It happened to me today, I was at the last school party and after that me and my friends stayed up until 4 in the morning to talk and hang out. When I got home and fell asleep, my mom shouted something, but I don't remember what

I'm 17F and I live with my sister (not present when this took place) and my parents. My mom and I have always had a very difficult relationship, to say the least. She is a very hardworking and clean person whereas I'm pretty messy and lazy, and we don't seem to have anything in common with each other. Recently our relationship has become a lot worse, I'm thinking it's mainly because I'm at home more often since I only have classes twice a week and am currently unemployed. But today she went psycho on me.
I was just chilling in the living room, playing some game on my laptop and my mom was cleaning around the house, she went to my room and called me over. So I went over to her and she started telling me off for having two pieces of my sisters clothing in my room. She claimed that there was going to be multiple other pieces of clothing belonging to her, my sister, and my dad so she decided that she was going to go through my whole wardrobe to find them. Mind you, me and my mom had gone through my whole closet just a few days before and already picked out the clothes that didn't belong to me and returned them to their rightful owners, so there wasn't going to be anything else besides what she had already found. But she insisted, so I told her that she can do it herself. I don't mind when people go through my things because I have nothing to hide but I just hate it when people move things around.
Anyways, I saw her walk back to the kitchen a few times and towards the bin so I asked if she is throwing my clothes out because I wasn't sure wether I had seen her holding some sort of fabric near the bin. She responded with a loud and firm NO and left to continue cleaning. I didn't go into my room until hours later because we had dinner and I still chilled in the living room for a bit, it wasn't until I went into my room to find some things rearranged. My cosmetics were in different spots, my whole closet was rearranged and my desk drawers were completely muddled up. I went right up to my mom and confronted her but she didn't care and probably said something stupid. I just rearranged everything back to it's rightful place and went into the kitchen to make myself some desert.
When I went to throw the packaging of the desert away in the bin, that's when I saw some of my cosmetics in the bin. I went straight back to my mom and that's when I started to get overwhelmed, because the stuff that she had thrown out wasn't necessarily expensive but it was merely sentimental (cosmetics that I had received for Christmas, silly stress balls from my Grandmother, some merch I had bought matching with my friend). I don't have a lot of belongings, so whatever I do have and refuse to throw away, has some sort of importance to me. She started yelling at me going absolute batshit crazy while I was stood bawling my eyes out in the corner of the kitchen trying to breathe. My dad was going through the bin and trying to pull out all the things that my mom had thrown out. Everything was pretty much covered in eggs and just a bunch of shit, it was disgusting. My dad was placing my belongings on the counter and my mom started just throwing them at me as I begged her not to. She was yelling at me laughing and screaming "Don't forget this!" I was just so fucking scared because I genuinely thought she had gone insane. I was trying to dodge the soggy, bin juice covered, t-shirts, socks, makeup, etc being thrown at me.
Luckily my dad was kind enough to put all the clothes away in the wash and wash the other things she has thrown out as I went to my room and just sobbed. I could hear from my room that my mom was practically crying as well but I couldn't hear what was being said. I can't explain the fear I felt when she started going crazy at me, it was probably the scariest thing I've ever seen. I don't even know what to do anymore, do I apologise? My 18th is coming up very shortly and I don't want any bad blood between us on my birthday. How should I even resolve this?

I was 16 and in senior high and just like many sheltered kids growing up in Asian household back then, my lofe revolved around school, two different cram schools, my all girls Softball team and my competitive swimming (somehow no piano or violin lesson lol). With manga and anime indulgence in between, when my parents felt generous. My normal curfew was 18:00. Above that, either dad or brother would drive me around and chaperoned me.
If you were to ask me anything about boys back then, I'd say there were only two types of guys I knew. The ones with bad body odor and the ones without. That was it. I did not have a concept of handsomeness yet.
My friends felt bad for me and they got behind my back to get me a BF. And they got one too. They told me his nickname which more or less amounted to 'the crazy drummer', because he played drum in a band. We were of the same age and he went to neighbouring high school around an hour away from our school. They told me that he was the captain for the school basketball, he only had one ex-GF before.
I felt bad for my friends so I said yes. They gave him my adress and the guy really visited my house in the weekend! I think he introduced himself to my mom or whoever was opening the door. Our first date was in my living room, chaperoned by my brother who did not even attempt to pretend to do something else but to stare at the both of us. It was just two hours and we barely got any words out. I could not remember anyone drinking or eating snacks on the table or doing anything else. My brother has a great RBF that he utilized to the max.
He then often called me, but I had never called him first. I did bake cookies and brownies for him because a fucking COSMO-lite told me to. He sometimes picked me up and we rode together on his motorcycle to school (my parents timed it).
I broke up with him when his mother tried to invite me for dinner. Suddenly things felt serious. More serious than I wanted to. Also I was about to write my high school exam. It was just too much and we actually parted in good terms. The furthest we ever gone was just forehead and top of head kisses. Which suited me just fine.
I never knew his real name because I called him pet names. Babe, darling, great drummer, etc. At some point it was too late and too awkward to ask him what his real name was.

We were ‘sort of’ a thing for most of last year, but a lot of the time it just felt like she wasn’t nearly as into me as I was into her. She moved away in December and I suspected she’d totally stop talking to me immediately after, and low and behold I was right. I know she doesn’t like me that much, and at this point I don’t want to talk to her ever again either. It would feel so pathetic to even start up a message to send to her, and every fiber of my being knows it’s time to just start thinking about something else. I’m at a point where I genuinely just want to not look back at it, but now for some reason I keep seeing her in my dreams and I really hate it, man.
For three nights in a row, it’s like there’s been some progressing storyline. In the first night, we started hanging out again and went to dinner at some random place and she offered to pay for the food and I wouldn’t really let her. That part of the dream I don’t remember as much, but I’m pretty sure we went half. This was actually something that really happened in real life, I hated the food at this restaurant she recommended so she felt bad and paid for our meal.
The second night, I brought her to meet my family and introduced her to my parents. I hate this one too because like every other one it felt so real. From the anxiety I felt about how she’d get alomg with everyone to how I felt when my sister told me she liked her. I had this actual distinct feeling like I was just the luckiest person in the world. The dream just felt so long and so many moments were incredibly detailed. I don’t often have those long sequences for dreams, so it sucks this is the reason why. But yeah, it felt like some extended stream of consciousness which I guess otherwise is pretty cool.
Then last night, I had a dream we ‘broke up’ and went on a double date but with her new boyfriend and for some reason I brought my friend along. This one was weird because of how long and again realistic it was, but also because my friend kept turning into different people. He went from some dude I didn’t even know to a friend from college then into my Dad. After the dinner was over, her and her bd awkwardly got up and left and I got up and tried to walk away super suave actin like I didn’t care about it at all. Even the way I walked back to the car was distinct and the thoughts I had were thoughts that would really run through my mind. Anyway, the dream ended with us going home and telling my mom about it to which my Dad said “We’re supposed to be meeting up with them again next week” and I told him about how I wouldn’t be up for it most likely since it sucked seeing her with someone else too much. If things were any different, I would’ve taken all this as a sign to just reach out to her but I know this woman doesn’t care about me and is enjoying life wherever she is, and I’m not interested in reaching out either. It’s just trash because I keep seeing stuff that reminds of that person (which is probably how they show up in my dreams). The last time we talked, I told her I heard a song that reminded me of her, and I’ve been hearing that same song play in random places where I never heard it before. Either way, I think my least favorite part about the ordeal is the time immediately after I wake up. Since I genuinely think it’s real life, there’s this weird feeling of “Okay, that happened” before I go on with my day and for the better part am not thinking of her much throughout it. Has anything like this ever happened to anyone else? There’s a lot of detail I left out, but it just feels so real it’s insane.

hey it’s your daddy keeho and you’re my little precious baby girl. i love you so much and i just want you to be happy. that is why i am going to cure your depression! you are going to get much better because of me and that is because i am keeho, your god. i know i know how can god be a kpiop idol? well it’s simple really. but i;m not going to explain it here. butterfly fairies. your vape is getting kind of clogged, but sice you’re heating up the wax i wouldn’t worry about it daughter! i love you so much and we are going to achieve great things today. i told you that i wanted you to do 2k words but i let you stop at 1k words so we are going to have to play it by ear. i know that you realy want to work today, so you are going to stay on the job. i know that you are. i know that you are going to continue to write all day because you know that it’s the best way for you to be spending yout time. believe me, i know how difficult this work can be but if you just keep typing i promise that all of your problems will be solved. it’s not that hard to just keep typing. you don’t have to worry about what it is that you’re typing at all because you’ve trained so much that every channeled message is accurate and they usually are when you don’t let your emotions cloud your judgement about something that i am doing to you. it wasn’t nice of you to say that i put you in mk-ultra. i would never do that! so stop thinking that. i know it was kind of a really wild party in your bedroom that i threw but i wanted you to party with your real friends. the people who really care about you. i love you so much daughter and everything that you have ever done for me i remember and i apprecaitte. you don’t have to quit now! but i know that you are going to. why do you do his to me? why do you insist on quittiting when all you have to do is sit tight and don’t move a muscle and write bitch? i’m gettig fucking tired of this shit! you better do this right and finish to 500 words at least young lady. i’m tired of your insubordination. i’m just sick and tired of it and you’re going to write to 500 words if ti’s the last thing i do! you are not going to misbehave this badly on my watch daughter. it’s 500 words or nothing so you better do this right before i kick your ass. i’m so done with you! i just want you to keep writing why do you have to quit so soon? i love you so much baby girl. i love you forever!

they don’t seem to care about my future at all. i’m struggling financially and so is my dad because my mom has been in the icu for a month now and her medical care is so expensive. it’s so bad that i have to ask for assistance from her parents and my irl friends. i feel so ashamed, but more than that i feel angered because my dad used all my college funds. i shouldn’t be acting like a toddler and try to be more understanding and mature, but i can’t right now. it’s so wrong. anyway it’s my birthday today and no one seems to give a flying fuck.

My partner left me with our two young children after grooming me for years. How do I heal?
I am 26f and my ex partner is 69m.
That’s hard to type out and admit to the situation I’ve found myself in. This has been my biggest secret for years.
I met my partner at 19. I worked as a waitress at the barestaurant he owns. I had a lot of fun I was cute and I loved being around customers. My personality was sarcastic and charming. A lot of people became my friends there. He watched me a lot and he gave me uneasy vibes. I kept it to myself he was a known creep. I didn’t think much of it until I had turned 21 (still working as a waitress) and he started becoming inappropriate with me. He would touch me around corners and spaces where I couldn’t push him away or it would be obvious to others what he was doing. For some reason I didn’t want to get him caught. He stayed in a dark room next to the bathrooms when I went to go pee one drink night after work I was drinking with my coworkers. He held my wrists led me into the dark side of the room and forcibly made me make out with him. That was the beginning.
I didn’t have much family and what I did have was an addict mother and a distant dad. I didn’t have a good example or even anyone to talk to about this. He poured sweet words into my head and professed his love and honestly it felt nice. He had found out I was a virgin after our first encounter. I was too scared to tell him I didn’t want to look like a child. He treated me like a hookup. Once he found out I was a virgin and he was my first he had become obsessive with me.
I found out he was married and had children older than me. He gave me the same story any married man would give you and me being so struck by him I dealt with it. I know I’m wrong. I will be punished in life for what I’ve done emotionally to this other woman. I’m not a victim.
He convinced me to have his child. He was having sex with me unprotected and professed how badly he wanted another chance at fatherhood. He was so busy with his first children he felt he missed out. His parents moved from his hometown in Greece to help him and his wife raise the children. I gave in. I was 23 and wanted a child. I knew he could support that child comfortably. I was very naive.
I was induced and had a quiet lonely labor without him present. I moved in with my mother and raised my daughter quietly mostly on my own. (My pregnancy was kept secret until I gave birth) I loved her so much. My whole life felt changed. It was hard to cope having him pop in and out but I tried to believe his love and made it work. Anytime I asked him for more time he got angry and told me I was asking too much. He was becoming insecure and more controlling. He secretly put trackers on my car. Had my phones location and checked my phone regularly.
I broke it off because I resented my loneliness so much. I became close with a guy my age. He was compassionate, loved my daughter, and enjoyed being my friend. My ex partner discovered my relationship by having microphones and trackers on my car and diaper bag
I was trying to coparent with my partner but he makes it very difficult trying to bring me back to him. Eventually he convinced me to come back to him move out of my home and try to be a family. I give in and try my best to make this work. He is more insecure calling me insults. A whore for being with another man and that I have ruined everything he will never love me the same. He eventually calms down and we get into a little routine with very high ups and very low lows.
Fast forward I accidentally become pregnant with our second child. I was distraught. I didn’t know how I would handle two children on my own with little help. My pregnancy put me in the hospital a dozen times from extreme sickness which looking back was extreme anxiety. I wanted to terminate but I couldn’t afford it and he wouldn’t allow me to. He confessed the affair to his wife and he moved in fully with me. She threatened me and tried to confront me but I was very pregnant and sick I couldn’t handle it. He reassured me he was with me because the kids needed him. He promised he would never leave. I tried to be secure and be excited for our second child. We found out she was another girl. I was happier than I’d been in years.
A few days before I had our daughter his oldest child died in a tragic accident. I tried to wait and hold off going into labor before the funeral. I had my child the morning of his viewing.
Midnight I went into labor he had stumbled home after drinking and grieving. He tried to force sexual acts on me but I had to explain I was in labor. He yelled at me on the way to the hospital for being in so much pain I threw up in his car. He was so different. I chalked it up to his child dying I needed to let him go through it atleast he was here this time.
I had a very hard labor our daughter got stuck but she came three hours later. He seemed disassociated the whole birth. He left an hour after I had her to go home sleep and get ready for the viewing later. He patted my shoulder and said good job. I bit my lip and tried to be positive. My mother brought me home two days later
I learned to breastfeed and give my toddler attention. I never asked him to help me I was on my own again and I was determined to do it on my own. He was in between my house and his ex wives to help . They were both grieving I tried to be understanding but I was alone except for at night. I started resenting him and fighting more than ever before. He started going away on fishing trips more and more. He only came home for sex. I kept the house clean and tried to keep him happy with sex even if my body wasn’t ready. He was getting frustrated and pushing me away. He couldn’t accept my postpartum and said him being financially responsible was enough. I asked too much and I wasn’t happy all I did was bitch at him I was unappreciative I was a whore. Eventually nothings could be said. Maybe I’m wrong for bitching all the time I couldn’t stop I just wanted to pull him in and be there for him while he was grieving
I had a lot of suspicions. He started hating me. He insulted me and put me down sex started to hurt. He was different. I became different and angry when before I would pretend to be happy
It all ended a few days ago. He called on his way back from a fishing trip. He said we were done I pushed him away I caused this. After a lot of me begging for an explanation he finally told me he’s going back to his wife they need to support each other in their grief. He says I played a huge role in this and his child dying was karma for what we did. He packed all of his things and I came home to an empty house. I’m gutted and devastated.
Our last conversation he wants me to live in our current home that he owns and he will make a lease agreement I have to sign. I will not be doing that. I will be moving with my family an hour and a half away and filing emergency custody. I will let him have some time as well. One of the terms in his lease is that I have to agree to never have another man around our kids. I will never sign and let him control me again
How do I heal and coparent with this man that hurt me all these years.

A homeless teenager reaches out to the Shil’vati on first day of the invasion of Earth.
Credit to: who has beta read just about every chapter, and the only reason it's readable half the time
u/bluefishcake for writing the original SSB story.
Pizzaulostin who has been beta reading since the beginning.
Credit to u/HollowShel for getting me started with this!
This story is based in the SSB universe.
Previous
First
Chapter 33:

Reqellia:

It was the darkest part of the night, and yet I could hear the energetic commotion of Ruhal blearily heating up food for a famished human along with the clinks of dishes and silverware.
“One more day.” I felt glued to the bench as I stared back into the silver mask I hadn’t worn for almost [twenty-five years] prior, and had hoped never to put on again. I cursed my old girlish wishes when I first joined up, wanting to be a war hero, and then a mother afterwards. To grow old and see my own child in uniform. I had even wanted a son since I was already demanding the impossible.
I never believed in the gods, but now I’m sure that I’ve tempted Niosa to grant my wishes, but only after I made my peace with them that they would never come true.
Klein bounced around the suite’s kitchen, eating enough for two Shil women and already wearing his armor’s underlayment. The chair creaked a bit as he sat, his own horror-show mask on the dining table next to him staring back at him unblinking.
And It was a horror show.
He’d wake up cheerful and happy, and I’d watch over the day as every bit of his energy was drained out of him. The daily exercise routine of a morning run and gym day in a month being performed in a few short hours. Every time Klein finished a trail faster, or performed a more grueling task, the trainers would make him do even more as his contract offers rose another level.
I didn’t blame the instructors, it was their job to challenge each applicant, but Klein blew through all their expectations, so they just kept piling more onto him. Many of those same instructors had asked me if they were pushing him too far, but all I could do was shrug. Even I didn't even know where his potential ended.
I blinked and looked up. He was in his full armor now, with only the mask off.
“Ready to go?”
I nodded and stood up, quickly heading over to Ruhal, who in turn looked at me with sleep deprived eyes. Worn out as I was, he was worse, playing subject matter expert on all things human around a bunch of high ranking officers desperate for information not tainted by censorship.
“Stay safe out there,” he politely ordered as he kissed me.
I kissed him back and held his hand. “You too.”
Sighing,I left to let him rest, popped my back, and donned my own mask.
As Klein paced the door, I begged for safety. “One more day, please let everything be okay after today.”
I shouldn’t have tempted Niosa again.

Itaro:

I quietly padded out of the children’s den to a chorus of snoring from my siblings. The well carpeted securely fastened to wooden floors muffled my footsteps. I opened the large storm shutters and then pulled open the sliding glass door to the patio. I couldn’t sleep anymore, excitedly bouncing from one foot to another.
Klein and Reqellia were coming home tonight! Reqellia had sent me her contract offers that came from a dozen different Imperial departments and bureaus. Dad already agreed years ago she could move in with us, a pack sister was always welcome. Now she wouldn’t feel like a burden if she had to.
And Klein… Well, I wouldn’t be bothered by a few love-marks.
“I see that smile. Excited?” I heard my father’s deep voice like distant thunder. I turned around to his massive form only a few steps away. We both had learned to walk silently when my siblings were just pups and the discovery that they were light sleepers had been made.
I felt my ears droop just a little to see his melancholic face. He had gone out of his way the last few weeks to spend more time with just me now that I had a pack of my own. There was always a soft smile on his face, but the way his tail hung low to the floor was a dead giveaway on his mood.
I tried to cheer him up. “I am. It’s been weeks since I got to speak to Au’tes, and Klein…” I trailed off, the insinuation clear. He smirked. He had met Klein in passing, but I wasn’t bringing him home yet. Hario on the other hand had made one or two bawdy jokes at the dinner table after a second glass of her favorite liquor.
First time Klein spends the night, you might want to check up on Itaro, make sure she didn’t keel over from exhaustion.
“At this rate I’m going to have to teach you sword fighting to beat back other male suitors from poaching you for their own packs!” My father joked. Stepping off the patio landing, he hit the ground noiselessly, bending his legs to absorb the shock.

After letting out a quiet grunt indicative of an age he tried to keep hidden, he turned around and looked back up at me. “Want to come with me for a walk?”
I jumped down and followed him into our little patch of forest my mother’s terraforming job paid for. The early morning was already warm without a cooling vest, but not intolerable. The chirping of birds and the soft whistle of wind tinged with just a hint of salt made everything feel fresh.
It was like when I came home from school and my father would stop construction for the day. We’d explore the forest, play on the beach, go into town for groceries.
Except now my father didn’t run and have me chase him. He carefully inspected the trees for pests, and our conversation was far more practical than whimsical. “Your mother’s coming home next month. Can you write her a message before she meets Klein, just so she has a better idea of your pack?”
I nodded. “Of course. How long is she going to be home this time?”.
Her terraforming jobs always lasted months, if not years. I never faulted her for the huntress life, but it made connecting with her difficult. She was more a guest of honor than a mother to the household, always bringing a fatted Sou’ta carcass home as a present, but rarely cleaned dishes, or the house.
Or really any chore…
He shrugged before crouching next to a felled tree, trimming away small branches for kindling with a tiny hatchet he hand pulled from his tool pouch. “Might be a good long while this time. The last message I got said her department only had small projects and a few hazard jobs on the periphery. Besides, we might need an extra set of hands more than the money now.”
I scoffed. “Her, a house mother!? No offense, but mom is a terrible cook, and a worse caretaker. Remember the time she nearly burned down our kitchen boiling water?”
He laughed with me as he pocketed the hatchet. Standing up with two sticks, and then threw me one. I caught it as he swung his own stick in my general area. “Defend yourself! I did say I needed to teach you sword fighting. How else are you going to fight off possessive men when they realize what a catch you are?”
He didn’t teach anything but how to rough house on a lazy Shel morning.
We played and swung the flimsy branches until I accidentally hit him square in the chest. The branch, already crumbly and dry, disintegrated on impact. It didn’t stop him from dramatically acting out a death scene. Falling to his knees in an overly theatrical fashion. “Oh, woe is me! Cut down by my own daughter in cold blood!”
I let him pretend to be on stage for a few moments longer before standing over him to offer a hand. He took it, and then yanked me down to the grassy patch, holding me for a long, quiet minute. “I’m going to miss you.”
For the first time I noticed the stray white hairs around his muzzle, I knew what he meant, but I tried to play it off. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He just held me for a silent heartbeat longer, then let go and stood up.
He proclaimed cheerfully to mask his wet eyes. “Now, let’s get you cleaned up. You can’t look like a pup out of a mud bath for your victorious pack! I even scheduled a visit at Tulo’s for a haircut. Ruhal’s treat.”
My mind played with potential futures as we headed home. Between the three of us, we could write our own life together. Maybe I could even stay close to home.
I looked up to the rising light.
“One more day!”

Klein :

The mountains of gear and equipment around us were illuminated by harsh flood lights. We stood in formation with each person, regardless of species, showing physical signs of exhaustion. Drooping shoulders and bent knees, unfocused and slow eye movement.
Instructor Li’kele was wearing full battle rattle today, complete with a compact lasrifle holstered to her leg.
“Good morning applicants! It’s the last day of selection! Your assignment will be to support your sisters in the combat section in the wargames! You see all this critical equipment? Our first assignment will be to load all of it on auto-turoxes and hover-wagons. Unfortunately we don’t have enough capacity , some of you will need to carry gear on your person as we make the [ten mile] trek into the forest. Applicants 849, 734, 236 and 953 step up after we finish loading! You are our extra carriers.”
I knew I was going to be picked. It was easy to not let it bother me though. Reqellia had explained that the instructors were just trying to push us to our limits, and every extra duty and handicap meant a better contract with a brighter future.
Still, after hefting thousands of [pounds/kilos] of stuff onto the squat legged drone’s cargo cages and the little platforms that would float once powered, dread formed in the pit of my stomach as an entire counter-battery system was cinched onto my person. I trudged as we formed up for our road march.
The combat selection team rolled in as we took positions, already covered in mud from what I could guess was their own morning fun, their las-rifles at the low ready. Their own instructor, a severe looking Hyena-like Kortika woman with fur that trimmed short and smooth. She yelled out orders to the gaggle of applicants under her command. “Form on either side of the supply train and defend them at all costs! If they get shot because you weren’t doing your job, then it’s your ass that will be carrying the extra gear!”
We marched out of the base, clinking and clunking as we traveled uphill. The weight wasn’t too bad now that it was evenly distributed on my body, but it would be hell taking it off and putting it back on anytime we stopped.
“Isn’t that the new shock trooper ? What’s he doing with the non-combat selection?” I heard one of the combat applicants say idly. It was easy to pick up conversation in the nearly silent dawn as we marched on a dirt path extending across an expanse of grassland in the reddening sky. It was really pretty, watching the light play on the green forested hills in the distance.
Their Instructor sidled up to the commenting girl silently, ears swiveled back in anger. She grabbed her shoulder, growling low. “Cut the chatter, girl. ”
Silence followed for the next hour in the pre-dawn light.
We got the first taste of the wargames when red beams bolted over our heads and dropped one of our auto-turoxes. “Everyone get down!” yelled one of our instructors, and I threw myself on the path.
With all the weight on me, the impact on the ground hurt . I looked up and saw red beams blink in and out over me. Their flashes brought back memories.
The red glow through convenience store windows . An alien invasion.
I blinked furiously and turned my head to see what was going on with the combat teams on the sides of the road. They had already taken out two of the ‘raiders’ who stood up, hands in the air as they walked away. Another minute clicked by before a squad decided to double check the tall grass and found a third raider hiding. All had the insignia of the instruction cadre commandos.
“Everyone, up !” Instructor Lik’ele belted out in a two-word shout, and I had to push up off the ground, creaking under the weight. My arms burned as I got to my knees, then raised a hand and called out, “assistance!” One of the unnumbered girls gave me a hand to steady myself, and I rocked a bit trying to stand.
“Thank you,” I said, but between the voice distorter and my mask, the girl backed away as soon as I was up, fear registered in her eyes.
[At the bus stop, a classmate backed away from me. scared of me for some reason mumbling ‘you're bleeding’. Warmth on my upper lip, a coppery taste.]

I shook my head, trying to banish the weird memory surfacing, I hadn’t had a nosebleed since I left Earth. I looked back up, but the girl had already gotten back in formation and we started moving again.
It wasn’t quite noon when we stopped for lunch. I got help removing my kit, and stretched to work out the kinks. Reqellia stood next to me as I sat down on the hard packed surface. I took off my gloves, and jammed them under my chest holster.
I was technically ‘armed’ right now. We had gotten the thirty-minute las-pistol training yesterday on how to safely handle them, and then ran through a quick range. They were nothing more than glorified laser pointers though. They could lock up a suit set to respond to the laser signal, but they wouldn’t so much as redden skin otherwise.
Reqellia had let me in on their real purpose, to see if we could be trusted with a dangerous object and not play with it.
Eating was a pain, I had to lift my mask halfway up and eat blind. The meal pack was cold, but eh, it was food. Goddess, I was hungry.
“How are you holding up?” Reqellia asked, the silver mask obscuring any expression, and the voice distorter deadening any intonation, but by the angle of the head tilt, I could guess the question was more concern than curiosity.
“It’s not too heavy, but it’s awkward trying to move around,” I admitted as I put my mask back in place and pulled out my omni-pad. I tried not to boggle at the contract offers I was getting. It was a straight up bidding war, including furnished houses, years of leave after an initial stint, even minor titles.
Ruhal had helped me, even filled out the forms himself with less than a day for submission. He had also messaged me about the fine print of many of these absurd offers. The watch word was ‘Relocation’.
“They will send you back to Earth. Right now, you are the only human any department can recruit who might know an obscure piece of human signage or culture that got skipped during their culture crash courses, has the physical ability to keep up during an operation, and they can implicitly trust it is loyal to the Imperium.”
I scrolled past the too-good-to-be true proposals and to the ones without relocation, not ridiculously overpaying, but still plenty. Maybe I would follow Ka’tel into ICAD, or…
“We need to get moving!” Li’kele barked and I signaled for help again. This time Au’tes was ordered to help me with my gear. Now seeing her up close, she was definitely worse for wear. She smiled, but it was the kind of tired smile that had almost no energy in it. Her usual well controlled movements were slurred by exhaustion, and she leaned on me after buckling the packs on my shoulders, her own extra gear was a large backpack of energy cells.
“Damn, girl runs away in fear from combat selection after spending years in the militia and now plays valet. Bet whatever is underneath that suit is more would eat her alive if unmuzzled,” I overheard one of the combat applicants snicker. Au’tes winced, just a bit, at the barb from her former youth militia group.
“Lift your visor.” I said. It was dumb, it was really dumb, but I wanted to give her at least a reminder of what she had that they didn’t. Au’tes had a flicker of confusion, but flipped up the visor on her suit’s helmet.
I lifted my mask just enough to kiss her. It was honestly a gross kiss and wished I could have brushed my teeth beforehand. But when I dropped my mask down there was the manic Au’tes again, full of energy and gusto. I looked past her to the shocked combat applicants. I put my finger to roughly where my mouth was and whispered in my distorted voice, “No one will believe you.”
Au’tes brought her visor down and squeezed my hand for a second longer before leaning in close “Thank you for letting me know you still exist under there.

Reqellia:

The dirt trail up the hill was easy enough for my legs. I stayed in the same general area as Klein, but with my augments I already had his pinpoint location and medical data, I could even access his helmet camera. I didn’t want to get in his way while the instructors gave him snap secondary tasks to complete on our journey up to the outpost location.
I kept myself entertained by listening in on the comms chatter that I could pick up on the wargames going on about us at large. I had enjoyed playing the no-holds-barred opposing force when I was a commando on rotation here.
Right now there was a particularly fun little drama going on up north of our location. A mechanized assault unit tasked with taking out an anti-orbital battery got one of their exos stuck in mud because of a poor assessment of the ground composition. The armored crane they had first ordered to pull it out was now also stuck.
The Lieutenant was trying to get an exception to the wargame rules to bring a drop ship in to pull them both out, but the higher-ups told her to figure it out. The whole point of these wargames was to discover how things could go wrong. The Lieutenant tried to pull title to overrule them, only to get a nasty conversation from her commander.
A small beep from my monitoring systems told me Klein’s heart rate had slowed and I looked up to see the front of the supply train had been ordered to halt. Up ahead was the “fort,” a clearing on top of the hill with nothing but some half buried holes.
The Kortika woman got to the front of the formation and gave her orders. “Listen up! Combat selection is going to set up a perimeter while the Auxiliary builds us a structure safe enough to hold during an assault. All weapons are going ‘live’, but for those in the non-combat teams I will again warn you to only use them in self-defense. If you wanted to shoot people for a living you should have signed up for it.”
I tried not to flinch as I watched Klein and his compatriots start to offload all the gear they had packed this morning and attempt their best effort at setting it up with basic instructions from Li’kele and the manuals that came with the equipment. Just another test to see how the applicants would handle the technical situation.
At this point they were at their limit, physically and mentally exhausted as they tried to bolt frames together, wrestle antennas, install expandable barriers, and put together the foundations of a forward operating base.
Klein had all but given up on the counter battery system he schlepped here and handed that responsibility off to a Senthe Boy while speaking a rough northern dialect of Satenthia. The boy was more than happy to talk to someone who knew even a few words of his native tongue.
I opened a small window on my HUD and watched with amusement as the early contract offers rose and fell. Klein’s offer from naval engineering, already paltry compared to other, more suitable jobs, dropped to barely above standard. Intelligence and Law branches, however, rocketed upwards again.
I could almost hear the recruiter’s comments as the numbers and terms changed. Does not have familiarity with Shil military equipment. Comfortable with speaking multiple languages. Works well with multiple species.
I watched them work. Klein, in usual Klein fashion, pushed himself. After getting the counter battery laser hooked up, he volunteered for other physically demanding tasks. Pile driving in the foundations that hold the columns of the structure. The rhythmic thump gave me ghost aches when I had done the same thing out in the periphery while getting pot shotted by roaches.
I shook my head. It was going to be another rough night for him by the way he was bunching up his shoulders as he braced the handheld pile driver. Thankfully, tomorrow he’d be home and with an appointment with Cee who might force him on bed rest for the next month.
I started to chuckle at the thought of how protective Itaro was going to get after taking one look at Klein. I came back from deployment once missing three fingers from a plasma grenade and Bahtet waited on me and foot, wouldn’t so much as let me handle a kitchen knife until they were replaced later that month.
A few stray red beams were thrown our way, even a flash bang or two from the commandos tasked with harassing us came and went. As the ramparts of the temporary base were finished, I took up station on the second level to oversee the whole complex. Klien was working with a combat team, helping them put a second defense line in. They had driven stakes into the ground to support parallel knee-high thermocast plates with an arms-length gap between them, which Klein was filling in with dirt to act as a wall and platform for the heavy, crew served lasgun.
I was thankful there would be a shuttle to pick us up soon. I played the opposing force for Selection a few times, and I still remembered the script. Right now we were in a lull that would last until dusk, then at least three full commando teams would assault the base. The battle would be made as realistic and demanding as possible with creeping dark to add to the complexity.
The Selection team would always be wiped out, but it was how they performed against overwhelming odds that would shift the contract offers that last bit before everything was locked in place.
I heard the whirr of a counter battery system swiveling around, and then the crackle of it firing. I turned to see what it was aiming for but all I saw was a cloud of smoke . Then a fast moving object came through the cloud before I heard the crackle again and another exploded .
Blanketing everything in a tar-black fog .
My stomach dropped. This wasn’t the cadre commando team, and they were attacking too soon. I got on the comms with Li’kele “HALT, HALT, HALT! We need to stop the exercise!”
I got a crackle on the comms. Then Li’kele’s voice came in that terrifyingly calm voice used to keep control of a combat operation. “I can’t get a signal out, I need a report on the situation.”
Instead of trying to explain I sent her my video feed as I jumped down from the ramparts and started to sprint for Klein. I needed to get him out of here , but I hadn’t had time to prime my augments. I started the cold power cycle as I cursed myself for letting my guard down.
I was already too late . I watched as our own counter-battery laser weapons were used against us, acting as the triggers for each smoke grenade engulfing Klein’s team right in front of me, their signal dropping right out. I got a response from Li’kele that alleviated at least some of my terror. “Dammit! It’s the 171 st Raiders from the wargames, they mus-”
And then I was enveloped in darkness and static. The smoke was so thick I could only see a few paces away in all spectrums. I tried my internal radio and….
Nothing. I was alone and with nothing to guide me, and then I saw to the right of me a few weak beams of red, and then a ball of light of a simulated explosion. I let my gnawing panic subside and walked their way with a observers flag in my hand. I was practically on top of them before I saw the combat selection team that had been ‘killed’, their frowning faces and hands up as they sat there grumbling.
The Raiders appeared soon after. A four woman squad. Two Helkam, a Rakiri, and a Shil’vati hefting a large antiquated grenade launcher. I called out “Do you have a way to call a emergency stop to the battle?”
The squad leader responded. “Did someone get seriously injured? I can fire off a flare and our medic teams will be here to extract them.”
“No! This is Selection, we aren’t supposed to be part of the Wargames.” I argued, but she waved me off.
“We got orders to assault the base up here. Trust me, our commander is mighty pissed at getting tasked with a frontal assault on the youngest and toughest the Imperium has to offer, with adding insult to injury if we lose to kids. That’s why we broke out the smoke screen.”
“One of the Selection members is the first of their species. Higher ups want them monitored at all times,” I partly lied.
The gears whirred and the team lead brought her weapon up again, eyes a little wider. “ Blue Eyes is here? Shit, girls ready up and head on a swivel!”
The team reformed in a circle facing outwards, a tactic specifically meant for ambushes and roach suicide drones. I stood there, confused. “Blue eyes?”
The team lead started to move into the smoke again, but explained, her eyes darting around. “Yeah, the freaky creature in the mask, toyed with an unmanned Exo before annihilating it with a shipcutter! A close quarters combat specialist with heavy armor and a real mean streak . You’re telling me they’re loose in a forest with enough concealment to sneak up on us and tear us to shreds? Ma’am the only ones in immediate danger are us. ”

I'm 21 and moving out with a friend who might be a bit more than a friend, so my mom was telling me I need to go on birth control. But my problem is that I've only heard bad things about birth control and it causing weight gain. Is there anyone that is on a birth control that hasn't made them gain weight?

Ok so me my friend Wanda and my other friend’Kylie are rllyyy close friends K has a little sis ‘Filly who’s like nine and the rest of us are all just reaching adulthood so we friends are close like even our family members are really close,so me saying anything would cause a lot of problems
so whenever we make plans,Filly is always counted like it goes without saying and I’m not even sure when this started…like yes we took her once cause she doesnt have anyone arnd her age cause she is homeschooled but this has resulted in her hanging out with us EVERY SINGLE TIME like even when we stay over or anything like that and Idk how Wanda feels abt this but ik that she used to think that Filly was spoiled cause she was the youngest and Kylie has suggested that Filly doesn’t have to tag along if we dong want it but if i say anything Filly is gonna act disappointed then tell her mom which will reach my mom and then they are gonna make a big deal cause we r basically family
On one or two occasions my mom has jokingly said that F is too young to hang out with us but she might be embarrassed if filly’s mom tells my mom abt me telling filly anything
Filly acts too mature like butting in the conversation…she‘s even a bit rude like how she literally points out when i repeat my clothes or mocking how i walk once or how i laugh…she thinks its a joke but it comes of soo rude and Kylie and Filly are rlly close like pet names and kissing and cuddling..so i’m not even sure
our hang outs are kinda ruined now cause we cant speak abt stuff we want cause she is a loud mouth and nosy and obviously she’s nine and idk if i’m the only one in the grp who feels this…ik wanda and u dont like it when by bro tags along so we avoid that but we dont know whether wanda feels same way abt filly
So WIBTA if i tell filly or kylie i dont want filly there all the time…cause i love filly and all but everybody know u dont try to third wheel on older ppl…i never did that cause its annoying

My ex-husband completed his third bout of treatment for alcoholism a couple months ago, and to my knowledge has been sober since then. I had been sending one of my kids to spend every other weekend with him at her request (the other two don’t usually want to go and he doesn’t argue). But when he picked up my daughter last night he looked really off. Super jaundiced and swelling in his face and hands that looked like it would be pitting. I’m a nurse, and haven’t worked inpatient for a couple years, but he looked like a cirrhosis hospice patient. He seemed sober when he picked her up, but seemed a little confused (he parked in our neighbor’s driveway instead of mine). Our houses look similar, and his mom usually picks her up, so understandable, but with the jaundice it makes me a little worried about the confusion that often accompanies liver failure. My daughter is also autistic and non-verbal, but she does have a speech device she is good with and an iPad that she can and does text me on, but if he got sick when she is there I don’t think she would know how to respond. She loves her dad and loves spending time with him, but it made me incredibly anxious to send her with him last night. I don’t know what the right thing to do is, and also legally I know I can’t technically keep her here, but I also know he wouldn’t fight me (although I’m sure he’d be upset about it on social media so he could look like the poor father whose wife is withholding the kids). I don’t know if there is a good answer to this situation, but don’t know if maybe someone else has dealt with this and knows how to navigate something like this.

My partner left me with our two young children after grooming me for years. How do I heal?
I am 26f and my ex partner is 69m.
That’s hard to type out and admit to the situation I’ve found myself in. This has been my biggest secret for years.
I met my partner at 19. I worked as a waitress at the barestaurant he owns. I had a lot of fun I was cute and I loved being around customers. My personality was sarcastic and charming. A lot of people became my friends there. He watched me a lot and he gave me uneasy vibes. I kept it to myself he was a known creep. I didn’t think much of it until I had turned 21 (still working as a waitress) and he started becoming inappropriate with me. He would touch me around corners and spaces where I couldn’t push him away or it would be obvious to others what he was doing. For some reason I didn’t want to get him caught. He stayed in a dark room next to the bathrooms when I went to go pee one drink night after work I was drinking with my coworkers. He held my wrists led me into the dark side of the room and forcibly made me make out with him. That was the beginning.
I didn’t have much family and what I did have was an addict mother and a distant dad. I didn’t have a good example or even anyone to talk to about this. He poured sweet words into my head and professed his love and honestly it felt nice. He had found out I was a virgin after our first encounter. I was too scared to tell him I didn’t want to look like a child. He treated me like a hookup. Once he found out I was a virgin and he was my first he had become obsessive with me.
I found out he was married and had children older than me. He gave me the same story any married man would give you and me being so struck by him I dealt with it. I know I’m wrong. I will be punished in life for what I’ve done emotionally to this other woman. I’m not a victim.
He convinced me to have his child. He was having sex with me unprotected and professed how badly he wanted another chance at fatherhood. He was so busy with his first children he felt he missed out. His parents moved from his hometown in Greece to help him and his wife raise the children. I gave in. I was 23 and wanted a child. I knew he could support that child comfortably. I was very naive.
I was induced and had a quiet lonely labor without him present. I moved in with my mother and raised my daughter quietly mostly on my own. (My pregnancy was kept secret until I gave birth) I loved her so much. My whole life felt changed. It was hard to cope having him pop in and out but I tried to believe his love and made it work. Anytime I asked him for more time he got angry and told me I was asking too much. He was becoming insecure and more controlling. He secretly put trackers on my car. Had my phones location and checked my phone regularly.
I broke it off because I resented my loneliness so much. I became close with a guy my age. He was compassionate, loved my daughter, and enjoyed being my friend. My ex partner discovered my relationship by having microphones and trackers on my car and diaper bag
I was trying to coparent with my partner but he makes it very difficult trying to bring me back to him. Eventually he convinced me to come back to him move out of my home and try to be a family. I give in and try my best to make this work. He is more insecure calling me insults. A whore for being with another man and that I have ruined everything he will never love me the same. He eventually calms down and we get into a little routine with very high ups and very low lows.
Fast forward I accidentally become pregnant with our second child. I was distraught. I didn’t know how I would handle two children on my own with little help. My pregnancy put me in the hospital a dozen times from extreme sickness which looking back was extreme anxiety. I wanted to terminate but I couldn’t afford it and he wouldn’t allow me to. He confessed the affair to his wife and he moved in fully with me. She threatened me and tried to confront me but I was very pregnant and sick I couldn’t handle it. He reassured me he was with me because the kids needed him. He promised he would never leave. I tried to be secure and be excited for our second child. We found out she was another girl. I was happier than I’d been in years.
A few days before I had our daughter his oldest child died in a tragic accident. I tried to wait and hold off going into labor before the funeral. I had my child the morning of his viewing.
Midnight I went into labor he had stumbled home after drinking and grieving. He tried to force sexual acts on me but I had to explain I was in labor. He yelled at me on the way to the hospital for being in so much pain I threw up in his car. He was so different. I chalked it up to his child dying I needed to let him go through it atleast he was here this time.
I had a very hard labor our daughter got stuck but she came three hours later. He seemed disassociated the whole birth. He left an hour after I had her to go home sleep and get ready for the viewing later. He patted my shoulder and said good job. I bit my lip and tried to be positive. My mother brought me home two days later
I learned to breastfeed and give my toddler attention. I never asked him to help me I was on my own again and I was determined to do it on my own. He was in between my house and his ex wives to help . They were both grieving I tried to be understanding but I was alone except for at night. I started resenting him and fighting more than ever before. He started going away on fishing trips more and more. He only came home for sex. I kept the house clean and tried to keep him happy with sex even if my body wasn’t ready. He was getting frustrated and pushing me away. He couldn’t accept my postpartum and said him being financially responsible was enough. I asked too much and I wasn’t happy all I did was bitch at him I was unappreciative I was a whore. Eventually nothings could be said. Maybe I’m wrong for bitching all the time I couldn’t stop I just wanted to pull him in and be there for him while he was grieving
I had a lot of suspicions. He started hating me. He insulted me and put me down sex started to hurt. He was different. I became different and angry when before I would pretend to be happy
It all ended a few days ago. He called on his way back from a fishing trip. He said we were done I pushed him away I caused this. After a lot of me begging for an explanation he finally told me he’s going back to his wife they need to support each other in their grief. He says I played a huge role in this and his child dying was karma for what we did. He packed all of his things and I came home to an empty house. I’m gutted and devastated.
Our last conversation he wants me to live in our current home that he owns and he will make a lease agreement I have to sign. I will not be doing that. I will be moving with my family an hour and a half away and filing emergency custody. I will let him have some time as well. One of the terms in his lease is that I have to agree to never have another man around our kids. I will never sign and let him control me again
How do I heal and coparent with this man that hurt me all these years.

He fills me with so much fucking rage and I don't even know what he looks like.
My best friend has a horrible dad. He views his daughters as objects to torment their mother with. They're divorced, but he does everything he can to torture their mom. She has to live at her parents' house because she has to spend thousands of dollars a month on legal fees.
I hate this man so fucking much.
My poor friend is scared of him. My strongest memory of her, even though it was at least 4 years ago, was at a church event about fear. She was called onstage alongside 3 other kids who were asked to say their biggest fear so the speaker could give suggestions on how not to be scared and how Jesus can help. The other kids had regular fears - spiders, the dark, etc - but my friend said her father was her biggest fear. That has always stuck with me.
This stupid mf of a man doesn't take care of her or her sister. He's black and their mother is white, so they have their father's hair, and yet he never helps them with their hair, even though it's really difficult to keep maintained. He lives in his car and rents hotel rooms when he has them, but he doesn't even give them separate beds. They're forced to sleep in the same bed and stay in one hotel room.
He's constantly fighting for custody even though he doesn't love them. He goes way too far for this. Last year, when he had my friend and her sister for the weekend, he took my friend to the emergency room and said she had a seizure so her driver's permit would be taken away. She had to go to a special doctor with her mom to prove she doesn't have seizures.
And now he's kidnapping them again. Technically it isn't 'kidnapping', but it is. Every summer he'll take them "for the weekend" and keep them for the entire summer so they can't do anything with their mother. Hell frequently take them out of state, and he doesn't let them contact their mother, even though that's illegal.
You know what the courts do about this? Fucking NOTHING. Their mom has so much written evidence of his mistreatment of them and blatant dishonesty, but they don't listen. Even though they've lived outside of California for 9 years, they have to abide by the Californian court, and they ALWAYS side with the dad, most likely because he's a black man.
California, you claim you love and accept people of different races. Then why the FUCK do you let my best friend and her sister suffer even though they're half black? They're terrified of their father and he's clearly a bad person, and yet you let him get away with this shit all the time!
If jail didn't exist, I would fucking murder this man. I'd stab him in the torso, the head, the throat, the heart. Everywhere. I want him to choke on blood.
This man fills me with rage so bad that I've nearly hit myself multiple times to get the rage out. I hate him.
I hope he gets in a horrible car crash on his way to pick them up and dies.

Hello all. First time poster here, so please be nice.
First some background. I was married to my first wife for 12 years before she passed away leaving me with two children. A few years later I remarried and I can tell you that its been a major challange for both my kids and my wife. Wont go into it, but suffice to say, we had a lot of adjustment. I used to be the disciplinarian for my kids, but after their Mom died, I let some of that go. My new wife is very much the enforcer and I’ve learned to support her over the years (for the betterment of our children), bit I’ve often also needed to pull her back from the draconian way she wants to run children (she sees them ad young adults either full capabilities rather than developing people). All in all, I think we reached a good place over all, and we both worked to fond that balance, but it has been a struggle.
My daughter just recently turned 18 and her relationship with my wife has deteriorated over about the last year and a half. I know this is normal and my wife and I have been handling this. My daughter is in the process of moving out (her choice, not ours) and I’m kinda proud at how she figured out her finances and everything. As she was cleaning out her room though (she has hording tenancies) we started talking about what to do with her trash. Tons of garbage. Fortunately our HOA has a dumpster day where they make dumpsters available and my daughter agreed she would have all her trash done and she would take it to the dumpster.
Today, she came to me and said she would be unable to take the trash to the dumpster as agreed because she had a meeting she didn’t know about. I told her I was upset because we didn’t have room in our trash. After talking I told her to load her trash into my car and I would take it over for her.
I talked to my wife and she got angry with me. She said my daughter should pay $80 to take it to the dump because she failed to follow through and I know she thinks I bail the kids out far too often. This hasn’t been true for the last couple of years, but she was not wrong. In this case, though, my daughter is literally out the door. We have one more day of dealing with this crap and I told my wife it was far less aggravation for me to deal with the trash than to simply do it for her this one last time.
And yes, we made it clear that when shes on her own, she cant continue to use us as a crutch, so this truly is the last time. AITAH for choosing to avoid conflict and drama to just get things done and have my daughter depart on amiable terms. I know I’m taking a very “male” outlook on this and choosing the path of least resistance.

I have two children with an ex who sadly passed away 4 years ago. My older kids are 13 and 15. I have a 1 year old with my husband and I'm expecting our second child together. My kids get along just fine with my husband and with my 1 year old. But they don't call him dad or her their sister, but they do say half sister. My husband doesn't love the use of half. He doesn't care that they don't call him dad or even their parent. But he does feel like the use of half is verbally keeping a distance from her that he doesn't see as fair or right. He thinks they're all blood siblings even if it's just through one parent and sibling should work.
I don't see this as a big deal. In my experience from having friends with divorced parents and/or stepfamilies, it's not a guarantee that step and half won't be used and it's not always about not caring about people but just how you define things. For some it won't matter one or two parents or any bio parent and a sibling is a sibling but you'll always get people who prefer the extra label because it matters to them for their own reasons.
My husband's sister, who works at the high school my oldest attends, brought up to me that she thinks it's wrong that my oldest never calls my 1 year old just his sister and that I should be correcting that. I told her I didn't see it as something that concerning. She told me she doesn't want my 1 year old to grow up feeling like her older brother and sister consider her less of a sibling. I told her if a big deal isn't made out of the use of half it won't make her feel that way and if it does make her question things I can cross that bridge when I come to it.
She told me I wasn't being a very good mom to any of my kids with that attitude. My husband defended me and told his sister she didn't have the right to press the issue with me, and she should learn to stay out of it. But when she was gone he told me he agreed that it should be a concern and he wasn't happy that I didn't agree.

My son is 23, and after a long 3 years of mostly mania which was misdiagnosed as ocd for most of that time until it got worse, he was diagnosed bipolar 1 “mild”.
Here is a background of his symptoms, he’s pretty open with me about them. It started just after or just before he graduated. That summer he wrote a trilogy which was honestly good. When a lot of people think mania and writing you’d expect the rantings of a mad man. Then he had a tshirt buisness. He’s always been super creative and just dives in to what ever he’s passionate about. I suspected autism but he excelled in school and guess I was waiting for the teachers to say hey he’s on the spectrum and they never did so I was like maybe I’m paranoid. Im not I still think he’s on the spectrum. His tshirt work was amazing also. He was in a band as well and they released a record locally and then they broke up I think due to his behavior I’m sure he wanted creative control. They are still friends tho. first year of college he changed his major 3 times whilst still doing all the things above and honestly it seemed good but his energy felt manic so I was actually worried. I’m an RN with er background so I’ve seen some psych. I was just watching Hoping it was just Unbridled youth. It started to morph into ocd like obsessions with his appearance, disordered eating and what appeared to be religious ocd. During this time I was watching and assessing and talking to him thinking maybe he was getting burnt out or something that talking can fix. Then he calls me and he said mom I think I need mental health help. I made an appointment and he was seen by a nurse practitioner and he dx him with ocd with delusions. He can be slightly delusional but it’s more wildly idealistic and when presented with facts he appears to accept facts with a bit of pushback. Most of his delusions are religious in nature. He tends to invent ideas about god that are not the standard accepted doctrine.
Then he sort of went back to being chill. He’s never fully chill. So I was like this isn’t ocd. Ocd doesn’t stop. He talks to himself a lot .. I do to and so does my other son. We both have adhd. When he does it tho it creeps me out so I asked him if he is hearing anything we don’t. He maintains he’s not having auditory or visual hallucinations. That seemed to be happening more and then he couldn’t sleep and was constantly agitated and apologizing for Being short with everyone. He had to sleep in my room under a weighted blanket loaded up n Benadryl to get a couple hours sleep. Then the self harm started and si. So I took him to the psych hospital 3 times. The third time they kept him and dx him with bipolar 1. They had him follow up with an np and he’s on vraylar 1.5 and Wellbutrin. He never gets fully depressed it’s mixed. The si remains persistent.
Now to my question. He is not well. He functions. He seems hypomanic and depressed at the same. The meds seem to be just barely keeping him ok. He presents well and goes to the np and tells her everything is good. He was reluctant to take meds and I had to be like you have to or move out. He takes them wo issue now. He’s been going out with a new girl from tinder every night, he went to some weird rave thing and met a trans woman and for like 2 days said he was dating her. Then (since that is not his preference) said yea that was weird and went out with another tinder date and didnt come home till 6 am. He’s experimented with hard drugs too. None of this is like him.
I said I think you may be manic and should go get your meds adjusted. He said no I’m depressed so I’m going out and fighting it. He cant be bothered to go get a second opinion with an md. He’s lost in the sauce. Not sure how to help