#where she comes back home after 11 years and goes to a gas station?

[thatscalledtoughlove]

man I just want to write the angsty scenes

must I establish characters? is it not enough to just jump immediately into the conflict?

[becomewings]

The Most Beautiful Moment in Life <I’M FINE>

    BTS Universe Story Highlights, pt. 2 / 4

« pt. 1  |  » pt. 3

Introduction

JungKook’s and YoonGi’s stories are the first of the paid content in BTS Universe Story and are substantially more detailed than the episodes covered in part 1. As this led to longer summaries (4.2k and 3k), I have added “tl;dr commentary” at the bottom of the post after a section of additional thoughts. This commentary summarizes the parenthetical asides I made throughout the summaries and may be of interest as standalone reading to those who have already played the game yet would like to review its connections to the BU texts and MVs.

Content warning: contains references to death, suicide, suicidal ideation, child abuse, domestic violence, blood, homicide, depression, trauma, PTSD

This guide contains major spoilers and includes references to other BU media

Do not repost, copy, or quote without permission

The Boy on the Threshold

In this story, SeokJin works to uncover the motivations behind JungKook’s nightly street wandering, instigation of fights with thugs, and decision to jump from the roof of a construction site. He was aware of the “darkness” within JungKook but never thought that he would give up on himself. SeokJin is determined to find a way to make JungKook think “I want to live” on his own.

In the afternoon on 11 April Year 22, SeokJin drives by the crosswalk outside Songju Jeil High School. Spotting a grim-faced JungKook, he gets out to greet him. JungKook visibly brightens and pelts him with question after question, finally finishing with, “But how come you’re here at school?” If the player chooses the response “I came to see you” rather than “I was in the neighborhood,” JungKook seems a little disbelieving due to the coincidental timing but nevertheless pleased. SeokJin offers him a ride, thinking that JungKook will not carry out that night’s actions from previous loops if he gets home right away. In the car, SeokJin reminisces aloud about the day they all met. On 3 March Year 19, all seven boys arrived late on the first day at Songju Jeil High School and were scolded outside by the Dean. (Aside from the absence of extra students, this scene looks very similar to the BTS Begins Middle Scene VCR, including the detail of YoonGi arriving last. This VCR predates official BU content.) When the Dean spotted SeokJin in their lineup, he reduced their punishment of community service for one month to just that afternoon. After classes, the boys cleaned the annex. The old classroom-turned-storage room became their secret hideout where they enjoyed various activities like dancing, playing the piano, and spending time with one another. JungKook appears happy as they chat about their school days, although in one path, his face falls after he remembers when he and YoonGi were caught in the annex. SeokJin is concerned, but JungKook insists, “It’s nothing.”

They say goodbye outside JungKook’s house, but SeokJin watches to make sure he goes inside. JungKook hesitates before ringing the bell at the gate. His mom answers, surprised and at a loss by his unexpected arrival. She asks him to come back later because his father’s relatives stopped by, and the intercom cuts off before he can answer. (His mother remarried, so this is really his step-father and family.) SeokJin wonders if JungKook has no one to lean on at school or at home and if this is why he wanders the streets at night. He asks JungKook where he wants to go now. “The beach… the one I went to with you guys,” JungKook answers, then says he’s kidding when SeokJin hesitates, thinking about the night ahead. SeokJin invites JungKook home instead, hoping to keep an eye on him before he needs to save NamJoon at the gas station.

In his bedroom, SeokJin hastily takes down the map and notes pinned on the wall of the boys’ incidents around the city. After letting JungKook inside, he shows him a box of photos from their time together in school. While JungKook browses, a notification on SeokJin’s phone reminds him of Songho Foundation’s inaugural ceremony that evening. Songho Foundation is a scholarship foundation funded by his maternal grandmother’s estate, and his father formally introduces him on this occasion. SeokJin also receives a call from his father’s long-time aide, a man he refers to as Uncle JunHo, who instructs him not to be late to the ceremony. Claiming it won’t take him long, SeokJin asks JungKook to stay there and wait for him to return. He is worried about leaving JungKook alone but also concerned that bringing him to the gas station after the ceremony will make him late to intervening in NamJoon’s incident.

In the lobby of the hotel hosting the Songho Foundation Inauguration Ceremony, SeokJin recognizes many important faces from around the city: Song JunHo, his father’s aide; Seo HyunJung, the city’s deputy mayor; the CEO of Youngjin Engineering & Construction Company; a professor from Munhyeon University; and the Jeil High School principal, Jo JinMyung. SeokJin doesn’t want to cross paths with the principal but is drawn into a conversation with him, the mayor, and his father, Kim ChangJun. “Assemblyman! Congratulations on the launch of the scholarship foundation,” Deputy Mayor Seo says to Kim ChangJun. “I hear that your son has been accepted to Munhyeon University? You must be happy that he’s attending your alma mater.” Kim ChangJun shakes his head. “He still has a lot to learn.” She remarks that everyone knows how well SeokJin has grown up and inquires about his career plans. The player is presented with three choices: “I haven’t decided yet,” “I want to become a good person,” and “I want to become someone like my father.” SeokJin’s father continues to look grim while the others chuckle in response to the first two answers, but his expression softens at the third, which SeokJin knew would not rub him the wrong way. Deputy Mayor Seo proposes to Assemblyman Kim that they establish a regular meeting to discuss community development, mentioning that it would be better if he could invite the city’s prominent citizens and give a speech. Assemblyman Kim agrees, telling his assistant Song JunHo to make note of it. The ceremony concludes, and the guests head towards the hotel’s restaurant. SeokJin is wary of his father’s watchful gaze but impatient to carry out the rest of the night’s plans. While his father is surrounded by other people, he informs Uncle JunHo that he has to leave to work on a group project. SeokJin slips out of the hotel and heads to NamJoon’s gas station.

While SeokJin is gone, one of the photos in the box catches JungKook’s eye. It shows the seven boys sitting on a wall with the ocean behind them. (This photo resembles the shot in Euphoria at 5’32” except that they appear to be wearing school uniform shirts and slacks.) A flashback retells the afternoon of 12 June Year 19 when the boys cut school early and visited the sea, trudging over 3 kilometers under the scorching sun to find a boulder that is rumored to make your dreams come true. (The date is not specified in the game, but the memory closely follows this set of entries in The Notes 1.) Everyone collapses in disappointment when they can’t find the rock at its designated location. JungKook is tired but not as disappointed as the others—just walking there with them is enough for him, even though he often feels uncertain of his place among the group. He gets up on the pier railing, reflecting: “I’ve always liked walking on the edge of walls or on top of lines. Focusing on centering my gravity means that I don’t really think of anything else, and the boundary—not quite a part of either place—always felt like where I should be.” Balancing precariously, JungKook walks until someone grabs his arm. YoonGi scolds him not to do this. JungKook assures him that he will not fall but privately thinks: “YoonGi would often grab my arm when I walked on railings. The others would look after me, too, after seeing him do that. I liked their helping hands. It felt like they were telling me that I should go to them. That this wasn’t my place. Maybe their hands were why I walked on the railings.”

The story returns to the present in SeokJin’s perspective. He rushes back to his room after saving NamJoon and finds JungKook asleep, leaning against the bed with the photos still scattered around him. Feeling both relief and regret, SeokJin quietly coaxes JungKook to lay down and sleep more comfortably. JungKook wakes up and says he should go home after hearing that it’s past ten o’clock. The game cuts briefly to SeokJin’s father in his study with his aide. Kim ChangJun asks Song JunHo to fetch SeokJin, as he needs to know what goes on for the foundation. JunHo says that SeokJin must be entertaining a guest for the group project because he spotted an unfamiliar pair of shoes in the entryway.

Back in his bedroom, SeokJin is startled when his father knocks on the door. It’s rare for his father to visit the second floor of their home, so he let his guard down while chatting with JungKook. “F-Father.” Stammering, SeokJin flinches and gathers up the scattered photos. “Did you leave the ceremony early to waste time like this? Even lying to say you were doing a school project?” asks Kim ChangJun. His cold and reproachful stare suffocates SeokJin. When his father’s eyes scan to JungKook standing awkwardly at the side, SeokJin is plunged into a childhood memory. On 10 October Year 9, 9-year-old SeokJin hid a school friend who was being chased by scary men in his bedroom. His father arrived and asked if the boy was Mr. Choi’s son, saying people had come to take him. When Kim ChangJun ordered him to “be a good boy,” SeokJin froze and was powerless to stop his friend from being handed over. The following day, SeokJin was told his friend transferred schools. (This event is also depicted as the first entry of The Notes 1.) In the present, SeokJin struggles to think of an explanation, smothered by that memory and his father’s pressuring stare. JungKook timidly speaks up. “I was only here to visit for a short while. I was actually about to head home. Hey, I’ll go now.” SeokJin knows he can’t leave him alone yet and finally forces himself to move. “Father, I… I’m going to go out for a little while.” He runs outside, but JungKook is already gone.

The story cuts to JungKook’s perspective as he arrives in a familiar alleyway. He is thankful that SeokJin was so considerate to him but feels that he shouldn’t have gone to his home since it made things more complicated for his friend. “YoonGi even got expelled because of me… Why do I always mess things up for the people around me?” JungKook thinks. The player is presented the choice to either text SeokJin or call YoonGi. In the first path, SeokJin calls JungKook while he is mid-text and says that he’ll come pick him up, but JungKook declines, thanks him, and hangs up. In the second path, JungKook fiddles with his phone, wondering if YoonGi will be annoyed or even answer. He remembers when they crossed paths a few days earlier. On 7 April Year 22, JungKook heard a familiar tune while roaming the dark streets and saw YoonGi playing piano through a broken window of a music shop. YoonGi stopped and eventually staggered out of the shop without noticing JungKook reaching out to him. JungKook tried to play the music by memory, and suddenly YoonGi returned—just like their days at the classroom. (Note: In his 7 April Year 22 entry of The Notes 1, YoonGi is drunk and stumbling by an empty construction site when he recognizes a clumsy piano tune that he’d been playing “not long ago.” But when he runs to the music shop and finds JungKook, the text does not indicate that he remembers this is his second visit to the shop this evening. Additionally, the Wings short film First Love seems to reference some of the events of this night—or evokes YoonGi’s distorted memories of it, mingled with a representation of JungKook’s later accident.)

In the present (11 April), JungKook wonders if YoonGi is doing well. He has thought about him since their chance encounter but doesn’t have the courage to call him first. (The narrative paths rejoin here.) JungKook wonders where he should go now yet doesn’t want to think about anything. He stops in the middle of the road, and a passing car’s headlights make him dizzy. SeokJin arrives in the distance and shouts his name, but JungKook just thinks, “One more step from here. Just one more step, and everything ends.” He steps in front of the honking car. SeokJin calls him in the distance, and JungKook feels everything slip farther away. The glass shatters and the loop resets.

Awakening once more on the morning of 11 April, SeokJin vows to protect JungKook until the end. The memory of arriving too late as JungKook threw himself in front of the car reminds him of how he was also unable to protect his childhood friend when he was 9. He needs to devise a new plan, since JungKook practically ran out of the house when confronted by Kim ChangJun. The story cuts to that evening, with JungKook looking at the photo in SeokJin’s bedroom. This time, SeokJin ignores his phone’s buzzing reminder about Songho Foundation’s inaugural ceremony. He asks JungKook where he’d like to get next and, when he doesn’t have any ideas, offers him a tour of the university campus.

JungKook seems happier looking around the campus, the cherry blossoms in full bloom. SeokJin uses this opportunity to ask him if anything is on his mind and if school is going well. JungKook answers nonchalantly, but SeokJin remembers how grim he looked at the school crosswalk that afternoon. He asks if JungKook still hangs out with the other guys. “HoSeok and TaeHyung are working part-time jobs. The others… I’m not sure,” JungKook answers, expression darkening. SeokJin wonders if he shouldn’t have brought it up but still presses him. “How come? You should talk to them from time to time.” “But it’s because of me,” says JungKook. “The reason why YoonGi was expelled… It was because he was trying to protect me.” 

SeokJin either responds “It’s not your fault” or “Don’t think that way.” Following the first choice, JungKook insists, “No, it’s my fault. YoonGi wouldn’t have talked back to the teacher if I wasn’t there.” SeokJin shakes his head. “No, you couldn’t really do anything given the situation.” JungKook replies that he should have at least apologized and that he never had the chance to tell YoonGi he was sorry. “That’s how you felt, huh… I should’ve done more. I’m sorry,” SeokJin apologizes. JungKook shakes his head with a smile, but SeokJin knows that he doesn’t understand what he really meant. (Per events in The Notes 1, it is technically SeokJin’s fault that the teacher found them in the classroom.) If the second dialogue choice, “Don’t think that way,” is chosen, JungKook questions, “How could I? When it was because of me.” “No…” SeokJin is not brave enough to say that he’s the one to blame. The camera (i.e. the animation) starts wobbling as though SeokJin’s vision is swimming. “SeokJin?” asks JungKook in concern. “I should’ve done more. I’m sorry.” The episode ends with the same dialogue and animation of JungKook shaking his head with a smile, except that in the second path the camera is still wobbling from SeokJin’s perspective. (This is the only episode I noted in the game that has a slight difference in endings based on the player’s final choice, although it is essentially cosmetic.)

Episode 5 opens with a more detailed memory of 11 June Year 20 from JungKook’s perspective. The high school was holding an open house for parents. Not wanting to stay in a classroom, he wandered off and heard piano music drifting from the annex. JungKook slipped into their classroom hideout and settled down to listen. YoonGi continued to play without acknowledging him. The music helped calm JungKook—it seemed as though YoonGi understood how he felt and was trying to console him. The sound cut off abruptly as the door slammed open. “You rascals! What are you doing here?!” the Dean of Students demanded. He slapped JungKook, knocking him down. A flurry of verbal abuse poured over his crumpled form. YoonGi shoved the teacher’s shoulder and stepped in front of JungKook. “Wow, look at this kid… You put your hands on a teacher? You better be prepared, Min YoonGi.” With that ominous threat, the Dean departed. JungKook spoke from the floor. “Hey, sorry for making you—” “It’s nothing,” YoonGi cut in. JungKook wondered why he helped him. It was the first time someone had protected him, and he believed that he would never forget the view of YoonGi’s back. YoonGi asked why JungKook was smiling. “I don’t know.” Still smiling, JungKook touched his throbbing cheek. YoonGi stared at him before breaking into his own smile and sitting down next to him. They sat there wordlessly for some time. The feeling of growing closer to YoonGi made JungKook feel giddy the rest of the day. But YoonGi did not come to school the following day, and two weeks later, he was formally expelled. (The encounter with the teacher and YoonGi’s subsequent expulsion are also referenced in JungKook and YoonGi’s 25 June Year 20 entries in The Notes 1.)

In a brief interlude in the present (11 April at the university campus), SeokJin reflects again that he does not have the courage to confess to JungKook the real reason why they drifted apart. He walks with his eyes trained on the ground until JungKook calls for him to look at the cherry blossoms floating in the wind. The scene cuts to 30 September Year 20 for another of JungKook’s school memories. He stood outside the school’s annex, reflecting that his friends probably didn’t know that he went there every day. Although school was a place he found awkward and unfamiliar, their hideout was a space for him that put him at ease. On that day however, only HoSeok was inside the classroom, gathering up the items they’d left behind. JungKook realized that the time they spent together was now a memory and would never return again. (This is also an entry in The Notes 1.) Back in the present, SeokJin notices that JungKook looks grim once more and tries to improve his mood by asking if they should go to the beach. JungKook privately wonders: “Do you think YoonGi would go? And no one knows what’s going on with JiMin. Will we really be able to go together like we did then?” Holding up his pink camera, SeokJin says they should take a picture to commemorate the evening. They’re both smiling in the photo, and he hopes that they’ll all smile together again one day. After their campus tour, SeokJin walks JungKook home, ignoring the many calls he receives from his father’s assistant JunHo.

At the crosswalk outside the high school the next day (12 April), SeokJin reflects that staying with JungKook instead of attending the inauguration ceremony seemed like a good choice. He prevented JungKook from jumping off the building and stopped NamJoon’s incident too. But SeokJin wants to keep an eye on JungKook for a few days. While he’s waiting, the principal Jo JinMyung approaches and greets him, asking what brings him to the school. SeokJin tries to excuse himself, but the principal brings up the ceremony. “I thought you’d be there, but you weren’t. Did something happen? Why weren’t you there?” Caught off guard, SeokJin either answers vaguely (“I had something important to do”) or honestly (“A friend had an emergency and I couldn’t attend”). JungKook joins them slowly during the exchange, and the principal seems a little suspicious regardless of the player’s choice. In the “honest” path, he adds, “Next time, think about what's truly important before acting.” The paths rejoin when the principal smiles pointedly and mentions that he should call the Assemblyman soon. SeokJin wonders if Jo JinMyung intends to tell his father that he was with JungKook. Kim ChangJun did not approve of the time SeokJin spent with his friends even in school. “Father thinks it’s useless to have human relationships that don’t help you succeed.” When he and JungKook are in his car, SeokJin notices that the principal ominously watches them pull away.

Later that day, SeokJin meets with his father in his office. Kim ChangJun looks exhausted. Though they’re similar heights, to his son he seems like a massive grey wall. “Why didn’t you attend the inauguration ceremony yesterday?” he asks. SeokJin either lies (“A professor asked me to do something last minute”) or answers honestly (“A friend had an emergency and I couldn’t attend”). The ultimate result is the same: Kim ChangJun speaks after a long moment of silence. “The one thing I want from you is for you to be a good son.” “Yes,” says SeokJin. “I don’t think it’s a difficult task. You may leave.” As he exits, SeokJin hears him call Song JunHo and worries that his flimsy excuse will fall apart. Running into the principal may have made matters worse too. Despite his uneasiness, SeokJin has no choice but to keep going and trust that everything will work out. While NamJoon and JungKook are safe for now, he wonders if he can be a person for JungKook to lean on for comfort whenever he needs it so that he will not resort to such an extreme decision again.

SeokJin visits JungKook after school every afternoon the following days. On 15 April, JungKook asks if it’s okay for him to come like this every day. SeokJin assures him, “Yeah. I come to see you because I want to.” He observes that JungKook still seems to take social cues from him rather than acting comfortably, so he encourages him to either pick what they do next or where they should go eat. On 19 April, however, JungKook does not appear at the school gates. SeokJin tries calling him, only to learn that the number isn’t in service. Someone shouts his name, and HoSeok emerges from the Twostar Burger across from the school. “I had heard you were back, but I didn’t think I’d see you here in front of the school.” HoSeok digs a piece of paper out of his pocket, explaining that JungKook stopped by earlier. “He said he’s switching schools.” SeokJin asks where, but HoSeok doesn’t know. This has never happened before in a loop, and SeokJin wonders if he caused it. HoSeok hands over the paper, which JungKook requested be given to SeokJin. It’s a drawing of the cherry blossom tree they saw together, with a thank you note written at the bottom. SeokJin hopes that his suspicions aren’t correct.

Hunting for clues to JungKook’s whereabouts, SeokJin visits Jeil High School’s administrative office the next day (20 April). He receives slightly more information if he acts like he knows the Director of Administration, but as the student records are confidential, the man only reveals that JungKook transferred to a boarding school. On 30 April, SeokJin is summoned to his father’s office. Kim ChangJun asks him to sit down and continues speaking with his aide, Song JunHo. He confirms an upcoming appointment with the Deputy Mayor before asking, “Oh, did you take care of that incident?” “Yes. Do you mean the one concerning the Jeil High student?” JunHo responds. “I’ve taken care of the issue with the student.” Heart racing, SeokJin realizes that his father was behind JungKook’s transfer and deliberately let it slip as a warning to him. On their way out, Uncle JunHo adds, “SeokJin. You do know how difficult it was because you didn’t attend the inauguration, right?” SeokJin promises that he’ll be at the next meeting. Back in his bedroom, he decides that he made the wrong choice in this loop. He wanted to be someone JungKook could always come to, but instead he pushed him farther away. HoSeok calls him at that moment. Voice wavering, he relays that JungKook has disappeared. Some of his classmates stopped by the restaurant that day, inquiring if anyone talks to him often.

The story cuts back to 25 April with JungKook in class at his new school. His mom likes the dormitory here, and he suspects that she feels more comfortable without him at home. School, home, the dorms—he doesn’t belong in any of those places. While pairing up the students, the teacher notices that they have an odd number now and asks JungKook where he wants to go. He closes his eyes and remembers a voice: “JungKook, let’s all go to the ocean.” He thinks, “I want to go…” The scene jumps to JungKook walking towards the ocean shore. The glass shatters.

SeokJin opens his eyes on the morning of 11 April. He wonders what caused the loop to reset and assumes something must have happened to JungKook after he transferred schools. Again, he could not keep his promise of getting them all to the ocean. The episode ends with SeokJin sitting atop the seaside observatory at sunset. (This is a key location on 22 May Year 22, recurring in The Notes and depicted in the HYYH On Stage: Prologue short film and Euphoria MV. It looks the same in the game.) SeokJin ruminates on what may have happened to JungKook and where events started going wrong. He thought he could be the person JungKook needed to lean on, but he failed. This arc concludes with him wondering: “Was my method wrong? Or is it not supposed to be me? Maybe… If the person who’s supposed to console JungKook’s scars and be there for him isn’t me… Then, who can save JungKook?”

The End of His Gaze

SeokJin’s main challenge in saving YoonGi is the unpredictability of his actions between loops. The opening of this story is no different. On 2 May Year 22, SeokJin chases YoonGi after he leaves his workroom with a heavy bag but loses sight of him in the streets. As soon as he picks the nearest motel, black smoke pours from one of its windows. (The sign matches the motel in YoonGi’s scenes of the I Need U MV.) YoonGi ignores the commotion outside the room’s locked door. Once again, SeokJin is too late, and the glass shatters, resetting the loop.

Waking in his bedroom on 11 April, SeokJin considers how YoonGi backs himself into a corner no matter how or when he tries to intervene. It’s different from the incident with NamJoon because no outside person or situation is involved. SeokJin realizes that if YoonGi’s struggle and variables that make his decision so unpredictable are within him, then the only way he can stop YoonGi is by truly understanding him. He takes out his old camcorder from high school, hoping its footage may reveal some clues. In the first video clip he plays, YoonGi is off in the corner of their classroom hideout drawing music staves but speaks up to tell HoSeok and TaeHyung not to play a prank on JiMin. SeokJin wonders if YoonGi still writes music and remembers the piano in his workroom. In the second video, TaeHyung quibbles with NamJoon, who is tired yet refuses to take a nap until YoonGi pushes some desks together and tells him to lie down. SeokJin focuses on YoonGi for the rest of the video, but he is either motionless or off camera. He finds a similar challenge within his photographs: he has less than ten solo photos of YoonGi, and though his face is visible in group pictures, he is never looking at the camera. Still perusing the photos, SeokJin overhears voices from the camcorder. “It being here is a secret. Okay?” TaeHyung whispers to YoonGi. “What’s a secret?” SeokJin in the recording asks. TaeHyung and YoonGi, standing by the piano, both whip around. TaeHyung dismisses it as nothing and shushes YoonGi when he asks, “Why are you hiding something like that?” In the present, SeokJin wonders what they hid in the classroom and decides that it’s worth investigating in case it can help him save YoonGi.

On 15 April, SeokJin visits their old classroom hideout at Jeil High School, which is still being used as a storage room. The player can choose from a total of four locations to explore, provided they select the piano last. SeokJin identifies his father’s name alongside the message “Everything started from here” on the graffitied wall (he first saw this note in his 25 June Year 19 entry from The Notes 1). Even after thoroughly examining the piano, he does not find YoonGi and TaeHyung’s secret or anything else useful. Uneasy at leaving YoonGi alone for so long, SeokJin leaves the school and parks in front of his friend’s workroom. YoonGi appears to be safely inside, so SeokJin browses through the old video files on his camcorder and finds one that continued recording after he thought he had pressed the stop button. Listening to his and YoonGi’s voices, he recalls a forgotten memory of the day they walked out of school together.

The majority of episode 3 plays through a memory of an afternoon that SeokJin and YoonGi walked out of school together (date unspecified; this event is also referenced in YoonGi’s 2 August Year 22 entry from The Notes 2 and the similar Note accompanying Map of the Soul: 7). SeokJin receives a text summoning him to the principal’s office. The office is empty yet suffocating when he arrives. Principal Jo JinMyung arrives and apologizes for making SeokJin wait. SeokJin looks down, heart suddenly heavy. The scene cuts to YoonGi entering the storage classroom as he thinks about all the days he doesn’t feel like going home. It’s not a comfortable place for him, yet there’s nothing for him at the school either, except for the group’s hideout. He feels awkward in the oddly quiet room and puts some sheet music on the piano’s rack. But when he thinks about how no one is there requesting songs from him, he can’t bring his hands up to the keys. The flashback transitions back to SeokJin’s perspective following his meeting with the principal. As expected, the principal wanted him to report on YoonGi’s behavior. SeokJin spoke carefully so as not to tip him off about anything, but he hears internal whispers calling himself a hypocrite even when he’s laughing with his friends. Fretting over how much longer he can protect YoonGi, SeokJin runs into him at the classroom hideout’s door. He hopes YoonGi doesn’t notice how flustered he is, but YoonGi doesn’t say anything beyond confirming that he’s heading home. SeokJin tries to strike up a conversation as they walk out together, but the conversation awkwardly fizzles out whether he brings up food or the weather. YoonGi points out that his phone is buzzing, and SeokJin’s camcorder falls from his bag as he looks for it. YoonGi waves him off when SeokJin films him to test that it still works. He sheepishly lowers the camcorder and forgets to turn it off. YoonGi breaks the uncomfortable silence when they are almost across the field. “Is something up? You didn’t look very happy earlier.” Heart pounding, SeokJin tries to laugh off this sharp question with an excuse, but YoonGi stares straight at him. “You’re awkward too, SeokJin.” “What is?” “Your laugh.” YoonGi pauses before continuing, “When was the last time you genuinely laughed?”

The scene fades back to the present in SeokJin’s car (15 April). He can’t make out the rest of their conversation in the recording or remember what he answered. He wonders why YoonGi asked him that. SeokJin was always tense then, afraid that his friends would learn of his meetings with the principal. Did the others notice, too? While he’s lost in these thoughts, someone outside shouts, “Fire!” Flames erupt from YoonGi’s workroom. Realizing he should have focused on YoonGi and not the video, SeokJin runs into the building. As he tries to open the locked door, he hears the glass shatter.

The fourth episode opens on the night of 11 April with SeokJin watching JungKook and YoonGi walk away from the construction site and towards NamJoon’s container. A few days later, SeokJin spots JungKook on the sidewalk on his way to YoonGi’s workroom. When asked where he’s going, JungKook avoids his gaze and replies, “I was just… walking around.” SeokJin knows this is because he has nowhere to go. Not wanting JungKook to keep wandering and remembering that he was once close with YoonGi, SeokJin invites him along. The perspective switches to JungKook as they enter the workroom. It reeks of alcohol, and YoonGi is fast asleep among empty bottles. “YoonGi… will be okay, right?” he asks. SeokJin picks up the bottles without responding. A memory from their school days occurs to JungKook. TaeHyung chased him around their classroom hideout, trying to snatch his sketchbook and succeeding when JungKook found his escape unintentionally blocked by YoonGi standing in the doorway. JungKook was dismayed when YoonGi called TaeHyung over to the piano so they could look at it together, but then YoonGi deceived TaeHyung and threw the sketchbook to JungKook. In the present, SeokJin doesn’t want to waste time while YoonGi sleeps. He taps a lost-in-thought JungKook on the shoulder and says they should leave, but JungKook responds that he will stay until YoonGi wakes. 

Back again at the classroom hideout, SeokJin hunts further around the piano. He uses an old mop handle to fish out a piece of paper from underneath it. The hidden secret turns out to be TaeHyung’s abysmal math test. Dejected, SeokJin slumps to the floor. On this level, he notices a small handle on the piano’s lower panel and uses it to pop off the cover. Faded music sheets are wedged into the piano’s frame. A phrase on one of them catches SeokJin’s eye. (함께 라면 웃을 수 있다 : The Korean is not translated in game, but Google translates it as “if we are together, we can laugh.” This recurring phrase is instead translated as “we can laugh when we’re together” in The Notes 2. In YoonGi’s 2 August Year 22 entry, he also reflects on finding the note written in the margins of the music scores he took from the classroom. The handwriting isn’t his own. Additionally, a similar sentiment is expressed in a line of You Never Walk Alone, which is the basis for one of the BU-inspired Graphic Lyrics books.)

This message reminds SeokJin of YoonGi’s question: “When was the last time you genuinely laughed?” “This moment is the answer to that question,” he thinks, initiating a flashback to 20 March Year 19. The boys gathered around HoSeok in the classroom, chattering excitedly about the new club he’s leading. TaeHyung jokingly called him “Mr. President.” HoSeok told him only members could call him that before asking YoonGi if he wanted to join. “I’ll allow you to join without an audition, but only you.” TaeHyung exclaimed that he was just trying to get YoonGi to call him president. “Oh, it was obvious?” HoSeok chuckled. “Acting up again, huh?” YoonGi spoke up from the corner. The memory fades, returning to a pensieve SeokJin. He clearly remembers YoonGi’s face as he laughed with the others. “When did we stop laughing? Did it start that day, when I ruined everything?” SeokJin wonders. “It’s my fault,” he says aloud, standing there with the sheet music in hand until the sun begins to set. (Note: the date of the memory may be a typo. On 20 March Year 20 in The Notes 1, TaeHyung overheard SeokJin in the classroom informing the principal of the trouble he and YoonGi had gotten into. SeokJin realized that NamJoon heard it but not TaeHyung, who remained hidden out of sight and then pretended not to know. It’s not impossible that this memory really occurred in March Year 19, but most of them had only met at the beginning of that month.)

On the night of 15 April, SeokJin follows YoonGi at a distance from his workroom to an alleyway bar. (It is possible but not entirely clear that this is the same day SeokJin found the sheet music at the classroom, which is why I did not specify the date earlier.) It appears that YoonGi visits this bar often since the owner asks him if he has money today. SeokJin sits at a table behind YoonGi and watches him knock back shot after shot. Deciding that he shouldn’t leave him alone any longer, SeokJin musters up the courage to join him. YoonGi doesn’t look surprised to see him. He smiles before looking down again. SeokJin attempts a natural conversation to catch up. YoonGi asks why he didn’t come along the night when everyone got together at NamJoon’s container. “It’s been awhile since we’ve all seen each other, and JungKook… Never mind. You were probably busy.” SeokJin apologizes and inquires how JungKook is doing, then turns the same question on YoonGi when he replies that he doesn’t know. “Anything new with you?” SeokJin presses when YoonGi avoids his gaze. “Well, as you can see.” YoonGi dodges a direct answer.

The restaurant owner brings them a second glass. They are quiet in a restaurant full of chatter. SeokJin brings up the past to break the awkward silence, asking if YoonGi remembers the day they walked out of high school together. “Why do you ask?” says YoonGi. SeokJin explains that he remembered what YoonGi said to him that afternoon. “I want to ask you the same thing you asked me then.” SeokJin is nervous but continues, not wanting to waste this opportunity. “When was the last time you genuinely laughed?” YoonGi is silent for a moment. “Who knows.” SeokJin encourages him to think about it. “What good is it whether I remember or not? It wouldn’t change things now, even if I remembered.” YoonGi’s refusal to express his feelings upsets SeokJin more than his indifferent tone. “I just wish he would open up to me so I could figure out… anything. If only I could tell him,” SeokJin thinks. His internal narration continues over a shot of him in high school looking at his phone: “Or maybe… If I went back further in time, mustering up the courage to protect my friends, and prevented YoonGi from being expelled. If I did, maybe now we’d be…” “What’s with that expression?” YoonGi’s voice snaps him into the present, and he stares at SeokJin the way he had when they walked home from school. “Nothing, just… I feel like it’s been a while since I last saw you and I’m wasting time with useless subjects. It’s nothing—” SeokJin tries to laugh it off, but YoonGi interrupts. “You’re the same as always… There’s something there in your expression, but you say that it’s nothing.” This remark hits hard, rendering SeokJin speechless.

YoonGi’s words echo in SeokJin’s head even after he arrives home later that night. How did YoonGi notice what SeokJin thought he kept well-hidden? He once viewed YoonGi as someone who was indifferent to the world and trying to distance himself from everything. It dawns on SeokJin that he is mistaken. He opens his camcorder, hoping to see something new with this changed perspective. A recording plays in which he, YoonGi, and JungKook are the only ones present in the classroom hideout. When YoonGi starts playing piano, JungKook gets up from the desk and carefully stands by him. YoonGi doesn’t seem bothered and continues to play. Suddenly, he stops. “You wanna try?” In the present, SeokJin wonders why he asks JungKook that out of the blue and replays the footage, feeling like he missed something. This time, he notices that JungKook begins chewing his nails before YoonGi asks him. “Can I?” says JungKook. “Why not? It’s not my piano or anything. You can play if you want to.” At YoonGi’s words, the color returns to JungKook’s face and his hands drop from his mouth. SeokJin watches a little more of the video. As the recorded YoonGi patiently corrects JungKook’s wrong notes, he realizes that YoonGi doesn’t merely ask JungKook to play on a whim but out of respect for him.

SeokJin turns his attention to his box of photos. The player can choose up to three to examine. SeokJin realizes that YoonGi is a little further behind the group and not looking at the camera not because he feels left out or is avoiding attention, but because he is always watching how they are all together. YoonGi knows us very well, he thinks. He stopped JungKook from biting his nails by asking him to play the piano rather than acknowledging it directly. He saw through SeokJin and recognized when his laughter wasn’t genuine, even after several years apart. SeokJin thought that YoonGi wanted to give up everything, would never open up to anyone, and experienced feelings that were impossible for him to understand. “But if we were the ones to make YoonGi laugh… It may be possible to save YoonGi,” SeokJin reflects. With more determination, he vows to save him. “I’ll save him no matter what, because we can laugh when we’re together.”

SeokJin visits YoonGi every day after their meeting at the bar, responding that he’s making time to see him when asked if all university students have this much free time. They grow more accustomed to each other’s company, but SeokJin’s glimmer of hope fades as alcohol and aimless wandering continues to fill YoonGi’s life. Since just visiting YoonGi’s workroom seems meaningless, on 24 April SeokJin decides to show him the sheet music he found in the hideout, hoping it will encourage him to resume songwriting. Upon seeing the music, YoonGi has a flashback to 25 June Year 20, the day he received the school expulsion notice. He ran immediately to the classroom and played the piano as though possessed. The anger refused to settle. He shoved all of his sheet music into the piano and vowed to never play the piano again. In the present, YoonGi asks, “Where’d you find this?” At his cold expression, SeokJin wonders what he’s done wrong and explains aloud that he just happened to find it in the hideout’s piano. The papers fall from YoonGi’s hand, scattering across the floor. “Leave,” he spits. “What? Min YoonGi, what’s going on?” SeokJin asks. YoonGi shoves him. “Just leave.” “Don’t do this, let’s talk for a moment,” SeokJin tries again. But YoonGi replies, “I have nothing to say to you.”

YoonGi avoids him after that. On 25 April, SeokJin calls him numerous times without any answer and finds only torn sheet music and empty bottles in his workroom. He remembers YoonGi’s last words to him and says aloud, “It can’t be. No way.” An ominous thought crosses his mind, but he forces it out to focus on recalling something from memory. The story cuts to him running down a street, trying to figure out where YoonGi went to set the fire in the last loop. (It is never clarified what SeokJin’s “ominous thought” is—it may refer to YoonGi setting a fire or possibly even a suspicion that YoonGi figured out SeokJin was involved in his expulsion.) SeokJin finds the same motel (the one with the sign like in the I Need U MV) and rushes upstairs in a cold sweat. Faced with a hallway of identical doors, he doesn’t know how to locate YoonGi’s room. Whether the player chooses for him to call out to YoonGi or “think of something else” (which results in him pulling the fire alarm), the result is ultimately the same. SeokJin forces open the last closed door with a fire extinguisher, but the room is empty. Filled with regret, SeokJin wonders what he has done wrong. “Like an idiot, I… I knew that the location and method of YoonGi’s attempt could change, and yet…”

“Fire!” someone yells. The motel across the street erupts in flames. “No! Please…” SeokJin begs, falling to his knees. “How can I stop this tragedy? … Am I not enough to stop it?” The story ends as he hears the glass shatter once again.

Additional Thoughts

For me, JungKook’s arc really draws back the curtain on SeokJin’s private life. It demonstrates SeokJin’s challenge to balance saving his friends and maintaining his own daily life, particularly fulfilling the duties that fall to him as a prominent assemblyman’s son. We see little of this side of him until The Notes 2, when his perspective has already drastically changed.

JungKook’s reflection about his habit of walking along the edges of walls is an interesting moment of self-awareness. This “tightrope-walking” is depicted frequently in the MVs.

The car accident and loop reset at the beginning of JungKook’s 4th episode suggests the possibility that the I Need U MV depicts JungKook deliberately stepping in front of the oncoming car rather than accidentally. (Maybe people have already interpreted it this way, but personally the thought had never occured to me due to how it’s shot and acted.) The car accident is a recurring theme in the loops for JungKook, particularly as he is struck the night of 22 May and comes to believe that it was SeokJin who hit him.

This internal dialogue of SeokJin’s from YoonGi’s arc gives me a lot to think about: “If I went back further in time, mustering up the courage to protect my friends, and prevented YoonGi from being expelled. If I did, maybe now we’d be…” SeokJin’s first experiences of the time loops are depicted in the Save Me Webtoon. At that time, he believes that 11 April is the date that he can begin fixing things, but it’s not clear if this ability granted by the cat-like creature truly gives him control over to which date the loop resets. (It is more obvious that he cannot control what triggers the reset itself.) Does he ever go back earlier? Only *ahem* time will tell, but if you want some more food for thought, please check out these interesting quotes that occur before 11 April Year 22.

As mentioned above, the following “tl;dr” commentary summarizes the parenthetical notes I provided in the summaries in case you want to review them on their own.

The Boy on the Threshold — tl;dr commentary

SeokJin’s flashback to 3 March Year 19, when all seven boys arrived late on the first day at Songju Jeil High School and were scolded outside by the Dean, looks very similar to the BTS Begins Middle Scene VCR (aside from the absence of extra students), including the detail of YoonGi arriving last. This VCR predates official BU content.

The photo in SeokJin’s collection that catches JungKook’s eye resembles the shot in the Euphoria MV at 5’32” (the seven boys sitting on a wall with the ocean behind them) except that they appear to be wearing school uniform shirts and slacks.

JungKook’s flashback to the night of 7 April Year 22 expands the context of his reunion with YoonGi, adding that he is drawn to the music shop by a familiar tune and through its broken window sees YoonGi playing piano. YoonGi doesn’t notice him when he staggers outside, and JungKook tries to play the music by memory. In his 7 April Year 22 entry of The Notes 1, YoonGi is drunk and stumbling by an empty construction site when he recognizes a clumsy piano tune that he’d been playing “not long ago.” But when he runs to the music shop and finds JungKook, the text does not indicate that he remembers this is his second visit to the shop this evening. Additionally, the Wings short film First Love seems to reference some of the events of this night—or evokes YoonGi’s distorted memories of it, mingled with a representation of JungKook’s later accident.

I mentioned in part 1’s introduction that every episode’s ending is identical regardless of the decisions made by the player, but the end of episode 4 is actually cosmetically different (a wobbling camera/animation effect) if the second path is selected for the last choice. The dialogue is the same.

The end of episode 7 depicts the seaside observatory. This is a key location on 22 May Year 22, recurring in The Notes and depicted in the HYYH On Stage: Prologue short film and Euphoria MV. It looks the same in the game.

The End of His Gaze — tl;dr commentary

The motel sign at the beginning and end of the story matches the one visible in YoonGi’s shots of the I Need U MV.

When searching the classroom hideout for clues on 15 April, SeokJin identifies his father's name alongside the message “Everything started from here” on the graffitied wall. He first saw this note in his 25 June Year 19 entry from The Notes 1.

Episode 3 presents a memory from both SeokJin’s and YoonGi’s perspectives of the afternoon that they walked out of school together. Although the date is unspecified, this event is also referenced in YoonGi’s 2 August Year 22 entry from The Notes 2 and the similar Note accompanying Map of the Soul: 7.

On his second attempt at searching the classroom, SeokJin finds sheet music that was hidden inside the piano. A phrase written in the corner of one paper catches his eye: 함께 라면 웃을 수 있다. The Korean is not translated in game, but Google translates it as “if we are together, we can laugh.” This recurring phrase is instead translated as “we can laugh when we’re together” in The Notes 2. In YoonGi’s 2 August Year 22 entry, he also reflects on finding the note written in the margins of the music scores he took from the classroom. The handwriting isn’t his own. Additionally, a similar sentiment is expressed in a line of You Never Walk Alone, which is the basis for one of the BU-inspired Graphic Lyrics books.

SeokJin has a flashback of 20 March Year 19 in which the boys are excitedly chattering about HoSeok’s new club. However, given the larger context of this moment (both in the past and what prompts it in the present), the date of the memory may be a typo. On 20 March Year 20 in The Notes 1, TaeHyung overheard SeokJin in the classroom informing the principal of the trouble he and YoonGi had gotten into. SeokJin realized that NamJoon heard it but not TaeHyung, who remained hidden out of sight and then pretended not to know. It’s not impossible that this memory really occurred in March Year 19, but most of them had only met at the beginning of that month.

Did you learn anything new from these stories that I did not specifically mention? Let me know in the replies or tags! Please stay tuned for part 3, featuring JiMin and HoSeok’s stories.

[omniscientwreck]

Some of the best things to come out of me and my roommate's high school AU conversation:

- Caleb is a quiet nerd who spends most of high school denying party invitations to study, he's taking AP classes and doing university prep constantly

- Beau skipped from grade 4 to 6, she's the student who's involved in so many things nobody has any idea when she sleeps

- Veth is the single meanest person in the school except for to Caleb and this nerd Yeza who she met because they were lab partners in AP chemistry

- Mollymauk has been at the school for forever, he's failed every single class not because he isn't smart but just because he can't be in the right place at the right time. When he has English he's hanging out in the band room but when he has art he's in History class.

- Essek Thelyss plays clarinet and oboe. He listens to Baroque music and is incredibly pretentious about the superiority of both JS and CPE Bach to any Romantic era composer. He also likes New Wave. He does have a secret playlist on Spotify full of Carly Rae Jepsen, Lady Gaga, and Brittney Spears.

- Fjord is on the football team and nobody knows why, least of all him. He tries out for the school musical as a joke in the 11th grade and finds out he's actually really good at singing and enjoys it.

- Caduceus Clay graduated a few years ago but he comes back to visit teachers and the Nein who he made friends with often. If an adult is ever needed the Nein call him and he's always there within 5 minutes

- Yasha had a rough time with puberty and went through a phase where she was very angry and reclusive and alienated herself from her previous friends. Now that she's found the Nein she's more outgoing and the sweetest person you'll ever meet. She walks absolutely everywhere and somehow always arrives before everyone else.

- Jester Lavorre is everyone's friend it doesn't matter who you are she probably knows your name and at least one thing about you. She's the stereotypical art student who seems to be friends with the art teacher but it's not at all inappropriate. She's a master of bathroom graffiti and even though everyone knows it's her she's never been caught.

- When they talk about the dangers of weed in health class the teacher is going through slang terms for it, one of which is Uk'otoa which becomes a meme with the class.

- Nobody has ever seen Mollymauk Tealeaf arrive to a party. When the energy shifts from 'nobody is drunk and everyone's a little awkward' to 'we've had a couple drinks and everyone is having a great time' you'll know he's there. You just turn around and he'll wave at you from another conversation he's having.

- When Caleb finally does start going to parties you can almost always find him arguing with Yussa over some matter of academia. It ends with them in the backyard doing dangerous magical stunts and getting hurt. Essek sometimes tries to referee but often gets sucked into the showboating.

- Whenever there's a bake sale Yasha and Jester collaborate on dozens of different desserts and they always sell out immediately.

- Beauregard plays auxillary percussion in band because playing only one instrument isn't enough for her brain.

- Mollymauk can technically drive and he does frequently, his car is always inches from a breakdown and he frequently gets distracted. Fjord is a great driver and owns a truck for no discernable reason. If Caleb ends up driving he usually dissociates into the middle distance, not dangerous just not as fun.

- Pumat Sol is the shops teacher that everybody loves. Kids will take shops specifically to hang out with him and make cool shit.

- Beauregard frequently gets in trouble for calling teachers fascists in class and Essek always agrees with her.

- If Beau and Essek are in an English class together they will often overtake the class with an argument. Essek reading into gay subtext, Beau reading into capitalism critique subtext, and Caleb trying to explain why they're both right. The Great Gatsby was a nightmare.

- Beau and Yasha spend ages flirting before finally making out at a party at which neither are drunk. They then go on to found the queer students club and are elected prom queens.

- One time Caleb expresses mild interest in learning a woodwind instruments and joining band. Essek adjusts his schedule to be five minutes late leaving class in case Caleb ever takes him up on his offer to teach him.

- Fjord and Veth are ruthlessly cruel to each other and anyone who doesn't know them would think they hated each other. However, there's a theatre kid named Marius Lepual who they both despise and frequently team up against.

- Molly and Essek run the school's rumor mill. They do a good job of telling Jester or Beth exactly the right tidbit of information to have things blown wildly out of proportion. By the end of any given week there are 5 different versions of the same rumor spreading and nobody knows what's true.

- Jester decides the group chat names.

- One time Yussa and Caleb end up making out at a party when Essek isn't there. He gets jealous and doesn't speak with either of them for two weeks.

- Jester's parents are the ones who will buy the alcohol as long as they promise to drink at home or call them if anything goes wrong.

- Astrid and Eadwulf have been Caleb's friends from middle school. They abruptly transfer to a different school across the city during grade 11 and Caleb is eventually adopted by Jester and Veth and inducted to the Nein after Jester dances with him at a school dance because he's sitting all by himself.

- Molly's catchphrase is 'i have a guy' and he can get anything. Your car ran out of gas at 3am and no stations are open? He'll be there in 15 minutes with a jerry can. You need a paper for 12th grade English on Catcher in the Rye? Give him a day.

- Mario Kart tournaments always devolve into Veth and one other member. Controllers have been thrown and friendships nearly ruined over blue shells.

- The year the Nein graduate the staff are so worried about their senior prank that they nearly cancel class. The prank doesn't happen and they're lulled into a false sense of security until the next fall when they retroactively pull off the most elaborate prank in the schools history.

- When the rest of the Nein are in the 11th grade Molly just fucks off for a year. None of them know where he went, they keep receiving oddly nondescript postcards telling them he's fine and having a blast. When he returns the next summer all he says when they ask where he was is "don't worry about it"

[queenbirbs]

the open door | Ethan x MC

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x MC

Warnings: swearing, some brief mentions of corpses and body horror, spooks and possible spectres 

Word count: 7.7k

Premise: Bryce invites Sloane, Sienna, and Aurora on a tour of a haunted estate on the night before Halloween. What could go wrong?  

Notes: I’m super bummed that we didn’t get a Halloween-themed chapter for this book, especially since it’s my favorite holiday. Takes place post chapter 11, though I’ve played with the timeline a bit to include Halloween. Re-post because it fell out of the tag, as posts seem to want to do as of late. 

Taglist: @maurine07 @caseyvalentineramsey

 ------

“You are aware there’s no such thing as witches, right?” 

“Well, yeah,” Bryce scoffs. “Maybe. Besides, I said she was rumored to be a witch. That’s a whole different thing.”

“Oh, right, of course it is.” In the backseat, Aurora rolls her eyes. “Just tell that to all the people killed during the Salem witch trials due to mass hysteria.”

“Hey, now -- it’s not like she was killed for being a witch.”

“Right. She pulled a classic Rose for Emily,” Sloane mutters while Sienna makes a gagging noise.

“What?” Bryce asks. 

“It’s a short story by Faulkner.”

“Oh.” There’s a brief pause. Sloane wonders if he even knows who that is. Then: “Is he the dude that had a hard-on for the Civil War?”

“Yeah,” Aurora snorts. “Basically.” 

“Yeah, never read any of his stuff. I think I used SparkNotes for one of his books in undergrad.”

“Same,” Sloane admits, to which Bryce shoots her a look of faux-surprise. “Yeah, yeah, we all had to skate by sometimes.” 

“Well, well, well,” he crows. “Looks like the ‘next generation of medicine’ isn’t so high and mighty after all, huh?” 

“Wait, how did you--”

“Ramsey was four drinks deep at Donahue’s the other day, and one of the interns came up and bothered him about a possible spot on the team. Which meant we all overheard the twenty-minute spiel about what a great doctor you are.” He snickers as she puts a hand over her face and groans. “Yeah, it was real sweet. Real obvious, but sweet.”

She’s saved by the GPS on her phone, cutting through the music playing over the car speakers; Bryce takes the next exit as instructed. The off-ramp spits them out onto a two-lane county road.  Posted across from the solitary stop sign, the blue services sign offers nothing but blank, white squares. 

“There’s a bathroom, right?” Sienna asks. “Because I’m not seeing a gas station.”

“It’s a house, you guys,” Bryce scoffs, “not a cave.” 

“A haunted house,” she clarifies. 

“Well, I mean, I don���t think the toilets are haunted.”

For several miles, there’s nothing but sweeping woodlands and the occasional passing car. Long squiggles of tar decorate the asphalt, snaking across the empty, leaf-strewn road. The setting sun casts a golden hue over everything, spears of light cutting through the tree trunks. It would be a nice, evening drive if it weren’t for where they were headed. 

Forty minutes north of Boston lies the small, nondescript town of Angler. Even under the cover of dusk, Sloane can tell that it’s one of those towns. Pretty Tudors line the main street, their porches decorated with smiling scarecrows sitting on bales of hay; banners along the telephone poles advertise the annual apple festival. The bank and the post office and the dry cleaners are all tucked together in the refurbished general store. It’s the stereotypical, pleasant, all-American town. Which means that it’s the perfect place to hide a dark stain of history. 

Why Bryce signed up for such a thing and how he won the tickets is beyond her. When he asked them all to join him for a haunted house, Sloane expected the typical theme: some dingy warehouse refurbished enough to meet modern building codes, full of tight mazes and masked actors with chainsaws.

“Nah, guys, this is the real deal,” he gloated over lunch the previous afternoon. “Back in the 1800s, this woman -- uhh Margaret, or Maggie, I think, yeah Maggie Angler -- she was one of the Boston Brahmins, owned this estate out in the country, blah blah blah. No one knows a whole lot about her because she was a little weird and she kept to herself. At some point, this dude woos her and they get married. But then, a few years later, he dies. Neighbors drop by to offer casseroles or whatever, but she won’t answer the door, so they give up and leave her alone. A few months go by, and suddenly this dude from town goes missing. Then a year, and another goes missing. This continues for several years and--” 

“So, what, she’s some kind of black widow?” Elijah asked. 

“No, this isn’t one of those Marvel--” Bryce’s brow furrowed and then lifted, realization striking his handsome face. “--oh, heh, yeah, sorry. But yeah, sort of. It wasn’t until word got around that the latest dude was seen talking to Maggie at the store that people got suspicious of her. So, they gather up some people and storm the house, where they find a Satanic Bible and other spooky shit. But that’s not the only thing they find.”

They all glance around at each other, waiting to see who will encourage Bryce to break his silence and finish the damn story. “They also find... the missing dudes.”

“What, buried in the backyard?” Sloane asked, and frowned when Bryce shook his head. 

“No, not buried. She killed them and then kept them in the house. Supposedly, they were posed at the table or sitting on the couch, rotting away.”

 Sienna made a show of pushing her plate away. “That’s disgusting.”

“I know there’s a group of people in Indonesia that keep their dead relatives at home,” Aurora said, “but they’re preserved and cared for. This doesn’t sound like that.”

“Nope.” Elijah shook his head. “Definitely not the same thing.”

“What happened to the woman?” Sloane asked.

“No idea -- get this: they never found her.” Bryce lifted his eyebrows for dramatic effect. “But the story goes that she still haunts the place, searching for her lost lovers, and maybe… trying to get some new ones.”  

Jackie, who had been busy scrolling away on her phone through the tale, snorted into her salad. 

“And you want us to come with you to some evil witch’s house on the night before Halloween to go ghost hunting? I may not believe in any of this shit, but no fucking way.” 

“Yeah,” Elijah sighed, cringing at the crestfallen look on Bryce’s face. “Sorry dude, but I’ll pass. My idea of fun is a John Carpenter movie marathon, not a tour around Jane the Ripper’s house.” 

“Okay, understood.” With that, Bryce looked to the remaining three and turned on the charm, draping his arm across Sloane’s shoulders. “C’mon, ladies, whaddaya say? Hard to pass up the prospect of touring a bona fide haunted mansion with one of the most handsome men you know -- second only to Elijah here.”  

Tapping at her chin, Sienna nodded and grinned. “Sounds fun. I like scary things.” 

Aurora, on the other hand, shot him a skeptical look. “Are you going to shout at the air and act like you’re possessed, like I’ve seen that one ghost hunter do on TV? The one with the spiky hair?” she demanded to know. 

“Uhhh no to all of those things, but especially to the spiky hair.”  

“Okay, then,” she shrugged, “I’ll go.” 

Every eye at the table turned to Sloane; Bryce squeezed her shoulder in encouragement. 

“Alright,” she agreed. “It’d be fun to get spooked, I guess. I’m down.”

Which is how she comes to be in the passenger seat of Bryce’s car, leaning forward onto the dashboard as they take the final turn onto a hidden lane. A thick tunnel of trees swallows them up as they drive deeper into the woods. After several miles, there’s a break in the pines, and then: sprawled atop a hill, looming above them, is the house. Even if she hadn’t heard the backstory, Sloane feels like the place would still give her the creeps. With its filmy lace curtains and its tall windows glowing yellow in the approaching darkness, the house looks like it’s been pulled from an Edward Hopper painting. Worn pavers lead from the semi-circular driveway and up to the front porch. Framing either side of the steps, thin, brittle blades of tufted hairgrass shift in the wind. Two people turn from the front door and raise a hand in greeting.

Bryce kills the engine and twists around in his seat to grin at his compatriots. 

“You guys ready to get scaaaared?”

Sienna wraps her hands around Sloane’s seat and leans forward, her eyes wide as she stares out the windshield. 

“Why does it look like The Amityville Horror house?” 

“Is this a bad time to mention that the Blair Witch Project’s producers used this place as inspiration?”

“Yeah,” she hisses, “definitely a bad time.”

Shouldering open her door, Sloane lets in the cool October air in an attempt to corral their attention. It works; the rest of them pile out of the car with her and approach the couple. 

As the current owners of the property, Jack and Nancy Bell guide them through the main floor of the house, pointing out spots of reported activity. The interior is lovely -- one of those Sloane would see in a Pictagram post of a wedding venue, with all those carved banisters and original wainscoting. Her brother, a successful carpenter in the Twin Cities, would have a field day in here. Most of the furniture is original to the house, as well, and in surprisingly good condition.  

The only aspect setting the house apart from any other on the historical registry are the props. In the front hall, a bulletin board hosts an array of newspaper clippings. The earlier articles blame a serial killer, dubbed the ‘Butcher of Angler,’ for the mens’ disappearances. Then, starting on October 28th, 1892, the headlines change to the ‘Wicked Witch of Winthrope County.’ In the drawing room sits an Ouija board, surrounded by melted candles. A cauldron and a Satanic Bible share space on the kitchen counter; corked bottles of what look like cooking spices and herbs clutter the open cabinets. Mannequins lounge at the dining table or on the sofa, dressed in dusty clothes, their jaws slack, their painted eyes still and dull. Beside them, framed in cheap plastic, are the grainy photographs of the corpses as they were found. To Sloane, it all feels hokey, like a regular haunted house with the strobe lights turned off. 

There’s something else, though, something underneath the fine layer of dust and the creaking floorboards and the shrouded furniture. It skitters across her neck and down her back, making her shiver, which she discounts as a wayward draft in the old house. 

It’s the distinct feeling of being watched.  

“Aside from the big house, there’s a carriage house to the left there. We rent it out in the summer and fall for overnight stays.” Jack gestures to the east as they step out onto the back veranda, where, just beyond the slope of lawn, a smaller house sits with a solitary porch light glowing. “And back down the path there will lead you to the lake. When we bought the place, the deed stated that there was a cabin out near the state park line, but we’ve never been able to find evidence of it.”

“Maggie’s been seen down by the lake, too,” Nancy chimes in. “People say they see her there, inside the boathouse, or walking along the shore with her head down, as if she’s searching for something.” 

“We’ve got lanterns here if you want to use them as you go about the grounds, though you’re welcome to use your flashlights.” Jack nudges a neat row of antique lanterns with his sneaker. “For the optimal experience, though, we recommend turning off all the inside lights and using secondary light sources instead.” He chuckles when Sienna makes a throaty noise of dissent. 

The couple leads them back through the house and into the front hall to finish the tour. While Jack goes over the various rules, Nancy motions for Sloane to follow her out onto the front porch. 

“I didn’t want to say anything in front of your friends,” she starts off in a whisper, “but I wanted to talk to you about our son, Ben.”

For a fleeting moment, Sloane thinks that she’s going to get questioned about his bowel movements or a mysterious rash, that Bryce must have told them he was bringing along his doctor friends. “When he was seven, he nearly--” Nancy cuts herself off, pressing a hand to her heart, “--he drowned when we were at the beach in Florida. I did CPR until the EMTs got there, and they were able to resuscitate him, thank God.”

“I’m sorry,” Sloane murmurs, “that must’ve been awful.”

“It was. But I’m -- the reason I’m telling you all this is because, after that, Ben seems to be more… open. More open than the rest of us.”

“I’m sorry,” Sloane says again, though this time out of confusion, “but I don’t--”

With a huff, Nancy shakes her head and waves her hands. “No, no, I apologize. I must sound crazy. I just wanted to warn you that, due to what happened to you, you might see things or experience things that your friends can’t. That’s all, dear.” 

Sloane opens her mouth to question her further, but they’re interrupted by the rest of the gang filing out beside them. “We’ll be back at one a.m. to lock up behind you,” Nancy says as she follows her husband down to their car. 

With a cheery honk, the little Subaru rumbles down the winding driveway and disappears. The sun having set during the tour, the landscape before them is now draped with the heavy blanket of night. The moon peeks at them from just above the treetops, as if still deciding on whether or not to come out. The only lights are far-off, unmoving: porch lights of the houses back in town; cell towers with their red stars blinking lazily against the dark. A cold wind moves through the trees, rustling the leaves and scattering them across the front walk, the dried edges hissing along the brick. 

“Can you believe he said no alcohol?” Bryce breaks the silence with a whine. “I read about this fun séance thing you do with tequila shots and--” 

“No séances!” Sienna declares. “And definitely no tequila!” 

“Can we argue about this where it’s warmer?” Aurora suggests and steps back into the house. 

As she and Sienna wander off into the drawing room, Sloane wraps a hand around Bryce’s arm and pulls him back. 

“Did you tell her about me?”

His nose scrunches up to meet his furrowed brows. “Tell who about what?” 

“The-- Nancy, did you tell her about what happened to me? With… with the senator, and…” it’s embarrassing how much of a struggle it is to get the words out, even now, even after three weeks and two therapy appointments. 

His face falls from confusion to concern. Bryce reaches up and lays his hand over her own. 

“Slo, I didn’t tell them, I swear. I would never,” he promises. “Did she say something to you?”      

She loosens her hold, frustrated at herself that she even considered he would do such a thing. He’s one of her best friends, the man who handed over the reins to a cutting-edge surgery just to be by her side. 

“Yeah, no, listen: it’s fine,” she stumbles through a paltry reassurance. “She was probably trying to scare me, that’s all.” 

He gives her a quick once-over, lips twisting into a frown as he debates on whether or not to push. She bites back a breath of relief when he relents, his hand releasing hers.

“Okay,” he says, and nudges her into the house ahead of him. “C’mon. Between the two of us, I think we can convince them to turn off the lights.”

------

Although he puts up a good fight, Bryce loses on the no-lights front. 

Which is just as well, because by the time they reach the second floor, Sloane is glad for the light from the antique lamps. To be fair, nothing actually happens: no spooks, no spectres, and no signs from the former resident. Nothing she can point to with any amount of certainty. Whatever it is hovers out of reach, just on the tip of her tongue, but she can’t seem to give it a name. Maybe it lies -- like any good, scary movie -- in the setting. For as grand as the house is, time and dereliction have taken its fine features hostage. Thick, gray dust coats the wooden spindles and curled handrails of the antique staircase. The corridors are tight, the shadows gathering in the space where the lights can’t seem to reach. Small curls of peeling wallpaper look like fingers reaching out from the wall, backlit by the sconces. The cloying scent of wood rot and mold fills the air, like a pile of papers left to curl and yellow with age. The rooms are small, cluttered with furniture and trinkets and artwork. 

Sloane stares at such a portrait in the master bedroom, where a couple stares down at her from above the fireplace. The man sits in a chair, the woman standing beside him with her hand on his shoulder. It would be any other family portrait, if it weren’t for the unsettling glaze over the man’s sunken eyes. 

“Bryce, please don’t-- aaaand he’s sitting on the bed.” 

“You do know that’s where they found her husband, right?” Sienna points out. “That’s why there’s a mannequin on it. And a picture of his dead body on the nightstand.”

“Maybe Maggie will see what a catch I am if I’m laid out for her. I’ve never met a woman over the age of sixty who could resist my charms.” Bryce waggles his eyebrows as he bounces once, then twice on the mattress before stretching out. “What’s up, bro?” he asks the mannequin beside him before doing a double-take. “Hey, it’s Annie!”

He snatches off the ugly wig and fake beard, and lo and behold, an old CPR dummy gapes up at them all. Sloane snorts and shakes her head. 

“Looks like the years haven’t been kind to her.”   

“Probably saddled with student loans just like the rest of us,” Aurora mutters as she wanders over to inspect the photograph. “Had to get a second job here.”

“Hey, that was a joke!” Bryce commends. “And a pretty good one at that.”

“I do jokes.”

“You so do not.” 

A muffled bang from somewhere in the house stops their banter. Everyone glances at each other, verifying that everyone in their group is indeed in the room. 

“What was that?” Sienna whispers. 

“Probably the pipes,” Aurora says. “It is an old house.” 

As if on cue, the lights flicker once, then switch off, sinking them into complete darkness. There’s a flurry of noise as everyone digs out their phones; the bedroom seems even creepier, now, under the white glow of their flashlights.  

“What do we do?” Sienna hisses, scurrying from the window to latch onto Aurora.  

“We could always search for the breaker,” she suggests. 

“Which would be where?”

“In the basement, most likely.”

“Um, no,” Sienna balks. “Hell no.”  

“Are you guys serious right now?” Bryce hops down from the bed and pokes his head out the open doorway. “This is so cool! Who wants to go downstairs with me and grab the Ouija board?”

“If you bring that thing near me, I will break it in half.”

He grimaces at Sienna’s threat. 

“You’re not really supposed to do that with them. It’ll keep the door open for the spirits to come in.”

“It’s a toy made by Hasbro,” Aurora scoffs. “It’s not going to ‘let in’ anything. And the planchette doesn’t actually move on its own. That’s due to the ideomotor effect.”

Moving over to the window, Sloane presses her temple against the pane’s edge and squints. Just past the eastern wing, she spots a faint halo of yellow light on the lawn. 

“Hey,” she raises her voice over their bickering. “It looks like the carriage house still has power.” 

“Great!” Sienna squeaks and pulls Aurora with her towards the door. “Let’s check it out. I… love carriage houses.” 

They push past Bryce and start back down the hall. Turning from the doorway, a coy smile spreads across his face, a single eyebrow lifting at his wordless request. 

“Oh, no.” Sloane shakes her head as she crosses the room. “I’m not staying up here so you can play Twenty Questions with a ghost.”

She ignores his good-natured grumbling and leads him to the staircase, where Aurora and Sienna are waiting on the landing. Aimed at the ground, their flashlights slice at the hand-carved walls; dustmotes dance in the twin beams, kicked up by their feet. The air feels heavier, mustier here, too, like breathing through wet wool. They tromp down the stairs and across the first floor to the kitchen. Being at the back of the group, Sloane can’t help but glance back now and again at the shadowed recesses, searching for the source of her uneasiness. That she finds nothing amiss doesn’t seem to curb her anxiety. 

The sensation wanes when she closes the door behind them, sealing up the house once more. 

“How is it warmer outside than in there?” Sienna asks as they start cutting across the lawn for the carriage house.  

Bryce zips up his coat and shrugs. “I’ve heard that ghosts tend to suck the energy out of a room, creating cold spots when they mani--”

“Please stop talking,” she begs. “At least until we’re somewhere with electricity that actually works.” 

“Aw, come on, you’ve got nothing to worry about. You’ve seen enough scary movies in your life to know that we’re safe if we travel together. Besides, everyone knows the funny guy goes first.”  

“I think that honor belongs to people of color, now, sorry.” Aurora chuckles when he spins around to wince at her. 

“Yeah, fair point.” 

Coated in fallen leaves, the ground crunches loud underneath their shoes, blocking out the night sounds as the four of them approach the smaller house. “But for real, I don’t think we have much to worry about from Maggie here. I mean, almost all ghost stories are about little white girls from Victorian times named Sally or Sarah or Kate.”

“That’s because of the spiritualism boom in the late nineteenth century,” Aurora answers.

Bryce sighs and quickly changes the subject, uninterested in a history lesson. 

Converted into a proper guest house sometime after the turn of the twentieth century, the carriage house lacks the severe decay of the main house. Though not as grand, the wallpaper here is intact, the dust not as heavy. It might just be the comforts of amenities such as central heating and electricity, but the inside of the house feels much more benign. As they complete a loop around the building, though, Sloane realizes that the feeling of being watched still remains, growing stronger when she passes or glances out one of the windows. With the glare of the lights, though, it’s hard to see much of anything past the panes. None of the others seem to be frightened -- or if they do, they keep quiet. The same can’t be said when Sienna flips the light on in the parlor.  

Toddler-size dolls lean against the walls, their porcelain hands cupped around their faces. Each wears a pretty, pastel dress trimmed in white lace, their hair falling down their backs in long, springy ringlets of dark brown, cherry red, and honey gold. Bryce makes a noise of disgust when he spins one around, its face blank: no eyes, no nose, no mouth. Time-out dolls, Sloane tells them, remembering her grandmother’s friend who owned several back in the early nineties -- though hers were all dressed as clowns. 

“People actually rent this place out? They pay money to stay here?” Sienna shudders. “I’d rather sleep in the other house, even with all the cobwebs and mannequins.”

“And the ghosts,” Bryce adds. 

“Ghosts don’t exist,” Aurora says. 

“Okay, Scully, that’s enough out of you.”

------

As the clock ticks closer to ten, Bryce votes to go check out the lake. Aurora and Sienna, however, vote to stay in the warm, well-lit kitchen. The plan is decided to split up and then meet back at the main house in time for midnight. 

“You know,” Bryce explains as he and Sloane make their way across the lawn, “because it’s the witching hour.”

“I thought it was three a.m.” 

“It is if you’re taking into account REM cycles and all that, but I’m not. All the legends I’ve read say…” he trails off, frowning as he jogs up the main house’s back steps. “Hey, you shut the door when we left, right?”

Her phone’s flashlight sweeps up the French doors; one of them is ajar, standing open several inches. She reaches for the handle and shuts it, listening for the snick of the latch.  

“I guess I didn’t pull it closed enough.”   

“Or,” he taunts as he grabs two of the lanterns from the porch, “something else opened it.” Ignoring her scoff, he pockets his phone and hands one of the lanterns to her. “These are nice. Do you think they’re original?”

“Bryce, they bought these from a Cracker Barrel. And besides, they’re battery-powered.” 

“Oh.” 

The back of the estate has been left to run wild. Overgrown swath rolls along the ground like dunes, snagging dead leaves between the dry blades. Thickets of barren shrubs creep out from the distant tree line. The path to the lake is marked by an old fence post, tied with a tattered ribbon. They make their way across the wide expanse of lawn, the trees ahead towering higher and higher the closer they get to the forest. Sloane can’t help but check over her shoulder. The house is just as they left it, though the moonlight is too weak to see if the door is still closed. 

Gravel crunches under their feet as they step onto the trail. The quiet night is broken by a ding from her phone. 

How goes the ghost hunting? 

She hooks the lantern in the crook of her arm and taps out her reply: Fun so far, lights went off by themselves. Very spooky 10/10

Ethan: What do fractions have to do with what you’re doing?

Sloane: Nvm 

Ethan: This isn’t 2002. You do have a full keyboard under your fingertips. 

Sloane: so?

Ethan: So there’s no excuse for using T9 acronyms.       

Sloane: Never thought I’d see the day you reprimand me for texting 

Ethan: I’ll spare you the lecture and let you get back to your witch hunt. Text me when you get home, please, so I know you returned safely. 

She hits send on the next message. Several seconds later, a red bubble appears beside her will do!, informing her that it refused to send. A quick glance at the top of the screen shows the one measly bar of service her phone is clinging onto. With a sigh, she tucks it away.   

“How’s Dr. Ramsey?” Bryce asks.

“Preparing a TEDtalk on prehistoric cell phone etiquette.” 

His nose scrunches up. “What?”

“Nothing,” she chuckles, exhaling through her mouth just to see her foggy breath. 

The light from the lanterns casts an eerie, yellow glow across the tree trunks and underbrush. Creaks and knocks echo up out of the dark -- branches smacking against each other as a cold wind sweeps through the area. The last vestiges of October skitter along the ground; the leaves almost sound like footsteps, dragging across the dirt behind them. The trail tightens as it winds down a small embankment and into a hollow. Their pace seems to pick up, though neither of them mention it. Sloane burrows into her scarf at the sudden dip in temperature.   

“How’s Keiki?” she asks, more so out of need to make conversation than actual curiosity.  

“Probably eating her way into a food coma with the pizza money I left for her, and beating all my high scores on Need for Speed.” He’s grinning as he says it, though, which Sloane finds encouraging. “I invited her to go with us, but she said no.” 

She doesn’t miss the crestfallen expression that crosses his face for a moment. 

“Trust me when I say this, because I speak from the experience of having a younger sibling, but she didn’t say no because she doesn’t like you or anything. It’s because she thinks you and your friends are dorks.” 

He sputters at the insult. “I’m not a dork!”

“You so totally are.”  

“Am not.” 

“Are too!” she argues. “Ethan thinks I’m bad, but you -- you come in on your days off and you like it.”

“That’s called dedication to the craft.” 

“That’s called being a dork.” 

What little she can see of the path ahead is more winding turns, more endless seas of bark and brushwood. But just when she thinks that they’ll never reach the end, that they’ll wind up stumbling upon Elly Kedward’s house -- there’s a small dot of light and then a break in the trees, where the path spits them out onto a rocky shore. The lake glints under their lanterns, the pearlescent gleam of the moon dancing on its surface. 

“Oh, hey, that was nice of them.”

Sloane’s gaze tracks along the shore and over to where he’s gestured. A solitary lantern sits in front of an old boathouse, illuminating the weathered cedar shake.  

“Too bad they can’t install lights along the path,” she mutters as they make their way to the structure. 

“What part of ‘bona fide haunted mansion’ did you not understand? This is the thrill of it!” 

Bryce shoulders open the door to a dim room with a half-sunken rowboat in the center. 

“Thrilling,” she drones, side-stepping his attempt to whack her arm. “Right.” 

They poke through the dirty raincoats and rusted tackle boxes. The wooden planks under their feet jostle and flex. Everything smells of wet and mold, the walls slick with grime. “I can think of several better places to haunt.” 

Bryce hums his agreement as he prods at a stack of old hunting magazines, the pages sealed together. Sloane steps over to look down at the boat, where minnows dart underneath the oars to escape her light. 

“Watch where you step,” she tells him as she crosses to the starboard side. “Some of these boards are really falling apa--”

The rest is lost to her shriek as the floor underneath her snaps. Her foot goes through the wood. She drops the lantern and scrambles to stay upright. The soggy planks slip from her grasp as she falls backwards, and then: water, the icy rush of it closing over her head. 

She fights back a gasp at the sudden cold. With her knee trapped in the joists, she can’t get her feet under her to kick to the surface. Her hands sweep out, flailing desperately. Something hard slams against her neck. She twists at the waist; the sunken lantern illuminates the long shadow of the boat. She digs her fingers into the wood. The cold saps at what strength she has, her muscles refusing to work as she tries to push herself out of the water. Her lungs ache; her heartbeat thuds inside her skull. Down in the murky depths below, a long shadow reaches towards her. Fingers, then hands seize her waist; her skin hits the cold air. Sloane blinks away the muddy haze that coats her eyes and sucks in a lungful of blessed oxygen. 

“Sloane!” Bryce shouts, as if he was expecting to pull out someone else. He ropes an arm around her back and helps her up out of the water. “Jesus, you scared the shit out of--” the rest of his words are lost to an undignified oof as Sloane wraps her arms around his neck. 

“Thanks.”

His hands come up to rest along her back, gently rubbing there to warm her frozen skin.

“I would say don’t mention it, but please do. The notoriety of me saving your life needs to make its way back to the hospital, so Rahul will finally go on a date with me.” 

She fights the urge to roll her eyes. 

“You would be concerned about getting a leg over while mine is still stuck.”

“Oh, whoops. Sorry, here, I’ll...” Sitting back on his heels, he steadies her against him and helps her shimmy out of the hole she’s made. Despite how saturated the planks are, her jeans are torn along her knee, where blood wells across several scratches. “Ouch,” he hisses. 

“Nothing a few bandages and a tetanus shot won’t fix,” she assures. Wobbling as she stands, Sloane limps over to the storage chest in the corner. The blanket she finds is tattered and smells of mold, but it’s better than braving the night’s chill in just her soaked sweater. “Alright, I want out of this place like yesterday.”

Bryce picks up his lantern and nods, following her out onto the shore and back onto the path. 

------

“And, I don’t know, he’s also distant with me sometimes, ya know? He’s hot, then he’s cold. He’ll flirt with me and agree to a date, but then he bails at the last second.”

“I get you.”

“That’s why I’m coming to you, oh wise one,” Bryce says with a grin. “Teach me your ways of dealing with difficult guys.”

Sloane laughs, the sound echoing through the quiet forest. Tucking the blanket tighter around her shoulders, she shakes her head. 

“Trust me, if I knew how to, I wouldn’t have such problems with my own.”

The cell phone in her pocket burns at the reminder of Ethan -- not that she could contact him if she wanted, given that the freezing water had zapped the last of its battery. 

“Yeah, but you could at least give me some pointers on how to wear him down.”

“Oh, my god, Bryce--”

“Okay, okay, not… ‘wear him down’... more, like, encouraging than that, I guess....” he trails off with a shrug. 

Humming as she thinks over her plan of attack, Sloane slows her pace to drop behind Bryce to skirt around a fallen tree -- until she can see it no more. “Fuck!” Bryce curses from in front of her, rattling the lantern as if abuse will bring it back to life. “Batteries must be dead. Let me…” There’s a rustling of clothes, a brief, hopeful inhale, then: “Fuck. Phone’s dead too. Must be the cold or something.” 

Sloane closes her eyes and opens them again, hoping that they will have miraculously adjusted to the dark -- but no such luck. With what little moonlight seeps through the canopy and the dusting of fog that’s rolled in, it’s hard to see farther than a few feet ahead. It will make this slow-going trek of theirs even slower. She scans the woods surrounding them and stops when she sees a pinprick of light back down the trail.

“I have an idea,” she says, “but you’re not going to like it.”

He does not, in fact, like her idea. But even he can’t argue against it. Besides, they’d only made it about a half-mile up the path, and the boathouse wasn’t that far back. 

Which is how Sloane comes to be sitting on the log, trying her best to ignore the darkness pressing in on her from all sides. If Aurora were here, she would be explaining that being afraid of the dark is just a concept carried over from early hominid days. Then again, if Aurora were here, she wouldn’t have had to send Bryce back for the other lantern, and they’d be back at the house by now. Sloane knows she should keep moving to stay warm, but she’s cold and wet and her knee is throbbing something awful. 

She’s uncertain of how much time passes before that silly bundle of nerves in her stomach morphs into the proper weight of worry. Bryce should be back by now. She knows he made it to the boathouse because the light through the trees is gone now. Her eyes have since adjusted to the night, which means it’s been at least thirty minutes. Maybe that lantern died, too, she reasons. Sloane listens for his familiar cursing, or his footsteps on the path -- but there’s nothing. The nighttime noises of the forest are gone: no animals, no birds, no wind. The stillness is nothing short of eerie, especially when she feels that now-familiar sensation of being watched.   

“Bryce?” she chances. 

From out of the black, she can hear someone walking down the path.  

“Bryce!” she shouts, struggling to her feet. “Sienna? Aurora? Is that you?” 

Whoever it is doesn’t respond. She starts down the trail towards them, cursing when she nearly trips over a rock. “Seriously, guys, I’m not in the mood--”

An awful sound echoes out of the dark, like a high-pitched whistle played over radio static. 

She freezes, pebbles and twigs skidding across the dirt at her sudden halt. Every hair on her body stands on-end, her muscles locked as adrenaline races through her. Sloane swallows and clenches her blanket tighter.  

The high-low tone of the whistle sounds again. Whatever’s out there is just beyond the reach of her vision. Sloane wheels around, her gaze darting across the shadows, as if she’ll be able to even see-- a light. It’s several hundred feet out in the forest, back in the direction of the house. It’s too far away to make out who’s holding it. It has to be Bryce, though -- playing a prank on her, as if she’d find this sort of thing funny in the state she’s in. 

She bites back a curse and hurries after him as best she can, keeping low to the ground in an effort to hide from whatever animal is out here with them. The trail becomes rougher, more overgrown as she trudges through the leaves and shoves away sticker bushes. Forced to waste precious time watching where she’s going, she glances up only to keep track of the light that grows closer every second. 

The whistle comes again -- louder, closer now. Whatever it is, it’s still following her. Sloane pushes through a thicket and stumbles into a clearing. Tucked between a small grove of pines in the center is a cabin. With the caved-in roof, sagging porch, and front steps that form nothing more than a woodpile, it’s obvious the place has long stood abandoned. Sitting on the porch and casting a glow into the open doorway is a lantern -- the same make as the others. Approaching the steps, she slowly leans up and snatches the lantern from the porch.  

“No fucking way,” she mutters to herself. “I don’t care if it is a bobcat out here, I’m not hiding in the Evil-Dead-looking-ass cabin.” 

The dark silhouettes of the trees rustle under the cold wind that blows through the glade. Carried with it is a different sound: voices, all slurred together, but forming one syllable. She steps away from the cabin and back towards the forest, straining to make it out. Her name, she realizes with relief. They’re calling her name.        

She sucks in a breath to yell back when movement catches her eye. Something dark curls away from the tree line, only to dart into the tall grass when she swings the lantern in its direction. Sloane squints at the underbrush it disappeared into, waiting for it to appear again. For a few, blessed moments, she thinks it’s run off, that it’s finally given up.   

Until a black shadow crawls out of the underbrush towards her, shrieking, braying like an animal in pain. It’s an ear-splitting cry, echoing across the clearing. Sloane tightens her grip on the lantern and bolts. Ducking back into the trees, she heads in a single direction, knowing that she’ll either hit the lake or the house -- of, if she runs far enough, the town. 

Shoving through low-hanging branches, she glances over her shoulder to see the shadow chasing her, peeling itself out of the shadows as it moves between the trees, somehow darker than the black surrounding them. Her foot hits a patch of wet leaves and she slips, skidding down the hillside and tumbling out onto a stretch of asphalt. She grits her teeth against the pain in her leg and crawls forward into the middle of the road. With no time for hesitating, she pushes to her feet and runs, hoping she’s picked the right direction. 

It wails again, in the trees to her left, scurrying across the hillside after her.   

“Fuck off!” she screams.

Another noise comes roaring out of the dark, drowning out her cry. Lights -- searing, blinding -- swing around the curve. Brakes squeal as the car swerves, narrowly missing her; glass shatters as Sloane staggers to the roadside, her lantern cracking as it hits the pavement and rolls off into the grass. The guard rail is like ice beneath her palm where she clutches it, using it to stay upright as her heart threatens to vacate her body through her throat. The hillside is drenched in red from the car’s tail lights. 

“Sloane!” 

Ethan -- it’s him, his car, he’s here, but he should be in Boston, shouldn’t he? He was when he texted her and that was only an hour ago so why is he here and how did he-- all of her panicked thoughts cease when he folds her into his arms and hugs her tight. The night around them is still, save for the purr of the engine and the soft dinging of the door ajar warning. 

“What the hell were you thinking, standing in the middle of the road like that?” he hisses, pulling her back to pin her down with his glare. “You could’ve-- I could’ve killed you.”

“You’re here,” she whispers. 

Her lips are numb from the cold and shock. She reaches up for the blanket, then realizes that she must’ve lost it somewhere along the way.

“Of course I’m here. You really need to stop scaring the hell out of me, you know that.” His brow furrows as he frowns, taking in the state of her. He slips off his own coat and bundles it around her. “Honey, you’re freezing. Let me--”

“We have to go,” she urges, remembering what’s waiting for her, out in the forest. Grabbing hold of his hand, she starts tugging him towards the car. “There’s -- in the woods, there was -- I don’t know, this thing, and it kept screaming, it was horrible--”

Ethan shushes her rambling and guides her into the car, buckling her seatbelt when her hands won’t stop shaking. She tucks her nose into the collar of his coat, breathing in the comforting scent of his cologne. Sliding into the driver’s seat, he backs the car up and turns back towards the estate. With one hand on the wheel, the other finds hers and holds tight. 

“Your friends called me when they couldn’t find you, wanted to know if I’d heard from you, in case you’d made it to somewhere with a working phone. I called you-- well, more than I’d care to admit, though it was obvious your phone was dead.” 

“How did you get here so fast?” she wonders aloud. 

“I got here around twelve-thirty, did a sweep of the woods. Around one I started driving around, hoping that I’d come across you in case you made it to the road.” He gives her a worried glance before returning to the road. “The others have been out with the sheriff’s office and the owners, searching the woods.” 

“But I… that doesn’t make any sense,” she tells him with a shake of her head. “It wasn’t even midnight when me and Bryce started back, and he was gone for twenty, maybe thirty minutes. And then I saw him-- well, not him, but at the time I thought it was him being an asshole-- and then that… thing chased after me and I got turned around, sure. But it couldn’t have been more than an hour.”

“Sloane, it’s nearly three in the morning.”

Her immediate reaction is to protest, but the concern in his tone and the clock on his dash render her mute. Which is for the best, she realizes later after pulling up to the house and seeing the driveway choked with cars: Bryce’s, the Bell’s, and several police cruisers. Modern floodlights tucked below the eaves turn the dark house into a bright beacon. Blue and red lights of the cruisers swirl across the lawn. As soon as they pull up, her friends race over to the car and wrap her into a hug. One of the cops takes her statement, ignoring Ethan’s insistence about getting her home and taking it over the phone instead. 

“Must’ve been a coyote,” the cop tells her after she’s finished. “We get a lot of reports of them out here, being so close to the state park.”

“A coyote,” Sloane repeats. 

“Well, sure,” he says with a shrug. “Unless you think it was something else?” 

She doesn’t have an answer for that. Having dealt with her fair share of wildlife coming down from the mountains and into her backyard growing up, she can’t remember ever hearing anything similar. Even her grandfather’s tales about the Wampus cat, her favorite spooky story as a kid, didn’t hold a candle to… to whatever was out there. 

After the cops leave and the Bells lock up, her friends pile into Bryce’s car for the ride home. Though not before Bryce shares with her his own experience with the mysterious shadow. However, he’d gotten a good look with the lantern. 

“It wasn’t an animal,” he whispers to her. “It was her. It was Maggie, I swear it.” 

Sloane didn’t know what to say to that. So she hadn’t said anything, just squeezed his hand and hugged him goodbye. Returning to Ethan’s car, she settled into the passenger seat, thankful for the change of clothes he had in the trunk -- and the first aid kit, of course.  

With the classical music floating out of the speakers and the warmth of his hand in hers again, it would’ve been easy for Sloane to close her eyes. She can’t help it, though, when they back out of the drive. She looks up to the long row of windows. It could be a trick of the headlights, but something watches them from around the lace curtains. As they start to pull away, it slinks back into the shadows of the house. 

------   

Author’s notes and what-have-yous: 

The inspiration for the Angler Estate is the abandoned Uplands Mansion in Baltimore, MD. If you like urbex stuff, I highly recommend looking up some videos of it on YouTube. It’s a gorgeous place, despite all the vandalism. The owners’ surname being Bell is a fun nod to the Bell Witch Cave, my state’s claim to supernatural fame. The mention of The Evil Dead cabin is another poke, since the 1981 original was filmed an hour away from where I live. 

The “watch where you step” line is pulled directly from Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. 

[daleisgreat]

Old Joy

2006’s Old Joy (trailer) is the longest 77-minute film I have ever seen, but I mean that in only the best kind of ways. Director Kelly Reichardt intentionally establishes a deliberate, plodding pace about two distant friends who fell out of touch meeting up to go on a road/hiking trip to find a tucked-away and highly reputable hot springs. The film opens up with Mark (Daniel London) meditating at home when he gets a call from his free-spirited old friend, Kurt (Will Oldham), with an invite for a last-minute weekend trek to discover these mystical hot springs. That opening scene does a masterful job with its minimalist dialog and awkward body language to indicate how Mark is still not quite settling into married life with a kid on the way and comes off a little too eager to jump at the opportunity to get out of the house last minute for the weekend.

The film jumps to sitting in on an extended driving scene with Mark listening to political talk radio, and when he meets up with Kurt is when the intentionally long scenes start to take hold. I like smartly written films with smooth-flowing dialog filled with edgy quips and retorts, but I also appreciate a complete 180 as seen here and in movies like Slacker where the dialog sounds….uncomfortably natural. When Kurt and Mark start off driving, there are many advertent pauses during the conversations where it seems like the two are trying to think of topics to bring up to talk about and catch up. I can 100% relate to that, and it is insanely rare how often I run across that in average big-budget films and pull it off so well like it is done in Old Joy. Highlights from the road trip part of the film include how well shot little moments are like a gas station stop with oblique camera angles that somehow capture the subtle but noticeable moments of the excitement of getting out for the weekend as Kurt and Mark amusingly toss beverage koozies at each other. Watching the pair drive around aimlessly while Kurt tries to remember how to get to the springs and eventually resorting to a makeshift campsite while exchanging philosophical stoner verbiage is another memorable scene of their journey.

I would be remiss to go this long without giving a shoutout to Lucy, Mark’s canine pal tagging along for the journey. In the bonus feature interviews, it was enlightening to hear that it is actually Reichardt’s dog who she had no choice but to include in the film because she could not find a dog-sitter while filming. Reichardt stated she was anxious about how it would work out since Lucy had no film training. Lucy wound up as a perfect third wheel for the adventure. She blended in perfectly, especially with some smart improving with Oldham, where he would instinctually play with her during the hiking spots of the movie. Eventually, the trio found the hidden turnoff to their destination and go on a hike to see the hot springs. The film once again, through exquisite cinematography and intentional drawn-out shots with very little dialog, shows how all the hassle to reach their endpoint was worth it. It is a boldly ambiguous, memorable scene. The film not-so-climatically wraps up with Mark dropping Kurt off, and the movie goes out of its way to capture another little thing so well that few other movies have pulled off in the form of the malaise-filled drive back home and the dread of the return to the normality.

I have the Criterion Edition of Old Joy, and it has four bonus features totaling about an hour altogether. Daniel London and Will Oldham reunite for the first time since production wrapped in 2006 for a conversation filmed in 2019. They exchange many interesting production stories, with the one standing out the most to me being the warning from the park ranger escorting them to the hot springs on how brave they were to go in there because of all the gunk they have fished out of there over the years. An interview with Reichardt is a must-listen on how she decided to film this movie after taking a sabbatical from filmmaking. An interview with the author of the original short story the film is based on, Jim Raymond, on how he met Kelly and how satisfied he was with her treatment of the adaptation and changes she made for the big screen. Finally, Director of Photography Peter Sillen shares a fair amount of production factoids and insights. This being a Criterion release, there is the requisite booklet included, which has a 14-page essay by Ed Halter that thoroughly dissects the film and its production and the entirety of the 22 page original “Old Joy” short story from Jim Raymond. I accidentally stumbled upon this movie browsing through the latest Criterion releases, and the description of the film made it sound right up my alley by how unorthodox it is. This style of filmmaking may not be for everybody with its different structure and laidback style of dialog from the average theatrical movie. I wound up absolutely loving Old Joy, and was thrilled to hear how this film was a hit with critics and was the catalyst for Reichardt directing more beloved indie films following this like Wendy & Lucy, First Cow, and Night Moves. Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Endgame The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve The Clapper Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed I & II Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Grunt: The Wrestling Movie Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hell Comes to Frogtown Hercules: Reborn Hitman I Like to Hurt People Indiana Jones 1-4 Inglourious Basterds Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Justice League (2017 Whedon Cut) Last Action Hero Major League Mallrats Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Nintendo Quest Not for Resale Payback (Director’s Cut) Pulp Fiction The Punisher (1989) The Ref The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VIII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery Scott Pilgrim vs the World The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT Trauma Center The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild The Wizard Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

[a-day-in-the-life-of-a-brotha]

4-27-21 The end of a 12 day shift

4:22 a.m. I woke up at 4 a.m. but I stayed laid down thinking about all the things I needed to do. Pack a bag (I’m going to spend the night with Dani...well nights) cut my hair, and, manicure myself. I also have to prepare myself for work. “Shit, what am I packing” I exclaimed to the still air. Sometimes it’s weird when nobody is there ie; my children my mother. Dani sent a text “Good Morning my Love”...Ditto.

5:21 a.m. I leave the house...too late to go to McDonald’s to get 2 round egg and cheese biscuits and a large sweet tea with a little bit of ice. But my addiction to cigarettes does lead me to 7-11 to get a pack, even though I’m running late for work.

Frustration #1 So the cashier that’s normally there, ain’t there, thank goodness, however it’s a new guy...not new but not the normal early shift guy. He’s slow, I’m late, and there are many amigos in line. “Newport 100 box brother”....quick exchange and we are done. So in this instance it’s truly not an outside frustration...it’s me that’s frustrated that I am compelled to go to this job, just to make money, so I can maintain food, shelter and clothing for my loved ones. I’m a slave, all of these things should be free. I’m getting under compensated and overpaying for living....yes...just for living.

5:50 a.m. Work. It’s Tuesday...my Friday. I’m exhausted already, pained to be at this workhouse/plantation, anticipating the days end (I’m going to meet Dani). As I walk up and get settled in my work station, the jones (talking shit) begins..”You on the phone?” says my short bus patron co-worker...I head nod to confirm his thought. He still finds a way to come over to me to draw my energy which sooo many people seem to do as of late. “You be proper as shit when you’re on the phone...then gangsta as shit when you get off”...says the man that just two weeks ago hurled words that would provoke me to smack him with the bricks I call my hands on the street...but we was at work, so it’s a bunch of bullshit he’s spewing. I laughed, “It’s true brother, I am proper on the phone with my lady!” What he doesn’t know is that when I’m relaxed, I’m proper, shit I’ve studied this language so much, I’ve mastered it...so I use it. You can only go as far as your thoughts take you...so if you have a limited vocabulary that’s how far you’re going. I know I know, it’s the white mans language, but I’m from here, and it’s the only language I’m well versed in. Espanol...un pocito!!

7:00 a.m. The arrival of Omar. My friend. We are almost 30 years in as friends. “What’s up big guy” he says...”What’s up O” says me. We are both strong headed men, and about the only two people at this job that are not afraid to lose it. That characteristic trait sets us apart from the sheep at this place that are scared to speak up for themselves, instead for some of them, we will speak up. Do me and O bump heads...hell yeah. But we’ve come to a point where we can gauge each other...and we now know when and how to stay away from each other, with no hard feelings. One time we were arguing at work, a dude came to try to calm us down, we simultaneously shut that nigga down...and retired outside to squash it. Work ensues...

12:00 p.m. After Lunch. I was called in the office. Ok I fudged some numbers on the diesel gas pump for the buses I service...a couple of buses mileage was off. Who cares right? The supervisor does...Dave. He’s an older white guy that is accustomed to talking to black men any way he wants. Not me though...our first run in was our last. “LARRY to the office” on the loud speaker he says. I go... and he starts to raise his voice as if I were a child.

Frustration #2 Although this instance didn’t happen on this day, I’m getting frustrated by merely thinking about it. When Dave gets to yelling (mind you this is the 2nd of two caucasian supervisors I’ve ever had, I’m 45) all I hear is the “Blah Blah Blah...aggression aggression aggression”...I meet aggression with aggression...I don’t fight fire fire with fire...I fight fire with water. “Dave, when you raise your voice at me, I can’t hear you, AND all I get is angry.” He quickly stopped, apologized and let me calmly know what the ailment was. Nonetheless on this day, I got called in the office, informed about the challenge and I said I would fix it. He went on this soliloquy as to how and why it needs to fixed. I’m smarter than him, but I get paid less...I already knew how to solve the problem. It gives me hives, listening to idiots...

2:30 p.m. The Anticipation of Dani. I’m off work...my anxiety is on 100...I’m not having a good day, but I’m going straight to Dani...I miss her, but I’m anxious about sex...we haven’t done that yet. I rush to her, she gets off at 2:45, but she’s 45 mins away in Baltimore, and I don’t want her to be waiting too long. “What’s up babe...how was your day” says she, whilst on the speakerphone in my car. I’m completely honest with her “I’m not having a good day.” Now I don’t want to not have a good day, shit I’m about to see her, my love, my buxom enchantress, but I must be real and honest...it’s the basis of our relationship. I get there.

3:30 p.m. Dani and the food reviewer “Big Schlim.” I arrive, a hug and kiss ensued, we are both exhausted but glad to be in each other’s presence. “How was your day Dani?” “It was ok” she said and then goes in on the length of her time at work and how she was amped to get out of there (anytime you feels this way about employment, it’s definitely slave work). Normally I already have a spot that I want to go review, today I didn’t. Soooo off to MyMammasVegan to get them delicious ass honey ol bay fried cauliflower bites. In the intern I’ll figure out what we will be eating. As we rode, my guard was let down, I don’t have to defend myself with her, she is a part of my solace. We got the bites, we went to the spot, we people watched and joned on folks...laughter and her...got me through. Let’s go home...

I forgot to mention Friends...how many of us have them. Malika...well..here’s the text I sent... Good Day Malika. I truly hope that you are in a harmonious space to receive and wholeheartedly digest this message. I’ll start by saying that I love you, and I am honored to truly call you and think of you as a real friend.

I’m sending this message to set up some boundaries for me, with you. I will no longer accept you yelling at me out of frustration. I will no longer accept you hanging up the phone abruptly out of frustration. As a long time friend I expect support for my endeavors. A like, a share, a comment on the new ventures I have, are simple but effective gestures to show support and cost nothing. I noticed, a while back, that the things I was posting on my IG pages were getting no support from you. That was truly disappointing. Even the IKEA post that you called me about wasn’t liked by you, and if you truly read it, you would’ve known what that “Pink Shit” was. That call you made to me also showed a complete disregard for my schedule. I’ve relayed to you several times that I work the early morning hours...and you seem to “forget” or you just simply don’t care. Also...for the last 4 years I’ve noticed a pattern amongst my “friends”....none of you know my children. Initially I was riddled with guilt behind this, thinking that was on ME to bring them around more often. But wait a minute...you know where I live, I’ve had the same number for years, at ANY time you could’ve called and came by to chill with them...do ANYTHING with them (pre Covid). They’ve received nothing from you...nothing....your occasional presence is free. They are almost 15 and if they see you on the street...they won’t know you...and that’s not on me. I sat back and waited to see what was going to happen...nothing. So Malika, I must set up some healthy boundaries with you, these behaviors for you hurt me, and I will no longer allow that to happen, especially to my children who don’t know you for real. Ian remaining your lifelong friend...period....I ask you to respect me in the aforementioned manner going forward, and this text is not meant for you to rebuttal, it’s for you to know, and for me to release. Thank you for being around for 30.

6:30’ish Home. Dani’s House. We finally arrived. This is where I end. Me and her at home are private...I just know that I’m meant to be with her...my wife.

[cathygeha]

REVIEW

New Girl in Little Cove by Damhnait Monaghan

 Small conservative Catholic community in need of a teacher

Novice teacher in need of change seeks it in new community

Will she be welcomed?

Will she fit in?

Will she find what she needs?  

And how will the community react deal with this new person from away?

 Filled with community, culture, and so much more – this story drew me in, made me care, and hope for happy endings for more than one character in the story.

 What I liked:

* The setting – having never been to Newfoundland it felt as if I was making the trip with the main character.

* The writing: skillful, friendly, descriptive and immersive.

* Rachel O’Brien: newly graduated, early twenties, grieving, modern, giving, good friend, caring, kind, immersed in a new culture, grows a LOT during the story, someone I admire.

* Doug Bishop: teacher of science and phys ed, probationary teacher, from Little Cover, loving son, caring, kind, intelligent, intriguing.

* Lucille, Biddy and the rest of the hookers – wonderful, caring, giving, creative, strong, community minded women that provide social and emotional support for one another (and others)

* Patrick Donovan: Principal, knowledgeable, patient, kind, a good man, there for his teachers and students

* Students with their individual needs, problems, and potential

* The ways Rachel ended up connecting with her students and others

* The romance that slowly developed between Rachel and Doug

* Sheila: Rachel’s BFF

* Rachel’s backstory

* Feeling like I was becoming part of the community/story

* The music and art elements of the story

* All of it really, except…

 What I didn’t like:

* Thinking about the sadness and loss experienced by more than one character in the story

* Knowing that too often the best option for individuals is overlooked due to moral, religious, educational or societal values.

 Did I enjoy this book? Yes

Would I read more by this author? Yes

 Thank you to NetGalley and harper Collins-Graydon House-HQN for the ARC – This is my honest review.

 5 Stars

Book Summary:

 Take a literary trip to Newfoundland: the island of the world’s friendliest people, the setting for the award-winning musical Come From Away, and home of the delightfully quirky and irresistibly charming debut, NEW GIRL IN LITTLE COVE (May 11; $16.99; Graydon House Books) by Damhnait Monaghan! After being utterly scandalized by the abrupt departure of their school’s only French teacher (she ran off with a priest!) the highly Catholic, very tiny town of Little Cove, Newfoundland needs someone who doesn’t rock the boat. Enter mainlander Rachel O’Brien —technically a Catholic (baptized!), technically a teacher (unused honors degree!)— who is so desperate to leave her old life behind, she doesn’t bother to learn the (allegedly English) local dialect. Stuck on an island she’s never known surrounded by a people and culture she barely understands, Rachel struggles to feel at home. Only the intervention of her crotchety landlady, a handsome fellow teacher, and the Holy Dusters – the local women who hook rugs and clean the church – will assure Rachel’s salvation in this little island community.

 Buy Links:

BookShop.org

Harlequin

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Books-A-Million

Powell’s

EXCERPT

Chapter 1

 September 1985

Little Cove: Population 389

 The battered sign came into view as my car crested a hill on the gravel road. Only 389 people? Damn. I pulled over and got out of the car, inhaling the moist air. Empty boats tilted against the wind in the bay below. A big church dominated the valley, beside which squatted a low, red building, its windows dark, like a row of rotten teeth. This was likely St. Jude’s, where tomorrow I would begin my teaching career.

“You lost?”

I whirled around. A gaunt man, about sixty, straddled a bike beside me. He wore denim overalls and his white hair was combed neatly back from his forehead.

“Car broke down?” he continued.

“No,” I said. “I’m just … ” My voice trailed off. I could hardly confide my second thoughts to this stranger. “…admiring the view.”

He looked past me at the flinty mist now spilling across the bay. A soft rain began to fall, causing my carefully straightened hair to twist and curl like a mass of dark slugs.

“Might want to save that for a fine day,” he said. His accent was strong, but lilting. “It’s right mauzy today.”

“Mossy?”

“Mauzy.” He gestured at the air around him. Then he folded his arms across his chest and gave me a once-over. “Now then,” he said. “What’s a young one like you doing out this way?”

“I’m not that young,” I shot back. “I’m the new French teacher out here.”

A smile softened his wrinkled face. “Down from Canada, hey?”

As far as I knew, Newfoundland was still part of Canada, but I nodded.

“Phonse Flynn,” he said, holding out a callused hand. “I’m the janitor over to St. Jude’s.”

“Rachel,” I said. “Rachel O’Brien.”

“I knows you’re staying with Lucille,” he said. “I’ll show you where she’s at.”

With an agility that belied his age, he dismounted and gently lowered his bike to the ground. Then he pointed across the bay. “Lucille’s place is over there, luh.”

Above a sagging wharf, I saw a path that cut through the rocky landscape towards a smattering of houses. I’d been intrigued at the prospect of a boarding house; it sounded Dickensian. Now I was uneasy. What if it was awful?

“What about your bike?” I asked, as Phonse was now standing by the passenger-side door of my car.

“Ah, sure it’s grand here,” he said. “I’ll come back for it by and by.”

“Aren’t you going to lock it?”

I thought of all the orphaned bike wheels locked to racks in Toronto, their frames long since ripped away. Jake had been livid when his racing bike was stolen. Not that I was thinking about Jake. I absolutely was not.

“No need to lock anything ’round here,” said Phonse.

I fumbled with my car keys, embarrassed to have locked the car from habit.

“Need some help?”

“The lock’s a bit stiff,” I said. “I’ll get used to it.”

Phonse waited while I jiggled in vain. Then he walked around and held out his hand. I gave him the key, he stuck it in and the knob on the inside of the car door popped up immediately.

“Handyman, see,” he said. “Wants a bit of oil, I allows. But like I said, no need to lock ’er. Anyway, with that colour, who’d steal it?” I had purchased the car over the phone, partly for its price, partly for its colour. Green had been Dad’s favourite colour, and when the salesman said mountain green, I’d imagined a dark, verdant shade. Instead, with its scattered rust garnishes, the car looked like a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. Still, it would fit right in. I eyeballed the houses as we drove along: garish orange, lime green, blinding yellow. Maybe there had been a sale on paint.

As we passed the church, Phonse blessed himself, fingers moving from forehead to chest, then on to each shoulder. I kept both hands firmly on the steering wheel.

“Where’s the main part of Little Cove?” I asked.

“You’re looking at it.”

There was nothing but a gas station and a takeout called MJ’s, where a clump of teenagers was gathered outside, smoking. A tall, dark-haired boy pointed at my car and they all turned to stare. A girl in a lumber jacket raised her hand. I waved back before I realized she was giving me the finger. Embarrassed, I peeked sideways at Phonse. If he’d noticed, he didn’t let on.

Although Phonse was passenger to my driver, I found myself thinking of Matthew Cuthbert driving Anne Shirley through Avonlea en route to Green Gables. Not that I’d be assigning romantic names to these landmarks. Anne’s “Snow Queen” cherry tree and “Lake of Shining Waters” were nowhere to be seen. It was more like Stunted Fir Tree and Sea of Grey Mist. And I wasn’t a complete orphan; it merely felt that way.

At the top of a hill, Phonse pointed to a narrow dirt driveway on the right. “In there, luh.”

I parked in front of a small violet house encircled by a crooked wooden fence. A rusty oil tank leaned into the house, as if seeking shelter. When I got out, my nose wrinkled at the fishy smell. Phonse joined me at the back of the car and reached into the trunk for my suitcases.

“Gentle Jaysus in the garden,” he grunted. “What have you got in here at all? Bricks?” He lurched ahead of me towards the house, refusing my offer of help.

The contents of my suitcases had to last me the entire year; now I was second-guessing my choices. My swimsuit and goggles? I wouldn’t be doing lengths in the ocean. I looked at the mud clinging to my sneakers and regretted the suede dress boots nestled in tissue paper. But I knew some of my decisions had been right: a raincoat, my portable cassette player, stacks of homemade tapes, my hair straighteners and a slew of books.

When Phonse reached the door, he pushed it open, calling, “Lucille? I got the new teacher here. I expect she’s wore out from the journey.” As he heaved my bags inside, a stout woman in a floral apron and slippers appeared: Lucille Hanrahan, my boarding house lady.

“Phonse, my son, bring them bags upstairs for me now,” she said.

I said I would take them but Lucille shooed me into the hall, practically flapping her tea towel at me. “No, girl,” she said. “You must be dropping, all the way down from Canada. Let’s get some grub in you before you goes over to the school to see Mr. Donovan.”

Patrick Donovan, the school principal, had interviewed me over the phone. I was eager to meet him.

“Oh, did he call?” I asked.

“No.”

Lucille smoothed her apron over her belly, then called up the stairs to ask Phonse if he wanted a cup of tea. There was a slow beat of heavy boots coming down. “I’ll not stop this time,” said Phonse. “But Lucille, that fence needs seeing to.”

Lucille batted her hand at him. “Go way with you,” she said. “It’s been falling down these twenty years or more.” But as she showed him out, they talked about possible repairs, the two of them standing outside, pointing and gesturing, oblivious to the falling rain.

A lump of mud fell from my sneaker, and I sat down on the bottom step to remove my shoes. When Lucille returned, she grabbed the pair, clacked them together outside the door to remove the remaining mud, then lined them up beside a pair of sturdy ankle boots.

I followed her down the hall to the kitchen, counting the curlers that dotted her head, pink outposts in a field of black and grey.

“Sit down over there, luh,” she said, gesturing towards a table and chairs shoved against the back window. I winced at her voice; it sounded like the classic two-pack-a-day rasp.

The fog had thickened, so nothing was visible outside; it was like watching static on TV. There were scattered cigarette burns on the vinyl tablecloth and worn patches on the linoleum floor. A religious calendar hung on the wall, a big red circle around today’s date. September’s pin-up was Mary, her veil the exact colour of Lucille’s house. I was deep in Catholic territory, all right. I hoped I could still pass for one.

 Excerpted from New Girl in Little Cove by Damhnait Monaghan, Copyright © 2021 by Damhnait Monaghan

Published by Graydon House Books

   AUTHOR BIO

 DAMHNAIT MONAGHAN was once a  mainlander who taught in a small fishing village in Newfoundland. A former  teacher and lawyer, Monaghan has almost sixty publication credits, including  flash fiction, creative non-fiction, and short stories. Her short prose has  won or placed in various writing competitions and has been nominated for a  Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and Best Microfictions. New Girl in Little Cove placed in the  top six from more than 350 entries in the 2019 International Caledonia Novel  Award.

 Social Links:

Author Website

Twitter: @Downith

Instagram: @Downith1

Facebook: @AuthorDMonaghan

Goodreads

[tienganhmoingay]

Bài tập về các thì trong tiếng anh

Ngữ pháp là một chủ điểm rất quan trọng với bất kì ai học tiếng anh phải nắm bắt được. Đúng vậy, nếu bạn có nền tảng các thì trong tiếng Anh tốt thì bạn sẽ có thể sử dụng các kĩ năng đọc và viết rất tuyệt. Dưới đây, Báo Song Ngữ sẽ đưa ra bài tập các thì trong tiếng Anh để các bạn tham khảo và luyện tập có thể giúp cải thiện tốt ngữ pháp cho các bạn.

Trong tiếng Anh có 13 thì (12 thì cơ bản và 1 thì mở rộng). Thì tiếng anh được chia theo thời gian quá khứ, hiện tại và tương lai. Các bạn đọc muốn hiểu biết chi tiết thêm và áp dụng công thức thành thạo thì hãy cùng theo dõi nhé.

Tổng hợp công thức 13 thì tiếng anh.

Exercise 1. Bài tập thì hiện tại đơn - Điền dạng đúng của từ trong ngoặc

1. She always ______delicious meals. (make)

2. Tome______eggs. (not eat)

3. They______(do) the homework on Sunday.

4. He ______ a new T-shirt today. (buy)

5. My mom ______ shopping every week. (go)

6. ______Duong and Hoa ______ to work by bus every day? (go)

7. _____ your parents ______with your decision? (agree)

8. My sister ______ her hair every day (wash)

9. Police ______ robbers (catch)

Xem thêm: Bài tập về thì tiếng anh hay

Exercise 2. Bài tập thì hiện tại tiếp diễn - Viết câu dưới đây ở thì HTTD.

1. My/ dad/ water/ some plants/ the/ garden.

________________________

2. My/ mom/ clean/ floor/.

________________________

3. Mary/ have/ lunch/ her/ friends/ a/ restaurant.

________________________

4. They/ ask/ a/ man/ about/ the/ way/ the/ railway/ station.

________________________

5. My/ student/ draw/ a/ beautiful/ picture

________________________

Exercise 3. Bài tập thì hiện tại hoàn thành - Chia động từ trong ngoặc.

1. They ______a new lamp. (buy)

2. We ______our holiday yet. (not/ plan)

3. He just ______ out for 2 hours (go)

4. I ______ my plan (not/finish)

5.  ______ you ______ this lesson yet? ( learn)

EXERCISE 4: Use the correct form of verbs in brackets.

1. In all the world, there (be) __________ only 14 mountains that (reach) __________above 8,000 meters.

2. He sometimes (come) __________ to see his parents.

3. When I (come) __________, she (leave) __________for Dalat ten minutes ago.

4. My grandfather never (fly) __________ in an airplane, and he has no intention of ever doing so.

5. We just (decide) __________ that we (undertake) ____________ the job.

6. He told me that he (take) __________ a trip to California the following week.

7. I knew that this road (be) __________ too narrow.

8. Right now I (attend) __________ class. Yesterday at this time I (attend) __________class.

9. Tomorrow I'm going to leave for home. When I (arrive) __________at the airport, Mary (wait) __________ for me.

10. Margaret was born in 1950. By last year, she (live) __________on this earth for 55 years .

11. The traffic was very heavy. By the time I (get) __________to Mary's party, everyone already (arrive) __________

12. I will graduate in June. I (see) __________ you in July. By the time I (see) __________ you , I (graduate) __________.

13. I (visit) __________ my uncle's home regularly when I (be) __________ a child.

14. That book (be) __________ on the table for weeks. You (not read) __________ it yet ?

15. David (wash) __________ his hands. He just (repair) __________ the TV set.

16. You (be) __________here before? Yes, I (spend) __________ my holidays here last year.

17. We never (meet) __________ him. We don't know what he (look) __________ like.

18. The car (be) __________ ready for him by the time he (come) __________tomorrow.

19. On arriving at home I (find) __________that she just (leave) __________a few minutes before.

20. When we (arrive) __________ in London tonight, it probably (rain) __________.

21. It (rain) __________ hard. We can't do anything until it (stop) __________

22. Last night we (watch) __________TV when the power (fail) __________.

23. That evening we (stay) __________up to talk about the town where he (live) __________for some years.

24. I (sit) __________down for a rest while the shoes (repair) __________.

25. Half way to the office Paul (turn) __________round and (go) __________back home because he (forget) __________to turn the gas off.

26. London (change) __________a lot since we first (come) __________ to live here.

27. While we (talk) __________on the phone the children (start) __________fighting and (break) __________a window

28. He used to talk to us for hours about all the interesting things he (do) __________ in his life.

29. You know she (stand) __________looking at that picture for the last twenty minutes.

30. I (spend) __________ a lot of time travelling since I (get) __________this new job.

31. When we (be) __________ at school we all (study) __________Latin.

32. When I (meet) __________ him , he (work) __________as a waiter for a year.

33. After he (finish) __________ breakfast he (sit) __________down to write some letters.

34. She (have) __________a hard life, but she's always smiling.

35. I think Jim (be) __________ out of town.

EXERCISE 5: Choose the best answer among A, B, C, or D.

1. When I last saw him, he _____ in London.

A. has lived

B. is living

C. was living

D. has been living

2. We _______ Dorothy since last Saturday.

A. don’t see

B. haven’t seen

C. didn’t see

D. hadn’t seen

3. The train ______ half an hour ago.

A. has been leaving

B. left

C. has left

D. had left

4. Jack ______ the door.

A. has just painted

B. paint

C. will have painted

D. painting

5. My sister ________ for you since yesterday.

A. is looking

B. was looking

C. has been looking

D. looked

6. I ______ Texas State University now.

A. am attending

B. attend

C. was attending

D. attended

7. He has been selling motorbikes ________.

A. ten years ago

B. since ten years

C. for ten years ago

D. for ten years

8. Christopher Columbus _______ American more than 500 years ago.

A. discovered

B. has discovered

C. had discovered

D. had been discovering

9. He fell down when he ______ towards the church.

A. run

B. runs

C. was running

D. had run

10. We _______ there when our father died.

A. still lived

B. lived still

C. was still lived

D. was still living

11. They ______ table tennis when their father comes back home.

A. will play

B. will be playing

C. play

D. would play

12. By Christmas, I _______ for Mr. Smith for six years.

A. will have been working

B. will work

C. have been working

D. will be working

13. I _______ in the room right now

A. am being

B. was being

C. have been being

D. am

14. I ______ to New York three times this year.

A. have been

B. was

C. were

D. had been

15. I’ll come and see you before I _______ for the States.

A. leave

B. will leave

C. have left

D. shall leave

16. The little girl asked what _______ to her friend.

A. has happened

B. happened

C. had happened

D. would have been happened

17. John ______ a book when I saw him.

A. is reading

B. read

C. was reading

D. reading

18. He said he _______ return later.

A. will

B. would

C. can

D. would be

19. Jack ________ the door.

A. has just opened

B. open

C. have opened

D. opening

20. I have been waiting for you ______ .

A. since early morning

B. since 9 a.m

C. for two hours

D. All are correct

21. Almost everyone _______ for home by the time we arrived.

A. leave

B. left

C. leaves

D. had left

22. By the age of 25, he ______ two famous novels.

A. wrote

B. writes

C. has written

D. had written

23. When her husband was in the army, Mary ______ to him twice a week

A. was reading

B. wrote

C. was written

D. had written

24. I couldn’t cut the grass because the lawn mower ______ a few days previously.

A. broke down

B. has been broken

C. had broken down

D. breaks down

25. I have never played badminton before. This is the first time I _____ to play.

A. try

B. tried

C. have tried

D. am trying

26. Since _______, I have heard nothing from him.

A. he had left

B. he left

C. he has left

D. he was left

27. After I _______ lunch, I looked for my bag.

A. had

B. had had

C. have has

D. have had

28. By the end of next year, George _______ English for two years.

A. will have learned

B. will learn

C. has learned

D. would learn

29. The man got out of the car, ________ round to the back and opened the book.

A. walking

B. walked

C. walks

D. walk

30. Henry _______ into the restaurant when the writer was having dinner.

A. was going

B. went

C. has gone

D. did go

31. He will take the dog out for a walk as soon as he ______ dinner.

A. finish

B. finishes

C. will finish

D. finishing

32. I will be glad if he _______ with us.

A. had gone

B. did go

C. went

D. goes

33 Ask her to come and see me when she _______ her work.

A. finish

B. has finished

C. finished

D. finishing

34. Turn off the gas. Don’t you see that the kettle ________ ?

A. boil

B. boils

C. is boiling

D. boiled

35. Tom and Mary ______ for Vietnam tomorrow.

A. leave

B. are leaving

C. leaving

D. are left

36. He always ________ for a walk in the evening.

A. go

B. is going

C. goes

D. going

37. Her brother ______ in Canada at present.

A. working

B. works

C. is working

D. work

38. I ______ to the same barber since last year.

A. am going

B. have been going

C. go

D. had gone

39. Her father ______ when she was a small girl.

A. dies

B. died

C. has died

D. had died

40. Last week, my professor promised that he ________ today.

A. would come

B. will come

C. comes

D. coming

EXERCISE 6: Choose the underlined part in each sentence (A, B,C, or D ) that needs correcting

1. After Mrs. Wang had returned (A) to her house (B) from work (C), she was cooking (D) dinner.

2. Jimmy threw (A) the ball high (B) in the air, and Betty catching (C) it when (D) it came down.

3. Linda has worn (A) her new yellow (B) dress only once (C) since she buys (D) it.

4. Last week Mark told (A) me that he go (B)t very bored with his present job and is looking (C) for a new on (D)e.

5. Having (A) fed the dog, he was sat (B) down to (C) his own (D) meal.

6. When I turned on my computer, I was shocked (A) to find (B) some junk mail, and (C) I delete (D) it all.

7. They are going to have to (A) leave soon (B) and so do (C) we (D).

8. The boss laughed when the secretary has told (A) him that she really (B) needed (C) a pay (D) rise.

9. The telephone rang several times (A) and then (B) stop (C) before I could (D) answer it.

10. Debbie, whose father (A) is an excellent tennis player(B), has been (C) playing tennis since (D) ten years.

11. I have seen (A) lots(B) of interesting (C) places when I went (D) on holiday last summer.

12. When my cat heard (A) a noise in the bushes, she stopped moving (B) and listen (C) intently (D).

13. I think (A) it’s time you change (B) your way of (C) living (D).

14. Roger felt the outside (A) of his pocket to make (B) sure his (C) wallet is still (D) there.

15. When I’m shopping (A) in the supermarket, I ran into (B) an old friend who I hadn’t met (C) for (D) five years.

16. The police (A) arrested the man while (B) he is having (C) dinner in (D) a restaurant.

17. Peter and Wendy first (A) met in 2006 (B), and they are (C) married for three years now (D).

18. Some (A) people are believing (B) there is life on (C) other (D) planets.

19. Recently, the island of Hawaii (A) had been (B) the subject of intensive research (C) on the occurrence (D) of earthquakes.

20. Every morning, the sun shines (A) in my bedroom window (B) and waking (C) me up (D).

21. The man died as (A) a result of falling (B) asleep (C) while he drives (D).

22. I haven’t finished (A) the report yet (B),but by the time you return (C) I will certainly complete (D) it.

23. Caroline has worn (A) her new yellow (B) dress only once (C) since she buys (D) it.

24. We’ll be cycled (A) to Hoa’s village (B) at (C) this time next (D) Sunday.

25. What will (A) you do (B) when (C) your friends won’t come (D) ?

26. Someone was knocking (A) at the door (B) when I was doing (C) the washing up (D).

27. My friend didn’t drink (A) any (B) beer since we came (C) to live here (D).

28. We have written (A)to each other (B) when (C) we were (D) in primary school.

29. After (A) breakfast, I‘m gone (B) to walk to (C) school with (D) my friends.

30. Did (A) he go to (B) the pop concert next weekend (C) for a change (D)?

EXERCISE 7: Choose the correct sentence among A, B, C or D which has the same meaning as the given one.

1. Eight years ago we started writing to each other.

A. We have rarely written to each other for eight years.

B. Eight years is a long time for us to write to each other.

C. We wrote to each other eight years ago.

D. We have been writing to each other for eight years.

2. The boy was so lazy that he couldn't stay up late to learn his lessons.

A. The boy was lazy enough not to stay up late to learn his lessons.

B. The boy was too lazy to stay up late to learn his lessons.

C. The boy was lazy enough but he stayed up late to learn his lessons.

D. The boy was lazy enough to stay up late to learn his lessons.

3. My father is tired of seeing any violent films.

A. My father hasn't seen a violent film.

B. My father has enjoyed all the violent films he has ever seen.

C. My father is worried about missing the next violent film.

D. My father never wants to see another violent film.

4. As soon as he waved his hand, she turned away.

A. He saw her turn away and he waved his hand.

B. No sooner had he waved his hand than she turned away.

C. She turned away because he waved his hand too early.

D. Although she turned away, he waved his hand.

5. John wishes he had remembered to send Mary a Christmas card.

A. John regrets not to send Mary a Christmas card.

B. John regrets forgetting not to send Mary a Christmas card.

C. John regrets not remembering sending Mary a Christmas card.

D. John regrets forgetting to send Mary a Christmas card.

6. My father hasn't smoked cigarettes for a month.

A. It's a month since my father last smoked cigarettes.

B. It's a month ago that my father smoked cigarettes.

C. It's a month that my father hasn't smoked cigarettes.

D. It's a cigarette that my father smoked a month ago.

7. Having finished their work, the workers expected to be paid.

A. The workers expected to be paid because they had finished their work.

B. Having their work finishing, the workers expected to be paid.

C. Having expected to be paid, the workers finished their work.

D. Having been finished their work, the workers expected to be paid.

8. Mr. Brown bought this car five years ago.

A. Mr. Brown started to buy this car for five years.

B. It has been five years when Mr. Brown has bought this car.

C. Mr. Brown has had this car for five years .

D. It is five years ago since Mr. Brown has bought this car.

9. John used to write home once a week when he was abroad.

A. John doesn't write home once a week any longer.

B. John enjoyed being written home every week when he was abroad.

C. John never forgot to write a weekly letter home when he was abroad.

D. When he was abroad he remembered to write home every week.

10. I haven't enjoyed myself so much for years.

A. It's years since I enjoyed myself so much.

B. It's years since I have enjoyed myself so much.

C. It was years since I had enjoyed myself so much.

D. It has been years since I have enjoyed myself so much.

EXERCISE 8: Give the correct form of the word in brackets.

1. He went to his house, lied down on the bed, and (sleep) ……………… right away.

2. I (buy) ……………… the ticket yesterday. I am (go) ……………… Dalat tomorrow.

3. Tim (attend) ……………… the meeting at school at the moment.

4. He (have not) ……………… English for 2 years.

5. Our class (start) ……………… at 9am.

6. I always (brush) ……………… my teeth before I go to bed.

7. I (study) ……………… English since I was 21.

8. He was listening to music when his boss (come) ……………… yesterday.

9. I (have do) ……………… all the homework all afternoon.

10. I (be) ……………… a student.

11. She (wait) ……………… you for all day.

12. He wasn’t working when his boss (call) ……………… him yesterday.

13. She (be) ……………… at her boyfriend’s house yesterday morning.

14. I (talk) ……………… to my father at the moment.

15. We (be) ……………… in Nhatrang on their summer holiday last year.

16. The sun (rise) ……………… in the east.

17. He (meet) ……………… his old friend near his house yesterday.

18. The World Cup (take place) ……………… every four years.

19. They (play) ……………… in the garden at 4 pm yesterday.

20. She was watching a picture while her mother (cook) ……………… soup.

21. They (play) ……………… now.

22. Anne was riding her bike to school when Peter (see) ……………… her yesterday.

Exercise 9. Khoanh vào đáp án đúng.

1. He fell down when he …………towards the church.

A. run B. runs C. was running D. had run

2. The train …………. half an hour ago.

A. has been leaving B. left C. has left D. had left

3. He has been selling motorcycles……………..

A. ten years ago B. since ten years C. for ten years ago D. for ten years.

4. I ……..Texas State University now.

A. am attending B. attend C. was attending D. attended.

5. The little girl asked what ……… to her friend.

A. has happened B. Happened C. had happened D. would have been happened.

6. John ……… a book when I saw him.

A. is reading B. read C. was reading D. Reading

7. I………….to New York three times this year.

A. have been B. was C. were D. had been

8. I will come and see you before I………….for America.

A. leave B. will leave C. have left D. shall leave

9. I have never played badminton before. This is the first time I ……… to play.

A. try B. tried C. have tried D. am trying

10. He will take the dog out for a walk as soon as he ……….. dinner.

A. finish B. finishes C. will finish D. finishing

11. When I met him , he ……. as a waiter for a year.

A.had been working B. worked C. have worked D. work.

12. I………….the dishwasher on when heard the shot.

A. am turning B. were turning C. was turning D. turned

13. There was a time when watching TV really……………family entertainment.

A. were B. was C. had been D. Is

14. The Olympic Games…………every four years.

A. take place B. takes place C. took place D. is taking place.

15. …………….you go to the dentist?

A. how often are B. how often do C. how often does D. how are

16. By the end of next year, Kelvin ………English for two years.

A. will have learned B. will learn C. has learned D. would learn.

17. By the age of 25, he …….. two famous novels.

A. wrote B. writes C. has written D. had written

18. I think the weather……………nice later.

A. will be B. be C. had D. has been

ĐÁP ÁN

Exercise 1. Bài tập thì hiện tại đơn - Điền dạng đúng của từ trong ngoặc

1 - Makes; 2 - Does not eat; 3 - Don't; 4 - Buys; 5 - Goes

6 - Do – go; 7 - Do – agree; 8 - Washes; 9 - Catch;

Exercise 2. Bài tập thì hiện tại tiếp diễn - Viết câu dưới đây ở thì HTTD.

1 - My dad is watering some plants in the garden.

2 - My mom is cleaning the floor.

3 - Mary is having lunch with her friends in a restaurant.

4 - They are asking a man about the way to the railway station.

5 - My student is drawing a (very) beautiful picture.

Exercise 3.Bài tập thì hiện tại hoàn thành - Chia động từ trong ngoặc.

1 - Have bought

2 - Haven't planned

3 - Has gone

4 - Haven't finished

5 - Have - learned

Exercise 4:

1. are - reach; 2. comes; 3. came - had left; 4. has never flown;

5. have just decided -would undertake; 6. would take; 7. was ;

8. am attending - was attending; 9. arrive -will be waitin;g 10. had lived;

11. got- had already arrived; 12. will see - see - will have graduated;

13. visited -was; 14. has been - haven’t you read; 15. is washing - has just repaired;

16. Have you been - spent; 17. have never met - looks; 18. will have been- comes;

19. found – had just lef;t 20. arrive – will probably be raining; 21. is raining - stops;

22. were watching - failed ; 23. stayed – had lived; 24. sat – were being repaired;

25. turned – went – had forgotten; 26. has changed - came;

27. were talking – started - broke; 28. had done 29. has been standing;

30. have spent - got; 31. were - studied; 32. met – had been working;

33. had finished - sat; 34. has; 35. has been;

Exercise 5:

1. C 2. B 3. B 4. A 5. C 6. A 7. D 8. A 9. C 10. A

11. B 12. A 13. D 14. A 15. A 16. C 17. C 18. B 19. A 20. D

21. D 22. D 23. B 24. C 25. C 26. B 27. B 28. A 29. B 30. B

31. B 32. D 33. B 34. C 35. B 36. C 37. C 38. B 39. B 40. A

Exercise 6:

1. D. was cooking -> cooked

2. C. catching -> caught

3. D. buys -> bought

4. C. is looking -> was looking

5. B. was sat -> sat

6. D. delete -> deleted

7. C. so do -> so are

8. A. has told -> told

9. C. stop -> stopped

10. D. since -> for

11. A. have seen -> saw

12. C. listen -> listened

13. B. change -> changed

14. D. is still -> was still

15. A. I’m shopping -> was shopping

16. C. is having -> was having

17. C. are -> have been

18. B. are believing -> believe

19. B. had been -> has been

20. C. waking -> wakes

21. D. drives -> was driving

22. D. will certainly complete -> will have certainly completed

23. D. buys -> bought

24. A. We’ll be cycled -> We’ll be cycling

25. D. won’t come -> don’t come

26. A. was knocking -> knocked

27. A. didn’t drink -> hasn’t drunk

28. C. when -> since

29. B. gone -> going

30. A. Did -> Will

Exercise 7:

1. D; 2. B; 3. D; 4. B; 5. D; 6. A; 7. A; 8. C; 9. A; 10. A;

Exercise 8.

1 - slept; 2 - bought - am going to; 3 - is attending; 4 - has not practised; 5 - starts;

6 - brush; 7 - have studied; 8 - came; 9 - have been doing; 10 - am;

11 - has been waiting; 12 - called; 13 - was; 14 - am talking; 15 - were;

16 - rises; 17 - met; 18 - take place; 19 - was playing; 20 - was cooking;

21 - are playing; 22 - saw;

Exercise 9. Khoanh vào đáp án đúng.

1.C 2.B 3.B 4.A 5.C 6.C 7.A 8.A 9.C 10.B

11.A 12.C 13.B 14.B 15.B 16.A 17.D 18.A

[iletscaptoc]

Bài tập về thì trong tiếng anh

Nối tiếp nội dung lý thuyết cấu trúc 12 thì Tiếng Anh cơ bản, Ielts cấp tốc xin gửi đến bạn đọc bài tập về các thì trong Tiếng Anh có đáp án dưới đây. Tài liệu bài tập tổng hợp các thì tiếng Anh có đáp án nằm trong bộ đề ôn tập Ngữ pháp Tiếng Anh cơ bản với nhiều dạng bài tập chia thì tổng hợp giúp các em học sinh vận dụng những kiến thức đã học hiệu quả. Mời thầy cô, quý phụ huynh và các em học sinh tham khảo.

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Exercise 1. Bài tập thì hiện tại đơn - Điền dạng đúng của từ trong ngoặc

1. She always ______delicious meals. (make)

2. Tome______eggs. (not eat)

3. They______(do) the homework on Sunday.

4. He ______ a new T-shirt today. (buy)

5. My mom ______ shopping every week. (go)

6. ______Duong and Hoa ______ to work by bus every day? (go)

7. _____ your parents ______with your decision? (agree)

8. My sister ______ her hair every day (wash)

9. Police ______ robbers (catch)

Exercise 2. Bài tập thì hiện tại tiếp diễn - Viết câu dưới đây ở thì HTTD.

1. My/ dad/ water/ some plants/ the/ garden.

________________________

2. My/ mom/ clean/ floor/.

________________________

3. Mary/ have/ lunch/ her/ friends/ a/ restaurant.

________________________

4. They/ ask/ a/ man/ about/ the/ way/ the/ railway/ station.

________________________

5. My/ student/ draw/ a/ beautiful/ picture

________________________

Exercise 3. Bài tập thì hiện tại hoàn thành - Chia động từ trong ngoặc.

1. They ______a new lamp. (buy)

2. We ______our holiday yet. (not/ plan)

3. He just ______ out for 2 hours (go)

4. I ______ my plan (not/finish)

5.  ______ you ______ this lesson yet? ( learn)

EXERCISE 4: Use the correct form of verbs in brackets.

1. In all the world, there (be) __________ only 14 mountains that (reach) __________above 8,000 meters.

2. He sometimes (come) __________ to see his parents.

3. When I (come) __________, she (leave) __________for Dalat ten minutes ago.

4. My grandfather never (fly) __________ in an airplane, and he has no intention of ever doing so.

5. We just (decide) __________ that we (undertake) ____________ the job.

6. He told me that he (take) __________ a trip to California the following week.

7. I knew that this road (be) __________ too narrow.

8. Right now I (attend) __________ class. Yesterday at this time I (attend) __________class.

9. Tomorrow I'm going to leave for home. When I (arrive) __________at the airport, Mary (wait) __________ for me.

10. Margaret was born in 1950. By last year, she (live) __________on this earth for 55 years .

11. The traffic was very heavy. By the time I (get) __________to Mary's party, everyone already (arrive) __________

12. I will graduate in June. I (see) __________ you in July. By the time I (see) __________ you , I (graduate) __________.

13. I (visit) __________ my uncle's home regularly when I (be) __________ a child.

14. That book (be) __________ on the table for weeks. You (not read) __________ it yet ?

15. David (wash) __________ his hands. He just (repair) __________ the TV set.

16. You (be) __________here before? Yes, I (spend) __________ my holidays here last year.

17. We never (meet) __________ him. We don't know what he (look) __________ like.

18. The car (be) __________ ready for him by the time he (come) __________tomorrow.

19. On arriving at home I (find) __________that she just (leave) __________a few minutes before.

20. When we (arrive) __________ in London tonight, it probably (rain) __________.

21. It (rain) __________ hard. We can't do anything until it (stop) __________

22. Last night we (watch) __________TV when the power (fail) __________.

23. That evening we (stay) __________up to talk about the town where he (live) __________for some years.

24. I (sit) __________down for a rest while the shoes (repair) __________.

25. Half way to the office Paul (turn) __________round and (go) __________back home because he (forget) __________to turn the gas off.

26. London (change) __________a lot since we first (come) __________ to live here.

27. While we (talk) __________on the phone the children (start) __________fighting and (break) __________a window

28. He used to talk to us for hours about all the interesting things he (do) __________ in his life.

29. You know she (stand) __________looking at that picture for the last twenty minutes.

30. I (spend) __________ a lot of time travelling since I (get) __________this new job.

31. When we (be) __________ at school we all (study) __________Latin.

32. When I (meet) __________ him , he (work) __________as a waiter for a year.

33. After he (finish) __________ breakfast he (sit) __________down to write some letters.

34. She (have) __________a hard life, but she's always smiling.

35. I think Jim (be) __________ out of town.

EXERCISE 5: Choose the best answer among A, B, C, or D.

1. When I last saw him, he _____ in London.

A. has lived

B. is living

C. was living

D. has been living

2. We _______ Dorothy since last Saturday.

A. don’t see

B. haven’t seen

C. didn’t see

D. hadn’t seen

3. The train ______ half an hour ago.

A. has been leaving

B. left

C. has left

D. had left

4. Jack ______ the door.

A. has just painted

B. paint

C. will have painted

D. painting

5. My sister ________ for you since yesterday.

A. is looking

B. was looking

C. has been looking

D. looked

6. I ______ Texas State University now.

A. am attending

B. attend

C. was attending

D. attended

7. He has been selling motorbikes ________.

A. ten years ago

B. since ten years

C. for ten years ago

D. for ten years

8. Christopher Columbus _______ American more than 500 years ago.

A. discovered

B. has discovered

C. had discovered

D. had been discovering

9. He fell down when he ______ towards the church.

A. run

B. runs

C. was running

D. had run

10. We _______ there when our father died.

A. still lived

B. lived still

C. was still lived

D. was still living

11. They ______ table tennis when their father comes back home.

A. will play

B. will be playing

C. play

D. would play

12. By Christmas, I _______ for Mr. Smith for six years.

A. will have been working

B. will work

C. have been working

D. will be working

13. I _______ in the room right now

A. am being

B. was being

C. have been being

D. am

14. I ______ to New York three times this year.

A. have been

B. was

C. were

D. had been

15. I’ll come and see you before I _______ for the States.

A. leave

B. will leave

C. have left

D. shall leave

16. The little girl asked what _______ to her friend.

A. has happened

B. happened

C. had happened

D. would have been happened

17. John ______ a book when I saw him.

A. is reading

B. read

C. was reading

D. reading

18. He said he _______ return later.

A. will

B. would

C. can

D. would be

19. Jack ________ the door.

A. has just opened

B. open

C. have opened

D. opening

20. I have been waiting for you ______ .

A. since early morning

B. since 9 a.m

C. for two hours

D. All are correct

21. Almost everyone _______ for home by the time we arrived.

A. leave

B. left

C. leaves

D. had left

22. By the age of 25, he ______ two famous novels.

A. wrote

B. writes

C. has written

D. had written

23. When her husband was in the army, Mary ______ to him twice a week

A. was reading

B. wrote

C. was written

D. had written

24. I couldn’t cut the grass because the lawn mower ______ a few days previously.

A. broke down

B. has been broken

C. had broken down

D. breaks down

25. I have never played badminton before. This is the first time I _____ to play.

A. try

B. tried

C. have tried

D. am trying

26. Since _______, I have heard nothing from him.

A. he had left

B. he left

C. he has left

D. he was left

27. After I _______ lunch, I looked for my bag.

A. had

B. had had

C. have has

D. have had

28. By the end of next year, George _______ English for two years.

A. will have learned

B. will learn

C. has learned

D. would learn

29. The man got out of the car, ________ round to the back and opened the book.

A. walking

B. walked

C. walks

D. walk

30. Henry _______ into the restaurant when the writer was having dinner.

A. was going

B. went

C. has gone

D. did go

31. He will take the dog out for a walk as soon as he ______ dinner.

A. finish

B. finishes

C. will finish

D. finishing

32. I will be glad if he _______ with us.

A. had gone

B. did go

C. went

D. goes

33 Ask her to come and see me when she _______ her work.

A. finish

B. has finished

C. finished

D. finishing

34. Turn off the gas. Don’t you see that the kettle ________ ?

A. boil

B. boils

C. is boiling

D. boiled

35. Tom and Mary ______ for Vietnam tomorrow.

A. leave

B. are leaving

C. leaving

D. are left

36. He always ________ for a walk in the evening.

A. go

B. is going

C. goes

D. going

37. Her brother ______ in Canada at present.

A. working

B. works

C. is working

D. work

38. I ______ to the same barber since last year.

A. am going

B. have been going

C. go

D. had gone

39. Her father ______ when she was a small girl.

A. dies

B. died

C. has died

D. had died

40. Last week, my professor promised that he ________ today.

A. would come

B. will come

C. comes

D. coming

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EXERCISE 6: Choose the underlined part in each sentence (A, B,C, or D ) that needs correcting

1. After Mrs. Wang had returned (A) to her house (B) from work (C), she was cooking (D) dinner.

2. Jimmy threw (A) the ball high (B) in the air, and Betty catching (C) it when (D) it came down.

3. Linda has worn (A) her new yellow (B) dress only once (C) since she buys (D) it.

4. Last week Mark told (A) me that he go (B)t very bored with his present job and is looking (C) for a new on (D)e.

5. Having (A) fed the dog, he was sat (B) down to (C) his own (D) meal.

6. When I turned on my computer, I was shocked (A) to find (B) some junk mail, and (C) I delete (D) it all.

7. They are going to have to (A) leave soon (B) and so do (C) we (D).

8. The boss laughed when the secretary has told (A) him that she really (B) needed (C) a pay (D) rise.

9. The telephone rang several times (A) and then (B) stop (C) before I could (D) answer it.

10. Debbie, whose father (A) is an excellent tennis player(B), has been (C) playing tennis since (D) ten years.

11. I have seen (A) lots(B) of interesting (C) places when I went (D) on holiday last summer.

12. When my cat heard (A) a noise in the bushes, she stopped moving (B) and listen (C) intently (D).

13. I think (A) it’s time you change (B) your way of (C) living (D).

14. Roger felt the outside (A) of his pocket to make (B) sure his (C) wallet is still (D) there.

15. When I’m shopping (A) in the supermarket, I ran into (B) an old friend who I hadn’t met (C) for (D) five years.

16. The police (A) arrested the man while (B) he is having (C) dinner in (D) a restaurant.

17. Peter and Wendy first (A) met in 2006 (B), and they are (C) married for three years now (D).

18. Some (A) people are believing (B) there is life on (C) other (D) planets.

19. Recently, the island of Hawaii (A) had been (B) the subject of intensive research (C) on the occurrence (D) of earthquakes.

20. Every morning, the sun shines (A) in my bedroom window (B) and waking (C) me up (D).

21. The man died as (A) a result of falling (B) asleep (C) while he drives (D).

22. I haven’t finished (A) the report yet (B),but by the time you return (C) I will certainly complete (D) it.

23. Caroline has worn (A) her new yellow (B) dress only once (C) since she buys (D) it.

24. We’ll be cycled (A) to Hoa’s village (B) at (C) this time next (D) Sunday.

25. What will (A) you do (B) when (C) your friends won’t come (D) ?

26. Someone was knocking (A) at the door (B) when I was doing (C) the washing up (D).

27. My friend didn’t drink (A) any (B) beer since we came (C) to live here (D).

28. We have written (A)to each other (B) when (C) we were (D) in primary school.

29. After (A) breakfast, I‘m gone (B) to walk to (C) school with (D) my friends.

30. Did (A) he go to (B) the pop concert next weekend (C) for a change (D)?

EXERCISE 7: Choose the correct sentence among A, B, C or D which has the same meaning as the given one.

1. Eight years ago we started writing to each other.

A. We have rarely written to each other for eight years.

B. Eight years is a long time for us to write to each other.

C. We wrote to each other eight years ago.

D. We have been writing to each other for eight years.

2. The boy was so lazy that he couldn't stay up late to learn his lessons.

A. The boy was lazy enough not to stay up late to learn his lessons.

B. The boy was too lazy to stay up late to learn his lessons.

C. The boy was lazy enough but he stayed up late to learn his lessons.

D. The boy was lazy enough to stay up late to learn his lessons.

3. My father is tired of seeing any violent films.

A. My father hasn't seen a violent film.

B. My father has enjoyed all the violent films he has ever seen.

C. My father is worried about missing the next violent film.

D. My father never wants to see another violent film.

4. As soon as he waved his hand, she turned away.

A. He saw her turn away and he waved his hand.

B. No sooner had he waved his hand than she turned away.

C. She turned away because he waved his hand too early.

D. Although she turned away, he waved his hand.

5. John wishes he had remembered to send Mary a Christmas card.

A. John regrets not to send Mary a Christmas card.

B. John regrets forgetting not to send Mary a Christmas card.

C. John regrets not remembering sending Mary a Christmas card.

D. John regrets forgetting to send Mary a Christmas card.

6. My father hasn't smoked cigarettes for a month.

A. It's a month since my father last smoked cigarettes.

B. It's a month ago that my father smoked cigarettes.

C. It's a month that my father hasn't smoked cigarettes.

D. It's a cigarette that my father smoked a month ago.

7. Having finished their work, the workers expected to be paid.

A. The workers expected to be paid because they had finished their work.

B. Having their work finishing, the workers expected to be paid.

C. Having expected to be paid, the workers finished their work.

D. Having been finished their work, the workers expected to be paid.

8. Mr. Brown bought this car five years ago.

A. Mr. Brown started to buy this car for five years.

B. It has been five years when Mr. Brown has bought this car.

C. Mr. Brown has had this car for five years .

D. It is five years ago since Mr. Brown has bought this car.

9. John used to write home once a week when he was abroad.

A. John doesn't write home once a week any longer.

B. John enjoyed being written home every week when he was abroad.

C. John never forgot to write a weekly letter home when he was abroad.

D. When he was abroad he remembered to write home every week.

10. I haven't enjoyed myself so much for years.

A. It's years since I enjoyed myself so much.

B. It's years since I have enjoyed myself so much.

C. It was years since I had enjoyed myself so much.

D. It has been years since I have enjoyed myself so much.

EXERCISE 8: Give the correct form of the word in brackets.

1. He went to his house, lied down on the bed, and (sleep) ……………… right away.

2. I (buy) ……………… the ticket yesterday. I am (go) ……………… Dalat tomorrow.

3. Tim (attend) ……………… the meeting at school at the moment.

4. He (have not) ……………… English for 2 years.

5. Our class (start) ……………… at 9am.

6. I always (brush) ……………… my teeth before I go to bed.

7. I (study) ……………… English since I was 21.

8. He was listening to music when his boss (come) ……………… yesterday.

9. I (have do) ……………… all the homework all afternoon.

10. I (be) ……………… a student.

11. She (wait) ……………… you for all day.

12. He wasn’t working when his boss (call) ……………… him yesterday.

13. She (be) ……………… at her boyfriend’s house yesterday morning.

14. I (talk) ……………… to my father at the moment.

15. We (be) ……………… in Nhatrang on their summer holiday last year.

16. The sun (rise) ……………… in the east.

17. He (meet) ……………… his old friend near his house yesterday.

18. The World Cup (take place) ……………… every four years.

19. They (play) ……………… in the garden at 4 pm yesterday.

20. She was watching a picture while her mother (cook) ……………… soup.

21. They (play) ……………… now.

22. Anne was riding her bike to school when Peter (see) ……………… her yesterday.

Exercise 9. Khoanh vào đáp án đúng.

1. He fell down when he …………towards the church.

A. run B. runs C. was running D. had run

2. The train …………. half an hour ago.

A. has been leaving B. left C. has left D. had left

3. He has been selling motorcycles……………..

A. ten years ago B. since ten years C. for ten years ago D. for ten years.

4. I ……..Texas State University now.

A. am attending B. attend C. was attending D. attended.

5. The little girl asked what ……… to her friend.

A. has happened B. Happened C. had happened D. would have been happened.

6. John ……… a book when I saw him.

A. is reading B. read C. was reading D. Reading

7. I………….to New York three times this year.

A. have been B. was C. were D. had been

8. I will come and see you before I………….for America.

A. leave B. will leave C. have left D. shall leave

9. I have never played badminton before. This is the first time I ……… to play.

A. try B. tried C. have tried D. am trying

10. He will take the dog out for a walk as soon as he ……….. dinner.

A. finish B. finishes C. will finish D. finishing

11. When I met him , he ……. as a waiter for a year.

A.had been working B. worked C. have worked D. work.

12. I………….the dishwasher on when heard the shot.

A. am turning B. were turning C. was turning D. turned

13. There was a time when watching TV really……………family entertainment.

A. were B. was C. had been D. Is

14. The Olympic Games…………every four years.

A. take place B. takes place C. took place D. is taking place.

15. …………….you go to the dentist?

A. how often are B. how often do C. how often does D. how are

16. By the end of next year, Kelvin ………English for two years.

A. will have learned B. will learn C. has learned D. would learn.

17. By the age of 25, he …….. two famous novels.

A. wrote B. writes C. has written D. had written

18. I think the weather……………nice later.

A. will be B. be C. had D. has been

ĐÁP ÁN

Exercise 1. Bài tập thì hiện tại đơn - Điền dạng đúng của từ trong ngoặc

1 - Makes; 2 - Does not eat; 3 - Don't; 4 - Buys; 5 - Goes

6 - Do – go; 7 - Do – agree; 8 - Washes; 9 - Catch;

Exercise 2. Bài tập thì hiện tại tiếp diễn - Viết câu dưới đây ở thì HTTD.

1 - My dad is watering some plants in the garden.

2 - My mom is cleaning the floor.

3 - Mary is having lunch with her friends in a restaurant.

4 - They are asking a man about the way to the railway station.

5 - My student is drawing a (very) beautiful picture.

Exercise 3.Bài tập thì hiện tại hoàn thành - Chia động từ trong ngoặc.

1 - Have bought

2 - Haven't planned

3 - Has gone

4 - Haven't finished

5 - Have - learned

Exercise 4:

1. are - reach; 2. comes; 3. came - had left; 4. has never flown;

5. have just decided -would undertake; 6. would take; 7. was ;

8. am attending - was attending; 9. arrive -will be waitin;g 10. had lived;

11. got- had already arrived; 12. will see - see - will have graduated;

13. visited -was; 14. has been - haven’t you read; 15. is washing - has just repaired;

16. Have you been - spent; 17. have never met - looks; 18. will have been- comes;

19. found – had just lef;t 20. arrive – will probably be raining; 21. is raining - stops;

22. were watching - failed ; 23. stayed – had lived; 24. sat – were being repaired;

25. turned – went – had forgotten; 26. has changed - came;

27. were talking – started - broke; 28. had done 29. has been standing;

30. have spent - got; 31. were - studied; 32. met – had been working;

33. had finished - sat; 34. has; 35. has been;

Exercise 5:

1. C 2. B 3. B 4. A 5. C 6. A 7. D 8. A 9. C 10. A

11. B 12. A 13. D 14. A 15. A 16. C 17. C 18. B 19. A 20. D

21. D 22. D 23. B 24. C 25. C 26. B 27. B 28. A 29. B 30. B

31. B 32. D 33. B 34. C 35. B 36. C 37. C 38. B 39. B 40. A

Exercise 6:

1. D. was cooking -> cooked

2. C. catching -> caught

3. D. buys -> bought

4. C. is looking -> was looking

5. B. was sat -> sat

6. D. delete -> deleted

7. C. so do -> so are

8. A. has told -> told

9. C. stop -> stopped

10. D. since -> for

11. A. have seen -> saw

12. C. listen -> listened

13. B. change -> changed

14. D. is still -> was still

15. A. I’m shopping -> was shopping

16. C. is having -> was having

17. C. are -> have been

18. B. are believing -> believe

19. B. had been -> has been

20. C. waking -> wakes

21. D. drives -> was driving

22. D. will certainly complete -> will have certainly completed

23. D. buys -> bought

24. A. We’ll be cycled -> We’ll be cycling

25. D. won’t come -> don’t come

26. A. was knocking -> knocked

27. A. didn’t drink -> hasn’t drunk

28. C. when -> since

29. B. gone -> going

30. A. Did -> Will

Exercise 7:

1. D; 2. B; 3. D; 4. B; 5. D; 6. A; 7. A; 8. C; 9. A; 10. A;

Exercise 8.

1 - slept; 2 - bought - am going to; 3 - is attending; 4 - has not practised; 5 - starts;

6 - brush; 7 - have studied; 8 - came; 9 - have been doing; 10 - am;

11 - has been waiting; 12 - called; 13 - was; 14 - am talking; 15 - were;

16 - rises; 17 - met; 18 - take place; 19 - was playing; 20 - was cooking;

21 - are playing; 22 - saw;

Exercise 9. Khoanh vào đáp án đúng.

1.C 2.B 3.B 4.A 5.C 6.C 7.A 8.A 9.C 10.B

11.A 12.C 13.B 14.B 15.B 16.A 17.D 18.A

[haeddoti]

This is my first blog-post and it is about some of the books I read between year 7 and 11 in my German high school. These books aren’t in a particular order, I just wrote all of them down and took some notes to guide me along. I’ll give a brief summary and then my thoughts about the books.

Without further due, let’s get into the series!

Nr. 1 “Hexen in der Stadt-Ingeborg Engelhardt”

We read this book in seventh grade and immediately after reading (actually during reading as well) we asked ourselves how and why someone thought “Hell yeah, that’s a topic for 11 year olds” since the book is originally listed for grade 5 and 6.

The story takes place in a German town during the Thirty years war, the witch hunts are running wild and the church is all over the place. The story follows a family of four who live in this town, the father is a doctor, one daughter is read-headed and the other a sleep walker. And although the father is greatly needed in this time, the towns people are really suspicious of the family, and they have to flee the city.

First of all, the book was so dense, it was almost unbearable. Definitely not something for children and yet the book won the “Youth literature award” in Germany, so I guess it wasn’t too bad after all. I honestly don’t remember a lot from it, I know we watched a horrible movie about it and I also remember that the pacing(?) in the book was weird, because the first 80% or so took reaaaally long to read through and virtually nothing happened and then in the last 20% everything happened all at once and it was just too much.

Nr. 2 “Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee-Thomas Brussig”

The only (apparent) reason why we read this book was because we had our final class trip to Berlin in year 10.

 The setting is the DDR, East-Berlin to be precise, somewhere around 1970ish. Our protagonist Micha lives in a street which was cut in half my the Berlin Wall and he, unfortunately enough, lives in East-Berlin. He frequent meets with his friends in a nearby park where they listen to West-Music and swoon about Miriam, the neighborhood beauty who is kinda a not-like-other-girls-girl.

All in all, the books is about searching happiness and thinking about how it is so very close and yet never being able to reach it.

It was comfortable to read and overall it was an okay novel. I don’t remember much about it, although I literally read it a year ago. The insight about east-Berlin was cool, and the author definitely implemented own experiences and as someone who grew up in post-split Westgermany it was rather informative and interesting. The quote on the back of the book was also pretty.

“Happy people have a bad memory and rich memoirs”

Nr. 3 “Frühlings Erwachen-Frank Wendekind”

(Springs Awakening)

Oh. My. God. This whole topic was such a BS and I hated every second of it.

The book takes place, once again, in a German Town in a time where there is no Sex-Ed, aka 1900th century, which is also the topic of the book; Sex-Ed gone wrong. Our first protagonist Wendla grows up in a home with a loving, strict mother and far, far away from everything unholy like sex. Our second protagonist, Melchior, is a really smart, really handsome boy who is the top of his class and who likes to read provocative literature which makes him think about masturbation. His best friend is also handsome but really stupid but the social pressure keeps him from dropping out of school- that and his strict, abusive father. Melchior and Wendla fall in love (he hits her with sticks after she metions that she has never been hurt before), have Sex(he rapes her) and after Wendla gets pregnant and dies after an attempted abortion via poisonous plants her aunt have her, Melchior is only mildly devastated. He turns sad, and kinda crazy, after his best friend commits suicide. He has a rendez-vous with the ghost and death itself, he is happy again? I dunno, the whole book was all over the place.

Worse than the book was the discussions we had in class afterwards. One time we had to argue whether it was in-fact rape or if it was just sex. Second discussion we had was about Wendla being a masochist.

The worst thing about the whole topic was the stupid ass movie adaptation.

You think Percy Jackson has it bad? Oh boy. Ohhh boy. The movie plays in the 2000s, graffiti, cool skater boys, rapper-wannabes and early 2000s fashion included. The names stayed tho, cause why not name the male protagonist Melchior in 2001. There are scenes where teenagers, TEENAGERS, go to a brothel. Ah, I forgot.

They are 13-14, book and movie alike.

10/10 would NOT recommend.

Nr. 4 “Der Besuch der alten Dame-Friedrich Dürrenmatt”

(The visit)

(No, not the horror movie)

Oh my goodness, I loved this book.

Picture this. A small town in a German province far away from any major cities with a single trail connection between Hambourg and Zurich, aka the whole length of Germany, where virtually nothing happens. One day, a former resident, comes for a visit. But not just anyone, Claire frikking Zachanassian comes for a visit.

And for blood, because this sixty-something, badass multi-billionaire who got her fortune by marrying a bunch of men who died coincidentally one after the other proposes to the town an offer.

One billion for the head of the man, Alfred the third, who expelled her out of the town after getting her pregnant and lying about it in court after she sued him.

They sent her away in the train, called her a hoe and laughed about her. She lived in a brother for a little while, her son died, and a horny, rich man decided to marry her because why not.  

At first the towns people are disgusted by the offer, outraged by the immoral offer and they straight up deny it. “I’ll wait, Claire says”.

You see, the town is really, really poor. Not only because it is in a terrible location commercially wise, but also because Claire bought every factory in the town and brought them all to a stand still to slowly dry the city out. She planned this revenge.

And you see, the proposal of 500 million split between the inhabitants and 500 million for the industry of the city sounds great if you are on the brink of disaster and hunger and misery. But surely, with such an immoral offer, no one would want to commit a crime? Or would they.

Because, now that I look at it, Alfred really did something horrible… maybe, just maybe I can allow myself to stack up some dept.

And Alfred grew more and more paranoid. Begging Claire to stop this, apologizing on his knees, crying and sleeping with one open eye at all times.

We discussed in our class what we would do. We didn’t really came to a conclusion since we had nothing to compare, not one of us was ever asked to make such a decision. “It depends” was our final answer.

They do kill him in the end. It doesn’t end happy, Claire isn’t happy, but she does give the towns people their money. I really enjoyed reading this book. The female “antagonist” was refreshingly bad-ass and the moral despair was entertaining to read.

We learn that Claire is rich and powerful, but that she lost so much innocence, so much energy to enjoy her life in such young years that, as a reader, you cannot not sympathize with her.

Nr. 5 “Das Versprechen-Friedrich Dürrenmatt”

(The pledge)

Hands down the best book I’ve read in school.

This book is originally a critique by Dürrenmatt about the emerging detective novel genre where everything always works out.

The setting is in a Swiss town, 1950ish, and in the beginning the reader takes on the role of an author who meets a certain Dr. H who works for the police. They become friends and take a ride through the mountains. Upon taking a stop at a gas station, Dr. H introduces us to a seemingly old, smoking, alcohol-reeking man and a scruffy looking girl. The narrator is confused, asks who these people are, and back in the car, we learn that this is the former detective, no-one-escapes-me, super-brain Matthäi.

From that point on the narrator switches and we are now in a third person narrator perspective.

Matthäi is introduced again, this happening in the past, as a hard-working, clean, structured man who doesn’t smoke, drink or disobeys rules. No one really likes him in the office, but they value that he just so good at his job. But because he is so unapproachable, they want to sent him away to Jordan.

The week he was planning to travel there, a young girl is raped and then brutally murdered in a small town nearby. And because he is Mister Superbrain, he goes there to help investigate.

The other officers at the crime scene are (understandably) uncomfortable, they don’t want to talk to the family, or the people there in general. So Matthäi talks to everyone. He is a very calm, collected, cold man. So he meets with the family, tells them what happened to their daughter and is utterly, completely shocked when the mother just blankly stares in his face, and asks him to promise her to find the murderer of her daughter. He is shocked by the lack of emotion in this moment and sees himself in this cold visage of the mother. He promises her, just to get away from her as fast as possible, and drives back to be office.

I don’t want to spoil too much because this book is just so good, but oh my god

I’m in general a sucker for drastic changes in character or demeanor (hence why I liked The Visit so much as well) but his book takes everything to another level. They “plottwist” is so incredibly frustrating and nerve wraking to read, the perspective changes provide so much more depth.

And for the first time I finally read a really intricate, morally gray character.

Nr. 6 “Nathan der Weise-G. E. Lessing”

(Nathan the Wise)

This book was kinda eh. If I had so summarize it as fast as possible it would probably be “Religion and accidental incest”. It is about the three world religions and stereotypes between them, about genocide and also about stigmatization. It ends on a nice note, tho.

The only really remarkable passage of this book is the so-called “Ringparabel” in which Nathan answers to the question which religion is the real, big OG of them all. It is pretty nice and the symbolism is really fitting as well. The beginning of the book is incredibly boring but it does get better in the end. All in all not a total waste of time and money but nothing I would read again.

Nr. 7 “Die Leiden des jungen Werther- Goethe”

(The sorrows of young Werther)

Ah yes, no German class without Goethe. This book is written in a way that lets the reader really seep into Werthers emotion because it is written as a letter-novel. Werther is a young, nature-loving guy who (in the beginning of the book) is just really happy, go-lucky and over all nice. Then he meets Lotte, a young, pretty, smart and book-loving woman who is empathic to all those around her.  He falls in love with her, despite knowing that she is literally engaged and about to marry. She knows he loves her, her fiance know he loves her and literally everyone knows he loves her and they are ok with it? I dunno. Werther has a severe Seasonal-affective-Disorder. He kinda makes it through the first winter after meeting Lotte but never really recovers, even during summer. In the second winter, he can’t take it anymore and he commits suicide.

I liked the book (not only because I can identify with the SAD). In the end we learn that Lotte isn’t as good as we originally think she is; She is actually really possessive of Werther and although she wants him to be happy, she doesn’t think anyone is good enough for him and thus he should just stay close to her. She enjoys the attention given by her husband, who is actually really nice and whom she does love, and by Werther who is utterly and completely obsessed with her.

Opinions on this book split 50/50 with my friends. Some of them think like me and they see the heart break and the desire to move on but ultimately, the way attraction is so so strong. Some other friends, more specifically my Help-with-Maths-Go-to-Guy hated this book with a burning passion. I can see why. The imagery is sometimes a tad too far-fetched and the wording is, in true Goethe-Fashion really hard to read and the sentences are kinda messed up as well.

But in the end it is still the book which opened the way for Goethe to be one of the greatest writers in Europe and I can see why.

Oh wow. This concludes all the books I read thus far. There will be definitely more to come next year and maybe I’ll do another post like this once I read some more.

I hope you enjoyed to read my thoughts and maybe felt inspired to look into one of these as well!

See you soon!

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #243

honestly too lazy to think up random song lyrics here, so just have the survey.

What is the one thing you remember most about January of last year? Nothing. You look at the clock and it’s 11:11, do you wish? I never do, no. How do you think you will look 3 years from now? I pray the fuck to god I'm finally at a weight I want. And of course more tattoos and piercings. And colored hair. What would be number one on your bucket list? Meet, thank, and hug Mark profusely while ugly crying. How old do you think you’ll be when you make your will? I don't know. You get a text message. who do you hope it is? Sara. Are there any songs that you hear that just make you wanna dance? Not really, no. Do you get any of your songs from Limewire? lol how old is this... but no. I did when it was "the thing," though. You and your best friend get in a fight. Why do you think that is? I don't know. Probably said something that came across wrong over a text. What is your biggest annoyance at the time? Financial shit. You see the person you fell hardest for. What do you do? Apologize to him if he's even okay with me speaking a word to him and then letting him on his way because I don't want to make him think I'm still stuck on him. I'd wanna know how things are in his life, but I don't want him to get the wrong impression. It'd be better for both of us. Have/are you depressed? I mean I'm diagnosed with depression, but it's well-managed. At the moment I'm not *depressed*, no. Did you grow up in the United States? Yeah. Never left it, even. Do you call anybody "baby"? Besides my cat and snake, no. Who is the one person you can completely be yourself around? Sara. Are your pop-ups blocked on your computer? Yeah. Do you wear earrings on a normal basis? No. How old were you when you realized that life goes on? I don't know... This is such a vague question. But I guess probably when a childhood cat disappeared or died sometime in elementary school. Are your parent’s night owls or morning birds? Well, I don't live with Dad, but Mom is a night owl more than a morning bird for sure. She can be so grouchy in the morning. Do you like to sing? Eh. Who is your favorite author? *shrugs* I don't read enough. How many pillows are on your bed? Two. What’s your favorite thing about the holidays? Seeing my niece and nephew so excited. What is your favorite type of cake? Red velvet, baby. How many rings do you wear on a day-to-day basis? One. Have you ever been in a mental hospital as a patient? Multiple times. Probably WOULDN'T have been multiple if the psych hospitals here were worth a damn. Went to the same one like five-six times and one other and both sucked. It was a partial hospitalization program, WHICH ISN'T AS "SERIOUS" AS AN ACTUAL FUCKING PSYCH HOSPITALIZATION, that saved my ass. What’s your favorite brand of flavored water? None. Have you ever had an ulcer? No. Do you take birth control pills? Not anymore, no. I was only on them for serious period pain, but as of recently my psychiatrist wanted to test out how I do mood-wise without them, especially as it was a regular occurrence for me to be borderline or actually suicidal the day before my cycle started, and the whole week leading up to it was sketchy. So far, I've been fine - I think even better. I was on it for years, and I mean your body changes, so. Do you like soy sauce? Noooooo no no no. Do you have a good doctor? My psychiatrist is literally the reason I'm alive. That's no exaggeration. I would've killed myself by now if it wasn't for him setting my medicine right. I know I would've. My therapist is great, and my primary physician is fine. What’s your favorite store to browse around? Morph Market, ahaha. I love looking at all the reptile morphs, especially the ball pythons. Do you ever meditate on Scripture? No. Do you like poetry? Yes. Do you have expensive tastes? Nah. What is your favorite color? Pink, particularly lighter hues. Have you ever made a scrapbook? Yeah, for a little while when I was younger. What is a question you get asked too much? If my lip piercing hurt. It doesn't bother me, I'm just asked it most. Worst grade you’ve ever gotten? Zeros on things I didn't do/missed. Who are your 3 closest friends? Sara, Girt, and uh... Chelsea, I think. Maybe Lisa. What is something you have always wanted to do? Travel somewhere cool/really memorable. What are you listening to? A playthrough of The Last Guardian. God, I wanna play it so badly. Do you like the smell of cinnamon? It's one of my favorites, omg. Are you in a relationship? No. Do you like the band Hollywood Undead? Yeah. Do you like Taco Bell? Only the quesadillas, THE CINNABON DELIGHT THINGS, and fiesta potatoes. Who was the first person you spoke to today? My mom. Who was the last? I was just texting the woman who adopted Kaiju; she's catching me up on how she's doing, and apparently great! We're trying to plan a day for me to come see her. :> Have you told anyone you loved them today? Yeah. What song is stuck in your head right now? You mentioned HU, now "Bullet" is looping in my head lol. Does it snow where you live? Sometimes, but rarely a lot. What are you currently sitting/laying on? My bed. Have you ever dated a friend of one of your siblings? No. How old is your oldest living grandparent? 80-something. Do you wear contacts? No, I wear glasses, but I wish I could do contacts again considering I desperately want an undereye microdermal but it'd look stupid with glasses, so. Contacts just annoy me. Where are the last three places you went? Taco Bell, my doctor's appointment, and the gas station. Do you ever go hunting/fishing? I would never in my life hunt, and I don't even want to fish anymore. Both are cruel (hunting more than "cruel"...) imo. I'd only ever fish again if Dad asked me to go with him, because since I was a kid, that's always been our "thing," our bonding experience. I wouldn't be able to say no. Do you know anyone who is a nurse? A lot, actually. Would you prefer to own a lapdog or a bigger dog? Sigh. Didn't think I'd want a dog after Teddy, but as of very recently, I've found myself missing the companionship of one. I don't know if I'll end up with another, though, but if I do, I'd want a medium-sized one, like Teddy was. Are you more of a cat person? Yes. What is your worst subject? Math. Do you know anyone who plays guitar? Yeah. Do you play guitar? Not anymore. Have you had to have stitches at all in the last year? No. Have you ever stayed up all night and then gone to work in the morning? No. That sounds like hell. How many relationships have you been in so far this year? It's a week into January lmao. No. Do you prefer to be single or with someone? With someone. Though now that I am single, I kinda think that's for the better right now...? Eh idk. Do you have any tattoos? Yeah. Are you planning on getting any? Oh, plenty. My Mark tribute is getting tidied up by a great artist on the 4th next month and I CANNOT contain my excitement. Did you lose your virginity before you were sixteen? No. Have you ever dated someone who had a child? No, and I never would. What are the middle names of everyone in your family? Wow yeah, lemme share that on the Internet. Where did you go the last time you took a vacation? The beach. Would you ever consider adoption? I don't want kids so like, Who is someone you aspire to be like? Man, there's a lot of people who inspire me in different ways. I think the world knows I look up to the wisdom, determination, dedication, creativity, compassion, etc. etc. etc. of Mark, I adore the heart and empathy of Shane Dawson, Steve Irwin is my absolute idol in terms of passion for animals, and Jeffree Star's work ethic is like, unbelievable. There are plenty others, but those really stand out. How do you feel about your life right now? oof What is your favorite game show to watch? Family Feud with Steve Harvey. He is so fuckin funny. How good are you in trivia games? What’s your best category? Idk. I'm probably best with animal knowledge though, judging from games I've played along with. Would you much rather test your knowledge or share opinions? I guess it depends on the subject and with whom. How do you feel about word games? Fun. Who is your absolute favorite film director? TIM BURTON. THERE IS NO COMPETITION W/ HIM. When’s the last time had to cover a coworker’s shift? Never. Have you ever had a really unreliable coworker? I've never worked long enough to know. Have you ever had to have a ring resized? No. What is a question you would never ever ask somebody? "I would never ask someone what they weigh." <<< This. I'm not a doctor, so I don't see any situation where that'd be an appropriate question to ask anyone. What sounds like a rude word but really isn’t? I'm sure there's something, but idk rn. Have you ever made a blanket? If so, how did you make one? No. How many godparents do you have? Do they care about you? Zero, I think. What is something that should not exist? Rape. Is there a word you have an emotional connection to? It sounds weird I'm sure, but "petrichor" (the smell of the earth after it rains) makes me feel... weird. Nostalgic, anxious, melancholy. Shortly before becoming a couple, Jason and I were just outside at school while it was raining, and we wondered what that smell was called. When we went back to the computer lab (where we were after exams were done), we looked it up and found out "petrichor" was the term. I remember those days too clearly for them to have happened eight years ago. How about a sound? Any emotional connection to a sound? Ummm not that I can think of. Is there something coming up that you are dreading? Not really, no. Do you ever read graphic novels? No. What is the most ridiculous product you have ever seen? Oh idk. Are there any spiders in your home right now? I mean realistically, probably? None that I know of. What was the last thing that made you laugh hysterically? I can't remember exactly what it was, but something on YouTube. I think on Game Grumps. Are there any candy stores where you live? Not that I'm aware of. Do you own any fingerless gloves? Yeah, I still have them in my drawer, actually. I wore them every day in high school. Tell me about the last animal you touched. My cat Roman. :') Have you ever witnessed a birth? Only cats. Can you see your reflection from where you are sitting? No. Wait, yes I can, though only slightly. My snake's cage is just across the room, so I can see against the glass a bit. Quick! Sniff the air. What can you smell? Cat. .-. Have you ever been in a restroom that actually had a restroom attendant? No? What was the last photo you took of? A deer! There were like, seven or eight in the field just across the road a few evenings ago. My lens didn't go out as close as I'd want, but I took some as practice anyway. I only got a few shots though; I came out to the front porch, and after about a minute, they gradually went back into the woods. What do you look for in a mate? Physically and personality-wise. Am I the only one who hates when human couples are referred to as "mates"???? Idk man it shouldn't because we're just animals, but it's weird. ANYWAY, I don't have like, a concrete vision of a partner, but I do have some set-in-stone personality/moral alignments that are musts, such as just being a generally good person, empathetic, you must love animals or shoo, be in touch with their emotions, understanding, soft stuff like that. I also have a strong preference for having a good sense of humor, I lean more romantically towards outgoing people, you gotta be laid-back and approachable... that kind of stuff. Physically, I really, really don't care, but I think we all have preferences; ex., while it really doesn't matter to me ultimately, I tend to find longer hair on guys more attractive than short. Your thoughts on bacon? Ugh, I wish I didn't love it. I wanna be a vegetarian again so badly. What are your thoughts on little kids with cell phones? If they're of an age where they may be separated from their parents semi-regularly and without the constant presence of a guardian, I'm actually for them having *simple* cellphones. Emergencies exist, and even I, someone who doesn't even want kids, would be scared knowing my child is without an easy, quick method of contact with me. Now, remember I did say "simple" cellphones; I don't believe a little kid should grow up unhealthily attached to technology (like me lmao), so especially in developmental years, I wouldn't want my kid to be glued to their phone playing games or roaming the Internet too freely. What was the last lie you told? I'm not sure. Is there anyone in particular you always try to tune out? Ugh, yes. For political bullshit that I cannot stand hearing. Do you work out? No. What was the last thing you ate with a spoon?  Uhhhh probably oatmeal. What is a food that you always are in the mood to eat? Ice cream lmao. Ever held a newborn animal? Yeah. Is there anything you’re in denial about? What? Maybe, idk. Have you ever been to a Chinatown? No. Do you prefer chunky or creamy peanut butter? CREAMY. Don't come near me with chunky pb. Do you stop to pick up heads-up pennies? No. Do you make a wish when you blow out your birthday candles? Yeah, even though I don't believe it does anything. It's just for the novelty of it. Do your pets have collars? Describe them: Bentley just has a blue, average collar. Roman doesn't because he absolutely hates them. What is the last thing you searched for online? Surveys. Do you use any scented lotions? What do they smell like? No. Do you have any friends that speak any languages you don’t understand? I mean yeah, Spanish is common in America.

[a-shepherd-blog]

Hi all! I’m Rey and I’m here with my fave Andrea!

The TL;DR version is:  U.S. marshal who is just a little too trigger happy. Used to work for the NYPD as a detective and then climbed through the ranks. Comes from a mafia family but has gone straight - can’t deny her inherent nature either. Andy’s an old west gunslinger who’s been born into a different era. Above all she’s about putting bad guys behind bars and protecting good people; she’s a hunter.

I’m always looking for plots and connections! Also you can read her super extra bio below. Feel free to hit me up here or on discord at the_revati#8487. 

Give it a like and I’ll slide into your DMs!

ANDREA SHEPHERD ;

&&. word has it ( andrea shepherd ) was just spotted around the city. ( she ) is/are a ( thirty-two ) year old affiliated with ( nypd ). it’s been said that ( she ) resembles ( stella maeve ). ( she ) has been said to be ( tenacious & resourceful ) but also quite ( judgmental & self-destructive ). ( she ) is currently serving as ( a u.s. marshal ). 

(bio below)

tw: death, murder, self- mutilation  

BACKSTORY

Her father was a Voloshyn and that meant he was a part of the Ukrainian mafia that existed in a certain corner of the world. His family? They didn’t live in this corner. Though born in Odessa, Ukraine, Andrea was raised by her mother Alice Shepherd in New York. Alice had grown up in the Hudson Valley and she’d spent most of her life in New York working as an art curator. When motherhood struck, she decided that keeping her children far, far, far away from Odessa was the best choice for them. Mikhail was her first born, but her daughter Andrea was born two minutes later. When they were older, Alice would tell them they came into this world holding hands.

New York was a decent enough place to grow up. Like any city, it had its dark underbelly. Alice did her best to keep both Mikhail and Andrea away from it, but the two grew up a part of the city as much as anyone else. It’s where Andrea picked her first fight, had her first kiss, got drunk for the first time. And Mikhail? He was her best friend.

For the most part, Andrea and Mikhail didn’t see their father. The holidays were the exception and dinners were always silent when Alexi Voloshyn sat at the head of the table.  There was a shock in this pattern when the twins turned 11. Summer break rolled around and, all of a sudden, Mikhail was whisked off with Alexi to spend the summer in Odessa. Ever summer after that was the same. Mikhail would leave in the dead of night and Andrea would get left behind. It became increasingly obvious before long that Alexi was grooming Mikhail to step into his shoes. The young girl grew increasingly bitter about this tradition with the passing of each halcyon season. Mikhail would return just in time for school to start with nothing but a “It was fine” as a reply to Andrea’s “Well? How was it?”  

It’s not that Andrea wanted her own hand in the criminal underworld of Europe - she was too young to understand that - she just wanted to be taken as seriously as her brother. She began to act out as a cry for attention - but all attempts went ignored. A stray comment from Alexi about marrying her off one Christmas dinner set off the final fuse. Andrea was 15 and at peak teenage rebellion. Without blinking, she grabbed the carving knife from the ham in front of her, and cut off her own ring finger. She tried not to cry when she did it and felt immensely betrayed by the three tears that managed to leak out during the act. The entire thing was very much a ‘fuck you’ to the path that had been laid out for her. It was very much supposed to be a ‘fuck you’ to her father. He wanted her to get married? Fuck that. Ring finger? Gone. Now she could never get married.

Instead of reacting with anger or fury, her father simply looked at this act of defiance and laughed. In her 15 years it was probably the first time Andrea heard such a sound. It was a warm, accepting laugh. As the family doctor stitched and patched her up, Alexi finally conceded that Andrea could join them in Odessa next summer. The young woman learned that acts of self-destruction as loyalty held a certain sort of esteem in her father’s eyes.

Sure enough, Andrea went to the Port of Odessa the next summer. It’s where she learned how to fire a gun, worked as a hired hand on a ship, saw her first dead body. She’d been brought along but it was Mikhail that Alexi continuously sent into the fray. It was Mikhail that went on the ride alongs and once again it was Andrea that was left behind. You’d think a father would be more precious with the life of his son but, again, acts of self-destruction as loyalty held a certain sort of esteem in Alexi’s eyes. One cold night, a deal went south and shots were fired. Andrea heard about it from one of her father’s friends the next morning. She heard that while Mikhail’s body had been found, Alexi’s was conveniently missing. Whispers floated that her father had managed to flee the scene. Any sadness Andrea had for her brother was swept away with the resounding notion that her father was a fucking coward.

Andrea returned home to Alice alone. That was Andrea’s tipping point. At her mother’s insistence she applied to colleges in New York and wound up settling on pursuing a political science degree at Columbia. There was an intense irony with the fact that Andrea was quickly falling into a path carved out for law enforcement, but the second she noticed it, she leaned into it. It was another ‘fuck you’ to the memory of her father. More than that, she had a knack for it in a way that she a knack for nothing else.

Andrea joined the NYPD fresh out of college when she returned home and quickly climbed the ladder to the rank of deputy sheriff. In the police department, she finally found the family she’d been searching for.

She continued on up, leaving for the state department and then eventually the federal sector. She spent some time as a firearms instructor in Glynco, Georgia at the U.S. Marshal’s training center before she became a full-blown Marshal herself.

During her time with the Marshal’s service, Andrea was assigned to several different field offices across the U.S. She gained a reputation for being trigger happy and was thus stationed in increasingly remote stations. (It seemed she was still, in many ways, her father’s daughter.) Alice passed during Andrea’s time in the Fairbanks office and due to poor weather conditions it was a week before Andrea got the news. Alice had left Andrea the house in New York. 

Her life continued in other ways. During the day she would do her job, and at the night she would come back to the husband she’d met during her time on the NYPD. For a while, life was right. When Andrea caught whiff that Alexi Voloshyn was making the journey from the Port of Odessa to the Port of New Orleans, Andrea caught the first flight she could to Louisiana.

CUT TO: two weeks later. Andrea. Run out of New Orleans by the Ukrainian mob for publicly killing Alexi Voloshyn.

Andrea has been lying relatively low in in New York ever since the incident a year ago at the insistence of her U.S. Marshal Chief. Criminals infest the city and Andrea has done her best to stay above it. Andrea has a rigid view of most things. While others see the world in shades of grey, she sees it in shades of black and white. The thing about killing her father though, was that all the debts that Alexi had (the coward he was) were suddenly transferred to his only living family member upon his passing. 

Now, Andrea lives alone in Prospect Park with the occasional roommate that comes and goes. She keeps most of the estate boarded up and only really uses the parts she needs. She still conducts her business from the police department.  She’s been trying handle her father’s debts. Above all else - hunting is in her bones. She plans on cleaning up this city.

PERSONALITY / OTHER

grew up in New York, went to college here, but then was stationed all across the country - has been back permanently for about a year or so

an old-west gunslinger born into a different era

trigger happy

deep seeded anger towards the criminal underworld of this city. All about putting bad people behind bars and protecting good people.

holds a mother-fucking grudge like no other.

methodology: shoot it before it shoots me.

honestly, “back in the day” she’d be pretty close becoming an outlaw herself. She walks a dangerous line but shhhh we don’t talk about that

is no-nonsense

If you missed it in her bio, she’s missing her ring finger. She cut it off herself cause she didn’t want to get married. Ever. She always wears a glove on her left hand.

forgets to eat. Survives on a diet of scotch and gummy bears.

has two facial expressions: scowling or smiling slyly

is angry. Always. Keeps it bottled up. Always.

crime never sleeps and neither does she.

likes crossword puzzles

plays the saxophone and the piano. A fan of jazz music.  

“I think she had fun, once” - the gas-station lady

also has a goldfish that she keeps forgetting to feed it’s a wonder it’s still alive.

“Call me Andy.”

Is all about the vigilante life, actually.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

I’m down to get creative with any of these! Also, I love angst???

Debts! - Did Alexi owe your gang member a debt? Congrats! Andy now owes YOU. Have fun with that. 

Housemate - There is too much room in her parents estate in Prospect Park for her live there alone. Andy’s put up a “for rent” sign with the intention of renting out one of the rooms to another citizen. (CLOSED - Marcelo Rodriguez )  

Former friends, exes, frenemies - Maybe she lost touch with them, maybe she didn’t. If your character grew up in New York, there’s the chance they knew each other. Maybe they had sleepovers, maybe they were childhood enemies, maybe they dated. Bonus points if they lead lifestyles she disapproves of now! (open)

Hate-sex - they hate it but they gotta get it on. (open)

Drinking buddies - dear god, Andy consumes so much whiskey. (open)

Siblings - Andy and Mikhail were Alice and Alexi’s oldest, but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have had other younger siblings. Also open to having Alexi have had other affairs. (open)

The Hunted - they’ve crossed paths in the past and she’s got a vendetta against them (open)

Ex-husband - He joined the criminal underworld. She left him. Simple as that. (open) *** would give my kidney for this one

Co-worker - Other police department friends. (open)

And literally anything else!

[lucy-pepperwood]

HXH Oc

Lauryn Lefebvre

From the Begerossé  Union

The people of the Begerosse Union are the french equivalent 

They speak a version of french called Hasa as well as the common tongue.

The Begerosse call their country "Nations Alliées de Bezerose"

Some cities within the continent include:

Hartriemont

Aabinville

Ferkalquier

The Capital Phiras

And the town in which Lauryn is from Selonnet

Selonnet is a small farming and mining town. Most people can read and write, but no one really has higher education. The technology is all decades old, and it leaves Selonnet looking like a time capsule. 

Lauryn's father and mother are both blue-collar works. Her father Jonn-Mar works in a steel factory, and her mother Emmalee works as a bar wench. 

Lauryn is one of 5 children

Her older sister Bryleigh ( 22), is married with a son ( Marcis, 1) and works as a seamstress.

Her elder brother Kason who is 19 and works in the mines. He also has a steady girlfriend, Elyse

Lauryn who works under her sister in the seamstress shop

Her brother Dominick ( 11)

Her youngest sibling Ryleigh ( 7) 

Lauryn and her family live in a tiny place with minimal luxury. They are one of the few lucky people in town who have a car. They also have a radio and running water. Only the government buildings and the tavern have electricity. 

Lauryn wants to change her family and the town's fortune. It's a small town. They all know how smart Lauryn is. They all plan to send her to university in Phiras. Once she turns 17, they were ready to go. That is until a group of hunters came through. 

They were anthropology hunters. Fascinated by the culture of Selonnet. The buildings and the language. Hasa and the common tongue spoke differently than the rest of the world.

 These hunters spread the tales of the prestige of being a hunter. All the money and perks. The townspeople are ready to evolve and get back on track with the rest of the world. 

They send Lauryn to take the exam, hoping she would pass and bring back the wealth and knowledge. Lauryn is helped to the first testing site by the Hunters.

( Lauryn takes the exam before the main cast, Exams happen twice a year, so she takes the first one ( fails) then joins the main cast in the second exam)

The trails to get to the exam are beyond stressful to Lauryn; this is the most physically exhausting thing she has ever done. 

There are only two obstacles she has to overcome before she can get to the exam testing site in Sarherta. First, she must board a cruise liner that is headed for york new city. She and all the other contestants must swim to the ship that is sailing away and pull themselves up lines off the back of the boat. Then once she reaches York New, she has to bike to the trolley station on the opposite side of the city that only has 1 trolley and one departure time. 

Lauryn is the 14/20 person to make it on to the trolley that takes her to the exam cite. She is number of 284/375 persons to take the 286 hunter exam. 

Lauryn struggles throughout the entire process; she does not speak the common tongue very well, and she is a very naive person. She makes it to the third round because she couldn't understand the rookie crushers' attempts at speaking to her. They break her ankle at the beginning of the third round, and she has to stop.

The first round is the easiest for her. It's an intelligence game. A great game of Clue. Where they have to solve a Murder, Theft, and Kidnapping. The contestants who are selected as the murderer, thief, and kidnapper get a pass on the round if less than 50 people guess it's them. If any other constant guess wrong about who did what, when, and where, they fail.  At the end of round one, there are 200 people left.

Round 2 is more physically demanding. It's a hike. In which the examiner marks a trail that the contestants have to follow. They have to make it to the peak and back down the other side of the mountain without being caught by him or his 6 students. Who are using Stun Guns, nets, wires, tear gas, and BB Pellets. Lauryn barely manages this round. And at the end of it, her lack of speaking ability comes to light when the examiner asks her a question, and she can't answer. Previously everyone just assumed that Lauryn was quite a lone wolf. But now they know she underconfident and cant under stand them. At the end of the round, there are 30 people left

The third round is a giant football match. Before the contestants can even be divided into teams, Lauryn has her ankle broken. She's not the only one. 4 people have something broken. After the teams are picked. 7 more people are sabotaged in one way or another. At the end of round 3, only ten people move on.

Lauryn goes unnoticed by Hisoka the entire time. He sees her and writes her off as uninteresting and not worth a second glance. 

Going home a failure is a massive hit to Lauryn's confidence. She feels deeply and is disappointed in her own shortcomings. Knowing how much the townspeople put into her.

She struggles with healing and deciding if she'll ask the townspeople for another chance. By the end of her six week healing period, she decided she will try again. She then spends the next 6 months, focusing on her physical self and learning the common tongue. In the day she spends hours under the sun on the farms. At night she sits near the radio and learns the common language from the shows. 

She goes back for the second exam, much more confident in her ability to pass.

She takes three pre-exam tests. First, she has to take a ferry to the Republic of Rakario, she makes it to the boat early and avoids having to struggle to get on like last time. From Rakario, she has to identify which mode of transport is the right one. She has to make it to the airfield where blimps are waiting to take contestants to the exam cite. Between the Taxi Cab, Rickshaw, and Bus, she picks none of them and walks/runs instead. The Taxi Cab was the right choice. Kinda. If you got into an unaffiliated cab, you would have gotten to the airfield but been unable to find the blimp. If you got into the affiliated taxi cabs, you would have been taken where you needed to go. The rickshaws and busses would have been driven around in circles or delayed as there was a mechanical issue. Because Lauryn walked, it was a slight issue on whether or not the employees wanted to let her on the blimp. They decided yes they would. 

The third challenge was a morality question. You were asked a question by the gate agent and had to answer with more than just one or two words. Depending on what you responded to, your ticket would be marked 1 or 2.  In the end, it didn't matter what you answered, it was a way for the examiners to scan the person's personalities. Depending on what you answered, you got put on one of two blimps. But both blimps took them to the exam cite. Those who responded poorly, they were purged from within the exam.

Lauryn is number 287 of 406. She does not make friends with the central cast until the boat ride to the island where they plan manhunt. Lauryn approaches Leorio for bandages because she had cut herself within Trick Tower. This is how she breaks into the group. 

Lauryn's target for Man Hunt is 118 Sommey. She does not go after him but does the alternate of finding one pointer. She sneaks up on people and hits them from behind. 

Lauryn fights in the second round vs. Pokkle. She Wins and passes the exam. 

Lauryn's fighting style is straightforward. She knows how to throw basic punches and kicks. She uses farm and mining tools as weapons. She wins in her fight over Pokke because she closes in and makes it a close-range battle. She uses a pike ax during this fight. She wins by slamming the handle into Pokke's stomach and shoving him down. Then points the sharp end at his throat. He surrenders. 

Lauryn initially intends to go home and show everyone she passed, then attend university. But she makes a detour to help the group save Killua. She makes plans to see them again in York New. 

Once she is off to school, Lauryn has three primary focus. 

First off is learning everything she can to help her town. 

Second is fixing her appearance. Finally, its to learn nen. Two out of three were easy for Lauryn,

Lauryn's always been smart. Her classes are easy once she gets into the flow, and finding a nen teacher wasn't that hard either. 3 of her professors are professional hunters who were happy to take her on.

It was her appearance that she struggles with. In her village shes never been the prettiest girl, she was just ok. But now, after traveling so much, she feels very self-conscious.  Fixing her appearance isnt even that hard. Getting her teeth fixed and contacts, going out into the sun so shes not so pale. Working out with her nen teachers. It's the psychological part that she stresses about. Anxious about her image, weight, and clothing, Lauryn is always a high strung bundle of nerves.  This effects her for her whole life. Still feeling like a fish out of water, never really good enough. She does manage her problem, but she never becomes entirely happy with herself.

Lauryn, in the 6-month gap, learns the basics of nen. Ten, Zetsu, and Ren. While she knows these principles she is by no means a master. She also knows what Hatsu is but doesnt know what she will develop. When taking the water divining test, she is an enhancer. 

While straightforward and honest. Lauryn is by no means naive. She is a quick learner. He knows how to read a situation and is now cautious of strangers. Gone is the simple village girl and in her place is a savvy young woman.

( the top picture is Lauryn during the first/Second exam the second picture is after the 6 month gap. 

[devilsknotrp]

Congratulations, Honey! You are accepted for the role of Mandy Silverman. This is another sample application for potential applicants to have a look at. You’ll notice that this is quite a long application, but that’s just how I write. You can do whatever you like with yours! If you have any questions about this application or any characters with a connection to Mandy, don’t hesitate to let me know.

OUT OF CHARACTER

Name: Honey Age: Twenty five Pronouns: She/her Timezone: GMT+11 Activity estimation: I essentially work full time and have several obligations, but this group is so tightly organised and planned that I’m confident in participating regularly on the dashboard and as an admin! My admin duties will always take precedence but I will be able to reply to threads several times a week. Triggers: (REDACTED)

IN CHARACTER: BASICS

Full name: Amanda “Mandy” Silverman Age (DD/MM/YYY): Thirty (02/03/1966) - Pisces (Sun), Virgo (Rising), Cancer (Moon) Gender: Cisgender female Pronouns: She/her Sexuality: Homosexual homoromantic Occupation: Adult Education Coordinator Connection to Victim: Mandy did not know the Goode family. She knew of them in the way all newcomers to Devil’s Knot are known: through rumor and glimpses in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot. Mandy had little to do with Linda; she’d seen David and Beth at school, when she’d gone in to meet Mary after work; but she’d never met Brian at all. Alibi: Mandy was at home that Saturday working on a craft project. She ran out of glue at around three, then walked into town to go to the craft store, where she spent a few dollars too many on a crocheting kit. She decided to pick up some coffee and doughnuts then walked back home, where she stayed for the rest of the day.  Faceclaim: Elizabeth Olsen

WRITING SAMPLE

 This is a self para written for the Mandy in 1984.

The Datsun.

It was such a shit little car. Really, it was. Sandy’s miscellaneous paraphernalia littered the dashboard. Her dad’s manuals and work shit stuffed beneath the front seats. Pete had stamped grubby hands all over the back windows - people asked them all the time if they had a dog. “No,” Mandy replied grimly, hoisting Pete up on one hip. “Just a kid.” The motor turned over more often than she could count, which would put her father, ever the optimist, into an agitated but vaguely amused mood. Him, hunched over the wheel, grinding the key, revving the engine, If I… could just... Then, Sandy, cranky and likely hungover, snapping from the passenger side: I told you we needed it serviced! They had about a thousand tapes in the center console, most of them in the wrong cases, with a mix that spanned from Bob Dylan to Pete’s ABC children’s songs. Them, zooming along a damp highway, rain splattering the glass, her dad cheerfully singing, The wheels on the bus go ‘round and ‘round! as Pete laughed in delight. Mandy tries to forget that she’d eventually lose her temper and shout, Can we turn this stupid shit off? as her mother mumbled, Amen, behind enormous sunglasses and a gas station Slurpee.

The Datsun, which was rotting away at the police station right this second. Mandy hasn’t asked when they’ll get it back. It’s evidence, that’s it. She has her bike or her skates and Sandy doesn’t leave the house unless she has a ride (Aisha pulling up front and blasting the horn; Sandy, clattering around gathering her things, muttering, Where’s my goddamn…). Their family car is nothing more than a shell, a marker in the Pete and Phillip Silverman’s trail to murder. Kind of like a pit stop. Wrappers marked with imaginary blood stains littering the cab floor. That clean-sour smell of nervous sweat. Her Dad was always a sweater, mopping his brow and fanning himself, Jeez, it’s hot today. Mandy kind of loved that about him. How when she was looking for him in a crowd, she just had to search for the slightly damp white button-down, the back of his nearly-balding head. His hair was soft, like down, and Pete’s was too. Two twin sandy blonde heads sitting in front of the television, Pete curled into his father’s side, Phillip slowly stroking back those baby-shampoo-soft curls.

So, yeah. The Datsun. Scene of family road trips and midnight grocery store emergencies. A wreck that managed to limp from point A to B, with her dad faithfully in the front, eager to drive her to friends’ houses or cheer practice or a competition two towns over. She still thinks about winding the windows down as far as they could go when they were on the highway. Her dad would look over, catch her eye, and grin in a way that made her think of him as a teenager, a young man, that cheerful abandon of youth that was infectious as a whisper, goose-bumps prickling her arms.

“Shall we see how fast this baby can go?” He’d yell, and Mandy would laugh and laugh: “Go, Dad, go!”

ANYTHING ELSE?

Here is my Pinterest board for Mandy (featuring ‘84 and ‘96 boards, because I’m that kind of person), and her account can be found here.

HEADCANONS

Mandy works at the Community Centre as an Adult Education Coordinator. Which is just a fancy way of saying she organises craft classes for senior citizens. Seriously. Mandy picked up the job mainly to get Sandy off her back. After commuting to Lansing to attend community college, her decision to drop out and live and work in Devil’s Knot was met, unsurprisingly, with a pointedly raised eyebrow and a loud slurp from a glass of wine. And Mandy knew, she just damn knew, that if she stuck around her childhood home any longer, she and Sandy would end up killing each other. The job isn’t taxing: she works a few days a week, has a desk up on the mayor’s floor in the Community Centre, and spends way too much time putting flyers together for their new pasta making courses or adult literacy classes. The administration is what really bothers her, because the students are lovely. Little old ladies she’s known for years; grandfathers who remember her father back in the day. Best of all, they like her. Mandy wouldn’t consider herself a charismatic person, but she is a patient one. She’ll listen to a grandmother’s story a thousand times, nodding in the right places, exclaiming, asking questions. She’s gentle. Around other people it can be a slightly different story. She’s not clipped, exactly, nor is she rude. But she is shy, and Mandy is naturally suspicious. When people stop her to talk, she hesitates. It would be too much to link that back to ‘84, although there’s little doubt that that October and the months that followed succeeded in severing her trust in adult figures for life. No, Mandy prefers to keep to herself, to the people she knows. It’s safer that way; controllable.

Mandy loves movies -- always has. Bobby, Mandy, and Perry always went on about music, talking rapturously about guitar solos and funky beats, all while Mandy pretended to grimace and trade teasing looks with Jenny and Mike. But movies. Mandy’s favourite genre is horror. Surprising, maybe, but she can’t get enough. Sci-fi is her second favourite. Her ritual is to go down to the Videoport on a Friday afternoon and stock up for the weekend. She trails down the aisles, fingers skating over the titles, looking for some weird German expressionist thing or a summer blockbuster she can zone out to. Mandy would hardly consider herself a connoisseur, but she has an encyclopedic knowledge for actors and actresses, and can name their filmography from memory just by looking at them. It’s like, one of her only talents.

Mandy enjoys cooking. She mainly enjoys cooking for Mary, who will always, without fail, praise her skills until Mandy’s rolling her eyes and begging her to stop. Even if it’s crap (which it is a lot of the time; God knows Sandy never taught her to cook; this was all the result of afternoon cable and Reader’s Digest), Mary will come up and hug her from behind, kissing the side of her neck, suffusing Mandy in warmth and her spicy perfume. That was so good. You’re so good to me. Doing things for people is Mandy’s way of showing she loves them. It doesn’t matter what it is -- laundry, vacuuming, cooking -- she’ll find herself doing things automatically. It’s a little funny that she’s turned into a housewife ever since moving out with Mary, but it’s also really damn nice. Mandy looks after their small apartment so tenderly. Watering the plants on the windowsill, buying kitsch ornaments from the thrift store, airing out their cramped bedroom in the spring sunlight. Much of Mandy’s life revolves around domestic duties. She picks up the mail, pays bills, goes grocery shopping. Mary comes too, of course, but doing things together in public can get difficult when all Mandy wants to do is kiss her deeply in the fruit and vegetable section. Mary’s full-time job is also demanding, and Mandy only works a few days a week (despite what you may believe, there are not that many adult education classes to organise; the biggest scandal was when they introduced a salsa class and everyone collectively lost their minds). Maybe, in some way, it’s Mandy’s way of holding up her end of their relationship. And maybe, in a deeper, smaller way, it’s also an excuse. If she’s busy, how can she possibly go back to college? Who’ll make apple crumble and fold the socks? Huh? The pixies? If this makes Mandy sound territorial, it’s because she is. She clings to these chores because it’s far easier than thinking about the alternative, which is to get off her ass and actually make something of her life. She’s thirty years old. Nearly thirty one. And she’s got absolutely nothing to show for it. That hurts more than anything. Maybe that hurts most of all.

Mandy is a lesbian. She knew. Even when she was a teenager, she sort of knew. She and Mike started dating when they were thirteen and just... kept going. Certain things seemed inevitable: prom, college, maybe even marriage. It was so simple to imagine her life with Mike, whose family, the Hawkers, were best friends with her parents; they’d all been born months apart; they were raised together. Most of Mandy’s childhood memories involve Mike and Mary, Jenny. They tumbled around together like puppies, climbing trees and having sleepovers. Then they started to grow up, and Mandy and Mike got together, and the atmosphere shifted a little. Mandy liked Mike. She did. Maybe she loved him, in a way. But it was so, so platonic, and the way she felt when she looked at Mary was anything but. Mary used to scare her; still does, sometimes. She was a force of nature and Mandy was the eye of the storm. Looking back, the signs were obvious, but then again, they always are.

Mandy used to dress the way people expected her to dress. T-shirts and jeans, bleached white sneakers and cheer uniforms. Not feminine enough to please Jenny, who’d wrinkle her nose and fondly say, “Mandy, are you kidding? You cannot wear that,” and not masculine enough for her dad, who’d hand her wrenches as he worked on the Cadillac on weekends, shooting sidelong glances at her squad jumper, mumbling, “You’ll get grease all over you, honey.” Scrunchies and high ponytails. Pale pink jackets and a signet ring Mike gave her when they were fourteen. Just enough to be acceptable; to be palatable. To blend in, fade away, be nothing at all. These days it’s the opposite: Mandy dresses like an amorphous blob. In fact, she’d rather people hazard a guess at what she really looks like underneath her oversized flannel shirts and huge boots. The more clothing she has on, the more protected she feels. Layers upon layers. Band shirts worn soft with too many washes; jeans more grey than black. She still has her pink jacket from high school (Mary hung it up in their wardrobe and shrugged when Mandy found it, saying, “You always looked cute, and I’m a sucker. So sue me.”) Mandy pulls her hair up and away from her face; she doesn’t wear make-up. Still has the signet ring, though. She’s a sentimental doofus, she knows.

Mandy loves arts and crafts. Pottery, weaving, knitting; painting, sketching, cooking. These are things that bring her peace, that quieten her inner world. Growing up, she wasn’t creative in the slightest. Mandy was decidedly pedestrian: the most creative thing she ever did was design banners for the cheer squad or doodle in the margins of her school notebooks. But after Pete was returned, she needed something, anything, to stifle the panic static in her brain. Countless nights were spent sitting on the couch in front of the television, Pete curled into her side, her doing finger knitting or making a collage, eyes darting between her project and the cartoon onscreen. Over the years she’s gotten better -- last winter she managed to knit Mary a hideous scarf -- but her hobbies were never pursued in the same vein as her other achievements. Mandy still remembers practicing for cheer for hours in the cold, or studying in her room until midnight, eyes dry and head aching, quietly panicking about a test the next day. Everything she did, she did obsessively. These days, Mandy just wants to be still. Their apartment is stuffed with half finished craft projects: stacks of coloured paper, jars of beads, wool in miscellaneous piles, flowers drying on the windowsill. Sometimes Mary will come home to find her sitting cross-legged at the kitchen table, a pot of sauce bubbling on the stove, Stevie Nicks in the background, Mandy carefully cutting out prints for her art journal. She started journaling when she was a teenager, mainly to help with her father’s murder and the stress of the subsequent trial, but it’s a habit that has followed her happily into adulthood. Mandy would be lost without her projects, her art. It’s a channel for everything she feels; it clarifies her. And it’s never undertaken with any attempt at perfection. Mandy’s learning, slowly, to let go of unattainable ideas. Life is messy. She’s trying to accept that about the world, herself.

Mandy failed community college. Well, it felt like she failed. In reality, she dropped out. There were only so many classes about psych and childhood trauma that she could take (and ironic, right? That she studied psych? Mandy remembers the day she flicked through the brochure to pick her classes, ticking boxes on the vague notion she’d specialise in children, maybe, in kids who’d been taken or abandoned, and help them find their childhood again). The people were too much. Tons of people like her -- great in high school, but not good enough for a decent college out of state -- and older people too, people who reminded her of her dad (not that he’d gone to college; he used to joke that that was all above his pay grade, No, no, I’m happy where I am! Although Mandy knew how avidly he poured over science magazines, and how impressed he was with Apple and that computer stuff. Maybe in another world he would have done something else, been someone great. Maybe it runs in the family). Mandy felt boring in turning down invitations to parties or even drinks down the campus bar. She’d cite anything -- Pete’s homework, the long drive home, dinner waiting -- and soon that got old. She felt old. Like she’d skipped the fun part of her twenties and jumped right into middle age. It didn’t help that everything after ‘84 melted her brain into goop. The minute Mandy received her final marks from school, she shoved the paperwork back into the envelope and hid it with her dad’s old things. The word failure pounded in her head. How did it happen? How could she have gone from mathletes and cheer to barely scraping by? To holding on by a thread? And why? Why did it all affect her so much; why was she such a damn baby about everything? Pete was back safe. That should have been enough, right? But his return didn’t come with everything. Somewhere between Pete disappearing and that Christmas, Mandy cut herself loose. Swapped SAT prep for making spaghetti for her returned little brother. Watching reruns on TV until it was way too late, tucking him into bed. Some nights she didn’t want to leave him, so she put out a sleeping bag on the floor by his bed between him and the door. Just in case. Mandy always wanted to go to Oberlin for one reason: it was far away from Devil’s Knot (and, okay, she liked the name). Ambition was a thing she wore because it fit, not because she liked it. Watching her dad’s face light up when she showed him her grades was reason enough to try hard; and studying with Bobby made her feel light, if only for a little while, them laughing and whispering about D&D campaigns, teasing each other like siblings. Being smart felt good, even if it didn’t come wholly naturally, and Mandy worked damn hard to keep it up. Giving it away should have been freeing. Instead, Mandy knows she disappointed everyone. She’s just another person who raced to the state line only to stop dead, toes at the edge, and feel fear prick the back of her neck. 

[totallyrealhoroscopesdaily]

11/14/2018 Horoscope

Aries: It’s cold outside. You don’t want to go inside. The cold is burning your lungs and it’s something, and you drink to feel warm for a few moments, crisscrossing pains. You head inside eventually, you’re still avoiding Dea so you don���t want to freeze to death on your doorstep.

Taurus: Quand le monde a né, tu as vu il prend son premier souffle. Tu ne veux pas être compris, aujourd’hui. Tu te blesses.

Gemini: You pack up your accordion and a few changes of clothes, then hop in the car and drive out of the city with Frederick. You told him that you were going on a road trip. You tried to explain that something is fucky, tried to explain the holes in your head where memories should be, but it was like the snake completely lost any ability to comprehend you. You found yourself explaining it again and again, as he’d forget it every few minutes. You eventually said you wanted to go on a road trip and he remembered that. You don’t like lying, but you don’t think you have much of a choice this time. The walls beat once while you’re trying to explain to him, and once more hen you’re packing things into the car, then goes silent.

Cancer: You head home after a while of awkward talking about anything but the important things. You’re exhausted, and you’re cold, and you just want to get out of this dress and wash this make-up off.

Leo: You suddenly remember that this is the first busy season V has been in. You realize this as you watch him tire himself out too quickly in his performances several days in a row, leaving you and Fira to pick up the slack until he’s ready to go again. You might need to rethink your plan, or something.

Virgo: They chose to do what they did, you did not make them kill people, they chose to do that. But they chose to do it for you! And did you ask them to? No, but- No buts! She knows how you get, something bad happens and it has to be your fault somehow, so you start looking for ways to blame yourself. You didn’t hold a gun to their heads and force them to gather skulls for you, you didn’t even ask them to do so, they chose to out of their own free will, that is not on you. 

Libra: You fall into a routine, and the days pass. You’re filled with a constant, low-burning anger at the mistreatment of your friends, of magicals.

Scorpio: It’s so quiet without them. I iss them. I really miss them.

Sagittarius: You’re still in the SPSG group chat. You never left it. You could talk, try to reconnect, end your own isolation. You watch the messages scroll by for a minute, they’re joking around without you, and you let the screen turn dark and your phone fall asleep. You don’t message them. You drop your phone to your chest and tilt your head back, resting it against the armrest of the couch, and close your eyes. You can already feel it. You aren’t going to sleep tonight. You’re hyper aware of the house around you.

Capricorn:  You find a rest stop on the road. It’s a small gas station and a cheap fast-food restaurant. You forgot to pack money, not that you had any, but you head inside anyway, just to warm yourself up.

Aquarius: You start talking, force yourself to, really. These words aren’t going to come if you don’t force them out, not when you’ve already spoken more today than you’re used to speaking in a week. Maybe that was a disservice. Maybe you should have been trying to speak more, but you didn’t feel the need to. You say that you can barely remember the years, that the days blend into each other seamlessly, that you flat out didn’t remember even that much when you first starved it. Linda hums at you and you swallow a mouthful of tea. Mint.

Pisces: Your body feels heavy and your thoughts are slow, so you lay where you are for a while longer. You eventually recognize the children on you as Rose and Jacob, and that means you’re probably in the orphanage. You think you should get up, go figure out how you ended up here, maybe inform Pamina of where some of her charges disappeared to?, but there’s children on you that you’re loath to wake up and your body seems to respond a beat too late to whatever you command anyway. You can’t go back to sleep, you’ve slept too much in a short amount of time and this exhaustion is not physical, or at least, not purely physical. You need to move before you can sleep again. For now, you stare at the ceiling, entering a quiet, thoughtless sort of meditation.

[argorpg-blog]

CONGRATULATIONS and welcome to the crew of the Argo II, MIA! The Gods have spoken: welcome aboard OTHISI, known as ÉLIDA ROSALES (JINX), with a faceclaim of AMANDA ARCURI. Please take a look at our checklist, and send in your account in the next 24 hours.

ADMIN NOTES: Mia, we are absolutely in love with your app. In a group like this we run the risk of getting too sad or too dark, but Jinx is the bright spot of color we never knew we needed! She is so bright, so fun and vivid - you had us when you described her rainbow graffiti and colorful hair. Despite this, you managed to keep her vivid and playful without turning her into a cartoon character. She still has her own struggles, her own hardships as much as anyone else - it just comes off in a more delightful way. We can’t wait to see what kind of trouble she causes! 

NAME/ALIAS: Mia

AGE, TIMEZONE, PRONOUNS:  PST she/her/hers

ACTIVITY  & EXTRAS: I’m a college student so life can get pretty busy, but I just finished midterms so hopefully I’ll be relatively free. I should always be able to reply in twenty-four hours, with some exceptions when I’m especially busy.

IN CHARACTER

DESIRED SKELETON: Othisi

CHARACTER NAME:  Élida Rosales → Jinx!!!

AGE & GENDER:  Cis-Female and 20 (February 11 1998)

FACECLAIM: Amanda Arcuri

BIOGRAPHY:

(i)

Ever since Nadia left Argentina, she had been a wanderer. The door back to Argentina was locked and sealed, and so she in turn became like a seed in the wind, blowing and blowing, looking for a place to lay down roots with little success. For a few years Nadia dropped off the map, little to no paperwork noting where she was or what she did, before she surfaced again in New York City, working menial jobs for wages that nobody could expect to live off of. Her child often clung to her hip while she was working, taught to be quiet so not to disturb the other employees and the boss.

They lived in a low income housing complex filled with other Argentinian refugees and immigrants, all forming a tight knit community that would trade off watching the children whose parents were working. The neighbors ended up being the ones who taught Élida how to walk and talk, all while her mother worked and worked and worked. It was an extended family unrelated by blood that watched out for each other in what little ways they could. They also knew not to pry: they all had memories they rather leave in the past. Thus, Élida didn’t know who her father was. Nadia never offered the information and Élida never asked.

(ii)

Élida never thought it odd to have seven uncles, nine aunts, and a battalion of cousins, but no father; to her that was just the way the world worked. Her universe was the series of buildings that made up the complex, the bus to school and back, and the few stores her mother would bring her to when shopping. This was her kingdom, where she ruled as the empress of all. She quickly became the master of sneaking out, of ducking under windows, and of slipping through fences in her little complex. Sometimes a gaggle of other children would follow her, sometimes she was on her own. She’d come home cheeks sticky with ice cream that she begged the local shop for and her mother would just give her a knowing look before swiping a cloth off of the counter to clean Élida’s cheeks with.

It was a normal day like any other when Élida came home from a day’s wanderings to find two official looking adults glaring down at her. A voice from inside her just screamed run, and so she did. Small feet sprinted down staircases, past the doors of her extended family as they looked on with worry, and onto the small green space in the middle of the apartments. The adults were adults though, which gave them the unfair advantage of being bigger and faster than her. They snatched her up before she could even make it onto the street.

(iii)

In her first foster home, she was the only girl with three boys, all older and rougher than she was. They would steal what few possessions she’d been allowed to go and get before being moved, leaving her with nothing of her mother’s. The parents weren’t cruel, but they weren’t kind either. They seldom paid attention to the finger marks that would show up on her arms were the boys gripped her too tight or bruises perpetually covering her knees from when they tripped her. She adapted though, and got quicker, and sneakier. After an outburst one day, where she scratched one of her foster brothers until he bled, she was moved to her second home. They never recorded why she attacked her brother, just that she had, making her into a violent case.

(iv)

Her second home she refuses to think about.

(v)

She’s twelve the first time she runs away. The phrase running away didn’t feel quite right though. It felt more as if she was running towards something. The softening air of spring was quickly approaching as snow gave way into rain when she leaves. The pavement was slick with water washing into drains. Sometimes it flashed rainbow as oil slicked from the streets into the water, and despite her knowing it was pollution, she couldn’t help but be a little entranced by the sight of a liquid rainbow. Two weeks later the police arrested a mud-encrusted child for petty theft, placing her into her first group home.

(vi)

Quiet they tell her. Do your chores and don’t you dare complain. You’re lucky to be here. Élida wasn’t a child anymore and she didn’t listen to the whims of adults, so every demand was met with a greater act of defiance. They hung the threat of juvie over her head like an axe, ready to swing down at any point, but she was not cowed. The other kids would come and go, transferring in and out of the home, a multitude of new faces and names to memorize before they were snatched away and dragged to a different home, but she stayed. Her name became a curse spat at her for every act of joyful rebellion she committed. After they caught her spray painting rainbow dicks onto the neighbor’s garage door, she was sent to juvie.

(vii)

From her chain link cage she could only peer into the outside world and watch as odd creatures slinked around, beady eyes staring her down. Nobody else seemed to see them.

(viii)

She goes through three more houses before she finally runs away for good, vowing never to be caged again. It was a flash decision. One moment she was looking out the locked window, the next her mind is screaming at her to run, to leap, to fly after months (years) of being imprisoned. Thinking things through was never her strong point, so in seconds the window lock was popped and she was slipping off into the night. Intuition lead her through the crowded streets of New York City, up into an abandoned perch that she would soon call home. A penthouse, left in shambles, became the first safe place she had lived in since her mother died. It was here she was allowed to heal from years of being placed in uncaring home after apathetic house. With little thought to budgeting, she spent the last of the cash she stole from her foster parents on hair dye and nail polish. In a gas station bathroom she bends over the porcelain sink, the excess pink running out of her hair with the water. Her hands are stained the same color. It feels like victory but smells like chemicals. Élida Jinxcounts this as a win.

It’s over this period of her life that she had the time–and need–to hone her skills as a thief, and hone them she does. Her nails are always painted with stolen polish, mismatched earrings glimmer in the light as she cocks her head mischievously, a smile dancing on her ruby red lips. These were victimless crimes! Nobody was being hurt and the adrenaline rush she felt as her feet pounded the pavement, the sounds of distant yelling as the police tried to follow her winding path, was un-replicable. Eyes previously dimmed by sadness sparked again, and continued to brighten with every impulsive act. So what if she sees creatures that nobody else does? She outruns them too, laughing every step of the way.

She officially meets her father, not that she knew it at the time, on a Wednesday night. Her hand frantically shoves a necklace into her bra for safekeeping, while sirens echo in the distance. She doesn’t know this neighborhood, she doesn’t know where to turn next, and she loves it. The thrill of mystery and adventure whooshing through her ears, her now blue hair blowing around her, the sounds of hounding footsteps behind her. Which way to turn, right or left? Right? Or left? A moment of indecision as she approached the upcoming intersection could be the difference between freedom or juvie. Then in front of her is a man, his hand casually pointed left, a tilted grin that mirrors her own. Without a shadow of doubt Jinx knows she can trust him, so without hesitating she turns left onto freedom.

Vandalism becomes her main form of expression. Bright murals dotting the streets she frequents, all carry the same bright blue signature: get jinxed!!! She prides herself on being a one woman rise in crime, craving the high of success. Her penthouse was now decorated with all assortment of trinkets, gleaming bright colors when the light shined through the dusty windows. Everything was DIY, from plastic containers remade into ottomans to glass bottles turned into cups.

At night, under the smog filled sky, in her reclaimed penthouse she dreams of the same man from before telling her it’s time to go, to move on, his quirky smile familiar in some way.

The next night she spends trying to bandage her mangled leg, blood bright red staining her repurposed sheets. A yellow jagged tooth from an animal not of this world still embedded in her calf.

(ix)

The woman with the limp who sells her tacos every Tuesday stops Jinx on her way home, eyes a mixture of worry and strength. In a hushed tone she tells Jinx about her father.

(x)

Camp was supposed to be the home she never had, that’s what the satyr described it as, but instead she just feels empty. Another cage. Her cabin wasn’t even a real family, it was a mishmash of the unwanted and the children of Hermes. Jinx wasn’t unwanted, she wasn’t unloved, she was Jinx and that was damn well good enough. Her life of freedom had been replaced by rules. When to wake up, when to sleep, when to do this and that and who cares what? There were moments that things felt almost good. Like when she was out of the cabin, learning how to throw knives with frightening accuracy. Or when she was picking locks into restricted areas, leaving strings of honey and bombs of bees dangling in her wake. Then she went back to her cabin and was surrounded by a constant cycle of sadness, morose expression of new campers feeling betrayed by their godly parent coming and going with no end. This would never be home.

Jinx adapted–she always did–and made friends, upped her pranking game to new levels (the incident of 2016 would never be mentioned again if Chiron had his way (Jinx made sure he didn’t)), and she still got be free during the majority of the year. New York became her playing ground once again after summer ended, and police officers everywhere bemoaned September. Besides, it gave her a chance to get to know, however distantly, her father.

Her mother never dwelled on him, always looking forward, and so that’s what Jinx did too. She had assumed he died during the military coup, back in Argentina, but now that she knew differently, a longing for a relationship grew that she never knew existed. It wasn’t devotional like some people were with their parents, it was something closer than that. Jinx didn’t need to find the right words to describe it, she’d leave poetry to Apollo’s kiddos, she just knew that it felt right.

(xi)

Names and prophecies were being listed off, which was dull. Instead, she focused her attention on pickpocketing a son of Athena’s skinny jeans. Skinny jeans were a fashion trend that proved a difficult challenge to overcome, but not to fear, Jinx was up for the task. A few sets of nearby eyes swiveled towards her; the wallet was half-way out of his pocket. They weren’t looking at her quarry though, they were looking at her. Her name was called. Shamelessly pocketing the wallet she moved to the front with the others who were called. Nobody was more bewildered than her, but hey, adventure is adventure and hell yah she wants to go! Besides, everybody looked all tight and nervous which was so not good for their skin; wrinkles and shit would happen if you frowned too much. Honestly they need her, if only to save them from premature aging.

FATAL FLAW/DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC:

Impulse control is not what Jinx would call her strong point. She’s never been part of a team, favoring her independence and freedom over collective action. It’s made her whimsical in the sense that if she wants to do something, what’s stopping her? The repercussions fall on her, the outcome she decides through her actions. If she wants to go balls to the wall, there is nothing stopping her. It’s her risk to take. Suddenly though, it’s not just her risk. There are a group of people that rely on her to be steady and she doesn’t know how to be that. Nothing in her life has ever been steady. She doesn’t think, which has gotten her arrested more than once, and she doesn’t plan. It’s always been her downfall. It’s not a lack of cleverness but rather a lack of control. Most of her life has been either highly regulated or completely unregulated, so she doesn’t work in moderates. Jinx is going all in, reckless attack, or she’s not going at all.

EXTRAS

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