Polyamorous Hell | CreepCast

[MUSIC] Welcome back to Creepcast. Today we're going to be doing a story called when we turn 18, we get the name of our soul mate. Isaiah tells a little bit about the author. So the author is a user that goes by the name, the wack waffle. They've posted a few stories to no sleep, but nothing in the past couple of years from the looks of it. This is their most popular story. The first part of it has 13,000 upvotes, which is pretty impressive. I'm not seeing any other links to, like anywhere else, they're riding, and again, they haven't uploaded in a couple of years, but we'll leave a link to their Reddit page below, if you want to show them some love directly, or if they do see this and want to upload, you know, a place to find them. But yeah, this seems to be their most popular one. The title is certainly intriguing. Is that what happened to you, Hunter? No. Did you get the name of the soul mate? Absolutely not. I had internal loan. I had nothing but loneliness until I met my wife. And I would let me tell you, I was much, much older than 18 when I met my wife. And she wasn't? Is that the significance of that statement? Is she not my soul mate? No, that she wasn't 18. Oh, no, no, she was in her 40s. No, you know, who knows? I don't know. I mean, I hope that she's my soul mate, but the statistics are against that. So Allison is now pushing 60. No, Allison's only, Allison's only 49. Okay. She's got that old. Yes. But you know, everything ends 50/50. You know, 50% of marriage is ending failure. So, you know, if I took that to a casino, we'd be playing Bacharot, in a way, half and half, little flip of the coin. I like the story, like I like the name of this story when we turn 18, we get the name of the soul mate. I like whenever there's weird rules or conventions to a universe. If this is literal, like I don't know, you know, it might be like a weird, it's not actually literal, but I like whenever a story sets up that this is just kind of the way of the world. It makes me think of the, this movie called The Lobster, which was great, which was all about. Oh, yeah. I love that film. If you don't have a partner after a certain period of time, you get turned into an animal. And that's just kind of fun. Yeah. Just a fun take on just like a weird set of rules that I think you can really have a lot of fun with. So I'm hoping that this is that similar thing where, you know, I think there's going to be a lot of deception. Like, how do people abuse these rules as well? Is what like these kind of devices let you do so? I'm stoked. I'm curious. And also the guy's name is The Wack Waffle, which is pretty fun. Yeah, the Wack Waffle. That's, um, I think is that any spelled back? There's an H in Wack. Isn't there? I thought it spelled Wack. I said the Wack. I don't know. Is it W H A C K? Is that like a Wack? I'm a Wack. Yeah, it has to be. There's no way back. Versus Wack might be W A C K Y. I don't know. I, uh, I'm really dumb. So I have no idea. Wait, wait. Okay. So I googled Wack without the H and it says Wack is used as a familiar term of a dress, chiefly in Liverpool. What? Is this guy British? All right. Well, thank you all for watching the episode. Pack it up. Sure to support the Patreon. Thank you guys. Vine here. We'll see you in the next one. Before we get into it. I can't, I can't. Before we get into the episode. Very good. No, I'm just saying I can't be expected to support the UK. Well, I mean, it's no one can. That's great. Yeah. Thank you. If you have a second, check us out on Apple Podcast or Spotify. Give us a nice rating there. It does help us out. And also thank you to all of our beautiful patrons. And maybe consider checking out the Patreon and getting a little extra content on the side. Without further ado, Isaiah, are you ready to read this beautiful, beautiful story? Or at least I hope it's beautiful. I have no idea. I'm ready to find out the name of my soulmate. I hope to meet her someday. Are we going to pretend that we're 18 years old here? Um, we good. We can. We can. How do we pretend that we're 18? What's the difference? Um, I could be a little more optimistic. I feel like when I was 18, I was a little more starry eyed. You were less shaded. Yes, exactly. I was more excited by things, right? Also, my, my heart would flutter when I would, uh, you know, see a girl that I thought I was like, oh, she's beautiful. That kind of thing. Hmm. Her would flutter. And now that you're tied down, you know, to the old ball and chain, you don't feel well after just a lifetime of misery. It's just, you know, it jades any person, you know. So I'd say, let's go into this and we'll say we're 18. And then at some point in the story, you'll say what you think your soulmate's name is. Once, once that gets revealed in this story, we'll, well, our P is in 18, uh, your old version of ourselves. And then we'll say, I think I know what the name of my soulmate is. We'll see that. Well, first thing that comes to mind. Okay, buddy. We're not really cool. I'm trying desperately to give something to this show. And I apologize. Look, uh, we can, we can be honest. The audience appreciates us, me and Hunter are both a little epi right now. Both, both a little, we're some sleepy guys. Okay. Uh, he, uh, I don't know. He stays up all night gambling his house away. I don't know. I, uh, was up till seven in the morning recording the mother horse eyes video for you people. You, you think the reading can be long. It gets worse. So this is your fault somehow. You all, uh, because I wouldn't have known about that story if it wasn't for the show. So, you know, maybe it, maybe a little cranky, maybe a little bit irritable, but that's okay. We, mommy, daddy, still love each other very much. Okay. So anyway. We're supposed to be reading a story. Yeah. When we turn 18, we get the name of our soulmate. I was young when I realized that the place I lived was special. I didn't realize it at first since I had lived there my whole life. I thought it was normal for a city to not allow pets. I grew up never hearing the sounds of barking dogs or hissing cats. No one that lived inside the city border was allowed to have them. I thought it was normal for cities to have mandatory blood testing every week. No explanation or seemingly any reason. I thought it was normal for cities to not have any jails. I thought it was normal for cities to give their citizens soulmates. I never really understood how it worked. All that we were told was that there were the matchmakers. We were responsible for making the matches and sending out the tiny slips of paper that determined each citizen's life and future. No one ever saw the matchmakers. No one knew how they were recruited. No one knew how they worked. All anyone knew was that it worked. Where I lived, there's never been a filing for divorce. The matchmakers are never wrong. Each citizen received their paper on their 18th birthday. Instead of the piece of paper, there was nothing except a name. The name of your supposed soulmate. There was no telling how you would come across this person. No win or how. All anyone knew was that it would eventually happen. We were allowed to tell other people, allowed to ask around, trying to seek out people that had the same name as the one on the paper. But it didn't matter. It couldn't be forced. I said I sent you a message. You can check it out. This sounds. All right. So. I was hurrying a series of discord dings. And I'm like, I wonder what that could be. And Hunter has said. This sounds like Portland, Oregon. But he spelled Portland P O R T L A D N. And then he said some words I won't repeat. And then referred to those people as disgusting dogs. I was trying to, when are you reading? I was hoping that you'd look over for a second. See it in. In break, but no. The funniest part. The funniest part is that you didn't spell fit right the first. Instead of editing it. I was like, I'll just read it again. Yeah. Oh. That's like Portland. There is a thing with like. A lot of British media. Where the scare or like the premise of it is. What if all government. Wasn't as nice as they seem. You know. But it's all like it's like the V for vendetta stuff. It wasn't 1984. Yeah. Or was British. Right. Or like we happy few. There's another one I can't remember right now. But it seems to be a recurring thing where it's like. What if they would line to us. What would that be scary? The scariest part of this all so far is your British accent. Isn't that bad? It's just a bit. It's just like a fucking psychopath. The. The. Do you think people in this universe that would be excited. By a name. You know. They opened it up and it's like Jessica. Wow. And there's some guy who's like, I wonder what mine is. You like packs open the envelope. Whatever. And it says like. John Dis. He's like. John Dis likes the disease. Yeah. It is nice looking for people with yellow eyes. Walk around. Is your name, John, this is John, right? It just means that he's going to die of John, this yeah, you will have no love. You're the only soulmate is death and it's going to be John, this yeah, isn't John just just a yellowing of the skin? Can you? I don't think you can die from it. I thought it was like liver failure, isn't it? It's, I think John, this is the yellow skin that's a symptom of liver failure. I think, I'm speaking to someone who acts like he knows, yeah, it's the discoloration of body tissue, resulting from the accumulation of Billy Rubin, all right, well, I didn't care about all that, but the accumulation of Billy Rubin, you know what, is it a base player, yes, yeah, yellow, I went to Billy Rubin's concert last night, he stained me with the funk, it's, Billy Rubin's like a liver enzyme, yeah, it's in your blood, all right, but you know what I like your answer better, this guy's dying because there's tiny little bass players in this blood, that's why it's married to John. How are you making bass noises in a British accent? Okay, okay, also, this has got to, I mean, I know that we're, we're fucking three paragraphs in. Dad's about to check the fuck out, all right, I mean, to be fair, we did kind of jump the story for no reason, it was just like, well, in all town, what told us all there's really no reason that we're even, you start, right? You start messaging me, obscene messages and you're like, boom, no, remember the reason I said, I think it's a British is because a whack is like, oh, yeah, yeah, that dream, the UK. Should we just assume that that's an England then? I think we're too far gone to assume otherwise, they're going to get like a chapter in and be like, so as I was leaving Atlanta, and we'll be like, well, do you like Atlanta London? Yes, Atlanta London, yeah, that's how city, that's how city core star, street and the best pastries in the world, okay, we got to keep going, I'm, I'm, I'm 11, all right. Of course, literal eternal love and happiness does not come without rules. Every citizen had to follow the rules, they weren't too strange and seemed like a small prize to pay for what you were getting in return. Most of the rules were simple, to name a few, there was no going outside under any circumstances after 2 a.m., no pets, blood tests, etc. There were also rules that we weren't allowed to know until we were older. We got the new rules on our 18th birthday, same day we got our matchmaker paper, we called them slips. As I got older, I realized that our city was special and that other cities didn't have what we had, but I didn't care. Life was good, life seemed simple. Our city was like a little paradise, it was happy, it was without issue. It was the night before my 18th birthday and I couldn't sleep. This was to be expected since knowing that the next morning you would know the name of your literal soulmate was enough to keep anyone up late. Usually, I wouldn't have believed in such things like soulmates, especially as I got older, but it was hard to argue with evidence. My parents had gotten married in their late 20s and have stayed happily married ever since. Both of their names matching what was on their slips. My older sister, Kaitlyn, got her slip last year and though she's been through her fair share failed relationships, she's currently in a happy one with some guy named Roger. I don't think I need to tell you the name that was on her slip. Can you imagine your slip says like, "Turk, you get a girl named "Turk Brownie." I'm so tired, I'm so tired in my mind while you're reading all I thought it was "Turk" "Turk Brownie." I typed in "Turk" to see if that city anything was the first image that appeared. It's apparently some YouTube channel. This is the instead of a name, it's just this image on the slip. What am I supposed to do with this? Oh man, Mike, lucky you got "Turk." You got "Turk." That's what she looks like. I'm so sleepy. I'm so sleepy. I'm so sleepy. I'm so sleepy. What's the point in his sister, Caitlin Dating, if there's slips, right? Like, what would be the point of dating someone if it's like, "Well, in a year, I'm gonna get the piece of paper that says who I'm here." It doesn't make any sense. I mean, it's kind of fucking stupid, if you think about it. If you're in a weird, like, amish community, you're not fucking flirting around and fucking jab a die on the side. It's like, you're waiting for your slip is what I would assume. Right. Because it's also like, "Oh, I don't wanna date you. I need my slip to know who it is." Also, if you're older than 18, you would know who your soulmate is. So maybe, I don't know if you're a dirty leg. You could be a dirty leg or a dirty dick and try to just be fucking around maybe. I don't know. I don't know why you'd be dating in the thought that it was going to be successful. Yeah. Yeah. Just a track. I mean, you know, maybe that's a hell of a jerk. This gorgeous woman, I'm like, "Yeah, I mean, we can fool around, but you're no turk." You're no turk. So let's get that straight. I'm saving myself for turk. I love turk. Okay. I woke up the next morning, Mr. Hunter Brownie, I would take, I would take a turk's last name. Mr. Hunter, Mr. Hunter, turk Brownie. Wow. There's a ring to it, doesn't it? I woke up, I woke up the next morning, my arm groping for my alarm to turn it off, just like any other day. It wasn't until I said, "I can't read because that picture is so out of my proof." You need to fucking minimize turk's profile picture. Okay. It's God. It's God. We're good. Hunter. Well, it went down to Victoria's secret and got turks and brawls and panties, trying to spice it up in the bedroom. I like how the joke is, just normal wife and her actions, but the name is turk. Yeah. Because I'm like, "Well, we wanted to invite you and turk over for a barbecue tomorrow." I don't know. Actually, at this point too, I did say that she spoke turtle. So she is an anomaly and she is that profile picture face. So she is like a bit of a monster, but she's by the love of my life, so please don't fucking talk ill of her. Of course. I would never miss any county. Thank you. Oh. Going down the courthouse and changing my name today, we're all pretty excited about it. Okay. All right. We used to share a room, but ever since she moved out, it feels empty with just me in it. In some miracle, I eventually fell asleep. My brain finally exhausted after hours of wondering what tomorrow was going to bring. I woke up the next morning, my arm grew open for my alarm to turn it off, it's like any other day. It wasn't until I sleepily set up that I realized that today wasn't like any other day. I swung my legs out of bed, my heart pounding in my chest as I tried to compose myself. I wanted to pull on a shirt and shorts as fast as possible. Just to the kitchen to get the envelope I knew would be addressed to me, but I did it. I didn't want to be one of those people whose entire life suddenly revolved around trying to find their soulmate. I needed to be calm. Taking a few even breaths, I solely put on a shirt and some basketball shorts before opening my door. Chatter and the smell of waffles hit my senses instantly as I stepped out of my room, [BLANK_AUDIO] the corner, I stopped, grinning. "Katlyn!" I said, unable to contain my excitement at seeing her. Reaching her in a few short steps, I wrapped my arms around her in a hug to which she enthusiastically returned. "What are you doing here?" I said, pulling myself away to look at her. "Oh, you seriously thought I would miss your birthday? Get real!" I said, "Did you like that? Did you like saying get real?" I feel like I need, what does she say? She's a bit of a bad boy. What should I, she's like, "Ah, you seriously thought I would miss you birthday? Get real!" That sounds right. "Do you like that?" "Yeah." She said, "Matchy, my grin, as she looked at me." "Damn, you got tall!" she said, looking at me. "He got it from his old man!" "Okay, Dad, you don't need to chime in, Dad." "Yeah, I'm pretty hot too. Compliment me. Yeah, he's, don't you think I'm going to go ahead." "Don't you think I'm a beautiful daughter of mine?" "Yeah, he's pretty much an image of his old man, so you probably think I'm pretty tall, cute too, huh?" "Dad, could you just go already?" "Yeah, I got to go to work." "My dad, Johnston." "It Katelyn rolled her eyes. Besides my height, I got a lot for my dad. I got his warm brown eyes and I got his wavy, dirty blonde hair that I had always kept medium length. I looked so much like my dad that my mom always chimed in saying how I got her nose and smile. "Happy birthday, hun!" Mom said from the counter, giving me a soft smile. "These are almost done and we'll go out for your birthday dinner later tonight," said Justinian at the waffles and I smiled. "Burt Day waffles for the birthday, boy!" "Better keep the girlfriends away from your old man. They'll get us confused." "Dad, stop. You're morbidly obese and you're 56 years old." "Smitten image, it's like looking in the mirror." "I've got a person here. We're like, we're like, we're like, we're like, we're like, we're like, we're like, yeah, this is the beginning of the story." "We've been recording for 30 minutes. Oh my god." "Oh god." "Okay." I want to take a quick moment to think today's sponsor, Factor. "Lately, I've been running around with a million things to do. And with everything going on, eating healthy is easier said than done." "Especially during the summer, who wants to spend their time around a hot kitchen?" "Well thankfully today's sponsor, Factor, as we covered." "Factor powers your day, son up to sundown with nutritious breakfast options, on the go lunches, premium desserts, and guilt-free snacks." "In just two minutes, Factor lets you heat, eat, and enjoy." 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Half off your first box, plus free breakfast for a whole year." "That's code "creepcast50off" at FactorMeals.com/creepcast50off" "To get your delicious, ready to eat meals now." "Offer only valid to new Factor customers with code and qualifying auto-renewing subscription purchases." "Get in on your meals today. Thank you all for watching the ad. Thank you to Factor for sponsoring the channel." "We are now back to the episode." "My dad chimed in, put in an arbor on my mom, and the simple movement made me remember something I forgot in the midst of the excitement." "Is it, is it here?" "I asked him trying to keep my voice even." "I sister-naughted, understanding what I was talking about." "I'm the front table." "My legs felt like rubber as I walked a few steps into the hallway, instantly seen the stark white envelope on the table." "I picked it up." "Delivered to theodore shillings." "That is an insane name." "I walked back to the kitchen. All eyes on me as I turned the envelope over trying to act calm." "I opened the envelope, pulling out two pieces of paper." "One of them, I knew would be the new rules. The other one was my slip." "I looked at the bigger paper first." "Two people registered as 18 years as older, the following rules will come into effect." "One, under no circumstances anyone 18 years or older permitted in city waters. This includes all local rivers within city limits." "Two, under no circumstances will anyone 18 years or older be allowed to watch the television on the 14th of every month." "Three, under no circumstances is anyone 18 years or older permitted to use faucets after midnight." "This includes sinks, bathtubs, and showers." "Or, under no circumstances anyone 18 years or older permitted to use any kind of elevator after 9pm." "And then five, under no circumstances is anyone 18 years or older permitted to share their rule with people under the age of 18." "So you can't do things related to the water, can't watch TV, and you can't use an elevator." "Yeah." "And that was it. Honestly expected more, but was relieved there wasn't too many that I would have to memorize." "They were weird, sure, but nothing that I wouldn't be able to do." "After rereading the new rules, I put the paper down. Hard hammering as I took my slip, wanting to get it over with." "I opened it to which a single name was printed." "Avery." "That's a fine name. It's not Tarnk or anything. You're okay." "I read and reread the names several times." "Avery, Avery, Avery." "I racked my brain for people I knew named Avery. There was a girl in my history class and maybe one who I had pre-calc with a few years ago." "Or I could wander further, Caitlin's voice kept me off." "What's the name?" She said to which I handed it to her. It passed from her to my mother and my father. "Avery! Nice name!" My dad said handing my slip back to me. Chatter resumed between my parents and Caitlin while my mind was worrying. Some things made more sense now, like why I never saw adults kayaking in the river like I saw them do in other cities. I had told myself for a long time that once I got my slip, that I wouldn't focus too much on it. But my mind kept coming back to the name that was burned into my mind. Avery. I still had to go to school, got ready while Caitlin went out to reconnect with some high school friends. I ignored my text asking what the name of my slip was, referring to having the conversation in person. My friends were waiting for me at the bus stop equally. There was Jennifer, who was usually pretty quiet and who I'd known since preschool. There was Joseph, who was a bit of a daredevil and a jock who I'd met during my freshman year. Lastly, there was Charles and Sophia, twins who were never separated and who I'd bonded with a sophomore year over our love for horror movies. Looking at us as a group, looked weird, but we worked, and we had fun with each other. I was bombarded with the same question as I got close to them. "How's the name did you get?" "Avery?" I said. The first time I'd actually set the name. It sounded nice, coming out of my mouth. It sounded right. My friends nodded, followed by a moment of silence that meant they were all trying to think of Avery's that we knew. "Isn't there a chicken in your history class named Avery?" Joseph offered and I nodded. "Yeah, I'm trying not to think about it too much. I don't want to become one of those people who become obsessed with it." I said, although the name was really all I could think about. My friends dropped it after that, all except Joseph. He would chime in every few minutes, rattling off girls that he knew, all with the name Avery. He was still talking about it as the bus came and as we walked up to school. He really didn't have an off button, which meant that I was left to try and tune him out, nodding my head in agreement every few minutes. As the school day went on, I couldn't help but wonder if each Avery I came across was my soulmate. Somehow, though, none of the girls I came across felt right. Everything else aside, the school day went pretty smoothly. People wished me happy birthday in the halls, occasionally asking who I got on my slip. After school, I still had time before I had to head home and start working on homework, so as usual, I met outside the school with my friends. The day had gotten progressively hotter as it went on, and by the time school was let out, it had reached the point of comfort. Most of my friends were already waiting for me. As I got closer, they were already in conversation. "Paul's hot, man. We should go claim a spot by the river before it gets too crowded," Joseph was saying, to which my other friends nodded in on agreement. The river he was referring to was the biggest in the city, almost cutting it in half. He was a popular hangout spot, and my friends and I have been going there for ages, but now my throat felt tight, and my friends had turned 18 yet. I had an extra year of preschool when I was a kid. They didn't know the new rules. Something funny. them or 18. And that's just because I had an extra year of preschool. So it's not weird that I'm older, it's just they're just my younger friends. That doesn't make me weird or different or anything like that or different normal, every is the life of my life. And it's perfectly normal for someone to want to speak like this. When you're talking it became Ben Shapiro in my mind, the relationship I have with trunk, or not trunk. What was it? Ternc. Ternc. My beautiful baby's name is Ternc. Ternc Brownie. She's loved my life and I will not hear anything else. I was hoping that if I got the ball rolling, you would pick up with the bench of your own Ternc pit. Thank you. What of the rules said I wasn't allowed to tell them that mean I also couldn't hint at it? I'm not sure if I'm feeling the river today. I said trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. Okay. The dialogue, some of the like the verbiage choices in this story are really testing us right now. We're being very good for not I feel like I feel like I'm floating outside of my body. This is becoming as a religious experience for me. Yeah. Yeah. Like I'm trying to be nonchalant using arm and ironically, or like the dad chimed in using the same like phrases over and over. Yeah. Pretty young and sparkling too. You girls stay away from me. I'll get in trouble. Boys don't know how good you have it. You have no idea. You better say for this because life only gets worse. I think you said your soul mate. Sure. He's one of the best years of your life. Remember that you don't never get any better than this. You don't never get any better than right now. Fuck. Are you crazy? It's like 90 degrees out here. Did it for said raising her eyebrows not wanting to act suspicious. I decided that I would go, but I wouldn't go in and turn any circumstances. All right. Let's go. But I can't stay long. I have my birthday dinner with Caitlin and my parents. I said to which Joseph pumped his fist. Why did pump his fist? Oh, I'm going for the river. I see. I see. Yeah. I thought he was doing it over the mention of Caitlin. I'm like it was Joseph. Yeah, we're dead, man. All right, boys. Stop. Look at him. He's just there with him all of a sudden. All right. All right. Who called the Pied Piper? You could hear my flute from the mile away, couldn't you? Okay. I'll get out of here. It's fine. I'll be in the bushes again. If you need me, just call. Dad, get out of here. He's like a real shummy child predator type. God. No, don't know. Okay. He just thinks he's cool. He just thinks he's like catch. It's wholesome. Okay. Relief that no one seemed to suspect anything. We set off towards the river. There were a couple other families there with kids playing in the shallow water and the parents said in safely on the edge. I took a few even breaths to remind myself that I was fine and that I would stay on the shore. Jennifer and Joseph were the first to the river instantly pulling up their jeans and taking off their socks and shoes as they dipped them into the river. Signed with relief that the cool water provided from the hot weather. I desperately wanted to be there with them swimming in the river and enjoying the nice weather, but the rules were very clear. I side sitting down a few feet away from the water. My legs out in front of me, watching as my friends splashed each other with the water. I just had to hold out until they had their birthdays. And then I wouldn't have to make excuses. I could handle a few more months. Oi, come on, birthday boy. Get in the water. There you go. See, it's got to be British, right? What's the oil? The oil is what got me right? Yeah, the oil. That's what I'm saying. The presence of boy. It's got to be. No way. Charles yelled splash your water in my direction as he was ankle deep in it. A few feet away from where it dropped off into the deeper waters. I smiled, shaking my head as I adjusted my legs to make myself more comfortable. No, I'll be the one to drive you guys to the hospital when you get hypothermia. No, no, I'll be the one to drive you guys to the hospital when you get hypothermia. No, it's cool. I'll be the one to drive you guys to the hospital when you get hypothermia. I yelled back to which I could see his eyes roll from there hearing your friends say the same thing for four times. Ah, we can't have that. Joseph called waiting back to where I was. I commend the birthday boy to get hypothermia with the rest of us. Joseph said smirking to see approach me. Gosh, this story is. I felt a trickle of unease is the approach to me. A trickle. Hey, Joseph, seriously, you got to back up, man, that trickle is going down my back. I'm trickling down the side of my leg right now. My legs will get real trickled right now. I stood up to move away, but just then he swooped down and picked me up over his shoulder. Whoa. All right. Joseph, give me a little fostered. Joseph, Joseph, what are you talking about? You saved my name again. Put me down, Joseph. Joseph, put me down. Put me down. I remember, Joseph, I'm the one that drives you to the hospital. No, no, no. I'll drive you to the hospital. Jesus, stop saying that. You remind me of your day. Yeah, I guess he has a spitting image of me, huh? There's just way too many like characters, stereotypes being mentioned back to back. It's begging us to do something to make fun of it. Joseph played for the football team, and I always admired his strength. This was the first time I was afraid of it. That's what he mean by that. He mean by you. Joseph, stop. Put me down. A yellow panic rising in my voice, struggling to escape his arms as he was carrying me into the water. Is he just have him like one armmed over his side? Yeah, I think so. My heart pounded wildly in my chest. It's a rising fear crept up my throat. He outmatched me in size and strength. My struggles were fruitless. I'm serious, Joseph, put me the fuck down. I yelled to what she gave a little laugh. You're always a serious the loosen up. Live a little. He replied, and I could see he was in the water now, waiting further in. I looked at my friends wide eyed. They were giggling like it was a joke. They had no idea. As he got closer to the drop off, I struggled harder, hitting him on the shoulders. I wasn't weak by any standards, but Joseph was built like an ox, almost all muscled. Fear closed my throat so tightly. I couldn't breathe. Come on, everyone in the water. He said, motioning his head to my friends, who obliged standing on the edge of the drop. All right, on three, we'll all jump in together. He put his hands on my waist and I knew what was coming. One, two, started rocking back and forth. Joseph, stop, stop. I yelled punching him harder, but it didn't make any difference. Three. I heard the splashes of my friends jumping in just as I was launched a few feet into the air. I didn't know what to expect. I showed my eyes tightly as images rapidly flashed through my mind. I saw myself at my 9th birthday party, saw myself applauding at Caitlyn's graduation. Rapid images throughout my life flashed before me. It was my life flashing before my eyes. It felt like an eternity before I hit the water. Your eyes are flashed before your eyes because you're breaking a rule, jumping into the water. Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. I hit the water hard, cold water singing every part of my body. I got hypothermia and someone had to drive me to the hospital. Nah, nah. The wind knocked out of me, but since nothing else happened immediately, I thought fleetingly that I was fine. I was wrong. Bel like a giant vacuum was at the bottom of the river, sucking me towards it. in the water desperately trying anything to prevent myself from getting sucked deeper. I have been swimming in the deep part of the river before, and one summer my friends and I actually measured how deep it was, and I knew well enough that I was being pulled far beyond that. I was running out of air, and my panic state wasn't helping the situation. Whatever was down there started to pull me faster, as if whatever it was could sense my desperation. My chest felt tight as I could no longer hold my breath. My body started to go limp when suddenly I was falling. I was no longer in water and I took a gasp of breath, sputtering out of the water that had managed to get in my mouth for my surprise. I was so relieved to be breathing again that it took a minute to realize I was falling rapidly through the air. Darkness ratted me through my confused day state I couldn't make out what was around me. You seconds later, for the second time that day, my body hit water again, hard. Once again, I had the wind knocked out of me, and I could feel myself sinking. I couldn't move, going to breathe. I didn't have the energy to panic, my eyes closed. I didn't know what I was supposed to think about. I didn't want my last thoughts before death to be wasted. It was during these last thoughts that suddenly something pulled me away from them. Literally. I could feel something grabbing the back of my shirt, pulling me upwards towards the surface. Confusion swept me as a moment later, I felt myself being heaved out of the water and being roughly set down on something hard, something solid. I gasped, coughing, and sputtering as water dripped off of me. I shakely pushed myself onto my hands and knees, trying to get my breathing under control. My thoughts moving at the speed of light. I felt oddly light headed, my body drained and exhausted. I wanted to look around for my savior, but I couldn't. My vision had started to go black, it's my exhausted body finally collapsed. Someone was shaking me awake. My first fleeting thought, so that it was my mom, telling me I was going to be late for school, then I remembered it was just a dream. I told myself just a dream. To open your eyes, my mom was going to wish you a happy birthday. "Tell you you're going to be late for school." Someone shook me harder. I opened my eyes. It was not my mom. It was a boy who looked around my age with dark messy hair, who was looking at me with two dark blue concerned eyes. He looked relieved as I opened my eyes. "Good, you're awake. Come on, we need to move." He said quickly, looking behind him, confusion cladded my mind. "Who? Who are you and where am I?" I said, trying to keep the fear out of my voice. The boy looked back at me. "My name's Avery." "I can't explain everything later, but we really have to go." "My breath caught in my throat." Avery, Avery, Avery. Oh shit. Kind of a fun way to find out your gay. Okay, so apparently the state made him gay. The government forced homosexuality. Okay, I guess I'm cool with that. This is truly a British horror story. What if the government made me gay? And I didn't have any say in it. That's just how it is. And I have to do it. What if I was out of his nickers? All don't look like Avery like that. All don't want to button up his trousers. Art 2. In school, we had learned about the five stages of grief. Stages come into effect whenever a person experiences something unpleasant. This means a variety of things from losing a loved one or going through a dramatic experience. Your brain goes through these five stages to protect you and help you cope. First is shock and denial. People usually experience numbness both physically and emotionally. It's typical for people in the stage to ask repeated questions. More often questions that they already know the answer to, but their brain refuses to believe. I was no exception. That dark-haired boy was still speaking, although his words landed on deaf ears. Where the person he was trying to talk to was currently going through the first stage of grief. "Your name is Avery?" I interrupted my voice quiet, but cutting in as I pushed myself up into a sitting position. Feeling uncomfortable laying on my back. Boy looked at me. It's aspirated in an annoyance he realized that this was the only piece of information I cleaned from his words. "Yes, my name is Avery." "Did you get any of what I just said?" He asked his eyebrows furrowed, irritation leaking into his voice. The bear's flesh crept up my face as I dropped my eyes. "Ern, some of it?" I mumbled my face so hot that I was sure that he could feel the heat radiating off of me. I could hear the small sigh that he made, followed by wrestling. I took a chance and looked up, where I saw Avery wrestling around in a black bag for something. "Look, I know this is confusing. I'll explain everything later. Right now, there's no time. We've already made too much noise." He sat hurriedly with another paranoid glance over his shoulder. Looking back, he finally removed two things from his bag. "You're gonna need this." "Put it on." He sat tossing one to me. I caught it, turning it over in my hands as confusion etched onto my face. It looked like a mask, but with no holes for the eyes or mouth, or a strap at the back. It was stark black and weirdly smooth. Made of a material I didn't recognize. "What is this?" I started to ask, but his voice cut me off. "Eat trust me? Come on. Why would he say to me?" I met you 10 seconds ago. He said suddenly, his dark blue eyes present in to mine. I swallowed. Thoughts were raised across my mind as I tried to sort through them. There was no time for logic, not now. My dad had always told me to be logical, and think with my head instead of my heart. I was trying so hard to listen to my head, but my heart was louder. "Yes?" I said quietly, so softly that I thought he wouldn't hear me, but the relieved expression that washed over his face told me that he did. So, is he immediately in love with him? "Yeah, I think he's like the fucking breakup right now. It's like I'm supposed to love this guy. Well, now I'm blushing and my heart is louder than my head." It's like, "Well, that was a fast adjustment. All right. "Im please. Put the damn thing on. Question later." He said softly, some of the impatience leaving his voice. Without another word, I held my breath and put the mask like thing up to my face. It was one of the oddest experiences I had ever felt. It felt like a suction cup attaching itself to my face. So tightly, it was as if the mask was merging with my face. The no holes for the eyes or mouth proved not to be an issue, since I got to breeze perfectly fine, almost as if it wasn't on at all. I looked up to see if Avery had his on, and when I looked up, I had a stifle gasp. It was like his face had completely disappeared, a black oval where his face should have been. It was beyond unnerving, merely looking at it sitting a chilt through my body. "Is that what I looked like with this on me?" "Buddy." He asked, seeing I'd put it on. Hearing him speak without seeing his mouth was creeping me out, but I didn't say anything, and instead just nodded. He extended a hand out, seeing that I was still on the ground. I hesitated for only a fraction of a second before I took his hand, letting him hold me to my feet. As soon as my hand touched his, I felt a shot of warmth. Startling me slightly, but leaving me as soon as he let go. He said softly, swinging his back. Who calls it a bag pack? I thought it was back. Is it not a backpack? Yeah, backpack. Swinging his bag pack. Probably a British thing, maybe. This is probably a disgusting British thing again. Swinging his bag pack onto his back, turning to start walking. As I started to follow him, I looked up at last trying to get a picture of my surroundings. To hopefully get some information to where the hell I was, I was not prepared for what I saw. It was the city. I tried to keep walking so I did not get too far behind Avery, but my eyes were glued to the side in front of me. It couldn't be, could it? My thoughts were racing. To confirm, I looked behind me. The body of water that Avery had just pulled me out of was the very same one that I had gotten thrown into in the first place. My heart was pounding as I looked around me. It was an exact replica of the city, but it was distorted. Every building was trained of color, almost everything inside being a different shade of black or gray. Atop this, every few seconds something would glitch, like a lagging video game, like the holograms that were in the movies. Something wasn't right. You could fill it everywhere you looked. Like I was like the buildings were glitching the city's desolate. Something feels weird. A sickening sense of my knees or dread with every washed out colorless building that we passed. I quickened my pace to get closer to Avery. I didn't know where we were going since we were going into the west part of the city, which I wasn't too familiar with. All my life, I had everything I needed fairly close to where I lived, though there wasn't really any reason to explore. I know that Avery told me to not ask questions, but I wanted to know where we were going. If I was going to need anything to protect myself with, since the feeling that I was being washed hadn't gone away since I arrived in this screwed up dystopia. I silently walked faster until I was next to him. Maybe it was the fact that I had my slip on my mind, but as I got closer, I could feel my heart start thumping uncomfortably against my chest. "Avery?" I asked softly trying to keep my voices slow. He glanced at me, and I cringed as I remembered that we still had the black masks on. "Huh?" He replied, matching my quiet voice. "I know you said not to ask questions, but where are we going?" He glanced around before lowering his head to speak. "My place, where I lived before I came here. I've been using it as a sort of a safehouse. We don't have to keep our voices down there, make it explain everything." Because as he finished speaking, a loud thump came from in front of us. Starling Mia's black, distorted figure came out from a glitching convenience store. Looked like a man, but his face didn't have any features. His face looked oddly like the black ovals that our faces now resembled within the masks. My heart stopped to my chest, as Avery grabbed my arm to stop me from walking. "Don't look at him," Avery whispered feverishly into my ear. "He's lost." Your voice, for Avery, is so fitting. "We can go to my place before the last weekend of one of the safehouses. It's pretty much going to do whatever one does, kind of awesome." "I have Mountain Dew in a PlayStation 2." "We can do all kinds of stuff with our hands and stuff." "We're slip brothers." "We're slip brothers." "Yeah." That's a funny way to describe gay relationship. "We're pretty much boy-thanks." "Yeah, what day, then?" "We're pretty much, we're pretty much mami by this point." The distorted man had an uneven gait, almost limping. As he got closer, I could see that his black body was glitching, everything else in the screwed up place. I quickly looked down as Avery instructed, trying to keep my breathing in control. I felt Avery's hand tighten on my arm as the thing got closer to us, and as it got closer, I could hear it mumbling and coherently. I continued to get closer, so close that I could feel its presence with every fiber of my being. It was beyond uncomfortable, but, staying true to Avery's instructions, I didn't make a sound. The next few minutes felt like an eternity before Avery looked up and looked behind us, letting out a small sigh of relief as his grip loosened on my arm, or letting go. "Come on, we need to hurry." He mumbled, starting to walk again, faster than we were before, and other of us said anything for a while. As we walked, I was left to my own thoughts, as my brain was trying to make sense of everything that had happened to me. Thought about my family, an internal ache spreading through me as I tried to imagine what they would be feeling when I didn't come home. I stood on this for a while, before the surge of anger washed through me. This wasn't even my fault. Joseph was the one who thought I needed to live a little more, who decided it would be a great idea to chuck me into the river. I forgot to mention that the second and third stages of grief are pain and anger. All these thoughts running through my head, there was still one that I refused to acknowledge. Being a person of the same gender on your slip wasn't unheard of, it actually happened pretty often. I just never thought I'd be one of those people. I suppose having matchmakers made us blind. With the promise of a soulmate, you never really had to think or worry about your sexuality or relationships. You knew that someone else was out there, figuring it out for you. It was uncomfortable to think about how people, you've never even met, know more about your own sexuality before you even do. Before you even had to change to figure it out. I actually shook my head, trying to chase away these thoughts. It was ridiculous. I would know if I liked guys, right? I didn't have time to dive deeper into these thoughts. A soft boy said, bringing me away from my thoughts. I looked up where we were, it was one of those houses that was small cramped, on the street where it seemed like the builders were trying to find out how many houses they could fit onto it. It looked fairly normal, and I expect it would have looked better if I'd had, you know, color. Every open the door, back at me inside quickly, shutting the door behind us. I looked around, finding a surprisingly neat interior, bookshelves and couches like any normal house would. Looking around, I was relieved to notice that nothing in here was glitching around like outside, even if it was still colorless. The only odd thing was that there was an empty space in the middle of the living room. If someone had taken away the table, but left the couches, it's not the nicest, but it's home. Avery said to which I turned to look at him, where I could reply, he put a hand to his face, starting to peel the mask off from the bottom. We could take these off, we could keep you as close by. He said peeling his own off and setting it on the closest couch. I put my own hand to my face, fleetingly wondering if mine would come off, since it felt like it wasn't even there anymore. To my great relief, I was able to feel it and copied what Avery had done, filling it off from the bottom, which came off with surprising ease. I set it down on the table next to me, working up the courage to speak. I'd open my mouth to speak when Avery broke the silence first. "So, I guess you have a few questions?" He said with a small sigh, he'll stand. I said nothing, instead nodding and gingerly sitting on the edge of the couch next to me. "I don't even know what to start." "How could a novice like you approach a. " "Actually, like myself, where do I even begin to tell somebody like you in this?" He mumbled through himself, I've resonated together as he started to pace. Burge bubbled up, making its way to my throat. "Had you end up here?" I asked, making him look up. His face relaxed in as if he was relieved to have somewhere solid to start his explanation. "Well. " "I broke a wall." He said with a sigh, I said nothing. Will they prepare to not speak until he was done? The thirst for information for an explanation was too great. Luckily for me, Avery picked up on it, and he continued. "It was a TV, Will. The one where we can't watch in the 14th of a month," he said, shaking his head as he resumed his pacing. "I got pulled to it, it happens so fast, I was still going to catch actually." He gestured to the one I was sitting on with the tight smile. "I turned it on, and it was just static. I realized what I had done. Before I could fix my mistake, something was coming out of it, something solid. They grabbed my shirt and pulled me through, and to the TV, where I landed here. I thought nothing had happened since I was still in my house until I realized I wasn't." He said, his voice starting to get heavy. He paused. He didn't need to say any more. It was perhaps a combination of sympathy or curiosity that was too overwhelming for me to stay quiet. "What is this place?" Avery gave out a small sigh, gosh, he loves the small sigh, and the pacing, and the sigh, coming around to sit on the chair opposite to where I was sitting. "I don't know what the freaking call it." As you saw, it's an exact webocop where we lived. I've explored, and every detail is exact as it is in the real world. But with obvious differences, he said before me to my eyes, he seemed to know what question I wanted to ask next. "Ever wondered why we didn't have jails?" He didn't have white for my answer. "I called them the last ones, the people that get thrown in here, they lose themselves out for a while. They turned into what you saw on the way here, altered versions of themselves, no identity, no remit of their past selves, their hostile, angered and capable of much more than you could ever imagine." "I literally said I swallowed." "Literally a gulp?" "This is the jail that we never had of there, made for the warbreakers and people who threatened the precious utopia. They get left here, left to waste away, to spend the rest of eternity here, they are nightmares. Beings of their worst possible selves have no feelings, no nothing, they are fueled off their worst qualities and are trapped in their own hands." "This time it was Avery that swallowed the gulping." As far as I can tell, "I don't care who gets trapped here, even the people who break walls by accident." "Though, the actual criminals they deliver personally down here," he said with a sigh, "the weight of the situation was pressing on me, so hard that I was having a hard time breathing." "There's a way out of here, right?" "I espresso sleep to my immense relief, Avery nodded." "Daz, only takes two out of people." "I could tell you how long I've been waiting for someone down here." He said softly, "I felt a pain of sympathy." "How long have you been down here?" "I asked and shrugged." "I don't know, my shrugging inside." "I don't know, a couple of months maybe?" "There's no way to tell down here." "I keep track by riding on the walls, but they would disappear the next day." "He said with a sigh, he was once again sighing. How do we get out of here?" "I asked my voice gaining confidence, the longer I spend in his presence." "The same way that they get the criminals in here." "You did the sin of the sinny." and looks like an archway. The door they use is password protected. And I've been watching whenever they bring someone new down here, and I know it. The only problem is, it seems to be a popular hangout spot for people who are lost. The mask that I had you put on or to blend you in with them, but it only goes so far. It only really works when there are a few of them around. I didn't ask how he managed to get those masks. There is a way to kill them, but it was still a number of me, which is why I need the second person. You don't need to ease a drink down here, but you can still get hurt. He said, lifting his sleeve to reveal two long deep gashes that were in the process of healing. That's the press to shiver. So all that, he is shivered like five times now. I'll tell you what the biggest crime is so far. I'm fucking bored. It is boring. It is. It's also insanely British. The whole like, well, if all government put all the main people who didn't like to smile all the time, well, if there was another big bin, beneath big bin, but it ain't got no color. The only union jacks black and white. Could you imagine? It seems so far. I'm wondering if this is a store which, you know, listen, I'm stupid. So forgive me. If this is on the nose, I just don't know, but it seems like it's something that is possibly a story about somebody coming to terms with their sexuality and then the other people who hide it or, you know, who basically defy those rules or people who, basically, it's like people who I'm trying to think of it. It feels like this parallel world is like the is like the every person that like lives in denial or something like that. You know? Yeah. Yeah. The world is planned and dark, you know, all that kind of stuff. Here's the thing though, like the sexuality thing gets the most interesting part of the story. Like the idea that you get the name of your soulmate and then your soulmate's the same, you know, gender as you like and you didn't think you're into that. But if it's true, how do you cope? That's interesting. But what is all this other stuff about? There's a city under the city and you can't go into the river and there's a television. It's complicated because it tries to make it real by saying, well, yeah, if you watch the tally on the 14th, you get sucked into the shadow realm, along with, you know, all of the family killers and the manslaughter cases and whatnot. It's like, what do you mean? So you go down here as a prison, but I say if you like fall in the water, I can't tell if it's trying to be commentary of like societal norms, which I know, you know, sounds cheesy as fuck, but I'm wondering if it's supposed to be like arbitrary societal rules that people have to blindly follow that kind of thing. But, you know, I don't know. The problem is, it's like, yeah, the idea of like you have a soulmate, which is also kind of interesting with the slip idea where it's like, you're just born with this, you know, it's not really a choice. It's just kind of the thing that you that you have. I think it's interesting, but it's just the static thing is kind of fucking cringe. And then the idea of like the faceless, it's just kind of a bunch of cliche stuff. And it's just, I'm like, it's going to, it's going to end on probably some kind of like heartfelt thing of like, we had each other. And it's just, this thing is boiling up to be like a big cliche, but I don't know. Also, to be fair, I'm just bored. I'm just, I'm very bored. Well, I would, I would agree with that because everything else has been a cliche up until this point. The introduction of the friends sounded like it was off of breakfast club spin-off. And the dad stereotypical and like, he stereotypical and all of like the setups and the descriptions. And he shivers a lot in the and Avery size a lot. Like again, the coolest part is the whole, you know, you get someone that isn't who you expected to be attracted to as a name. I wish there was more of that instead of all the other stuff. The new information spun around my head, I felt slightly sick. I knew then that I couldn't stay here, I needed to get out and let myself become lost. I'll do it, whatever it takes, I don't care, I'll help. I said breaking the silence, my voice confident. Avery looked up at me with an expression I couldn't place. It looked like newfound respect, like he was just noticing me for the first time, studying me for a moment or nodding. Okay, be safe. I want anything happen to you. The two of them are like immediately just all all over each other. He had been like, my voice grows confidence. The longer I'm with him, we're like, he blushes the first time he speaks to him. Yeah. It kind of feels like this is going into like a romantic kind of like a romance fantasy, someone writes, you know, whatever. But even this idea of like him wanting to leave the area, which it is, it is like a dark evil place, but I'm wondering if it's like supposed to be something where it's like, this isn't who I am. I must escape or something. You know what I mean? But I don't fucking know. I'm trying to make sense of this thing because it feels very random, random XD kind of thing right now. We'll see where it goes. I thought of making a smart ass reply. But he seemed so genuine about it that I kept my mouth shut. It was then sitting there with knowing immediate danger nearby that I started to feel the weight of the day starting to press in around me. I tried to cover up a yawn with my hand. Avery caught it. He stood up, running a hand through his hair. Yeah, shit, sorry. You must be exhausted. I was even thinking about that. I've been sleeping down here. He said, gesturing to the empty space in the room. But I can make a place for you to sleep upstairs if you. I don't. I interrupt it suddenly, which Avery raised his eyebrows. I felt a hot flush rising in my cheeks as I continued. I mean, if it's, if it's okay, I'd feel more comfortable staying down here. I said quietly avert in my eyes. God damn, my boy. See the door is down here already. He needs, you know, I actually know that I'm thinking about it. There were signs of this before the reveal. I was making jokes about it. But the whole thing with Joseph, how it's like, I always admired his strength. He picks me up in his strong arm. Like maybe they're, listen, you can admire. I'm saying that he is down bad for Avery right now. He is down bad. He's like, no, I'll sleep here. Like he's I guess in this world, you don't have to play it subtly. You desperate little minks. The deflation is weather cute. He's he's he's talking to him in that voice. Here's the real thing. Is Avery or is theodore a femboy? Well, well, well, points. I think theodore is more of a femboy. There's a pause, which was enough time for me to feel greatly embarrassed by my words. He doesn't want you down here idiot. He doesn't even know you. He doesn't. Sure. If it makes you more comfortable, I'm more than happy to set up a space for you. He said finally, giving me a small smile. I've a way back. How have you been eating? He said, turning to leave or stopping to remember something. Um, I never, I never got your name. I forgot to ask. He said gibberishly, settling slightly over his words and seemingly having a hard time meeting my eyes. My heart seems to stop just as my mind started to brace Charles. I said suddenly the name and the lie slipping out easily. Not sure if it was. Why would you lot, whatever? Because he doesn't want him to know that this is his lover, dude. I mean, if he's as into him as he seems to be, well, you just be like good to be true. I say it's too good to be true. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like, I feel like the enormous voice should be in the, um, I, I never got your name. I have to play one of them straight. I've committed to like the redder, like discord, my voice saying that I know people are able to do it. Yeah. They can't both do it. I'm not sure if it was just my imagination, but did every look slightly crestfallen? It must, what a crazy word to pull out. It must have been because the next second, the look disappeared and he gave me another small smile. Pleasure to meet you, Charles. It looks like he's not my beloved Theodore. I wish your name was Teddy. That's okay. Say, you haven't seen a tongue around here. Have you? So I thought your name might have been tongue. That's okay. My name's Ternk. Ternk Brownie. Oh my. I'm waiting for you, my whole wife. You know what? What if this story does a thing, though, where there's multiple Avery's? You're thinking about that? Yeah. Like a girl shows up named Avery. Yeah. He's like, he's like, he's like, there's a bisexual crisis. Dang it. Oh, I kind of like both of them. What if we all just kind of made this work? We're poly. Yeah. This world is a polyamorous hell. Well, yeah, Portland. As soon as he left the room I slept down on the couch putting my head in my hands Why had I lied? I knew the answer. It was really just a matter of wanting to answer it I could say that it was because I didn't trust Avery, but that wasn't the truth There was so many different kinds of confusion so many different kinds of pain. I was tired of being the one who felt it all I was just tired in general. This feels like something that was really like a 15-year-old, doesn't it? Well the whole story does but yeah Yes, that one part it's like I'm the one who feels all the pain. No one else just me. Yeah, it's very well Just the mellow the mellow drama of it all whatever. Yeah. Yeah, I fully believe this was written by someone in high school for sure It was disoriented to have your entire life flipped upside down in a matter of moments Everything that you thought you knew to be untrue or covered with layers of deception to keep people in a mindless bliss I suppose that even though people could feel certainty it was an emotion on a fact My thoughts kept me busy until Avery came back arms laid in with blankets and pillows He set them down to the empty space starting to arrange them Do you need help? I asked wanting to feel at least a little useful. You shook his head as he straighted up I'm just about done. Is this enough? I can get more stuff if you want Said looking up at me genuine interest in carrying in his eyes startled me took my head in a tight smile genuine it's genuine interest in carrying in his eyes startling me Oh my oh He looks doubted him. He's just like oh It's great really. Thank you I said crossing over to where it was it looked like two bedspreads place slightly far apart But still within the empty space. It shows the one on the right. I have to get stuff ready for tomorrow But I'll just be in the next room I'll come to sleep in a while. Just give me a coffee in any day. All right. He said and I noded it Exasher was quickly catching up to me, and I tried to get myself comfortable on the spread of blankets and pillows Just as Avery was about to leave the room spoke. I Don't usually do it, but if I start snoring I give you complete permission to smack me I don't know, dude. It's supposed to be fucking the shit. It's like I want a control wall She's just so boring It's like I'm not kicking my feet and giggling. I'm bored It's like all of the stereotypical like lovey-dovey. He ha ha. I love it first. I kind of think yeah They're in a totally hellscape by the way with faces creatures walking around yeah Yeah, they're in a they're in a space where color doesn't exist and there's the loss stumbling around and it's like You could smack me if you wanted to I said this quietly, but based on the way he stopped and turned back around I knew Avery had heard me He said but there was something different about his voice as I looked at him I saw that he was smiling Not a tight smile or a small one, but an actual genuine smile that made my entire body feel warm It was perhaps the most beautiful thing I had ever seen Down horrendous Yeah, down so bad also a person smiling like a fucking psycho path and he's like I feel warm Stop feeling so fucking warm all the time. It better vibes in my tummy Imagine and I shivered but then I was warm. I imagine the visual I'm like you just met this guy and it's like hey you could smack me if you want and he's like Noted Like a like just a quote unquote actual smile starts to form I had never been a lucid dreamer. I heard about it and even studied it a bit in school a million percent The the like 14-year-old kid that wrote this Just like heard about lucid dreaming online and wanted to make something about it I even studied it a bit in school So I knew how to recognize it Lucid dreaming is a dream in which your body knows that your dreaming it gives you the steering wheel for a bit allowing you to be conscious and aware while dreaming I was currently experiencing the strange phenomenon. I was an entirely sure where I was I knew I was dreaming however since I was fairly confident that in order to be walking you had to be walking on something solid I appeared to be walking on water Looking around everything was black It looked like I was standing on the lake, but the water stretched on as far as I could see Water rippled under my feet with every step I took and looking down I couldn't see the bottom of whatever kind of water I was standing on just more darkness I wasn't sure how long I stood there until I saw a figure in the distance I squinted waiting for it to come closer. I got closer however my body seized with panic It was the man from the convenience store the one without a face the one that Avery said was lost I turned to run, but I couldn't Bread and fear was washing over me as I desperately tried to get my feet to move The man was getting closer my feet seemed to glue to the surface The screams I meant to the screams I meant to yell died in my throat as I saw the man Now only a few feet from me as my screams were silenced by the paralyzing fear that rendered me immobile Instead of the mother and I had heard from him earlier. He was eerily silent The only sound I could hear was my own heartbeat hammering against my chest Suddenly the man's face started to change Instead of a black oval white line started to form near the bottom and after a few moments I realized that I was making a manic demented smile Sorry, I lost the ability to read after a few moments I realized that it was making a manic demented smile It came closer. It's a naturally long fingers closing on my shirt and pulling me closer It's other hand drew back transforming. It's something that I couldn't name in a place but looked very very sharp I only had a second to look at it before clunched it into my stomach letting loose pain that I had never felt in my life Like the screams and yells I had been holding in my throat It felt as if every fiber of my being every atom was being ripped apart calling it right now He's gonna wake up in a panic and then Avery is gonna hold him to comfort him 100% 100% My eyes were wide with shock as the smile remained on the man's face I could man. I would give everything for this man to say why so serious that people are so serious I couldn't talk I couldn't breathe looking down. I saw a bloom of red starting to quickly spread throughout my shirt So much more vibrant in contrast to the blank colorless surroundings I woke up gasping and shaking hand clutching my stomachs if the pain was real felt so real I Felt arms close around me a moment later. There we go bear trap pulling me against something hard a chest This guy screaming in the night. You just meant your video like A chest Avery's arms Avery's chest holding me keeping me safe. I heard his voice soft in my ear You're okay That voice is so funny He mumbled holding me tighter every motion. I had been holding in since I got into this damn place. I let loose Dry sobs racked my body as a flurry of fear pain and confusion along with others flooded me I Saw him I said quietly to your streaming down my face. I know I know you did. It's okay. You're okay Every said softly pulling me tighter against him. I didn't care. I didn't care anymore I let myself turn towards him. Blink. It's twisted around me as I buried my face in his chest letting my tears so good shirt as he held me I Mean you just you saw the story is this you had a story or what no It's a stupid fucking romcom story, dude or something. They're not romcom. It's like, you know, it's just like a it's a like a fan fit kind of thing It's a romance fantasy. Yeah, romantic fantasy. Thank I don't know why this is posted on no sleep Other stories like we've had a whole story about this right right? This is our first like romance I don't think we had a romance fantasy. We have not had a romance. I do not think we've had stuff where romance has been side characters But typically most of our stories are about the dissolving of romantic, you know yeah boundaries rather than the creation of them Maybe that's why I don't think we've had anything like this Maybe that's what I feel so out of place is because it's taking such a Pred like it's it's in the driver's seat so much Versus being like a thing to add to the story or whatever, but it definitely doesn't feel like a like a horror story right now Like we're in an alternate world and it doesn't feel like that at all like we're an alternate world. Yeah, yeah, it's like Again, the premise is interesting the idea of like you finding out because of this mandated system that you know You're homosexual and then like kind of it's almost there's hints of like our main character feeling freed with it Like he's happy now and it contributes to like, you know, like you said arbitrary role society. He's happy now because he can let that part of him out So there's like a cool story there, but it's like It's like two percent of it and the other 90 percent is like a stereotypical like yeah I had a spooky dream and I woke up in this person's arms. It's just yeah, yeah, there's nothing to the actual I guess like threat or terror of the story Which is what I'm paid by numbers. Yeah, yeah, I can't tell you how long he held me my face buried in his chest I'm not carrying the dessert was getting soaked Holding me tighter every time a fresh wave of emotions swept through me felt like hours before the pain for my dreams sided for my body was no longer shaking, but like hours and during them, Avery had never let go of me. And again, you're crying this heart over a scary dream. Like it wasn't like I was going to die hell of this alternate world. It's like a guy with a creepy smile stabbed me and I'm crying this hard. It would have been okay. We would have even been mostly okay if one of us had just let go. If we didn't stay there, holding a part of each other, long after the danger no matter how real had passed. My thoughts had finally slowed. I'd skipped the past two steps at the stage of grief, I'd skipped the anger and bark. My body just didn't have enough energy left to do it. The only thing I felt sitting there against Avery was safety. Heart. Do things that I had an experience in some moment I had arrived here. Heartbeat, soothing rhythmic sound, a small relaxing that I could explain. Sitting there with him felt right was the feeling that I had never felt looking at the girls in my class, that I had never felt looking at any girl. Okay, there we go. So the say didn't force it on him. He was always this way. He just didn't confront it with himself until now. Got it. That's better than the alternative that this romantic story is being set up only to be rubbed put later by saying, oh, it was actually a girl, which I was kind of afraid it would do. I'm afraid it would have all of this like identity crisis to be like, no, you're straight. But this is a much better direction, like, okay, this thing he founded himself. It felt like hours before I spoke again, my voice still, like someone had run a knife over it. Avery. Yeah. I never said thank you. I didn't give a what. He asked his voice off against my ear, for you saving me, it would have drowned. I didn't need to explain further for him to understand what I was talking about. You know how to thank me for that. I know if you saw me huddling out of the sky into a river, you would have done the same. He said, in this time, I could hear the smile in his voice. I smiled a tired, but genuine smile. True. I wanted to thank you anyway. Oh, then. You're welcome anyway. I laughed, but it came off more of. No, there really should be a word. No, I'll take you to the hospital, yeah, yeah, baby on its comeback. Let's go. There really should be a word for a laugh that ends as soon as it starts. I didn't want to leave the position that we were in, but I wanted to spend more time with Avery somewhere where we weren't in danger of becoming lost or, you know, stabbed. Avery? Yeah. I want to go home. I said quietly. There was a pause. Let's go home then. Wasn't that always the plan? Yeah. Why also? It's like the assumption of being like, can we just stay here forever? It's like no. We're trying to leave. And the, in the Digimon lost one universe forever in poly hell in Portland, me and you, what I assume was the next few days were spent going over the plan or what I assumed was a few days since, no time cycle. Avery drew up the city center and where the lost one congregated the most heavily. He gave, it's, wait, it's hold on. This is, this entire city is a giant prison that's amassed by everyone who breaks the rules and there's a single lost one to worry about. Yeah. Sure. Whatever. He gave and showed me how to use the weapons that killed it. These are the weapons that I found near the door, the people that come down here have a stash. This is an ontological gun, an ontological gun. I don't know what the fuck that means. Well, ontological means like, like super objectively, or like, well, let me make sure. All right. I believe the word ontological means like definitively can't be disproven like factual. Yeah, super serious, not even joking, showing the relation, okay, ontological is relating to the branch of metaphysics, stealing with the nature of being. Okay. So like ontology, so as an existence, it also means showing the relation between the concepts and categories in a subject, or domain, the nature of being. So he's just saying this is like a factual, legitimate gun. Why wouldn't you just say this is a real gun? This is an ontological gun, whatever. He said, handing me what looked like a regular handgun. He explained before I could ask. I know it looks like a regular handgun because it is. The eye defences, how you think about it, I don't even tell you about this place as a way other than that regular, logical rules don't apply. If you should desert them, it simply sees to exist, they go away, only if you believe it to be true. What is going on? I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. At my head he's expression. He tried again. It sounds willy, willy stupid, but it works. If you believe that you can make them see to exist, by shooting them, this is, by shooting this at them, it'll work. His Navy eyes pressed in to mine silently, I imagine they're uncomfortably close to each other. Like those to those. There's no such thing as uncomfortableness, but this guy is down bad. You could be closer. He's like on top of me. He's like, no, he's just pressing to his nose. He needs you closer. Closer. He's silently pleading for me to trust him. I did nodding. I took it from him. I didn't know how the hell this was supposed to work, but I trusted him. Something had happened after my dream, after we had stayed interlocked for who knows how long. Something had spoken. I pee-peed my pants. What was the thing he said earlier that something down his leg, the tinkle or the tinkle? Yeah, the tinkle down his leg. He no longer felt like a stranger, or just a person who shared the same name that was on my slip. It felt like I had known him my whole life. Along with planning and preparing, Avery had opened up greatly, letting me see more into his life, but past and present. It was comforting, knowing that we were both more comfortable conversing with each other. Often teasing and cracking jokes, something that seemed impossible while we were stuck into this hellhole. I let myself notice things about him, how his mouth twisted to the side when he was deciding to laugh at something. How he smiled, he could see that he had dimples, or when he was thinking about something, he tapped his fingers lightly against the surface. Being around him just filled me with such warmth, that it made it harder when I tried to work out how I was going to tell him that I lied about my name, trying not to think about it. The night before we were going to put our plan in action, neither of us could sleep. At first it was disorienting, going to sleep without any sleep, wake cycle, but I got used to it. Just going to bed whenever I felt tired, I lay next to Avery, who I could tell wasn't asleep either. Avery? Charles. He replied to which I internally cringed. Are you nervous? There was a pause. I'm bad. Do you want to push another day to go out again? He said finally to which I shook my head, sitting up slightly to look at him. Night. Just to feel a bit more comfortable if I knew how the guns worked. I said a small, small tugging on his lips, Avery rolled his eyes. If you had played Destiny, I would have to explain. Is he talking about the fucking Xbox game? Is he talking about the video game test? There's no way, right? There's no way. If you had played Destiny, I wouldn't have to explain. Gosh, you're doing work so well. It's literally like the, well, if you had just said the story to me, it's a trap of a voice. It's P.O. Stanley. I don't know how they developed it, but it worked. All right, nerd. I trust you. All right, you know what, there's been a culture shift in this story. I'm vibing now. Like, it's gone so far off the rails that this is hilarious. Well, if you were familiar with Destiny, and the concepts would be quite, would not be surprising at all, there's some, there's some like copypasta like that. Well, oh, the Rick and Morty thing, like it takes an intellectual mind to understand Rick and Morty. Right. Same thing. I said, sitting back, grinning as a pillow hit me in the chest. I paused looking over at him. I don't know about you, but I'm going to get the hell away from the city as soon as I can when we get out. I've had enough of this nonsense for a lifetime. Okay. All we've heard. Yeah. Yeah. 18, 18. All that we have heard is they've been there for a couple days and they've just been quiet inside of a house. And he's like, I've had enough of this place. You've just been sitting there quietly, like in a building. I said, watching his Avery propped himself up on his elbows. Me too. I'll keep in touch with my parents and everything, but it been woe and oh, wait, hold on, hold on. I thought he was talking about. No, he's talking about the city. He's talking about the city. I still doesn't make, I mean, like I understand the rules and stuff, but he has literally said, it was great, but an awesome happy existence I've had. Me too. I'll keep in touch with my parents and everything, but it's been woe and the image I had of this place I go up has been completely broken. "I don't think I can stay here and be happy," he said, and I nodded. "At least we got our slips first." "My jokes, but to my surprise, they've re-blushed, you're down on the ground." "I don't know, I think it's a bit bullshit. I used to think it was a wheel, but now I'my." He said, tripping over his words, still avoiding my eyes. "They can't control chemistry. They can't control you feel safe, and I can't control a wound." He said, his voice getting quieter. It was so out of character that I couldn't find my own voice to speak. "Is he sane?" "I thought he was sane?" Every shook his head as if to shake off these thoughts. "Damn, I'm making sense. Where'd you probably go to bed?" "Big day and all that." He mumbled, laying back down. I nodded, laying down as well, closing my eyes, my mind racing. A hundred percent the plane they're going to enact the next day is going to be like, "Okay, run." "Oh my god, it took me two days to plan." I say, "What?" "I think Avery likes theodore." "What?" "No!" "Yes!" "And you think because his name's not. " "He doesn't think his name's Theodore." "Yes!" "That's why he doesn't believe in it." "Yes!" "Yes!" "Yes!" "Wow, that's incredible." "Yes!" "Wow." "That's awesome." "Wow." "Hey, Charles." "Yeah, Avery? You're not going to get a big ol' smooch before we go on this crazy adventure." "And mwah." "I'm not one of those, dude. That's coming up soon." This is fine for like a, you know, a 12, 13-year-old that wrote it or whatever, but. "Yeah, for a 12-year-old for our story and their composition notebook." "Definitely." "Yeah, yeah. Totally fine." "So what was shaking me awake?" "I reluctantly opened my eyes where I could see Avery shaking my shoulder gently. Stopping when he saw I was awake, giving a small smile." "Morning. We should get going. This is the most ideal time I want to do this today." I nodded, pushing myself up. We spent the next little while getting ready. Neither of us mentioned in the conversation we had yesterday. I'd gotten used to being in the house, and in a weird way, I was going to miss it. I was going to miss a lot of things. We were both armed with the weird guns and had our masks on. We set off for the center of the city. It was time to get out of here. So wait, last night he was like, "I wish someone would teach me how to use this gun." And he's like, "Well, have you played Destiny?" And he doesn't actually teach him how to use a gun. "Yeah, I don't think there's anything to really use it on, so he just doesn't do it." We avoided entire streets whenever we saw a lost one. Not wanting to create any unnecessary attention. After while of walking, I saw what Avery was talking about. The city center was where we had our summer's farmer's market. Events and concerts. It looked the same, the only difference being the short archway with a stark red color. Got me off guard since the only things in color that I had seen were Avery and I. But the door was blood red and next to it, a keypad. The archway was a good ways away from where we were. And already, I saw a lost one smilling around. The same unclear mumbling, feeling the silence. "Remember, we're gonna get as far as we can without the guns. But they notice us and start shunning." Every mumbled into my ear, I nodded. I could hear my heart pounding in my ears as we started to walk. We kept our head straight, only focused on the door in front of us. As we walked a few meters, we realized that we greatly overestimated the amount of time we had before they noticed us. It was just like in my dream, a black face is starting to develop white lines. I didn't want to wait to see if they turned into the demented troubled smiles. I pulled out the gun Avery had given to me, praying to whatever higher power there was to let this work. I concentrated imagining the one directly in front of me disappearing when the bullet made contact. It was advancing and I could already hear the loud crack of Avery's gun behind me. It was running out, full speed at me. It's mumbling, getting louder. I raised the gun my heart pounding a few feet away. It's mouth stretched into a wide grin. "Cuz!" I fired when I was closing for a split second. I raised myself for the pain I knew was coming, but not came. Opening my eyes, there was nothing but a scattering of dust at my feet. Relief flooded through me as I could have laughed. It worked, it worked. Looking around, there were coming in from behind buildings out of windows. Build with renewed, hoping confidence, I started firing rounds off, truly believing with each shot. Adrenaline was rushing through me as the cracks of our loud guns filled the heavy silence, only being outmatched by the progressively louder mumbling made by advancing lost ones. It was tight, but Avery was right. The two of us we were overpowering them, dust going up every few seconds, filled oddly like a video game, wave after wave coming until eventually they stopped, and there were only a few left. I just reached the peak of my confidence when I heard a scream. I was right about their plane as just run, and then start shooting stuff. That was their complicated plane. Turning around, my heart stopped at my chest. Avery was being dragged by the foot, a lost one's long, sharp fingers to get into his ankle. His gun lay in a few feet away. I didn't have time to think or react, bringing towards him as I pointed my gun, hoping desperately I wouldn't hit him. I wouldn't be able to aim properly while running. I stopped trying to level the gun, trying to stop my hand from shaking, took a breath and fired. A cloud of dust that replaced a thin black body was probably the most beautiful thing I'd seen in my life. I sprinted over where Avery was wincing horribly as he tried to turn himself around. Avery heard me coming, and when he looked up, he wasn't looking at me. "Now, now, Charles! Charles behind you!" He yelled the fan at clearing his voice. Stopping and turning around, my heart seemed to stop for the second time. It was the man from the convenience store, the one for my dream. It looked like he was the only one left. "You can do this," I thought to myself. I raised my gun, firing at him right in the chest. The bullet passed through, like an ordinary bullet. Panic was rapidly flowing through me, now as the man came closer. I tried to move, but my feet felt glued to the ground. "Oh no, no, not again." I could hear Avery behind me calling my name. The man was slowly advancing, knowing that I wasn't going anywhere. White lines appeared on his face. My voice felt stuck in my throat. His arm was pulling back, turning into the thing for my dream. Avery's call's got louder. Is Avery going to, like, green goblin jump in front of the. claw as it splined towards me? The man was a few feet away, grabbing the front of my shirt. The white lines transformed into a smile. The corners of its mouth stretched wide to either corner of its face. A strong auntie appeared. I knew what was going to happen next. The pain was unbearable. I was certain I was being ripped apart, being set on fire from the very depths of my body. Wide-hot pain clouded my vision, so badly that I didn't even notice when it was over. I didn't notice the puff of dust appear in front of me, but I cracked that went with it. I didn't feel it when I sank to my knees, feeling something hot and wet spread through my shirt. It took me a minute to notice the hands, grabbing at my shoulders, giving me back. It took me a minute to notice the tears slipping down Avery's face as he bent over me. No, no, no, no, no, no, Charles, please, stay with me, please. Avery whispered silent sobs, racking his chest as he started to rip at the bottom of his shirt, pulling away a piece of fabric to press on my stomach. His other arm cradling my head. "I can't, I can't lose you, Charles." He whispered his shoulder shaking. "That's not. " Avery's eyes flashed to my briefly as he started to rip off another piece of fabric. "What?" "My name is. It's not Charles, it's not Charles. I'm taking a house really hypotheria." "What are you talking about?" "Yes, tears streaming silently down his face as he desperately tried to control the bleeding." "I lied. My name is. " "Theodore, I wanted you to like me for who I was, not because my name might have been on your slip." "Oh, is that the reason you didn't tell him?" "I thought it was because he scared." "It's a world where the slip determines everything." Exhausted and coldness started to seep into my body. I saw a realization pass through Avery's eyes, saw him putting the pieces together. "Yep, I, I don't care, please. I can't lose you. We'll get back to the house, we'll patch you up just please. Please don't go." He said his voice breaking on the last sentence. "You've come too far. The door's right there, and more lost than we'll be back. Just go." "Fuck that. I'm not weaving you here." He said sharply looking over me, seeming to make a decision. Slid his arms under me, lifting me up, and holding me like a little kid. I am careful not to touch my stomach, where the red stain was getting progressively wetter. He carried me over to the keypad, his hands shaking as he put in the numbers. "Wenny?" He asked softly, "I didn't have the energy to do anything, but not. I put in the last number, and the doors won't go open. I went his white light flood in my vision, as I felt every step through. My eyes closed, his warmth spread through me. I let myself drift out of consciousness." Wait a minute. I thought it required two people to go through the door, but all that you need is to enter a number. You just didn't see your coat on the wall through what's a person maybe. Where did he get the code? Was that mentioned? Yeah, because he's like, he's like, they come through and I watch, he like basically saw them type in the car. - Oh, I see, I see. - All right, well, sorry. I zoned out for a little bit, my bad. - I don't blame you. - I couldn't hear footsteps around me, people talking and love voices. My eyelids fluttered open. - Ah, Mr. Shieldings, we've been expecting you. - And now comes the part of the story where the old guard, like the government agent, whatever explains their evil plan and why they do these things to him similar to this story is reminding me of the ending of my jobs watching a woman trapped in a room. - All right, final part. - Final part. I believe that I am correct in thinking that it is a well-known fact that people by nature are curious. Curiosity has fueled many of the greatest inventions of time, such things being electricity with the world. Of course, it does not take anything, no great genius to be curious. In fact, thanks to modern technology, everyone who becomes curious is able to fuel that curiosity, have it satisfied in mere seconds. Back in middle school, I remember being curious about something. I was curious to see how many variations there were of the word confusion. As it turned out, there were many. I will bore you with all the variations there were since if you are curious, you could simply look it up yourself. However, I will share a particular one that I liked. My favorite variation or synonym for the word confuse was disoriented. By definition, being disoriented means that a person is thoroughly confused as to a time or place. They are out of touch with their surroundings. They have lost their sense of direction. They are unable to think. Clearly, their surroundings creating mixed feelings, emotions, thoughts. Oddly, all of this was going through my head as my brain tried to register the words that I just heard. - Ah, Mr. Schillings, we've been expecting you. Disoriented, my eyes slowly opened. I winced as harsh, white light shone down on me and only took a moment for my eyes to adjust and when they did, my throat dropped into my stomach. Standing above me was a man. Despite my disoriented state, I tried to quickly take him in. He looked old with white seating hair and a white neat beard. He was wearing all white, he was buttoned up shirt, he was pants, his coat, even his tie. He was staring at me, a small smile on his face, trying to gauge my reaction as I could hear other people bustling around behind me. What was happening? Stay calm, I told myself you're not in danger. They wanted to kill you, they would have by now. I tried a reason. The man was still staring at me and I was too afraid to break eye contact with him, too afraid to look around. For what I could see out of my peripheral vision, the room was stark white and filled with what looked like hospital equipment. The man was still staring at me, maybe he wouldn't speak until I would. "You've been expecting me?" I asked, trying to keep the fear, the apprehension out of my voice. The man smiled wider, reaching next to him for something. Flipboard. "Oh yes, we've been expecting you for a while. I know you must have quite a few questions, but don't worry, all of them will be answered in due time." He said, giving a small laugh. I was beyond unnerved. His laugh was too high, too long for it to seem natural. I desperately wanted him to stop smiling. I finally worked up the courage to have hurt my eyes to try and take in my surroundings. It did look like a hospital room, but the equipment was different. Unlike anything I had ever seen, it looked like nurses were milling about with clipboards, all dressed in white. Everything in the room was white, which is why it caught me off guard when my eyes fell into the blood red door on the far side of the room. Same door that Avery and I had just come through. Avery. Avery. Avery wasn't in the room. I bolted upright, relieved to find I wasn't tied down. John asleep was a thought that crossed my mind. I looked around, but I did not decide to check it and just assume I was tied down until this moment. I'm tied down. Okay, no, I'm not. Thank God. (laughing) I can't believe I'm tied down. Oh, wait. Wait, I'm not. That's so awesome. I looked around once, twice, and the third time. I imagine him spinning. (laughing) Avery wasn't in here. I looked at the man for the first time since my arrival, feeling angry. Where's Avery? I demanded my voice stronger than it had been a minute ago. The man simply looked at me. That creepy smile still plastered on his face. Mr. Anderson is quite fine. However, I will ask that you don't make sudden movements. You'll disrupt your healing process. Healing process? Shit, how can I have forgotten? I looked down, lifting my blood stained shirt up. The shake in my hands noticeable. How was this possible? Spot ride bin, well, and paled, showed nothing except a long scar. I ran my fingers over it gently. He didn't noticeable, but nothing else. I looked up quickly, which the man put his hand up. Questions will be answered. How about we take a walk? Take a walk. Was he serious? Why was he so serious? Perhaps, why so serious? A small nagging voice in my head told me that it probably wasn't the best idea to refuse him, especially since he made it sound like it wasn't really a question where my answer mattered. I didn't care. "No," said forcefully, renewed confidence flowing through me. "I want to see Avery." I said my voice slow and measured, laced with anger, with stubbornness. For the first time since I'd seen him, the man smiled flickered, annoyance and impatience crossed in his face. Flipboard still in hand, he started to cross to the other side of the room where a keypad was attached to the wall. The wall was entirely made up of those clouded glass panes, the ones they put on houses for privacy. I slowly pushed myself off the bed following him, trying to not look at the other people in the room. The man stood in front of it, slowly putting it in a password. I wasn't sure if I wanted to get closer, was it going to let me see Avery, or was this some kind of prison cell to throw me into for not doing what he asked. The man's back was turned, and that's when I saw something on the table. It was Avery's gun, the one he used to kill the lost ones, now of course it was only a regular gun. I made a decision quickly, silently reaching out and taking it, stuffing it into the backway span of my jeans before quickly, hurrying over to where the man was, praying he didn't notice anything, or the nurses. A few seconds passed, no one said anything, no siren sounded, Avery's a silent sigh per leaf. So they just had a gun on a table where he could get it and to thought that was fine. Yeah, he's fine. He's fine. He's fine. His name's Theodore, he'll never go for it. That's true. I'll never grab the gun. He's British. They don't even know what they are. I bet he's never even played Destiny. As the man finished putting in the password, the clouded glass started to get clearer. The man silently moved to the side to let me see. Slowly walked forward and I had just reached the glass as it finally became clear and I could see into it. My voice seemed stuck in my throat. It was a dark room, smaller than the one we were in, with more of the equipment that I didn't recognize. The room was bare furniture besides the bed, which was being occupied by Avery. His eyes were closed, a mask covering, and attached his mouth that was attached to one of the machines next to him. One of his ankles was bandaged, from where the lost ones had got him, he wasn't moving. My brain didn't want to accept what I was seeing. It was refusing to deal with the wave of emotions that had started to rise up, invading my thoughts. "Is he?" I choked out, my eyes not leaving him. "He is fine," the man said, turning into face him. I saw that he was still smiling. I wanted to hit him. "He is sleeping, but would be more than happy to explain things to you. Would you care to take a walk?" He was asking about the walk. "How about that walk?" "How about that walk? Care to go for that walk?" "This is the love of my life. Don't make me hit you. I'll punch you really hard." And then his dad shows up. "Care to go for a walk with me?" "No." "I'm the one to drive you to the hospital when she and I was there with me." "Care to go for a walk?" "No, but I'll drive you to a hospital with hypothermia." "I don't know if the hospital is hypothermia or you, I guess we'll find out." "I love hospitals." I didn't trust whatever this place was, whoever was here. The only person I trusted right now was Avery, but I couldn't get to him. I'd have to fix that. You just have to be patient, I told myself, wait for the right opportunity. Then you can get him and find a way out of here. I made a decision. I'd have to play along for a little bit. Looking at the man, I plastered a smile to match his. "I'd love to." I said smiling, the man beamed. I had never been good in pressured situations or lying for that matter. However, it was the thought of Avery lying motionless in that bed that allowed me to fall into step next to the man, to smile like everything was normal. I wish this was a good story because the principal was good, but the romance is written with all of the nuance as those old YouTube drawings, with like music set to them, of Mordecai from regular show and the purple horse from My Little Pony in Love, where it plays, "Can we pretend that airplane's in the night," that is the same as Mordecai. And that is the same level of like depth of romantic writing as everything between these two. You as the gay. There's a lot of people in the comments who like it, who say they enjoy it. And it means something to them. And I'm really happy to hear that, but I assure you those have to be children. If the story is just, it's just, it's just, it's not even surface level. It's just telling us, oh, well, there's romance. You didn't see it. This story has done one thing successful and it has maybe have a really gay thought and it made me smile. Did you know what it was? What was your gay thought? My gay thought was, it was, it was every looking, it was whenever theodore was looking at every and he was like, I started to notice all the, you know, that he would tap things when he was thinking, whatever. And I started picturing that scene and it made me smile because it's like, oh, that's nice. Like how cute this is. And then the gayist thought of all came up where that train song came on where it's like. Cause she's back in the atmosphere, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, way way. You imagine that scene set to drop some Jupiter by train? Yeah. No, come in. Across the sun. Did you drive through the Milky Way. See the lights I've made it. That heaven is overrated. Oh. But actually, it's not even the same thing. But actually, it's not even the chorus, it's just the beginning, that is, and that is single handedly the gayest thing I've ever thought. You thought about this scene where like, he's noticing the little tics Avery has and your mind set it to train is a damn hey, yeah, yeah, and I was, I was smiling, I was playing with my toes, my feet were over each other and then my toes were playing. I was, I was having a good time. I was a little giddy. So I will say it's successful on that. Well, it's breaking new boundaries. You know, that song's not even about a love interest. You wrote that about his mother. That's a love interest. Love's mom. Mm-hmm. Oh, he wrote it after his mom died and he had to dream about her, which is why it's like, did you miss me while you were looking for yourself or whatever. Everyone assumes it's a thing. I would assume so. It's an 18-year-old. It's not true. It's an 18-year-old. Sure, buddy. You know what just for you, it sure is, I will never hear that song for the rest of my life without thinking about this. Glancing back at the atmosphere and driving. Like just theodore, like smiling, smiling with a smiling with an imagination gun pointed to his head. To his own head or to April, I think about that, I don't fucking know. He's like, if you see a monster, I think we're all hard and it'll seize the little thing you know, snap. That's like a hallmark TV movie moment. Yeah, exactly. That's what makes you notice it. There's no romance or chemistry between them, but the moment he notices something about Avery just immediately sets to like a music montage of them getting to know each other. And at the end, we're supposed to be like, okay, they're in love. This is a good romantic plot. Tell romance work. What would be better for like a gay romance thing would be trained drops of Jupiter or I don't know the name of the song, but it's that one kind of thing. I think I came out around the same time, but I remember I when I was younger, I really liked it. It's that one is like a desperate for changing searching for truth. I don't know that it's close to it. I'm falling even more in love with you, pain out of my friend along to you, I'm standing here until you make me mad, we're not a moment here with you. What? So you know all the lyrics, but not at all. Oh, yeah, yeah. I remember it because I remember the singer when I was younger, I thought it was the same guy that was in cabin fever, who I think was the guy in boy meets world. I don't know. No references. All I got to say, I don't know. Yeah. A lot of my mind goes to that. But the beginning of that song is just kind of like it has that kind of like high school angsty, you know, desperate for changing searching for truth. You know the, what's that one song that got used for like commercials to turn back in the day? It was like black keys or something. Oh, that's something that's like, no, the one that's like for you, baby, I'm not moving on. I love you. You know that one. Everyone with that, with that, with that beautiful tempo and the way that you did the inflection of that singing, it's hard for me not to know which song it is, but I'm drawing a blank at the moment. I thought you're going to say go to actually be an extra funnier song for them. Theodore looks at Avery's looking at his legs and stuff and then just says, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, ba, and it's just gold on the ceiling. They want to get my gold. Oh, that's the ceiling. No, that would, that would actually be the gayest thing to happen as if the black keys started to play with her. They want to get my gold on the ceiling. They mind just a matter of time. Oh, you're stupid. Yeah. Yeah, basically, just the story is so poorly written or brains are doing anything it can do to like not read it. Yeah. They get to not read it. Okay, go ahead. I'm just being done with this hell. Yeah. This is Polly Hill. I'm going to tell you right now. I'm going to name that episode that Polly Hill. Polly Hill. They're not even Polly Avery's. It's been two people, though. Yeah. We had a good bit out of it. We had a good bit. So it's going to be Polly Hill or just completely ignored the title, what the author named and all of that. It's what it is to us. This story is our story now. It was a side of Avery line in the bed that made my nerves settle enough for me to pay attention to the potential exits as we walked, trying to draw a mental map of the place. After all he had done for me, I owed it to him to find a way to get us out of this area. So I imagine you have a few questions. The man said leading us out of the room and down a long narrow hallway. I tried to not win with each step because of my stomach, but it was a hell of a lot better than the alternative. You can say that. Haha. I hate all the snark. Haha. I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my ability. What would you like to know first? I was trying. Well, why is the road? This is the part where this person explains everything. Well, why can't we watch the team? I mean, what are the lonely ones or whatever? Why can't I go in the water? Yeah. What? Who makes the matchmaker cards? I was trying to focus on finding a way out of here, but I also had questions. So many questions. I took a breath. What did you mean when you said that you that you've been expecting me? Where even am I? I asked the words tumbling out of my mouth. Returned right around a corner. Well, I'll try to keep it simple. The fact of the matter is, Theodore is that you have what it takes to be a matchmaker. He said a small smile resting on his face as he glanced at me. Turnally, I froze. However, I tried to keep my feet moving. What? What are you talking about? Again, I'll try to keep it simple, but keep in mind the real answer is quite complex. Oh, no, long story short, exposition, this is literally like, well, I've set up a bunch of stuff. I will now have a character appear and explain the stuff. And that's it. That's all it does. He just appears and explains the stuff. Not even veiled as like a character in the story or we feed this monkey a grape nut every Tuesday. And he's the man who is magical and helps us have alpha sprouts for spring. It's going to be something like that, where it's like, what the fuck are you even talking about? Well, the monkey eats his grapefruit and we're able to have our alpha sprouts for our steaks. Do you understand the man said as we turned another corner left each is in the man. The man's leading about a path that draws out a swat stick. Do you know? He's like, oh my, he's like, this is the SS, these are not. Yeah. It turns out we were actually in the Nazi world right next to Polly Hell was Nazi hell. That's why the door was red. It was a big like swat stick of light. Each citizen born within city grounds has the ability to carry a gene. One of the ones needed for the ability to possess the powers needed for a matchmaker. Sometimes people don't exhibit the abilities when they are when they are born or at all. Even if they have the gene that carries the ability, it is because of that that citizens are required to have blood work done so that we can know who is carrying the gene. He said his voice is starting to sound flat all the time. We use the blood work to identify the people so that so that later we can seek them out and begin training them to unlock the potential given to them. These people serve as matchmakers, the leaders of the city. He said this time giving me a mean for glance. planning to seek you out after realizing that you carried this gene. However, we hit a little snag when you broke out of the rules, and most unfortunately got transported to below. That was a small sigh, but still another sigh, but still smiling. Luckily, you seemed to manage just fine, not without a few bumps along the way, of course, you said with a laugh, motion into my stomach, a sickening sense of unease was starting to wash over me. Something wasn't right with the way he was talking, the way he was laughing. The fact he wouldn't stop smiling. So you know what happens to the people you throw in there, the people that get down there by accident? I was trying to sound innocent, but I couldn't help the anger that was sneaking into my voice. Luckily for me, however, the man didn't seem to notice. Well, of course, the people that we put down there are danger to our society. They are risks, and here we don't take risks. Any citizen that doesn't follow the rules provided in my opinion is just as bad that get put there or just as bad as the people that get put there. Fuck sakes. We have rules in place for a reason to protect the citizens that are not, they are not for laughs or for fun. Anyone who does not take that seriously has no place in our community. I would have given anything right then to have hit him as hard as I could. Oh my gosh. Don't make me do this. Don't make me eat you. I'm so strong and powerful. I needed to change the subject. I couldn't let my emotions get the better of me. Not when so much was at risk. We took another right turn. I couldn't let my emotions get the better of me when so much was at risk. Took another right turn. It was this turn that made me realize that I hadn't seen another person anywhere since we left the room that we were in. I just added it to the growing list of reasons I needed to get me and Avery out of here. How did you heal me? State of the art technology. The man said loudly his words echoing off the walls startling me slightly. We are perfected almost all things, including health and safety. Our state of the art technology allows for healing and recovery unmatched by anyone else. Injury such as yours can be healed completely in a matter of hours. He said it's small growing even wider than that before. It sounded like he was reading from a pamphlet. We turned another corner this time to face a dead end where we were greeted by a handsome set of Mahogany doors. I've opened my mouth to ask another question but the man held his hand up. Unfortunately I cannot provide you with any more information. You are here to wait until matchmaker comes to start with you on your training and give you a more detailed explanation. You said moving to push the door open. My mind spun panicked seizing my throat. Wait, why? I haven't agreed to anything. My parents will be looking for me and my friends will notice I'm gone. I said my words trailing off as soon as the man shook his head smiling. No need to worry. Your family and friends memories will be modified. Of course, however, the choice to become a matchmaker is up to you. It is of course the highest honor. You will have everything you have ever desired dreamed about. Your life will be perfect. I won't pretend I didn't think about it. And I'm ashamed to admit that I considered it even for a second. A perfect life, everything taking care of for me. The ability to set people up with love, set them up with happiness. A perfect life. He has this entire story. He has never expressed any interest in matchmaker having a bad life or wanting a better life or wanting to set people up. But now at the end, he's like suddenly, oh, these are things I consider even though they haven't been mentioned once. Well, I said he has never witnessed. You have to give us like he's never witnessed state of the art technology. So that's, that's a good point. That'd be hard to turn down. That's fair. That's fair. And then he's going to, he's going to hear all this and be like, but my life wouldn't be perfect without Avery. The person I met three days ago. I have an intense long standing relationship before that you just have to trust me on based on a system that we have clearly established is corrupt as the system leads people down here. It is wrong. It shouldn't exist. But nevertheless, I and the narrative, I'm not questioning it. We are soulmates in the story. Literally, the only reason that they have romance is because the story told them to. Because the kids my family in a system that now seems completely corrupt and out of nowhere. Why do they even need matchmakers to be the leader of the ceiling, the city? What does that have to do with anything? I pause something rising up, blocking these intruding thoughts. What about Avery? The man smiled, shaking his head. He is no longer your concern. I thought of Avery. I thought of the mask over his mouth. His unmoving body. I thought of his smile, laugh, the way he'd held me. Tectite. The warmth that filled me whenever he touched me. The way he looked at me, when he thought I'd developed it. He had the chance to leave me behind. He could have let me drown. The door was right in front of me. Once I went in that room, I wouldn't have to worry about anything ever again. A wave was certainly slowly washed over me. Avery's gun felt heavy in my waistpan. The man looked at me. The smile still plastered on his face. I could hear my heartbeat thundering in my ears. "Go to heck!" A flicker of confusion passed over the man's face. "Sorry?" I reached behind my hand, closing around the handle as I pulled it out. Clicking the safety off as I leveled it at the man. For the first time since I saw him, the man's smile fell. "I said go to heck!" I snarled my finger. It can't get worse. It can't get worse. There's no way. My finger closed it around the trigger. Somewhere in my head, before I even pulled out the gun, I knew there wouldn't be any blood. I was correct. Spark's flu is the man stumbled back against the wall, a smoke starting to come out of the place on his chest, where I had shot him. Wires of all colors visible through the hole. The man's eyes opened with a shock and I'm blinking as he slid to the floor. His head jerked in a few times before he lay on moving. "He was a sniper." Later, sirens began to sound as the. "For teen titans, whoa!" "Teen titan!" "It's way cooler than Avery!" "Teen titan!" "When there's trouble, you know who to call." "Teen titans!" "I'm the town where they can see it all!" "Teen titans!" "I love this girl off of the attack." "You can break someone they got to back." "Because when the world these animals are control!" "Teen titan!" "Oh my god, if you think about it, it's actually kind of hot that Theodore's Robin and fucking Avery's Beast Boy." "I don't know. I should have voiced them like this the whole time. I'm going to turn to an elephant and give you belly kisses." "It's so hot, dude. Ship that, ship that, now!" "Ship it!" "Are you making an elephant?" "Yeah, how did you do that?" "It's so, it came through so distorted, it was like I was hearing an elephant through a Luigi board." "I'm not moving my hand, are you?" "No, I'm not." "It spills out." "FTPP!" "FTPP!" "Oh my god, PFTP!" "PPP!" "I can't be talking to an elephant!" "What is that?" "It's either an elephant or it's a Beast Boy from Teen Titans." "I know which one." "Himson go to heck was pretty hard though, huh?" "Yeah, that was really cool." "Come on man, that was cool." "It was badass." "Yeah, that was really cool." "Himson at twice and the second time has periods after every word to let you know that he means business." "Break and go to heck." "I'm tired of you dang robot scum." "Second later sirens began to sound as the lights everywhere turned red. I turned and started to run." "A mine was really nice, I desperately tried to remember which way we came." "This story's gonna end and there's gonna be zero explanation for why they can't watch TV on the 14th, why the matchmakers exist, why you have to be 18 to know about this, why you can't go in the water, it's just gonna be like, "Oh, I never know." "I bet you there's a commercial for the matchmaker on the 14th, go watch it." "For the matchmaker?" "Yeah, they know about the matchmakers because before they're 18, they know that they're gonna get the slips, right?" "I don't fucking know." "Who knows?" "Yeah, you're right." "Who cares?" "My mind was really nice, I desperately tried to remember which way we came. All other thoughts being pushed aside, I didn't know how many bolts were left in the gun, and I didn't stop to check." "Left, right." "True." Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Straight down this hallway, another left. I was sprinting as fast as I could. My sneaker squeaking against the white towel porch. Above me, the noise was thunderous. Sounded like people were running. I tried to run faster. Avery, I thought to myself, you have to get to Avery. I turned left again and knew I had gone the right way. I burst into the room, I had come from. The room now empty. No nurses or anyone inside. We ran towards the glass wall, where Avery lay on the other side. I'm coming. I said softly knowing that he couldn't hear me. No, I'm going to just roll over that. I put the gun down, not wanting to waste any bullets. I grabbed a chair, a adrenaline coursing through me, as I swanked into the wall. At the wall again and again, cracks for me, each time I get it, each, it was fueled by emotions. I pushed down. This is for the lies, I saw this last one. This is for the pain, I swam, I paused, panting. This is for Avery. Throwing the chair away, I ran over the broken glass to Avery. With shaking hands, I took off the mask, throwing it to the side. I put my hand to his face, my entire body shaking. Wake up, baby. Come on, wake up, baby, please. I was shaking his shoulders lightly. Avery, please. Please, baby, wake up. I whispered feeling a sob, starting to creep up in my throat. You can't leave me. Whispered my voice shaking. Need you, Avery, please, baby, please wake up. Tears started to cloud my vision, which is why I thought the flutter of his eye lids was my mind playing tricks, showing me what I wanted to see. My body froze, my breath still, his eyes opened slowly, and it wasn't until I saw the dark, navy blue of them that I allowed myself to breathe, short, relieved breath escaping out of me. I couldn't let myself go through what I was feeling right now, there was no time. Avery, I need to listen to me, you need to get up, can you get up? I asked quickly my eyes glancing over him. Avery gave me a quick searching like before, not in again. So earlier when the phrase "do you trust me" was brought up, it was when Avery was asking to be able to trust him a stranger in this new world, and all Avery asked was what's going on, and he's like, you trust me, it's like, well, that's not really what I was asking as I was going on. Obviously, it's understood that I'm going to follow you out of here. There's a weird parallel because the first time when Avery says he's one of their first introducing diaper play into the relationship, all right, all right, all right. I took his hand, Avery gave me a quick searching look before not in again. I took his hand, helping him out of the bed, and noticing his wins once he put pressure on his foot. "I'm fine," he said, noticing my look, lead the way. He said softly. It was then I realized that I had his full unwavering trust, I felt a surge of admiration for him. "What happened to Avery again? Why is he injured?" "I got flicked up." All right, I nodded, walking a few paces, and picking up the gun that I had sat down. I noticed Avery was limping on his injured foot, without a word, acrossed over to him, sliding in arm underneath his so that he could put some of his weight on me. "Thanks," he said quietly. I nodded. "Of course." The sirens didn't stop as we pushed our way out the door, muffled yells and voices were coming from behind us. "We have to hurry," I said, Avery picking up on the unease in my voice and tried to walk as fast as he could on his foot. "Is that an exit?" He said, "Wincing as we have ran down the halls." "There is. I think I saw one around here." I said looking around, and to my relief, saw one of the glowing red signs for an emergency exit at the end of the hallway we were in. "There. Come on!" I said, here in the voices get louder. "We were only a few hundred feet away. We can make it. We can make it." Loud crack suddenly filled the airs I realized the people behind us were starting to shoot. Pull its ricochaine off the walls. I had a feeling that as soon as we got to the exit, they wouldn't be able to follow. We tucked our heads as we tried to zigzag down the hall. Bleedingly, I turned my head to look at the people who were shooting. I wanted to look away instantly. I wasn't sure if you could call them people. They were in all black. Their limbs too long, too thin, masks and helmet covering each one's heads. Another crack sounded and I felt Avery slip out from under me as he screamed. It only took me a second to realize what happened. "Avery! Avery! No!" I was turning around to see five people and all black coming towards us and more far behind them. I held up the gun, praying that there were enough bullets as I fired off rounds, watching the same sparks appear as they did with the old man. Avery was on the ground, clutching his leg and groaning. I tried to pull the trigger again but the gun clipped empty. Avery heard the gun, click him too. He said groaning, his hands painted red with blood, my heartbeat thundered in my ears. "No. No!" "In your words Avery? Fuck that! There's no way in hell I'm leaving you here!" I said forcefully, despite the pain I could have sworn I saw a flicker of a smile on Avery's face. "Give me your arm!" He said hurriedly, lancing up, seeing more of those things start to turn the corner. Panics eased me as I grabbed Avery's arms, I started to pull him towards the door. Maybe a few feet away we could make it. More of the things in black were now jumping over the bodies of the ones that I shot. I turned around reaching the door to handle as the things raise their guns. With the final yank I pulled Avery towards me just as I opened the door, pulling us both through the door, slain clothes. I felt myself laying hard on a rocky surface, but I wasn't paying attention. My eyes were on the door, which now looked like a wooden board against a rundown building. Second passed, and a few more, no one came out. Looking around frantically, I spotted Avery on the ground next to me. Looking like he was going to pass out, blood flowing freely from his leg, as cramble towards him. "No, no, no, no, no, no, Avery!" I said, and my voice shaking as he looked up at me. "Ah. Damn. No, no, no, don't talk, I'm going to get a help, I-." "Didn't hand that?" Yes quietly kind of me off. I paused listening as I looked around. We were on what looked like an alley, a sound of cars and people chattering filled my ears. All your set of pizza, due to the over-and-buttoned pizza shops filling my nose, my breath caught in my throat. We were home. Wait, this isn't like a small community, this is like a massive city with alleys and buildings that everyone is, whatever, but who cares. "Babe! Come on, we're going to be late!" I yelled across the house as I started to button up my shirt. My finger leaned green for half a second over the scar that ran across the middle of my stomach or buttoned my shirt up over it. I tried not to think about what happened five years ago. Some of the blanks I filled in for myself. There were some questions that were best left unanswered. "We are not going to be late. Don't be so dramatic." Now, so the twist is going to be, this is several years later, and that Avery died. And just as we predicted earlier, as a joke, he will now be married to a woman named Avery. Maybe. I guarantee that's where this is. I think it's just going to be a very quick ending of happily ever after it's done. Nope. I think he's married to a girl named Avery. He has conformed to society standards and gender roles and norms, and that's rejected. The apparently state enforced, but not state enforced homosexuality. So now he's state enforced heterosexual because of the name, I guess. A voice came from around the corner. I turned, smiling at the familiar side of a tall figure with dark hair. "Avery, I swear. You try to make his late every time we go anywhere with my dad." I said facing back towards the mirror, reaching for another button before I felt someone's hand there instead. Avery turned me towards him, okay, you're right, you're right, I'm, my bed. Avery turned me towards him, starting to do my buttons up himself. "That's crazy, and even if I was, I'd be justified in doing so. That freaking scares me." He said with a small smile, his fingers brushing lightly against my skin as he continued to do up the buttons. "That's ridiculous, you've known him for five years." I said rolling my eyes to distract from the fact that even after five years, his touch still made my heart beat, feel like it was going to escape out of my chest. Still scaly. Also, why don't your parents have to find downhill every year for your birthday? Because they couldn't fathom the fact that we moved so far away. "How are you still putting exposition into the sword?" "Also, I like seeing you get dressed up, what you only do when they're around." I'd say a smile tugging on the corners of my lips. Every pause for a moment bringing his eyes up to meet mine. "Yeah." He said quietly, "Following enough that I could see his dimples." I swallowed. "Stop! Swallowing!" "Yeah." I said back, "Smolly?" And as he finished doing up my buttons, I put my arms around him. I'll remind you that our anniversary is next week, but to celebrate. without any fan members, if it makes you feel better. - Said my finger absolutely running over his shoulder. - I still like to debate about when exactly our anniversary should be. Is it the day we got married? Or is it the day we realized life was a hollow shell? Oh my God. Or the day when-- - Oh my God. (laughing) I still like to debate when exactly our anniversary should be. Or the day when we realized life was just a hollow shell unless you knew my heart was beating somewhere on your buy? (laughing) Can we talk about that? Can we think how would it actually get set on the score? - It is trying to do the cutes you like and they all live to have fun on that. - It is cute. - No, when is our anniversary? When we got married or blah, blah, blah. - But it's had no build up. It's just like-- - No, it's cute. - Well, they're in love 'cause they're in love. It's cute because it's cute. It's cute because I said it's cute and I'm writing things that are considered cute. - No, it is fucking cute. - It's cute. - It's cute. - You know what, Hunter, no, it's not, okay? I can't do this to anyone because it's not cute. And it's a lie and it's a false spit to the face of things that aren't cute in the face of nothing. Why don't you sing "Train"? You were good at that. Why don't you bring back that? ♪ You're my speed job ♪ ♪ You know what, keep going ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ - He said with the teasing smile, I couldn't help match his smile as I rolled my eyes. Whatever you want. Although that would make our anniversary the same day as my birthday, which means we celebrate with my parents. - I said, moving my hands up across his shoulders to his chest. - Definitely not. I wouldn't want to give you a anniversary present in front of your parents. - What, dude? What? That's hot. That's cute. - I wouldn't want to give your present in front of your parents. - Yeah, it's just being like every stereotypical lovey-dovey thing ever. - Yeah, and it's nice. This is what horror is, dude. I hope you realize that. This is the best horror story ever. - Yeah, this is our slash no sleep, okay? This is a scary story, dude. This is terrifying. He said grinning, I smacked him lightly on the chest. My hands slid into his hair, pulling him down for a kiss, holding it for a moment to let myself enjoy the familiar shot of warmth that came with it before pulling away. - I can't help but remember thinking at that moment how perfectly beautiful life was, despite all that we had drawn through. In that moment, life was perfect. Life was a foundation. Then there's text at the end that says, "Theodore, Aiden?" And then, is that Morse code? Yeah, it's Morse code. Okay, hold on. Let me put those nutrients later real quick. So I'm gonna go on a limb. And say, that is one of the worst stories we've ever read in my life. - Oh, easy, easy, easy. And I hate that this is even on the arse, this is not even a, there's so much left over, this is so dumb. - I also hate, is this the first story we've read with gay characters, or like gay, like a gay protagonist? Didn't left right game have a couple that was. - There was gay characters, but it wasn't a protagonist, right? - Yeah, this is probably the first gay protagonist. - Yeah, and it's like, oh, it's like a horribly written story where every piece of quote unquote romance or writing is just a like, "Trivents." It's just a stereotype laid out and you're supposed to believe it. Okay, so the Morse code says, "Theodore Aiden" and then the word "acronym." - I don't know. - What? I don't think the Aiden, what's that mean? Who's Aiden? His name's Avery, right? - I don't know. - I don't know. All I know is. - It's trying to incorporate something. I don't care. - All I know is I would go up to my buddy Joseph and I'd fucking shoot him in the face with a real gun, not a imaginary gun. I would shoot him in the face and be like, this is what you fucking get, idiot. Or I would fucking throw his ass in the water, right? You know what the problem is, is that the biggest problem with this story is that the horror of it is being like, oh, these weird creatures with smiles on their face. It's like very Jeff the killer kind of like, it's so creepy that they're smiling in this way. Oh my God, there's a man with no face. Who can, you guys just like went to an apartment building and you had like, it was just amazing. Like you guys, it was, there was no threat. You have it a imaginary gun, whatever the fuck that means. You go into like these back room style situation where the guy's like, wait, we need match, it's just, none of it matters. None of it. - None of it. - None of it connects, none of it makes sense. - Yeah. - Why have all of this stuff? If anything, why not just make it like a romance story where it's like somebody's gotten kidnapped and you're trying to find them or, you know, just something like, don't post it on our slash no sleep. Or you can make it unsettling and horrifying. Or something like that. - There's so much stuff there. - The only thing that was remotely scary is like the lost ones, you can just shoot. The only thing that was scary is just like a hallmark building. - The only thing that was scary was Theodore's dialogue the entire time. That was the most frightening thing. - That was rough. - That was rough. - A lot of Avery's was on either. - Heck! - You go to heck and you die. - Motherfucker. - Okay. - Yeah, hold on, hold on. Some of these comments, dude. Some of these comments, okay. So people are trying to like figure out the Morse code and they're like, Aiden could stand for Avery is dead. But I'm not sure what the E and N would be for. (laughing) Like maybe it's an acronym if I ignore that's the letter. Like, listen to this one. So his soulmate is probably actually Aiden and Avery's shadow creature replaced Avery in the below just before they got out or in the lab. Avery has been calling out to his two boyfriend's past and present because he's lost somewhere. - I am. - You're smoking. This is absolutely insane. - This has been, this has been creep cast. - Look, look, look, this was probably written by a kid in middle school or high school. Probably someone who, you know, may have been struggling with their own sexuality and with that it's cool. It's fine. But for what it is reading it, it was miserable. I hope that I don't think they continue to write and got better, but yeah, it's rough. - But she's back in the act of this video. (laughing) - That's the exact same time. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. ♪ Since the return of the shadow of the world ♪ ♪ She lives like a baby ♪ ♪ She talks like a dream, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ Tell me, did you sail across the sun ♪ ♪ Did you make it to the Milky Way ♪ ♪ To see her lots of pain in it ♪ ♪ And then there's no more pain in it ♪ ♪ Tell me ♪ ♪ Was it everything you wanted to find ♪ ♪ Did you miss me while you were looking for yourself ♪ - Isaac, we make a vote that if any regard if it ever goes into romance fantasy, we get to veto the story. - I don't want to read romance fantasy anymore. - I know. - You are the one that said at one point, you would love to read Smut for this show. - So I do feel like this isn't smart. - This was like, this was just someone being like, I hope he gives me belly kisses. - I was wanting, like I was wanting a centaur man, he's like, you need to stay in more college. - And she's like, oh my God, this is, he's so beautiful. If it went that direction where it's like so over the top, but this just felt, this made me sad. - Wait, but you just came up with that on your own, a centaur man that's like, aggressively protected. - He's got a big old donkey dick. - Why not? - I'm out of here by, I'm leaving. Thank you to also the audio listeners. If you stay, if you just stuck through this, I want you to know you deserve a fucking medal. All right. If you, if you said, if anyone made it to the end of this spot, I want you to leave a comment in the comment section with your hand up and said, I survived this fucking episode because it was horrible. I'm sorry. This is my identity in this episode too, I feel horrible. I feel, oh! ♪ Tell me, you feel the cross sun ♪ ♪ Did you make it to the Milky Way ♪ - Thank you to all of our Patreon supporters. Thank you to everyone who watched, means the world, appreciate the support, and we will see you all in the next one. And also, stay away from England. I think that's the underlining, you know, moral to this whole thing. Bye. (static) ♪ Tell me, you feel the cross sun ♪ ♪ Did you make it to the Milky Way ♪ ♪ Did you make it to the Milky Way ♪ ♪ Did you make it to the Milky Way ♪