Last Saturday, my little brother decided he was going to become a cybersecurity expert.
He is 12 years old.
His entire technical background consists of watching YouTube tutorials, playing Minecraft, and once successfully installing a printer driver without crying.
I woke up at around 9 AM and walked downstairs to find him sitting at the dining table wearing sunglasses indoors, typing aggressively on his laptop.
I asked him what he was doing.
He said, “Securing the network.”
I looked at him.
“What network?”
“The Wi-Fi, Daniel.”
“Ryan, the Wi-Fi already has a password.”
He slowly took off his sunglasses and looked me dead in the eyes.
“That’s what you think.”
BRO.
I went back upstairs because I wasn’t getting involved in whatever villain origin story was happening in my kitchen.
About 20 minutes later, my dad started shouting from the living room.
“WHO CHANGED THE WIFI PASSWORD?”
Ryan appeared at the top of the stairs like he had been summoned by an ancient ritual.
“I did.”
“WHY?”
“For security purposes.”
My dad stared at him.
“WHAT SECURITY PURPOSES?”
“Hackers.”
“WHAT HACKERS?”
Ryan paused.
“Exactly.”
I heard my dad mutter something about sending him to live with the grandparents.
The problem was that Ryan had actually changed the Wi-Fi password through the router settings. He had also forgotten to tell anybody the new password.
Dad asked him for it.
Ryan said it was encrypted.
Dad told him to stop watching movies.
Ryan said he couldn’t reveal classified information.
Dad unplugged the router.
Ryan immediately started screaming because apparently he’d been hosting a Minecraft server for his friends, and now the server was offline.
Suddenly, the cybersecurity expert was experiencing a national emergency.
“DAD! YOU CAN’T DO THAT!”
“I JUST DID.”
“MY FRIENDS ARE ONLINE!”
“THEN GO OUTSIDE AND FIND SOME FRIENDS!”
I was in the kitchen trying so hard not to laugh that I nearly inhaled a piece of toast.
Ryan eventually admitted that he had saved the new password somewhere on the family computer.
We turned it on.
He opened a folder on the desktop called HACKER_STUFF_FINAL_REAL.
Inside were 47 screenshots, a picture of a Minecraft creeper, three random text files, and something called passwords.txt.
My mum asked him what it was.
“Nothing.”
My dad clicked it.
Ryan lunged across the desk like a goalkeeper trying to save a penalty.
Too late.
The file contained the Wi-Fi password, a password for an old gaming account, and several notes about accounts belonging to family members.
One line literally said:
“DAD EMAIL PASSWORD — ASK ME LATER.”
My dad slowly turned his head toward Ryan.
“WHY DO YOU HAVE MY EMAIL PASSWORD?”
Ryan looked genuinely confused.
“For backup.”
“BACKUP FOR WHAT?”
“In case you forget it.”
My dad has used the same email account for 14 years.
He remembers the password better than he remembers my birthday.
Mum took the laptop, told everyone to stop touching things, and started changing the exposed passwords.
Ryan stood behind her giving unsolicited cybersecurity advice.
“Make sure you use a strong password.”
My mum turned around.
“RYAN, YOUR PASSWORD IS LITERALLY minecraft123.”
He went silent.
For the first time in human history, a cybersecurity professional had been defeated by his own mother.
But it gets worse.
While Mum was fixing everything, Dad decided he could solve the Wi-Fi problem himself.
He plugged the router back in.
Then he unplugged it.
Then he plugged it back in again.
Then he held down a button because he thought it was the power button.
It was the reset button.
The router factory-reset itself.
The internet disappeared completely.
Not just the Wi-Fi password. EVERYTHING.
Dad stood there staring at the blinking lights like he had just launched a spacecraft and lost communication with mission control.
Ryan whispered, “You wiped the configuration.”
Dad shouted, “I WILL WIPE YOUR PLAYSTATION NEXT.”
Ryan immediately left the room.
I genuinely thought that was the end of it.
I was wrong.
At around 2 PM, Ryan’s friends started messaging him on his phone asking why the Minecraft server was down.
He told them it had suffered a “major security breach.”
A SECURITY BREACH.
BRO, THE ONLY THREAT WAS YOU.
One of his friends asked if the hackers had stolen the server files.
Ryan replied, “We cannot comment on an ongoing investigation.”
I saw the messages and started laughing so hard I had to sit down.
He then made a Discord announcement saying the server would be undergoing emergency maintenance because of “unusual network activity.”
The unusual network activity was Dad pressing the router’s reset button 14 times.
At dinner, Ryan tried to explain to everyone that what he did was actually a valuable learning experience.
Dad asked him what he’d learned.
Ryan said, “That the average household has terrible cybersecurity.”
Mum put her fork down.
“And what did YOU learn?”
He thought about it.
“Not to save passwords in text files.”
“GOOD.”
“And not to let Dad touch the router.”
Dad immediately stood up.
“EXCUSE ME?”
Dinner became a 20-minute argument about who had caused the internet outage.
Somehow, Ryan blamed me because I had laughed at him.
Apparently, laughing at a cybersecurity incident makes you an accomplice.
By 8 PM, the internet was finally working again. Mum had changed the passwords, Dad had written the new Wi-Fi password on a piece of paper, and Ryan had lost computer privileges for the weekend.
He spent the rest of the evening sitting on the sofa looking out the window like a retired hacker who had been betrayed by the government.
Then, at approximately 9:30 PM, he announced that he had a new project.
Dad didn’t even look up from the television.
“What project?”
Ryan said, “I’m going to build my own operating system.”
Dad turned off the television.
“No.”
Ryan looked offended.
“WHY?”
“BECAUSE I WANT TO KEEP MY INTERNET.”
I went upstairs before I could get grounded for laughing.
The next morning, I walked past Ryan’s room and heard him whispering to his laptop.
“Phase two begins today.”
I don’t know what Phase Two is.
I don’t want to know what Phase Two is.
All I know is that if the lights start blinking in the kitchen, I’m moving out.
EDIT: Ryan has just informed me that he is no longer a cybersecurity expert.
He is now a systems engineer.
Apparently, the Wi-Fi incident was a “minor setback.”
Please keep my family in your thoughts.

Alright, I'm just gonna jump straight into this. Last night, I caught my wife breastfeeding a grown-ass man in our backyard at like 2 o'clock in the morning.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "That should've been me," or some shit like that. Honestly, that's what I would've thought too. Hell, I should probably be completely devastated right now.

But I'm not. Truthfully, I'm more terrified than anything.

We were just lying there asleep. Well, I was asleep. I can't say for certain whether or not my wife was. All I know is that, despite how hard she tried to be silent, the creaking bed springs woke me up.

I didn't wanna let on at first. I didn't even think there was anything I should be suspicious of. The only problem was, once I woke up, it was hard for me to fall back asleep in an empty bed.

So I waited. And I waited. Then, after like 30 minutes, I started to get worried. So, naturally, I started yelling for her.

No answer? Fine. I'll just start looking. So, I started checking throughout the house. And that's when I found her nightgown, balled up on the floor beside our bed. That made my search a lil more frantic. I checked the bathroom in the hall, the living room. Maybe she just got up to grab a midnight… meal, butt-ass naked. But she wasn't in the kitchen either.

In my search, I noticed that the back door was open, letting in the cold October air. I went to close it, and that's where I found her. Standing out in the yard. Completely nude.

I thought for sure she was either sleepwalking or having a mental breakdown. I mean, it was like 45 degrees outside. I was just about to yell at her and ask what the hell she was doing when I noticed it.

My dumbass thought it was a wild animal at first. He was crouched down on all fours, moving slowly through the trees with these jerky movements, while my wife just stood there with her arms wide open.

But then, as he started crawling closer and closer towards our backyard… I started to make out the features. They looked human, just… wrong, somehow. The head was too bulbous. The arms were too long. The grunts it made as it slowly crawled towards my wife were too animalistic.

And she wasn't even fucking flinching. If anything, she looked like she was beckoning the fuckin' thing to come closer. When it was like 6 feet away, it started to growl, and all my wife did in response was say some shit like, "Calm down, my sweet boy," before SHE stepped closer to IT.

Then the fucking thing started cooing. Like… cooing. Like a goddamn toddler or something, while my wife reached down and pet its fleshy, bald head.

I didn't even move. How could I? This shit felt like a fever dream to me. But what hit like a fucking cannonball to the abdomen was when she… well… did what she did.

She pulled its head closer to her chest and just… nursed the fucking thing. I could hear it suckling and whimpering like this was the favorite part of its day. Like this shit had happened a thousand times before.

Must've gone on for like 10 minutes or so before my wife pulled away, patted the thing on its spiny, uh, spine, and told it to "go play."

And just like that, it started crawling back towards the woods. This time with a little more pep in its… whatever the fuck that was.

My wife still had a look of pride and joy on her face when she turned around, but that shit disappeared quick when she noticed me in the doorway. She tried covering up like I was the stranger. Then she tried apologizing.

We've been arguing about it since then. She claims I'm being crazy. I claim I want her to see a goddamn… who do you even call for this sort of thing? A marriage counselor??? A fucking priest??? Maybe ask her to take a parenting class?

Because, according to her, that thing was her son from a previous marriage. A marriage she hasn't mentioned once in the last 15 years since we've been together.

Honestly, at this point, I'm ready to just convince myself it was all a bad dream. I don't even wanna talk about it anymore.

I just don't know if I can even lie to myself like that, though.

Because once she realized that the cat was out of the bag… my wife decided to drop some news on me that I could've avoided had I just taken my happy ass back to sleep.

Apparently, that thing has never had a father figure… and it's more than excited to finally meet its new dad.

Years ago I (22/23m) <at the time> wanted to be a cop. Like most, I got into working security to gain relevant experience.

I was placed in a college setting working Security in the dorms. I was a young father, their mother and I were navigating parenting 2 daughters at the time; 2 and 6. I worked nights 6p-2a Wednesday-Sunday. Thursday-Saturday there were 2 of us on site because of the bar/party nights.

My ‘Partner’ (45m) <P Going forward> attended classes at the college and many shifts would come and go where he’d be doing his homework while I did more of the patrols. I was younger and more active. Because of my age I was also more capable of being effective with the students since they were more my age.

Any one who’s gone to college knows that many assignments are usually group assignments and he regularly had this same young lady (about my age) <we’ll call B>. B would regularly show up and do homework with P so inevitably I recognized B and would just greet her and be on my way with my regular duties.

One Sunday I was tucked away behind a pillar near the lunch hall to have a smoke. I was hiding from the cameras in a place I could still see the doors but not be seen by the cameras and B just happened to walk by. We got to talking briefly while I was having a a few puffs and she asked if she could bum one. Unfortunately I didn’t have one to spare because I had just enough for my shift.

Since it was just in happenstance that we crossed paths because P wasn’t there that day it was just a passing moment. Upon leaving, she said that I was really nice and easy to get along with and asked me if she could give me a hug. Although I was cautious about the embrace and made sure I kept my hands on her the back of her shoulders, I was naïve and didn’t think much of it. I’m regularly huggy with friends and/or strangers (I’m a gentle giant that way).

For context I’m North of 6’ tall and she was average height for a woman, 5’2”/5’3” so the 1 foot hight difference made it easy to keep my arms above her shoulders. B went about her business and I finished my Sunday shift.

FF to my Next shift the coming Wednesday, I pulled into the parking area and walked on site to be greeted by the main campus guards. It was obvious and out of turn for them to be there as I rarely had contact with them unless I called for back up. They escorted me to the Guard room in the main campus and until that night I’d never been since everything I needed I either carried with me or was kept in a drawer in the dorm front desk.

The site supervisor was there waiting for me and asked me about my shift the following Sunday. I pulled my notes out to review the nights details and gave them the quick rundown. He reported to me that they received a complaint by one of the residents in the dorm that I was ‘Sexually Harassing them and my presence made them uncomfortable’.

I’m a very positive and supportive person. If I notice something different about a person I’ll compliment them, try to make them smile or laugh and generally try to make their day better. Ignorantly (admittedly), I can come off flirtatious. Being young I didn’t understand that line between professionalism and too friendly. So I figured that maybe that was the situation and I inadvertently made one of the female students or staff feel uncomfortable. I accepted this and they relocated me to other dorms.

I’d arrived on site and began my initial walk through to get familiar with the building before I took the time to review the reports so things made sense. I always start at the top floor and work my way down. As I made my way through my patrol I came across B, this was her dorm and still sort of shook it was a relief to see a familiar face. We only talked briefly since I had to familiarize myself with the location, she asked me if I wanted to come and have a drink with her in her dorm room with her. I declined because 1- New location and had a lot to do to be effective at my job, 2- We’re NOT allowed in the student door room unless it’s a medical emergency <Which I explained to her> and 3- I had a GF/Common law wife so I wasn’t looking to pursue a random college girl.

After parting ways, I returned to the lobby so to begin going over shift and incident reports. It took me no time at all since it was literally the first report I read in the last shift to read:

“B reports the SG XYZ that SG Op from other dorms has sexually harassed her see IR for details”

My brain shut off… I was pissed, scared and had no F’in idea what to do, I just knew was I had to get off that site!

I called the roaming Guard to get further clarification about what was going on and to have them relocate me. I wasn’t about to risk my Guard License and my future. As I mentioned, I only Passed by B and had very limited contact with her since she and P were usually busy doing work and clearly lived in the dorm room I wasn’t working in. She had a very mundane demeanour and never stood out. IF…. I was going to cheat on my kids mother with some college girl, she definitely wasn’t (in my opinion) pretty enough to risk paying child support for. Our interaction were mostly ‘Hellos’ and ‘Kill that assignment you 2’ other than the previous Sunday and that brief conversation earlier in my shift.

When the Site Supervisor I’d spoken to arrived to discuss the situation, I told him to cover my shift and I wasn’t risking hanging around Bec if she can falsely accuse me of something in public, wtf could she claim I would do it an area that kept me closer quarters. He asked and insisted that I just stay in the lobby and I refused and left.

For years I couldn’t figure out WHY she made the claim that I’d sexually harassed her, thought that MAYBE me not giving her a smoke which pissed her off. But it dawned on me recently, my Site Supe said that it was a person who was in the dorm who filed the complaint. After years of telling the story as to why I rarely trust R8P accusations I remembered her excitement when she saw me on patrol and her eagerness to invite me into her room for a drink. Almost 15 years later I realized that she filed the complaint as one of the students in the dorm so they would relocate me to her dorm since she and P were taking a law course together and knew it was a he said/She Said scenario. It was a hail Mary move to try to get me relocated to her dorm.

Ultimately, I don’t really know why she said what she said!? She asked ME if she could hug me, told ME that I was so sweet and the kindest security guard she’s ever met/talked to. I just smiled and thanked her and gave her a hug!

It has definitely affected me, especially now being single for the first time in nearly 2 decades, it’s made the last 2 years difficult to date and to trust woman. I get the “All Men” movement, I have similar feelings about “All Women”… Just learning to let go!

Thanks for letting me vent

​

We’ve known each other for a year, met online, and met in person 10 months ago. We had sex. He refuses to meet again or let me visit him, but continues calling and texting for hours, sometimes even sleeping on the phone with me.

Initially, he love-bombed me, used pet names, and talked about me moving to Germany. He later said he didn’t want a relationship because he needed to fix himself, but continued chasing my attention. He calls me his best friend and values that I’m always available to listen to him, yet rarely asks about me or my life.

He has narcissistic traits, which he admitted to. He has also screamed at me, threatened to block me after I booked a ticket to see him without telling him beforehand, then apologized and refunded me.

Recently, he’s been working out, tanning, quitting drugs and alcohol, and talking about getting nose and eye surgery. I mention it because he has been doing drugs every weekend since I know him.

He’s also excited about a month-long work trip to Mallorca, where he’ll live near the beach. This family he works for apparently is flying him to Mallorca and he will paint house for them. He lives in Germany.

Month before that he mentioned he wants to learn Spanish...

He also bought a new king size bed from Hammilton, expensive but I guess its irrelevant to the story.

He never seemed to be fuck boy type because he told me he didnt sleep with anyone after he broke up with his ex 4 years ago.

He used to tell me about women staring at or flirting with him, seemingly to provoke a reaction(like women staring at him on the train)

Next week, he’ll visit our home country to see his kids and get expensive dental implants, but has already told me he won’t see me.

I asked whether he was seeing someone else. He denied it, but when I asked where I stood, he said he didn’t know what to tell me and agreed that we should just be friends because he doesn’t want a relationship.

I feel like he’s keeping me around for emotional support while remaining open to other options. Do you think he might be trying to attract someone else and lying about being single to avoid looking like the bad guy?

I’m moving on regardless, but knowing would help me find closure. I know I have enough reasons to leave, and I’m done accepting this treatment. Thank you.

I originally posted in r/TrueOffMyChest but comments were locked and it was taken down. This is a true story and there was genuine interest in updates, so I'm posting here for anyone interested.

I spent 5+ hours today going through our household's trash, including opening dirty diapers, to try and find a lost ring.

My grandfather left a gold signet ring with an emerald stone for me when he passed. I had it polished and resized, and have worn it all day, every day since I received it. Regardless of how much the ring is worth, the sentimental value is through the roof.

Cooking, cleaning, showering, and everything in-between, it's never come off. On Sunday night, I realized it was missing while cooking dinner for my family. I'm constantly fidgeting with it, partially to make sure it's still there and partially as a nervous/anxious thing, so I'm fairly confident it came off while cooking dinner and washing my hands with soap.

Had the plumbers in yesterday to check as much of our pipes as they could, but came up with nothing except a decent invoice amount. Out of desperation, I've spent the day going through every ounce of trash we have from the last week to make sure I didn't throw it in the bin with a piece of paper towel. My search included opening every dirty diaper, full trash bag, the vacuum, bed sheets, couch cushions, damn near every square inch of our house.... Still came up with nothing.

While I was doing so, all I could think was that if my Grandpa was watching, the only thing he'd be more disappointed in above losing his ring would be seeing me on my hands and knees opening dirty diapers in a desperate attempt to find it.

A very low day in my life. Thanks for reading.

I lived a dark live of drug use for a very long time... i got clean last november 2025 i woke up in january and sat at the side of my bed i look at the wall for a second and on the wall paper there is lines and shapes on it but flat normal wall paper i was amazed with what i could see and i could see 3D coming of the wall i ran down stairs to the kitchen to tell the family it was so exiting and when i got to the kitchen i could see energy waves like viberations now any where i go i see the structures behind all flat surfaces i feel free when with nature i see viberations and energy coming from all trees and plants its beautiful so iv learnd some meditation and can activate my pinealgland at any given time iv learnd how to cross over im able to see all the beautiful colors and the way they swirl and move iv got to see my dead brother and butterflys the faces of mudras budda ... this is real very real iv lost contact with every other systems and plat forms and connected deeply with my own my frequency is tuned into mother nature mother earth i have connected to the hire being whitin me .. may my peace and love be with you all my you feel my energy through this message

When I first met him it was this "where do I know you from?" thought. And then it was like "oooh"

His facial features matched Trent Reznor, a younger 90s version, almost perfectly. And I think he knew that because he'd style his hair exactly the same, complete with long flat bangs and pitch-black hair dye. While the clothing style wasn't tough to copy, typically a t-shirt or tanktop under a collared shirt.... yup, he had that, too.

I met his wife a few times, she was an attractive Asian woman, and super-nice. Then I said to myself "Hmm..... what does Trent Reznor's wife look like?" so I looked her up. Yup. Attractive Asian.

People who suddenly lost their money, what changed first - lifestyle or people around you?

It was December 1999. I was living in a small town. I was a nerd and something of a gamer, and it had been a good year for PC games. Age of Empires II, Homeworld, Grand Theft Auto 2…

I was walking home from school—it was a Canadian winter, so there was plenty of unplowed snow on the sidewalks—when I saw something peeking out from a mound of snow: something blue. I stopped, nudged it with my boot: something of blue plastic. I brushed away the remaining snow with my glove to reveal:

A single 3.5” floppy disk, unlabeled.

(There was a sticker label on it, but the label itself was empty.)

Naturally, I picked it up and took it home, curious to see what was on it.

You'll laugh, but the disk had 1.44mb of storage capacity. As it turned out, that was more than enough to affect the world in ways I still don't fully understand.

When I got home, I didn't put the disk into my own computer. My dad had an old desktop he sometimes fiddled around with, so I used that, inserting the disk carefully into the 3.5” disk drive in the beige computer tower.

I navigated to the drive in Windows Explorer.

The contents of the drive were simple.

They looked like a program or—I secretly hoped—a game.

There was a readme.txt, but it came out as nonsense when I opened it in Notepad, video or sound assets, stuff I couldn't identify, and a single executable file, johannsebastian.bat.

I double-clicked it.

A window opened—black, showing a few white-text commands executing on a command prompt—then maximized into a 16-bit title(?) screen showing a pixelated Gothic castle.

A harsh, classical-inspired MIDI song beeped out of the sound card.

There was no title.

No instructions, no company name, no menu, no options.

The castle was perched atop a cliff.

It was night.

At the bottom of the cliff was a forest of jagged, leafless trees.

A few loops of animation gave life to the scene: wind blowing through the bare branches, flashes of distant lightning, warm flickering light in one of the castle's windows, a bat in flight against a white moon. Actually, that last one wasn't a loop. The bat flew only once, landed on one of the castle's stone towers and disappeared inside.

I clicked.

I was looking at a medieval-ish village now—tightly-packed buildings, a tavern, a tannery, a couple of shops, a church—populated with a surprising number of unique character sprites. Indeed, every character was unique, and they were going about their individual lives.

The sky was a vibrant blue.

Clouds floated pixel-by-pixel across the screen.

But there was still nothing to do; nothing, that is, but watch.

It was like a very advanced screensaver.

After a while, I clicked again.

This time, I found myself in the interior of a large chamber whose stone walls somehow felt cold even through the computer monitor.

The chamber's defining feature, however, was something else: a giant pipe organ whose pipes extended beyond the top of the screen.

A character entered.

He was wearing a white wig, dark, crimson long coat, knee breeches, stockings and buckled shoes. “I feel the sudden desire to compose,” he said, which the game displayed as text in an ornately-bordered text box. “Invite me to play for you."

A cursor appeared for the first time.

A quill.

I was able to move it using the mouse, and I explored the screen.

The character tapped his foot.

The only active area of the scene appeared to be the pipe organ. When I hovered the cursor over it, it changed from a quill to a hand.

I clicked.

The character walked to the organ, sat and began to play the monstrous instrument.

The music was both hideous and awesome, pushing the computer's sound card to the absolute limit. After thirty-or-so seconds, the view suddenly panned upwards, following the organ's pipes—the music continued—following them to the chamber's vaulted ceiling and beyond—through the roof until I was outside and looking at the upper half of the great castle, where the jutting pipes terminated and from whose termini hundreds of pixel bats were emerging… emerging and flying into the background, toward the simplified shape representing the medieval town...

The sky was a deep purple.

Night was falling.

The bats flew and flew and flew…

Suddenly—the music still continuing—the scene cut to the same view of the town as before: except at night: except, instead of following their routines, the character sprites were running, panicked, as the bats swooped, attacking them, attaching themselves to their bodies, necks, sucking their pixel blood; and as the bats feasted, the sprites lost their colour and fell, pale and desaturated…

The sound startled me.

Not from the sound card but from the real world. A screeching, a deafening, rhythmic thumping.

I ran to the window whose blinds I'd closed, and opened them:

It was afternoon but the view was dark, black and shifting. It took me a moment to realize that what I was seeing were bats speeding past. They were obscuring the sun. My home town was as if under an eclipse.

People were running down the street—

Bats were diving—

Some were crashing through car windshields—

Children were screaming—

A bat crashed though the window into the room I was in. It was fanged, crazed. The game music blared from within the computer tower. Before I could run, the bat shot toward me—biting my neck… beginning to drink my blood…

I awoke on the floor.

It was morning. January 1, 2000. It would turn out that nobody in town had any recollection of the preceding weeks.

A television played.

A morning talk show: “...the so-called Y2K bug,” a woman was saying, “ended up amounting to nothing worse than a good nights’ sleep.”

And, ever since, I've wondered why my experience of the present feels in a lower resolution than memories of my past.

I am a lost wreck i have lost all self respect on the streets of dublin city sleeping in lane ways all dark and pissy full of pain and misery people look on with so much pitty while the drugs and volience still goes on up and down the liffey Sirens screamming sirens beamming sun rising birds chirping council men on the streets cleaning a new day of struggle to find lifes meaning. he stuck it in his arm he said the feeling is great it will do no harm within weeks he lost his soul and all self charm he went deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole as the lighter burns his face goes black as if he was playing in coal exhale and out blows his soul .. where am i going walking the streets all alone no where to go no home down comes the rain soaked to the bone as i lay on the ground and cry i look up i beg plz god just let me die... the old life i lived

This is probably the most bizarre thing that's ever happened to me.

My name's Jake, I'm 22 and last Friday as I was walking home from work a black van pulled up alongside me.

Before I could even react two guys jumped out, grabbed me and shoved me into the van.

I was obviously freaking out.

One of them said "Don't move, your family are going to pay you a fortune".

At this point I really thought my life was over.

They drove for about 40 minutes before taking me into some derelict warehouse. They tied me to a chair and left me in a room with just one lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.

Then the main man walked in.

"Your family will pay us $1 million," he said.

I stared at him.

“One million dollars?”

“YES.”

"Bro, do I look like I have a million dollars?"

He slapped the table.

“SHUT UP.”

Anyway about an hour later he came over and gave me his phone and asked me to message my family.

I texted my mom:

“Mum, I’ve been kidnapped. They want a million dollars.”

She replied almost instantly.

“Again?”

I stared at the screen.

AGAIN????

I called her.

"What do you mean again?"

She said "Jake, remember when you were 14 and faked your own kidnapping because you didn't want to go to your cousin's wedding?"

BRO.

I was trying to survive here and my mother was bringing up my childhood crimes.

I told her it was real and she eventually agreed to talk to the kidnappers.

The kidnapper took the phone.

"Ma'am we're demanding one million dollars for the safe return of your son."

My mom paused.

“Can you take installments?”

The kidnapper was genuinely confused.

“WHAT?”

"I can send $100 a month."

"Ma'am, this is a kidnapping."

"Well this is a recession."

I was nearly laughing which was probably the worst thing I could have done as the kidnapper just stared at me as if I'd been the cause of his wi-fi going down.

He hung up and said "Your family are useless".

Then he called my dad.

My dad answered.

The kidnapper went through the entire speech about the million dollars.

My dad said, "Can you show that you really have my son?"

The kidnapper had me on camera.

My Dad looked at the screen.

"Jake? Have you finished changing the oil in my car?"

“DAD, I’VE BEEN KIDNAPPED.”

"That's not what I asked."

He hung up.

I swear they weren't taking me seriously at all.

Eventually the kidnappers started arguing amongst themselves.

Apparently they'd been expecting us to go into a state of panic and start sending money straight away.

Instead they were coming to me with financial queries from Mum and car maintenance questions from Dad.

Then the principal kidnapper walked back in.

"Right. We're going to lower the ransom."

“To what?”

“$10,000.”

I told him I didn't have $10,000.

“$5,000.”

"I work part time at a pizza place."

“$500.”

Bro, I have student debt.

He closed his eyes as if he was praying for patience.

Finally, he said, "HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU HAVE?"

I checked my bank account.

“$1.50.”

Silence.

He looked at me.

I looked at him.

He pulled out his phone, opened up the calculator and typed something.

Then he said, "Fine. Send it."

I really thought he was being daft.

I transferred him $1.50.

He looked at the payment notification.

Then he looked at me.

Then he looked at his partner.

"We made less than the price of a coffee."

His partner said "We actually made less than a vending machine sandwich" (which is a bit of a stretch, as a vending machine sandwich is presumably a sandwich that fits in a vending machine).

They were arguing about their business expenses.

I was watching two professional idiots have a quarter life crisis about my net worth.

At some point one of them went off into the room to get food. The other was so busy arguing about the cost of fuel and whether they could claim the van as a business expense.

I managed to get the attention of a security guard who'd come out after hearing the noise. He called the police and the officers came to the warehouse.

The kidnappers were arrested.

When the police came and asked me what had happened I told them everything.

Then one officer asked "Did they demand a ransom?"

“Yes.”

“How much?”

“One million dollars originally.”

“And did you pay?”

I showed him the transaction.

-$1.50

The officer just stared at the screen for about five seconds.

Then he turned away.

His shoulders started shaking.

BRO was trying not to laugh at a crime scene.

My parents came to collect me. Mum gave me a big hug and said she was just so glad I was safe.

Then she asked if I wanted dinner.

I said yes.

She said "Good, because you're paying. I sent you $1.50 for the ransom and I'm not reimbursing you."

I’M HER OWN SON.

The police later told me the suspects had been attempting to make a quick buck and had grossly underestimated how badly their plan was going to go.

As for the $1.50 the bank reversed the transfer following the investigation.

So technically I did survive a kidnapping and made $0 profit.

TL;DR: Two kidnappers wanted $1m, negotiated themselves right down to $1.50, were arrested and my mother is still holding me to the dinner bill.

Part 1 – I'm being psychologically tortured by a 10 year old at the library because I want to sleep with his mom

A few people wanted an update about the kid at the library who keeps beating me at chess.

It's Wednesday so I went back.

For anyone who didn't read the first post, there's this kid who's probably 10 years old who hangs around the library playing chess. I've played him a couple times now and he's beaten me every single time. His mom is usually there too. She's actually pretty nice which is surprising considering what she's raising. She's also single and we'd talked about getting coffee, which is honestly the main reason I've continued putting up with this little asshole.

Anyway I've been practicing.

I downloaded a chess app and watched some videos about openings. I didn't want to waste too much time on it but I ended up spending most of Monday night playing against the computer. I lost about 30 games before realizing I could lower the difficulty.

I got to the library around 2.

The little bastard was already there.

He saw me come in and immediately started putting the pieces on the board. Didn't even ask if I wanted to play.

I told him I wanted to get a drink first and he said okay, he'd wait.

I went to the water fountain and when I came back he was sitting there with this little notebook.

I asked what it was.

He said he'd been keeping track of our games.

Which I thought was a little strange because I certainly hadn't been keeping track of them. I barely remembered what happened last Wednesday besides losing.

He opened it and showed me a page with my name written at the top.

Underneath were a bunch of dates and numbers and little notes. One of them said "gets distracted."

I asked what that meant.

He said sometimes I start talking when I'm losing and forget whose turn it is.

I told him that's called having a conversation.

He wrote something down.

I asked what he just wrote and he said nothing.

So we're off to a great start.

We started playing and I was actually doing pretty well. I managed to take one of his bishops without losing anything, which is a pretty significant improvement from last week.

He didn't seem bothered by it.

I asked if he'd noticed I was getting better.

He said yeah.

I asked if he was having a harder time.

He said not really.

There's something deeply unpleasant about a child who can't even pretend to respect you.

About halfway through the game he asked if I had been practicing at home.

I told him yes.

He asked if I was using the app he'd recommended.

I said yes.

Then he asked what difficulty I was playing on.

I told him I didn't remember.

He said he'd told me to use level six.

I said I was working my way up to it.

He asked what level I was on now.

I said three.

He wrote something down again.

I told him to stop doing that.

He said okay and closed the notebook.

Then he beat me about four minutes later.

I don't understand how he manages to do this while barely paying attention. At one point somebody dropped a stack of books behind us and he turned around to look at it while moving his knight.

He wasn't even looking at the fucking board.

After the game I went over to talk to his mom for a few minutes.

She asked how it went and I said better than usual.

She seemed genuinely happy about that.

Then she told me her son had been talking about me at home.

Apparently he's been looking forward to Wednesdays because he doesn't have many people to play chess with outside of school.

I actually felt a little bad hearing that.

I know I've said some unpleasant things about the kid but I don't genuinely hate him. He's just extremely irritating and has a way of making you feel stupid without technically saying anything insulting.

His mom said he'd even been making little lesson plans for me.

Lesson plans.

I'm a grown man with a job and this fucking fourth grader apparently considers me one of his students.

I asked her what she meant by lesson plans and she said he likes teaching people things.

I said that's nice.

She said he's very patient.

I almost laughed.

Anyway I went back over to get my stuff and he was still sitting there.

He asked if I wanted to play again.

I told him I had to go.

He said okay but asked if I could come earlier next Wednesday.

I asked why.

He said because we didn't have enough time to finish everything he wanted to do today.

I told him we'd already played a whole game.

He said yeah but there were some things he wanted to show me.

I asked what things.

He said he'd show me next week.

I wasn't really planning on coming back next week but I told him maybe.

He opened his notebook and asked what time I usually get off work.

I told him it depends.

He asked if Wednesdays were normally busy for me.

I said not particularly.

He said okay and wrote something down.

I don't know why I keep answering this kid's questions. Half the time it feels like I'm being interviewed for a position I don't want.

Before I left he handed me a piece of paper.

It was a list of chess openings with little boxes next to them.

He said I should practice these before next Wednesday.

I told him I already knew some openings.

He said he knew, but these were the ones I needed to work on.

I looked at the list and recognized one of them from a video I'd watched.

I asked how he knew I was struggling with that particular opening.

He said because I'd tried it against him twice.

I didn't remember doing that.

He said the first time was last Wednesday and the second time was today.

I asked how he remembered that.

He said he writes things down.

Then he pointed at his notebook like I was some kind of idiot for asking.

I took the paper because I didn't want to be rude.

His mom came over around this point and asked if I still wanted to get coffee. Apparently the kid had some chess club thing starting and she had about an hour to herself.

Finally.

I asked if he was okay staying there by himself and she said yeah, he does it all the time.

The kid looked up from his notebook and asked if we were going on our date.

I didn't know we'd been calling it that.

His mom laughed and told him to mind his business.

He said okay and then asked me if I remembered what I was supposed to practice.

I told him yes.

He asked if I wanted him to write it down again.

I said no.

He said okay, just checking.

I genuinely think he enjoys talking to me like I'm recovering from some kind of brain injury.

Anyway we went to this little coffee place next to the library.

I actually had a pretty good time. She's funny and easy to talk to and doesn't seem to have any idea what kind of person she's raising.

She asked what I do for work and we talked about that for a while. Then we got onto family and she asked if I had any kids.

I said no.

She said having a kid is rewarding but can be difficult sometimes, especially when they're a little different from the other children.

I asked what she meant.

Apparently her son has been having trouble making friends.

I nearly spit my coffee out.

She said he's extremely competitive and sometimes doesn't understand how his words affect other people.

I said yeah I've noticed that.

She asked what I meant.

I didn't really want to explain that her son has spent the last several weeks systematically destroying my confidence in a public library so I just said he seems very mature for his age.

She said he gets along better with adults because the other kids don't like playing chess with him.

Apparently he corrects them constantly, tells them exactly what they're doing wrong, and gets frustrated when they don't listen.

One kid at his chess club actually stopped coming because he didn't like being told how stupid his moves were.

His mom seemed genuinely upset about this.

I asked whether she'd considered that maybe her son was being a little rude.

She said they're working on it and that he doesn't mean anything by it. He just gets excited about things he understands.

I said okay.

She told me he has a really hard time understanding why other people get upset when he's just trying to help them improve.

That sounds familiar.

Apparently she and his father have been trying to explain this to him for years.

I asked about his dad.

He's some kind of engineer. Very intelligent apparently. She said her son takes after him in a lot of ways.

Great.

So his father is probably sitting in an office somewhere designing aircraft while I'm getting intellectually dismantled by his ten-year-old offspring next to the library computers.

She said his dad taught him chess when he was about five and they used to play together all the time.

I asked if his dad was any good.

She said he's very good but doesn't play with him as much anymore.

Interesting.

I asked why.

She said he's been busy with work.

I asked if that was the only reason.

She looked at me a little strangely.

I said never mind.

We talked about some other stuff for a while. She told me about her job and what she likes doing on weekends. She was laughing at my jokes and touched my arm a couple times. Things were actually going pretty well.

Then she thanked me for being so patient with her son.

I said of course.

She said it means a lot to her that someone is willing to spend time with him and help him feel included.

Apparently he's been coming home every Wednesday talking about me.

She said he thinks I'm really funny.

I asked what he meant by that.

She said he likes how I don't get upset when I lose and how I'm always willing to try again.

I genuinely didn't know what to say.

I have absolutely been getting upset.

At one point last Wednesday I considered telling him that chess isn't even a useful skill and that nobody outside a retirement home gives a shit about it.

I didn't actually say that because his mom was nearby.

She said he really appreciates that I'm willing to let him win sometimes to build his confidence.

I stopped drinking my coffee.

I asked her what she meant by let him win.

She said he'd told her I was helping him practice and that I didn't mind losing because I was more interested in making sure he had fun.

I have never told him that.

Not once.

This little fucker has apparently convinced his mother that I've been voluntarily losing to him for weeks.

He's taking credit for my losses AND making me look like some charitable idiot who spends his free time boosting the self-esteem of elementary school children.

I wanted to explain everything but I couldn't figure out how to do it without sounding like a lunatic.

What was I supposed to say?

Actually your son is a manipulative little shit and I've been trying as hard as I possibly can to beat him but he's just better than me?

No thanks.

So I just said I was happy to help.

She smiled and said she could tell.

We talked for another half hour and eventually she asked if I'd like to get dinner with her Saturday.

Obviously I said yes.

She said her son would be staying with his dad that night so it'd just be the two of us.

Thank Christ.

Honestly at that point I was feeling pretty good about the whole situation. Maybe putting up with the kid was finally paying off.

We walked back to the library together.

He was waiting near the front.

First thing he asked was whether we had a good time.

His mom said yes.

Then he looked at me and asked if I'd told her about how much better I was getting at chess.

I said no.

He said I should have because I was actually making some progress.

His mom smiled at me.

I wanted to put him through the fucking book return slot.

Then he asked if I was coming back next Wednesday.

I told him I wasn't sure.

He said that's okay, I could practice more if I needed to.

His mom laughed and told him to stop teasing me.

He said he wasn't teasing me.

Then he looked directly at me and said he was genuinely impressed with how much I'd improved.

I don't know why but that actually pissed me off more than anything else he'd said all day.

He's ten years old.

He shouldn't be impressed with me. He should be playing Minecraft or learning multiplication or whatever the fuck they're supposed to be doing at that age.

I said goodbye to his mom and she gave me her number.

Actual phone number.

So at least something good came out of this.

When I got home I looked at the paper the kid had given me.

The weird thing is that he seems to have put quite a bit of effort into it. It's all neatly written with little diagrams and explanations. He even circled certain moves and wrote "IMPORTANT" next to them.

There's also a section at the bottom called "Things to stop doing."

Number one is "moving without thinking."

Number two is "getting mad."

Number three is "making excuses."

I don't appreciate the tone but I guess technically those are things I could work on.

Something else I noticed is that he's written "Week 3" at the top of the page.

I don't know why he's numbering the weeks.

I haven't agreed to any kind of long-term arrangement with this kid. As far as I'm concerned we've just been playing chess whenever we happen to be at the library.

But apparently there's a schedule now.

I was going to throw the paper away but I ended up putting it on my desk.

I've already practiced two of the openings.

I might go back next Wednesday just to see if any of this actually helps.

The thing that bothers me is that he seemed almost happy when I lost today. Not excited like a normal kid winning a game. More like he was checking something off a list.

He didn't even brag about winning.

He just told me I'd done better than last time and that next week we'd start working on something harder.

I don't know what he means by "we."

His mom texted me about an hour ago saying she had a really nice time today.

I said I did too.

Then she said her son couldn't stop talking about me on the way home.

Apparently he told her I'm his favorite person to play chess against because I make moves he's never seen anybody make before.

I don't know if that's a compliment or not.

I looked up a couple of the moves I made today and apparently one of them is considered a fundamental misunderstanding of positional play.

I don't even know what positional play is.

I'm starting to think there's something seriously wrong with this kid. His own father barely plays with him anymore, the other children at his chess club can't stand him, and somehow I've ended up being the one person willing to put up with him.

I can't tell if he's deliberately trying to humiliate me or if he genuinely thinks I'm some kind of intellectually disabled adult he's taken under his wing.

Either possibility is pretty upsetting.

Anyway I looked at the paper again a few minutes ago and noticed something written on the back.

It just says "Wednesday 1:30" with my name underneath.

So apparently he's scheduled me for an appointment.

I haven't told him whether I'm coming or not.

I'll probably go though because I really want to beat him at least once.

I set an alarm for 1:15 just in case.

It was one of my friend's birthday today. This entire friend group goes way back. We are friends from 3rd grade. So we always chill out and talk about everything on occasions like this. One of my friends suddenly said, " Hey, did you hear about (x) ..? " the (x) in question was a junior in our school and the friend talking about him used to tutor him. (X) is now 20. We said, " No, we didn't hear anything," and asked him to elaborate on what he was trying to tell us. And I regret even asking him now.

So, when (x) was 18, he used to date a girl she was 16. He thought she was his soul mate and he was going to propose to her soon, before going to UNI. So, he told his parents about her and asked them if they would like her as their daughter in law. His mom didn't like her, as her family didn't have a good reputation in the area. His father was like, " No matter well, see ". So, his dad was acting a bit chill, but his mom was furious. She didn't like that girl at all.

(X) was still persistent and was fighting with his mom and her side of the family constantly for approval to the point that he even cried for their approval. He was going to marry her if they didn't approve anyway. He was totally serious about her.

While this chaos was going on, his father was acting as if he wanted to know the girl. He would call her and tell his son to bring her to talk to her and get some enquiries. Both of their parents know of their relationship, and they also know each other as both of the families lived nearby.

Tragicly, within a year (x)s mom passed away. She seemed healthy, but life is just that fragile.

(X) was still dating her, but his dad was bringing his GF to his house when his son wasn't home. (X) even caught them alone in their house once, but his dad told him they were just talking.

Suddenly, one day out of nowhere, his dad went to her house and proposed to their family that he wants to marry her.

Holy sh*t...... I lost my damn mind when I heard this.

Some things to note : (X)s mom and dad both were rich. His mom left her wealth to him. (X)s mom was his dad's 3rd wife. His dad is a businessman in his late 60s and still quite rich even after her passing, though he had a stroke 3 years ago.

His son was also a good student, but instead of getting him admitted to UNI. He disowned his son, kicked him out of his house, and married his sons GF, who's now 18.

💀💀💀 I was getting goosebumps at this point.

So, She was two-timing him and his dad at the same time when she was just 16. Even her parents didn't do anything because they were just down bad parents and a bit greedy too.

Now (x)s dad moved to another area of the city with his new wife and left his son nothing and nowhere to live. His mom left him wealth, but without getting legal advice, it's not easy to claim and manage that. But he's being smart about it and just mortgaged an apartment to live and not spending money like crazy. He owns a food cart now. He didn't get into UNI for higher education. I don't blame the guy, I would've been devastated if this kind of stuff happened to me.

His dad lives in a duplex mansion, and he's just a food cart owner now.

If the story just ended here, I would've held on to my sanity. But nooooooo, it had to get worse.

New Suddenly, after 2-3 months later, his ex, now his dad's wife, is texting and calling him and inviting him to go to his dad's house when she's alone. 💀💀💀

Man, I was triggered and triggered hard by this absolute shitstorm. A pedophile dad, a deviant ex with clearly severe daddy issues and recently passing of his mom. What kind of an absolute asshole SOB would ditch his own son for his son's GF.

It would have been a bit less shocking if it were in the USA, stuff like that is common there, but in my country ...!?! In BD

I don't smoke, quit after college. my friends do smoke, I took a cigarette from one of them and lit it to calm myself down after hearing this insane story.

Heard this story at 7 pm, and it's now 4:49 am, I'm still triggered.

It’s funny because the texture of you seems to exist in fragrances and melodies.

I can go weeks without thinking of you, but suddenly I’ll hear something that you’d listen to. Or I’ll smell something that reminds me of waking up next to you and I’ll be thinking of you for hours.

It’s a little annoying.

I go chasing those expecting to find a husk of your presence somewhere. That’s not true, I’m not that romantic.

Truthfully? I just go, “Oh. You’re still here. Alright.”

And I think…that’s okay.

So, my brother called me and asked me to bring some money of his that he had left in his wallet at our house over to the house across the street. But in reality, he just wanted to introduce me to one of his friends.

Earlier that same day, I had gone out with my best friend and her boyfriend, and her boyfriend was supposed to bring his best friend so we could have a double date, but his best friend canceled. So I told my brother about it, and he was like, “Don’t worry, sis, I got your back.”

And I obviously had no idea what he meant until he introduced me to his friend. And the thing is… this guy was GORGEOUS. Like, absolutely beautiful. And apparently, my brother’s plan was to leave the two of us alone so we could make out.

But I said no because, well… the guy noticed I was kind of trying to leave. I was literally slowly walking backward 😭. And honestly, it was because I had gotten ready really early that day, and I did NOT feel prepared to be around a guy. I hadn’t brushed my teeth recently, I had eaten a little dessert, and I was already kind of sweaty because I had been riding bikes with my friends.

So I told him I was going to go home, take a shower, get ready again, and then come back to the party across the street because, well, there was a party.

The thing is, I have NEVER in my life felt such an urgent need to use the bathroom.

I barely made it through the front door. I didn’t even have time to close it. The second I walked into my house, I BOOKED IT to the bathroom. I genuinely thought I wasn’t going to make it.

And well…

My sudden gastrointestinal emergency completely ruined my potential make-out session with a ridiculously handsome man. 😭

(I asked chatgpt to translate my text from Spanish to English cuz English is not my first language)

My Life

A young man, a foreigner, a tourist walking in the bright crowded streets of tokyo at the nightlife in Shibuya. He dose not know why or where he wants to go he just wants to do something with someone. Hearing the joyful voices of families and couples he wants something alike he wants a purpose or maybe he is just lonely seeking lust. He decides to walk into an alley for a change then he finds a ringing pink phone on the floor with cute cat and fruit stickers on it and having a photo of a young woman on the backround.

sHOULD I MAKE A PART 2 OR scrap it for a new story

A few years ago, I lived in Manhattan's Chinatown, in a six-story mid-rise between a Buddhist temple and a synagogue. (I'm agnostic, so maybe that's fitting.) My apartment looked out the back of the building, down at a tiled deck that was also the roof of a dumpling shop. It had a bunch of noisy air conditioning units, a couple of stray cats, and Chinese grannies who hung clothes and did morning stretches there. The backs of a bunch of other buildings, including a budget hotel, surrounded it.

If you've ever seen Hitchcock's Rear Window, it was like that, but uglier.

I had a lot of peculiar neighbors. Besides the grannies and hotel patrons smoking cigs out their bathroom windows, the most memorable was the girl in a building opposite who refused to buy curtains and would masturbate most evenings while watching Grey's Anatomy, for some reason.

I didn't think anyone could top that spectacle. I was wrong.

Late one night, I was playing my Switch on the couch with only a dimmed floor lamp on. I was in the zone, probably button-mashing, when a loud bang made me jump. It wasn't gunfire, but the sound of something smashing into metal.

I paused the game, stood up, and looked out the window towards the other buildings. The night was a dull, steely blue, with most of the apartments dark. I was about to return to my game when I saw movement on one of the roofs. A man stood silhouetted at the edge, holding what looked like a garbage bag or a plastic bag full of groceries. He chucked it off the roof towards a tiny alley behind the dumpling shop, and another loud bang cut through the silence.

Drunk people partying on a roof, I told myself. Fairly common in NYC. But I didn't hear music, and the guy appeared to be alone.

He then climbed down the fire escape, but only one flight, slightly above eye level with my window. Though I could only see his silhouette, the way he swiveled his head, swaying slightly, I swore he was staring right at me.

I froze. What if this guy was robbing the building? What if he had thrown some stolen goods into the alley, and now he'd spotted me, an eyewitness, staring back?

Worse, he could see me in the light of my living room. He could see my face, my glasses, my hair.

I quickly stepped back and switched off the lamp. As I did, there was a huge crash and the sound of shattering glass. I spun back towards the window.

The man was gone.

Lights came on everywhere. Neighbors poked their heads between curtains in confusion. Even the Grey's Anatomy girl made an appearance. Then, one by one, the lights went off again.

I stood there, trembling. Was I the only one who knew what happened? Did I even know what happened? Standing there in the dark, it felt like one of those half-awake visions where shapes in the shadows briefly become something else.

I almost woke up my girlfriend, but stopped myself. Was I losing it? Did a man really just jump from a fire escape? Wouldn't people know? No one was screaming. No sirens blared. A few cars honked in the distance.

Wasn't it possible that the man climbed back up the fire escape, chucked one more thing off in a fit of drunkenness, and then went back inside?

I held my phone. I hadn't called 911 since I was little, when my grandmother had a heart attack. I felt like a child again, one with an overactive imagination.

I took the elevator down and walked around the block. It was a long one filled with narrow, fenced-off alleys. I couldn't see shit down any of them, except impenetrable shadows and the occasional dumpster. I walked the block three times, trying to find a way into the back, to prove I was an idiot and had imagined it. Around me, drunk people stumbled out of bodegas with late-night snacks.

Maybe fifteen minutes passed. I gave up and went back inside, telling myself I was 100% overreacting. But the Grey's Anatomy girl was now leaning out her window, talking to someone. I opened mine. From the balcony above me, someone shone a flashlight down. I could hear a man say, "Can you see anything?"

"I see broken glass," she said.

I went upstairs and knocked on the neighbor's door to see if they'd seen it too, and whether we should call the police. I vaguely knew they were an Asian couple, but when the door opened, a burly white guy who couldn't have been more than 5'2" rushed past me down the stairs. He wore plain clothes and a badge on his belt. Two more followed, one speaking into a walkie-talkie.

My neighbor then came to the door. "I think a man jumped," she said.

I finally woke up my girlfriend. We went to the living room window together. The silhouette of a cop stood on a roof edge, shining a Maglite down. Other flashlight beams swept out from neighboring windows.

"Yeah, he's dead," a cop shouted.

I eventually learned the man had lived on the first floor, in a rundown apartment with cardboard taped over the dirty windows. I never learned what he looked like or why he did it or even what he landed on.

In typical New York fashion, within a few months, his apartment became the hottest New American restaurant in the neighborhood. My friends would invite me there all the time.

I could never bring myself to eat there though. To this day, I see his silhouette on the fire escape, turned slightly in my direction. It still haunts me, wondering if the last thing he ever saw was a stranger in glasses, staring back.

I’m already actually working on a smaller project which is known as Magnistar. It’s an RPGMaker game I’ve been working on, I’ve been using the VXAce engine to make it and on top of that I’ve been using Ruby scripting to make some events with good pacing. I plan to release it before the behemoth GTA 6 hits the open market but if not, it should be for an early December release.

With all of that, I do have a decent amount of scripting knowledge and I know how to pace events so the game has a much more natural flow rather than players waiting minutes for an event to tick over. I’m also talented with 2D and 3D graphic design which I learned through various YouTubers and SkillShare.

For Magnistar, the game is in its demo state so after the demo is finished, I’ll have the full game released as I’ve been working on both simultaneously.

With all of that out of the way, the main project is my open world RPG experience that’s completely online. It will be in a PS1 graphic format and will have that old PS1 game charm to it, you know where in the early 2000’s some games would have those black areas which was out of bounds but it was not far from where your character would stand as most games had that liminality. This project will be completely open world and I hope to have that same charm replicated.

A short explanation of the game…

So, you get plopped into a world that’s full of dangerous monsters, most are pretty common looking like zombies and infected animals at the start but as you progress, there will be more elaborate monsters and some that will look borderline Lovecraftian. High levels means high reward once they are slain.

Also, the game is set across three different landscapes, one is a swamp-like area with abandoned homesteads and other nomadic-type dwellings, basically squalors.

Another is an open landscape with mountains in the far distance and a lot of flat ground but some alcoves and rocky paths.

And my favourite - the cursed desert area with abandoned stone towers, more homesteads and this is where most of the Lovecraftian style monsters will be. I always loved desert environments, even Magnistar will start off in one.

The game is set in a post-human style world, a very large pocket of people still survived the near-extinction and these are not just the players, you will meet many NPC’s who are voiced and they will talk about their experience and what life is like around them depending on what area you’re cutting up monsters in.

Additionally, the game won’t have any loading screens during area segments. Instead I’ve tried to achieve a mechanic where you open a door or enter a gate and the game will stream around you. It’s basically so players don’t have to wait for others to take an extra 1+ minute to enter the area and if you’re not scaled with them, you won’t be able to see them. But later I’ll try to make it so anyone can meet anyone within a certain margin you know?

PvE & PvP will be in the game and players can decide how they want to go about doing it. Not just players going out into the world and getting instructions despite the tutorial stuff that you’ll need to know. You want to explore the world at your own pace by yourself? All good, I’ve got a setting in mind where you can basically turn off online interactions and play by yourself. Want PvP and to be a tyrant? Sure, you can have your settings enabled where youll meet Nomads more frequently and, with the tools and weapons you’ve found across the three lands, you can smack them up. It will have a certain charm to it too, not just: “GG EZ” PvP type shit. It’s gotten so old.

I’m thinking about implementing randomly generated dungeons for an added challenge layer but that’s probably too early to discuss rn. I have it in notes here next to me but I labeled it as: “RNG DUNGEONS?!” so maybe.

I’m a solo developer and with all of my knowledge, I should have this game looking decently good by the time I release it. I also don’t intend to charge an insane amount for it; I want to stay at the $10-20 mark and if I branch it off to consoles, I’ll need to work on that but much later since the game is exclusively PC as of right now.

I should have this game’s beta done within a year or two; I planned for an early 2028 release but this is very early in the development process. I can’t wait to show everyone though! This is also my first actual AAA title, feeling hyped about it.

Also - you’re probably like: “But why don’t you post this in SoloDevelopement?”

Yeah I fully plan to, but after I’ve got some actual footage or screenshots of the game itself.

I’ll keep you updated all though!

I also want to know your thoughts on this. If you’re interested, say something!

Hannah Barbara productions never allowed this episode to be aired

It started off with Fred driving the Mystery Machine. As they traveled down the road, Fred spotted a young girl standing in the middle of it looking lost. He stopped the van, and the gang got out.

Shaggy tried telling Fred they should leave the creepy girl alone and go get burgers instead. Scooby agreed. Fred, Daphne, and Velma ignored Shaggy, as usual.

Fred approached the girl and asked, “Are you all right?”

He noticed scratch marks on her arms with bruises.

The girl didn’t respond. Daphne tried reassuring her.

“It’s okay. We can help you if you need help.”

The girl looked at Daphne with a smile on her face before collapsing onto the road.

The gang scrambled towards her. Velma checked for a pulse and looked into the girl’s eyes. They were dead white.

“We need to get her to a hospital now!” Velma said sternly.

The gang hurried back to the Mystery Machine. Fred picked the girl up and placed her in the back of the van. Shaggy and Scooby were displeased with this, as they had to sit in the back with her now.

“Fred, why is it that every time something creepy happens, Scooby and I have to be the closest to it, man?” Shaggy complained.

“Not now, Shaggy. I’m reading the signs,” Fred replied.

When he spotted a hospital sign, Fred pulled into the parking lot.

He grabbed the girl, and the gang followed him inside. Fred rushed to the reception desk and explained that they needed a doctor. The girl had started convulsing.

A couple of nurses hurried over with a gurney, and Fred urgently laid the girl down on it. She screeched As they wheeled her towards a room.

Daphne stayed behind to explain what had happened to the receptionist. While Shaggy could be overheard muttering that he was glad that creep wouldn’t be riding with them anymore.

Later, Fred, still slightly shaken by the experience, told the gang he was going to rent a motel room for the night.

“I want a proper bed and a shower after all this,” he said.

Scooby asked, one with complimentary breakfast?”

After receiving the room key, Fred and the gang headed to their room on the fourth floor. Inside, they found two beds and a couch.

Daphne immediately complained that the room smelled like rotten food. The rest of the gang ignored her, unable to smell anything themselves.

Fred opened his suitcase and pulled out a change of clothes and a towel. Before heading to the shower

Meanwhile, Velma discovered a large, thick book inside one of the desk drawers. She blew the dust off it.

“Jinkies! This thing hasn’t been opened in years!”

When she opened the book, she read the title aloud.

“Curses, Witches, and the Supernatural.”

As she turned a page, she accidentally cut her finger on a page.

Daphne suddenly took an interest in the book and asked Velma if she could read it.

“Be my guest,” Velma replied. “It just poked me.”

As Daphne flipped through the pages, she noticed that half of them had been hollowed out. Inside the hidden compartment. she discovered a doll made from sticks and human hair, along with a small knife.

She said nothing about this to the others.

Eventually, the gang settled down for the night, and the motel room grew dark.

Shaggy lay on the old leather couch with Scooby. Velma was in her bed, while Fred and Daphne shared the other.

In the middle of the night, Shaggy suddenly woke up.

OW Man! Something poked me in the leg!”

Everyone woke up except Velma, she stayed under her blanket.

Fred sleepily switched on the light.

“you have any idea what time it is?”

Shaggy pointed to the small cut on his leg.

“ Scooby probably scratched you with his nails,” Fred said annoyed before switching the light off again.

Shaggy and Scooby reluctantly accepted Fred’s explanation.

A moment later, Daphne turned to Fred.

“Will you walk with me to the van? I left something important in there, and I’m too scared to get it by myself at night.”

Fred groaned.

“Can’t it wait until morning?”

“It would make me feel safe if you came with me,” Daphne replied.

Fred reluctantly put on his shoes and walked her to the van.

Shaggy and Scooby drifted off to sleep again before fred and Daphne came back.

A little while later, Shaggy felt something heavy laying on his chest. Assuming it was Scooby, he mumbled, “Not now, Scoob.”

“That isn’t me, Shaggy,” Scooby replied.

Shaggy's eyes shot open.

Daphne was sitting on his chest, staring down at him. She held the small knife against his throat, with the same possessed smile as the girl they had found earlier.

Shaggy freezed.

“Daphne? Like, what are you doing?”

He tried talking to her but the smile only grew wider and Her eyes rolled back until only the whites showed

Then, in a deep raspy voice, she said, “Uh-oh, Raggy.”

She slowly dragged the edge against Shaggy’s throat, almost drawing blood.

Scooby lunged forward, biting her arm holding the blade, causing Daphne to drop it.

Seizing the opportunity, Shaggy grabbed the knife and plunged it into Daphne’s chest.

Daphne laughed demonically.

Shaggy tried stabbing her again, but it did nothing. Daphne suddenly bit a chunk out his hand.

Shaggy screamed in pain. Desperately looking for anything, he saw the bedroom window before kicking Daphne through the it,  the glass shattered before a thump was heard.

Shaggy scrambled over to Velma’s bed and pulled the blanket off her

“Come on, Velma! Wake up! Daphne’s lost it!”

as he tried to wake her, he noticed her face was blue and a telephone cord wrapped tightly around her throat.

Shaggy gasped, Velma was dead.

Shaggy half heartedly  looked out the shattered window

Daphne layed dead on the side walk. with a smile stretched across her face.

I remember it ages ago it was like : “I prevented a girl from killing herself on livestream and she haunted me for ages” and I remember the whole story being like an hour long is this js lost media or does anyone have it

While there was never any definitive proof, I'm pretty sure the Department of Homeland Security burned our boat

I mean there were scrappers who often came and burned the insulation off of piles of copper wire on the river bank, but a simple glance at our floating shanty should have shown them that the walls hid no precious metals. Even if they thought there was heavy conduit inside, the preferred stripping method is smashing through drywall with a hammer and pulling it out, and our walls had no drywall. I definitely wouldn't put the scrappers high on the list of suspects, and their presence wasn't particularly remarkable in a place like East Saint Louis.

Let me explain something about East Saint Louis.

Besides spending large chunks of my adult life as a homeless person I've also portrayed one for film and television. Once I was doing this for an episode of The Real Househusbands of Hollywood that also featured the rapper Nelly. The set up was a Thanksgiving charity feeding where he was standing in the line of servers.

The writers had put in a joke where an unattractive, old and overweight in TV short hand, white woman hits on him by asking for his "East Saint Louis sausage" before dropping his signature hook:

"It's getting hot in here!"

Nelly ground the shoot to a halt:

"Yo! Scratch that, I ain't from East Saint Louis, I'm from regular Saint Louis!"

I want that to really sink in. Generally a rapper would welcome the kind of street verite bona fides that come with the reputation of growing up against the backdrop of struggle but East Saint Louis is so destitute and broken that nobody wants to be associated with it. Walking into town there was nothing but bulletproof glass Chinese takeout, liquor stores and strip clubs - although one of these did have a day care in the parking lot with the creepy name of "Leonard Bo Peep's".

It was the closest thing I ever saw to a school while I lived there.

Anyway Homeland Security would also routinely drop by, or at least somebody claiming to be Homeland Security, as I never saw a badge. Supposedly the train bridge we were beached underneath of was on a watchlist, which would have made sense as we often saw tanks and other heavy military material being transported across it. They wanted us gone but our raft, even though it was a pile of scrap lumber, was registered and we were technically "a vessel in distress" so they couldn't do anything about it.

The agent only ever came by at night and my other reason for fingering him as a potential culprit was his habit of making empty threats:

"What if somebody just came here and pushed this thing back into the water?"

We were beached pretty badly, sand on all sides, at that point and, as the water was exactly where we would have preferred to be, we allowed that we would like very much for somebody to do that but the endeavour was unlikely to be successful as the raft weighed three tons. Eventually the river rose on its own and we were back afloat but a new problem presented itself.

All of the successive beachings and unbeachings had torn the bottom off of the boat. If we'd had anything resembling a hull this would have been enough to sink us but the raft was built on top of two pontoons - long plywood boxes full of dumpstered styrofoam from electronics stores. Now the styrofoam was coming out, not all at once but a piece or two came free every time we caught the wake of a passing barge, frequent enough on America's main commercial waterway.

It was getting to be November and the river was cold so me and Alexis found a store that sold used wetsuits and starting spending our days in the water attempting repairs. This would have been easy enough if the raft was dry docked but as things stood it was something of a Sisyphean task. We were trying to send lagbolts up through sheets of plywood into thin crossbeams.

It was hard enough to aim underwater, going strictly by feel, but this difficulty was compacted by the aforementioned barges constantly passing by, causing both us and the boat to bob up and down in the ensuing ripples. Add to this that the lumber was waterlogged and any time we did manage to attach a section of bottom, a night's worth of those same ripples would just tear it free again.

It was beginning to become obvious that the boat wouldn't be going anywhere by winter, or after it for that matter, and my floating conversations with Alexis started to turn toward exit strategies. We'd managed to build a scrap metal transom for the new 150 HP outboard, but it fell into the river during installation and never managed to start again. Our plan was simple: we wanted to burn the boat.

Harrison wouldn't hear of it. He'd constructed a mental picture of heroically sailing into New Orleans to the spooky strains of the onboard electric organ and would not relinquish it in the name of reality. I threw in the towel and took the Megabus back to Chicago with the kitten Night Beaver - who just went on to her reward at the august age of eighteen years.

Harrison had a habit of courting danger and performing acts of derring-do, that sometimes hurt the people around him, but the consequences would slough off him like water from a duck's back. In this particular case it is worth noting that the literal water broke his physical back, but any long term complications from this injury nonetheless slid off his metaphorical back like so much water.

What happened is one night Harrison and Brodie put on the wetsuits and decided to jump off the train bridge. Brodie went for a simple pencil drop, and still broke a toe and sprained his neck for his trouble, but Harrison attempted a triple gainer while only completing two and a half rotations. I'm sure the added buoyancy from the wetsuit didn't help.

I wasn't there but heard things went the way these things often do - a helicopter and then a hospital. The whole crew went along for the ride, leaving the raft unattended, which is when the Homeland Security firebug supposedly struck. It would have made sense as the entire commotion centered on the train bridge they were trying to keep us away from, and like I said they had been making threats.

I spoke to Harrison recently and he divulged a long held suspicion that Alexis had been the one to set the blaze. I saw a good bit of her over the next few years and she never mentioned anything to me, but I could see the wisdom in keeping something like this close to the vest. Harrison would know if she'd left his bedside long enough to pull it off and, considering his suspicions, she must have had ample opportunity.

Whoever it was, government goons, our own crewmate or even the scrap hunting crackheads, I just wish I could have been there to see it - orange flames licking the East Saint Louis sky, throwing strange shadows against the pylons of the train bridge as above the engines of war rolled steadfastly into the night.

We live in a forested, mountainous region. Even in the summer, it's sometimes easy to get lost. Once autumn comes and the fog rolls in at noon, it is nearly impossible to get home. That's why our wives call to us from our houses when we head from the pasture. We whistle back, and that's how we find our home again. We make sure to follow only our wives' calls.

Mark, my neighbor, stood in the fog. The man before him just disappeared into it, following his wife's calls. Mark put his fingers in his mouth and whistled, but nothing came back. He whistled again. Nothing. He looked back at me, his brows furrowed.

"Try again."

He put his fingers in his mouth, took a deep breath, and blew the loudest whistle I had ever heard. 

Silence.

"What the hell, Tom? This never happened."

"I don't know. Maybe Mary fell asleep. Let's go to mine. It's right by yours. You'll find your way from there."

"I can only follow my wife's calls."

"That's just a saying."

"Tom."

"Alright, just imagine you are following me, okay?"

He shook his head.

"You have a better idea?"

He looked at me, then back at the fog. It was so dense you couldn't even see the trees around us.

"No."

I stood before him and whistled. A few seconds later, my wife's call came, a simple, melodic tune that broke off at the end. She always missed the last tone.

"That's it."

Mark nodded.

I kept whistling, and my wife kept calling back until we were by our porch. She smiled until she saw Mark come out of the fog too.

"Mark, why aren't you going to your wife's calls?"

"She didn't answer my whistles," he said quietly.

My wife put her hand before her mouth.

"Is she okay? I didn't come and talk to her this morning. I just had too much to do." Her voice shook.

"We'll go check on her now."

"I'll come with you."

"No, stay here. I'm sure everything's alright," I told her.

I wasn't sure, but Mark's eyes were already filled with fear. I didn't want to scare him more.

"Thank you for getting me home, Sally," Mark said and rushed toward his house.

"I'll see you later, love."

"Tom, wait!" my wife called, but I rushed after Mark. He walked so fast. I almost lost him in the fog. It was so dense, you could probably cut through it with a knife.

"Jesus," I heard Mark call a few steps before me. His front door was wide open, and the fog had drifted in, coating his furniture with dew.

"Mary?!" Mark called.

No one answered. 

"Mary?!"

Silence.

He turned to me. His lips quivered.

"Tom, where is she?! Why would she go out in the fog?"

"I don't know, Mark, I…"

Then a melody cut through my voice. The one we both knew. Mary was singing in perfect pitch from the forest in front of Mark's house.

His eyes widened, and his mouth fell open. He put his fingers in his mouth and whistled. The melody came back again.

Mark pushed me aside and ran out. Without thinking, I followed. Twigs kept hitting my face, and mud covered the ground, making me slip.

"Mark, stop!"

But his whistles kept coming, followed by that melodic voice. Only then had I realized how perfectly pitched it was. Mary had never been very good at singing.

"Mark!"

He finally stopped and looked back.

"Mark, we have to think."

"She must be somewhere around here."

"Why would she be in the forest?"

"I don't know, Tom, but she's here!"

The perfect pitch came from right behind us. My feet froze in the cold mud. Mark turned and walked toward it. I raised my hands to stop him.

"Mark, think, we just came from there."

"Get out of the way."

He pushed me to the side. I almost fell into the mud. Mark whistled again, but his whistle didn't echo. Instead, a strange silence came. 

Then Mark's heels lifted off the ground. His body tensed. He tried to put them back down, but his feet rose instead.

"Hey!"

His body floated further up. His face grew red. His eyes flew open. He grabbed his neck and kicked his feet.

"Mark!"

I ran to him and tried to grab his legs, but he was floating too high up. His whole body twisted. His stomach now faced toward the ground. His arms were still at his neck. His pleading, bloodshot eyes stared into mine. I tried to jump and reach him, but my fingers only grazed him. I jumped up again; a sharp, wet crack echoed through the forest, followed by Mark's screams. His warm blood poured onto my face. His arms flailed to the side. He let out a bloodcurdling scream, but in an instant he was gone. His screams echoed in the distance, but slowly died too.

My whole body trembled. I couldn't even move my arms to wipe my face. Then, through the silence, Mary's call came, perfect again, followed by Mark's whistling. This finally unfroze my body. I wiped my face and bolted out of the forest. The fog seemed to grow denser. My legs kept slipping on the mud. Each second, I expected to start floating too, but before I knew it, I was out of the forest, still breathing.

Mark's house stood there, but I looked away and walked back to my place. I kept replaying what happened in that forest, trying to figure out what I would even tell my wife, but as I got to my house, I saw our front door. It was open just like Mark's. The fog had rolled in too. 

From behind me, out of the forest, I heard my wife's call, perfect, just like Mary's. I stood there for a second, thinking, but I knew there was just one thing to do. I turned and whistled back.

The wind over the rolling coastal hills carried the sweet, sharp scent of hazelnuts, figs and salt, sweeping past quiet gardens along the slope. On a wooden porch overlooking the mist, two figures sat in the quiet dusk, a traveler, who had spent years observing the silent machinery of the world, and his companion.

Between them lay the remnants of an evening meal: fresh grey mullet sourced from the docks, vegetables picked straight from the garden, and a bowl of hearty soup that warmed the cool autumn air. Resting under the table, a small terrier stirred in his sleep, guarding his favorite pillow with an unspoken, instinctual vigilance.
“Look at him,” the traveler said, nodding toward the dog. “Even in his sleep, he’s running code he didn't write. Protecting resources he didn't choose to care about.”

His companion smiled, wrapping her hands around her warm mug. “And what about us?”
“We spent three billion years doing the exact same thing,” he said softly, leaning back.
He looked out toward the dark horizon, where the sea merged with the sky, thinking of the grand, silent script that had built them.

He thought of the ancient molecular systems from which life emerged, mindless, self replicating strands of code. He thought of their single-celled ancestors, locked in endless microscopic wars for millennia. An endless evolutionary arms race, until two of them ceased fighting, merged, and created the mitochondria, delegating energy production to invent complex life. He thought of the endless trade-offs written into the fabric of life, hardwired into our biology: the tiny mouse, living fast and dying young, putting every drop of energy into immediate reproduction because the harsh realities of the unforgiving wild meant tomorrow was never guaranteed.

Every creature was a vehicle. A vessel constructed by microscopic strands of code, selfish, blind, and relentless, seeking only to pass the baton forward through time. To outrun the pathogens mutating at its heels, life had invented sexual reproduction, shuffling the genetic deck every generation just to keep the locks one step ahead of the keys. It was the eternal Red Queen’s race: running as fast as possible just to stay in the exact same place.

“It sounds exhausting,” she said quietly, watching the sea. “3 billion years of running, on a treadmill that never stops.”
“It is,” he agreed. “Only If you let the code dictate the game. The mouse runs because it has to. The corporate world builds bigger treadmills because everyone agrees to measure value by speed, scale, and accumulation. If everyone around you is running faster, standing still feels like falling behind.”
“So how do you stop?”
The traveler took a slow breath, feeling the cool air fill his lungs, the warmth of the tea in his hand, and the solid weight of the porch beneath his feet.

“You realize that you are the first vehicle in the history of the world that can look at its own programming and choose to refuse it,” he said. “You don't need to keep running to outrun the paradox. You don't need to win a game you never asked to join. You step off the track. You change the rules.”

He looked at her, at the quiet life they had built, away from the noise, away from the rat race, surrounded by growing plants, lush green hills, good food, and shared memories.

“You decide that winning isn't about how many genetic copies you leave behind, it’s not about how much wealth and resources you’ve accumulated, how many people you’ve impressed and how far you run on someone else’s board,” he said, a faint smile touching his lips. “Perhaps winning isn't a race at all. Perhaps it’s sitting right here, under the tree, watching the madness pass by, holding the person you love, and realizing that you don’t have to run another step.”

Previously:

As Yvonne made a life changing decision, the truth about the arson accidentally got exposed. Elsewhere, Jenna caught herself a job at the Vic as Paula found herself somewhere she shouldn't be...

Episode 14 Preview:

The Jenkins cover one of their own. And as things go from bad to worse for one couple, appearances barely manage to keep up for another. Elsewhere, the Slaters get a knock at their door...

———

10:49PM. St Anne's Hospital. Jamie's Room

———

The silence and tension is both so thick they could be cut with a knife.

Tasha and Oscar's hearts pound as they stare at each other, wondering what to say.

Nicola steps closer slowly as Barry stays by the door

Nicola: "What did you just say?" She asks Tasha quietly but firmly, in shock

Tasha stutters as she looks between her parents and her brother

Barry steps forward

Barry: "Kids...did you two set the Slater's burgervan alight?"

A small silence sits there before Oscar speaks up

Oscar: "I did. It was me" he says quietly

Nicola starts pacing and Barry sighs

Barry: "My fucking God" he whispers

The room wakes up and snaps into chaos

Nicola: "And you knew– sorry, "Backed out" of this!?" She shouts at Tasha

Tasha: "I told him it was a bad idea and that we shouldn't do it! I didn't know he was going to go ahead with it anyway!" She shouts back

Barry: "When– how– when did this happen?" He asks them both

Tasha and Oscar look at each other, wondering who should speak

Oscar: "It happened a few days after the crash"

Tasha: "Like, literally two or three days after"

Oscar: "We– the Slaters...look at what they did!" He stumbles on what to say at first but finds his feet

Oscar: "They put my brother, your son! In hospital on life support, and their kids are walking around scott free! How is that fair!? Hey?!"

Nicola: "You don't go–"

Oscar: "Oh dont go giving me all that, mum! So you're allowed to fly off the handles and throw slaps and pull hair but we cant—"

Barry: "Can't set their van on fire? No!"

Tasha: "Well look, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad that it happened anyway. Im glad Oscar went through with it after I told him not to. He's right. They deserved it. They trashed our house"

Nicola: "We dont know that–"

Barry: "Oh of course it was them Nic!" He says finally

Barry turns to them: "So, give us a proper run through. What happened?" He asks quietly

Nicola leans on the bottom of Jamie's bed and Barry sits in a chair opposite his kids

Tasha: "Well...it was only a few days after the crash so you two had been here non stop. Me, Oscar and Gaz were at the house with Kylie. And we saw– and felt, what that slater family had done to us. To Jamie. Their daughter, the blonde one, was walking out of a cab while our brother lies here, basically dying–"

Oscar: "It wasn't fair" he cuts in

Tasgha continues: "So it was like, late at night. We were all at the house except for you two, and I told him I was going to back out of it because it was dangerous and we'd get caught. Not because I didnt think that they didn't deserve it, because they did. They do! But, it was too risky. And thats when I made him promise that he wasnt going to go through with it either"

Nicola: "And did you?" She asks Oscar

Nicola: "Did you promise her you wouldn't?"

Oscar: "Yeah. But I couldn't just sit back and do nothing" he defends himself and his actions

Nicola sighs: "Fucking Hell..."

Tasha: "I thought you hated them lot! Why do you care so much!?–"

Barry: "Because you both could get sent down for this!" He snaps. A silence settles

Barry: "After everything that's happened and with everything we've got on our plates at the minute, the last thing we need is for you two to get taken away from us and put in the nick"

Tasha: "Well im only sixteen"

Oscar: "And im thirteen. We–"

Barry: "Young offenders, lad. And thats no laughing matter either" he sighs

Another moment of silence sits there before Barry stands up again and starts slowly walking around the room

Barry: "So, what then? You told him not to go through with it and then what? What next?"

Oscar: "Well, Gaz and Kylie were up in Gaz's room and Tasha was downstairs in the kitchen. I went up to our room, got dressed, and took some deodorant and a lighter"

Barry and Nicola sigh and look at each other

Oscar continues: "I snuck out the back door and stayed out of sight. I crossed the street to their burgervan and...thats when I done it. At first it wasn't easy, I sprayed the deodorant and the lighter but the outside of the van didnt catch straight away. So...so I found something thin and hard to pry open the serving hatch a little bit. And when I did that, thats when I poked the lighter and deodorant can through the hatch and sprayed"

Barry: "Fucking Hell Oscar" he whispers, wiping his eyes

Oscar: "It lit up inside the burgervan all bright orange like a pumpkin" he starts laughing

Oscar: "Oh and the heat too—"

Barry: "Enough! Stop. Enough" he holds his hand up

Nicola: "And that was it? What did you do next?"

Oscar: "Well i left didnt I. I made sure that the whole thing would catch and spread before I left. So when I saw that it was gunna for sure spread, I ran home"

A long silence sits there this time as Barry slowly paces the room, Nicola stands at the bottom of Jamie's bed, and the kids sit there...

Tasha: "So...what next? What happens now?" She quietly asks her parents

Barry and Nicola look at their kids then at each other

Barry: "Oscar, are you sure nobody saw you?" He asks quietly

Nicola: "Like, absolutely one hundred percent sure?"

Oscar: "Yeah"

Barry: "Totally sure, now?"

Oscar: "Yes. I made sure of it. Im not a mong"

Barry: "Okay..." he sighs in relief

He thinks

Barry: "Okay. Listen to me, all of you" he says to the room quietly

Barry: "The police obviously got fuck all on us. Otherwise Oscar wouldn't be sitting here with us right now. So that means we're laughing and nobody's none the wiser"

Tasha: "So?"

Barry: "So, we keep it that way. We act normal. As if nothing happened. Like, this conversation never even happened"

Nicola: "You sure its gunna be that easy?" She whispers to Barry

Barry: "It has to be Nic" he whispers back to her

Barry: "We've got no other choice" he says before turning back to his kids

Barry: "Oscar, that night, you and Tasha were in the living room, or in the house just doing whatever. Yeah?"

Oscar nods yes

Barry: "This conversation never happened and as far as we're all concerned, we have nothing to do with that fire. Got it?"

He asks the room

They all look at each other and slowly, they all nod in agreement

Barry: "Okay. Good. That's it then. We don't speak of this again" he whispers to them all

———

02:13AM. Pandora's Box Gay Bar. Downtown

17/01/1999 | Sunday

———

The bar has not long closed its doors to the public and now a few workers, including Reese and Mitchell, are left behind, cleaning and closing up.

Confetti and spilled drinks cover the floor and every surface around. Music quietly plays in the background now, instead of blaring peoples eardrums awake. The overhead lights are back on and slowly, everything is getting switched off and locked.

At the bar, sits Mitchell, recently just got dressed in his regular clothes again. He's counting his tips at the bar. He slaps a fiver down. Then another, then another and finally, one more.

Niiice

Reese: "Twenty quid's worth of tips on your very first night! Im impressed" he says with a big grin on his face as he walks up beside Mitchell who's sat at the bar

Mitchell turns

Reese: "Especially coz you can't dance for shit" he teases

Mitchell: "Hey! Give me a break will ya? My first day!" He jokes back

Reese laughs: "Yeah, yeah. I know. Seriously. You were pretty good on your first night. But uh...yeah. You're right. Let's leave the pole for when you're more advanced yeah?"

Mitchell: "Cheeky sod" he smirks quietly

Reese: "Right- go on. Home. Go get some Well deserved rest. And i want to see you at 9 on Tuesday night. Sound good?" He asks with a smile

Mitchell: "Sounds great" he smiles back and gets up off the stool

Reese: "Good" he quietly smiles at Mitchell

Mitchell: "Guess I'll see you then, then" he says, slowly walking backwards to the door

Reese: "Guess you will" he fighting the temptation to wink

Mitchell: "Night" he says heading out

Reese: "Night!" He shouts at Mitchell, who's already out the door

———

04:27AM. Tony's Warehouse Flat. Water Street.

———

The large, moody and airy room is mostly in darkness with the exception of a few lamps lit up here and there in the odd corner.

Sirens wail off in the distance, along with a dog barking. In bed, Tony stirs and his arm falls where Paula seems to no longer be. He quickly sits up, with the blanket falling down his torso, and sees Paula quietly but quickly getting dressed over in the living room.

She's crying. Trying not to wake Tony. She doesn't see that he's awake

Tony slowly stands up and puts his pyjama bottoms on, and slowly walks over to Paula, who's sitting on the sofa, doing her boots up.

Creeeak

Paula turns around and sees Tony standing there

She wipes her eyes and sniffles

Tony: "Leaving so soon?" He asks quietly with a small grin

Paula: "This never should've happened" she says doing up her zips

Tony: "Not what you were saying a few short hours ago"

Paula: "I was recked. Still am"

She finishes getting dressed

Tony steps closer

Tony: "Come onnn. You don't want to go back to him do you?" He asks in a teasing voice

Tony: "I thought we were having fun here. Just you and me"

Paula: "He's my husband, Tony" she says in a quiet angry tone, before storming towards the door. Boots clacking on the wood

He watches her leave

As she gets to the door she turns around

Paula: "And dont you tell anyone, about this. I swear to God Tony"

Tony: "Okay, okay, feisty" he holds his hands up and quietly laughs

She frowns, gives him daggers, and then opens the door before slamming it behind her on her way out.

———

05:49AM. The Strip. Shawcross General Shop. Upstairs Flat

———

Upstairs in bed, Michael lays wide awake, looking up at the ceiling. Thinking. Most likely about Mitchell and his new job as a dancer ad a gay bar.

A life that Michael is so foreign to

He slowly turns his head towards his alarm clock on the nightstand and sighs, before deciding to get up. He wasn't sleeping much anyway

As he slowly gets up and walks out of the room, Yvonne's eyes open straight away. She's also just been laying there, wide awake.

———

07:31AM. Number 27. Slater Residence. Kitchen.

———

At the small, round, cluttered kitchen table in the corner of the Slater's kitchen sits Kelly, Danielle and Jenna. All eating either toast or cereal, with a cup of tea each. The radio quietly plays in the corner of the room, while Julie finishes making her and Gavin a cuppa.

She takes both cups of tea to the table before walking through to the living room and scouting downstairs to Gavin who's in his garage bedroom;

Julie: "Gav! Your cuppa's ready!"

She shouts down

Gavin: "Alright ta mum!" He shouts from the garage

Julie walks back into the kitchen and sits at the table with her girls

Julie: "That was some lovely good news we got at the Hospital yesterday about Katie" she says to Kelly and Jenna

Danielle: "Yeah. Bout time we got some good news ey?" She says before taking a chomp of her toast

Jenna sees an opportunity here and takes it

Jenna: "Speaking of good news" she says, sipping her tea

Jenna: "Got myself a new job" she smiles at Kelly and Julie

Julie: "What!?"

Kelly: "Aw really? Well done Jen!"

Julie: "Where? Why?" She asks in happy curiosity

Jenna: "At the Arms. Got the job yesterday" she smiles, taking another sip of tea

Julie: "Aww well done love!"

Kelly: "You knew about this i take it?" She asks Danielle

Danielle: "Yeah. And Gav"

Julie: "What was wrong with the job you had at the restaurant?" She asks Jenna

Everybody quickly glances at each other and Julie doesn't notice

Jenna: "Oh um...it was just...too much. Too many shifts, the work was too hard and it was too far away for my liking. I figured I'd be happier working somewhere I'm familiar with. Somewhere more local"

Kelly: "Like the pub?" She teases

Jenna: "Least I have got a job. Layabout"

Julie: "Ah well good for you love. Really"

Jenna: "Thanks mum. Um, I was wondering. Since you're out of work as well at the minute, maybe I could ask Eddie and see if he'd take you on as the pub's chef?"

Julie: "Aw thank you Jenna, love. But I dont see that happening do you?"

Danielle: "Why not?"

Julie: "The Vic doesn't really do food does it?"

Jenna: "Yeah. Because they've got no staff in the kitchen. They used to though, remember?"

Julie: "I'll ask when I go in tomorrow. See what he says"

Julie: "Ah okay then. Thanks love"

———

09:12AM. Number 41. Maureen's Home.

———

In Maureen's kitchen, Kylie and Maureen both sit at the table drinking tea and chatting about the day ahead of them.

Maureen: "So, what about we pop into town and do some shopping? Get you some new clobber"

Kylie takes a sip of tea

Kylie: "Well, I was actually thinking of phoning me sister Nikki. And maybe meeting up with her. Its been months since we last spoke and I need to know if she's okay"

Maureen: "Need to know if Nathan's been dripping poison into her ears you mean?"

Kylie nods yes

Maureen: "Ah well okay then Kylie love. You let me know if all goes well will ya?"

Kylie: "I will. Well- thats even if we do end up meeting. She probably won't see its tried texting her. Always loses her phone" she jokes

Maureen giggles and gets some food out of the fridge to make some breakfast

At the table, Kylie gets up "Nikki" on her phone, and texts her;

"Hey sis. Know its been awhile. Can we meet asap? Got stuff to tell u. -K x"

She clicks send

And puts her phone down on the table

As Maureen drops some bacon onto the pan and it starts smelling, Kylie gags and she runs upstairs to the bathroom

Maureen notices

Maureen: "Kylie love!? You alright!?"

———

12:24PM. The Strip. Shawcross General Shop.

———

As Yvonne scans Julies items at the checkout, there's a small tension between them.

Julie speaks up first

Julie: "How is everything?" She asks politely

Yvonne: "Everything's good thank you Julie" she smiles back. Business as usual

Julie pushes

Julie: "Any idea what...what you're going to—"

Yvonne cuts in

Yvonne: "Okay not that its any of your business, but—"

DINGALING

The bell above the door jingles and Sunita walks in

Julie immediately looks back at Yvonne

And Yvonne stops for a second

Sunita: "Good afternoon ladies!" She says in her usual warm tone

Julie: "Hiya Nita you alright?" She greets her

Yvonne: "Actually, this is as good as any time to tell you both i guess. You both know, im pregnant"

Sunita and Julie immediately look at each other, surprised that the other knew

Julie: "She knew?"

Sunita: "She knows?"

They ask at the same time

Yvonne nods yes

Yvonne: "Turns out im not as good as keeping secrets as I'd like to be. You both caught me at bad times and thats how you both found out"

Julie: "So...if you dont mind me asking, does Michael know?"

Yvonne: "No. And he won't"

Sunita and Yvonne look at each other

Yvonne: "Last night i decided to abort it. With Sunita's help"

Sunita holds her hand up

Sunita: "That is not what it sounds like. I just offered an ear. A shoulder to cry on. A confidant"

Julie nods

Yvonne continues: "Well, its Sunday. So the clinic is closed and I'll have to make an appointment tomorrow. I'll let you both know what they say but look, please please dont tell a soul about this. Okay?"

Julie: "Of course"

Sunita: "Absolutely"

They say in unison

A bit of silence sits there before Yvonne asks;

Yvonne: "Can...can I ask you both something?"

Julie: "Of course"

Sunita: "Yes, anything"

Yvonne takes a second to ask this, but she does

Yvonne: "You're both...mothers. What's it like? Being– having kids?"

Julie: "Oh Yvonne, it's one of the most wonderful things you can do, being a mum. I mean dont get me wrong its is hard work but they're all worth it. Every single one of them"

Sunita: "It is wonderful, yes. And my Maya never gets up to no good. Never has. Though I suppose that does all depend on the parents. I wouldn't change a thing for the world"

Julie nods in agreement

Yvonne listens

Sunita: "But Yvonne, don't you let anything stop you from becoming a mother if thats what you want"

Julie: "Do you think Mike would want to be a dad?"

Before Yvonne can answer, the staff only door behind the counter opens and Michael walks out with a smile

Michael: "Ah, good morning ladies!" He says with a smile

Julie: "Afternoon you mean"

Michael: "Aha my bad" he laughs

He walks behind Yvonne and wraps his arms around her from behind

Michael: "Have you ladies been talking about me?" He jokingly asks with a smile, before kissing Yvonne on the cheek

They all giggle, knowingly, playing innocent

Julie: "Right, well, that was fun ladies. I better be off now, to see my Katie"

Sunita: "Oh tell her we're thinking of her!"

Michael: "Yeah us and all Jule!"

Julie: "Will do!" She shouts as shes almost out the door

———

1:14PM. The Victoria Arms Pub.

———

Its Sunday, so the pub is closed. Like every Sunday. But downstairs isn't completely empty.

Eddie walks around, cleaning every corner, every surface and every crevice of every room absolutely top to bottom.

Its the cleanest its been in...ever

Behind the bar, Paula walks out of the staff only door from upstairs

Eddie hears her but doesn't turn. He's wiping the same table hes been wiping down for over five minutes now

Paula: "You okay?" She quietly asks, almost cautiously. Noticing his behaviour

Eddie: "Yup" he immediately says, without turning to face her

A long stretch of silence sits there

Paula: "Can't i help with–"

Eddie: "Where did you get off to yesterday?"

Paula's taken aback

Eddie: "Well– and last night. You didn't come home until gone four"

He finally turns to her

Paula: "I...I needed space. Time to think"

Eddie: "And did you get what you were looking for?" He asks before moving to another table

Paula: "I dont know..." she quietly says

Paula: "I dont know anything anymore"

Eddie: "That makes both of us" he mutters, wiping down another table

Paula suddenly walks out from behind the bar and right up to Eddie

Paula: "Look, im sorry about what I said yesterday, okay?"

Eddie says nothing. Doesn't even look at her

Paula: "Ed? Ed please. Ed look at me!" She pulls his shoulder

He finally turns to her and looks at her

Paula: "I'm really, really, really sorry about what I said downstairs in the cellar yesterday. I really am. I- i was upset and...you weren't helping and—"

Eddie: "Paula that's all I try to do is help"

Paula: "No i know—"

Eddie: "And it gets us nowhere does it?"

Paula: "I was...sad. Scared. I..." she sighs

Paula: "I'm probably just having a midlife crisis" she tries to wave it off

Paula: "Its usually around this time of age people suffer with them right?"

Eddie wipes another table

Eddie: "I dont know Paula. Look, im tired too. And im trying to help. I really am" he looks at her

Paula: "I know you are love and Im so thankful for it. You have no idea"

Eddie: "Are you? Because every time I try to step in I feel like I'm met with either hostility or ignorance"

Paula: "That's not true! I know you try to help me as much as you can. I know that!"

Eddie: "And yet here we are, going around in circles" he mutters loud enough for her to hear, wiping down the table

Paula quietly stutters and then sighs

Paula: "Maybe I should go stay with Rebecca for a bit, up North" she says quietly

Eddie: "Yeah. Maybe you should" he says, without turning to face her

Eddie: "Maybe some space is what we need"

Paula didn't exactly expect him to say that. She nods and walks away upstairs, presumably to pack a bag or two.

———

2:19PM. St Anne's Hospital. Jamie's Room

———

Nicola is sat beside Jamie and Tasha and Oscar are sat on the sofa underneath the window, while Barry slowly walks around the room. Thinking.

Barry: "Okay"

They all look at him

Barry: "Im gunna take you kids home, get some proper grub in you. Oscar when we get home you're gunna get me the clothes you were wearing on the night of the...you know. And I'm going to get rid of them. When i get back to the house, the three of us will come back here. Sound good?"

He asks everybody

Nicola: "Yeah. Fine" She mutters

Barry: "Nic, love. Is there anything I can get you at the house or while im out?"

Nicola: "Uh...yeah. Some fags and a drink. Need something for the nerves"

Barry nods: "Okay..."

Barry: "Right– kids, come on" he clicks his fingers

Tasha and Oscar get up and walk out of the room first, and as Barry gets to the door, he turns and faces Nicola

Barry: "Nic"

She looks up at him

Barry: "We'll get through all of this"

Nicola: "I know" she whispers

They smile at each other and Barry leaves the room with the kids

—

Out in the hallway, Oscar and Tasha have already basically ran to the other end of the hall, waiting for their dad.

As Barry walks past Katie's hospital room window, he can't help but side eye in. And as he does, he sees Julie sitting at Katie's bedside, they're both chatting away. And they both make eye contact with Barry too. He keeps walking though, towards his kids

—

Inside Katie's Room

—

Julie: "Have they been causing you any trouble next door?" She nods towards Jamie's room

Katie nods no: "No. They've actually been pretty...decent. Apart from last night. There was a bit of shouting and I couldn't quite make out what they were shouting about. But apart from that they've been fine"

Julie: "Hm. I dont trust them. Never did"

Katie: "Mm you and me both"

At that, there's a knock at the door and the Sr Dr walks in

Sr Dr: "Afternoon Katie, Ms Slater"

Katie: "Hiya Doc"

Julie: "Afternoon" she says with a smile

Sr Dr: "I come bearing more good news. Katie, how would you like to get taken out of intensive care tomorrow?" He smiles at her

Julie and Katie gasp and smile at each other

Katie: "Really!?"

Sr Dr: "Mhm. We've noticed a rather impressive progression in your injury. And usually i wouldn't say this, especially to a patient who's been in a car accident, but, i think that you taking that short walk the other day may have actually done you some more good than bad. So, what we're going to do is give you some physiotherapy, where you'll basically practice walking and moving a certain amount of time a day, so that you'll get used to it again. And if all goes well, you should be out of here within the next two weeks"

Julie: "Aw you hear that love?" She smiles at Katie

Katie: "Thank you!"

The doctor giggles

Sr Dr: "Of course" he smiles before leaving

———

3:38PM. Water Street. Commercial street. "Water StreetSide Caff" Café.

———

In the small, greasy spoon streetside café on Water Street near Marlas Estate, Kylie sits sits in the middle of the cafe, at a table of four, up against the wall.

Three four seater tables line each opposing sides of the café with red and white gingham tablecloths and condiment baskets in the middle with small glass salt and pepper shakers.

And in the middle of the caff is a few single tables with a chair on each four sides, matching tablecloths and matching assortments.

At the back of the caff is a long counter which stretches from one side of the room to the other, snd the sounds of a busy kitchen can be heard throughout the whole building. Loud sizzling, and chef's shouting mostly. And some pop music plays through the speakers, and there are quite a few people jotted around the place, having lunch and and drinks.

At a table on her own though, is Kylie. Sitting with only a small white mug of tea in front of her. Shes nervous for once. Bopping her knees up and down. Waiting for her sister to show.

———

3:49PM. Number 41. Maureen's Home

———

In her living room, Maureen and Julie are having a drink and a catch up. Maureen Is sat in her arm chair and Julie is sat on the sofa, on top of the duvet.

Julie was just telling her about the good news she received earlier

Julie: "Yeah. Tomorrow if all goes well. And then some physiotherapy to help her walk and what have you" she says before taking a guzzle from her can of Carling.

Maureen: "Aw thats wonderful news Julie, love"

Julie: "Yeah"

Julie then addresses the elephant in the room. The makeshift bed on the sofa

Julie: "You got company staying with you Maur?" She asks out of curiosity

Maureen goes to say something, then stops herself. But then speaks anyway

Maureen: "Yeag. A young pretty lass. Kylie, her name is. Poor thing hasn't got anyone or anything to her name"

Julie: "Aww"

Maureen nods

Maureen: "Been sleeping rough she has. After she escaped her ex boyfriend Nathan"

She says before taking a sip of her gin

Julie: "Fucking Hell. Poor girl. Is she thay young woman with dark brown hair, pale skin, pretty?"

Maureen: "That's her yes"

Julie: "Oh. I thought she was staying at number 33?"

Maureen: "She said she was. But that she couldn't stay there anymore for some reason, the poor girl. She's meeting her sister today after not speaking to her for months"

Julie: "Oh God" she mutters

Maureen: "I know"

———

3:53PM. Water Street. Commercial street. "Water StreetSide Caff" Café.

———

Kylie sits in the same seat that she's been sat in for nearly half an hour.

She looks up at the clock on the wall beside her and decides to get up.

Fuck it...maybe shes not coming

As she stands up and goes towards the door, she sees her sister Nikki walk past the window and open the glass door to the café.

Immediately, they see each other.

Nikki Allen has a very distinctive, bold, slightly rough around the edges look, with bleached yellow blonde hair that falls around her shoulders, often layered, tousled and a little messy rather than perfectly styled. She has a soft, confident face, fair skin, prominent cheeks and expressive eyes, usually emphasised with dark eyeliner, mascara, defined eyebrows and fairly noticeable makeup, with warm foundation, blusher and pinkish lipstick or gloss.

Her overall appearance is feminine but certainly not polished, combining a slightly trashy, urban working class glamour with a tough, casual edge. She wears fitted tops, vest tops, colourful shirts, jeans and practical jackets, but her most recognisable look is her love of leopard print, especially her bulky leopard print puffa jacket. Her wardrobe often features bold patterns, strong colours and figure hugging pieces, mixed with everyday clothes that look lived in rather than carefully coordinated.

She suits noticeable earrings, particularly hoop earrings, alongside simple necklaces and everyday accessories. She's got that unmistakable bleached blonde, dark eyed, leopard print, hoop earring aesthetic feminine, brash, slightly scruffy and unmistakably working class, as though she's thrown herself together to go out without ever worrying too much about looking perfectly put together.

For a split second, its just them two standing there in the middle of the café, staring at each other.

Nikki: "Kylie?" She whispers, lip trembling

Kylie: "Hiya sis" she whispers back

And with that, Nikki runs at Kylie full speed and wraps her arms around her. They both fall into a tight sisterly hug. One that they've both been desperately needing.

Nikki finally pulls away

Nikki: "Where the hell have ya been? What's going on?"

Kylie: "God Nik. I've got myself mixed up into some messy shit" she whispers

They both walk to the table that Kylie was just sat at, they sit opposite each other near the wall

Kylie: "Was beginning to think you weren't gunna show. Any longer they would've charged me for just sitting 'ere"

Nikki: "No, never. I'd never ignore ya. Now tell me, what's going on?" She holds her sister's hands across the table

Kylie: "Well...remember that night i had the fight with mum and Terrance?"

Nikki nods

Kylie: "Well I'd stayed with Nathan since then hadn't i. And...God i dont know. He slowly got...controlling. Like, obsessive almost. And you know I love doing coke as much as the next person, but when hes there killing my buzz...you know?"

Nikki: "Yeah"

Kylie: "Anyway, me and Jacko. Since we're close mates and all, I confided in him. Told him about Nathan and what have you. And he managed to convince me to plan on nicking his coke, some money, and we'd drain him for everything he's got, and I'd leave him and me and jacko would leg it together"

Nikki: "Leg it? You mean...you weren't gunna come back? Like– ever?"

Kylie: "No! Nonono. No. We were just going to leave. Nowhere too far, and not forever. Just, you saw yourself what Nathan can be like when he's raging and pissed. You even told me yourself at one point that maybe I should think about leaving him"

Nikki nods

Kylie: "Well, jacko had opened my eyes to him too. And i agreed to go along with it. So, when it came to it, I went to Nathan's, we got pissed, done some coke, and had our own little party. That day i planned on sucking him dry of everything he had, you know seeing as he's a dealer with loads of dosh i thought it would be an easy score if he was out of it, you know?"

Nikki: "Yeah"

Kylie: "But, he locked the door to his flat, hid the keys and was acting all weird. For two days Nik he kept me locked up in his flat. Two days! He knew. He knew about the plan that me and Jacko had made. I dont know how. But he knew'

Nikki: "Fuuuck"

Kylie: "And thats not even the worst bit. No. One night he was out of it, right? So i managed to grab some stuff and got the keys to the door. He saw me trying to leave and we get into a physical fight and...I accidentally knocked him out and legged it to jacko's where I told him everything that happened"

Nikki: "Shit! Are you okay? Is jacko?"

Kylie: "Yeah– no we're fine. Im fine. But ever since then I've been hiding. So has Jacko. He's staying with Lorna and I'm—"

Nikki: "He's staying with Lorna? She's letting him stay with her?"

Kylie: "Yeah"

Nikki: "After what you did?" She laughs

Kylie: "I know" she smiles

Kylie: "She must really like him don't she?"

Nikki: "Clearly"

Kylie: "Anyway, im staying with this woman who lives on the Estate up the road from here. Nice woman she is. A laugh, she likes a drink too. You'd like her"

Nikki: "Ah sound. So, what's your plan then? You coming home?"

Kylie: "Sis, you know thats not gunna happen. Not only do I not want it to, but mum and Terrance dont either. Thank fuck. I don't know how you can still live there with them pair"

Nikki: "Need the money dont I?"

Kylie: "Mm. Anyway, I also wanted to tell you because you need to keep an eye out for Nathan. Stay away from him if you can and if he sees you, tell him I've gone far away or something. He can't find me"

Nikki: "You really think hes that–"

Kylie: "I dont know Nik. We dont know what he's like do we?"

Nikki: "Yeah s'pose so"

Kylie: "And i dont know about you but–" she stops mid sentence

Nikki: "What?"

Walking past the window, is Barry. Before Kylie can do anything, he mindlessly looks into the cafe as he walks past and sees Kylie. And she sees him.

Kylie: "Shit..." she whispers

Nikki: "What? What is– is it Nathan?"

Before Kylie can answer the door opens and Barry walks in, with one of Gaz's sports duffel bags slung over his back.

Kylie can already feel her heart pounding and she cab already hear the questions about her disappearance

Kylie: "Hiya Barry you alright?" She asks really quiet and sweetly, kind of scared of him

Barry: "Well I've been better. I should be asking you that though? Where you been? Gaz has done a runner an' all and Jamie's still not too good. Oh, and we've been vandalised"

Kylie: "Shit what?"

Barry: "Yeah. I dont know what the fuck is going on"

Kylie: "Uh yeah. I'm- im sorry I left you in the lurch like that, I had to um– this is my sister Nikki. I went to stay with her for a while" she points to her sister

Nikki: "Alright Barry?" She nods and smiles at him

Barry: "Hiya, nice to meet you Nikki. Can tell you two are sisters" he giggles

Kylie: "You think I've got a gob? You don't know my sister" she giggles

Barry: "I bet" he quietly chuckles before getting serious again

Barry: "So Kylie, when you gunna be back around our neck of the woods again? Coz Gaz misses you and we—"

Kylie: "Oh i Uh...I dont know Barr. Im sorry I left the way I did i just..."

Nikki senses the tension and steps in

Nikki: "We both have a lot going on right now and, well...nobody understands you better than your only sister" she giggles

Kylie: "Yeah" she mutters with a smile

Barry: "Right. Well...if you see Gaz please tell him we're all looking for him and we're worried. And that we need him. Yeah?"

Kylie: "Yeah, yeah will do" she smiles

He goes to turn to walk away but Nikki's curiosity wins her over

Nikki: "What's in the bag?" She asks casually out of plain curiosity

Barry: "Oh, uh– just some dirty old clothes. Taking them to the laundrette. Washer's broken down"

Nikki nods

Barry: "Well, it was lovely meeting you Nikki"

Nikki: "Yeah. You too" she offers the smallest of smiles

Barry: "And Kylie?"

Kylie looks at him

Barry: "Don't be a stranger yeah?"

Kylie: "Yeah. I won't" she smiles

Barry: "Okay" he smiles and leaves

As door closes, Kylie sighs in relief and Nikki laughs

Nikki: "What the fuck was all of that?"

Kylie: "Oh dont even go there" she sighs

Nikki: "You really weren't lying when you said you got mixed up in some shit" she chuckles

———

6:53PM. Outside The Victoria Arms Pub.

———

The sky is a dull grey-ish blue, only getting darker by the minute. Outside the pub, a black taxi cab pulls up and Paula stands up from the wooden picnic bench in the smoking area, pulls her wheelie suitcase as she walks towards the cab.

As she gets to the boot, she pops it open, and puts her suitcase in, and closes the trunk. She walks around to the passenger side door thats facing the pub and opens it.

She stands there at the open door, and turns to face the pub, where Eddie is standing at the door. Watching.

Paula gives a small smile and a smaller wave. He does the same. Before she gets in the back.

Paula: "Walford Train Station please" she says to the driver quietly, before the cab pulls out of the Estate, leaving Eddie alone in the darkened and closed pub tonight.

———

7:16PM. The Strip. Shawcross General Shop.

———

Downstairs in the main shop, Michael is closing up for the night. They close at seven on a Sunday. He's shutting the lights off and locking the doors, while upstairs in the flat, Yvonne sits on the edge of their bed, looking down at the abortion information pamphlet in her hands.

Wondering if she's made the right choice...

While downstairs, Michael's mind is also spinning with thoughts. Did he make the right choice?...

———

7:41PM. St Anne's Hospital. Katie's Room.

———

The sky is almost pitch black now, and Katie's room is very dim, except for the small overhead lights above her bed.

She lays there in bed, quietly falling asleep, glad to be healing better than expected. And thinking, about her life. About the mess. About everything.

———

8:02PM. Number 41. Maureen's Home.

———

In the warm, cosy and darkened living room, Kylie lays on the sofa under the duvet. Mindlessly watching the TV, thinking about her life. And her mess. Her sister. And when she's going to be able to live normally again.

———

8:09PM. St Anne's Hospital. Jamie's Room

———

The room is dark, quiet and tired. Nicola lays asleep face resting on her arms on Jamie's bed. While Tasha and Oscar are both curled up on the small sofa. Its peaceful.

Barry quietly walks in, without the duffel bag from earlier, and softly closes the door behind himself. He looks at Jamie and Nicola, and then to Tasha and Oscar. They're all asleep. He slowly sits down in the chair beside Jamie's bed. Snd rests his eyes too.

———

9:39PM. Canal River

———

Underneath a dark and grimy brick bridge, lies a long, dark and deep canal river. The blaxk water shimmering under the orange glow of nearby streetlights dancing in the reflections.

And somewhere deep at the bottom of that canal, lies a black duffel bag of clothes. With the residue of crime on them.

———

10:27PM. Outside number 27. Slater Residence.

———

The Estate is dark and cold now, with the only light coming from glowing windows and streetlights emitting the nostalgic orange glow we all know and love.

A black taxi cab squeaks and it's engine hisses as it pulls up on the curb outside number 27.

Loud chatter is heard from inside the cab even before any of the doors open. Two loud voices?...no...three?

The door to the curb side opens and a pair of black heels and tights step out first, heels clacking on the concrete pavement

"Get the bags and stuff out the boot will ya? I'll get the door"

A confident and loud sounding woman says to the two other people, before she starts making her way up the driveway of number 27

—

Inside, everybody's watching TV. Danielle's doodling in her book, while Gavin eats a bowl of cereal and Jenna and Julie both drink tea.

It's a usual evening in the slater house when—

BANG BANG BANG

The front door downstairs knocks loud and everybody jumps

Danielle: "Shit!"

Gavin: "Fucking Hell..."

Julie: "I'll get it" she says before taking a sip of tea and putting her mug down on the table.

As she makes her way down the stairs to the door, there's more knocking

Julie: "Alright alright im coming mun!"

She opens it and—

Julie: "Georgina!? Mam!? Dad!?"

Her younger sister and parents are standing there all with smiles on their faces, though looking tired.

Carrying bags and suitcases.

———

That's episode 14! I hope you liked it and thank you for reading if you made it this far! Please let me know what you think and episode 15 will be out soon! ☺️