I’m in search of something or someone who can help me get to the bottom of an environmental issue at the house we rent. I’ve called the city, the county environmental health office and they directed me to the governor’s office who hasn’t gotten back with me. We have what I believe is a sewage issue. The way our house is positioned is a strip of houses is behind us and we are up on a hill, so we are on the side of the hill and at the bottom of the hill(bottom of our front yard) is the city drain. Our bathroom has started flooding when it rains. This has been a hidden issues for going in 3 years, I say hidden because it’s slowly gotten worse over the years, to the point where it is causing health issues with my kids and I.

If you’re reading this I am begging you to believe me. Especially if you have children. My name is Leon and I have been investigating strange disappearances for four years. I am not an official investigator or a journalist. Before I started this whole thing I did not believe in ghosts or the paranormal. For me to believe in something I had to see it with my own two eyes! Everything had to be factual and everything had an explanation.
At least this is what I used to believe until my wife was murdered four years ago. They found her at work completely skinless. She was drained of blood and was missing all of her nails. They told me the precision required to accomplish this was not heard of yet. I waited months for answers and they never came, so I decided to go get them myself. I had no idea where to start or who to speak to so I went back to the store to try and dig up as much information as I could find.
Her manager eventually told me that she had gotten into a fight with a customer that day and that he assumed she went home on time. When her body was found in the employee break room he was shocked. He had no idea she was still in the building. He said he told me exactly what he told the police. I asked him if there was any footage of the man she was arguing with but he told me the security cameras were not working that day. I vividly remember wanting to punch this guy in his damn face. He was no help and I was determined to solve my wife's murder.
I ended up searching for the guy for months. I asked every one of her coworkers if they saw the argument and a couple of times I even had a run-in with the cops. They insisted that I should let them do their jobs and that they had everything handled. There was no chance I was going to listen to them. I had to take time off from my investigation to attend her funeral and make sure I got all of the preparations right. In hindsight, I was not growing properly and I really should've taken some time to reassess.
So fast forward another month and I finally get a lead. Something I assumed the cops didn't have, this meant I could finally get some answers before being stonewalled again. I ended up finding this guy, Will Brookes at a fucken motel off of the highway about three miles from where my wife worked. I waited for two days before I saw him leave his room to get ice. Once I knew what room to find him in I knocked until he opened the door. He was rightfully pissed but not as pissed as I was. It took every ounce of willpower in my body to not kill him on the spot.
“Why did you kill my wife?!” I snapped as I forced myself into the room and slammed the door behind me. He looked shocked.
“I did not kill her!” He screamed and tried to move around me. So I grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him into the wall next to the tv. This guy was not very heavy and not very strong. At that moment I was wondering how he could kill anyone.
“You were the last person to be seen with her alive!” I barked. I wanted to push his body through the wall. I wanted to crush him.
“I was bringing her the papers she requested for a job offer she accepted in a place called LittleBrooke!” The man said. He was shaking so I put him down and pushed him to the side. “Show me the papers,” I demanded. My wife had told me twice that she had gotten a new job offer. I was extremely excited! I work from home and would be happy to live wherever she wanted. All she had to do was say the word and we could’ve left as soon as possible. But she never made it home to tell me the news.
I watched as the shaking man handed me a stack of papers and even a suitcase. “Here, take it and please leave me alone!” He shouted. “Okay.” I left the motel room and went right to my car. I put everything on the passenger seat and went home. Once I got there I sobbed in the driveway for over an hour before finally getting out and heading inside. I never got to see her body and I never got to say goodbye. Being in this house felt like I was walking into a damn shallow grave of sorts.
I went right to the master bedroom and packed up as many clothes as I could. I even took some of her favorite items, I don’t know why. I took a couple of pillows and two blankets, and after that, I went around to search the rest of the house. Once I had finished in the master bedroom I went and grabbed all my items from the bathroom. After that, I went into the nursery. We were planning on trying to have a baby once she got her new job. I looked around the nursery and took some stuffed animals and blankets, nothing too crazy. I also made sure to grab our family photo album. Finally, I made sure to grab all of the savings from the jar we had plus anything I kept in the safe. I also made sure to grab our wedding video and once I had everything I thought I could need I left the house. On my way out I made sure to tell the building goodbye.
Once I got back into my car I decided to drive a bit. No way in hell was I going to the same motel as that guy so I drove until I hit a hotel far enough away from my house. I did not end up checking in though. Once I got close enough I backed up and just kept driving. I eventually hit a truck stop after a couple of hours and decided to rest my eyes for a while. I was exhausted and there were way too many questions rushing through my head. I knew if I kept driving in that state I would probably crash or something.
After sleeping for four hours I decided it was time to look through the papers and figure out what I was going to do next. I took the first paper from the stack and started to read it. For the sake of time here I will only tell you guys what I found that was interesting.
Paper One: You have been accepted to work as a store manager! Please review your employee packet for more information.
So as I am going over this first paper a couple of things stick out to me. Whoever wrote this was trying not to be specific. The whole paper was one big announcement for a new store opening up in a place called LittleBrooke. There was no state mentioned anywhere on this paper, I would later find out that this place was supposed to be in Washington D.C.
I decided to dig around and eventually found the employee packet. She accepted a job at a mega-store called BrightMarketZ. I thought it was a pretty weird name but what stood out to me was what they were offering to pay her. $22.00 an hour! I couldn't believe it. No wonder she said yes and didn’t bother to ask any questions.
Paper Twenty: To find LittleBrooke please enter [REDACTED] into your GPS device. You will be staying inside apartment 307. All rent for your first month in LittleBrooke is covered by your employer. Please note that all apartments are two-bedroom only. If you have a larger household please speak to Sydney May at Town Hall for bigger accommodations.
After reading this I decided to just go to LittleBrooke and get answers. I was assuming that I would find out what the hell happened if I just went. I wanted to know what my wife died for and I wanted to know why this was some big secret in the first place. I went back to bed and as soon as the sun came up I put the information into my GPS and headed for LittleBrooke.

Year One in LittleBrooke

It took me three weeks to reach LittleBrooke and I could tell that something was wrong the moment I found the town. If I wasn't so damn desperate for answers I would've turned around as soon as I saw the library. The building itself wasn't big but the two huge lions on either side of the staircase gave me the creeps.
After that I passed a mechanic, the whole place looked run down as hell. There wasn't a single car to be seen but the sign said open. The man standing outside of the building waved to me so I gave him a slow wave back. He looked weird. At the time I couldn’t place my finger on why but now I know it’s because he was not human.
The theater was kind of cool to look at in a vintage kind of way. They were not showing anything when I drove by and I made the decision early on to stay out of the theater altogether. After the theater, I saw a small building that said LittleBrooke Press. If anything else I figured I could write for the paper.
As I approached the apartment building a woman was standing outside. Her face was weird as hell. It looked like she had far too much plastic surgery like her face was threatening to pop at any moment. “Hi, can I help you?” she asked me. Her voice was shrill, it was gross to even hear her speak. It sounded like she was putting on a fake voice just to speak to me. “Hi, my wife accepted a job offer. Unfortunately, she has passed away. I would still like to claim the apartment left to us. I can work at any place that currently has an opening.” I offered.
“LittleBrooke Press has space for two more writers!” She smiled and handed me the keys to the apartment. She never asked my name and she knew exactly where I wanted to go. I thought it was weird but I didn’t argue. Instead, I took the keys and thanked her. I spent that whole day getting settled into the new apartment. A couple of things, the front door had four different locks on it. I thought that was pretty weird. I also did not see or hear any other people until my third night in the apartment. I called the LittleBrooke Press about a potential job and they told me to email my submissions. There was no need for me to come in person and honestly, I liked this deal a lot.
For the first few months, I spent my time writing about whatever came to my mind. After that, I would send it in and get my money back. The editor never told me what to do and they never requested anything. It was sweet. As December rolled around I could feel myself slipping into a seasonal depression. At that point, I had made no progress in any of my investigations. I did not know the town well enough and frankly, I felt like I was wasting my time. That night I decided to check out the local bar. It was pretty hidden, you had to drive further into LittleBrooke to find it. Once I got there I was shocked! The place was packed. I sat down at the bar and ordered a drink.
The bartender was hot as hell, too hot. She was so even looking so perfectly symmetrical that it made me extremely uncomfortable. There wasn’t a single hair out of place. “So are you new in town?” She asked me. “Yeah, I just got here a couple of months ago. My now-deceased wife accepted a job offer here.” I said bluntly and dryly. I wanted to finish my drink and go. It was like the bones in my body were screaming at me to leave. The woman looked shocked. “Tell me, does that happen often? Do people accept a job offer in LittleBrooke and turn up dead a couple of days later?” I hissed. It was a genuine question but she did not take it too kindly. She took my drink from my hands and told me to leave.
As I made my way back to my car I could hear someone coming up from behind me. I turned around as fast as possible and had to take three steps back. It was the bartender, but she did not look the same. Half of her face was weighed down like she had no bones at all. Her eyes were bulging out of her head. She gurgled at me. “You need to leave!” She finally snapped and swung her arm in my direction. I moved back before she could hit me. As her hand hit my car window it shattered like it was made of ice. I watched as her arm popped and clicked. I could see it slowly getting longer. Before I knew it her arm was dragging on the pavement! She lunged at me so I punched her in her stomach. She gurgled again and sunk her teeth into my jacket. I screamed for help as we hit the pavement. She was trying fucken eat me! I grabbed her by her hair and threw her backward as hard as I could. As I scrambled to my feet and looked at her I screamed again. Her skin was pulled back. Now hugging the bones on her face. Her eyes were completely exposed! I turned and dove into my car as fast as I could. I slammed the door behind me and sped out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.
The next morning I received a letter under my door. “Sorry, you had problems last night! Please accept our sincerest apologies.” -Mayor Brookes. There was $300 included with the letter. Now, I thought about leaving but decided I had to stay. Something was going on here and I had to find out what. I removed my jacket to see if the woman had injured me, she didn't but the experience was still terrifying. For the first time in a very long time, I was scared. But I also felt closer to the truth than I have ever been before.

Year Two in LittleBrooke

I spent all of January writing about the women who attacked me. I even contacted the police. I quickly learned that the police were going to be completely useless. My editor never sent the story back so I had assumed it was published.
At the end of the month, I left to shop for some supplies. Let me tell you, the grocery store in LittleBrooke is something else. They don’t have any brands you’ve ever heard of and at first, that drove me nuts. However, I quickly came to fall in love with the food here. It was comforting to have something to enjoy. Like always, I made sure to shop for two to three months at a time. Shopping was easy, I used the self-checkout to make sure I didn’t have to speak to anyone.
Once I got home I put everything away and decided to look around the apartment building. My whole floor started with 301 and went all the way to 310. The first floor was 501 to 509. There was a technical second floor but none of the doors were labeled. It looked like someone was renovating the place.
I got to see some of my neighbors too. An older woman, two men, and I were living next door to a lady the whole time. I had never seen or heard from these people before. It seemed like everyone wanted to keep to themselves too. I wanted to try and talk to someone but every time I approached them they turned and walked away. For what it's worth they looked completely normal.
So I left the apartment building and ventured around the property. There were no other apartments anywhere close to the one I was staying at, or so I thought until I found one about thirty minutes away. It was so out of the way you wouldn't find it unless you were looking. Against my better judgment, I opened the doors to the building and walked right inside. The place smelled like rust and soot.
I went to explore the first floor and was shocked to find blood trails on the floor and the ceiling. I followed the trail and made sure to look at the numbers on each door. This floor was numbered 1-10. Most of the doors were locked and I wasn’t going to try and knock anything down. I opened the door to apartment 10 and walked right inside. There was just enough light from the sun to illuminate the place. It looked like the whole place had been ransacked. I checked the tables and cabinets before heading into the bedroom. I searched the dresser and under the pillows before finally checking under the bed. When I looked under I spotted a black box. I grabbed it and that is when I got the feeling again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt something sharp dig into my shoulders.
I screamed as loudly as I could, my face slammed off of the carpet and I clenched the box with one hand. Before I could figure out what the hell was happening I was tossed backward. I went into the bedroom door and rolled a couple of times until I reached the torn-up couch. I slowly lifted my head and to my horror what I was looking at was way too far from human to be real.
It looked like a dog ape thing. It was mostly skinless aside from some skin on its torso and face. The creature had thick, long claws and was standing on its hind legs. It barked at me. Its fangs were huge! I quickly scrambled to my feet and rushed out of the door as fast as possible. I could feel the blood running down my back. Never once did I consider letting this box go.
“Help!” I screamed as I burst through the apartment complex doors and started to run back to the main road. My heart was pounding, I could feel my chest getting tighter with each step. I could hear the beast behind me, it was screeching. I thought I was going to die for sure, there was no way I could continue to outrun this beast. That’s when I heard a car and before I knew it I could see it! A woman was waving me over, she was just up ahead! I had to push a little harder. I had to be just a little stronger.
When I felt the embrace of the car door I ripped it open and dove inside. She sped away and I looked out of the window. The beast did not follow us any further. “Are you insane!” She snapped at me. That’s the last thing I remember before passing out.
When I woke up I was laying on my stomach on an extremely comfortable couch. I could smell someone making pasta with meat sauce. My stomach was going insane. Everything hurt though, especially my back and my left side. I figured I had hurt my side when I was tossed across the room.
At this point, I did not dive into the box yet. I could barely move. “Hi.” I heard a woman say from the kitchen. “Thank you,” I replied before trying to sit up. I was so concerned that this woman would be another monster. When I saw her though I knew she was normal. She didn't look so damn perfect and that was a breath of fresh air.
“What's your name?” She asked me as I watched her prepare two bowls of food.
“Leon,” I said before closing my eyes. “You heard me screaming?” I asked her seriously.
“I did. I’m pretty sure everyone in our building did. You got hurt pretty badly, I did my best to patch you up.” She paused and laughed. “My name is Ashley.”
So I ended up crashing at her place. During this time I tried to focus on recovering. Sleeping became hell, I was having constant nightmares. I also spent a lot of time working on articles. I ended up giving Ash the keys to my apartment so she could get my laptop. It was a big move to trust anyone here but I am glad I did.
​

Year Three and Four in LittleBrooke

During my recovery, I spent most of my time writing. I wanted to write about everything I have seen and experienced. I had a lot of questions and way too much time with my thoughts. Ash and I got to know each other too.
I told her about how my wife had died mysteriously. I eventually opened up about her being skinned and drained of her blood. Ash told me she had come to LittleBrooke with her older sister. Her sister went to work one day and never came back. She was working at the theater. Ash had told me that she was stuck here, she didn’t feel right leaving with her sister still missing. Every time she would try the cops would meet her at the town line.
It was during this time that we both shared that we had never seen a police station. We talked about the monsters too. Her first run-in with one was at the grocery store. I told her about what happened to me at the bar. She told me that she heard rumors of the beast living beyond the apartments. The first time she saw it was when it was attacking me.
As I started to recover more we discussed a couple of things. First, the neighbors here suck. She could hear me screaming and came to help but no one else did. Second, neither of us has seen any families since we moved here. It was at this point I decided I wanted to leave and I offered to take her with me. We could both get out come hell or high water. She agreed but there was something I had to do first.
I showed her the box I had taken from the apartment.
“You almost died for a box?” Ash asked me. “Yes,” I said seriously.
I opened it and blinked. I found a picture of a girl with black hair and bright green eyes. It read, Stephanie. I found a missing persons report too. This girl had been missing a year before I got here. I decided that my last article would be about her. I had written about a couple of missing people before this. For example, the old lady in our building vanished and her apartment was rented out two days later.
I also found a badge inside the box. It read F.O.P.P. and there was a name! Jack Bridges. We tried to look up the organization's name but we came up empty-handed. I ended up writing the story about Stephanie and the next day Ash and I got packing. We decided to take my car since the cops know what hers looks like. I packed up the essentials all over again and we piled into the car. “We should check the other direction. Before we leave.” I suggested. Ash knew about the bar already but neither of us knew what was beyond that point: This suggested changed the course of our lives forever.
So we started driving in the other direction. We passed the bar where the woman had tried to eat me, we passed a convenience store I didn’t know this town had and we just kept driving. Eventually, I could hear Ash speaking to me, “Holy shit! The police station.” she pointed out. I couldn’t believe it either. I did not stop driving though but I wish I did.
Eventually, we saw a sign that read, LittleBrooke High. Go Bears!
I started to slow down a bit until the school was in view. The place looked run down as hell. There were holes in the walls and leaves growing up the side of the building. The parking lot was massive and full of buses. I pulled the car into the parking lot and told Ash to get into the driver's seat.
“You’re not serious?” She asked me. I could tell she wanted to go but I said, “This is it! This is the last place of note in this fucken town. Just take the wheel and I will be right back.” I said as I jumped out of the car and went to look around.
As I approached one of the buses I grabbed the doors, they were already open a crack. I pulled them open and was hit with a horrible stench. I had to step back and puke and no I am not going to describe what I saw in that fucken bus. At that point, I decided I had seen enough and it was time to fucken go.
“Help!” I heard someone cry from a couple of buses over. “Please!” I heard again. I wanted to slap myself because I knew better. I had already decided it was time to leave but I went to investigate anyway. I went to the bus and pulled the doors open. It smelled like stale piss and blood. “Back here!” A girl screamed out to me. I made my way to the back of the bus, stepping on school jackets and over backpacks. That is where I found them. Two teenagers are tied to the leg of a bus seat. They looked horrible, caking in blood and sweat. They were both injured. “Stephanie?!” I exclaimed as I bent over to free them. I recognized her face the moment I saw it.
“Can you move? I asked the blonde girl.” As I started to let her go. “Everything hurts.” She told me. I opened the emergency exit and called for Ash to pull the car over. It took her a second to hear me but she came as fast as possible. “I am going to get you guys in the car and we are going to get out of here, okay?” I told them. I wanted to tell them everything was going to be okay, but I couldn't. It felt like that would be a huge lie.
Ash stepped out of the car and helped get the girls into the backseat. As I stopped to look around I could feel the bus shift in weight. I turned around and inhaled sharply. Standing before me was a creature wearing a jacket that said COACH on it. He looked sickly, and pale, and his veins were protruding from his face and hands. As he ran at me I jumped out of the emergency exit door just in time to feel something slam off of the back of my head. I looked down to see a barbed football. I could feel blood trickling down my neck, I stumbled forward and felt a hand grab my arm. Ash was shoving me into the car. She slid over me, closed the passenger door, and backed the car up. I thought she was moving like lightning.
At this point, everyone was screaming. My heart was threatening to jump out of my fucken chest. I was so sure we were all going to die here, just like everyone else I had seen on the buses. But no, Ash sped out of the parking lot. The coach chased us to the school limits but for some reason, he did not follow us anymore.
I know we should've stopped to see if the kids could find their parents but we didn't. Instead, Ash just kept driving. Eventually, we could hear the cops behind us but that did not stop her. It took us six hours to finally see the You Are New Leaving LittleBrooke sign! I couldn’t believe it. This place was not that big at all.
So listen, if you’re invited to take a job in LittleBrooke. Don’t take it. It’s not worth your life.

If you’re reading this I am begging you to believe me. Especially if you have children. My name is Leon and I have been investigating strange disappearances for four years. I am not an official investigator or a journalist. Before I started this whole thing I did not believe in ghosts or the paranormal. For me to believe in something I had to see it with my own two eyes! Everything had to be factual and everything had an explanation.
At least this is what I used to believe until my wife was murdered four years ago. They found her at work completely skinless. She was drained of blood and was missing all of her nails. They told me the precision required to accomplish this was not heard of yet. I waited months for answers and they never came, so I decided to go get them myself. I had no idea where to start or who to speak to so I went back to the store to try and dig up as much information as I could find.
Her manager eventually told me that she had gotten into a fight with a customer that day and that he assumed she went home on time. When her body was found in the employee break room he was shocked. He had no idea she was still in the building. He said he told me exactly what he told the police. I asked him if there was any footage of the man she was arguing with but he told me the security cameras were not working that day. I vividly remember wanting to punch this guy in his damn face. He was no help and I was determined to solve my wife's murder.
I ended up searching for the guy for months. I asked every one of her coworkers if they saw the argument and a couple of times I even had a run-in with the cops. They insisted that I should let them do their jobs and that they had everything handled. There was no chance I was going to listen to them. I had to take time off from my investigation to attend her funeral and make sure I got all of the preparations right. In hindsight, I was not growing properly and I really should've taken some time to reassess.
So fast forward another month and I finally get a lead. Something I assumed the cops didn't have, this meant I could finally get some answers before being stonewalled again. I ended up finding this guy, Will Brookes at a fucken motel off of the highway about three miles from where my wife worked. I waited for two days before I saw him leave his room to get ice. Once I knew what room to find him in I knocked until he opened the door. He was rightfully pissed but not as pissed as I was. It took every ounce of willpower in my body to not kill him on the spot.
“Why did you kill my wife?!” I snapped as I forced myself into the room and slammed the door behind me. He looked shocked.
“I did not kill her!” He screamed and tried to move around me. So I grabbed him by his shirt and slammed him into the wall next to the tv. This guy was not very heavy and not very strong. At that moment I was wondering how he could kill anyone.
“You were the last person to be seen with her alive!” I barked. I wanted to push his body through the wall. I wanted to crush him.
“I was bringing her the papers she requested for a job offer she accepted in a place called LittleBrooke!” The man said. He was shaking so I put him down and pushed him to the side. “Show me the papers,” I demanded. My wife had told me twice that she had gotten a new job offer. I was extremely excited! I work from home and would be happy to live wherever she wanted. All she had to do was say the word and we could’ve left as soon as possible. But she never made it home to tell me the news.
I watched as the shaking man handed me a stack of papers and even a suitcase. “Here, take it and please leave me alone!” He shouted. “Okay.” I left the motel room and went right to my car. I put everything on the passenger seat and went home. Once I got there I sobbed in the driveway for over an hour before finally getting out and heading inside. I never got to see her body and I never got to say goodbye. Being in this house felt like I was walking into a damn shallow grave of sorts.
I went right to the master bedroom and packed up as many clothes as I could. I even took some of her favorite items, I don’t know why. I took a couple of pillows and two blankets, and after that, I went around to search the rest of the house. Once I had finished in the master bedroom I went and grabbed all my items from the bathroom. After that, I went into the nursery. We were planning on trying to have a baby once she got her new job. I looked around the nursery and took some stuffed animals and blankets, nothing too crazy. I also made sure to grab our family photo album. Finally, I made sure to grab all of the savings from the jar we had plus anything I kept in the safe. I also made sure to grab our wedding video and once I had everything I thought I could need I left the house. On my way out I made sure to tell the building goodbye.
Once I got back into my car I decided to drive a bit. No way in hell was I going to the same motel as that guy so I drove until I hit a hotel far enough away from my house. I did not end up checking in though. Once I got close enough I backed up and just kept driving. I eventually hit a truck stop after a couple of hours and decided to rest my eyes for a while. I was exhausted and there were way too many questions rushing through my head. I knew if I kept driving in that state I would probably crash or something. After sleeping for four hours I decided it was time to look through the papers and figure out what I was going to do next. I took the first paper from the stack and started to read it. For the sake of time here I will only tell you guys what I found that was interesting.
Paper One: You have been accepted to work as a store manager! Please review your employee packet for more information.
So as I am going over this first paper a couple of things stick out to me. Whoever wrote this was trying not to be specific. The whole paper was one big announcement for a new store opening up in a place called LittleBrooke. There was no state mentioned anywhere on this paper, I would later find out that this place was supposed to be in Washington D.C.
I decided to dig around and eventually found the employee packet. She accepted a job at a mega-store called BrightMarketZ. I thought it was a pretty weird name but what stood out to me was what they were offering to pay her. $22.00 an hour! I couldn't believe it. No wonder she said yes and didn’t bother to ask any questions.
Paper Twenty: To find LittleBrooke please enter [REDACTED] into your GPS device. You will be staying inside apartment 307. All rent for your first month in LittleBrooke is covered by your employer. Please note that all apartments are two-bedroom only. If you have a larger household please speak to Sydney May at Town Hall for bigger accommodations. After reading this I decided to just go to LittleBrooke and get answers. I was assuming that I would find out what the hell happened if I just went. I wanted to know what my wife died for and I wanted to know why this was some big secret in the first place. I went back to bed and as soon as the sun came up I put the information into my GPS and headed for LittleBrooke.

Year One in LittleBrooke

It took me three weeks to reach LittleBrooke and I could tell that something was wrong the moment I found the town. If I wasn't so damn desperate for answers I would've turned around as soon as I saw the library. The building itself wasn't big but the two huge lions on either side of the staircase gave me the creeps.
After that I passed a mechanic, the whole place looked run down as hell. There wasn't a single car to be seen but the sign said open. The man standing outside of the building waved to me so I gave him a slow wave back. He looked weird. At the time I couldn’t place my finger on why but now I know it’s because he was not human.
The theater was kind of cool to look at in a vintage kind of way. They were not showing anything when I drove by and I made the decision early on to stay out of the theater altogether. After the theater, I saw a small building that said LittleBrooke Press. If anything else I figured I could write for the paper.
As I approached the apartment building a woman was standing outside. Her face was weird as hell. It looked like she had far too much plastic surgery like her face was threatening to pop at any moment. “Hi, can I help you?” she asked me. Her voice was shrill, it was gross to even hear her speak. It sounded like she was putting on a fake voice just to speak to me. “Hi, my wife accepted a job offer. Unfortunately, she has passed away. I would still like to claim the apartment left to us. I can work at any place that currently has an opening.” I offered.
“LittleBrooke Press has space for two more writers!” She smiled and handed me the keys to the apartment. She never asked my name and she knew exactly where I wanted to go. I thought it was weird but I didn’t argue. Instead, I took the keys and thanked her. I spent that whole day getting settled into the new apartment. A couple of things, the front door had four different locks on it. I thought that was pretty weird. I also did not see or hear any other people until my third night in the apartment. I called the LittleBrooke Press about a potential job and they told me to email my submissions. There was no need for me to come in person and honestly, I liked this deal a lot.
For the first few months, I spent my time writing about whatever came to my mind. After that, I would send it in and get my money back. The editor never told me what to do and they never requested anything. It was sweet. As December rolled around I could feel myself slipping into a seasonal depression. At that point, I had made no progress in any of my investigations. I did not know the town well enough and frankly, I felt like I was wasting my time. That night I decided to check out the local bar. It was pretty hidden, you had to drive further into LittleBrooke to find it. Once I got there I was shocked! The place was packed. I sat down at the bar and ordered a drink.
The bartender was hot as hell, too hot. She was so even looking so perfectly symmetrical that it made me extremely uncomfortable. There wasn’t a single hair out of place. “So are you new in town?” She asked me. “Yeah, I just got here a couple of months ago. My now-deceased wife accepted a job offer here.” I said bluntly and dryly. I wanted to finish my drink and go. It was like the bones in my body were screaming at me to leave. The woman looked shocked. “Tell me, does that happen often? Do people accept a job offer in LittleBrooke and turn up dead a couple of days later?” I hissed. It was a genuine question but she did not take it too kindly. She took my drink from my hands and told me to leave.
As I made my way back to my car I could hear someone coming up from behind me. I turned around as fast as possible and had to take three steps back. It was the bartender, but she did not look the same. Half of her face was weighed down like she had no bones at all. Her eyes were bulging out of her head. She gurgled at me. “You need to leave!” She finally snapped and swung her arm in my direction. I moved back before she could hit me. As her hand hit my car window it shattered like it was made of ice. I watched as her arm popped and clicked. I could see it slowly getting longer. Before I knew it her arm was dragging on the pavement! She lunged at me so I punched her in her stomach. She gurgled again and sunk her teeth into my jacket. I screamed for help as we hit the pavement. She was trying fucken eat me! I grabbed her by her hair and threw her backward as hard as I could. As I scrambled to my feet and looked at her I screamed again. Her skin was pulled back. Now hugging the bones on her face. Her eyes were completely exposed! I turned and dove into my car as fast as I could. I slammed the door behind me and sped out of the parking lot like a bat out of hell.
The next morning I received a letter under my door. “Sorry, you had problems last night! Please accept our sincerest apologies.” -Mayor Brookes. There was $300 included with the letter. Now, I thought about leaving but decided I had to stay. Something was going on here and I had to find out what. I removed my jacket to see if the woman had injured me, she didn't but the experience was still terrifying. For the first time in a very long time, I was scared. But I also felt closer to the truth than I have ever been before.

Year Two in LittleBrooke

I spent all of January writing about the women who attacked me. I even contacted the police. I quickly learned that the police were going to be completely useless. My editor never sent the story back so I had assumed it was published.
At the end of the month, I left to shop for some supplies. Let me tell you, the grocery store in LittleBrooke is something else. They don’t have any brands you’ve ever heard of and at first, that drove me nuts. However, I quickly came to fall in love with the food here. It was comforting to have something to enjoy. Like always, I made sure to shop for two to three months at a time. Shopping was easy, I used the self-checkout to make sure I didn’t have to speak to anyone.
Once I got home I put everything away and decided to look around the apartment building. My whole floor started with 301 and went all the way to 310. The first floor was 501 to 509. There was a technical second floor but none of the doors were labeled. It looked like someone was renovating the place.
I got to see some of my neighbors too. An older woman, two men, and I were living next door to a lady the whole time. I had never seen or heard from these people before. It seemed like everyone wanted to keep to themselves too. I wanted to try and talk to someone but every time I approached them they turned and walked away. For what it's worth they looked completely normal.
So I left the apartment building and ventured around the property. There were no other apartments anywhere close to the one I was staying at, or so I thought until I found one about thirty minutes away. It was so out of the way you wouldn't find it unless you were looking. Against my better judgment, I opened the doors to the building and walked right inside. The place smelled like rust and soot.
I went to explore the first floor and was shocked to find blood trails on the floor and the ceiling. I followed the trail and made sure to look at the numbers on each door. This floor was numbered 1-10. Most of the doors were locked and I wasn’t going to try and knock anything down. I opened the door to apartment 10 and walked right inside. There was just enough light from the sun to illuminate the place. It looked like the whole place had been ransacked. I checked the tables and cabinets before heading into the bedroom. I searched the dresser and under the pillows before finally checking under the bed. When I looked under I spotted a black box. I grabbed it and that is when I got the feeling again. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt something sharp dig into my shoulders.
I screamed as loudly as I could, my face slammed off of the carpet and I clenched the box with one hand. Before I could figure out what the hell was happening I was tossed backward. I went into the bedroom door and rolled a couple of times until I reached the torn-up couch. I slowly lifted my head and to my horror what I was looking at was way too far from human to be real.
It looked like a dog ape thing. It was mostly skinless aside from some skin on its torso and face. The creature had thick, long claws and was standing on its hind legs. It barked at me. Its fangs were huge! I quickly scrambled to my feet and rushed out of the door as fast as possible. I could feel the blood running down my back. Never once did I consider letting this box go.
“Help!” I screamed as I burst through the apartment complex doors and started to run back to the main road. My heart was pounding, I could feel my chest getting tighter with each step. I could hear the beast behind me, it was screeching. I thought I was going to die for sure, there was no way I could continue to outrun this beast. That’s when I heard a car and before I knew it I could see it! A woman was waving me over, she was just up ahead! I had to push a little harder. I had to be just a little stronger.
When I felt the embrace of the car door I ripped it open and dove inside. She sped away and I looked out of the window. The beast did not follow us any further. “Are you insane!” She snapped at me. That’s the last thing I remember before passing out.
When I woke up I was laying on my stomach on an extremely comfortable couch. I could smell someone making pasta with meat sauce. My stomach was going insane. Everything hurt though, especially my back and my left side. I figured I had hurt my side when I was tossed across the room.
At this point, I did not dive into the box yet. I could barely move. “Hi.” I heard a woman say from the kitchen. “Thank you,” I replied before trying to sit up. I was so concerned that this woman would be another monster. When I saw her though I knew she was normal. She didn't look so damn perfect and that was a breath of fresh air.
“What's your name?” She asked me as I watched her prepare two bowls of food.
“Leon,” I said before closing my eyes. “You heard me screaming?” I asked her seriously.
“I did. I’m pretty sure everyone in our building did. You got hurt pretty badly, I did my best to patch you up.” She paused and laughed. “My name is Ashley.”
So I ended up crashing at her place. During this time I tried to focus on recovering. Sleeping became hell, I was having constant nightmares. I also spent a lot of time working on articles. I ended up giving Ash the keys to my apartment so she could get my laptop. It was a big move to trust anyone here but I am glad I did.

Year Three and Four in LittleBrooke

During my recovery, I spent most of my time writing. I wanted to write about everything I have seen and experienced. I had a lot of questions and way too much time with my thoughts. Ash and I got to know each other too.
I told her about how my wife had died mysteriously. I eventually opened up about her being skinned and drained of her blood. Ash told me she had come to LittleBrooke with her older sister. Her sister went to work one day and never came back. She was working at the theater. Ash had told me that she was stuck here, she didn’t feel right leaving with her sister still missing. Every time she would try the cops would meet her at the town line.
It was during this time that we both shared that we had never seen a police station. We talked about the monsters too. Her first run-in with one was at the grocery store. I told her about what happened to me at the bar. She told me that she heard rumors of the beast living beyond the apartments. The first time she saw it was when it was attacking me.
As I started to recover more we discussed a couple of things. First, the neighbors here suck. She could hear me screaming and came to help but no one else did. Second, neither of us has seen any families since we moved here. It was at this point I decided I wanted to leave and I offered to take her with me. We could both get out come hell or high water. She agreed but there was something I had to do first.
I showed her the box I had taken from the apartment.
“You almost died for a box?” Ash asked me. “Yes,” I said seriously.
I opened it and blinked. I found a picture of a girl with black hair and bright green eyes. It read, Stephanie. I found a missing persons report too. This girl had been missing a year before I got here. I decided that my last article would be about her. I had written about a couple of missing people before this. For example, the old lady in our building vanished and her apartment was rented out two days later.
I also found a badge inside the box. It read F.O.P.P. and there was a name! Jack Bridges. We tried to look up the organization's name but we came up empty-handed. I ended up writing the story about Stephanie and the next day Ash and I got packing. We decided to take my car since the cops know what hers looks like. I packed up the essentials all over again and we piled into the car.
“We should check the other direction. Before we leave.” I suggested. Ash knew about the bar already but neither of us knew what was beyond that point: This suggested changed the course of our lives forever.
So we started driving in the other direction. We passed the bar where the woman had tried to eat me, we passed a convenience store I didn’t know this town had and we just kept driving. Eventually, I could hear Ash speaking to me, “Holy shit! The police station.” she pointed out. I couldn’t believe it either. I did not stop driving though but I wish I did.
Eventually, we saw a sign that read, LittleBrooke High. Go Bears!
I started to slow down a bit until the school was in view. The place looked run down as hell. There were holes in the walls and leaves growing up the side of the building. The parking lot was massive and full of buses. I pulled the car into the parking lot and told Ash to get into the driver's seat.
“You’re not serious?” She asked me. I could tell she wanted to go but I said, “This is it! This is the last place of note in this fucken town. Just take the wheel and I will be right back.” I said as I jumped out of the car and went to look around.
As I approached one of the buses I grabbed the doors, they were already open a crack. I pulled them open and was hit with a horrible stench. I had to step back and puke and no I am not going to describe what I saw in that fucken bus. At that point, I decided I had seen enough and it was time to fucken go.
“Help!” I heard someone cry from a couple of buses over. “Please!” I heard again. I wanted to slap myself because I knew better. I had already decided it was time to leave but I went to investigate anyway. I went to the bus and pulled the doors open. It smelled like stale piss and blood. “Back here!” A girl screamed out to me. I made my way to the back of the bus, stepping on school jackets and over backpacks. That is where I found them. Two teenagers are tied to the leg of a bus seat. They looked horrible, caking in blood and sweat. They were both injured. “Stephanie?!” I exclaimed as I bent over to free them. I recognized her face the moment I saw it.
“Can you move? I asked the blonde girl.” As I started to let her go. “Everything hurts.” She told me. I opened the emergency exit and called for Ash to pull the car over. It took her a second to hear me but she came as fast as possible. “I am going to get you guys in the car and we are going to get out of here, okay?” I told them. I wanted to tell them everything was going to be okay, but I couldn't. It felt like that would be a huge lie.
Ash stepped out of the car and helped get the girls into the backseat. As I stopped to look around I could feel the bus shift in weight. I turned around and inhaled sharply. Standing before me was a creature wearing a jacket that said COACH on it. He looked sickly, and pale, and his veins were protruding from his face and hands. As he ran at me I jumped out of the emergency exit door just in time to feel something slam off of the back of my head. I looked down to see a barbed football. I could feel blood trickling down my neck, I stumbled forward and felt a hand grab my arm. Ash was shoving me into the car. She slid over me, closed the passenger door, and backed the car up. I thought she was moving like lightning.
At this point, everyone was screaming. My heart was threatening to jump out of my fucken chest. I was so sure we were all going to die here, just like everyone else I had seen on the buses. But no, Ash sped out of the parking lot. The coach chased us to the school limits but for some reason, he did not follow us anymore.
I know we should've stopped to see if the kids could find their parents but we didn't. Instead, Ash just kept driving. Eventually, we could hear the cops behind us but that did not stop her. It took us six hours to finally see the You Are New Leaving LittleBrooke sign! I couldn’t believe it. This place was not that big at all.
So listen, if you’re invited to take a job in LittleBrooke. Don’t take it. It’s not worth your life.

Hello! This may be a niche offering, but it's a market we've found to be overdue for some new blood. We've tried a lot of the tools already available, but just kept being disappointed between pricing, features, and accessibility - so over the past year we've decided to build our own. We'd love for you to test it out and let us know what you think.
ConvoGen is a feature rich dialogue editor designed to provide value across the whole spectrum from AAA studios, to indie developers, and even interactive marketing productions. At its most simple state ConvoGen is a way to write a dialogue driven story using cards connected by actions, choices, or even random events. We built ConvoGen entirely from scratch to include all the features we wanted and regularly used, without the clutter, and we aim to provide it at a fraction of the cost so that it's actually accessible to the whole scope of users. Our favorite line so far about ConvoGen is, "It's only as complex as you need it to be." You can go as deep as you need to with fully customizable conditionals, variables, search and sortable assets for actors or locations, fully integrated localization features to provide multiple languages, even the ability to add custom properties and hooks for your own code - or, if you need something quick and want help generating the backbone of a new story branch, we even added an optional AI writing feature to create dialogue for you while you focus on the nuts and bolts. Additionally, we added in a "play mode" so you can test out your project, and pick up where you left off with save states. When the project is done, the API integrates your work into whatever project you need (full Unity compatibility). We are looking for your feedback - and if you're interested, we are fully functional and looking for beta testers. We know this software is very niche to the interactive media industry, and that's exactly what we set out to do, to provide a powerful alternative to an otherwise top heavy market. However, outside of working on game development, we'd love to see what folks think and if it might have applications for other industries as well. I've personally used this software to help create training materials for customer interaction and sales, but we'd love to know what else is out there. Of course, if you've ever used any of the big name dialogue editors out there for professional/hobby use, we'd be thrilled to have your input too. As mentioned before, we would love to have you in the beta program. Signing up can be done from our website, https://convogen.io/, where you'll then be able to download the software and try it out! We also have a documentation page up, as well, to give you some instruction on how to get started. Thank you so much for checking us out! It means the world to us to get your eyes on our work

Hear me out:
After the AK gets defeated Joyboy realises he doesn't have long to life - maybe an illness, maybe he just knows the WG is coming for him - so he decides to leave his legacy through the Poneglyphs. Him and his comrade Zunesha go to Wano where they meet the Kozuki Shogun at the time, someone who knows an ancient language and can carve unbreakable stones. Joyboy creates the Poneglyphs here chronicling his story. The shogun agrees to join Joyboy on his final voyage to spread these stones - just like how Oden agreed to join Roger on his final voyage before his death. Also note, this is where the Kozuki and Mink alliance began.
Joyboy decides to have one final voyage around the world with the Shogun and his comrade Zunesha where they visit islands they had alliances with, and at each Island they leave a Poneglyph with a bit of their story on it, as well as leaving directions to their final treasure at some. This mirrors the Roger pirates final journey where they travel round the islands collecting and reading these Poneglyphs.
After he's done Joyboy leaves his crew behind and hands himself in to the WG on the condition they spare his crew. WG agree to let Wano be an independent country and agree to spare Zunesha's life - instead, they command him to continuously walk the planet as his punishment instead. This is just like Roger who handed himself in after his voyage to be executed. Granted it's not specified he did it to spare his crew but it could explain how they all got away. I mean the WG butchered an island of pregnant woman based off him maybe having a son, they would have tracked his crew to the end of the earth.
Then comes Joyboys execution. WG want to make a show of strength so they make it a massive event (just like with Roger)... however Joyboy in the moment before his execution ends on a grand speech:
"These things cannot be stopped: Inherited will. People's dreams. The ebb and flow of the ages. As long as people seek the answer to freedom, these will never cease to be!
My wealth and treasures? If you want it, I'll let you have it...search for it! I left all of it at that place."
Just. Like. Roger.
After that his crew take his body to his homeland, now called Laugh Tale, to be buried and carve the last Poneglyph - his final words and the end of Joyboys tail. A tail full of laughs. A tail so grand all the Roger pirates could do was laugh when they heard it. Unfortunately they were just a little bit too early to act on it.
Bam. Roger knew exactly what he was doing. He knew he was too early to act on it himself, so he inspired the next generation of pirates with the same words that Joyboy said those 800 years ago.
TLDR: Joyboy (Roger) figures out he was dying. So Joyboy (Roger) took his crew around the world for one last voyage to leave (Read) Poneglyphs about the Void Century and his story. Joyboy (Roger) then hands himself in to be executed by the WG. Joyboy (Roger) then inspired the next generation at his execution with a grand speech that clowns on the WG. Roger was inspired by this and did the same, using Joyboys exact words on "Inherited will, peoples dreams, the ebb and flow of ages etc" to inspire the next generation to find the truth.

Hi guys, this is my first Reddit post here.
I like to drink Monster, the only one I've ever drunk so far is Monster Ultra White, but it's obvious that I should at least try other flavors.
However, I have a concern (and probably some fear) regarding a specific type of ingredient found in some Monsters: food dyes. For example: in Italy there are various flavors (Lewis Hamilton, Ultra Watermelon) that have well known food colors such as E129 (Red 40) and E102 (Yellow 5). After searching on the internet, I found out that various types of food coloring can lead to cancer.
I know it's probably a stupid question, but what do you guys think? Are these claims regarding cancer not entirely reliable? Should I worry?

FRIDAY

• Friday Night on White, White St., Wake Forest
• Two Durhams Beer Festival, Durham Central Park, Durham
• Subtronics, Red Hat Amphitheater, Raleigh
• Summerfest: Never Break the Chain: The Music of Fleetwood Mac, Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary
• SPECIAL EVENT: PETE DAVIDSON WORKING OUT NEW MATERIAL WITH FRIENDS, Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh
• The Monti: Freak, Carolina Theatre, Durham
• Cary's History of Hooch Tours, Downtown, Cary
• Shane Gillis, DPAC, Durham
• So Far Sounds, Secret Location, Cary
• Advance Auto Parts 160, Wake County Speedway, Raleigh
• Rennie Harris Puremovement American Street Dance Theater, Page Auditorium, Durham
• Elodie Farm Dinner, Elodie Farms, Durham
• Andrew Schulz, Raleigh Improv, Cary
• ONE OCEAN FILM TOUR, The Cary Theater, Cary
• Green Jelly, Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh
• NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, USA Baseball National Training Complex, Cary
• Bluegrass and Brews, Nickelpoint Brewing Co., Raleigh
• Friday Family Flicks - Strange World, Garner Recreation Center, Garner
• Tour: Unsettled Things: Art from an African American South, Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill
• Angela Bingham w/Jim Ketch Quintet, Sharp Nine Gallery, Durham
• Retro Film Series - The African Queen & Key Largo, Carolina Theatre, Durham
• Triangle Restaurant Week, Various Locations, Triangle
• Pen Collectors of America: Triangle Pen Show 2023, DoubleTree by Hilton (RDU), Durham
• Carolina Tiger Twilight Tour, Carolina Tiger Rescue, Pittsboro

​
SATURDAY

• Town of Cary's Pimento Cheese Festival, Downtown Park, Cary
• Summerfest: All Beethoven, Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary
• SPECIAL EVENT: PETE DAVIDSON WORKING OUT NEW MATERIAL WITH FRIENDS, Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh
• Nuv Yug India Fest, Jim Graham Building at North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Raleigh
• Geek and Grub Market (Pride Edition), Mordecai Historic Park, Raleigh
• Triangle Restaurant Week, Various Locations, Triangle
• THE BLOCK PARTY “Downtown Raleigh”, The Bridge & The Architect, Raleigh
• 2023 Annual Apex Pride Festival, Town Hall Campus, Apex
• Al Strong: Jazz Is My Religion, North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh
• NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, USA Baseball National Training Complex, Cary
• Andrew Schulz, Raleigh Improv, Cary
• Brookside Bodega Summer Festival, Brookside Bodega, Raleigh
• Durham Art Parade, The Scrap Exchange, Durham
• 6th Annual Triangle Community Band Festival, Durham Central Park, Durham
• Orchard Park Jazz Picnic, Orchard Park, Durham
• Rock the Park Concert — Rockie Lynn (Americana/Country), Forest Hills Park, Durham
• Bull Durham Screening Series, Durty Bull, Durham
• Best of the Triangle, Lincoln Theatre, Raleigh
• Caifanes, The Ritz, Raleigh
• Metal Show: An Offering to Bragi, Moon Dog Meadery, Durham
• Summer Fun Day (Wake Forest), Fortnight Brewing, Wake Forest
• BODYTRAFFIC, Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham
• Single Barrel Experience, Mystic Farm and Distillery, Durham
• Frankie Alexander Quartet, Sharp Nine Gallery, Durham
• Children’s Matinee: Rennie Harris Puremovement American Street Dance Theater, Page Auditorium, Durham
• Alley Twenty Six’s Islands in the Alley, Alley Twenty Six, Durham
• DIY & Drag Fundraiser, Nailed It DIY Studio, Durham
• Burlesque: The Rainbow Connection – Boom Boom’s Big Gay B-day Review, The Pinhook, Durham
• Pride, Hi-Wire Brewing, Durham
• Drag Trivia, The Avenue, Raleigh
• Shallow Cuts: Mad Mix Beyond Thunderpop!, Rubies on Five Points, Durham
• Taste of Music Festival, Friendship Chapel Rd., Wake Forest
• Lower Eno River Discovery Paddle, Eno River, Durham
• Friends of Geer Cemetery: Restoration Awareness Ceremony, Geer Cemetery, Durham
• American Tobacco Trail - Great Trail Day, American Tobacco Trail, Durham
• Learn to Ride a Bike, Lake Lynn Park and Community Center, Raleigh
• WILD (Movie Showing), The Cary Theater, Cary

​
SUNDAY

• Durham Central Park Food Truck Rodeo, Durham Central Park, Durham
• Duke University's Ciompi Quartet, NCMA, Raleigh
• Ricardo Arjona, PNC Arena, Raleigh
• SPECIAL EVENT: PETE DAVIDSON WORKING OUT NEW MATERIAL WITH FRIENDS, Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh
• Triangle Restaurant Week, Various Locations, Triangle
• Al Strong Presents Jazz Brunch, Alley Twenty Six, Durham
• Kym Register + Meltdown Rodeo / Tami Hart / Dunums, The Pinhook, Durham
• Show Me Snakes Reptile & Exotics Show, Durham Armory, Durham

​
Join the Thingstodo919 email list here for a weekly events newsletter. Doing anything interesting this weekend? Let us know your plans in the comments!

Evans Klimavich, part-owner of Kali Cannabis, was charged with cocaine trafficking, marijuana trafficking, possession of a Class C substance to distribute and possession of a Class B substance, according to Scott Croteau, deputy communications director for the Office of Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.
The State Police reported that a “search of Klimavich’s Worcester residence yielded another kilogram of suspected cocaine, approximately 50 pounds of marijuana, hundreds of vape cartridges, a quantity of psilocybin mushrooms and approximately $52,000 in U.S. currency.
Suzanne Melanson, Klimavich’s business partner and co-owner of Kali Cannabis, could not be reached for comment as to whether this development would impact the business’s scheduled July grand opening.
At this time, Kali Cannabis has a provisional license from the Cannabis Control Commission, which is a step required by the commission in the process of obtaining a final license, according to CCC Press Secretary Tim Caputo.

PC

Discord Username: lemon#1627
Character Name and House: Torren
Age: 18
Appearance: The biting-cold sea winds and sharp hiss of sliding steel, that is all that Torren can remember from his earliest days, and by which has moulded him into the young man he is now. With golden hair that falls messily off his face and a thin, scant stubble, he is bereft of joy and wears a hard line for a mouth and sharp, cold eyes so very deep and brown. His frame is thin from hunger and lined with cuts, old and new, as bruises of all colours splotch his skin.
Gift: Agility
Skills: Daggers (M), Water Dancing, Footwork
Talent(s): Fishing, Climbing, Swimming
Starting Title(s): N/A
Starting Location: King's Landing
Dragon Name: N/A
Dragon Size: N/A
Family Tree:

• Torwyn [d. 195 AC]
• Lyra [b. 171 AC]
  • Gilliane [b. 187 AC]
  • Torren [b. 189 AC]

Alternate Characters: N/A

AC

Discord Username: lemon#1627
Character Name and House: Herrock Drumm
Age: 46
Appearance: If he is to be stained from the years of warfare, the Ironborn captain hides it all too well. He is tall and broad, with a well-muscled frame that never so much as misses a meal; the captain has his share, always. With a small beard, blonde and grey, that wraps around his lower face and an easy smug smile to fit between it, Herrock carries the easy charm of a nobleman despite his unwillingness to divulge such. With steely blue eyes, he casts them out to sea, able to switch between a cold glare and convincing mirth.
Gift: Admiral
Skills: Axes, Berserker, Sailing
Talent(s): Bartering, Orating, Fishing
Starting Title(s): Captain of the Saltbloods, scion of House Drumm
Starting Location: King's Landing
Family Tree:

• Ygon Drumm [b. 132 AC]
• Alynnys Botley [b. 133 AC]
  • Hilmar Drumm [b. 151 AC]
  • Skyte Drumm [b. 152 AC]
  • Quellon Drumm [b. 155 AC]
  • Rodrick Drumm [b. 157 AC]
  • Regnar Drumm [b. 157 AC]
• Esgred [b. 143 AC]
  • Herrock Drumm [b. 161 AC]
• Various Salt Wives
  • Various Children

Timeline

• 161 AC: Herrock Drumm is born, son of Lord Drumm and his salt wife; raised in the old and fortified castle on the barren rocks, Herrock is a learned man that takes to studies, swordsmanship and sails alike.
• 186 AC: The Red War begins and Herrock, in command of his own fleet known as the Saltbloods, enters the service of the Iron Throne and reaves and raids the coasts in brutal Ironborn fashion.
• 187 AC: With the war come to an end, the Saltbloods are richer albeit weaker for their efforts and return to the Iron Throne with their treasures in tow. Torwyn, a renowned warrior in their ranks, takes his leave and remains with his new bride on Hammerhorn.
• 189 AC: Torren, son of Torwyn and Gillaine, is born in a coastal fisherman's settlement on the isle of Hammerhorn. His earlier years are spent with the children of his generation, with the communal teachings of the Drowned God spouted and wooden swords between them to learn how to reave and raid and kill.
• 195 AC: The Saltbloods return to the Iron Islands after their efforts in the Narrow and Jade Sea, the intent to restrengthen their ranks with those that once served them. Torwyn refused and urged Herrock to move on from his village, for which Herrock had instead had Torwyn slain and stole Terron to take his place on his ship.
• 196 AC: Torren, stolen away, finds himself between the ports of the Westerosi cities, of the Free Cities, of the Basilisk Isles and more. For the murder of his father, Torren would wish death upon Herrock and yet found himself ever too exhausted to enact such things; put to work, knives slip easily into Torren's small hands and are put to work, so soon stained with blood.
• 200 AC: The weeks turned to months, to years, and while Torren would still wish death upon Herrock and his ilk, what else was there, he wondered? Could he return to his mother and sister now? The manses in the Free Cities became his home for a time, spending nights travelling these foreign lands.
• 206 AC: Torren had no chance to return to the Iron Islands now, overcome by a sweeping plague. He wished to go, to ferry out his mother and sister, and yet there was no opportunity to do so. Herrock would not grant him a ship nor the coin to purchase one, and no one was permitted to go.
• 207 AC: The sour taste of his father's death and the thought of his mother's and sister's lingered on his breath, bitter and angrier than ever. Herrock demands the Saltbloods return to King's Landing and search for employ in His Grace, and Torren could not seem to care less.

"We become what we behold. We shape our tools, and thereafter our tools shape us." ~Marshall McLuhan
We've all seen the Sex and the City memes she posted; clearly she was an avid consumer of media (before social media consumed her) in the nineties and aughts, and the discerning may have ascertained the influence of such properties on the image she sought to portray- clinking wine glasses with the boss babes 🥂, striving to be top tier with the Addys of LeVel (instead of continuing to shovel shite with the Scoobys), glamour and gloss, fashion and floss (who wears a thong for air travel, heavily gravid and ostensibly retaining poop? That is commitment to an image 😄)
So, I am waking up with my coffee (after doing more than 90% of women lol, it was an early morning) and the YT algorithm rudder steered me to "Jon and Kate Plus 8 And the Downfall We All Saw Coming (Part II)".
It has been a long time since I peered even casually into that window (my own children were small; my TV was turned more frequently to SpongeBob than TLC, but one could not really avoid the media saturation, whether standing in a checkout line or chatting with neighbors, one 'knew' of the Duggars or the Gosselins probably a lot more than one chose 🙄) but I caught up to speed with the duo's dynamics fast enough- and O. Em. Gee.- listening to Kate chastise Jon is the very echo of how Shanann spoke to and treated Chris (who of course did not seem to 'talk back' like Jon, was not surly and lazy like Jon, but sure figured out eventually how to fuck around like Jon); it is eerie.
I am not suggesting Shanann purposefully modeled her behavior towards her spouse after a reality show, but remember the ubiquity of that couple, you couldn't get away from them in the media- they had more paparazzi camped outside their house than Harry Hewitt and la Markle in their wildest dreams, it was crazy .
Shanann absolutely was exposed to all of this in her still formative years- the brain doesn't finish puberty until 25!- and the 'perfectionist' super-cleaner, super-organized, super-mom 'You can't do anything right, but that's just how men are, and we love them" Kate aesthetic was imprinted on us all, but it seems like she took it as a challenge, and goals af (with her weak dad/strong mom example in life, it is understandable): watching this in hindsight feels like Kate is auditioning to play Shanann in a docudrama (instead of vice versa). I mean they are almost spitting the same sentences, with the same irritated, frustrated, condescending intonation.
Anyway, just some musings reflecting back on shows we were all exposed to back in the day, and the influence they've had on us, and what possible influence they may have had on Shanann - I don't find the hoochie rim job (probably doing immoral, possibly gross, illegal, and dangerous things) appealing at ALL, and after enough years there, the Supermom archetype of Kate Gosselin (pre scandals) undoubtedly appealed (and of course, the hormones kicking in, healthy young animals have an instinct to breed)- I would want to be my own boss after dealing with toxic patriarchal crap like rap culture, too.
I'd drop the link if I could, if anyone wants to step back in time for a deep dive and see if they too see the parallels, but it's easy enough to search, channel 'BE THEE COMMENTATOR'. Thank you if you made it this far!

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Treasure Nr. & Year	Rare & Retro Sets	Hero	Price	Stock	Reserved
Diretide 1. 2022	Dark Behemoth	Primal Beast	40💲	6
Diretide 1. 2022	Blue Horizons	Marci	15💲	14	1
Diretide 2. 2022	Brands of the Reaper	AntiMage	25💲	2
Aghanim's. 2021	Wrath of the Celestial Sentinel	Chaos Knight	50💲	1
Aghanim's. 2021	Pyrexae Polymorph Perfected	Ogre Magi	30💲	1
Cache 1. 2019	Gothic Whisper	Phantom Assassin	95💲	1
Cache 2. 2019	Cinder Sensei	Ember Spirit	145💲	4
Cache 1. 2019	Defender of Ruin	Disruptor	20💲	3
Cache 2. 2019	Fowl Omen	Necrophos	15💲	5
Cache 2. 2018	Cruelties of the Spiral Bore	Magnus	50💲	2
Cache 2. 2018	The Rat King	Chen	8💲	2
Collection 2022	Charms of the Firefiend	Batrider	1💲	1	1

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Diretide Cache 2. 2022	Hero	Price	Stock	Reserved
Darkbrews Transgression	Alchemist	8💲	2
Withering Pain	Clinkz	8💲	2
Dawn of Darkness Foretold	Doom	8💲	2
Sacred Chamber Guardian	Huskar	8💲	2
Bird of Prey	Legion Commander	8💲	2	1
Feasts of Forever	Night Stalker	8💲	2
Freebot Fortunes	Ogre Magi	8💲	2
Transcendent Path	Oracle	10💲	1
Darkfeather Factioneer	Phantom Assassin	10💲	1
Cursed Cryptbreaker	Pudge	15💲	1
Grand Suppressor	Silencer	8💲	3
War Rig Eradicators	Techie	8💲	1
Acrimonies of Obsession	Vengeful Spirit	8💲	3

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Diretide Cache 1. 2022	Hero	Price	Stock	Reserved
Hounds of Obsession	Chen	8💲	13
Seadog's stash	Clockwerk	8💲	12
Starlorn Adjudicator	Dawnbreaker	8💲	10
Chines of the Inquisitor	Faceless Void	8💲	13	1
Shadowleaf Insurgent	Hoodwink	10💲	10
Champion of the Fire Lotus	Monkey King	8💲	14
Crimson Dawn	Phoenix	8💲	13
Scarlet Subversion	Riki	8💲	13	1
Whippersnapper	Snapfire	10💲	10
Spoils of the shadow veil	Spectre	8💲	12	1
Forgotten Station	Terrorblade	8💲	11
Dirge Amplifier	Undying	8💲	12
Trophies of the Hallowed Hunt	Ursa	8💲	13	2
Deathstitch Shaman	Witch Doctor	8💲	12

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Aghanim's Cache 2021	Hero	Price	Stock	Reserved
Blightfall	Abaddon	12💲	3
Cosmic Concoctioneers	Alchemist	16💲	1	1
Secrets of the Frost Singularity	Ancient Apparition	12💲	2
Days of the Demon	Axe	15💲	1
Widow of the Undermount Gloom	Broodmother	10💲	2
Perils of the Red Banks	Chen	12💲	4
Apex Automated	Clockwerk	25💲	1
Perception of the First Light	Dawnbreaker	25💲	2	1
Silverwurm Sacrifice	Dragon Knight	20💲	1	1
The Chained Scribe	Grimstroke	10💲	2
Forgotten Fate	Mars	15💲	2
Scales of the Shadow Walker	Phantom Lancer	8💲	3
Test of the Basilisk Lord	Razor	10💲	1
March of the Crackerjack Mage	Rubick	10💲	1

​

Cache 2. 2019	Hero	Price	Stock	Reserved
Endless Night	Abbadon	15💲	1
Prized Acquisitions	Batrider	10💲	2
Fury of the Bloodforge	BloodSeeker	10💲	4
Automaton Antiquity	BroodMother	12💲	3
Directive of the Sunbound	Clockwerk	12💲	2
Sight of the Kha-Ren Faithful	Drow Ranger	20💲	3	1
Souls Tyrant	Shadow Fiend	25💲	4
Distinguished Expeditionary	Tusk	10💲	1
Verdant Predator	Venomancer	10💲	2
Tribal Pathways⠀	Warlock	10💲	4

​

Cache 1. 2019	Hero	Price	Stock	Reserved
Echoes of the Everblack	Abaddon	16💲	2
Priest of the Proudsilver Clan	Chen	10💲	2
Allure of the Fadeshade Flower	Dark Willow	20💲	2
Forbidden Medicines	Dazzle	10💲	2
Soul of the Brightshroud	Death Prophet	15💲	1
Scorched Amber	Dragon Knight	20💲	1
Glimmer of Sacred Hunt	Drow Ranger	45💲	1
The Arts of Mortal Deception	Enigma	12💲	2
Pursuit of the Ember Demons	Huskar	20💲	2
Riddle of the Hierophant	Oracle	8💲	1
Appetites of the Lizard King	Slark	20💲	1
Poacher's Bane	Tidehunter	18💲	2
Curse of the Creeping Vine	Undying	12💲	3

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Snow	4💲	11
Rain	4💲	10
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Total	32💲	6	1

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I was extremely excited about his election, particularly over former cop Arianne Slay.
I understand that there are many, many factors in play when it comes to the prevalence of crime, including a whole host of complex social and economic factors. I also know that my own perception and experiences are not actual data.
That being said...in just over a decade living in Washtenaw county, this is just about the least safe I have ever felt from a crime perspective. Driving has become totally insane. I know road rage is a problem everywhere right now, but it is definitely having an impact here, particularly east of the Hewitt. I've lived in the county for a decade, lived east of Hewitt for 5 years, and I have never felt this unsafe driving. This is a totally different level of aggression than I am accustomed to seeing.
There have been strings of vehicle break-ins across Ypsi apartment complexes. When people express concern in social media groups, they are questioned for potentially putting the lives of black men in danger over "property crimes".
A similar conversation pops up surrounding the random attacks by the unhoused downtown. People express their fear and the danger of such attacks is validated, but...what, you want to bring the hammer of the state down on the most vulnerable member of society?
Shit, someone even busted open some blue mailboxes at a rather busy post office. We're gettin federal with these crimes.
I guess I'm just wondering if any of this is partially related to the new approaches to policing and prosecution. The certainty of being caught and punished is a rather strong deterrent of crime. I know that Savit's approach hypothetically shouldn't impact this certainty, it should mainly be decreasing the severity of the punishments (which is a good thing as far as deterrence is concerned). I have really started wondering lately though whether Savit has actually made crime easier to get away with, and if that's related to (what feels to me like) an uptick in aggressive behavior and crime.
I would love to hear from someone who knows more than I do about the actual criminal justice statistics in this county, and I would genuinely love to hear that I'm wrong and that Savit's plan is actually working out and that this is just an issue of my own perception. But I'm not gonna lie, I'm starting to have a bit of buyer's remorse. I don't know if...society is actually ready for his kind of progressivism. It requires a pretty high level of buy-in from each individual citizen and I'm not entirely sure we're capable of that right now. It seems to me like it is a bit too easy for bad actors to intentionally take advantage of soft policy in order to get away with things they wouldn't have been able to get away with in the past.
Anyone else feeling the buyer's remorse? Who wants to tell me that I'm wrong and why?