Happy birthday wish gif

Sorry to leave a sad post here because a lot of people do, but only a week ago my boyfriend and I were still physically together and enjoying our time. We had a very good relationship. We were online friends for years prior to us dating. He was from England, I’m from the US. He visited me twice, and left only 3 days ago after a month together. We held on for each other all of this time, until he decided today that he doesn’t want to live in America after we had been planning it for 9 months. I’m so shattered inside, I feel so hopeless. I truly loved him and was ready to commit my life to him. I tried everything in my power to make him feel loved and happy as much as I physically and emotionally could. I feel so betrayed because he didn’t even have the guts to say it to me over the phone or while he was still in America, instead he said it on a text message. I begged him to call me, and he refused. When he finally agreed to, he had his microphone muted and had nothing to say to me.
All the hours spent up late talking, our plans of visiting another country, all of our memories and hope for the future…just gone. I feel destroyed inside. I wish I could just take back time to before any of this happened.
Please, enjoy your time with your s/o. You never know if they’ll just turn on you one day. 😔

Dear Hannah,
After all of these years, I’m finally getting a vacation! My good friend Bess has recently started working at Happily Ever After, a wedding planning company. One of their biggest clients, Poppy Dada the famous artist, is having a huge wedding in India, and when she found out Bess was working with the wedding planners, she invited us both out to her week-long wedding retreat. She has fallen madly in love with a wealthy socialite named Jai Kumar, whom she met through their yoga guru, Swami Rama. She promises me nothing but relaxation and fun, doing some yoga and meditation at the private resort, dancing and eating at the fabulous Mehndi party and Sangeet, and of course a beautiful ceremonies and reception. I may even get some sightseeing done while I’m here! After all, who’s ever heard of a wedding day mystery? Love, Nancy.
CHAPTER 1: Nancy ducks after a bolt of colorful silk fabric is thrown at her
CHAPTER 2: Nancy finds a cryptic note saying "Meet me at...Swami..."
CHAPTER 3: The servers had to shoo away a trained monkey away from the corridor
CHAPTER 4: Bess and Nancy splurge and stuff themselves on all of the street food
CHAPTER 5: A bridesmaid knocked over a large flower arrangement and is crushed by marigolds!
CHAPTER 6: Bess receives a suspicious box of chocolates from a secret admirer
CHAPTER 7: A rogue monkey has stolen a party guest's hair pin!
CHAPTER 8: Nancy finds Swami Rama's self help book
CHAPTER 9: Nancy corners the culprit in an alcove and forces them to reveal their identity
CHAPTER 10: The Culprit confessed and the Wedding came to a screeching halt
https://imgur.com/a/TnX9g7s
Dear Hannah, I’ve had an amazing vacation in India, even if it didn’t feel like it sometimes. I got to go to a Mehndi and Sangeet, I posed for wedding photos at the Taj Mahal, I even got some shopping done and stuffed myself on street food! I’m sure by now you’ve heard what happened. Last I heard, Poppy and Amani went on a honeymoon to Thailand before getting a house together in Etretat, France, where they paint the landscapes made famous by the impressionists. Poppy says she has never been so happy and inspired, and is planning a new art show featuring her portraits of Amani. Jai ended up meeting one of the servers at the wedding and started dating her, much to his parent’s disapproval, though they have no plans to marry any time soon. News of the wedding went internationally viral, attracting critics and supporters of their actions. Instead of getting backlash, Mira became famous for having planned a beautiful, if incomplete, wedding and attracted a slew of new clients, much to Vikram Malik’s frustration. As for the shady Swami Rama, he continued to sell his book until a new docuseries came out accusing him of crimes ranging from assault to larceny, his methods were debunked and he lost everything. On a lighter note, Bess met a handsome young man at the wedding named Amir who is smitten with her, he even sent her a box of chocolates! She made George and I swear to never tell him they made her sick. Leave it to Nancy Drew to find a mystery at a wedding! It’s a good thing I got some rest and relaxation, I just received a cryptic letter from the estate of Eustacia Andropov asking me to investigate a discrepancy in their book collection being donated to the National Széchényi Library in Budapest, Hungary! Wish me luck, love Nancy

I am 19 and am home from college for the summer, my family has been going through a very hard time lately as my father recently lost his job due to false accusations made about him that have essentially ruined his life. For the sake of this question I must stress that the accusations were false, my father has done nothing wrong but before it could all be cleared up the damage was already done.
I feel that every small thing I do here just makes my parents more miserable. If I’m happy they tell me I’m annoying and they get upset that I can be happy despite everything, if I’m depressed they threaten me and tell me that I don’t deserve to feel bad. I tried to express this to my father today, saying that I wished I could move away until college started again so I wouldn’t cause them any more annoyance. He replied to this by telling me he wishes that he was dead so he wouldn’t bother anyone anymore, and that I need to suck it up because he has it worse.
I have had suicidal tendencies for years, since I was around 12 due to other reasons that do not really matter here. My parents know this but disregard it because I had been doing better recently, but now I feel like they’re going to drag me down with them.
Is there anything I can do to help? I’m just really at a loss right now

Last year I was an Office PA on a smaller budget indie feature, it was my first proper film job. It was going really well, ya know, I was there 20 minutes early making the coffee when everyone came in type of thing. Till about halfway through, the OG coordinator left to manage another feature.
A week after the new coordinator came in, I got a call that one of my best friends had been killed. I was in a shock for a while, I considered the 60 hr weeks a welcome distraction for a bit, but as time it went on I was kind of running aground. I was happy to go on long drives for pickups because I could listen to sad music and grieve.
There were some weird office dynamics as well, it was just me, the prod. secretary and PC in the office. The secretary, who I was initially friends with, ended up kind of turning on me and throwing me under the bus to bond with the new coordinator. The producers’ assistant told me they were laughing once and wondering if I actually had any strengths.
Meanwhile other members of the production were saying they wish they could clone me and have a few copies running around because I can do everything/anything. But blah blah feelings, it stung a bit extra due to the loss of my friend.
But being in this environment, I never told anyone what had happened with my friend. It was so intense and personal, I don’t know, it seemed like no one would understand or I couldn’t open that can of worms.
Needless to say I didn’t have the same focus, didn’t always communicate updates effectively. Let my feelings towards the office dynamic get to me a bit. I guess on the other side I found out 6 months later the PC was coming off a kind of rough/high pressure project across the country. The coordinator has hit me up once or twice when they needed someone to drive a box truck or a heavy load in/out. We are getting coffee next week, and I was planning on sharing what happened to my friend during that time.
I’ve been up for just a couple office PA things since, I don’t really enjoy it as much vs set PA but work is work. And they haven’t gone my way. Which could be anything, but I know everyone knows everyone so a quick text that, oh he’s not very good, can torpedo things quickly. So, film industry of greater LA, anyway to probe if I’ve been getting a negative reference? Is getting coffee a good sign?
Thanks for reading if you made it here.

Hello polyverse, lately I've been having some serious difficulties navigating a polyamorous lifestyle, and have been dealing with situations that I haven't found great advice about online. I'd appreciate any thoughts/perspectives.
My primary partner (whom I live with) and I have been together for ~6 years, and opened our relationship about 1.5 years ago. In the last half year, she's begun a relationship with a new partner that is getting serious/steady.
I am really struggling with feeling that she is treating me unfairly in her attempts to isolate me from my metamour, his networks, and, by extension, a large portion of her life. There are two related concerns:
1) She doesn't want me to meet my metamour. I've expressed to her that I would like to, but she doesn't want it to happen because she thinks it could be too emotionally complicated for all parties involved. She is hesitant to even ask him if he would like to meet me, because she thinks it might be hard for him to navigate thinking through (he does know I exist, fwiw). It's gotten to the point where when there are gatherings that it makes sense for both of us to be at (anything from birthday parties to public dance parties), she thinks about if there are ways to limit overlapping.
2) She doesn't want me to be friends with my metamour's friends. The reason this comes up is that, even though I don't know my metamour, there are limited degrees of separation between our social circles. At some social gatherings, I've met people that I would like to be friends with, but who are friends with my metamour. My partner has told me she is not okay with me being close with anyone that is a "good friend" of my metamour because she is concerned it will compromise my metamour's ability to have confidants / feel disentangled from someone else my partner is involved with (me). Again, this has gotten to an extreme point, where she's told me to unfollow certain people on social media and tried to get me to decline invitations that are extended to me by them to hang out. I've struggled to make friends in recent years, so this cuts deep.
As my partner spends more and more time with her new partner and his networks, I am less and less involved in her life. I am also feeling more and more isolated generally. It hurts me a great deal, and I have expressed this to her, but her perspective is not changing. She never billed herself as practicing parallel polyamory, but in practice it feels like a very hardline form of it. It also feels like she ventriloquizes my metamour's implied needs a lot, and protects him at the expense of the needs I am actually voicing to her. The situation is untenable for me, and I am not sure what to do. I guess a basic thing I am wondering is: are both my partner and I being reasonable in our perspectives and there's just a fundamental incompatibility? Or is the way she's handling things problematic? What advice do people have?
Epilog: this post is actually a synthesis of things I wish I had asked over the last year. The primary partnership I reference has ended since the time I was grappling with these questions. And some of the things I've discussed had further developments. But I'm interested in how people respond to the above as I am committed to growth + others may benefit.

Happy birthday, Johnny! I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about an example of topnotch acting that very rarely gets any mention.
The Astronaut's Wife is not a perfect movie. It's got a solid premise, but the plot is all over the place and the sex scenes can't seem to decide if they want to be erotic or just plain creepy. The conclusion is so confusing you feel like you've woken up from a coma and the world is in total chaos. However, one thing that elevates this thriller (Which is still a guilty pleasure for how out-there it is) is Depp's amazing performance. He plays his role with masterful sublety, coming off as cold and distant even when he seems to show affection. Simply put, Spencer is practically an alien! His stare is so disquieting it sends chills down your spine. He goes about his day with total apathy, like he's drifting off into the distance emotionally but is also ready to do something horrible at any second.
I normally don't recommend a movie I found decent at best with much enthusiasm, but Depp was so memorable and brilliant here I want people to see it just for him.

It's my birthday today, and the 5th day without you.
This would probably be the saddest birthday I've experienced so far. I wish you here right beside me, instead of 5 feet under the earth. Whenever I feel sad, I would sit beside you and pet you until you're irritated with me. But now I'll never feel your soft fur every again.
I miss your sandpaper kisses. I miss your loud demanding meows. I miss when you do the tricks that I taught you. I miss your love bites. I miss your cute paws. I miss your crooked tail. I miss when you would look as me and slow blink. I miss seeing the look of your face when I scratch your chin. I miss you so so much.
My mom told me that I should get another cat. How can I do that when I'm still not over you? I don't think I'm ready for that yet. It would feel like I'm replacing you then, and you are anything but replaceable.
I still haven't touched your things. I don't have the courage yet. I know I need to, one of these days. But it reminds me that you're truly gone forever.
I don't cry as hard anymore, but I still tear up from time to time. Especially at night, when I overthink and all the guilt catches up to me. I'm still so sorry I couldn't do more for you.
In my dreams you were alive. I forget them when I wake up but I remember you were there. Was that you visiting me? Or is it just my mind trying to cope the loss of you. I don't know. In my dreams I keep thinking that you being dead was just a bad nightmare, but then I wake up. This sucks. I wish I could stay in those dreams forever.
I love you so much my baby girl, I hope you felt that while you were with me. I'll never forget the joy you brought to my life.

Por Thozhil - 3.5/5 A well-made, gripping whodunit with solid script, taut screenplay and sincere performances. Sarath kumar gets a meaty role after ages and he has nailed it. Has minor pitfalls with a familiar flashback & some plotpoints seem contrived in 2nd half, still its subtle msg at the end works.
Verdict: Worth a watch! —————
Takkar - 2/5 Clumsy writing, absurd narration, lack of formidable antagonist and inconsistent tonal shifts ruin the core of this Siddharth starrer. Black comedy also get misfired with too many cringe n silly sequences. Nivas Prasanna’s songs are the only saving grace.
Verdict: Forgettable fare.

Happy birthday Coko!!!

I bought a Bissell Pet Crosswave. WOW! It cut my floor cleaning by like 75%. It is worth every penny.
My problem now is, and I'm sure some of you have gone through it, bc I was so productive cleaning, and I've been motivated overall, the depression makes me feel something bad is going to happen, or the motivation is gonna go away.
Should I post this in depression (I haven't had any positive results in that SR) or does anyone have advice?
My brain just won't let me feel proud and happy. I'm anxious now. I wouldn't wish depression on my worst enemy.
Thank you

Hi there!
After more than ten years I finally want to replace my old system. Since I use it for photogrammetry i actually need a lot of everything. With the intention of using the PC again for ages I plan to purchase and build this over several months and buy a part or a few every month. Planning to build in a MSI 4090 Suprim Liquid and a 13900K (maybe KF). Because of a spontaneous attack of holy-crap-i-want-GIFs-in-my-case i would love to use an AIO water cooling solution with integrated display for my CPU. But I'm not sure what really fits into the top of the case. Fractal only writes that the memory is not allowed to be higher than 35mm. What memory is lower than 35mm nowadays?! I already started to look for mainboards with slightly lower positioned memory slots and not to high VRM heatsinks. Vendors don't provide any information on the location of the memory slots or the height of the heatsinks. Maybe i have a major fail in my thoughts. Could anybody tell me how tight it is to fit an AIO in the top panel? I wish I could combine it with Corsairs Dominator modules? Any other suggestions?
Thanks, Cheers!

Part 2
Day 11
The pain was excruciating and all over my body. A thousand knives seemed to dig into me. I lay there for a minute with the dead creature still on top of me. I was trying to muster enough strength to get up and move this horrible thing off me, but I couldn’t. Finally, after what seemed like lying there for an hour Chloe came over and helped me move its dead body off me.
She froze when she saw me. I must’ve looked horrible so much had happened to me in the last 10 minutes. I saw her eyes move to my left hand. I found my tired eyes looking over, and what I saw was horrifying. My left hand was a bloody broken mess, fingers were missing, bones were sticking out in odd places, and a huge chunk of my palm was completely gone. I puked all over myself. Chloe looked like she was trying so hard to keep herself together.
The next few minutes were tense. Chloe tied one of her layers to my arm as a makeshift tourniquet. Then we slowly made our way home with Chloe practically dragging me.
They had to stitch my wounds while I was still conscious due to us not having anesthetics, and those were the most painful moments of my life. I felt the needle go in and out of my skin, I felt the small string pull my muscle and skin back together, and I felt when they had to cut one of my fingers off. It was absolutely excruciating and after it was done I passed out.
Chloe sat on the couch feeling awful and tired. She’d just spent an hour trying to get the food that had been in the fridge into coolers, but her mind was so busy she hardly cared. She felt awful about everything. There was so much she could’ve done, so many ways she could’ve helped me. So many ways that led to me still having a hand. If only I hadn’t been a coward, she thought, if I just hadn’t stood there maybe he would still have his hand. If only she’d just shot it again. She wiped her face trying not to cry. She had to be the strong one now, she had to be brave.
She was very curious, she wanted to know what exactly had happened to Carl. Joey hadn’t had the time to tell her whether or not the man was dead. She assumed he was due to the blood and the creature, but there was a small chance. She told Gretchen and Ronda (my mom) what her plan was. They agreed and she went to get ready.
She brought two guns, the sniper and the semi-automatic. She also found an old motorcycle helmet and decided to use that as a makeshift helmet. She knew if I had been awake I wouldn’t have not in a million years let her go, so she made her process quick just in case I did wake up.
Crunch! The snow had melted slightly the night before so now it felt more like walking across huge ice sheets. As she walked she realized she didn’t even have to use the GPS because of the blood trail. She followed it for a while, the snow constantly attacking her. After a couple of minutes, she found it. Lying in the middle of the street now with a fresh layer of snow on it was the creature, the hound as she’d begun to refer to it in her head. She hadn’t gotten a good look at it like I had so her eyes went wide when she saw the body. She was struck by how much its exoskeleton looked like big chunks of rocks. She also noticed the now frozen yellow-greenish blood around the body. Chloe leaned down to examine what was left of the head. What was left was a hollow shell of the exoskeleton; the gunshot in the mouth had practically liquefied everything in its head. She remembered how everything had exploded from the mouth and eye holes. The image of the eyes getting blown out from behind disgusted her.
She found herself examining the rest of the body and she couldn’t help but keep looking at the four legs. They looked so out of place on the body. They looked so mammalian for such an insect-like creature. They literally looked like stretched-out bald dog legs. She had a feeling of deja vu as she looked at the legs, she couldn’t help but think of the black dog they’d seen the other day. She made a note in her head that she wanted to take the body with her on the way back.
Finally, she stood up and started making her way towards the store. Like before she just followed the blood. She remembered when Joey ran into her he was covered in blood, like he’d slipped into the trail. She dreaded to think what he’d found in the showers. Her trek was slow and eerie. Then as she got closer the dead silence was cut by a ticking sound. She vaguely recognized it as something those spiders had made. Specifically the stinger ones. She kept the semi-automatic raised and got ready for a fight, but the ticking sounds slowly faded and she kept moving.
The store was just as she had left it early that morning. It was still a complete wreck. She hurried past the shattered glass and toppled shelves, through the small break room, and into the bunk room. It looked even worse than before. It looked like the creature had destroyed a few more things after it caught the headlamp. She specifically noticed a new deep gash in the bunk they’d hid behind.
As she walked into the shower room she heard a faint dripping sound. She started going one stall at a time to find it. First empty, second empty, but the third she wanted to throw up. Carl lay in the back of the stall, his body a bloody mess. His torso was almost gone. Everything inside of it had been ripped out along with most of his flesh. His ribs were shattered and lying on the floor. His spine was cracked and twisted. It looked like it had been broken. She threw up and stepped away from the sight, making her start to sob. Pull yourself together, she thought to herself, now isn’t the time. She wiped the tears off her face and continued. He had a daughter and a wife. She had to know what happened to them. So with much hesitance, she continued.
Fourth room empty, fifth empty, sixth empty, seventh empty, she stood next to the eighth stall dreading what she’d find inside. She didn’t want to see what was in there, but she would never forgive herself for not looking.
Two cocoon-looking things lay in the stall. They were white and pulsating slightly. They looked like the web cocoon the stingers had wrapped around the dog, but these were too big to be dogs. Instantly she knew what had happened to his wife and daughter. Chloe stepped away so she didn’t have to see it anymore, and then she had a thought. They wouldn’t leave them unattended, would they? She became much more nervous and started cautiously making her way from the room. She started to hear the ticking noises outside again and her hands started to shake. She took a deep breath and kept walking.
She walked into the main part of the store and saw a dozen or so stingers crawling in through one of the broken windows. She gasped, then in a hurry ducked back into the breakroom. Her whole body was shaking as she stood there listening to them scurrying around the store. Then after a minute one walked into the breakroom didn’t see her and disappeared into the bunk room. Then another went through, then another, then another, then another, and soon all but one had passed through. Her whole body was trembling when finally it walked through. This one was walking more slowly and looking around much more than the others, and suddenly its small beady eyes met hers. Scre… Rat-a-tatata! Four quick bullets cut through the stinger. All four hit it right in the head. She had a small feeling of triumph then Screech! The other stingers started running into the room. She hurried out in such a rush she didn’t watch where she was stepping and slipped on a piece of glass.
Smack! Her helmet slammed into the ground and then the rest of her. She watched them hurriedly crawl towards her. She tried to get a shot but they were just too fast. Then she felt a sharp pain in her leg. One of the stingers had sunk their stinger into her calf. Another was about to sting before she made her move. She grabbed a large piece of glass and stabbed it into the one on her leg, and then quickly stuck the shard into the other one that was about to sting her. Then she quickly stood up. Her body was starting to feel heavy and she was getting a little loopy. The other stingers were screeching and running toward her. Rat-a-tatatatata! She shot 10 rounds into the remaining nine stingers. Seven exploded when the bullet made contact, another got three legs blown off, the last wasn’t hit, and before she could shoot again it had lodged its stinger in her boot. She stopped for a second realizing that the stinger hadn’t actually pierced her foot then Rat-a-tat! She shot two bullets into the thing and then pulled it off her foot.
Her adrenaline was wearing off and the venom was doing its work fast. Her eyes were starting to close and she had to concentrate just to keep them open. I need to get somewhere safe, she thought looking around, and then her eyes fell on an intact door.
She locked the door to the women's restroom and then slumped against it as she felt her consciousness begin to slip. All she could think of was me hoping that I was okay, and hoping that she’d be able to see me again. Then finally she blacked out.
Her eyes fluttered open to see she was in the same place she’d passed out. There was a small puddle of blood around her calf. She weakly reached over and touched the wound. It wasn’t bleeding any more. I must’ve been out for a while. She thought, gingerly beginning to put weight on her leg. It hurt but she could walk. Click, she unlocked the bathroom door, raised the gun, and opened the door. She was nervous, worried that maybe more of them had come while she was out. It didn’t look like too much time had passed, and even more importantly there were no stingers. She looked over and saw her footprints were still visible through the heavily falling snow. Good not much time must have passed, she thought. Then she pulled out the phone and called Gretchen.
Bzzz…
“Gretchen, I got stung and passed out. What time is it?” She asked.
Gretchen’s relieved voice cut through the phone: “Oh Chloe thank goodness, it’s 2:42. You left around 12.”
Day 13
I woke up to giggling and laughter. I sat up and looked at the doorway and on the other side I could hear the boys quietly playing together. I moved the covers and tried to move my legs, but instantly daggers of pain went up my right leg. I wanted to do it more slowly but nothing seemed to help.
“Chloe!” I called and immediately heard something clatter upstairs followed by fast footsteps into the basement.
In a second Chloe had sprinted into the room and was on top of me giving me a huge hug. She pulled away and gave me one of her pretty little smiles.
“How are you feeling?” She asked.
My stomach growled and that answered her question.
“You’ve been asleep for almost two days, no wonder you’re hungry.” She said, I froze and looked over at the clock, but nothing showed on it. It was just a blank black screen.
“When did the power go out?” I asked, turning back toward her.
“Not long after you fell asleep.” She said, “We put as much food as we could into coolers, but most of what was in the fridge and freezer has gone bad.”
Her face was sad and grim. I reached for her hand with my good hand and squeezed it.
“We’ll get through this just like everything else. We’ll make it through if we stick together.” I told her starting to realize how hoarse I sounded.
She smiled then looked up at me again: “I’ll go get you some food… and a water bottle.” She said walking back out of the room.
I lay there in deep thought when Alan poked his head in.
“Uncle, are you okay?” He asked, sitting down on the foot of the bed.
“I’ll be fine,” I said, smiling at him.
He smiled back, “Uncle you’ve got a Lego hand now.” He yelled pointing to my left hand.
I looked at my hand and saw the way they wrapped it did look like a Lego hand.
“Ha… yeah I suppose so.” I chuckled, Alan nodded and disappeared into the hallway.
A few minutes later Chloe appeared in the doorway with a plate and Mom and Gretchen tailed her.
“Sweety, are you ok?” My mom asked, walking over to the bedside and putting her hand on my forehead.
“Yes Mom I’m ok, I’m as ok as I can be right now,” I told her.
“Well I’m glad you’re ok,” She said, hugging me.
“Me too,” Gretchen added, hugging me.
After a minute they broke away and Chloe gave me my plate. It was some dry cereal and a piece of toast.
“Sorry… that’s all I could scrape together.” She said her expression was sad.
“How much is left?” I asked her.
“A few days maybe, the water situation is even worse though,” She said grimly.
I felt a crushing sense of defeat at that.
“We’re going to need to do something now,” Gretchen said, “Before we can’t do anything.”
“Agreed, but what? There is no chance of leaving without a snow plow.” I grumbled, becoming more disheartened.
“What if we had a snow plow?” Chloe asked.
“What?” Me and Gretchen asked.
“I mean, they keep it at the tractor place just a mile away. We could get the snow plow.” She suggested a hint of hope in her eyes.
“I don’t think we’ll all fit. Let alone supplies.” I told her.
“So then we bring two vehicles,” She said, “One or two of us go to the place, get the snow plow, and come back to the others in the other vehicle and follow behind.”
It was actually a pretty good plan, but it was still wishful thinking. They had a lot of variables on that.
“That might work, but it will take time and we don’t exactly have time,” I said.
“Well then let's get some more time. We might be able to find more food in other homes,” My mom said.
“Yes, in theory, that would work, but we don’t have two people to go,” I said.
“I’m out of commission, Gretchen isn’t leaving her boys, and not in a million years am I letting you go, Mom,” I argued.
“She can handle herself, she did the other day,” Mom argued back.
“What?... no I was with her…” I turned toward Chloe in confusion.
I saw a guilty look on her face and she told me that she’d gone to the store on the 11th day after they were done treating me.
I pulled her into a tight hug and whispered in her ear: “If you do that again I will use whatever force necessary to make your stay here.”
She looked at me, her eyes darkening: “Joey if I don’t go, we will starve. I’m terrified too but if that is what needs to be done I’ll do it.”
“I… I… I don’t want to lose you.” I sputtered out.
Her face turned red before she said: “I don’t want to lose you either, or any of you guys and that's why I need to go.”
I finally relented, Gretchen and my mom left the room, and Chloe sat and chatted with me while I ate my mediocre breakfast.
She perked up and said, “Joey I need to show you something.”
She got up and helped me get out of bed. Getting out wasn’t that hard unless I had to move my left leg or arm. Once I was standing she helped me over to the restroom and then helped me sit down.
“What am I supposed to be looking at?” I asked, looking around the bathroom.
“This,” She said, pulling the shower curtain open and revealing what was inside.
Lying inside the tub was the body of the dog bug creature.
“Why the heck did you bring that in?” I asked.
“Aren’t you curious what it is?” She asked, an almost crazed look in her eyes.
“Fair, I am curious,” I said. “Found anything out so far?” I then asked.
“Well a no, not yet,” She said looking disappointed now, “I just know it isn’t anything science knows of.”
“Nothing, nothing interesting?” I inquired.
“Well yes there are interesting things,” She said, “Like look at this.”
She grabbed a knife covered in yellowish-green blood and used it to open a previously cut incision into the body. I looked inside and saw something quite strange. This thing still had an endoskeleton.
“Nothing that we know of on earth has an endo and exoskeleton, and I honestly don’t know why an animal would have both.” She said looking up at me.
“Hmm… mind if I take a look?” I asked.
She nodded and I moved over and took the knife with my right hand. I used the knife to hold open the incision and I looked at the bone. It looked normal but I was suspicious so I set the knife down, reached in, and yanked the femur I’d been looking at out. The femur was the size it should’ve been for a normal dog, but for this creature, it was extremely undersized.
“Just as I thought,” I said, looking over at her.
“Can you explain to me what it is that you just figured out?” She asked, very confused.
“Look how small this femur is, it should be double the size for this creature, but it is the adequate size for a normal dog. The way I figure this is that during the metamorphosis that changed the dog into this thing the bones were not destroyed or changed. That’s why they are still there but not the right size.” I explained holding the bone up to her.
“I suppose that your theory makes sense,” She said after a short pause.
Day 14
Chloe sat on the bed strapping on the extra gear I was making her take. I knew I couldn’t stop her from going so I decided I would make her as safe as possible. I dug through old boxes and found my dad's old Kevlar vests. There were two so I cut one up to make guards for her arms and legs. Then I made her put on an extra coat to add one more layer of protection, as for other parts I agreed that the motorcycle helmet was the best helmet we had so she put that on.
Now she was sitting on the bed with the helmet sitting next to her while she was loading her weapons. She was bringing the semi-automatic and the sniper rifle with extra ammo for each. She also had a hunting knife strapped to her belt saying it would’ve come in handy last time. I looked at her and gave her a tight hug.
“If you don’t come back I’ll find you and teach you a lesson.” I jokingly threatened her.
She let out a giggle, “I’ll try my best.”
Again she made her outside into the blizzard. It raged on around her as it had been for days. She had to climb the almost four-foot-tall pile of snow before she could really start exploring. They’d assumed that the people who had left town wouldn’t have much food in their homes, so she planned to hit Carl’s house and the Garrison’s house today. Then check out a few other houses the next day, but right now she had to focus on simply taking the next step because anytime she stepped wrong she’d sink further into the snow. Slowly through the whipping wind and freezing snow, she walked. It was exhausting especially with her still being sore from a couple of days ago, but she continued despite the pain and weather. Despite it all she kept taking step after step after step, and the whole time the blizzard's icy claws were digging into her.
Eventually, she saw the destroyed store and walked past it, her eyes eyeing the shattered windows for any movement but nothing happened. She continued onward knowing that Carl’s house was now only a block away. She walked carefully and precisely trying not to step in the wrong place. Then she saw it. Carl’s house was a small colonial-style two-story home with a big wrap-around porch, but now it looked horrible. The door was ripped out of its hinges and two or three windows were shattered. She slid down a short snowy slope and onto the porch. Crack! One of the wooden planks that made the porch broke from under her foot and her foot slipped down. She pulled it out of the hole and slowly walked into his house.
There was a trail of snow leading in from the fallen door almost like a carpet leading her into this place. It was horrible on the inside. It reminded her of the store. Furniture was thrown every which way, some bearing deep gashes. The closest door to her had a hole going straight through it. She walked over a vast sea of shattered glass and turned into the kitchen. The granite countertops had been ripped from their places and shattered on the tiled floor. A large gash was in the door of the now fallen fridge. She walked over and kneeled down near the fridge, ripping open one of the doors. As she suspected, everything in there was frozen solid. Sitting in there was cheese, deli meat, assorted fruits and vegetables, shattered glasses of condiments, and two steaks. She grabbed everything and stuffed it all into one of the duffel bags she’d brought. Then she saw a loaf of bread lying on the ground near her and grabbed that too. She stood up and looked around the kitchen. She noticed a box of pasta sitting next to a pot on the stove. The box was full, so she grabbed it. The pot was partly melted onto the stove and frozen tomato sauce sat inside.
The picture of what had happened began to emerge in her head. Carl had likely been walking home from the store when it attacked. It chased him inside, breaking down the door and destroying everything in its path. His wife, Greta, had been making spaghetti for dinner when it happened. He ran into the kitchen and grabbed his wife with the beast following him. It destroyed the kitchen as it chased them.
Chloe pushed those thoughts from her head and opened their pantry to see if there was more food. There were lots of boxes but her eyes fell on the cans that lined the bottom of the pantry. There were dozens of them, probably a hundred or two cans. She kneeled and started eagerly grabbing the cans and putting them in the duffel bag. She even took out the cheese and pasta to make for more room.
She stopped her eager collecting when she heard a slight ticking noise. Stingers she thought and then pulled her knife from her belt in preparation. The ticking was slight and distant. It probably just walked in, she thought. With the ticking, she heard the slight creaking of the wood floor in the hall as it approached the kitchen. Then a scraping tapping sound as it began walking on the tiles. She gripped the knife tightly and got ready to stab the thing. Scr…! The stinger managed to give off a faint screech before the sharp hunting knife pierced its windpipe. She yanked the knife out of its neck severing the head from the body. Then she resheathed the knife and quietly got back to what she’d been doing. She didn’t stop until the bag was bulging then she zipped it closed and heaved it under her arm. It was heavy but she wasn’t weak.
She walked over to the front door and set the duffel bag next to it. She wanted to check out the rest of the house before she left.
She crept down the hall and into the master bedroom. It was intact, everything looked right and nothing was broken. She walked over to the dresser and started going through the drawers. Darn, just clothes. She thought as she dug her hands in shuffling the clothes around. She opened the drawer and start thrashing around the clothes when she felt something hard. She pulled a box of ammo out of the drawer. It was for the revolver she looked to see how much but it was empty.
Almost every stair on the way upstairs bore scratches and one or two were cracked. They creaked so loud she began to worry that the noise would get the stinger’s attention but nothing came. Then finally she arrived upstairs. The second floor of their house was composed of two rooms, a restroom, and his daughter Lacy’s bedroom. The bedroom door and a dresser lay on the room floor scratched and broken. The rest of the room was torn apart. The bed was shredded and a mirror lay shattered on the ground. Her eyes fell to the window which was propped open.
The rest of their story seemed to fall into place. Carl and Greta ran upstairs chased by the hound, and into Lacy’s room. They barricaded the door as the creature tried to get it, and then they all quickly slipped out of the window onto the porch roof and then to the ground. They ran to the store and bunkered there. The creature searched the whole shop but couldn’t find them. Then later the hound came back and Carl went to fight it. He told Greta and Lacy to hide in a stall and made his way to the main part of the shop. There he was killed and then dragged into the shower stall to be eaten, and at some point during that time the stingers and slugs got to Lacy and Greta.
She shivered, they’d tried so hard but it still got to them. Maybe if he’d had more bullets he could’ve survived. Thinking of the empty box and the two shots that had woken them that night.
She walked out of the bedroom and back downstairs. She found her eyes wandering around the destroyed first floor again, and it struck her that something bigger had to have done this. There was no way the deer-sized hound would have destroyed this much. She hurried over into the kitchen again and looked at the gash in the fridge. That’s too big. Way too big! She thought looking at the huge gash. She started to think about the store and the same inconsistencies began to appear in the memories. All the damage, the claw marks, the strength, it was all too much, too big, there was no way the hound had done this.
As she was thinking she noticed a doorway she hadn’t been through. Next to her was the doorway to the basement stairs with the door wide open. She peaked down and saw light down there, not much probably from a window, but it was something.
Creak! Her first step of descent was loud and made her worry again that something would hear her. She stopped and listened, but nothing. So as carefully as she could she continued. Every step was as loud as the first and every step made her jump in her skin and wait for something to happen. But after what seemed like ages she arrived at the bottom.
The basement was large with two spare bedrooms and a large storage room. She slowly walked down the hall looking into the bedrooms on both sides of her. They were bare with nothing much more than beds, so she walked forward and into the main storage room.
The storage room had large shelving units across the whole room. The shelves were partially filled with labeled boxes. She walked over to one shelf and started reading the labels. Christmas, no, I don't need that. Halloween, not that. Games, nope. Sports could be useful. She thought as she grabbed the heavy crate and set it out in front of her. She grabbed the latches on either side, undoing them and popping the lid off.
Suddenly a ripping sound erupted from another part of the basement. The ripping had a sort of wet sound to it. Chloe started to walk over to the sound far too curious not to. Screech! It came from the same direction as the ripping sound. She got the gun ready and then jumped from around a shelf not facing what was making the sound. She watched one of those hound things fully emerge from a cocoon and look over at her. A chill ran down her spine as its four eyes met hers; the two to the left were icy blue and the two to the right were dark brown. This one was also slightly smaller but much stockier than the other. Rat-a-tatatata! She released a quick barrage of bullets hoping to stop the disgusting thing, but it just started charging for her. Quickly she moved to the other side of the shelving and pushed it down. Her whole body was shaking, but she had to keep calm and keep fighting. The hound howled in pain and started cracking through the wooden shelf to get to her. She took this time to aim a good shot at its face. Rat-a-tat! She shot two quick bullets into its face. One sunk into its exoskeleton the other buried itself into one of its eyes. SCREECH!!!!! It broke through the shelf and made a quick dive toward her. It pinned her to the ground, knocking her gun away in the process. It sunk its jaws into the helmet and it started to break and crack. She started to cry. This thing was going to eat through her helmet then her face, but during this moment of panic she remembered something. She pulled the knife from her belt and stabbed it into the hound's semi-exposed underbelly. It screeched again in pain so she stabbed again. She then shoved the hurt thing off of her and dove for the gun. She felt one of its praying mantis talons slash her vest and then her upper leg, so she turned around and fired. Rat-a-tatata! She shot it four more times, one hitting its forehead, the second hitting its mouth, the third mouth as well, and the fourth badly damaged its lower jaw. Its face was covered in yellow-greenish blood and it was throwing up blood onto the floor. Just as she thought it might be dying it made a quick sprint toward her. It bit her right knee, its teeth sinking in and actually managing to make her bleed. But then crash! It shoved forward and caused her to fall on top of it. Not having a good shot she grabbed the knife and started stabbing anywhere she could until it finally stopped fighting.
She lay there catching her breath until finally she stood up. Her vision was disrupted by the cracks in the helmet’s visor. She tore the helmet off and threw it down onto the dying hound. Even as it lay there it still tried to get toward her and attack her. She thought about executing it but decided that would just be a waste of a bullet and in a weird way she found its attempts to attack entertaining.
The sports crate she’d opened earlier didn’t have much use. It contained a few balls and two or three different types of rackets. She continued looking through the shelves until she found a box labeled camping. She slid it off the shelf and onto the floor, undid the latches, and popped the lid off. Inside the box were all sorts of goodies. At the top of the box were two big mummy sleeping bags. She pulled those out to see fire starters, water purifiers, bug spray, sunscreen, a small tent, utensils, pots and pans, and a large hatchet. Excitedly she grabbed her other duffel bag and moved everything from the crate into it.
She heaved the duffel bag under her arm and carried it back upstairs. She set it next to the other and turned around. She wanted to check one more place before she left the house. She walked across the house and to the backdoor pushing it open and looking outside. In their backyard half buried in snow was a shed. She hurried over to the shed through the deep snow. The doors were almost completely covered in snow and she knew she wouldn't be spending the whole day shoveling. Luckily there was a small window near the top of the shed. She gave it one good kick and the window popped open. She slid through the hole and dropped down into the shed.
The shed was small with very little inside. There was a lawn mower and a few tools but that was it. The one thing that did catch her eye was a small wooden sled with a rope tied to the front. She picked it up thinking how much easier it would make carrying the bags.
Chloe carefully shoved the sled through the window frame and then squeezed through herself. She carried the sled into the house, used tape to keep the bags secure on it, and then started pulling the sled back towards home. Carl’s house was near the top of a small hill, so for a short couple of seconds, she rode the sled as it slid down the icy slope. It made her feel like a little kid and she wished it would have lasted longer.
After a long walk through the blizzard she arrived home tired and her face feeling like it was freezing off. Gretchen hugged her the moment she walked in.
“Are you ok? We thought we heard gunshots.” She said a little worried.
“You did… I had to kill another hound thing. Just like the one in the tub. The armor worked like a charm though, I hardly felt its bite.” Chloe said motioning to the rip in her pants around the knee.
“Oh shoot you bleeding,” Gretchen said looking at her leg.
Chloe looked down to see a cut on her thigh and a few small nicks on her knee.
I sat in bed. I'd just heard Chloe come in and I waited patiently for her to come down. After a couple of minutes, I heard footsteps come downstairs and start creeping down the hall. Then I saw her face poke in from around the door. She smiled and walked in when she saw I was awake.
“Hi babe, how are you feeling?” She asked, taking a seat next to me.
“I mean my hand still hurts like heck, but yeah I’m fine.” I joked.
She smiled, “Seriously though, are you feeling alright?” She asked.
“I’m feeling fine,” I lied trying to get her to stop worrying.
“I want to hear about everything that happened,” I said sitting up.
So she told me everything that happened, even her theory on what exactly happened to Carl and his family.
“Did they have a dog?” She asked me after finishing her story.
“Yeah… a pitbull I think,” I replied, trying my best to remember the odd times when Carl talked about his dog.
“That explains it, that hound was a lot stockier than the one you shot.” She said, “Also it destroyed the helmet so I need a new one before I go to the Garrison’s house.”
I gave her a worried look, “Do you need to go?” I asked.
“YES!” She insisted, “We don’t know what happened to them, and I’d like to find a little more food.”
“But do we need more food?” I asked, “You got a lot of cans.”
“Joey, this has already been going on for two weeks. Who knows how long it will last? More preparation never hurts.” She argued, sounding a little angry now.
“Ok… Ok… Just be safe,” I told her and gave her a big hug.
Gretchen found an arguably better helmet in the garage, a big metal welding helmet. It fit Chloe almost perfectly, and as a backup, she wore two thick hoods to protect the back of her head. She had a very bad feeling this time, as she stood there by the door she couldn’t help but shake. She wanted someone to come with her, and as big Herman came over to say his goodbyes she had an idea.
She marched through the deep snow with Herman atop the sled she pulled. She’d try to have him follow on foot, but the snow was just too high and he kept getting stuck. But she didn’t care that he was just extra weight because she was just happy that she wasn’t facing this alone. She slowly made her way down the street, the blizzard more relentless than ever. It seemed to her the longer the blizzard continued the stronger it was becoming. The snow continued to pound down on top of her slowly wearing down her will to continue, but it didn’t stop her. She took one step after another after another. She was starting to tire and the pain of the injuries was beginning to wear on her. But every time she seemed to slow Herman would give a little woof, and she would keep on going.
The snow had become so hard to see through that more than an outstretched hand was invisible to her. Her vision was so bad she didn’t know the group of crawlers and slugs were there until she was practically right on top of them
Meanwhile…
“Hey, we should probably start clearing the driveway now,” Gretchen said suddenly to her mom while they both sat at the kitchen table.
“That’s probably a wise idea,” Our mother said with a smile.
Gretchen and Mom began their efforts with large snow shovels. Gretchen did most of the work as Mom had to take frequent breaks. They shoveled and shoveled as the day wore on going over their work with salt so as to not let more snow accumulate. Gretchen was exhausted from the work, but she continued nonetheless. She kept digging ad digging until she heard the shovel scrape concrete then she moved to the next section. Despite the cold, they were both dripping with sweat.
I sat by the window watching them work while the boys played. I so wanted to go help but knew I couldn’t. I couldn’t do anything but sit and watch them work. I felt horrible as I watched, and then my mind started thinking of Chloe. I pulled out the walkie and pressed the button to talk.
The first thing Chloe heard was Screech! The stinger was right in front of her clearly just as surprised by her as she was of it. But it wasn’t alone from her restricted view; it looked like there were about 10 stingers and 3 or so slugs.
She tried to raise her gun but they were scattering around far too quickly. Then she heard a ripping noise as one of them drove a stinger into her boot. She pulled out the hunting knife and made quick work of the stinger. Two more stingers were charging straight for her and one was coming from her left. Before she could do anything the snow under the two erupted and they were dragged down into it. She wasn’t able to see what it was and she began to shake as it did the same thing to the one coming from her left. In a sudden panic, she turned around to see the sled empty with a hole in the snow right next to it. She let out a small cry whatever was under the snow had gotten Herman and the stingers, but there was no time for mourning as more of the stingers began coming for her. Again the snow erupted under them but this time she got a better look. Whatever was under the snow was big and white. She got the gun as the thing took out the rest of the slugs and stingers. She assumed it was coming for her next. She hurried and jumped atop the sled so it couldn’t take her down easily. She stood there ready to fight whatever monster thing had gotten everything. Horrible images of twisted spider mole creatures flew through her head. Suddenly the snow next to the sled exploded open and she saw the large white beast jump out of the snow and on top of her. She closed her eyes expecting to feel teeth begin to sink down, but after a second she heard a lapping sound. She opened her eyes to see Herman on top of her licking her helmet. She smiled and let out a laugh.
“Good boy!” She said encouragingly.
Herman was completely covered in snow; he looked more like a polar bear than a dog. She brushed some of it off but didn’t bother to do much. She helped the big dog back onto the sled and continued forward. She walked another block before she finally saw her destination to her right was the Garrison’s large house broken and beaten from obvious attacks. It stood there somehow feeling more eerie than the surrounding houses. She stepped onto the wooden porch and there was a loud creak. Ever so more carefully she and Herman crept across the porch and into the house. If only they’d known what they were about to walk into.

I 20(M) have 7 friends whom I hang out with, 6 of them are in a relationship. Last week the 7th friend was asked out by his crush and now he is also in a relationship. I am really happy about the fact that they found someone that loves them but whenever I see pictures of them with their partners I feel extremely lonely and also a bit jealous. I am from a country in which you stay with your parents until you get a college degree, so I am currently staying with them. My parents always had this thing where girls and guys can never be friends and due to this I do not know how to talk with women, I always feel nervous and start stuttering whenever I need to talk to them. I had never been in a relationship and no one has ever asked me, I did ask someone out when a few years ago but it went terribly wrong and I do not blame her for that. At this point I not only feel like a terrible person but also a terrible friend. I fear that I would never be loved because of my jealous personality and my lack of social skills. I wish I could just sleep and just never wake up the next day.

He didn't get a Happy Birthday post on Instagram, while Kasami did.
So is he also gone or did Olympiakos amazing social media team do a great job again and just forgot?
^{I need some real news. I'm starving over here}