to be a painter.

For her seventh birthday in November, Grace requested a purple cake with a turquoise peace sign and polka dots. And that’s exactly what she got.

“She was all about peace and gentleness and kindness,” Lynn McDonnell told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “Grace didn’t have an ounce of hate in her, and so we have to live through Grace and realize that hate is not how our family is.”

The family drew cupcakes, ice creams cones, lighthouses and seagulls — all things Grace loved — on her tiny white casket.

Anne Marie Murphy, 52

A hero. That’s how a first responder reportedly described Murphy to her father.

He told Newsday that authorities told him her body was found in a classroom, covering young children killed in the shooting in an apparent attempt to shield them.

“She died doing what she loved. She was serving children and serving God,” Murphy’s mother, Alice McGowan, told the newspaper.

A married mother of four, Murphy was artistic and hardworking, her parents said.

“She was a happy soul,” her mother told Newsday. “She was a very good daughter, a good mother, a good wife.”

Emilie Parker, 6

She could “light up a room,” Emilie’s father said about his oldest daughter.

Robbie Parker described her as “bright, creative and very loving.” Emilie was always willing to try new things, he said, except food. Her laugh was infectious.

“My daughter Emilie would be one of the first ones to be standing up and giving her love and support to all of those victims, because that is the type of person she is,” Parker said.

She was “an exceptional artist, and she always carried around her markers and pencils so she never missed an opportunity to draw a picture or make a card for someone,” he said.

“This world is a better place because she has been in it,” Parker said.

Emilie’s aunt described her niece as the “sweetest little girl I’ve ever known.”

The family is devastated that “someone so beautiful and perfect is no longer going to be in our lives and for no reason,” said Jill Cottle Garrett.

Emilie’s father, who works as a physician assistant in the newborn unit at the Danbury hospital, recalled his last conversation with his daughter was in Portuguese, a language he was teaching her.

“She said that she loved me, and I gave her a kiss, and I was out the door,” he said.

Jack Pinto, 6

Jack was a first-grader, and his interests ran the gamut — baseball, basketball, wrestling, snow skiing. But his first love was football, and his idol was Victor Cruz, then the New York Giants star receiver.

Cruz paid tribute to the team’s young fan by scribbling “Jack Pinto. My Hero” on one of his cleats and “R.I.P. Jack Pinto” on the other for the team’s game with the Atlanta Falcons the Sunday after the shooting. On his glove, Cruz wrote, “Jack Pinto. This one is 4 U!”

Jack participated in his first wrestling match not long before his death and won a medal, according to the president of the New Milford Wrestling Association.

“In life and in death, Jack will forever be remembered for the immeasurable joy he brought to all who had the pleasure of knowing him, a joy whose wide reach belied his six short years,” Jack’s family wrote in an obituary for the little boy.

Noah Pozner, 6

“He had a huge heart, and he was so much fun, a little bit rambunctious, lots of spirit,” Noah’s aunt told CNN. “He was really the light of the room.”

Victoria Haller said her nephew loved playing with his cousins and siblings, especially his twin sister.

“He was a gorgeous, gorgeous boy, and he could really get what he wanted just by batting those long eyelashes and looking at you with those big blue eyes. You really couldn’t say no to him,” she said.

His siblings weren’t told immediately how Noah passed away, Haller said.

“How do you tell them that’s how their brother died?” she asked. “It’s the unthinkable really.”

Caroline Previdi, 6

“You were a sweet little girl and you will be missed.”

That’s the message that Caroline’s aunt reportedly tweeted, saying good-bye to her niece, according to the online version of the Press-Telegram in Long Beach, California.

“It hurts even more to see a familiar name on that list,” the report said Paige Tremblay also tweeted.

A Facebook page called “RIP Caroline Previdi — Sandy Hook Massacre Victim” contains dozens of messages. One reads: “Rest in Peace, sweetheart. I know for sure that God is with you and all the other sweet little angels. I feel so very sorry for all these families who lost their precious kids, my heart goes out to all of you.”

Jessica Rekos, 6

Jessica loved everything about horses — horse movies, horse books, drawing horses and writing stories about them.

She asked Santa this year for new cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat. Her family had promised she could get her own horse when she turned 10.

“She was a creative, beautiful little girl,” her family said in a statement, describing Jessica as their “rock.”

“She had an answer for everything, she didn’t miss a trick, and she outsmarted us every time. We called her our little CEO for the way she carefully thought out and planned everything,” they said. “We cannot imagine our life without her.”

Jessica also loved orca whales and playing with her two little brothers.

“We are mourning her loss, sharing our beautiful memories we have of her, and trying to help her brother Travis understand why he can’t play with his best friend,” her family said.

Avielle Richman, 6

Avielle was happiest when she was on a horse.

Her trainer, Annette Sullivan, told the Connecticut Post that Avielle would “giggle when she trotted.”

Like kids her age, her first loose tooth was a sign she was growing up.

“She showed me her wiggly tooth, she was so excited,” Sullivan told the newspaper. “She was the most delightful little girl you ever met in your life.”

Lauren Rousseau, 30

Rousseau, a permanent substitute teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary, “wanted to be a teacher from before she even went to kindergarten,” her mother said in a written statement. “We will miss her terribly and will take comfort knowing that she had achieved that dream,” Teresa Rousseau said.

She grew up in Danbury, Connecticut, and earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and a master’s degree in elementary education from the University of Bridgeport.

Rousseau “worked as a substitute teacher in Danbury, New Milford and Newtown before she was hired in November as a permanent substitute teacher at Sandy Hook,” her mother said.

Mary Sherlach, 56

Sherlach, Sandy Hook Elementary’s school psychologist, was with Hochsprung when they heard a “pop, pop, pop” sound around 9:30 a.m., a parent who was with both women at the time told CNN. Sherlach was shot to death after heading into the hall to find out what was happening.

“I … am always ready to assist in problem-solving, intervention and prevention,” Sherlach wrote on her website.

Sherlach earned her undergraduate degree in psychology at SUNY Cortland and a master’s degree at Southern Connecticut State University. She worked as a rehabilitation assistant at a group home for disabled adults and as a community mental health placement specialist before becoming a school psychologist.

She worked in three Connecticut school systems before moving to Sandy Hook Elementary in 1994. During her time in Newtown, Sherlach kept busy as a member of numerous groups, including the district conflict resolution committee, safe school climate committee, crisis intervention team and student instructional team.

Sherlach and her husband of more than three decades lived in Trumbull, Connecticut, and, together, they were “proud parents” of two daughters in their late 20s. Her website listed her interests as gardening, reading and going to the theater.

Victoria Soto, 27

Soto, a first-grade teacher at Sandy Hook Elementary, moved her students away from the classroom door when she heard gunfire, which students initially “thought were hammers falling,” according to the father of one of her students.

“That’s when the gunman burst in, did not say a word, no facial expressions, and proceeded to shoot their teacher,” said Robert Licata, whose 6-year-old son, Aiden, escaped by running past the shooter.

Soto’s mother said her daughter was selfless.

“She would not hesitate to think to save anyone else before herself, and especially children. She loved them more than life, and she would definitely put herself in front of them any day,” Donna Soto told CNN.

Soto had wanted to be a teacher since she was 3 and talked about her students with “such fondness and caring,” her mother said.

Soto’s cousin, James Wiltsie, said Soto “instinctively went into action, when a monster came into her classroom, and tried to protect the kids that she loved so much.”

“We just want the public to know that Vicki was a hero,” he said.

Soto had a dog she loved. The black lab Roxie spent Saturday wandering around Soto’s apartment, apparently looking for her, relatives said.

Benjamin Wheeler, 6

Ben loved The Beatles, lighthouses and the No. 7 train to Sunnyside, Queens, his family said in a statement.

He and his older brother Nate “filled the house with the noise of four children.”

“Ben Wheeler was an irrepressibly bright and spirited boy whose love of fun and excitement at the wonders of life and the world could rarely be contained. His rush to experience life was headlong, creative and immediate,” his family said.

Ben loved soccer and swimming. Recently, he performed at a piano recital — a major feat for a little boy who rarely sat still.

Friday morning before school, he told him mom: “I still want to be an architect, but I also want to be a paleontologist, because that’s what Nate is going to be, and I want to do everything Nate does.”

Ben, Nate, and their parents, Francine and David Wheeler, moved to Newtown in 2007. Francine Wheeler is a music teacher and performer. David Wheeler is an illustrator and designer.

Two days after the shooting, Francine Wheeler’s band posted the following message on its Facebook page:

“With heavy hearts, we inform you of our saddest news: Francine Wheeler, a founding member of The Dream Jam Band, has lost her precious 6-year old son, Ben, to the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. Our prayers and love go out to Francine, David and Ben’s big brother, Nate.”

Allison Wyatt, 6

Allison once offered her snacks to a stranger on plane. That’s just the type of person she was.

Allison was a “sweet, creative, funny, intelligent little girl who had an amazing life ahead of her,” her parents said.

They described their daughter as kind-hearted. She loved to draw and wanted to be an artist.

“She loved to laugh and was developing her own wonderful sense of humor that ranged from just being a silly 6-year-old to coming up with observations that more than once had us crying with laughter,” her parents said.

“Allison made the world a better place for six, far too short years, and we now have to figure out how to move on without her … We love and miss her so much.”

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