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ahtohallan-calling · 5 years ago

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chapter 8 of don’t read the last page is here!

[kristanna / m / multichap / modern au with actress!anna and vetstudent!kristoff]

this is another chapter where you gotta click through to ao3 to see the whole thing ;), but here on tumblr it’s all t-rated

“People who are fine don’t sort out other people’s kitchens at three in the morning.”

“I just wanted to help,” she said, her voice small, and a little frown appeared on his forehead.

chapter 8: firsts

Anna was getting antsy.

Filming had wrapped way back at the beginning of July; there was a lull now until the trailer would be released at the beginning of October, and then slowly interviews would trickle in, talk show appearances if she was lucky; then the movie would drop, and if it went well she’d probably get offers of other jobs or at minimum asked to be on more shows, and if it failed-- well. She’d taken a good, hard look at her options back in May after the tampon commercial had first come out, when she’d had to wonder if going semi-viral on Twitter was the height of her stardom. The company wanted her back, wanted to make a whole series of ads featuring her and capitalizing on the traction the first commercial had gotten, but she had her limits.

She’d asked Sven semi-casually what it took to be a bank teller and quickly scratched that off her list; she’d never had a head for numbers. The only math classes she’d ever done well in were the ones in high school where she got to sit beside Kristoff and pass him notes asking for help, so that ruled out most of the jobs Google said were easy to get into. She could go back for a master’s in teaching and try to be a drama teacher, but while she’d played a very good Anna Leonowens in a community theater production of The King and I, she’d never really had a knack for actual teaching of any kind. There was always starting from scratch in college, but even the thought sent a shudder down her spine.

She’d waitressed her way through college and done well enough at it; maybe she’d do the opposite of the old stereotype and be an actress before waiting tables.

As much as she’d tried to hide her worries from her sister, Elsa had taken notice of the fact that Anna’s room-- and, in fact, the whole apartment-- was suddenly much cleaner than normal. “You don’t have to hang around here all day,” Elsa had said one night as they sat down to dinner together. “And you know you can talk to me if you’re feeling stressed, right?”

“But I don’t hang around here all day,” Anna protested, and it was true. It was just that there was so much time to fill now that Kristoff was at school or work most of the time, and Honey was working on two different sets at once, and Elsa and Sven had real grown-up jobs, and her friends from college in the area had, by and large, moved on to 9-to-5s as well. So she spent her mornings tidying the apartment, scrolling through casting calls, going on long runs, checking the audition postings once again just in case-- and then she’d look at the clock and see it was only eleven and feel a sense of dread rising in her, settling a little more heavily on her heart every day.

She tried not to burden Kristoff with it; she’d taken the once-seemingly endless days full of pillow talk and lazy kisses and picnics on the living room floor for granted, and now when she saw him he was usually only awake for a couple of hours at a time, and even then he was always studying or trying to catch up on errands or just too exhausted to do anything but hold her.

He’d tried to apologize for it once at the beginning when he’d accidentally dozed off mid-conversation as they sat together on the sofa, but Anna had shaken her head and shushed him before he could even finish saying “sorry”.

“Look at me, Kris,” she’d said, cupping his jaw in her hands. “I don’t ever want you to feel like you have to apologize to me for working hard.”

“I just feel bad,” he had replied, eyebrows pulling together in a frown. “I want to take you out and stuff like you deserve, but here I am falling asleep before you can even finish telling me about your day. I’m really sorry, Anna, you deserve better and--”

She had leaned in and kissed him, not pulling away until he relaxed against her. “Don’t say that, baby,” she’d said, and he’d sucked in a little breath; she hadn’t called him that before. “You’re the best thing in my life.”

And I love you, she’d been tempted to add, especially when he’d tugged her onto his lap and started kissing his way up her neck, the way that made her clutch at his shirt and moan his name every time, but then he’d reached her mouth, and she figured maybe she’d just show him instead of saying it out loud.

But by the end of September, with the trailer’s release only a week away, she was beginning to reach a breaking point; it wasn’t anyone’s fault but her own for picking such a useless job with so much downtime when you weren’t good enough at it to stay booked, which she apparently wasn’t. It was a Saturday night, and Kristoff had a rare day off on Sunday, and they’d made plans to go out for brunch in the morning before driving up to a stretch of coastline Kristoff had assured her was deserted, with a crooked little smile that sent shivers up her spine.

He was asleep next to her now in his bed; she had been nestled against him, her nose buried in the crook of his neck, but no matter how many deep breaths she took, sleep continued to evade her, and so she had rolled away, careful not to disturb him.

She was tempted to reach out and trace her fingers over the lines of his face, set her palm on his cheek and lean in to kiss him, but he looked so peaceful, without even the trace of a frown for the first time in weeks, that it made something in her chest ache, and so she slipped out of bed and tiptoed into the hall.

She wasn’t sure what she was going to do at first; Sven was away at some conference, so at least she didn’t have to worry about waking him. She considered flicking the TV on and watching late-night cop shows on mute and making up her own dialogues the way she and Elsa had done when they were kids first learning to rebel in their own little ways. But she’d been doing stupid, inane things like that for so long, just trying to pass the time; she felt utterly useless, so much so that she was starting to feel an itch deep in her bones, a desperation to do something, anything that made her feel like she was contributing to the world around her.

Her eyes lighted on the kitchen, an idea sparking in her mind; she knew Sven and Kristoff both liked to cook, so the cabinets were overflowing, but neither of them really had much patience for organization, and so half the time they spent in the kitchen was wasted shuffling through drawers and shelves and making an even bigger mess. Maybe she was a washed up has-been (more like never-was) at twenty-four and maybe her boyfriend was a hero who would save tons of baby animals someday, but by god, at least she could do this.

She started with the bottom shelves in the cabinets, thinking maybe she’d just straighten those out and crawl back into bed, but then she realized that being taller than five foot three meant you could actually make use of the rest of the space, and so she crawled onto the counter and started pulling everything out; if she was going to do this, she should at least do it well.

She had the top two shelves alphabetized in both cabinets and was working on the lower ones— that was the hard part, these she had sorted by usefulness and had had to consider what someone who actually knew how to cook would use— when he heard footsteps coming up the hall.

She kept her focus on the little piles around her, hoping Kristoff would just go to the bathroom and crawl back to bed; he’d been exhausted enough that he probably wouldn’t even notice she wasn’t there with him.

She realized it was fruitless when she heard his footsteps on the linoleum and heard a heavy sigh. “Anna, what the hell are you doing?”

She slipped the rosemary next to the garlic salt; probably those got used in the same thing anyway. Right? “Couldn’t sleep. Figured I might as well start pulling my weight around here since I basically live here half the time.”

“Come back to bed.”

She bit her lip and ignored him, turning back to the trickiest little pile: one of them— Sven, most likely— apparently had a penchant for collecting different colors of salt, and she had no idea what any of them did.

“Anna.”

He had come up behind her now and put his hand on her back; she turned at last to look at him and met his confused gaze for only a moment before ducking away again. “I‘ll redo it if you don’t like it.”

He just stood there for a long moment, wearing only his boxers and his glasses; they hung just barely lopsided, one of the arms caught up on a little snarl in his sleep-mussed hair. “It’s three in the morning.”

“Well, I really didn’t do anything all day, so—“

“Anna. You need to sleep. You’re going to be too tired to do anything tomorrow, and we’ve been planning this all week.”

“I’m fine,” she huffed out a little more forcefully than she had meant to and turned quickly back to the cabinet to hide the tears of shame that sprung up almost immediately in her eyes.

“Fine,” he said after a stunned moment of silence. “Fine. Then I’ll wait up for you until you’re ready to tell me what’s really going on.”

“But you worked all day, you’re—“

“I’m fine,” he said, and though he didn’t raise his voice, the words still stung. Wasn’t that why she was doing this, trying to make his life a little bit easier, and here she was just—

No, a nasty, stubborn little voice whispered in the back of her mind. He doesn’t mean it. He’ll sit up for a minute and then go back to bed, and then in the morning he’ll thank you for helping him out so much, tell you he’s relieved you finally fucking did something, you useless sack of shit.

She turned back to her shelving with renewed vigor, lining each cap up nearly until the cabinets were filled with perfectly organized, colorful rows of plastic and glass, as cheerful as any supermarket display.

But somehow, she didn’t feel any better.

She dared to peek over her shoulder; Kristoff was still there, sitting on the couch and watching infomercials in a bid to stay awake. As she watched, his head began to loll to the side; he suddenly pinched his own wrist and jolted upright again.

Suddenly she couldn’t get down and back over to him fast enough. She started to clamber onto his lap out of habit, but then he turned and looked to her with such exhaustion in her eyes she sat next to him instead, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tightly.

“You need sleep, Kris,” she said, doing her best to keep that stupid little wobble out of her voice.

“Not as much as I need to know you’re okay.”

The words nearly knocked the wind out of her. “I— I— really, I’m fine.”

“People who are fine don’t sort out other people’s kitchens at three in the morning.”

“I just wanted to help,” she said, her voice small, and a little frown appeared on his forehead.

“Help with...what?”

“Just— stuff. I’m— I’m sorry I woke you up, really, but I promise it’s not important, we can talk about it in the morning if you—“

“Anna, baby, I’m not even gonna be able to sleep until I know what the fuck is going on. You’re scaring me,” he said, and suddenly she was crying and he was leaning over and pulling her into his arms and rocking her like she was a child as she sobbed into his bare shoulder.

“I didn’t mean to start a fight with you,” she choked out.

“Is this a fight?” he asked, sounding genuinely worried.

“I don’t know. I don’t want it to be.”

“Okay,” he said, kissing her forehead, “it’s not a fight. But please, please just tell me what’s wrong.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I— I just feel so useless, I just— since I finished the movie I just sit around all day waiting for something to happen while you’re working so hard at school and the café, and Elsa works too and so does everyone else, and you’re all good at what you do and— and you help people, and like you’re gonna take care of animals and stuff and meanwhile my job is just standing around saying the same thing over and over again in front of a camera and I just— I just…”

She trailed off, struggling to put it all into words in a way that didn’t make her feel even more pathetic. “I just...I couldn’t sleep because I felt so useless. I wanted to do something to help you instead of just wasting even more time, because you work so hard and you’re so exhausted and— and now I’m just making everything worse, and I’m so, so sorry.”

He was quiet for a long time, long enough that the tears on her cheeks had dried; still he held her close. She had shifted to sit beside him, her legs thrown over his lap as she leaned against his shoulder; he had one arm thrown over her, keeping her tucked against him, and she held his other hand in both of her own, endlessly tracing the lines of his palm.

“Have I done anything,” he asked at last, his voice unsure, “to make you feel like this?”

“No. Never. None of you, it’s— it’s just me being stupid.”

He was quiet again for a moment. When he spoke again it was slowly, like he was terrified he would say the wrong thing.

“You’re not stupid, Anna. Or useless. This is just— this is part of life sometimes. The, like, in between shit. I don’t know. And I don’t— I don’t know what I can do to make it better. But I...care about you, whether you’ve got a part you’re doing at the moment or not. And if you decide this is too much and you wanna try another job, then I’m here for you. And if you stick with it, then I’m here for you, too. I just— I don’t know. I really don’t. I don’t think any of that even helped.”

“It did,” she said quickly, tears threatening to spill over again. “It does— I’m so sorry, Kris, really, that I woke you up for this.”

“It’s okay. I’m glad you did if it meant getting it out of your system. Just— do me a favor?”

“Anything. God, I owe you lots of them, I feel like I’m always the one having a crisis and you’re—“

He put a gentle finger over her lips. “Two favors. One, stop being so hard on yourself, okay? You’ve been going through a lot of new stuff this year. It’s okay to freak out about it sometimes. And two—“

He kissed the tip of her nose, the way that always made her crack a smile, even now. “Please just tell me next time something is upsetting you instead of holding it in. Preferably at a reasonable hour of the day, yeah?”

She nodded sheepishly. “I will. I promise. Will you— will you please go back to bed now? I’m worried about you.”

“Will you go with me?”

She nodded again, and then suddenly he was scooping her up bridal style and carrying her back to bed. He laid her down gently and pulled the sheets over her shoulders before crawling in himself, pulling her back against his chest and draping his arm over her waist.

“Good night, Kris,” she whispered, lacing her fingers through his.

“Good night, Anna.”

---

They decided to forgo going out for brunch; neither of them really felt like talking to other people today, even for a moment. She had nearly forgotten what it felt like to have a whole day to just themselves, hour and hours at a stretch to be spent holding and being held and trading little whispered secrets and promises and praise, each sweet word paired with a kiss or caress or little silly sigh. She was drunk on Kristoff and the dark of his eyes and the heat of his hands and the press of his lips, soaked in love as if it were honey, so much so that she felt heavy with it sometimes, like all of it was constantly on the verge of spilling out and sweeping her away, and god, still every day it kept growing in her, filling her chest with so much warmth it felt like she had swallowed a star; she wondered sometimes if people could see it, if they knew. Kristoff had to, she thought, had to see it in her eyes and know she adored him, could probably see it now as she came into the kitchen and perched on the edge of the counter as had become her habit, swinging her legs and watching him make a batch of pancakes with those quick, clever hands that always knew exactly how she needed to be touched.

He smiled softly in greeting as he poured batter into the pan and came over to her the moment he was finished, wrapping his arms around her waist and tucking his chin over her shoulder. Her heart did a funny little flip when she noticed the ends of his hair were still damp, falling into slight curls; she ran her hands through them, feeling a sudden deep sense of contentment.

“You know,” Kristoff said playfully, his arms tightening slightly around her middle, “it was a lot easier to mix these up now that I knew where to find the vanilla.”

“I love you,” she said, the words popping out in response like they just couldn’t be kept in any more. “Kind of a lot, actually.”

His fingers had been tracing idle circles on her back, but they stilled suddenly; she heard him suck in a breath and hold it. She bit her lip, too nervous to break the silence, as if she stood on some great precipice and even the carelessly blown breath of a misspoken word might be enough to send her tumbling over the edge.

“Say it again,” he whispered, his fingers curling into the back of her shirt-- his shirt, really, another one she’d stolen from his drawer, coveting any opportunity to be close to him even in the smallest of ways.

Anna turned her head and kissed his temple. “I love you, Kristoff Bjorgman. And I think that pancake is going to burn.”

“Forget the pancake,” he breathed, pulling back so he could look at her, wonder in his eyes. “I-- you-- do you mean it?”

She nodded, feeling her heart begin to pound, so hard she could have sworn she could hear it, and he let out a sudden whoop of joy, surging forward to hug her again and pull her close to his chest, lifting her straight off the counter. Anna let out a gasp of surprise and fisted her hands in his shirt instinctively, her legs wrapping around his waist just in time.

“I love you, too,” he said, and she was suddenly glad he was holding her because otherwise she might have fainted and fallen to the floor at the sound of it. “I love you so much, Anna, I-- I just--”

The smoke alarm began to go off. He turned quickly to the stove and then froze, unsure what to do with his hands otherwise occupied; Anna, luckily, had the sense to snatch the handle of the pan and slide it over into the sink, which, thanks to Kristoff’s habit of washing as he cooked, was already full of soapy water.

The incessant beeping stopped after a moment, and they both let out a sigh of relief; Kristoff’s arms loosened around her, though he still held her close to his chest, and Anna realized he had been holding on to her so tightly it was starting to hurt, as if his first instinct in a moment of potential danger had been to protect her in whatever way he could. She cupped his jaw in her hands and leaned down to kiss his forehead.

“That’s not how I really imagined that would go,” he muttered, a flush beginning to creep over his cheeks. “The, uh, the making you breakfast thing. And the telling you I loved you part, too.”

Anna laughed and patted his shoulder as he set her back on the ground. “We can say it again and pretend it’s the first time.”

“No,” he said with a lopsided grin, “no, I-- I was so worried about saying it first and whether or not you’d say it back or whatever, and now...I guess it’s a relief to know I can tell you whenever I want.”

“Tell me what?” she said sweetly, batting her eyelashes.

“That I love you. So much. And that I’m so glad you love me, even when I burn your breakfast.”

“And I’m glad you love me even when I ransack your kitchen at three in the morning.”

He leaned down and kissed her then, his fingers just barely cupping her cheek, and his lips were so tender against hers she almost thought she would cry, but instead she kissed him back, knowing that this would be a moment she would treasure for a long, long time.

They broke apart only when her stomach growled in protest; Kristoff blushed again as he looked down at her. “Oh, fuck, I really am sorry about breakfast.”

“That’s okay. There’s always McDonald’s.”

Anna had just opened her mouth to ask if he still loved McGriddles even though they were disgusting when her phone went off on the table behind her. Kristoff recognized the ringtone by now, the one that she hadn’t been hearing enough lately. “It’s your agent— get it, I’ll grab our stuff.”

She scrambled for the phone. “Hey Sam— yeah— good morning to you too. What’s going on?”

She listened to his hurried explanation in stunned silence, feeling her breath speed up with every word. When at last Sam asked what she thought, she hardly knew where to begin.

“I— you’re serious, they want me?”

“Yes. They’ve been looking everywhere, heard about the Netflix movie, pulled some strings and saw the first edit and called me this morning insisting they want to see you by the end of the week.”

“I— and it’s seriously for, like— for—“

“Seriously, Anna,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “Come by my office tomorrow, and I’ll get you everything you need for the audition, okay? Proud of you, kid. I know you’ll nail it.”

She set the phone down, her mind reeling. “Is everything okay?” Kristoff asked, sounding suddenly far away.

She turned to face him, her voice unsteady. “I— I don’t have it yet— but they— they want me for a part, Kris. A big one.”

#there is.....a lot in this chapter lol #and i still had to cut stuff lmfao #(it's only 4kish words but still like. whew)#my fics #drtlp

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thefeedpost · 6 years ago

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50+ True Crime Stories That Will Shock You To Your Core

12 True Creepy Crimes That Will Make You Lock Your Doors Tonight 1. Angela Hammond

youtube

“She was talking on the payphone with her fiance and saying how there is this suspicious truck that keeps driving around the block. Then, that truck parks near her where the payphone is, he gets out and starts looking around with his flashlight as if he lost something, then he confronts Angela and abducts her. Her fiance heard all of this on the other line and immediately got in his car to drive where Angela was. When doing so, he drove past the guy in the truck and Angela was apparently screaming his name for help, so he turns around and tries following the truck and his transmission fucks up and the guy got away. Angela has never been heard from again. And, she was pregnant.”

2. Annie Borjesson annierockstar.com

“I find the case of Annie Borjesson really weird. She was a Swedish student studying in Edinburgh. She then went to Prestwick airport (literally the other side of the country, then down a bit), caught on CCTV at the airport for ten seconds, then left. She tried to take out money multiple times from different ATMs, but didn’t have the funds so was denied. She was seen wandering about Prestwick, and then was found dead on the beach. Her long hair had been cut off, and the post mortem (as far as I have read) concluded death by drowning.

She may have been victim to foul play, or it was suicide. I also found that her parents’ e-mails were allegedly hacked later on. It may be a case of self-inflicted violence/mental health issues, but I find Annie’s case just so bizarre and sad.”

3. The Hinterkaifeck Murders Andreas Biegleder

“The Hinterkaifeck murders. A family saw footprints in the snow leading to their farm, but no footprints out of the farm. A few days later, they were killed in their own home. There was evidence that the perpetrators were staying in their house or the farm before the killings.

It’s creepy because your house is supposed to be the safest place. It’s hard to feel secure when you think about the possibility that your killer may be living with you without you noticing.”

4. Dorothy Scott

“I was just reading about Dorothy Scott recently. Her story is the saddest, and the creepiest was the bones of the dead dog the killer left on top of her remains to throw scavenger dogs off of his trail. Also, how her watch was stopped to the exact moment she died. I just can’t believe that he called her family so often and they could never trace the calls…I know it was the times though. But the whole thing is so horrifying.”

5. Brandon Swanson

“For those who are not familiar with his story, Brandon was a 19 year old who lived in Marshall, MN. He was returning home from a party recently celebrating his graduation from a community college up in a town north of Marshall called Canby and was on his way home.

Along the way home he crashed in a ditch. For some reason he was taking gravel roads even though the highway between the two towns was a straight shot North to South. I am guessing he took this route as a joy ride type of thing since he loved his car and driving in general or maybe he had a little too much to drink at the party and didn’t want to deal with any state troopers on patrol. He called his dad for a ride and eventually got tired of waiting inside his crashed car and started to walk towards Marshall. He claimed to his dad to see ‘lights’ of something nearby then abruptly exclaimed “Oh shit!” to his dad while still on the phone and his call ended. To this day no one knows what happened to him. No body found, none of his belongings found, nothing. There’s more to the story but that’s my summary. If you want to learn more just dig around.

My guess on what happened to Brandon is either he slipped and fell in a river due to not being able to see in the darkness, got shot and buried somewhere by a belligerent farmer who hated people trespassing on his property and would rather shoot then ask questions or was abducted by aliens (which would explain the lights). This case just creeps me out because I too live in Southern MN and I’m semi familiar with the Marshall area. It’s mostly flat farmlands around here so I really do not understand how someone can just disappear into thin air in the middle of nowhere without a body or any remains being found.”

6. The Bennington Triangle Disappearances

“Beginning in November 1945 through October 1950, five people — ages 8- to 74-years-old — went missing in the area. One was an experienced hunting guide and another was a 53-year-old woman described as an experienced camper and hiker who knew the area like the back of her hand. I’ve hiked Vermont’s Long Trail myself and there are places where you get a feeling of being watched by someone or some “thing.” In 2008, an instructor at Bennington College and experienced hiker got lost on the mountain, later recounted his strange experiences and swore he would never again hike the trail alone.”

7. The Setagaya Family

“The killer stayed in the house for hours, eating their [the Setagaya family’s] food, logging into the family computer and sleeping on their couch. It’s so creepy because rarely does a killer stick around for hours after they commit their crime making themselves at home.”

8. Brandon Lawson

youtube

“Ran out of gas in Middle of Nowhere, TX in 2013. Called the cops, much of it is inaudible but he implies he’s being chased into the woods, and says he needs the cops. When police arrived, they find his truck but nothing else. Not a trace of him since.”

9. Katarzyna Zowada (The “Skin case”)

“A young Polish student disappears in Krakow city.

Few months later a ship on the Vistula river stops because ‘something’ stuck into a propeller. What they have found surprised everyone.

They have gotten out a… skin of missing Katarzyna Zowada. To be more precise: A suit made of human skin. Someone had cut all the limbs and head then created a ‘body suit’ from remaining part which was probably worn by the murderer for some time.

Despite media attention and increased police interest every few years a perpetrator never had been found.”

10. Cassie Jo Stoddart

youtube

“She [Cassie Jo Stoddart] was house-sitting for her aunt. She invited her boyfriend over and his two friends came over as well. His friends left and said they were going to the movies. They didn’t.

At some point before “leaving”, they unlocked a basement door, unbeknownst to her. They shut the power off to scare her. They sat there (hiding) until her boyfriend left and she was alone and proceeded to put masks on, come in the house and stab her. If that isn’t bad enough, a video was found where they planned to murder her ahead of time. There was footage of them right after they killed her as well.”

11. Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon Photo from one of the recovered cameras

“Another creepy mystery that resonates with me is the disappearance of Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon. Long story short, two Dutch girls visiting Panama decide to go on a hike a day before they were scheduled to meet a guide for a tour and they go missing the same night. 10 weeks later their remains and possessions are found down stream from where the girls were hiking.

What creeps me out the most about this disappearance is the pictures that were found on Lisanne’s camera that turned up in the remains. The pictures go from the usual nice pictures of landscapes and of the girls posing with landmarks to cryptic pictures of the darkness as what many assume were attempts to use the flash of the camera to act as a signal for rescuers. Also there was a photo of back of Kris’s head with what possibly looks like blood by her temple. Just the fact that no one knows what happened to these two during their time in the jungle is what is most unsettling about this mystery.”

12. Daniel LaPlante’s Murders

“Daniel LaPlante is a triple murderer. He killed a nursery school teacher & her 2 kids in 1987. After a massive man-hunt they still could not find him. The ultra creepy thing is what happened. He was eventually discovered-after being on the run-in the closet of a girl he’d dated. She opened her door one night to see him standing there, in her mother’s clothes, face smeared with makeup, holding a machete. He tied her & her family up , but the youngest narrowly escaped. As if this isn’t bad enough, they AGAIN could not find him, till 2 weeks later. The family, who’d moved out, came back home and SAW LAPLANTE IN THE WINDOW. The police were called and later found out why he’d been so hard to find. Daniel had been living in the walls of his former girlfriend’s house the entire time.”

7 Of The Most Brutal Murders Ever Committed In The History Of The Human Race (NSFL) 1. The Toolbox Killer

The transcript of what happened to Shirley Ledford at the hands of Toolbox Killers Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris is the most disturbing thing you will ever come across.

An excerpt from the transcript:

“At this point, after Bittaker had forced Shirley to fellate him, repeated sounds of an administered beating, interspersed with loud screams can be heard as Bittaker savagely beat Shirley about the breasts and, to a lesser degree, head. Bittaker then extracted his pliers from the tool box. Shirley then emits several high-pitched, prolonged screams and cries of agony as Bittaker alternately squeezes and twists her labia, clitoris, nipples and breasts with the pliers. Bittaker then returns the pliers to the tool box. Banging sounds can also be heard throughout, which are believed to have been made as Shirley came into contact with the walls and inner contents of the van as she writhed and flailed.”

Ledford: My God! Please stop it! (Screams) Bittaker: Is the recorder going? Norris: Yeah! Bittaker: Scream baby! Scream some, baby.

2. Kelly Anne Bates

Bates was horrifically tortured for days before her tormentor finally killed her. Below are a few examples of what she went through.

According to Wikipedia, Kelly Anne Bates (18 May 1978 – 16 April 1996) was a British teenager murdered on 16 April 1996 at age 17 in Manchester after being tortured for four long weeks. Kelly’s eyes were gouged from their sockets up to three weeks before she actually died from drowning in a bathtub. These horrific crimes were committed by her partner, James Patterson Smith.

Below is a list from Wikipedia of the specific injuries Kelly Anne Bates endured through torture:

Scalding to her buttocks and left leg Burns on her thigh caused by the application of a hot iron A fractured arm Multiple stab wounds caused by knives, forks and scissors Stab wounds inside her mouth Crush injuries to both hands Mutilation of her ears, nose, eyebrows, mouth, lips and genitalia Wounds caused by a spade and pruning shears Both eyes gouged out Later stab wounds to the empty eye sockets Partial scalping

3. Junko Furuta

Furuta was a 17-year-old Japanese girl whose case became known as the “concrete-encased high school girl murder case.” Furuta was kidnapped by four teenage boys and, aside from the brutality of the assaults against her, the most disturbing thing is that she was held at one of the kidnapper’s houses and his parents were present the entire time, knew what was going on, and did nothing to stop it.

Also extremely disturbing is that Furuta turned 17 while she was in captivity and enduring these horrors. There’s something tremendously upsetting about that.

According to Wikipedia:

To avoid concern over her abduction, the perpetrators forced Furuta to call her parents and tell them that she would be staying at a friend’s house for a while. Over the course of her confinement, Furuta was repeatedly raped, beaten, and tortured by her four captors until they killed her. The parents of Kamisaku were present in the home for at least a part of the time that Furuta was held captive, and though she pleaded with them for help, they did not intervene, later claiming that they feared their son too much to do so.

The killers hid her corpse in a 208-litre oil drum filled with concrete. They disposed of the drum in a tract of reclaimed land in Kōtō, Tokyo.

4. The Hi-Fi Murders

In 1974, two men robbing a Hi-Fi store in Odgen, Utah held captive and tormented five individuals. Only two of the captives would survive. Among the sadism levied on the captives were the following, according to Wikipedia:

Violence included a pen being kicked into an ear and the brutal rape of a teenage girl who was later shot in the head. Corrosive drain cleaner was also forcefully given to the hostages causing horrific burns to their mouths and throats.

Not only were they forced to drink drain cleaner but their mouths were then taped shut so they couldn’t spit it out or vomit it up.

One of the victims, Orren Walker, was shot several times, strangled and had a pen kicked into his ear but still survived.

5. The McStay Family

In 2010, in Fallbrook, California, the McStay family (including Joseph McStay, his wife Summer, and their two children), was brutally murdered. The four were then moved by the killer and buried in a shallow grave in the desert but their remains weren’t found until 2013. For three years they’d simply believed to have disappeared.

Forensic evidence showed that all had been beaten to death with a sledgehammer which was found near the family’s remains. Joseph McStay suffered four blows to the head and the family’s youngest child, only four years old, suffered seven. Investigators also believe the family was tortured prior to being killed.

Charles Merritt, McStay’s former business partner has been charged with the family’s murder.

6. James Bulger via Wikipedia

In 1993, in England, two-year-old James Bulger was abducted by two ten-year-olds at the mall while his mother was distracted.

After taking him from the mall, the two boys took Bulger on a two and a half mile walk. At one point they picked Bulger up and dropped him on his head which caused him to have a bump on his head and, according to bystanders, cry.

The two then took him up an embankment and onto a set of railroad tracks where they began torturing him.

More details of the murder according to Wikipedia:

At the trial it was established that at this location, one of the boys threw blue Humbrol modelling paint, which they had shoplifted earlier, into Bulger’s left eye. They kicked and stomped on him, and threw bricks and stones at him. Batteries were placed in Bulger’s mouth. Police believed some batteries may have been inserted into his anus, although none were found there. Finally, a 22-pound (10.0 kg) iron bar, described in court as a railway fishplate, was dropped on him. Bulger suffered ten skull fractures as a result of the iron bar striking his head. Dr. Alan Williams, the case’s pathologist, stated that Bulger suffered so many injuries—42 in total—that none could be isolated as the fatal blow.

Police suspected that there was a sexual element to the crime, since Bulger’s shoes, socks, trousers and underpants had been removed. The pathologist’s report read out in court stated that Bulger’s foreskin had been forcibly retracted.

Before they left him, the boys laid Bulger across the railway tracks and weighted his head down with rubble, in the hope that a train would hit him and make his death appear to be an accident.

After Bulger’s killers left the scene, his body was cut in half by a train. Bulger’s severed body was discovered two days later on 14 February.

7. Amora Bain Carson

Amora Bain Carson, the 13-month-old baby who was tortured to death by her mother’s boyfriend during an “exorcism.” I’ll tell the story by copying some things from each of their appeals. Jesseca Carson was the baby’s mother, and the boyfriend was Blaine Milam. Jessica Carson was sentenced to life, while Blaien Milam was sentenced to death.

WARNING: Graphic Content

“Carson concluded that the child was like ‘Chucky’ or ‘Pet Sematary’ (horror movies) when the “boy dies and comes back to life all evil and stuff” because the child was “biting Blaine to where it was drawing blood on his hands.” After Milam returned to the child, he took a picture of her and gave it to Carson. One of the child’s eyes was stretched and ‘like warped down.’ Carson heard horrible cries from the child as Milam was attempting the exorcism.”

“During the hours involved, Milam had taken the child to a back bedroom in their small dwelling and wedged the door shut. The evidence would allow a jury to conclude that Carson was necessarily aware of what was happening to the child, because she admitted hearing the screams that accompanied such torture and because she saw the child’s deformed head after some time had passed and heard the sounds caused by the blows.”

“They found blood-spatter stains, consistent with blunt force trauma, near the south bedroom. Among the items collected from the south bedroom were: blood-stained bedding and baby clothes; blood-stained baby diapers and wipes; a tube of Astroglide lubricant; and a pair of jeans with blood stains on the lap. DNA testing later showed that Amora’s blood was on these items.”

“As a result of the ‘exorcism’ conducted by Milam, Amora suffered innumerable injuries that led to her death. Forensic evidence showed the child was beaten so severely that the multitude of fractures to her skull connected with each other like a jigsaw puzzle, and her brain was torn and severely damaged. An arm and leg had spiral fractures indicating they were twisted in two, her torso was either struck by a blunt object or squeezed until the ribs and sternum broke, and her body (neck, chest, abdomen, buttocks, both elbows, both forearms, both feet, right arm, left shoulder, left upper arm, left hand, right thigh, and left knee) was riddled with no less than twenty-four distinct bite marks. Her head and face were so scraped and bruised that all the discrete injuries combined into “one giant injury.” Her liver was torn, and her vaginal and anal orifices were so torn that the vagina and rectum were actually connected, an injury the forensic examiner had never seen before. The underside of her tongue was lacerated from blunt force trauma. She was also strangled. Because of all the injuries she sustained, it was not possible to determine which one was the final injury, and no specific, singular cause of death was determinable. Forensic testimony reflected that several of the injuries standing alone would have each been fatal. Police were called several hours later; when they arrived, the child was entirely stiff and in rigor.”

“On December 13th, appellant’s sister, Teresa, went to see appellant in jail. That night, she told her aunt that she ‘was needing to find a way to get back out to the trailer in Tatum’ because “Blaine had told her that she needed to go out there to the trailer to get some evidence out from underneath of it.” The aunt called Sgt. Rogers and told her that “she needed to get out to the trailer immediately, that Teresa was wanting to go out there to get some evidence out from underneath the trailer.”

“Sgt. Rogers immediately obtained a search warrant, crawled under the trailer, and discovered a pipe wrench inside a clear plastic bag. The pipe wrench had been shoved down ‘a hole in the floor of the master bathroom.’ Forensic analysis revealed components of Astroglide on the pipe wrench, the diaper Amora had been wearing, and the diaper and wipes collected from the south bedroom.”

Werner Herzog did an episode of On Death Row about Blaine Milam and the full episode is on YouTube. It has security footage from the pawn shop where they were supposedly pawning a chainsaw to get money for an exorcism (after Amora was already dead) and a gas station, the 911 call, crime scenes photos (not of Amora’s body, of course, just the trailer) and interviews with pretty much everyone involved (except Jesseca Carson). It doesn’t make it any easier… but this case raises a lot of questions and searching online for these kinds of cases can take you horrible places that use Amora for shock value or misrepresent autopsy photos of other unfortunate victims as her (no post-mortem photos of Amora have been released and her autopsy was sealed). Especially since Amora’s case hasn’t been in the MSM very much due to the graphic nature of her death. With Herzog you’re getting quality information on the case coming straight from those involved.

Bonus: 36 Locals Share The Most Horrific True Crimes That Happened In Their Home Towns

1. “Stacey Castor poisoned her husband and then poisoned her daughter on the daughter’s first day of college. She wrote a fake suicide note for her daughter saying that she had killed her father and was committing suicide because of the guilt. The daughter almost died but recovered from the poison and testified against her mother. They also found out she had poisoned her first husband.”

2. “When I was in 3rd grade I saw a kid get into a police car while I was in chess club. Turns out his father murdered his younger twin sisters by stabbing them to death. Apparently he told them to play hide and seek and murdered them when he found them. When he finally returned to school he got bullied by the shitbag kids at our school, making fun of his dead sisters. He was placed in the custody of his aunt who later committed suicide and he was left in the care of the state after that. That boy’s life was horrible.”

3. “Around 3 years ago, my friend’s father went berserk and killed my friend, his younger brother and his mother, and then proceeded to hang himself. I remember talking to him the week before about a project we had in lit class. His extended family took the project because it was the last thing he worked on before the incident. I had grief counselors talk to me for every class I had with him (Which was almost all of them). Our school still has a Tree and a memorial dedicated to him.”

4.“Probably David Meirhofer’s murders. Among other things he snatched a seven year old girl out of her tent while her family was camping, molested her, then strangled her to death. They caught him because he called her mother to taunt her a year later.”

5. “Neighbors that lived across the road from me were having domestic issues. The wife brings over a box of stuff for us to stash because she is afraid he will steal/burn it. We stash it for her no problem. A week later she is missing, the following week they found her dead, stuffed in a box in his storage unit. He got life. We gave the box of stuff to her daughter.”

6. “Guy beat his pregnant girlfriend to death in front of her kids, then beat her 8 and 6 year old to death. Couldn’t bring himself to beat the 2 year old to death so he threw him in the dryer and turned it on.”

7. “When I was a kid one of my neighbors and his sister murdered their mom by bashing her head in with a real heavy frying pan and then strangled her with the phone cord. (Back when phones had cords) because the mother told the son that he couldn’t take his underage sister out with him to a party. So they killed her and left her body in the closet and then went to the party like nothing happened.”

8. “I live in a (relatively) rural county in England, so we normally don’t have many crimes that you could consider too bad.

About three years ago a 17 year girl I’d met once or twice went missing, she was popular and the community really pulled together in trying to find her. She was also the daughter of a detective who works in our town.

Turns out she was murdered by another lad I’d also met a few times. He was a bit older (22 I think) He seemed okay when I met him, a little cocky but nothing too unusual. He was a photographer who once staged a picture with one of my friends where she was hanging by the neck with a bag on her head. Pretty strange stuff, but I assumed it was all in the name of art.

He’d been rejected by this girl so he lured her to his house on the pretense of taking modelling photos. He strangled her to death when she got there and dumped her body miles away.

Apparently the cops found essays he’d been writing obsessively about her. He’d also taken pictures labelled “before-during-after” of her murder, so it was obviously pre-meditated.

He was given a whole-life sentence (which are very rare in the UK) so chances are he’ll never get to see the light of day again.”

9. “My neighbor that became our family’s friend had a nice step dad. He used to give me rides sometimes. We lived in a bad part of Miami (think inner city, not South Beach) and my nickname there was “smart girl” because I’m the only one in “the hood” that went to college.

Anyway, I moved away and apparently one day my friend’s mom told his step dad she wanted to leave him. He went insane. He grabbed his gun and told her she’s going to die before she leaves or something like that. My friend’s little sister was there too and was crying the whole time (she was like 16). My friend stepped between his step dad and his mom. His step dad told him if he didn’t move he’d kill him too.

He didn’t move. He killed my friend, then the mom. He turned to the little girl and said he couldn’t kill her and that he was so sorry. Then he killed himself.”

10. “The murder of Maddie Clifton. An 8 year old girl went missing in Jacksonville, FL and it became a huge national story in 1998. There was a massive hunt to find her by law enforcement and local residents. Everyone was looking. It’s all anyone talked about. A week into the search, a mother went into her son’s room while he was at school to clean it after the stench coming from it became overwhelming. His waterbed seemed to be leaking. When she looked more closely, she discovered Maddie’s body stuffed inside the pedestal of the bed.

The woman’s son was only 14 years old. He said him and Maddie were playing baseball, and when he hit the ball, it hit Maddie in the eye causing her to bleed. He says he panicked when she wouldn’t stop screaming, and said his father was abusive and was afraid what would happen to him if he she told on him. So, he dragged Maddie inside, stabbed her 11 times and beat her to death with the baseball bat.

Horrible, tragic story.”

11. “A woman murdered an expectant mother and cut the baby out, drove off, then called 911 in an attempt to pass the baby off as her own. I was just off work around that time that night and definitely drove by that exact spot before they found the body. It’s right off the highway. Creepy shit…”

12. “Our neighbor on our street was having an affair and decided it was a good idea to kill her husband then burn the house down so she could be with her pilot boyfriend.

Stupid thing was her boyfriend used to come into one local bar, said he was never that serious about her and that she was clingy, even went so far as to try and get him to be her alibi. All this happened while we were on vacation, weirdest trip home ever.”

13. “If you guys aren’t aware what’s going on in the Philippines. Most drug users/dealers are now being killed by unknown assailants. Just last week we have 2 people dumped near where I live with their heads fully wrapped with tape and hands as well with a cardboard sign saying “I’m a drug dealer. Don’t be like me” (translated from our native language).”

14. “Grew up in a small town north of the bay area, while watching a documentary about Jim Jones my teacher started crying. Found out for several years Jones’s church was in our town (2miles from my house) and after everyone committed ‘suicide’ in Guyana they ran a list of names on the local news. A large number of previous students and their parents were on the list. The shit didn’t go down in my town but a whole generation where I grew up lost friends and family to that guy and the church (with a guard tower) still stands to this day but with a different denomination.”

15. “When I was a baby there was this nice couple that lived down the street from me. No kids, middle aged, average couple. The wife and my mom would talk sometimes – casual pleasant neighborly chatter. Apparently this lady was a total sweetheart and was loved around town.

So one day my mom is driving home, and the couple’s house is surrounded by police cruisers. Turns out the wife commit suicide by shotgun. The problem was – she shot herself twice.

For months they were investigating the husband…they were so close to having the evidence that they needed to nail him for the murder.

One day, my mom and grandma were going to the store. When they left, he was sitting in his driveway in his car. He waved at them as they left. When they get home, there are police and an ambulance outside his house – he was slumped over dead in his car – suicide by carbon monoxide.

They literally saw him as he was killing himself after he killed his wife. Yikes.”

16. “Andrea Yates drowning her five kids. Happened five minutes away and our family still sees her ex husband and his new family on occasion. They’re very nice.”

17. “Let’s see… Where to start? This list doesn’t even include the stuff related to the meth epidemic.

(1990’s) A guy cut another dude into pieces with a carving knife and stashed the body in the deep freezer in his apartment. The police only found them a week later.

(2000’s) A guy got into an argument with their cousin at the club, drove to their house and chucked a firebomb inside. The fire killed all five of their kids, who were home at the time.

(2000’s again) Another guy heard that his estranged parents had a huge life insurance policy in their name. One night, he left home, drove to his parents’ place in Iowa, and killed almost everyone (6 people) with a shotgun, then drove home to eat dinner, while awaiting the news. He was only caught because his 7 year old niece hid in the closet the whole time and she was able to tell who did it.

(2015-now) Several fatal shootings and beatings that have killed a few people. Heroin epidemic.

Oh also, Michael Swango AKA “Dr. Death”, a serial killer known for poisoning victims (4-60; true number unknown), worked as an EMT around the area here in the 80’s.

So, yeah, Central Illinois is just low-key slang for ‘Trevor Philips country’.”

18. “Just happened this month, a mother of a one month old punched her baby to death because she was tired of feeding it. She then blamed the father. Fucked up.”

19. “Whitey here. I live in a small south east town. Back in the 80’s the town was still pretty segregated school wise. Where the railroad tracks once ran through town, was the diving line. South side of the railroad was probably 99.9% black. My backyard fence was part of that dividing line. When I was 10, my parents fostered a black boy my age. He lived in my neighborhood, played on my baseball team. His dad went to prison up in NY and the boy lived with us for 4 years. He moved back when his dad got out. But 30 years later, we still tell people we are brothers.

‘D’ taught me a lot about black community. Especially about times when crimes are committed and the whole black community knows who did it. But don’t tell because “fuck the police” or retaliation from the criminal.

we lived 2 blocks from the closest convenience store/arcade. People walking to the store from the south side of the tracks, walked by my house. It wasn’t the wild west or anything. We may not have gone to the same school sometimes, but we only had 1 recreation department so we played sports together. So we always saw people we knew at the store.

But there was this one guy. For the late 80’s this dude was pretty out and flamboyant when it came to being gay. Remember those 70’s and 80’s short shorts with the stripe. If you hung em just right, your balls were exposed.

Anyway, dude used to walk up and down the street, short short, flip flops, tank top t shirt, medium size afro, and usually sucking on a sucker. He was very friendly. He would stop and talk. He acted like he was a girl. He was alright. My sister and her friend were nice to him. He stopped and talked to them if they were ever about.

Fast Forward. So the dude is found in the bathroom at the ballfield. He had been murdered. Just fucked up big time. Beat to hell and back. And the story every one has head as an urban legend before. They had cut his dick off and put it in his mouth. His balls were in his hand and a broom stick had been shoved in his ass.

No suspects.

Year later, out in the county, a white sherriff’s deputy off duty from another county happens to be in our jurisdiction, checking on his parents’ house. Happens to catch 2 black guys robbing the house. He shoots and kills both after a scuffle.

Oddly enough, under routine drug test, because of the shooting, cocaine shows up on his system. This story is really fishy. Investigation goes on for a long time. The cops finally drop the case, declare it self defense or what have.

This is where my foster brother ‘D’ comes into play. Years later. We’re in our 20’s, shooting the shit and somehow bring up the murder of the gay dude. I was like, ‘I can’t believe they never solved that case.’

D was like what you talking about? Everybody knew who did it. What? He asked, ‘remember the 2 black dudes the off duty cop killed breaking into his parents house?’

Yea I remember that.

Well those were the dudes that did it. Everybody in the “hood” knew it was them. They were always terrorizing everybody. And the house they were breaking into and got caught? Drug deal. Those 2 dudes were dealing drugs, and that white guy, off duty sheriff deputy from another county. Shot em in the middle of the deal.

So two drug dealers/murderers are murdered by a crooked cop, but in the end, I don’t really consider that justice for our friendly neighborhood gay boy that probably never hurt a flea in his 20 years of life.

You may not have any love for ‘the man’ or ‘the police’ but how can a community be silent when innocent people are hurt?”

20. “Second week in my new apartment and my neighbor gets robbed and stabbed. I heard the whole encounter and was the one that called the cops.”

21. “I was emancipated really young. I just moved into emergency housing commission and had to sleep in the lounge room because it had the only light bulb and I’m scared of the dark.

For anyone not in Australia Housing Commission is cheap units or houses owned by the government and rented to disadvantaged people. Mostly junkies and welfare bludgers.

Anyway I was sleeping in the lounge room which had the front door attached when I hear the most blood curling screams.

One junkie had poured boiling water over another chick, stabbed her repeatedly and cut off one of her tits.

I was laying maybe 10 meters away.”

22. “A child was raped and murdered. Guy was arrested and he was killed within 24 hours of being arrested and in a community cell of like 6 inmates instead of segregation he died and no one in the cell seen it.”

23. “I only remember some of the details as I was on holidays at the time and only heard second hand what happened. So a guy who lived around the corner had an argument with his wife over something, got pissed off and then shot her. People heard the gunshot and called the police, which prompted him to run away in his car down the main road about 2km to his parents house where he got into their gun locker, killed his parents and then had a standoff with the police that lasted a couple of hours and ending in him shooting himself.”

24. “We had a group of people who would pretend to be the cops, dressed in all black and wore ski masks and stuff, knock on your door, say they had a warrant, and if you opened it up, they would force their way in and rob you.

This went on for months, like, month after month after month. They decided they were above the law, so their crimes kept getting worse and worse, one of their later houses they beat an old man until he had jaw, facial, and skull fractures so bad he had to have a life flight to a major trauma center where he had emergency surgery. The next old couple they killed.

They were sure the local police couldn’t do anything, the newspaper even said the police had nothing to go on, and it just kept getting worse. One of their last home invasions, they just killed the homeowner as he opened the door for absolutely no reason.

I realized that if someone had defended themselves earlier in the chain of criminality, things never would have reached this point. I ended up getting a Ring Video Doorbell and a Strikemaster II door reinforcements for each external door. I keep firearms in electronic safes ready to use at any moment. Nothing like that is going to happen to my family.”

25. “There was a family in the area I used to live in and I played soccer with the middle daughter. It was three girls — two were adults and one was still in high school — and the parents. The parents were very religious, the mother especially, and they had a lot of beliefs that I (and many people) found…strange.

The eldest daughter (whose name I don’t recall) had a serious mental illness that she managed perfectly well when she lived out of home. She had a job, had a decent life and all was well. The relationship she was in fell apart and she had to move back home for financial reasons. One of the rules her parents had was that she wasn’t to take her meds anymore because they weren’t what they considered ‘godly.’

Things deteriorated over time and the parents continued to withhold her medications. Now, I have a chronic mental illness myself and without my meds things descend into chaos quite quickly so I can’t imagine what it would’ve been like for her with her illness being more serious than mine. Her parents were told by their church to pray over her and everything would be ok.

As I’m sure you can imagine things were not ok. She lost her tenuous grip on reality and became unstable. She attacked her family while doing battle with a series of hallucinations that were telling her awful things about her parents and sisters. She took a sharp kitchen knife and went after her youngest sister (the middle one that I knew wasn’t home at the time) and stabbed her to death in the kitchen. Her father kept trying to defend his youngest child while trying to settle the eldest and he sustained serious injuries. The eldest followed him when he ran from the house to get help and she caught him from behind and stabbed him multiple times in the neck. He died on the front lawn. The mother was injured as well but appeared not to be the target of the eldest daughter’s hallucinations and she managed to survive.

The girl was taken down by tasers when the police arrived — they were called by neighbours who heard the commotion — and she was sent to a high security facility where she still is now. She was very obviously not in control of herself at the time so she avoided criminal charges and the mother moved away from the area.

I feel for the mother most; she essentially lost her whole family. The youngest and her husband had been killed and the middle child moved away eventually too, changing her surname when she got married and chose to disconnect from her mother. I know she blames her mum for what happened because she was the one who withheld the medication. I can imagine that the mum blames herself too.

When that happened it helped my mum to put my illness into perspective — if I’m treated properly, everything will be alright. It was a “there, but for the grace of God, go we” moment.

That was the worst crime that happened in our area for quite a while. Years before that there was a massacre (the Milperra Masacre, if you want to google it) between rival biker gangs who had, and continue to have, a presence in that particular suburb. Since then there was a child drowned during an exorcism after parents were told by a priest (or something) that the kid had a demon inside him and trying to force it out was the only way to save him…he was going through puberty, that’s all.”

26. “The kidnapping of Michael Dunahee. He is still just considered missing but its been 20+ years. You’d have to be pretty optimistic to believe he didn’t meet a horrible fate. He was just a small boy when taken and the incident absolutely ROCKED My small crime free city. It changed everything…parents kept a much more careful eye on us kids..many of our freedoms were taken away…I still feel sick when i think about what horrible things must’ve happened to that poor boy.”

27. “Growing up two brothers murdered their parents and put them in bags in the Attic. They did this because their parents would not let them go to a party nor own a cell phone, this was when cell phone were just becoming affordable for the upper middle class.”

28. “DEA bust next door, serial killers dumping ground five minutes from my house, and Sandy hook is within a 30 minutes drive.”

29. “We sold our house when I was 9 and moved a few miles away. The couple we sold the house to was nice enough, but a little odd. I don’t even know what it was, but even I noticed they were weird, and I was a little kid.

Fast forward about 12 years. I’m in college and these people have a son themselves. One day the man cornered his wife in the dining room and blew her head off with a shotgun. They had been having marital trouble prior to that but I’m not sure what exactly set him off. Kind of creepy to know that happened in my old house.”

30. “The girl who got stabbed by the two slenderman girls? My second cousin. My younger siblings actually played with her 2 weeks prior at a family gathering. Crazy.”

31. “Some kid beat another to kid to death with a bat over an argument that had to do with something related to weed. Mind you the population in my town is like 8,000. This was crazy.”

32. “Well, we’ve got a serial killer running around now – he’s killed seven people so far. (Referring to the current serial killer loose in Phoenix, Arizona).”

33. “I live in Downtown Dallas. I was packing for an international trip the night of the police shooting. I took note of the crowds after work and just made a mental note to “stay inside for awhile” after I got home. It wasn’t until I walked downstairs to get some tacos at around 10pm and a couple cops with sniper rifles were posted up in our lobby and told me to “get the fuck back upstairs, we are on lockdown!” that I realized some shit went down. What I witnessed that night and the following day really changed my perspective on a lot. They didn’t show the majority of it on the news. I have always been very supportive and stood behind a lot of social movements…but there is zero excuse for a 14 year old to spit on a cop, tell me I was a “Mexican bitch” that he “ought to rape,” loot a 7-11, or do any of the insane things that I saw.”

34. The Snowtown, Australia Murders

“In my city some guys went around torturing people to death and then dissolved their bodies in vats of acid. But they used the wrong type of acid (Not strong enough) and people complained of a foul smell, so the police investigated and found semi-liquified remains in barrels.”

35. “Two people ordered a pizza and killed the teenage driver because they wanted to know what it was like to kill a man.”

36. “The 10 mile radius around my childhood home is like catnip to serial killers and evil. BTK dumped one of his victims in a ditch a mile away from my house (before I was born,) the Carr Brothers murdered a group of 5 people in the soccer field 4-5 miles from my home (6th one survived because she wore a metal hair clip that caused the bullet to ricochet away from her head,) A man molested small children on the same street, the old lady that hated us kids ended up murdered by her own son (my mom was the one to find her since she started to smell the decomposing body and a family member asked her if she was willing to go in for her.)

Tons of crimes that never were recorded, gunshots going off in the dead of night, a scream that suddenly got cut short, we were just told to lay on the floor while my father paced the house with a shotgun until he felt it was safe.”

Read more: thoughtcatalog.com

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gordonwilliamsweb · 4 years ago

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Children’s Hospitals Grapple With Young Covid ‘Long Haulers’

This story also ran on USA Today. It can be republished for free.

A slumber party to celebrate Delaney DePue’s 15th birthday last summer marked a new chapter — one defined by illness and uncertainty.

The teen from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, tested positive for covid-19 about a week later, said her mother, Sara, leaving her bedridden with flu-like symptoms. However, her expected recovery never came.

Delaney — who used to train 20 hours a week for competitive dance and had no diagnosed underlying conditions — now struggles to get through two classes in a row, she said. If she overexerts herself, she becomes bedridden with extreme fatigue. And shortness of breath overcomes her in random places like the grocery store.

Doctors ultimately diagnosed Delaney with COPD — a chronic lung inflammation that affects a person’s ability to breathe — said Sara, 47. No one has been able to pinpoint the cause of her daughter’s decline.

“There’s just no research there,” she said. “Kids are not supposed to have this kind of condition.”

While statistics indicate that children have largely been spared from the worst effects of covid, little is known about what causes a small percentage of them to develop serious illness. Doctors are now reporting the emergence of downstream complications that mimic what’s seen in adult “long haulers.”

In response, pediatric hospitals are creating clinics to provide a one-stop shop for care and to catch any anomalies that could otherwise go unnoticed. However, the treatment offered by these centers could come at a steep price tag to patients, health finance experts warned, especially given that so much about the condition is unknown.

Nonetheless, the increasing number of patients like Delaney is leading to a more structured follow-up plan for kids recovering from covid, said Dr. Uzma Hasan, division chief of pediatric infectious diseases at St. Barnabas Medical Center in New Jersey.

“The cost of missing these children means a horrible event,” she said.

Unanswered Questions

More than 3 million children and young adults had tested positive for covid in the United States as of Feb. 18, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association report. Most of these kids experience mild, if any, symptoms.

Over the course of the pandemic, though, it has become apparent that some children develop serious and potentially long-term problems.

The most well-known of these complications is called “multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children,” or MIS-C. Symptoms — which include high fever, a skin rash and stomach pain — can appear up to a month after getting covid. Around 2,000 cases have been identified in the United States. Black and Hispanic children make up a disproportionate share: 69%.

But clinicians also said they’re increasingly hearing of children seeking help for different complications, such as fatigue, shortness of breath and loss of smell, that don’t go away.

Clinics for Child Long Haulers

At Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, clinicians set up a clinic in October after receiving calls from area pediatricians who had patients with long-haul symptoms.

No one knows how often children develop these symptoms, how many already have the illness or even what to name it, said Dr. Kris Bryant, president of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society, who works at the hospital.

The children see an infectious diseases doctor who then refers them or orders tests as necessary.

So far, the clinic has seen about 25 patients with a wide range of symptoms, said Dr. Daniel Blatt, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist involved with the clinic. Because covid mimics symptoms associated with a variety of other illnesses, he said, part of his job is to rule out any other possible causes.

“Because the virus is so new,” Blatt said, “there’s a presumption that everything is covid.”

Similarly, an ad hoc clinic for other young patients has been set up within the cardiology department at the Children’s Hospital & Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Patients are screened to assess the heart’s structure and how it functions. She said they’ve been seeing six to eight patients per week.

“The question I can never answer for the parents,” said Dr. Jean Ballweg, a pediatric cardiologist at the hospital who also works at the clinic, “is why one child and not another?”

So far, Ballweg said, she’s seen no published literature on the heart health of children who develop these symptoms after recovering from covid. By standardizing how doctors in the clinic collect data and treat patients, Ballweg said, she hopes the information will provide some clues as to how the virus affects a child’s heart. “Hopefully, we can look at the collective experience and recognize patterns and provide better care.”

University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland is involved in creating a multidisciplinary clinic that will consolidate care by giving patients access to specialists and integrative medicine like acupuncture.

Clinicians saw a need for the unit after teenagers with post-covid symptoms began arriving at the hospital system’s clinic for adults with long-haul symptoms, said Dr. Amy Edwards, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at the hospital involved with the project. So far, she said, she’s heard of about eight to 10 children who could need care.

The clinic, yet to open, intends to recruit more children through announcements, said Edwards. Identifying the right patient for the clinic will be complicated, she added. There’s no test to check for post-covid symptoms and there’s no agreed-on definition for the condition. Doctors also don’t know whether some symptoms can be cured, she said, or last a lifetime.

“The question is if we’re going to be able to do anything about it,” Edwards said.

‘I Don’t Know’ Is a Difficult Answer

Even Dr. Abby Siegel, a 51-year-old pediatrician who works in Stamford, Connecticut, couldn’t find answers for her daughter. Siegel tested positive for the virus last March after being exposed at work. She believes she passed on the virus to her husband and their then-17-year-old daughter, Lauren.

The family recovered by early April, but then both Siegel’s daughter and husband took a turn for the worse. Lauren — who played rugby — started feeling fatigued, shortness of breath and a racing heart rate. Siegel took her to multiple specialists — including a friend who is a cardiologist — all of whom doubted her.

Lauren, now 18, receives care at Mount Sinai Hospital’s adult covid care center and is improving. Siegel said the clinic has affirmed her daughter’s experience and helped her get more information about this condition. She wishes the doctors they had visited earlier had been more honest about the unknowns surrounding post-covid health problems.

“It’s amazing how we’re met with the denial rather than the ‘I don’t know,’” she said.

There’s another wrinkle that often comes with the I-don’t-know response.

The uncertainty swirling around these symptoms in children will likely require clinicians to run a battery of tests — procedures that could potentially cost their families a lot of money, said Glenn Melnick, a health economist and professor at USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. Pediatric hospitals usually have little regional competition, he said, allowing them to charge more for their specialized services.

For families without comprehensive health insurance or who face high deductibles, many tests could mean big bills.

Gerard Anderson, a professor of health policy and management at Johns Hopkins University, said these clinics’ potential profitability hinges on several factors. If a clinic serves a large enough area, it could attract enough patients to earn substantial dollars for the affiliated pediatric hospital. A child’s health care coverage plays a role as well — those who are privately insured are more lucrative patients than those covered by public programs like Medicaid, but only as long as the family can shoulder the financial burden.

“If I had a kid who had this problem,” said Anderson, “I’d be very concerned about my out-of-pocket liability.”

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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Children’s Hospitals Grapple With Young Covid ‘Long Haulers’ published first on https://nootropicspowdersupplier.tumblr.com/

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stephenmccull · 4 years ago

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Children’s Hospitals Grapple With Young Covid ‘Long Haulers’

This story also ran on USA Today. It can be republished for free.

A slumber party to celebrate Delaney DePue’s 15th birthday last summer marked a new chapter — one defined by illness and uncertainty.

“There’s just no research there,” she said. “Kids are not supposed to have this kind of condition.”

“The cost of missing these children means a horrible event,” she said.

Unanswered Questions

Over the course of the pandemic, though, it has become apparent that some children develop serious and potentially long-term problems.

But clinicians also said they’re increasingly hearing of children seeking help for different complications, such as fatigue, shortness of breath and loss of smell, that don’t go away.

Clinics for Child Long Haulers

At Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky, clinicians set up a clinic in October after receiving calls from area pediatricians who had patients with long-haul symptoms.

The children see an infectious diseases doctor who then refers them or orders tests as necessary.

“Because the virus is so new,” Blatt said, “there’s a presumption that everything is covid.”

“The question I can never answer for the parents,” said Dr. Jean Ballweg, a pediatric cardiologist at the hospital who also works at the clinic, “is why one child and not another?”

“The question is if we’re going to be able to do anything about it,” Edwards said.

‘I Don’t Know’ Is a Difficult Answer

“It’s amazing how we’re met with the denial rather than the ‘I don’t know,’” she said.

There’s another wrinkle that often comes with the I-don’t-know response.

For families without comprehensive health insurance or who face high deductibles, many tests could mean big bills.

“If I had a kid who had this problem,” said Anderson, “I’d be very concerned about my out-of-pocket liability.”

Kaiser Health News (KHN) is a national health policy news service. It is an editorially independent program of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

USE OUR CONTENT

This story can be republished for free (details).

Children’s Hospitals Grapple With Young Covid ‘Long Haulers’ published first on https://smartdrinkingweb.weebly.com/

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womenofcolor15 · 5 years ago

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Travis Scott & Kylie Serve Up Major Coupledom Vibes After Stormi’s 2nd Birthday Bash + Baby Kulture Had A Blast In Stormi’s World

It appears Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner may want that old thing back following their daughter Stormi’s 2nd birthday. Word on the curb is that they’re “closer than ever,” that he comes over “all the time,” and they’re constantly Facetiming and texting. Find out what sources say about a possible reunion, plus videos of Baby Kulture being her adorable self at Stormi’s birthday bash inside…

Looks like that “break” Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner said they were taking back in October has ended…possibly.

Since announcing their break last year, Travis and Kylie have been co-parenting like pros with fans wishing and praying for a reconciliation. And they may be one step closer now.

After reuniting for their daughter Stormi Webster’s 2nd birthday, the former couple are sparking dating rumors again. There hasn’t been confirmation of an official coupledom situation, but all the signs are there that they could possibly reunite and work on their relationship again.

"Organizing Stormi's birthday party and her day-to-day life has brought Travis and Kylie closer than ever," a source told E! News. "They have not had a deep discussion about getting back together and are very happy at the stage they are at right now. It has been brought up many times but they are going with the flow."

Going with the flow…for now. When they decided to split, it was revealed the Lip Kit honcho doesn't trust him because of his inability to give her the commitment she needs. Maybe he turned a new leaf:

"Kylie and Travis are not officially back together but are pros at co-parenting Stormi at this point. Stormi keeps them very close and they are on amazing terms,” the source continued. Stormi’s parents have been spending so much time together, sources close to them predict they’ll eventually get back together.

"They both truly still care about each other and there are strong feelings there," the source added. "It's inevitable they will get back together. Everyone around them sees the love they share and thinks they should just give it another chance."

A second source told the site the same thing:

"They are getting along well and parenting together every day. They are always together and there is so much love between them with Stormi," the second insider shared. "It's hard to imagine they won't get back together officially. You can see they still love each other and want to be close."

"They don't show any PDA, but they are a big part of each other's lives," the source continued. "They know everything about each other and they constantly make each other laugh."

They haven’t moved back in together, but the insider said the ASTROWORLD rapper is over Kylie’s house “all the time" and when he isn't there they are "always FaceTiming and texting."

"They are spending more and more time together and really enjoying it," the source shared. "It seems like the natural next step will be to get back together."

You all can guess where these sources came from.

The "Keeping Up With The Kardashians" star did an interview with Harper's Bazaar where she opened up about her relationship with the Houston rapper.

"We have such a great relationship. We're like best friends," Kylie shared. "We both love Stormi and want what's best for her. We stay connected and coordinated."

Speaking of Stormi's party....

View this post on Instagram

Kulture making some rich friends and eating all the foods at #stormiworld .Im so happy my baby enjoyed herself! Happy Birthday beautiful Stormi !Keep glowing and growing.

A post shared by Cardib (@iamcardib) on Feb 2, 2020 at 12:51pm PST

Baby Kulture Cephus - daughter of Cardi B & Offset - got dressed up adorably to attend Stormi's birthday bash. It was a similar theme from her party last year, Stormi's World.

Mama Cardi gushed over her baby girl on social media, saying she was eating up all the birthday snacks while making new "rich friends."

"Kulture making some rich friends and eating all the foods at #stormiworld .Im so happy my baby enjoyed herself! Happy Birthday beautiful Stormi !Keep glowing and growing," the "Press" rapper wrote.

Daddy Offset shared some flicks too:

View this post on Instagram

KULTURE HAD FUN AT #stormiworld @travisscott @kyliejenner thanks

A post shared by OFFSET (@offsetyrn) on Feb 2, 2020 at 3:24pm PST

View this post on Instagram

Auntie stop hugging me & give me one of those churros #stormiworld

A post shared by OFFSET (@offsetyrn) on Feb 2, 2020 at 4:05pm PST

Baby Stormi was just as cute:

View this post on Instagram

favorite day of the year ⛈

A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Feb 2, 2020 at 4:08pm PST

View this post on Instagram

#stormiworld

A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Feb 2, 2020 at 4:03pm PST

View this post on Instagram

Such a blessing to be able to create these magical experiences for my baby. StormiWorld!!!! thank you God.

A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Feb 2, 2020 at 4:43pm PST

Go inside Stormi's World below:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kylie Jenner News (@kyliesnapchat) on Feb 1, 2020 at 5:03pm PST

View this post on Instagram

True and Dream join the party

A post shared by Kylie Jenner News (@kyliesnapchat) on Feb 1, 2020 at 5:17pm PST

Stormi's cousins True Thompson & Dream Kardashian were in the mix:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kylie Jenner News (@kyliesnapchat) on Feb 1, 2020 at 6:52pm PST

Kris Jenner's boyfriend Corey Gamble surely had himself a good time:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kylie Jenner News (@kyliesnapchat) on Feb 1, 2020 at 7:01pm PST

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kylie Jenner News (@kyliesnapchat) on Feb 1, 2020 at 9:56pm PST

Fun times.

Photo: Kylie's IG

[Read More ...] source http://theybf.com/2020/02/06/travis-scott-kylie-serve-up-major-coupledom-vibes-after-stormi%E2%80%99s-2nd-birthday-bash-baby-k

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ultronnie · 7 years ago

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pls tell me about Kris I need to hear about him for my health

OOOOH FRIEND

I CAN SERIOUSLY TALK ABOUT KRIS FOR H O U R S

WELL

HERE WE GO.

gonna get in DEEP here, my dude. kris is very important to me for like 9426946 reasons.

Full Name: Kris Dawson. Nothing too special. The name Kris stuck when I was first writing him about a year ago. I dunno what it is about the name but it sticks with his character. Last name came from my dude Shane Dawson. I love Shane to death. He’s had a big impact on a lot of stuff for me the past few years so yeah.

Gender and Sexuality: Male and he’s bi.

Pronouns: He/him.

Ethnicity/Species: Tiny lil’ cat boy! AHHHHHHH!!

Birthplace and Birthdate: He’s an October baby! Ah! On the 7th. We share a birthday. Birthplace was a hospital coz duh lol.

Guilty Pleasures: So quick thing here that’s important to note: Kris is very much me. The thoughts, the voice, the actions. He’s me. Like I said about Andy, I’ve put some of my insecurities and issues on him. But Kris has it all, dude. As I live my life now, I try to establish what happens within his world, even if it’s not exactly like my life.

Now that that’s outta the way:

So in terms of guilty pleasures, Kris is really, really, really passionate about the fact that Born This Way by Lady Gaga is one of the best albums ever made. He won’t play it for you right away, though. If it comes on the shuffle, he goes, “Oh, what??? Lady Gaga??? On my shuffle? HUUUUH??”

Although not as serious, Kris loves the musical Rent. It’s the only musical he likes and he doesn’t mind admitting it even though he hates most other musicals.

Phobias: Kris doesn’t have any straight up fears, kinda like Andy. He’s more terrified of living life alone. Not like losing people, but ending up alone at the end of it all. He wants a companion in someone but he doesn’t think he’s fit for anyone at all.

Kris doesn’t want to disappoint the people he does have in his life. He has a consistent idea that everyone, including his best friend of 17 years, secretly hates his guts and wants him to rot in a garbage dump somewhere. He’s very insecure about himself, even when he comes off as a confident little shit with a smart remark every chance he gets.

What They Would Be Famous For: I’m not sure. Kris and I are figuring that out currently, if that makes sense. It’s hard to find your place in the world, really, and Kris is a pretty basic guy. He doesn’t have any extraordinary talents or anything.

What They Would Get Arrested For: For being Andy’s accomplice. That’s it. That’s the crime. Not sure if this will actually happen in the story buuuut there’s always a chance for some OTP crimes, right?

OC You Ship Them With: OOOOOH BOY

So there’s another part of my life that is VERY sad that sorta revolves around this. It’d give away a bit but there was always another character before Andy who I knew needed to go with Kris. It just worked. See, every character in this story is a representation of me in some way and also an important person in my life. I won’t say much more coz I think I don’t wanna get in too deep about it, but I’ll say that it’s really hard to know you can’t have something.

So Andy. That’s where Andy comes in.

You know this story. But on Kris’s end, he just really thinks Andy’s great. The thing that got him going about that idiot fox was the high pitched metal screaming he did when Damien (ANOTHER CHARACTER AHH) dragged him to his band’s show. Kris just really loves the dude. He thinks the world of him even if he doesn’t agree with Andy’s more serious crimes like public intoxication or a public disturbance.

But Andy also understands the bad things in Kris’s head.

See, I have these weird bouts that come about once a month where everything is bad. The mania of reality runs dry and everything seems very slow. I get inexplicably angry at everything and nothing makes me stop unless I sit alone in my room or something. But Andy helps Kris through these episodes. He’s a good guy. Kris appreciates that.

And again, these two are just the best to draw together. I’ve only come up with a few things and they’re not too great buuuut I’ll very likely commission some stuff of them together.

Stupid Andy. Stole my heart so fucking fast that I’m trying to get him drawn by someone else after he’s been a character FOR TWO WEEKS.

Also, for added feels about these two, I always listen to the Last of the Real Ones by Fall Out Boy with them in mind. Makes me wanna cry, tbh. I love these two that much.

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: I mean, I dunno. Kris doesn’t really do much to anyone else that could make someone wanna murder him. He’s probably the most well-liked person in Re-Hash, tbh.

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Older horror movies are great in Kris’s eyes, and he really likes comic book media. He grew up on Marvel and some DC. He thinks Watchmen is one of the best things ever written. He’s also pretty keen on 1984 for some reason.

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: He thinks about 98% of horror movies nowadays are shit. He loved It, though. It was great! (Seriously, It was great.) Also, historical fiction is B O R I N G most of the times. Also musicals. He thinks most of em are cheesy.

Talents and/or Powers: I think Kris is probably good at whatever I’m good at. I think I write pretty decently and I draw well. Not that he does those things all the time, but he is good at them.

Why Someone Might Love Them: I think that most people like me for my views on things. I’m cynical but in a way that’s funny. Like I don’t say shit like, “I hate *whatever* coz it sucks.” I’ll say “I hate *whatever* coz it is literally the same thing as shitting in a bucket and setting it on fire.” Kris has a very creative way of talking about things that makes people laugh.

Also, Kris is keen on playing his music really loud when he drives and he goes hard. Everyone thinks it’s funny and Andy is like, ‘wow, my boyfriend can’t hold a tune but he’s cute so IT’S FINE’.

He’s also very genuine. He doesn’t really like the shallow games people play with other people. It just ends up in hurt. He’s straightforward and honest. It’s why Andy sees him in such a good light despite all the tragedy Kris has had.

Why Someone Might Hate Them: I don’t really know. I think maybe he thinks people don’t like him for his attitude that people seem to love and that in turn makes him push some people away. He doesn’t mean to of course. I don’t think anyone really could outright hate him unless he really wronged someone in the past, honestly.

Anything’s possible, though.

How They Change: Like I said, as my life goes on, Kris’s does too. So really, I dunno what’s gonna happen. But whatever happens to me will happen to Kris in one way or another.

Why You Love Them: I was going through a pretty rough time about January of 2016. I think that was when I first wrote him as a character and started to really figure some personal shit out. Like, just writing little drabbles about him helped me kinda figure out that I’m bisexual as shit. It just happened. I had to come to terms with it and he helped me figure it out.

I put a lot of work into him even if he’s just a tiny brown cat with the same music taste as me and a lot of cooler clothes. I don’t think there’s anything that I’ve written/made that I REALLY hold closer than this little idiot. Sounds dumb, but I’m in a weird place right now. He’s getting me through some shit even now. He’s a means to cope for me. I just love him to death. Everything about him. Design, personality, story. It’s all so good to me.

Woo. Gettin’ emo. AHHH--

tl;dr - Kris Dawson is the best boy in the world. 11/10. No character ever means more to me.

#hey kris!#re-hash shit #TOOK FOREVER AGAIN SORRY DUDE #dapperdevilman

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eddycurrents · 7 years ago

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For the week of 9 October 2017

My favourites this week are both endings; Rocket #6 by Al Ewing and Adam Gorham and The Woods #36 by James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas. Published by Marvel and BOOM! Studios.

Since at least the “Grounded” relaunch/expansion of the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise titles, Marvel has been producing some extremely high quality, well-written, beautifully-illustrated series that I always feel cheated out of when they’re “cancelled” instead of rightfully referred to as limited series. Particularly those of these last two groupings including Star-Lord, Gamora, I Am Groot, and the two excellent Rocket Raccoon series, first Matthew Rosenberg and Jorge Coelho’s Rocket Raccoon, and now this, Al Ewing and Adam Gorham’s Rocket, which I’d wager could possibly be the best Rocket Raccoon series since Bill Mantlo and Mike Mignola’s series back in 1985 (which this series references and draws from).

Al Ewing crafted an interesting story with "The Blue River Score”, layering it in the genre trappings of a hard-boiled caper, including the typical hard-hitting narration of a Raymond Chandler or Richard Stark novel, a femme fatale in Otta Spice, and an impossible heist, and then mixing it with colourful “obscurish” Marvel characters like the members of Technet and setting it across the backdrop of the more zany corners of Marvel’s cosmos.

Rocket #6 even brings it back around to the original Rocket Raccoon mini-series and Rocket’s old continuity, behaviour, and such with the correlation a lot of people were probably wondering about regarding Otta and Rocket’s otter-love, Lylla, being revealed here as one and the same. Not only does it add Ewing’s penchant for mining the depths of continuity for story payoffs and inspiration, but it also makes the story resonate a bit more with emotional impact.

Adam Gorham’s artwork is wonderful. He excels at drawing strange and wonderful creatures, but also has an added roughness, a scratchiness to his linework that perfectly fits the hard-boiled narrative. His overall design sense, from page layout to panel transitions also make this fun to read. There appears to be extensive thought that’s going into how the story is being told, from both Ewing and Gorham, and it results in an immensely enjoyable comic.

Particularly, I think more comics, not just crime comics like Rocket here or much of Ed Brubaker’s work, could do with a “prose gutter”. I highly recommend this to people who love off-beat crime comics.

The Woods #36 is the conclusion to a series that has dabbled in horror, fantasy, and sci-fi, but at its heart has always been a coming of age tale centred around the kids who had their whole world upended by being stolen away to a strange and dangerous realm on the other side of the universe. The ending is suitably epic as the former children show that they’ve truly grown and matured as they fight to find their way home.

Michael Dialynas has been delivering some incredible art since the series began, but these last few issues have been truly breathtaking. The double-page spreads this issue alone, juxtaposing two different types of battle going on are a treat, showing an ability to make both the quiet character moments and the high action compelling and interesting visually.

The story James Tynion IV has been telling is largely one about growth and change, of transformation through adversity, and occasionally needing to fail. The finale throws the biggest roadblocks and gives the opportunity to show how far the characters have come since that first issue, even antagonists like Adrian get a chance to shine.

This issue also shows how seamlessly Dialynas and Tynion have grown as collaborators. The scene between Isaac and Ben works well both in dialogue and in art, giving a huge emotional impact both in how it appears and in the heartfelt conversation.

Overall, this has been a great series and this is a very satisfying conclusion.

Quick Bits:

Atomahawk #0 collects the shorts that ran previously in Heavy Metal. While a new series is being published in Image+, this is a good time to pick up what came earlier in one place. Aside from just a balls to wall story from Donny Cates, Ian Bederman’s art remains phenomenal. His style reminds me a lot of Peter Kuper and the way that he constructs his characters, action, and page layouts are just fantastic. Highly recommend this special and the serial in Image+.

| Published by Image

Babyteeth #5 gives us one of those game-changing reveals that Donny Cates should be known for producing now based on at the very least Redneck and God Country. Sadie’s world just got a whole lot bigger and a whole lot stranger as she starts getting clued in to what’s going on with her and her baby.

| Published by AfterShock

Birthright #27 reminds me that I probably don’t talk about the colourists enough. Take, for instance, Adriano Lucas’ work here. Andrei Bressan’s linework would still look good, but it’s Lucas’ colours that really elevate the story and put us in a more magical reality with a shift here from standard “realistic” colours to the brighter, softer, and more colourful world inside a more fantastical realm. It just shows the impact that the colourist has on the overall tone and atmosphere of the book.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Daredevil #27 continues the twisting arc of DD’s mentoring of Blindspot since the beginning of this volume. Charles Soule gives us a more thorough backstory for Blindspot and reveals what has happened since the “Dark Art” story-arc. It’s pretty...um...dark.

| Published by Marvel

The Dying & The Dead #6 is still the most beautiful, possibly inscrutable, hidden history comic being published.

| Published by Image

The Family Trade #1 is something different. And pretty fantastic. The premise and setting of the Float, a kind of extension of some of the politics of the Italian city-states during the time of the Renaissance, is brilliant, serving as a perfect backdrop to the populist political allegory that Justin Jordan and Nikki Reed are presenting here. The characters, and the idea of a family of assassins meant to keep society in check is also compelling, particularly the lead, (Jessa Wynn, who I’m fairly sure isn’t even named in the first issue, I grabbed it from the solicitation info), in her somewhat bumbling way.

Morgan Beem’s art also adds greatly to the overall feel and tone of this world. She has an art style that looks highly influenced by European artists, with a soft watercolour palette atop, achieving a very distinctive look for the comic.

Oh, and there’s “talking” cats. Every book should have talking cats. Every one.

| Published by Image

GI Joe #9 concludes this volume from Aubrey Sitterson and Giannis Milonogiannis. The end features some really nice action in the art from Milonogiannis. It’s nice to also get another series up to speed finally for the First Strike crossover, even though the GI Joe: First Strike comic that also comes after this series is already out. ROM looks like it’s the only hold out still before I can finally start reading that. The other highlight of this issue being the revelation of the new Cobra Commander.

| Published by IDW

God Complex: Dogma #1 is an impressive looking comic. The artwork from Hendry Prasetya is slick and layered in thick solid blacks, highly suitable to the futuristic mystery presented in the story, which is then elevated by the colours and sheen that Jessica Kholinne adds on top. Visually, it perfectly evokes that kind of Blade Runner feel.

The story is also pretty interesting, Paul Jenkins hooks us fairly well with the murder and mystery of the Church of Trinity. The mix of a mysterious, possibly fictitious “one god” and the real, tangible deities of Delphi’s Rulers is something we’ve seen variations on before, but it’s still a compelling examination of faith vs. direct knowledge. The world, based on Glitch’s toy line, is fairly broad. The lead, Seneca, serves as a bridge between the two aspects and Jenkins delivers a little twist on the narrative partway through that has you reexamine the narration itself, making you go back and re-read the comic in that different light.

| Published by Image / Top Cow - Glitch

Grass Kings #8 focuses on Pike and his backstory, giving depth to the Grass Kingdom’s man of few words. In addition to his history, it also serves as a broadening of the mystery of the potential serial killer among the people, showing the other perspective of the conversation from last issue regarding Ms. Handel’s “suicide”, making us question even more.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Harbinger Renegade #8 finally gives us the reunion of Kris and her parents, a plotline dating back right to the first story-arc. As has been the case for much of this series, it’s not exactly pleasant. It is, however, still satisfying and probably one of the happier moments in the series, even if bittersweet. The push towards Harbinger Wars 2 is also more apparent, with a drive for a Renegade army and training becoming more imperative. Animalia is also one scary little kid.

| Published by Valiant

Harrow County #26 is heartbreaking, even if you’ve grown to hate the character who dies this issue, it’s still heartbreaking. Kammi’s assault on Emmy’s life, friends, and whole world grows this issue, even with the devastating blow in the beginning of the issue, and it raises the question as to how far Kammi is going to take it, how much more loss the series is going to deliver, and what it might drive Emmy to do. Cullen Bunn and Tyler Crook are firing on all cylinders with this arc.

| Published by Dark Horse

Hulk #11 is another dramatic shift in tone, suddenly reintroducing Jen’s ability to break the fourth wall, hitting for a story that is more humorous in tone, and in some cases being silly, as the last issue before the Marvel Legacy “relaunch” back to She-Hulk and legacy issue number. Personally, I’m not sure I like it. It’s by no means bad, but it’s still a dramatic departure from the more serious “Deconstructed” arc and continuing with the more ridiculous aspects of the last arc with the food vloggers. It works for what it’s going for, recapturing some of the humour that previous incarnations of She-Hulk have presented, I just find it a bit of a jarring change.

| Published by Marvel

Jimmy’s Bastards #4 finally clues in the leads as to what we’ve known since the announcement of the series. This issue also hammers home that I think the wider joke of Garth Ennis’ black humour and piss-take of current identity politics is missing the mark.

| Published by AfterShock

Mech Cadet Yu #3 is still every bit as fun and heartfelt as the previous two issues, this remains an incredible all ages story with giant robots and invading bugs. Greg Pak has created a character in Stanford Yu that you just can’t help but smile at his stumbles and achievements, so incredibly likeable that you want to read more as soon as the issue’s finished. Takeshi Miyazawa also gets to reveal the Sharg this issue, setting up what looks like a battle between the cadets and the monsters for next issue.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Noble #5 is my first issue of this series and I feel in a similar position to ostensibly the POV character, Astrid Allen, a little in the dark. Brandon Thomas uses an unreliable narrator in Lorena Payan explaining to Astrid what has been going on with her husband, the titular Noble, and the changes that have turned him into a superhero and it’s fairly compelling. Certainly enough that I decided to pre-order the Noble: God Shots book out later this month collecting the first four issues. I wonder how this issue’s reality and the previous issues will align. The artwork from Jamal Igle is a high point. The action scenes of Noble trying to save a commercial airliner are particularly well done.

I also have to say that how they’re numbering these books is also interesting. They’ve got a main issue number for the overall series, but they’ve also got a volume and issue number for story-arc/trade as this is Volume 2, Number 1. It makes story delineations fairly easy to see where breaks and potential jumping-on points occur.

| Published by Lion Forge / Catalyst Prime

Optimus Prime #11 begins the “Primeless” arc, acting as a kind of non-branded tie-in to the First Strike event, covering what’s happening to the Cybertronians on Earth cut-off from Cybertron and left in the dark. I haven’t begun reading the First Strike crossover yet, as I’m still waiting for the last issue of ROM to land to be up to speed, but it doesn’t feel as though I’m missing anything here having not read it yet. In fact, in some ways, it puts me in a similar position to the characters in the book as I don’t know what’s happening either. In any event, John Barber does a good job of ratcheting up the tension between the different factions on Earth and amongst the rest of the Council of Worlds. I also need to reiterate that there really should be at the very least a Thundercracker mini-series.

| Published by IDW

Redlands #3 shifts point of view to Laurent, a bounty hunter without a license, gator man, and apparent lover of Bridget of the coven, who was introduced as a prisoner in the first issue. I really like how Jordie Bellaire is telling this story, in somewhat non-linear waves that keep rippling outward introducing new characters and interactions while still advancing the overall plot. The epistolary backmatter of clippings of gator man sightings and how to field dress a deer are also interesting touches. It adds a nice depth to the world.

And as since the first issue Vanessa Del Rey’s artwork is incredible. Dark, moody, and at turns erotic. This book is pretty much as sensual as it is horrific and bloody, and I think that’s a very welcome choice from Bellaire and Del Rey for this story.

| Published by Image

Retcon #2 is still...something. Between the first two issues, we’ve got some kind of government conspiracy involving black ops superhuman/magic-user teams. That seems pretty straight-forward and is fairly interesting. The problem is that the interviews and backmatter with the creators imply that they’re doing something else with the series and that just doesn’t come through in the narrative. So, if you’re looking for something that kind of taps the same vein as Doom Patrol meets Automatic Kafka, this is up your alley.

| Published by Image

Royal City #6 kicks off a new arc set in 1993, delving into the teenage years of the Pike children, back when Tommy was still alive. Jeff Lemire’s story gets more layers to it as it shows the personalities of the children in their genesis, and starts easily putting together some of the pieces as to what we’re going to see happen in the first arc, including Richie’s girlfriend, Tara’s relationship with Steve, their mother’s affair, and maybe what happened to Tommy. Lemire is great at weird, and great at small town family dynamics, and this series puts them all together in a beautiful illusory package.

| Published by Image

Sheena: Queen of the Jungle #2 adds some more depth to the story and more mysteries as Sheena chances upon the guy who’s been watching with drones and the two of them stumble upon unknown ancient temples in the jungle. Marguerite Bennett and Christina Trujillo are still treading common ground, but it’s still entertaining and they’ve managed to make Sheena a fairly interesting character in her own right, and, with Moritat’s art, great to look at.

| Published by Dynamite

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #13 concludes the “Enormous Profit” arc and with it Kieron Gillen & Kev Walker’s run on the title. Gillen will apparently be back to co-write the next issue before fully transitioning to the main Star Wars title and I’m not sure what Walker is doing next. Suitably this issue features some nice action, some duplicitous intrigue, and the trademark sardonic humour. What the murderbots, Triple-Zero and BeeTee-One, have up their sleeves after being unshackled of morality earlier in this arc is a frightening prospect.

| Published by Marvel

Wormwood - Gentleman Corpse: Mr. Wormwood Goes to Washington #1 brings back Ben Templesmith’s comedy horror opus to tackle corruption in politics and it’s a very welcome return. It’s ridiculous, it’s over the top, and it’s actually scary that the bigoted plutocrat scrambling for more power in politics is now a believable reality and not just a caricature.

| Published by IDW

Other Highlights: All-New Wolverine #25, Alters #7, Amazing Spider-Man #789, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #12, Baking with Kafka, Black Science #32, Defenders #6, Despicable Deadpool #287, Eternal Empire #5, Falcon #1, First Strike #5, Inhumans: Once & Future Kings #3, Lazaretto #2, Runaways #2, Sacred Creatures #4, Scales & Scoundrels #2, Slam!: The Next Jam #2, Star Trek: Boldly Go #12, The Unbelievable Gwenpool #21, Uncanny Avengers #27, The Wicked & The Divine #32, X-Men Blue #13

Recommended Collections: Animosity - Volume Two, Black Cloud - Volume One: No Exit, Coady & The Creepies, Harrow County - Volume Six: Hedge Magic, Ladycastle, Low - Volume Four: Outer Aspects of Inner Attitudes, Secret Warriors - Volume One: Secret Empire, Seven to Eternity - Volume Two, Star Wars: Screaming Citadel, TMNT Universe - Volume Two: New Strangeness

d. emerson eddy can both walk and chew gum. If he tries really hard, sometimes he can even achieve both at the same time. But only sometimes.

#This Week in Comics #Rocket 6 #Al Ewing #Adam Gorham #The Woods 36 #James Tynion IV #Michael Dialynas

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singingunderthecurtain · 7 years ago

Text

Together For Real (ChanyeolxYOUxKris) Mini Series 4

Mini Masterlist

Picture not mine, found everything on Google

Author: @julietsoddeye AU: Canon/EXO Universe Genre: Angst | Fluff Pairing: Chanyeol x Reader x Kris Trigger Warning: Distrust, Feeling of Betrayal, basically some angsty stuff. Word Count: 2,021

Plot: You, an EXO manager, developed a dangerous relationship with Kris and one day he suddenly left EXO and it left you devastated. For some reason, you found yourself being in a relationship again with one of the boys. And it’s Park Chanyeol.You set boundaries with him, but he shamelessly breaks all the rules making you want to run away.

October, 2016

Channie: Hey Bae. ♥ (Seen 00:34)

You: Really? Chanyeol, really? (Seen 00:35)

Channie: Isn’t that what kids say nowadays? :P I luv you bae! ♥ (Seen 00:36)

Channie: Hey! (Seen 00:37)

Channie: YAH! (Seen 00:39)

You: What?! (Seen 00:40)

Channie: What r u doing? (Seen 00:44)

You: UGH! I’m trying to sleep it’s almost 1 AM. (Seen 00:45)

Channie: Don’t sleep yet. I’m on my way home now. (Seen 00:46)

And by home, he meant your very small apartment. You didn’t reply to his text anymore since you know he’ll still go to you no matter what. Chanyeol has been going home to you for a year now. Almost every single night and day, unless he’s really busy. By now half of his wardrobe is in your house, which pisses you off tremendously because you have no more space for your own clothes.

Your relationship is limit-free, but not exclusive. You told him he’s free to go and date anyone he wants, he told you that you’re the only one he needed. And you, on the other hand, tried dating a few times, which pisses Chanyeol off a lot but he can’t do anything about it or you’ll get angry at him. No one stood out though. All of the guys you dated were either too boring or too strange for you so you just stopped trying altogether.

You’re still young anyway; you decided to just enjoy Chanyeol’s company while he’s still into you. You’ll never know when he’ll get tired and be done with your bullshit and finally leave you for a much deserving girl, and he could have anyone he wants. He’s Park Chanyeol; any girl will die to be loved by him.

You know you’re hurting Chanyeol but you don’t know why you keep doing it. He’s a really nice guy, a much nicer lover than Kris will ever be if you were being honest with yourself. He treats you well, gives you flowers and showers you with gifts, hugs and kisses, and love, he’s great in bed and not to mention he lasts very long and lets you finish first. A gentleman through and through.

You find it really weird that he keeps taking your shit though and is okay with it. Maybe he’s a masochist who gets off with you being a fucking jerk to him. Or maybe he’s gone crazy with his line of work and lack of sleep so he lets you treat him badly.

As you were slowly drifting off to sleep, mind in drowsy shambles, you hear the code of the door’s digital lock was being pressed indicating Chanyeol’s return. You shake your head and scratch your eyes to wake your mind up.

“Hey, are you still up?” Chanyeol spoke gingerly as he closes the door softly to not make a loud sound if ever you’re asleep.

“I’m still awake.” You say as you stood up from the bed you share with Chanyeol meeting him halfway, greeting him with a warm and tight hug. You give Chanyeol affection from time to time because he deserves it and he never fails to grin with his stupidly cute face whenever you give him the time of day.

“I have to show you something.” Chanyeol excitedly squeaks as he drops his bag and scoops you up in his arms, jumping on the bed with you yelping and giggling silently. You both bounce up and down on the mattress and he gives your lips the biggest and wettest kiss ever.

“What is it?” You yawned as you ask.

“My collaboration with Far East Movement is finally out.” Chanyeol flashes you his pearly whites as he fish for his phone in his sweatpants pocket.

“Oh wow, let’s hear it.” You yawn again and closes your eyes.

“Don’t sleep!” He complains, with the same aegyo he shows you whenever he doesn’t get what he wanted.

“I’m not sleeping, just closing my eyes.” You say with another yawn, opening your eyes again to see him staring at you.

“It’s okay we can watch it together tomorrow if you’re really sleepy.” Chanyeol smiles as he attempts to turn off his phone but you stop his actions with your hands.

“Let’s watch it now.” You insist and he complies. The song started with a smooth voice of a woman who you recognized as Tinashe and your mouth drops a little bit and a smile crept across your lips. You like Tinashe a lot and Chanyeol knows it.

“Oh my gosh Tinashe, really? “ You say excitedly and Chanyeol’s Cheshire Cat grin widens. “Did you meet her by any chance?” You asked enthusiastically as you tighten your cling on Chanyeol’s torso with your legs intertwined together with his; inhaling his oddly comforting scent of fused sweat, laundry detergent, and cologne.

“Sadly, I did not.” Chanyeol answers and you purse your lips into a pout.

Out of habit, his hands start caressing your back into tranquilizing motions making you relax even more. Both the warmness of your body heat and the soothing music he’s playing for you was slowly lulling you to sleep. You weren’t sure if you finished the song or not, but you wake up a couple of hours later with Chanyeol silently snoring. His face nuzzling on your chest, arms and legs gripping securely around your whole body. You absentmindedly smile and caresses his head of hair soothingly making him shift slightly in his sleep and to bury his face in your chest even more.

A few days later you remember to listen to the song again and as the song progresses, Chanyeol’s verse finally came.

Love is a high, we feelin' alive, you Lovin’ the size, you ride this flow I give you more you feelin’ the flow, you never let none of them bring down the vibe Hustle to win, we be livin’ in sin, making us two of a kind New road, babe we got temples to build Ain’t no haters can step to our grind We got that empire mind, Together slowly, let’s climb up (That be freal) A moment with sincerity Try to feel it, close your eyes (That be freal) You be the bank on my side, nothing but dimes Let’s make a deal, Gradually feel, dream and reality If you hold my hand, together freal

______

The song was on repeat for the whole day as you do chores. It was your day off from work and Chanyeol was not around to distract you so you took advantage of it and did some laundry and clean up a little bit around your small but cozy apartment.

November, 2016

It was a very slow day at work, it was only one in the afternoon but it felt like you were in the office for more than 8 hours already. Your boss was on a business trip overseas and you can slack off if you want but you chose to do some paper works instead because you didn’t want new projects to overwhelm you in the next few weeks. Some of your coworkers were dicking around the office, some weren't even present, probably out and about doing personal stuff. While you, on the other hand, was being a fucking awesome office employee that you are. You know you will be laughing at your colleagues in the next week to come, hustling and cramming with work when your boss gets back.

“Have you heard that new Kris Wu song?” You overheard one of the interns say, making you stop your typing. You aren’t surprised about hearing his name anymore since the interns talk about EXO and the three estranged members a lot in the break room during lunch hours. One particular girl is obsessed with Chanyeol and she didn’t even know that her trainer, a.k.a you, was her precious Oppa's real-life lover.

“I haven’t yet!” The other intern says.

“It’s all in English, I don’t really understand much but it sounded really cool.” She reiterates.

“What’s the title of the song?” The other asks.

“July. It’s weird I don’t even understand why it’s July.” The mention of that month made you freeze in place. Because that was your birth month. Goosebumps suddenly prickles the skin of the nape of your neck, a cold and sharp pang shoots right at your chest all of a sudden.

You immediately grab your phone and earbuds, darting towards the door to egress from your department office. You reached for the emergency exit and sat on the stairs as your hands keep trembling. It took you a few minutes before you were calm enough to draw the unlock pattern of your phone.

You click the Youtube app and typed in “Kris Wu July” on the search bar. The page loaded immediately and the first video that pops up shows a thumbnail of Kris wearing a hat with the initials “K W” on the front. You click on the video and the song started with a high pitched techno sounding instrument. His hair was white, looks good on him though, you thought to yourself. And the sight of him, after a lot of years, makes your heart beats fast. It’s not that you weren’t allowed to look up his activities, but you told yourself not to, to help yourself move on from him and his crippling memory. Chanyeol helped a lot by diverting your attention to him and him only.

I've been looking for a reason To have you in my arms Where you wanna be Never had a woman so pure Glad to have you right where you wanna be Talking 'til the morning we don't need any sleep I hate it when you go to work Laying 'til the sun down it feel like a dream I hate it when we go to work You should be here…

Baby, Baby, I Doing what feels right Baby, Baby, now Tell me what you wanna say Show me how you feeling, babe Show me how you feeling, babe

You've been looking for a reason To have me in your arms Where I wanna be Give you what you need and no more Glad to have you right Where you wanna be

Talking 'til the morning we don't need any sleep I hate it when you go to work Laying 'til the sun down it feel like a dream I hate it when we go to work You should be here

Baby, Baby, I Doing what feels right Baby, Baby, now Tell me what you wanna say Show me how you feeling, babe

You know this ain't rocket science Get what you got coming to ya I know what you like You know that I'mma keep it coming uh Something 'bout this Moët got you in the mood Say you got a situation Tell that other guy to move

Easy, I may have to call in work, girl How I'm s’posed to lay this work, girl This shit way too good to function I'm like Jordan when it's crunch time We at Nobu when it's lunch time I'mma get up out your way, girl But only if we spending some time, sometimes

Baby, Baby, I Doing what feels right Baby, Baby, now Tell me what you wanna say Show me how you feeling, babe

Show me how you Show me how you feeling, babe Show me how you feeling, babe

The song ended with the same techno sound with a slow fade. It was a blur and you didn’t exactly know how to react, your whole body was numb from all emotions. You get back to your desk and did your work robotically for the whole day. Thankfully nobody noticed your sudden change in the aura, you were grateful that there was a lack of people in the office that day.

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