#anyway its almost time for me to do my nightly reading so bye bye

[starswallowingsea]

idc about shu gender discourse but i was thinking about it this morning and i dont think shu would really use specific labels. to me his gender is just his art and his music more than anything else which makes it difficult to define with words. gender is a performance art

[visionofhope04]

Hii I was lowkey wondering if you would do something maybe like a one shot of neglected where reader is older (18-20) and dipped out of the house and became a singer and one of her songs basically exposed them for how they treated reader and in like an interview she full on tells them how she doesn’t even talk to them and like only Jason

This is literally perfect. I love this idea! I was planning on making a singer batsis reader anyway so here you go! I'll be making this part 4 of the series instead of a one shot. There’s a bit of angst. Btw, thanks so much for your support everyone! I'm glad you enjoy this series! Feel free to request anything you'd like besides smut as well!

This is the longest thing I have ever written so there will be a part 5. I planned on this being the last part but it's just so much. It’s not proofread and neither are all of the other parts because I post at 1 am most of the time lol. Hope you like it!

f/n = friend name

Y/G/N = your group name

N/S = news station

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 (Current) Part 5

---

You were sick of it. Sick of how even after confronting them about how you felt and almost dying because of it, they still neglected you. You couldn't wait to move out at the age of 18, even if it proved to be a struggle. You had taken mini jobs since you turned 15 and saved up since then. You just couldn't see them anymore as it would remind you of how they treated you that day at that hospital. None of them apologized either. They just pretended it never happened and continued to ignore you. The media had a field day with speculation of what had happened but eventually stopped because Bruce had claimed it was “just a bad case of the flu” which they believed.

Jason was always the only one that would talk to you. He was the only one that actually cared enough to make sure you were taking proper care of yourself and that you wouldn't have a repeat of what happened. He took you places, spent time with you and gave you advice. You even had a tradition where you'd always meet up at the manor's library every week at the same time that same day every week and just have a mini book club together. He always made time for you and never bailed on you.

So on your 18th birthday, he helped you move out. You managed to rent a small apartment in Star City with the money you had saved up. It wasn’t that close to the manor which was a good thing. The neighborhood wasn’t good but it wasn’t as bad as Gotham’s neighborhoods so you would be fine. You could handle yourself with your assassin training if needed. You also managed to get hired at a cafe which was about a five minutes walking distance from your apartment.

It had taken a while but eventually, you had packed all of your belongings into color coded containers and moved them into Jason’s car with his help. You didn’t say goodbye to anyone as you had no friends to say bye to and you knew that your so called “family” couldn’t care less about what you did with your life. ‘This is it, hopefully the last time I’ll ever be near this place.’ You thought. You didn’t plan on stepping foot in Gotham ever again after you left. It would bring back too many memories you prefer to keep buried away deep inside your mind.

The car ride to Star City was entertaining. You and Jason conversed the whole time, telling jokes and listening to his funny tales with the radio playing softly in the background. Eventually, a song you both loved came on and you both started yell-singing along to the lyrics. You wished those moments could be permanent. You were both so carefree and nothing else mattered besides having fun and enjoying yourselves.

You now stood in the doorway of your new apartment, admiring your new home. Jason and yourself had just finished unpacking all of your belongings. You really liked how it looked and thought you both did an amazing job at designing the place perfectly according to your style. Jason, unfortunately, had to leave in order to avoid raising suspicions. Once you both said your byes, he left you to your apartment.

Jason drove back home in silence. He hated to admit it but he would miss you dearly. You were always there for him and helped him with anything. You tried your best to always comfort him and make him feel better on his darkest days and it would always work. Somehow you seemed to always have the right words to say or knew exactly what to do to help him. Out of everyone he was closest to you. He assumed it was because he could relate to you the most. More so how you felt. He’d felt like the black sheep of the family before you came, and he was. When you came, you took that role from him. It pained him to see how much their insults would affect you, even if you were good at hiding it. He could just tell.

Jason made it back to the manor after a while and went straight to the library. He didn't want to deal with the others. After the whole hospital situation, he'd never really bother interacting with them. He hated how they treated you as if you didn’t exist and hated how much pain they had caused you and that they didn’t even care. He guessed that they'd probably be doing something for Damian's birthday and forgot that you were his twin. They probably couldn’t even remember that Damian had a twin.

He made it to the library and pulled out one of his favorite books. He’d read it so many times you’d often joke that he could probably recite the whole book by heart at this point. Sitting down in a chair, he started to read. However, he couldn’t bring himself to stop thinking about what it would’ve been like if they treated you how they did Damian. The both of you were Bruce’s real children. You both even looked like clones of him! At first, Jason thought you would’ve been the favorite twin due to your personality. Even though you were twins, your personalities were polar opposites. You even refused to kill! You were trained by the League so why didn’t you kill as Damian did?

Jason knew you would benefit them greatly if you joined. You had self control, didn’t kill, could act perfectly, lie perfectly, do well under pressure, and not to mention your skills. Being raised by the League may have been torture, but you managed to gain incredible skills out of it. You could take on at least ten guys who doubled you in size and beat them within five minutes. You even bested Damian in spars and he was supposedly dubbed the “better twin” by Talia, so why hadn’t they let you join their nightly crusades like they had let Damian when the both of you first arrived?

Damian passed by your room but noticed something was off. He decided to take a look. He twisted the doorknob and pushed. The room which was once occupied by you now looked extremely plain and bare, stripped of all of its accessories. The only things left were the bed itself, multiple dressers, and a vanity. It looked as if it had been vacant the whole time. It might as well have been. Damian couldn’t really remember what it had looked like since he’s never paid much mind to it but he could tell there was a drastic difference. He knew that you disliked just leaving your room plain unlike himself and wanted at least something to make it look less boring.

He couldn’t help but wonder what had happened. Had you finally been kicked out by Bruce? Did you get shipped off to a boarding school like he had been suggesting to your father for years? He decided to go ask. He exited the room and closed the door behind him, taking off for Bruce’s office. Walking down the hall, he suddenly remembered that he had seen you leave with Jason. This meant that you were not at a boarding school like he had originally thought. But then why was your room vacant?

Instead of going to see Bruce, he decided to go see Jason and bring up the matter with him instead. He changed directions and headed to the library where he knew he’d find Jason. It was no secret that Jason was a book worm so Damian had a fifty percent chance of finding him there.

He entered the library and was immediately greeted with the sight of Jason sitting comfortably on a chair, legs crossed with a book opened in his hands. Jason didn’t bother to look up from his book as he spoke.

“What do you want Demon Spawn?”

“I’ve come to obtain the whereabouts of my sister.”

“You mean my sister?”

“She’s not your sister!” Damian exclaimed.

“Well I act more like a brother than you do.”

“Where is Y/N? Her whole room is bare.”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

“Just tell me, you imbecile!” Damian said, growing increasingly frustrated by Jason’s blunt answers.

“She’s not here.”

“Then where is she?”

“Not here.”

“Just tell me already Todd, I have no time for your foolish games!”

“She moved out.” Jason said, giving in.

“What?! Where.” Damian demanded.

“Why would I tell you?”

“Because I demand to know!”

“Okay and?”

“Tell me!”

“No.”

“Why not!”

“Because you don’t even care.”

“And you do?”

“Yes, I actually do Damian! I’m there for her when she needs me the most. I’m there for her while she’s watching you live the perfect life that she’s just a background character in! While you and the others ignore that she even exists! I’m there for her when she breaks down and has panic attacks! And what were you all doing to try and help her? Nothing! Absolutely nothing!” Jason snapped.

“Y/N’s fine, I know my twin!” Damian screamed.

“Do you even know what her favorite color is?” Jason questioned in a harsh tone.

“...” Was Damian’s reply.

“Exactly! You don’t! You and the others have never cared about her, so why all of a sudden do you care now? You don’t know anything about her so don’t act like you do!” Jason then stood up and walked out of the room in a fit of rage.

Damian stood there, shocked. Had Jason just refused to answer his question? He was about to follow him but decided against it. Why was Damian going to chase Jason down just for her? She was just an annoyance, a mistake, imperfect. He had been wanting to get rid of her for so long, so why doesn’t he feel relieved? Why does he feel guilty? He decided to stop dwelling on it and get on with life. He figured it would happen eventually if it hadn’t happened then.

---

It had been a year since that day. The day you left your old life behind and started a new life, a better one. One where you weren’t constantly ignored. One where you actually had more than one person care about you. Instead of seeing yourself as a failure and disappointment, you now saw yourself as an amazing person (which you always were). You had been going to a community college in Star City. You made many friends there and started up a music career with three of them.

Their names were f/n, f/n and f/n. You all started off by taking random gigs anywhere you could. You performed covers of songs and would receive standing ovations all the time. Seeing as your group was well liked, you decided to write and produce your own songs. At the age of 19, Y/G/N released their first album. It went viral within a day and everyone was talking about it. After a week, several articles were posted, praising your work. News Stations talked about all the records Y/G/N managed to break. People started to stream it like crazy, and you couldn’t be happier with all the positive feedback you were receiving.

You had been a Wayne once, meaning you had experience in dealing with the media. Since you had already been used to it, you knew you’d all eventually be invited to interviews. So, when you had received an email stating how N/S wanted a one on one interview with you, you weren’t sure how to feel. You weren’t looking forward to interviews with your whole group, let alone one where you would be alone. You knew how unfiltered interviewers could be and didn’t feel comfortable with it.

However, you decided it would be best to go. So here you were, sitting in front of the interviewer in an uncomfortable chair preparing for the interview to start. You had somehow managed to keep a smile plastered on your face the entire time while you were a nervous wreck on the inside. You hoped none of the questions would be sexist as they usually were towards women. However, you had no more time to think about that. You heard clicking, signaling that you were about to go live. Once you heard the last click, you knew you were live and the interview had begun.

“Hello everyone, welcome back to N/S. My name is Jerald Tangleberry and I’m here today with songwriter, singer, and celebrity, Y/N Wayne! How are you?”

You waved to the camera and then answered, “Hello everyone! I’m doing good, how about you?”

“I’m doing great, thanks for asking! So by now I’d assume everyone knows that you’ve released an album with your group. How does it feel to gain more fame?”

“It doesn’t feel any different. Fame wasn’t our goal when we released the album. It was to express ourselves.”

“Mhm, well Ms. Wayne, what inspired you to write songs?”

“Well we know people may be in a tough spot in their life right now and want them to know they aren’t alone.”

“That’s so true. Some fans have been speculating that every member has three songs that specifically relate to them since there are twelve songs in total and three of the songs have the same group member as the introduction part of the song. Is this true?”

“Yes, it is true.”

“So all three of your songs relate to family issues of some sort. Is that hinting that you have family issues?”

“Yes, actually. My family isn’t the best. They ignored me all the time, even when they weren't busy. The only person who didn’t was Jason.”

“You’re saying it in the past tense.”

“I moved out about a year ago. When I was around 14, I suffered from anorexia. My family would always ignore me since they were either busy doing work or hanging out with each other. The only family member that acknowledged me was Jason. I assumed it was because there was something wrong with me. I started to hate myself so much to the point of starvation. One day, I passed out right before a gala and my oldest brother Dick found me passed out on the floor. They took me to the hospital and when I woke up, Bruce, Dick, Tim, and Damian started fussing about how I’d ruin their image if the media knew what actually happened. They started to yell at me and told me how I was a useless burden. I started to have a panic attack so I kicked them out. Jason stayed behind with me and comforted me. Ever since then I made a planed to save enough money so I could move out when I turned 18, which I did.”

“Oh, wow. So Jason was the only one who interacted with you?”

“Yeah.”

“Looks like the Wayne family isn’t as perfect as they seem.”

“No family is actually perfect.”

“Did your family try contacting you at all after they found out about Y/G/N?”

“Not yet. They’re probably too busy or don’t care.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“It’s alright, I got over it. What’s the next question.”

“Oh-” He cleared his throat and continued the interview. (So basically I don’t wanna bore you all lol)

---

Jason had woken up late into the afternoon that day. Patrol that morning had exhausted him. There was a huge breakout at Arkham they had assisted with. They successfully locked up every escapee, so today, Jason just wanted to relax until it would be time for patrol again. Even though he was exhausted, he knew he couldn’t take a break. The others wouldn’t and it would be unfair to them if he did.

He headed over to his couch with his phone and a bowl of popcorn in hand, ready to watch random movies the entirety of the day. He set down his phone on the coffee tables and grabbed the TV remote. When he turned on the TV, he almost dropped the popcorn and remote. You were sitting on a chair, giving an award winning smile while you politely answered the man’s questions. He was baffled. He didn’t know why you were being interviewed, let alone on TV at all! You made it clear you didn’t want to have any relations with your family any longer and you couldn’t stand publicity, so what were you doing?

He placed the bowl down and snatched his phone off the table. Unlocking his phone, he quickly dialed your phone number. However, he realized that the interview was live and that he would be interrupting it if he called you then. Deciding to wait, he placed his phone back down, picked up the bowl, and then got comfortable.

---

Tag list: @fake-id-69 @pepelachanel @loxbbg @what-0-life @yoongi-holland @omnivorousfangirl @cawcaw-pretty-thing @sexysamsungl @iceddonuts @buginetye @portrait-ninja @azazel-nyx @alculai

[authoreetea]

stinging pain

- tom riddle x enemy/rival!reader

summary: tom gets himself into a fight and he went to you of all people.

warnings: uh bruise, probably blood, and swearing, and mentions of objectification also lowercase writing.

your nightly reading was abruptly disturbed as someone knocked at the door, at twenty three past eleven pm.

you rubbed your eyes and sighed opening the door, and was greeted with an unexpected sight. tom riddle with a busted lip and bruised cut knuckles.

you gasped as you looked at him and he kept looking everywhere but you. "what in the three hells happened to you?" you asked, or rather demanded an answer.

he shrugged. "well i got into a fight. other guy looks worse." he said cockily.

you roll your eyes and stop the little smirk forming on your face. "i really don't think its the perfect time for that. and why'd you go here? we're not exactly best of friends."

"uh, i didn't want to go to madame pomfrey. she would've alerted the teachers and its rather late, and i didn't know where else to go."

you pressed your lips into a thin line and grabbed your first aid kit and pushed him to sit on the chair you have by the corner.

"give me your hand." you said very monotonously. he did as he was told and you grabbed some alcohol.

"this is gonna sting like a bitch." you said and started patting the cotton ball gently with alcohol on his knuckles, causing him to hiss and get tense.

"so, why didn't you go to poppy? i want the real reason." you said as you were tending his wounds.

he looked at you and scoffed. " i dont have to tell you anything, i don't care what you want."

you were appalled. "wow lovely way to treat the person who's helping you out right now. jerk." you sarcastically said. you disregarded being gentle and started patting your medicinal potion that heals wounds quicker very harshly on his hand.

he flinches and closing his eyes shut. "stop. please. i am sorry to have offended you but do not take out your anger on my wound." he said, almost out of breath.

you smirked, "first time apologizing huh? anyway, your hand should be fine tomorrow." you said setting his hand aside.

"what was that potion you used?" he asked curiously. you started preparing the other materials to help his busted lip as he spoke.

"oh, i made it. quickens the healing phase of wounds and bruises. come closer." you said

he was skeptical of your intentions as to which you rolled your eyes at and said "unless you wanna keep that very uncomfortable busted lip that'll surely ruin your arse kissing to the professors." you mocked, pouting.

he scoffed and got closer. you grabbed your white cloth and magically dampened it and gently cleaned his lip, before using another potion made by you that imitates the process of a cool compress without waiting.

"you made this too? how do i know im not being poisoned." he says.

"oh yes you are totally getting poisoned, just like how i helped poppy poison every other kid at this school with my witchy bitchy poison." you said in a mock cheery voice and smiling rudely at him.

he just rolls his eyes and chuckles.

"you're being a world class jerk right now, i could kick you out of my dorm if i wanted to." you said.

"then why haven't you?" he asked tauntingly. you smile mischievously and said "because i dont want to."

he was stunned, yet managed to regain his long long long walls.

you wandlessly and wordlessly healed his lip and you were packing up your kit. "thank you for helping me." he said, sincerity dripping from his voice.

"hm, you're welcome. why did you get into a fight anyway?" you asked.

he cleared his throat and went back to looking at everything that wasn't you. "they were objectifying you and i punched them."

it was your turn to be shocked. "awe, thank you for defending me." you said smiling.

he smirked and said "don't spend all night thinking about it. bye, thank you." and he left the room.

you stood there in your pajamas and you were very stunned.

he was a jerk, but maybe not the biggest jerk

[roseblack2222]

I work At The Only Pizza Place In Town (Part 2)

This is the second part of my first series on r/NoSleep. I hope you enjoy it. If you do you can find me on Twitter and Patreon

Hey, it's the Pizzaman again. Hope you all saw the last post, that Nick made. Since the incident in the forest, I have been released from the hospital. Thankfully, the creature didn't cause any permanent damage. It just took some bandages to heal the wound. And my leg was put in a cast. Although, getting used to these crutches has been a pain the ass. Nick's had to help me up several times when I've lost my balance and fallen on my face. Speaking of Nick, he's actually moved in with me. We got to talking some more since the last post and as it turns out he had actually been kicked out by his parents. The reasoning for it was because he got kicked out of his college. It was because some other students who he had problems with, claimed he was harassing them.

Those students had been going to that college for years. And were well-liked by everyone. So, everyone believed them over Nick. He got a call from his dad, who berated him over what happened. Apparently, his dad and mom believed the school and other students over their own son. Great parents, right? Nick was told by his dad not to bother coming home for a place to stay. Then shortly after, Nick found out his number had been blocked by them. He did see them again at the funeral. But, he didn't bother talking with them. And they didn't bother speaking with him. Since Nick had been banned from his home, he had been drifting from place to place. He would stay at the cheapest motels he could find, sometimes he would even sleep in his car. Truth be told, he was just about out of money when he returned to my town.

I normally wouldn't share information so personal. But I figured you'd all be wondering why Nick decided to move here of all places. I asked him if it was okay to tell you all this. And he said that it was. I managed to get him an interview at Formaggio's. According to Nick, it went something like this,

" Have you had any experience in this kind of restaurant?" Mr. Formaggio asked Nick.

" I've worked at Domino's for a couple of years."

" Good enough. You're hired."

So now, he and I are working together. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that. I have been back to work since the last post. Mostly, to show Nick the ropes. Because of my injury, there are a few conditions in regards to me going to work. For one, I can only head out to work, when it is day out. And I have to be off before dark. If I'm working alone. If I'm closing with someone, I can stay to help them close. And lastly, if there is any heavy fog or thunderstorms out, I get the day off. But, I want to talk about something that happened on Thursday. Because, what occurred, I have never seen, Nor heard about. Nick and I were at Formaggio's. It was later in the day. And most of the customers were heading home. The only customers we had left were Chuck and Sam, who were getting ready for their nightly patrol.

" Should I ask them to leave, since we're closing?" Nick asked me.

" Nah. They're cool."

" Hey, Pete. I don't think we've been introduced to your friend here. I think I overheard your name is..Nick, right?" Chuck asked him.

" Yeah. Nice to meet you, Chuck," Nick said, reading his badge. They shook hands. Then Nick did the same thing with Sam. They all chatted for a little bit before I told Nick we had to get busy closing. After telling us bye, Chuck and Sam left. Then Nick and I got to closing.

Fortunately, there are plenty of counters and such for me to use in order to get around. So, I didn't have too much trouble. Nick learned pretty quickly. I showed him how to shut off and clean the ovens and dishes. And where to store food in the walk-in fridge. He had taken out the trash and I was counting to see how many of which ingredients we had left. And which ones we needed to buy. I was halfway done, counting when Nick called me from the dine-in room.

" Hey, Pete. Can you tell me what the hell this is?"

" It's probably just some-" I was about to say. Until I saw what Nick was looking at.

Up in the sky far ahead of us, was swirling rainbow-colored mass. Which was hovering above the forest in the distance?

" Ever see anything like this before?"

" No. I've never heard about anything like this. I haven't even seen it in my book."

" Think it's dangerous?"

" Don't know. Wait, I think that thing is hovering over Carl's house! Take a picture or something of that thing. I'm going to call Carl's shop."

" What happens if something comes out of that thing and attacks us?"

" We make a break for it."

I called Carl, he picked up on the first couple of rings.

" Pete, what's up?"

" Carl, where are you at right now?"

" Just in the back of my store. About to close up. Why? Need something?"

" Look outside, towards your property."

He did as I asked.

" What in the fuck? How long has that thing been there?"

" Not sure. Nick and I just noticed it. We didn't see it before. So I'm guessing it just appeared tonight."

" Hm. Chuck and the others have probably noticed it already. But I think I'll call them anyway. Have you seen any creatures yet?"

" Actually, we haven't come to think of it. And they usually start coming out at this time. Do you think that thing in the sky has something to do with it?"

Before he could answer, the thing in the sky slammed into the ground. The impact could be heard all across town.

" The fuck?! You see what that thing just did?!"

" Yeah! I..oh shit."

Something came slithering towards the restaurant. Said thing was a giant worm creature. Its mouth was circular with sharp teeth. Its face had multiple eyes, matching the rainbow color of the thing that was in the sky.

" Please tell me the restaurant has the runes to keep that thing back."

" Pete? Everything alright?" Carl asked.

" We're going to need some help here," I said, seeing multiple returned and other creatures also come towards the restaurant.

" Don't worry. I'll be there as soon as poss-" Carl said, before a loud, I heard a loud crash from his end and the call went dead.

" Carl? Carl!" I yelled.

" Oh shit. Something happened to him didn't it?"

" Looks like it."

" Does that mean he's..?"

" I don't know. I hope not. Carl's tough. We have to believe he'll pull through."

" Where does that leave us then? That worm thing could come here at any moment!"

" Call the department. Once they hear about what happened, they'll come here."

Nick called and told them about the situation. They told him that they were on the way. But, it may be a while since there were a lot of creatures.

" They said it's going to take like ten minutes!"

" We'll just have to hope we can survive until then. Look under the counter. You'll find some weapons."

" Jesus Christ! Look at all these guns!"

" Yeah. Toss me a shotgun and a box of shells! Quickly! Now!" I said as the worm was now quickly slithering over to us.

I quickly loaded and cocked the gun as it started to rear its head back. As it started to strike, I through the door open and gave it a shot to the face. It was knocked back. And a returned tried taking the opportunity to rush me. I knocked it back with the butt of the gun. Then quickly closed the door.

" You almost let one of them in!"

" I didn't have a choice. If that thing breaks the glass, they'll all be able to get in!"

" I thought the runes are supposed to keep them back?!"

" They do. But, opening the door creates a sort of opening in the barrier! Obviously, we can't exactly draw runes in midair! Now do me a favor before that worm thing recovers. You ever shoot a gun?"

" A few times."

" Grab a gun and ammo. Then head up to the roof and start firing at these things. I'll meet you up there in just a second."

" We don't get paid enough for this," He said, climbing up the ladder to the roof hatch.

I had to shoot at the worm again and several returned before Nick started firing. When he did, I leaped over to the ladder. Then made my way up. I saw several winged creatures descending towards Nick. And shot them all back.

"Wow! I didn't even notice them! Thanks, Pete!"

" Don't mention it. Just keep shooting! I got the other side of the building covered!"

The worm and other creatures continued attacking for the next five minutes. We heard other gunshots coming from different parts of town. One of the flying creatures managed to get past me. Then sink its teeth into Nick's ribs.

" Ow! Mother fucker! You, piece of shit!" He said, pulling out a knife. Then stabbing out both of its eyes. He aimed his shotgun at it. Then blew its head off.

" Sorry, Nick! I was reloading! Oh, Shit!" I said. I looked up to see another winged creature descending towards me.

I was able to block its attack. But it started to lift me by the gun I held. I thought quickly, pulling out a knife and stabbing it in the neck. Seeing as how the creatures that attacked us were dead, save for the worm, we decided to train our guns on it. Unfortunately, we were met with the sound of clicks when we pulled the triggers.

" Is there any more ammo down below?" I asked.

" No. I grabbed all the ammo we had when I came up here. Should I grab the handguns?"

" They won't do any good against this thing!"

" Then what are we going to do?! It's getting ready to attack again!"

The worm got ready to attack again when it was knocked back once more. We looked over to see Carl with his gun pointed at the beast. He ran over to it and tossed something in its mouth. Then he ran away from it as fast as he can. What happened next, was the worm's head blowing up. Bits of blue blood rained down from the sky.

" Ew! Some of it got in my mouth!" Nick said, spitting.

" Nevermind that. We have bigger problems! Look!"

The explosion had attracted another horde of creatures, who swarmed towards Carl. He was able to hold them off for a little while. But eventually, it looked as if he would be overpowered. Thankfully, Chuck and Sam arrived just in time. Then took out the other creatures.

" Thank fucking Christ!" Nick said.

" You said it. Let's head back down."

Shortly later, the five of us were sitting at one of the tables. I asked Carl what happened. And he said that a creature that he hadn't seen before, smashed through his store window and grabbed him. But he was able to break free and kill it. Chuck apologized for taking so long. And said that they've been dealing with calls all night. Then told me and Nick to stay safe before he and Sam left.

When he did, I asked Carl," By the way, how did you make that thing's head explode?"

" Grenade."

" What?! How did you get a..?"

" Don't worry about it. It got the job done, right?"

" True." " Need a lift home?"

I looked at Nick.

" Uh, no thanks. My car luckily didn't get damaged."

" Alright then. Can't believe I have to get my store's windows replaced! And redraw them runes on it! What a pain in the ass! Anyway, take care, you two."

" Take care. And thanks, Carl," I said.

" Don't mention it! Oh, and Nick?" Carl asked as he was almost out the door.

" What is it?"

Carl pointed at me. Then said," Make sure you have his back."

Nick smiled and said," Heh. You got it."

We locked up and went home after Carl left. On the way, we saw twice as many police cars than usual out. And more creatures we haven't seen before. Nick and I are lucky to have survived our encounter. And he was fortunate enough to only need some rubbing alcohol and a few bandages on the spot where the creature bit him. I don't why that thing in the sky appeared, or how these new creatures are presumably connected to it. But we are going to get to the bottom of this. Knowing Carl, he'll probably try to investigate whatever it was that landed near his property. I'll call him tomorrow to see what he's found. Then Nick and I will go to his house later this week. I just hope he doesn't get himself killed. And I hope that I don't run into one of those tall cunts again.

See you all again, soon.

This is Pizza Pete, signing out.

[writingfandomfeels]

Ponyboy - Wake Up

Summary: You both fall asleep at the drive in and the gang assumes more than what really happened. Based off the song Wake Up Little Susie

"Cmon I'm serious man. Grow a pair and just do her already! It's been months now that you've been dating!" Dally said and Two-bit agreed. 

"No." Ponyboy repeated. "I already told you, she's not interested in that." 

"Pffft they all say that but they never mean it." Dally rolled his eyes but Pony wasn't having any of it.

"The longer you wait the more awkward it's gonna get." Steve added. 

"Why don't you get it over with tonight at the Nightly Double. I'll even lend you my car." Two-bit suggested tossing his keys to Pony who took them. 

"Thanks." He said, pocketing the keys. "I have no intention of sleeping with Y/N tonight but I'll take the car anyways." He smirked and left.

Later that same day he called you to let you know he would come to pick you up rather than you meeting him. You were pretty nervous since you were kind of a soc and lived in a very soc like neighborhood. He also had never met your parents before. When he pulled up and came to the front door you jumped up anxiously with your parents close behind. 

"Good evening Mrs. Y/L/N, Mr. Y/L/N" Pony said politely. 

Your mother smiled, feeling more at ease now after meeting the boyfriend she had heard so much about in the past weeks. 

"Well we'd better go!" You said hoping to get out of there before anything could go wrong. 

"What time will you be home?" Your mother asked. 

"I'll make sure she's home by 10" Pony reassured and your father nodded seeming to be satisfied with that time. 

"Okay, bye!" You said skipping down the steps quickly. 

"Have fun!" Your mom called. 

"But not too much." Your father mumbled just loud enough. 

You closed the car door and buckled your seat belt. "I think that first meeting went well." You said.

"Yeah..." Pony turned the keys of the car starting the engine, "I just hope I don't mess it up..."

You put your arms around his neck and gave him a peck on the cheek causing him to look at you from the corner of his eyes. "You won't." You reassured and he smiled. "You're great."

Once at the drive in you found a spot pretty easily. It was almost a bit unusual since most nights the place was packed. It didn't take long after the movie started though for you to realize why. The movie was terrible. There was hardly any plot to it and the characters appeared to do random things that didn't have any purpose. But this was your first movie with Ponyboy and you knew how important movies were to him so you didn't want to suggest leaving. Instead you decided you'd make the most of the situation and scoot over to him, leaning so your head was on his chest. You looked up to make sure this was alright with him and found him looking back at you; a slight smile playing on the corner of his lips. He turned his focus back to the screen and put his arm around you. You tried once again to get into the movie but just couldn't. The plot never seemed to be going anywhere. But it was worth it you thought. You suddenly figured that probably anything could be made worth while if you could snuggle up to Ponyboy for it. You stopped trying to focus on the movie and instead just savored the moment. His arm around you making you feel warm and the rhythmic rising and falling of his chest as he breathed made you feel at peace and you soon found yourself slipping into a happy darkness.

Your heart raced as you felt yourself being shaken. 

"Wake up! Wake up Y/N!" Pony said frantically. You blinked and your eyes began to focus again. 

"What is it?" You asked, still feeling groggy. You suddenly remembered the movie and sat up quickly. "I swear I was watching it! I'm sorry I just fell asleep for a second and-" 

"What? Oh, no, its not that. That movie was rank, I actually fell asleep too." 

You laughed a little, relieved that it wasn't just you. 

"But we gotta go home...a...I guess we were asleep a while coz it's now 4 am..."

Your eyes grew wide. "We're going to be in so much trouble." 

"Not only that but the guys are gonna think..." Pony stopped and looked at you embarrassed. 

"Oh no..." You thought about it now too. "They're never going to believe us." 

"Especially since Two-bit lent me his car in the first place to try and get me to...you know...make a move on you" 

"What?!" You were shocked. "But you weren't actually going to try to-"

"No no of course not!" He interrupted. "I know you've said before that you don't want to do that and I respect that. Although I did think it'd be nice to actually watch a movie at the drive in from inside a car for once." 

You nodded in understanding. You didn't drive so whenever you'd go to the drive in you'd either be with a group of friends in their car or sitting at the back. 

"I should really get you home..." 

You nodded again, not looking forward to it but knowing it was unavoidable.

"Do you want me to come in and help explain?" He offered, now sitting outside your house. He was so sweet. 

"No, that's alright. Darry will be worried sick about you." You also thought it would be best if he was nowhere near your parents when they found out.

"Yeah..." You could tell he also wasn't looking forward to that interaction. He kissed you goodnight and you ran back into your home.

The next day you cautiously entered the Curtis house. You usually got along well with Darry and Soda but you knew it would be expecting too much from Darry to have him not furious that you kept his baby brother out so late. He also probably wouldn't be too happy thinking you guys had been messin around. Soda liked you two as a couple but surely he had been worried last night too when Ponyboy wasn't coming home. 

The house seemed strangely quiet though so you wondered if anyone was home. But that question was soon answered when you saw Soda. 

"Hey Y/N" He said from the the table in a voice that was hard to read. 

"Hey," you replied, standing awkwardly there as you watched him play solitaire. "Sooo..." 

"I believe him ya know" Soda cut you off, which was okay since you weren't sure what to say anyways. 

"You do?" 

"Yeah...I don't think you two would've done nothin" 

"Good because we didn't. We just fell asleep and lost track of time." 

"Yeah I know." 

Silence. 

"What did Darry say?" You asked nervously. 

Soda made a bit of a face. "He...said some things..." Soda then quickly added the next part "but he was mad so he didn't mean them of course" 

"Right..." You nodded, a little relieved but also disappointed he wouldn't tell you straight out what Darry had said. Must have been pretty bad. "Where is he anyway?" 

"Work." 

"And Pony?" 

"Grounded. He's in his room if you wanna see him. I won't tell Darry." 

"Thanks Soda."

You opened the door and found Pony laying on his bed, throwing a ball into the air and catching it repeatedly. Obviously he had also been grounded from reading, drawing, and anything else he could find amusing. 

"Hey" 

He looked up and was surprised to see you standing there rather than Soda. "Hey!" He sat up. "What are you doing here? Do your parents know?" 

"That I'm here? Course not." You held back a laugh. Boy would that kill them if they knew. "Although I think maybe my mom suspects something. She gave me a funny look when I said I was going for a walk. But she doesn't mind too much I think. I'm pretty sure she knows nothing happened." 

"That's good. Soda believes us too." 

"Yeah I know, he told me." You paused. "Darry must have been pretty upset though..." 

You could see a switch in Ponyboy the moment you brought up Darry and he instantly got angry and defensive. "You shoulda heard him!" He jumped up off the bed and began pacing the room. "He wouldn't shut up bout you getting pregnant and that we'd have to get married since it's the proper thing to do and how I've ruined your reputation and my own too really, and how he'd have to deal with your parents. As if I wouldn't have to too?! Not to mention another mouth to feed and support when he can hardly afford the three of us." He shook his head angrily. "Then he went on too how I wouldn't be able to handle a kid! Can you believe that?! He kept repeating that a kid can't raise a kid and that I'm in too deep! I mean sure it'd be hard for a while but I think we'd be able to do it. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying I think we should have kids or anythin right now, shoot we've only been dating a couple months, but if that's what life threw our way don't you think we'd be okay?" 

You realized from his pause that he actually wanted an answer to this rather than his earlier rhetorical questions. "I do." You smiled. "But do you think maybe Darry wasn't completely talking to you?" 

"Whattaya mean?" He said still angry. "Course he was talkin to me I was right there. It wasn't Soda's face he was yelling at." 

"No, I mean maybe he was meaning himself. Like he feels like he's not doing a good enough job raising you and Soda. When he said you're in too deep he meant he felt like he was in too deep. I think he thinks it's his fault that maybe he didn't raise you right or something so he's blaming himself." 

Pony nodded calming down a bit. "That would make sense..." 

"So, onto another thing though," you said and he looked up and you could see the anger gone from his face now, "you actually think we'd be good parents?" You held back laughter again. 

He laughed a little too. "Well maybe not good parents, but decent ones at least." 

You both laughed and you heard the door shut followed by the noise that follows Steve, Two-bit and Dally wherever they go together. 

"Eh! So I heard you actually did it! Good on ya kid!" Dally said entering the room and giving Ponyboy a punch to the arm. 

"Can I have my keys back now?" Two-bit asked and Pony threw them at him. 

"Nothing happened" You rolled your eyes.

"Oh, sure thing," Steve pretended to be very serious then winked and laughed with the others. 

"No really!!" You repeated. 

"Guys, it's true," Pony said and shrugged. "We just fell asleep." 

"Uh huh." Dally nodded, lighting a cigarette. "And what exactly was it that you were doing before that?" He grinned and raised his eyebrows. 

"Nothing!!!" Pony said again, starting to get annoyed now. 

"Huh." Dally stared. "Ya know if that really is true this is getting a whole lot less interesting." 

"Well I mean we weren't doing nothing..." You admitted and suddenly had everyone's eyes on you. "We were...um...cuddling..." You admitted sheepishly. 

Dally sighed. "Aight, I'm convinced." 

"Of what?" Two-bit asked. 

"There's no way these guys did anything." 

"Why not? They could be lying." Two-bit pointed out. 

"The kids blushing for cuddling a girl. You think that same kid would have even gotten to third base? Let alone in that broad's pants?"

Steve and Two-bit stared at us carefully as if they'd see something new. 

"Nah, you're right, they still got their innocence." Steve said leaving. 

Two-bit nodded. "For now." he added and left the room too with Dally behind. 

"Think we can get them to convince Darry?" I asked. 

"I hope so." Pony said. "Being grounded sucks."

[fics-for-my-heart]

Convention Handling (p.3)

Summary: Working a convention is always a bit stressful, but what happens when you’re asked to be your celebrity crushes handler

Word count: 2222

Warning: implied  sex

A/N: Wow. Okay so I think this will be the final installment of this story. It’s been a blast doing it, and as I’ve said I love all the feedback. Thanks guys for reading!

Masterlist

Part One   Part Two.1   Part Two.2   Part Three

*two year later*

“Y/N.” Toms finger poked your hand. “Y/NNNN” he dragged, poking your cheek. You pushed your head further into the pillow, refusing to give into his pleading voice. “Y/N Y/L/N it’s time to get up.” His hand made its way to your hair, pushing loose strands out of your face. Much like the many wake up calls he loved to receive from you.

“No, ’m too sleepy.” You blindly made grabby hands at him. “Come back to bed.” He sighed, but the bed dipped anyway as he wiggles his way close to you. “Thank you.”

“Only for a few minutes. We have a flight to catch. Your parents will be waiting for us.” He kisses you forehead, cheek, nose, then your lips. “Plus there’s a good chance I miss them more than you do.” He kept his voice soft so he didn’t ruin the cozy early morning feeling that filled the room. You push your way under his arm, using him as your new pillow.

Shortly after your “teenage romcom” moment, you and Tom started officially dating. You split your time between staying in LA with him while he filmed, and at home with your parents keeping up work with the family convention business, which Tom had become a recurring guest. Tom was fortunate enough to have a week off filming for the third Spider-Man movie, so the two of you decided to go back to your place for some seriously needed R and R.

“Love, we really should get going.” But his hand was drawing light circles on your back, pulling sleep closer and closer.

“Fine. But, I’m wearing your clothes.” You look up at him to find him already watching you. “They are much more comfortable for plane rides.”

He kisses your nose again, one of his favorite things to do. “Anything that will get you out of bed.”

Twenty minutes later the two of you were out the door, forty minutes after that you were comfortably seated, and six hours later you were making your way through the airport to the waiting car of your mother.

“Hello honey!” You mom called the moment she saw you, holding her arms open for the comforting embrace. “Welcome home. Hello Tom!” She let go of you, hugging him even tighter as she kissed his cheeks.

“Hello Mrs. Y/L/N. How are you.” He asked, taking your bag along with his to the trunk.

“I’m well. Your father is busy working. He wished he could be here but they had a few people cancel coming to the convention so he has to find some replacements. But enough chit chat. I have lasagna cooking for dinner.” She used her arms to usher you and Tom into the car and off for home you went.

-

“That was amazing.” Tom said, wiping the corners of his mouth before dropping his napkin on his empty plate. “Don’t tell Y/N But your cooking is so much better.”

You kick his leg. “I’m right here you doof. But that was exactly what I had been missing, your cooking.”

“I was only kidding, love. You have your mother's cooking skills for sure. Here, I’ll take the plates and make one for your dad. See how he is.”

“He’s a keeper.” Mom said once he walked out of the room. “Truly. He looks at you just like your father use to look at me.”

“He’s not too bad.” You laugh, shrugging your shoulders. Smiling wider as he walks back through with a plate fixed up.

“I heard that.” He kisses your head as he walks by. “Don’t have too much fun without me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“So.” Your mother starts, arms submerged in soapy water. “You guys are staying this week, correct?”

“Yeah, Tom has to be back next Monday to start wrap up filming, but I’m thinking of sticking around a bit, with the convention coming up dad will need all hands on deck.” You put the plate you were drying away, taking the next. “I think Tom is going to go home in a few weeks to spend some time with his family, he misses them so bad.”

“I’d imagine. I miss you when your gone, I can’t even begin to think about going months without seeing you.” She washes the last dish, passing it to you and pulling the drain in the sink. “I’m glad you’re here, and I would spend some more time with you tonight but I’m going to head to bed.” She kisses your cheek. “Get some rest honey.”

After stopping by your father's office to say goodnight, snapping a quick photo of him and Tom with their heads together discussing who knows what, you start your nightly routine before climbing into you bed with a book.

About an hour later the door slowly opened and Tom tiptoed in. “Oh, sorry love, I thought you might have been asleep.”

“Nope. Just waiting for you.” Your head lulled over toward him, watching as he gathered his pajamas making his way to the bathroom.

“So, what’s tomorrow’s plans?” He asked, flopping himself next to you, instantly pulling you as close as he could.

“Whatever you want to do. It’s your week to do what you wish.”

“In that case.” He rolls you around, noses touching, as his fingered creap over your side. “I wish for you.”

-

That week was the definition of lazy. The two of you were either in bed or on the couch watching movies or laying outside enjoying the warm breeze. Tom was able to convince Zendaya, Jacob, and Robert to be surprise guest at the convention. Your father was over the moon, and you were excited to be able to see the people you had grown to consider a second family over the past two years. Sadly, you were right, Tom was going to be home in England during the con so he wouldn’t be there. But family is a bit more important.

Before you knew it, it was time for Tom to head back to LA. It was always harder to say bye when you knew it would be a bit till you saw him.

The two of you spent that morning laying in bed just looking at each other.

“I love you.” He said, playing absentmindedly with your fingers. “I hate that I can’t stay and help you guys with the convention prep, and that I can’t go to the convention. But I hate more that it’ll be almost a month without seeing you.” He pouted his bottom lip out.

“I know babe, but it’s okay. I know how much you miss you parents and brothers and Tessa. No need to worry about it.” You kissed him slow. Trying to savor every last moment together.

“I’ll FaceTime you every day, and we obviously have to Snapchat to keep that hot streak we have going. But it’ll be nothing compared to being able to hold you in my arms and kiss you whenever I waaaaaant.” He dragged before attacking your face in kisses.

-

The weeks leading up to convention time were filled with FaceTimes with Tom. Snaps from him and Z talking about how much he missed you. Last minute conformation checks with those attending the event. Running to the hotel to make sure they were prepared, and setting up the convention floor. It was hectic but it was what you lived for. Having everything come together was one of the best feelings.

Zendaya and Jacob showed up a day early, wanting to help behind the scenes and hang out with you. When Robert got there that night he insisted on taking everyone out to dinner. They had become such great friends since you and Tom started dating that it was so nice to look around the table and see your two words merging.

You volunteered to be Zs handler, so the first day of the convention you bounced up to her room, ready to start the day.

“Good morning gorgeous!” She answered the door, already ready to head out. “I’m ridiculously excited for this week. Toms told me all about how awesome it is and when he asked me to come I couldn’t pass the offer up.” She looped her arm in yours as the two of you made your way to her booth.

The first two days were booth days. Z left each day with her arms full of gifts from fans. You got a similar feeling in your heart seeing the excitement of people coming through her line. It always made the stress of planning worth it. Always

The next day was a panel day. Her, Jacob, and Robert were set to attend, and you had planned it with Tom to get him on the big screen via Facetime.

“Hello everyone!” You spoke into the microphone, having been asked by your father to lead the panel. “How is everyone liking the convention so far?” Cheers erupted from the audience. “Awesome. Awesome! Well we have a very exciting panel for you today. Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, and Robert Downey Jr are here to talk about the upcoming Spider-Man movie!” As you said this they walked out, waving and smiling at everyone as they took a seat on the couch. “And! As an extra surprise! Tom Holland is with us via FaceTime. That away, if he starts to spoil anything we can quickly end the call!”

“Hey! I can hear you!” His voice sounded from the speakers before his face showed up on the screen.

“Sorry, honey!” You laughed. “Turning the camera so he could see everyone.

“Hello guys!” Cheers yet again. “I wish I could say that I’m sad I’m not there. But.” The back door opened. “Surprise!” There stood Tom, as beautiful as ever.

“What?” You couldn’t think of anything else to say for a moment. Then you looked at the three on the couch who weren’t shocked at all. “Did you guys know?”

“Maybe.” Z smiled softly. Tom had made it to the stage, climbed the stairs and was by your side when you looked up.

“Hello, love.” He kisses you, before grabbing your hands. “Here stand up for a moment.” When you did, you noticed your parents and Tom’s family standing by the stage.

“What are you doing here?”

“Well,” He took the microphone from your hands. “I have a secret.” The entire room went quiet. “I. Tom Holland. Love Y/N Y/L/N.”

You blushed. “That’s no secret silly. But I love you too.”

“Well that’s only part of the secret.” His eyes never left yours as he reached around to his back pocket. “Do you remember my first convention here?”

“Very well actually. It was the best week of my life that has turned into the best two years of my life so far.”

“That’s exactly how I feel.” He kisses you again before continuing. “I knew the moment I opened the door that I would be in deep. I knew with that first wake up call that I was deeper than deep. But. I knew when I opened that fortune cookie that there really was no going back.” He opened his wallet, pulling out a faded piece of paper. “I never told you what it said. I actually found this about two months ago when you surprised me on set. And that was when I knew it was only ever going to be me and you.”

Tears had started to blur your vision, Tom was sappy sometimes but never this sappy.

“What’s the fortune say!” A voice from the back of the audience yelled.

Tom laughed. “It says ‘The love of your life will appear in front of you unexpectedly’.” A mixture of aws and woops filled the room. He put his wallet back in his pocket, reaching into his front pocket at he continued to talk. “This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and when I found that fortune again the day you showed up on set, I knew it was something that I had to do. Had to do it in front of our families,” he motioned behind him and at the three now standing by the couch. “And something I had to do where it all started.” Tom dropped to his knee, holding open a box with a beautiful ring. “Y/N Y/M/N Y/L/N. Will you marry me?”

Your hands shot straight to your mouth, everything started moving slower. Was this really happening. Words couldn’t form. Tears started to fall. You nodded your head over and over, watching a huge smile come across Toms face. “Yes.” You finally squeak. “Yes.”

The room went absolutely nuts as Tom slipped the ring on your finger. Your family’s joined you on stage to pass hugs around. Z, Jacob, and Robert joined in.

“Sorry guys, but I’m going to have to steal my fiancée away. I appreciate all of you and I’m so glad I was able to share this special moment with you all!” The room cheered again as Tom grabbed your hand, pulling you out of the room, down the back way, and up to a hotel room. Making sure to slip the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door before locking you both away.

[such-a-common-girl]

“Before She Ran”

Words: 6,283

Daryl Dixon x Daughter Reader, Carl Grimes x Reader

Warnings: Sex (not detailed), swearing, alcohol use, death

This is the prequel for “And Then She Ran”. It’s not necessary to read that first, but I’d really recommend it :) It gives the story a better feel if you read the first part! I hope I did this justice!

A/N: tears

 “Carl,” I giggle, running my hands through his hair. “We can’t do this here. If we get caught…” I trail off, losing my train of thought as he brought his lips to my neck, kissing me gently.

“No one is going to find us here, I promise. Relax, Y/N.” He reassures me. I look around nervously, making sure for what felt like the hundredth time that no one is around.

“You’re too paranoid.” He frowns, grabbing my face lightly and pulling me into a kiss. My worries disappear the moment his lips touch mine, my mind going straight to bliss and ecstasy.

The reason I get so worried is because if we got caught, it would be the end of things. Sure, people have seen us occasionally, but they’re not going to say anything. It’s not been anybody who actually mattered, no offense to Maggie or Glenn. It’s not their business, and they know that, so they never bring it up.

The problem would be when Rick or my dad found out. Rick doesn’t like me, and I know that. Ever since I got caught sneaking away from the group to do things on my own, he says I have “problems with authority.” He’s brought it up with my dad several times, telling him needs to control me. I once heard him talking to Glenn, saying that if I wasn’t Daryl’s daughter, he’d have kicked me out a long time ago.

I say its bullshit. I’m my own person, I can do what I want. I’m responsible for myself. It shouldn’t be Rick’s problem if I want to go venture out on my own sometimes. I’m not putting anyone else in danger.

“My dad’s not home. He’s out with Michonne, and Judith’s with Carol, if you want to go to my house. It’s better than here.” Carl pulled away from the kiss.

“Okay,” I say, letting him lead the way. It’s not often we get alone time inside of an actual house; more often than not, we have to sneak out to the side of buildings, or wherever there is privacy.

He opened his door and shut it quietly before kissing me once more. We walk up to his bedroom, and don’t bother closing his door. We needed it open just in case Rick decided to make a surprise appearance.

Just as he was about to enter me, I heard footsteps.

“Shit,” I say, jumping off the bed and scurrying to put my clothes back on. We must have been too into the moment to hear the front door open. I’m still only half dressed when Rick shows up in the doorway, He pauses, scanning his eyes around the room, taking in the scene. Carl was still completely unclothed on the bed, all he had on was his stupid hat (why he doesn’t take that off when we’re having sex, I don’t know), and I’m standing next to the bed in only my t-shirt.

“Downstairs, now.” He says through his teeth. Oh man. He looked pissed. I looked over at Carl, whose head was down and staring at the floor.

We finish getting dressed and slowly made our way downstairs. Rick was pacing the floor, his hand running through his hair and his head shaking. We take a seat on the couch and wait for him to speak.

“Carl, I’m disappointed in you.” Rick looks him dead in the eye. “Why would you do this?”

“I’m so-“ Carl starts, but Rick cuts him off.

“Son, I don’t want to hear sorry.” He snaps. “She’s gonna break your heart. Y/N is too much trouble, Carl. Don’t get involved with her.” He says, like I’m not standing right there. “I’m amazed I even need to say that again, we’ve already had this talk! You know what she’s like, Carl! Is that really the type of girl you want to be with?”

Tears were falling down my face at the harsh words coming out of his mouth. He hates me. Rick’s face softens slightly when he notices my crying.

“I’m sorry, Dad.” Carl sighs. Rick stares at us, disappointment and anger lingering in eyes.

“Promise me this won’t happen again.”

“I swear.” I tell him, terrified he’s going to tell my dad. I’m lying. I know I’m not going to stop seeing him. We just have to be more careful.

“You’re lucky I’m not telling Daryl.” He shoots at me. “If I see you two in this predicament again, I will. Now get out of my house.”

Carl doesn’t say anything as he watches me walk away, and outside. I sit on their front porch, crying until I ran out of tears.

Nobody cares for me here, nobody except Carl. Rick blatantly hates me, and I’m pretty sure my dad does, too. We fight all the time, it’s gotten to the point where we barely even speak anymore. If we’re speaking, it’s an argument. Everybody else just ignores me, acts like I’m not there.

-

“We’ve gotta be quick.” I tell Carl, sliding my pants down my legs. We managed to find places to be together, but it comes at a price. We sneak out of our houses at night, and meet up with each other just outside the borders of Alexandria. It’s become almost a nightly thing for the past few months, but I’m worried about what’s going to happen when winter comes and it’s too cold to be sneaking around at night.

I lower myself on to him, enjoying the feeling of being so close to him. This wasn’t just sex, not for me. I can’t speak for him, but I know that I have strong feelings for him. I’d like to think that he feels to same towards me, but we never really talk about it. To be fair, we don’t really get the chance to talk at all. Our time was limited to just our nightly “disobeying our parents” sessions.

Just as I’m getting into it, I hear a man screaming. Thinking someone was hurt, I jumped off Carl and grabbed my gun, ready for anything.

Well, I thought I was.

My face dropped when I see who it was. My father. And he’s not screaming because he’s hurt- he’s screaming at us, angrily. I throw on my clothes as fast as I can before he reaches us.

“I thought my eyes were fucking deceiving me!” He yells. “Stay the fuck away from my daughter, you punk!”

“Calm down, he didn’t do anything wrong.” I try to defend Carl, but it was no use.

“Him fucking my daughter is NOT ok.” I’d never seen him this mad. “If I ever, ever see you near my daughter again, I’m going tear your head off, you got it?” Carl nodded his head, looking anywhere but at him. My dad gets closer to him, grabbing his shirt, daring at Carl to look at him in the face before pushing him away. “You better say bye to him now, because you’re never leaving my sights again.” He tells me.

I run over to him, hugging him. I know it’s over, and he can feel it too.

“I’ll see you sometime, ok?” I tell him, kissing his cheek.

My dad practically drags me back to the house, not saying a word the entire way there.

“What is wrong with you?” I ask him once we get inside.

“What’s wrong with me? Are you kiddin’?”

“Dad, he’s my boyfriend, you can’t just expect me to not be with him!” I yell.

“I can, and I will. I wasn’t kiddin’ when I said you’re not leavin’ my sights again.”

“You’re fucking insane!” I shout, running up to my room. I can’t believe he’s doing this to me. He’s crazy. I’m almost eighteen, and so is Carl, I should be able to make my own goddamn decisions.

-

The next few weeks were grueling.

On a normal day, I would help Carol with whatever she needed help doing, or just go off and do my own thing. Mostly the ladder. But these past few weeks? Horrible. My dad wasn’t kidding about me not ever leaving his side.

“Get up, we’re going on a run.” My dad came into my room, bright and early.

“I want to sleep.” I groan, pulling the covers over my head.

“I don’ care. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

I huff as he leaves my room, and roll out of bed. I look at the calendar I have on my wall, darting my eyes to the date. Two weeks until my birthday. Two weeks until I’m eighteen. Then I can demand to be treated like an adult by my father, not a child.

My dad doesn’t even care, not really. He doesn’t give a shit about me. The only reason I’m even here with him is because when the world went to shit, my mom abandoned me at his doorstep. I had met him before that, but only a few times a year. It was always awkward. That didn’t change as I got older. We don’t have a good relationship. I’m a “problem child.”

“Two weeks.” I whisper to myself before meeting my dad downstairs. I pull my hair into a ponytail as I sleepily shuffle myself down the steps, freezing when I hear Rick’s voice from the living area.

“You have got to control that daughter of yours. She’s putting herself and the group at risk by going off places by herself all the time, not to mention her horrible attitude.”

“Yeah, she’s got an attitude, Rick. I know.” My dad sighs. “But her running off? I can’t do shit ‘bout that. I tried to stop her the first few times, what good does that do? She ain’t gon’ listen to me anyways.”

“She listened to you about Carl. They haven’t seen each other since that night.”

“Because she is with me all the damn time, and I don’t know how long I can keep that up. She’s drivin’ me crazy. She’s just like her damn mom, and I couldn’t stand her, either.”

Ouch.

“Just keep the hell away from Carl, alright? She’s bad news for him.” Rick started to walk out the door.

“Hey man, this isn’t all Y/N’s fault, Carl played his part, too.”

“Yeah, because Y/N is a bad influence. I know Carl ain’t the best kid, but compared to her, he’s a saint. He would have never done that shit if it wasn’t for her.”

Ouch again. Deciding I don’t want to hear any more of this conversation, I stepped into view, letting my presence known.

“You ready?” I say, pretending like I didn’t hear their talk.

“Yeah, let’s go.” We walk past Rick, and not one word is said, although I can feel the tension in the air.

“What are we getting, anyways?” I ask as we walk through the woods, putting my gun in the back of my pants and my knife in my pocket.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“If you’re forcing me to go on a run with you, I want to at least know what we’re going to get.”

“Well that’s too damn bad, isn’t it?” He stomps in front of me. Rolling my eyes, I run up next to him.

“If you won’t tell me what we’re getting why are forcing me to come with you?”

“You know why.”

“Why do you treat me like a kid?”

“Because you are a kid, and I’m your father. It’s what I’m suppose’ to do.”

“Well, I wish you would stop.” I huff. “I’ll be an adult soon.”

He doesn’t respond to me, only keeps walking, which just frustrates me more.

“Oh, so now you’ve resorted to ignoring me, huh? Great.” My voice drips with sarcasm.

“We’re almost there. You don’t need to come inside with me. Stay outside and stand guard.” Is the only thing he tells me. A few minutes later, we reach an abandoned neighborhood.

“I bet you could find some really cool stuff here.” I commented. All of the houses surrounding us were nice sized, all probably three stories, and pretty fancy looking. “Rich people keep weird stuff.”

“We’re only here to get one thing. Stay here and stand guard.”

He walks into the house on the left, and I take a look around. I think about the lives these people must have lived before the outbreak. Luxurious, money filled lives. We never had much money growing up, and I never got to do much. My mom was in and out of jobs, relying on shitty boyfriends to pay the bills more than half the time. I only got to see my dad when she would go on “girl weekends” once or twice a year, but he didn’t have much of a better life than my mother.

I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn’t notice the walkers going into the house that my dad was in. The next thing I know, I hear my dad yelling for me.

“Y/N!” He yells. I grab my knife and run into the house, stabbing the few walkers in the entry way before finding my dad, his crossbow across the room and him holding back one. I shoved the knife into its skull, letting him fall onto the floor, lifeless.

“I thought you were standing guard?!” He yells at me, walking over to pick up his bow.

“I’m sorry, I got distracted.”

“Y/N, you can’t just get distracted like that, what the hell is wrong with you!”

“Look, I said sorry, but you’re fine now so stop getting mad.” I put my knife back in my pocket, turning away from him.

“I’m startin’ to think Rick’s right about you.”

“What?” I stopped in my tracks, turning around. I can tell by the look in his face that he regrets saying that, but he says nothing as he just walks past me.

“No, Dad, tell me how you really feel!” I yell. Still no response. I follow him out to the street, grabbing his shoulder and stopping him.

“Y/N, stop.”

“So, what, you think I’m a threat to the group? You want me kicked out, too?” I dare, staring at him dead in the eyes.

“I never said that, you’re so goddamn dramatic.”

“You might as well have.” I feel tears welling up in my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. I will not let him see me cry over this.

“Let’s go.” He starts walking back the way we came.

“I’m not going with you.”

“You know what, Y/N? Do what ya want. You’re so desperate to be an adult, so go ahead. Stay here. Ya won’t last long- I give ya until nighttime until you come crawling back, thanking me for everything that I do for ya.”

“Doubtful.” I turn around, walking away. Letting my tears fall, I grab my knife, walking into the nearest house.

It’s big and open, spiral steps leading the way upstairs. I check the entire house before deciding its clear and going into one of the bedrooms. I set down my backpack and crawl into the bed, crying more. I feel like that’s all I’ve been doing lately. Fucking crying.

I compose myself after a while, and look around the room to see if I can find anything useful. Most of it is cleared out, but I find a small, brown notebook tucked away in the closet. Blowing away the dust, I open it to the first page. It was completely empty.

“There’s got to be a pen around here somewhere.” I mumble to myself, searching through the drawers. Not only do I find an entire package of unopened pens, but I find a bottle of vodka about three quarters of the way full. “Bingo.”

I rip the package of pens open, taking one out before setting the rest into my backpack. I unscrew the bottle of vodka, taking a big gulp. It burns my throat, but leaves me feeling like I want more.

I drink and drink as I write in the journal, letting out all my feelings.

-

I’m flat out wasted.

I stumble my way out of the room after shoving the journal into my backpack, and somehow manage to make it down the stairs without falling.

“Gotta get back home,” I slur to myself, opening the front door. Thankfully, the walk back was clear and I didn’t encounter any walkers. I have no idea what I’d do if that happened.

I make my way onto my front porch, seeing all the lights off in my house. Realizing I’m still holding the bottle of vodka, I set it down as I open the door.

My dad is asleep on the couch, and I frown. Why’s he not in his bed?

I threw my backpack on the ground, stumbling to the kitchen, dizzy as hell.

“Back already, huh?” I hear my dad stir.

“Mhmmmm.” I drink a glass of water. He walks over to me, making a face.

“And you’re drunk. Unbelievable.”

“Shit, dad, I’m-“ I didn’t get to finish my sentence before I started throwing up everywhere.

“God, Y/N, you’re a mess.” He catches me before I can fall over. That’s the last thing I hear before everything goes black.

-

I wake up the next morning in my bed, in fresh clothes and my hair pulled back. My dad must have took care of me after I passed out on him last night. I look around, noticing my backpack right next to my bed as well.

“Mornin’.” My dad says, making me jump as he walked into my room.

“Hi.”

“How you feel?”

“Like shit.” I admit.

“You can’t keep pulling shit like that, Y/N. Ya can’t come home drunk as fuck like that.”

“I know.”

He hands me a glass of water, and sits at the end of my bed.

“Look, kid, I know what I said yesterday wasn’ cool.” He starts. “And I shouldn’t have told ya to stay back.”

“It’s fine.” I shrug. “Didn’t bother me. Couldn’t care less.” What a lie.

“Y/N, don’t do that. Don’t act like a heartless bitch.”

“Maybe I am a heartless bitch, ya ever think of that?” I shot back.

“You know what, fine. I try to be nice and come in here and apologize. Learnt my lesson.” He stomps off. Groaning, I lay back down and go to sleep.

-

“I need to be able to trust you.” My dad tells me as we stand in the streets.

“I swear, I swear to God that you can. I won’t do anything bad while you’re gone, I promise.” I say quickly, getting excited that he was finally letting me stay back by myself.

It’s been a week since my drunken homecoming, and believe it or not, my dad and I have managed to go the entire time without fighting. Him and Rick were doing something today that I supposedly can’t join in on, and instead of making me stay with Carol or Maggie, he’s trusting me to stay on my own.

“Don’t make me regret this, kid.”

“I promise you won’t.” I smile at him. He looks at me one last time before deciding that he believes me, and going off with Rick.

I walk down to the lake/pond area, sitting down and enjoying the nice day we were having for it being winter. We don’t get these warm days too often in the cold months.

“Hey there, stranger.” A deep voice says, taking a seat next to me.

I look over to him, a smile growing on my face. Carl. I haven’t got to talk to him since that horrible night a month ago.

“Hey, Grimes.” I leaned over, putting my head on his shoulder. He grabs my hand, holding it in his lap. We sit like that for a while, enjoying each other’s companies as both of our dads were out.

“I missed you.” He tells me, kissing my head.

“I missed you too, so much. So, so, so much. I wish things were different.”

“Me too, babe. Me too.”

I lay my head on his lap, sighing. He strokes my hair, looking at me and smiling.

“What’s so funny?” I tease.

“I love you.”

I pause. My heart starts beating a million miles a minute, and my smile grows wider. I sit from his lap, and face him.

“What?”

“I love you, Y/N.”

“I love you too, Carl.” I kiss him. We sit there kissing for a while, not caring if anyone sees. What else could our dads possibly do at this point?

“Let’s go somewhere.” He says, pulling away.

“Where?” I laugh. I don’t think I could possibly get anymore happier than I am in this moment.

“Let’s explore, do something. I want to get out of this place for a little while.”

“Lead the way, Grimes.”

We sneak out the gates, making sure no one notices. We walk and walk and walk, until we have been walking for an hour and we decide to stop. I take a seat on the ground next to him, relishing the sunshine.

“It’s so nice outside today.” I say.

“Yeah, it-“ Carl starts to respond, but stops. We hear a shuffling sound in the distance. Instinctively, I reach for my gun or knife, but I don’t have either of them with me. Panicking, I turn towards Carl.

“I don’t have my stuff.” I whisper quickly.

“Take my extra gun.” He hands me his spare gun. There was a group of maybe ten walkers coming towards us, walking slowly our way.

“The gunfire is going to attract more.” I comment.

“Well, we don’t have another option. Kill these and then we’ll head back as fast as we can.”  

We kill them all in no time; we’re good with guns. Pros of growing up in the apocalypse.

“Are you okay?” Carl comes over to me.

“Yeah, I’m good. We need to go.”

We start walking back quickly, trying to make it back in time before any more walkers decide to show up. If only I had my knife.

About halfway back to Alexandria, I start to feel nauseous. Like, extremely nauseous.

“I need to stop for a moment.” I stand, holding my stomach.

“What’s wrong?” He looks worried. Before I could respond, I start throwing up all over the ground.

“Fuck,” He swears, running over to me so he can hold me steady. He holds my hair and rubs my back as I continue to puke all over the ground.

“Man, I haven’t been sick in a long time.” I finally say after I finish. “Must have been something I ate. Or exhaustion.”

“Yeah, probably.”

By the time we finally get there, I felt fine, like nothing happened before. I tell Carl bye, as our dad’s would be home soon and I really don’t want to get in trouble again.

“I’ll try and find another way to see you, ok?” He kisses me lightly at my doorstep.

“You realize I just threw up not that long ago.”

“I don’t mind.” He says, making me grimace.

“I love you.” I kiss him one more time.

“I love you too.”

We see our dad’s arriving at the main gates, making Carl run away quickly. I giggle, heading inside. I grab fresh clothes and head to the bathroom, knowing that my dad would be suspicious if he saw me in dirty clothing.

It was a good day.

-

“No. No, no, no.” I pace back and forth in the bathroom, dropping it on the floor. “This can’t be happening, no.”

After I first puked a few days ago when I was out with Carl, I didn’t think anything of it. Just figured it was from exhaustion plus not eating food that day. After the puking continued for a few days, at random times, I got suspicious.

So today, I started a fight with my dad for no reason. I told him that he was being unreasonable. The same fight we’ve been having over and over again. But I needed a reason to get out. I needed to find out what was wrong with me.

So after I got him angry enough, and I faked being angry back, I grabbed my gun and knife and ran. I knew there was a town over with a pharmacy that hadn’t been gone through yet. I discovered it on one of my other anger-driven explorations. It was cold, but it wasn’t too bad of a walk. I stayed warm from my coat and pants, and because of the sweat I was accumulating from running.

There were walkers everywhere, but I managed to get away with only knifing a few in the head while I grabbed what I needed.

I stuffed the things in my coat pockets and ran back home, and here we are.

With a positive sign on all three pregnancy tests.

“Fuck,” tears rolled down my face as I start crying. Which feels like all I can do lately. “How did this happen?!”

I hear a soft knock on the door.

“You ok, Y/N?” My dad asks.

“I’m fine!” I say too quickly.

“You’re crying. Let me in.”

“No, Dad. Leave.”

After a few seconds, I hear him walk away from the door, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I shove the tests back in the box, opening the door to see if the walk from the bathroom to my bedroom is clear.

I sprint to my room as fast as I can, locking the door behind me. I grab a bag, putting the boxes in it and shoving it as far back into my closet as I possibly can. I can’t throw them away, or someone is bound to notice and ask questions.

“How am I going to tell anybody,” I ask myself. Carl is going to freak out. My dad is going to probably cry and disown me. Rick? Oh God, Rick. He’s going to cut my head off.

Even though it’s only seven at night, I change into my pajamas and lay in bed. I pull my diary out from underneath my mattress. Although I don’t get to write in my journal often, when I do get the chance, it helps tremendously. I love Carl to death, but we don’t get to talk. I certainly can’t talk to my dad about anything. This journal is the only thing I have.

I uncap my pen, and begin writing.

-

January 23.

My birthday.

I wake up and look at my calendar, butterflies running through my stomach as I realize the date. The day that I’ve been waiting for.

I get out of bed and look in the mirror, taking in my appearance. I don’t look older, but there’s a feeling about it. I feel different. But that might just be the pregnancy.

I throw on clothes, my typical outfit of jeans, boots, and a long sleeve shirt. Nothing fancy. I walk downstairs to see Carol in the kitchen, making pancakes. I wasn’t surprised to see her there. Except for that one day that my dad let me stay alone, he always had Carol “watch” over me if he wasn’t there.

“Good morning, Carol. Where’s my dad?” I question.

“He’s off with Glenn doing some things. Care to help me bring these over to Maggie’s?” She asks, pointing to the pile of pancakes lying in a dish.

“Sure.” I grabbed one dish while she grabbed the other, walking down the street to their house. The whole group is there, plus some other people whose name’s I wasn’t sure of.

I sat down next to Carl at the table, since my dad was out and Rick was nowhere to be seen, and I started eating.

“Happy birthday, babe.” He holds my hand under the table as I reach to grab food.

“Thanks.”

As we all sat at the table talking, I realized this might be my only chance to talk to Carl alone. I started feeling sick to my stomach, for once not from morning sickness and just from nerves.

“Hey, do you think we could go outside and talk for a minute?” I whisper in his ear. He nods, and we go out onto the front lawn.

“What’s wrong?”

“I, um,” I can’t say it. I start crying, which noticeably freaks Carl out because he leads me to the side of the house where people can’t see me cry.

“Did something happen to you? Was it Ron? I swear to God-“

“God, no, Carl, it has nothing to do with Ron.” I shut him up. “I…”

“Y/N, you’re freaking me out.”

“I’m pregnant.” I say quietly.

“You’re… What?”

I look him in the face, and his eyes were open wide.

“Oh my god.” He says frantically. “You can’t be pregnant. I pulled out every time.”

“Obviously it didn’t work.”

“I’m going to be a dad.” He slides down the side of the house, sitting on the floor. “Shit, Y/N, this can’t be happening.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Fuck, do you realize what my dad is going to do to me?”

“Do you realize what my dad is going to do to me?” I shoot back. He stays quiet before coming over to me and hugging me.

“I’m sorry,” He lets out a breath. “I’m just trying to process this all. I’m not trying to freak out.”

“It’s fine.”

“Look,” Carl starts. “I don’t know how we’re going to do this, but we will. We’ll make it work. I’ll be there with you through this entire thing.” He kisses me.

“Let me tell my dad first, okay? I want him to find out before anyone else.”

“Anything you want.”

“You’re going to be a great dad.”

-

After dropping that bomb, I told him just to tell the rest of the group that I wasn’t feeling well so I decided to go home.

When I got back to my house, I took off my shoes and lied down on the couch, rubbing my stomach.

“Hey, little one. It’s me, your mommy.” I talked to it. It felt weird calling myself that, a mom. “I love you so much already. I don’t know how you’re going to feel about growing up in this world, but I’ll always be here for you. I’ll be the best parent on this earth. I’m going to spoil you rotten.” I laugh.

“You have a great Dad, you know. He’s a bit rough and he’s been through a lot, but he loves you too. I know I seem scared now, but I’m excited to meet you. I promise.”

To no surprise, tears form in my eyes as I talk to my stomach. I think about how I’m going to tell my dad- it’ll have to be soon. Today soon. I’m going to start showing before I know it, and I’ve already told Carl. He’s got to tell Rick, so I’ve got to tell my dad. It’s only fair.

“I refuse to cry about this any longer.” I say to myself firmly, taking my sorry ass off the couch. I turn on the TV, putting in a movie. It’s my birthday, I can treat myself.

I get about halfway through the movie before I get the sudden urge to throw up again. I run up the stairs, barely making it to the bathroom.

“Disgusting.” I mumble, flushing the toilet. I’m over this whole morning sickness thing.

Noticing that some got on my shirt, I walk to my room, but something in my dad’s room catches my eye. His door was left open, not something he does often, and sitting on the floor was a piece of tissue paper that was torn in half, something spilling out of it.

Debating whether or not I wanted to snoop in his room, I looked around. I knew nobody was home, but you could never be too sure. I walk slowly into his room, and gasp once I notice what’s in the tissue paper.

A necklace. And not just any necklace- diamond. It was beautiful. There was a note attached to it, saying happy birthday.

A big smile arises in my face. He actually got me a present. He’s never, not in my eighteen years of being on this Earth, gotten me a birthday present. That must have been what he was getting when we went to that neighborhood a while ago. A pang of guilt hits me as I remember how I treated him that day.

Still smiling, I set the necklace and tissue paper back into the same position I found them in, and continue to go to my room. I threw on another shirt, and was about to go back downstairs to finish my movie until I saw my little brown notebook nudged underneath my bed.

I pull it out, deciding to write in it while I was in a good mood. I can’t speak for how my mood will be later after I have the talk with my dad.

I’m in the middle of writing a sentence when I get that horrible nauseous feeling my stomach again. This time I can’t hold it in long enough. It gets all over my floor, and in that moment I’m glad it’s not carpet. I throw my journal to the corner of my room, and run to get cleaning supplies. I clean it up, but it still smells horribly in my room, so I head outside to get some fresh air.

My father should be home soon from whatever he was out doing with Glenn. I sit there and think about my future, what it’s going to be like. This is certainly going to change everything, this baby.

I’m torn from my thoughts when I see my dad coming inside the gate. He notices me outside and walks towards the house.

“How’d it go?” I ask him, attempting to build up somewhat of a conversation before I have to tell him.

“Overrun by walkers, but mostly un-touched. Rick’s sending in a team tomorrow to clear the place out.”

“Awesome.” I say blankly, not necessarily interested.

“Look, I know we’re not the perfect example of a father daughter relationship, but if somethings wrong I need you to tell me.” He sighs, taking a seat next to me on the steps of the porch.

“Dad, I’m pregnant.”

I wasn’t looking directly at him, but I could feel him look over at me in shock. My stomach starts to feel nauseous again, although I’m fairly certain it’s because of my anticipation of waiting for his response.

“You’re jokin’, right?” He looks at me dead in the eye. All I can do is stare at him, frozen in fear.

“Fuck.” He curses, getting up from next to me. “How could you do that? What the hell is wrong with you?”

“It’s not like we wanted this, dad!” I yell, getting angry.

“I’m gonna kill him. I’m gonna rip his head off.” He’s fuming.

“Dad, please-“

“God, I don’ understand, why couldn’t you have just been a good kid? Why do you gotta run around causin’ problems for everyone. I shouldn’t even be surprised.”

I look at him in shock and hurt; he had hit a nerve. I couldn’t even say anything back. He goes into the house, slamming the door behind him.

I look around hopeless, and angry. How could he have done that? It’s not like we planned to have this kid. And then he says something like that?

“I’ll never let anything happen to you.” I talk to my stomach.

I’m so angry that I can’t form coherent thoughts. All I can think about is getting out of here, getting away from him.

I take off from my house, running as far as I can before I have to stop and take a breath. I don’t know where I am, or how to get back. All I know is how to run.

I take a seat in the grass, and start crying. I hear shuffling noises behind me, but they don’t process. All I can focus is on what just happened.

I was just about to close my eyes and go to sleep when I hear it.

I open my eyes in fear, seeing three lone walkers surrounding me, closing in. I reach for my knife, but nothing. No gun, either.

“Fuck.” I curse. I didn’t think. I was so mad, I didn’t think. I left everything.

I grab a stick off the ground to try and defend myself, but to no avail. One grabs me and sinks its teeth into my arms, pulling skin and other body parts out. I scream and try to get away, but the other two get close to me and start doing the same.

So much pain.

I see my stomach organs being ripped out, and all I can do is scream. I’m not screaming for myself. I’m screaming for my baby. I’m screaming for my dad. I’m screaming for Carl.

And suddenly, the screams stop.

PART 3