Electric candles walmart

No really right now
Power been off on my block since 7am they don't expect it back up until tomorrow night.
When it got dark I got into my preps for an electric lantern but the batteries are all dead. I realized I had some homemade candles I made at a traditional skills gathering so I'm using those.
It smells like lavender and butt in here.
Rotate yur batteries everyone

Electric bill with parents and grow room
Our electric is $600 a month for a 3000sq ft home. I have a grow room (300sq ft) i run at 78-80° year round with two heaters set to 90° to grow carnivorous plants etc. I run two 4x4 grow tents with 300watt lights in each running 14hrs a day with a timed switch. 1 has a ac infinity duct fan going and the other a regular fan which I turn off more than I have on. The rest of the room is turned off with 2 800watt grow lights and ac infinity growtent advanced system. I use about 100sq ft right now with the two tents and focused the heaters to the corner they are in. I used to run the whole room and in the winter it was less even with everything on($500)!!! Now that it’s summer it’s gone up and I removed components, why??????
My dad is a submariner and runs the house at 63° year round. He’s been turning it to 71° in the morning apparently then turning it down in the evening to accommodate us? I say he just gets a fan bc I’m being blamed that my room is acclimating the whole house to 90° and the ac is fighting it to stay cool.
Well our ac froze over today and we have nothing right now. No ac just windows open tonight. I’m pretty sure I’m some of the $600 bill but not the $300 for electric alone they are wanting along with rent and food in general. I’m not here all day unlike my parents( 1 is disabled and the other is retired disabled) they watch tv and do nothing while I’m working 7-5. I do the yard. I do my area I live in, my laundry. I swap there when I’m doing mine.( they don’t do the same) I do the trash. I’m the legit trash service since my parents refuse to pay $100 a month. So I carry heavy black contractor backs of trash to work every other day to dump. I get no help with it. Just tossed boxes and bs everywhere. I gotta flatten them. I pay for most of my meals right now with my gf. I only eat frozen meals for lunch and breakfast for work and practically starve myself with snacks or sleep unless my mom cooks but she’s really hurt from her back. I’m always told I don’t buy the food or really even need to be feed being an adult under their roof, which is right, but they told me that since I was 6 so I’m numb to it almost. I’m always made miserable for trying to live and provide for my parents who wouldn’t have a cushy lifestyle without me. I am told I need to walk the dog. It’s my fault he gets into stuff. Clean the litter it’s ur fault they shit on the floor today, mow the grass it’s too tall( well the mowers dead and yk it, been begging for a new one to mow our half acre). “The dishes are packed, why can you do them?”. Like why am I expected to do this after my day at work when your home all day. When you tell me if I work to only focus on that. Now they’re wanting me to go to school on top of all this. I’m the fucking Cinderella syndrome of this 3000sq lavish hellhole of emotional unavailability and narcissistic abuse. I’m just saying with all I do around here I don’t get enough credit and now I’m being blamed once again for something I don’t think has that huge of an affect of the whole house! It’s annoying. I had to fight them to have an outdoor garden as well. To provide their fav fruits and veggies along with mine. My goal, my lifestyle they call a hobby.(gardening) like let me flourish and do my thing. So many worse things I could spend my money on and I choose plants. Shoes? No. New hats?! No. New trends in media or anything materialistic that isn’t for my career in the future? No!!! They just never let me do me and I’m constantly told how to manage my savings and I’m never able to be myself. I’m just tired of it!!! I do so much more but I can’t label everything. All they do is nag me and pay the bills while I allow them to have that extra spending money from not needing all these extra services to be paid for that they can’t do themselves without me. Also I’m not even home on the weekends anymore bc of my business with my girlfriend where we vendor candles and plants. I’m really not even living there and they want to charge me for electric or more electric than I realistically think I am supposed to. I don’t pay rent as of yet but I handle a lot of my owns bills from car to phone, to loan on a minimum wage. I’m just constantly asked of more and I’m just not able to focus on stuff that I enjoy or at least in a healthy manner.

Will almost entirely be for home listening (though I may occasionally want to use them on flights), don't need noise cancelling, I'm a bit of a bass head. Into metal (Linkin Park, Electric Wizard, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, ), psychedelic rock (Hendrix, The Doors), Kanye (way too much recently), Bowie, Police. Budget $100-200. Saw that the HD600 is something like 50% off rn at Walmart for $199, should I just get those?
Edit: would be plugging it into an audio jack on either my laptop or phone

Electricity in Puerto Rico can be somewhat unreliable, with occasional outages occurring throughout the island. These outages can vary in duration and frequency, so it's important to be prepared. LUMA, the electricity provider in Puerto Rico, offers an outage map where you can check for current issues and get updates on service restoration.
Here are some tips to help manage power outages:

1. Stay Informed: Regularly check LUMA's outage map for updates. Staying informed about the status of outages can help you plan accordingly.
2. Communicate with Hosts: If you're staying in an Airbnb or a hotel, maintain close communication with your property manager or hotel staff. They often have local insights and can provide updates specific to your area.
3. Backup Power Solutions: Invest in portable chargers and battery-powered lights. These can be invaluable during an outage, ensuring you can still use essential devices and have lighting.
4. Plan Ahead: Have a contingency plan for extended outages. This might include knowing the locations of nearby cafes or coworking spaces with generators if you need to continue working.
5. Stay Safe: If the outage lasts longer, ensure you have enough water, food, and other essentials. Avoid using candles for lighting to reduce fire risk.

By staying informed and prepared, you can manage power outages in Puerto Rico more effectively and enjoy your stay on the island despite the occasional inconvenience.
If you found these tips helpful, please consider leaving a tip! You can tip via PayPal, Venmo, or debit/credit card here. I'm a travel guide in Puerto Rico and appreciate your support. Feel free to chat with me if you have any other questions.
Saludos,
Devin

Not Dr. Bronner’s, but the feel is the same.
They made very generic items that you could find in Walmart or in a dollar store, and the things you used to be able to see on google were like, paper plates, plastic utensils, birthday candles, napkins, pencils; stuff like that.
The quotes were usually inspirational and I think religiously based, but I don’t exactly remember.
the part that made it weird is that every product had a different quote, and the quote was very inconspicuously placed on the packaging to where you would almost miss it if you weren’t looking for it.
The brand name is coming to me like “___- brite” or something.

Hi All,
I'm just starting out on my Blacksmith journey, but unsure on the type of forge I should get, based in the UK. Question as old as time I know 😂.
Budget for forge: £1500 Location: Ventilated garage/outbuilding with concrete floor, no doors, has full electricity (slate roof but wood structure/sides), no close neighbours
I want the forge to be good for beginner and advanced projects. Types of items I want to make:
To begin with: - Key chain items, bottle openers, hooks for coat racks, etc (basically small projects, while I learn)
When I'm more experienced: - Elaborate Bird feedetables, garden ornaments, candle holders, weather vains, etc - Maybe some day I'll do fancy gates with nature and animals
I was looking at Swan - The Competitor (Two Door Model), they're around £1357, but not sure if it'll be good for the above projects or if a coal forge would be needed instead?
On the coal forge side, was looking at a greystoneforge 24"/37", they're around £1395, but I would have to install the flue and pipes, etc
I've tried to give as much information as I can, what would you recommend, gas or coal forge and are the above choices any good?
Thanks 🙂

Hey all, This subreddit was an indispensable resource in my planning my trip, so I wanted to return the favor with highlights from my trip and general experiences/tips. I spent 14 days (+ 3 travel days from/to the states), with 3 friends that joined me for different parts of the trip. Here's my itinerary with highlights/comments:
Number of nights per city: Tokyo(3), Kyoto(3), Takamatsu(3), Beppu(2), Fukuoka(4)
Day 1 - Tokyo (9.24 miles walked)

• Stayed in Roppongi, which I really enjoyed- great location with fun side streets to wander down.
• Rainy day so I hit up museums nearby: Suntory art museum, which houses classic Japanese art/artifacts; and the Tokyo national art center, which was hosting this massive juried exposition of contemporary art. Made for a cool juxtaposition.
• Checked out some specialty stores in Shibuya.
• Harukor for lunch- a small hole in the wall restaurant serving indigenous cuisine with friendly owners.
• Afura for dinner- low-key ramen/dipping noodle spot.

Day 2 - Tokyo (12.11 miles)

• Walked around Meiji shrine and surrounding neighborhood
• Shinjuku to check out some specialty stores (Sekaido stationary store, etc).
• Walked around Shimokitazawa neighborhood- very cute, young neighborhood with vintage stores. I wasn't planning on doing any clothes shopping because I'm tall by Japanese-standards and clothes shopping isn't generally my idea of a fun time, but I stumbled across an amazing 70's vintage dress here that is probably my most treasured purchase from the trip.
• Had an amazing kaseiki dinner at Ise sueyoshi. 100% recommend. Was the most expensive meal of my life to date (to be fair, I'm not much of a foodie) but it was such a great experience. They are also unusually accommodating for dietary restrictions, so vegetarians/vegans/gluten intolerant folks take note!

Day 3 - Tokyo Kyoto (9.66 miles)

• Stored our luggage at Tokyo station before a day of sightseeing.
• Walked around Imperial Palace grounds, then Kagurazaka neighborhood (this was ok, some nice little shops but I think maybe I was expecting a bit more?). My friends hit up a wood block studio that was located in a neighborhood east of Kagurazaka, they found some really great prints here. Sorry, don't have the name of the store.
• Walked through Ginza before hopping on the bullet train. There was an elevated highline-esque walkway over by the Miyazaki clock that was nice, but I otherwise wasn't super into Ginza. A lot of European designer stores, if that's your thing.
• Took a silly amount of time to find our stored luggage (air tags were helpful!) and then find the bullet train section of Tokyo station. I had read warnings to give yourself plenty of time to find the train platform after purchasing the shinkansen ticket, but the ticket machines for our line were immediately adjacent to the platforms so we ended up spending 40 minutes sitting on the floor of the station waiting for our train...seriously there are like no benches in that station!

Day 4 - Kyoto (11.68 miles)

• Rented an older home in a fantastic location- small quiet neighborhood just north east of Shosei-en garden.
• This was probably my favorite day of the entire trip. Got an early start at Murin-an garden, then headed over to Nanzen-ji, Saisho-in, Okunoin temples. Okunoin temple was a rec that I found on here, it's kinda hidden behind the Nanzen-ji complex. A hilly path leading up to a waterfall with altars(?) along the way. There was this man with some sort of instrument made from a turtle shell who was playing at each altar. It was hella enchanting. Walked north on the Philosopher's path, stopping at Honenin temple and Higashiyama jisho-ji. I was really worried about crowds but for a mid-week morning/early afternoon there really wasn't that many people around, except for Higashiyama.
• Again on a reddit rec, we wandered through the woods to find Mo-an, this somewhat hidden cafe with amazing desserts. The experience of forging through a forest unsure where we were going (took a wrong turn and stumbled into the Yoshida shrine) and finding this tree-house like oasis was incredible. The matcha chiffon cake was delicious.
• In the evening we checked out an antique shop in Gion and walked Pontocho Alley after dinner. Honestly, the alley was too crowded to enjoy.

Day 5 - Kyoto (12.00 miles)

• Got up early and hiked up Fushimi inari taisha. I think we made it back down by like 9:30 am which helped avoid crowds.
• Near our rental was Shosei-en garden and a lovely matcha soft-serve ice cream cafe (Walden woods- they also sold great candles).
• In the afternoon we headed north to do some shopping: the Kyoto Handicraft Center and some small antique stores between there and the Kyoto Gyoen national garden. We were pretty exhausted at that point so we didn't venture very far, just walked along the southern edge.
• Went to a curry restaurant that was veg-friendly: Koisus curry and tempura.
• Taking a rec that I read on here, we waited until later in the night (~8:30ish?) to check out Sannenzaka and Ninenzaka neighborhoods. Very few people around that late so that was a success.

Day 6 - Kyoto Himeji Takamatsu (8.22 miles)

• Hopped on the bullet train to Takamatsu with a stop to tour Himeji castle. It's one of the few original castles still standing and considered one of Japan's best so it seemed foolish not to check it out. While we were there the city was having a parade/festival so that was fun to watch.
• We picked Takamatsu as our home base for touring the art islands. The ferry ride is shortest here (compared to Okayama) and the port is walkable from downtown. Many of the restaurants here turned us away with out dinner reservations (hard to tell if that was the actual policy or if they didn't want to serve 4 Americans?) but we had a great time watching the chef at the grill of this small izakaya, Kuishinbo.

Day 7 - Day trip to Naoshima island (9.71 miles)
Oh man, this island is jam packed with amazing art. We ran out of time to see everything, but with the aid of e-bikes we managed to check out the Art house project, Chichu art museum, Benesse museum. People who really want to see everything may want to budget 1.5-2 days for this island. This was also one of my favorite days of the trip. Really unique art work in a beautiful setting.
Day 8 - Day trip to Teshima island (12.07 miles).
If you are going on a Monday, beware: most of the museums on Naoshima are closed so everyone is hitting up Teshima.... our ferry got sold out while we were waiting in line, forcing us to take an alternative route by detouring to a different island first. By the time we got to Teshima, most of the e-bike rental stores were out of stock. Despite those hang-ups, we were able to see the Teshima art museum, Teshima Yoko House, and ride around part of the island. We were worried about the return ferry getting sold out so we staked out the office for like a solid hour before the ticket counter opened. Although we didn't have a full day, we felt pretty content with what we saw/what the island had to offer.
Day 9 - Takamatsu Beppu (5.91 miles*)

• Before hopping on the train to Kyushu, we checked out Ritsurin garden. They have lockers for luggage and an impressive giftshop.
• In Beppu, we stayed in a ryokan that had private onsen rentals which was nice for the naked-squeamish. Had dinner at an izakaya (Robata Jin) that was another reddit rec. Pro-tip: when we showed up, the hostess told us they were full but when I pushed about later availability ("atode?") she conferred and was like, we can sit in 30 minutes. So don't be afraid to ask instead of accepting defeat, haha.

*hey, we spent like 4.5 hours on trains that day
Day 10 - Day trip to the Kunisaki peninsula (6.96 miles)

• Rented a car to drive up to Kunisaki peninsula. Was a really unique experience driving through rural mountainous terrain, visiting ancient temples (Futagoji) and ruins (Kyu sento ji) and an amazing panoramic view from a cliffside temple (Itsutsuji Fudou). I had a couple other potential sites on my list, but we ran out of time/steam to check them out. Restaurants are a bit scarce up there so we packed snacks to tide us over.
• On the way back to Beppu we stopped and had a soak at an onsen in the middle of a bamboo grove (Yoyama no sato). There were like 6 or so different outdoor pools next to a waterfall/stream- such a cool experience.
• In the evening, took a walk along the beach front.

Day 11 - Beppu Fukuoka road trip (7.75 miles)

• Decided to hold onto the rental car and make the 2 hour drive across Kyushu to the last city of the trip, Fukuoka. Stopped in Hita to check out Onta pottery village- this community still produces their clay and fires their ceramics without electricity- was a cool experience watching that. There was maybe 10 studios all in close proximity of each other. I was really excited to get lunch at Ohara Chaya, but they were closed for the day, but there were plenty of other options in the area- we settled for a cute Italian pasta restaurant (Luciano?) run by a single guy. Also stopped at Ukiha inari shrine. We opted to drive to the top instead of doing the hike.
• Stayed in Tenjin neighborhood in Fukuoka- very vibrant nightlife/restaurant/shopping scene here. Very walkable and close to the subway. After dinner, walked around Ohori Park.

Day 12 - Fukuoka (11.12 miles)

• Cute bakery for breakfast (BREAD) and then did a lot of shopping. There are so many multi-level shopping complexes in Tenjin that finding a specific store ended up being difficult because we couldn't tell if we were in the right building. Takumi Gallery had a great assortment of crafts/souvenirs, Yokka was a cute little gift store.
• Went to Fukuoka art museum in Ohori Park- the permanent collection (contemporary art) is on the small side but free and well curated. Stopped for gelato on the walk back (Raccolto)
• For dinner went to a homey neighborhood restaurant to try okonomiyaki (Mimi). More wandering around Tenjin in the evening.

Day 13 - Fukuoka (10.95 miles)

• Took a cab to Aburayama Citizens Forest to do some bird watching in the early morning. Would recommend if you are into camping or hiking (or birding)- great vista viewpoints, many waterfalls, new facilities and a number of trail options ranging from easy/paved to steep/rugged. BUT, getting out here was kinda a pain in the ass. Despite being a 35 min drive from downtown Fukuoka, taxi drivers were generally confused as to where I wanted to go and the nearest bus stop is an hour walk from the center of the park. I still found it worth it despite the inconvenience.
• Back in Fukuoka by noon, had a nice curry lunch at Re cell kitchen.
• For dinner I ventured out to try the yatai food stall experience. Went to Remy's which is run by French expats. Was a fun experience and definitely recommend for solo travelers.

Day 14 - Fukuoka (11.06 miles)

• In the early AM, took the train out to Hakata Bay Imazu tidal flats. Kinda a bust for the birds, but it was nice walking along the beach and there was a cute bakery nearby (right by Imajuku station).
• In the afternoon, I went out to Dazaifu. From the station to the shrine it was an absolute zoo (it was a Sunday I think), but the Kyushu national museum was much less busy and had cool exhibits on the history of Kyushu/Japan in a beautiful building. Also stumbled across a cute little Italian cafe (CoRicco) that was thankfully empty, although a little pricey (but still cheap compared to US restaurants).
• Back in Tenjin, I wandered around some shopping plazas and tried to hit up the yatai's again for dinner but it started pouring rain.

Misc. comments/tips

• Definitely could have used a third day in Kyoto. Some people may be bored with 4 full days in Fukuoka (there isn't as many daytime sights in the city proper) but I really enjoyed the city's vibe and it was nice to end the trip with a longer stay in one place. Overall was very happy with the mix of urban, rural, outdoorsy, cosmopolitan, and art experiences that this itinerary gave us.
• My packing strategy was to head over with a carry-on travel backpack (Peak Design 45L). I held off on making large purchases until I got to Kyushu, which was perfect- Fukuoka has great shopping options. I bought a cheap duffle bag from Don Quixote to stuff my clothes in and checked that for the flights back.
• I opted for a data sim card delivered to my first hotel and confirmed that my phone was unlocked/compatible....only to discover that my phone had an extra layer of lockedness and couldn't use the sim card (this seems to be a common issue according to others on google?). So that was an unexpected stressowaste of money. I ended up finding a portable wifi rental store in Shibuya that I could return at the Fukuoka airport so it wasn't a complete disaster. But still an unpleasant surprise after being awake for over 24 hours just arriving in a new country/city.
• I was really nervous about driving in Japan (opposite side of the road from where I live), but it ended up not being that bad. It helped having 3 other attentive passengers, being in a rural area, and I had recovered from jetlag by that point of the trip. Also, Japanese drivers are way less aggressive in than east coast Americans.
• I had grand plans to get through all 5 modules of Pimsleur's Japanese course, but I only made it through unit 1 and was glad I did it. Like 90-95% of the content was relevant for tourists and it gave me enough of a familiarity with pronunciation to fill in the gaps with phrases I found through google searches. I filled out a couple index cards with phrases I thought would be most helpful and they were really indispensible. Especially dining out vocab (asking for a table for 4, how to order from the menu, polite expressions, etc). I think the locals appreciated that I was trying and if they said something I didn't understand (which was frequently), I would say sumimasen, yoku wakarimasen (I'm sorry, I don't understand well) and they usually could supply the necessary english words to communicate their question, etc. So I'm glad I put in the effort. It took me maybe 30 hours to get through unit 1 of the course.
• As a pescatarian/vegetarian, it took a little bit of work and trial and error to find veg friendly restaurants/communicate my diet with staff. Some people didn't understand what I meant when I said I'm vegetarian (Watashiwah bejitarian dis), but everyone understood "I don't eat meat" (Ohnekuwah chotto). I found it helpful to state that and then pointedly ask, what can I eat? (my grammar is probably wrong, but I think I would say "nanio taberaremaska?"). I suggest this approach because at one restaurant I had stated that I was vegetarian, the waiter seemed to understand what I meant but then I went ahead and ordered items that seemed vegetarian and they ended up having meat in them. Wasn't a big deal for me, I didn't have a problem eating around it, but it may be a problem for more strict vegetarians. In terms of finding veg friendly restaurants, I did a lot of cross-referencing with Happy Cow. By no means comprehensive, but it was a helpful resource.
• Related, if you are capable of calling a restaurant to make dinner reservations, try to. A lot of restaurants don't seem to take walk-ins (especially teppanyaki restaurants) and a lot of restaurants didn't seem to have online reservation systems. Restaurants in Kyoto were fine with walk-ins but there were so many tourists you had to deal with long waits to get in. Don't wait until you're hungry to figure out dinner plans- you'll just end up really hangry.
• Despite heavily relying on the train for getting from city to city, we didn't bother with the JR pass. Didn't seem worth the price, especially since it doesn't cover Nozomi trains.
• I'm not seasonal allergy prone, but the pollen was brutal in Kyoto in May. We were all very puffy faced, but still able to enjoy sightseeing. So pack allergy meds or plan to hit up a drug store. Funnily enough, we were fine everywhere else in Japan.
• Used the GO app for hailing taxis. A lot more taxis use this than Uber. It didn't work in Takamatsu or Beppu, however.

Hello all.
This is going to be long and somewhat convoluted but I will attempt to keep it as clear as possible.
I work in a group home, caring for the mentally handicapped. I have four residents of various functionality levels. This Post is concerning the highest functioning one in my house. While I can't give you many details on her, for privacy reasons, I can tell you that she is high functioning enough to be aware of, and in control of her actions. She just doesn't always understand the full scope of the consequences. Nor does she often care about them until it is too late/she experiences them. Then, of course, it's not her fault. It is everyone else's.
This resident has some occult knowledge. I do not know the full extent of it as she rarely speaks to me, and never about these things (she hates me. I'll get to that later). She does, however, talk to my female coworker who is also Wiccan, (like myself), who then tells me things. The resident claims to be able to astrally project and dreamwalk (her words and more on this later) and has in the past dabbled with homemade ouija boards.
Back in Janurary she came to my coworker with a homemade ouija board and asked her to help get rid of it. She confessed to making the board at home, while on a home visit, and bringing it to the Group Home and using it. She claimed that "mean things" were talking to her and wanted to get rid of it. If anything actually happened is up for debate. However, my coworker helped her bind, seal, and dispose of the board, (I was not present for this. I was working with other residents outside and do not know the details.)
My coworker and I are of the opinion that she did, accidentally, conjure or call something up as after the board was dealt with, (and my coworker did a sage cleansing of the house), issues with our window alarms going off at random and light bulbs flickering/blowing stopped. The issues started happening around the time she claims to have started using the board. Prior to knowing about the board we just assumed we were having electrical issues. Since this incident I've carried blue gold stone with me at work (to send unwanted energy back to it's source).
For the rest of January through March nothing of note happened. However, starting back in April, this resident started approaching my coworker about various spiritual and occult topics. I do not know what as I didn't ask and they mostly took place on days I wasn't working, ( I only work 2 to 3 days a week with this coworker). During this period I noticed this residents dislike of me became more blatant.
This resident has never liked me. From the day she moved into the home. Mostly because I am a man, she hates all men due to past trauma. Which I fully understand. I've dealt with this with other residents in the past. However her dislike of me is compounded because I, to put it bluntly, don't put up with her BS. I insist she follow not only her plan but the house rules, (most of my other coworkers do not because she gets hateful about it), and I prevent her from bullying, insulting, and mistreating the two lower functioning in residents in the home, (whom in her opinion should have been aborted or locked up in institutions because they can't take care of themselves). I am not the only one to do the second but I am often the first and most vocal as I am very protective of them and have a long history of working with low functioning individuals.
The reason I bring this all up is because a few weeks ago this resident once again came to my coworker and this time asked about curses. Specifically how they work and how to do them. My coworker told her that she wouldn't discuss this with her, (said coworker is finally starting to put up boundaries with her), and that she needed to stop dabbling in magic. The resident pretty much ignored her started talking about astral projection and dreamwalking and other random topics.
After this talk my coworker came up to me asked me for my assistance in putting a bind on this resident, to prevent them from doing magic/causing harm. She wants my help because she says I give off a lot of positive, protective vibes/energy, (not the first time I've been told this but that's neither here nor there). I initially agreed but then started having second thoughts. Does it violate the Rede? (not causing harm and casting against people). I work magic very rarely and almost always only for myself, (using mostly crystals and candles), though I do occasionally make talismans for friends.
However last week another incident happened where prevented this resident from doing something she's not allowed to do. She spent the day on the phone complaining about me to management and her parents, (all of whom are on my side), or glaring at me hatefully while went about my work. When I left to go pick up another resident from a home visit, (a three hour round trip), she attempted to talk about me behind my back to my coworkers, (the wiccan one and another) but we firmly shut down and was told to discuss her issues with me. SHe did not.
That night this resident showed up in my dreams. Nothing, that I recall, happened. My dreams are almost always just random goofiness. Disjointed scenes of light and color and activity. But she was in them. ALways lurking at the edges. I ended up waking up from these dreams around 3 am. Since that night I've had a blue gold stone hung from my headboard and haven't seen her again. I can't state for sure that it was astral intrusion or dreamwalking. It could have been pure coincidence. I've been off since that day so I haven't seen this resident since (I go back to work tomorrow). But I did speak to my coworker about the dreams via text. She told me that since the curse/astral projection talk she's heard random music in her house that she couldn't find a source of, (the melody of a song she said this resident loves) on nights she doesn't work.
Because of this I'm back to thinking I should help her do the Bind. I am in no way afraid of this resident or what she may or may not be able to do. I feel I am strong enough to get rid of it if she does succeed. However with everything going on in my home and personal life I don't want that added stress. I also worry about using bounce back spells or reverse the curse spells as I don't want things affecting the other residents of the home because of her.
I am just at a loss looking for advice. My own intuition is clouded and I've received no guidance from my higher powers. At least no that I've recognized. Any suggestion is welcome. I can also remove/post in witchcraft if asked. I posted here first as I am Wiccan and do my best to adhere to the Rede.
I can try to add more detail or clarification if needed. Thank you all in advance, Blessed Be. Green.
Edit to add. I'd also like advice on personal protection. I've considered smoke cleansing myself in the house garage before I leave work but that feels like a bit much. I HAVE to see this person. I can't avoid them. They are also, hopefully, moving out in a few months so perhaps the Bind could be done until then? then removed?

Just got my kit in... Back wheel of my Walmart Huffy Electric Blue Cranbrook will NOT come off... I tried turning the nuts individually, simultaneously, and still nothing. ...devastated to say the least

I may be late to celebrate his royal badness' birthday, but I did this to honor him. . Wedding Feast - 0:00/0:54 My Little Pill - 0:00/1:09 An Honest Man - 0:00/1:13 Sister - 0:00/1:31 Breathe - 0:00/2:01 All the Midnights in the World - 0:00/2:21 The Flow - 0:00/2:26 Extraordinary - 0:00/2:28 There is Lonely - 0:00/2:29 Don't Play Me - 0:00/2:48 The Marrying Kind - 0:00/2:49 Everywhere - 0:00/2:54 Noon Rendezvous - 0:00/3:00 Aintturninround - 0:00/3:02 Dream Factory - 0:00/3:07 I Like It There - 0:00/3:15 Da Bang - 0:00/3:19 The Same December - 0:00/3:24 Pretzelbodylogic - 0:00/3:26 When Eye Lay My Hands on U - 0:00/3:41 S.S.T - 0:00/3:42 Funky Design - 0:00/3:45 4ever - 0:00/3:47 Solo - 0:00/3:48 The Morning Papers - 0:00/3:57 $ - 0:00/3:57 Valentina - 0:00/3:59 Make Your Mama Happy - 0:00/4:01 The Latest Fashion - 0:00/4:02 Screwdriver - 0:00/4:14 Work That Fat - 0:00/4:35 U're Gonna C Me (MPLSound) - 0:00/4:36 Circle of Amour - 0:00/4:43 Illusion, Coma, Pimp and Circumstance - 0:00/4:45 Mr. Happy - 0:00/4:46 Dance 4 Me - 0:00/4:58 Dolphin - 0:00/4:59 7 - 0:00/5:10 Thunder - 0:00/5:45 Big Tall Wall v1 - 0:00/5:58 Van Gogh - 0:00/5:59 3 Chains O' Gold - 0:00/6:03 Chocolate Box - 0:00/6:13 . The Rest of My Life - 0:01/1:40 Feel Better, Feel Good, Feel Wonderful - 0:01/3:52 Strange But True - 0:01/4:12 Slow Love - 0:01/4:22 The Love We Make - 0:01/4:39 Housequake - 0:01/4:42 Wally - 0:01/4:44 Man 'O' War - 0:01/5:15 Sex in the Summer - 0:01/5:57 The Holy River - 0:01/6:55 . For You - 0:03/1:08 Teacher, Teacher (1985) - 0:03/3:08 If Eye Was the Man in Ur Life - 0:03/3:09 Teacher, Teacher (1982) - 0:03/3:36 What It Feels Like - 0:03/3:53 Violet the Organ Grinder - 0:03/5:00 Call My Name - 0:03/5:15 Cloreen Bacon Skin - 0:03/15:37 . Cybersingle - 0:04/2:43 Escape - 0:04/3:30 Damn U - 0:04/4:25 Another Lonely Christmas - 0:04/4:53 It - 0:04/5:09 Mad - 0:04/5:35 . Satisfied - 0:05/2:50 I Wanna Melt With U - 0:05/3:50 Like A Mack - 0:05/4:04 Anotherlove - 0:05/4:16 No Call U - 0:05/4:29 Let's Go Crazy - 0:05/4:40 White Mansion - 0:05/4:47 Glam Slam - 0:05/5:07 Sexy M.F. - 0:05/5:26 . Comeback - 0:06/1:59 Let's Have A Baby - 0:06/4:07 . Do U Lie? - 0:07/2:44 Witness 4 The Prosecution v1 - 0:07/4:00 We Gets Up - 0:07/4:18 Call the Law - 0:07/4:21 . Walk in Sand - 0:08/3:29 Strollin' - 0:08/3:47 Alphabet St. - 0:08/5:38 Big Tall Wall v2 - 0:08/5:46 The Cocoa Boys - 0:08/6:05 I Rock, Therefore I Am - 0:08/6:15 Holly Rock - 0:08/6:38 . Splash - 0:09/2:59 Way Back Home - 0:09/3:05 Kiss - 0:09/3:37 Dreamin' About U - 0:09/3:52 Good Love - 0:09/4:55 5 Women - 0:09/5:13 . Starfish and Coffee - 0:10/2:50 Pearls B4 The Swine - 0:10/3:01 What's My Name - 0:10/3:03 Walk Don't Walk - 0:10/3:07 4 the Tears in Your Eyes - 0:10/3:25 In A Large Room With No Light - 0:10/3:27 On the Couch - 0:10/3:33 Musicology - 0:10/4:24 Rockhard in a Funky Place - 0:10/4:34 Dead On It - 0:10/4:40 Slave - 0:10/4:51 200 Balloons - 0:10/5:06 . Objects in the Mirror - 0:11/3:27 Lemon Crush - 0:11/4:15 One Kiss at a Time - 0:11/4:41 Same Page, Different Book - 0:11/4:41 Hot Wit U - 0:11/5:09 La, La, La, He, He, Hee - 0:11/10:53 . Sarah - 0:12/2:52 Boom - 0:12/3:18 A Case of U - 0:12/3:39 Judas Smile - 0:12/6:33 Something Funky (This House Comes) - 0:12/7:04 . Marz - 0:13/1:48 Velvet Kitty Cat - 0:13/2:42 Da Bourgeoise - 0:13/3:23 One of Your Tears - 0:13/3:27 Silly Game - 0:13/3:30 Resolution - 0:13/3:37 Incense and Candles - 0:13/4:04 Lolita - 0:13/4:06 Moonbeam Levels - 0:13/4:22 I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man - 0:13/6:29 . Have a Heart - 0:14/2:04 Into the Light - 0:14/2:46 Gotta Stop (Messin' About) - 0:14/2:57 You're All I Want - 0:14/3:00 Thieves in the Temple - 0:14/3:20 I Will - 0:14/3:37 Hardrocklover - 0:14/3:42 Stare - 0:14/3:45 When You Were Mine - 0:14/3:46 All A Share Together - 0:14/3:47 There's Something I Like About Being Your Fool - 0:14/3:49 Everybody Loves Me - 0:14/4:08 Lion of Judah - 0:14/4:10 If It'll Make U Feel Happy - 0:14/4:12 The Most Beautiful Girl in the World - 0:14/4:25 Soul Sanctuary - 0:14/4:41 The Arms of Orion - 0:14/5:03 S&M Groove - 0:14/5:07 Planet Earth - 0:14/5:51 . Had U - 0:15/1:26 Tangerine - 0:15/1:33 Make-Up - 0:15/2:26 I Would Die 4 U - 0:15/2:59 The Other Side of the Pillow - 0:15/3:21 Old Friends 4 Sale - 0:15/3:28 Girl - 0:15/3:48 Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? - 0:15/3:49 When Will We B Paid - 0:15/4:07 Partyup - 0:15/4:22 Mellow - 0:15/4:24 Private Joy - 0:15/4:28 I Pledge Allegiance to Your Love - 0:15/4:41 Joy in Repetition - 0:15/4:53 The Dance (3121) - 0:15/5:20 I Wanna Be Your Lover - 0:15/5:50 Just as Long as We're Together - 0:15/6:25 Do Me, Baby - 0:15/7:44 . Dinner With Delores - 0:16/2:46 Soft and Wet - 0:16/3:05 Act of God - 0:16/3:13 Tell Me How U Wanna Be Done - 0:16/3:15 New World - 0:16/3:43 Free Urself - 0:16/3:47 Graffiti Bridge - 0:16/3:51 When 2 R in Love - 0:16/3:59 Rocknroll Loveaffair - 0:16/4:01 Breakdown - 0:16/4:04 The Dance - 0:16/4:45 Loveleft, Loveright - 0:16/5:00 Uptown - 0:16/5:29 Peace - 0:16/5:32 The Daisy Chain - 0:16/6:12 Sleep Around - 0:16/7:42 . Arrogance - 0:17/1:35 I Wish U in Heaven - 0:17/2:48 Life Can Be So Nice - 0:17/3:13 Dionne - 0:17/3:13 Wonderful Day - 0:17/3:47 Cinnamon Girl - 0:17/3:56 2 Whom It May Concern - 0:17/4:00 Sweet Baby - 0:17/4:01 Supercute - 0:17/4:13 Money Don't Grow on Trees - 0:17/4:19 Vavoom - 0:17/4:35 Nothing Compares 2 U - 0:17/4:39 High - 0:17/5:05 Girls & Boys - 0:17/5:29 Baby You're A Trip - 0:17/5:51 Wouldn't You Love to Love Me? - 0:17/5:56 Get Yo Groove On - 0:17/6:31 Positivity - 0:17/7:11 . The Morning After - 0:18/2:11 Tamborine - 0:18/2:44 Manic Monday - 0:18/2:51 Last Heart - 0:18/3:01 Jack U Off - 0:18/3:09 Fallinlove2nite - 0:18/3:12 Fury - 0:18/4:02 Don't Say U Love Me - 0:18/4:20 Now - 0:18/4:30 Don't Let Him Fool Ya - 0:18/4:34 Ripopgodazippa - 0:18/4:38 Jealous Girl v2 - 0:18/4:52 Jughead - 0:18/4:57 Little Red Corvette - 0:18/4:58 Witness 4 The Prosecution v2 - 0:18/5:02 Daddy Pop - 0:18/5:17 I Need A Man - 0:18/5:33 Trouble - 0:18/5:36 Eye Hate U - 0:18/5:53 Ain't Gonna Miss U When U're Gone - 0:18/6:01 Purple Rain - 0:18/8:40 Come - 0:18/11:13 . Lavaux - 0:19/3:03 Man in a Uniform - 0:19/3:07 I Feel for You - 0:19/3:24 Forever in My Life - 0:19/3:30 Katrina's Paper Dolls - 0:19/3:30 My Love is Forever - 0:19/4:11 Horny Pony v2 - 0:19/4:21 You're My Love - 0:19/4:23 Prettyman - 0:19/4:24 Goodbye - 0:19/4:34 Money Don't Matter 2 Night - 0:19/4:47 U're Gonna C Me - 0:19/5:16 Damned If Eye Do - 0:19/5:21 Adonis and Bathsheba - 0:19/5:27 We Can Funk - 0:19/5:28 Schoolyard - 0:19/7:11 She Spoke 2 Me - 0:19/8:20 . Gotta Broken Heart Again - 0:20/2:16 X's Face - 0:20/2:38 The Lubricated Lady - 0:20/2:39 Jungle Love - 0:20/3:03 Boyfriend - 0:20/3:08 It Be's Like That Sometimes - 0:20/3:19 Ain't About 2 Stop - 0:20/3:38 New Power Generation - 0:20/3:39 Crimson and Clover - 0:20/3:51 Boytrouble - 0:20/3:53 Compassion - 0:20/3:55 The Question of U - 0:20/3:59 Tip O' My Tongue - 0:20/4:08 Love and Sex - 0:20/4:11 Silicon - 0:20/4:15 What Do U Want Me 2 Do? - 0:20/4:15 Chaos and Disorder - 0:20/4:19 Life 'O' the Party - 0:20/4:29 Blue Light - 0:20/4:38 The Voice - 0:20/4:42 Anna Stesia - 0:20/4:57 Willing and Able - 0:20/5:00 Hide the Bone - 0:20/5:03 Beginning Endlessly - 0:20/5:27 When the Dawn of the Morning Comes - 0:20/6:16 Northside - 0:20/6:31 . Crazy You - 0:21/2:17 Shut This Down - 0:21/3:03 Reflection - 0:21/3:04 Baby - 0:21/3:10 Face Down - 0:21/3:17 Sexual Suicide - 0:21/3:39 Strange Relationship - 0:21/4:01 Silver Tongue - 0:21/4:22 Trust - 0:21/4:24 The Work, Pt. 1 - 0:21/4:28 3121 - 0:21/4:31 My Computer - 0:21/4:37 Sticky Like Glue - 0:21/4:46 Crucial - 0:21/5:06 My Tender Heart - 0:21/5:06 When We're Dancing Close and Slow - 0:21/5:19 Dear Michaelangelo - 0:21/5:22 Acknowledge Me - 0:21/5:27 Beautiful, Loved and Blessed - 0:21/5:43 Love 2 the 9's - 0:21/5:44 Bold Generation - 0:21/5:53 Get On the Boat - 0:21/6:11 Last December - 0:21/7:57 . New Position - 0:22/2:20 Interactive - 0:22/3:03 The Truth - 0:22/3:33 Do It All Night - 0:22/3:41 Elephants and Flowers - 0:22/3:54 Love... Thy Will Be Done - 0:22/4:07 2morrow - 0:22/4:13 Gett Off - 0:22/4:32 Props'N'Pounds - 0:22/4:35 1010 (Rin Tin Tin) - 0:22/4:42 Standing at the Altar - 0:22/4:49 The Sun, The Moon and Stars - 0:22/5:16 (There'll Never B) Another Like Me - 0:22/6:02 . She Loves Me 4 Me - 0:23/2:49 Sex Shooter - 0:23/3:06 Look At Me, Look At U - 0:23/3:27 Pope - 0:23/3:29 Raspberry Berret - 0:23/3:33 Love Like Jazz - 0:23/3:49 Breakfast Can Wait - 0:23/3:55 La, La, La Means I Love You - 0:23/3:59 The Future - 0:23/4:07 Horny Pony - 0:23/4:19 Annie Christian - 0:23/4:21 Train - 0:23/4:22 It's About That Walk - 0:23/4:25 Mr. Goodnight - 0:23/4:26 The One U Wanna C - 0:23/4:29 Hold Me - 0:23/4:36 Eggplant - 0:23/5:18 In This Bed Eye Scream - 0:23/5:40 All the Critics Love U in New York - 0:23/5:56 Rearrange - 0:23/6:11 Pink Cashmere - 0:23/6:15 . I Wonder U - 0:24/1:39 Everybody Want What They Don't Got - 0:24/2:08 Christopher Tracy's Parade - 0:24/2:11 Courtin' Time - 0:24/2:46 Papa - 0:24/2:48 Curious Child - 0:24/2:57 With You - 0:24/4:00 Something in the Water (Does Not Compute) - 0:24/4:01 Glasscutter - 0:24/4:40 Head - 0:24/4:42 Dance On - 0:24/3:44 How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore - 0:24/3:53 Running Game (Son of a Slave Master) - 0:24/4:05 Wall of Berlin - 0:24/4:16 Undisputed - 0:24/4:20 Muse 2 the Pharaoh - 0:24/4:21 Shy - 0:24/5:03 It's Gonna Be Lonely - 0:24/5:30 Billy Jack Bitch - 0:24/5:31 Cosmic Day - 0:24/5:39 Sexmesexmenot - 0:24/5:40 18 & Over - 0:24/5:40 Superfunkycalifragisexy - 0:24/5:58 Cindy C - 0:24/6:18 Gold - 0:24/7:22 . Horny Toad - 0:25/2:13 319 - 0:25/3:05 And God Created Woman - 0:25/3:18 She's Always in My Hair - 0:25/3:27 Check the Record - 0:25/3:28 Tick, Tick, Bang - 0:25/3:31 Promise To Be True - 0:25/3:38 I Love U in Me - 0:25/4:13 Darling Nikki - 0:25/4:14 Wow - 0:25/4:28 The Song of the Heart - 0:25/4:36 Strays of the World - 0:25/5:06 U Make My Sun Shine - 0:25/7:05 Automatic - 0:25/9:24 . Loose! - 0:26/3:26 2 Y. 2 D. - 0:26/3:49 U Know - 0:26/3:56 Skip to My You My Darling - 0:26/3:57 A Million Days - 0:26/3:50 Movie Star - 0:26/4:25 Power Fantastic - 0:26/4:45 Electric Intercourse - 0:26/4:57 The Ladder - 0:26/5:28 Blanche - 0:26/5:36 Hot Thing - 0:26/5:40 Push - 0:26/5:53 Everyday is a Winding Road - 0:26/6:11 United States of Division - 0:26/6:18 Ol' Skool Company - 0:26/7:30 Shockadelica - 0:26/3:31 . New Power Generation pt. II - 0:27/2:57 Madrid 2 Chicago - 0:27/3:14 Stopthistrain - 0:27/3:41 Whitecaps - 0:27/3:43 Peach - 0:27/3:48 Vicki Waiting - 0:27/4:52 Cause and Effect - 0:27/5:00 The Beautiful Ones - 0:27/5:13 Our Destiny/Roadhouse Garden - 0:27/6:25 2045: Radical Man - 0:27/6:34 Internarional Lover - 0:27/6:36 Time - 0:27/6:49 Joint 2 Joint - 0:27/7:52 Days of Wild - 0:27/9:18 . Betcha By Golly Wow! - 0:28/3:31 Te Amo Corazón - 0:28/3:35 Eye Love U, But Eye Don't Trust U Anymore - 0:28/3:36 Mountains - 0:28/3:57 Still Waiting - 0:28/4:28 Calhoun Square - 0:28/4:46 Da, Da, Da - 0:28/5:15 Stand Up and B Strong - 0:28/5:18 F.U.N.K. - 0:28/7:36 The Everlasting Now - 0:28/8:18 . Yes - 0:29/2:56 Martika's Kitchen - 0:29/4:21 Magnificent - 0:29/4:36 One Day We Will All B Free - 0:29/4:41 Guitar - 0:29/3:45 U Got the Look - 0:29/3:47 Erotic City - 0:29/3:55 Can't Stop This Feeling I Got - 0:29/4:24 Paisley Park - 0:29/4:41 Future Baby Mama - 0:29/4:47 This Could Be Us - 0:29/5:12 Walkin' In Glory - 0:29/5:14 Turn It Up - 0:29/5:23 The Greatest Romance Ever Sold - 0:29/5:33 The Sacrifice of Victor - 0:29/5:40 . Partyman - 0:30/3:11 Here On Earth - 0:30/3:23 Tictactoe - 0:30/3:38 Melody Cool - 0:30/3:39 The Ballad of Dorothy Parker - 0:30/3:55 Lauriann - 0:30/4:15 Sign 'O' The Times - 0:30/5:02 Dreamer - 0:30/5:30 Can I Play With U? - 0:30/6:39 Style - 0:30/6:40 . Ronnie, Talk to Russia - 0:31/1:57 Fixurlifeup - 0:31/3:12 Welcome 2 the Dawn - 0:31/3:17 Take Me With U - 0:31/3:54 Electric Chair - 0:31/4:08 No More Candy 4 U - 0:31/4:12 Emancipation - 0:31/4:13 Rock 'N' Roll is Alive! (And It Lives in Minneapolis) - 0:31/4:34 Right the Wrong - 0:31/4:39 Saviour - 0:31/5:48 Hey U - 0:31/6:10 I Can't Make U Love Me - 0:31/6:37 Controversy - 0:31/7:13 . Baby Knows - 0:32/3:18 So Far, So Pleased - 0:32/3:24 Hot Summer - 0:32/3:32 Pop Life - 0:32/3:43 Delirious - 0:32/3:59 The Word - 0:32/4:11 Cream - 0:32/4:13 1000 X's and O's - 0:32/4:27 Poom Poom - 0:32/4:32 Gigolos Get Lonely Too - 0:32/4:41 The Cross - 0:32/4:45 Free - 0:32/5:08 Shhh - 0:32/7:17 . Laydown - 0:33/3:06 In Love - 0:33/3:37 Emale - 0:33/3:38 This Could B Us - 0:33/4:10 Love and Sex - 0:33/5:00 Play in the Sunshine - 0:33/5:05 Still Would Stand All Time - 0:33/5:23 The Continental - 0:33/5:31 Bob George - 0:33/5:39 When Doves Cry - 0:33/5:53 Gangster Glam - 0:33/6:05 Le Grind - 0:33/6:47 Lady Cab Driver - 0:33/8:16 . Wherever U Go, Whatever U Do - 0:34/3:17 Dig U Better Dead - 0:34/3:59 Sexy Dancer - 0:34/4:18 Alice Through the Looking Glass - 0:34/4:18 Get Blue - 0:34/4:43 Dark - 0:34/6:10 Adore - 0:34/6:31 Feel U Up - 0:34/6:42 Purple Music - 0:34/10:58 . Black Sweat - 0:35/3:11 Underneath the Cream - 0:35/3:59 Y Should Eye Do That When Eye Can Do This - 0:35/4:31 Clouds - 0:35/4:34 Streetwalker - 0:35/4:48 Letitgo - 0:35/5:32 Chelsea Rodgers - 0:35/5:41 Love - 0:35/5:45 . Around the World in a Day - 0:36/3:28 Vagina - 0:36/3:28 Sea of Everything - 0:36/3:49 Diamonds and Pearls - 0:36/4:45 Here - 0:36/5:15 Hypnoparadise - 0:36/6:03 We Can Fuck - 0:36/10:17 . Yah, You Know - 0:37/3:10 Anotherloverholenyohead - 0:37/4:00 Scarlet Pussy - 0:37/4:19 Colonized Mind - 0:37/4:48 Future Soul Song - 0:37/5:08 Welcome 2 America - 0:37/5:23 Jam of the Year - 0:37/6:10 Sex - 0:37/7:02 . Baltimore - 0:38/4:33 Somebody's Somebody - 0:38/4:43 3rd Eye - 0:38/4:53 I'm Yours - 0:38/5:02 Groovy Potential - 0:38/6:16 Black Muse - 0:38/7:21 . When She Comes - 0:39/3:45 Animal Kingdom - 0:39/4:01 Sexuality - 0:39/4:19 So Blue - 0:39/4:30 The Human Body - 0:39/5:42 The Last Dance (Bang Pow Zoom And The Whole Nine) - 0:39/5:36 Do Yourself A Favor - 0:39/9:00 . Under the Cherry Moon - 0:40/2:56 Dirty Mind - 0:40/4:13 Irresistible Bitch - 0:40/4:13 Dear Mr. Man - 0:40/4:14 Bambi - 0:40/4:23 Emotional Pump - 0:40/4:59 Lovesexy - 0:40/5:49 Scandalous - 0:40/6:15 . Zannalee - 0:41/2:43 A Place in Heaven - 0:41/2:57 Endorphinmachine - 0:41/4:06 Funknroll (Art Official Age) - 0:41/4:08 Funknroll - 0:41/4:10 Rebirth of the Flesh - 0:41/5:28 The Dance Electric - 0:41/11:29 . Avalanche - 0:42/4:24 Race - 0:42/4:28 Xtralovable - 0:42/5:00 If I Was Your Girlfriend - 0:42/5:01 Somewhere Here on Earth - 0:42/5:45 Wonderful Ass - 0:42/6:24 . Computer Blue - 0:43/3:59 17 Days - 0:43/4:00 The Max - 0:43/4:30 Right Back Here In My Arms - 0:43/4:43 Better with Time - 0:43/4:53 1000 Light Years From Here - 0:43/5:46 . One Nite Alone... - 0:44/3:37 Open Book - 0:44/4:59 Live 4 Love - 0:44/6:59 . Million $ Show - 0:45/3:10 June - 0:45/3:21 The Glamorous Life - 0:45/4:11 When She Comes - 0:45/4:46 Beautiful Strange - 0:45/4:56 Born 2 Die - 0:45/5:03 P. Control - 0:45/5:59 Possessed (1984) - 0:45/7:56 . Golden Parachute - 0:46/5:35 Possessed (1982) - 0:46/8:47 . She Gave Her Angels - 0:47/3:52 Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic - 0:47/4:19 Baby I'm A Star - 0:47/4:24 . Let's Work - 0:48/3:55 The Ball - 0:48/4:34 Friend, Lover, Sister, MotheWife - 0:48/7:37 . Spirit - 0:49/4:32 My Medallion - 0:49/5:07 . America - 0:50/3:45 Space - 0:50/4:28 The Gold Standard - 0:50/5:53 1999 - 0:50/6:15 . Young and Beautiful - 0:51/2:44 God - 0:51/4:02 Let's Pretend We're Married - 0:51/7:18 Temptation - 0:51/8:20 . 100 MPH - 0:52/3:30 The Ride - 0:52/5:13 . One of Us - 0:53/5:19 . Love or $ - 0:54/6:55 . All My Dreams - 0:55/7:24 . Digital Garden - 0:56/4:07 It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night - 0:56/9:01 . D.M.S.R. - 0:57/8:17 . Pain - 0:58/5:57 . Art Official Cage - 1:00/3:41 We March - 1:00/4:49 . Insatiable - 1:01/6:39 . Revelation - 1:03/5:21 . Fascination - 1:04/4:55 Big City - 1:04/6:25 . Pheromone - 1:11/5:08 My Name is Prince - 1:11/6:38 . 1+1+1 is 3 - 1:16/5:17 . Eye No - 1:22/5:46 . Rainbow Children - 1:27/10:03 . Sometimes It Snows in April - 1:33/6:48 . Crystal Ball - 1:34/10:27 . Hello - 1:59/6:19 . When the Lights Go Down - 2:33/7:11 . Condition of the Heart - 2:45/6:47 . Family Name - 3:01/8:16

The guitar is a White and black ADM https://www.walmart.com/ip/ADM-Electric-Guitar-Solid-Wood-Body-39-Beginner-Guitar-Kit-with-Amplifier-Bag-Strap-String-Tuner-Cable-Picks-and-Free-Lesson-Black/1455803315?from=/search

No one asked for this, but honestly, I just feel l like talking, don't have any friends that particularly care about this information, and maybe someone will find this useful.
First baby. I'm about 4 days post partum and had an all natural birth at a birth center at 41 weeks 6 days. I was in labor for 30 hours and in active labor for 6 of those hours. Pushed out a 9 pound 8 oz baby with a total of 3 small tears on my left and right sides that did get stitched up.
-Everyone loves and recommends the peri bottles, the Frida mom ones arnt the only ones available if you look up portable bidet you can find the same type with the angled water spout for half the cost at Walmart Amazon wherever
-i have 2 peri bottles cause getting up to refill is one of the worst things
After I'm done spaying and the bottle is empty, I like to use it as an air fan to help me "airdry" faster, like keep squeezing it, and it should blow air on you
I started taking a generic amazon stool softener at 38 weeks. I definitely missed a few days here and there, and I started taking them religiously while in labor and post partum 1 per day. Took a very large and compacted poop day 4 with extremely low strain, no pain, and lots of slow controlled breathing.
i already have enough laundry without getting blood all over everything. Adult diapers have 100% prevented the leakage I would have otherwise had if just using a pad.
People rave about the homemade padsicles with the regular pad, Aloe, which hazel thrown in the freezer. I made some. Not really a fan it's way too cold to be comfortable to begin with, and then the perfect amount of cold lasts for like 2 seconds. I just put 2 or 3 tucks wipes in my diaper and spray with Dermoplast

• babies make a lot of noise while they are sleeping, you can kind of tell how asleep they are by checking their fingers. If they still have the gripping reflex going on, then they are not that asleep

Getting help while getting in and out of the shower makes me feel significantly safer and not like my leg is going to slip left or right and rip open all my stitches
I don't feel particularly maternal in any way, but I am very proud of my perfect little baby. And the midwives say it's totally natural to take a while to prosess everything
To actually get the baby out, I had to push through the rest between 2 contractions to get enough push for a lack of better words
I didn't do this but if I had to do it again I would trim up my lady bits, not shave, but mow some of the longer patches for literally no other reason than the blood drying the hair in a weird way and being uncomfortable. Just one less dollop of discomfort on an already heaping Sunday of uncomfortable.
they lubed me up with olive oil to loosen things up, like an onion to be sautéed.
The midwives had to coach me through getting my water to break naturally and " pushing it out" cause it didn't till about hour 4 of active labor. My husband described it as watching a cartoon ball of snot fly across the room. The midwives had a chuck absorbant pad to catch it, but they missed entirely. It hit the wall.

• continue to take your stool softener after your first poop

afterbirth smells quite potent, all the stuff in your pad/adult diapers it's not a period it's after birth with blood clots and other birth remnants, anyway it has a very unique and strong smell to say the least. I put a candle or 2 in my bathroom to help cover up the smell as I do not enjoy it
The hormone letdown after giving birth made me sweat profusely, no temperature high or anything, but i would be totally drenched when I woke up
I put a pack of disposable face wipes in my bathroom recovery cart so I can at least clean my face while doing my thing and not have to deal with the strain if leaning over a sink
The little one gallon trashcan that most people have in their bathrooms is not fully equipped to take the amount of trash that you are about to produce. Between diapers, nipple pads, and anything else, I fill one to the brim, a day
I'm using a Google spreadsheet on my phone that I shared with my husband so we can both add in times and sides and temperatures on our own devices
I'll add more as I think of them Edit: added more and grammer
Personal opnions, not medical advice

“At each Turning Point In Life, We Must Face Our Deepest Fears In Order To Grow.”
Happy Father 🧑 Day 🍄
Today's Headlines from :-
Economic Times
📝 CBIC orders release of imports without delay
📝 FPIs net sellers of Indian equities at Rs 14,794 crore in June so far
📝 Monsoon reaches Odisha ahead of schedule
📝 CCI proposes amendments to general rules, seeks stakeholder feedback
📝 Indian Navy gets first woman helicopter pilot
📝 Kotak Mutual Fund, two others file draft documents with Sebi for 4 funds
Business Standard
📝 Bajaj Housing Finance files papers with Sebi for Rs 7,000 crore IPO
📝 IPOs of Flipkart, PhonePe could take couple of years, says Walmart exec
📝 As Nvidia hits $3 trn, Jensen Huang's wealth surpasses Michael Dell's
📝 Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi top UK's investment flows from India: Report
📝 Mumbai's first Metro line completes 10 years, makes 1.1 million trips
📝 TVS Motor recalls select units of iQube electric two-wheeler for inspection
📝 USFDA issues Form 483 with four observations to Dr Reddy's API unit
📝 Torrent Group market capitalisation doubles to $20 billlion in one year
Financial Express
📝 Energy policy continuity likely, but PSUs fear regulatory risks
📝IT firms move in slow track on hiring & wages
📝Sebi mandates direct payout of securities to clients
Mint
📝 Oil posts third weekly loss on delayed US Fed cuts; Brent at $79
📝 Paytm's UPI market share declines for fourth straight month to 8% in May
📝 Rural consumption improved 40% over a decade, says government survey
📝 ixigo IPO garners ₹333 crore via anchor book ahead of public issue
📝 As Europe’s carbon tax hovers closer, India rushes steelmakers to go green
📝 US yields jump as job growth surges, wage gains accelerate in May
📝 Internet group sues Georgia to block law requiring sites to gather data on sellers.

“Before I met the Savior, I was a worthless piece of garbage, barely a human being,” Lovebug droned at the front of the enormous room. Lovebug was a monster of a man, two-hundred and fifty pounds of hard tattooed muscle. Like myself, he was a high-ranking member of the Church.
His flat gray eyes scanned the room with a fanatical gleam. I sat in the first row, watching and waiting. Followers of the Savior would tell their stories, how the Savior had reached down and lifted them out of sin and filth to bring them up to the divine. The bright fluorescent lights overhead droned on with a low hum. Thousands of men crammed together in seats or stood at the back of the room.
The Savior taught only two commandments: to murder is holy, and to die for the Savior is the highest bliss. An army of warriors followed the Savior, knights on a holy crusade, priests who wouldn’t hesitate to burn the foul bodies of any witches or demons we encountered. I thought of myself as a knight for the holy king, our Savior, the mouthpiece of the eternal.
“Now, it is like the hand of God has reached into my heart and loosened all the knots there, the knots of anxiety and fear and uncertainty.” He raised his black, military-style rifle into the air for emphasis. “I never realized the true nature of reality before- the fact that we are living in a simulation where the final battle of good versus evil is playing out before our very eyes. And I will be on the side of the good, until my dying breath. I will be on the side of the Savior and of God!”
The crowd roared and clapped. Men got to their feet, sweating heavily in the boiling hot conference room. I felt the surge of energy pass through me like a tidal wave, the pure confidence and iron will of truth. Lovebug lumbered down off the stage as the Savior came out from behind the red curtains, walking with the straight spine of a soldier. He wore a silky black robe that fluttered softly around him, the hood pulled back.
The Savior had horrific burns running the length of his body. His arms had melted folds of keloid scars visible all the way to the tips of his fingers. His scalp had also melted, and the Savior had no hair except for his eyelashes and eyebrows. But the fire that had nearly killed him had spared his face, an aristocratic visage with ferocious green eyes like those of a cat. That face seemed like it had been sculpted out of marble by DaVinci himself, the high cheekbones jutting out over a chin so sharp that it looked like it could have hammered nails into boards. He stared out at the crowd for a long moment, his gaze unblinking.
“The final battle has begun,” he said in a low voice, no more than a whisper. Yet, in the deathly silence of the hall, his words rang out loud and clear. “Those in charge of this illusory world know that we see them. We see them very well, how they hide behind the curtain. They control the world economy, the justice system. Every government, whether they call themselves communist, authoritarian or democratic, is no more than a puppet in their dancing fingers.
“When anyone tries to stand up and lead the masses of suffering people towards freedom from slavery, they are vilified by the mainstream media, brought up on false charges or killed, their bodies staged to look like a suicide. Look what they did to Jesus, and for what? For telling people to love God more than their rulers? And those who speak out today are also crucified, murdered in prisons or killed by their governments. Truth is the most precious commodity, after all. It is one that can only be purchased with blood.
“So what can we do? How can we fight against such evil?” There was a quiet muttering among the pale, frozen faces that stared up at the stage with adoration and love.
“We can fight it by using their own weapons against them!” the Savior said, his voice rising in speed and pitch. He raised his fisted hands to his chest, accentuating each syllable with a back and forth stab of his hands. “Fight fire with fire, and pay back blood with blood! The only thing these global terrorists understand is greater levels of force. We must show them death on a scale they have never before imagined.” I felt nervous as the Savior delivered his message. I saw other men shuffle anxiously in the crowded auditorium, most of them having high-caliber rifles slung around their shoulders.
I felt the rising violence and bloodlust in the air like electricity before a lightning storm. At that moment, I knew we would all have to fight before too long.
***
The Savior called me and Lovebug back to his office after the speech had ended, sending his squirrely assistant over to deliver the hand-written note in the Savior’s blocky, copperplate handwriting. For a long moment, I simply watched the crowd filtering out of the doors, heading back towards the complex where all the holy soldiers of the Savior lived. Feeling dissociated and light-headed, I followed behind the massive muscular form of Lovebug, the heavy weight of the M16 bouncing against my chest. We pushed through the blood-red velvet curtains, winding our way past stage equipment and down a hallway of pure marble.
Mystical paintings similar to those of Alex Grey covered both walls, showing the inside workings of the human body through art. It was as if the painter had X-ray vision and could see the heart chakra and the countless thin vessels that spiderwebbed up to the crown. But, unlike Alex Grey’s hopeful depictions of mysticism, these showed men and women being burned alive, crucified, decapitated or strangled. Dark colors composed the paintings: the dark blue of a suffocating face, the clotted red of an infected stab wound, the black of death. They captured the essence of struggle perfectly.
The Savior’s office had a thick mahogany door with silver engravings of leaves and vines running the length of it. At the top stood a single staring eye with twelve wavy tentacles emerging from the perimeter of it- the symbol of God, who the Savior had seen personally. God would sometimes speak through the mouth of the Savior, always during times of great tribulation or suffering. Lovebug knocked at the door. The Savior’s deep voice echoed out faintly.
“Come in.”
We entered slowly, the sprawling desk of the Savior filling half of the room. He sat in a comfortable chair behind it, reclining. On the walls behind him, he had pictures of Jesus, Saint Stephen, Gandhi, Hitler, Jim Jones, Shoko Asahara and others who he taught had fought against the world elites and been killed for it.
The Church of the Final Rapture was not a church in the conventional sense. The main teachings didn’t revolve around the divinity of Christ or the nature of original sin. What the Savior taught was far more profound- an illusory or simulated world where every single person could become their own Christ, could awaken to the truth and perform miracles, but only if they believed fully and followed the Savior.
“Sit down, please,” he said in his gravelly voice. “I have a mission I would like to discuss, and you two are the only ones competent and loyal enough to carry it out.”
***
“There is another anomaly spreading,” the Savior said, staring between me and Lovebug with his fanatical emerald eyes. “It is located in a rural part of the United States, in a town called-” he glanced down at the sheet of paper in front of him- “Frost Hollow. Supposedly, there are black-ops sites located nearby, secret alphabet agencies experimenting with magnetic distortion systems and creating rips in the fabric of spacetime with micro-wormholes.
“I don’t think it is much of a leap to say that the anomaly was likely started, either intentionally or unintentionally, by the government, as part of their research. The Cleaners would like to control that power, after all. They have been sending their men after it for years like sheep to the slaughter, expending billions of dollars researching it. If they and the US government end up being able to control the creation and spread of anomalies, they will use it to enslave the world. There is no question about it in my mind.” He leaned forwards towards us, his eyes growing cold.
“There is only one path forward I can see. We need to spread the anomaly, make it become unstable so the demons of Hell contained within it can spill out onto the real world. Perhaps it will awaken the downtrodden masses enough to begin the final revolution. We must fight terrorism with greater terrorism, and violence with greater levels of violence. For this mission, I am sending the two of you into Frost Hollow.
“Your job will be to find the Titan or Titans and lead them out to the border of the anomaly. These are horrendous beasts- indeed, the Church has seen them before. They are nearly impossible to kill. I want you two to go inside, bait it and have it follow you back to the edge, beyond the veil.”
“What’s a Titan?” Lovebug asked, his eyes flicking left and right nervously. The Savior stared at him stonily for a long moment. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, showing only the whites. All the blood seemed to drain from his face. His teeth chattered, his mouth opened, and through it, God spoke, the words pouring out like crashing stones. The voice did not sound anything like the Savior’s. It sounded much deeper, more mechanical, more alien somehow.
“I see you very well. I saw you when you were no more than a blood clot in your mother’s body. I see you even as corpses, rotted, putrefying, crawling with scavengers and insects. I see everything, every moment of time. But, in the anomaly, there are things I cannot see. For this, my holy ones must go forth.
“In the center of Hell, you will find a rose, a bird and a stone. These will be your salvation, if salvation can be found at all. Go with the blessing of Yaldabaoth.” The voice cut off abruptly, the silence deafening. I could hear my own heart pounding in my ears.
The Savior’s eyes came back down, looking confused and uncertain. His pupils were dilated and he was sweating heavily, even though it was cool and air-conditioned back here in his private office. We stared at each other across the table, a no-man’s land that protected me like a shield. For there seemed to be something dark in the Savior along with the light, and I didn’t know if any man could contain that power.
But there was no question of disobeying. Within the hour, Lovebug and I were on one of the Church’s private jets flying to the town of Frost Hollow.
***
The gently rolling hills of Frost Hollow loomed below us as the plane circled the small dirt airstrip in the middle of some cow farms. I looked up at Lovebug, trying to judge his stony expression. He had done many years in prison before joining the Church and finding salvation, even being the leader of one of the gangs. I knew he wasn’t afraid of violence. He had never told me what he did, what tortured him so much.
The Savior had told us much secret knowledge- how to find a Titan, a massive, bloated abomination that could come into being only within an anomaly, a combination of many rotted body pieces fused together in some sort of hellish black magic. The Savior had spies around Frost Hollow and the surrounding towns who had been monitoring the anomaly, watching the unstable gateways leading in and out and mapping them as best they could. We would be given a fast car, plenty of weapons and some body armor. I had no idea how nightmarish the journey would become, however.
“I’m driving,” Lovebug said as we descended the steps. A man in a black suit with the symbol of the eye and tentacles pinned on his black button-up shirt pulled up with a Mercedes AMG-One. It was a sleek, silver thing of immense luxury and power. The craftsmanship made it look like a work of art. I sighed, keeping my finger nervously on the trigger of my rifle as I glanced around the strange, empty town.
“If this thing won’t outrun a Titan, then nothing will,” I said, trying to break the tension. I looked at the speedometer, seeing it went up to 220 miles an hour.
“Damn fucking right,” Lovebug growled as we slid into the futuristic-looking leather seats. The engine turned on like a softly purring kitten. The GPS automatically turned on as well, the soft robotic voice leading us toward one of the more stable portals to the anomaly.
Lovebug sped down the empty forest roads of Frost Hollow, going twice the legal speed limit the entire way.
“The speed limit is only for the lowest common denominator,” Lovebug said pedantically, waggling a tattooed finger for emphasis. The GPS said we would reach the gateway to the anomaly in five minutes. Based on Lovebug’s speed, I thought it would be more like two. “Someone who actually knows how to drive and isn’t drunk or high can easily do 80 in a 40. Easily.” I glanced nervously at the speedometer, realizing he was going over 100 miles an hour now. The sports car hugged the tight corners of the winding forest roads with absolute precision.
“Turn right onto Snake Island Road Extension in five hundred feet,” the robotic female voice. Lovebug slammed on the brakes a few seconds later, the tires skidding and locking up. We looked around frantically, seeing no streets anywhere except the one we were on.
“What the hell?” Lovebug asked. The night was crawling in by now, the darkness covering the forests like a curtain. I squinted, looking at the thick grove of trees on our right, scanning it back and forth over and over. After a few seconds, I realized there was an overgrown dirt path there with no sign. It was nearly impossible to see at night, however, and calling it a road was somewhat of a joke.
“Oh, damn,” I said. “They should’ve given us an SUV.”
***
According to the GPS, our destination was only a thousand feet down Snake Island Road Extension. The low clearance of the Mercedes was a problem as Lovebug tried to navigate the flooded forest path. Deep tread marks flooded with black, stagnant water marked the entirety of Snake Island Road Extension. But ahead, the headlights illuminated something unusual.
Cutting straight across the trees and brush like a razorblade was a shimmering wall of translucent energy. It reminded me of a mirage, curving upwards in wavy spiral patterns. I could see through it easily, but it gave everything a dark, sinister covering. The forest seemed to be in constant motion as the grayish light distorted it.
“Look how huge it is!” I said in awe, staring up at the starry sky. The flat wall rose up seemingly forever, disappearing in the cold void of infinite space. Lovebug slowly ambled the car towards the anomaly, trying to keep the Mercedes from getting stuck with its low clearance.
“You ready for this, man?” Lovebug asked in a quavering voice as we inched towards the anomaly. It was only seconds away now. He grabbed my shoulder. “This is it. Remember the commandments.” I closed my eyes, concentrating my heart on the Savior’s words. Dying for the good is the highest bliss, he had told us.
“Let’s do this,” I said, my eyes flying open from my silent prayer as the hood passed through the anomaly. It disappeared in front of our eyes. We could see the forest on the other side, but the Mercedes looked like it was going through some sort of teleportation portal, being ripped apart layer by layer and sent somewhere else. Lovebug nervously grabbed my hand.
“For the Savior and for the Good,” he whispered as we passed through.
***
I heard screaming and wailing, full of agony and unimaginable horror, like the screams of those burning in Hell. My vision went white. A carpet of morphing dark colors covered everything as the shrieking intensified, until I thought my eardrums would explode.
“Stop!” I cried, feeling the pressure in my head like a splitting migraine. “Stop screaming!” I started kicking, punching, trying to get away.
“Calm the fuck down!” someone whispered, slapping me hard across the face. Stunned, I looked up, seeing Lovebug holding me down in the seat. He was covered in sweat, his face a blank mask of terror. “Don’t scream. There’s things outside that are looking this way.” I blinked fast, my senses coming back to me. I felt like a man waking up from surgery, confused and disoriented, my memories only returning in small trickles and drops.
We were sitting in the Mercedes on a road that looked like it had been made of human skin. The headlights showed the ragged patches of pale, leathery flesh sewn together with black thread. The road disappeared ahead of us in a straight line. The land here looked as flat as Kansas. Like a mirror world, it had houses and restaurants and churches lining both sides of the road, but they were all wrong.
The stone church looked like it was constructed of some kind of red volcanic rock. Baphomets and upside-down pentagrams covered the outer walls, engraved deeply into the glossy surface. Mutilated bodies covered the front lawn, impaled, crucified, skinned alive or burned at the stake. Hundreds of men, women and children lay dead in front of the Satanic temple.
Overhead, the sky bubbled and frothed with red clouds and constant explosions of blue lightning. Like missile flashes, the lightning illuminated the world around us, shining brightly before going dark. The incessant strobing gave the entire place a kind of circus freakshow vibe.
Many of the homes looked like they had been constructed from bones and covered in human skin, like some sort of hellish teepee. Arm and leg bones wrapped in razor-wire formed the pillars. Grinning skulls lined the top of the flat, rectangular roofs, thousands of bleached human heads staring down.
Staring out of the dark doorways, I saw gleaming, silvery eyes. They loomed eight or nine feet in the air on spidery bodies. Their limbs looked as thin as bones, jet-black and dull. The only color from these still revenants was from their unblinking eyes and grinning mouths, where teeth like those of a dragonfish jutted out. Every pair of eyes on that street was fixed intently on the Mercedes, the sick rictus grins on their alien faces never faltering.
“Jesus Christ, I’m sorry,” I whispered, feeling weak. “I thought I was in a nightmare for a minute there.” Lovebug shrugged his massive shoulders.
“Yeah, I felt it too, though I came out of it a lot faster than you did,” he said, glancing over at the Satanic church as we passed. It had protective black spikes rising high into the air all around it. The broken body of a child who had been burnt at the stake stood in front of the gates like a death omen, his small, withered hand holding a black rose. Lovebug choked, retching. He nearly rolled down the window, until his eyes met the silvery ones of a nearby abomination.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking closer at the church. On top of the roof, I saw an enormous statue of a black raven, its wings spread as if it were flying. It had three gleaming, silvery eyes embedded into the dark rock.
“That boy just reminds me of my son,” Lovebug whispered glumly, inching along the streets.
“I didn’t know you had a son,” I said, surprised. Lovebug had never mentioned a family. He shrugged.
“I don’t. Not anymore. I killed him. I got drunk and high one night back when I was selling drugs. Fell asleep in the living room with a lit cigarette and burned down the whole house. I killed my wife and son, burned them. They sent me to prison, but what did that matter? The prison up here is far worse.” He tapped the side of his temple.
I was about to say something, but at that moment, many things happened at once.
***
Lovebug was staring at the corpse of the child when an inhumanly long arm reached up from the side of the car. It had fingers like spikes, as sharp as a knife and twice as long as normal human fingers. I gasped, a warning shout welling up in my throat, but the hand came smashing down into the driver’s side window and grabbed Lovebug’s neck.
The window exploded in a shower of safety glass, shattering like brittle bones. Lovebug’s scream was cut off as he was dragged, kicking and screaming, out of the car. I swung open my door, leaping out and bringing my rifle around.
The Cheshire Cat grin of the abomination never faltered as it held Lovebug in front of its body like a human shield, holding him by the neck above the ground. Lovebug’s legs kicked and squirmed, his face turning blue as he slowly suffocated. His eyes bulged from their sockets, panicked and rolling, uncomprehending in their total animal panic.
I flicked on the laser sight. It danced over the ground, flashing over the body of Lovebug and the abomination. But I couldn’t aim for its torso or face, as I would probably hit Lovebug in the process. It was far too close.
I aimed for the monster’s thin, skeletal feet, the black toes twisting over each other like the roots of a tree. The gunshots rang out as a deafening counterpoint to the thunder blasts.
The monster gave a hissing gurgle as two bullets caught it in the right ankle. The creature seemed bloodless, and only dust and ashes rolled out of the exploded insectile flesh. It tried to skitter away, but its destroyed ankle caused it to fall forward, throwing Lovebug.
His body rolled across the road, the soft leather that looked like it was made from tens of thousands of human skins. Gasping, his lips still showing a faint blue cast, he struggled to crawl away.
I saw furtive movement from all around us. The creatures in the houses and doorways were moving forwards, drawn by the bloodshed or noise. Hundreds of glowing, silvery eyes surrounded us. I sprinted forward, dragging Lovebug to his feet.
“The church,” I hissed. “It’s the only place.” Still pulling the weak, confused Lovebug behind me, we staggered towards the black gates. They opened with a shriek of rusted metal.
***
The creatures stopped at the gates to the blood-red church, simply staring at us like statues. They didn’t even seem to breathe, their lidless eyes never blinking, the silvery glow never fading.
“I think this is the place we’re meant to go,” I whispered as we made our way towards the massive pointed doors. “When God spoke to us, he said something about a stone, a bird and a rose, that we would find the Titan through that.” I pointed back at the burnt body of the boy. “He’s holding a rose. On top of the building, there’s a bird. And the church is all stone. Maybe this is the place where God wanted us to go all along.”
“Maybe,” Lovebug muttered through heaving gasps, still grabbing at his bruised neck. “God, this hurts. It feels like I got hanged.” Side by side, we pushed open the doors to the Satanic church and walked inside.
***
Row after row of pews stretched out in front of us. Thousands of black candles were set up all around the perimeter of the enormous chamber. They sputtered and flickered constantly, throwing dancing shadows in every direction.
A small pair of bright eyes glanced up at us from under one of the nearby pews. I nearly jumped out of my skin, pointing the rifle at them and yelling.
“Show yourself! Come out now, or I shoot!” Lovebug looked at me, confused. He hadn’t seen it. But a few heartbeats later, a little girl crawled out, her eyes big and blue, her body an emaciated wreck. She wore ripped strands of what looked like leathery human skin to cover herself, tied together with black string. In one small, grime-streaked hand, she held a half-eaten raw mouse.
“Please, don’t kill me,” she said in a small voice. “I’m Emma. My mommy and daddy got dragged away and I’m scared.” I felt sick and weak looking at this small victim. I reached down and helped her up.
“I wouldn’t hurt you,” I said, kneeling down to her level. “I thought you were one of the bad guys. This is Lovebug, and I’m Jack.”
“This isn’t part of the mission, man,” Lovebug said nervously. “What are we supposed to do with her?”
“Well, we can’t just fucking leave her here,” I whispered back. “We need…” But I never got to finish that thought. Because, at that moment, the church woke up.
***
A red glow started at the front of the chamber, the altar where the priest would have stood and given speeches or holy communion. Here, they had a podium that looked like it was carved from a single block of obsidian. Reflected in it, I saw the screaming faces of people burning in Hell, grinning demons ripping off strips of human flesh and spiraling waves of flames, all sculpted by an artist who was able to capture the most miniscule details of agony and torture.
I looked around, realizing Emma had gone. I hadn’t seen her scurry away and hide, but her absence gave me a feeling of crushing dread in my chest.
“Lovebug, something’s wrong,” I whispered, still staring up at the altar. I heard a floorboard creak behind me. I glanced back just in time to see a man wearing full SWAT gear. I caught the flash of a pistol coming down, the butt aimed at my forehead. I heard the cracking, felt the immense pressure and pain. For a few moments, I swam in the currents of consciousness, trying to stay awake, but then the blackness crept in and stole me away.
***
I awoke suddenly, my hands tied so tightly behind my back that I couldn’t feel my fingers. I felt sick and wanted to throw up. I quickly choked those feelings back down. I tried to shake my head, to clear it, but that just brought jolts of pain like electricity shooting through my skull. Nearby, I heard a gunshot, then another.
“Bring it, fuckers!” Lovebug screamed in an insane voice. The explosion of a grenade rocked the building, and I smelled choking black smoke. I opened my eyes, seeing three men in SWAT gear laying dead, their bodies scattered haphazardly around the chaotic scene. One wall of the church had blown outwards, the stone still sending out gray wisps of wavy smoke into the air. I looked at my partner, seeing he had a bullet hole in his left arm and another one in his stomach. He was bleeding heavily, but the adrenaline and insanity seemed to keep him afloat- for now, at least.
I saw something walking towards us from the stage. It looked like a small boy, but black shadows spiraled up around his chest and face, translucent and shimmering darkly. He looked about five or six, his skin pale and smooth. As Lovebug’s face grew slack and distant, the boy abruptly erupted into flames.
“Don’t kill me again, Dad,” the small boy whispered in a hoarse voice choked with pain. The flames rose from his head and skin, melting his flesh, blackening it. Drops of boiling fat dribbled off his nose and chin. “Don’t send me to the dark place again, Dad…” He continued creeping closer to Lovebug, moving like a lion stalking an antelope.
“I didn’t know!” Lovebug cried, his face going paler. Tears streamed from his eyes as the rifle trembled wildly in his shaking hands. For a long moment, he looked torn, the finger tightening on the trigger as sobs escaped his chattering lips.
“Kill it, Lovebug!” I screamed. “Don’t let it get to you!” But as he dropped the rifle and knelt before the small boy, I knew it was too late.
The shadows spun faster and faster around the burning, dying body of the boy. He gave a scream of soul-shattering agony, reaching out to a small hand towards Lovebug.
“Help me!” the boy cried. Lovebug hesitated before bringing an arm up to take the boy’s hand.
“I missed you, Robbie,” Lovebug said before his fingers brushed the boys. The boy lunged forward, grabbing Lovebug’s hand with an iron grip. I saw Lovebug’s eyes widen in shock and surprise. A moment later, I heard the bones in his hand grinding together before breaking with a sound like snapping tree branches. The boy’s eyes darkened into jet-black orbs, the melted lips splitting into a sadistic grin.
“I missed you, too,” the thing hissed as its right arm changed, melting and reforming into something black and blade-like. The insectile limb swung forward in a blur, coming straight at Lovebug’s heart. He gave a panicked squeal a moment before it hit, trying to pull away with all of his considerable strength, his face turning chalk-white as the shattered bones in his hands ground together.
I closed my eyes, rolling away, trying to undo the knots that held my hands in place. Lovebug must have been greatly outnumbered. He would never have let that man tie me up. I heard the sounds of tearing meat and crunching bone nearby. Lovebug’s final breaths gurgled through the air, but I still kept my eyes closed, not wanting to look.
I felt a small tickle on my wrists, then heard a little voice next to my ear.
“I’ll get you out of here,” Emma whispered. I waited a few moments, then I heard the ropes snap. I looked back, seeing her holding a piece of sharp, broken glass in one tiny hand. In her other, she had the car keys. I wondered how she had gotten them, the little pickpocket.
“Thank God,” I said, rubbing my wrists. I looked around for my rifle, seeing it was laying next to the body of one of the SWAT guys. I wondered who these men were. I crawled towards it slowly, not wanting to draw attention.
“Don’t move another step,” a voice growled behind me. I glanced back, seeing the small boy, his features morphing into those of a demon. Curving horns spiraled from his temples. His jet-black eyes stared down at me with hatred and coldness. “You’ll follow your friend who killed my servants. His soul will stay alive forever within my body, a sickly thing wrapped up in an eternal shriek.”
“Fuck you,” I cried, lunging for my rifle. Emma disappeared behind a pew, running on all fours without looking back. I spun as I hit the ground, turning the barrel towards the morphing face of the shape-shifter. Its jaw unhinged, a snake-like tongue flicking out as it flew through the air towards me. Hollow fangs dripping clear venom grew from its mouth in a heartbeat, elongating and sharpening before my very eyes.
I fired twice, the bullets entering through its mouth and coming out the back of its head. Its flesh disintegrated in an instant, the body turning into light, gray ashes that disappeared in the breeze. Breathing hard, I waited, wondering if it was all over.
I heard a rumbling far below me, as if an earthquake were starting. A moment later, the church floor exploded upwards, sharp rubble and splintered boards flying in every direction.
***
“It’s coming!” Emma screamed, running over and grabbing my hand. I lay there, shell-shocked and unmoving for a long moment. In hindsight, the girl was a natural born survivor with much sharper reflexes than me. It was likely the only reason she survived as long as she had.
“The Titan,” I whispered grimly, trying to pull myself up to my feet. But it was like trying to walk on a heaving, sinking ship. Parts of the floor collapsed down into a seemingly never-ending abyss beneath us.
Near the stage, I saw hundreds of long, pale arms pulling something bloated and monstrous out of the ground. It was a Titan, and no explanation can ever convey the true horror of that thing.
It looked like countless human corpses had been melted together, fused into a ball with sagging, boneless chests, deformed faces and millions of writhing maggots. It groaned and gurgled with many lungs, exhaling a rotting, sulfurous breeze that made me want to retch. A soft susurration of many pained, muttering voices continuously emanated from the Titan.
“Emma, run!” I screamed, but she was already sprinting back towards the front door of the church. I backpedaled, afraid to look away from the creeping monstrosity, the juggernaut of rotting flesh moving towards us.
I heard the Titan closing the distance as I sprinted through the front door. The abominations with the silver eyes still slunk around the gate, blocking the car. I raised the rifle, firing blindly at the creatures, careful not to hit the little girl.
“Go to the car!” I screamed at Emma, feeling around for the keys. As the abominations saw the Titan, those still alive scattered, moving in a blur back into the shadows and homes of this rotten place.
The Titan broke the front wall of the church, sending splinters of red stone flying in every direction like bullets. It groaned and gurgled faster, its sickly cries more insistent. I ran to the Mercedes, starting it up and pressing the accelerator to the floor. I pulled a U-turn, heading back to the border of the anomaly.
***
The engine roared, the car bucking like a wild stallion as it pressed me and Emma back into our seats. But the creeping Titan continued gaining speed behind us, and for a few seconds, I feared we would be crushed to death under its massive weight.
The anomaly shimmered ahead of us. I crashed through it at two hundred miles an hour, skidding wildly as the Mercedes hit the dirt road. I nearly flew into a tree. I managed to right it at the last second, pulling onto the paved street as the Titan broke through behind us.
It followed us out. It’s in the real world now.

“Before I met the Savior, I was a worthless piece of garbage, barely a human being,” Lovebug droned at the front of the enormous room. Lovebug was a monster of a man, two-hundred and fifty pounds of hard tattooed muscle. Like myself, he was a high-ranking member of the Church.
His flat gray eyes scanned the room with a fanatical gleam. I sat in the first row, watching and waiting. Followers of the Savior would tell their stories, how the Savior had reached down and lifted them out of sin and filth to bring them up to the divine. The bright fluorescent lights overhead droned on with a low hum. Thousands of men crammed together in seats or stood at the back of the room.
The Savior taught only two commandments: to murder is holy, and to die for the Savior is the highest bliss. An army of warriors followed the Savior, knights on a holy crusade, priests who wouldn’t hesitate to burn the foul bodies of any witches or demons we encountered. I thought of myself as a knight for the holy king, our Savior, the mouthpiece of the eternal.
“Now, it is like the hand of God has reached into my heart and loosened all the knots there, the knots of anxiety and fear and uncertainty.” He raised his black, military-style rifle into the air for emphasis. “I never realized the true nature of reality before- the fact that we are living in a simulation where the final battle of good versus evil is playing out before our very eyes. And I will be on the side of the good, until my dying breath. I will be on the side of the Savior and of God!”
The crowd roared and clapped. Men got to their feet, sweating heavily in the boiling hot conference room. I felt the surge of energy pass through me like a tidal wave, the pure confidence and iron will of truth. Lovebug lumbered down off the stage as the Savior came out from behind the red curtains, walking with the straight spine of a soldier. He wore a silky black robe that fluttered softly around him, the hood pulled back.
The Savior had horrific burns running the length of his body. His arms had melted folds of keloid scars visible all the way to the tips of his fingers. His scalp had also melted, and the Savior had no hair except for his eyelashes and eyebrows. But the fire that had nearly killed him had spared his face, an aristocratic visage with ferocious green eyes like those of a cat. That face seemed like it had been sculpted out of marble by DaVinci himself, the high cheekbones jutting out over a chin so sharp that it looked like it could have hammered nails into boards. He stared out at the crowd for a long moment, his gaze unblinking.
“The final battle has begun,” he said in a low voice, no more than a whisper. Yet, in the deathly silence of the hall, his words rang out loud and clear. “Those in charge of this illusory world know that we see them. We see them very well, how they hide behind the curtain. They control the world economy, the justice system. Every government, whether they call themselves communist, authoritarian or democratic, is no more than a puppet in their dancing fingers.
“When anyone tries to stand up and lead the masses of suffering people towards freedom from slavery, they are vilified by the mainstream media, brought up on false charges or killed, their bodies staged to look like a suicide. Look what they did to Jesus, and for what? For telling people to love God more than their rulers? And those who speak out today are also crucified, murdered in prisons or killed by their governments. Truth is the most precious commodity, after all. It is one that can only be purchased with blood.
“So what can we do? How can we fight against such evil?” There was a quiet muttering among the pale, frozen faces that stared up at the stage with adoration and love.
“We can fight it by using their own weapons against them!” the Savior said, his voice rising in speed and pitch. He raised his fisted hands to his chest, accentuating each syllable with a back and forth stab of his hands. “Fight fire with fire, and pay back blood with blood! The only thing these global terrorists understand is greater levels of force. We must show them death on a scale they have never before imagined.” I felt nervous as the Savior delivered his message. I saw other men shuffle anxiously in the crowded auditorium, most of them having high-caliber rifles slung around their shoulders.
I felt the rising violence and bloodlust in the air like electricity before a lightning storm. At that moment, I knew we would all have to fight before too long.
***
The Savior called me and Lovebug back to his office after the speech had ended, sending his squirrely assistant over to deliver the hand-written note in the Savior’s blocky, copperplate handwriting. For a long moment, I simply watched the crowd filtering out of the doors, heading back towards the complex where all the holy soldiers of the Savior lived. Feeling dissociated and light-headed, I followed behind the massive muscular form of Lovebug, the heavy weight of the M16 bouncing against my chest. We pushed through the blood-red velvet curtains, winding our way past stage equipment and down a hallway of pure marble.
Mystical paintings similar to those of Alex Grey covered both walls, showing the inside workings of the human body through art. It was as if the painter had X-ray vision and could see the heart chakra and the countless thin vessels that spiderwebbed up to the crown. But, unlike Alex Grey’s hopeful depictions of mysticism, these showed men and women being burned alive, crucified, decapitated or strangled. Dark colors composed the paintings: the dark blue of a suffocating face, the clotted red of an infected stab wound, the black of death. They captured the essence of struggle perfectly.
The Savior’s office had a thick mahogany door with silver engravings of leaves and vines running the length of it. At the top stood a single staring eye with twelve wavy tentacles emerging from the perimeter of it- the symbol of God, who the Savior had seen personally. God would sometimes speak through the mouth of the Savior, always during times of great tribulation or suffering. Lovebug knocked at the door. The Savior’s deep voice echoed out faintly.
“Come in.”
We entered slowly, the sprawling desk of the Savior filling half of the room. He sat in a comfortable chair behind it, reclining. On the walls behind him, he had pictures of Jesus, Saint Stephen, Gandhi, Hitler, Jim Jones, Shoko Asahara and others who he taught had fought against the world elites and been killed for it.
The Church of the Final Rapture was not a church in the conventional sense. The main teachings didn’t revolve around the divinity of Christ or the nature of original sin. What the Savior taught was far more profound- an illusory or simulated world where every single person could become their own Christ, could awaken to the truth and perform miracles, but only if they believed fully and followed the Savior.
“Sit down, please,” he said in his gravelly voice. “I have a mission I would like to discuss, and you two are the only ones competent and loyal enough to carry it out.”
***
“There is another anomaly spreading,” the Savior said, staring between me and Lovebug with his fanatical emerald eyes. “It is located in a rural part of the United States, in a town called-” he glanced down at the sheet of paper in front of him- “Frost Hollow. Supposedly, there are black-ops sites located nearby, secret alphabet agencies experimenting with magnetic distortion systems and creating rips in the fabric of spacetime with micro-wormholes.
“I don’t think it is much of a leap to say that the anomaly was likely started, either intentionally or unintentionally, by the government, as part of their research. The Cleaners would like to control that power, after all. They have been sending their men after it for years like sheep to the slaughter, expending billions of dollars researching it. If they and the US government end up being able to control the creation and spread of anomalies, they will use it to enslave the world. There is no question about it in my mind.” He leaned forwards towards us, his eyes growing cold.
“There is only one path forward I can see. We need to spread the anomaly, make it become unstable so the demons of Hell contained within it can spill out onto the real world. Perhaps it will awaken the downtrodden masses enough to begin the final revolution. We must fight terrorism with greater terrorism, and violence with greater levels of violence. For this mission, I am sending the two of you into Frost Hollow.
“Your job will be to find the Titan or Titans and lead them out to the border of the anomaly. These are horrendous beasts- indeed, the Church has seen them before. They are nearly impossible to kill. I want you two to go inside, bait it and have it follow you back to the edge, beyond the veil.”
“What’s a Titan?” Lovebug asked, his eyes flicking left and right nervously. The Savior stared at him stonily for a long moment. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, showing only the whites. All the blood seemed to drain from his face. His teeth chattered, his mouth opened, and through it, God spoke, the words pouring out like crashing stones. The voice did not sound anything like the Savior’s. It sounded much deeper, more mechanical, more alien somehow.
“I see you very well. I saw you when you were no more than a blood clot in your mother’s body. I see you even as corpses, rotted, putrefying, crawling with scavengers and insects. I see everything, every moment of time. But, in the anomaly, there are things I cannot see. For this, my holy ones must go forth.
“In the center of Hell, you will find a rose, a bird and a stone. These will be your salvation, if salvation can be found at all. Go with the blessing of Yaldabaoth.” The voice cut off abruptly, the silence deafening. I could hear my own heart pounding in my ears.
The Savior’s eyes came back down, looking confused and uncertain. His pupils were dilated and he was sweating heavily, even though it was cool and air-conditioned back here in his private office. We stared at each other across the table, a no-man’s land that protected me like a shield. For there seemed to be something dark in the Savior along with the light, and I didn’t know if any man could contain that power.
But there was no question of disobeying. Within the hour, Lovebug and I were on one of the Church’s private jets flying to the town of Frost Hollow.
***
The gently rolling hills of Frost Hollow loomed below us as the plane circled the small dirt airstrip in the middle of some cow farms. I looked up at Lovebug, trying to judge his stony expression. He had done many years in prison before joining the Church and finding salvation, even being the leader of one of the gangs. I knew he wasn’t afraid of violence. He had never told me what he did, what tortured him so much.
The Savior had told us much secret knowledge- how to find a Titan, a massive, bloated abomination that could come into being only within an anomaly, a combination of many rotted body pieces fused together in some sort of hellish black magic. The Savior had spies around Frost Hollow and the surrounding towns who had been monitoring the anomaly, watching the unstable gateways leading in and out and mapping them as best they could. We would be given a fast car, plenty of weapons and some body armor. I had no idea how nightmarish the journey would become, however.
“I’m driving,” Lovebug said as we descended the steps. A man in a black suit with the symbol of the eye and tentacles pinned on his black button-up shirt pulled up with a Mercedes AMG-One. It was a sleek, silver thing of immense luxury and power. The craftsmanship made it look like a work of art. I sighed, keeping my finger nervously on the trigger of my rifle as I glanced around the strange, empty town.
“If this thing won’t outrun a Titan, then nothing will,” I said, trying to break the tension. I looked at the speedometer, seeing it went up to 220 miles an hour.
“Damn fucking right,” Lovebug growled as we slid into the futuristic-looking leather seats. The engine turned on like a softly purring kitten. The GPS automatically turned on as well, the soft robotic voice leading us toward one of the more stable portals to the anomaly.
Lovebug sped down the empty forest roads of Frost Hollow, going twice the legal speed limit the entire way.
“The speed limit is only for the lowest common denominator,” Lovebug said pedantically, waggling a tattooed finger for emphasis. The GPS said we would reach the gateway to the anomaly in five minutes. Based on Lovebug’s speed, I thought it would be more like two. “Someone who actually knows how to drive and isn’t drunk or high can easily do 80 in a 40. Easily.” I glanced nervously at the speedometer, realizing he was going over 100 miles an hour now. The sports car hugged the tight corners of the winding forest roads with absolute precision.
“Turn right onto Snake Island Road Extension in five hundred feet,” the robotic female voice. Lovebug slammed on the brakes a few seconds later, the tires skidding and locking up. We looked around frantically, seeing no streets anywhere except the one we were on.
“What the hell?” Lovebug asked. The night was crawling in by now, the darkness covering the forests like a curtain. I squinted, looking at the thick grove of trees on our right, scanning it back and forth over and over. After a few seconds, I realized there was an overgrown dirt path there with no sign. It was nearly impossible to see at night, however, and calling it a road was somewhat of a joke.
“Oh, damn,” I said. “They should’ve given us an SUV.”
***
According to the GPS, our destination was only a thousand feet down Snake Island Road Extension. The low clearance of the Mercedes was a problem as Lovebug tried to navigate the flooded forest path. Deep tread marks flooded with black, stagnant water marked the entirety of Snake Island Road Extension. But ahead, the headlights illuminated something unusual.
Cutting straight across the trees and brush like a razorblade was a shimmering wall of translucent energy. It reminded me of a mirage, curving upwards in wavy spiral patterns. I could see through it easily, but it gave everything a dark, sinister covering. The forest seemed to be in constant motion as the grayish light distorted it.
“Look how huge it is!” I said in awe, staring up at the starry sky. The flat wall rose up seemingly forever, disappearing in the cold void of infinite space. Lovebug slowly ambled the car towards the anomaly, trying to keep the Mercedes from getting stuck with its low clearance.
“You ready for this, man?” Lovebug asked in a quavering voice as we inched towards the anomaly. It was only seconds away now. He grabbed my shoulder. “This is it. Remember the commandments.” I closed my eyes, concentrating my heart on the Savior’s words. Dying for the good is the highest bliss, he had told us.
“Let’s do this,” I said, my eyes flying open from my silent prayer as the hood passed through the anomaly. It disappeared in front of our eyes. We could see the forest on the other side, but the Mercedes looked like it was going through some sort of teleportation portal, being ripped apart layer by layer and sent somewhere else. Lovebug nervously grabbed my hand.
“For the Savior and for the Good,” he whispered as we passed through.
***
I heard screaming and wailing, full of agony and unimaginable horror, like the screams of those burning in Hell. My vision went white. A carpet of morphing dark colors covered everything as the shrieking intensified, until I thought my eardrums would explode.
“Stop!” I cried, feeling the pressure in my head like a splitting migraine. “Stop screaming!” I started kicking, punching, trying to get away.
“Calm the fuck down!” someone whispered, slapping me hard across the face. Stunned, I looked up, seeing Lovebug holding me down in the seat. He was covered in sweat, his face a blank mask of terror. “Don’t scream. There’s things outside that are looking this way.” I blinked fast, my senses coming back to me. I felt like a man waking up from surgery, confused and disoriented, my memories only returning in small trickles and drops.
We were sitting in the Mercedes on a road that looked like it had been made of human skin. The headlights showed the ragged patches of pale, leathery flesh sewn together with black thread. The road disappeared ahead of us in a straight line. The land here looked as flat as Kansas. Like a mirror world, it had houses and restaurants and churches lining both sides of the road, but they were all wrong.
The stone church looked like it was constructed of some kind of red volcanic rock. Baphomets and upside-down pentagrams covered the outer walls, engraved deeply into the glossy surface. Mutilated bodies covered the front lawn, impaled, crucified, skinned alive or burned at the stake. Hundreds of men, women and children lay dead in front of the Satanic temple.
Overhead, the sky bubbled and frothed with red clouds and constant explosions of blue lightning. Like missile flashes, the lightning illuminated the world around us, shining brightly before going dark. The incessant strobing gave the entire place a kind of circus freakshow vibe.
Many of the homes looked like they had been constructed from bones and covered in human skin, like some sort of hellish teepee. Arm and leg bones wrapped in razor-wire formed the pillars. Grinning skulls lined the top of the flat, rectangular roofs, thousands of bleached human heads staring down.
Staring out of the dark doorways, I saw gleaming, silvery eyes. They loomed eight or nine feet in the air on spidery bodies. Their limbs looked as thin as bones, jet-black and dull. The only color from these still revenants was from their unblinking eyes and grinning mouths, where teeth like those of a dragonfish jutted out. Every pair of eyes on that street was fixed intently on the Mercedes, the sick rictus grins on their alien faces never faltering.
“Jesus Christ, I’m sorry,” I whispered, feeling weak. “I thought I was in a nightmare for a minute there.” Lovebug shrugged his massive shoulders.
“Yeah, I felt it too, though I came out of it a lot faster than you did,” he said, glancing over at the Satanic church as we passed. It had protective black spikes rising high into the air all around it. The broken body of a child who had been burnt at the stake stood in front of the gates like a death omen, his small, withered hand holding a black rose. Lovebug choked, retching. He nearly rolled down the window, until his eyes met the silvery ones of a nearby abomination.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking closer at the church. On top of the roof, I saw an enormous statue of a black raven, its wings spread as if it were flying. It had three gleaming, silvery eyes embedded into the dark rock.
“That boy just reminds me of my son,” Lovebug whispered glumly, inching along the streets.
“I didn’t know you had a son,” I said, surprised. Lovebug had never mentioned a family. He shrugged.
“I don’t. Not anymore. I killed him. I got drunk and high one night back when I was selling drugs. Fell asleep in the living room with a lit cigarette and burned down the whole house. I killed my wife and son, burned them. They sent me to prison, but what did that matter? The prison up here is far worse.” He tapped the side of his temple.
I was about to say something, but at that moment, many things happened at once.
***
Lovebug was staring at the corpse of the child when an inhumanly long arm reached up from the side of the car. It had fingers like spikes, as sharp as a knife and twice as long as normal human fingers. I gasped, a warning shout welling up in my throat, but the hand came smashing down into the driver’s side window and grabbed Lovebug’s neck.
The window exploded in a shower of safety glass, shattering like brittle bones. Lovebug’s scream was cut off as he was dragged, kicking and screaming, out of the car. I swung open my door, leaping out and bringing my rifle around.
The Cheshire Cat grin of the abomination never faltered as it held Lovebug in front of its body like a human shield, holding him by the neck above the ground. Lovebug’s legs kicked and squirmed, his face turning blue as he slowly suffocated. His eyes bulged from their sockets, panicked and rolling, uncomprehending in their total animal panic.
I flicked on the laser sight. It danced over the ground, flashing over the body of Lovebug and the abomination. But I couldn’t aim for its torso or face, as I would probably hit Lovebug in the process. It was far too close.
I aimed for the monster’s thin, skeletal feet, the black toes twisting over each other like the roots of a tree. The gunshots rang out as a deafening counterpoint to the thunder blasts.
The monster gave a hissing gurgle as two bullets caught it in the right ankle. The creature seemed bloodless, and only dust and ashes rolled out of the exploded insectile flesh. It tried to skitter away, but its destroyed ankle caused it to fall forward, throwing Lovebug.
His body rolled across the road, the soft leather that looked like it was made from tens of thousands of human skins. Gasping, his lips still showing a faint blue cast, he struggled to crawl away.
I saw furtive movement from all around us. The creatures in the houses and doorways were moving forwards, drawn by the bloodshed or noise. Hundreds of glowing, silvery eyes surrounded us. I sprinted forward, dragging Lovebug to his feet.
“The church,” I hissed. “It’s the only place.” Still pulling the weak, confused Lovebug behind me, we staggered towards the black gates. They opened with a shriek of rusted metal.
***
The creatures stopped at the gates to the blood-red church, simply staring at us like statues. They didn’t even seem to breathe, their lidless eyes never blinking, the silvery glow never fading.
“I think this is the place we’re meant to go,” I whispered as we made our way towards the massive pointed doors. “When God spoke to us, he said something about a stone, a bird and a rose, that we would find the Titan through that.” I pointed back at the burnt body of the boy. “He’s holding a rose. On top of the building, there’s a bird. And the church is all stone. Maybe this is the place where God wanted us to go all along.”
“Maybe,” Lovebug muttered through heaving gasps, still grabbing at his bruised neck. “God, this hurts. It feels like I got hanged.” Side by side, we pushed open the doors to the Satanic church and walked inside.
***
Row after row of pews stretched out in front of us. Thousands of black candles were set up all around the perimeter of the enormous chamber. They sputtered and flickered constantly, throwing dancing shadows in every direction.
A small pair of bright eyes glanced up at us from under one of the nearby pews. I nearly jumped out of my skin, pointing the rifle at them and yelling.
“Show yourself! Come out now, or I shoot!” Lovebug looked at me, confused. He hadn’t seen it. But a few heartbeats later, a little girl crawled out, her eyes big and blue, her body an emaciated wreck. She wore ripped strands of what looked like leathery human skin to cover herself, tied together with black string. In one small, grime-streaked hand, she held a half-eaten raw mouse.
“Please, don’t kill me,” she said in a small voice. “I’m Emma. My mommy and daddy got dragged away and I’m scared.” I felt sick and weak looking at this small victim. I reached down and helped her up.
“I wouldn’t hurt you,” I said, kneeling down to her level. “I thought you were one of the bad guys. This is Lovebug, and I’m Jack.”
“This isn’t part of the mission, man,” Lovebug said nervously. “What are we supposed to do with her?”
“Well, we can’t just fucking leave her here,” I whispered back. “We need…” But I never got to finish that thought. Because, at that moment, the church woke up.
***
A red glow started at the front of the chamber, the altar where the priest would have stood and given speeches or holy communion. Here, they had a podium that looked like it was carved from a single block of obsidian. Reflected in it, I saw the screaming faces of people burning in Hell, grinning demons ripping off strips of human flesh and spiraling waves of flames, all sculpted by an artist who was able to capture the most miniscule details of agony and torture.
I looked around, realizing Emma had gone. I hadn’t seen her scurry away and hide, but her absence gave me a feeling of crushing dread in my chest.
“Lovebug, something’s wrong,” I whispered, still staring up at the altar. I heard a floorboard creak behind me. I glanced back just in time to see a man wearing full SWAT gear. I caught the flash of a pistol coming down, the butt aimed at my forehead. I heard the cracking, felt the immense pressure and pain. For a few moments, I swam in the currents of consciousness, trying to stay awake, but then the blackness crept in and stole me away.
***
I awoke suddenly, my hands tied so tightly behind my back that I couldn’t feel my fingers. I felt sick and wanted to throw up. I quickly choked those feelings back down. I tried to shake my head, to clear it, but that just brought jolts of pain like electricity shooting through my skull. Nearby, I heard a gunshot, then another.
“Bring it, fuckers!” Lovebug screamed in an insane voice. The explosion of a grenade rocked the building, and I smelled choking black smoke. I opened my eyes, seeing three men in SWAT gear laying dead, their bodies scattered haphazardly around the chaotic scene. One wall of the church had blown outwards, the stone still sending out gray wisps of wavy smoke into the air. I looked at my partner, seeing he had a bullet hole in his left arm and another one in his stomach. He was bleeding heavily, but the adrenaline and insanity seemed to keep him afloat- for now, at least.
I saw something walking towards us from the stage. It looked like a small boy, but black shadows spiraled up around his chest and face, translucent and shimmering darkly. He looked about five or six, his skin pale and smooth. As Lovebug’s face grew slack and distant, the boy abruptly erupted into flames.
“Don’t kill me again, Dad,” the small boy whispered in a hoarse voice choked with pain. The flames rose from his head and skin, melting his flesh, blackening it. Drops of boiling fat dribbled off his nose and chin. “Don’t send me to the dark place again, Dad…” He continued creeping closer to Lovebug, moving like a lion stalking an antelope.
“I didn’t know!” Lovebug cried, his face going paler. Tears streamed from his eyes as the rifle trembled wildly in his shaking hands. For a long moment, he looked torn, the finger tightening on the trigger as sobs escaped his chattering lips.
“Kill it, Lovebug!” I screamed. “Don’t let it get to you!” But as he dropped the rifle and knelt before the small boy, I knew it was too late.
The shadows spun faster and faster around the burning, dying body of the boy. He gave a scream of soul-shattering agony, reaching out to a small hand towards Lovebug.
“Help me!” the boy cried. Lovebug hesitated before bringing an arm up to take the boy’s hand.
“I missed you, Robbie,” Lovebug said before his fingers brushed the boys. The boy lunged forward, grabbing Lovebug’s hand with an iron grip. I saw Lovebug’s eyes widen in shock and surprise. A moment later, I heard the bones in his hand grinding together before breaking with a sound like snapping tree branches. The boy’s eyes darkened into jet-black orbs, the melted lips splitting into a sadistic grin.
“I missed you, too,” the thing hissed as its right arm changed, melting and reforming into something black and blade-like. The insectile limb swung forward in a blur, coming straight at Lovebug’s heart. He gave a panicked squeal a moment before it hit, trying to pull away with all of his considerable strength, his face turning chalk-white as the shattered bones in his hands ground together.
I closed my eyes, rolling away, trying to undo the knots that held my hands in place. Lovebug must have been greatly outnumbered. He would never have let that man tie me up. I heard the sounds of tearing meat and crunching bone nearby. Lovebug’s final breaths gurgled through the air, but I still kept my eyes closed, not wanting to look.
I felt a small tickle on my wrists, then heard a little voice next to my ear.
“I’ll get you out of here,” Emma whispered. I waited a few moments, then I heard the ropes snap. I looked back, seeing her holding a piece of sharp, broken glass in one tiny hand. In her other, she had the car keys. I wondered how she had gotten them, the little pickpocket.
“Thank God,” I said, rubbing my wrists. I looked around for my rifle, seeing it was laying next to the body of one of the SWAT guys. I wondered who these men were. I crawled towards it slowly, not wanting to draw attention.
“Don’t move another step,” a voice growled behind me. I glanced back, seeing the small boy, his features morphing into those of a demon. Curving horns spiraled from his temples. His jet-black eyes stared down at me with hatred and coldness. “You’ll follow your friend who killed my servants. His soul will stay alive forever within my body, a sickly thing wrapped up in an eternal shriek.”
“Fuck you,” I cried, lunging for my rifle. Emma disappeared behind a pew, running on all fours without looking back. I spun as I hit the ground, turning the barrel towards the morphing face of the shape-shifter. Its jaw unhinged, a snake-like tongue flicking out as it flew through the air towards me. Hollow fangs dripping clear venom grew from its mouth in a heartbeat, elongating and sharpening before my very eyes.
I fired twice, the bullets entering through its mouth and coming out the back of its head. Its flesh disintegrated in an instant, the body turning into light, gray ashes that disappeared in the breeze. Breathing hard, I waited, wondering if it was all over.
I heard a rumbling far below me, as if an earthquake were starting. A moment later, the church floor exploded upwards, sharp rubble and splintered boards flying in every direction.
***
“It’s coming!” Emma screamed, running over and grabbing my hand. I lay there, shell-shocked and unmoving for a long moment. In hindsight, the girl was a natural born survivor with much sharper reflexes than me. It was likely the only reason she survived as long as she had.
“The Titan,” I whispered grimly, trying to pull myself up to my feet. But it was like trying to walk on a heaving, sinking ship. Parts of the floor collapsed down into a seemingly never-ending abyss beneath us.
Near the stage, I saw hundreds of long, pale arms pulling something bloated and monstrous out of the ground. It was a Titan, and no explanation can ever convey the true horror of that thing.
It looked like countless human corpses had been melted together, fused into a ball with sagging, boneless chests, deformed faces and millions of writhing maggots. It groaned and gurgled with many lungs, exhaling a rotting, sulfurous breeze that made me want to retch. A soft susurration of many pained, muttering voices continuously emanated from the Titan.
“Emma, run!” I screamed, but she was already sprinting back towards the front door of the church. I backpedaled, afraid to look away from the creeping monstrosity, the juggernaut of rotting flesh moving towards us.
I heard the Titan closing the distance as I sprinted through the front door. The abominations with the silver eyes still slunk around the gate, blocking the car. I raised the rifle, firing blindly at the creatures, careful not to hit the little girl.
“Go to the car!” I screamed at Emma, feeling around for the keys. As the abominations saw the Titan, those still alive scattered, moving in a blur back into the shadows and homes of this rotten place.
The Titan broke the front wall of the church, sending splinters of red stone flying in every direction like bullets. It groaned and gurgled faster, its sickly cries more insistent. I ran to the Mercedes, starting it up and pressing the accelerator to the floor. I pulled a U-turn, heading back to the border of the anomaly.
***
The engine roared, the car bucking like a wild stallion as it pressed me and Emma back into our seats. But the creeping Titan continued gaining speed behind us, and for a few seconds, I feared we would be crushed to death under its massive weight.
The anomaly shimmered ahead of us. I crashed through it at two hundred miles an hour, skidding wildly as the Mercedes hit the dirt road. I nearly flew into a tree. I managed to right it at the last second, pulling onto the paved street as the Titan broke through behind us.
It followed us out. It’s in the real world now.

“Before I met the Savior, I was a worthless piece of garbage, barely a human being,” Lovebug droned at the front of the enormous room. Lovebug was a monster of a man, two-hundred and fifty pounds of hard tattooed muscle. Like myself, he was a high-ranking member of the Church.
His flat gray eyes scanned the room with a fanatical gleam. I sat in the first row, watching and waiting. Followers of the Savior would tell their stories, how the Savior had reached down and lifted them out of sin and filth to bring them up to the divine. The bright fluorescent lights overhead droned on with a low hum. Thousands of men crammed together in seats or stood at the back of the room.
The Savior taught only two commandments: to murder is holy, and to die for the Savior is the highest bliss. An army of warriors followed the Savior, knights on a holy crusade, priests who wouldn’t hesitate to burn the foul bodies of any witches or demons we encountered. I thought of myself as a knight for the holy king, our Savior, the mouthpiece of the eternal.
“Now, it is like the hand of God has reached into my heart and loosened all the knots there, the knots of anxiety and fear and uncertainty.” He raised his black, military-style rifle into the air for emphasis. “I never realized the true nature of reality before- the fact that we are living in a simulation where the final battle of good versus evil is playing out before our very eyes. And I will be on the side of the good, until my dying breath. I will be on the side of the Savior and of God!”
The crowd roared and clapped. Men got to their feet, sweating heavily in the boiling hot conference room. I felt the surge of energy pass through me like a tidal wave, the pure confidence and iron will of truth. Lovebug lumbered down off the stage as the Savior came out from behind the red curtains, walking with the straight spine of a soldier. He wore a silky black robe that fluttered softly around him, the hood pulled back.
The Savior had horrific burns running the length of his body. His arms had melted folds of keloid scars visible all the way to the tips of his fingers. His scalp had also melted, and the Savior had no hair except for his eyelashes and eyebrows. But the fire that had nearly killed him had spared his face, an aristocratic visage with ferocious green eyes like those of a cat. That face seemed like it had been sculpted out of marble by DaVinci himself, the high cheekbones jutting out over a chin so sharp that it looked like it could have hammered nails into boards. He stared out at the crowd for a long moment, his gaze unblinking.
“The final battle has begun,” he said in a low voice, no more than a whisper. Yet, in the deathly silence of the hall, his words rang out loud and clear. “Those in charge of this illusory world know that we see them. We see them very well, how they hide behind the curtain. They control the world economy, the justice system. Every government, whether they call themselves communist, authoritarian or democratic, is no more than a puppet in their dancing fingers.
“When anyone tries to stand up and lead the masses of suffering people towards freedom from slavery, they are vilified by the mainstream media, brought up on false charges or killed, their bodies staged to look like a suicide. Look what they did to Jesus, and for what? For telling people to love God more than their rulers? And those who speak out today are also crucified, murdered in prisons or killed by their governments. Truth is the most precious commodity, after all. It is one that can only be purchased with blood.
“So what can we do? How can we fight against such evil?” There was a quiet muttering among the pale, frozen faces that stared up at the stage with adoration and love.
“We can fight it by using their own weapons against them!” the Savior said, his voice rising in speed and pitch. He raised his fisted hands to his chest, accentuating each syllable with a back and forth stab of his hands. “Fight fire with fire, and pay back blood with blood! The only thing these global terrorists understand is greater levels of force. We must show them death on a scale they have never before imagined.” I felt nervous as the Savior delivered his message. I saw other men shuffle anxiously in the crowded auditorium, most of them having high-caliber rifles slung around their shoulders.
I felt the rising violence and bloodlust in the air like electricity before a lightning storm. At that moment, I knew we would all have to fight before too long.
***
The Savior called me and Lovebug back to his office after the speech had ended, sending his squirrely assistant over to deliver the hand-written note in the Savior’s blocky, copperplate handwriting. For a long moment, I simply watched the crowd filtering out of the doors, heading back towards the complex where all the holy soldiers of the Savior lived. Feeling dissociated and light-headed, I followed behind the massive muscular form of Lovebug, the heavy weight of the M16 bouncing against my chest. We pushed through the blood-red velvet curtains, winding our way past stage equipment and down a hallway of pure marble.
Mystical paintings similar to those of Alex Grey covered both walls, showing the inside workings of the human body through art. It was as if the painter had X-ray vision and could see the heart chakra and the countless thin vessels that spiderwebbed up to the crown. But, unlike Alex Grey’s hopeful depictions of mysticism, these showed men and women being burned alive, crucified, decapitated or strangled. Dark colors composed the paintings: the dark blue of a suffocating face, the clotted red of an infected stab wound, the black of death. They captured the essence of struggle perfectly.
The Savior’s office had a thick mahogany door with silver engravings of leaves and vines running the length of it. At the top stood a single staring eye with twelve wavy tentacles emerging from the perimeter of it- the symbol of God, who the Savior had seen personally. God would sometimes speak through the mouth of the Savior, always during times of great tribulation or suffering. Lovebug knocked at the door. The Savior’s deep voice echoed out faintly.
“Come in.”
We entered slowly, the sprawling desk of the Savior filling half of the room. He sat in a comfortable chair behind it, reclining. On the walls behind him, he had pictures of Jesus, Saint Stephen, Gandhi, Hitler, Jim Jones, Shoko Asahara and others who he taught had fought against the world elites and been killed for it.
The Church of the Final Rapture was not a church in the conventional sense. The main teachings didn’t revolve around the divinity of Christ or the nature of original sin. What the Savior taught was far more profound- an illusory or simulated world where every single person could become their own Christ, could awaken to the truth and perform miracles, but only if they believed fully and followed the Savior.
“Sit down, please,” he said in his gravelly voice. “I have a mission I would like to discuss, and you two are the only ones competent and loyal enough to carry it out.”
***
“There is another anomaly spreading,” the Savior said, staring between me and Lovebug with his fanatical emerald eyes. “It is located in a rural part of the United States, in a town called-” he glanced down at the sheet of paper in front of him- “Frost Hollow. Supposedly, there are black-ops sites located nearby, secret alphabet agencies experimenting with magnetic distortion systems and creating rips in the fabric of spacetime with micro-wormholes.
“I don’t think it is much of a leap to say that the anomaly was likely started, either intentionally or unintentionally, by the government, as part of their research. The Cleaners would like to control that power, after all. They have been sending their men after it for years like sheep to the slaughter, expending billions of dollars researching it. If they and the US government end up being able to control the creation and spread of anomalies, they will use it to enslave the world. There is no question about it in my mind.” He leaned forwards towards us, his eyes growing cold.
“There is only one path forward I can see. We need to spread the anomaly, make it become unstable so the demons of Hell contained within it can spill out onto the real world. Perhaps it will awaken the downtrodden masses enough to begin the final revolution. We must fight terrorism with greater terrorism, and violence with greater levels of violence. For this mission, I am sending the two of you into Frost Hollow.
“Your job will be to find the Titan or Titans and lead them out to the border of the anomaly. These are horrendous beasts- indeed, the Church has seen them before. They are nearly impossible to kill. I want you two to go inside, bait it and have it follow you back to the edge, beyond the veil.”
“What’s a Titan?” Lovebug asked, his eyes flicking left and right nervously. The Savior stared at him stonily for a long moment. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, showing only the whites. All the blood seemed to drain from his face. His teeth chattered, his mouth opened, and through it, God spoke, the words pouring out like crashing stones. The voice did not sound anything like the Savior’s. It sounded much deeper, more mechanical, more alien somehow.
“I see you very well. I saw you when you were no more than a blood clot in your mother’s body. I see you even as corpses, rotted, putrefying, crawling with scavengers and insects. I see everything, every moment of time. But, in the anomaly, there are things I cannot see. For this, my holy ones must go forth.
“In the center of Hell, you will find a rose, a bird and a stone. These will be your salvation, if salvation can be found at all. Go with the blessing of Yaldabaoth.” The voice cut off abruptly, the silence deafening. I could hear my own heart pounding in my ears.
The Savior’s eyes came back down, looking confused and uncertain. His pupils were dilated and he was sweating heavily, even though it was cool and air-conditioned back here in his private office. We stared at each other across the table, a no-man’s land that protected me like a shield. For there seemed to be something dark in the Savior along with the light, and I didn’t know if any man could contain that power.
But there was no question of disobeying. Within the hour, Lovebug and I were on one of the Church’s private jets flying to the town of Frost Hollow.
***
The gently rolling hills of Frost Hollow loomed below us as the plane circled the small dirt airstrip in the middle of some cow farms. I looked up at Lovebug, trying to judge his stony expression. He had done many years in prison before joining the Church and finding salvation, even being the leader of one of the gangs. I knew he wasn’t afraid of violence. He had never told me what he did, what tortured him so much.
The Savior had told us much secret knowledge- how to find a Titan, a massive, bloated abomination that could come into being only within an anomaly, a combination of many rotted body pieces fused together in some sort of hellish black magic. The Savior had spies around Frost Hollow and the surrounding towns who had been monitoring the anomaly, watching the unstable gateways leading in and out and mapping them as best they could. We would be given a fast car, plenty of weapons and some body armor. I had no idea how nightmarish the journey would become, however.
“I’m driving,” Lovebug said as we descended the steps. A man in a black suit with the symbol of the eye and tentacles pinned on his black button-up shirt pulled up with a Mercedes AMG-One. It was a sleek, silver thing of immense luxury and power. The craftsmanship made it look like a work of art. I sighed, keeping my finger nervously on the trigger of my rifle as I glanced around the strange, empty town.
“If this thing won’t outrun a Titan, then nothing will,” I said, trying to break the tension. I looked at the speedometer, seeing it went up to 220 miles an hour.
“Damn fucking right,” Lovebug growled as we slid into the futuristic-looking leather seats. The engine turned on like a softly purring kitten. The GPS automatically turned on as well, the soft robotic voice leading us toward one of the more stable portals to the anomaly.
Lovebug sped down the empty forest roads of Frost Hollow, going twice the legal speed limit the entire way.
“The speed limit is only for the lowest common denominator,” Lovebug said pedantically, waggling a tattooed finger for emphasis. The GPS said we would reach the gateway to the anomaly in five minutes. Based on Lovebug’s speed, I thought it would be more like two. “Someone who actually knows how to drive and isn’t drunk or high can easily do 80 in a 40. Easily.” I glanced nervously at the speedometer, realizing he was going over 100 miles an hour now. The sports car hugged the tight corners of the winding forest roads with absolute precision.
“Turn right onto Snake Island Road Extension in five hundred feet,” the robotic female voice. Lovebug slammed on the brakes a few seconds later, the tires skidding and locking up. We looked around frantically, seeing no streets anywhere except the one we were on.
“What the hell?” Lovebug asked. The night was crawling in by now, the darkness covering the forests like a curtain. I squinted, looking at the thick grove of trees on our right, scanning it back and forth over and over. After a few seconds, I realized there was an overgrown dirt path there with no sign. It was nearly impossible to see at night, however, and calling it a road was somewhat of a joke.
“Oh, damn,” I said. “They should’ve given us an SUV.”
***
According to the GPS, our destination was only a thousand feet down Snake Island Road Extension. The low clearance of the Mercedes was a problem as Lovebug tried to navigate the flooded forest path. Deep tread marks flooded with black, stagnant water marked the entirety of Snake Island Road Extension. But ahead, the headlights illuminated something unusual.
Cutting straight across the trees and brush like a razorblade was a shimmering wall of translucent energy. It reminded me of a mirage, curving upwards in wavy spiral patterns. I could see through it easily, but it gave everything a dark, sinister covering. The forest seemed to be in constant motion as the grayish light distorted it.
“Look how huge it is!” I said in awe, staring up at the starry sky. The flat wall rose up seemingly forever, disappearing in the cold void of infinite space. Lovebug slowly ambled the car towards the anomaly, trying to keep the Mercedes from getting stuck with its low clearance.
“You ready for this, man?” Lovebug asked in a quavering voice as we inched towards the anomaly. It was only seconds away now. He grabbed my shoulder. “This is it. Remember the commandments.” I closed my eyes, concentrating my heart on the Savior’s words. Dying for the good is the highest bliss, he had told us.
“Let’s do this,” I said, my eyes flying open from my silent prayer as the hood passed through the anomaly. It disappeared in front of our eyes. We could see the forest on the other side, but the Mercedes looked like it was going through some sort of teleportation portal, being ripped apart layer by layer and sent somewhere else. Lovebug nervously grabbed my hand.
“For the Savior and for the Good,” he whispered as we passed through.
***
I heard screaming and wailing, full of agony and unimaginable horror, like the screams of those burning in Hell. My vision went white. A carpet of morphing dark colors covered everything as the shrieking intensified, until I thought my eardrums would explode.
“Stop!” I cried, feeling the pressure in my head like a splitting migraine. “Stop screaming!” I started kicking, punching, trying to get away.
“Calm the fuck down!” someone whispered, slapping me hard across the face. Stunned, I looked up, seeing Lovebug holding me down in the seat. He was covered in sweat, his face a blank mask of terror. “Don’t scream. There’s things outside that are looking this way.” I blinked fast, my senses coming back to me. I felt like a man waking up from surgery, confused and disoriented, my memories only returning in small trickles and drops.
We were sitting in the Mercedes on a road that looked like it had been made of human skin. The headlights showed the ragged patches of pale, leathery flesh sewn together with black thread. The road disappeared ahead of us in a straight line. The land here looked as flat as Kansas. Like a mirror world, it had houses and restaurants and churches lining both sides of the road, but they were all wrong.
The stone church looked like it was constructed of some kind of red volcanic rock. Baphomets and upside-down pentagrams covered the outer walls, engraved deeply into the glossy surface. Mutilated bodies covered the front lawn, impaled, crucified, skinned alive or burned at the stake. Hundreds of men, women and children lay dead in front of the Satanic temple.
Overhead, the sky bubbled and frothed with red clouds and constant explosions of blue lightning. Like missile flashes, the lightning illuminated the world around us, shining brightly before going dark. The incessant strobing gave the entire place a kind of circus freakshow vibe.
Many of the homes looked like they had been constructed from bones and covered in human skin, like some sort of hellish teepee. Arm and leg bones wrapped in razor-wire formed the pillars. Grinning skulls lined the top of the flat, rectangular roofs, thousands of bleached human heads staring down.
Staring out of the dark doorways, I saw gleaming, silvery eyes. They loomed eight or nine feet in the air on spidery bodies. Their limbs looked as thin as bones, jet-black and dull. The only color from these still revenants was from their unblinking eyes and grinning mouths, where teeth like those of a dragonfish jutted out. Every pair of eyes on that street was fixed intently on the Mercedes, the sick rictus grins on their alien faces never faltering.
“Jesus Christ, I’m sorry,” I whispered, feeling weak. “I thought I was in a nightmare for a minute there.” Lovebug shrugged his massive shoulders.
“Yeah, I felt it too, though I came out of it a lot faster than you did,” he said, glancing over at the Satanic church as we passed. It had protective black spikes rising high into the air all around it. The broken body of a child who had been burnt at the stake stood in front of the gates like a death omen, his small, withered hand holding a black rose. Lovebug choked, retching. He nearly rolled down the window, until his eyes met the silvery ones of a nearby abomination.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking closer at the church. On top of the roof, I saw an enormous statue of a black raven, its wings spread as if it were flying. It had three gleaming, silvery eyes embedded into the dark rock.
“That boy just reminds me of my son,” Lovebug whispered glumly, inching along the streets.
“I didn’t know you had a son,” I said, surprised. Lovebug had never mentioned a family. He shrugged.
“I don’t. Not anymore. I killed him. I got drunk and high one night back when I was selling drugs. Fell asleep in the living room with a lit cigarette and burned down the whole house. I killed my wife and son, burned them. They sent me to prison, but what did that matter? The prison up here is far worse.” He tapped the side of his temple.
I was about to say something, but at that moment, many things happened at once.
***
Lovebug was staring at the corpse of the child when an inhumanly long arm reached up from the side of the car. It had fingers like spikes, as sharp as a knife and twice as long as normal human fingers. I gasped, a warning shout welling up in my throat, but the hand came smashing down into the driver’s side window and grabbed Lovebug’s neck.
The window exploded in a shower of safety glass, shattering like brittle bones. Lovebug’s scream was cut off as he was dragged, kicking and screaming, out of the car. I swung open my door, leaping out and bringing my rifle around.
The Cheshire Cat grin of the abomination never faltered as it held Lovebug in front of its body like a human shield, holding him by the neck above the ground. Lovebug’s legs kicked and squirmed, his face turning blue as he slowly suffocated. His eyes bulged from their sockets, panicked and rolling, uncomprehending in their total animal panic.
I flicked on the laser sight. It danced over the ground, flashing over the body of Lovebug and the abomination. But I couldn’t aim for its torso or face, as I would probably hit Lovebug in the process. It was far too close.
I aimed for the monster’s thin, skeletal feet, the black toes twisting over each other like the roots of a tree. The gunshots rang out as a deafening counterpoint to the thunder blasts.
The monster gave a hissing gurgle as two bullets caught it in the right ankle. The creature seemed bloodless, and only dust and ashes rolled out of the exploded insectile flesh. It tried to skitter away, but its destroyed ankle caused it to fall forward, throwing Lovebug.
His body rolled across the road, the soft leather that looked like it was made from tens of thousands of human skins. Gasping, his lips still showing a faint blue cast, he struggled to crawl away.
I saw furtive movement from all around us. The creatures in the houses and doorways were moving forwards, drawn by the bloodshed or noise. Hundreds of glowing, silvery eyes surrounded us. I sprinted forward, dragging Lovebug to his feet.
“The church,” I hissed. “It’s the only place.” Still pulling the weak, confused Lovebug behind me, we staggered towards the black gates. They opened with a shriek of rusted metal.
***
The creatures stopped at the gates to the blood-red church, simply staring at us like statues. They didn’t even seem to breathe, their lidless eyes never blinking, the silvery glow never fading.
“I think this is the place we’re meant to go,” I whispered as we made our way towards the massive pointed doors. “When God spoke to us, he said something about a stone, a bird and a rose, that we would find the Titan through that.” I pointed back at the burnt body of the boy. “He’s holding a rose. On top of the building, there’s a bird. And the church is all stone. Maybe this is the place where God wanted us to go all along.”
“Maybe,” Lovebug muttered through heaving gasps, still grabbing at his bruised neck. “God, this hurts. It feels like I got hanged.” Side by side, we pushed open the doors to the Satanic church and walked inside.
***
Row after row of pews stretched out in front of us. Thousands of black candles were set up all around the perimeter of the enormous chamber. They sputtered and flickered constantly, throwing dancing shadows in every direction.
A small pair of bright eyes glanced up at us from under one of the nearby pews. I nearly jumped out of my skin, pointing the rifle at them and yelling.
“Show yourself! Come out now, or I shoot!” Lovebug looked at me, confused. He hadn’t seen it. But a few heartbeats later, a little girl crawled out, her eyes big and blue, her body an emaciated wreck. She wore ripped strands of what looked like leathery human skin to cover herself, tied together with black string. In one small, grime-streaked hand, she held a half-eaten raw mouse.
“Please, don’t kill me,” she said in a small voice. “I’m Emma. My mommy and daddy got dragged away and I’m scared.” I felt sick and weak looking at this small victim. I reached down and helped her up.
“I wouldn’t hurt you,” I said, kneeling down to her level. “I thought you were one of the bad guys. This is Lovebug, and I’m Jack.”
“This isn’t part of the mission, man,” Lovebug said nervously. “What are we supposed to do with her?”
“Well, we can’t just fucking leave her here,” I whispered back. “We need…” But I never got to finish that thought. Because, at that moment, the church woke up.
***
A red glow started at the front of the chamber, the altar where the priest would have stood and given speeches or holy communion. Here, they had a podium that looked like it was carved from a single block of obsidian. Reflected in it, I saw the screaming faces of people burning in Hell, grinning demons ripping off strips of human flesh and spiraling waves of flames, all sculpted by an artist who was able to capture the most miniscule details of agony and torture.
I looked around, realizing Emma had gone. I hadn’t seen her scurry away and hide, but her absence gave me a feeling of crushing dread in my chest.
“Lovebug, something’s wrong,” I whispered, still staring up at the altar. I heard a floorboard creak behind me. I glanced back just in time to see a man wearing full SWAT gear. I caught the flash of a pistol coming down, the butt aimed at my forehead. I heard the cracking, felt the immense pressure and pain. For a few moments, I swam in the currents of consciousness, trying to stay awake, but then the blackness crept in and stole me away.
***
I awoke suddenly, my hands tied so tightly behind my back that I couldn’t feel my fingers. I felt sick and wanted to throw up. I quickly choked those feelings back down. I tried to shake my head, to clear it, but that just brought jolts of pain like electricity shooting through my skull. Nearby, I heard a gunshot, then another.
“Bring it, fuckers!” Lovebug screamed in an insane voice. The explosion of a grenade rocked the building, and I smelled choking black smoke. I opened my eyes, seeing three men in SWAT gear laying dead, their bodies scattered haphazardly around the chaotic scene. One wall of the church had blown outwards, the stone still sending out gray wisps of wavy smoke into the air. I looked at my partner, seeing he had a bullet hole in his left arm and another one in his stomach. He was bleeding heavily, but the adrenaline and insanity seemed to keep him afloat- for now, at least.
I saw something walking towards us from the stage. It looked like a small boy, but black shadows spiraled up around his chest and face, translucent and shimmering darkly. He looked about five or six, his skin pale and smooth. As Lovebug’s face grew slack and distant, the boy abruptly erupted into flames.
“Don’t kill me again, Dad,” the small boy whispered in a hoarse voice choked with pain. The flames rose from his head and skin, melting his flesh, blackening it. Drops of boiling fat dribbled off his nose and chin. “Don’t send me to the dark place again, Dad…” He continued creeping closer to Lovebug, moving like a lion stalking an antelope.
“I didn’t know!” Lovebug cried, his face going paler. Tears streamed from his eyes as the rifle trembled wildly in his shaking hands. For a long moment, he looked torn, the finger tightening on the trigger as sobs escaped his chattering lips.
“Kill it, Lovebug!” I screamed. “Don’t let it get to you!” But as he dropped the rifle and knelt before the small boy, I knew it was too late.
The shadows spun faster and faster around the burning, dying body of the boy. He gave a scream of soul-shattering agony, reaching out to a small hand towards Lovebug.
“Help me!” the boy cried. Lovebug hesitated before bringing an arm up to take the boy’s hand.
“I missed you, Robbie,” Lovebug said before his fingers brushed the boys. The boy lunged forward, grabbing Lovebug’s hand with an iron grip. I saw Lovebug’s eyes widen in shock and surprise. A moment later, I heard the bones in his hand grinding together before breaking with a sound like snapping tree branches. The boy’s eyes darkened into jet-black orbs, the melted lips splitting into a sadistic grin.
“I missed you, too,” the thing hissed as its right arm changed, melting and reforming into something black and blade-like. The insectile limb swung forward in a blur, coming straight at Lovebug’s heart. He gave a panicked squeal a moment before it hit, trying to pull away with all of his considerable strength, his face turning chalk-white as the shattered bones in his hands ground together.
I closed my eyes, rolling away, trying to undo the knots that held my hands in place. Lovebug must have been greatly outnumbered. He would never have let that man tie me up. I heard the sounds of tearing meat and crunching bone nearby. Lovebug’s final breaths gurgled through the air, but I still kept my eyes closed, not wanting to look.
I felt a small tickle on my wrists, then heard a little voice next to my ear.
“I’ll get you out of here,” Emma whispered. I waited a few moments, then I heard the ropes snap. I looked back, seeing her holding a piece of sharp, broken glass in one tiny hand. In her other, she had the car keys. I wondered how she had gotten them, the little pickpocket.
“Thank God,” I said, rubbing my wrists. I looked around for my rifle, seeing it was laying next to the body of one of the SWAT guys. I wondered who these men were. I crawled towards it slowly, not wanting to draw attention.
“Don’t move another step,” a voice growled behind me. I glanced back, seeing the small boy, his features morphing into those of a demon. Curving horns spiraled from his temples. His jet-black eyes stared down at me with hatred and coldness. “You’ll follow your friend who killed my servants. His soul will stay alive forever within my body, a sickly thing wrapped up in an eternal shriek.”
“Fuck you,” I cried, lunging for my rifle. Emma disappeared behind a pew, running on all fours without looking back. I spun as I hit the ground, turning the barrel towards the morphing face of the shape-shifter. Its jaw unhinged, a snake-like tongue flicking out as it flew through the air towards me. Hollow fangs dripping clear venom grew from its mouth in a heartbeat, elongating and sharpening before my very eyes.
I fired twice, the bullets entering through its mouth and coming out the back of its head. Its flesh disintegrated in an instant, the body turning into light, gray ashes that disappeared in the breeze. Breathing hard, I waited, wondering if it was all over.
I heard a rumbling far below me, as if an earthquake were starting. A moment later, the church floor exploded upwards, sharp rubble and splintered boards flying in every direction.
***
“It’s coming!” Emma screamed, running over and grabbing my hand. I lay there, shell-shocked and unmoving for a long moment. In hindsight, the girl was a natural born survivor with much sharper reflexes than me. It was likely the only reason she survived as long as she had.
“The Titan,” I whispered grimly, trying to pull myself up to my feet. But it was like trying to walk on a heaving, sinking ship. Parts of the floor collapsed down into a seemingly never-ending abyss beneath us.
Near the stage, I saw hundreds of long, pale arms pulling something bloated and monstrous out of the ground. It was a Titan, and no explanation can ever convey the true horror of that thing.
It looked like countless human corpses had been melted together, fused into a ball with sagging, boneless chests, deformed faces and millions of writhing maggots. It groaned and gurgled with many lungs, exhaling a rotting, sulfurous breeze that made me want to retch. A soft susurration of many pained, muttering voices continuously emanated from the Titan.
“Emma, run!” I screamed, but she was already sprinting back towards the front door of the church. I backpedaled, afraid to look away from the creeping monstrosity, the juggernaut of rotting flesh moving towards us.
I heard the Titan closing the distance as I sprinted through the front door. The abominations with the silver eyes still slunk around the gate, blocking the car. I raised the rifle, firing blindly at the creatures, careful not to hit the little girl.
“Go to the car!” I screamed at Emma, feeling around for the keys. As the abominations saw the Titan, those still alive scattered, moving in a blur back into the shadows and homes of this rotten place.
The Titan broke the front wall of the church, sending splinters of red stone flying in every direction like bullets. It groaned and gurgled faster, its sickly cries more insistent. I ran to the Mercedes, starting it up and pressing the accelerator to the floor. I pulled a U-turn, heading back to the border of the anomaly.
***
The engine roared, the car bucking like a wild stallion as it pressed me and Emma back into our seats. But the creeping Titan continued gaining speed behind us, and for a few seconds, I feared we would be crushed to death under its massive weight.
The anomaly shimmered ahead of us. I crashed through it at two hundred miles an hour, skidding wildly as the Mercedes hit the dirt road. I nearly flew into a tree. I managed to right it at the last second, pulling onto the paved street as the Titan broke through behind us.
It followed us out. It’s in the real world now.

“Before I met the Savior, I was a worthless piece of garbage, barely a human being,” Lovebug droned at the front of the enormous room. Lovebug was a monster of a man, two-hundred and fifty pounds of hard tattooed muscle. Like myself, he was a high-ranking member of the Church.
His flat gray eyes scanned the room with a fanatical gleam. I sat in the first row, watching and waiting. Followers of the Savior would tell their stories, how the Savior had reached down and lifted them out of sin and filth to bring them up to the divine. The bright fluorescent lights overhead droned on with a low hum. Thousands of men crammed together in seats or stood at the back of the room.
The Savior taught only two commandments: to murder is holy, and to die for the Savior is the highest bliss. An army of warriors followed the Savior, knights on a holy crusade, priests who wouldn’t hesitate to burn the foul bodies of any witches or demons we encountered. I thought of myself as a knight for the holy king, our Savior, the mouthpiece of the eternal.
“Now, it is like the hand of God has reached into my heart and loosened all the knots there, the knots of anxiety and fear and uncertainty.” He raised his black, military-style rifle into the air for emphasis. “I never realized the true nature of reality before- the fact that we are living in a simulation where the final battle of good versus evil is playing out before our very eyes. And I will be on the side of the good, until my dying breath. I will be on the side of the Savior and of God!”
The crowd roared and clapped. Men got to their feet, sweating heavily in the boiling hot conference room. I felt the surge of energy pass through me like a tidal wave, the pure confidence and iron will of truth. Lovebug lumbered down off the stage as the Savior came out from behind the red curtains, walking with the straight spine of a soldier. He wore a silky black robe that fluttered softly around him, the hood pulled back.
The Savior had horrific burns running the length of his body. His arms had melted folds of keloid scars visible all the way to the tips of his fingers. His scalp had also melted, and the Savior had no hair except for his eyelashes and eyebrows. But the fire that had nearly killed him had spared his face, an aristocratic visage with ferocious green eyes like those of a cat. That face seemed like it had been sculpted out of marble by DaVinci himself, the high cheekbones jutting out over a chin so sharp that it looked like it could have hammered nails into boards. He stared out at the crowd for a long moment, his gaze unblinking.
“The final battle has begun,” he said in a low voice, no more than a whisper. Yet, in the deathly silence of the hall, his words rang out loud and clear. “Those in charge of this illusory world know that we see them. We see them very well, how they hide behind the curtain. They control the world economy, the justice system. Every government, whether they call themselves communist, authoritarian or democratic, is no more than a puppet in their dancing fingers.
“When anyone tries to stand up and lead the masses of suffering people towards freedom from slavery, they are vilified by the mainstream media, brought up on false charges or killed, their bodies staged to look like a suicide. Look what they did to Jesus, and for what? For telling people to love God more than their rulers? And those who speak out today are also crucified, murdered in prisons or killed by their governments. Truth is the most precious commodity, after all. It is one that can only be purchased with blood.
“So what can we do? How can we fight against such evil?” There was a quiet muttering among the pale, frozen faces that stared up at the stage with adoration and love.
“We can fight it by using their own weapons against them!” the Savior said, his voice rising in speed and pitch. He raised his fisted hands to his chest, accentuating each syllable with a back and forth stab of his hands. “Fight fire with fire, and pay back blood with blood! The only thing these global terrorists understand is greater levels of force. We must show them death on a scale they have never before imagined.” I felt nervous as the Savior delivered his message. I saw other men shuffle anxiously in the crowded auditorium, most of them having high-caliber rifles slung around their shoulders.
I felt the rising violence and bloodlust in the air like electricity before a lightning storm. At that moment, I knew we would all have to fight before too long.
***
The Savior called me and Lovebug back to his office after the speech had ended, sending his squirrely assistant over to deliver the hand-written note in the Savior’s blocky, copperplate handwriting. For a long moment, I simply watched the crowd filtering out of the doors, heading back towards the complex where all the holy soldiers of the Savior lived. Feeling dissociated and light-headed, I followed behind the massive muscular form of Lovebug, the heavy weight of the M16 bouncing against my chest. We pushed through the blood-red velvet curtains, winding our way past stage equipment and down a hallway of pure marble.
Mystical paintings similar to those of Alex Grey covered both walls, showing the inside workings of the human body through art. It was as if the painter had X-ray vision and could see the heart chakra and the countless thin vessels that spiderwebbed up to the crown. But, unlike Alex Grey’s hopeful depictions of mysticism, these showed men and women being burned alive, crucified, decapitated or strangled. Dark colors composed the paintings: the dark blue of a suffocating face, the clotted red of an infected stab wound, the black of death. They captured the essence of struggle perfectly.
The Savior’s office had a thick mahogany door with silver engravings of leaves and vines running the length of it. At the top stood a single staring eye with twelve wavy tentacles emerging from the perimeter of it- the symbol of God, who the Savior had seen personally. God would sometimes speak through the mouth of the Savior, always during times of great tribulation or suffering. Lovebug knocked at the door. The Savior’s deep voice echoed out faintly.
“Come in.”
We entered slowly, the sprawling desk of the Savior filling half of the room. He sat in a comfortable chair behind it, reclining. On the walls behind him, he had pictures of Jesus, Saint Stephen, Gandhi, Hitler, Jim Jones, Shoko Asahara and others who he taught had fought against the world elites and been killed for it.
The Church of the Final Rapture was not a church in the conventional sense. The main teachings didn’t revolve around the divinity of Christ or the nature of original sin. What the Savior taught was far more profound- an illusory or simulated world where every single person could become their own Christ, could awaken to the truth and perform miracles, but only if they believed fully and followed the Savior.
“Sit down, please,” he said in his gravelly voice. “I have a mission I would like to discuss, and you two are the only ones competent and loyal enough to carry it out.”
***
“There is another anomaly spreading,” the Savior said, staring between me and Lovebug with his fanatical emerald eyes. “It is located in a rural part of the United States, in a town called-” he glanced down at the sheet of paper in front of him- “Frost Hollow. Supposedly, there are black-ops sites located nearby, secret alphabet agencies experimenting with magnetic distortion systems and creating rips in the fabric of spacetime with micro-wormholes.
“I don’t think it is much of a leap to say that the anomaly was likely started, either intentionally or unintentionally, by the government, as part of their research. The Cleaners would like to control that power, after all. They have been sending their men after it for years like sheep to the slaughter, expending billions of dollars researching it. If they and the US government end up being able to control the creation and spread of anomalies, they will use it to enslave the world. There is no question about it in my mind.” He leaned forwards towards us, his eyes growing cold.
“There is only one path forward I can see. We need to spread the anomaly, make it become unstable so the demons of Hell contained within it can spill out onto the real world. Perhaps it will awaken the downtrodden masses enough to begin the final revolution. We must fight terrorism with greater terrorism, and violence with greater levels of violence. For this mission, I am sending the two of you into Frost Hollow.
“Your job will be to find the Titan or Titans and lead them out to the border of the anomaly. These are horrendous beasts- indeed, the Church has seen them before. They are nearly impossible to kill. I want you two to go inside, bait it and have it follow you back to the edge, beyond the veil.”
“What’s a Titan?” Lovebug asked, his eyes flicking left and right nervously. The Savior stared at him stonily for a long moment. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, showing only the whites. All the blood seemed to drain from his face. His teeth chattered, his mouth opened, and through it, God spoke, the words pouring out like crashing stones. The voice did not sound anything like the Savior’s. It sounded much deeper, more mechanical, more alien somehow.
“I see you very well. I saw you when you were no more than a blood clot in your mother’s body. I see you even as corpses, rotted, putrefying, crawling with scavengers and insects. I see everything, every moment of time. But, in the anomaly, there are things I cannot see. For this, my holy ones must go forth.
“In the center of Hell, you will find a rose, a bird and a stone. These will be your salvation, if salvation can be found at all. Go with the blessing of Yaldabaoth.” The voice cut off abruptly, the silence deafening. I could hear my own heart pounding in my ears.
The Savior’s eyes came back down, looking confused and uncertain. His pupils were dilated and he was sweating heavily, even though it was cool and air-conditioned back here in his private office. We stared at each other across the table, a no-man’s land that protected me like a shield. For there seemed to be something dark in the Savior along with the light, and I didn’t know if any man could contain that power.
But there was no question of disobeying. Within the hour, Lovebug and I were on one of the Church’s private jets flying to the town of Frost Hollow.
***
The gently rolling hills of Frost Hollow loomed below us as the plane circled the small dirt airstrip in the middle of some cow farms. I looked up at Lovebug, trying to judge his stony expression. He had done many years in prison before joining the Church and finding salvation, even being the leader of one of the gangs. I knew he wasn’t afraid of violence. He had never told me what he did, what tortured him so much.
The Savior had told us much secret knowledge- how to find a Titan, a massive, bloated abomination that could come into being only within an anomaly, a combination of many rotted body pieces fused together in some sort of hellish black magic. The Savior had spies around Frost Hollow and the surrounding towns who had been monitoring the anomaly, watching the unstable gateways leading in and out and mapping them as best they could. We would be given a fast car, plenty of weapons and some body armor. I had no idea how nightmarish the journey would become, however.
“I’m driving,” Lovebug said as we descended the steps. A man in a black suit with the symbol of the eye and tentacles pinned on his black button-up shirt pulled up with a Mercedes AMG-One. It was a sleek, silver thing of immense luxury and power. The craftsmanship made it look like a work of art. I sighed, keeping my finger nervously on the trigger of my rifle as I glanced around the strange, empty town.
“If this thing won’t outrun a Titan, then nothing will,” I said, trying to break the tension. I looked at the speedometer, seeing it went up to 220 miles an hour.
“Damn fucking right,” Lovebug growled as we slid into the futuristic-looking leather seats. The engine turned on like a softly purring kitten. The GPS automatically turned on as well, the soft robotic voice leading us toward one of the more stable portals to the anomaly.
Lovebug sped down the empty forest roads of Frost Hollow, going twice the legal speed limit the entire way.
“The speed limit is only for the lowest common denominator,” Lovebug said pedantically, waggling a tattooed finger for emphasis. The GPS said we would reach the gateway to the anomaly in five minutes. Based on Lovebug’s speed, I thought it would be more like two. “Someone who actually knows how to drive and isn’t drunk or high can easily do 80 in a 40. Easily.” I glanced nervously at the speedometer, realizing he was going over 100 miles an hour now. The sports car hugged the tight corners of the winding forest roads with absolute precision.
“Turn right onto Snake Island Road Extension in five hundred feet,” the robotic female voice. Lovebug slammed on the brakes a few seconds later, the tires skidding and locking up. We looked around frantically, seeing no streets anywhere except the one we were on.
“What the hell?” Lovebug asked. The night was crawling in by now, the darkness covering the forests like a curtain. I squinted, looking at the thick grove of trees on our right, scanning it back and forth over and over. After a few seconds, I realized there was an overgrown dirt path there with no sign. It was nearly impossible to see at night, however, and calling it a road was somewhat of a joke.
“Oh, damn,” I said. “They should’ve given us an SUV.”
***
According to the GPS, our destination was only a thousand feet down Snake Island Road Extension. The low clearance of the Mercedes was a problem as Lovebug tried to navigate the flooded forest path. Deep tread marks flooded with black, stagnant water marked the entirety of Snake Island Road Extension. But ahead, the headlights illuminated something unusual.
Cutting straight across the trees and brush like a razorblade was a shimmering wall of translucent energy. It reminded me of a mirage, curving upwards in wavy spiral patterns. I could see through it easily, but it gave everything a dark, sinister covering. The forest seemed to be in constant motion as the grayish light distorted it.
“Look how huge it is!” I said in awe, staring up at the starry sky. The flat wall rose up seemingly forever, disappearing in the cold void of infinite space. Lovebug slowly ambled the car towards the anomaly, trying to keep the Mercedes from getting stuck with its low clearance.
“You ready for this, man?” Lovebug asked in a quavering voice as we inched towards the anomaly. It was only seconds away now. He grabbed my shoulder. “This is it. Remember the commandments.” I closed my eyes, concentrating my heart on the Savior’s words. Dying for the good is the highest bliss, he had told us.
“Let’s do this,” I said, my eyes flying open from my silent prayer as the hood passed through the anomaly. It disappeared in front of our eyes. We could see the forest on the other side, but the Mercedes looked like it was going through some sort of teleportation portal, being ripped apart layer by layer and sent somewhere else. Lovebug nervously grabbed my hand.
“For the Savior and for the Good,” he whispered as we passed through.
***
I heard screaming and wailing, full of agony and unimaginable horror, like the screams of those burning in Hell. My vision went white. A carpet of morphing dark colors covered everything as the shrieking intensified, until I thought my eardrums would explode.
“Stop!” I cried, feeling the pressure in my head like a splitting migraine. “Stop screaming!” I started kicking, punching, trying to get away.
“Calm the fuck down!” someone whispered, slapping me hard across the face. Stunned, I looked up, seeing Lovebug holding me down in the seat. He was covered in sweat, his face a blank mask of terror. “Don’t scream. There’s things outside that are looking this way.” I blinked fast, my senses coming back to me. I felt like a man waking up from surgery, confused and disoriented, my memories only returning in small trickles and drops.
We were sitting in the Mercedes on a road that looked like it had been made of human skin. The headlights showed the ragged patches of pale, leathery flesh sewn together with black thread. The road disappeared ahead of us in a straight line. The land here looked as flat as Kansas. Like a mirror world, it had houses and restaurants and churches lining both sides of the road, but they were all wrong.
The stone church looked like it was constructed of some kind of red volcanic rock. Baphomets and upside-down pentagrams covered the outer walls, engraved deeply into the glossy surface. Mutilated bodies covered the front lawn, impaled, crucified, skinned alive or burned at the stake. Hundreds of men, women and children lay dead in front of the Satanic temple.
Overhead, the sky bubbled and frothed with red clouds and constant explosions of blue lightning. Like missile flashes, the lightning illuminated the world around us, shining brightly before going dark. The incessant strobing gave the entire place a kind of circus freakshow vibe.
Many of the homes looked like they had been constructed from bones and covered in human skin, like some sort of hellish teepee. Arm and leg bones wrapped in razor-wire formed the pillars. Grinning skulls lined the top of the flat, rectangular roofs, thousands of bleached human heads staring down.
Staring out of the dark doorways, I saw gleaming, silvery eyes. They loomed eight or nine feet in the air on spidery bodies. Their limbs looked as thin as bones, jet-black and dull. The only color from these still revenants was from their unblinking eyes and grinning mouths, where teeth like those of a dragonfish jutted out. Every pair of eyes on that street was fixed intently on the Mercedes, the sick rictus grins on their alien faces never faltering.
“Jesus Christ, I’m sorry,” I whispered, feeling weak. “I thought I was in a nightmare for a minute there.” Lovebug shrugged his massive shoulders.
“Yeah, I felt it too, though I came out of it a lot faster than you did,” he said, glancing over at the Satanic church as we passed. It had protective black spikes rising high into the air all around it. The broken body of a child who had been burnt at the stake stood in front of the gates like a death omen, his small, withered hand holding a black rose. Lovebug choked, retching. He nearly rolled down the window, until his eyes met the silvery ones of a nearby abomination.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, looking closer at the church. On top of the roof, I saw an enormous statue of a black raven, its wings spread as if it were flying. It had three gleaming, silvery eyes embedded into the dark rock.
“That boy just reminds me of my son,” Lovebug whispered glumly, inching along the streets.
“I didn’t know you had a son,” I said, surprised. Lovebug had never mentioned a family. He shrugged.
“I don’t. Not anymore. I killed him. I got drunk and high one night back when I was selling drugs. Fell asleep in the living room with a lit cigarette and burned down the whole house. I killed my wife and son, burned them. They sent me to prison, but what did that matter? The prison up here is far worse.” He tapped the side of his temple.
I was about to say something, but at that moment, many things happened at once.
***
Lovebug was staring at the corpse of the child when an inhumanly long arm reached up from the side of the car. It had fingers like spikes, as sharp as a knife and twice as long as normal human fingers. I gasped, a warning shout welling up in my throat, but the hand came smashing down into the driver’s side window and grabbed Lovebug’s neck.
The window exploded in a shower of safety glass, shattering like brittle bones. Lovebug’s scream was cut off as he was dragged, kicking and screaming, out of the car. I swung open my door, leaping out and bringing my rifle around.
The Cheshire Cat grin of the abomination never faltered as it held Lovebug in front of its body like a human shield, holding him by the neck above the ground. Lovebug’s legs kicked and squirmed, his face turning blue as he slowly suffocated. His eyes bulged from their sockets, panicked and rolling, uncomprehending in their total animal panic.
I flicked on the laser sight. It danced over the ground, flashing over the body of Lovebug and the abomination. But I couldn’t aim for its torso or face, as I would probably hit Lovebug in the process. It was far too close.
I aimed for the monster’s thin, skeletal feet, the black toes twisting over each other like the roots of a tree. The gunshots rang out as a deafening counterpoint to the thunder blasts.
The monster gave a hissing gurgle as two bullets caught it in the right ankle. The creature seemed bloodless, and only dust and ashes rolled out of the exploded insectile flesh. It tried to skitter away, but its destroyed ankle caused it to fall forward, throwing Lovebug.
His body rolled across the road, the soft leather that looked like it was made from tens of thousands of human skins. Gasping, his lips still showing a faint blue cast, he struggled to crawl away.
I saw furtive movement from all around us. The creatures in the houses and doorways were moving forwards, drawn by the bloodshed or noise. Hundreds of glowing, silvery eyes surrounded us. I sprinted forward, dragging Lovebug to his feet.
“The church,” I hissed. “It’s the only place.” Still pulling the weak, confused Lovebug behind me, we staggered towards the black gates. They opened with a shriek of rusted metal.
***
The creatures stopped at the gates to the blood-red church, simply staring at us like statues. They didn’t even seem to breathe, their lidless eyes never blinking, the silvery glow never fading.
“I think this is the place we’re meant to go,” I whispered as we made our way towards the massive pointed doors. “When God spoke to us, he said something about a stone, a bird and a rose, that we would find the Titan through that.” I pointed back at the burnt body of the boy. “He’s holding a rose. On top of the building, there’s a bird. And the church is all stone. Maybe this is the place where God wanted us to go all along.”
“Maybe,” Lovebug muttered through heaving gasps, still grabbing at his bruised neck. “God, this hurts. It feels like I got hanged.” Side by side, we pushed open the doors to the Satanic church and walked inside.
***
Row after row of pews stretched out in front of us. Thousands of black candles were set up all around the perimeter of the enormous chamber. They sputtered and flickered constantly, throwing dancing shadows in every direction.
A small pair of bright eyes glanced up at us from under one of the nearby pews. I nearly jumped out of my skin, pointing the rifle at them and yelling.
“Show yourself! Come out now, or I shoot!” Lovebug looked at me, confused. He hadn’t seen it. But a few heartbeats later, a little girl crawled out, her eyes big and blue, her body an emaciated wreck. She wore ripped strands of what looked like leathery human skin to cover herself, tied together with black string. In one small, grime-streaked hand, she held a half-eaten raw mouse.
“Please, don’t kill me,” she said in a small voice. “I’m Emma. My mommy and daddy got dragged away and I’m scared.” I felt sick and weak looking at this small victim. I reached down and helped her up.
“I wouldn’t hurt you,” I said, kneeling down to her level. “I thought you were one of the bad guys. This is Lovebug, and I’m Jack.”
“This isn’t part of the mission, man,” Lovebug said nervously. “What are we supposed to do with her?”
“Well, we can’t just fucking leave her here,” I whispered back. “We need…” But I never got to finish that thought. Because, at that moment, the church woke up.
***
A red glow started at the front of the chamber, the altar where the priest would have stood and given speeches or holy communion. Here, they had a podium that looked like it was carved from a single block of obsidian. Reflected in it, I saw the screaming faces of people burning in Hell, grinning demons ripping off strips of human flesh and spiraling waves of flames, all sculpted by an artist who was able to capture the most miniscule details of agony and torture.
I looked around, realizing Emma had gone. I hadn’t seen her scurry away and hide, but her absence gave me a feeling of crushing dread in my chest.
“Lovebug, something’s wrong,” I whispered, still staring up at the altar. I heard a floorboard creak behind me. I glanced back just in time to see a man wearing full SWAT gear. I caught the flash of a pistol coming down, the butt aimed at my forehead. I heard the cracking, felt the immense pressure and pain. For a few moments, I swam in the currents of consciousness, trying to stay awake, but then the blackness crept in and stole me away.
***
I awoke suddenly, my hands tied so tightly behind my back that I couldn’t feel my fingers. I felt sick and wanted to throw up. I quickly choked those feelings back down. I tried to shake my head, to clear it, but that just brought jolts of pain like electricity shooting through my skull. Nearby, I heard a gunshot, then another.
“Bring it, fuckers!” Lovebug screamed in an insane voice. The explosion of a grenade rocked the building, and I smelled choking black smoke. I opened my eyes, seeing three men in SWAT gear laying dead, their bodies scattered haphazardly around the chaotic scene. One wall of the church had blown outwards, the stone still sending out gray wisps of wavy smoke into the air. I looked at my partner, seeing he had a bullet hole in his left arm and another one in his stomach. He was bleeding heavily, but the adrenaline and insanity seemed to keep him afloat- for now, at least.
I saw something walking towards us from the stage. It looked like a small boy, but black shadows spiraled up around his chest and face, translucent and shimmering darkly. He looked about five or six, his skin pale and smooth. As Lovebug’s face grew slack and distant, the boy abruptly erupted into flames.
“Don’t kill me again, Dad,” the small boy whispered in a hoarse voice choked with pain. The flames rose from his head and skin, melting his flesh, blackening it. Drops of boiling fat dribbled off his nose and chin. “Don’t send me to the dark place again, Dad…” He continued creeping closer to Lovebug, moving like a lion stalking an antelope.
“I didn’t know!” Lovebug cried, his face going paler. Tears streamed from his eyes as the rifle trembled wildly in his shaking hands. For a long moment, he looked torn, the finger tightening on the trigger as sobs escaped his chattering lips.
“Kill it, Lovebug!” I screamed. “Don’t let it get to you!” But as he dropped the rifle and knelt before the small boy, I knew it was too late.
The shadows spun faster and faster around the burning, dying body of the boy. He gave a scream of soul-shattering agony, reaching out to a small hand towards Lovebug.
“Help me!” the boy cried. Lovebug hesitated before bringing an arm up to take the boy’s hand.
“I missed you, Robbie,” Lovebug said before his fingers brushed the boys. The boy lunged forward, grabbing Lovebug’s hand with an iron grip. I saw Lovebug’s eyes widen in shock and surprise. A moment later, I heard the bones in his hand grinding together before breaking with a sound like snapping tree branches. The boy’s eyes darkened into jet-black orbs, the melted lips splitting into a sadistic grin.
“I missed you, too,” the thing hissed as its right arm changed, melting and reforming into something black and blade-like. The insectile limb swung forward in a blur, coming straight at Lovebug’s heart. He gave a panicked squeal a moment before it hit, trying to pull away with all of his considerable strength, his face turning chalk-white as the shattered bones in his hands ground together.
I closed my eyes, rolling away, trying to undo the knots that held my hands in place. Lovebug must have been greatly outnumbered. He would never have let that man tie me up. I heard the sounds of tearing meat and crunching bone nearby. Lovebug’s final breaths gurgled through the air, but I still kept my eyes closed, not wanting to look.
I felt a small tickle on my wrists, then heard a little voice next to my ear.
“I’ll get you out of here,” Emma whispered. I waited a few moments, then I heard the ropes snap. I looked back, seeing her holding a piece of sharp, broken glass in one tiny hand. In her other, she had the car keys. I wondered how she had gotten them, the little pickpocket.
“Thank God,” I said, rubbing my wrists. I looked around for my rifle, seeing it was laying next to the body of one of the SWAT guys. I wondered who these men were. I crawled towards it slowly, not wanting to draw attention.
“Don’t move another step,” a voice growled behind me. I glanced back, seeing the small boy, his features morphing into those of a demon. Curving horns spiraled from his temples. His jet-black eyes stared down at me with hatred and coldness. “You’ll follow your friend who killed my servants. His soul will stay alive forever within my body, a sickly thing wrapped up in an eternal shriek.”
“Fuck you,” I cried, lunging for my rifle. Emma disappeared behind a pew, running on all fours without looking back. I spun as I hit the ground, turning the barrel towards the morphing face of the shape-shifter. Its jaw unhinged, a snake-like tongue flicking out as it flew through the air towards me. Hollow fangs dripping clear venom grew from its mouth in a heartbeat, elongating and sharpening before my very eyes.
I fired twice, the bullets entering through its mouth and coming out the back of its head. Its flesh disintegrated in an instant, the body turning into light, gray ashes that disappeared in the breeze. Breathing hard, I waited, wondering if it was all over.
I heard a rumbling far below me, as if an earthquake were starting. A moment later, the church floor exploded upwards, sharp rubble and splintered boards flying in every direction.
***
“It’s coming!” Emma screamed, running over and grabbing my hand. I lay there, shell-shocked and unmoving for a long moment. In hindsight, the girl was a natural born survivor with much sharper reflexes than me. It was likely the only reason she survived as long as she had.
“The Titan,” I whispered grimly, trying to pull myself up to my feet. But it was like trying to walk on a heaving, sinking ship. Parts of the floor collapsed down into a seemingly never-ending abyss beneath us.
Near the stage, I saw hundreds of long, pale arms pulling something bloated and monstrous out of the ground. It was a Titan, and no explanation can ever convey the true horror of that thing.
It looked like countless human corpses had been melted together, fused into a ball with sagging, boneless chests, deformed faces and millions of writhing maggots. It groaned and gurgled with many lungs, exhaling a rotting, sulfurous breeze that made me want to retch. A soft susurration of many pained, muttering voices continuously emanated from the Titan.
“Emma, run!” I screamed, but she was already sprinting back towards the front door of the church. I backpedaled, afraid to look away from the creeping monstrosity, the juggernaut of rotting flesh moving towards us.
I heard the Titan closing the distance as I sprinted through the front door. The abominations with the silver eyes still slunk around the gate, blocking the car. I raised the rifle, firing blindly at the creatures, careful not to hit the little girl.
“Go to the car!” I screamed at Emma, feeling around for the keys. As the abominations saw the Titan, those still alive scattered, moving in a blur back into the shadows and homes of this rotten place.
The Titan broke the front wall of the church, sending splinters of red stone flying in every direction like bullets. It groaned and gurgled faster, its sickly cries more insistent. I ran to the Mercedes, starting it up and pressing the accelerator to the floor. I pulled a U-turn, heading back to the border of the anomaly.
***
The engine roared, the car bucking like a wild stallion as it pressed me and Emma back into our seats. But the creeping Titan continued gaining speed behind us, and for a few seconds, I feared we would be crushed to death under its massive weight.
The anomaly shimmered ahead of us. I crashed through it at two hundred miles an hour, skidding wildly as the Mercedes hit the dirt road. I nearly flew into a tree. I managed to right it at the last second, pulling onto the paved street as the Titan broke through behind us.
It followed us out. It’s in the real world now.