Love forwards texting for

My girlfriend '21 F'and I '21M' broke up about a month ago. It wasn't an ugly one. We loved each other and always will but we couldn't work through our differences and decided that it was for the best for the both of us to spilt up. If I am being honest, one could look at things and say that it was mutual breakup but when we were having the conversation about whether we should stay together or break up, it looked like she was just too exhausted and had lost her will in fighting for this. I could sense it and I finally asked her, " Do you think we are fighting for a losing cause?", to which she replied that she's not fighting anymore, not right now. She was and I think still is the most beautiful human being I've ever come across. We dated for 2 years and everything was perfect. I couldn't imagine my life without her, still can't.
We had a big fight during valentine's. During the month of January, we were fighting almost every weekend. So, I decided to make up for all the fighting, in February, on Valentine's day, and decided to order her a gift which was a photo of us and the Spotify link of the first song we slow danced on, printed on a wooden plaque. The month of February came and she initiated the conversation about valentine's gift but I wanted to surprise her with my gift so I didn't tell her at first about it, but she felt bad that I wasn't as excited about valentine's. I then assured her that wasn't the case and I revealed my gift to her. She didn't outright say it but I could figure that she didn't like the gift( before this, I gifted her a paper on which I sewed a heart and drew a Spotify link of a playlist that I made her of songs which I wanted to dedicate to her. She just felt that both the gifts were very similar and that I just came up with the wooden plaque thingy on the spot and that I hadn't given it much thought. She just felt that it was used up and cliché. I genuinely didn't even think of my previous gift which I gave while selecting this one. I just thought that it would be a sweet thing to gift. Idk but I just wanted to surprise her, maybe in that process I hid my excitement and she must've felt that I wasn't excited or something. We were in a long distance relationship for our whole 2 years btw ). She asked me if it was okay if we don't do anything for this valentine's. I was definitely not okay with that and I asked her if there was something that she would like to have as a gift. She was still a little upset so she said that if I cared I would've asked her in the first place. 2 days after this I still ordered her the gift because I thought that she might've not seen the photo or the song that I printed on the plaque and that seeing the gift will change her mind. Few days went by and when the gift was about to arrive at her place, I started teasing her a little bit that I am sending her something. She got really upset, and said whatever I was sending her I must cancel it or return it. I told her that it couldn't be cancelled as it was already dispatched and about to arrive.She then asked me when did I order it, and I said I had ordered it before we had the conversation about not celebrating valentine's ( which was a lie ). She said that she will throw it, not open it or return the gift rather than accepting it. It really angered and hurt me when she said that. She then sent me Rs. 500 for the gift and asked me if that was enough or the gift costed more. I told her that it was enough but in reality it was for Rs. 540. She asked me to swear on her if that was the actual cost of the gift, and I did. I know, I fucked up. This was one rule in our relationship that we would never break, but I did and I will always regret doing that. I just- I will never forgive myself for doing so. 3 days passed by and the gift arrived. Along with the gift also came the fee invoice, on which the actual price of the gift and order date was written. The worst part is that I was still trying to defend myself. She asked me if I will stop manipulating the situation and tell the truth. I didn't even realise what I was doing. Her trust broke at that moment, and with her trust something else also broke that day in our relationship. We were never the same after that in our relationship but we didn't break up. We still worked together on our relationship. 3 months went by and i could see that she was giving her best to me and I was giving all that I could to her as well, but the guilt of what I did was so much for me that I would end up apologizing for it to her almost every day, and she would assure me that it was okay and that she had moved past that and I should too but I just couldn't. I could see she was getting irritated and exhausted of having the same conversation again and again for 3 months. Then came the day when everything broke down. 14th April, she said that she felt like we were like an old married couple who were in a relationship just for the sake of it. At that point I could feel something break in me. For those 3 months I was trying to have conversations with her on phone but I felt like she didn't seem interested in talking to me, She would either be on her phone than talking to me, so I told her that I felt like we are just updating each other of our day and it feels like a chore. I asked her if we could change this and she said "haven't we tried", to which I said "we have". I just felt like she has lost the will to fight for this and I have given her every reason to feel that way.
When we were having the conversation about whether we should still continue dating, one of the points she put forward was that I had lost myself in the relationship. I lost my individuality, the things that made me me. She had expressed this feeling before as well, that she felt like she was dating a version of herself and not me. That I was so scared to loose her that I lost myself in that process. That I was doing things just so that I don't lose her. I had no opinions of my own. One more fucked up thing is that whenever we went on dates, she was the one who initiated them in the last 6 months of our relationship. I felt like the most terrible person to ever exist in her life. So I decided that it time for me to work on myself and that if I continue things like they are, I will lose her, in return I just asked her to be please be gentle and patient with me. She indeed was gentle and patient and i initiated some fun online play dates but she was just busy with her stuff there and we couldn't do them.
Finally, on the call, I asked her, "are we breaking up?", she said "yeah". Her voice trembled and i broke down. In a shaky voice, she said " I need to cut this call ". I said " I'm sorry ". She said " I'm sorry too ". I locked myself in the washroom and cried.
It's been over a month to this and I still feel numb and scared. I find it difficult to sleep. I find it difficult to focus on things. I just keep thinking of all the things that I did wrong. I still care about her but the fact that she will never be mine again is too heavy for me, so I don't contact her much. I am not able to feel anything. I just feel this void. She was my everything. I painted a globe on a ball and wrote " You mean the world to me " on her birthday. She really did mean the world to me. I don't know what to do. She was my first ever girlfriend. She saw me and accepted me when I was invisible to others. She is the reason I know what love actually is.
Idk why I wrote such a long story. I guess I just needed to talk to someone about this.

I met with my ex last weekend. We got drunk and slept together. After a year of not talking.
We chatted via text for maybe 4 days afterwards, but then I just blocked him because I found myself checking my phone for his replies, and getting upset if he took ages to reply, or if he replied in quite a passive way which didn't proactively sustain the conversation.
Essentially I would love to hear from him. I would love to chat to him and even spend time with him. But I know he doesn't care about me or love me and was only really talking to me to be polite.
Is this normal that I've blocked him? I blocked him on iPhone, Whatsapp and email.

I come from a large, blended family. My eldest step brother is 20 years older than me. He has been a lifelong meth addict and alcoholic. He is already intellectually delayed and the lifelong SA makes him act like an obnoxious 14 year old edge lord in an almost 60 year old man’s body. He is sexist, racist, and unpleasant to be around. I haven’t ever really had a relationship with him and haven’t seen him in person since 2017.
8 years ago he started dialysis. In the intervening time he’s had 2 stokes and now he is immobile and nearing the end of his life. My sisters have graciously been helping with his medical care and one of them is his DPOA and medical point of contact. They’ve both respected my boundaries when I tell them I can’t and won’t help with his care and don’t want a relationship with him. My parents retired and relocated out of state and my sisters have taken on his care.
A week ago my eldest sister sent this email to our entire family:
“On March 30th, (second eldest sister) and I attended an emergency meeting with (eldest brother)’s medical care team. (Eldest brother) called the day before saying he had 2 weeks to live.
It was very emotional and we were all crying. (Eldest brother) was saying goodbye to us. We asked him who he wanted us to call. He told us to tell (second eldest brother, parents, and his daughter) to go, "fuck themselves." He talked about his wishes to be cremated and he asked us to clean out his room and split everything up for our kids. He started making apologies. Apologies for the last years of his life being so miserable, and not taking better care of himself. He apologized for molesting us when we were babies. He shared graphic details. He said he'd sneak around at night and put his finger in our "little assholes" and said "(eldest sister), you liked it more than (second eldest sister) did. That's why you're my favorite. You'd go, "mhhhmm" when I'd stick it in." He giggled. This was on a conference call, but (second eldest sister) (who attended in person) told me he also made a graphic hand gesture while describing the abuse. (Second eldest sister) and I were uncomfortable, ashamed, and in disbelief. The doctors arrived for the meeting and told us that if (eldest brother) stopped doing dialysis he would die in approx 2 weeks. Apparently, prior to the meeting, (eldest brother) had informed his care team he decided to stop dialysis. He wanted to die, he was ready for his life to be over but "couldn't bring himself to commit suicide because he's Catholic." During the meeting, the team convinced (eldest brother) to keep treating and give himself more time to decide about ending his life. After the meeting was over, (second eldest sister) and I spoke. I tried to convince (eldest sister) that this was likely a terrible side effect of being on narcotic pain meds. I didn't want to believe it. She and I spoke about it a handful of times since but continued to help (eldest brother), not knowing what to do. (Eldest brother) called (second eldest sister) the next day and apologized for "saying some weird stuff yesterday." Every day since this deathbed confession I have been hoping he dies.
On May 1st, I got a call from (second eldest brother) about (me and fiancé) 's wedding. I told him about (eldest brother) nearing the end of his life and about what (eldest brother) said to us. He said, "Mom put that into his head. That's the reason she told him he had to leave (childhood home), because they thought he was molesting you guys." (Second eldest brother) doesn't believe (eldest brother) molested us, his reasoning was "Don't you think I'd know if my brother was a sex monster?"
Both (second eldest sister) and I have blocked (eldest brother). I didn't plan on bringing this to you, to anyone. It took me some time to share this with my husband. It's painful and I wanted to protect everyone from this. Especially given the very happy upcoming nuptials and our moving back home. It's a complicated family problem but it's also mine and (serving eldest sister)’s private lives, our bodies, and now our reality. I realize that not telling you is not an option. There has been some communication happening around this and I want you to hear the exact context, not just "(eldest brother) said some horrifying things." I will not protect anyone involved in this, besides (second eldest sister). I am sending this email with her permission.”
My parents have denied any prior knowledge of this and my dad launched into a really pointless and hurtful fact finding mission which has made things worse. They are not showing my sisters the support they deserve and it’s infuriating feeling like I’m pleading withy parents to be decent human beings. I know this is fresh but I now want to cancel my wedding because I don’t feel any of the players in the situation can be trusted to manage their emotions.
I resumed therapy this week. I’m in a deep depression over this. I love my fiancee and can’t wait to be married. It’s no small thing that he has been my absolute rock and is also still very excited for our wedding. We picked an amazing one of a kind venue and the wedding is structured as a weekend of events celebrating us. The wedding is just short of 4 months away now and instead of feeling the excitement and fun I was feeling during the planning process I feel the complete opposite.
I’m trying to work with my therapist to navigate the situation in the way that doesn’t feel gross. We asked my dad to officiate which is particularly stressful and he’s contributed and chunk of money (about 1/3 the total cost of the wedding) to our wedding fund.
I love my parents but I’m really prioritizing my sister’s well being in this. My heart is broken and I’m questioning the values I thought I was raised with.
Anyway, do we move forward with this wedding extravaganza and just try to focus on ourselves and being in love of do we scrap it, go elope, forego the drama and save 8k?

So I dropped out of high school my parents threw me out when i was young long story. I was on my own and a job pays and school didn't. Fast forward I'm 36 in good shape and have a very solid work history I have been in my current position for the better part of a decade and am a supervisor there. Usps is hiring for a position down the road that I would love to take it's much better pay than I'm making now. Issue is I'm worried about lieing on the app about graduating since it's a government job. I don't want them to like come after or prosecute somehow. I have a no criminal background. What do you guys think? I'm capped out at the job I'm at and just want to feel like I'm moving up instead of stagnating I have no insurance dental or 401 or anything where im at now so the benefits look great cuz I haven't seen a doctor since I lived at my parents.. any helpful advice would be much appreciated

I have had some really incredible things happen over the last week and am wondering if anyone else has experienced this. To clarify, I know who he is but he doesn't know I exist (I don't know if he does) as we have never met in real life.
So whenever he sends me love I feel my heart chakra squeeze (for want of a better word) inwards and when he needs love and I send it then it squeezes outwards. This happens when either one of us is feeling low or sad and it happens spontaneously without any effort or thought from my end. I once felt his spirit kiss my lips which felt like tingling electricity followed by a feeling of extreme bliss, the kind that makes everything else disappear. I also felt his spirit snuggle with me and hold my hand which also felt like tingles. A couple of times I have felt my hips buckle in sleep and had the feeling of a ghostly orgasm of sorts which was not physical but more like spiritual.
Fast forward a few weeks. Still haven't met, but the connection seems to be getting stronger. I sometimes think of him and within a second or two my nose will twitch which seems to happen when he is either thinking of me or responding to my thoughts. The other night I literally felt my hand turn into his! He is a lefty and I am a righty and this is when I am asleep in a kind of dreamlike trance where I am aware of what's going on but unable to wake up. In the night I felt a very strong push and pull in my heart chakra and suddenly I feel him grip my right hand. It was actually my own left hand, but it did not feel like mine...it was bigger than my right (I checked like in a lucid dream. His hand had callouses that I don't have, and it felt bonier than mine...it was like my left hand had transformed into his! I could feel the weight of his hand and his strength as he intertwined his fingers with mine. I kissed my left hand but did not feel the kisses, it was not my hand! My left hand (him!) ran his fingers through my hair, touched my lips, caressed my face. It was completely insane!
Has this happened to anyone else? Does it escalate more from here? Hit me with all the mad, magical, mystical stuff that has happened to you!

I (20M) had a bestfriend (19M) of more than 8 years, I am from a muslim country and I am gay, my best friend is also from my country, he's also queer but he is deep in the nile river.
We met when we were in 12 in school, we bacame best friends and did all things bestfriends do. At the time I knew I was gay, but I did not know if he was also gay or not.
We were classmates for 3 years and then him and his family moved abroad. For 2 years I had no contact with him. But after two years he found my contacts and we were in touch again. It was like we had always been in contact. He was my best friend. So naturally I wanted to tell him about who I was the way I told my other close friends who I could trust and I wanted to tell him about a classmate I had a crush on.
Upon telling him, he immediately denied it and said that I was not gay (as if he knows I am not). Here's how the conversation went: "Hey bestie just so you know I am gay and I like boys" "What? No way you are not gay! I also like a boy but I am not gay so you are not gay as well!!" "That made no sense? How can you like a boy a person from the same sex and not be queer?"
He went on a rant on how it is just lust and how he has not done anything with the same sex so according to him he was not "gay". The conversation came to the boiling point when I threatened to cut ties even though he had judt found me a week ago. Then he agreed to respect MY identity.
I felt bad for him so I tried as much as I can to help him come to acceptance with who he is. And to a point I was successful. He was coming to term that he cannot control his feelings and who he loves. I helped him get over a 5 year old crush on a boy that was still back in our school.
He was getting comfortable, we would joke about things and put on lil scarfs and pretend we are middle aged khalas(aunties), gossiping and cussing each other out over the phone, it was funny and harmless, might I mention that the dress up was his idea.
Unfortunately his father found out about these photos by invading his privacy, my ex friend was so scared he wanted to k word himself, after lots of convincing he stopped thinking about it. And his father told him to not dress like that again after he made some excuses. But his father was restrict on him.
After that I think he started feeling guilty for having feelings for boys. He started talking about how he will not be able to keep it a secret for long. I tried to help him as much as I could from thousands of miles away, think practically, how you cannot do this until you are not independent, cuz it can be dangerous, but to no avail he went and told his mother.
After that he slowly started mentioning how he's a top in the most random times. I did not think too much of it. Then he started telling me that he was Bisexual and hoe he also likes girls. I did not know if he was actually bisexual or was him and his mother gaslighting him into liking girls. Cuz I had never seen him talk about girls. He then became very distant.
I noticed he would block me at times and then text me back when he wanted to talk. He would only message me when he needed to talk about something that he wanted. I dont know from when but he stopped prioritizing me and how I was feeling. It was always about him. When I needed him, he was never there.
He slowly turned into an incel. Idolizing Andrew Tate. He pushed me towards the edge when he made a subtle racist remark about my ethnic group. Knowing How sensitive the topic of ethnicity was to me.
That's when I cut off all contacts with him. I could not believe my best friend of almost a decade thought so little of my ethnicity. I cut him off and went with my life and the struggles of it (which I have to tell is alot).
After 9 months he messaged me again. I felt bad for cutting him off like that so I started up a conversation with him. But to my surprise my best friend had turned into a full on incel. He told me how he is straight now. And he is homophobic. And told me he respects my decisions (which makes no sense, how can you hate gay people and "respect" my decision?). That was when I knew I had enough of him. I blocked him. I cannot believe I was friends with a guy like him. I tried to help him I guess some people do not want to be helped.
Do you think I made the right decision?

I miss having someone in my arms, having someone to hold and to be held by. I miss that connection, that bond that you can only have with someone special. I miss all of that. And it's killing me.
I’m after the relationship that goes the distance, the one that results in love and, when the time is right, the ‘m word’. I can’t think of anything I look forward to more than spending my life with the woman I love.
I love physical displays of affection, both public and otherwise. Gestures like holding, hugging, etc, are something I adore and would always welcome, especially because I love the excitement and warm feeling that come with being close to the one you love.
The person I am after is someone who is kind and caring, somebody that I can relaxed around. I don’t want the stress of being around someone who gets set off my the smallest thing. My sense of humour is varied, although it can best be described as something of a mix of Chandler Bing (RIP) and Edmund Blackadder.
When we’re together, my ideal night would involve spending our time at home, curled up on the sofa together and watching a film, or playing a game, although I’m not against the occasional day/night out if it’s just the two of us.I watch little in the way of current TV or films, and almost no sport. My main solo hobbies can be found on my friends post.
If we’re apart, as I presume we would be in the early days of our relationship, then, because I game a fair bit, I’d be open to you watching me play something, or vice versa if you game as well. We could also chat while we play our own individual games. We can also watch films, TV, etc, or whatever may bring us closer together.
I’m in the UK, so I would prefer to talk to someone who is also in the UK, as it would make things convenient for the both of us, and it would also make meeting up easier, and I would want to meet up if things progress well. However, I am open to talking to people who are overseas, as long as you’re moving to the UK in the near future, and that the move is, if not set in stone, then is at least guaranteed to happen or to be able to happen. Be aware that I am unable to travel overseas, although not for any nefarious reason.
I’m a vegetarian, though I don’t mind being around meat eaters as long as they’re respectful of how I feel. I don’t drink and, while I’m okay being with someone who does, it won’t work if you’re a person who drinks frequently. I’m non-religious and non-spiritual, and this will never change, and my views are generally what you’d call progressive and liberal. Disparate views are one thing, but if you use terms like ‘PC/PC culture’, ‘liberal’ or ‘woke’ as pejoratives, we will not get along. In addition, I do not smoke and will not be with a smoker.
I’m okay with either private messaging or Reddit chat, though I’d like to move off Reddit once we both feel comfortable doing so. Once we’ve moved to a different platform, exchanging pictures is then also something that would be done once we’re both comfortable, as would voice and video chat, especially because the best way to really get to know someone is through real-time communication.
Your opening message doesn’t have to be that long, just give me something to work with, something that can spark conversation. If you have any questions, queries, posers, then feel free to ask.

Submit your deck here:
https://3cardmagic.org/submit-deck
Deadline: Sunday, May 26th at 18:00 UTC.
The new bans are:

• Treetop Village
• Hopeless Nightmare
• Volrath's Stronghold
• Gut, True Soul Zealot

The new unbans are:

• Lotus Bloom
• Luminarch Aspirant
• Boseiju, Who Endures
• Mana Vault

Wasteland remains on the banlist, as it received 8/28 votes to unban.
You can see the full banlist here:
https://3cardmagic.org/dynamic-banlist
Join us on Discord:
https://discord.gg/4aAsdPk8mh

Last Round

We banned some good threats last round, but there were still plenty of powerful ones remaining, so this round felt somewhat like business as usual.
Congrats to Sea-Kay, for taking first place with Treetop Village + Sunken Citadel + Field of Ruin. Field of Ruin did a lot of work in the finals, and a 9 turn clock is also quite premium these days. I have a particular soft spot for all-land decks, so I really love to see this one doing well!
lpaulsen got second place with Hopeless Nightmare + Tel-Jilad Stylus, congrats! We're continuing to see non-targeted discard do well, perhaps in part because of the presence of Dark Depths, but here it really excelled against the tapped land decks in the finals.
Congrats to aw for getting third place with Volrath's Stronghold + Necrotic Sliver + Orzhov Basilica! Similar to Sea-Kay's deck this round, the land destruction aspect really paid off in the finals.
Lastly, we had zergog coming in fourth place with T1 Gut, True Soul Zealot, congrats! Killing on T4 is state of the art for stompy decks, and this one can also win through Maze of Ith and potential blockers! Also shout out to WillWorkForSugar for submitting essentially the same deck, but landing in a less favorable group.

Next Round

Bans:

• Treetop Village: This one didn't see too much play, but occasionally we'd see it alongside Assasin's Trophy and a karoo. If you're looking to do something similar to Sea-Kay's deck this round, Faerie Conclave comes to mind, although it's a full 3 turns slower.
  
• Hopeless Nightmare: In addition to lpaulsen's deck this round, this will also remove the Bloodhall Ooze deck that also played this card. I don't think that'll change a ton though as you can still play things like Funeral Charm + Cruel Sadist. I believe this is the third card to be banned for combing with Tel-Jilad Stylus. It's cool to see that card having success here, and I'm looking forward to see if any more cards come out of the woodwork for that pairing.
  
• Volrath's Stronghold: I think this has only been submitted alongside Necrotic Sliver. I'd guess the closest thing we have as a replacement would be Smallpox + shuffle titan, but there's a good number of matchup differences for that deck.
  
• Gut, True Soul Zealot: T1 threat gets a tad worse. You can still kill on turn 4 with Goblin Rabblemaster, but you won't be beating Magus of the Moon on the draw that way.
  

Unbans:

• Lotus Bloom: It'll be nice to see non-land-based combo return! Maybe with the Boseiju unban that distinction won't be so meaningful though. You can jam one of these with Show and Tell, or two with your favorite 6 drop threat. I've tried a good number of single-bloom ideas in the past, but they've pretty much all turned out bad. The trouble I think is the useful third cards for such decks spend most of their time on the banlist.
  
• Luminarch Aspirant: This guy + Soul Partition is another way to beat Lotus Bloom decks. I don't see a super compelling reason to cast this on turn 1, as the land-interacting utility lands have all been banned, but maybe someone will find a way to make that work.
  
• Boseiju, Who Endures: Very nice flexible land destruction. You could cast it on turn 1 with a Mox and... blinkmoth nexus I guess? There's lots of ways of doing it on turn two, like Sunken Citadel, Hickory Woodlot, or green manland + TSP storage.
  
• Mana Vault: We already have Crystal Vein + Mana Crypt, so this isn't unlocking a new amount of mana on turn 1. The card that comes to mind for this is Thought-Knot Seer, which in my experience isn't fast enough to work well with Mana Crypt, but can still beat things like 2/2s if you're only taking 1 damage a turn.
  

Unban Voting

We're voting on whether or not to unban Swarm Shambler and Inkmoth Nexus. Don't forget to vote if you wish to see either card unbanned.

Grandmother is dying and I refuse to be away from family for the night. Third ticket was for a buddy but he doesn't want to go alone. First person to message me gets them for free. All I ask is you don't take them to resell. Let me pay it forward to someone who may not of had the money and would love to be there tomorrow night. I would absolutely love to give someone a night like we have had seeing them twice before. I won't respond for awhile because I will be with the family, but the first person in my inbox that's genuine will get them emailed over. I will respond before the end of the night.

My (NB18) friend (F18) and I were very close for a long time. We became friends in the eighth grade because we were in all the same classes and were very similar intellectually and through our interests and beliefs. I loved her for a very long time. I would go to her with all of my issues and fears and send them long rants in the middle of the night and comfort them through their issues and traumas.
I've noticed that she's a centerpiece of our friend group. Another friend of mine who I've always really liked became really affectionate with her around the same time I did and they're still close. She connects me to a bunch of friends that she's known since she was really young. Everyone generally just likes her or at least gets along with her, from what I can tell.
But I feel like, now that I've grown older and can understand what I want as a person, all I can see are the ways she bothers me. She's incredibly clingy and gets hurt easily. She constantly texts me about things that bother her and doesn't reply when I talk about issues in my own life. I've tried to make it clear that I don't like being touched, but she touches me (and often in really weird, uncomfortable ways like grabbing my thigh or tapping my neck or tugging hard on my clothing when I'm not paying attention) anyway. She gives me secondhand embarrassment constantly because she tries to get the attention of everyone around her when she wants to be heard. I feel guilty about it, but I just see her as sensitive and I constantly feel on edge around her because she crosses my boundaries so often and I just generally can't stand interacting with her anymore.
Our friend group is mostly composed of autistic people (including myself) and so I know that the atypical is much more typical with everyone in it. I think oversharing and being more physically intimate with friends and being weird or accidentally rude is kind of normal among all of us, even though I try to stand outside of the whole physical thing because of my repulsions. And so I feel like, if I try to talk to someone else in the group about it, they'd tell me that I'm being insensitive for being so bothered by things she can't control. I can't just walk away from the friendship because she'd still be there in every event or outing we plan. She's still close with everyone else and I don't want a falling out between the two of us to strain the rest of the group. Not even just for my own sake-- I don't want anyone to dislike her. It's just that our individual friendship is so draining for me. But I also don't want anyone to think I'm an asshole.
What's worse is that her mom is my employer. I'm currently working for her mom's very small cleaning company (and by very small I mean the only employees are me and the rest of their family), so I'm often in their house and spending time with their parents, and over the summer I'll be picking up more hours with them too. I literally can't be too harsh against her or else it will be awkward in their house or I could even risk my employment.
It's not that I hate her. I don't. She's just not someone I want in my life anymore. She makes me feel bad and exhausted and being annoyed with her all the time is just making me feel guilty because I feel like it makes me a bad person. But it will be so hard to break up the friendship and start on a clean slate because of how woven in she is with the rest of the group. I feel like I can't talk to anyone else about it because I feel like it isn't their problem to deal with considering I'm the only one who has an issue with her. I know in the end the solution is probably just "talk to her" but I don't want to do anything without getting advice first. I'm not trying to break her heart but I know that she still really loves me and this isn't going to be easy. How do I tell my friend I don't want her in my life without hurting her too badly and without risking the rest of my relationships?

This dude who has been my bestf for the past 5 years broke my heart completely today. Guess I was at the breaking point? We have been bestf for last 5 years or more and two years back I fell in love w him. I did long back actually when I had met him but he already was dating so I never saw us being together and thought I had moved on but I've always wanted him. Two years back we got even more closer and it was the best time of my life. He used to do those sweet talks and stuffs and gimme those goddamn butterflies and dang man I never felt better. I thought it was meant to be? We didn't speak about what we felt cuz we both knew we can't date or anything cuz we won't have time for it for the next two years.
But still I decided to talk cuz I wanted to know what we were doing. He would touch me, pull me closer by the waist, keep his hands on my thigh and I was shocked at how comfortable I felt w him and let him do that after being sexually harassed multiple times and not letting anyone touch me. It was the first time I wasn't scared of a dude touching me and I felt so much at peace? He said he can't date me rn which I understood and he said let's make a pact. We marry eachother by the time we 30 if we still got none, i would be lucky to have you. Anyone would be stupid to say no to u.
Fast forward, I confessed at one point and he says I don't feel the same way. It was just a hookup. THAT BROKE MY HEART and yet I couldn't hate him, I couldn't let him go and stayed even though i knew it was toxic. Cuz I loved him so much I would let him touch me to stay close now and was scared he would go away if I won't let him touch me. Pathetic ik.
Later I got tired of mind games and he was just- everytime I felt smth and would try to talk it out, he would give a reason which would make me look stupid and deep down ik am not stupid. What I felt was valid but in the moment, I always felt omg he makes sense and would apologise. This another dude who he was always insecure of was treating me right and he got pissed at me and says I liked you but I don't anymore cuz you play around. I left that dude for him then and there and blocked him.
Fast forward again to today, he flirted w my bestfriend today and she texted me up saying that and sending ss. And I got pissed because he chose her as his next prey. He fucked me up mentally in the two most important years of my life and he's on the top while am struggling. And now he toying around with her but I won't let him. So I lashed out and told him to get the fuck out and he simply went.
Now am having doubts whether what i did was right or not. I miss him so much but I dont wanna live that pain again. I don't want that adrenaline rush from him anymore but I do. I regret losing him cuz I've known him for so long but I don't know. Has he manipulated me? Am I stupid fr? I feel so trapped. Everytime I think he's wrong the next moment am forced to think am I wrong?
What did he do to me? Why do i feel like this? Why do I feel stuck in a circle that's so frustrating? How do I get out? Am I delusional?

Hey everyone,
35-year-old dad here, married and living in the southern USA. I love watching movies and playing games. I'm looking for another dad friend who's into tech and enjoys the simple outdoodad life too. I'm a professional with degrees and own my own business.
Looking forward to connecting!

Just looking for some advice to move forward
My (21M) fiancé (20F) have been together for about 3.5 years engaged for 1 left about 2 weeks ago. Despite being young me and her have been through a lot together. I thought we were doing okay but starting to have distance between us, I would ask what’s wrong and be told that everything is fine. (we both have trouble expressing ourselves mine from depression and anxiety and her from childhood trauma not being able to talk and express herself as a child). I work a lot ( sometimes up to 130hrs a week) so a lot of time when I come home I briefly talk with her about our days and then find something to do to decompress, often times video games. This lead to her feeling lonely and pushed to the side and she never told me that something was bothering her. We’ve been able to talk about what we each need to work on after the break up and what to fix. She said that she started to mentally check out about a month before the breakup and that really hurt, she would ask for space then when I tried to give that to her it wasn’t what she wanted. There is a lot more details in not going to bring up for respect for her. Im not expecting a big response on this just want to get it off my chest and see if anyone has been through something similar and what people think I should do to show her that I fucked up and I realize that. We still have some contact as we have two dogs together and she took one and I like to let the dogs still see each other. Since on of the dogs refused to eat when she left. I don’t want to move on I truly love her and was hoping to start trying for kids within the next year as we have a house together I bought at 18 and both have decent vehicles. I don’t know how to move forward since I’m still grieving and she seems to be past that stage would like opinions and other peoples pov about how I should progress and work out something for the future.. I want her to be happy even if it’s not with me I just can’t imagine my life without her in it
Should I just try to go no contact and see if she comes back? Or do I try to still be somewhat in touch with her?
Sorry for any typos or bad grammar I’m not very good at writing thing out

My chat and dm is open to muslim ladies all around the globe as I see beauty in all nations and races and flying is easy in our day and age. Im looking for muslim ladies preferably as Im also muslim and I feel warmth towards fellow muslims but if you are non muslim and if you are open to converting to islam, still hit me up !
Tell me your ASL and anything else you want to tell me about yourself, feel free to send long texts.
When it comes to me, I'm bearded, tall, Turkish man from Türkiye, Im good looking, romantic man. Loving, careful and protective.
I dont talk with women much outside, so, we can chat about your culture, country, gaming, anime, movies, religion, politics or if you want to get serious, we can talk about what are you looking for.
I like to make Tea and Turkish coffee, I like to watch movies, anime and gaming, also memes. I value honesty and I want to talk with a easygoing lady.

My chat and dm is open to muslim ladies all around the globe as I see beauty in all nations and races and flying is easy in our day and age. Im looking for muslim ladies preferably as Im also muslim and I feel warmth towards fellow muslims but if you are non muslim and if you are open to converting to islam, still hit me up !
Tell me your ASL and anything else you want to tell me about yourself, feel free to send long texts.
When it comes to me, I'm bearded, tall, Turkish man from Türkiye, Im good looking, romantic man. Loving, careful and protective.
I dont talk with women much outside, so, we can chat about your culture, country, gaming, anime, movies, religion, politics or if you want to get serious, we can talk about what are you looking for.
I like to make Tea and Turkish coffee, I like to watch movies, anime and gaming, also memes. I value honesty and I want to talk with a easygoing lady.

My chat and dm is open to muslim ladies all around the globe as I see beauty in all nations and races and flying is easy in our day and age. Im looking for muslim ladies preferably as Im also muslim and I feel warmth towards fellow muslims but if you are non muslim and if you are open to converting to islam, still hit me up !
Tell me your ASL and anything else you want to tell me about yourself, feel free to send long texts.
When it comes to me, I'm bearded, tall, Turkish man from Türkiye, Im good looking, romantic man. Loving, careful and protective.
I dont talk with women much outside, so, we can chat about your culture, country, gaming, anime, movies, religion, politics or if you want to get serious, we can talk about what are you looking for.
I like to make Tea and Turkish coffee, I like to watch movies, anime and gaming, also memes. I value honesty and I want to talk with a easygoing lady.

hiiii everyone. Guess who has a day off tomorrow? This girl. I'm looking forward to an extra day in bed that is for certain! Hows everyone's day going? Well I hope.
I'm laying on my bed and organising my stationary (i got new stuff) and I'd love to chat to some lovely people if anyone is interested. I love to share baking tips, life hacks, chat about life, stationary. Whatever, I'm your gal (as long as you're pleasant).
Some information about me - I have a brother (who has a really awesome girlfriend). I'm a coffee nut (i'm drinking a decaff right now), I love to read books more than anything. I cheer, I run, I model for some local shops. I like to think i'm fairly studious. :)
If you get this far and want to chat, please show me that you've read all of it by sharing your favourite productivity website that isnt youtube, spotify, reddit or any news aggregator. :) have a lovely day everyone and I hope you find the chats that you're looking for.

my sister (19F) and I (17F) have NEVER gotten along for long. we've argued our whole lives and we are the complete opposite of each other. if it helps, shes an INFJ and im an INFP.
so we'd argued all day, literally since I woke up we've been arguing. so things were already tense.
we had to go to my grandparents for a birthday thing for lunch and I don't eat at the table (I never do, this isn't new and no one cares). but ofc my sister takes it upon herself to tell me it's disrespectful. maybe if I was at some formal dinner but these r my grandparents, I stay at their place for weeks at a time (mostly to get away from my sister). I tell her that no one cares and I just wanna watch TV while I eat.
so I put a movie on (I also asked her earlier if she wanted to watch any in there from my collection of blu rays but she said I only have boy movies, bc thats another thing, she criticises my favourite things but whatever). as I'm setting up the movie she comes in and says shes gonna eat in here. I told her I like to eat alone (especially since she's been pissing me off all day) and she's stubborn as hell so I decided to leave and just eat somewhere else.
which is ridiculous, she doesnt even want to watch a movie she just hates our grandpa and our dad so she doesnt want to sit with them (I have great relationships with them too, she hates the ENTIRE family except mum and nana).
but when I left, she gets pissy bc she handles emotions as well as a 6 year old so she narcs to mum (which she does ALL THE TIME). so I don't wanna start anything so I come back and just deal with it but then she just says despicable me. I'm like what? she says I wanna watch despicable me. yeah no matter I'd just spent 5 minutes skipping the ads on this movie and my food is getting cold) but WHATEVER. I go to get it and im changing going thru the motions again, all the ads.
also the movie I'd put on before was hotel Transylvania but she didn't wanna watch it bc its "sad". she calls every family movie sad. I csnt even say the word WALL-E or god forbid fhe lion king. I'm an insanely emotional person, but the difference between us is I like to express sadness and I cry a lot when she expresses all her emotions in anger. she says im depressed all the time and makes fun and asks if I "forgot my anti-depressants". I don't even take them, and if I did she'd mock me and say that that im a bad person for taking mental heath drugs.
so movies on, I can finally eat and for a while we actuslly get along and since it's a background movie rly she's not forcing me to rewind every 3 minutes. that's y I stopped watching movies with her, she made me rewind and it's take a afternoon to watch ONE movie. she also didn't want to watch anything with me when our parents were home as if she's embarrassed to watch stuff with me. which feels GREAT. I think it's bc she doesn't want dad to see her watch a "kids" movie like beethoven.
so we laughing, it's okay. well except the part when she says i need to eat like a "lady" and that i need to be "ladylike". do u know how much that makes me want to burp in her face?im considered relatively "unladylike" i guess. i swear a lot and i make a lot of dirty jokes. its part of my charm lol. she hates it tho. and my sarcasm, REALLY hates it.
i finish eating snd after a while I get a little bored so I start playing temple run 2 on my phone. she HATES me reading, or looking st my phone if she's with me, she gets rly angry but I'd figured since its just a background movie it's fine. she says to me, very blunt, get off her ur phone. and I have this thing where I hate being told what to do, if it's unreasonable or how they say it. so I don't get off my phone. she then opens her phone and starts watching yt shorts very loudly. I think she expects this to annoy me but news flash, I don't give a shit what she does bc I don't obsess over what other ppl do like she does.
still tho, I don't wanna listen to her preachy, anti-feminism, homophobic bullshit on full blast. thats another thing, I'm a huge supporter of the feminist movement and equality and lgbt rights when shes dead against it. she thinks mothers csnt have careers and being lgbt is wrong. she uses her religion as an excuse for it too. I'm a nihilist as well so every time I say jesus or oh my god she freaks out at me. idc what her religion is, I don't tell her what to do but she tells me I'm being disrespectful. oh I csn get real disrespectful real fast but I don't bc thats her opinion and this is mine.
some thing thats ironic is that im super for lgbt and women rights even more bc of her. I hate seeing how hateful she is towards these groups and minorities so it's made me support them even more. also fhe fact that she's called me a lesbian and intersex and a boy snd countless other things bc of my interests. I'm straight and an lgbt ally who loves marvel and star wars and video games and shee sees those as reasons to call me a lesbian? she also says I dress like one but she dresses like strawberry fucking shortcake if she had no style whatsoever. I wear movie referenced t shirts and hoodies and I like to think I have some sense of style but she says I dress like a boy bc of ONE Simpson skeleton on my shirt. she also says fhe complete opposite if I wear my hair in pigtails, that I dress like a little girl. which is it, sister dearest? am I a boy or a little girl?
anyway, as I was saying she starts watching stuff at full blast, I don't say anything I just put my headphones on. then she starts getting mad. oh she HATES my headphones, she thinks its the most disrespectful thing. I have a lot of anxiety when I leave the house so I have my headphones on all the time, music calms me and I listen to music every day and it's just something i do but she hates it. I dont see y it's different for me to wear my headphones if I'm not gonna talk to anyone anyway. she feels the same when I read around her. I love books, I read a lot and its yet AHOTHER thing she hates about me.
so she starts getting angrier and telling me to take my headphones off but by this point I'm done with the movie anyway and I wanna be alone so I get up to leave. I say I'm not dealing with this shit. she then puts her feet up on the pouffe (which I let her use bc theres only one and she was complaining) to block me. I tell her to move and she says to stay and watch the movie with her. now it's her words that I understand what she rly means. she wants me to sit and watch the movie with her for some reason. but no, I'm not dealing with her bullshit. she keeps blocking me and then she gets up and im just trying to get past without hurting her but shes not ceasing.
bc forcing someone to sit with u and bossing them around is the best way to bond with ur little sister ofc.
eventually I start shouting at her bc ik she'll start to panic if our grandpa will hear. (She's so fake in front of him too, all smiley and happy when inside she hates him. shes like that with every human in the planet besides me mum, dad and nana. she just openly hates me and dad. it's interesting to me how she hates everyone and makes fun of ppl online but yet she still worries about hurting their feelings more than anyone ik. she can be empathetic in that sense at least. it's hard for someone who sees the world in black and white tho, as she does. I just see fifty Shades of grey (hah).
but my shouting isn't working so I'm done and I shove her out the way and ofc that rly ticks her off. I don't understand what she expects me to do, but she gets rly angry when it happens. she shouts for mum ofc. I grab all my stuff so she csnt do anything to it (she breaks my lego regularly and changes the bookmarked pages in my books a lot and searches thru my phone and texts if I leave anything around her). im just heading to the backyard so I'm away from her, I thought about leaving the house entirely but we were gonna leave soon anyway (or i was told).
I walk past mum on my way out and she asks what's wrong snd I'm just too pissed off to rly explain anything so I just say my sister js crazy or something like that. I sit outside listening to music and avoid my sister rhe rest of the afternoon. I knew she'd be talking to my mum about what I did and spinning it so I was the hateful sister who doesnt want to watch a movie with her which yeah is technically true but how is it fair that she treats me like that still? am I supposed to just let her walk all over me?
my mum thinks that. she tells me to give in and just agree to anything and just do whatever my sister says. my mum is my sisters slave too. she'll do anything to keep the peace and just agrees to whatever my sister wants. the countless times she gets whatever take away she wants and im left with the leftovers in the fridge bc im the "easy child". Or at least I used to be, fron my mums perspective. just bc im chill and not insanely entitled and demanding like my sister.
so later in the night when we all at home I go to the kitchen and my mums in tjere and my dads rhere too, just eating. little did the man know what he'd be in the middle of in a few minutes.
my mum hasn't spoken to me about what went down at my grandparents, hasn't gotten my perspective but whatever. she asks me what was so wrong with watching a movie with my sister. I didn't even stop watching the movie bc of my sister, I just had it on while I ate my dinner and I told her as much. they always do this, say "with ur sister" when it's just something we just happened to both be doing. they make it sound like I'm deliberately being a dick to her bc im hateful. then my mum starts going off and saying shit like "u watch movies with ur friends and ur father, y csnt u watch them with her?" I didn't wanna say that I csnt watch movies with her bc it gets on my nerves bc my sister csn hear everyrthing in the house, we all constantly aware of that as if she's always listening, its creepy as hell but she's too nosy.
I say that I was done with the movie and she started bossing me around so I left. That's the truth bur my mum was like NO DONT GIVE ME THAT SHIT, U DONT WANT TO WATCH MOVIES WITH HER BUT U DO WITH UR FRIENDS AND UR FATHER. U NEVER DO ANYTHING WITH HER, HOW DO U THINK THAT MAKES HER FEEL? UR NOT UNDERSTANDING HER SIDE
ya know what's even dumber, they use my OWN FUCKING ARGUMENTS against me. I always say to consider the others persons side and to understand everyone's perspective. and she has fhe GALL to say I don't get her side? OFC I DO BUT SHES TOO FUCKING UNBEARABLE
and I never do anything with her or watch movies with her bc she hates mt favourite movies and shows and vice versa. my favourite movies deadpool and j spend mt days watching marvel, star wars, Disney, musicals, sci fi, action, romance, dramas when she watches REALITY TV AND HORRORS.
PROBABLY THE ONLY 2 GENRES I DONT WATCH. I watch SO MANY DIFFERENT THINGS and she happens to watch the ones I HATE. how r we supposed to watch stuff together with all that, and her bloody rewinding and her criticisms? ITS IMPOSSIBLE.
we agree on very few movies and when we do she wants to watch them so much that she thrashes them. now I'm a person who's seen deadpool a million times and I rewatch everything, I've seen the office thousands of times but she still somehow manages to ruin things for me. she nearly ruined fawlty towers.
now on one hand, my sister has no friends and every one she's ever had has always betrayed or bullied her. thats true, mostly. ppl have been horrible to her forever, I understand she is damaged but she takes it out on me. and how can she ever make friends again if they ever make mistakes she never forgives them? I have a friend who ratted me out to the teacher on the first week I met her for swearing bur she's one if mt closest friends going on 5 years now. every friend I have has fucked up before obviously we human we mess up and learn. my sister won't accept any mistake outside of me or mum. my dad has suffered from that as has my aunt and my cousins. they messed up one too many times and instead of communicating with them, she ignored it so it continued and now she'll never forgive them. obviously that doesn't excuse their behavior but she has to forgive or else she'll be alone. this is the only reason y I still give her chances, bc I used to think maybe she'll learn and get better. but she still treats me worse than anyone I've ever known. but I dont want to give up on her like she's done.
when I move out (as fast as fucking possible) I'll still see her but just a lot less. She and I rly don't work well and she hates everyrthing and everyone important to me.
Still tho, perhaps I am the asshole here. Idk rly. I don't treat her perfectly either, I try tho. And I apologise and I mean it. When she apologises she just means she's sorry she's hurt me, not for what she djd. Bc she does it again and again and again.

I met my husband when I was young, ten years ago. He was my second boyfriend and is from a different culture, so there were things I both didn’t understand and was fascinated by.
I am doing trauma therapy right now and learning about damaging relationships in light of my childhood. As I’m reading about the abuse a narcissistic parents imbues on their child it’s crashing into me that I might be doing this all over again.
He’s done so many things that make me believe and know he loves me. But I’m worried I shouldn’t have overlooked the red flags.. - the time when, after I made a photo book of all our dates for his first birthday, he forgot mine that year and then showed up with a bouquet of flowers and argued with me about why he couldn’t be there (I traveled to see him at work). He’s forgotten it again since. - shortly after we got married I found out he had been snapchat messaging his ex. He saved loads of their chats somehow and I stumbled upon them as he received a snap at an odd time. The texts had started when we were dating, included sexting, and he told her she’d always be his first love. He told me it was a mistake and I didn’t want to give up so easily. Nothing I know of has happened since. - he hasn’t had a job in four years. I have broken myself emotionally from trying to keep us afloat, but he spends his days playing video games. - when we get in arguments and he flat out refuses to speak to me until I apologize. - he dreams of the day I give up everything and move back to his home and family, despite the fact I’m the only one that works.
He was the one who insisted on marrying me and moved to be with me but reading patterns of abusive relationships I’m starting to wonder if it’s not just my parents who took advantage of my desire to be seen and loved. Am I making the mistake of both our lives? I also want to be a loving and understanding wife because I struggle with mental health issues and he struggles with neurological disabilities. But how much of this is me being too nice and him being too something? I really love him but I’ve been hurt so bad and I can’t even trust myself anymore.

11/20/2017
Log book of Det. Ryan Snow
Case #2798: The Appalachian Murders
The past couple of days are events I pray no one else ever has to go through what Kate and I had. I had her and Mr. Raines cleared of all charges, having found the proof we all needed to end this case and find the true killer. Kate no longer has to go into witness protection and I had given the police a good enough lie to keep myself from looking insane in the eyes of my co-workers. I know no one will ever know the true story or believe it, but I’m writing it out here. It at least needs to be known written somewhere. Even if my and Kate’s eyes are the only ones that will ever read it written out and forever imprinted in our memories.
The morning Kate had run off to the mountains on her own, I had made my way to the Blackwell home where I was immediately met with Mr. Blackwell charging at me and wrapping his large hands around my neck. He was shaking me and blaming me for getting his daughter killed and not doing more to keep her safe. The police who had been called to examine the scene and read Kate’s letter had to sedate Mr. Blackwell to get him off of me, lying him down on the couch, his head resting on Mrs. Blackwell’s legs. Though the woman was distraught and begging the police to bring her daughter back, she still took the time to shoot that cold, death glare my way. The ice in my chest growing. I couldn’t tell these people that this thing had come after me to get to Kate. I knew it wouldn’t change anything. If anything they’d hate me even more for keeping it to myself.
The sheriff was there and he pulled me away from eye sight of the Blackwells, trying to tell me that this wasn’t my fault. But I couldn’t help but blame myself. I should have done everything I could to keep Kate as far from those mountains as possible.
There were no signs of a struggle in Kate’s room and the letter was definitely written in her hand writing. Her father’s rifle missing from the study, a backpack and some food and supplies gone as well. She had only grabbed one set of clothes from her drawers, showing she did indeed have plans on returning after only one night in the mountains to confront whoever or whatever the killer was.
I told the sheriff to keep any police from going up to the mountains without first allowing me to go up there first to find Kate. He of course argued, telling me that he couldn’t break protocol based on any hunches I may have had. However, I told him that I could get Kate back without her putting up much of a fight, whereas she may struggle with a group of cops who didn’t understand the situation she was in. I was close enough to this case to have built a trust with her after all. I was mentioned in her letter about ending this case for me.
It took a good hour to get the sheriff to eye the Blackwells, Mr. Blackwell beginning to stir from his sleep, and allow me to go to the mountains to find Kate. He didn’t bother to call off the search to the police that had already begun making their way to the mountains, but did radio to tell them to not try getting Kate home without first allowing me to speak to her. He then gave me twenty-four hours to find her to which I told him I’d only need at most ten.
Without telling him about the disturbing scratches on my car, I sped to the mountains, taking the same path Kate had that day she took her friends on their trip. The route, as the sun began to rise was scenic. A drive that may have been a sign of a bright future ahead with a beautiful week in the mountains of nothing but nature, was now a reddening sky of horror. I couldn’t understand how Kate felt, going down the same roads that led to her only friends’ fates to avenge them, but the feeling of guilt did weigh heavy on my chest as I saw the signs of the Appalachian Mountain trails grow bigger on the horizon. Guilt for not doing more to prove Kate was innocent, for allowing Mrs. Mayfield for getting killed right before my very eyes, and for Liam for not being lucky enough to save him.
When I finally arrived to the cabin, there didn’t seem to be any change since the first day I was called to the crime scene, the only thing out of place being Mr. Blackwell’s truck parked precariously near the cabin. The police tape was still up, the cars of Kate and Mr. Woolfe still left where they were, the tires still slashed, the door wide open from when Kate, Ms. Greymoore, and Mr. Woolfe ran out of the cabin upon Mr. Billings was killed by an unknown force. All the bodies had been found and were now being prepared by their families to be buried or cremated. Only one body of the five still roaming around to avenge each and every one of their deaths.
I called out for Kate as I made my way into the cabin. The Ouija board was still on the coffee table, the white line of where Mr. Billings had been found lying face first on the floor with his head bashed open remained on the spot. The planchette was still missing. I kept calling out for Kate as I made my way up to the attic, the door left unlocked, using my flashlight to shine down on the white outline where Mr. Steele had been found completely torn apart. To think Kate had done such a thing, I now realize made me look like a complete dumb ass for believing it.
When I couldn’t find Kate in the cabin, I made my way out the cabin, still calling for her. I called out to her, promising that she just needed to come back home with me and we could solve the murders together. I knew it was a lie and that the sheriff would immediately have her take away to some secluded place where the killer couldn’t find her, but it was all I could think of to try luring her out to meet me. Still, she never appeared.
The sun was soon beginning to set as I tried retracing the very steps Kate and Ms. Greymoore had taken to outrun the killer. I had passed the small shrine of flowers and the pictures of Mr. Woolfe where the boy had been found, his face permanently remaining nineteen forever in the photos of him with Kate and their friends. I kept going, trying my best to follow the same path to the cliff where Ms. Greymoore was found, calling for Kate along the way.
It wasn’t until I found the place Kate had buried her best friend that I found Kate. She was on her knees before the rock where she left her bloody handprint, sniffing as her head was lowered, her dad’s rifle in her hands.
“Ms. Blackwell-“ I began as I took a step toward her. I was immediately cut off as Kate jumped to her feet, raising her father’s rifle at my head. I jolted back, raising my hands up to show her I meant no harm to her. “Ms. Blackwell, it’s me, Det. Snow!”
“Detective…?” She gasped, slightly lowering the rifle, but keeping it on me. “P-Prove it!”
“I’m sorry?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I… I thought I saw Sonja…” Kate breathed between tears, the rifle shaking in her hands, “it… It was wearing her face… It had her voice… How… H-How do I know you’re really Det. Snow?”
“You… Saw Sonja?” I asked as gently as I could with a terrified woman pointing a gun my way. “She spoke to you?”
“Prove you’re Det. Snow!” Kate demanded as she stilled her arms, readying the rifle as she pointed straight between my eyes.
“Alright! Alright!” I kept my hands up, backing up slightly as I tried thinking of how I could prove to her I was really me. “I… I, ah… I have… Had a brother… We went to get ice cream together once and… I dropped a dime and went to grab it… I was five… I followed it out to the road and despite how trafficked it was, I didn’t get hit. I grabbed the dime just as a truck was speeding my way and it swerved just before hitting me… Seeing how close I was to death, I dropped the dime and it rolled into the sewer. My brother called me Lucky Dime since then… Saying the dime was lost to me because it did its job in protecting me… I haven’t seen my brother since I was seven and I haven’t spoken to my parents in…” I looked at my watch. “Five years… No one else calls me Lucky Dime… Not even the people at the station know that was my nickname.”
With this, Kate lowered the rifle, her eyes softening from her furious fear to a more melancholy terror. She looked to Ms. Greymoore’s grave marker, her hand print just barely visible In the approaching darkness.
“It… It looked just… Like her…” She sniffed, “it had her voice… Why did it have her voice… Why did it look like her…?”
“Ms. Blackwell,” I soothed, relaxing now that there was no weapon in my face, “we need to head back, your parents are worried about you and the police are looking for-“
“I can’t go back yet!” She snapped at me as she spun to look at me, tears in her eyes. “That thing is still out there and will kill again unless I end it!” She held up her dad’s rifle as if to show me how she meant to “end it.” “I’m not leaving until I end that… Thing that had the balls to wear Sonja’s face and have her voice!”
“Ms. Blackwell, we will catch the killer, I promise, but right now, we need to get you home before your dad ends up killing a police officer for keeping him from looking for you.”
“I told him in my letter I’d be back tomorrow! I’m twenty-years-old, he can’t force me back home if I don’t want to! I just want to stop this thing before it-“
A howling in the distance cut Kate off. Coyote from what I could hear. If I couldn’t get Kate home, I’d have to get her somewhere safe. I turned to begin talking her down and taking her to one of the other two cabins for shelter. However, when I looked back at her, her face had turned to a bone chilling terror I’d never seen on a person before. She looked like hunted prey that had been found by its predator. She gripped her dad’s rifle to her chest tightly, her hand reaching for the trigger.
“Ms. Blackwell, it’s just a pack of coyote,” I tried telling her calmly, “let’s get to one of the other cabins and-“
“No, no, no,” She stopped me as she stepped back, looking around for where the howling was coming from, “I… Heard that same howling just before I saw Sonja! I thought it was far away, but she… She was right in front of me… She… Something was off, but it looked just like her!”
“Ms. Blackwell, you didn’t see Sonja,” I assured her, “I don’t know what you think you saw, but it wasn’t-“
“Lucky… Dime…”
I froze. My blood turned to ice. The fear on Kate’s face grew as she began backing away, her back hitting the grave marker. I spun around to see a figure in the darkness limp toward us, a scratched and garbled familiar voice coming from it.
“Lucky… Dime…” It wheezed, “You brought her… Back… Give her… To me…”
I whipped out my gun, pointing it at this thing that had his voice. I stepped back to stand directly between this thing and Kate.
“Stay back!” I demanded. “Don’t come any closer!”
“Lucky… Di-“
“Shut up! Stop calling me that! Who are you? Not another step or I’ll shoot!”
The thing stopped limping toward us, its body shuddering in place as it stared us down. I took the safety off of my Glock, ready to blow this thing’s head off if it got any closer or even dared using that voice on me again.
“Kate…” It turned its attention to Kate, a completely different voice coming from it, another male’s voice. “Kate… I’m cold…”
“J-Jasper…” Kate began to sob, “Please, stop using their voices… Please stop!”
“Kate… Kate why did… Did you leave me…?” Another male voice asked. “I… I was in so much… Pain…”
“Shut up!” Kate cried out.
“I thought we… Were friends… Kate…” A female voice. “You said you… Loved me… Why won’t… You let me have… Your warmth…?”
“I said shut up!” Kate screamed as she pointed her rifle and shooting at the creature. She had missed, but the thing still let out an ear piercing shriek as it dodged out of the way of the bullets Kate was shooting. It ran off into the darkness, but Kate kept pulling the trigger of her rifle.
“Stop!” I shouted as I snatched the barrel of her rifle, shoving it to the ground before us. “It’s gone, you scared it off, get to the cabins, I’m right here with you!”
I began shoving Kate back toward where the cabins were, the sounds of that thing screaming out in a symphony of different voices ringing out throughout the woods. I shoved Kate into the first cabin we had arrived to, Cabin #1 I could only assume as I slammed the door shut behind us. It smelled God awful, like the smell of the corpse I found on my first murder case, and it was getting darker as the sun began to sink behind the trees outside.
“Detective, it smell terrible in here!” Kate cried out, covering her mouth and nose, but the tears still falling from her eyes were still visible as they rolled down her cheeks.
I pulled her close and kept her behind me as I took my gun and flashlight out. “Stay close to me,” I ordered, leading the way through the cabin, “do not run off or use that rifle without may say so, understood?”
Kate didn’t answer, but I could feel the heat from her body following after me as I made my toward the smell. It was getting worse as we inched closer to a closet door in a hallway that connected the living room to the kitchen. The door was locked, but after a couple of kicks I was able to get the door to swing open, the smell blasting us in our faces making us gag and nearly throw up on the floor. I fumbled around the sides inside the room to find a light switch that I was able to find to the side of the entryway. A yellow light flickered on, revealing the door led to a staircase. I led the way down the creaking steps, Kate close by as she kept her mouth covered with her shirt.
Once we had made our way to the bottom, Kate dropped her dad’s rifle and let out a scream as we stared at what was waiting for us at the bottom of the steps. In a large pile at the corner of this basement room were nothing but skin and bones of humans and animals covered in maggots and flies. Some of the human bodies being small and child-like in size. The missing people who were never found after vanishing when they came to Cabin #2.
I grabbed Kate’s rifle off the floor and began pushing her back up the stairs, her screaming and sobbing all the way back up to the cabin. I slammed the door shut behind us and pushed Kate to the front door.
“We need to leave,” I had told her, trying to calm her down as we made it outside, “we need to get you home and away from here as soon as possible.”
“N-No… No!” She began fighting me, trying to escape my grasp on her. “No! That… That thing is still out there! You saw it! You can’t say you don’t believe me now! It even called you Lucky Dime! It said you brought me back!”
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you!” I shot back. “I do, I saw exactly what you saw, but it’s way too dangerous for you to be out here while you’re the one it’s after!”
“I escaped it once, I can do it again!” Kate pointed out as she struggled against me while I tried getting her into my car. “I’m not running away this time, I want to kill it!”
“God damn it, Blackwell, we’ll let the police handle it! Just because you have a weapon doesn’t make you safe or ready to handle something like… Like that… That thing!”
“It killed my friends! It wants me! I’m going straight to it so I can blow its head off! It’ll come right for me!”
“I came here to bring you back home, not let you accomplish some stupid ass revenge plot! Get in the fucking car, unless you want to end up like those bodies down that-“
“D… De… Detect… Detective…”
A scratched and moaning voice cut me off. Kate and I both froze at the sound of something approaching. I turned to see a police officer stagger toward us from the tree line. I could barely tell who he was or who he used to be, his head held low and blue uniform covered in blood.
“H… Hel… Hel… Help… Help me…" It croaked as it stumbled closer.
I held up Kate's rifle. "Stay back!" I barked. "Not another step!"
The thing that stood before us wearing the cop like a full-bodied suit stopped in place. It swayed where it stood, blood water falling from its head and down to its chest.
"It… It… It's inside… Inside me…" It breathed painfully. "I… I can't… Help… Me…" Its voice then changed to that familiar voice that made my skin crawl. "Lucky… Dime… I… I'm so… Hungry… Give her… To… Me…"
I pulled the trigger of the rifle, hitting the creature in the head, the rest of it staggering backward from the blow. Still though, it remained on its feet, turning itself to look toward us once again.
"Give… Her… To… Me…" It wheeze, blood and brain pouring from where I had shot it, it beginning to stumble toward us once again. I continued shooting, hitting it in the shoulder, the arm, the leg, the head again, but it just kept coming toward us faster, demanding I give Kate to it.
I was about ready to ram it with the rifle, having run out of bullets, when a voice off in the distance made the creature freeze just an inch before us.
"I'm here! I'm here!" It called out in an almost sing-songy way, using the voice of a little girl. "I'm here! I'm here!"
"I'm… Here…" The creature repeated as it jerked its body to look to where the voice was coming from. "I'm here… I'm here… I'm here! I'm here! I'm here!" It began shrieking in a high pitch wail. It sounded like a mixture of different voices ranging from child, to woman, to man. Keeping flat on its feet, its upper body fell forward onto its hands before speedily crawling off like a spider.
We stood in shaking silence for a moment, Kate digging her fingers into my arm while I was too numb from shock to care about the pain she was unknowingly inflicting. It wasn’t until the radio from my car buzzed to life that jolted us back to whatever reality was at this point. I scrambled to the driver’s side, swinging the door open as I fell inside to grab the intercom to respond to the voice yelling for me over the receiver.
“Det. Snow, what the hell is going on up there?” The sheriff’s scratched voice called out over the receiver when I could barely get my name out of my mouth.
“Sh-Sh-Sheriff…?” Was all I could respond with, still trying to wrap my head around what I had just seen.
“Y-Y-Yeah,” he responded in mock shudder, “what the hell is going on up there? I’ve tried radioing every man I’ve got up there and am constantly being left on red! Do I need to send back-up?”
“No!” Immediately, I returned to full reality, finally understanding the severity of the moment and putting that knowledge into my tone. “Landon, do not send any more men up here, call everyone back immediately! I don’t know what this thing is, but it’s too dangerous! Call everyone back, we’re heading back to the Blackwell house now!”
“We?” The sheriff questioned, skepticism in his voice.
“I found Ms. Blackwell, she’s here with me.”
I was met with statice before the voice of Mr. Blackwell blasted over the intercom.
“Bring my daughter home, right now, you son of a bitch!” Mr. Blackwell demanded. “You bring her home this instant before I decide to kick your teeth in!”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the radio was snatched from my hand from Kate. “I’m not coming home until I kill this thing!” She snapped into the radio. “I don’t know what it is, but I at least know I’m not crazy and that it needs to die before it kills anyone else!”
I grabbed the radio from Kate’s hand, beginning to tell her off when a agonized scream erupted from the intercom. I dropped the radio to cover my ears as Kate did, the scream piercing from my car to throughout the forest around us. The voice screaming and crying for help sounded male and it seemed to echo all around us.
“GIVE HER TO ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!” A mix of the screaming voice and Mr. Blackwell’s hissed out after a good five minutes of screaming before the radio short-circuited and puffs of smoke flowed out.
After allowing my ears to adjust to the sudden silence, I grabbed the radio once again and tried calling for the sheriff, for the cops with us in the mountains, for anyone. When I was met with more silence, I slammed the radio back down on the holder and cursed loudly, hitting the wheel as if it were the source of all my problems.
After a moment to take some deep breaths, I told Kate to get in the car as I placed her rifle in the back seat.
“Didn’t you hear me?” she shot back. “I’m not-“
“Damn it, Blackwell, we have no idea what we’re dealing with, it can mimic peoples’ voices, and it just ran off like a fucking black widow!” I snapped, stepping out of the driver’s seat to glare down at her. “The last thing I’m doing to leaving you here alone and I’m not staying here another second until I can wrap my head around what the fuck I just saw! So, you either get yourself killed out here while I try talking you down this hero complex high, or you’re going to do what I say and get in the damn car!”
We stood in heated silence, glaring each other down before Kate huffed and stormed over to the passenger side of my car and slamming the door shut as she climbed in. I jumped in after her and began driving away from this nutty nightmare I had found myself in.
We drove down the trail back to civilization in silence, Kate staring out the window and trying to keep her tearful sniffs quiet. I had finally begun calming down and was starting to feel bad for snapping at her. She had only gone there to avenge her friends by killing that thing that had most likely killed a whole bunch of cops to find her. However, I still couldn’t just let her stay to hunt it and I didn’t want to stay out in those mountains with some kind of creature that could take the form and voice of someone I knew. I still couldn’t understand what is was I had even seen.
“Wendigo,” Kate whispered, breaking the silence in the car first. She had said it as if she had just remembered something important.
“What?”
“A Wendigo,” She repeated, turning to look to me with wide scared eyes, “that’s what that thing is! It’s a Wendigo!”
“Slow down, what’s a Wendigo?”
“It’s… Oh, just forget it! You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“Ms. Blackwell, I just saw a cop being used as a puppet and then run off at inhuman speed on all fours; I doubt I’m not going to believe a single word that comes out of your mouth now. What’s a Wendigo?”
Kate eyed me for a moment before releasing some of the tension from her face as she took a deep breath and began explaining to me. “They’re a Native American myth; it’s believed they’re the spirits of people who would lose themselves in the woods and would end up eating other people to satiate their hunger. I think that’s what that thing is. They can mimic the voices of people who died and use it to lure people to them, they can take the form of that person too.”
“Why does it want female hearts?” I asked, not realizing I had yet told her what my mysterious caller kept asking for when they called me.
“It… It wants my heart?” she asked shakily.
I cursed to myself before letting out a frustrated sigh. “I think this thing wants hearts, but it only wants female hearts. Why? I don’t know yet. But the only other person to be found after killing someone in those cabins was found with his partner’s heart missing to which he was blamed for taking out of her. Recently, I’ve been getting calls from some… Thing wanting me to bring you back here so it could take something from you. It would have taken Ms. Greymoore’s, but you hid her well enough that only the police could find her in time. Now, I’ve been getting calls asking for you and to get something from you.”
Kate looked to me in shock before a wave of guilt twisted her face in pain. “I… I’m so, so… So sorry, Detective!” She cried out. “I… I had… I had no idea you were being… Harassed by it! Had I known it wanted me back and was demanding you brought me here, I never… I didn’t… That’s why it said you brought me back! Oh, I’m such an idiot!” She pressed her hands to her face, grabbing at her hair between her fingers and tightening them around her eyes.
“No, no, no, stop, stop that!” I ordered, screeching the car to a halt, having to bring it to a crooked stop so I could stop her from hurting herself. I snatched her arms from her head and pinned them to her lap, tears flooding her face. “It’s my fault for not telling you sooner! I was too focused on trying to solve this case with the most efficient evidence I could, but that just kept me looking to you as a suspect. I should have stopped thinking you were the killer the moment I got that first call. There’s no way any of us could have seen… This coming… Except people who probably already believe in that kind of stuff or don’t stop to assume a more rational explanation like a cult… I’m… I’m sorry. But, I won’t let it take anything from you, not anymore. I’m going to get you home and then I’ll deal with this with the rest of the police department. You don’t have to deal with this thing anymore, it’ll be my burden from now on. You need time to finally get some rest and mourn your friends with your and their families. It’s already fucked your life up enough, I won’t let it go on making it worse.”
I stopped her before she could argue with me with a wave of my hand. “Your friends’ deaths shouldn’t be your burden to handle. I know you want to be the one who kills that thing and do right by them, but that’s not what they would want. They’d want you to remember them and continue living. They know you didn’t do it, so stop blaming yourself and stop acting like you’re the one who has to make it up to them. I will put an end to this die trying, but you need to go home and be with people who are happy you still get to live.”
Kate looked down at her hands that I kept down on her lap before nodding weakly and letting out a broken “okay.”
“Good, now let’s get you home before-“
My words were cut off when the honk of a car barreling toward us echoed through the woods. The headlights were fast approaching and I barely had time to grab the gear shift to put us back in drive as the other vehicle hit us, forcing us back and forth in one violent motion. It took me a moment to check myself to be sure I hadn’t hit my head on anything or got whiplash from the crash before I immediately returned my full attention to Kate who was kneeling over holding her head. I gently grabbed her shoulder and pulled her up to examine her head. It didn’t appear to have been busted and bleeding, but she was holding the front side of her forehead.
“Are you okay?” I asked her, prying her hand away from the spot on her forehead, seeing that it was beginning to bruise. “Can you hear me? Blink twice if you can understand me!”
“I… I’m f-fine…” she mumbled as she looked to her hand to check if there was blood on her palm, “I… I think I just… Hit… Hit the w-window…” She then blinked twice in my direction before looking to the car that had rammed us.
I turned my attention as well to the car to see it was a police van, it’s front crushed into the left of my front. I quickly jumped out my vehicle and stormed to the van, yelling at who ever was driving the van to come out and explain what the hell they were doing.
The driver’s side of the van swung open once I was near enough and a man in an orange jumpsuit climbed out, staring familiar daggers at me. The moment realization set in, my mixed emotions of confusion, frustration, and fear turned to fury.
It was Leighton Raines.
“Jesus, you really are a shitty detective.” Was all he said to me before reaching into the can and retrieving a rifle out from the passenger seat.
[END OF PART 1]
Part 6

I am looking for the love of my life. someone who will truly love me for who I am. someone who wants to work through our differences and issues together. someone values commitment, communication, adaptability, loyalty, and honesty as much as I do. someone who wants to put in as much effort as I do. someone I can love back just as much because when I love someone, I really love them.
I don't expect us to have all of the same interests and we should have some different ones so that we can learn from each other. what matters most to me is that we have similar core values and relationship goals. I do still have my preferences and those are:

• I don't do drugs or smoke.
  
• I don't drink alcohol. I would prefer if you didn't but it is not a deal breaker.
  
• I would like to have kids one day. I don't have any kids of my own yet and expect the same from you.
  
• I am not a pet person. I am also allergic to cats.
  
• I am not political at all.
  
• I am a christian and am looking for someone who shares the same faith.
  
• I am only looking inside of the USA but I would be willing to relocate anywhere in the country for the right person.
  
• I am looking for someone between the ages of 25-30.
  
• I am looking for a woman who is single and wants to get married one day.
  
• I would like to swap pictures sooner than later. my basic info is: 5'8", brown hair, white, about 150 lbs.
  
• I want to voice chat / video chat using discord at some point but we can start with text first.
  

for a brief overview of myself, I am a typical computer nerd that likes tech a lot. I like to learn about tech-related things such as programming and linux. I also like watching anime / movies / tv shows / youtube / playing video games / 3d printing / playing board games / making art such as vector art / 3d art / pixel art / drawings / paintings / hiking / bike riding / fishing / and snowboarding. I am mostly a homebody but I do a few things outside with other people from time to time.
If this post piqued your interest and you would like to get to know me better, then you should reach out. I am looking forward to meeting you.