Nicotine and leg pain
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2011.07.08 01:42 matttebbetts sharing is caring
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2012.01.22 22:06 rookayyy Reddit's Bodyweight Fitness Community 🏸
Bodyweight Fitness is for redditors who like to use their own body to train, from the simple pullups, pushups, and squats to the advanced bodyweight fitness movements like the planche, one arm chin-ups, or single leg squats. Start your fitness journey with one of the recommended routines in our wiki! Join our Discord Server! Discord: https://discord.gg/bwf
2019.05.23 09:24 RickJanetzki Cauda Equina Syndrome
Cauda equina syndrome (CES) is a condition that occurs when the bundle of nerves below the end of the spinal cord known as the cauda equina is damaged. Signs and symptoms include low back pain, pain that radiates down the leg, numbness around the anus, and loss of bowel or bladder control.
2024.06.01 15:39 Ok-You-7696 Scared and angry and utterly broken
For 2 months I’ve been dealing with pain and so much more it’s been so unbearable I’m practically disabled I’ve always been the “manly man” type always just lifted whatever needed to be moved without worrying about it using all my strength working on cars spending time in the woods building campsites and chopping wood and blah blah I got my license super late at 20 I just got a job at 21 after not having a job the past 2 years and to celebrate I got drunk idk wtf happened cause I woke up with hemroids and haven’t been able to have bms or gas without immense struggle ever since that day I have no one to talk Im back to staying with my dad he doesn’t understand whatsoever and treats me like I’m some lazy piece of shit meanwhile ALL I want to do is work I hate being in bed I hate not even being able to rely on my body to function correctly on top of this my whole life has fucking sucked I’m a virgin I’ve had one gf and she cheated on me I live in the country in the middle of fucking nowhere so I already had a slim chance of meeting anyone and I doubt anyone’s gonna fuck with me now that I’m like this my doctors worth fuck all motherfucker couldn’t figure out the difference between a cold and a broken leg I’m just tired man I’m scared my life’s over all my freinds have moved off and have successful lives and here I am laying in bed watching YouTube playing video games I swear on everything if I can make a recovery whatsoever I’ll get what ever waivers necessary and I’m going straight to the damn army and getting the fuck outta here with the way I feel all I wanna do is drink or get high and both of those things just make this shit infinitely worse so I’m months sober and just depressed angry and have nothing ti do everyday all day life sucks and what happens if I don’t get better my parents eventually get tired of me and kick me to the streets I’m literally unable ti work and I don’t think you could even claim disability with this if you wanted too especially when dr fuck face won’t get a diagnosis so I guess I’ll just end up homeless and starving to death what a life…
submitted by Ok-You-7696 to venting [link] [comments]
2024.06.01 15:36 kenUdigitt Novel Chapter 426
Disclaimer: I do not speak Korean. This is purely translated by machine with a lot of cleanup afterward. With that in mind, I am open to criticism to improve these translations. Enjoy!
Chapter 426
Whoosh!
The instant he confronted the colossal Fire Dragon emerging from the spearhead, the Arch Lich had a stark realization.
'It's too late.'
The attack was inescapable.
His unspoken spell and the nearly completed magic dissipated among the abrupt inferno that enveloped him.
Radiating the Fire of Calamity, the Fire Dragon opened its gaping maw towards the paralyzed Arch Lich, who had become numb to even pain.
Boom!
A draconian roar accompanied by billowing blue flames engulfed everything. The air warped, and the searing heat vaporized all in its path.
The Arch Lich felt his magical barriers and shields dissolving, reviving sensations he thought he had long forgotten.
'It's hot.'
Roar!
The blue Fire of Calamity dominated his vision. The Fire Dragon, unrelenting, swept over him and continued its relentless flight.
Its target was the enormous black Gate at the heart of the devastated city.
Wait, it was hurtling towards the Gate.
'No!'
In a surge of panic, the Arch Lich's red eyes widened, and he extended his hand futilely as the Fire Dragon consumed the Gate, nearly equal in size.
At that moment, when the flames met the extraordinary magical power fueled by the life force of countless humans, a blinding explosion erupted.
Boom!
A pillar of light visible from vast distances ascended.
Darkness clashed with blue flames, merging rapidly. The stripped skyscrapers that had barely held against the onslaught now crumbled, unleashing a ring of tempestuous winds.
Gurgurrrrrugug.
An unspeakable roar and tremor shook the earth.
The ash-gray sky cracked open, and the dense fog smothering the city dispersed like a dispelled illusion.
Then, as if it were all a fleeting dream, a tranquil silence descended.
'Ah.'
With a vacant stare, the Arch Lich surveyed the landscape.
The scene was ostensibly unchanged, yet he knew — everything, including himself, had irreversibly transformed. It had all crumbled, like a sandcastle at high tide.
Slowly, the Arch Lich turned his gaze. The trembling red glow fell upon a figure, imposing as a steel tower.
- I should have killed you.
A declaration that pierced the stillness.
Pale as death, Jin Tae-Kyung spoke. Despite appearing on the brink of collapse from the physical toll and mental strain of endless battles, his voice retained its unwavering force.
"I know. Why didn't you kill me quickly?"
The Arch Lich's lips sealed shut. The missed chance to end Jin Tae-Kyung's life was his error.
A lapse in vigilance had undone everything.
'My King, please forgive this disloyal servant.'
The Arch Lich sought forgiveness from his King, wherever he might be.
Had he not hesitated, had he slain Jin Tae-Kyung before the human's monstrous ally was reborn and drove that cursed sword into his chest... all would have unfolded as ordained.
He would have endured, finalized the Gate, and unleashed legions of monsters to devastate humanity and ignite their cities.
All while anticipating the return of the formidable King.
Yet, his flawless scheme had crumbled spectacularly.
All due to one man — Jin Tae-Kyung.
The crimson in the Arch Lich's eyes ignited with dwindling power.
He silently vowed vengeance, and his oath of retribution echoed towards Jin Tae-Kyung.
- Remember me. One day, I will trample your souls with my bare feet.
Jin Tae-Kyung spat out a glob of phlegm.
"The one that's about to die always spouts bullshit. How about you try calling Asmodeus a bastard instead? If you do, I may consider ending this quickly."
The Skeleton King hesitated before speaking.
- Asmodeus, you bastard...
"Not you."
- Ah, I know. I just wanted to try it once. But it feels wrong to say such disrespectful words.
"Why? You're a king now, too."
- Yes, that's right.
By the River of Death, he swore to tear those two apart.
The Arch Lich extended both hands towards Jin Tae-Kyung and the Skeleton King.
His skeletal fingers tightened as if to obliterate them from a distance, yet nothing ensued.
Instead, a stray wind caressed his entire form.
Swoosh.
It was disintegration. Beginning with the Arch Lich's hands, his very essence started to erode.
Arms, legs, torso, and at last, the skull housing the dimming red glow.
- Please survive. Until the day we meet again... [Note: the second villain who wishes the MC a long life.]
A voice steeped in bitterness mingled with the wind and faded away.
The growing tempest scattered the ashes that were once the Arch Lich.
As it howled, its reach extended to everything within the radius of One Strike, leaving behind a desolate landscape of collapsed skyscrapers, heaps of concrete, overturned vehicles, and lifeless bodies...
And the unfinished colossal Gate, which might have sparked an even more catastrophic war.
Whoosh.
In the midst of this desolation, Jin Tae-Kyung stood in silence, a solitary chime ringing in his ears, audible only to him amidst the chaos.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
A flood of System notifications clouded his vision, signaling the end of the ordeal.
Yet, Jin Tae-Kyung’s body, drained of all energy, began to sway towards the earth.
'I did it.'
With that single thought, he surrendered to a profound and serene slumber.
And the Skeleton King, carefully catching the falling form of Jin Tae-Kyung, could see it.
The faint smile spreading across his lips.
- You've worked hard.
Wicked but still a decent human, he murmured to himself.
Intent on transporting Jin Tae-Kyung to a place of rest and safety, the Skeleton King suddenly recalled something he had forgotten.
- Oh, right. The sword.
Was it called 'Hero's Soul'? He wasn't sure who had named it, but it was certain that a mysterious power was imbued in it.
It was thanks to that sword that he, once a Skeleton Warlord on the verge of extinction, had been awakened and able to deal a serious blow to the dreadful Arch Lich.
- I almost forgot. I must make sure to take it.
Locating the sword didn't take long. It had lain quietly at the spot where the Arch Lich last stood, embedded in its chest until the final moments.
Yet, as the Skeleton King lifted the [Hero's Soul], confusion furrowed his brow.
- Hmm, something feels off.
It was a strange sensation, difficult to explain.
It might be accurate to say that while it remained a legendary sword, its mystical aura seemed somewhat diminished.
- Did I pick up the wrong sword?
But despite a thorough search and close inspection of the sword, nothing seemed amiss.
After some contemplation, scratching his golden skull, the Skeleton King concluded.
- Hmm. It must be the right one, I suppose.
He thought it was just a momentary feeling. The sword he remembered looked the same, and he had seen it fall from Arch Lich's chest at the last moment.
'But why does this feel so unsettling?'
It was a perplexing anomaly. The Skeleton King shook his head and tucked the sword between his pelvic bones for safekeeping.
As he approached the fallen Jin Tae-Kyung, he remained oblivious.
Unseen by him, as Jin Tae-Kyung succumbed to unconsciousness, drained of all strength, a mist-like black energy mingled with the dispersing wind.
Simultaneously, the golden light that had clung to the [Hero's Soul] disapeared from the sword as it pursued this dark essence.
But this light was not merely riding the wind.
The black energy, intertwined with the wind, drifted along until his path was obstructed.
The Arch Lich, now merely a feeble fragment of his former soul, widened his eyes at the dazzling golden light shimmering before him.
'Such an absurdity.'
Before dissolving, the Arch Lich’s final words to Jin Tae-Kyung and the Skeleton King were sincere.
He vowed a swift return, ready to drench the land with blood, wielding greater power and commanding a vaster horde of monsters than ever before.
Life Force Vessel.
A high-level dark magic exclusive to the undead, capable of preserving fragments of souls, was thought to prevent eternal obliteration. [Note: like a horcrux from Harry Potter.]
Or so he had thought, until that resplendent golden light intercepted him.
- What are you?
Now reduced to a mere sliver of a soul, the Arch Lich was no match for the brilliance emanating from the light.
Mixed emotions of anger, astonishment, and fear intensified the black energy.
Despite the Arch Lich’s thoughts reaching out, the golden light remained impassive, merely intensifying its radiance and expanding in size.
Then, the Arch Lich understood the true essence of the light.
It was not magic but a soul. The soul of someone he had once crushed and defiled. Though formless, it persisted within the sword, sustained solely by sheer will.
The Arch Lich suddenly recalled one of the memories he had buried deep in his mind.
'You are noble, human. What is your name?'
On that day of carnage, where blood ran like rivers and corpses mounted like hills, amidst ruins and death, one human stood defiant till the end.
- Lei Fei.
The movement of the Arch Lich, or rather the black energy, halted abruptly.
The brilliant golden light burst forth from the void, enveloping him like a tidal wave.
Whoosh!
'...Damn it all.'
And those were the Arch Lich's final thoughts.
* * *
The atmosphere on the battlefield, where the main forces congregated, was electric.
As the S-rank Hunters and a contingent of troops moved to the rear to forge a pathway for the suicide squad, tens of thousands of monsters capitalized on the opportunity to launch an assault.
「Fire Rain!」
Boom!
From the back lines, the mage unit unleashed their area-wide magic, and a torrential downpour of fire descended upon the enemy.
In that moment, as hundreds of monsters were reduced to cinders, the mages' fists clenched in grim resolve.
Squeal! Crack!
「...Huh?」
One mage, his face etched with confusion, wiped away the blood that had splashed across his features.
The face of his comrade, who had shared a smile just moments ago, was obliterated. No, it had been blown apart.
This was the work of a black lance, piercing through the air like a beam of light from a distance.
Squeal, boom!
Another lance hurtled through the air, impaling several mages before their screams could even begin.
「Aaagh!」
「Death Knights! It's Death Knights!」
「Damn it, what the hell are you talking about! Weren't they all dealt with?」
「No, it seems not! It looks like they had hidden some elite monsters among them!」
This foreboding pronouncement quickly became a gruesome reality.
With the S-rank Hunters away, elite monsters emerged on the battlefield, initiating a brutal massacre.
Screech!
Boom!
Death Knights, Liches, and scores of invisible Wyverns materialized, unleashing a ruthless onslaught.
As people fell and monsters advanced without pause, a profound despair settled over those who fought desperately to hold their ground.
Even if the S-rank Hunters were present, this battle would have been tough to emerge victorious from.
'It's all over.'
And just when all seemed lost, as they braced for death.
Swoosh!
The blade of a Death Knight, caught mid-slash through a victim, suddenly halted.
No, it disintegrated into ash.
"W-what is this...?"
A hunter who had narrowly escaped death looked around in astonishment.
It was a sight beyond belief.
First, hundreds fell, then thousands disintegrated.
Before long, tens of thousands of monsters were disintegrating into ash and collapsing.
Swoosh.
It was the beginning of the end.
submitted by kenUdigitt to u/kenUdigitt [link] [comments]
Chapter 426
Whoosh!
The instant he confronted the colossal Fire Dragon emerging from the spearhead, the Arch Lich had a stark realization.
'It's too late.'
The attack was inescapable.
His unspoken spell and the nearly completed magic dissipated among the abrupt inferno that enveloped him.
Radiating the Fire of Calamity, the Fire Dragon opened its gaping maw towards the paralyzed Arch Lich, who had become numb to even pain.
Boom!
A draconian roar accompanied by billowing blue flames engulfed everything. The air warped, and the searing heat vaporized all in its path.
The Arch Lich felt his magical barriers and shields dissolving, reviving sensations he thought he had long forgotten.
'It's hot.'
Roar!
The blue Fire of Calamity dominated his vision. The Fire Dragon, unrelenting, swept over him and continued its relentless flight.
Its target was the enormous black Gate at the heart of the devastated city.
Wait, it was hurtling towards the Gate.
'No!'
In a surge of panic, the Arch Lich's red eyes widened, and he extended his hand futilely as the Fire Dragon consumed the Gate, nearly equal in size.
At that moment, when the flames met the extraordinary magical power fueled by the life force of countless humans, a blinding explosion erupted.
Boom!
A pillar of light visible from vast distances ascended.
Darkness clashed with blue flames, merging rapidly. The stripped skyscrapers that had barely held against the onslaught now crumbled, unleashing a ring of tempestuous winds.
Gurgurrrrrugug.
An unspeakable roar and tremor shook the earth.
The ash-gray sky cracked open, and the dense fog smothering the city dispersed like a dispelled illusion.
Then, as if it were all a fleeting dream, a tranquil silence descended.
'Ah.'
With a vacant stare, the Arch Lich surveyed the landscape.
The scene was ostensibly unchanged, yet he knew — everything, including himself, had irreversibly transformed. It had all crumbled, like a sandcastle at high tide.
Slowly, the Arch Lich turned his gaze. The trembling red glow fell upon a figure, imposing as a steel tower.
- I should have killed you.
A declaration that pierced the stillness.
Pale as death, Jin Tae-Kyung spoke. Despite appearing on the brink of collapse from the physical toll and mental strain of endless battles, his voice retained its unwavering force.
"I know. Why didn't you kill me quickly?"
The Arch Lich's lips sealed shut. The missed chance to end Jin Tae-Kyung's life was his error.
A lapse in vigilance had undone everything.
'My King, please forgive this disloyal servant.'
The Arch Lich sought forgiveness from his King, wherever he might be.
Had he not hesitated, had he slain Jin Tae-Kyung before the human's monstrous ally was reborn and drove that cursed sword into his chest... all would have unfolded as ordained.
He would have endured, finalized the Gate, and unleashed legions of monsters to devastate humanity and ignite their cities.
All while anticipating the return of the formidable King.
Yet, his flawless scheme had crumbled spectacularly.
All due to one man — Jin Tae-Kyung.
The crimson in the Arch Lich's eyes ignited with dwindling power.
He silently vowed vengeance, and his oath of retribution echoed towards Jin Tae-Kyung.
- Remember me. One day, I will trample your souls with my bare feet.
Jin Tae-Kyung spat out a glob of phlegm.
"The one that's about to die always spouts bullshit. How about you try calling Asmodeus a bastard instead? If you do, I may consider ending this quickly."
The Skeleton King hesitated before speaking.
- Asmodeus, you bastard...
"Not you."
- Ah, I know. I just wanted to try it once. But it feels wrong to say such disrespectful words.
"Why? You're a king now, too."
- Yes, that's right.
By the River of Death, he swore to tear those two apart.
The Arch Lich extended both hands towards Jin Tae-Kyung and the Skeleton King.
His skeletal fingers tightened as if to obliterate them from a distance, yet nothing ensued.
Instead, a stray wind caressed his entire form.
Swoosh.
It was disintegration. Beginning with the Arch Lich's hands, his very essence started to erode.
Arms, legs, torso, and at last, the skull housing the dimming red glow.
- Please survive. Until the day we meet again... [Note: the second villain who wishes the MC a long life.]
A voice steeped in bitterness mingled with the wind and faded away.
The growing tempest scattered the ashes that were once the Arch Lich.
As it howled, its reach extended to everything within the radius of One Strike, leaving behind a desolate landscape of collapsed skyscrapers, heaps of concrete, overturned vehicles, and lifeless bodies...
And the unfinished colossal Gate, which might have sparked an even more catastrophic war.
Whoosh.
In the midst of this desolation, Jin Tae-Kyung stood in silence, a solitary chime ringing in his ears, audible only to him amidst the chaos.
Ding. Ding. Ding.
A flood of System notifications clouded his vision, signaling the end of the ordeal.
Yet, Jin Tae-Kyung’s body, drained of all energy, began to sway towards the earth.
'I did it.'
With that single thought, he surrendered to a profound and serene slumber.
And the Skeleton King, carefully catching the falling form of Jin Tae-Kyung, could see it.
The faint smile spreading across his lips.
- You've worked hard.
Wicked but still a decent human, he murmured to himself.
Intent on transporting Jin Tae-Kyung to a place of rest and safety, the Skeleton King suddenly recalled something he had forgotten.
- Oh, right. The sword.
Was it called 'Hero's Soul'? He wasn't sure who had named it, but it was certain that a mysterious power was imbued in it.
It was thanks to that sword that he, once a Skeleton Warlord on the verge of extinction, had been awakened and able to deal a serious blow to the dreadful Arch Lich.
- I almost forgot. I must make sure to take it.
Locating the sword didn't take long. It had lain quietly at the spot where the Arch Lich last stood, embedded in its chest until the final moments.
Yet, as the Skeleton King lifted the [Hero's Soul], confusion furrowed his brow.
- Hmm, something feels off.
It was a strange sensation, difficult to explain.
It might be accurate to say that while it remained a legendary sword, its mystical aura seemed somewhat diminished.
- Did I pick up the wrong sword?
But despite a thorough search and close inspection of the sword, nothing seemed amiss.
After some contemplation, scratching his golden skull, the Skeleton King concluded.
- Hmm. It must be the right one, I suppose.
He thought it was just a momentary feeling. The sword he remembered looked the same, and he had seen it fall from Arch Lich's chest at the last moment.
'But why does this feel so unsettling?'
It was a perplexing anomaly. The Skeleton King shook his head and tucked the sword between his pelvic bones for safekeeping.
As he approached the fallen Jin Tae-Kyung, he remained oblivious.
Unseen by him, as Jin Tae-Kyung succumbed to unconsciousness, drained of all strength, a mist-like black energy mingled with the dispersing wind.
Simultaneously, the golden light that had clung to the [Hero's Soul] disapeared from the sword as it pursued this dark essence.
But this light was not merely riding the wind.
The black energy, intertwined with the wind, drifted along until his path was obstructed.
The Arch Lich, now merely a feeble fragment of his former soul, widened his eyes at the dazzling golden light shimmering before him.
'Such an absurdity.'
Before dissolving, the Arch Lich’s final words to Jin Tae-Kyung and the Skeleton King were sincere.
He vowed a swift return, ready to drench the land with blood, wielding greater power and commanding a vaster horde of monsters than ever before.
Life Force Vessel.
A high-level dark magic exclusive to the undead, capable of preserving fragments of souls, was thought to prevent eternal obliteration. [Note: like a horcrux from Harry Potter.]
Or so he had thought, until that resplendent golden light intercepted him.
- What are you?
Now reduced to a mere sliver of a soul, the Arch Lich was no match for the brilliance emanating from the light.
Mixed emotions of anger, astonishment, and fear intensified the black energy.
Despite the Arch Lich’s thoughts reaching out, the golden light remained impassive, merely intensifying its radiance and expanding in size.
Then, the Arch Lich understood the true essence of the light.
It was not magic but a soul. The soul of someone he had once crushed and defiled. Though formless, it persisted within the sword, sustained solely by sheer will.
The Arch Lich suddenly recalled one of the memories he had buried deep in his mind.
'You are noble, human. What is your name?'
On that day of carnage, where blood ran like rivers and corpses mounted like hills, amidst ruins and death, one human stood defiant till the end.
- Lei Fei.
The movement of the Arch Lich, or rather the black energy, halted abruptly.
The brilliant golden light burst forth from the void, enveloping him like a tidal wave.
Whoosh!
'...Damn it all.'
And those were the Arch Lich's final thoughts.
* * *
The atmosphere on the battlefield, where the main forces congregated, was electric.
As the S-rank Hunters and a contingent of troops moved to the rear to forge a pathway for the suicide squad, tens of thousands of monsters capitalized on the opportunity to launch an assault.
「Fire Rain!」
Boom!
From the back lines, the mage unit unleashed their area-wide magic, and a torrential downpour of fire descended upon the enemy.
In that moment, as hundreds of monsters were reduced to cinders, the mages' fists clenched in grim resolve.
Squeal! Crack!
「...Huh?」
One mage, his face etched with confusion, wiped away the blood that had splashed across his features.
The face of his comrade, who had shared a smile just moments ago, was obliterated. No, it had been blown apart.
This was the work of a black lance, piercing through the air like a beam of light from a distance.
Squeal, boom!
Another lance hurtled through the air, impaling several mages before their screams could even begin.
「Aaagh!」
「Death Knights! It's Death Knights!」
「Damn it, what the hell are you talking about! Weren't they all dealt with?」
「No, it seems not! It looks like they had hidden some elite monsters among them!」
This foreboding pronouncement quickly became a gruesome reality.
With the S-rank Hunters away, elite monsters emerged on the battlefield, initiating a brutal massacre.
Screech!
Boom!
Death Knights, Liches, and scores of invisible Wyverns materialized, unleashing a ruthless onslaught.
As people fell and monsters advanced without pause, a profound despair settled over those who fought desperately to hold their ground.
Even if the S-rank Hunters were present, this battle would have been tough to emerge victorious from.
'It's all over.'
And just when all seemed lost, as they braced for death.
Swoosh!
The blade of a Death Knight, caught mid-slash through a victim, suddenly halted.
No, it disintegrated into ash.
"W-what is this...?"
A hunter who had narrowly escaped death looked around in astonishment.
It was a sight beyond belief.
First, hundreds fell, then thousands disintegrated.
Before long, tens of thousands of monsters were disintegrating into ash and collapsing.
Swoosh.
It was the beginning of the end.
2024.06.01 15:35 kenUdigitt Novel Chapter 425
Disclaimer: I do not speak Korean. This is purely translated by machine with a lot of cleanup afterward. With that in mind, I am open to criticism to improve these translations. Enjoy!
Chapter 425
Thud!
White Flames, having lost its mark, skittered across the ground.
"Ah."
With a snap of his fingers, the Arch Lich ensnared me, who stood frozen like a statue. Black hands, summoned from the void, clamped tightly around my body.
He wielded his magic effortlessly, foregoing the incantations usually required for spellcasting.
Step by step.
With each stride, the Arch Lich's magic swirled through him like a dense fog.
His left arm, obliterated earlier by my One Strike, began to regenerate. The shattered bones, now shaded darker, knitted together with eerie robustness.
As the completion of the Gate approached, his power swelled correspondingly.
- I wondered why I could smell death on you. That's quite a spectacular reason, isn't it? The friendship between a human and a monster is... quite touching.
Creak.
The sound of misaligned bones grated through my frame, yet my gaze drifted over the Arch Lich's shoulder.
Focused on a sword embedded in the earth, its hilt clutched by a hand that refused to relinquish its grip.
'Skeleton Warlord.'
By divine decree, humans and monsters were eternal adversaries.
Initially, it had been the same between us.
But now... I realized. At some juncture, the Skeleton Warlord had transcended mere monstrosity in my eyes.
'If I had still thought of him as just a monster, I would have annihilated him with my own hands.'
Destroying the Skeleton Warlord could have provided a crucial boost through leveling up.
Yet I faltered, and ultimately, I abstained.
Not merely because he had spared my life, but because he had won a place as a friend in my heart.
A hollow laugh burst from my lips.
‘Damn it. I should have never gotten attached.’
At that, the Arch Lich’s eyes narrowed slightly.
- You're laughing? In this situation?
“My mother used to say that laughter brings fortune.”
- You must be out of your mind.
“Why the fuss if I want to laugh? Are you my date or something?”
I spat at the Arch Lich’s face. A thick, ambiguous mixture of blood and phlegm trickled down his brow.
At that moment, a fierce red glow blazed from where his eyes ought to be.
- I've heard your response well.
“Fuck you.”
If I claimed to have no regrets about my life up to this point, I would be lying. Regrets, however, always arrive too late, and I've fought hard enough until now.
When I finally let go, everything seemed like a fleeting dream. My face, relaxed in a smile, was mirrored in the Arch Lich's sinister red gaze.
- I've said this before. Your body will be torn to shreds, and your soul will wander the River of Death forever.
I nodded, accepting this grim fate easily.
“That sounds about right. Just like that demon bastard you serve.”
- ...!
“When I meet him, I’ll send your regards. Give me his address.”
- ...Let’s see how long you can keep spouting such nonsense.
With a mere gesture from the Arch Lich, the massive magical hands constricting me tightened their grip and began to tear at my limbs with incredible force.
Slowly, bit by bit.
Creak, crunch.
A small cracking sound from within awoke the sense of pain I had momentarily escaped.
Though I believed I had no energy left for screams, an involuntary howl tore through my lips.
“Argh, aaaaargh!”
- That's it. Much better.
Blinded by agony, I braced for death as I unleashed the screams I had suppressed.
But just as the pain began to ebb away, instead of death, a System notification chimed.
Ding.
- [Top-grade Potion] used!
- The amount of potion used is too small. The injury has been slightly healed!
- Your injuries are too severe. A more potent and higher-quality healing is necessary!
…What?
As a refreshing sensation mingled with renewed pain, my eyes met the Arch Lich's, which gleamed mockingly.
In his hand, he held a glass bottle.
‘I see.’
It was one of the potions from Lee Jeong-Ryong’s subspace pocket, previously pilfered by the Arch Lich.
And now, he wielded the healing potion as an instrument of torment.
The potion delivered just enough healing to forestall death, yet it intensified my agony to new excruciating heights.
- Foolish human. Did you really think I would grant you an easy and comfortable death?
“……!”
- Continue to wail. Cry like a coward, thrash in pain, and only after you realize your foolishness will you be able to head towards the River of Death.
The Arch Lich swirled the glass bottle, his tone laced with derision.
The potion, diminished by barely a tenth, was a clear measure of the enduring pain yet to come.
That torment seemed destined to stretch into infinity.
Amidst the minimal relief and overwhelming pain, I gasped for air and managed a forced smile.
"If I chant 'Long live the Demon King' three times, will you end it quickly?"
- Well, if you put your heart and soul into it, I might consider.
“I won’t, you son of a bitch.”
- That's fine. We have plenty of time anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to think it over slowly…
Crack!
The Arch Lich’s glowing eyes flickered wildly, mirroring my own shock.
It was something neither he nor I had expected.
- What is this...
His voice trailed off in suspicion as he glanced down at his chest.
It was light. A brilliant, overwhelming radiance — bright enough to rival the sun - erupted from his chest.
'No, it’s not just light.'
I stared at it with a vacant gaze. It was a sword, emitting a brilliance greater than anything I had ever before.
I knew the name of that all-too-familiar sword.
‘Hero’s Soul.’
Beyond the skeletal chest of the Arch Lich, I could see the steadfast hand that clutched the sword’s hilt.
“……!”
Time seemed to halt.
In this nearly frozen world, I watched as hundreds, then thousands, of bone fragments coalesced.
They were mere remnants of a skeleton, yet they drew together with magnetic force, beginning to reconstruct.
Click, clack!
The symphony of bones assembling.
First, the limbs took shape, followed swiftly by the torso.
The bones, once black and lustrous, were bathed in the radiance of the [Hero's Soul]. They soon took on a subtle gold hue, lengthening and hardening in the process.
'Ah.'
It was a miraculous transformation.
The myriad bone fragments merged, reconstructing a body in a manner that seemed to reverse the flow of time. The light emanating from the sword expelled the darkness lodged within the joints, heralding the genesis of a new entity.
And then, as the skull clicked into place atop the reformed body—
Flash!
Golden light exploded from the vacant eye sockets, emitting an aura both deeply familiar and intriguingly foreign.
In the next moment, the suspended time resumed its course.
- You asked me why?
“……!”
My body jolted as if struck by lightning, recalling a memory from barely an hour earlier.
'But why? ...Why?'
That had been my question. Why did you shield me, knowing it spelled your destruction?
At the time, his response was uncertain, hinting that perhaps the sword had cast a spell over him.
Now, the answer I had not heard before resonated clearly.
- You're a cunning, wicked human...but also a pretty good guy.
A pretty good guy.
A phrase I had once said to someone else.
I stared at him, astonished. His enlarged, solid form radiated a soft golden glow. The silver pattern etched on the forehead of his skull resembled a crown.
No, it was clearly a crown.
[Lv.160 Skeleton King]
As the System window hovered above his head, laughter bubbled up from me uncontrollably.
"My Golgol has grown a lot."
- I wondered why I've been feeling itchy all this time. [Note: just a quick reminder: the Skeleton Warlord has previously complained, during one of the MC's abusive treatments, that his bones have been itchy and sensitive lately. For more details, look at novel chapter 409.]
The once small, dark caterpillar had finally emerged from its cocoon, wings unfurled.
The luminance of the Skeleton Warlord — now the Skeleton King — radiated outward like a crescent moon. Both of us shared a moment of laughter.
Yet, there was one who could not share in our mirth.
- Argh! Aaaaargh!
The Arch Lich.
This unparalleled Named Monster, commander of legions of the undead and bearer of undying, formidable magical powers, now contorted in torment.
A sword impaled through the heart of his chest.
The golden radiance from the [Hero's Soul] began to devour the magic, dissolving his form.
Perhaps even his soul.
- Human.
Prompted by the Skeleton King’s gentle summons, I knew it was time.
'Let's end this.'
Ding.
- [Hero's Soul] bestows upon you the light of healing!
- All status abnormalities have been removed!
- All injuries and stats have been restored!
- The soul of the departed smiles upon you.
Whoosh!
A surge of light from the [Hero's Soul] enveloped me, its warmth mending my fractured bones and knitting my flesh back together.
My organs, once damaged, and blood vessels, previously torn, now regenerated, the heat within them simmering like molten lava.
'I can do this.'
This newfound conviction was as solid as steel, surprising even to myself, yet unmistakably true.
With such power at my command, there was nothing beyond my reach.
'My turn.'
Ssssssht! Thump!
I picked up White Flames, which lay discarded nearby.
Pop!
Leaping into the air, I extended my foot.
My trajectory aimed me straight at the Arch Lich, who, amidst his powerful sorcery, writhed in agony.
- What in the world! What magic have you used!
The Arch Lich bellowed in fury.
His eyes, pulsating red, dilated with each pulse of agony.
His pain was palpable.
- Damn you, damn human! Aaaaargh!
Ignoring his curses, I raised White Flames with deliberate calm.
I positioned the mystical spear, its blade shimmering, to strike not just the flailing Arch Lich but also the ominous Gate looming behind him.
Whoosh.
From the core of my lower dantian, the fire dragon unfurled its wings, ascending as a fiery orb that exploded outward in all directions. The flames, kindled at my fingertips, climbed up the shaft of White Flames, cloaking it in layers of azure fire.
- You bastard! How dare you!
The Arch Lich flailed his limbs in a frenzy as his rage boiled over. Yet, the magic he cast fizzled out before it could reach me, snuffed by the searing barrier that cocooned me.
Despite his faltering strength, the darkness around the Gate churned with renewed vigor.
Then, it struck me.
'Now!'
As I twisted my body, the force of rotation surged from my legs through my waist, amplifying as it reached my shoulders and wrists. This caused White Flames to quiver with intense energy.
An extraordinary power, harnessed from the depths of my being, ignited a flame more colossal than any before.
This was the moment.
Swoosh!
In an instant, the distance between me and the Arch Lich collapsed, and time seemed to stretch thin.
Before his lips could complete his incantation, I struck with a force fueled by every ounce of my resolve and strength.
- Blin...!
One Strike.
There would be no second chances. The azure dragon, unleashed from the blade, enveloped both the Arch Lich and the ominous Gate.
Kaboom!
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Chapter 425
Thud!
White Flames, having lost its mark, skittered across the ground.
"Ah."
With a snap of his fingers, the Arch Lich ensnared me, who stood frozen like a statue. Black hands, summoned from the void, clamped tightly around my body.
He wielded his magic effortlessly, foregoing the incantations usually required for spellcasting.
Step by step.
With each stride, the Arch Lich's magic swirled through him like a dense fog.
His left arm, obliterated earlier by my One Strike, began to regenerate. The shattered bones, now shaded darker, knitted together with eerie robustness.
As the completion of the Gate approached, his power swelled correspondingly.
- I wondered why I could smell death on you. That's quite a spectacular reason, isn't it? The friendship between a human and a monster is... quite touching.
Creak.
The sound of misaligned bones grated through my frame, yet my gaze drifted over the Arch Lich's shoulder.
Focused on a sword embedded in the earth, its hilt clutched by a hand that refused to relinquish its grip.
'Skeleton Warlord.'
By divine decree, humans and monsters were eternal adversaries.
Initially, it had been the same between us.
But now... I realized. At some juncture, the Skeleton Warlord had transcended mere monstrosity in my eyes.
'If I had still thought of him as just a monster, I would have annihilated him with my own hands.'
Destroying the Skeleton Warlord could have provided a crucial boost through leveling up.
Yet I faltered, and ultimately, I abstained.
Not merely because he had spared my life, but because he had won a place as a friend in my heart.
A hollow laugh burst from my lips.
‘Damn it. I should have never gotten attached.’
At that, the Arch Lich’s eyes narrowed slightly.
- You're laughing? In this situation?
“My mother used to say that laughter brings fortune.”
- You must be out of your mind.
“Why the fuss if I want to laugh? Are you my date or something?”
I spat at the Arch Lich’s face. A thick, ambiguous mixture of blood and phlegm trickled down his brow.
At that moment, a fierce red glow blazed from where his eyes ought to be.
- I've heard your response well.
“Fuck you.”
If I claimed to have no regrets about my life up to this point, I would be lying. Regrets, however, always arrive too late, and I've fought hard enough until now.
When I finally let go, everything seemed like a fleeting dream. My face, relaxed in a smile, was mirrored in the Arch Lich's sinister red gaze.
- I've said this before. Your body will be torn to shreds, and your soul will wander the River of Death forever.
I nodded, accepting this grim fate easily.
“That sounds about right. Just like that demon bastard you serve.”
- ...!
“When I meet him, I’ll send your regards. Give me his address.”
- ...Let’s see how long you can keep spouting such nonsense.
With a mere gesture from the Arch Lich, the massive magical hands constricting me tightened their grip and began to tear at my limbs with incredible force.
Slowly, bit by bit.
Creak, crunch.
A small cracking sound from within awoke the sense of pain I had momentarily escaped.
Though I believed I had no energy left for screams, an involuntary howl tore through my lips.
“Argh, aaaaargh!”
- That's it. Much better.
Blinded by agony, I braced for death as I unleashed the screams I had suppressed.
But just as the pain began to ebb away, instead of death, a System notification chimed.
Ding.
- [Top-grade Potion] used!
- The amount of potion used is too small. The injury has been slightly healed!
- Your injuries are too severe. A more potent and higher-quality healing is necessary!
…What?
As a refreshing sensation mingled with renewed pain, my eyes met the Arch Lich's, which gleamed mockingly.
In his hand, he held a glass bottle.
‘I see.’
It was one of the potions from Lee Jeong-Ryong’s subspace pocket, previously pilfered by the Arch Lich.
And now, he wielded the healing potion as an instrument of torment.
The potion delivered just enough healing to forestall death, yet it intensified my agony to new excruciating heights.
- Foolish human. Did you really think I would grant you an easy and comfortable death?
“……!”
- Continue to wail. Cry like a coward, thrash in pain, and only after you realize your foolishness will you be able to head towards the River of Death.
The Arch Lich swirled the glass bottle, his tone laced with derision.
The potion, diminished by barely a tenth, was a clear measure of the enduring pain yet to come.
That torment seemed destined to stretch into infinity.
Amidst the minimal relief and overwhelming pain, I gasped for air and managed a forced smile.
"If I chant 'Long live the Demon King' three times, will you end it quickly?"
- Well, if you put your heart and soul into it, I might consider.
“I won’t, you son of a bitch.”
- That's fine. We have plenty of time anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to think it over slowly…
Crack!
The Arch Lich’s glowing eyes flickered wildly, mirroring my own shock.
It was something neither he nor I had expected.
- What is this...
His voice trailed off in suspicion as he glanced down at his chest.
It was light. A brilliant, overwhelming radiance — bright enough to rival the sun - erupted from his chest.
'No, it’s not just light.'
I stared at it with a vacant gaze. It was a sword, emitting a brilliance greater than anything I had ever before.
I knew the name of that all-too-familiar sword.
‘Hero’s Soul.’
Beyond the skeletal chest of the Arch Lich, I could see the steadfast hand that clutched the sword’s hilt.
“……!”
Time seemed to halt.
In this nearly frozen world, I watched as hundreds, then thousands, of bone fragments coalesced.
They were mere remnants of a skeleton, yet they drew together with magnetic force, beginning to reconstruct.
Click, clack!
The symphony of bones assembling.
First, the limbs took shape, followed swiftly by the torso.
The bones, once black and lustrous, were bathed in the radiance of the [Hero's Soul]. They soon took on a subtle gold hue, lengthening and hardening in the process.
'Ah.'
It was a miraculous transformation.
The myriad bone fragments merged, reconstructing a body in a manner that seemed to reverse the flow of time. The light emanating from the sword expelled the darkness lodged within the joints, heralding the genesis of a new entity.
And then, as the skull clicked into place atop the reformed body—
Flash!
Golden light exploded from the vacant eye sockets, emitting an aura both deeply familiar and intriguingly foreign.
In the next moment, the suspended time resumed its course.
- You asked me why?
“……!”
My body jolted as if struck by lightning, recalling a memory from barely an hour earlier.
'But why? ...Why?'
That had been my question. Why did you shield me, knowing it spelled your destruction?
At the time, his response was uncertain, hinting that perhaps the sword had cast a spell over him.
Now, the answer I had not heard before resonated clearly.
- You're a cunning, wicked human...but also a pretty good guy.
A pretty good guy.
A phrase I had once said to someone else.
I stared at him, astonished. His enlarged, solid form radiated a soft golden glow. The silver pattern etched on the forehead of his skull resembled a crown.
No, it was clearly a crown.
[Lv.160 Skeleton King]
As the System window hovered above his head, laughter bubbled up from me uncontrollably.
"My Golgol has grown a lot."
- I wondered why I've been feeling itchy all this time. [Note: just a quick reminder: the Skeleton Warlord has previously complained, during one of the MC's abusive treatments, that his bones have been itchy and sensitive lately. For more details, look at novel chapter 409.]
The once small, dark caterpillar had finally emerged from its cocoon, wings unfurled.
The luminance of the Skeleton Warlord — now the Skeleton King — radiated outward like a crescent moon. Both of us shared a moment of laughter.
Yet, there was one who could not share in our mirth.
- Argh! Aaaaargh!
The Arch Lich.
This unparalleled Named Monster, commander of legions of the undead and bearer of undying, formidable magical powers, now contorted in torment.
A sword impaled through the heart of his chest.
The golden radiance from the [Hero's Soul] began to devour the magic, dissolving his form.
Perhaps even his soul.
- Human.
Prompted by the Skeleton King’s gentle summons, I knew it was time.
'Let's end this.'
Ding.
- [Hero's Soul] bestows upon you the light of healing!
- All status abnormalities have been removed!
- All injuries and stats have been restored!
- The soul of the departed smiles upon you.
Whoosh!
A surge of light from the [Hero's Soul] enveloped me, its warmth mending my fractured bones and knitting my flesh back together.
My organs, once damaged, and blood vessels, previously torn, now regenerated, the heat within them simmering like molten lava.
'I can do this.'
This newfound conviction was as solid as steel, surprising even to myself, yet unmistakably true.
With such power at my command, there was nothing beyond my reach.
'My turn.'
Ssssssht! Thump!
I picked up White Flames, which lay discarded nearby.
Pop!
Leaping into the air, I extended my foot.
My trajectory aimed me straight at the Arch Lich, who, amidst his powerful sorcery, writhed in agony.
- What in the world! What magic have you used!
The Arch Lich bellowed in fury.
His eyes, pulsating red, dilated with each pulse of agony.
His pain was palpable.
- Damn you, damn human! Aaaaargh!
Ignoring his curses, I raised White Flames with deliberate calm.
I positioned the mystical spear, its blade shimmering, to strike not just the flailing Arch Lich but also the ominous Gate looming behind him.
Whoosh.
From the core of my lower dantian, the fire dragon unfurled its wings, ascending as a fiery orb that exploded outward in all directions. The flames, kindled at my fingertips, climbed up the shaft of White Flames, cloaking it in layers of azure fire.
- You bastard! How dare you!
The Arch Lich flailed his limbs in a frenzy as his rage boiled over. Yet, the magic he cast fizzled out before it could reach me, snuffed by the searing barrier that cocooned me.
Despite his faltering strength, the darkness around the Gate churned with renewed vigor.
Then, it struck me.
'Now!'
As I twisted my body, the force of rotation surged from my legs through my waist, amplifying as it reached my shoulders and wrists. This caused White Flames to quiver with intense energy.
An extraordinary power, harnessed from the depths of my being, ignited a flame more colossal than any before.
This was the moment.
Swoosh!
In an instant, the distance between me and the Arch Lich collapsed, and time seemed to stretch thin.
Before his lips could complete his incantation, I struck with a force fueled by every ounce of my resolve and strength.
- Blin...!
One Strike.
There would be no second chances. The azure dragon, unleashed from the blade, enveloped both the Arch Lich and the ominous Gate.
Kaboom!
2024.06.01 15:34 kenUdigitt Novel Chapter 424
Disclaimer: I do not speak Korean. This is purely translated by machine with a lot of cleanup afterward. With that in mind, I am open to criticism to improve these translations. Enjoy!
Chapter 424
Kwaaaaah!
Engulfed in searing blue flames, the vortex devoured everything in its path,
Buildings crumbled - their concrete skeletons exposed and steel frames twisted grotesquely. The ground was littered with the scattered bodies of humans and monsters alike, casualties of the relentless destruction.
The ultra-high heat obliterated nearly everything, reducing it all to ash and molten remnants.
Except for one.
- Blink.
Everything but him.
Beep.
- Skill, [One Strike] has been activated!
- [Qi] has been completely exhausted!
- Everything comes with a price. Despite serious injuries, you have overexerted your power.
- Status abnormality, [Exhaustion] has been applied!
- [Strength], [Stamina], [Agility] have temporarily plummeted!
My strength ebbed away, leaving me hollow. The alerts from the System rang incessantly in my ears, while the distant cries of the Skeleton Warlord in my inventory faded to mere whispers.
My body felt leaden, as though submerged in icy water. In the frigid solitude of my mind, one thought spun relentlessly:
'This was my last chance.'
Why hadn’t I seen it coming? Why hadn’t I guessed?
The Arch Lich had warned me; he had been observing me through his network of familiars scattered across the battlefield.
I should have suspected he'd seen my earlier uses of [One Strike] on the Liches and Death Knights.
I should have questioned it, even without certainty.
‘Idiot.’
A laugh, bitter and mocking, broke from my lips. I had promised myself never to let down my guard, yet here I was, caught in the most critical of errors.
The lack of options was no excuse. In battle, it is the outcome that counts, not the intent. This was the bitter fruit of my negligence.
Thud!
The iron bar I clutched fell from my weakening grasp, clanging loudly as it hit the ground. My legs buckled, forcing me to kneel.
Head bowed, I was enveloped by a suffocating darkness.
- You, human. How does it feel to pay the price for your reckless courage?
Struggling to lift my head, I locked eyes with his fiery red gaze. A hoarse whisper clawed its way through my parched throat.
"Of course it feels shitty, you damn bastard."
- It was a fearsome strike. I'll give you that much praise.
The Arch Lich’s voice dripped with triumph.
Despite his use of teleportation magic, he couldn’t entirely evade One Strike, resulting in the loss of his left arm. Yet, there he stood, a grim victor amidst the chaos of the battlefield.
His eyes, a sinister red, gleamed with a cruel joy as he gazed down at me, kneeling like a penitent sinner.
- I waited until the end. Despite the humiliation suffered at the hands of a human, I endured and persevered. And finally... this body claims victory.
His cunning was undeniable.
As I had feared, he had been anticipating One Strike from the outset.
Previously, I had obliterated Liches and Death Knights with One Strike, replenishing my stamina through leveling up, but he had keenly observed the moment I depleted all my strength.
- Do you understand now? This is your limit - the limit of a human.
Limit.
That word burrowed deeply into my chest.
Despite all my struggles, the label of F-rank haunted me. It was a limit I had strived to surpass every day since acquiring the System.
'Is this really the end?'
I had fought desperately, for myself and for those I loved, pushing through peril after peril. This was my life: a relentless challenge of transcending my own boundaries.
"It's not over... not yet."
The words fell from my lips, hollow and lifeless, as if spoken by another.
My vision blurred as I raised my eyes to meet the Arch Lich’s gaze.
- What?
"It's not over yet."
A battle to the death concludes only when one side falls and the other stands victorious.
Until then, the struggle persists.
As death loomed close, I whispered to myself.
'Inventory open. Summon.'
I thought I had secured one of the spears from my inventory in my grasp.
But then, I dropped it.
Clang!
In that moment, I realized my strength had waned too far to wield a spear, let alone swing it.
- Hahahaha!
The Arch Lich’s laughter was grotesque, reveling in my plight.
Yet, surrender was not an option for me. I would not, could not give up.
'Open Inventory. Summon.'
Weapon after weapon appeared in my hands.
Thud!
And one by one, I dropped them.
'Open Inventory. Summon.'
Thud!
- Oh, you foolish, stupid human!
The Arch Lich's mockery rang out.
Yet I persisted, undeterred.
Is it courageous to humbly accept one's end? If that is courage, then label me a coward.
I must survive — I believed this was the highest respect I could pay to the life I had fought so hard to live.
'Open Inventory. Summon.'
It was at that very moment.
Ding.
- [Endurance] greatly increases.
- The attribute, [Endurance], transforms into [Will]!
- Those with strong will are not easily broken; they do not fall. They will fight with all their might until the very end.
- A strong will, at times, can give you the power to overcome your limits!
- Special effect, [Indomitable], has been activated. Temporarily, all attributes slightly increase, and fatigue is reduced!
A surge of warmth spread through my core, faint yet fiercer than any force I had known.
It wasn't just a burst of power.
It was a beacon of hope kindled by my desperation and given by the System.
With hands shaking, I clasped the cold spear shaft firmly.
- You...
The Arch Lich had noticed the shift too.
His gaze, previously dismissive as if I was merely an exhibit, now widened in alarm. Seizing the moment, I mustered all my remaining strength and lunged forward.
Time seemed to stretch, elongating the seconds as I thrust the spear towards his looming figure.
Screeeeech!
As the spear tore through the air with a sonic boom, I saw it clearly — the Arch Lich’s eyes, twisted into a crescent of scorn.
It was a sneer.
- Blood Explosion.
Boom!
The force of the explosion reverberated through my body, sending shockwaves pulsing through every fiber.
With the last of my strength spent, my muscles seized up. The spear slipped from my weakened grip and impaled the ground at an awkward angle.
I blinked through eyes filled with blood. In a world now painted a visceral red, something warm and sticky splattered onto my face.
Drip, drip-drip.
'...Ah.'
It was blood.
My own blood, spurting forth like a gruesome fountain, showered down in a macabre rain.
As I raised my trembling hands, quivering like aspen leaves in a storm, the ghastly sight of my shredded flesh and starkly exposed bones confronted me.
Blood Explosion. A literal explosion of blood.
From the edges of my dimming consciousness, the cries of the Skeleton Warlord pierced the air.
- ...Human, human!
How long had he been shouting?
I tried to answer, but all that escaped my lips was a grotesque mix of blood and fragments of my organs.
"Cough."
The world spun chaotically before my eyes.
I reached out toward the Arch Lich, now just a blur through the blood-smeared lens of my vision, but my hand grasped only air.
Perhaps it always would.
- Snap out of it! Aren't you supposed to live?
Is that supposed to be encouragement?
I knew I had to survive, defeat him, and return home.
But...
'Can I really?'
Slowly, the world seemed to tilt.
No, the world was stable; it was I who was faltering. My body, ravaged by relentless bleeding and grievous injuries, used the last vestiges of its strength just to keep from collapsing.
'No. If I fall, it's all over.'
I propped myself up on a broken ankle.
The faint, thorn-like pain was a grim reminder that I was dying, yet the intermittent shouts from the Skeleton Warlord, sounding through the haze like a broken radio, affirmed that I was still somehow alive.
- ...Do it, human! Hurry!
Do it? Do what?
- Summon me now...!
My eardrums were ruptured, my consciousness slipping; the Skeleton Warlord's shouts were just muffled echoes in my shattered senses.
Even if I could have made out his words, there was nothing I could do to intercept the Arch Lich's next move.
- You have some interesting possessions.
Suddenly, in the Arch Lich's hand was a familiar object.
My cherished weapon, White Flames, which had weathered many battles at my side, now blazed in the hands of this usurper. He laughed, his skeletal frame aglow within the dancing flames.
- I have received a gift far too extravagant. I suppose it should be returned to its owner.
The Arch Lich drew back his arm. A potent magic dampened the inferno of White Flames and surged along the spear’s blade.
- Farewell, noble adversary — or perhaps just a fool who might have been something more.
Screech!
The sonic boom was fleeting, yet the moment stretched into an eternity.
I watched, mute, as White Flames hurtled towards me like a meteor. A whirlwind of thoughts raced through my mind, leading me to an inevitable conclusion.
'I can't avoid it.'
Then the only end left for me was death.
I had survived countless battles over the past seven years, but never had the specter of death loomed so palpably.
All I could do was witness its relentless advance.
'Yes, this is the end.'
I repeated the thought with eerie calm.
Crack!
The blade of White Flames cleaved through bone as it impaled me squarely in the chest.
I froze, eyes wide in shock — not pain.
"...You."
- Why, what?
Words failed me as I stared into the flickering blue eyes just inches from my face.
From a skull no larger than a soccer ball, the Skeleton Warlord had morphed into a towering figure over two meters tall, his voice blunt and confounding.
- Don't ask how I was able to get out on my own. Even this commander doesn't understand why.
"But why? ...Why?"
I asked, facing him.
The blade of the spear, protruding from the Skeleton Warlord's back to his chest, halted just a whisper away from piercing me.
If no one had intervened, I would have surely died.
He had just thrown himself to save my life.
- ...I don't know anymore. Damn it. I don't know anything now. Maybe I was enchanted by this sword.
Only then did I recognize the identity of the sword in the Skeleton Warlord's hand.
"Hero's Soul."
The only relic of Lei Fei, a sword that cannot be wielded by those who are not qualified to be heroes.
Yet here it was.
Held not by a hero, but by a Named Monster — the Skeleton Warlord.
- Hero's Soul, huh? For something made by humans, that's a pretty decent name. No, honestly, it's cool. Although it's too late to swing it properly now...
His voice trailed off, and the intense blue light in his eyes began to fade.
I understood what was happening to him.
'Extinction.'
Undoubtedly. Even now, the magical force of the Arch Lich, carried by the blade of White Flames, was devouring the Skeleton Warlord.
"You."
- Don't say any more. I'm already regretting this as it is.
I doubted his sincerity, especially given the soft chuckle that seemed at odds with his typically gruff demeanor.
- Human. There's something I'm curious about.
As the Arch Lich approached and the shoulders of the Skeleton Warlord crumbled, I gave a silent nod.
"Anything."
He hesitated for a moment then asked in a soft voice.
- About what you said last time. Was it sincere?
"Last time, what... Oh."
I suddenly remembered. The way he had been right after Lei Fei's death, pondering his forgotten past.
And the casual remark I had made.
'Well, I think he was probably a pretty good guy.'
'...Huh? Are you talking about me?'
'No. I'm just talking to myself.'
'Oh, yes. Right.'
So that's what it is.
For the Skeleton Warlord, who had awakened with power from a spirit that had lost all its memories, I might have been the closest thing to a friend he ever had.
The simple words I had spoken were like a pebble tossed into the still waters of his heart, causing ripples to spread outward.
'What an idiot.'
What was that all about? Why go this far over such a trivial thing?
A surge of emotion welled up within me, heat flushing my face, but I reined it in. I barely managed to muster my voice.
"Of course it was sincere."
- Yes, I see.
At that moment, as the blue light in his eyes flickered feebly, a cold voice cut through the air, heralding the end.
- Are you finished with your farewells?
"…!"
- Bone Explosion.
Boom!
Instinctively, I shielded my face with my arms, but the force of the explosion hurled me backward, sending shockwaves pulsating through me.
As I staggered to my feet, I witnessed a skull catapulted into the sky, bones splintering and scattering like brittle ice.
And then… silence.
The Skeleton Warlord had vanished.
Whoosh!
[Hero's Soul] plummeted from the heavens, its blade burying itself deep into the earth, gripped by a hand that had not relinquished it until the very end.
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Chapter 424
Kwaaaaah!
Engulfed in searing blue flames, the vortex devoured everything in its path,
Buildings crumbled - their concrete skeletons exposed and steel frames twisted grotesquely. The ground was littered with the scattered bodies of humans and monsters alike, casualties of the relentless destruction.
The ultra-high heat obliterated nearly everything, reducing it all to ash and molten remnants.
Except for one.
- Blink.
Everything but him.
Beep.
- Skill, [One Strike] has been activated!
- [Qi] has been completely exhausted!
- Everything comes with a price. Despite serious injuries, you have overexerted your power.
- Status abnormality, [Exhaustion] has been applied!
- [Strength], [Stamina], [Agility] have temporarily plummeted!
My strength ebbed away, leaving me hollow. The alerts from the System rang incessantly in my ears, while the distant cries of the Skeleton Warlord in my inventory faded to mere whispers.
My body felt leaden, as though submerged in icy water. In the frigid solitude of my mind, one thought spun relentlessly:
'This was my last chance.'
Why hadn’t I seen it coming? Why hadn’t I guessed?
The Arch Lich had warned me; he had been observing me through his network of familiars scattered across the battlefield.
I should have suspected he'd seen my earlier uses of [One Strike] on the Liches and Death Knights.
I should have questioned it, even without certainty.
‘Idiot.’
A laugh, bitter and mocking, broke from my lips. I had promised myself never to let down my guard, yet here I was, caught in the most critical of errors.
The lack of options was no excuse. In battle, it is the outcome that counts, not the intent. This was the bitter fruit of my negligence.
Thud!
The iron bar I clutched fell from my weakening grasp, clanging loudly as it hit the ground. My legs buckled, forcing me to kneel.
Head bowed, I was enveloped by a suffocating darkness.
- You, human. How does it feel to pay the price for your reckless courage?
Struggling to lift my head, I locked eyes with his fiery red gaze. A hoarse whisper clawed its way through my parched throat.
"Of course it feels shitty, you damn bastard."
- It was a fearsome strike. I'll give you that much praise.
The Arch Lich’s voice dripped with triumph.
Despite his use of teleportation magic, he couldn’t entirely evade One Strike, resulting in the loss of his left arm. Yet, there he stood, a grim victor amidst the chaos of the battlefield.
His eyes, a sinister red, gleamed with a cruel joy as he gazed down at me, kneeling like a penitent sinner.
- I waited until the end. Despite the humiliation suffered at the hands of a human, I endured and persevered. And finally... this body claims victory.
His cunning was undeniable.
As I had feared, he had been anticipating One Strike from the outset.
Previously, I had obliterated Liches and Death Knights with One Strike, replenishing my stamina through leveling up, but he had keenly observed the moment I depleted all my strength.
- Do you understand now? This is your limit - the limit of a human.
Limit.
That word burrowed deeply into my chest.
Despite all my struggles, the label of F-rank haunted me. It was a limit I had strived to surpass every day since acquiring the System.
'Is this really the end?'
I had fought desperately, for myself and for those I loved, pushing through peril after peril. This was my life: a relentless challenge of transcending my own boundaries.
"It's not over... not yet."
The words fell from my lips, hollow and lifeless, as if spoken by another.
My vision blurred as I raised my eyes to meet the Arch Lich’s gaze.
- What?
"It's not over yet."
A battle to the death concludes only when one side falls and the other stands victorious.
Until then, the struggle persists.
As death loomed close, I whispered to myself.
'Inventory open. Summon.'
I thought I had secured one of the spears from my inventory in my grasp.
But then, I dropped it.
Clang!
In that moment, I realized my strength had waned too far to wield a spear, let alone swing it.
- Hahahaha!
The Arch Lich’s laughter was grotesque, reveling in my plight.
Yet, surrender was not an option for me. I would not, could not give up.
'Open Inventory. Summon.'
Weapon after weapon appeared in my hands.
Thud!
And one by one, I dropped them.
'Open Inventory. Summon.'
Thud!
- Oh, you foolish, stupid human!
The Arch Lich's mockery rang out.
Yet I persisted, undeterred.
Is it courageous to humbly accept one's end? If that is courage, then label me a coward.
I must survive — I believed this was the highest respect I could pay to the life I had fought so hard to live.
'Open Inventory. Summon.'
It was at that very moment.
Ding.
- [Endurance] greatly increases.
- The attribute, [Endurance], transforms into [Will]!
- Those with strong will are not easily broken; they do not fall. They will fight with all their might until the very end.
- A strong will, at times, can give you the power to overcome your limits!
- Special effect, [Indomitable], has been activated. Temporarily, all attributes slightly increase, and fatigue is reduced!
A surge of warmth spread through my core, faint yet fiercer than any force I had known.
It wasn't just a burst of power.
It was a beacon of hope kindled by my desperation and given by the System.
With hands shaking, I clasped the cold spear shaft firmly.
- You...
The Arch Lich had noticed the shift too.
His gaze, previously dismissive as if I was merely an exhibit, now widened in alarm. Seizing the moment, I mustered all my remaining strength and lunged forward.
Time seemed to stretch, elongating the seconds as I thrust the spear towards his looming figure.
Screeeeech!
As the spear tore through the air with a sonic boom, I saw it clearly — the Arch Lich’s eyes, twisted into a crescent of scorn.
It was a sneer.
- Blood Explosion.
Boom!
The force of the explosion reverberated through my body, sending shockwaves pulsing through every fiber.
With the last of my strength spent, my muscles seized up. The spear slipped from my weakened grip and impaled the ground at an awkward angle.
I blinked through eyes filled with blood. In a world now painted a visceral red, something warm and sticky splattered onto my face.
Drip, drip-drip.
'...Ah.'
It was blood.
My own blood, spurting forth like a gruesome fountain, showered down in a macabre rain.
As I raised my trembling hands, quivering like aspen leaves in a storm, the ghastly sight of my shredded flesh and starkly exposed bones confronted me.
Blood Explosion. A literal explosion of blood.
From the edges of my dimming consciousness, the cries of the Skeleton Warlord pierced the air.
- ...Human, human!
How long had he been shouting?
I tried to answer, but all that escaped my lips was a grotesque mix of blood and fragments of my organs.
"Cough."
The world spun chaotically before my eyes.
I reached out toward the Arch Lich, now just a blur through the blood-smeared lens of my vision, but my hand grasped only air.
Perhaps it always would.
- Snap out of it! Aren't you supposed to live?
Is that supposed to be encouragement?
I knew I had to survive, defeat him, and return home.
But...
'Can I really?'
Slowly, the world seemed to tilt.
No, the world was stable; it was I who was faltering. My body, ravaged by relentless bleeding and grievous injuries, used the last vestiges of its strength just to keep from collapsing.
'No. If I fall, it's all over.'
I propped myself up on a broken ankle.
The faint, thorn-like pain was a grim reminder that I was dying, yet the intermittent shouts from the Skeleton Warlord, sounding through the haze like a broken radio, affirmed that I was still somehow alive.
- ...Do it, human! Hurry!
Do it? Do what?
- Summon me now...!
My eardrums were ruptured, my consciousness slipping; the Skeleton Warlord's shouts were just muffled echoes in my shattered senses.
Even if I could have made out his words, there was nothing I could do to intercept the Arch Lich's next move.
- You have some interesting possessions.
Suddenly, in the Arch Lich's hand was a familiar object.
My cherished weapon, White Flames, which had weathered many battles at my side, now blazed in the hands of this usurper. He laughed, his skeletal frame aglow within the dancing flames.
- I have received a gift far too extravagant. I suppose it should be returned to its owner.
The Arch Lich drew back his arm. A potent magic dampened the inferno of White Flames and surged along the spear’s blade.
- Farewell, noble adversary — or perhaps just a fool who might have been something more.
Screech!
The sonic boom was fleeting, yet the moment stretched into an eternity.
I watched, mute, as White Flames hurtled towards me like a meteor. A whirlwind of thoughts raced through my mind, leading me to an inevitable conclusion.
'I can't avoid it.'
Then the only end left for me was death.
I had survived countless battles over the past seven years, but never had the specter of death loomed so palpably.
All I could do was witness its relentless advance.
'Yes, this is the end.'
I repeated the thought with eerie calm.
Crack!
The blade of White Flames cleaved through bone as it impaled me squarely in the chest.
I froze, eyes wide in shock — not pain.
"...You."
- Why, what?
Words failed me as I stared into the flickering blue eyes just inches from my face.
From a skull no larger than a soccer ball, the Skeleton Warlord had morphed into a towering figure over two meters tall, his voice blunt and confounding.
- Don't ask how I was able to get out on my own. Even this commander doesn't understand why.
"But why? ...Why?"
I asked, facing him.
The blade of the spear, protruding from the Skeleton Warlord's back to his chest, halted just a whisper away from piercing me.
If no one had intervened, I would have surely died.
He had just thrown himself to save my life.
- ...I don't know anymore. Damn it. I don't know anything now. Maybe I was enchanted by this sword.
Only then did I recognize the identity of the sword in the Skeleton Warlord's hand.
"Hero's Soul."
The only relic of Lei Fei, a sword that cannot be wielded by those who are not qualified to be heroes.
Yet here it was.
Held not by a hero, but by a Named Monster — the Skeleton Warlord.
- Hero's Soul, huh? For something made by humans, that's a pretty decent name. No, honestly, it's cool. Although it's too late to swing it properly now...
His voice trailed off, and the intense blue light in his eyes began to fade.
I understood what was happening to him.
'Extinction.'
Undoubtedly. Even now, the magical force of the Arch Lich, carried by the blade of White Flames, was devouring the Skeleton Warlord.
"You."
- Don't say any more. I'm already regretting this as it is.
I doubted his sincerity, especially given the soft chuckle that seemed at odds with his typically gruff demeanor.
- Human. There's something I'm curious about.
As the Arch Lich approached and the shoulders of the Skeleton Warlord crumbled, I gave a silent nod.
"Anything."
He hesitated for a moment then asked in a soft voice.
- About what you said last time. Was it sincere?
"Last time, what... Oh."
I suddenly remembered. The way he had been right after Lei Fei's death, pondering his forgotten past.
And the casual remark I had made.
'Well, I think he was probably a pretty good guy.'
'...Huh? Are you talking about me?'
'No. I'm just talking to myself.'
'Oh, yes. Right.'
So that's what it is.
For the Skeleton Warlord, who had awakened with power from a spirit that had lost all its memories, I might have been the closest thing to a friend he ever had.
The simple words I had spoken were like a pebble tossed into the still waters of his heart, causing ripples to spread outward.
'What an idiot.'
What was that all about? Why go this far over such a trivial thing?
A surge of emotion welled up within me, heat flushing my face, but I reined it in. I barely managed to muster my voice.
"Of course it was sincere."
- Yes, I see.
At that moment, as the blue light in his eyes flickered feebly, a cold voice cut through the air, heralding the end.
- Are you finished with your farewells?
"…!"
- Bone Explosion.
Boom!
Instinctively, I shielded my face with my arms, but the force of the explosion hurled me backward, sending shockwaves pulsating through me.
As I staggered to my feet, I witnessed a skull catapulted into the sky, bones splintering and scattering like brittle ice.
And then… silence.
The Skeleton Warlord had vanished.
Whoosh!
[Hero's Soul] plummeted from the heavens, its blade burying itself deep into the earth, gripped by a hand that had not relinquished it until the very end.
2024.06.01 15:34 DunnoWhatToSay6 Scotland to Spain
 | On the 6th of May I left home from Aberdeen, Scotland to my destination of Alicante, Spain of what would be a 2650km trip. submitted by DunnoWhatToSay6 to bikepacking [link] [comments] I was really nervous the first couple of days, having trouble sleeping at night before settling into the groove. I mostly wildcamped but took a hotel every couple of days to recharge and dry my stuff out (even as going as far as drying my shoes in the oven as there were no heater 😅). It was tough, I found myself rushing most days to reach my goal which definitely took the enjoyment out of the journey. The weather in the UK was surprisingly great and I even managed to see the northern lights. France was tough with almost daily thunderstorms. I had a painful knee injury in Spain which took a toll that lead me to take a shortcut for the last leg of the journey from Valencia to Alicante when my shifter mechanism broke leaving me with one gear for 200kms. Anyways, I completed the trip in 21 days. I learned that even when the times are hard that its not permanent, and that it not as bad as it seems on the surface and that it will make for some great stories. |
2024.06.01 15:34 kenUdigitt Novel Chapter 423
Disclaimer: I do not speak Korean. This is purely translated by machine with a lot of cleanup afterward. With that in mind, I am open to criticism to improve these translations. Enjoy!
Chapter 423
Thud!
The moment I hurled the Arch Lich to the ground with a resounding crash, I coiled my energy and kicked the air.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion of compressed air echoed as I hurtled toward his descending form with fearsome velocity.
The Skeleton Warlord let out a scream or cheer — it was hard to tell which.
- That's it, human! Finish him!
Finish what, exactly?
His judgment was unfortunately wrong. I knew this better than anyone, especially as I drove my fist into the Arch Lich's jaw.
'Did he cast a defensive spell in that brief moment...?'
Before my fully-powered Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist could make contact, he conjured a Bone Shield across his face, warding off the brunt of the blow.
Though the strike wasn’t wholly futile, he was no easy foe to vanquish.
And my prediction proved accurate. The Arch Lich, whose body had been plummeting earthward like a comet, abruptly stopped mid-descent, as potent magic filled the air.
- Darkness Hold.
Swoosh!
From the void, two colossal hands materialized. At first glance, they appeared as mere Dark Hands, but Darkness Hold was designed exclusively to ensnare its target, as the name suggested.
I dived headlong toward the encroaching hands, my spear poised for battle.
'I see it.'
Everything possesses an 'essence' — living creatures, the wind, even invisible forces.
With my middle dantian now open, I could discern and understand the core and essence of all things.
Just like in this moment.
Screech!
Flames burst forth, cleaving through the darkness. The writhing black hands dissipated into a mist, while the Arch Lich’s eyes glinted with malice.
The next instant, his spectral bony hand sliced through the air.
- Dark Claw!
Swoosh, swish!
The evaporating black mist morphed into the savage claws of a beast, descending in a furious onslaught.
The attacks came from every direction, each with a unique path. Deflecting them would be manageable if I concentrated, but that meant losing ground on the Arch Lich just after having narrowed the gap.
'I must make a choice.'
It's impossible to catch both rabbits, especially when the opponent is more of a tiger than a rabbit.
In an instant, I made my decision and unleashed White Flames — not at the encircling magic, but directly at the Arch Lich.
Boom!
The searing blue blaze of White Flames tore through the air like a bolt of lightning.
From the Arch Lich's mouth came a voice, tinged with unprecedented desperation.
- Bone Shie—!
It's already too late, you bastard.
Whoosh!
The blue blaze enveloped the Arch Lich completely.
The nascent bone shield disintegrated into dust under the blistering assault.
Crack!
The White Flames' blade speared through the Arch Lich’s chest, skewering him like meat over a fire. His scream was like none I had ever heard before.
Suddenly, a biting chill sliced through the air from every direction.
- Human, danger...!
Even without the Skeleton Warlord's cry, I already knew.
Yet, I did it anyway. In order to take bones, you have to sacrifice flesh. Fully aware of the impending harm, I still believed in my choice.
As magical claws descended from all around, I mulled over my decision.
'...Maybe I should have just blocked it.'
But regret was a luxury I could no longer afford.
Shhhhhh!
A wind swept over my entire form, chilling to the bone.
It was no illusion like a Bone Spear, nor slow enough to block. I contorted my body, bolstering my Qi, but the onslaught was relentless.
Shiing, slash, screee! Swoosh!
Shoulders, flanks, thighs, arms...
Countless magical claws lacerated my flesh. Blood gushed from the wounds, and agony surged through me.
'Damn it.'
It hurts enough to make me wish for death.
No matter how often one experiences it, pain is something one never gets used to.
My vision blurred, my limbs grew heavy and succumbed.
It was a brief lapse, yet it stretched into an agonizing eternity.
When my eyes fluttered open again, the first thing I saw was an imposing mass of concrete that had materialized seemingly out of nowhere.
- Wake up, human!
"…!"
The urgent command of the Skeleton Warlord jolted me back to awareness.
I funneled Qi into my stiff limbs, the pain from ruptured meridians reigniting my dulled senses.
'Now!'
With no time to waste, I hurled myself over.
Bang! A cloud of dust billowed as I crash-landed onto the concrete debris. Sharp tremors and pain shot through my legs.
"Ugh."
The Skeleton Warlord spoke to me as I grit my teeth against the pain,
- Human, you don't look… okay.
I drew a ragged breath and shot back,
"Huff. If you know that, then shut up. My head is throbbing."
It was no exaggeration; even the System notifications were enough to make my stomach churn.
Beep.
- Status abnormality, [Serious Injury] has been inflicted!
- Status abnormality, [Excessive Bleeding] has been inflicted!
- Due to severe injuries, your physical stats have drastically decreased!
- [Strength], [Agility], [Stamina] have each decreased by 200 points!
- You have sustained severe injuries! Immediate medical attention is required!
Yep, that sounds about right.
Whether from the blood loss or the relentless pain, my vision swam, and my thoughts muddled.
Yet, through the haze, one thought remained clear.
"The Arch Lich. Where is the Arch Lich?"
At my hoarse voice, the Skeleton Warlord shouted.
- You crazy human! Get treated first!
"The kill notification hasn't popped up yet. He's still alive..."
- Notification or not, get treated now!
"Ugh."
I told you to shut up.
Leaning heavily against the rubble, I felt dizzy. Blood seeped from my drenched clothing, and my limbs shook uncontrollably like trembling leaves.
'Shit.'
This time, I took a serious beating.
The only small comfort was that the Arch Lich must be just as badly off, if not worse.
- You foolish human!
I know. I know already.
While the echoes of reprimand rang in my skull, I spread my palm and whispered to myself.
'Inventory open. Summon.'
Pop!
Everything happened simultaneously.
From a subspace pocket, once belonging to Lee Jeong-Ryong, I retrieved an item now mine to command.
'Top-grade potion.'
Could Lee Jeong-Ryong have ever imagined that the two emergency potions he'd packed would both end up in my hands?
My fingers shook as I uncorked the Top-grade potion, desperate to drink it like it was the very elixir of life.
But just as I raised it to my lips.
Thud, swoosh!
"…Huh?"
It all happened in an instant.
A black vine shot up from the concrete debris, lashed at my wrist, and sent the potion arcing through the air, disappearing into the fog.
As I watched a few droplets disperse into the dusty air and sink into the earth, I muttered,
"Dark Vine."
A spell all too familiar.
The Skeleton Warlord groaned.
- It's him.
I lifted my gaze. A red light flickered through the dense fog like a distant flame.
Approaching was a figure, three meters tall with a sinister black gleam. It resembled a human, yet bore an essence that defied such a simple label as it emerged from the fog with heavy, deliberate steps.
- You, human.
The voice was low, heavy with unmistakable rage.
The Skeleton Warlord trembled within my Inventory, and a faint smile crossed my lips.
"You damn bastard. I was drinking that."
- Your struggle ends here.
Shriek, snap!
I had no chance to react — when the Arch Lich flicked his fingers, Lee Jeong-Ryong’s ordinary-looking subspace pocket was swept into the distance by the Dark Vine.
- Your shallow tricks will no longer work.
With each word he spoke, the magic encircling the Arch Lich stirred to life.
Yet, just as I bore grave injuries, his power too seemed diminished.
My White Flames spear that had scorched through his chest was unmistakably the cause.
'I can do this.'
Summoning my strength, I pushed myself upright. Extending my hand, I summoned a spear from my Inventory, clasping it firmly.
"The spear stuck in your chest really suits you. Should I add another so you're symmetric?"
- Do you think you will have the chance?
"Of course. Seeing your state, it seems quite possible."
- Human, you always fail to distinguish between bravery and recklessness. Foolish, truly foolish.
The Arch Lich, with a booming laugh, spread his arms wide.
Instead of his robe, now reduced to cinders by my previous assault, pitch-black magic surged from his form, taking shape.
'That's a...'
A menacing vortex of magic, its presence alone ominous.
Instinctively, I grasped the Arch Lich’s intentions.
'Gate.'
It appeared volatile, on the verge of eruption, yet it was unmistakably shaping into a gate.
The next words from the Arch Lich confirmed my suspicions.
- It's not complete yet... but if I can defeat you, I can complete it.
Suddenly, a deep voice, as if echoing from the heavens, caused the air itself to quiver.
- Come forth. Gate Open.
"…!"
I had to intervene somehow. But the pain hindered my movements, and the transformation had already begun.
I watched, eyes wide, as the next moment unfolded.
Boom!
The sparse rays of sunlight, which had been meekly filtering through the ashen clouds, vanished entirely.
As the sky split with a deafening roar, a tempest raged around us, and the ensuing darkness rose like a primordial giant.
Whoosh!
The flickering darkness ballooned from the heart of the ruined cityscape.
Rising as tall as a skyscraper and spanning wider than a football field, it dwarfed any Gate I had ever encountered, stirring a primal fear deep within my bones.
- Ah, aah.
Even the undead monster, the Skeleton Warlord, trembled at the sight.
As I stared transfixed at the Gate, a critical reminder flashed through my mind.
'I must stop it. No matter what.'
Though it wasn't fully formed, leaving it unchecked could unleash an unimaginable catastrophe.
Millions, possibly tens of millions, could perish.
And... among them might be those dear to me.
Mr. Choi, steadfast on the battlefield, and Shao Shen, to whom I had unexpectedly grown close.
Should the Arch Lich extend his reach beyond China to the peninsula... even the members of the Peace Guild and my cherished family would face dire peril.
'I must go.'
Pain and terror had seized my body, but it was sheer determination that propelled me forward.
Drawing on every reserve of strength, I rallied my Qi as my wounded meridians protested sharply, spurring fresh blood to seep from my wounds.
But I could not falter. I only had this one shot, this one opportunity.
'Brilliant Path of Fire.'
With each agonizing step, my battered legs drove me forward, leaving a blazing trail in my wake.
At its end awaited the catalyst of this chaos.
The one whose death could also end this.
'Die.'
One Strike.
Time seemed to slow as I drove my spear forward with all my strength.
The tornado I unleashed barreled toward him.
Boom!
And amidst the sea of blue flames that enveloped the world, his mocking laughter and his words sliced through the inferno.
- Blink.
submitted by kenUdigitt to u/kenUdigitt [link] [comments]
Chapter 423
Thud!
The moment I hurled the Arch Lich to the ground with a resounding crash, I coiled my energy and kicked the air.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion of compressed air echoed as I hurtled toward his descending form with fearsome velocity.
The Skeleton Warlord let out a scream or cheer — it was hard to tell which.
- That's it, human! Finish him!
Finish what, exactly?
His judgment was unfortunately wrong. I knew this better than anyone, especially as I drove my fist into the Arch Lich's jaw.
'Did he cast a defensive spell in that brief moment...?'
Before my fully-powered Flame-Extinguishing Divine Fist could make contact, he conjured a Bone Shield across his face, warding off the brunt of the blow.
Though the strike wasn’t wholly futile, he was no easy foe to vanquish.
And my prediction proved accurate. The Arch Lich, whose body had been plummeting earthward like a comet, abruptly stopped mid-descent, as potent magic filled the air.
- Darkness Hold.
Swoosh!
From the void, two colossal hands materialized. At first glance, they appeared as mere Dark Hands, but Darkness Hold was designed exclusively to ensnare its target, as the name suggested.
I dived headlong toward the encroaching hands, my spear poised for battle.
'I see it.'
Everything possesses an 'essence' — living creatures, the wind, even invisible forces.
With my middle dantian now open, I could discern and understand the core and essence of all things.
Just like in this moment.
Screech!
Flames burst forth, cleaving through the darkness. The writhing black hands dissipated into a mist, while the Arch Lich’s eyes glinted with malice.
The next instant, his spectral bony hand sliced through the air.
- Dark Claw!
Swoosh, swish!
The evaporating black mist morphed into the savage claws of a beast, descending in a furious onslaught.
The attacks came from every direction, each with a unique path. Deflecting them would be manageable if I concentrated, but that meant losing ground on the Arch Lich just after having narrowed the gap.
'I must make a choice.'
It's impossible to catch both rabbits, especially when the opponent is more of a tiger than a rabbit.
In an instant, I made my decision and unleashed White Flames — not at the encircling magic, but directly at the Arch Lich.
Boom!
The searing blue blaze of White Flames tore through the air like a bolt of lightning.
From the Arch Lich's mouth came a voice, tinged with unprecedented desperation.
- Bone Shie—!
It's already too late, you bastard.
Whoosh!
The blue blaze enveloped the Arch Lich completely.
The nascent bone shield disintegrated into dust under the blistering assault.
Crack!
The White Flames' blade speared through the Arch Lich’s chest, skewering him like meat over a fire. His scream was like none I had ever heard before.
Suddenly, a biting chill sliced through the air from every direction.
- Human, danger...!
Even without the Skeleton Warlord's cry, I already knew.
Yet, I did it anyway. In order to take bones, you have to sacrifice flesh. Fully aware of the impending harm, I still believed in my choice.
As magical claws descended from all around, I mulled over my decision.
'...Maybe I should have just blocked it.'
But regret was a luxury I could no longer afford.
Shhhhhh!
A wind swept over my entire form, chilling to the bone.
It was no illusion like a Bone Spear, nor slow enough to block. I contorted my body, bolstering my Qi, but the onslaught was relentless.
Shiing, slash, screee! Swoosh!
Shoulders, flanks, thighs, arms...
Countless magical claws lacerated my flesh. Blood gushed from the wounds, and agony surged through me.
'Damn it.'
It hurts enough to make me wish for death.
No matter how often one experiences it, pain is something one never gets used to.
My vision blurred, my limbs grew heavy and succumbed.
It was a brief lapse, yet it stretched into an agonizing eternity.
When my eyes fluttered open again, the first thing I saw was an imposing mass of concrete that had materialized seemingly out of nowhere.
- Wake up, human!
"…!"
The urgent command of the Skeleton Warlord jolted me back to awareness.
I funneled Qi into my stiff limbs, the pain from ruptured meridians reigniting my dulled senses.
'Now!'
With no time to waste, I hurled myself over.
Bang! A cloud of dust billowed as I crash-landed onto the concrete debris. Sharp tremors and pain shot through my legs.
"Ugh."
The Skeleton Warlord spoke to me as I grit my teeth against the pain,
- Human, you don't look… okay.
I drew a ragged breath and shot back,
"Huff. If you know that, then shut up. My head is throbbing."
It was no exaggeration; even the System notifications were enough to make my stomach churn.
Beep.
- Status abnormality, [Serious Injury] has been inflicted!
- Status abnormality, [Excessive Bleeding] has been inflicted!
- Due to severe injuries, your physical stats have drastically decreased!
- [Strength], [Agility], [Stamina] have each decreased by 200 points!
- You have sustained severe injuries! Immediate medical attention is required!
Yep, that sounds about right.
Whether from the blood loss or the relentless pain, my vision swam, and my thoughts muddled.
Yet, through the haze, one thought remained clear.
"The Arch Lich. Where is the Arch Lich?"
At my hoarse voice, the Skeleton Warlord shouted.
- You crazy human! Get treated first!
"The kill notification hasn't popped up yet. He's still alive..."
- Notification or not, get treated now!
"Ugh."
I told you to shut up.
Leaning heavily against the rubble, I felt dizzy. Blood seeped from my drenched clothing, and my limbs shook uncontrollably like trembling leaves.
'Shit.'
This time, I took a serious beating.
The only small comfort was that the Arch Lich must be just as badly off, if not worse.
- You foolish human!
I know. I know already.
While the echoes of reprimand rang in my skull, I spread my palm and whispered to myself.
'Inventory open. Summon.'
Pop!
Everything happened simultaneously.
From a subspace pocket, once belonging to Lee Jeong-Ryong, I retrieved an item now mine to command.
'Top-grade potion.'
Could Lee Jeong-Ryong have ever imagined that the two emergency potions he'd packed would both end up in my hands?
My fingers shook as I uncorked the Top-grade potion, desperate to drink it like it was the very elixir of life.
But just as I raised it to my lips.
Thud, swoosh!
"…Huh?"
It all happened in an instant.
A black vine shot up from the concrete debris, lashed at my wrist, and sent the potion arcing through the air, disappearing into the fog.
As I watched a few droplets disperse into the dusty air and sink into the earth, I muttered,
"Dark Vine."
A spell all too familiar.
The Skeleton Warlord groaned.
- It's him.
I lifted my gaze. A red light flickered through the dense fog like a distant flame.
Approaching was a figure, three meters tall with a sinister black gleam. It resembled a human, yet bore an essence that defied such a simple label as it emerged from the fog with heavy, deliberate steps.
- You, human.
The voice was low, heavy with unmistakable rage.
The Skeleton Warlord trembled within my Inventory, and a faint smile crossed my lips.
"You damn bastard. I was drinking that."
- Your struggle ends here.
Shriek, snap!
I had no chance to react — when the Arch Lich flicked his fingers, Lee Jeong-Ryong’s ordinary-looking subspace pocket was swept into the distance by the Dark Vine.
- Your shallow tricks will no longer work.
With each word he spoke, the magic encircling the Arch Lich stirred to life.
Yet, just as I bore grave injuries, his power too seemed diminished.
My White Flames spear that had scorched through his chest was unmistakably the cause.
'I can do this.'
Summoning my strength, I pushed myself upright. Extending my hand, I summoned a spear from my Inventory, clasping it firmly.
"The spear stuck in your chest really suits you. Should I add another so you're symmetric?"
- Do you think you will have the chance?
"Of course. Seeing your state, it seems quite possible."
- Human, you always fail to distinguish between bravery and recklessness. Foolish, truly foolish.
The Arch Lich, with a booming laugh, spread his arms wide.
Instead of his robe, now reduced to cinders by my previous assault, pitch-black magic surged from his form, taking shape.
'That's a...'
A menacing vortex of magic, its presence alone ominous.
Instinctively, I grasped the Arch Lich’s intentions.
'Gate.'
It appeared volatile, on the verge of eruption, yet it was unmistakably shaping into a gate.
The next words from the Arch Lich confirmed my suspicions.
- It's not complete yet... but if I can defeat you, I can complete it.
Suddenly, a deep voice, as if echoing from the heavens, caused the air itself to quiver.
- Come forth. Gate Open.
"…!"
I had to intervene somehow. But the pain hindered my movements, and the transformation had already begun.
I watched, eyes wide, as the next moment unfolded.
Boom!
The sparse rays of sunlight, which had been meekly filtering through the ashen clouds, vanished entirely.
As the sky split with a deafening roar, a tempest raged around us, and the ensuing darkness rose like a primordial giant.
Whoosh!
The flickering darkness ballooned from the heart of the ruined cityscape.
Rising as tall as a skyscraper and spanning wider than a football field, it dwarfed any Gate I had ever encountered, stirring a primal fear deep within my bones.
- Ah, aah.
Even the undead monster, the Skeleton Warlord, trembled at the sight.
As I stared transfixed at the Gate, a critical reminder flashed through my mind.
'I must stop it. No matter what.'
Though it wasn't fully formed, leaving it unchecked could unleash an unimaginable catastrophe.
Millions, possibly tens of millions, could perish.
And... among them might be those dear to me.
Mr. Choi, steadfast on the battlefield, and Shao Shen, to whom I had unexpectedly grown close.
Should the Arch Lich extend his reach beyond China to the peninsula... even the members of the Peace Guild and my cherished family would face dire peril.
'I must go.'
Pain and terror had seized my body, but it was sheer determination that propelled me forward.
Drawing on every reserve of strength, I rallied my Qi as my wounded meridians protested sharply, spurring fresh blood to seep from my wounds.
But I could not falter. I only had this one shot, this one opportunity.
'Brilliant Path of Fire.'
With each agonizing step, my battered legs drove me forward, leaving a blazing trail in my wake.
At its end awaited the catalyst of this chaos.
The one whose death could also end this.
'Die.'
One Strike.
Time seemed to slow as I drove my spear forward with all my strength.
The tornado I unleashed barreled toward him.
Boom!
And amidst the sea of blue flames that enveloped the world, his mocking laughter and his words sliced through the inferno.
- Blink.
2024.06.01 15:19 WhyIsAdaitTaken Can you guess the genre of my book from chapter 1 and add why?
The world was dark, there was no sense of touch, and there was nothing to see. A sense of touch manifested, a cold and wet floor could be felt. A sense of hearing developed, a deep ringing could be heard. A sense of thought sprung from a mind. "Where am I?" A sense of sight had been acquired, he was in a room, white as far as the eye could see Movement was now possible as the man stood up, he realized that he was standing on water, so pristine and clear and yet there was no reflection.
He could hear his heart beating loudly almost like it was going to leap out of his chest for a reason that he did not know.
After a few minutes, when his body calmed down, the ringing brought by the silence was broken by a voice that said: ”Greetings” The voice sounded distorted, like it was from a broken radio. He turned around and then looked in all directions, it was only a white room that seemed to stretch for hundreds or maybe thousands of miles, not a source of the sound was seen. "Hello? ” The man asked. ”Hello, you aren't supposed to be awake right now, but since you are let's have chat” The man observes his surroundings and said "Am I in heaven?" "No" It said The man felt like the voice was in his head, like telepathy.
Before he could ask anything more, darkness rapidly engulfed him, he felt weightless like he was on a rapidly descending plane which made him fall to the ground and pass out.
A conversation could be heard, yet the world was in darkness ”Do you know what to do Su?” a man said ”Yes” a voice replied. ”Then do it.” the man said while a woman was screaming in the distance, another voice could be heard, but it was unintelligible and suddenly, a loud thud echoed as if someone had jumped off a building.
The man woke up and felt a rough and prickly sensation. ”Is this grass?” He said as he opened his eyes he saw that he was in an field with hills as far as he could see the sky was incredibly blue, too blue to look real in fact, it was peaceful, too peaceful.
There was a strange pale yellow, reddish object in the far distance, as the man took a closer look, it was a house with yellow walls and a red roof.
After wandering for a few minutes, he decided to begin to approach the house, but it seemed like the more he walked towards it, the further away the house seemed. After a few hours of walking, the house was entirely gone and suddenly, as if somebody covered the sun, it was pitch black and It felt cold, there was a mysterious singular speck of light seen in the distance, the grass also changed and was just a cold and hard surface. ”Could it be freedom?” He thought as he looked at the speck of light in the distance. After a while in there the man was restless the darkness was sickening, the silence was unsettling the light also flickered until it was gone. ”Any sound or anything would be better than this.” He thought. That thought was wrong, because the darkness would be much better than the things that would happen. The thing that happened was a presence and it was behind him and he froze from just it's presence, it's unimaginable what it would look like.
He suddenly unfroze and ran from it with it's footsteps following, it felt like he would die if he turned around, his legs felt numb but his mind kept pushing through like an instinct of self preservation.
He continued running and running and running for what seem an eternity even when the entity's presence was gone, he continued running even when his energy was utterly depleted. Eventually he reaches the speck of light and it was a window, he stopped and turned around but the being was already gone long ago. He walked closer to the window, but his legs gave way and he slowly fell to the ground panting in exhaustion and darkness consumed him again.
When he was conscious again he was in an extremely dark place and he had a bad headache, it was like his head was going to split A few minutes later his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he looked around and he only realized that it reeked of a rotten smell, most likely rotten meat, he also realizes that he was hanging upside down and tied up he only noticed now because he couldn't think of anything else from so much pain his body was in, he inspected that he was in some sort of shed his light source being an incredibly dim moon through a small window that even disappeared when it was covered by clouds, suddenly he fell to the ground and fortunately he didn't land headfirst.
When he got himself in a sitting position he tried to struggle out of the ties but he didn't feel his arms almost as if he was injected with anesthesia. He concluded that the anesthesia wasn't that strong because he could still feel the rest of his body.
The smell was still there but the clouds had covered the moon so he couldn't see where the smell came, but he was certain it was close to him because of its strength. The moon reappeared and he thought that the smell came from behind him, then he saw- "Ah!" He shouted in horror, it was a pair of dismembered arms, the bones were visible and blood was gushing out. There was a warm feeling on his side, like warm water, the moon passed by and shined brighter and it fully revealed that the warm fluid on his side was... Blood, he was not numb in his arms... because they were no longer there. Because of the overwhelming shock and all the other things that happened, he fainted.
The man woke up again in the white room that he first woke up in, it still felt warm the only thing that changed was that there was a barrier surrounding him and it was quite blurry and behind that was a humanlike figure, that figure was a woman. Because of the barrier the woman was quite hard to see, the way he knew it was a woman was because of her voice.
”You're an interesting fellow.” she said ”Ask away while I process your data, don't make it too long though.” The man thought for a few seconds, thinking what to say and asked ”anything?” ”Not really, but I can still answer most things.” She said ”Then what place is this?” He asked ”An interliminal space known as the testing area” The man thought of another question to ask but before he did the woman said ”The data is done, you may proceed” ”To wher-”
Before he could finish his sentence the seemingly endless white room materialized to what looks like a school ground, it seemed empty and the sky felt oddly artificial.
He went to the gate, it was made of slightly rusty iron and the wall was made of brick. Outside looked like a desolate wasteland but he was quite unsure since it was quite blurry, like there was a barrier. He tried to open the gate but it did not budge and the wall was too high to climb. Then he noticed that the entire place was utterly quiet, almost as if abandoned but the whole place was too clean to be, but not even a chirp of a bird was heard. The man goes to what seems like the dorms, not a soul was there too.
A weight was felt in his pockets, he reached into it and discovered that it was a key that had a tag saying.
”Room 13”
The dorm looked normal, with the exception of looking a bit old but well maintained. He eventually found the room of the correct key and unlocked it.
The room that he thought that was his was actually theirs as he noticed that there was a girl on top of the bed bunk, probably asleep. "That's the first person I've seen in this place." He thought ”The first normal one I guess.”
He approached the bed and sat on the bottom bunk, he felt an intense fatigue and laid on the bed and slept.
A woman and a man could be seen talking, the woman was wearing a sky blue dress that flowed magnificently and the man was covered in a dark miasma ”I have told you, I am not a” -bleep- ”So I am unaffected.” a man said ”Then why do you need a se” -bleep- ”stal?” a woman's voice said There were constant high pitched sounds that bleeped certain words in the conversation. ”Either way I will not give you one.” The woman said. The man withdrew a sword which shattered into hundreds of pieces. ”If you will not give me the crystal, then you are of no use to me.” he said as he pointed the hilt of the sword to her, suddenly the shards vibrated and shot straight towards the woman.
As soon as that happened the world went dark and silent.
submitted by WhyIsAdaitTaken to FictionWriting [link] [comments]
He could hear his heart beating loudly almost like it was going to leap out of his chest for a reason that he did not know.
After a few minutes, when his body calmed down, the ringing brought by the silence was broken by a voice that said: ”Greetings” The voice sounded distorted, like it was from a broken radio. He turned around and then looked in all directions, it was only a white room that seemed to stretch for hundreds or maybe thousands of miles, not a source of the sound was seen. "Hello? ” The man asked. ”Hello, you aren't supposed to be awake right now, but since you are let's have chat” The man observes his surroundings and said "Am I in heaven?" "No" It said The man felt like the voice was in his head, like telepathy.
Before he could ask anything more, darkness rapidly engulfed him, he felt weightless like he was on a rapidly descending plane which made him fall to the ground and pass out.
A conversation could be heard, yet the world was in darkness ”Do you know what to do Su?” a man said ”Yes” a voice replied. ”Then do it.” the man said while a woman was screaming in the distance, another voice could be heard, but it was unintelligible and suddenly, a loud thud echoed as if someone had jumped off a building.
The man woke up and felt a rough and prickly sensation. ”Is this grass?” He said as he opened his eyes he saw that he was in an field with hills as far as he could see the sky was incredibly blue, too blue to look real in fact, it was peaceful, too peaceful.
There was a strange pale yellow, reddish object in the far distance, as the man took a closer look, it was a house with yellow walls and a red roof.
After wandering for a few minutes, he decided to begin to approach the house, but it seemed like the more he walked towards it, the further away the house seemed. After a few hours of walking, the house was entirely gone and suddenly, as if somebody covered the sun, it was pitch black and It felt cold, there was a mysterious singular speck of light seen in the distance, the grass also changed and was just a cold and hard surface. ”Could it be freedom?” He thought as he looked at the speck of light in the distance. After a while in there the man was restless the darkness was sickening, the silence was unsettling the light also flickered until it was gone. ”Any sound or anything would be better than this.” He thought. That thought was wrong, because the darkness would be much better than the things that would happen. The thing that happened was a presence and it was behind him and he froze from just it's presence, it's unimaginable what it would look like.
He suddenly unfroze and ran from it with it's footsteps following, it felt like he would die if he turned around, his legs felt numb but his mind kept pushing through like an instinct of self preservation.
He continued running and running and running for what seem an eternity even when the entity's presence was gone, he continued running even when his energy was utterly depleted. Eventually he reaches the speck of light and it was a window, he stopped and turned around but the being was already gone long ago. He walked closer to the window, but his legs gave way and he slowly fell to the ground panting in exhaustion and darkness consumed him again.
When he was conscious again he was in an extremely dark place and he had a bad headache, it was like his head was going to split A few minutes later his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he looked around and he only realized that it reeked of a rotten smell, most likely rotten meat, he also realizes that he was hanging upside down and tied up he only noticed now because he couldn't think of anything else from so much pain his body was in, he inspected that he was in some sort of shed his light source being an incredibly dim moon through a small window that even disappeared when it was covered by clouds, suddenly he fell to the ground and fortunately he didn't land headfirst.
When he got himself in a sitting position he tried to struggle out of the ties but he didn't feel his arms almost as if he was injected with anesthesia. He concluded that the anesthesia wasn't that strong because he could still feel the rest of his body.
The smell was still there but the clouds had covered the moon so he couldn't see where the smell came, but he was certain it was close to him because of its strength. The moon reappeared and he thought that the smell came from behind him, then he saw- "Ah!" He shouted in horror, it was a pair of dismembered arms, the bones were visible and blood was gushing out. There was a warm feeling on his side, like warm water, the moon passed by and shined brighter and it fully revealed that the warm fluid on his side was... Blood, he was not numb in his arms... because they were no longer there. Because of the overwhelming shock and all the other things that happened, he fainted.
The man woke up again in the white room that he first woke up in, it still felt warm the only thing that changed was that there was a barrier surrounding him and it was quite blurry and behind that was a humanlike figure, that figure was a woman. Because of the barrier the woman was quite hard to see, the way he knew it was a woman was because of her voice.
”You're an interesting fellow.” she said ”Ask away while I process your data, don't make it too long though.” The man thought for a few seconds, thinking what to say and asked ”anything?” ”Not really, but I can still answer most things.” She said ”Then what place is this?” He asked ”An interliminal space known as the testing area” The man thought of another question to ask but before he did the woman said ”The data is done, you may proceed” ”To wher-”
Before he could finish his sentence the seemingly endless white room materialized to what looks like a school ground, it seemed empty and the sky felt oddly artificial.
He went to the gate, it was made of slightly rusty iron and the wall was made of brick. Outside looked like a desolate wasteland but he was quite unsure since it was quite blurry, like there was a barrier. He tried to open the gate but it did not budge and the wall was too high to climb. Then he noticed that the entire place was utterly quiet, almost as if abandoned but the whole place was too clean to be, but not even a chirp of a bird was heard. The man goes to what seems like the dorms, not a soul was there too.
A weight was felt in his pockets, he reached into it and discovered that it was a key that had a tag saying.
”Room 13”
The dorm looked normal, with the exception of looking a bit old but well maintained. He eventually found the room of the correct key and unlocked it.
The room that he thought that was his was actually theirs as he noticed that there was a girl on top of the bed bunk, probably asleep. "That's the first person I've seen in this place." He thought ”The first normal one I guess.”
He approached the bed and sat on the bottom bunk, he felt an intense fatigue and laid on the bed and slept.
A woman and a man could be seen talking, the woman was wearing a sky blue dress that flowed magnificently and the man was covered in a dark miasma ”I have told you, I am not a” -bleep- ”So I am unaffected.” a man said ”Then why do you need a se” -bleep- ”stal?” a woman's voice said There were constant high pitched sounds that bleeped certain words in the conversation. ”Either way I will not give you one.” The woman said. The man withdrew a sword which shattered into hundreds of pieces. ”If you will not give me the crystal, then you are of no use to me.” he said as he pointed the hilt of the sword to her, suddenly the shards vibrated and shot straight towards the woman.
As soon as that happened the world went dark and silent.
2024.06.01 15:13 redemral Trip Report from first time visitor - Amazing!
I asked for advice a few times from this sub and I just wanted to come back and share how much we loved our visit!
I'm from the US (Florida) and have been wanting to go to Alton Towers since I was a kid playing Rollercoaster Tycoon. I'm also a huge B&M invert lover and horror lover, so Nemesis was my dream coaster and top of the bucket list.
I've been a traveling theme park enthusiast my whole life and I've been over to the UK a few times in my life but never made the effort to get to Alton Towers until this year - honestly so overdue.
We went mid week in late April, away from holidays. The park was generally pretty dead, as expected. We did two and a half days. I'm glad we had that much time as we got to do everything multiple times. Weather was good - cool, and only hit major one rain of the days and only for a couple hours.
Here's my thoughts on each ride (approximately in order of ranking), then I'll talk about feedback on the park overall and the hotel:
Nemesis - Amazing! Loved it, absolutely worth the trip. I adore the horror theme and the scenery is gorgeous. I wish it was a slightly longer ride (of course that's a theme with Alton Towers), so I can't quite say it is my favorite B&M invert overall - I think that title still belongs to Montu. But it is very close and I would say a top 10 coaster overall.
Smiler - Loved it! I was not sure I would as I read many things about it being rough, and I am roughness sensitive. Honestly I can say, I did not find this to be a rough coaster. For comparison, at Thorpe Park, Saw and Colossus are pretty much not rideable because of how rough/painful/headbanging they are. Smiler, no, not at all.
I wasn't expecting Smiler to become one of my all time favorite coasters but I think it did. I heard the front row is the only good row - did not find that to be the case either. The front row is best but it's not by much, I found it to be a good ride in every row. Left me slightly dizzy after each half of the ride, but not in a bad way.
Wicker Man - Loved it! I'm not a huge wooden coaster fan overall because I don't have a huge roughness tolerance, but thankfully Wicker Man is not at all rough. I love the theme and the pre-show. The ride is pure fun. We were lucky enough to get a front row ride which was my favorite.
Thirteen - I think this is overhated - I really enjoyed it! The theme is great (I do love horror themes) and I don't mind that this is more of a family coaster. The only thing I would really want to improve it would be a slightly longer drop and an animatronic instead of a static set piece in the drop room.
Galacticair - Despite never having been here before, I've always thought of this coaster by its original name. Really enjoyed it! I'm not the biggest fan of flying coasters in general, and I think I do like that this is less intense than some of the others.
Alton Towers needs to get on a retheme, scenery, and paint job for it though. It's looking a bit rough and could use some love.
Oblivion - It's a fun drop. The first time I rode it, I was like - I walked all the way through this massive queue line for that? I didn't realize it really is literally JUST the drop. Unfortunately I'm spoiled by having Sheikra at my home park. But the second time riding and knowing what to expect, I was like - yeah, this is a really good drop and the black hole theme is cool.
Spinball Whizzer - It's a spinning coaster. You like them or you don't like them. I like them alright - although Dragon's Fury at Chessington was actually amazing. Spinball Whizzer is alright.
Runaway Mine Train - This is a cute family coaster, good fun. I love the long train. Our ride op sent us around 3 times. Only rode this once which was enough to get the idea but I will definitely ride it again next time.
Rita - This is the only coaster at Alton Towers that I'm not really a fan of. Rode twice, first time back row, second time waited for front row. It's worth the wait for the front row. It's a bit rough for me otherwise. Before coming, I honestly thought - who cares if it's just the launch, I love launches! But for whatever reason this launch is kind of mediocre and then the rest of the ride is somewhere between painful and boring.
Non coasters:
Curse at Alton Manor - Loved it! I'm spoiled having been to Disney/Universal a good bit, and I know Alton Towers does not have the budget to produce the same caliber of dark ride - but Curse is really quite outstanding considering that limitation. Love the theme (as usual with the whole park) and they tell a really good story.
Nemesis Sub Terra - I don't think this deserves all the hate it gets. It's a cool experience - maybe not especially rerideable, and the "ride" portion is underwhelming, but it was a fun one time ride. I do wish cooler stuff happened with the egg. Also, the part where it whips your legs really hurt.
Gangsta Granny - Rode it once, it's very cute considering it cannot be Disney level. I do not mean to sound spoiled and hope that I don't - I just know what is theoretically possible with a dark ride, but given budgets, this a very cute family ride.
Dungeon - Did the London one a few years ago and remember liking that better, but this wasn't bad at all. It was a fun time and I'm glad I did it, especially with the Merlin pass discount. Unlikely I'd spend the time to do it again on a return visit. I know it's closing this summer, not sure if that's permanent, but honestly if it was permanent and they replace it with something else, I think that would be just fine.
Hex - Booooooo it was closed. Gives me something else to look forward to when I return, which I hope to do whenever Project Horizon is done.
Food:
Rollercoaster Restaurant: Did this both nights we stayed here. It was mostly alright, I had a burger that was pretty good. The nachos were a joke. The curry chickpea thing was decent. The gluten free menu was pretty pathetic, but at least they had some options so that my husband could eat dinner.
Middle Eastern restaurant by Wicker Man (I forget its name): This was the only place to get a meal in the park that had GF accommodation that we found. For whatever dumb reason, the chicken and chips that they CAN make gluten free is not advertised that way on the menu. But to their credit, the cook was SUPER good about making sure to cook the meal in a safe way for someone with a gluten allergy.
Ate there twice, and the food was actually pretty good.
My only complaint - both this and the one near Rita sell baked potatoes, which are one of the only things in the park we found that would be gluten free, and both days they seemed to run out of the potatoes at midday. One day, we got the literal last half a potato they had left, and the other, they were already out.
I saw that Alton Towers had a notice up about switching suppliers or something and bringing more GF options to their menus... that's needed. Hopefully next time the situation will be better.
Ice cream by the Curse: Ok, I have to say, I was obsessed with this. The black ice cream in the black cone just made me happy. And it was really delicious. Especially with the toppings even if they kept falling off. Got it two days in a row, would get it every day on a return visit.
Hotel:
Splash Landings: No real complaints here, it was what I was expecting. Certainly didn't need air conditioning for the time of year. The staff was very friendly and they were great about storing multiple bags for us both on our arrival and on our checkout day.
The breakfast was good for a buffet style breakfast. Enough GF options to eat a good sized meal.
The only actual complaint I have, and this one is weird, but true - the shower is terrible. It has a half glass door that didn't lock in place, and the sides of the tub are tall. This is a recipe for disaster as it's very tempting to hold the door to try to climb out of the tub... but it doesn't lock, so if you do that, you're likely to fall and break your head open. And if you don't hold on... well, good luck climbing out of the tall tub with nothing to grip onto. Not even a towel rail.
I genuinely don't know how they went with something this unsafe in their design process. I don't know how people aren't injuring themselves all the time.
Overall thoughts:
It's certainly spread out - I was warned. It takes some hustling to get from one area to another in a timely fashion, but I didn't find it to be too much. It sure would be though in hot weather, I'll take cold any day.
Actually my biggest "complaint" is how long the queues are in terms of - walking forever, often uphill, to get to the ride. I'm used to theme parks that are able to section off large parts of the line when not in use which doesn't seem to happen much here.
Legit, it's a workout to ride Nemesis if it's not busy and all you have to do is walk to the station.
I didn't find the park to be run down, unclean, or understaffed. All the staff was great, and operations were great. Multiple trains on everything despite it not being busy at all.
Overall we absolutely loved our time here! It lived up to my expectations for sure. Nemesis, Smiler, and Wicker Man were my favorite things, but I dug Thirteen and Curse too.
And as I mentioned, Rita is the only ride I didn't really like - from someone who has visited a ton of theme parks, only one dud with the rest of the stuff being quality is kind of rare.
I'm so glad I finally got to visit, and I will absolutely be back. Hopefully Project Horizon actually happens and isn't later than 2026... currently that's the year I'd plan to come back.
Can't wait for my return!
submitted by redemral to altontowers [link] [comments]
I'm from the US (Florida) and have been wanting to go to Alton Towers since I was a kid playing Rollercoaster Tycoon. I'm also a huge B&M invert lover and horror lover, so Nemesis was my dream coaster and top of the bucket list.
I've been a traveling theme park enthusiast my whole life and I've been over to the UK a few times in my life but never made the effort to get to Alton Towers until this year - honestly so overdue.
We went mid week in late April, away from holidays. The park was generally pretty dead, as expected. We did two and a half days. I'm glad we had that much time as we got to do everything multiple times. Weather was good - cool, and only hit major one rain of the days and only for a couple hours.
Here's my thoughts on each ride (approximately in order of ranking), then I'll talk about feedback on the park overall and the hotel:
Nemesis - Amazing! Loved it, absolutely worth the trip. I adore the horror theme and the scenery is gorgeous. I wish it was a slightly longer ride (of course that's a theme with Alton Towers), so I can't quite say it is my favorite B&M invert overall - I think that title still belongs to Montu. But it is very close and I would say a top 10 coaster overall.
Smiler - Loved it! I was not sure I would as I read many things about it being rough, and I am roughness sensitive. Honestly I can say, I did not find this to be a rough coaster. For comparison, at Thorpe Park, Saw and Colossus are pretty much not rideable because of how rough/painful/headbanging they are. Smiler, no, not at all.
I wasn't expecting Smiler to become one of my all time favorite coasters but I think it did. I heard the front row is the only good row - did not find that to be the case either. The front row is best but it's not by much, I found it to be a good ride in every row. Left me slightly dizzy after each half of the ride, but not in a bad way.
Wicker Man - Loved it! I'm not a huge wooden coaster fan overall because I don't have a huge roughness tolerance, but thankfully Wicker Man is not at all rough. I love the theme and the pre-show. The ride is pure fun. We were lucky enough to get a front row ride which was my favorite.
Thirteen - I think this is overhated - I really enjoyed it! The theme is great (I do love horror themes) and I don't mind that this is more of a family coaster. The only thing I would really want to improve it would be a slightly longer drop and an animatronic instead of a static set piece in the drop room.
Galacticair - Despite never having been here before, I've always thought of this coaster by its original name. Really enjoyed it! I'm not the biggest fan of flying coasters in general, and I think I do like that this is less intense than some of the others.
Alton Towers needs to get on a retheme, scenery, and paint job for it though. It's looking a bit rough and could use some love.
Oblivion - It's a fun drop. The first time I rode it, I was like - I walked all the way through this massive queue line for that? I didn't realize it really is literally JUST the drop. Unfortunately I'm spoiled by having Sheikra at my home park. But the second time riding and knowing what to expect, I was like - yeah, this is a really good drop and the black hole theme is cool.
Spinball Whizzer - It's a spinning coaster. You like them or you don't like them. I like them alright - although Dragon's Fury at Chessington was actually amazing. Spinball Whizzer is alright.
Runaway Mine Train - This is a cute family coaster, good fun. I love the long train. Our ride op sent us around 3 times. Only rode this once which was enough to get the idea but I will definitely ride it again next time.
Rita - This is the only coaster at Alton Towers that I'm not really a fan of. Rode twice, first time back row, second time waited for front row. It's worth the wait for the front row. It's a bit rough for me otherwise. Before coming, I honestly thought - who cares if it's just the launch, I love launches! But for whatever reason this launch is kind of mediocre and then the rest of the ride is somewhere between painful and boring.
Non coasters:
Curse at Alton Manor - Loved it! I'm spoiled having been to Disney/Universal a good bit, and I know Alton Towers does not have the budget to produce the same caliber of dark ride - but Curse is really quite outstanding considering that limitation. Love the theme (as usual with the whole park) and they tell a really good story.
Nemesis Sub Terra - I don't think this deserves all the hate it gets. It's a cool experience - maybe not especially rerideable, and the "ride" portion is underwhelming, but it was a fun one time ride. I do wish cooler stuff happened with the egg. Also, the part where it whips your legs really hurt.
Gangsta Granny - Rode it once, it's very cute considering it cannot be Disney level. I do not mean to sound spoiled and hope that I don't - I just know what is theoretically possible with a dark ride, but given budgets, this a very cute family ride.
Dungeon - Did the London one a few years ago and remember liking that better, but this wasn't bad at all. It was a fun time and I'm glad I did it, especially with the Merlin pass discount. Unlikely I'd spend the time to do it again on a return visit. I know it's closing this summer, not sure if that's permanent, but honestly if it was permanent and they replace it with something else, I think that would be just fine.
Hex - Booooooo it was closed. Gives me something else to look forward to when I return, which I hope to do whenever Project Horizon is done.
Food:
Rollercoaster Restaurant: Did this both nights we stayed here. It was mostly alright, I had a burger that was pretty good. The nachos were a joke. The curry chickpea thing was decent. The gluten free menu was pretty pathetic, but at least they had some options so that my husband could eat dinner.
Middle Eastern restaurant by Wicker Man (I forget its name): This was the only place to get a meal in the park that had GF accommodation that we found. For whatever dumb reason, the chicken and chips that they CAN make gluten free is not advertised that way on the menu. But to their credit, the cook was SUPER good about making sure to cook the meal in a safe way for someone with a gluten allergy.
Ate there twice, and the food was actually pretty good.
My only complaint - both this and the one near Rita sell baked potatoes, which are one of the only things in the park we found that would be gluten free, and both days they seemed to run out of the potatoes at midday. One day, we got the literal last half a potato they had left, and the other, they were already out.
I saw that Alton Towers had a notice up about switching suppliers or something and bringing more GF options to their menus... that's needed. Hopefully next time the situation will be better.
Ice cream by the Curse: Ok, I have to say, I was obsessed with this. The black ice cream in the black cone just made me happy. And it was really delicious. Especially with the toppings even if they kept falling off. Got it two days in a row, would get it every day on a return visit.
Hotel:
Splash Landings: No real complaints here, it was what I was expecting. Certainly didn't need air conditioning for the time of year. The staff was very friendly and they were great about storing multiple bags for us both on our arrival and on our checkout day.
The breakfast was good for a buffet style breakfast. Enough GF options to eat a good sized meal.
The only actual complaint I have, and this one is weird, but true - the shower is terrible. It has a half glass door that didn't lock in place, and the sides of the tub are tall. This is a recipe for disaster as it's very tempting to hold the door to try to climb out of the tub... but it doesn't lock, so if you do that, you're likely to fall and break your head open. And if you don't hold on... well, good luck climbing out of the tall tub with nothing to grip onto. Not even a towel rail.
I genuinely don't know how they went with something this unsafe in their design process. I don't know how people aren't injuring themselves all the time.
Overall thoughts:
It's certainly spread out - I was warned. It takes some hustling to get from one area to another in a timely fashion, but I didn't find it to be too much. It sure would be though in hot weather, I'll take cold any day.
Actually my biggest "complaint" is how long the queues are in terms of - walking forever, often uphill, to get to the ride. I'm used to theme parks that are able to section off large parts of the line when not in use which doesn't seem to happen much here.
Legit, it's a workout to ride Nemesis if it's not busy and all you have to do is walk to the station.
I didn't find the park to be run down, unclean, or understaffed. All the staff was great, and operations were great. Multiple trains on everything despite it not being busy at all.
Overall we absolutely loved our time here! It lived up to my expectations for sure. Nemesis, Smiler, and Wicker Man were my favorite things, but I dug Thirteen and Curse too.
And as I mentioned, Rita is the only ride I didn't really like - from someone who has visited a ton of theme parks, only one dud with the rest of the stuff being quality is kind of rare.
I'm so glad I finally got to visit, and I will absolutely be back. Hopefully Project Horizon actually happens and isn't later than 2026... currently that's the year I'd plan to come back.
Can't wait for my return!
2024.06.01 15:02 chaothie How to stop limping
ive been in a non surgical recovery so far its been around 70 days since injury. i never had any issues with range of motion but i ofc had a ton of pain.
past 10 ish days i basically have no pain, no shaep pain in the medial area if i do a wrong move or anything. only pain above kneecap sometimes.
ive been using crutches this whole time, (i absolutely fkn despise them) i was nwb first but past 5 weeks im half weight bearing but still 2 crutches
i try to walk without crutches every now and then and i feel no pain but i absolutely have a doomed walking dynamic i basically CANNOT stop limping even tho it doesnt hurt? and its a severe limp, the second i have to be on my injured foot and get the other foot up i just rush everything and drag it. how to stop this?? i can take normal steps with crutches.is this psychological?? my leg muscles have been feeling better with the half weight bearing crutches. but this limping isnt going anywhere 😭
is it too soon to walk maybe? anyone has any opinions pls let me know
submitted by chaothie to MeniscusInjuries [link] [comments]
past 10 ish days i basically have no pain, no shaep pain in the medial area if i do a wrong move or anything. only pain above kneecap sometimes.
ive been using crutches this whole time, (i absolutely fkn despise them) i was nwb first but past 5 weeks im half weight bearing but still 2 crutches
i try to walk without crutches every now and then and i feel no pain but i absolutely have a doomed walking dynamic i basically CANNOT stop limping even tho it doesnt hurt? and its a severe limp, the second i have to be on my injured foot and get the other foot up i just rush everything and drag it. how to stop this?? i can take normal steps with crutches.is this psychological?? my leg muscles have been feeling better with the half weight bearing crutches. but this limping isnt going anywhere 😭
is it too soon to walk maybe? anyone has any opinions pls let me know
2024.06.01 14:57 WhyIsAdaitTaken Started a fiction, need a little feedback. (This is chapter 1 btw)
The world was dark, there was no sense of touch, and there was nothing to see. A sense of touch manifested, a cold and wet floor could be felt. A sense of hearing developed, a deep ringing could be heard. A sense of thought sprung from a mind. "Where am I?" A sense of sight had been acquired, he was in a room, white as far as the eye could see Movement was now possible as the man stood up, he realized that he was standing on water, so pristine and clear and yet there was no reflection.
He could hear his heart beating loudly almost like it was going to leap out of his chest for a reason that he did not know.
After a few minutes, when his body calmed down, the ringing brought by the silence was broken by a voice that said: ”Greetings” The voice sounded distorted, like it was from a broken radio. He turned around and then looked in all directions, it was only a white room that seemed to stretch for hundreds or maybe thousands of miles, not a source of the sound was seen. "Hello? ” The man asked. ”Hello, you aren't supposed to be awake right now, but since you are let's have chat” The man observes his surroundings and said "Am I in heaven?" "No" It said The man felt like the voice was in his head, like telepathy.
Before he could ask anything more, darkness rapidly engulfed him, he felt weightless like he was on a rapidly descending plane which made him fall to the ground and pass out.
A conversation could be heard, yet the world was in darkness ”Do you know what to do Su?” a man said ”Yes” a voice replied. ”Then do it.” the man said while a woman was screaming in the distance, another voice could be heard, but it was unintelligible and suddenly, a loud thud echoed as if someone had jumped off a building.
The man woke up and felt a rough and prickly sensation. ”Is this grass?” He said as he opened his eyes he saw that he was in an field with hills as far as he could see the sky was incredibly blue, too blue to look real in fact, it was peaceful, too peaceful.
There was a strange pale yellow, reddish object in the far distance, as the man took a closer look, it was a house with yellow walls and a red roof.
After wandering for a few minutes, he decided to begin to approach the house, but it seemed like the more he walked towards it, the further away the house seemed. After a few hours of walking, the house was entirely gone and suddenly, as if somebody covered the sun, it was pitch black and It felt cold, there was a mysterious singular speck of light seen in the distance, the grass also changed and was just a cold and hard surface. ”Could it be freedom?” He thought as he looked at the speck of light in the distance. After a while in there the man was restless the darkness was sickening, the silence was unsettling the light also flickered until it was gone. ”Any sound or anything would be better than this.” He thought. That thought was wrong, because the darkness would be much better than the things that would happen. The thing that happened was a presence and it was behind him and he froze from just it's presence, it's unimaginable what it would look like.
He suddenly unfroze and ran from it with it's footsteps following, it felt like he would die if he turned around, his legs felt numb but his mind kept pushing through like an instinct of self preservation.
He continued running and running and running for what seem an eternity even when the entity's presence was gone, he continued running even when his energy was utterly depleted. Eventually he reaches the speck of light and it was a window, he stopped and turned around but the being was already gone long ago. He walked closer to the window, but his legs gave way and he slowly fell to the ground panting in exhaustion and darkness consumed him again.
When he was conscious again he was in an extremely dark place and he had a bad headache, it was like his head was going to split A few minutes later his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he looked around and he only realized that it reeked of a rotten smell, most likely rotten meat, he also realizes that he was hanging upside down and tied up he only noticed now because he couldn't think of anything else from so much pain his body was in, he inspected that he was in some sort of shed his light source being an incredibly dim moon through a small window that even disappeared when it was covered by clouds, suddenly he fell to the ground and fortunately he didn't land headfirst.
When he got himself in a sitting position he tried to struggle out of the ties but he didn't feel his arms almost as if he was injected with anesthesia. He concluded that the anesthesia wasn't that strong because he could still feel the rest of his body.
The smell was still there but the clouds had covered the moon so he couldn't see where the smell came, but he was certain it was close to him because of its strength. The moon reappeared and he thought that the smell came from behind him, then he saw- "Ah!" He shouted in horror, it was a pair of dismembered arms, the bones were visible and blood was gushing out. There was a warm feeling on his side, like warm water, the moon passed by and shined brighter and it fully revealed that the warm fluid on his side was... Blood, he was not numb in his arms... because they were no longer there. Because of the overwhelming shock and all the other things that happened, he fainted.
The man woke up again in the white room that he first woke up in, it still felt warm the only thing that changed was that there was a barrier surrounding him and it was quite blurry and behind that was a humanlike figure, that figure was a woman. Because of the barrier the woman was quite hard to see, the way he knew it was a woman was because of her voice.
”You're an interesting fellow.” she said ”Ask away while I process your data, don't make it too long though.” The man thought for a few seconds, thinking what to say and asked ”anything?” ”Not really, but I can still answer most things.” She said ”Then what place is this?” He asked ”An interliminal space known as the testing area” The man thought of another question to ask but before he did the woman said ”The data is done, you may proceed” ”To wher-”
Before he could finish his sentence the seemingly endless white room materialized to what looks like a school ground, it seemed empty and the sky felt oddly artificial.
He went to the gate, it was made of slightly rusty iron and the wall was made of brick. Outside looked like a desolate wasteland but he was quite unsure since it was quite blurry, like there was a barrier. He tried to open the gate but it did not budge and the wall was too high to climb. Then he noticed that the entire place was utterly quiet, almost as if abandoned but the whole place was too clean to be, but not even a chirp of a bird was heard. The man goes to what seems like the dorms, not a soul was there too.
A weight was felt in his pockets, he reached into it and discovered that it was a key that had a tag saying.
”Room 13”
The dorm looked normal, with the exception of looking a bit old but well maintained. He eventually found the room of the correct key and unlocked it.
The room that he thought that was his was actually theirs as he noticed that there was a girl on top of the bed bunk, probably asleep. "That's the first person I've seen in this place." He thought ”The first normal one I guess.”
He approached the bed and sat on the bottom bunk, he felt an intense fatigue and laid on the bed and slept.
A woman and a man could be seen talking, the woman was wearing a sky blue dress that flowed magnificently and the man was covered in a dark miasma ”I have told you, I am not a” -bleep- ”So I am unaffected.” a man said ”Then why do you need a se” -bleep- ”stal?” a woman's voice said There were constant high pitched sounds that bleeped certain words in the conversation. ”Either way I will not give you one.” The woman said. The man withdrew a sword which shattered into hundreds of pieces. ”If you will not give me the crystal, then you are of no use to me.” he said as he pointed the hilt of the sword to her, suddenly the shards vibrated and shot straight towards the woman.
As soon as that happened the world went dark and silent.
submitted by WhyIsAdaitTaken to fiction [link] [comments]
He could hear his heart beating loudly almost like it was going to leap out of his chest for a reason that he did not know.
After a few minutes, when his body calmed down, the ringing brought by the silence was broken by a voice that said: ”Greetings” The voice sounded distorted, like it was from a broken radio. He turned around and then looked in all directions, it was only a white room that seemed to stretch for hundreds or maybe thousands of miles, not a source of the sound was seen. "Hello? ” The man asked. ”Hello, you aren't supposed to be awake right now, but since you are let's have chat” The man observes his surroundings and said "Am I in heaven?" "No" It said The man felt like the voice was in his head, like telepathy.
Before he could ask anything more, darkness rapidly engulfed him, he felt weightless like he was on a rapidly descending plane which made him fall to the ground and pass out.
A conversation could be heard, yet the world was in darkness ”Do you know what to do Su?” a man said ”Yes” a voice replied. ”Then do it.” the man said while a woman was screaming in the distance, another voice could be heard, but it was unintelligible and suddenly, a loud thud echoed as if someone had jumped off a building.
The man woke up and felt a rough and prickly sensation. ”Is this grass?” He said as he opened his eyes he saw that he was in an field with hills as far as he could see the sky was incredibly blue, too blue to look real in fact, it was peaceful, too peaceful.
There was a strange pale yellow, reddish object in the far distance, as the man took a closer look, it was a house with yellow walls and a red roof.
After wandering for a few minutes, he decided to begin to approach the house, but it seemed like the more he walked towards it, the further away the house seemed. After a few hours of walking, the house was entirely gone and suddenly, as if somebody covered the sun, it was pitch black and It felt cold, there was a mysterious singular speck of light seen in the distance, the grass also changed and was just a cold and hard surface. ”Could it be freedom?” He thought as he looked at the speck of light in the distance. After a while in there the man was restless the darkness was sickening, the silence was unsettling the light also flickered until it was gone. ”Any sound or anything would be better than this.” He thought. That thought was wrong, because the darkness would be much better than the things that would happen. The thing that happened was a presence and it was behind him and he froze from just it's presence, it's unimaginable what it would look like.
He suddenly unfroze and ran from it with it's footsteps following, it felt like he would die if he turned around, his legs felt numb but his mind kept pushing through like an instinct of self preservation.
He continued running and running and running for what seem an eternity even when the entity's presence was gone, he continued running even when his energy was utterly depleted. Eventually he reaches the speck of light and it was a window, he stopped and turned around but the being was already gone long ago. He walked closer to the window, but his legs gave way and he slowly fell to the ground panting in exhaustion and darkness consumed him again.
When he was conscious again he was in an extremely dark place and he had a bad headache, it was like his head was going to split A few minutes later his eyes adjusted to the darkness and he looked around and he only realized that it reeked of a rotten smell, most likely rotten meat, he also realizes that he was hanging upside down and tied up he only noticed now because he couldn't think of anything else from so much pain his body was in, he inspected that he was in some sort of shed his light source being an incredibly dim moon through a small window that even disappeared when it was covered by clouds, suddenly he fell to the ground and fortunately he didn't land headfirst.
When he got himself in a sitting position he tried to struggle out of the ties but he didn't feel his arms almost as if he was injected with anesthesia. He concluded that the anesthesia wasn't that strong because he could still feel the rest of his body.
The smell was still there but the clouds had covered the moon so he couldn't see where the smell came, but he was certain it was close to him because of its strength. The moon reappeared and he thought that the smell came from behind him, then he saw- "Ah!" He shouted in horror, it was a pair of dismembered arms, the bones were visible and blood was gushing out. There was a warm feeling on his side, like warm water, the moon passed by and shined brighter and it fully revealed that the warm fluid on his side was... Blood, he was not numb in his arms... because they were no longer there. Because of the overwhelming shock and all the other things that happened, he fainted.
The man woke up again in the white room that he first woke up in, it still felt warm the only thing that changed was that there was a barrier surrounding him and it was quite blurry and behind that was a humanlike figure, that figure was a woman. Because of the barrier the woman was quite hard to see, the way he knew it was a woman was because of her voice.
”You're an interesting fellow.” she said ”Ask away while I process your data, don't make it too long though.” The man thought for a few seconds, thinking what to say and asked ”anything?” ”Not really, but I can still answer most things.” She said ”Then what place is this?” He asked ”An interliminal space known as the testing area” The man thought of another question to ask but before he did the woman said ”The data is done, you may proceed” ”To wher-”
Before he could finish his sentence the seemingly endless white room materialized to what looks like a school ground, it seemed empty and the sky felt oddly artificial.
He went to the gate, it was made of slightly rusty iron and the wall was made of brick. Outside looked like a desolate wasteland but he was quite unsure since it was quite blurry, like there was a barrier. He tried to open the gate but it did not budge and the wall was too high to climb. Then he noticed that the entire place was utterly quiet, almost as if abandoned but the whole place was too clean to be, but not even a chirp of a bird was heard. The man goes to what seems like the dorms, not a soul was there too.
A weight was felt in his pockets, he reached into it and discovered that it was a key that had a tag saying.
”Room 13”
The dorm looked normal, with the exception of looking a bit old but well maintained. He eventually found the room of the correct key and unlocked it.
The room that he thought that was his was actually theirs as he noticed that there was a girl on top of the bed bunk, probably asleep. "That's the first person I've seen in this place." He thought ”The first normal one I guess.”
He approached the bed and sat on the bottom bunk, he felt an intense fatigue and laid on the bed and slept.
A woman and a man could be seen talking, the woman was wearing a sky blue dress that flowed magnificently and the man was covered in a dark miasma ”I have told you, I am not a” -bleep- ”So I am unaffected.” a man said ”Then why do you need a se” -bleep- ”stal?” a woman's voice said There were constant high pitched sounds that bleeped certain words in the conversation. ”Either way I will not give you one.” The woman said. The man withdrew a sword which shattered into hundreds of pieces. ”If you will not give me the crystal, then you are of no use to me.” he said as he pointed the hilt of the sword to her, suddenly the shards vibrated and shot straight towards the woman.
As soon as that happened the world went dark and silent.
2024.06.01 14:53 AnxietyBacon92 I'm 31 with severe chronic pain in my whole body. My pain began in my back at 4 years old. AMA!
Hey there reddit! So as the title says, I'm 31 and I have dealt with very severe chronic pain for many years. My first memories of having issues with pain are from when I was about 4 and was having back and neck problems and muscle spasms, sometimes even being bad enough that I had to stay home from school.
When I was 10, my back and neck locked up and I ended up having to go to the hospital to get a muscle relaxer shot because I couldn't move my neck or raise my arms. At age 14, I had an injury that caused problems with my sciatic nerve, which later developed into fibromyalgia (apparently certain injuries can trigger fibro to develop). In my early 20's, I was diagnosed with scoliosis (they checked for it in middle school but missed the diagnosis somehow), as well as arthritis in my knees, hands, hips and tailbone. My spine also curves forward, known as kyphosis, in addition to the sideways scoliosis curve.
And to top it all off, I injured my leg when I was 27 which caused nerve damage and what's known as a foot drop. This makes it absolutely exhausting to walk since I have to pick my leg up higher than normal when taking a step to avoid tripping on my own foot.
Those are just a few of my medical issues, there are lots more that I also deal with. So go right ahead and ask me anything!
submitted by AnxietyBacon92 to AMA [link] [comments]
When I was 10, my back and neck locked up and I ended up having to go to the hospital to get a muscle relaxer shot because I couldn't move my neck or raise my arms. At age 14, I had an injury that caused problems with my sciatic nerve, which later developed into fibromyalgia (apparently certain injuries can trigger fibro to develop). In my early 20's, I was diagnosed with scoliosis (they checked for it in middle school but missed the diagnosis somehow), as well as arthritis in my knees, hands, hips and tailbone. My spine also curves forward, known as kyphosis, in addition to the sideways scoliosis curve.
And to top it all off, I injured my leg when I was 27 which caused nerve damage and what's known as a foot drop. This makes it absolutely exhausting to walk since I have to pick my leg up higher than normal when taking a step to avoid tripping on my own foot.
Those are just a few of my medical issues, there are lots more that I also deal with. So go right ahead and ask me anything!
2024.06.01 14:51 igetinspiredeasily 18MO F - ?stroke, ?internal rupture, ?tumour, ?QOL.
Ugh. I think I just need some insight, advice, experiences, and support from anyone who’ll give it. I have two female rats who are about 18 months old; I adopted them together. Preface, Maev has had a mass/tumour the size of a grape come up between her back legs on her tummy a few weeks/month ago; it’s not changed since appearing and doesn’t seem to bother her in the slightest.
The last 48 hours have been interesting so I’ll try my best to not be confusing about the timeline.
Thursday PM - both girls are happy and normal, jumping around, eating treats, not too tolerant of pats as usual and just want my snacks.
Friday AM - Maev is completely normal. Rosie looks worse for ware. Her hips looked all odd, fur was all loose looking, eyes half shut, even saw her kind of drag her back legs once. She kept falling asleep mid way through moving and when trying to clean herself. I thought she wasn’t even going to make it through the day and we had a lot of pats and cuddles (which she usually wouldn’t tolerate) that night before bed because I was certain she wouldn’t make it. She let me pat her and just sat there with her eyes closed. Her feet were very pale and skin had definitely lost a lot of colour. She was just sleeping in her empty tissue box and out on her scarf.
Saturday AM - both rats are still kicking. Rosie seems a bit slow still and I’d moved all their food and etc. to the floor of the cage where they could both reach it because I thought Rosie was having mobility issues and I genuinely thought she would continue to decline rapidly. Though, Rosie was able to pop herself up on a wooden perch/shelf, hop into their (low) hanging hammock house, and continued to eat banana/avo/crackers and have water this whole time. I then noticed that Rosie was bleeding from her anus. Both rats were licking it and trying to clean her up. At that point I had to separate them because the repetitive licking was bound to cause problems quickly and I wasn’t sure if Rosie was in pain by Maev pushing her around to get under her etc. The bleeding was enough to stain the fur around and then a drop every now and again but eventually stopped. Feet/extremities are still pale.
Saturday PM - Rats are still separated - they don’t seem too distressed about this. Rosie has her googly eyes wide open now and isn’t falling asleep mid scratch anymore. She’s jumping up on the perch/shelf to ask for attention and is eating snacks as well as drinking water. She even re arranged her bed scarf how she wanted it and is still able to climb up into the hammock. Feet/extremities are still pale. Doesn’t appear to be bleeding. I can’t put them both in together in case she starts bleeding again. I gave them both a cracker and said goodnight. Rosie is quite sleepy.
My conundrum. If by sheer vigor, Rosie makes it to Monday. Would I be doing the right thing by both rats, to take them to their loving vet, and have them both put to sleep? Rosie is clearly suffering of some kind of internal rupture, but is having a second wind, and one hell of a comeback. They have to be separated because of the potential bleeding. Maev has a mass/tumour. If Maev survives (for now) I’m going to have to go through this with her; she would have to go through this, and I don’t know how she would cope completely alone.
They both are still wanting their snacks and are looking at me with their sweet faces🥺🙆🏼♀️
No one prepares you to make these decisions for your pets as an adult.🫣
submitted by igetinspiredeasily to RATS [link] [comments]
The last 48 hours have been interesting so I’ll try my best to not be confusing about the timeline.
Thursday PM - both girls are happy and normal, jumping around, eating treats, not too tolerant of pats as usual and just want my snacks.
Friday AM - Maev is completely normal. Rosie looks worse for ware. Her hips looked all odd, fur was all loose looking, eyes half shut, even saw her kind of drag her back legs once. She kept falling asleep mid way through moving and when trying to clean herself. I thought she wasn’t even going to make it through the day and we had a lot of pats and cuddles (which she usually wouldn’t tolerate) that night before bed because I was certain she wouldn’t make it. She let me pat her and just sat there with her eyes closed. Her feet were very pale and skin had definitely lost a lot of colour. She was just sleeping in her empty tissue box and out on her scarf.
Saturday AM - both rats are still kicking. Rosie seems a bit slow still and I’d moved all their food and etc. to the floor of the cage where they could both reach it because I thought Rosie was having mobility issues and I genuinely thought she would continue to decline rapidly. Though, Rosie was able to pop herself up on a wooden perch/shelf, hop into their (low) hanging hammock house, and continued to eat banana/avo/crackers and have water this whole time. I then noticed that Rosie was bleeding from her anus. Both rats were licking it and trying to clean her up. At that point I had to separate them because the repetitive licking was bound to cause problems quickly and I wasn’t sure if Rosie was in pain by Maev pushing her around to get under her etc. The bleeding was enough to stain the fur around and then a drop every now and again but eventually stopped. Feet/extremities are still pale.
Saturday PM - Rats are still separated - they don’t seem too distressed about this. Rosie has her googly eyes wide open now and isn’t falling asleep mid scratch anymore. She’s jumping up on the perch/shelf to ask for attention and is eating snacks as well as drinking water. She even re arranged her bed scarf how she wanted it and is still able to climb up into the hammock. Feet/extremities are still pale. Doesn’t appear to be bleeding. I can’t put them both in together in case she starts bleeding again. I gave them both a cracker and said goodnight. Rosie is quite sleepy.
My conundrum. If by sheer vigor, Rosie makes it to Monday. Would I be doing the right thing by both rats, to take them to their loving vet, and have them both put to sleep? Rosie is clearly suffering of some kind of internal rupture, but is having a second wind, and one hell of a comeback. They have to be separated because of the potential bleeding. Maev has a mass/tumour. If Maev survives (for now) I’m going to have to go through this with her; she would have to go through this, and I don’t know how she would cope completely alone.
They both are still wanting their snacks and are looking at me with their sweet faces🥺🙆🏼♀️
No one prepares you to make these decisions for your pets as an adult.🫣
2024.06.01 14:46 Chai_Ky The Case of Kate Blackwell: The Unknown Part 3 (Finale)
11/20/2017
Log book of Det. Ryan Snow
Case #2798: The Appalachian Murders
When I woke up, I was in such a haze that I couldn’t make out where I was at first. My vision was a blur and all I could hear was the sounds of rushing water. I tried to move my limbs, but each muscle down to my little finger felt like lead weighing down on me, making it hard to breathe.
It felt like forever before the ringing in my ear was slowly swallowed out by a voice crying out from what sounded like a distance only to grow louder as it seemed to approach me from the void I had woken up in. It wasn’t until I heard my name that I recognized it was Kate’s voice, pleading and filled with tears.
I blinked away the blur, finding myself staring up at a water damaged ceiling, a single yellow light brightening the room. My head was pounding and my body still felt heavy, but I moved my head enough to turn and see where Kate was calling from. It took a moment, but I soon realized that she was lying on her back, strapped by her arms and legs to a metal table, looking to me with wide terrified eyes.
“Detective, please help!” She cried out. “Please don’t be dead! Please help me!”
“Bl-Black…Well…” I groaned out as I tried, painfully, to pick myself up off the stone floor, “Black…Well… Ah… Shit… Shit! Ms. Blackwell-“ I was gaining consciousness minute by minute as I finally took in the situation and got to my feet. However, the moment I had gotten to my feet and began running to Kate only to immediately fall back to the floor once again, my ankle getting caught by something heavy. I turned to see my ankle had been shackled to the floor by a cuff and chains. I searched my person to find my coat, along with my Glock had been taken, blood decorating my pants and sleeves. I placed a palm to my forehead to find blood when I lowered it down to look at the warm liquid slithering down from my scalp.
“Ms. Blackwell,” I returned my attention to her, examining what I could from my place on the floor, “are you alright, are you hurt?”
“I… I… I don’t… Don’t think so…” she managed to whine out.
“Where’s Mr. Raines?”
To this question, Kate looked away from me, sobbing being her only verbal response.
I went back to the shackles on my ankle and began trying to yank the chains off from the floor, but they had been well maintained and were too strong for me to simply yank out of the stone. I then quickly looked around the room to find we were in a different basement from the one in Cabin #3, though it had the same kind of layout, the table the only major difference. I also took note of the blood stains that trailed from the sides of the table and the dried pools below.
“I want my mom!” Kate cried out, her voice echoing in the empty room.
“I’ll get you to her, I will, I promise,” I assured her, trying to find something, anything to get us out of this, “do you remember how we got down here?”
“I… I… I just re-remember… Remember you g-getting knocked out… Knocked out by someone and them… Them putting a rag over me… Then everything went black… Then I woke… Woke up… H-Here…” Kate answered, trying to breathe with each sob she let out. “I… I th-thought… y-you… You were d-d-… Dead!”
“I’m not, I’m very much alive and I’m going to get you out of here and back to your parents,” I vowed as I continued looking for a way out of this situation, “we’re going to get you out of here, get you home, and we’ll make sure no one ever gets hurt here ever-“
The sound of the basement door from the splintered wooden steps cut me off. I listened as feet descended down the steps to the basement below, Kate’s ragged breaths the only other sound. The person who came down was a woman. The same exact woman from the photo I had found in her house. She looked as if she had not aged since that photo was taken, despite how long ago it seemed the photo was taken. She had the same exact long, white hair, same tired looking eyes, and same disgustingly pale skin as in that photo and on her profile picture. It was Mrs. Larson.
“Deeeeeetectiiiiiiive,” she spoke in a hoarse voice mixed with what I assumed was her own and several others, both male and female, adult and child, “youuuuuuu shouuuullld haaaaaaaaave juuuuuuusssssst giiiiiven herrrrrrr toooooo meeeeee… Youuuuuuuu diiiiiiiiid nooooooot haaaaaave toooooooo ssssssseeeee thiiiiiissssss…”
“Fuck you!” I shouted, beginning to charge at the elderly woman only to be yanked back by my shackles. “Let us go, right now!”
“Nnnnooooo,” Mrs. Larson replied harshly as she stepped over to loom over Kate.
“Stay away from her!” I barked, trying desperately to break free of my shackles.
She ignored me as she ran a shaky hand down along Kate’s trembling face. “Ooooooooohhhhh, Kaaaaaate… Sweeeeet, sweeeeeeeet, Kaaaaaaaaaate…” Mrs. Larson cooed as she went on stroking Kate’s wet cheek. “Doooooo noooooooot crrrrrrryyyyyyy, dooooooonnnnnn’t thiiiiiiiiiinnnnk oooooofff iiiiiiiit aaaaaaaassssss dyyyyyyyyiiiiinnnnng, thiiiiiiiiinnnk ooooooooffff iiiiiiit aaaaaassssss ssssssssaaaaaaaaaviiiiiiinnng aaaaaannnnoooootherrrrrrrrr liiiiiiiiife.”
“I-I… I d-don’t… Don’t under-understand… w-what th-that… That m-means…” Kate cried, her hands gripping the sides of the metal table beneath her, “P-Please, d-don’t… Don’t kill me… L-Let… Let us-us go!”
“Nnnnnoooooo,” Mrs. Larson answered in the same harshness she used on me, “IIIIIIIII neeeeeeeed youuuuuuuuuu,” she then shot a death glare my way through tired, silver eyes, “aaaaaaaannnnnnd heeeeeeeeee’ssssssss beeeeeeeeeennnnnn nnnnnnnoooooooothiiiiiiiiinnnnnng buuuuut aaaaaa thooooooorrrrrrnnnn iiiiiiinnnnn myyyyyyyyy ssssssssiiiiiiiide siiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnccccccce youuuuuu eeeeeessssssscaaaaaaped meeeeeeee.” She then looked back to Kate with a softer look. “Aaaaaaaassssss fffffoooooorrrrr whaaaaaaaat youuuuuuu caaaaaannnn’t uuuuuunnnnnnderrrrrrssssssstaaaaaaannnnnnd, IIIIIIIIII nnnnnneeeeeeed yourrrrrrrrrr heaaaaaaaarrrrrt tooooooo ssssssssaaaaaavvvvvvve myyyyyyy ssssssiiiiiiiisssssssterrrrrrrr.”
“The fuck does that mean?” I demanded, still trying to vain to pull my ankle from the chains. “How the hell will Kate’s heart save your sister?”
“Diiiiiiiiidnnnnnn’t nnnnnnneeeeeeed toooooo beeeee Kaaaaaaate’sssssss,” admitted Mrs. Larson, “buuuuuuuut sssshhhhhheeeeee hiiiiiiiiid theeeeee ooooooootherrrrr giiiiirrrrrrllllll ffffffrrrrroooooommmmm mmmmmeeeeee.”
“S-Son… Sonja…” Kate sniffed, the tears still streaming down her face.
“IIIIIIII oooooooonnnnnlllllyyyyy neeeeed fffffffeeeeeemmmmmaaaaallllle,” Mrs. Larson dismissed Ms. Greymoore’s name, “ffffffeeeeeeemmmmmaaaaaallllle heaaaaaaaarrrrrrrtsssss toooooo rrrrrrreeeeeetuuuuurrrrrrnnnnn mmmmmmyyyyy ssssiiiiissssssterrrrrrrrr toooooo theeeeeeee giiiiirrrrrllllll ssssshhhhhheeeee uuuuuuuusssssed tooooo beeeeeee.”
“That’s a fucking joke right?” I asked. “The hell makes you think eating a female heart will turn your sister back into a human woman? Have you seen what’s happened to your sister?”
“IIIIIIIII knnnnnnnooooooow beeeeeeecaaaauuuuusssssse iiiiiiiiiiit wooooooorrrrrked ooooooonnnnn mmmmmeeeeee,” Mrs. Larson explained, “IIIIIIIIIII waaaaaasssss aaaaaaablllllllle toooooo reeeeeeetaaaaiiiiiinnnnnn thiiiiiiiiiisssssss huuuuuummmmmmaaaaaannnnn fffffffooooorrrrrrmmmm ffffffrrrrrooooommmm eeeeeaaaaatiiiiiinnnnnng theeeeeeee heaaaaaaaaarrrrrtsssss, sssssspecifffffficaaaaaaallllllyyyyyy fffffffeeeeeemmmmmaaaaallllleeee sssssssooooooo IIIIIIIIII mmmmmmaaaaaayyyyyy rrrrrreeeeetuuuurrrrrnnnnn toooo beeeeeiiiiinnnng theeeeeeee giiiiiirrrrrrrllllll IIIIIII uuuuuuusssssed toooooooo beeeeeee.”
“You were dead,” I pointed out, “they found your body up here, you were buried.”
“Theeeeeessssssse sssshhhhheeeeeellllllsssss arrrrrrre mmmmmeeeeeerrreeeellllyyy veeeeeessssssellllllssssss ffffffoooooorrrrrr theeeeeeee sssssspiiiiirrrrriiiiiitsssss weeeee hiiiiiiiiiiide beeeeeneeeeaaaaattthhhh,” Mrs. Larson responded, finally turning her gaze to me, “IIIIIIII haaaaaaad tooooooo maaaake peeeopllllle beeeelieevvvve IIIIIII haaaaaad diiiiiiied tooooo keeeeeep frrrrroooommm theeeee poooooollllliiiiicccce ffffrrrrrrooooommmm pooookiiiiiinnnng aaaaarrrrouuuuuunnnnd aaaaannnnnd rrrrruuuiiinnnnniiinnnng eeeevvvveeerrrrryyythiiiiinnnng.”
“So, let me just get this whole thing straight,” I began as I started rubbing my temples, "when you and your sister starting into… Whatever the hell that thing you call your sister is-“
“Ooooouuuurrrrr sssssspiiiiiirrrrrriiiiiit,” Mrs. Larson corrected.
“Whatever!” I shot. “You found out that eating female hearts turns you two back into human women and to keep police from suspecting you, you pretended to be dead and… What? Just hope a shitty real estate agency would buy your property and you could just… Kill people, people with lives and families outside the mountains?”
“Thaaaaaaaat iiiiiiisssss cooooorrrrrreeeeect…” Mrs. Larson admitted, narrowing her eyes at me.
That’s when I began laughing hysterically, holding my sides that hurt with each harsh breath of a laugh I took. Both Mrs. Larson and Kate looked to me as if I had lost my mind and at this point I was starting to believe I had. Everything I had seen and heard about this entire case would put anyone in the looney bin. And I’m the damn fool who dug too deep into something he had nothing to do with.
“Whaaaaaat’s ssssoooo ffffuuunnnny?” Growled Mrs. Larson, stepping around Kate to stand between us.
“I don’t know what’s fucking funnier, honestly,” I chuckled, running a hand through my hair, “the fact that you thing people won’t be poking around even more when they discover not only is Blackwell missing, but so is a detective and escaped convict all of whom now have ties to these fucking mountains and those cabins, or that you thing I’m more afraid of what you plan on doing with me more than I am when her father finds out I got her in this situation in the first place!”
“Heeeeeee wooooonnnnn’t beeeee aaaaabllllle toooooo doooo aaaaaannnnnyyyyythiiiiiinnnng aaaaaaafffffterrrrrrr IIIIIIIII’mmmmm dooooooonnnne wiiiiiiiith booooooth ooooooooffffff youuuuuuuuu,” Mrs. Larson hissed as she inched closer, “fffffffiiiiiiirrrrrrssssst, IIIIIIIII waaaaaannnnnt youuuuuuuu toooo waaaaaatch mmmmmeeeee kiiiiiiillllll herrrrrrr,” she turned her head to look to Kate who was now just shaking, her eyes seemingly gone dry from the crying, Mrs. Larson then looked back to me, “sssssseeeeecooooonnnnd, IIIIIIII wiiiiillllll ssssssaaaaave youuuuu fffffooooorrrr mmmmmmyyyyy sssssiiiiiisssssterrrrr, oooooonnnnne heeeeaaaaart wiiiiilllll nnnnoooot ssssssaaaaaatissssfffffyyyy herrrr huuuuuunnnnnger.” She took another step. “Uuuuuuuunnnnnllllliiiiiike sssssssoooooommmme ssssssiiiiiibllllliiiiiiinnnnnngsssss, IIIIIIIII caaaaaarrrre aaaaaaboooouuuuut mmmmmmyyyyy ffffffaaaammmmiiiiilllllyyyyyy.”
She stared into my eyes, expecting a reaction and while my blood did somewhat boil at the accusatory statement, I didn’t fully understand what she was getting at. Not until she used that voice. Not until she relived that day with those two familiar child-like voices.
“Screw you, Liam!” She cried out in a voice I remember from my childhood. “I hope you drop dead!”
“Stop.” I demanded.
“Piss off, Ryan!” She shot back in a second boy’s voice.
“I said stop!” I began shouting.
“Help me, Ryan! Please, help me! I’m sorry! Please, Lucky Dime, help me!”
I then lunged toward her, reaching my hands out toward her neck only to be stopped by the shackles as she swiftly, almost without even moving, stepped just out of my reach.
“Fucking bitch!” I screamed out.
“If only you really cared about me, Lucky Dime,” sighed Mrs. Larson as she turned and began making her way to the side of the room where a cart stood in the shadows. She pulled it over to Kate’s side, the cart covered in rusted medical tools.
“P-Please,” Kate wheezed, “p-p-please… I… I d-d-don’t w-want… Want t-to d-d… D-Die, I… I w-w-want m-m-m… My m-mom!”
“Dooooonnn’t woooorrrrryyyyy,” Mrs. Larson soothed, using that mix of different voices, “mmmmmmaaaayyyyybeeee sheeee wiiiillll cooooommmme loooookinnnng ffffooooorrrr yooouuuuu aaaaannnnnd sheeeeeee caaaaannnnn joooooiiiiiinnnn youuuuuuu.”
Kate began to sob, begging and pleading for Mrs. Larson to let her go, thrashing around in her restraints. Telling the older woman that there was no saving her sister and that she was too far gone for this sick ritual to work anymore. I tried to yank at the chains once more, trying to loosen it at least enough to break free and grab at Mrs. Larson.
“Rrrrrrreeeeellllllaaaaax,” Mrs. Larson ordered as she began filling a syringe with some kind of clear liquid from a small bottle, “yoooouuuuuu woooooonnnn’t eeeeeveeennn fffffeeeellll iiiiiiit, thiiiissssss wiiiiiillllll puuuuuut youuuuu toooo ssssssllllllleeeeeep aaaaaannnnnnd wheeeeeennnnnn youuuuuu waaaaaake uuuuuuuup, youuuuuuu’lllllll beeee iiiiiinnnnnn heeeeeaaaaaaveeeennnnn… Uuuuuunnnnnnnllllllessssss youuuuuuu weeeerrrrrrre aaaaaa haaaaaarrrrrlllllooooooot, iiiiiiinnnnnn whiiiiiiiich caaaaaassssssseeeee, mmmmmaaaayyyy Goooooood haaaaaaaave mmmmmmmmerrrrrrrcccccyyyyy ooooonnnnn youuuuuur ssssssoooouuuuullllll… Aaaaannnnnd baaaaaaasssssed ooooonnnn hoooooow youuuuuu drrrrressss aaaaannnnnd theeeee coooommmmpaaaannnnyyyy youuuuuu keeeeeep,” She added as she eyed me, “IIIIIII ssssssaaaaaayyyy youuuuu haaaaaave aaaaa lllllloooooot ooooooffff fooooooorrrrgiiiiiviiiiinnnnng tooooo dooooo.”
Kate continued to cry as Mrs. Larson pushed the needle of the syringe into her arm, pushing down on the plunger as it pierced the flesh. Kate’s loud screams soon turned quieter and her red eyes began to glaze over, but she continued to stay awake, tightening her grip on the table and still begging to be let go.
“IIIIII waaaaannnnt youuuuu toooo waaaaatch, Detective,” Mrs. Larson spat out my title in Mr. Blackwell’s voice, “IIIII waaaaannnnnt youuuuu toooo waaaaatch herrrrrr fffffaaaaaade aaaaaannnnnnd mmmmmeeeee rrrrreeeemmmmooooove heerr heeeaaaarrrrrt toooooo ffffffeeeeeed tooooo mmmmmmyyyyyy ssssssiiiiiiiissssssterrrrrr,” she then pulled out a recorder, “theeeeennnnnn wheeeeeennnnn IIIIIII ssssssuuuuummmmoooooonnnnn herrrrrrr aaannnnd sheeeee fffffiiiinnnniiiishessssss oooooofffffff heeeerrrrr heeeaaaaarrrrrt, youuuuuuu’llllllll beeeeee neeeeeext.”
“Fuck you,” I snarled, “I hope you and your sister burn.”
“IIIIIIIII’mmmmm gooooonnnnnaaaaa gooooo aaaaallllllerrrrrrt mmmmmyyyyy ssssssiiiiiiissssterrrrrr,” Mrs. Larson turned and began making her way to the basement steps, “ssssseeee youuuuu boooooth ffffffoooooorrrr diiiiiinnnnnnerrrrrrr.”
She then pressed the play button on her recorder and a small, little girl’s voice echoed in the room before Mrs. Larson vanished up the steps.
“I’m here… I’m here… I’m here…”
Then the door slammed shut.
“De… Tec… Tive…” Kate squeaked out, her breathing slowing.
“Stay awake, Blackwell,” I ordered her gently, looking around frantically for anything to get us both out of this alive, “I’ll get us out of this, I promise, just stay awake, we’ll get out of here, I just need-“
“I’m… S… Sorry…” she breathed out. “I’m… So… Sorry… For… Get… Getting… You… In… To.. This…”
“No, no, this is not your fault!” I assured her. “That psychotic bitch got us both into this shit and I won’t stop until I get us out and put her and her fucking sister are six feet under!”
“W…Wha… What… H… Hap… Happened… To… To L… Liam…?”
I stopped struggling with the chains and turned to look to Kate. Her head was turned to me, her face wet, hands clenching as hard as they could to the table beneath her, the light in her eyes slowly fading second by second. She was trying desperately to stay awake. The medication Mrs. Larson taking hold of her as the minutes ticked by.
I dropped the chains that were in my hands, looking away from her, wanting to stare at anything other than another person I had failed.
“He was killed,” I answered, “we were fishing at a lake nearby… Lake Gaagige… We got into a really stupid ass fucking fight about how which fishing pole we were going to use. I wanted to use our dad’s, but Liam was older and said only men could use dad’s fishing pole… I told him… To drop dead and stormed off… When I got home, my parents dragged me back to the lake and scolded me for leaving him…” I trailed off, swallowing all the tears and screams I’d bottled up since that day. “When… We found… Him… The autopsy… Said he was mauled by a bear… I’ve blamed myself for leaving him there alone… For letting him die and getting killed like that… The last thing I ever told him was to drop dead… I was a shitty brother and now I’m a shitty detective…”
“Is… Is he… Why… You became… A… Detective…?”
I took a deep breath and swallowed the tears again. “No, Blackwell,” I answered, “he’s not why I became a detective… I already knew what had killed him… It was my fault… If I hadn’t been such a brat and stormed off… He might still be alive… And now… What that bitch said…” I replayed Liam’s screams that escaped Mrs. Larson’s mouth. “I’m starting to think I’m getting what I deserve. Karma’s back to kick my ass…”
“H… How… Old…?”
“I was six… Liam was eight…”
“N… N… Not your… F… Fault…”
I turned to look to Kate, her eyes on mine, however faded.
“Y… You were… Only… A k… Kid…”
I took another intake of what little air there was down in that basement. I had spent years trying to convince myself of the same thing, but those moments never got easier for me when those thoughts returned.
“I think you’re just being nice,” I laughed painfully, “but I’m afraid I- and my folks- don’t share the same sentiment.”
I was staring down at where the chains were coming from in the ground, Kate not saying a word for over a couple of minutes. I spun to see if she had fallen asleep and immediately tried to find out how to wake her up again. However, once I our eyes met, I saw that she was still fighting sleep, the last of her tears rolling down across the bridge of her nose and into her hair.
“I… I… I had… Had a c… Crush… O… On… J… Jasper…” she confessed, her voice getting quieter and higher. “P… Paul and… And Son… Sonja knew… I never… Never c… Cared f… For Luke… But I’m… Sure… S… Sonja t… Told him…” she looked like she was going to sob again. “I… I never g… Got the… Ch… Chance… T… To tell J… Jasper… I… Was… Scared… He… He and… P… Paul were friends… And I… I kn… Knew… How P… Paul f… Felt… A… About m… Me… I… I did… Didn’t wa… Want to… R… Ruin… Anyth… Anything…” She took a gulp of air. “I… I ha… Hated L… Luke… I… A… Always… Kn… Knew… He… He was a… Player… B… But Sonja… Said… Said she was hap… Happy… So… So I did… Didn’t wa… Want to g… Get in… H… Her way… B… But Luke d… Didn’t l… Like h… How cl… Close… We… Were… I d… Didn’t w… Want him to make… Make her th… Think I… I was l… Leading her o… On… T… To get them… To b… Break up… Th… Then… That n… Night… Sh… She w… Wanted to… To leave…” She let out two pained gasps of breath. “I… I let them down… I let them all down… Luke pro… Probably thought… Thought I w… Was the one who… Who f… Filled Sonja’s mind… With thoughts of… Of him ch… Cheating… Th… Then I… I got them… All killed…
I… I didn’t deserve them, d… Detective…” she went on, looking away from me to stare up at the water damaged ceiling, “I… I… I was a… Terrible… Terrible friend…”
“Did you read their guest book entries?” I asked.
“N… No… D… Didn’t w… Want to… To r… Read any… Anything p… Private…” Kate answered.
“Jasper didn’t blame you,” I assured her, remembering what he had written in his entry during his time watching Mrs. Larson just outside the cabin, “even when he heard the voices- when he heard Mrs. Larson- telling him to, he didn’t. I don’t think the others blamed you either. You didn’t do anything wrong, Ms. Blackwell, there’s no way you could have known any of this would happen.”
“K… Kate…”
“What?”
“C… Call… Call me… Kate…”
“Aright, Kate,” I let out what little laughter I had left inside me, “so long as we’re the last people we’ll be chatting with, call me Ryan.”
“R… Ryan…”
“If we at all live through this, I’m going to need a long vacation after this,” I said as I turned to look at my shackles again, looking around myself to try finding anything to Get free since a vacation sounded like something to die for at that moment, “do you know any good vacation spots I can book for the fall?”
“Y… You’re… You’re a… Dick…” Kate struggled to laugh.
“I also enjoy pineapple on pizza,” I winked as I reached down to my ankle, ready to break it just to taste that sweet combination of tomato sauce and fruit.
“G… God… I… I c… Can’t… Believe… I th… Thought y… You w… Were c… Cute…”
I sat down on the floor, grabbing my ankle with both my hands. Needing to hype myself up enough to do what I was going to do, I began removing my shoe and sock from the foot, rubbing and squeezing my way up and down the ankle to my toes. I had never broken a bone in my life before this and I definitely never thought I’d do it of my own volition, but this was a desperate time and it definitely called for desperate…
“Wait what?” I turned to look to Kate, finally registering what she had said.
However, just before I could be sure of what I heard, the sound of a hunting rifle going off just above our heads right before we heard the door to the basement swing open and immediately be slammed shut. Both Kate and I turned to see someone stumble down the wooden steps, his clothes torn and body scratched and cut to a nearly deadly degree. I was even shocked he was still breathing.
“M… Mr… R… Raines…?” Kate gasped out.
“What’s left of me at least,” Mr. Raines grumbled as he limped over to Kate and quickly began undoing her straps to the table, “damn thing almost ripped my head off, but one swing of the barrel to its eye and I was able to get away… Can’t say it didn’t do its damage though… I’m… Getting really fucking hungry…”
He shook his head violently before limping over to me. He then raised an eyebrow at me when he saw how I was positioned still on the floor with a bare foot in my hands shackled to the floor.
“I… I was… I… I thought you were-“ I stammered.
“I am,” Mr. Raines interrupted, “at least, I’m on my way there anyway.” He then retrieved my Glock from his back pocket. “I don’t know what that thing did to me, but I’m not gonna make it out of this alive, or the way I came in. It’s a massacre out there by the way. Lot of men in blue bodies out there… Very… Hard to ignore… Sure more will be on their way. So.”
With that, Mr. Raines pointed at my chains and pulled the trigger on my clock, barely giving me time to cover my ears as the sound rung out loudly in the basement. I shook my head, trying to undo the blurry and ringing side effects of the sound of a gun going off near your head. I gave the older man a glare before standing and snatching my Glock from his hands. That’s when I saw Kate shifting herself to the side of the metal table she was no longer tied to, trying to get her limbs to comply with her to help her off and on to the floor.
I ran over and grabbed her just as she nearly stumbled face first to the floor and lifted her up to her feet, her body heavy with lack of keeping herself up.
“Do you think you can walk?” I asked, trying to keep her on her feet.
“I… I don’t… I…” Kate stammered as she tried to push herself off of me while also using using me as a crutch until she could stand on her own. However, she didn’t seem to be able to put any kind of pressure on her legs without falling down.
“Kate?” A girl’s voice called out from above us.
Feeling Kate shudder, I realized that it must have been the sound of Sonja’s voice and Mrs. Larson was using her to keep Kate from running. I quickly swung my arm down behind her knees, pressing the other down on her back as I lifted her up off the floor, my Glock at the ready as I kept it pointed in front of me while my arm held up Kate’s knees.
“She must have heard the gunshots,” I pointed out, “how’d you get past her in the first place?”
“I set the other cabins on fire,” Mr. Raines answered as if it were the simplest of answers, “I had to distract her somehow and give those bodies she’d been eating a better fate than becoming her shit.”
“Are you planning on setting this place on fire too?” I asked.
“‘Course I am!” Mr. Raines exclaimed, seemingly offended I’d even ask. “I already doused it in gasoline, I ain’t wasting all that time!”
“Kate!” Sonja’s voice cried out, getting closer to the basement door. “Are you seriously leaving me here to die alone again!”
“Please… Make it… Stop…” Kate sniffed as she gripped my shirt and burying her face into the fabric.
“Let’s get you two out of here.” Mr. Raines began leading the way to the basement stairs, cocking his rifle as he did so.
“What about you?” I asked, immediately following after him.
Mr. Raines didn’t answer as he stomped up the stairs and kicked the door open to the first floor of the cabin. The stench of the gasoline he had spilled hitting me harshly in my face.
“Kate!” Sonja’s voice, along with a different crescendo of male voices shrieked out as Mrs. Larson appeared from the corner of the hallway where the basement was located.
“Leighton?” A different woman’s voice asked the moment the old woman’s eyes spotted Mr. Raines. I then watched in both shock and confusion as it almost looked like the very skin on the woman melted off to reveal a much younger woman. The woman I recognized as Bonnie Collins. “Leighton… Love is that you?”
Mr. Raines kept his rifle on the vision of the woman he once loved before her murder, but didn’t move or speak.
“Darling, I’ve missed you so much!” The fake Bonnie cried out as she began making her way to Mr. Raines with arms open wide to hug him.
Mr. Raines then lifted his gun up higher, placing his finger on the trigger which caused the vision to stop in her place.
“Leighton?” The fake Bonnie asked. “Baby, it’s me… Bun-Bun… Don’t you recognize me…?” She began to tear up.
“You’re not my Bunny,” Mr. Raines growled before he shot once at the woman.
The fake Bonnie swiftly dodged the bullet, an inhuman hiss coming from an unhinged mouth, revealing a row of long, sharp teeth. The skin of Bonnie then melted off to reveal another woman, a lot younger than the first one it intimidated. The face of one of the victims upon being brought on this case.
“Kate,” the fake Sonja called out, “Kate, what are you doing? Who are these men? Why are they trying to hurt me?”
Kate let out a sobbing gasp, her nails digging into my shoulder with her arm wrapped around my neck.
“Didn’t I suffer enough?” The fake Sonja asked. “First my boyfriend and now you? Why don’t you want to be with me anymore?”
“Shut up!” Kate demanded. “You’re not Sonja! You killed her, you killed all of them! I don’t care what happens to me, but I’m not letting their memories end with you!”
Kate then snatched my Glock from my hand under her legs and shot directly at the fake Sonja’s head. Again the shot missed as the fake vision of the girl slithered out of the way, a frustrated growl of a dog and human escaping it’s mouth. It then zipped to the side, cowering with its back to us on the floor.
“Lucky dime…” A child’s voice then took over. The vision’s skin melting now to a much smaller figure. “Is this what you want? To kill me all over again?” He turned to look up at me, Liam’s face forever eight-years-old staring up at me. “It’s no wonder mommy and daddy hate you now… You were always a shitty brother… Now, I’m gonna starve to death because you’d rather help a couple of strangers.”
“I’m sorry, Liam,” I replied, everyone, including the fake Liam looking to me in surprise, “I left you alone out here and that’s what got you killed by that thing out there and I’m sorry. But, if I’d stayed it may have been both of us and then mom and dad would have no one left to blame but each other. If you had left and I was the one killed, you’d probably be in my shoes instead. I’m sorry for letting you get killed, but I’m gonna make up for it now.”
I then took my Glock back from Kate and pointed it to the vision of Liam.
“Good bye, Liam.”
I shot the gun once again, missing the creature again, however, this time I just kept shooting, Mr. Raines following after. Our different bullets just kept firing, the thing dodging and trying to get closer to us. The creature screeched out at us in a myriad of different voices both familiar and unknown. It wasn’t until one shot from my Glock struck the creatures shoulder and Mr. Raines’ rifle struck its head when the skins of everyone it was trying to turn into all melted off, revealing Mrs. Larson once again.
However, this time, she looked shriveled, older than she looked before. Her face looked deformed, beginning to grow furry, her eyes growing nothing but red, no irises, no pupils, just red. Her hair grew longer, branches like antlers growing painfully out from her skull, breaking the skin as they grew larger. The lower half of her face grew elongated, turning into that of a muzzle of fangs and a drooling mouth.
“You… All… Have no rrrrrrriiiiiight!” A different, unknown voice snarled out from what used to be Mrs. Larson. “People liiiiiike you all… Abandoned me and myyyyyyyyy sister!” The fur growing around this thing grew out short and shaggy, the cloths it was using melting off with the skin and flesh it was wearing. It now didn’t look anything like a human woman. It now took the form of a large wolf mixed with that of a deer, it’s body dog-like with hooves, antlers, and a long, scraggly tail. “You lot abandoned us here! You left us all here to diiiiiiiie!”
Guilt was weighing down on me with each syllable it was growling. Kate looked away from it, burying her face in my neck as Mr. Raines lowered his rifle.
“Nooooow, you’re bringing more here to just leave and let die out here!” It went on, it’s horrifying, broken body shuddering. “Why let them just vanish and die up here when they can bring people like my sister and I back? Give me Kate’s heart and fix what you threeeeeeeeee failed!”
Mr. Raines then handed over his rifle to Kate, placing it down on her stomach as her hands were still wrapped around my neck. The older man made his way over to stand over the thing, its neck creaking like a rusted door as it turned its wolf-like head to look up at him.
“Leighton…” Bonnie’s voice came from the creature. “Give mmmmeeeee her heart aaaannnnd we can be togetherrrrr again… If you eat the deeeeeetective’s we can saaaaaave you tooooooo…”
“My Bunny’s dead,” Mr. Raines told it as he dug in his pocket and took out a carton of matches, “and so am I.”
“You’d burn your wife?” A mix of Bonnie and Mrs. Larson’s voices shrieked as it glared at the match he took from the match box.
“You’re not my wife,” Mr. Raines told it, “and I’ll never see her again.”
“Fooooooool,” Mr. Larson’s voice chuckled, “you’llllllll killllllll us both!”
“With the shit I’ve done in my life, I know you’re taking me to Hell with you,” Mr. Raines growled back as he struck the match on the box, “so I’m sure as fuck not afraid to burn here on Earth with you!”
Mr. Raines then dropped the match to the floor right before the creature and everything around the two of them immediately went up in flames, the fur of the creature catching quickly and engulfing it. An agonized shriek echoed out all around us, the creature thrashing in the fire it had gotten swallowed up in. Mr. Raines then grabbed it by it’s long, furry throat and swung it down back flat the floor, jumping to pin it down.
“Get out!” Mr. Raines cried out to me. “Leave here!”
Not needing to be told twice, I held onto Kate tightly and bolted past the two burning bodies, jumping over the fire as it began growing fast throughout the cabin. I quickly got to the front door and stopped to look back to see Mr. Raines fighting the creature and preventing it from coming after us, it begging for me to bring Kate back and that it would die without her.
“I’ll clear your name,” I called back, trying not to reel back in horror as I saw Mr. Raines skin begin to melt off, “I’ll let people know you didn’t kill Bonnie!”
“I’ll let people know you didn’t… Kill… Liam!” Mr. Raines’ voice called back, him thrashing around with Mrs. Larson as he said my brother’s name in my voice.
I turned back and kicked the front door open, rushing Kate out of the burning cabin. I ran until I got far enough from the smoke, turning back to see all three cabins now on fire, the area around them all ablaze. The only place untouched was Mrs. Larson’s house, all the evidence remaining. I could hear sirens in the distance coming closer. The sounds of shouts from the surviving officers sounding much closer.
“I’m here… I’m here… I’m here…”
I looked to the front porch of Mrs. Larson’s house where her recorder continued to call out for her sister. I set Kate down at the base of a nearby tree and ran to snatch the recorder, shutting it off. I searched around, looking for any signs of Prudence, but it appeared that the fire and the sounds of sirens and voices had scared her off. I ran back to Kate, her eyes closed and her not responding to me calling to her, but after checking her pulse and breathing, I found that the medication Mrs. Larson had given her had finally taken over and she was now fast asleep, the rifle Mr. Raines gave her still sitting on her rhythmically rising and falling stomach.
Letting out a sigh of relief, I leaned against the same tree I set Kate down on and slid down to the ground next to her. The first two cabins were already practically nothing but ash, the last still blazing as I heard the slowly fading screams of Mrs. Larson and Mr. Raines coming from inside.
When the screaming ended all together, the smoke turning blacker as it rose from the flames, I got to my feet and took out my pack of cigarettes as I approached the fires, staying far enough away not to get burned. I opened the pack up before stopping myself as I reached for one of the ten remaining cigarettes inside. I then flung the entire carton into the fires without taking one.
“Save one for me down there, you old bastard,” I told Mr. Raines before making my way back to Kate’s side.
It wasn’t long before the remaining officers found us, looking in confusion at the fires and to me with a sleeping victim in a homicide case on the ground. I told them we’d need to call an ambulance for Kate and that we needed to keep the flames from getting to Mrs. Larson’s house as it held evidence on the case. One officer retrieved his radio and called for an ambulance while a group ran to the house and another went to try controlling the fire as best they could by yanking out any bushes near by and throwing them away from the area around the house.
Luckily, the fire trucks were called long before the fire spread too far, residence noticing it practically the moment Mr. Raines set the first cabin on fire.
As I sat there, keeping Kate held up against the tree we sat under, I listened to the crackling of the fire, the sirens of fast approaching fire trucks and the ambulance, and the sounds of distance, coyote, almost human, howling.
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Log book of Det. Ryan Snow
Case #2798: The Appalachian Murders
When I woke up, I was in such a haze that I couldn’t make out where I was at first. My vision was a blur and all I could hear was the sounds of rushing water. I tried to move my limbs, but each muscle down to my little finger felt like lead weighing down on me, making it hard to breathe.
It felt like forever before the ringing in my ear was slowly swallowed out by a voice crying out from what sounded like a distance only to grow louder as it seemed to approach me from the void I had woken up in. It wasn’t until I heard my name that I recognized it was Kate’s voice, pleading and filled with tears.
I blinked away the blur, finding myself staring up at a water damaged ceiling, a single yellow light brightening the room. My head was pounding and my body still felt heavy, but I moved my head enough to turn and see where Kate was calling from. It took a moment, but I soon realized that she was lying on her back, strapped by her arms and legs to a metal table, looking to me with wide terrified eyes.
“Detective, please help!” She cried out. “Please don’t be dead! Please help me!”
“Bl-Black…Well…” I groaned out as I tried, painfully, to pick myself up off the stone floor, “Black…Well… Ah… Shit… Shit! Ms. Blackwell-“ I was gaining consciousness minute by minute as I finally took in the situation and got to my feet. However, the moment I had gotten to my feet and began running to Kate only to immediately fall back to the floor once again, my ankle getting caught by something heavy. I turned to see my ankle had been shackled to the floor by a cuff and chains. I searched my person to find my coat, along with my Glock had been taken, blood decorating my pants and sleeves. I placed a palm to my forehead to find blood when I lowered it down to look at the warm liquid slithering down from my scalp.
“Ms. Blackwell,” I returned my attention to her, examining what I could from my place on the floor, “are you alright, are you hurt?”
“I… I… I don’t… Don’t think so…” she managed to whine out.
“Where’s Mr. Raines?”
To this question, Kate looked away from me, sobbing being her only verbal response.
I went back to the shackles on my ankle and began trying to yank the chains off from the floor, but they had been well maintained and were too strong for me to simply yank out of the stone. I then quickly looked around the room to find we were in a different basement from the one in Cabin #3, though it had the same kind of layout, the table the only major difference. I also took note of the blood stains that trailed from the sides of the table and the dried pools below.
“I want my mom!” Kate cried out, her voice echoing in the empty room.
“I’ll get you to her, I will, I promise,” I assured her, trying to find something, anything to get us out of this, “do you remember how we got down here?”
“I… I… I just re-remember… Remember you g-getting knocked out… Knocked out by someone and them… Them putting a rag over me… Then everything went black… Then I woke… Woke up… H-Here…” Kate answered, trying to breathe with each sob she let out. “I… I th-thought… y-you… You were d-d-… Dead!”
“I’m not, I’m very much alive and I’m going to get you out of here and back to your parents,” I vowed as I continued looking for a way out of this situation, “we’re going to get you out of here, get you home, and we’ll make sure no one ever gets hurt here ever-“
The sound of the basement door from the splintered wooden steps cut me off. I listened as feet descended down the steps to the basement below, Kate’s ragged breaths the only other sound. The person who came down was a woman. The same exact woman from the photo I had found in her house. She looked as if she had not aged since that photo was taken, despite how long ago it seemed the photo was taken. She had the same exact long, white hair, same tired looking eyes, and same disgustingly pale skin as in that photo and on her profile picture. It was Mrs. Larson.
“Deeeeeetectiiiiiiive,” she spoke in a hoarse voice mixed with what I assumed was her own and several others, both male and female, adult and child, “youuuuuuu shouuuullld haaaaaaaaave juuuuuuusssssst giiiiiven herrrrrrr toooooo meeeeee… Youuuuuuuu diiiiiiiiid nooooooot haaaaaave toooooooo ssssssseeeee thiiiiiissssss…”
“Fuck you!” I shouted, beginning to charge at the elderly woman only to be yanked back by my shackles. “Let us go, right now!”
“Nnnnooooo,” Mrs. Larson replied harshly as she stepped over to loom over Kate.
“Stay away from her!” I barked, trying desperately to break free of my shackles.
She ignored me as she ran a shaky hand down along Kate’s trembling face. “Ooooooooohhhhh, Kaaaaaate… Sweeeeet, sweeeeeeeet, Kaaaaaaaaaate…” Mrs. Larson cooed as she went on stroking Kate’s wet cheek. “Doooooo noooooooot crrrrrrryyyyyyy, dooooooonnnnnn’t thiiiiiiiiiinnnnk oooooofff iiiiiiiit aaaaaaaassssss dyyyyyyyyiiiiinnnnng, thiiiiiiiiinnnk ooooooooffff iiiiiiit aaaaaassssss ssssssssaaaaaaaaaviiiiiiinnng aaaaaannnnoooootherrrrrrrrr liiiiiiiiife.”
“I-I… I d-don’t… Don’t under-understand… w-what th-that… That m-means…” Kate cried, her hands gripping the sides of the metal table beneath her, “P-Please, d-don’t… Don’t kill me… L-Let… Let us-us go!”
“Nnnnnoooooo,” Mrs. Larson answered in the same harshness she used on me, “IIIIIIIII neeeeeeeed youuuuuuuuuu,” she then shot a death glare my way through tired, silver eyes, “aaaaaaaannnnnnd heeeeeeeeee’ssssssss beeeeeeeeeennnnnn nnnnnnnoooooooothiiiiiiiiinnnnnng buuuuut aaaaaa thooooooorrrrrrnnnn iiiiiiinnnnn myyyyyyyyy ssssssssiiiiiiiide siiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnccccccce youuuuuu eeeeeessssssscaaaaaaped meeeeeeee.” She then looked back to Kate with a softer look. “Aaaaaaaassssss fffffoooooorrrrr whaaaaaaaat youuuuuuu caaaaaannnn’t uuuuuunnnnnnderrrrrrssssssstaaaaaaannnnnnd, IIIIIIIIII nnnnnneeeeeeed yourrrrrrrrrr heaaaaaaaarrrrrt tooooooo ssssssssaaaaaavvvvvvve myyyyyyy ssssssiiiiiiiisssssssterrrrrrrr.”
“The fuck does that mean?” I demanded, still trying to vain to pull my ankle from the chains. “How the hell will Kate’s heart save your sister?”
“Diiiiiiiiidnnnnnn’t nnnnnnneeeeeeed toooooo beeeee Kaaaaaaate’sssssss,” admitted Mrs. Larson, “buuuuuuuut sssshhhhhheeeeee hiiiiiiiiid theeeeee ooooooootherrrrr giiiiirrrrrrllllll ffffffrrrrroooooommmmm mmmmmeeeeee.”
“S-Son… Sonja…” Kate sniffed, the tears still streaming down her face.
“IIIIIIII oooooooonnnnnlllllyyyyy neeeeed fffffffeeeeeemmmmmaaaaallllle,” Mrs. Larson dismissed Ms. Greymoore’s name, “ffffffeeeeeeemmmmmaaaaaallllle heaaaaaaaarrrrrrrtsssss toooooo rrrrrrreeeeeetuuuuurrrrrrnnnnn mmmmmmyyyyy ssssiiiiissssssterrrrrrrrr toooooo theeeeeeee giiiiirrrrrllllll ssssshhhhhheeeee uuuuuuuusssssed tooooo beeeeeee.”
“That’s a fucking joke right?” I asked. “The hell makes you think eating a female heart will turn your sister back into a human woman? Have you seen what’s happened to your sister?”
“IIIIIIIII knnnnnnnooooooow beeeeeeecaaaauuuuusssssse iiiiiiiiiiit wooooooorrrrrked ooooooonnnnn mmmmmeeeeee,” Mrs. Larson explained, “IIIIIIIIIII waaaaaasssss aaaaaaablllllllle toooooo reeeeeeetaaaaiiiiiinnnnnn thiiiiiiiiiisssssss huuuuuummmmmmaaaaaannnnn fffffffooooorrrrrrmmmm ffffffrrrrrooooommmm eeeeeaaaaatiiiiiinnnnnng theeeeeeee heaaaaaaaaarrrrrtsssss, sssssspecifffffficaaaaaaallllllyyyyyy fffffffeeeeeemmmmmaaaaallllleeee sssssssooooooo IIIIIIIIII mmmmmmaaaaaayyyyyy rrrrrreeeeetuuuurrrrrnnnnn toooo beeeeeiiiiinnnng theeeeeeee giiiiiirrrrrrrllllll IIIIIII uuuuuuusssssed toooooooo beeeeeee.”
“You were dead,” I pointed out, “they found your body up here, you were buried.”
“Theeeeeessssssse sssshhhhheeeeeellllllsssss arrrrrrre mmmmmeeeeeerrreeeellllyyy veeeeeessssssellllllssssss ffffffoooooorrrrrr theeeeeeee sssssspiiiiirrrrriiiiiitsssss weeeee hiiiiiiiiiiide beeeeeneeeeaaaaattthhhh,” Mrs. Larson responded, finally turning her gaze to me, “IIIIIIII haaaaaaad tooooooo maaaake peeeopllllle beeeelieevvvve IIIIIII haaaaaad diiiiiiied tooooo keeeeeep frrrrroooommm theeeee poooooollllliiiiicccce ffffrrrrrrooooommmm pooookiiiiiinnnng aaaaarrrrouuuuuunnnnd aaaaannnnnd rrrrruuuiiinnnnniiinnnng eeeevvvveeerrrrryyythiiiiinnnng.”
“So, let me just get this whole thing straight,” I began as I started rubbing my temples, "when you and your sister starting into… Whatever the hell that thing you call your sister is-“
“Ooooouuuurrrrr sssssspiiiiiirrrrrriiiiiit,” Mrs. Larson corrected.
“Whatever!” I shot. “You found out that eating female hearts turns you two back into human women and to keep police from suspecting you, you pretended to be dead and… What? Just hope a shitty real estate agency would buy your property and you could just… Kill people, people with lives and families outside the mountains?”
“Thaaaaaaaat iiiiiiisssss cooooorrrrrreeeeect…” Mrs. Larson admitted, narrowing her eyes at me.
That’s when I began laughing hysterically, holding my sides that hurt with each harsh breath of a laugh I took. Both Mrs. Larson and Kate looked to me as if I had lost my mind and at this point I was starting to believe I had. Everything I had seen and heard about this entire case would put anyone in the looney bin. And I’m the damn fool who dug too deep into something he had nothing to do with.
“Whaaaaaat’s ssssoooo ffffuuunnnny?” Growled Mrs. Larson, stepping around Kate to stand between us.
“I don’t know what’s fucking funnier, honestly,” I chuckled, running a hand through my hair, “the fact that you thing people won’t be poking around even more when they discover not only is Blackwell missing, but so is a detective and escaped convict all of whom now have ties to these fucking mountains and those cabins, or that you thing I’m more afraid of what you plan on doing with me more than I am when her father finds out I got her in this situation in the first place!”
“Heeeeeee wooooonnnnn’t beeeee aaaaabllllle toooooo doooo aaaaaannnnnyyyyythiiiiiinnnng aaaaaaafffffterrrrrrr IIIIIIIII’mmmmm dooooooonnnne wiiiiiiiith booooooth ooooooooffffff youuuuuuuuu,” Mrs. Larson hissed as she inched closer, “fffffffiiiiiiirrrrrrssssst, IIIIIIIII waaaaaannnnnt youuuuuuuu toooo waaaaaatch mmmmmeeeee kiiiiiiillllll herrrrrrr,” she turned her head to look to Kate who was now just shaking, her eyes seemingly gone dry from the crying, Mrs. Larson then looked back to me, “sssssseeeeecooooonnnnd, IIIIIIII wiiiiillllll ssssssaaaaave youuuuu fffffooooorrrr mmmmmmyyyyy sssssiiiiiisssssterrrrr, oooooonnnnne heeeeaaaaart wiiiiilllll nnnnoooot ssssssaaaaaatissssfffffyyyy herrrr huuuuuunnnnnger.” She took another step. “Uuuuuuuunnnnnllllliiiiiike sssssssoooooommmme ssssssiiiiiibllllliiiiiiinnnnnngsssss, IIIIIIIII caaaaaarrrre aaaaaaboooouuuuut mmmmmmyyyyy ffffffaaaammmmiiiiilllllyyyyyy.”
She stared into my eyes, expecting a reaction and while my blood did somewhat boil at the accusatory statement, I didn’t fully understand what she was getting at. Not until she used that voice. Not until she relived that day with those two familiar child-like voices.
“Screw you, Liam!” She cried out in a voice I remember from my childhood. “I hope you drop dead!”
“Stop.” I demanded.
“Piss off, Ryan!” She shot back in a second boy’s voice.
“I said stop!” I began shouting.
“Help me, Ryan! Please, help me! I’m sorry! Please, Lucky Dime, help me!”
I then lunged toward her, reaching my hands out toward her neck only to be stopped by the shackles as she swiftly, almost without even moving, stepped just out of my reach.
“Fucking bitch!” I screamed out.
“If only you really cared about me, Lucky Dime,” sighed Mrs. Larson as she turned and began making her way to the side of the room where a cart stood in the shadows. She pulled it over to Kate’s side, the cart covered in rusted medical tools.
“P-Please,” Kate wheezed, “p-p-please… I… I d-d-don’t w-want… Want t-to d-d… D-Die, I… I w-w-want m-m-m… My m-mom!”
“Dooooonnn’t woooorrrrryyyyy,” Mrs. Larson soothed, using that mix of different voices, “mmmmmmaaaayyyyybeeee sheeee wiiiillll cooooommmme loooookinnnng ffffooooorrrr yooouuuuu aaaaannnnnd sheeeeeee caaaaannnnn joooooiiiiiinnnn youuuuuuu.”
Kate began to sob, begging and pleading for Mrs. Larson to let her go, thrashing around in her restraints. Telling the older woman that there was no saving her sister and that she was too far gone for this sick ritual to work anymore. I tried to yank at the chains once more, trying to loosen it at least enough to break free and grab at Mrs. Larson.
“Rrrrrrreeeeellllllaaaaax,” Mrs. Larson ordered as she began filling a syringe with some kind of clear liquid from a small bottle, “yoooouuuuuu woooooonnnn’t eeeeeveeennn fffffeeeellll iiiiiiit, thiiiissssss wiiiiiillllll puuuuuut youuuuu toooo ssssssllllllleeeeeep aaaaaannnnnnd wheeeeeennnnnn youuuuuu waaaaaake uuuuuuuup, youuuuuuu’lllllll beeee iiiiiinnnnnn heeeeeaaaaaaveeeennnnn… Uuuuuunnnnnnnllllllessssss youuuuuuu weeeerrrrrrre aaaaaa haaaaaarrrrrlllllooooooot, iiiiiiinnnnnn whiiiiiiiich caaaaaassssssseeeee, mmmmmaaaayyyy Goooooood haaaaaaaave mmmmmmmmerrrrrrrcccccyyyyy ooooonnnnn youuuuuur ssssssoooouuuuullllll… Aaaaannnnnd baaaaaaasssssed ooooonnnn hoooooow youuuuuu drrrrressss aaaaannnnnd theeeee coooommmmpaaaannnnyyyy youuuuuu keeeeeep,” She added as she eyed me, “IIIIIII ssssssaaaaaayyyy youuuuu haaaaaave aaaaa lllllloooooot ooooooffff fooooooorrrrgiiiiiviiiiinnnnng tooooo dooooo.”
Kate continued to cry as Mrs. Larson pushed the needle of the syringe into her arm, pushing down on the plunger as it pierced the flesh. Kate’s loud screams soon turned quieter and her red eyes began to glaze over, but she continued to stay awake, tightening her grip on the table and still begging to be let go.
“IIIIII waaaaannnnt youuuuu toooo waaaaatch, Detective,” Mrs. Larson spat out my title in Mr. Blackwell’s voice, “IIIII waaaaannnnnt youuuuu toooo waaaaatch herrrrrr fffffaaaaaade aaaaaannnnnnd mmmmmeeeee rrrrreeeemmmmooooove heerr heeeaaaarrrrrt toooooo ffffffeeeeeed tooooo mmmmmmyyyyyy ssssssiiiiiiiissssssterrrrrr,” she then pulled out a recorder, “theeeeennnnnn wheeeeeennnnn IIIIIII ssssssuuuuummmmoooooonnnnn herrrrrrr aaannnnd sheeeee fffffiiiinnnniiiishessssss oooooofffffff heeeerrrrr heeeaaaaarrrrrt, youuuuuuu’llllllll beeeeee neeeeeext.”
“Fuck you,” I snarled, “I hope you and your sister burn.”
“IIIIIIIII’mmmmm gooooonnnnnaaaaa gooooo aaaaallllllerrrrrrt mmmmmyyyyy ssssssiiiiiiissssterrrrrr,” Mrs. Larson turned and began making her way to the basement steps, “ssssseeee youuuuu boooooth ffffffoooooorrrr diiiiiinnnnnnerrrrrrr.”
She then pressed the play button on her recorder and a small, little girl’s voice echoed in the room before Mrs. Larson vanished up the steps.
“I’m here… I’m here… I’m here…”
Then the door slammed shut.
“De… Tec… Tive…” Kate squeaked out, her breathing slowing.
“Stay awake, Blackwell,” I ordered her gently, looking around frantically for anything to get us both out of this alive, “I’ll get us out of this, I promise, just stay awake, we’ll get out of here, I just need-“
“I’m… S… Sorry…” she breathed out. “I’m… So… Sorry… For… Get… Getting… You… In… To.. This…”
“No, no, this is not your fault!” I assured her. “That psychotic bitch got us both into this shit and I won’t stop until I get us out and put her and her fucking sister are six feet under!”
“W…Wha… What… H… Hap… Happened… To… To L… Liam…?”
I stopped struggling with the chains and turned to look to Kate. Her head was turned to me, her face wet, hands clenching as hard as they could to the table beneath her, the light in her eyes slowly fading second by second. She was trying desperately to stay awake. The medication Mrs. Larson taking hold of her as the minutes ticked by.
I dropped the chains that were in my hands, looking away from her, wanting to stare at anything other than another person I had failed.
“He was killed,” I answered, “we were fishing at a lake nearby… Lake Gaagige… We got into a really stupid ass fucking fight about how which fishing pole we were going to use. I wanted to use our dad’s, but Liam was older and said only men could use dad’s fishing pole… I told him… To drop dead and stormed off… When I got home, my parents dragged me back to the lake and scolded me for leaving him…” I trailed off, swallowing all the tears and screams I’d bottled up since that day. “When… We found… Him… The autopsy… Said he was mauled by a bear… I’ve blamed myself for leaving him there alone… For letting him die and getting killed like that… The last thing I ever told him was to drop dead… I was a shitty brother and now I’m a shitty detective…”
“Is… Is he… Why… You became… A… Detective…?”
I took a deep breath and swallowed the tears again. “No, Blackwell,” I answered, “he’s not why I became a detective… I already knew what had killed him… It was my fault… If I hadn’t been such a brat and stormed off… He might still be alive… And now… What that bitch said…” I replayed Liam’s screams that escaped Mrs. Larson’s mouth. “I’m starting to think I’m getting what I deserve. Karma’s back to kick my ass…”
“H… How… Old…?”
“I was six… Liam was eight…”
“N… N… Not your… F… Fault…”
I turned to look to Kate, her eyes on mine, however faded.
“Y… You were… Only… A k… Kid…”
I took another intake of what little air there was down in that basement. I had spent years trying to convince myself of the same thing, but those moments never got easier for me when those thoughts returned.
“I think you’re just being nice,” I laughed painfully, “but I’m afraid I- and my folks- don’t share the same sentiment.”
I was staring down at where the chains were coming from in the ground, Kate not saying a word for over a couple of minutes. I spun to see if she had fallen asleep and immediately tried to find out how to wake her up again. However, once I our eyes met, I saw that she was still fighting sleep, the last of her tears rolling down across the bridge of her nose and into her hair.
“I… I… I had… Had a c… Crush… O… On… J… Jasper…” she confessed, her voice getting quieter and higher. “P… Paul and… And Son… Sonja knew… I never… Never c… Cared f… For Luke… But I’m… Sure… S… Sonja t… Told him…” she looked like she was going to sob again. “I… I never g… Got the… Ch… Chance… T… To tell J… Jasper… I… Was… Scared… He… He and… P… Paul were friends… And I… I kn… Knew… How P… Paul f… Felt… A… About m… Me… I… I did… Didn’t wa… Want to… R… Ruin… Anyth… Anything…” She took a gulp of air. “I… I ha… Hated L… Luke… I… A… Always… Kn… Knew… He… He was a… Player… B… But Sonja… Said… Said she was hap… Happy… So… So I did… Didn’t wa… Want to g… Get in… H… Her way… B… But Luke d… Didn’t l… Like h… How cl… Close… We… Were… I d… Didn’t w… Want him to make… Make her th… Think I… I was l… Leading her o… On… T… To get them… To b… Break up… Th… Then… That n… Night… Sh… She w… Wanted to… To leave…” She let out two pained gasps of breath. “I… I let them down… I let them all down… Luke pro… Probably thought… Thought I w… Was the one who… Who f… Filled Sonja’s mind… With thoughts of… Of him ch… Cheating… Th… Then I… I got them… All killed…
I… I didn’t deserve them, d… Detective…” she went on, looking away from me to stare up at the water damaged ceiling, “I… I… I was a… Terrible… Terrible friend…”
“Did you read their guest book entries?” I asked.
“N… No… D… Didn’t w… Want to… To r… Read any… Anything p… Private…” Kate answered.
“Jasper didn’t blame you,” I assured her, remembering what he had written in his entry during his time watching Mrs. Larson just outside the cabin, “even when he heard the voices- when he heard Mrs. Larson- telling him to, he didn’t. I don’t think the others blamed you either. You didn’t do anything wrong, Ms. Blackwell, there’s no way you could have known any of this would happen.”
“K… Kate…”
“What?”
“C… Call… Call me… Kate…”
“Aright, Kate,” I let out what little laughter I had left inside me, “so long as we’re the last people we’ll be chatting with, call me Ryan.”
“R… Ryan…”
“If we at all live through this, I’m going to need a long vacation after this,” I said as I turned to look at my shackles again, looking around myself to try finding anything to Get free since a vacation sounded like something to die for at that moment, “do you know any good vacation spots I can book for the fall?”
“Y… You’re… You’re a… Dick…” Kate struggled to laugh.
“I also enjoy pineapple on pizza,” I winked as I reached down to my ankle, ready to break it just to taste that sweet combination of tomato sauce and fruit.
“G… God… I… I c… Can’t… Believe… I th… Thought y… You w… Were c… Cute…”
I sat down on the floor, grabbing my ankle with both my hands. Needing to hype myself up enough to do what I was going to do, I began removing my shoe and sock from the foot, rubbing and squeezing my way up and down the ankle to my toes. I had never broken a bone in my life before this and I definitely never thought I’d do it of my own volition, but this was a desperate time and it definitely called for desperate…
“Wait what?” I turned to look to Kate, finally registering what she had said.
However, just before I could be sure of what I heard, the sound of a hunting rifle going off just above our heads right before we heard the door to the basement swing open and immediately be slammed shut. Both Kate and I turned to see someone stumble down the wooden steps, his clothes torn and body scratched and cut to a nearly deadly degree. I was even shocked he was still breathing.
“M… Mr… R… Raines…?” Kate gasped out.
“What’s left of me at least,” Mr. Raines grumbled as he limped over to Kate and quickly began undoing her straps to the table, “damn thing almost ripped my head off, but one swing of the barrel to its eye and I was able to get away… Can’t say it didn’t do its damage though… I’m… Getting really fucking hungry…”
He shook his head violently before limping over to me. He then raised an eyebrow at me when he saw how I was positioned still on the floor with a bare foot in my hands shackled to the floor.
“I… I was… I… I thought you were-“ I stammered.
“I am,” Mr. Raines interrupted, “at least, I’m on my way there anyway.” He then retrieved my Glock from his back pocket. “I don’t know what that thing did to me, but I’m not gonna make it out of this alive, or the way I came in. It’s a massacre out there by the way. Lot of men in blue bodies out there… Very… Hard to ignore… Sure more will be on their way. So.”
With that, Mr. Raines pointed at my chains and pulled the trigger on my clock, barely giving me time to cover my ears as the sound rung out loudly in the basement. I shook my head, trying to undo the blurry and ringing side effects of the sound of a gun going off near your head. I gave the older man a glare before standing and snatching my Glock from his hands. That’s when I saw Kate shifting herself to the side of the metal table she was no longer tied to, trying to get her limbs to comply with her to help her off and on to the floor.
I ran over and grabbed her just as she nearly stumbled face first to the floor and lifted her up to her feet, her body heavy with lack of keeping herself up.
“Do you think you can walk?” I asked, trying to keep her on her feet.
“I… I don’t… I…” Kate stammered as she tried to push herself off of me while also using using me as a crutch until she could stand on her own. However, she didn’t seem to be able to put any kind of pressure on her legs without falling down.
“Kate?” A girl’s voice called out from above us.
Feeling Kate shudder, I realized that it must have been the sound of Sonja’s voice and Mrs. Larson was using her to keep Kate from running. I quickly swung my arm down behind her knees, pressing the other down on her back as I lifted her up off the floor, my Glock at the ready as I kept it pointed in front of me while my arm held up Kate’s knees.
“She must have heard the gunshots,” I pointed out, “how’d you get past her in the first place?”
“I set the other cabins on fire,” Mr. Raines answered as if it were the simplest of answers, “I had to distract her somehow and give those bodies she’d been eating a better fate than becoming her shit.”
“Are you planning on setting this place on fire too?” I asked.
“‘Course I am!” Mr. Raines exclaimed, seemingly offended I’d even ask. “I already doused it in gasoline, I ain’t wasting all that time!”
“Kate!” Sonja’s voice cried out, getting closer to the basement door. “Are you seriously leaving me here to die alone again!”
“Please… Make it… Stop…” Kate sniffed as she gripped my shirt and burying her face into the fabric.
“Let’s get you two out of here.” Mr. Raines began leading the way to the basement stairs, cocking his rifle as he did so.
“What about you?” I asked, immediately following after him.
Mr. Raines didn’t answer as he stomped up the stairs and kicked the door open to the first floor of the cabin. The stench of the gasoline he had spilled hitting me harshly in my face.
“Kate!” Sonja’s voice, along with a different crescendo of male voices shrieked out as Mrs. Larson appeared from the corner of the hallway where the basement was located.
“Leighton?” A different woman’s voice asked the moment the old woman’s eyes spotted Mr. Raines. I then watched in both shock and confusion as it almost looked like the very skin on the woman melted off to reveal a much younger woman. The woman I recognized as Bonnie Collins. “Leighton… Love is that you?”
Mr. Raines kept his rifle on the vision of the woman he once loved before her murder, but didn’t move or speak.
“Darling, I’ve missed you so much!” The fake Bonnie cried out as she began making her way to Mr. Raines with arms open wide to hug him.
Mr. Raines then lifted his gun up higher, placing his finger on the trigger which caused the vision to stop in her place.
“Leighton?” The fake Bonnie asked. “Baby, it’s me… Bun-Bun… Don’t you recognize me…?” She began to tear up.
“You’re not my Bunny,” Mr. Raines growled before he shot once at the woman.
The fake Bonnie swiftly dodged the bullet, an inhuman hiss coming from an unhinged mouth, revealing a row of long, sharp teeth. The skin of Bonnie then melted off to reveal another woman, a lot younger than the first one it intimidated. The face of one of the victims upon being brought on this case.
“Kate,” the fake Sonja called out, “Kate, what are you doing? Who are these men? Why are they trying to hurt me?”
Kate let out a sobbing gasp, her nails digging into my shoulder with her arm wrapped around my neck.
“Didn’t I suffer enough?” The fake Sonja asked. “First my boyfriend and now you? Why don’t you want to be with me anymore?”
“Shut up!” Kate demanded. “You’re not Sonja! You killed her, you killed all of them! I don’t care what happens to me, but I’m not letting their memories end with you!”
Kate then snatched my Glock from my hand under her legs and shot directly at the fake Sonja’s head. Again the shot missed as the fake vision of the girl slithered out of the way, a frustrated growl of a dog and human escaping it’s mouth. It then zipped to the side, cowering with its back to us on the floor.
“Lucky dime…” A child’s voice then took over. The vision’s skin melting now to a much smaller figure. “Is this what you want? To kill me all over again?” He turned to look up at me, Liam’s face forever eight-years-old staring up at me. “It’s no wonder mommy and daddy hate you now… You were always a shitty brother… Now, I’m gonna starve to death because you’d rather help a couple of strangers.”
“I’m sorry, Liam,” I replied, everyone, including the fake Liam looking to me in surprise, “I left you alone out here and that’s what got you killed by that thing out there and I’m sorry. But, if I’d stayed it may have been both of us and then mom and dad would have no one left to blame but each other. If you had left and I was the one killed, you’d probably be in my shoes instead. I’m sorry for letting you get killed, but I’m gonna make up for it now.”
I then took my Glock back from Kate and pointed it to the vision of Liam.
“Good bye, Liam.”
I shot the gun once again, missing the creature again, however, this time I just kept shooting, Mr. Raines following after. Our different bullets just kept firing, the thing dodging and trying to get closer to us. The creature screeched out at us in a myriad of different voices both familiar and unknown. It wasn’t until one shot from my Glock struck the creatures shoulder and Mr. Raines’ rifle struck its head when the skins of everyone it was trying to turn into all melted off, revealing Mrs. Larson once again.
However, this time, she looked shriveled, older than she looked before. Her face looked deformed, beginning to grow furry, her eyes growing nothing but red, no irises, no pupils, just red. Her hair grew longer, branches like antlers growing painfully out from her skull, breaking the skin as they grew larger. The lower half of her face grew elongated, turning into that of a muzzle of fangs and a drooling mouth.
“You… All… Have no rrrrrrriiiiiight!” A different, unknown voice snarled out from what used to be Mrs. Larson. “People liiiiiike you all… Abandoned me and myyyyyyyyy sister!” The fur growing around this thing grew out short and shaggy, the cloths it was using melting off with the skin and flesh it was wearing. It now didn’t look anything like a human woman. It now took the form of a large wolf mixed with that of a deer, it’s body dog-like with hooves, antlers, and a long, scraggly tail. “You lot abandoned us here! You left us all here to diiiiiiiie!”
Guilt was weighing down on me with each syllable it was growling. Kate looked away from it, burying her face in my neck as Mr. Raines lowered his rifle.
“Nooooow, you’re bringing more here to just leave and let die out here!” It went on, it’s horrifying, broken body shuddering. “Why let them just vanish and die up here when they can bring people like my sister and I back? Give me Kate’s heart and fix what you threeeeeeeeee failed!”
Mr. Raines then handed over his rifle to Kate, placing it down on her stomach as her hands were still wrapped around my neck. The older man made his way over to stand over the thing, its neck creaking like a rusted door as it turned its wolf-like head to look up at him.
“Leighton…” Bonnie’s voice came from the creature. “Give mmmmeeeee her heart aaaannnnd we can be togetherrrrr again… If you eat the deeeeeetective’s we can saaaaaave you tooooooo…”
“My Bunny’s dead,” Mr. Raines told it as he dug in his pocket and took out a carton of matches, “and so am I.”
“You’d burn your wife?” A mix of Bonnie and Mrs. Larson’s voices shrieked as it glared at the match he took from the match box.
“You’re not my wife,” Mr. Raines told it, “and I’ll never see her again.”
“Fooooooool,” Mr. Larson’s voice chuckled, “you’llllllll killllllll us both!”
“With the shit I’ve done in my life, I know you’re taking me to Hell with you,” Mr. Raines growled back as he struck the match on the box, “so I’m sure as fuck not afraid to burn here on Earth with you!”
Mr. Raines then dropped the match to the floor right before the creature and everything around the two of them immediately went up in flames, the fur of the creature catching quickly and engulfing it. An agonized shriek echoed out all around us, the creature thrashing in the fire it had gotten swallowed up in. Mr. Raines then grabbed it by it’s long, furry throat and swung it down back flat the floor, jumping to pin it down.
“Get out!” Mr. Raines cried out to me. “Leave here!”
Not needing to be told twice, I held onto Kate tightly and bolted past the two burning bodies, jumping over the fire as it began growing fast throughout the cabin. I quickly got to the front door and stopped to look back to see Mr. Raines fighting the creature and preventing it from coming after us, it begging for me to bring Kate back and that it would die without her.
“I’ll clear your name,” I called back, trying not to reel back in horror as I saw Mr. Raines skin begin to melt off, “I’ll let people know you didn’t kill Bonnie!”
“I’ll let people know you didn’t… Kill… Liam!” Mr. Raines’ voice called back, him thrashing around with Mrs. Larson as he said my brother’s name in my voice.
I turned back and kicked the front door open, rushing Kate out of the burning cabin. I ran until I got far enough from the smoke, turning back to see all three cabins now on fire, the area around them all ablaze. The only place untouched was Mrs. Larson’s house, all the evidence remaining. I could hear sirens in the distance coming closer. The sounds of shouts from the surviving officers sounding much closer.
“I’m here… I’m here… I’m here…”
I looked to the front porch of Mrs. Larson’s house where her recorder continued to call out for her sister. I set Kate down at the base of a nearby tree and ran to snatch the recorder, shutting it off. I searched around, looking for any signs of Prudence, but it appeared that the fire and the sounds of sirens and voices had scared her off. I ran back to Kate, her eyes closed and her not responding to me calling to her, but after checking her pulse and breathing, I found that the medication Mrs. Larson had given her had finally taken over and she was now fast asleep, the rifle Mr. Raines gave her still sitting on her rhythmically rising and falling stomach.
Letting out a sigh of relief, I leaned against the same tree I set Kate down on and slid down to the ground next to her. The first two cabins were already practically nothing but ash, the last still blazing as I heard the slowly fading screams of Mrs. Larson and Mr. Raines coming from inside.
When the screaming ended all together, the smoke turning blacker as it rose from the flames, I got to my feet and took out my pack of cigarettes as I approached the fires, staying far enough away not to get burned. I opened the pack up before stopping myself as I reached for one of the ten remaining cigarettes inside. I then flung the entire carton into the fires without taking one.
“Save one for me down there, you old bastard,” I told Mr. Raines before making my way back to Kate’s side.
It wasn’t long before the remaining officers found us, looking in confusion at the fires and to me with a sleeping victim in a homicide case on the ground. I told them we’d need to call an ambulance for Kate and that we needed to keep the flames from getting to Mrs. Larson’s house as it held evidence on the case. One officer retrieved his radio and called for an ambulance while a group ran to the house and another went to try controlling the fire as best they could by yanking out any bushes near by and throwing them away from the area around the house.
Luckily, the fire trucks were called long before the fire spread too far, residence noticing it practically the moment Mr. Raines set the first cabin on fire.
As I sat there, keeping Kate held up against the tree we sat under, I listened to the crackling of the fire, the sirens of fast approaching fire trucks and the ambulance, and the sounds of distance, coyote, almost human, howling.
2024.06.01 14:33 Narancia_Ghrigra_01 Anxiety, Neuropathy or something even more serious? Please Help
Hello everyone. My name is Matthew, I'm 22 and I have no idea what the f is happening to me. I'll be brief. Since this February I've been dealing with (what i think at least) Neuropathy-like symptoms. Such as tingling, shooting pain,very mild numbness but a very annoying and frightful (to me at least) burning sensation. Now I want to point the attention to the burning sensation. It's literally everywhere in my body but it's very sporadic. It's sometimes in my eyes,on my fingers,on my toes around my lips on my back but mostly in my arms, very rarely in my legs. It was also in my tongue and even...yes down there in my privates,At the beginning it was 8-9/10 and it was driving me crazy, because I was freaking burning alive but there was nothing on my skin. Of course I immediately went to the doctor and he gave me blood tests and stuff to do. Blood test perfectly normal; No sing of inflammations, no sings of any possible tumor. All normal. So I booked a neurologist. Crazy enough he found nothing remotely similar to a never damage especially because i was able to do everything he asked me (at the visit) with my eyes closed. He told that he found no need for TCs, MRI scans or EMG, whatsoever, because ,as I told him, my burning sensation isn't localized and comes and goes sporadically. He therefore told me me I'm dealing with a psychosomatization of anxiety and sent me to a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist gave me Xanx and Sertraline. I've been taking them but i had to stop because Sertraline sent me to the hospital because i literally was vomiting my soul out. Had to stop immediately. As for Xanx i gradually stooped but the does wasn't high at all. Literally 10 drops: 5 in the day 5 before sleeping. The burning sensation unfortunately didn't cease but i have to say that now it's a lot more manageable and milder. Heck,it was literally a 8-9/10 and now it's a 4-5/10, but it's still here. Huge Mistake, searching on Google, that's why I'm here. I am terrified. Needless to say i booked another neurologist in short hopefully this time i get a clearer answer. Although i did hear anxiety can cause literally any sort of symptom, I find it very wierd that such a symptom like mine (random and not localized burning sensation) can be related to anxiety. Yet,what my base doctor told me was "If you truly were to have a neuropathy the symptoms would get worse and worse and not even Xanax or Sertraline helped you" Now, Maybe he's right but I'm still here..."burning". My biggest fear is to suddenly collapse and find myself in a hospital bed with the diagnosis of an underlying tumor,MS or something even more serious and be paralyzed head to toe or lose a foot or whatever of deadly i can think about. Yes, I'm highly hypochondriac, but i can't help it. I'm too scared. Then again,so far nothing too concerning happened to me and the burning sensation got even more bearable,as i said. I'm still able to walk,jog,run,swim, drive, haven't lost my strength and can do everything I normally could do throughout these four months. And yet I still..."burn". I'm seriously scared. I have to see my psychiatrist as well this week, and given I'm off the meds he's probably gonna tell me i need CBT. As for the neurologist, that's gonna take some more time because i live in Italy and Healthcare in Italy isn't the absolute best. But that's not the point. Guys, what do you think i should do, besides what I'm already doing? Do you think i have a sort of misdiagnosed incurable Neuropathy that is slowly killing me or do you think I'm overreacting? I'm noticing asking for a diagnosis or anything else like that. I just want to know whether I should be seriously afraid or not.
submitted by Narancia_Ghrigra_01 to Anxiety [link] [comments]
2024.06.01 14:31 Alex98799 Boss Office Products Perfect Posture Deluxe Fabric Task Chair
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submitted by Alex98799 to u/Alex98799 [link] [comments]
A key feature of the Boss Office Products Perfect Posture Deluxe Fabric Task Chair without Arms [Boss Office Products Perfect Posture Deluxe Fabric Task Chair without Arms] is its ergonomic design. The built-in lumbar support helps maintain proper spinal alignment, reducing back pain and fatigue during extended work sessions. Additionally, the waterfall seat design promotes better blood circulation in the legs, further enhancing comfort.
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2024.06.01 14:17 taowandering Asking for guidance on Primary and Secondary for filing next week
Looking for guidance on filing Claim (1st) next week. TIA!!
In Persian Gulf 02Aug90 - 30SEP90 - TERA, Reported Sarin use while ONSTA
Filed intent to file, June 2023
I have Dx and meds.
Do I need to specify primary and secondary?
I have VHA and Civi doc confirming.
Do I also file for Raynauds with pics or wait for Dx?
My list of Diagnoses - most confirmed within a year or so, almost all 5+ to 20 years.
Sorry, the timeline, as best as I can recall.
Nothing prior to service. IN Service: 1990 - Stress-induced asthma 1991 - 6 mos LIMDU s/p fall on ship, LBP, MRI findings. PhysTherapy found bilateral chondromalacia patella, deficit of leg strength Two Psych evals after chewing out CAPT DOC re: heal my back 1992 - 1993 A lot of inhalers and NSAIDS for back pain.
After Honorable: 1997 - VA - albuterol Asthma 2000 - Chronic Rhinitis, Sinusitis, Sleep Apnea Symptoms, Weight gain 2001 - Ride for 9/11 - SD to NYC, Police Escort, Tour Ground Zero still on fire, Numb + Avoidance 2002 - Gout, kidney stones 2004, 2005 - VA - Cardioversions x 2 + OSA CPAP + Hypertension + Borderline A1C @ 6.4, GERD 2006 - CIVI - Anxiety, Asthma, LBP, neck pain, TN, Paroxysmal Afib, CHF 2007 - Pain increased, MDD, Anxiety, Nasal Polyps, common sinus infections, persistent cough 2011 - VA - TIA, Gout+, Hypertension, Kidney Stones, Morbid Obesity 2012 - Divorce w/ profound anger, Isolation begins, Depression +, Lungs feel swollen, SOB 2014 - A1C ~7.0, weight gain, LBP worsens, OSA+CSA BIPAP 2016 - Restless Leg Syndrome, severe asthma, unable to perform job, 50% work 2017 - Nasal Polyps confirmed on MRI, IBS Sx, Shut in, Lost Engagement, Isolation, Max Singulair, Kenalog shot for allergic reactions and worsening breathing. 2020 Back and Neck Pain now CHRONIC, Anxiety Increased, Insomnia, Fatigue, SI, PTSD anger and guilt 2022 - Elevated BNP (confirms CHF), Angiogram for two artery 50% occlusion, PTSD and Insomnia go through the roof as I reduced Percocet from 40 mg/day to 20 mg/day. Psych confirms "compensating behaviors lost during 7 years of consistent Percocet use, Lyrica and Gabapentin both failed as I lost motor control and balance. Lost EOD training buddy to Lung Cancer. Effexor Maxed. Multiuse for rescue inhaler. 2023 - IBS worsens, GERD returns, SI, PTSD rated to 49, Unable to work regularly, physical labor only for 3-5 minutes, walking more than 100 years leads to breathlessness. Add steroid inhaler. 2024 - Afib to Chronic, Start PTSD and MDD counseling with VA
"These records - Dr. Nichols, MD - Show drug compliance, Constant Pain from Back, Recurring Gout and kidney stones, Development of severe lung issues, Rx History."
submitted by taowandering to VeteransBenefits [link] [comments]
In Persian Gulf 02Aug90 - 30SEP90 - TERA, Reported Sarin use while ONSTA
Filed intent to file, June 2023
I have Dx and meds.
Do I need to specify primary and secondary?
I have VHA and Civi doc confirming.
Do I also file for Raynauds with pics or wait for Dx?
My list of Diagnoses - most confirmed within a year or so, almost all 5+ to 20 years.
Sorry, the timeline, as best as I can recall.
Nothing prior to service. IN Service: 1990 - Stress-induced asthma 1991 - 6 mos LIMDU s/p fall on ship, LBP, MRI findings. PhysTherapy found bilateral chondromalacia patella, deficit of leg strength Two Psych evals after chewing out CAPT DOC re: heal my back 1992 - 1993 A lot of inhalers and NSAIDS for back pain.
After Honorable: 1997 - VA - albuterol Asthma 2000 - Chronic Rhinitis, Sinusitis, Sleep Apnea Symptoms, Weight gain 2001 - Ride for 9/11 - SD to NYC, Police Escort, Tour Ground Zero still on fire, Numb + Avoidance 2002 - Gout, kidney stones 2004, 2005 - VA - Cardioversions x 2 + OSA CPAP + Hypertension + Borderline A1C @ 6.4, GERD 2006 - CIVI - Anxiety, Asthma, LBP, neck pain, TN, Paroxysmal Afib, CHF 2007 - Pain increased, MDD, Anxiety, Nasal Polyps, common sinus infections, persistent cough 2011 - VA - TIA, Gout+, Hypertension, Kidney Stones, Morbid Obesity 2012 - Divorce w/ profound anger, Isolation begins, Depression +, Lungs feel swollen, SOB 2014 - A1C ~7.0, weight gain, LBP worsens, OSA+CSA BIPAP 2016 - Restless Leg Syndrome, severe asthma, unable to perform job, 50% work 2017 - Nasal Polyps confirmed on MRI, IBS Sx, Shut in, Lost Engagement, Isolation, Max Singulair, Kenalog shot for allergic reactions and worsening breathing. 2020 Back and Neck Pain now CHRONIC, Anxiety Increased, Insomnia, Fatigue, SI, PTSD anger and guilt 2022 - Elevated BNP (confirms CHF), Angiogram for two artery 50% occlusion, PTSD and Insomnia go through the roof as I reduced Percocet from 40 mg/day to 20 mg/day. Psych confirms "compensating behaviors lost during 7 years of consistent Percocet use, Lyrica and Gabapentin both failed as I lost motor control and balance. Lost EOD training buddy to Lung Cancer. Effexor Maxed. Multiuse for rescue inhaler. 2023 - IBS worsens, GERD returns, SI, PTSD rated to 49, Unable to work regularly, physical labor only for 3-5 minutes, walking more than 100 years leads to breathlessness. Add steroid inhaler. 2024 - Afib to Chronic, Start PTSD and MDD counseling with VA
- Heart
CAD - Coronary artery disease (SCT 53741008) DBQ + Angiogram + Stress tests
Chronic diastolic heart failure (SCT 441530006) DBQ + echo + Stress tests + Confirmed
Transient Ischemic Attack Apr 9,2011@11:44
I48.20 Chronic atrial fibrillation R79.89- Elevated brain natrluretic peptide (BNP) level 8/2/22
- Psych
Depression (SCT 35489007)
Anxiety (SCT 48694002)
PTSD Rated 49, Psychiatrist stated anxiety valid for life risk in Gulf Attack
G47.00- Insomnia Ongoing, Part of PTSD
- Neuro
Trigeminal neuralgia (SCT 31681005)
G89.4- Chronic pain syndrome
M79.2 - Neuralgia Part Back Pain
- Gut
R10.9- Abdominal cramping IBS - Dicyclomine
K21.9- GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) after meds jumped again
R11.0- Nausea Zofran
K59.00 - Constipation Part of IBS
- Ortho
M54.5 - Low back pain - CHRONIC 3-8 Naprosyn + 2 Aspirin 325 Daily
M542 Neck pain - CHRONIC 3-8 Naprosyn + 2 Aspirin 325 Daily
- Sleep
Obstructive Sleep Apnea of Adult (SCT 1101000119103) Twice confirmed OSA + CSA
J01.01- Acute recurrent maxilary sinusits Twice Daily flushes, 4-6 infections each year
R53.83- Fatigue
G25.81 - Restless leg syndrome confirmed in latest Sleep Study this month
R09.81 - Congestion of nasal sinus Twice Daily flushes, 4-6 infections each year
J309.- Allergic rhinitis - Chronic Twice Daily flushes, 4-6 infections each year
- Other
Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 (SCT 44054006) Hyperlipidemia (SCT 55822004)Last PCP noted from my Civilian records:
Gout (SCT 90560007)
Morbid obesity (SCT 238136002) Met with Nutrition team and lost weight
"These records - Dr. Nichols, MD - Show drug compliance, Constant Pain from Back, Recurring Gout and kidney stones, Development of severe lung issues, Rx History."
2024.06.01 14:16 shadako need some help/advice re kids getting injuries
so i believe my BIL may have been physically abused. I noticed he often hits/smacks the kids. Usually. it also seems to be in front of us. This is really triggering for me as my parents used to hit us as well.
Anyway, the main incident recently is my nephew broke his leg about a year ago. He was around 10 when it happened. They were playing indoor soccer as part of soccer training. There was a "freak accident" were one of the other players accidentally kicked my nephew (instead of the ball), breaking his leg. This was what was told to us by his parents... It dawned on me later, is this even possible? does a ten year old have enough strength to break bones? He was in crutches, then recovered after a few months.
However there was another incident at a school camp where he played lawn bowls (after recovering from his injury). He then twisted his leg breaking it. This story also sounds dubious... as why would the teachers let him play that sport, knowing he recovered from an injury. While he was recovering, the dad/my BIL would touch his injury site, causing him pain and say things like he needs to move his legs etc. I can't help but think he might have caused the injury and made up the indoor soccer story to cover that. Firstly, is this possible to break legs in this way? I have other actions I plan to take, but thought to clarify this.
submitted by shadako to raisedbynarcissists [link] [comments]
Anyway, the main incident recently is my nephew broke his leg about a year ago. He was around 10 when it happened. They were playing indoor soccer as part of soccer training. There was a "freak accident" were one of the other players accidentally kicked my nephew (instead of the ball), breaking his leg. This was what was told to us by his parents... It dawned on me later, is this even possible? does a ten year old have enough strength to break bones? He was in crutches, then recovered after a few months.
However there was another incident at a school camp where he played lawn bowls (after recovering from his injury). He then twisted his leg breaking it. This story also sounds dubious... as why would the teachers let him play that sport, knowing he recovered from an injury. While he was recovering, the dad/my BIL would touch his injury site, causing him pain and say things like he needs to move his legs etc. I can't help but think he might have caused the injury and made up the indoor soccer story to cover that. Firstly, is this possible to break legs in this way? I have other actions I plan to take, but thought to clarify this.
2024.06.01 14:07 BATTLEROYALFAN Strange pain/injury right leg only happening at certain times?
Weird injury happening at random
I can run Monday-Friday with no pain and feel great….but as soon as I do my long runs on Saturdays within the first 6-8kms I get this really weird pain in my right leg. Here’s a picture of where I mean:
https://www.upload.ee/image/16697264/IMG_5856.jpeg
So it starts kinda okay-ish and tolerable. But as I get further into the run the pain gets more.
It hurts especially if I bend my leg. Front and back.
After the run I can barely bend it because of the pain. Only happens when I bend it. (Like when I put my leg back and fortj like walking etc.
Here’s a better a picture:
https://www.upload.ee/image/16697276/IMG_5857.jpeg
Through Monday - Friday I run after work around 3PM.
On saturdays I run as soon as I wake up 9AM. Which is the only time it starts hurting.
I do no warmups or stretching prior to this.
what should I do?
submitted by BATTLEROYALFAN to trackandfield [link] [comments]
I can run Monday-Friday with no pain and feel great….but as soon as I do my long runs on Saturdays within the first 6-8kms I get this really weird pain in my right leg. Here’s a picture of where I mean:
https://www.upload.ee/image/16697264/IMG_5856.jpeg
So it starts kinda okay-ish and tolerable. But as I get further into the run the pain gets more.
It hurts especially if I bend my leg. Front and back.
After the run I can barely bend it because of the pain. Only happens when I bend it. (Like when I put my leg back and fortj like walking etc.
Here’s a better a picture:
https://www.upload.ee/image/16697276/IMG_5857.jpeg
Through Monday - Friday I run after work around 3PM.
On saturdays I run as soon as I wake up 9AM. Which is the only time it starts hurting.
I do no warmups or stretching prior to this.
what should I do?
2024.06.01 14:05 UrbanSPACKFlip My vape finally broke
I was using my vape without nicotine on its last legs and I was doing okay. Now without a vape at all I now feel anxious like something is missing and I think the issue I'm having now is missing the actual physical action of vaping. Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with the physical aspect of vaping? Because I have that anxious feeling like something is missing. I also have ADHD and when a certain routine is broken it makes me feel uneasy. I've been vaping for years and it's been part of my daily life. I don't think nicotine has been much of an issue for me since I stopped using nicotine but the physical action of vaping and now not being able to do it is what's making me anxious.
submitted by UrbanSPACKFlip to QuitVaping [link] [comments]
2024.06.01 13:51 kawapawa [PI] When a massive storm hit town, you take shelter in your basement. When you emerged the next day, the town looks untouched, and no one knows why.
Op- https://www.reddit.com/WritingPrompts/s/sWJUxDJ0SO
John’s left hand was squeezed white against the wheel of his old pick-up; he held his son, Alex, close with his other.
As they rattled down the uneven country roads, rain pelted their windshield with a fury. John continually glanced into the rearview. Thunder clapped at their back like the hands of god, and through the white flashes of lightning, he could make out a large barrel of rotating black smoke. Each time he looked, it seemed to have grown larger, and one singular thought repeated in his mind.
Make it to the cellar, he thought. Make it to the cellar.
He gripped his son tighter and pressed the accelerator with a heavy foot. The truck roared beneath them.
“Come on…” He muttered. He was driving nearly eighty.
“Dad?” Alex’s voice was small, and John could feel him trembling under his arm.
John rubbed his shoulder. “It’s okay, bud. We’re nearly there; it ain’t gonna get us.” Truthfully, though, he wasn’t sure if he believed the words himself.
“But Dad, I’m scared.”
Just then, a strong gust of wind punched the side of the truck, nearly sending it swerving into the ditch. With a squealing effort, John steadied it and accelerated faster. The boy’s head was now buried into his armpit. Limbs began falling from trees; scattered debris carpeted the roads.
John looked down at his son; he was still wearing his blue Little League uniform. All of this for a damn baseball game, he thought, then looked back at the road. He stomped the brakes. Alex screamed as they lurched forward and John stuck an arm out to keep him from flying into the windshield. The truck skidded sideways to a halt on the wet road. A giant oak tree, maybe eight feet in diameter, lay flat across their path.
“Fuck.” John muttered as he smacked the steering wheel with his palm. There wasn’t any getting around that.
He darted his eyes around wildly, looking for some sort of a solution—anything—but all he found was fear. The swirling column of dark wind was getting closer now, and his options were growing increasingly limited.
Then he noticed something. Just past the downed tree a green mile marker sign glowed back at him—the mile marker sign that’s about a half mile away from their house.
They were closer than they thought.
He grabbed Alex by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “We’re gonna make a run for it.
“What?” Alex asked, his eyes wide with terror.
“I know; I don’t want to either, but it’s our only shot. I—“
“No!” Alex shouted. He tried to say more, but the words just sputtered out in incoherent globs.
“Hey,” John said patiently, but Alex was in hysterics. John looked over his shoulder. Power lines were beginning to fall, and the transformers were popping into big blue sparks as they hit the ground. He looked back at Alex.
“HEY!” He shouted.
Alex stopped immediately and looked at him in surprise. He never yelled.
“Do you trust me?” He asked.
Alex moved his mouth, but no breath came to push the words out.
“Do you trust me?” John asked again, shaking the boy a little.
This time, Alex nodded yes.
“Okay, now listen. I’m going to pick you up, and we’re gonna run. I want you to close your eyes, and I don’t want you to open them until I tell you it’s okay. Do you understand?”
The boy nodded again, and a tear fell down his cheek as he closed his eyes.
John scooped him up and creaked the metal door open into the rain. Lightning continued to snap overhead; there was a metallic smell in the air, like burning wires, and the humidity was thick enough to choke a man.
He held the boy's head against his shoulder and started in a sort of half run to the driveway. Alex felt heavier than he used to, and it made him wonder just how long ago it was since he’d held him that way.
Cold rain whipped at their back, sticking their clothes to their skin like slick velcro. John spat the water from his mouth as he trudged forward blindly in the dark. His muscles started to burn. His feet snagged on branches, trash, and other debris that had blown in, threatening to trip him, and sudden dips or rises staggered him as his foot met only air where he expected solid earth.
John could feel the boy sobbing once more. “We’re almost there; we’re gonna make it.” He panted. This time, he really believed what he said. The driveway came into view as they rounded the last corner.
Limbs the size of cedar trees blew past them like confetti. One cracked John in the back of the head, sending him and Alex tumbling onto the ground. The pain was brilliant. For a moment, he saw white, but his vision quickly cleared, and he looked up at Alex.
Alex sat with his knees tucked to his chest, holding a scrape. His skin and clothes were covered in twigs, mud, and pine needles, and his face was twisted with fright—contorted like one of those dramatic masquerade masks as he rocked back and forth. His eyes were open now.
The twister roared behind them like a gasoline truck chugging up a hill. John scrambled to his feet. He scooped Alex into his arms, and started toward the house once again. His head was pounding, his muscles were on fire, blood was thudding against his ears, and that same thought from earlier continued to swim laps around his mind.
Make it to the cellar.
He pressed on, planting one solid foot into the ground at a time and marching forward like a well oiled machine.
Gravel crunched beneath his feet as he walked down the driveway; wind whipped their wet clothes like flags.
John shed Alex from his arms and looked down at the wooden cellar door. He tried pulling it open, but the wind shoved it back down. It was picking up even more now. Shingles began to be sucked from the roof, and John knew that if he didn’t get this door open, he and Alex would follow closely behind.
He pulled as hard as he could, grunting with the effort. Alex quickly joined him in the struggle, helping as much as a nine-year-old possibly could. It began to come up a little, but the wind was powerful.
John screamed and dug in harder. He had to get it open. He felt his muscles tearing beneath his skin, his joints cracking; he used every single ounce of his strength, and finally the door began to give. He pried it just far enough for them to fit.
“GET IN,” He shouted. The boy jumped inside, and John followed shortly after. The door slammed behind him with a smack that resembled a gunshot.
The cellar was dark. Screws and bolts and toolboxes filled with wrenches and other metal things shook and rumbled off of the shelves. A few baseball bats fell and clinked across the concrete floor. Up top, it sounded like a giant lawnmower was making quick work of the farmhouse, eating it up like it was little more than a stray blade of grass.
John’s head still throbbed, and he could feel warm blood trickling down the back of his neck. He was tired, breathing raggedly, and all of a sudden he had a very strong urge to go to sleep.
They held each other in darkness, sitting there for what seemed like an eternity, but just as quickly as it began, it was over. The roar lessened, quieted, then disappeared as it got further away.
The two looked at each other, both covered in dirt and debris, and John knew that everything was gone. He knew that the house was gone; he knew the farm was gone, and he knew that just about everything else he had ever worked for was torn to shreds in a matter of minutes.
But he looked at Alex, and when he saw the twinkle of life in his son’s eye, he breathed a sigh of relief. That was all that mattered. They sat for an hour in silence, not daring to step out until they were sure it was safe.
Eventually, rays of light began to beam through the cracks in the cellar door. John was the first to move. He walked to the door, flung it outward and shielded his squinted eyes to look outside.
The sky was blue. He hoisted himself upward and poked his head out.
His barn was still there. Bessie, his cow, was standing beside it, chewing on a mouthful of grass; all of the chickens strutted around the side of the barn, nearing the garden, which also looked untouched; the squash was even blooming. Behind him, their house stood tall, perfectly intact all the way up to the shingles.
The oddest thing of all was his farm pickup parked in the driveway—no worse shape than when they left for the ballgame.
John scratched his head.
“Dad?” Alex shouted.
“You can come up.” He said, puzzled.
Alex crawled out of the cellar in the same fashion as his father, and confusion dawned on his face as well. “It missed us?”
John shook his head. “No way it coulda missed us. I don’t really know what to make of it.”
He really didn’t. They saw the twister coming directly at them; they heard the house ripped to shreds right above their heads; the farm truck didn’t make it back to the house at all, for Christ's sake. It just didn’t make any damn sense.
A feminine voice called out to them—a voice John recognized at the first syllable. “John? Alex?”
“Vick..” He mouthed and whipped his head around. A tall woman with blonde hair was walking around the side of the porch, stepping as gracefully as a doe. Her eyes were as green as the pines behind her, and she gave a smile that held more reassurance than a million words could express.
She spread her arms wide. “My boys.” She said. John stood motionless, his mouth slightly agape. Alex pushed past him as he ran, “Mommy!” He shouted.
The woman wrapped the boy in a hug and lifted him from his feet. As she held his head against her shoulder, she pointed her eyes in John’s direction and held out her other hand.
He walked toward her, cautiously.
“John.” She said. “It’s me, I promise.”
John looked at her for a moment longer. He wanted to run to her, to wrap her up and lift her the same way she did Alex. For the past two years, there had been nothing in this world that he’d wanted more.
But his wife was dead. He watched as the cancer took her in 2014; he held her in his arms as she died in the hospital bed, yet there she stood—healthy and as real as the sun beating down on his neck. He reached a hand to the back of his head, feeling for the place where the branch whacked him.
But there was nothing—not even a tender spot.
He looked back up at his wife. “Are we…”
“Hush, dont think about it like that, John.” She smiled, “We’re together now.”
John staggered a little, staring down at his hands; his once farm hardened callouses were gone now, smoothed over with soft, healthy skin.
“I—“ He began.
“Get over here and hug me.”
He looked up; his wife looked back at him lovingly with her direct, green eyes, and for the first time in so long, he felt happy. A feeling he’d grown a stranger to. A grin tightened across his face, and he walked toward Vick as their old golden retriever ran panting toward them from across the yard, just like she used to, only now; she had all four of her legs.
submitted by kawapawa to WritingPrompts [link] [comments]
John’s left hand was squeezed white against the wheel of his old pick-up; he held his son, Alex, close with his other.
As they rattled down the uneven country roads, rain pelted their windshield with a fury. John continually glanced into the rearview. Thunder clapped at their back like the hands of god, and through the white flashes of lightning, he could make out a large barrel of rotating black smoke. Each time he looked, it seemed to have grown larger, and one singular thought repeated in his mind.
Make it to the cellar, he thought. Make it to the cellar.
He gripped his son tighter and pressed the accelerator with a heavy foot. The truck roared beneath them.
“Come on…” He muttered. He was driving nearly eighty.
“Dad?” Alex’s voice was small, and John could feel him trembling under his arm.
John rubbed his shoulder. “It’s okay, bud. We’re nearly there; it ain’t gonna get us.” Truthfully, though, he wasn’t sure if he believed the words himself.
“But Dad, I’m scared.”
Just then, a strong gust of wind punched the side of the truck, nearly sending it swerving into the ditch. With a squealing effort, John steadied it and accelerated faster. The boy’s head was now buried into his armpit. Limbs began falling from trees; scattered debris carpeted the roads.
John looked down at his son; he was still wearing his blue Little League uniform. All of this for a damn baseball game, he thought, then looked back at the road. He stomped the brakes. Alex screamed as they lurched forward and John stuck an arm out to keep him from flying into the windshield. The truck skidded sideways to a halt on the wet road. A giant oak tree, maybe eight feet in diameter, lay flat across their path.
“Fuck.” John muttered as he smacked the steering wheel with his palm. There wasn’t any getting around that.
He darted his eyes around wildly, looking for some sort of a solution—anything—but all he found was fear. The swirling column of dark wind was getting closer now, and his options were growing increasingly limited.
Then he noticed something. Just past the downed tree a green mile marker sign glowed back at him—the mile marker sign that’s about a half mile away from their house.
They were closer than they thought.
He grabbed Alex by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “We’re gonna make a run for it.
“What?” Alex asked, his eyes wide with terror.
“I know; I don’t want to either, but it’s our only shot. I—“
“No!” Alex shouted. He tried to say more, but the words just sputtered out in incoherent globs.
“Hey,” John said patiently, but Alex was in hysterics. John looked over his shoulder. Power lines were beginning to fall, and the transformers were popping into big blue sparks as they hit the ground. He looked back at Alex.
“HEY!” He shouted.
Alex stopped immediately and looked at him in surprise. He never yelled.
“Do you trust me?” He asked.
Alex moved his mouth, but no breath came to push the words out.
“Do you trust me?” John asked again, shaking the boy a little.
This time, Alex nodded yes.
“Okay, now listen. I’m going to pick you up, and we’re gonna run. I want you to close your eyes, and I don’t want you to open them until I tell you it’s okay. Do you understand?”
The boy nodded again, and a tear fell down his cheek as he closed his eyes.
John scooped him up and creaked the metal door open into the rain. Lightning continued to snap overhead; there was a metallic smell in the air, like burning wires, and the humidity was thick enough to choke a man.
He held the boy's head against his shoulder and started in a sort of half run to the driveway. Alex felt heavier than he used to, and it made him wonder just how long ago it was since he’d held him that way.
Cold rain whipped at their back, sticking their clothes to their skin like slick velcro. John spat the water from his mouth as he trudged forward blindly in the dark. His muscles started to burn. His feet snagged on branches, trash, and other debris that had blown in, threatening to trip him, and sudden dips or rises staggered him as his foot met only air where he expected solid earth.
John could feel the boy sobbing once more. “We’re almost there; we’re gonna make it.” He panted. This time, he really believed what he said. The driveway came into view as they rounded the last corner.
Limbs the size of cedar trees blew past them like confetti. One cracked John in the back of the head, sending him and Alex tumbling onto the ground. The pain was brilliant. For a moment, he saw white, but his vision quickly cleared, and he looked up at Alex.
Alex sat with his knees tucked to his chest, holding a scrape. His skin and clothes were covered in twigs, mud, and pine needles, and his face was twisted with fright—contorted like one of those dramatic masquerade masks as he rocked back and forth. His eyes were open now.
The twister roared behind them like a gasoline truck chugging up a hill. John scrambled to his feet. He scooped Alex into his arms, and started toward the house once again. His head was pounding, his muscles were on fire, blood was thudding against his ears, and that same thought from earlier continued to swim laps around his mind.
Make it to the cellar.
He pressed on, planting one solid foot into the ground at a time and marching forward like a well oiled machine.
Gravel crunched beneath his feet as he walked down the driveway; wind whipped their wet clothes like flags.
John shed Alex from his arms and looked down at the wooden cellar door. He tried pulling it open, but the wind shoved it back down. It was picking up even more now. Shingles began to be sucked from the roof, and John knew that if he didn’t get this door open, he and Alex would follow closely behind.
He pulled as hard as he could, grunting with the effort. Alex quickly joined him in the struggle, helping as much as a nine-year-old possibly could. It began to come up a little, but the wind was powerful.
John screamed and dug in harder. He had to get it open. He felt his muscles tearing beneath his skin, his joints cracking; he used every single ounce of his strength, and finally the door began to give. He pried it just far enough for them to fit.
“GET IN,” He shouted. The boy jumped inside, and John followed shortly after. The door slammed behind him with a smack that resembled a gunshot.
The cellar was dark. Screws and bolts and toolboxes filled with wrenches and other metal things shook and rumbled off of the shelves. A few baseball bats fell and clinked across the concrete floor. Up top, it sounded like a giant lawnmower was making quick work of the farmhouse, eating it up like it was little more than a stray blade of grass.
John’s head still throbbed, and he could feel warm blood trickling down the back of his neck. He was tired, breathing raggedly, and all of a sudden he had a very strong urge to go to sleep.
They held each other in darkness, sitting there for what seemed like an eternity, but just as quickly as it began, it was over. The roar lessened, quieted, then disappeared as it got further away.
The two looked at each other, both covered in dirt and debris, and John knew that everything was gone. He knew that the house was gone; he knew the farm was gone, and he knew that just about everything else he had ever worked for was torn to shreds in a matter of minutes.
But he looked at Alex, and when he saw the twinkle of life in his son’s eye, he breathed a sigh of relief. That was all that mattered. They sat for an hour in silence, not daring to step out until they were sure it was safe.
Eventually, rays of light began to beam through the cracks in the cellar door. John was the first to move. He walked to the door, flung it outward and shielded his squinted eyes to look outside.
The sky was blue. He hoisted himself upward and poked his head out.
His barn was still there. Bessie, his cow, was standing beside it, chewing on a mouthful of grass; all of the chickens strutted around the side of the barn, nearing the garden, which also looked untouched; the squash was even blooming. Behind him, their house stood tall, perfectly intact all the way up to the shingles.
The oddest thing of all was his farm pickup parked in the driveway—no worse shape than when they left for the ballgame.
John scratched his head.
“Dad?” Alex shouted.
“You can come up.” He said, puzzled.
Alex crawled out of the cellar in the same fashion as his father, and confusion dawned on his face as well. “It missed us?”
John shook his head. “No way it coulda missed us. I don’t really know what to make of it.”
He really didn’t. They saw the twister coming directly at them; they heard the house ripped to shreds right above their heads; the farm truck didn’t make it back to the house at all, for Christ's sake. It just didn’t make any damn sense.
A feminine voice called out to them—a voice John recognized at the first syllable. “John? Alex?”
“Vick..” He mouthed and whipped his head around. A tall woman with blonde hair was walking around the side of the porch, stepping as gracefully as a doe. Her eyes were as green as the pines behind her, and she gave a smile that held more reassurance than a million words could express.
She spread her arms wide. “My boys.” She said. John stood motionless, his mouth slightly agape. Alex pushed past him as he ran, “Mommy!” He shouted.
The woman wrapped the boy in a hug and lifted him from his feet. As she held his head against her shoulder, she pointed her eyes in John’s direction and held out her other hand.
He walked toward her, cautiously.
“John.” She said. “It’s me, I promise.”
John looked at her for a moment longer. He wanted to run to her, to wrap her up and lift her the same way she did Alex. For the past two years, there had been nothing in this world that he’d wanted more.
But his wife was dead. He watched as the cancer took her in 2014; he held her in his arms as she died in the hospital bed, yet there she stood—healthy and as real as the sun beating down on his neck. He reached a hand to the back of his head, feeling for the place where the branch whacked him.
But there was nothing—not even a tender spot.
He looked back up at his wife. “Are we…”
“Hush, dont think about it like that, John.” She smiled, “We’re together now.”
John staggered a little, staring down at his hands; his once farm hardened callouses were gone now, smoothed over with soft, healthy skin.
“I—“ He began.
“Get over here and hug me.”
He looked up; his wife looked back at him lovingly with her direct, green eyes, and for the first time in so long, he felt happy. A feeling he’d grown a stranger to. A grin tightened across his face, and he walked toward Vick as their old golden retriever ran panting toward them from across the yard, just like she used to, only now; she had all four of her legs.
2024.06.01 13:38 ThePlayer2197 MRI Results advice needed
Hi everyone, I recently hurt my left knee while doing a standing quadricep stretch last week (weight on left leg), I lost balance and tried to correct myself, I then heard a loud cracking sound from my inner left knee.
I am still able to put some weight on my leg, extend and compress my left leg with some minor to acute pain. I also get some minor muscle spasms around the quads on-top of my knee
I went to the physio ASAP, they did some stretching and cycling work, had some acute and dull pain afterwards. they recommended and MRI as they thought it may be serious.
I got my MRI report back recently, here are the results:
Clicking sensation inside left knee following stretching. Acute pains and dull ache when touched. Localises the pain anterior and posterior to the left knee joint both medial and lateral aspects in accompanying patient's data sheet.
Technique: Axial, sagittal and coronal proton density with and without fat saturation and additional coronal Tl of the left knee.
Findings: Extensive abnormal intrameniscal signal change in the body and posterior horn of the medial meniscus, but it does not appear to breach the superior or inferior borders of the meniscus to indicate frank tear and it does not extend to involve the medial third of the meniscus.
Posterior root and meniscocapsular attachment posterior horn medial meniscus remain intact and normal. Medial compartment cartilage quite well maintained. Anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments intact.
Lateral meniscus and lateral compartment cartilage well maintained. Popliteus tendon and posterolateral corner structures appear intact. Tibial and fibular collateral ligaments intact and normal.Patellofemoral joint cartilage well maintained. Reasonably formed trochlea notch of the distal femur. Medial and lateral patella retinaculum appear normal. Slightly more than physiological amount of joint fluid. No Baker's cyst is seen. Insall-Salvati ratio 1 .1 and normal. Patellar tendon signal normal. No retropatellar or Hoffa's fat pad oedema is seen. Quadriceps tendon appears within normal limits.
Conclusion: No evidence of patellar tendinopathy. Abnormal signal in the body and posterior horn medial meniscus, more extensive than simple degenerative intrameniscal signal change, but does not breach the superior or inferior border of the meniscus to indicate frank tear. Might nevertheless be producing symptoms. No other potential cause for the knee symptoms identified.
By reading this report, I'm not certain if it's a strain, minor injury to the medial meniscus or something else and seeking further clarification.
I am a 27 year old male, 5'10 roughly 79kgs, a little out of shape. Weak core, tight glutes and hamstrings. Also weak lumbar back due to recent back injury.
Also seeking guidance, supplements and exercises to increase my chances of a optimal and quick recovery.
This has also taken a toll on my mental health as well as my recent back injury.
Appreciate any advice.
submitted by ThePlayer2197 to MeniscusInjuries [link] [comments]
I am still able to put some weight on my leg, extend and compress my left leg with some minor to acute pain. I also get some minor muscle spasms around the quads on-top of my knee
I went to the physio ASAP, they did some stretching and cycling work, had some acute and dull pain afterwards. they recommended and MRI as they thought it may be serious.
I got my MRI report back recently, here are the results:
Clicking sensation inside left knee following stretching. Acute pains and dull ache when touched. Localises the pain anterior and posterior to the left knee joint both medial and lateral aspects in accompanying patient's data sheet.
Technique: Axial, sagittal and coronal proton density with and without fat saturation and additional coronal Tl of the left knee.
Findings: Extensive abnormal intrameniscal signal change in the body and posterior horn of the medial meniscus, but it does not appear to breach the superior or inferior borders of the meniscus to indicate frank tear and it does not extend to involve the medial third of the meniscus.
Posterior root and meniscocapsular attachment posterior horn medial meniscus remain intact and normal. Medial compartment cartilage quite well maintained. Anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments intact.
Lateral meniscus and lateral compartment cartilage well maintained. Popliteus tendon and posterolateral corner structures appear intact. Tibial and fibular collateral ligaments intact and normal.Patellofemoral joint cartilage well maintained. Reasonably formed trochlea notch of the distal femur. Medial and lateral patella retinaculum appear normal. Slightly more than physiological amount of joint fluid. No Baker's cyst is seen. Insall-Salvati ratio 1 .1 and normal. Patellar tendon signal normal. No retropatellar or Hoffa's fat pad oedema is seen. Quadriceps tendon appears within normal limits.
Conclusion: No evidence of patellar tendinopathy. Abnormal signal in the body and posterior horn medial meniscus, more extensive than simple degenerative intrameniscal signal change, but does not breach the superior or inferior border of the meniscus to indicate frank tear. Might nevertheless be producing symptoms. No other potential cause for the knee symptoms identified.
By reading this report, I'm not certain if it's a strain, minor injury to the medial meniscus or something else and seeking further clarification.
I am a 27 year old male, 5'10 roughly 79kgs, a little out of shape. Weak core, tight glutes and hamstrings. Also weak lumbar back due to recent back injury.
Also seeking guidance, supplements and exercises to increase my chances of a optimal and quick recovery.
This has also taken a toll on my mental health as well as my recent back injury.
Appreciate any advice.
2024.06.01 13:34 No_Writing6874 Horrible Vet Experience to say Goodbye
 | Hi all, submitted by No_Writing6874 to RATS [link] [comments] I am very upset and heartbroken as I had to say goodbye to my two old boys (Darwin and Newton) last night. I am making this post to share my feelings about the vet visit and it may seem like not a big deal to you but it was a very big deal to me. I took them into an emergency vet because they were the only ones that would take them and since I had experience the decline of one of my rats in the past, I didn’t want to wait too long and watch Darwin and Newton suffer. Newton had begin to lose weight despite my efforts to help him gain it back and Darwin was starting to gain weight and had some sort of mass on his side. Darwin also began to have neurological issues and they worsened when we were waiting for the vet. Both of them had hind leg degeneration which was most likely genetic. Once at the vet, we were placed in a room and within 20-30 minutes an RVT came to take their vitals and have the doctor check them in the back. They brought the boys back to us and we ended up waiting 2 more hours until we actually spoke to the vet, which I get because it was emergency. When we finally spoke,we both agreed that the best route would be euthanasia which I already knew and we started the process. Finally, 30 minutes after that discussion the vet came in with the sedatives to help the boys feel no more pain. The part that really upsets me is that once she gave the sedatives, she then offered to give them a treat while the time past prior to giving the lethal dose. This however did not happen as the sedatives set in very fast as expected and she then proceeded to wave a piece of watermelon in faces as they had no ability to eat it due to the sedatives and being unable to move. She got up and said “well, guess I was too late” in a mocking, insensitive manner and giggled as she said it. She also had brought in trail mix and said “you guys can eat that since they can’t” and she walked out. It makes me mad because out of the two hours that we were waiting, they didn’t once ask if they wanted any treats or something to eat but as soon as they were physically unable to take it due to HEAVY sedatives, then it was offered and waved in faces as if it was torture. I was so upset that when they said we could leave, I left with my boys and they never gave me an invoice for the visit so now I have to go back to that place :( |