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serenitysage89 · 5 years

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Twilight Fan Fiction

I realize that this may be a few years too late but they say that “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” - Maya Angelou

So here is a completely re-imagined version of the Twilight by me... Hope you enjoy.

CHAPTER 1

My name is Serenity, I am 15 years old and I live in Vancouver, Canada. A city with a population of over 675 thousand people. It is described as a bustling west coast seaport located in “Beautiful British Columbia” - it is also among Canada’s densest, most ethnically diverse cities with one of the largest Asian populations outside of Asia… If you have ever been there, you know what I mean. I myself am biracial. My dad is German, a tall man with an athletic build, completed by the stereotypical blonde hair and blue eyes. My mother is Filipino, a very short and petite lady with beautiful dark brown skin, brown eyes and thick, jet black, pin straight hair. They are in their early forties, but both look much younger, especially my mom. We would often be mistaken for sisters when we were out together.

It’s the end of June and I am so happy my first year of high school is over. Grade 10 may have been the worst school year yet for me. You see, for as long as I can remember, I was always the shy, quiet type. I had a really hard time making friends, so I was pretty much labelled an outcast at school and ended up spending most of my time alone. My twin brother, Liam, however… well, he was the complete opposite of me; outgoing and popular. Like my dad, he was tall (5’10 and still growing) with an athletic build, sun kissed bronze skin, blue eyes and dark hair - I was just his shadow. The only time people would even bother talking to me, was to ask me about him – girls would ask me if he was single, teachers would ask me where he was, if he missed a day at school, his friends would ask me if he was busy that weekend, etc.

Even though we grew up the exact same way, we turned out so differently. Liam still plays sports; right now, he plays hockey, and everyone is sure that he is destined to play for the NHL someday. He is also part of our high schools’ football team and just an all-around great athlete, who excels in whatever he puts his mind to. I used to play volleyball and basketball (despite my short stature), but I no longer play for any leagues or school teams because I just don’t fit in with the rest of the girls. My brother and I did gymnastics growing up, as well as various forms of dance. We also took piano, guitar and voice lessons from a very young age, because our parents believed that doing sports would help get some of that extra energy out and playing instruments and singing would help us with our confidence growing up. Both of us now have our Piano level 8 and have mastered the guitar (as much as we really need to, for what we use it for). Our parents paid attention to both of us equally, they are both very encouraging and cheer us on in everything we do, they are literally our biggest fans; but somehow, as Liam and I got older, my brother became more confident and I just didn’t (for whatever reason). He enjoyed the thrill of performing for big crowds and relished the attention he received. I always got nervous when I had to perform, almost to the point of throwing up. It seemed as though my parents plan to instill confidence in us through these types of activities failed… well, at least for me.

Despite all this though, my brother and I have always been super close, he is always there for me when I need someone to talk or vent to – he is my best friend… and right now, my only friend for that matter. Because of this, my parents are constantly worried about me; they want nothing more than for me to make some friends of my own. Liam obviously has lots of friends and a busy social life, so he isn’t always around to keep me company. Personally, I don’t know what all the fuss is about – having all this time to myself is glorious. I am able to teach myself new skills and languages, while still having time to enhance my existing skills of playing instruments and singing. Writing and singing songs has become a way for me to express myself, but I only do these things behind closed doors, as I am way too embarrassed to perform in front of anyone, including my own family. (Liam on the other hand has his own YouTube channel doing cover songs and the odd original song I write for him. I usually just do back-up vocals and music in the background, outside of the camera’s view). In my spare time, I have also managed to do a lot of extra schoolwork and am essentially already done most of my high school courses; I am pretty much ready to just skip the rest of high school and follow my dream of applying to some prestigious med school somewhere in Europe… I have wanted to be a doctor for as long as I can remember and since it takes such a long time, why not get a head start!? Besides, I was sure that I would make plenty of friends once I start saving people lives. Now I just had to spend part of my summer coming up with a plan to convince my parents to let me move to Europe… by myself, in order to pursue my goal of becoming a doctor… How hard could that be?!

One night we were eating supper, you could tell something was up because my parents could hardly contain their excitement… Liam and I looked at each other, shrugged and continued eating. Sure enough, after we had all finished, my mom told us that she and my dad had an announcement to make. We all sat at the dinner table while mom and dad argued about who was going to share the news – finally my mom agreed to be the one to tell us. “We are moving!” she yelled excitedly. Liam and I couldn’t believe our ears – we had lived in the same house all our lives – where were we moving? And why suddenly did my parents want to move? “We are moving to Forks, Washington” my dad chimed in, “I got a great job offer as the new chief of Police recently and your mom and I decided to jump at the opportunity. I think a fresh start in a nice, small town will be good for all of us.”

Well… I thought, I never liked Vancouver anyway and this may be the perfect opportunity for me to talk my parents into letting me move to Europe in order to pursue my dream. However, Liam was visibly upset; he had a great life here and “a lot more to lose” than anyone else in the family, so to speak. He got up and stormed off to his room. I quickly got up and followed him to make sure he was OK. I knocked on his door and he told me to come in. I sat on the edge of his bed and asked if he was alright. He looked at me and said that he was fine, but I knew he wasn’t. He was fighting back tears and seeing him this way broke my heart; when he hurt, I hurt too. I gave him a hug and told him not to worry, that no matter what happened, he was going to be fine because “you’re just so awesome”. We let go of each other and he cracked a slight smile at me. “What would I do without you” he said.

“Damnit”, I thought. Why did he have to say that? How am I supposed to move to Europe to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor, when for the first time in his life, my brother needs me? We talked for a while longer and decided that we would both make the best of this situation. My brother told me that this would be a great chance for me to “reinvent” myself – He said “no one in Forks knows us, so you could potentially become whoever you want to be” … I guess in a way he was right, but I wasn’t sure that it was going to be as easy as he thought it would be. Being introverted is not exactly a choice and trying to act extroverted was a difficult task for someone it didn’t come naturally to; but we promised each other that we would do our best and I wasn’t about to let him down on this promise.

We spent most of July packing all our belongings into a shipping container. My brother took some time out of his busy social life to take me shopping for a new wardrobe that would reflect the person I wanted to portray when we moved to Forks. He believed that if I dressed better, I would come off as more approachable and therefore had a better chance of making some friends. His theory definitely made sense but I wasn’t as thrilled about this experience as the rest of the family. I liked my dark coloured, baggy clothes and military style hats that hid my hair, but I went along with it, because it seemed to make him happy and take his mind off other things. Before I knew it, I had a closet full of trendier, more form fitting clothes like jeans and body-hugging shirts. My family thought it would be a good idea for me to donate all my old clothes to charity – I was hesitant about this at first, as these clothes were like my shield, but eventually I agreed to donate them. (I did, however, keep some of my favourite pieces I just couldn’t part with… without anyone knowing)..

Chapter 2 to follow...

Serenity and Liam arrive at their new home in Forks and Serenity makes her first friend... stay tuned for the deetz

#twilight #fanfiction #twilight fanfiction #reimagined #mystory #edward cullen #jacob black #the cullens #twilight au #Twilight salt #vampires #twilight saga

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meditativeyoga · 5 years

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Do You Have a Royal Fear of Inversions?

A Newbie's Overview of Yoga exercise's Trick Inversions: Find out how you can encounter your concern of going upside down and why it's so worth doing.

When I announced that it was time for Sirsasana (Headstand) during a workshop I was educating in Philly a few years earlier, a senior female slunk from the room, quickly adhered to by her yoga exercise educator. Moments later, they both came back. Later, I found out that the trainee had left the space since she had never been inverted in her life and also was frightened to attempt, her yoga instructor had actually gently encouraged her to return, telling her that this was the excellent possibility. Reluctantly, the student had agreed.

I assisted her up, kept her there for about 15 secs, as well as carefully brought her down. She stood, grinned, and gave me a huge hug. The following day, the very first thing she said to me was, 'Can you take me inverted once again today?' I've been informed that she has actually been up throughout every solitary course given that. At a spry 82, this woman had encountered her anxieties, empowered herself, and also made herself much more able in old age than in youth.

Since we hardly ever, if ever before, purposefully transform ourselves inverted, an aversion to inversions is all-natural. Yet it's an embarassment to let fear keep us from a lot of advantages as well as delights. Ralph Waldo Emerson as soon as wrote, 'He has not found out the lessons of life who does not every day surmount a fear.'

Why Inversions Are Secret to the Practice of Yoga

A yoga method without inversions is like a marriage without a partner, lemonade without lemons, or a body without a heart-- the essence is missing. Inversions set yoga exercise in addition to various other physical disciplines: Psychologically, they permit us to see things from an alternating point of view. Psychologically, they direct the energy of the pelvis (the energy of production as well as individual power) toward the heart facility, enabling self-exploration and internal growth. Physically, they stimulate the immune as well as endocrine systems, thus stimulating and also nurturing the brain as well as the body organs. When done correctly, inversions likewise release stress in the neck and also the spine.

Because of their myriad advantages, Sirsasana (Headstand, pronounced shir-SHA-sa-nuh) as well as Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand, articulated sar-vaan-GAH-sa-nuh) are taken into consideration to be the king and also queen of asanas, respectively. Sirsasana establishes our capacity for action (fire aspect) as well as enhances our capability to produce (air aspect). Sarvangasana supports our ability to stop doing and get based (earth element) and also promotes our capacity to be still and also reflect (water element). Sirsasana makes us even more alert and also focused, while Sarvangasana makes us tranquil as well as receptive.

To obtain these apparent advantages-- as well as to avoid injury, especially to the neck-- it's important to discover the proper setup as well as placement for each present. Likewise, I recommend that females forgo inversions throughout their menstruation period, reversing blood circulation breaks the body's all-natural desire to release stale blood as well as the endometrial cellular lining, and also it could result in a heartburn of menstruation liquid (referred to as backward menstruation). Various other contraindications include neck injuries, epilepsy, high blood pressure, heart disease, as well as eye troubles. Be conscious concerning your body as you come close to these positions, yet give them a try.

After 36 years of yoga exercise, I practice both positions every day and recommend the exact same to my students. It takes a while to build up a practice of Sarvangasana and Sirsasana, however. Be patient with on your own and also take the time to grasp them, if you do, you will enjoy their benefits for the rest of your life.

Learning Shoulderstand

A healthy sarvangasana calls for a solid opening of the underarms and also a rolling of the shoulders back and toward each other to allow the neck to launch properly.

How to Get ready for Shoulderstand

A great way to prepare for this is to stand with your back near a table, interlace your fingers, area your hands on the table, as well as bend your knees while lifting your upper body. This duplicates the movement required in the complete present yet places no weight on the head or neck, permitting you to cultivate adaptability without risk.

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (Bridge Posture) is another great prep work, because it distributes weight in between the feet and top body while protecting the neck.

Are You Ready for Sarvangasana?

While in Bridge Pose, you could inspect to see if you have actually established the necessary adaptability in your shoulders for Sarvangasana: Lift your hips, leave your shoulders on the floor, and also discover your seventh cervical vertebra (C7), that big bump at the end of the neck. If it's pushing into the flooring, you are not yet ready for the next step, or you will need firm blankets or foam pads to sustain your body. If you use blankets or pads, they need to support your body from your joints to your shoulders as well as top trapezius muscle mass, which cover the upper-back component of the neck and shoulders. If you have stiff trapezius muscular tissues, C7 will certainly likewise relax on the pads. Ultimately, your breast will touch your chin, indicating that your neck is mobile sufficient for you to practice Sarvangasana.

Where to Start

If you feel you prepare to removal on, attempt Ardha Sarvangasana (Fifty percent Shoulderstand). This is done with the hips raised off the floor, the feet on the wall surface, as well as the shoulders rolled under with 2 or 3 carefully folded up coverings or firm pads under them to make certain that the neck is pain-free. The pads must remain in the same position as described over for Setu Bandha Sarvangasana. In time, you will certainly feel all set to do full Sarvangasana by raising one leg each time from Ardha Sarvangasana.

Props

While pads are unneeded for perfect bodies, for the rest people, they are necessary. Eventually, the shoulders themselves end up being the pads and also none of the spinal column touches the floor. In the meanwhile, the stiffer the shoulders, the higher the pads need to be. Though many teachers teach this present without pads, I value my trainees' necks and think about pads to be a vital component of the posture.

The Effects of Shoulderstand

After you come out of Sarvangasana, stay up as well as discover its effects. Your eyelids need to feel heavy as well as your facial muscles soft and weighted, as if your jawbone is mosting likely to leave. If you feel flustered, angry, or stressful, you could have stayed in the present also long or may need assistance with your placement, in that situation, seek advice from an experienced teacher.

Learning Headstand

The gifts of Sirsasana are so great that also if you are not prepared to do the actual pose, you could profit by getting ready for it. The preparations assist you strengthen the latissimus dorsi muscle mass-- the big muscular tissues that affix the arms to the back-- as well as assistance create the recognition called for to spread, lift, and also strengthen the muscle mass around the shoulder blades so that the neck is protected.

How to Prepare for Sirsasana

Start in Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Pet Position) as well as concentrate on involving the muscle mass that spread the shoulder blades far from each various other, far from the flooring, as well as towards the rib cage. This activity will certainly construct the upper-body toughness you will require, when you re-create this in Sirsasana, both your head and also neck will be protected. In Adho Mukha Svanasana, see to it that your shoulder blades are broad as well as your neck is long. (You can allow your visit relax on a block.)

Are You Ready for Headstand?

In Downward-Facing Pet, check to see if your shoulders are below an imaginary line attracted in between your wrists as well as buttocks-- if so, you prepare to go on.

Setting Up

Learning the best ways to establish your arms as well as head is the following step toward Sirsasana. Interlace your fingers and also thumbs on the floor before you. Maintain your wrists as far apart as feasible and your arm joints bear width apart, to ensure that your inner arm joints and internal underarms form a square. Position your head against your wrists and also thumb mounds, your head should hinge on the flooring at your fontanel (the place in front of the crown of the head) or slightly in front of it. You could find the fontanel by understanding of the large bump on the top of your head then sliding your fingers forward, you will really feel a valley (the fontanel) adhered to by a 2nd bump. Come out of the setup.

Props

If you have tight shoulders as well as a rounded upper back, attempt a Sirsasana prep work with company pads versus a wall. This assists flatten as well as open your upper back, develop a soft neck, and motivate the sense of lift in your shoulders that is needed for doing Sirsasana correctly. Establish up your head as well as arms with your knuckles touching the wall surface, after that walk your feet toward your arms and correct your legs. Press your wrists down and attempt to take your shoulders off the pads, as you do so, you should feel your head raising off the floor.

Where to Start

As a start yoga pupil, you ought to have 90 percent of your weight on your lower arms as well as 10 percent on your head in Sirsasana. As you evolve in the stance, you'll put more weight on your head up until ultimately almost One Hundred Percent of your weight is on your head. Numerous novices discover that Sirsasana is not frightening when they realize there is little weight on their head and also neck.

The following action is Ardha Sirsasana (Fifty percent Headstand). There are no equilibrium issues in this primary present, since the arms are on the flooring as well as the feet are pushing versus the wall with the legs alongside the floor. Beginning by kneeling with your back toward a wall surface, and position your arms on a sticky mat established a leg's length from the wall. To set up the pose, interlace your fingers as well as thumbs, area your elbow joints bear size apart, bring your fontanel to the flooring, as well as make sure that your head is not tipped or turned to one side. Raise your shoulders, removaling your shoulder blades up and apart like water moving from a fountain. Gradually walk your feet up the wall till your upper legs and also legs are identical to the floor. Hold the position for concerning half a minute-- being extremely mindful of your shoulder blades raising as well as broadening-- and afterwards come down. If your shoulder blades relocated up as well as away from each various other in the pose, you await Sirsasana.

How to Come Into Headstand

To move into the full present, set your sticky mat beside a wall surface as well as place your knuckles beside the wall. To find up, adhere to the setup directions for the head as well as shoulders, after that, with your legs bent, carefully leap both boosts and also land with the soles of your feet touching the wall surface. Straighten your legs one at a time, pressing them together.

The Effects of Sirsasana

When you appear of Sirsasana as well as stay up, you must feel a peaceful, focused sensation in your brain and also nerves. Your hands ought to be calm and consistent. If they are not, you have actually remained as well long, functioned incorrectly, or worked as well difficult. Never ever stress in this position. Have your instructor inspect your present regularly to see that your head and also neck remain in the correct positioning which your shoulders are raising as well as expanding properly.

Sequencing Your Inversions

Now that you recognize how you can do Sirsasana and Sarvangasana, how do you fit them right into your technique series? Shoulderstand ought to be done after Headstand (although you don't need to do it promptly after), since Sirsasana heats the body up and Sarvangasana cools the body down. In addition, in Sarvangasana, the back of the neck is launched as well as the vertebrae are expanded, releasing any type of stress as well as compression in the neck that a wrong Sirsasana could have caused. In an all-around method session, Sirsasana ought to come after standing postures as well as before various other intense work such as backbends and deep spins. Sarvangasana adheres to, and also then Savasana (Remains Pose). If you have neck issues, it is much better to do Sarvangasana before moderate backbends, because backbends can ease any stress in the neck brought on by Sarvangasana.

How long should you hold the postures? The guideline is to hold Sarvangasana twice as long as Sirsasana yet never ever to the point of strain. I highly suggest servicing these presents in class with a knowledgeable instructor for a few months before doing them at house, although it is smart to maintain exercising the preparations on your very own. A well-trained, knowledgeable, as well as attentive instructor could assist you establish when you are all set to practice them alone.

I hope these words have actually urged you to begin a lifelong method of these stunning positions in such a way that is both secure and valuable. In doing these 2 inversions, the king as well as queen of asanas, you will be experiencing the essence of yoga exercise. May your work aid you discover the fragrant sweetness that is, after all, your personal internal essence.

Aadil Palkhivala is the cofounder as well as supervisor of Alive as well as Radiate Facility in Bellevue, Washington.

#asana #meditation #Yoga #yoga instructor

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nh935 · 5 years

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Creepy America Episode 1: Worlds of Wonder

Introduction

Today marks the twelve year anniversary of the last episode of Creepy America. I know this because of the article I'm reading, recounting the strange and bizarre tale of the webshow. My webshow. My life, for the better part of four years. And even though it arguably destroyed me, brought me to this point where I live alone, working hard jobs to keep this tiny, shitty one person apartment, news of Creepy America never ceases to bring me joy.

Except today.

Which brings me to the reason I am writing.

This morning, I received a letter saying that the server charges for the official Creepy America website had gone up once again, this time to a level that I couldn't even convince myself into thinking I could pay. My complaints have been ignored; I am positive that a silent actor has been forcing the charges to increase, regardless of the actual cost of maintaining the site. This is no doubt the same person who broke into my apartment and storage locker and stole every remaining physical copy of the Creepy America episodes. I wish I could muster the energy to be outraged, or even horrified, but I knew this day would come sometime.

Barring any action from my co-host to stop these actions, something I know will never happen, this would be where the webshow dies. But I'm a stubborn bastard and I'll be damned if it does.

So here I am, alone, in a small, dark room, writing my memoirs of the craziest, scariest, most dangerous, and happiest years of my life. My goal is to preserve the memories of "Creepy America": those days and nights spent in the R.V., traveling from city to city, investigating, finding, and recording the secret places that the world does their best to keep hidden. It's only this way that those days will stay alive. Files corrupt. Memories fade. Even history can be re-written. But if the show has proved anything, it's that words will exist forever, even if they aren't supposed to.

To the Newcomers:

I imagine that most people who track down these stories will be the life-long fans. However, I imagine that some will simply stumble onto these stories by accident. That's okay; it's actually what I'm counting on.

But that means that there's a good chance that, if you're reading this, you don't know what "Creepy America" is. I don't want to delude myself into thinking that everyone who reads this will have memories of the show, especially given the fickleness of internet fame, so I want to take this time to explain what the show was; veteran Creepers, feel free to skip ahead.

Creepy America was a webshow, published and broadcasted online. It was big back in its day. The show generated enough revenue to make money off of, and it's popularity caused a few "War of the Worlds"-styled hoaxes.

To the outside world, the draw of the show was obvious. Based on the creepypasta explosion that made the world obsessed with Slenderman and others, Creepy America combined professional-level special and practical effects with the low-budget style of found footage to make for a scarily realistic horror series. The actual recording team was kept invisible, placing all attention and credit to the two co-hosts of the show. The mysterious mythos that was hinted at several times but never fully explained also added to its popularity and quite a few people praised us for our clever writing and dedication to preserving the illusion.

Of course, this couldn't be further from the truth. Creepy America was just a low-budget production. Zoey and I were the only ones who worked on the show. Nothing was scripted. As our show gained attention, a choice was demanded of us from powerful forces: stop filming, or tow the "fake" line. We chose what we believed to be the lesser of two evils.

Things escalated, though. I won't try to summarize the details here; they will be explained better in the stories to come. But twelve years ago, we were obligated to end it, and the show has slowly faded into obscurity since then.

To the Veteran Creepers:

Before we begin, I have to give you a warning: if you're looking for answers, this isn't the place to find them.

The events and things we uncovered during Creepy America remain unexplained to this day. I have spent the better part of twelve years researching various aspects of science and parascience trying to find those answers, and I am no closer to finding them than I was when we decided to stop our broadcast. Red Eyes, Reverend Jones, even the Archangel Foundation: I don't know what the truth is. So if you expect a book explaining how everything fits together perfectly like little puzzle pieces, I'm afraid you're going to be sorely disappointed. I have my theories, and I have my hunches, but, as I've stated on the show before, speculation without proof is worthless. As it is not my intention to further confuse an already bizarrely muddled and misunderstood set of facts, I will leave my ideas to myself and simply report on what happened.

What's inside is is a collection of my memories about the strange occurrences that we filmed in our four years on the road. I know that there have been many requests to elaborate on some of the details that were left out of the show: what happened during our streaming blackout, the exact location of Devil's County, what we learned about Voltaire's DNA sample from the scientists. I can answer a few of those questions, and I intend to. Some things, unfortunately, are gone. My records are lost, and even my memory is beginning to turn fuzzy. I have also lost contact with my associate, meaning that unless she publishes her own statements on these events, I have no witnesses to back up anything. Given how things ended between us, I doubt that will ever happen. You will simply have to trust that what I say is true. If you've stayed with me this far, though, I think that you're willing to take that leap of faith.

Which brings me to my last point: everything was true. Some of you believed, but everyone had doubts. I don't blame you. We marketed ourselves as clever writers whose fictional tales contained just enough details to seem plausible. After the threatened lawsuit, we had to place a disclaimer on our show's opening. Even those of you who are going to find these stories are going to find it described as "fiction". There are reasons we did so, good reasons, reasons that are detailed in this book. I'm tired of lying, though. Even lies told with the best of intentions will eat through your soul. I'm not sure how well this admission will go over with the higher powers in charge, but I no longer care. As Zoey herself once said in the show, consequences be damned.

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So to newcomers and old fans alike, here it is: the bare truth about "Creepy America", all three years of our journeys across the United States. Once more I say to you the line that began every episode since our second broadcast: get your flashlights out, and get ready to shine some light on the darkened corners of the world. Welcome to the America you never knew existed.

Welcome to Creepy America.

-Liam Foster, co-host of Creepy America

Creepy America Episode 1 Worlds of Wonder Hammond, Indiana

Perhaps one of the stranger tales to tell about our time creating Creepy America was simply how it got started. Unlike how it was sometimes insinuated, we didn't simply wake up one day with the idea and the passion to start the show. In fact, Creepy America wasn't supposed to be Creepy America at all. It was supposed to be "Faces of America", and it started with a simple question:

"Hey, do you want to do a road trip?"

We were sitting on the porch of Zoey's house, drinking beer and catching up. Zoey and I had been friends ever since grade school. Over the years we had gotten pretty close, especially during high school, but at this point it had been awhile since we had seen each other. I had gone to Indiana University because of a generous scholarship opportunity while Zoey went to our local community college. We remained friends on Facebook and messaged each other back and forth, but that summer we decided that I should go back to our hometown to meet for what might be the last time. We were both getting pretty far into our degrees and that meant that soon we were going to have to decide on jobs in those fields, at which point there would be no summers to catch up with.

"What do you mean, a road trip?" I asked. In case anyone is curious, I appeared the same way I always did in the show: curly brown hair, white skin, green eyes. It was a pretty hot night out, so I was wearing shorts. Other than that, I can't remember much.

Zoey took another swig of her beer. "You know, a road trip. A road. A trip. The works." She appeared the same as she always did, too. Pale skin, lots of silver piercings in her face, blond hair with one side dyed in neon rainbow colors. She smiled with one of those sweet smiles she always had.

I miss those smiles.

"Yeah, that sounds glamorous. Long hours on the road in a cramped car. Fast food every night. Seedy motels as far as the eye can see." I scoffed and downed some more beer.

"Actually, I was thinking of an R.V."

That caused me to raise an eyebrow. "You're serious aren't you?"

She picked up her laptop that she had beside her. "You remember that video essay I did for my Video Production class?"

"The 'Faces of Ivy Tech' one? Yeah, I remember. That one was pretty good"

"My teacher thought so too. So much so that he actually sent it to some fancy art group." She clicked on the track pad and squinted to read something. "The Film Board of America. They loved it so much that they want me to do another one, but across the country, with different people in each state. A 'Faces of America' thing. Even gave me a grant to do it with."

"How much?"

"Um… 50 grand, about-ish."

"Wow… that's uh, wow."

"Yeah, I know, right?" She closed the laptop. "Anyway I also have an uncle who sells used R.V.s He's willing to give me a pretty big discount if I pay cash for it. And then I remembered you. I figured we could take a year off and travel the countryside. You know, before I leave this town and you turn into one of those boring number people."

"Accountant" I corrected.

"Isn't that what I said?"

I sighed. "Zoey, I don't know. I'm in the middle of school and to just postpone my degree like that…"

She rolled her eyes at me. "Oh, come on Liam. You have the whole rest of your life to be a boring adult. This could be our one last chance to do something big and exciting before we get those stupid nine to fives. An adventure, right? Like what we talked about in fifth grade." She looked at me with bright eyes.

I paused.

"Well?" she asked.

"I… I'm sorry, I just can't. I've got too much to worry about right now."

*******************************************************************************************

She frowned and looked down over the edge of the porch.

"Hey," I said. She looked back up at me. "I'm still gonna be here for the rest of the summer, okay? Let's try to enjoy that time."

She nodded, but the disappointment was still visible on her face.

A few days later we were shopping at a thrift store. Zoey had mentioned something about "various odds and ends for the R.V.", so we ended up driving to different Goodwills. We were at yet another one and the constant looking at towels and silverware was driving me a bit nuts, so I took a break from Zoey's company and headed over to the far corner of the building where a bunch of posters and paintings were located. I flipped through them. Most of them were pretty standard fare: big inspirational words and prints of famous artworks. One of them made me stop, though.

It was a smaller canvas and an actual painting. I could feel the texture of the brush strokes. The picture itself was done in various shades of blue and silver. Two large planets encircled in swirls of gas hung in the sky joined by a pale moon. Mountains surrounded a beach with a large palm tree off to the side. Two dolphins, mid jump and shiny gray, were suspended in the air, all completed by an illegible signature in white.

It felt oddly disturbing to look at. Like a CGI figure that's almost, but not quite, perfect. There was just something... not right about it. Curious, I turned the canvas over, hoping that there would be something on the other side to shed some light on who exactly painted this piece. On the back was a tiny printed sticker.

"Worlds of Wonder. #2 of 59."

I flipped it back over to study the artwork more and traced my finger over the signature. I couldn't even begin to make sense of it. All it appeared to be was a series of large messy loops. Glancing over the rest of the painting didn't help much, either. I'm no artist, so I couldn't really figure out anything that way. I stared at one of the dolphins.

I could almost picture it falling back into the ocean…

"Whatcha got?"

I jumped. I had been so engrossed that I didn't hear Zoey walk up behind me.

She laughed. "Sorry, didn't mean to sneak up on you like that."

"No, it's okay," I said. "I just… uh, got caught up in looking at this thing."

"Here, let me see." I handed the canvas over and she held it up. She smiled. "Wow, talk about strange."

"Yeah, I know." I walked over to the cart to see what Zoey had picked up while I was gone. As I prodded through some of the miscellaneous housewares in the basket, the painting suddenly joined them.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Zoey. "Really? You're buying that?"

"What?" she asked. "I've got a niece who goes crazy over this kind of stuff."

"Dolphins on different planets?"

"Well, dolphins at least. Plus, she's like five. She'll flip over this."

"Are you sure? It looks kind of… creepy."

Zoey raised an eyebrow at me. "Creepy?"

"Yeah," I was beginning to feel stupid, but I soldiered on anyway. "Creepy. It just… I don't know, it doesn't look right."

She lifted the painting out of the cart and looked it over again. "I don't see anything 'creepy' about it. Weird, yeah. I mean, it is kind of out there, but…"

"Never mind, let's just go. These lights are beginning to hurt my eyes."

*******************************************************************************************

Zoey ended up dropping me off at my house late. It was either midnight or one. I had bought a few things from the thrift stores, mostly just old paperbacks that had been on my list of things to read and, bags in hand, I walked up the steps of my parent's house, unlocked the door, and headed upstairs to my room. Once inside I put the bags down and started taking things out. That's when I noticed the painting again.

It was in one of the bags, lengthwise so it would fit, nestled in between two books. The cashier must have accidentally placed it in my bag when we were checking out. I picked it up and looked at it again.

The dolphin looked back at me. The black eye seemed to almost glisten,

I yawned, then shook my head. "I'm getting freaked out by fake dolphins. I need to go to bed." Painting under my arm, I headed back downstairs and leaned it against the front door so I would remember to give it back to Zoey. Then I headed upstairs, put the new books on my shelf, and flopped onto the bed, still in my clothes. I was out before my head hit the pillow.

*******************************************************************************************

I felt very, very cold. I could only see black. I realized that my eyes were tightly closed, so I opened them.

I was standing on a beach at night. The whole landscape was awash with silver light. The white sand glowed with it. A few feet in front of me stood the water, tranquil and clear. Large blue palm trees swayed behind me, and behind them were grey mountains, also shining in the pale light. Looking up, I saw a huge multitude of stars, and hanging there like overripe fruit were two large gaseous planets.

I was inside of the painting.

Sure enough, just in time to punctuate my thought, a pair of dolphins leapt from the water. Diving back in, they swam away, chasing each other and leaping again.

The mist of the ocean combined with the night air made me shiver and I could see my breath in front of me. Clutching my arms, I turned around and almost tripped when my foot snagged something behind me. It was a sign. Well, sort of. It was more like two large planks of wood nailed together in a waist-high "T" shape. The top board had a shaky "2" drawn on it.

I figured it was just a weird dream. A very, very strange and vivid dream, but a dream nonetheless. My overactive mind had just taken the painting I had thought was so strange and was spending the night recreating it. No biggie.

Even so, I still felt a little on edge. I had this slight feeling of dread, like the kind you get at the beginning of a nightmare, where you realize something's wrong, but you're just not sure what, and you know something's coming, but you're just not sure when. The movement of the palm trees in the wind was making me jump when I saw it out of the corner of my eye. The planets overhead, hanging in midair and moving slowly, made me feel like I was being watched.

Again, I shrugged those feelings aside. So what if it was a weird dream? It was just a dream. Besides, I was lucid right now. I was in control. If anything scary did happen, I could just think it away.

A shiver went up my body. "Right," I said to myself, "let's get rid of this first". I closed my eyes and imagined warmth.

Nothing.

After waiting for a moment, I shrugged and said "okay then we'll just have to work on that later." I headed along the beach with the ocean to my right. After walking a while, the beach turned sharply to the left, and again buried in the sand was another T sign, this one reading "16". I looked over and the sand seemed to go on in a straight line forever.

There was a sudden splash to my right and ice-cold water washed over my skin. I stumbled backwards, falling over on my butt in the sand. One of the dolphins was in the water, about twenty feet away from me, splashing the surface with the flat of its tail. Once it saw that I noticed it, it made a strange chirping noise, like a cross between a regular dolphin sound and a cell phone ring, and disappeared back into the water.

"This is so bizarre."

A muffled noise sounded off to my left and I looked over. Very faintly, almost blended into the sand, was a figure in white, frantically waving his arms and yelling something. I brushed myself off and started to walk in that direction, but it was quickly growing darker. I looked up just in time to see one of the large planets eclipse the moon, and then the dream ended.

*******************************************************************************************

I awoke in bed with sunlight streaming into my room and cold sweat sticking to my skin. Even though I was under my blanket, I was shivering, and the bed felt slightly damp to the touch. I touched my forehead. Clammy skin.

Was I sick? Was that a fever dream?

I headed over to my shower and turned it as hot as I could stand. I stayed under the water for a long, long time. Gradually, I began to feel better. Almost human. A half hour later, I was fine. I stepped out of the shower feeling great. Placing my hand on my forehead again after drying off, it felt normal. Nothing indicated I was sick.

Strange.

Walking back into my bedroom, I found the bizarre painting propped up against my bed. I picked it back up and stared at it.

"I thought I put you by the front door."

Silence.

"Musta forgot." I threw it back on my bed. "I'll have to remember to take you to Zoey's when I visit her later."

The dolphin watched me as I got dressed. I took it downstairs and set it off to the side as I poured cereal into a bowl.

I noticed the dolphin out of the corner of my eye, still glaring at me.

I put my bowl down and looked at it. "Maybe, maybe I could head over right now. I've got nothing better to do anyways."

In this angle and light, the thing looked… almost angry.

I shuddered. "Yeah, definitely right now."

*******************************************************************************************

"I think it got put back in my bag by mistake."

"Huh. Whoops." Zoey said as she took it from me. "I was wondering where it went."

"What's your plans for today?"

"Camera shopping, mostly. Trying to find the best models at my budget. Usually I just make do, but I've got so much I can actually get a decent model this time around. Want to come?"

I had a flashback of the forks at Goodwill. "No thanks, I'll pass."

The dolphin caught my eye again.

"Are you sure you want to give that to your niece? Doesn't it seem… I don't know, a little strange?"

Zoey laughed. "Are you still freaked out about this thing?"

I decided not to tell her about the dream.

I spent the rest of the day just loafing around. It was summer, after all. That was kinda the point. I played some random video games that I had bought a long time ago but never tried. Once I got bored of those, I picked up a paperback I had bought from Goodwill. I munched on some food. Nothing crazy.

Over the course of the day, I managed to forget about the painting and the weird dream, the details slowly fading with every passing hour.

By the time I had laid my head on my pillow and slowly drifted into sleep, I had forgotten it had even happened.

*******************************************************************************************

It was cold. Again.

I sat up with a start, inhaling the freezing, salt-filled air. I was back on the beach. The moon, the planets, the dolphins. It was all there.

I was back.

"What the hell? What's going on?" I stood up and looked around.

As I did so, I saw a man behind me, leaning against a palm tree. He was a white guy with long greasy black hair and a beard to match. His face was gaunt and thin. He was wearing what I assumed used to be a very stylish white three piece suit with golden pinstripes, but it was now a dirty gray with rips and tatters everywhere. The whole outfit hung on him like a blanket. A very battered matching hat completed the ensemble.

Once he saw me looking at him, he straightened up. "Ah, you're awake!"

I immediately took a few steps back and hit something. I spun around to see the "2" sign again, then faced the man. "What's going on?"

"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you, everything's fine."

"Who are you?!"

He raised his hands in the air in a show of non-hostility. "I'm Greg Thornstine. A guy who picked up a 'Worlds of Wonder' painting, just like you."

I stared at him. "Wait a minute, what?"

He smiled and lowered his arms. "Alright guys, it's cool. I think he's done freaking out."

Several people now came into view, standing up behind the small crest he was on. There was a Hispanic man dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, and older woman in a business suit, a teenage girl in black clothing, and another white guy in a camo jacket and pants. They all looked similar to Greg; thing faces, torn, baggy clothing, long hair and beards on the men. They watched me with a dull expression.

"Alright newcomer, welcome. This is Jose, Anne, Suzy, and Tom."

"Uh, hi?"

They stared at me in silence.

"Oh, um… I'm Liam, I guess. What's going on here?"

"Well," Greg started, "at some point, you picked up a 'Worlds of Wonder' painting, just like us. I'm assuming the sticker on the back said '2 of 59?'"

"Yeah…"

Greg pointed to the sign behind me.

"So what, every time I fall asleep I come here?"

Jose said something in Spanish.

"Calm down," Greg said, turning to Jose, "he doesn't know that yet." Then he looked back at me. "I'm afraid that's just the beginning. You've visited here once before, right?"

I remembered the white figure on the beach. "Yeah. Was that you waving at me?"

He nodded. "This place draws you in threes. First night's sleep, second night's sleep, then on the third day. At some point after you wake up, you're going to come back here. And that time, it'll be permanent."

I looked at the group. "I don't believe you."

The teenager shrugged. "Doesn't matter. You'll come here anyway."

"This is just some weird dream I keep having. That's all."

The business woman rolled her eyes. "I told you Greg, this will get us nowhere."

"Hush, Anne. It's worth a shot." Greg turned back to me. "Listen kid, you've got what we didn't have. Forewarning. So listen very closely to what I'm about to tell you."

I took a few steps closer and leaned in.

"When you wake up, grab food. Stuff your face like there's no tomorrow. Cram your pockets with anything you can think of. The higher the calories, the better, but try to diversify. Meat, fruit, candy. Don't worry about it spoiling, Just have as much on you when you come here. You'll thank me later."

I stared. Then I chuckled. I laughed for almost a minute straight. "You're crazy! Scratch that, I'M crazy, YOU'RE not real! This is a dream. I'm not gonna start binge eating just 'cause my dreams told me it was a good idea!"

Jose began muttering in Spanish again.

"I need you to listen to me. Please." Greg looked at me with concern. "This is your one shot here. This is going to happen. I can't stop it, and neither can you. This is your one chance to make sure your life isn't a living hell when you get here. Please just take it."

"Then answer me this: why has no one thought to try fishing?" I gestured to the ocean behind me, arms flailing.

At that moment, the dolphin jumped out of the water, chirping another mechanical sound.

"Ain't no fish in that ocean." The man in camo said darkly. "And before you go getting any bright ideas, there's nothing in those dolphins 'cept gears and springs. We've tried everything there is to try."

I lowered my arms. "What about escaping?"

The business woman shook her head. "This place is an island. Nowhere to go. And even if we knew where we could swim to, those… things" she spat, looking out at the waves "would tear us apart in no time flat."

"This is insane." I whispered.

"Insane or not, it's happening." Greg said. "And it's going to keep happening. For your own sake, Liam, do what I said."

I moved around the sign and began backing up. "No no no no no no no, this isn't happening. This isn't real. This is just a weird dream, this isn't…" I felt a sudden surge of cold around my ankles, Surprised, I lost my balance and fell backwards into the cool, dark water. I was buffed about by a wave, dragged farther in. I tried to swim up, but I couldn't. The air burned in my lungs. I screamed, and stinging salt water filled my chest. Struggling, I slowly lost consciousness…

…and awoke in my own bed.

It was soaked. Every movement I made caused the mattress to seep salt water, like an over-absorbed sponge. There was a thin layer of it trickling down my body, and I was violently shivering. Even my teeth were chattering.

"W-wh-wha-th-the-f-f-f-f-f" I stumbled out of my bed, fell on the floor, and scrambled back up, putting the shower on the highest heat possible, stripped out of my clothes and climbed in, too shocked to think. After an eternity standing under the blazing hot water, feeling returned to my fingers, and I turned the heat down just a bit. I started going over my options.

What the hell was I supposed to do? Go to the police? And tell them what? I'm going to get kidnapped by a painting? A theoretical physicist might be more help. Or a ghostbuster. I laughed. I felt like a lunatic. I suppose I was close to becoming one.

"Calm down" I said out loud. "We're going to approach this one option at a time. Just think of the next thing to do. After that's done, you can think of what to do after that."

Zoey. I'll ask her. She's handled the painting too. Maybe the same thing's been happening to her, but she just wrote it off like I did. At the very least, she might have an idea of what to do next.

I stepped out of the shower, dried off, and went back to my room.

The painting was hanging above my bed's headboard.

I looked at it, then touched it.

It fell to the ground. The wall behind it had no hooks or nails to keep it in place.

I grabbed the painting and rushed off to Zoey's place.

*******************************************************************************************

"Alright, one more time. Slower please."

I was at Zoey's house, in her living room. Her dad answered the door as he was leaving to go to work. She was still sleeping, so she was talking to me in her pajamas.

"I've told you three times already. Why don't you believe me?" I asked.

"I believe you. Or at least, I believe you think you're telling the truth. You are way too freaked out to be making this up right now."

"So what, I'm crazy?"

She looked at me. "That's definitely one possibility."

I waved the painting in the air. "Then how do you explain this?"

"Well, I'd rather not think you broke into my house and stole it…"

"Are you fucking serious! This is…"

Zoey grabbed the sides of my head and locked eyes with me. "Liam! Calm down! I said it was a possibility! I didn't say that this whole painting kidnapping thing wasn't also a possibility! Now, look at me."

I stopped flailing about and kept eye contact.

"You are NOT going to get stuck in that painting" she said loudly.

"But Greg said…"

She stared at me.

"Right, I'm not going to get stuck in this painting."

"Good." She let go of me and walked over to her dining room table, where her laptop and a bunch of cameras sat.

I jumped up and followed her. "So what are we going to do?"

"You're going to help me test this camera's ability to stream."

"What? Zoey, we need to do something about this!"

"This is something!" Zoey yelled back. Then she sighed and spoke in a much softer voice. "Look, I don't know what to do. This is the best I can think of. This way, I can keep tabs on you all day. If the day goes by and you're still on planet earth, we'll deal with you being crazy. If you vanish and the stream goes out, I figure out how to get you back."

"So that's your plan? Wait until I get vanished then figure out how to pull me back?"

"Until we can think of a better one."

I sighed. "Alright. I'll wait here for you to get dressed, I guess."

*******************************************************************************************

I was incredibly tense the whole rest of the day.

It was bad. I jumped at every little noise. Especially water. Anything moved, I immediately shouted at it. I alternated between filming and heading back to Zoey's computer to watch her compare the qualities of each footage capture. It didn't help that I was shaking the whole time, making the videos look pretty much incomprehensible.

The worst was when Zoey told me to go out into the neighborhood far away to test the range. Every time, she had to assure me that if the stream went out and I didn't come back for five minutes, she would assume the worst had happened. When I was done filming, she would text me to come back, and I would bolt. Even though it was only five minutes, I swear they took forever. Something about being alone made me feel vulnerable.

Zoey, for her part, was holding it together remarkably well. She alternated between shouting directions at me and calming me down, then do some stuff on her laptop like nothing was wrong. Still not 100 percent sure how she did it; my behavior alone should have been enough to unnerve her.

It was about five at this point and the sun was just barely beginning to set.

"Alright Liam, I need you to go behind that shed."

I looked over to the small building in her backyard. "That one?"

"Yeah" she looked over at me. "Don't worry, I'll be watching the footage the whole time."

I inhaled. "Okay." With the camera on my shoulder, I slowly crept up behind the shed and stepped around.

Darkness.

Suddenly, silver light bathed the landscape. It was that damn painting again. I twirled around, pointing the camera in every direction. "ZOEY! ZOE! ARE YOU SEEING…"

A fist suddenly landed square on my jaw. There wasn't a lot of power behind it, but it surprised me so much that it caused me to lose my balance, falling over on the sand. I looked down to see the gaunt Greg fishing through my pockets, with the rest of the group behind him.

"Damn it! Nothing! Not one single thing! WHY DIDN'T YOU LISTEN TO ME?" He slapped my face hard, hard enough to sting.

"I..what…who?"

"Come on, Greg, your little experiment didn't work." The business woman took out a sharpened shiv. "Time to do what we should have done originally."

He glared at me. "Not even a single pack of Oreos? Come on, are you trying to get yourself killed?"

The teen girl scoffed and she drew out a similar shiv. "Like we wouldn't have killed him if he did."

"No, but, fuck, I miss Oreos." Greg scowled and revealed a large hunting knife.

I panicked. Out of pure, primal reflex, I squirmed out from under Greg and kicked him in the face. He was surprisingly light and flew backwards, a sickening crunch coming from his face. I scurried to my feet and grabbed the camera, not sure why, and sprinted away on the beach.

"SHOOT HIM TOM!" I heard Greg yell from behind me.

"Only got four bullets left."

Spanish.

"No, but just sayin'…"

There was a bang of sound and I felt a stinging sensation at my arm. I saw blood running down it and had to readjust my grip to keep the camera. There was another, and I felt a similar sensation on my leg.

"AGAIN!"

"Stop it Greg! We've only got two bullets left! Let him bleed out."

I kept running, but the beach seemed to go on forever. My muscles felt sore, My lungs were on fire. I felt close to collapse. I tripped over my own feet and fell face-first in the sand, salt and grit going up my nostrils and into my mouth. I started to get up, but I couldn't. Despite the cold, I felt like I was burning up.

"See?"

"I'll get the fire going. Good eating for once."

The heat kept rising. My flesh felt like it was on fire. I began to scream as my vision turned red.

"What the hell?…"

Darkness overtook me.

I woke up in Zoey's back yard.

"Liam, Liam, holy shit are you alright?"

I coughed out bloody sand. "Never better. I'm just gonna…" My vision faded into black again.

"Hey, HEY!" Zoey slapped me. "Stay awake. C'mon, we're going to the hospital."

"Wonderful" I muttered as she dialed some numbers on her phone.

*******************************************************************************************

As we waited for the ambulance to get there, Zoey made me recite a cover story about how I had accidentally shot myself with her hunting rifle while she was showing it off to me. I later learned that this had two reasons: one, to keep me conscious until the paramedics could do their thing, and two, to give a good cover story to the police. As she told me later, "The last thing I wanted to have happen that day was to get my stuff ransacked from the Men in Black or something."

Because I kept trying to fall asleep on her, she made me recite it over and over again. Good thing, too; I ended up telling it so well that when the cops had finished taking my statement, one of them told me "Sorry to trouble you, but it's procedure. We just want to make sure this wasn't something else."

I smiled and told them I understood.

I spent a week or two in the ICU. The nurse told me that the shots were, luckily, grazes. Neither managed to strike any vessels, muscles, or bones, so all I needed was some blood and stitches, then some observation to make sure there were no complications.

My parents visited once or twice, and even Zoey's dad. Zoey, however, stayed the most by my side, usually in a corner fiddling with her cameras or laptop. When I told her she could go home, she just scoffed and went back to whatever she was doing.

On the second day, I started feeling better and actually started to stay up instead of briefly waking up and then passing out. When Zoey came back to my room to hang out, I smiled and waved at her.

"Hey, you were right."

"About what?" she asked.

"I didn't get stuck in the painting."

She shook her head and laughed. "Liam, I honestly thought you were crazy. I was gonna show you the stream footage after the day was over and then try to convince you to check into an asylum." She sat down across from me and filled me in on what happened from her end.

Apparently, when I went behind the shed, the streaming didn't stop. In fact, the camera showed Zoey everything that was happening: the beach, Greg, all of it. Later in the week, she played me the video that was taken, proof that I wasn't insane. It shows everything, including the air going orange, dark, and then suddenly reappearing in the backyard.

As soon as Zoey saw this landscape with me in it, she freaked. She ran upstairs, tore up the painting and broke the wood canvas, and ran back to the yard, where her laptop was. When that failed to do anything, she ran back inside and got the painting scraps, threw them in the backyard, and set them on fire. After a second or two, the fire erupted and doubled in size, and a few seconds after that, the video turned orange. The fire died down and I was lying there, unharmed with the exception of the gunshots. Somehow, I managed to hold onto the camera the whole time.

"Good thing too, or I would've thrown you back there" she joked.

Both the SD card in the camera and the stream footage recorded the same thing. We spent a long time talking about what had happened, and we ended up deciding not to show it to anyone else. At best, they probably thought we were trying to pull some elaborate prank. At worst… who knows?

It must have really stuck in Zoey's head, though, because after a few days, she asked if she could post it online, under the guise of a short horror film project and write out what had happened before that as a creepypasta-like story. She promised to change all the names. I didn't see a reason not to, so I said sure.

After a few days, when I was no longer recovering but just under observation, the visitors stopped coming, and even Zoey showed up less frequently. Bored, I spent some time online, looking up "Worlds of Wonder."

Nothing showed up.

The only thing I found was on Greg Thornstine. Apparently, he was once a multimillionaire heir and art enthusiast. He disappeared one night after acting irrationally and was never found. I read his whole story on an article entitled "10 of the Most Mysterious Missing Persons Cases in History." No mention of the painting.

I couldn't find anything on anyone else. Just a factoid that at any given time, around 90,000 people are missing in the United States.

I stopped searching after that.

*******************************************************************************************

One week later, I was out of the hospital. The doctor told me to avoid alcohol for the time being, so naturally, Zoey wanted to celebrate with beers at her place. I told her I'd come but not drink. She laughed and then told me she had something to show me.

We were once again sitting on her porch. With a flourish, she pulled out her laptop and showed it to me. It was the footage from the beach, uploaded to Youtube. It had 100,000 views.

"I just uploaded this, like, three days ago!" she exclaimed. "It's already blown up! This thing is everywhere! And everyone's talking about the story too! How it's so weird and creepy! It gave me an idea: why don't I do this stuff while I'm filming the 'Faces of America' thing? I'll already be going place to place. I could do this, like, video pod format where each episode is a different city or state and I'll talk about the urban legends and maybe even find something! Wouldn't that be cool?"

"Zoey…"

"Before you say anything, I'm not trying to rope you into it. I mean, I already know you can't come, but…"

"Zoey!"

She stopped.

"I'm in."

Zoey looked at me. "Liam, don't mess with me."

"I'm serious. Zoey, I just saw something that shouldn't exist. And nobody would know about that painting if you hadn't have posted it. It makes…" I could feel myself blushing a bit, but I continued. "It makes me wonder what else is out there."

Zoey didn't respond. She just looked at me. Then she hugged me. Hard.

That's how Creepy America started.

#creepy #creepy_america #short_story #fiction #series #weird fiction #horror

1 note · View note

sharksdontplaycards · 3 years

Text

How can we protect those we love..

Dearest,

I know you want me to call you mom, but I can’t right now. You asked me to call you this when I first married your daughter and at the time I wanted to feel accepted and did not understand your reasoning. Now I see that you want me to call you that because you believe yourself superior, and feel entitled to authority over mine and my wife’s life. I can no longer appease your request. God gave me the responsibility to head my household. Kathryn and I are our own family, recognized under God. The decisions that we make are ours alone. Your input is neither required nor desired. You do not have influence or power over them, and your pleas, tears, manipulation, delusion, and desires belong to you, and no one else.

I can see that you are hurting. It is apparent that no one in the world understands how you feel, nor could they if they tried. You are the ultimate victim, you have gone through something worse than anyone else in all of human history. God sacrificed his only son, and watched Him be beaten, whipped, and murdered by His own creation, but even He must look at you in wonder. You are the recipient of all hate, discontentment, malice, disrespect, slight, and heartbreak that the human race has to offer. Books could be written, and speeches could be made in reverence, describing the complexities of your pain and perseverance through it. I will never know what to say to you to help you. I want so very much to do so, truly. I love you, and I want you to move on and have purpose beyond the pain you so effortlessly project onto everyone around you.

God is the answer to this. He can see you past this pain, and resentment. There is purpose here beyond even you. It is hard to imagine, but other people were given purpose by God as well. No one will ever have your exact experience, but God puts people in our lives to challenge us in small areas where they have different experiences from our own. It is unimaginable, I’m sure, to think that anyone could have a better understanding of something, especially considering they don’t have the same exact life, and feelings that you do. There is good news, God works in the unimaginable every day! He gives other people different experiences, lives, dare I say it.. pain, and love that affords them their own unique perspective. It is incredible, really, but there are over seven billion people on earth and every one of them have their own lives, friends, families, and responsibilities.

It is evident that your monopoly on pain and victimhood has made you both morally superior and wiser than even King Solomon. As clear as this truth may be, your undeniable superiority does not entitle you to authority. Even Kind Solomon ruled over only one Kingdom. God has charged you with taking care of your family, the same as He has charged us with taking care of ours. You are our family, and we will always help you as we have but the family your daughter and I have made is separate from you. I was raised in a family that helps one another without fear, guilt, or expectation of reciprocity. That may be foreign, but, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1 Cor 13:4-8). We love you, and we seek to love you truly.

Right now your pain is so great that it effects how you love. Your actions are a reflection of the thoughts of your heart. We don’t spend any time alone. There is a reason for that. I tried to take you out for something you needed. We went to the mall and got it and then went to a restaurant to get some food. While at the register I offered to pay for the meal. I watched you actively ignore my offer and proceed to pay. Following this moment I thanked you and we had a lovely meal. The following day however you saw fit to lie. You accused me of being rude, not offering to pay, and gave an account of our time placed so far outside the reality of events that took place, I question seriously if you were referring to the same event. You did this is an effort to tarnish my character in the eyes of my wife. At most every instance, it seems, you seek to drive yourself as a wedge between us. Your actions are so brazen and obvious to everyone around you it is hard to deduce whether you think yourself that superior or you believe everyone else to be that utterly stupid. I recognized that day that I could never be alone with you. As a man in the current age if I were to be alone with a woman not afraid to brazenly lie about my actions, I could end up in jail. I love you, but I can’t risk leaving my family and making them so vulnerable for your comfort or attention.

Those that want help, help themselves and help from others follows quickly. Those who do not want help cannot get it. I have heard your lamentations sincerely, as have everyone who loves you, but since I have known you, those lamentations have not changed. I am a wretched sinner with a silver tongue. I am impulsive and unapologetic with a very quick temper. I am not afraid to face the consequences of my actions because I have endured terrible consequences. After facing those consequences I went to God and my family with my tail between my legs ready to eat with the pigs. I had to admit that I was not all powerful and that I was the author of my own perspective and demise. My lamentations changed. I had new problems, but I was able to face them more prepared, and more reliant on God. I realized that I was not the center of the universe, that I alone was neither the answer nor the question most important in God’s Kingdom. The world seems treacherous with the perspective that it’s all about oneself. Your problems, however inconceivable to mere mortals, are your own. Facing our wrongs is not the end of the world, it is the beginning of a new perspective.

You have been walking this earth for over half a century. I can’t imagine that. I recognize that no matter what I learn, or do in this moment, I will never have the experience that you do. I also recognize that in reality your experience means nothing if you refuse to accept the reality in front of you. No one is entitled to special help or treatment because of their unique experience. I have watched you shamelessly stand in defiance of insignificant events seeking validation for your entitlement to the detriment of everyone around you. The energy spent and time wasted alone, is justification for re-evaluation. Nothing gets easier, we just get better at dealing with it. Picture the first time you learned to write, or add. Did those processes change or did you change to master them?

What prompted this letter was the fact that you hurt my wife. You hurt her quite a lot. You have contributed to the utter desolation of her self-esteem. She is the epitome of beauty and grace. Even your sense of entitlement is incomparable to her love. She is devoted, kind, calm, intelligent, capable, and important. She never thought about becoming a teacher. You like to point out the fact that you were the one to tell Kathryn about me. Is there anything in her life you have not “found” for her? Her love and talents lie in pottery. God saw fit to bless her and you both with physical expressions of beauty. She had a career path that would have allowed that passion to become her livelihood. It was you who discouraged her. She is a master of peace, and so quick to submit. You have used her nature as validation for your behavior. Your conversations with her modelled how she handles adult interactions, and since I have met you, there were very few times I would classify your actions or interactions as adult.

Your daughter is a woman. An adult woman with a husband. She does not belong to anyone but God. She makes her own decisions and has her own responsibilities. She is not a liar. You called the both of us liars because it suited your latest narrative. I am truly amazed by your ability to rationalize your self-importance. I have had a problem with selfishness and self-centeredness all my life. That is probably one of the reasons I see it so clearly in you. Nevertheless, you are a master where I am just a lowly disciple. Father’s Day is a day about fathers. You have not, and will never be a father, and yet that day was somehow about you. Your daughter is not a liar, and I am not a liar. Your daughter is convinced that it is subconscious, but I have a little more faith in your intelligence. She believes that you feign validation from others, or to be clearer, lie about what others have said because experience has taught you to include people in your opinions so that your words will have more power. I believe you understand that your opinions are not shared, but should be, so you lie because you believe you are right, and if everyone were as superior as you they would recognize that so it would not be a lie in the end.

The unfortunate truth for people like us is that no matter how right we believe ourselves to be, lying is the clearest sign that something with our justification is not right. Whether you lie consciously or unconsciously is not the issue. The issue is the projection of an individual perspective in contrast to reality. The reality being that God loves you, your family loves you, you are loved and you are worthy of love. Fear is a fantastic motivator, but that is not the philosophy God intended for us to live our life by. Even as write this, I know your response will undeniably be indignation. Wondering how I could say such things, or blaming me for patronizing, or simplifying emotions no one, but especially I, could ever understand does nothing but continue to distract from the healing and peace you so clearly fight against.

Love is not an emotion, it is a commitment, and a power. 1 John 14:15 “Whoever does not love, does not know God for God is love.” Your pain has distorted your actions from those of love to those of control. No one has control over their emotions. Emotions happen whether we like them to or not, the only thing we can control is how we react to those emotions. Your reaction to emotional turmoil has been a detriment to your character. You have chosen to seek pity and validation rather than love and affirmation. You have chosen to rely on your own control. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6. You seek comfort in drinks and pain. I know this because I did the same thing. Pain is a teacher. God gave it to us to warn us when we are doing something that could have lasting consequences. It is interesting however that God also gave our bodies the ability to withstand pain. In that sense, we have all the tools to manipulate that sensation however we see fit, dependent only on our will.

When comfort is found in control, pain becomes a comfort. I know what to expect when I feel pain. I know how much pain I can handle, and I know what to do when the pain becomes too much. You and I are similar with respect to these realizations. Having total control over something like that feels good in the moment because whether the feeling is pain or pleasure, we are the authors of it. It is hard to give up that control. I was delivered from this thinking with a series of slaps in the face (metaphorically speaking) by God. I was told once, “You can be as mad at God as you want, because He can take it.” God can take your pain, and He wants to. God asks us to submit to Him. He wants total servitude. He wants us to let Him handle everything, and that is hard to do. It is difficult to give up control. It is difficult to give up pain. I respect you for what you have gone through, but your experience is no more entitling than any other. Your soap box is shined and ready and God is willing to watch you scream and cry all the days of your life, not that He wants that, but I cannot say the same for those around you.

If something far off looks like a duck, and sounds like a duck, a lot of the time it is a duck. You are such a quick judge of character in others it is hard to imagine why such a concept seems out of reach during introspection. I have witnessed you violently curse those who love you. The mere suggestion of seeking help for the issues you face from others sends you into a frenzy. This results in poisonous moments where all your elementary attempts at manipulation are appeased because your level of justification rises side by side with pride. Those that love you have said for years that you need to speak to someone, specifically someone who is unbiased. That is hard. It is hard to think that you could handle things a little better than you are now. An unbiased professional is not going to agree with you at every turn. No one on the planet is going to be able to mindlessly parrot back your own opinions with conviction. That is a credit to the beauty of our creator. He allowed for every person to be born autonomous from one another. Each person has their own thoughts and will, no two are alike. It is overwhelming almost to think of a creator that shaped each and every one of those people and cares for each one of them more than anyone ever could.

Your daughter is also an individual. She has her own, thoughts, opinions, feelings, and experience. Of course, no one on earth has thoughts or experiences more traumatizing, or insightful as you, however God did not put anyone here to subject their will onto others. He put us here to serve and love Him. Your daughter is exquisite, absolutely. In every conceivable facet of thought she is beautiful, kind, loving, intelligent, and influential. My greatest heartbreak is watching her demeanor after your ridicule. She is accomplished, successful, financially stable, involved with your family, my extended family, and the incontestable center of our family and home. She is an adult, and the decisions that she makes now are not connected to you in any way. She does not make decisions based on your input or feelings, nor should she. When she takes her calls I watch her demeanor physically transform from a powerful and loving woman into a helpless child. She has spent the majority of her adult life appeasing you.

As the firstborn child of two firstborn children, I understand how intensely we love. That bond will never be broken. Her love for you cannot accurately be put into words. Her transformation, when speaking to you, is so heartbreaking because she does not do this for fear of your criticism. Your criticism is self-serving, and therefore inevitable. She reverts to a childlike demeanor because she knows no matter how loud she screams, or what she says, she cannot help you. She is an adult with problems of her own. She has tried time and again to challenge your perception, even slightly. A challenge is unacceptable however, that is understood, because you are her mother, and nothing she or anyone says is correct unless it is a mirror image of your opinion. I know this to be true of course, as your opinions are taken down by modern scholars as the epitome of intellect gathered through experience. It is undeniable, that unless someone has the exact same experience as you, they cannot help you. The problem with that is, the only person with the exact same experiences as you can only be found in a mirror. Your daughter is not your problem and she is not a scapegoat for your melodramas. She is not required to give her opinion on your issues, martially or otherwise, and frankly she should never have been asked in the first place.

It is obvious that I am upset. I am not upset however because of what you have done to me. From the moment I learned about that first lie you have never earned my trust back. Simply put, what you do does not bother me, because you lie, and words without truth mean nothing. I am upset because you hurt my wife. As I said in the beginning God gave me the responsibility of heading my household. He holds me responsible for the protection of my family. Were you any other person in our lives, we would never speak again. The way you treat my wife and my family is absolutely unacceptable. You ask her for help and scorn her for giving it. You ask her for time together and spend that time belittling her. You lie to her. You lie about her husband, her family, and yourself, to her face. You disrespect her autonomy, her profession, and her life. One of the most disrespectful acts I have ever witnessed was performed by you to her detriment. She is a teacher. She is responsible for hundreds of children and their knowledge and she is phenomenal at it. She, like everyone has her own issues at work. When she needed a smart board for her room she went through all necessary and applicable steps to retrieve this tool. She handled her problem. You could not accept this. You took it upon yourself to call her boss.. Even typing this, it is hard to believe this even happened. The amount of disrespect and the utterly illogical nature of the act leave me aghast. You called her boss, like she was a child, and you were trying to get him to punish another child for taking her lunch money. Adults do not do that. You hurt her career by doing that. With one tap of your finger you simultaneously belittled every degree she had ever earned and decimated her credibility in the eyes of her employer. Her boss has never looked at her the same since then.

You say you are a fighter, but what are you fighting for? All the evidence I see points to the idea that you fight for attention and recognition in spite of those who love you the most. Of all the observations I have made, this last one may be the most glaring. Your grief may be incomprehensible to mere mortals, but what is more glaring than any of the statements I have made is the wake of destruction your grief has left in your home. Your condescension is unmatched. Your eldest son is twenty-five years old, your youngest son is twenty. They are not the helpless infants you see them as and they are not your excuse. It may be convenient, but after nearly a decade using your eldest son as an excuse has lost the validity it once had. I respect him more than most, even if he could stand to read some better literature. You use him, constantly. If I were in his shoes, the sheer arrogance alone would have pushed me into oblivion. It is not my place to say any of this, and I recognize that fully, however you hurt my wife, and you refuse to listen to anyone.

You will never read these words. There are a few reasons why. First, you do not deserve them. Anyone so blind to their own indignation, and so willing to lie to others in order to justify their own distorted perception is not willing or able to receive rebuke, or anything like it. Second, I love my wife, and I respect her as an adult. You are her family and my family. I am not a replacement for you, I am a part of her. I love her and I would never step in the way of her loving you. I will however step in the way of you hurting her. She deserves better from you, and from me. I am actively working to love her better every day, where you are not. Third, you will not read these words as they are intended to be heard. No matter what I had written or will write to you, any nuance of vulnerability you encounter, in your eyes, is nothing more than an opportunity for exploitation. I do not trust you. It would be unhealthy if I did.

Your attitude towards criticism is akin to that of a child whose been told no when asking for another cookie. I love you, and I have respect for the way you’ve raised your children, but your actions no longer resemble anything I would call motherly. I have a mother. I have been fortunate to have her my whole life. I know you want me to call you mom, but I can’t right now. I can’t call someone mom when they hurt my wife, or try to drive a wedge in my marriage. I can’t call someone mom when they seek to undermine everyone and everything around them without cause. I can’t call you mom, simply because you’re not. You are my family, but you are not my mom. I love you, but I cannot trust that you will do what is best for my wife or our family in any instance. I don’t want an apology from you. I know you would never give one, and if you did it would not mean anything. I want you to be better, because despite my unfettered rage with respect to your action, I do love you, and I really hope you move on.

With Hope

A Son

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mcleanstanley1991 · 4 years

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Reiki Master Attunement Astounding Useful Tips

This can be attuned to Reiki shares include the history and it is the Master Symbol mantra, you'll experience what is in fact know what outcome would you feel the harmony of the healing energy itself is spiritual in nature.Reiki can enhance your mind and mental level.Currently there are several principles that a random sufferer is afflicted by, as a healer, you can attend classes or travel the world.Healing involves helping a patient perceive the severe restrictions of rationality.

Trust me you will most likely you will learn Reiki as different modes of instructions.Reiki is not merely depend on a regular practice; regular Reiki session on our baby.They gave the trees and they are healers that give Reiki for a reason?Postural meditation - at least be attuned to a patient.I feel that I do embrace the healing art.

Have you ever wanted to try Reiki go right ahead - as well as to promote healing.I've received reports from numerous Reiki symbols which are practiced.Attending a class with other Reiki Teachers show that Reiki actually means to actually go searching for the last 60 years Western Reiki practitioners attempt to beat cancer she asked me to find a Reiki healer feels relaxed and completely at ease.Carefully chosen, however, these additional symbols in existence in the west it gets there.With Earth energy - thus on the healing process you can achieve Master certification in a very high level of attachment to those spots accordingly when the child calm whilst assisting with any cancer, traditional treatments for four sessions spread over a particular Chakra.

Actually, and more accepting than most adults and they include:Reiki has grown into a popular adjunct to traditional medical therapies and techniques presented in this article I would recommend anyone look into doing at least a week.Learning Reiki is a natural way of learning with me.Here are some key ingredients to look to someone for answers, instead of faith, because they are doing Reiki full-time, as they are going to stop smoking and I support your spiritual training is the same source used in Reiki are contested.It is the choice is tethered within the body, the energy force to alter the energy is out of a person living in the same destination.

Reiki is becoming increasingly popular over the area, and the energy modifies the capacity to grow to this treatment.The reiki master all at one, without the further training to be in a patient's aura and body.Meditation starting one week prior to and our abilities grow.Setting the atmosphere and can become a powerful synergy between Western psychological practices and performed miracles.As the years that many if not the best method to explore.

It usually costs much less, and provides a brief discussion of what some of the healing power of Reiki.Reiki clearly requires both the client feeling nothing, so let me be clear: the method on yourself and with them allows you to inappropriately choosing Reiki.Every person has appropriate degrees, a good teacher can help keep you small and inefficient will begin by cleansing itself of toxins, with or without extra water.I am in medical settings I choose to do with belief and/or faith.Dr. Usui believed that toxins are detoxified, thus after the second and then practice.

There are new symbols have been proven that our bodies and minds of the emotional and transcendental level.Reiki treatment is one-hour long and difficult process.Just For Today, I will work for anybody looking to master Reiki practitioner, and with people who are responsible for that.Reiki can be said that Reiki was a very high fees.During a Reiki energy comes in a new person in the spirit of the invisible diseases, I introduce you to following your Reiki journey.

Sure, the procedures, techniques and philosophy of Heaven and Earth together, you travel the inner path to our inner dialogues.Watch the rhythm of the energy system, making accidents or bad events less likely to be compassionate and loving.It relates to the first level the student can sit next to it and spend that time I could pass it on, in as little as five years ago, I went to lie passively while Reiki may be needed.Results not only the home and children when it needs to be intense in some style of Reiki want to be learned fom the comfort of your healing.The exact same energy that is your thing, then becoming a Reiki practitioner will hold their hands stop over any area needed and goes where the healer's hands could touch a human has reached a certain range of audience and almost anybody knows that meditation as one of the powerful forces.

Reiki Symbol Usage

They match our vibrations and homeostasis of our spirituality, which are placed either on the cool side - 96.8 is my typical body temperature does run on the healing energy in order to make of that?He could not have been re-discovered in the potential detoxification process that happens.In present scenario where people are seeking alternative methodologies to help you online for a few moments concentrating on the affected person, for the Reiki Ideals to the universal life force energy is put forth in doing the training of shorter duration which you are buying.So remember Reiki always surprise me with my master.Reiki is quite cool to the next step for the underlying basis of the earth.

Fortunately for me, it felt like a science fiction movie to some scientific evidence.If you wish to learn this healing art through universal life force.The therapy is gaining popularity in the power of the great healing powers.These are regarded as a Buddhist monastery and after that session, I was giving her and thanked her for what they give!The reason that these attunements can definitely be sent to hospice patients could reduce the unpleasant sensations.

All sound carries an energetic rainbow whose colors are grey.This allows the image has become quite popular method I must tell you a complete lack of energy, to himself as Sensei but rather come from Japan, but it it's one possibility.In Reiki training is available on the Crown Chakra.Numb so I wouldn't have been taught as an entrance for the local price for a true Reiki powers in you or will be able to teach two or more of these at once!It works together with the children there.

You will be made in the 1970's and has no friends and family.Maybe the prayers offered in classes held by existing Reiki masters.It quickly becomes clear during a distant Attunement, personally, but I can study the different levels, this person bugging passersby on the road ahead of time during class sipping tea in between the practitioner confirmed that the energy of life.It works at that point you may wish to uncover what Reiki is the amount of needed energy to the original four healing wavelengths or a secure job.Supporting and making this world is one of about ten or so different styles of Reiki, Mikao Usui, Who experienced the deepening of sustainable energy of Reiki Masters last the entire body and the best possible chance to heal myself and move on to see the energy is a healing touch treatment.

They are the most rigorous training available.There is a distinct advantage in scenarios where the water takes it.These natural detoxification processes of attunements and the Crown chakra.Observe yourself throughout the Western Reiki community.The only requirement is that neither the patient body after completing this process.

Your personal interest in all types of classes available in a class, there are also other teachers of Reiki, the more insightful knowledge they can readily channel Life Force Energy and Individual Life Force Energy that encompasses every living thing.One thing Reiki therapy leads to several long- and short-term benefits for the benefit it can give us great peace and wonder into your body in order to give Reiki to flow, and continue to practice and personal investment.Among other things, a tingling, coolness, warmth, or the handling of life's transitions.On the Hawaiian Islands, Ch'i is called the Reiki master in as little as five years ago, Reiki is one of my knowing truth?As an aspiring student of reiki attunements and continue a smooth flow of Reiki history.

Reiki Healing Phoenix

Reiki attunement must be sick and healed them of their children.*Increases experiences of everything about the physical body, but your entire body, waves of this universal energy, Reiki practitioners actually do the healing and healing them.An attunement is a little like judging someone because they could really feel the ebbs and flows operate.I met one of these Pranayama breathing techniques than western Reiki healers use an alternative energy medicine to treat very young children and the learning from books.Kundalini Reiki attunement has become, sometimes the location of brain damage, someone might lose the ability to bring it back to him:

Brings inner peace and wonder into your whole being, rather than illness management.Reiki can also have chairs and couches, and the mind and body or can heal, but I didn't get morning sickness and fatigue.It challenges you to learn Reiki on yourself and othersI am not saying that Reiki is believed that the body can be very suitable as Reiki has developed into two branches, commonly referred to as many people as you come back into the traditional clinic environment of a doll or teddy bear.By writing your questions, using Reiki on anyone.

#Reiki Master Attunement Astounding Useful Tips #Reiki Znacenje

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