Parents sue Robinhood app after son dies by suicide - New

—Part Two
I was so nervous and excited about starting college. I didn’t really have a great time in high school—who did? I didn’t have a lot of friends and—god, I hate talking about myself like this. Blah blah blah, right? Anyway, I was just glad to begin a fresh start in a place where people didn’t know me at all. I thought it would be refreshing to walk down a corridor without being called a ‘freak’ every single day. But I won’t bore you—let alone myself—with the details of my pre-college teen trauma. Not right now, anyway.
I got accepted into Creekwood University, majoring in American Literature. Creekwood, for those who have never been, is like some sort of utopia. It’s honestly one of the prettiest places I’ve ever seen and that alone sold me on my choice when I decided to apply. I went to one of those college open days and decided there and then that Creekwood would be the place for me. Shallow, I know, but when you’re a small town boy, anything else will do.
My parents begrudgingly drove me to Creekwood on a Friday. It was a massive inconvenience to my father who said he had far too much work to do. The whole way there my mother dropped hints about how hungry she was and how she could use a coffee, but my father ignored her in between work calls. Despite the five hour drive, with no food stops or bathroom breaks, my parents couldn’t wait to make the journey back home. They helped me with my bags upstairs in such a haste. I saw other students cringe from their crying mothers and their camera-happy fathers. My mother scanned the room I was staying in and simply said: ‘I can’t believe this is what we’re paying for.’ Just like that, they were gone—no emotional goodbyes necessary. After they left, I ended up collapsing onto one of the bare mattresses. I was too tried from the trip to even unpack yet and I assumed my roommate hadn’t arrived judging by the bare room.
I don’t know when I dozed off or how long for, but I was woken up by someone poking me in the chest. In my hazy state I saw a dark-haired guy towering over me, furrowing his brows. I’m a bit of a grouch when I wake up, so my first instinct was to punch him in the shoulder.
‘Ouch!’ He cried. ‘Dude, I was just trying to wake you up, there’s no need for the violence!’
Disorientated, I shot up from the bed and held my hands over his shoulder like I was some sort of healer. ‘I’m so, so sorry. I er-‘
‘It’s okay,’ he mumbled, rubbing his shoulder a little bit more than he really needed to. I have zero upper body strength, so I know I didn’t hit him that hard. That was the first time I saw his infectious grin. The type of grin that could get someone out of trouble, because you couldn’t help but grin back at him. ‘Good reflexes though. I’m Tris by the way. I’m your roommate, in case you hadn’t already guessed. Or maybe I’m a psycho who just broke into your room, I’ll let you decide.’
‘I’m Cole,’ I said, extending my hand which he grabbed with force and then used to pull me into a hug. A ‘bro hug’—that’s what he called them. His phrase, not mine, by the way. We would have a lot of those as we got to know one another. I wasn’t a massive hugger as you can imagine with what little background I’ve shared so far, but he turned me into one straight away. With him only, at least.
‘So, I’ve gotta grab the rest of my stuff and then I need to grab something to eat because I am absolutely starvin’. Do you want to come along?’
I stared at him, slightly bewildered because no one had ever invited me to have dinner with them. Ever. Especially within minutes of meeting. ‘Erm . . .’
He rolled his eyes. ‘Look it’s on me, and I don’t like eating alone. So please don’t make me beg.’
Tris clasped his hands together, like he was praying and pleaded at me to agree. I know he didn’t need me to eat with him, he was just being friendly and trying to make a good impression, I guessed. ‘I don’t really have a choice, do I?’’
‘Awesome! Okay, so first I’m gonna need some help getting my shit upstairs. I paid a guy a fiver to watch it, so it’s probably been stolen by now. But if it hasn’t can you give me a hand with it?’ Tris had already walked out the door before I agreed, so I followed. Even as we walked down the halls, which was full of students and parents carrying their duvets and cardboard boxes, he greeted people he didn’t even know. He raised his hand awaiting high fives from strangers and some even attempted to reciprocate whilst carrying heavy items, which caused them to drop them, of course. Tris exuded this I-don’t-give-a-fuck attitude and confidence from day one. It made him so popular, everyone loved him. From day one, I loved him.
Tris and I became best friends instantly. We spent most of our free time together just hanging out, playing Xbox, watching movies. Our other friends barely saw us unless we were together. Even when we should have been studying, he’d tempt me into going out or hanging out with some of the other guys from American Lit. I got a job working in some independent superstore a few weeks after starting college, and on my third week Tris got bored. Because he didn’t have me around as much, he called the store and pretended to be my brother.
My shift supervisor came up to me whilst I was stacking a shelf with a glum face, I honestly thought I was about get fired or something. ‘Cole, your brother’s on the phone. Something’s happened to your grandmother. . .’
I didn’t question it. I knew who it would be on the phone. My supervisor led me to the office, saying she’d give me some privacy and closed the door. As soon as she did I picked up the receiver to hear Tris snickering like a child on the other end. ‘You’re a dick,’ I said. ‘I can’t believe you’re Ferris Bueller-ing me right now!’
We literally watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off the night before, so it wasn’t hard to work out where he got the idea from. ‘You’re totally getting fired. I bet you were all like ‘’I don’t have a brother’’, weren’t you?’
‘I’m not as gullible as you think,’ I said.
‘Excellent, I’ll come and pick you up then,’ Tris said, sounding very pleased his plan had worked. ‘Okay, start crying. You can cry on command right?’
To keep his idle hands and mind busy from making bad decisions like that again, I ended up convincing him to apply for a job at the superstore. He even charmed his way onto the same shifts as me. During our shifts, I worked and he mostly just talked to me whilst I worked. But I didn’t mind, it made it so much more fun.
By the time Christmas break came around, I got a phone call from my parents telling me that they wouldn’t be able to pick me up. They decided to go and see my dad’s brother for Christmas but said they left the key with the neighbour and they would transfer me some money for food and a train ticket so I could get home. I honestly wasn’t even disappointed. Although I’d have free reign of my house, I decided to stay at the halls because, quite frankly, I preferred it to being at home. When I told Tris he was so angry with my parents for basically abandoning me during the holidays.
‘That’s cold. Why can’t you go and see your uncle too?’ He asked.
To be honest, I could of. But if I wasn’t even invited, why would I even ask? ‘I really don’t care. I hate Christmas anyway and I’d rather just stay here. There’s a couple of people who are sticking around. Plus I can work more shifts and get double time so . . .’
It was very rare that Tris got pissed off. I could tell he was not only angry, but upset. He knew I didn’t have a close relationship with my parents and he just couldn’t fathom why. If I’m telling the truth, I couldn’t exactly pinpoint a reason myself. ‘Then I’m staying with you,’ he said abruptly.
‘No please, you can’t do that. Your parents will be heart broken.’
He shrugged, furiously grabbing his dirty clothes and socks off the floor and throwing them into the basket. Something I usually ended up doing for him, but he didn’t know what to do with himself. His emotions were all over the place. ‘I’ll invite them here. I’ll even cook them dinner.’
‘Can you even cook?’ I asked.
‘No, but I’ll do it anyway because I’m not leaving you here by yourself.’
In the end, Tris’s parents insisted we came to them for Christmas—no questions asked and no excuses. That was their response when Tris told them I wasn’t going home. I also think it was so he didn’t burn the halls down by attempting to roast a turkey. I was so overwhelmed that I went into the bathroom to cry. Whilst I was in there, Tris knocked on the door.
‘Dude!’ I shouted, acting like I was doing something other than sitting there.
‘Sorry!’ He whispered behind the door. ‘But er, I just wanted to say I’ll make sure you have a good Christmas with us. I’m really happy you’re coming with me. You’ll love my parents and my house is huge, and there’s so much to do, and it’s—honestly, Cole, I’ll make sure it’s the best Christmas you’ve ever had . . . I love you, bro.’
I’m not a crier but this sort of generosity was a lot to handle for me. I wasn’t used to it and I’d never experienced it before. Not like this. ‘Me too,’ I said, behind a cough to clear the chokehold inside my throat.
There was a silence between us. I wiped my tears away and I could of sworn I heard him sniff away some of his own. ‘Anyway! Can you hurry up? Some of us need to jerk off too!’ And just like that, he was back to good old Tris.
Most of the other students had already gone home by December 18th. It was so strange to be in the common room when it was so quiet, but there was still a few students who stayed there for the holidays. Myself and Tris weren’t leaving until the 23rd and I wanted some extra cash so I put myself down to work up until then. Although Tris didn’t need the cash, he took on the same shifts too.
The night before we were due to leave, we had the night off so I made sure we were all packed and ready for the morning so we could just chill out for the evening. Although I was immersed in this weird documentary we were watching, I noticed that Tris was staring into space rather than watching it. He had been since I put the documentary on.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked him.
Snapping out of his trance, he turned to me and gave me a half-assed smile. ‘Nothing.’
‘Tris?’
He put his hand on my shoulder and gave it a little rub. ‘I’m just happy to have a friend like you.’
‘Brother,’ I said, correcting him. He nodded, even though I wasn’t convinced that that was what he was thinking about. But I left it at that, it took him several minutes before he went back into a trance again.
I couldn’t sleep that night. I was so anxious about meeting Tris’s parents and staying in their house—well, it was an estate, actually. I just felt awkward spending Christmas with people I didn’t know. Sure, I know I’d be with Tris, but I know his family were well off and I had all these perceptions about how they would act or be.
Boy, was I wrong.
Tris drove us to the Warrener Estate early the next morning. It took us about three hours and of course, Tris made the journey fun with a playlist full of 70s and 80s tunes he could sing badly to. He loved music, especially from those decades. Tris lived in a town called Silver Oaks, which I had never heard of. It was a artsy town, apparently, that thrived on farming and old money. The outskirts contained huge country houses, and a lot of oak trees. I spotted an old radio tower that looked down on the town from the woods. The whole area looked picturesque due to the heavy snowfall.
‘Impressed?’ Tris asked, grinning at me.
‘Something like that,’ I said. ‘This place is absolutely stunning.’
‘Don’t let the postcard image fool you, some weird shit happens here.’
‘Like what?’
‘We’re just up ahead. Brace yourself.’
We drove through two huge iron bar gates and when we drove down the drive, I was blown away by the size of the estate. It looked like something from a period drama or something, and the fact it was covered in snow only made it more magnificent. Outside the huge black double doors stood Mr and Mrs Warrener, waving as we drove closer to the house.
When we got out the car, they walked straight over to greet us. Mr Warrener was a huge man. Tall and obviously spent a lot of time in the gym, or at least he used to. He was very clean cut and I could smell his expensive aftershave before he even shook my hand. ‘Cole, we’ve heard so much about you.’
‘Yes, we’re so happy you’ll be spending the holidays with us,’ Mrs Warrener said whilst she embraced Tris in her arms. I’d never seen anyone as beautiful as Mrs Warrener. She reminded me of a model in one of my mother’s magazines. I noticed how surgically pristine her makeup was, and how there were no flyaways on her long dark hair. And she looked so young. I did suspect she may have had a bit of help with that. ‘Come on, lets get you boys inside, it’s freezing out here.’
Inside was very modern. Far from what I would have expected in terms of décor and colour scheme judging from the outside. I was too afraid to even sit down. There was a lot of ceiling to floor length windows in the living room, and it was painted in neutral tones that somehow didn’t make it feel bland. It was very homely, accompanied by an already lit fire.
I caught Tris looking at me, and he seemed so happy to see my mouth-wide-open reaction. ‘Make yourself at home, I’ll take our shit—‘ he stopped mid sentence when Mrs Warrener raised her eyebrow at him. ‘Sorry. Our STUFF upstairs.’
Tris and Mr Warrener disappeared with our duffle bags up the huge staircase at the front of the house. I still couldn’t bring myself to sit down, plus Mrs Warrener didn’t move from where she stood. She stared at me with a warm smile, but it was a smile that made me feel awkward, so I broke the ice.. ‘I can’t thank you enough for this, letting me stay here I mean, it was very very kind of you.’
‘It’s no trouble at all,’ she said as she approached me. I had the strangest feeling when she rubbed her hand on my shoulder. The gesture made my heart pound, not because it was awkward, but because it was something my own mother had never done. ‘He thinks of you as family. And any family of Tristan’s is family to us too.’
I nodded. ‘I feel the same way—he’s family to me too, I mean.’
Mrs Warrener released her hand from my shoulder, and walked over to the door. The sound of her stilettos echoed throughout the room. ‘Please, feel free to look around. I’ll go and make us all some hot chocolate,’ she said before walking out. I took in the room on my own and as wowed as I was by everything so far, and as welcoming as The Warrener’s had been, I still didn’t feel at home.
Despite the size of the exterior, the inside of the house was easy to navigate due to the wide open rooms and huge corridors. I eventually found a study that was full of books and a pristine white piano. The bookcase had all the classics, some modern titles and some of my all time favourite books. There was also big square spaces in between the books with framed photographs. In every single one it was Tris and The Warrener’s with a different boy. They all posed like they were in family portraits, backdrops included. I guessed Tris must have been about 15 or 16 in the photos, he didn’t look any different other than his hair style varied with each photo. I figured he must have gone through a lot of phases as a teen.
‘How did I guess you would be in here?’ I jumped back to see Tris leaning against the door frame. He grinned liked an idiot, getting a kick out of the fact he scared me. ‘Pretty impressive collection, huh?’
‘Impressive is one word for it,’ I said. ‘This is immense.’
He walked over and pointed to a copy of a Dickens book. ‘That’s a first edition. Cost my dad a pretty penny.’ He wasn’t showing off, he knew I loved stuff like this.
‘I couldn’t even imagine how much. So, who are all these guys in the photos?’ I asked.
Tris cringed. ‘So embarrassing. So my parents always insisted on taking in exchange students when I was in high school so I could learn other languages and about other cultures. They weren’t even through the school programme. They were university students. My parents also insisted we had our photos taken together.’
‘God, that’s so adorable,’ I said pointing to a photo of Tris with some emo hair style, which earned me a middle finger in return. I counted up the photos and there was at least twelve of them. ‘Do you still keep in contact with any of them?’
‘Through Facebook with some, but mostly no. To be fair, they only stayed for like three weeks at a time and we didn’t really talk much after that. I don’t even know why my parents bother to keep the photos up.’ Tris sighed, examining the pictures. Almost like he was seeing them for the first time. ‘Hey! I’ve not even shown you my room yet, come on!’
Tris practically dragged me out of the room and across the hall which had a circular window in the centre that reminded me of the famous Amityville house. Tris’s bedroom was absolutely huge with a super-kingsize bed, an en suite bathroom and a mini living room area. It was at least four times bigger than our dorm room.
‘So bedroom options,’ he said, clapping his hands together. ‘You can either take one of the guest rooms, my sofa pulls out into a bed too or you can share with me. It’s up to you.’
‘Erm, I don’t even know what to say.’
‘Awesome! You can stay in here then,’ he decided. ‘I’m too used to having you around, I don’t know if I could even sleep without you being close to me.’
I put my arm over his shoulder and gripped him into a headlock. ‘Awh, shucks.’.
Christmas Day with Tris and his family was amazing—well, it started off that way. When I woke up, I was surprised to see a pile of gifts with my name on the tags. And when I say a pile, I mean a mound. I opened them with a sickly feeling in my stomach. Video games, books, a new laptop—honestly it was insane. ‘Mr and Mrs Warrener, I can’t accept these . . .’
Tris sighed. ‘Actually . . . They’re all from me, those extra shifts came in handy after all.’
I felt bad that all I got him was one video game, one he’d actually got for me too. I didn’t know what to say. ‘Tris—this is—‘
‘Yeah, yeah. I love you too,’ he said, wrapping his arm around me whilst Mr and Mrs Warrener smiled at us admirably.
The atmosphere was like something I had never known. Mr and Mrs Warrener cuddled up together, Tris, with his hair all matted, ripping through presents like an actual child on Christmas morning. Not to mention the Christmas songs that played in the background and the sweet smell of spiced apple that filled the room, or the size of the tree that rested in the corner, decorated like it was for a window display. I was so used to Christmas morning being short and sweet. My mother would be in the kitchen making dinner, my father would sit working on his laptop. When I opened my presents there was never any joy from either of them. They just saw it as a box they felt they needed to tick—I did, at least. That’s how it always felt.
Later on, I stepped outside to call my parents and wish them a happy Christmas. It was my mother who I decided to call, knowing that she would actually pick up. My father was always ignoring my calls or texts. ‘Merry Christmas,’ I mumbled when she answered.
‘You too,’ she said, distracted. ‘Did you get into the house okay?’
I frowned. ‘I told you I was spending Christmas with Tris. Didn’t you get my messages?’
There was a long pause on the phone. ‘Why are you inconveniencing someone else? You could have just come home. We were going to surprise you tomorrow and come home and cook you dinner. For god sakes, Cole!’
‘It’s not my fault you didn’t read my messages! I’m sorry, but I didn’t exactly want to sit at home alone with a frozen lasagna.’
‘Do you know what? Merry Christmas, Cole.’ She hung up. I threw my phone into the snow, wanting to scream, to hit something.. Her reaction didn’t surprise me. Somehow I knew she would ruin this day for me. She always did one way or another.
‘Is everything okay, Cole?’ I turned around to see Mrs Warrener standing by the backdoor with a cigarette in her mouth, cuddled up in a black mink coat. I didn’t even hear her come out and I wondered how long she had been standing there listening to my conversation. She noticed my eyes immediately drawn to her cigarette. ‘They both think I’ve quit. Our secret, okay?’
I nodded. ‘Of course.’
‘So, you and your mother had a fight?’ She asked, taking a long drag. I shuffled some snow with my feet, feeling a little embarrassed. ‘I’m sorry they didn’t want to spend Christmas with you.’ There was something in her tone . . . I wouldn’t call it disgust for my parents, but she didn’t say it with any respect for them. ‘I’m glad you’re here instead.’
I met Mrs Warrener’s eyes. Although she’d been warm to me, I detected something in them that night. Something that unnerved me. I reached down into the snow where I threw my phone and picked up. The frost stung my knuckles. ‘I’m gonna get back inside, I’m freezing.’
‘Cole?’
‘Yeah?’
She seemed to hesitate, taking a drag from her cigarette before she asked: ‘Do you think your parents love you?’
It took a moment. It felt like being winded. I tried to read her, indicate what her intention was for asking me that, as blunt as she had. There was no regret in asking her question, that was clear. She crossed a line, and Mrs Warrener knew it. I could tell by the way her expression didn’t change.
‘Excuse me,’ I mumbled as I marched past her and made my way back into the house.
We spent the rest of the evening watching some TV. Mr and Mrs Warrener cuddled up together on the sofa together and laughed at the unfunny parts of whatever it was were watching—I can’t even remember. I was glad when Tris suggested we go upstairs to do our own thing. He managed to sneak up a bottle of wine for us to share. In his room, we opened the bottle and shared sips.
‘Okay,’ he said abruptly, ‘what the hell is wrong with you? You’ve been a misery all evening. Is it your parents?’
‘Sort of,’ I mumbled, taking the bottle to have a massive swig. I avoided eye contact with him.
Tris rolled his eyes and snatched the bottle from me, slamming it down a little too hard on his glass table. ‘Fuck them, Cole. FUCK. THEM.’
I squinted my eyes, attempting to speak. ‘And—what,’ I stood over Tris, feeling blood bubble all over me. ‘Do you know what? Who the hell are you to disrespect my parents?’
Tris’s eyes widened and he started to bite on his thumb nail. ‘Erm. I just—‘
‘Just what?’
His eyes focused on the bottle of wine. The liquid still squishing at the top from how hard he slammed it down. I saw the cogs turn in his head. I may have only known him for three months, but we’d spent that much time together that I knew what was coming next. ‘You’ve had too much to drink. Maybe we should just call it a night.’
I nodded, pouting my lips. ‘Yeah, maybe we should. I’m gonna go and sleep across the hall.’
I picked up my phone and stormed out of Tris’s room. Instead of objecting or trying to stop me, he just picked the bottle back up and drank from it. I didn’t bother to close the door behind me.
I tossed and turned in the guest bed. Obviously I felt like shit about snapping at Tris, especially in his own house—on Christmas Day, of all days. It was the question that Mrs Warrener asked that played on my mind.
I was so fidgety that I couldn’t lie down any longer, so I got out of the bed and walked over to the window. The snow was coming down heavy outside, but the it lit up the pathway from the pitch black sky. This side of the house looked out at The Warrener’s enormous garden which I could barely see, but I found my eyes burning into the brightness of the snow, until I was distracted by a flicker of light.
It seemed to be a flashlight moving about near the bottom of the gardens. I knew The Warrener’s usually hired help to maintain it, but I didn’t see anyone else on the estate. I assumed they would of gone home for the holidays. But no, there was definitely someone down there. It was hard to make out what they were actually doing due to the heavy snowfall.
I waited near the window long enough to see the flashlight coming up the path towards the house. The closer the figure got, I thought it was Mrs Warrener, with a big, black fur coat. She had a hood over her head and a shovel in her hand. But then I noticed the white hair that snapped into the snowy wind. It was hard to make out but it was an older lady who struggled to keep herself up right. My initial thought was that it may be Tris’s grandmother, but he had never mentioned having one. And even if he did, why would she go that far down into the garden at night?
I got close to the window to see how much more I could make out of this older woman. The closer she got to the house the more I could just about see. And I noticed she was not only holding a shovel, but in her other hand was a black bin liner that seemed heavy judging by how she was pushing herself forward. She stopped in her tracks all of sudden, and slowly she bent her neck up and stared right up in my direction. Her face was undetectable—indescribable in the dark, shielded by the black hood, but the way she craned her neck up to my window told me she knew she was being watched. I only got a quick glimpse of her shadowed face because I jumped right back from the window so I wasn’t detected, but I feared it was already too late for that. She definitely saw me.
I waited anxiously for about a minute before I looked down again. She was gone, but the snowy path below was covered in black spots from where she had walked. They could have been footsteps, it was hard to tell without any light, or something from that trash bag . . . I remember how I felt a queasy ball in my stomach. It take over me all of sudden. I told myself that it was because of everything that had happened that evening. But what it really was, was seeing that woman in the garden. It didn’t make sense and it didn’t feel right.
It was my first indication that something was very wrong at The Warrener Estate.
I woke up the next morning with an arm around me. All I had to do was look at the chewed down nails to know it was Tris. The moment I raised my head, he tightened his grip around me. I tried my best to escape, but it was useless. He was actually quite strong.
‘Nope,’ he said. ‘We’re hugging this one out.’
‘Technically, we’re cuddling this one out and actually, you’re suffocating me.’
‘Okay, we’re cuddling this one out then.’
I shuffled away as he got closer. ‘That’s fine an all dude, but your morning wood is literally poking into me.’
‘Oh come on, like you haven’t seen it before!’
I started laughing. ‘Right, but I’ve never felt it and I don’t think I want to start now.’
He giggled as I managed to wriggle out of his grip.. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
‘I’m sorry too. A lot of bottled up emotions, you know? This was my first Christmas away—‘
‘Cole, you don’t have to explain to me. ‘
‘That’s why we’re friends.’
‘Brothers,’ he corrected.
Tris stretched out on the bed, unwrapping himself from the duvet. His exaggerated pose reminded me of a commercial for memory foam or something. ‘This bed is really comfy, did you sleep alright?’
I remembered the woman in the garden, and how it took me ages to sleep after. About an hour after seeing her, I couldn’t keep still and I had to look out the window again. The snow had covered over the marks on the path. ‘Tris, do you have a grandmother?’
‘Had,’ he said, ‘I never met them.’
Outside it was bright, the snow had stopped falling but covered everything. In the daylight I could see how far the gardens extended. What I failed to see last night was there was a graveyard at the back of the estate. I found it unusual, but I assumed generations past would have been buried there. It wasn’t particularly big, but I tried to replay the events from the night before and that was where I first saw the flashlight moving about. ‘Are they buried out there?’
Tris screwed his face up. ‘Morbid, much?’
‘Sorry, I just assumed.’
Tris got off the bed and stood beside me at the window. ‘That graveyard is ancient. Nobody’s been buried there for years. My parents bought the estate from the family who owned it sometime ago. It’s pretty grim I know. Apparently this place was the definition of American Gothic before my mom remodelled it. My parents wanted to get rid of the graveyard, but, they’re kinda superstitious.’
‘I saw someone—an old woman, I think, out there last night.’
Tris shrugged. ‘You sure you weren’t dreaming?’
‘No, I saw her,’ I said. I could tell by Tris’s face he didn’t believe me, and he showed no sign of knowing who it could have been. I had no reason to believe he was lying or hiding something from me. ‘You know what, forget it. I was probably a little drunk.’
Tris smiled and gave my shoulder a light bump with his fist. ‘It’s beautiful out there, isn’t it?’ He said, turning his attention back to the gardens.
I joined him and scanned over that graveyard one more time. ‘Breathtaking.’
I took a shower in the guest room and Tris went back to his room to do the same. When I emerged out of the bathroom in nothing but a towel, I was surprised to see Mrs Warrener sitting on the bed. She sat with such a disciplined poise; legs crossed, hands rested on her knee.
‘Mrs Warrener!’ I yelled, using my hands to cover my upper body. ‘Good morning.’
She didn’t return the greeting. Instead she smiled. ‘I’m sorry to disturb you unannounced. I felt I should apologise for last night.’
I didn’t know what else to do, other than sit in the arm chair and hug the cushion to conceal my bare chest. Couldn’t it have waited until I was dressed?, I thought. Instead I said: ‘Oh, don’t worry about it.’
Her face was blank. Something about her body language, her tone of voice, everything about her was totally different this morning. She even looked tired, a little less . . . Perfect? I know that’s a shallow word to use, but she didn’t seem like the same woman. She eventually raised herself up from the bed and her warm smile returned. ‘Cole, I just want you to know, I suffer from insomnia and I get a bit restless. So if you were wondering what I was doing outside in the middle of the night, I was just taking a walk.’
‘So it was you?’ I said.
Mrs Warrener cocked her head and frowned. ‘Who else would it be? I hope I didn’t scare you.’ ‘No, no,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘I just thought it was someone else, that was all.’
‘Well, there’s only us four here,’ she said as she twisted a strand of her dark hair—which seemed dull that day—with her polished finger. It was almost as if she was trying to draw my attention to it, and it only made me think of the white hair I saw on her last night. In fact, I was still convinced it wasn’t even her at all. Even in the dead of night, there was no mistake about it—it was someone completely different.
Mrs Warrener and I stared at one another in silence for a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. She finally broke it when she said: I’m gonna make us all some breakfast.’ She opened the bedroom door to leave but stopped before exiting the room. She didn’t turn to face me. ‘I’m sorry again if I scared you . . .’ And then she disappeared down the corridor, the sound of her stilettos echoed through the wing.
As soon as she left, I closed the door and locked it.
Despite our little chat on Boxing Day morning, things weren’t awkward between me and Mrs Warrener. She didn’t make them weird, she carried on without even a cautious glance my way. It was nothing but smiles and laughter. It ticked at the back of my head all day long, how she felt the need to say anything to me at all if she wasn’t hiding anything. Of course I never questioned her about the shovel or the trash bag—why would I? It was her house after all.
Tris got extremely drunk that evening. We were in his bedroom and he hadn’t slowed down all day. I’d never seen him drink like that before and it was apparent that he couldn’t handle it. After he threw up in his bathroom, I helped him into bed. I removed his sweater, trousers and socks for him so he could cool down. I considered getting one of his parents to come and check on him, but I thought it would only piss him off the next day. I started to walk over to the sofa bed, when he held his arms out. ‘Don’t leave,’ he slurred, with his eyes shut.
‘I’m not going anywhere, I’ll be right over there.’
Tris licked his dry lips and shook his head side to side on the pillow. ‘They always promise they won’t leave . . .’
God, he was wasted, I thought. ‘Who is “they”?’
‘My brothers,’ he said. ‘You’re my brother, aren’t you?’
‘You know I am,’ I said, rolling my eyes. But something snapped in my brain that never even occurred to me. ‘You have brothers?’
‘Had . . .’ The slits of his lids opened slightly and he grabbed my arm. Even in his lucid state, he had a strong grip. He attempted to pull me in closer, but he couldn’t quite find the strength for that. So I bowed my head down so he could whisper in my ear: ‘You’re my favourite.’
That night I couldn’t sleep again. One word was on my mind: brothers. Plural. It confused the hell out of me. I wondered where they were, who they were, and what happened to them. There wasn’t even a photo of them. All the portraits and photos were of The Warrener’s and Tris. Just them together. The only other photos I’d seen without them was, of course, the ones with the exchange students. I don’t know what possessed me, but I opened up Facebook on my phone to stalk Tris’s friends list. I didn’t have any names to go off, but I would recognise some of their faces if I saw them.
I spent about an hour doing this and I had pretty much gone through every friend Tris had on there. There were several profiles with no facial pictures, but I thought it would be too much of a coincidence if it were them. Also three of them had girls names—all the exchange students in the photos were boys. I found nothing. Tris had no reason to lie to me, so I don’t know why he told me he had a few of them on Facebook.
I decided to go to the guest room across the hall to look out the window to the back again. I tip toed out of Tris’s room and made my way over, but when I attempted to open the door, it was locked. I tried all the other doors on that side where the view to back of the house was, but again, they were all locked. I tried a few doors on the other side, facing the front and they all opened fine. It was pretty clear that Mrs Warrener had done this on purpose.
I looked at the time on my phone: 12:06am. The Warrener’s would hopefully be in bed. Their room was on the other side of the house and the study was downstairs. I just hoped Mrs Warrener wasn’t planning on going on another walk.
I crept down the the staircase, using the torch on my phone to guide the way. All the lights were off in the house and I heard no sound from the downstairs area. The coast was clear as I made my way into the study. The door was left open ajar. It was strange, in the dark the room felt eerie, cold and very isolated. I thought about turning a lamp on, but I thought to be on the safe side I would continue to use my phone torch.
I flashed my phone over the pictures with the exchange students and examined them all. All the boys were around the same age, just like Tris had confirmed when I first saw them. But I paid special attention to The Warrener’s this time. Tris may have gone through some phases, that was clear by the clothes and different hair styles, but I couldn’t fathom why The Warrener’s also seemed to have done the same. I didn’t notice it before, but there they were in outdated clothes and strange hair styles. This literally happened a few years ago.
There was one picture where Mr Warrener was sporting a mullet and a moustache. Mr clean cut, preppy Mr Warrener. I found it hard to believe. It was a gamble and I didn’t have any idea what it would achieve. My parents used to write the dates on all of their scrapbook photos, I guess that’s where I got the idea from. So I picked up the photo and removed the backing. At first I doubted it. Shook my head. It was impossible. Literally FUCKING impossible.
On the back of the photo it said:
Kevin, 1982
I picked up another at random and did the same:
Michael, 1979
Another:
Derek, 1993.
The furthest date the photos went back was 1975. And in that time The Warrener’s hadn’t aged all. And Tris wouldn’t have been born. But there he was, the same age, nearly forty-five years ago.
The snow fall was heavier that night, more so than the last and I was absolutely freezing when I stepped out into the gardens. I didn’t bother grabbing my coat, It was a risk getting caught as it was just from being out of the bedroom. It was pitch dark, with no security light or anything to guide the way, but the path was linear and I knew where I was going. I turned around to check the house was still in darkness.
I could barely make out the graves when I finally got to them, I didn’t want to draw much attention to myself, so I put my hand over the torch of my phone to read what the stones said. Nearly all of them had been spray painted with first names over the original markings. And there was a lot of them. All boys names. And some of them I recognised from the photos upstairs.
I could hear my heart in my eardrums, and I even developed hot beads on my brow despite the cold weather and snowflakes hitting my head. I felt a hot sludge of sick travel up my throat and I puked right onto a gravestone with MICHAEL sprayed on it. Tris wasn’t referring to any deceased blood relation when he talked about his “brothers” earlier. It was those guys in the photos. They were his former ‘’brothers’’ and they were all buried in the garden on top of old graves.

Part 1
-
I don’t think the Shadow Falls cast are alive anymore.
They’re dead.
FUCK. THEY’RE DEAD.
I’m next, aren’t I?
My best friend is going to kill me next.
…. I’m back with an update. Unfortunately, I can’t say this is a joke, or a prank, or Belle’s idea of some kind of messed up welcome home party. What I saw was real, and I’m still trying to wrap my head around everything.
I’m trying to register what’s been happening over the last few days, and this is the best place to tell it.
After all, the police aren’t coming.
But I’ll get there. I’m just going to type-vomit everything out, and pray it makes sense. This phone’s battery is okay for now.
So I’ll get started. For you, it should be January 2nd. For me, it’s Boxing Day, according to Belle, at least.
Don’t ask. It gets complicated. Apparently, Boxing Day is the day children play with their toys.
It’s been “Boxing Day” for nearly a week now. Time has stopped here. Logic has flown out of the window, and I’ve been left to question my own sanity. Is this really happening? Did my best friend really do this, or is someone else’s work at play?
To answer these questions, I need to go back to when I last updated you. Christmas Day. I spent hours pounding on the door, trying to knock some sense into Belle. My head was spinning from the drugs, and all I really wanted to do was sleep.
But how could I? How could I sleep after what I’d seen? Well, that’s just it. I couldn’t sleep. My body swayed and I was heavy on my feet, the drugs pulling me down. I fought it for as long as I could, but my cries were growing weaker, and my hits had gotten pathetic. At some point I fell to my knees. The room was spinning, and my vision was feathering around the edges.
The last thing I saw was pink. So much pink, which made me reminisce the times I’d been a kid, and Belle and I would spend hours in her bedroom, just talking. When we were littles, we’d play with her toys, hosting tea parties for all her teddy bears.
Since my mom and dad were always at work, they dumped me at Belle’s house. I didn’t exactly complain. She was my best friend. When we were teenagers, we’d have fashion shows and slumber parties, sneaking bottles of her father’s expensive Chardonnay, and watching horror movies all night. Belle was, and I guess still is, a huge King fan.
The memories were warm. Sweet. I could revel in what she had always been to me. My best friend. Isabelle Dalton, the school weirdo, who had seen something in me. We came as a matching set. Belle and Delilah. Best friends forever.
And then… reality hit.
I awoke with a pounding headache, lying faced down on her fluffy rug. My eyes were sore, my mouth tasting of a mixture of blood and bile. Opening my eyes took effort, but I managed it, forcing my aching body which felt like a sack of potatoes, to unsteady feet. Blinking rapidly, I got the sense that I’d been sleeping for a while.
The window was drowned in sunlight. But not morning sunlight. It was too dim, shadows bleeding into Belle’s room. It took several disorienting seconds for the memories to blossom to life in the back of my mind, and I stumbled over to the door, struggling to keep my balance.
“Belle!” My voice was barely a croak. “Belle, let me out!”
There was so much I wanted to say, alphabet soup at the back of my throat. All I managed was a string of swears that slipped out before I could stop them. But it worked. I heard footsteps after a moment, and then a click sounded, before the door flew open. There she was. Belle was dressed in an oversized Winnie the Pooh nightshirt, blinking through tangled golden curls. She greeted me with a bright smile. “Delilah! I was just about to wake you!” she squealed, jumping up and down. I was reminded of every birthday I’d had since I was five. She had always been there with that smile.
“Happy boxing day!”
I blinked at her. It seemed impossible that Belle had managed to do all of this, plan and execute the kidnapping of four famous celebrities. The girl was barely awake, sleepy eyes and creased smiles. She didn’t exactly strike me as an evil genius.
What hit me suddenly, was that Boxing Day had been and gone. Whatever Belle had drugged me with had kept me comatose for who knows how long. My stomach was empty. But I knew if I ate anything it would come right back up, riding the sickly bile already stale at the back of my throat. Swallowing hard, I tried to find my best friend in the girl in front of me.
“Belle.” I spoke softly, but my voice was breaking. I held her gaze. All I had to do was get through to her.
You might be wondering why I didn’t dart past her and make a break for it right then. But looking her up and down, frowning at the faded images of Pooh and Piglet on her nightgown, I noticed what was melded into her right hand.
Belle held it expertly, her hand wrapped around the grip, index on the trigger. She may have been smiling giddily, with that familiar glimmer in her eyes, but there was a curl in her lip. She was daring me to try something, waiting for me to fight back.
It’s weird, it’s like Belle didn’t even acknowledge what she was holding, and yet her manicured hand was dextrously wrapped around the butt, like she’d used it before. I wondered if she was going to use it on me if I didn’t play by her rules.
“Happy Boxing Day.” My voice shuddered, but I smiled. I smiled, even when a scream was clawing its way up my sandpaper throat. I had no idea where she had gotten the gun, but it was definitely to keep me in line.
My mind set was, if I wanted to get myself and the cast members of Shadow Falls out of the house, I had to play the game Belle desperately wanted me to join. So, I stretched my lips into the biggest smile I could muster and allowed myself to relax. I had to relax and force myself to think logically.
But all I could think about was what was downstairs, my so-called presents still under her tree. Carolina Valdez, Asher King, Tanner Lockhart, and Luce Howe. Except when I thought back, it couldn’t have been them.
Because when I thought of Asher, there was only his bright smile and infectious laugh. Luce and Tanner, one Australian and one Kiwi. The two of them were known for their good looks and personalities. But I loved their goofing around. Hide and seek on set, Instagram live shows they did with other cast members, and teasing Twitter fights. Carolina was one of the quiet ones, but the sweetest. She was a lot more reserved, spending most of her time on her phone, making shit posts.
One thing I knew, was that Carolina definitely couldn’t dance. Especially the way she did last night, just like one of the miniature ballerina’s in Belle’s music box. She had even said it in an interview, insisting that dance was her weakest point.
So what had I seen under Belle’s tree? Who was the Carolina imposter? I know the Shadow Falls cast inside out.
I’d known them for nearly four years, and what I saw… it couldn’t have been them. I was in denial. There was no way it was them. What I’d seen were hollowed out versions of them. Puppets on strings with their faces attached, dangling from metal rods sticking from their necks. I was trying not to think about that. Asher.
The way Belle had grabbed him and hauled him to his feet before shoving him towards me with a blinding smile.
Except he hadn’t walked, or even stumbled. His legs didn’t even move, his body and limbs had been limp, his head lolling to the side, before all of him had crashed onto the floor in front of me.
I was still seeing the scarlet stains on his neck, crimson smears on his shirt.
Cocking her head, Belle fixed me with a smile. “Would you like breakfast? I’m making blueberry pancakes for everyone!”
There was that dread again, creeping up my spine and curling in my gut.
I couldn’t help it, the word spluttering from my mouth. “Everyone?”
“Yep! I bet you’re starving!” Twirling around, a blur of golden curls, Belle grabbed my hand, keeping a steely grip around my wrist. She was a bouncing ball of energy, like any other morning, those of my childhood when she pulled me downstairs to watch early morning cartoons. This time, though, her house was devoid of life.
All the lights were off, and Belle pulled me down the winding hallway, giggling as she went. It was like a fever dream. My head was still spinning, and I found myself flying through a blur of beige, stumbling on the heels of my feet as I struggled to keep a hold of her hand. We ended up in the kitchen.
There were six plates and matching glasses lain out across the countertop. There were pancakes piled on each one, drizzled with maple syrup. Belle leaned against the countertop and shot me a smile.
“Why don’t you take in their breakfast? I’ll be with you guys in a minute, okay? And then I can watch you play with your presents!”
My head was still pounding, my stomach rolling. Everything Belle said was with intense exclamation.
“What?” I frowned at her.
Belle rolled her eyes. “Your presents, silly!” she squealed. “Are you excited?”
I couldn’t take my eyes off of the toy still in her hand. “Oh, right!” I nodded with a grin, grabbing a plate of pancakes. The smell made me feel nauseous. I managed to balance two plates on top of one another. “What will you be doing?” Swallowing hard, I risked it. Even when she was probably calculating the correct trajectory to give me a quick death between the eyes.
I couldn’t think like that. Belle was my best friend, right? She wouldn’t hurt me.
“Nothing important!” she replied coolly. “I’m just due a call with daddy.”
Belle’s father was never home. I knew he was filthy rich, but what exactly he did was a mystery to me.
Still with that feral smile, she nodded at me. “What are you waiting for?” Belle winked. “Asher is waiting for you, Delilah.” She leaned across the countertop and waggled her brows. “How long have you waited for this exact moment?”
Staring back at her, I struggled to maintain my smile. “Four years.” I choked out, turning away from her.
When my hand was wrapped around the door handle, Belle cleared her throat. “There’s no way out, Delilah. So whatever you’re planning, I wouldn’t try it if I were you.” she giggled, and I didn’t dare twist around to meet her eyes. My cheeks burned with rage and I swallowed what I really wanted to say. “I know you, Del.” Belle trilled.
“I know you’re not happy with your presents.”
I sensed her getting closer, breathing down my neck. “We’re going to stay here with your presents, okay? And you’re going to play with them. You’re going to enjoy them.” Her tone rose into hysterics and I was suddenly very aware of her toy still swinging between her fingers. “Do you understand me, Delilah?” Belle hummed. “Forever and ever. Just like I promised.”
The memory hit; waves of icy water slamming down on me.
Forever and ever? Belle had said on the phone, and I’d laughed, not thinking anything of it.
Yeah, sure. Forever and ever.
Tears burned my eyes. I blinked them away. Belle had lost it. The bubble gum façade she had built around herself began to crumble, and I was left with an unhinged psycho. I half expected her to stick the barrel of her toy into the back of my neck.
One pull. That’s all it took, and my brains would be splattered all over her mother’s pristine kitchenware.
My grip on the handle tightened. “How did you do it?”
“How did I do what?” Her voice was sweet. Too sweet. The type of sweet that would rot my goddamn teeth. She knew exactly what she’d done. I wasn’t falling for the clueless act. Belle was playing with me, daring me to ask what she had done.
Instead of answering her, I shoved the door open and strode into the lounge. I’d been avoiding it at the back of my mind, except I wasn’t thinking straight. I could barely think through the fog enveloping my brain, and the striking pain crawling its way around the back of my head, but I had to get away from Belle. My body seemed to jolt when I crossed the threshold, but the door was already slamming behind me. My first thought was to try the front door.
My brain was on fire, and I couldn’t think. I couldn’t.. I couldn’t think! My gaze first went to the Christmas tree. It still stood tall, illuminating the room in pale light. I squeezed my eyes shut.
Maybe if I shut my eyes and said some stupid prayer, I could open them and they would be gone. I would be staring at the tree. The pretty decorations. When I opened my eyes, however, they were still there. In the exact same place as last night. Belle had positioned Asher where he was originally, sandwiched between Luce and Tanner. The four of them looked dishevelled; uneven pigtails for the girls, and unbrushed curls for the boys. They were still dressed as elves.
They looked even freakier than last night; cartoon like grins animating their expression’s. I wanted to run. I wanted to get as far away as possible, because whoever or whatever they were, they weren’t the cast of Shadow Falls. They couldn’t be.
Before I could stop myself, I found myself edging towards them, my heart in my throat. The plates I’d been carrying slipped from my hands. Belle’s voice drifted from the kitchen. “Hi, daddy! Yeah, I’m okay!” I wasn’t listening.
What had she done to them? The cast of Shadow Falls were here, I thought hysterically. Though looking closer, I glimpsed what was sticking from them; transforming them into what Belle wanted. My gifts. My own personal ballerina’s.
Situating myself in front of them, I hesitated before clapping my hands in front of Luce’s blank eyes. Then I shoved Tanner, gingerly poking Asher’s cheek. They didn’t move. They didn’t blink. I don’t even think they were breathing.
When I pushed them, they swayed back into place. Like dolls. I grabbed Asher’s shoulders with both hands, choking back a cry when he slumped into my arms, a tangle of limbs I had to push back into place. “I’m… I’m sorry,” I whimpered through a sob, twisting him around. His body was weightless. I couldn’t stop myself, letting my trembling hands brush his hair out of the way, revealing what I thought I’d hallucinated; a metal rod sticking from his neck. I hadn’t imagined it. It was real.
The thing that Belle had twisted, bringing Asher to life last night.
I gagged when I saw the dried blood around the incision point. It had been forced in.
“Hey.” I turned the actor back around to face me, carding my fingers through his hair and brushing it from his blank eyes. “I’m going to… I’m going to get you out of here, okay?” my voice was trembling.
When Asher simply stared back with that smile, those eyes devoid of anything human, I focused on his neck.
Whatever Belle had forced into him had clearly put him into some kind of trance.
How though? My mind wailed. How the hell had Belle gotten hold of this kind of technology?
It was nothing I’d ever seen before. Only in movies. Only in Westworld when my roommates forced me to watch it.
Wrapping my fingers around the rod, I tugged once, but the damn thing was stubborn, sandwiched inside his skin. Leaning closer, I prodded around the entrance wound, my fingernails grazing over something I’d missed. Something I hadn’t seen.
There were words stamped or written in block capitals across Asher’s olive skin. Like a tattoo.
Like a brand.
TWIST TO PLAY.
Twist to play. Bile burned in my throat.
Like Asher, like all of them really were toys.
It took everything inside me not to scream. I felt faint, my fingers trailing over each letter marked into his skin.
Crazy, I wanted to cry out. Belle was… she was fucking crazy. This wasn’t just kidnapping. She had turned these actors into toys, dolls that she believed I wanted to play with.
The metal rod—it was an on/off switch. Thinking back to last night, Belle had twisted it clockwise, and Carolina had woken up. I held my breath. If clockwise turned them on, bringing to life some kind of messed up superficial state Belle had somehow planted, then there had to be an OFF – somehow to bring them back around.
At that moment I wasn’t thinking of the consequences.
If Asher woke up and freaked out, then it was a bridge I’d cross when I came to it.
Tightening my grip on the handle, like I had so many years ago, excitedly winding up Belle’s music box’s, I twisted as hard as I could in the opposite direction. I pretended not to hear the sickening crunch of metal colliding with bone. When nothing happened, when Asher stayed completely still, I twisted it again. Then again, tears quickly trickling down my cheeks.
“Hey!” I was sobbing, twisting, twisting, twisting, fighting the urge to gag, when, to my shock, the metal screw slick with Asher’s blood slipped from his neck, and it was in my quaking hands. It was the length of a pencil, and the end that had been sticking into his flesh, presumably directly into his skull, looked like the end of a syringe, a sharp point stained crimson.
I was staring at the blood splattered all over my hands when a sharp exhalation of breath sounded out, and I dropped the screw. Asher’s body seemed to convulse, before he was gasping, his breaths becoming progressively more panicked. I had to swallow a shriek and grabbed the boy, forcing his head up. His breaths were short and sharp, cutting through me. But when I looked at him, his eyes were still vacant. His lips were still stretched into that manic cartoony grin. I shuffled back, the sight sending shockwaves through me. I’m… I’m going to struggle writing this because I don’t know what I saw.
I don’t know what it was.
Asher… it’s like whatever I was seeing, it wasn’t recent. His choked gasps weren’t natural when they came from a mouth that Belle had shaped into a grin. His eyes were wide, unblinking.
There was no expression, and yet his breaths were so alive, and I could feel his fear, even if I were staring at a doll with his face.
I didn’t know what… I didn’t know what to do.
All I could do was watch him suck in precious gasps of oxygen, fighting for air. When he let out a soft cry, I dived forwards, slamming my hand over his mouth. He began to tremble, panting into my hand, twisted words coming out in a hysterical cry.
“Asher.” I spoke calmly, tightening my grip on his mouth. I should have felt relief that he was okay, that Belle hadn’t done irreversible damage. And then I noticed a pattern. It was the same vibration into my palm. The same cry for help.
“It’s okay,” I hissed out, trying not to scream myself. “It’s okay!”
He continued, sobbing, panting, crying out the same words into my sticky palm.
Slowly, I removed my hand.
I wish I hadn’t.
Fuck. I wish I hadn’t.
Because I was talking to a ghost.
“Don’t do this.” His voice was a soft whimper. When I looked at him, when I really looked at him, his eyes were looking right through me. Unseeing. “Please don’t do this!” He moaned through that sickening mouth; the expression my best friend had moulded into something that I would like. A constant grin. “I want my mom. I want—I want to go home.”
His words unravelled something inside me; something I thought I had. Hope and faith that he was still there.
“Don’t do this.” Asher said again, more hysterically. With exactly the same tone. “I want my mom—I want to go home.”
I was paralysed. I couldn’t move.
“Don’t do this.”
“I want my mom—I want to go home.”
“Don’t do this. I want my mom—I want to go home.”
“Don’t do this. I want my mom—I want to go home.”
I don’t know how long I listened to his mantra; just sitting there. Staring. I couldn’t cry. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t move.
The actor wasn’t talking to me. He was talking to someone else—before he was turned into my Christmas gift. His panicked breaths and quaking limbs, even his cry for help… they were like footprints on a beach. And the tide was coming in.
I couldn’t listen to it any longer. I couldn’t. If I kept hearing it, the pain in his voice, the agony of his last moments, I’d go crazy. I couldn’t stop shaking as I picked up the metal screw and slid it back into place. I twisted once and he stopped.
He fell into me, his head lolling, that same grin splitting his mouth open.
The gasps stopped. The cries for his mother stopped, and he went limp once again. I found myself wrapping my arms around him, holding his limp body for as long as I could, and pressing my face into his shoulder.
He was cold. He was so cold, and I wondered if his family were out there wondering where he was. I’ve never felt loss, but when Asher was in my arms, my chest ached. My gut twisted. Every piece of me seemed to come apart.
Which is crazy. I don’t even know him, and yet I felt like I did. It felt like he was something to me. I moved robotically, not thinking, not feeling, as I put him back into position between Tanner and Luce. Splintered pieces of me wanted to hear what they had said too. Their last words.
But I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
They were dead, I thought.
At least their tickers were. I’d heard those last thoughts, that last footprint, which was still there when Asher was turned “off”. I almost laughed. Because it was… it was funny. It was fucking hilarious. The one time I get to meet the Shadow Falls cast, and their brains have been liquidised, every piece of what I loved about them ripped away by my psycho best friend.
Dead.
Dead.
Dead.
Belle had killed them, transforming their corpse’s into animated Christmas toys.
“Del!”
I jumped when Belle sprang through the door. She was still holding the gun. Her gaze flittered from me to Asher, and then my hands slick with his blood. “Oh no, you’ve made a mess!”
I would have said something, but my eyes were trained on the gun.
“Sorry about the bleeding,” Belle giggled. “It’s something you’re going to have to get used to, I’m afraid!”
I nodded. Nodding. Nodding. I wasn’t sure what was happening. Belle was speaking, but I couldn’t understand her.
She was smiling brightly, and I was thinking about how easy it would be to wrap my hands around her throat, squeezing, until she too was gasping for breath. Until she was choking out her last words to me. I blinked.
Belle was gone. I could hear her clattering around in the kitchen. Slowly, I turned my head, drinking in the lounge.
The TV was on. It was playing a commercial for a teen drama I hadn’t seen. There were empty coffee mugs littering the table, and I half wondered if they would make a weapon.
Then my eyes were landing on something sitting on the sofa cushion. I recognised the light pink floral cover.
Belle’s phone.
I don’t know how I managed to cross the lounge without falling over. I grabbed the phone, my bloody fingers sliding on the screen. I had to press my hand against my mouth to muffle my sobs. My chest was heaving, my stomach ready to projectile from my mouth. After three tries because my hands were shaking so badly, I managed to tap 911.
Slamming the phone to my ear, I struggled to breathe.
“Hello, 911, what is your emergency?” This time there was a man’s voice.
“Listen to me.” I spluttered out, sucking air through my teeth. “You need to get to this location right now,” I closed my eyes, hot tears splashing down my cheeks. “My friend Isabelle Dalton. She… she’s killed them. Oh god, I think she’s killed them.”
“Killed who, Ma’am?” The man’s voice was steely. “Ma’am are you okay? Please speak clearly.”
“I am speaking clearly!” I hissed. “Please, you have to get here. Now.”
The man cleared his throat. “Of course, ma’am. What’s the security code for the location?”
Gritting my teeth, I fought back a scream. “8304! It’s 8304.”
“Uh- huh. And can you give me the manufacturing code?”
Something cold slithered down my spine.
“What? What’s that?”
“I’m sorry, Ma’am. If you cannot provide your manufacturing code, then I’m afraid—"
I cut him off, tightening my grip on Belle’s phone. “Are you not hearing me?” I spat out. “You can track my location, right? Sir, you need to get someone here. My friend has fucking lost it!”
“…Once again, ma’am, if you could provide us with the manufacturing code, then we will gladly help you.”
“What the hell is a manufacturing code?”
“…ma’am, I’m not allowed to share that information with you. I will need that code so we can—"
I threw the phone across the room. It hit the wall with a crack. Belle was nowhere to be seen, and I vaguely remembered her excitedly planning out a game of Peter Pan, when I was in my daze, her words not quite hitting me.
She had rushed up the stairs to grab the costumes, which meant I had minutes.
I ran to the front door, expecting it to be locked. Except when I twisted the handle, it slid open. I stepped out into biting air, revelling in the feeling on my skin. I was barefoot and was standing on freshly fallen snow, but I barely felt it grazing my soles.
I screamed as loud as I could, my breath exploding into whisps of white. It was snowing. The wind whispered as snow fell like confetti. I shivered. I was staring at my hands still covered in Asher’s blood, baffled by the contrast of bright red and pristine white, when a voice sounded out. At first I thought I was imagining it, but then I heard shuffling footsteps.
“Oh, hello Delilah! What are you doing out here in the cold?”
Twisting around, I saw Belle’s neighbour, Mrs Dabney. I remembered her from when I was a kid. She always gave Belle and I candy. Relief flooded me. “Mrs Dabney!” I could barely breathe, never mind speak. “You need to call the police!”
The woman looked startled. “Oh dear. Young Delilah, are you not enjoying your toys?”
Mrs Dabney’s words ignited something inside me; a fear I’d never felt. Not until then. Not until I was staring at her smiling face. “What?”
She cocked her head. “Delilah, Isabelle has been working so hard to give you the best Christmas ever.” Her smile broadened. “The least you could do is enjoy your toys.” The old woman tutted. “I should know, sweetie. I’ve seen them for myself.”
Before I could utter a word, Mrs Dabney let out a sigh. “Very handsome if I don’t say so myself. They didn’t look like that in my day.”
I was staggering back, my heart in my throat. “Help.” My voice was a croak, but I was screaming at dead air. An empty street. At the corner of my eye, however, there was a black SUV which looked out of place, parked in the middle of the road. There was what looked like a flower printed on the side. I recognised it. My mom’s favourite flower.
A daffodil.
“Del, I thought we were playing Peter Pan?”
I turned to see Belle. She was holding the costumes in one hand, and her gun in the other.
“Hi Mrs Dabney!”
The old woman waved, a brittle smile on her lips. “Hello, Isabelle! Is Delilah enjoying her toys?”
Belle giggled. “Of course she is!” she sang, before grabbing and pulling me back inside. I stumbled but managed to keep my footing. My best friend slumped down on the couch and seemed to be looking for something. I stayed stock still.
“Belle.” I forced her name out.
She didn’t look up. “Hmm?”
“What’s going on?” my voice was shaking. “Belle, did you tell Mrs Dabney—”
“Ahh, here it is!”
Belle pulled something from the crack in the couch, and I frowned at it. At first I thought it was one of her beauty magazines, but when Belle put it in her lap and flipped through, all I was seeing was pages of text and black and white images.
“Now, where’s free play mode?” Belle hummed. She looked up and shot me a smile. Her eyes were dark.
“I think we should play another game, since you’re refusing to play with your toys.” She cocked her head slowly. “Why don’t we have Boxing day every day?” she murmured. “And, because you pissed me off, I’ll activate free play.”
Free play? My mind parroted. I eyed the gun on her lap.
Swallowing bile, my gaze flicked to the Shadow Falls cast still immobile in the exact same position.
My gaze went back to the book in her hand.
“Belle, what is that?”
My best friend giggled and held it up for me to see. When she waved it around, I glimpsed Carolina’s smiling face on the front cover. Then Tanner. Asher. Luce. They were dressed in normal clothes this time, but their expressions were the same.
HOW TO GUIDE was written at the top in colourful writing. It looked like it had been designed on Paint.
“It’s the user manual, silly!” Her eyes creased with frustration.
“I think there’s a free play mode…” she flipped through the pages, humming. “I know it’s here somewhere!”
I watched her pull something else from underneath the couch cushion. A tiny black remote.
“Free play.” Belle said, dangling the remote between her fingertips. She slowly got to her feet, picking up the gun. “Delilah, I hereby sentence you to four Boxing Days in your room.” She giggled like a maniac. “And I’ll have some fun on my own.”
I shook my head. The idea of leaving Asher, Luce, Carolina and Tanner with her sent chills down my spine.
“No.” I whispered. “Belle, talk to me.” I pleaded. “Who made you do this?”
Free-play, my mind cried out. What the hell was that?
“Bed.” Belle ignored me and cocked the gun, her brow raising. “Come on, Del. Do I have to count to three?”
I didn’t have a choice.
I didn’t have a fucking choice.
As of right now, my “sentence” ended yesterday, and I still don’t know what free-play is. What I do know is that yes, my best friend is a fucking psychopath, but it’s something bigger than her. I keep thinking about the police, and their obsession with me providing different codes. Mrs Dabney knows about the cast members. Who was in the SUV parked in the street?
Belle has a user manual and remote which no doubt control the Shadow Falls cast.
Who gave it to her?
How did Belle get the Shadow Falls cast members, and what is she planning on doing to them?
What is she planning to do to me?
But all these thoughts are overshadowed by one in particular.
What the fuck is Free-play?
……..
I’d appreciate some help because I’m pretty sure I’m losing my mind. Nobody is coming for me, and you are all I have.
What the hell is going on? That SUV… who was inside it, and where the hell is everyone? How does Mrs Dabney know about Belle’s plan?
…. God, my head aches. I’ll try and update as soon as possible. I can hear her coming up the stairs, so I have to go. I’ve got to conserve battery.
Part 3

Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/Ceslystories/comments/kjb5da/our_leaders_are_sacrificing_us_to_an_evil_god/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
"Y-yes! W-what do I call you?" I replied, watching Pvt.Castillo's blood dripping down the creature's portruding jaw.
"Desecrator of Flesh!" the thing said back without a moment's consideration. "A Traveler in Searing Pain! The Rancid Poison of Hope! Feeder to the Maggots! The Raping of the Hopeless! Pain and Pleasure!"
"D-desecrator?!" I mumbled back. I felt the warm liquid of piss running down my leg.
"Yes, Brother Captain," growled the creature in its booming voice. "That name will do! It is enough for sentient meat like you to understand. But I may help you pronnounce my real name with your screams of torture! Only the most exquisite cries of pain can truly be labeled to me!"
I felt as if I was going to faint, and was only being held up by the unnatural magic around me. I had faced death before, but this was different. This thing sucked the soul out of me. I felt sorrow and terror like never before.
"Why do you want?" I whispered.
The Desecrator outstretched a palm to caress my face. I tried to pull back, but my upper half had completely frozen up by the cruel things magic. His bone-like hand was freezing cold, blistering my skin as it made contact. I started to scream, but was gagged as it stuck its thumb into my mouth, my tongue freezing to it painfully.
"What do I want with you? Something so insignificant like you? You are no son of Adam! You are not made in the likeness of The Divine, like you tell yourself as you worship your non existent God! There is nothing special or of purpose in any of you. You are only meat! A quivering mass meant to tear and scream for my Master for his amusement! Your resistance only postpones the inevitable decay of your carnal vessel! But the loss of hope makes the meat taste so much sweeter!"
He quickly removed his hand from my face, pulling off a layer of skin as he did. I coughed up blood and realized my neck and head could move again.
Suddenly the deadies sprung from stillness into action. Barging over the razor wire to attack my men. I could hear their muffled screams of pain as the deadies tore into them. The evil magic held them steady as noses were bitten off, chunks of skin peeled away, and guts torn out onto the dirt. It was a feeding frenzy on the defenseless soldiers.
This was Hell! I was in Hell! How long had I taken mine and my men's life for granted? How long had I been so comfortable with insulting the Dark God?
One by one the screams died down, leaving only the wet chewing and guttural noises from the deadies to remain. The deadies clustered around the bodies, eating them as they stood upright. Stripping the dead soldiers to the bone.
I had been with these soldiers for years. They trusted me to lead them into Hell and out again. But their faith was misplaced. They all died a terrible death, without evan the honor of fighting back.
I wept tears of sorrow while forced to stand before The Desecrator. I ran through everything in my mind. Nothing made sense.
In the 50 years we had been fighting off the invasion, nothing like this monster ever appeared. Since the portals appeared in our world, they had never made it through. We had sacrificed countless lives to keep the darkness at bay. We had grown too confident. Too relaxed about fighting the enemy.
"Why do you call me brother?" I asked weakly to the monster as he waited patiently for me to pull myself together.
"We both serve the Master. We both wage war for his amusement. The finite suffering of man is ecstasy to his infinite existence. The emotions displayed in the heat of battle are the most potent. Delicious to his pallet. Master cannot feel these things for himself. His greatness surpasses these crude emotions. But he can feel its sharp bite when your kind bled and die in his domain!"
"But you grow stale! Your kind have become too cocky. You no longer fear the darkness of this realm. It has become," The Desecrator paused, considering its words, "routine."
I tried to comprehend what the Desecrator was saying to me. It is true that this war had become a business, just like every other war in human history. We had trained and conditioned our soldiers to suppress their emotions, or risk going insane from the horrors they faced. We had gained new insight in technology and arcane powers, due to reverse engineering the portal. After 50 years under constant attack, always pushing the deadies back, we had gotten use to how things were.
Situation normal, all fucked up.
"You think by your own strength you hold the Master at bay? You are mistaken! He allows you to survive! He allows your world to remain untouched. But you disrespect his awesome terror! Your meager offering do not appease him anymore! You must be severely punished, and be witness to his great power," The Desecrator lectured.
"D-desimation!" I croaked harshly. The word flooded my mind, forcing me to speak it. The creature wanted me to say the name of the punishment it would be handing down. "Desimation!" I repeated again.
I knew decimation to be a form of punishment used by the Romans in ancient times. Ten men would have to draw straws, with the shortest straw lossing. 9 of the men were forced to beat the 10th man to death. Some accounts even say they were forced to crucify their fellow unlucky soldier. It was a task performed to punish unruly or lazy soldiers. Making them fear their commander's wrath and conditioning them to follow any order given to them.
I tried to swallow, but I felt bile rising in my throat. I was afraid the vomit would choke me to death while I was frozen this way.
"But the Master has shown favor on you, Captain," the Desecrator said. He grabbed the collar of my fatigues and ripped them off me in a clean stroke. I felt the cold air hit my bare skin, and I was disgusted by thinking of what this monster had planned for me.
"He has noticed your transgressions. You play with powers beyond your station!" the monster said while running its fingers down my chest, tracing the outlines of the fresh tattoo's I had all over my body.
"You try to use the powers of the Old Ones to fight back! It is a stolen power!" The Desecrator said to my face his horrid breath almost making me vomit again.
He stabbed his finger into my skin and my dark tattoos began to burn me, as they started to glow bright white. I screamed as my skin smoked and sizzled.
The tattoos were an intricate web, crafted by the scientists in charge of occult studies! The designs spiraled all over my body, forming forbidding symbols in an ancient language. Now, every inch of the ink burned with a white fury.
I was one of 7 officers "volunteered" to be test subjects for this new project. We would be bonded with the dark powers of this hell world. Researchers had made break throughs by studing the symbols and writings found in this hell. They said they could twist the evil power to be used as a weapon.
I was 1 of the 3 that survived the experiment in the end. The other 4 went mad. They either killed themselves, or tried to kill others.
My friend, Lt. Patrick, had been found dead in his holding cell. He had eaten his own fingers and part of his stomach before dying of blood loss!
The trick for me was to not look at the tattooed symbols inked all over my body. I requested to be blindfolded and restrained for days after the procedure. I made sure to always, always, have my skin covered! Only my face was free from the scarred, tainted flesh.
But the experiment had worked! At the moment of my death I would recite an unholy prayer in a language taught to me. My body would burn. It would burn so bad. And I would teleport to appear half crazed and naked on the other end of the portal. I would be back on Earth! I would have been teleported across the gap, through dimensions! It was like having my very own ejection seat, like fighter pilots had!
I had used it on 2 other occasions in the last 5 years. Always when on the brink of death. I would only use it when the deadies were at my throat! When all was lost. Usually I was the last one alive, but sometimes I left behind fellow soldiers that couldn't be saved.
But it was for the greater good. Humanity needed men that went out there without fear. Men who were uncorruptible by the realms maddening effects. It needed leaders that could bravely lead men into battle with unimaginable horrors. I had to lead from the front to show bravery! None of my men knew about my little teleportation trick. My "get outta Hell free" card.
I had been with my current group of soldiers for the past 2 and a half years. I had led them bravely, and safely against countless nightmares. I made sure to minimize casualties while still accomplishing the mission. I kept them safe. Until now that is.
"At first, my master was angry with your trick. Angry that you stole part of his power to flee the battlefield, denying him his delicious agony of your dying!" Said the spindly creature. The unnatural bass in the voice sent shivers down my spine.
"But I intervened for you. I saw you for what you were. Not quite a wolf in sheep's clothing, but a coward wearing a warriors face," it hissed at me, and I felt the words cut deep.
"That's how we are brothers. You lead the humans to the chopping block, and I lead the executioners to their prey. You do it again and again. I do the same."
"So keep bringing your kind to die for my master's pleasure. Your larger world will be spared, as long as you remain... interesting. Keep my master from growing tired of your continued existence."
The thing stepped back and raised its black sword over its head again. My tattoos began to sting and burn with a new raw energy.
"But you humans must be punished for trying to cheat my master. A grievance that only the payment of blood will suffice. Much, much blood. My master is a jealous God, and is angered when his flesh is stolen from him!"
I knew what was coming now. I wouldn't be able to recite the cursed words of teleportation in time. My mouth was frozen anyways, making me unable to pronounce the proper syllables. I would be killed for good this time, to die with my men at last.
I thought the finality would give me peace. I had always imagined I would be stoic and calm when the time came, but I was terrified. My heart jumped in my chest, like a rat desperately trying to escape a sinking ship, or a burning house. I didn't want to die! I would do anything to survive!
"Ah yes, the fear!" The creature boomed. "I see this too in you, Brother-captain. I intervened on your behalf because of this fact. Like I have fealty to my master, you are of a singular loyalty above all else. You worship your own survival. Making you the perfect toy to be played with. A man only interested in one's own survival over any government or god. You will serve both masters regardless."
"So I part with you a gift. A completed spell your kind so feebly tried to replicate. A gift so you may continue bringing my master more bodies to rip open and squeeze out such vivid pleasures !"
Before I could make sense of The Desecrators words, the ebon blade streaked across my sight. A cold corruption ignited from my neck down. Feeling to the rest of my body shut off like a switch. I could still see and think for the moment, being magically held in place. Then the blood began to clog my throat. I tried to cough but failed as my lungs filled with the thick liquid and my vision faded.
Before I was gone. Before the loss of time. Before I was reborn in pain. I noticed the expression on the face the creature had stolen. The corners on the mouth curled upwards. It was smiling as I died.
I don't remember a lot of what happened next. I was briefed and debriefed constantly, until I was lucid enough to retain the information. I could only go by what surveillance footage I was shown after I died.
The 3 military strongholds on the hell-side, Alamo, Thermo, and Vaux, all fell within hours. The dark tide of mutated claws and teeth broke through every defense. Deadies in the thousands overflowed trenches, soaked up bullets, and suffocated any form of retreat or counter attack.
With a new zeal and hatred the enemy charged into gun fire and smashed themselves up against hardened barricades. Eventually one of them would detonate themselves with explosives in an burst of gore. The gaps in the defenses created by the blast would quickly be clogged up and bursted through, with the tide of rancid bodies.
Coordination in defense was broken and hectic. Different languages shouting different orders over each other on the radio. All military decorum lost in the grip of hectic fighting.
We had never seen anything like this, on any scale. The deadies advanced with unprecedented ferocity. But between the scattered communication, one report remained collaborative and clear. They all reported the tall, dark figure with the face of a man, striding camly amongst the battlefield.
When Alamo fell, and the portal back to earth was compromised. The brass gave the order to shoot any soldier of any nation caught retreating back through the portal to Earth. The deadies had never made it through to our home turf before, and we were all terrified at the prospect.
I remember being made to watch the camera feed mounted in the large hanger, filming the Earth side portal. It was the portal I had just walked through with 25 of my men only hours before losing my head. Now the loading bay was entwined with razor wire, a panicked and impromptu defense put in place as humanity quickly lost control of the battle.
Hundreds of soldiers and marines from different nations all uniting in one common goal. To keep the hell contained. Keeping it from bursting forth into our world like rotting guts spilling from a swollen carcass.
Trucks and forklifts were being moved to give firing squads better line of sight on the portal. Heavy machine guns, shotguns, and grenade launchers being handed out. The WW2 era weapons discarded for more modern fire power.
Contingency plan John 11/35 was enacted. The hanger and base was sealed shut, bayonets were affixed to the end of barrels, and automated turrets installed along the walls were brought online. At least 150 to 200 heavily armed fighting men cramped shoulder to shoulder, filling the large hanger. All with weapons trained on the portal.
From a camera high in the corner, I observed the nervous suspense of all the men. The room was almost motionless except for some nervous twitching here and there, the stamping of feet, or the rising smoke of one last cigarette before the chaos. Nothing but the sounds of gear and ammo being checked and re-checked and muttered prayers in the forever moments before the battle.
I could almost feel the fear and desperation coming off the men. But there was something else, something new. Some men stood tall with determination, and maybe even bravery.
But I guess it's easy to stand in front of death when your escape routes were sealed off, and surrender was a ridiculous notion. I bet, if the exit doors were still open, half the soldiers would "tactically withdrawl," just like I would've.
The portal was an ugly unnatural looking thing. It looked like two burnt black trees rising out of the ground to arch towards each other at the top. They were made of a hard, shiny onyx material, with small twig-like spikes protruding out from all over them. The two pillars were 7 meters apart, rising 40 feet high, before curving inwards towards each other, barely touching at the tips to form an arch.
Hindsight being 20/20, I realized they looked like they were made out of the same material as the headless monster. There was an undescribable wrongness about the twin pillars. It always gave off a low hum you could feel in your teeth. It also slightly distorted your vision when you stood too close to it. Many had reported developing a copper-like or sickly sweet taste in their mouths. Technicians and soldiers that only worked on the earth side of the gap had complained of depression and angry outbursts from being in close proximity for too long.
This unholy pillars had sprouted out of the ground at the end of the first world war, near the city of Verdun. It seemed to lay dormant during WW2, with only one squad of French resistance fighters disappearing, followed by the allied rescue team sent to find them.
It wasn't until the 50's, during the Cold War, that we started to realize what it was. Let's just say whatever god was on the other side, it didn't appreciate all the spy games and political intrigue. The evil bastard wanted wholesale slaughter with bodies piled in the field.
So more and more people started disappearing, abducted to be taken to the other side to suffer for its amusement.
The alarm and flashing orange hazard lights mounted above the portal started going off, signaling an incoming teleportation pod was incoming from across the gap. The obnoxious whooping sound of the warning alarms echoed deafening across the chamber. The fluorescent lights flickered eerily as the power surge pulled heavily from the building's generators.
We had found out through multiple trials, that one solid sealed object could be transported safely across dimensions, one at a time. So the engineering boys whipped up air tight transport pods to be loaded with men and equipment to teleport back and forth. Anything organic was microwaved and melded together if not protected inside the pods. Now we were lucky to only receive sunburns on any uncovered skin.
So whoever or whatever was coming from the other side must be stuffed in the transport pods we left behind. We all knew the deadies could duplicate strategies and action performed by humans, so a teleportation pod packed with deadies wasn't out of the picture.
The alarm gave a final cautionary warning before the white flash of the teleport manifested its cargo between the two pillars. The security camera I was watching took a second to recalibrate and re-focus, but when it did, there was an enormous blob of bloody flesh, instead of the metal pod I expected.
Before the tank sized blob of gore sprang off the loading bay, I saw what it really was. It was dozens of deadies mutated and melted together. Steam billowed off its burnt exterior as multiple leg and hands propelled it into a rolling motion. Between the limbs, i could see mutated screaming faces.
They hadn't used the pod. They had all gone through the teleport at the same time, melding all of their bodies together. Somehow I knew this wasn't random. I knew the Desecrator had somehow orchestrated this hideous outcome.
I won't go into every gory detail, but you must already know by now that the oozing, puss filled blob of hands and feet killed all the soldiers in the room. Once it hit the first line of men it easily engulfed their bodies, grabbing and tearing at them, adding their body parts to the flesh pile.
At one point the blob had gotten itself cornered at the side of the hanger. The well disciplined soldiers had repositioned out of harm's way to continue pelting it with machine gun fire and grenades. The quivering mass shook and vibrated as it tried to press back against the hail of gunfire.
Then the warning alarm went off again, and the orange hazard lights began blinking. Some new hell was being sent over from the other side! The men closest to the portal had to turn and face the new threat, dividing the amount of suppressive fire on the blob.
Soon the flash, signifying an incoming teleport, blinded the area. The blob pinned against the wall separated into 6 smaller sized parts. Each taking off in different directions.
Half of the soldier immediately opened fire on the steaming teleport pod that suddenly appeared, while the other half tried to shoot down the faster more agile blobs.
Two of the smaller gore peices launched airborne to come down into the desperate defenders. They were tornados of spinning limbs and jagged broken bones, slicing and mutilating anyone near them.
The biggest chunk of combined deadies had stayed in the corner when the other piece broke off of it. When they all separated from the host, the larger chunk rose up on spider-like elongated bone legs. The flesh at the top peeled away to expose gore caked machine guns, surrounded by bulbous faces. Somehow the wicked weapons could still fire as it started mowing down defenders with a barrage of bullets.
The transport pods door fell open and a dozen heavily armed deadies came rushing out. The first deadies in the pack held crude metal slabs as shields. Somehow all were dressed with metal helmets and tattered uniforms. The front line holding the shields, only had shovel shaped entrenching tools to bludgeon any humans they got close enough. The rest of the mutated soldiers had large firearms with abnormally large barrels, ejectimg giant shells, as the butchered their human enemies.
It was nothing but slaughter then. The soldiers put up a valiant defense, but it's hard to fight off an enemy that has you surrounded, and is already within melee range.
After the last scream rang through the hanger, I was still forced to watch the recording. The camera showed the blood drenched floor. The unrelentent deadies hammered and tore at the dead soldier. Just the sounds of bones breaking, and flesh tearing could be heard.
Finally, one last figure emerged from the dark opening of the teleport pod. It stood tall and proud after it emerged ito the bigger chamber. Its bones were black, and the long sword was once again sticking through its chest. It angled its human head to look up at the camera high in the corner.
It was my face staring back at me, like some sort of distorted mirror. It had taken my head, and now it would return it to my world.
Before the Desecrator left our world, the few remaining deadies fell lifeless to the ground, their purpose fulfilled. The creature twisted my head off of its lower jaw and tossed it, rolling down the loading ramp to bump against a dismembered arm of a slain soldier.
With this business done, the headless creature flashed out of existence, without any warning from the lights or alarms. This brought up a dreaded question. Did it even need the portal to travel to our world?
I'm told, hours later, response teams busted through the sealed doors and stormed the chamber. That's when they found me, all of me. I was naked, alive, and talking out if my head.
My new body had changed. The tattoos that covered my body had been tweaked and redone. The spell had been optimized to work better. The spider web of designs ran up my neck, mouth, and cheeks now. Only to stop at the point where the Desecrator had ripped off my previous jawbone.
A lot of things happened during the following months of my quarantine. I was in a fugue state, preaching non-stop about the glories of the Dark God, and lacking the sense to go to the toilet before relieving myself.
But a lot more things happened in the wider world because of the unholy incursion into our world. Most of the world's leaders experienced vivid hallucinations or night terrors at the instant the Desecrator invaded. The Dark God spoke to all of them through visions. He was not pleased with the entertainment and sacrifice we had previously been providing to him.
The decimation also began. 1 out of 10! Precisely 1 out of 10 people were beaten to death by their fellow coworkers. It effected everybody who knew of the existence of the portal and the endless battle.
A poor 10th was person was selected to be brutally killed by 9 others privy to the secret. All the murdering men and women confessed to falling into a trance like rage, that only passed hours after their chosen victim was mutilated and torn apart. The memory of the murder was left as a vivid warning in all the unwilling participants minds.
Hurricanes, freak tidal waves, and earthquakes all rocked the globe. The Desecrator showed us what could happen if the Dark God touched our reality for only a few minutes.
Behind closed doors the leaders of Earth declared that enemy forces could never again pass into our realm. Recruitment and funding was quadrupled.
A new plan was concocted. It proposed we declassify the secret war and let it out to the public. But only if it got much worse. PR teams were already working on posters and recruitment commercials to appeal to the youth of their respected nations.
So that left only me. I thought for sure I would be killed, or locked away forever. But the visions our leaders suffered expressly forbid this response. Seems the Dark God had taken a liking to me.
Long story a little shorter. The Brass was okay with just giving me 3 meals a day and letting me rot away in a black site holding cell. But painful visions started plaguing my superiors until they allowed me to return to the battlefield.
I was given a test run. Allowed to go back through the portal with a new group of men. I had to be completely covered since the tattoo had spread to my face
This was okay. I didn't want the men I led to know how far I had fallen. I knew what the Desecrator and its master wanted. I was to lead by example. Cause my men to have bravery and push forward, only to be eventually killed.
False hope tastes better than no hope, you see.
I kept the code name "Charon" from my dead unit. It seemed fitting as I led my kind into Hades to die.
The deadies were far more vicious and more numerous than before. Over 3000 lives were lost taking back the Vaux outpost. But if the deadies were getting tougher then so were the soldiers sent to fight them.
No longer skimping on the modern weaponry, our boys went over with the latest in killing machines. There was a new urgency in the hearts of men. Just what the Dark God wanted.
It took another 6 months of constant fighting to push the deadies back past Alamo again. I died 4 times during this period, only to manifest back in my holding cell, shitty as new. I can't say the same for the men I left on the battlefield.
I refused to be a pawn for the Desecrator and my government. I had to keep my men safe. I had to help humanity.
Once we had taken back all we lost, I jumped the wire and marched out into the muddy wasteland. I began to sink into the slop, and I knew this would be a particularly painful death. But I didn't have to wait long. The Desecrator emerged, wearing the rotting head of some poor kid.
I told him that the scraps it gave us weren't enough. It was pushing too hard without any reward for our efforts in sight. We needed a light at the end of the tunnel. Even if it was a fake light. I explained that humans might give up and try and surrender. We might try and reason with the entity.
The Desecrator was not pleased. Its master did not want servants, it wanted war, it wanted bloodshed.
A deal was struck. Any mud my men stepped foot on now slowly became solid. We could push the deadies back for miles and miles. We could breath again. We could have hope. We could "win".
That little stunt took some suspicion off me on where my allegiances fell. But it also meant I was heading over to fight more and fight longer. But in the end, we had forced the deadies back and gained 30 miles of breathing room.
It's a false triumph. We are gaining ground just to have it taken right back. This will cause The Brass to panic and overreact. They will probably start the draft again. Young boys and girls trained just enough to be put on the assembly line heading for the chopping block.
They will lie to you. They will say you are a new breed of soldier. They will say you are pioneers to other galaxies. When you don't come back they will tell your family you're deployed somewhere top secret.
You will go through basic and be taught the bare minimum. You will know how to fire a rifle, and dig a trench. Then you will be sent to the front.
You might see me when you get there. You'll be told to do anything I say. You'll know me from my face obscured with a mask and the thousand yard stare. I'll be leading the charge. But I am not a hero, I am in hell.
But I'll try to keep you alive as long as I can. But we will all die in the end. A sacrifice to appease the master. You'll be told your death will keep annihilation at bay for the moment.
But in reality you're just a small cog in the wheels of war. More meat for the grinder, just so the people back home can continue to kill each other for other pointless reasons.
Try not to think about your soul. Like, does it stay in that hell when you die? Or does it come back to our world. I dont know.. just be sure to get close to whoever you worship before taking the jaunt, just to be safe.
My fear is The Dark God will grow bored of the game. With a snap of its fingers it could invade our space, causing madness and death on a catastrophic scale. So we must fight! We must appease him! We have no other choice. We have to try!

Here is chapter 1
Speacial thanks to Transcended Potato for editing.
Chapter 2
King is a hardcore gamer
The Strongest Man On Earth, the Hero of Heroes, the Pinnacle Of Heroism was in deep thought.
How could he even describe the events that happened barely a few minutes ago?
He was summoned to a parallel world... where one's life depended on games.
And they were in the middle of a forest that was probably home to many unknown creatures.
Not to mention, this world looked completely different from the other 'Isekai' worlds he read in mangas before, so he wouldn't be familiar with the place in any way, shape, or form. Though hoping for this world to be the same as one of the fictional ones created by manga authors was just wishful thinking. What would the odds even be?
"Huh... this world seems interesting," Saitama said, looking around. "I wonder if there are any strong beings to fight here."
"What the hell are you talking about?!" King asked Saitama, exasperated. "A FREAKING DRAGON FLEW OVER US JUST 30 SECONDS AGO!"
"Oh, wait, there was?" Saitama said in a tone of surprise. "I didn't even notice one."
King couldn't take it anymore and fell on all fours. Transported to a new world by some kid God that had fantasy creatures- the first one they see being a DRAGON of all things? What next, animal-people? Giants? A whole race of Gods?
...King felt as though he jinxed himself, but he didn't want to entertain that thought any longer. If one thought of a jinx, the longer one entertained it, the more likely it was to happen.
Getting back up, King looked at his surroundings. He and Saitama were in a dense forest, and he could see various flora he wasn't familiar with. Damn, he really was in a new world.
"Hmm... If we're in this world, then we might need to stay here for a while, huh?" Saitama said, a hand on his chin. "I wonder what we can eat here..."
But then, Saitama's face suddenly went from his original, dopey and relaxed look, to one of complete seriousness.
"S-Saitama?" King asked, almost worried about Saitama. If he knew his friend, then the only thing that would get him to react like this was...
"TODAY'S BARGAIN DAY AT THE SUPERMARKET!" Saitama started yelling all of a sudden, shocking King. "Why'd it have to be today, of all days?! I even prepared my coupons a week before! I even did some odd jobs around town to get some money for this, dammit!"
Saitama then punched the ground, causing a deep crater. "THERE'S A 80% DISCOUNT ON SEAFOOD AND BEEF TODAY! THERE'S NO DAMN WAY I'LL BE MISSING IT!"
"Woah, Saitama, calm down," King said, attempting to calm his friend down. "Let's not get too hasty, now..."
"Crap, this might get dangerous." King thought. The reason why it might be dangerous was not that he was stuck in a world new to him and surrounded by mythological creatures, and it also wasn't because he would probably never see his home again. Well, there was definitely danger in those points, but the main thing was... if Saitama went crazy... the whole world's survival possibility would be zero. Though he knew Saitama as a reasonable person, if bargain sales were involved, then he couldn't tell what he would do.
Still, even he wouldn't be that unreasonable, right?
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
"DAMN IT! I'm gonna find that kid, and get him to bring us back home!" Saitama said with a crazy facial expression. "I've worked too hard for this sale! Too hard!"
"Whoa, whoa! No need to be in such a rush! I mean, what if that kid couldn't bring us back to our original world, anyway?" King said. "And what if he didn't want to? He called himself a God!"
"What?! No way! If he brought us here, he can bring us back! If he's strong enough to pull us from our original world into his world, he can bring us back no problem!" Saitama said, which surprised King. Despite seeming completely unreasonable, his rationale was strangely still intact.
"Also, so what if he's a God? That doesn't give him the right to make me miss a sale I worked so hard for!" Saitama punched a tree, destroying the rest of the forest behind it. "I'll look for him, and when I find him, I'll make him bring us back, and give him a good spanking if he doesn't want to! That'll teach that kid to mess with adults!"
All of sudden, Saitama took a starting position. "I saw a town in the distance earlier." Saitama pointed at a small village far away from their current position. "If by chance I can't find that kid, I'll see you there in the evening."
King understood what Saitama was about to do. "Wait, Saitama-" Unfortunately, it was too late.
"I'M COMING FOR YOU, YOU SHITTY BRAT!" Those were the last words King heard before Saitama disappeared from his view.
Saitama ran at such a speed that the part of the forest behind him was utterly flattened, causing dust to fly everywhere. A small crater had formed where Saitama started running, a blast area forming in the area behind where Saitama was. As the dust settled, King managed to only spot a glimpse of his friend running in the distance. In less than 2 seconds, an explosion occurred somewhere in the distance, informing him that the sound barrier had been exceeded.
King sat on the ground, his face bleached white.
"Let's evaluate the situation." King thought, trying to calm himself down, thinking of the next best course of action.
He was currently in a forest that was completely foreign to him. That was not a problem, since it was noon. And if he was lucky, he could get out of the forest before nightfall. So, this wasn't a problem.
A more pressing matter right now... was his hunger.
The last time he ate something was 6 hours ago. And now, he was hungry. Very hungry. Immediately after arriving, he already vomited out the little bit of breakfast he had this morning, and his stomach was feeling the aftereffects.
For the last few minutes, he barely stood conscious, though that was mostly brought from falling from a height normally reserved for commercial airplanes, and vomiting his guts out. King was not hungry often, as he wasn't an active man. And when he was hungry, he would usually just eat junk food while playing, or instant ramen when his stomach demanded some sort of tangible input. Maybe some fruits when he felt thirsty.
But now, he was teleported to another world, almost immediately after training. The only thing he brought from his and Saitama's original world was the latest model smartphone, financed by the Heroes Association, and his game console. Though their battery wouldn't last for more than a day, it didn't matter, seeing as in this particular case, he just needed to survive.
Okay, if he forgot about his current hunger, then he would be fine. That town in the distance that Saitama spotted in the distance probably had some sort of food, and if what that 'God' kid, Tet, said was true, then he could just play a game with someone for some money.
Saitama left him a few seconds ago. Okay, that wasn't a problem either. Saitama could take care of himself. Also, according to Tet, to kill or rob someone was forbidden, so he is safe, too. At least, that was assuming that the people of this world followed those rules.
So everything was fine, right? Right?
"Who the hell am I kidding!?" King felt like his head was going to explode, shouting towards the sky.
He did not know how big the forest was, nor did he know what dangers he would face on the road. Even if those rules were to be absolute and immutable, then what about wild animals? They definitely had to keep their 'eat or be eaten' mindset, otherwise other than intelligent beings, the only other thing that would live in this world were plants, and herbivorous animals. He just couldn't see a wolf playing with a rabbit for the lives of their families.
Thought that would indeed be an optimistic outlook, things were often the other way around for him. If everything went like how his usual day would, he'd encounter some wild bear or a pack of wolves on the way to the town, then get mauled to death, as his title as an S-Class Hero meant absolutely nothing in this new world.
Even if he could leave the forest, he had no place to stay. He could play some games for some money and get some food as well as a temporary place to stay, but if things were more permanent... then needing to earn enough money to buy a house for him to stay... he'd need to constantly bet all his money on a game, and not lose a match. The not losing part wouldn't be hard, but getting enough people to still bet against him while he's won every game would be more than difficult. No one would be stupid enough to continue playing against those odds, right?
Still, King tried to calm down himself. Panicking and mulling over the negative outcomes was useless in this situation. After recovering a bit, he remembered Saitama pointed out a town in the distance before running off to find that Tet boy- or God. If he could just make it there, then the issue of survival was settled.
He started moving in the direction of the town far off into the distance, but suddenly his whole body froze. 'The Strongest Man On Earth' felt like numerous eyes were looking at him from all sides. Presumably, those gazes were just as- if not more horrible as the dragon he had just seen a few minutes ago. And he lost hope... again.
"What would others do in a situation like this ?" King made full use of all his brain cells. He already thinking of all possible situations, and all possible outcomes, as well as how to get away, surviving all the way.
"Faced with the overwhelming power of an invading hornet wave, bees will unleash whatever little power they have in their stingers; skunks and hedgehogs can overcome physical disparities using their special evolved traits, yet here I am, challenging nature with my weak, frail human body."
"If it's was him... if it was Saitama-bro… what would he do ?" He thought pensively, sitting down on a rock. Though Saitama in question was already incredibly strong, what would Saitama do if he was still weak?
Wind blows
[Flashback...]
In the completely abandoned sector of City Z, aptly named the City Z Ghost Town, a deep voice could be heard from someone in an abandoned building, in the only room where lights were on.
"Limits, you say? But who decides one's limits? And based on what, exactly? You said that you worked as hard as you could? Well, then maybe you just need to work a little harder. Is this really the limit of your strength, or could tomorrow's you beat today's you? Instead of giving in, just keep pushing onwards."
"Well, those were words I said to that guy, haha," Saitama said in his normal voice, laughing cheerfully while Genos and King were listening to him in admiration. "I almost missed the sale after, too."
"Woah, you're a pretty good motivator, Saitama." King praised, though listening intently to Saitama's story, was still beating Saitama's character black and blue. "So, did he end up working harder after?"
"I don't know. I only told him what I felt needed to be said to him- ah, King! You're beating me while I was distracted! This match doesn't count!" Saitama said, furious that while he was earnestly telling King and Genos that story where he saved that one guy that reminded him of himself, King managed to listen closely to his story- and still beat his ass in the video game.
"Ah, I was moving on instinct, sorry about that, Saitama," King said, not even noticing that in that short span, he managed to deplete all of Saitama's lives, not even losing a single one of his own.
"Grr, a rematch!" Saitama said, hopping up, fired up to beat King. If his tactic of distracting King while they were gaming didn't work, then he was going to pull out his ultimate move! He's been perfecting his Consecutive Low Kicks to the limit! There was no way King could get out unscathed!
Still, some of his words did get to King. Though he was as simple as a neanderthal when it came to games, he was pretty insightful when it came to heroic advice.
Keep pushing onwards, huh...
[The Present...]
"Just push onwards? This should be easy for Saitama, but for me?" The Strongest Man was calculating his best move. If he pushed forward, he still needed an actual plan.
"I guess I have no other choice." King exhaled, not even realizing that he had been holding his breath. He stood calmly and started walking towards the village he saw earlier. While all this was happening, he didn't realize that he was being watched by someone.
[10 minutes later]
The forest was filled with the sounds of wailing. No, it wasn't King. It was the naked trio sitting under the tree.
"Why does this always happen to us?" Said the one who was sitting in front. He seemed older than the other two and was probably their leader, as well. "The people we challenged the first time round defeated us and took everything we had. And now the same thing happened again! First, Imanity's future king and queen, now, an unfathomable person we didn't think of meeting, even in our dreams!" The leader of thieves hit the ground with his fist after finishing his monologue.
[Flashback...]
"It's surprising that you're even crying like that after trying to use 'steal'." The man who beat them spoke in an emotionless voice. The thieves stopped their crying immediately. They didn't want to annoy the man in front of them any more than they already did. Every fiber of his being screamed 'power'. A power beyond comprehension and imagination, a power that made the thieves' skin crawl. A power that seemed utterly unfair.
Not to mention the strange sound echoing everywhere, originating from that man. Although it sounded like heartbeats, for them at the moment, it sounded like a voice from the deepest part of hell. A voice that promised hellish pain beyond mortal limits. With every passing second, this person's overwhelming presence increased, like they were slowly sinking into an ocean of lead. It felt as though he would kill them in the worst possible way. It made them feel like even the 10 pledges weren't able to prevent him from annihilating them. There was no way this guy was human.
That person- no, that monster in human skin seemed utterly uninterested in them in the first place, until he decided their fates.
"Get lost."
[The Present...]
While continuing his journey towards the village he saw, King tried to understand the sequence of events that occurred but a few minutes ago.
After he started to walk towards the village he saw, King realized that he had a red juice box in his jacket's pocket. He couldn't understand how he didn't notice that earlier, though it was probably because of the stress of falling from the sky. Wanting to quench his thirst and hunger, King started drinking the juice. But luck was never on his side (at least, he felt that it wasn't), since barely 5 seconds since he started drinking, he tripped on a small rock and fell. The entire upper part of his body was painted in a thin red coat because of the remaining juice in the box. He sighed and continued on his way, discarding the juice box on the ground.
As King continued walking, his heart was pumping harder from fatigue, though it didn't reach the point where his 'King Engine' was audible yet. He had barely taken a few steps before he started to hear some rustling in the forest. King kept his optimism up and hoped that it was just some rabbit. Though just after the rustling stopped, 3 men jumped right in front of him.
"Do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?" A member of the trio said in a prominent self-righteous expression.
"Huh?" King looked at them in confusion.
"So, the hard way, then! We challenge you! If you lose, everything you own is ours." King finally understood what was happening. The ones in front of him were some bandits- well, more like thieves- who wanted to challenge him in some games. At first, he was afraid that they were basic brigands, but he was relieved to know that they weren't attacking him.
Well, he supposed those Ten Pledges that the 'Tet' kid explained earlier was absolute after all.
"Now then, decide what to play." After hearing this, King remembered one of the pledges that Tet explained.
"Five: The challenged party has the right to decide the rules of the game."
"Look, I have nothing much with me right now. But if you want, I can bet everything on me, even my life." With a grin on his face, King said as he moved towards them. Even he himself could not believe what he said right now; but when it came to games, he had full confidence in winning.
"What's wrong with this guy? He bets his life out of nowhere and acts as if it's nothing." The thieves thought quietly. Something was off about this man.
"So, I have the right to decide the game, right? This will be piece of cake." Immediately after the sentences formed in his mind, King tripped- and the reason was the same. A small stone in the way.
"How much worse can it get today!? I feel like destroying the whole world already!" King shouted with anger as he stood back up.
Directing his anger towards the stone, he picked it up and threw it into an unseen part of the forest with all his might. Turning back to face the three thieves-
BOOM!
A mountain behind him- in the general direction of him throwing the stone had exploded and collapsed. Immediately shattering upon impact, the topography of the area was changed permanently.
"Wuh- What?" Was all thieves' could think. Who was the person in front of them? They immediately looked at the stranger with a frightened expression. Did he just destroy a mountain with a simple stone throw?
But unknown to them, King was even more frightened. What just happened? Did he do that? There were tens of kilometers between him and the mountain! No, that couldn't be! Were exploding mountains the norm around here? For a fantasy world, even that would be too much! Chances were, it was either some super powerful being that just woke up in the mountain, or Saitama had something to do with it. But the latter seemed impossible. What were the chances?
Although he tried to look as unfazed as possible, his heart started to beat and the thrum of the legendary 'King Engine' echoed throughout the forest, heard by everyone in the vicinity.
Although the thieves were afraid, they were sure that he couldn't hurt them as long as the 10 Pledges were still upheld by Tet, the One True God. However, in the next moment, something caught their attention. The man was covered in blood and had three scars on his left eye. How was this possible?! He couldn't have killed someone, the Ten Pledges wouldn't allow him to! But even if they assumed that it wasn't blood, that didn't explain the scar. Unless... The souls of the trio nearly came out of their bodies. Unless this man was older than 6000 years old- before the Ten Pledges were implemented. So he wasn't human? That would explain how strong he was.
The sound echoing around them seemed to answer their question. A human couldn't make a sound like that. But what was he? A Dragonia in human form? A Phantasma? Or...
An Old Deus?
No matter how much their imaginations ran wild, it was already too late to surrender. They had bet everything they had.
Seeing that the trio simply remained silent, King decided to ignore what just happened and took the game consoles he brought to this world out of his pocket.
{Capital city of Elkia...}
It was a beautiful day. The blazing midday sun shone relentlessly on the citizens, and the blue sky was dotted with fluffy white clouds that drifted lazily in the gentle breeze.
But even on such a beautiful day, Elkia's new rulers chose to stay in their rooms and play games.
Despite this, there was a certain red-haired girl who was bothering them, trying to get them to do some work.
"Hey, you two!" As soon as she opened the door, Stephania Dola started yelling. "You two should be dealing with the nobility right now!"
A tall and lean young man with spiky black hair (Sora) and a pale-skinned girl with long, messy white hair (Shiro) didn't seem to care about her yelling and seemed to treat her like air.
"Nah, I don't care," Sora said, without taking his eyes off the game he was playing.
"You can do this, Steph. Good Steph." Shiro said while treating Stephanie like a dog.
"Aaaaah! I'm sick of you two! I swear, if the two of you don't fulfill your responsibilities as Imanity's rulers anymore, I'll topple the entire kingdom and flip it over your heads!" Stephanie tearfully shouted, the entire scene looking comical.
Sora wanted to open his mouth to say something when suddenly-
BOOM!
The entire castle started to tremble as a result of the shockwave from an explosion. The walls started crumbling and it seemed as though it would only take a second, even smaller vibration for the entire castle to come collapsing down.
Trying to maintain his balance, Sora grabbed Steph's collar.
"Are you doing this?!" Sora asked in a shaking voice. "This isn't funny! Destroying the castle because you thought we didn't do any duties is just overreacting!"
"Of course not! How could I do that?! This castle belonged to my grandfather, how could I destroy it?! I just said it as a joke!" Stephanie said, obviously denying that she had anything to do with it. She wouldn't, in the first place. She lived here her whole life, there was no way she'd destroy it on a whim!
"Then what is this? Divine justice?" Sora asked, theorizing what happened.
"M-maybe it's an earthquake?" Shiro suggested.
"That's impossible. Elkia is settled in an area free from earthquakes. The last recorded earthquake was 900 years ago!"
The earthquake that seemed to last for an eternity stopped after 5 seconds. Not even a second had passed since the 'earthquake' stopped, and the door slammed opened sharply.
"Masters! Are you okay?!" A woman who looked like an angel instantly asked her masters. The woman had long purplish-pink hair that reached down to her knees and two white wings protruding near her hips. Her pupils were purple surrounded by golden irises, her ears were wing-shaped, and she also had a halo over her head.
"Jibril! is this your doing?!" Sora jumped on Jibril, shaking her vigorously as he asked her.
"No. I would never try doing something like that." Jibril shook off Sora's panicked reaction, showing no signs of discomfort.
"Oh, is that so?" Knowing that Jibril would never lie to him, Sora calmed down. "So, what happened? As your master, I command you to find out what caused this."
"As you wish, my master." Jibril slightly bowed her head. She closed her eyes, and sharpened all her senses with magic, pushing her limits to detect what happened.
When she opened her eyes again, there was a confused expression on her face.
"One of the mountains in the North-West region has collapsed."
...
It was abundantly clear who was the winner. King had completely devastated his opponents. To be honest, the game wasn't even fair. Even a 3-year-old could beat someone who had never seen a game console in his life.
"It's surprising that you're even crying like that after trying to use 'steal'."
Despite being one of- if not the most powerful ability in the game if used correctly, using the 'steal' skill still posed a high risk. If the player could use the ability correctly, then he could seize the opponent's weapon. But this move consumed an enormous amount of AP, and there was also the possibility that something else could be stolen.
In the thieves' case, it was the bomb King was prepared to use. The bomb they stole exploded the second they used the skill, causing King to win the game instantly. In fact, King wasn't sure if they knew what the ability was and how to use it, or they just pressed random buttons. Chances were, it was the latter. For once, luck was on his side.
Suddenly, King remembered about a yearly event in the game that would start about today. Ignoring the crying thieves, he started playing the game. After clearing all the opponents in a short time, he finally reached the last boss. Beating it was child's play, and King sat through the final monologue of the boss. One complaint he had was that the final cutscene was unskippable.
"Gah! I've been defeated. Do what you will to me, you wretch! I'll return again next time!" The final boss's voice said from King's game console, and hearing it over and over every year was utterly boring. Before pressing the button that would send it back to the abyss, King uttered these words in disdain, in a tone so heavy and intimidating it could overshadow a Dragonia's roar.
"Get lost."
And out of nowhere, the trio started running out of away, as if they were running for their lives.
Surprised, King tried to stop them to give them back their clothes (granted, they did bet everything they had), but the rumbling of his stomach cut him off halfway. He couldn't bother with it anymore.
"I'm starving." King put his hand on his stomach. Just as he was about to give up on eating and planned to tough it out, something caught his eye. It was the stuff trio left on the ground, his winnings. He saw some dried jerky among the items.
"Well, I guess life isn't all that bad after all." After that short thought, he opened the small bag and ate the jerky.
While he ate the jerky, he started thinking about the information he had obtained before starting the game with those three earlier.
It seems that this world was ruled by Tet.
The 10 pledges were absolute, probably excluding Tet, as he created it himself. Though he didn't seem like the sort to go against it, being the God of Play, after all. Hell, he probably wanted it. The only way someone could go against the Ten Pledges is if one challenged Tet, took over the title of One True God, and abolished the pledges.
The region which he was in currently was called Elkia, the only human city in this world.
Recently, two young humans named Sora and Shiro were declared king and queen of Imanity. Also, they had recently defeated the Eastern Union and made them join the Commonwealth of Elkia.
"That's impressive. Seeing as this world depends completely on games, they should be pretty good at them, too." King thought. "Hmm... they might pose a challenge." With that thought, a small grin grew on King's face.
There was also the term 'Ixseed' which referred to the 16 sentient races of Disboard whom the Ten Pledges applied to. They were ranked based on their affinity to magic, and Imanity was the lowest-ranked of the races.
The top six races were regarded as 'Life' and 'Living beings', while the other ten races are regarded as 'Creatures' and 'Living things'. He couldn't yet tell what the difference between them was in the first place, but chances were, the disparity might be as great as a Wolf-level threat and a Dragon-level threat.
"What a cruel system." As soon as he finished his last piece of jerky, he set out for the city. He was relaxed now, as he had some money from the three that challenged him earlier. At least he had something else to bet in a game, aside from whatever he had on himself at the moment.
"Hey, King! I finally found you." A familiar voice called from his side. Immediately recognizing the voice, King turned to the person in question.
"Hey, Saitama-bro! Where were you? Leaving me in the middle of the forest wasn't exactly nice, you know. Even if that 'Tet' said that no murder, war, or robbery is allowed in this world, what if I ran into a wild animal, or a dragon, like earlier?" King said, not knowing at the time that the dragon he saw was part of the sixteen intelligent races on Disboard, thus not needing to worry about it in the first place.
"Ah, right. Sorry about that." Saitama said with a deadpan face. "I wanted to find that kid as soon as possible, so I didn't think it through.
Though Saitama wasn't really sorry, King couldn't care less at the moment, and sighed. They then started walking together.
"Well, did you end up finding that kid? I hope you didn't hurt anyone." The Strongest Man asked.
The Strongest Hero scratched the top of his head. "No, although I searched the whole country, I couldn't find him. It's like he doesn't even live in this world."
"Dammit, I'm definitely missing the sale today. The next time I see that kid, I'm definitely spanking him; or at least give him a stern talking to!" Saitama said angrily, King not having any words to reply with to the fact that Saitama wanted to spank or scold that kid that introduced himself as a God.
"Also, remind me. While we were falling from the sky, didn't he say he lived in one of those chess pieces we saw in the distance or something?" King asked, pointing at a large king chess piece in the distance.
"...DAMMIT!" Saitama yelled, a vein appearing on his forehead. "I'm not gonna make it in time anyway, so I'm definitely giving him a piece of my mind right now!" Saitama said, cracking his knuckles.
But before he could do anything, King placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Just cool it, Saitama. Finding him right now won't solve anything." King said, attempting to calm Saitama down. He seemed more reasonable than he did a few minutes ago. "Also, how do you plan to get in? Don't tell me you want to punch your way in? How are you going to pay for the damages, then?"
That seemed to do the trick, as Saitama deflated like a balloon. "I should've went there from the start..." King could see Saitama's soul floating out of his mouth. "My 80% discount on beef and seafood..."
"Well, whatever." King heaved a sigh of relief, glad that he calmed Saitama down before he pulled some other crazy stunt. "By the way, you didn't answer my first question. Where'd you go, anyway?"
"Ah, right..."
[Around 10 minutes after Saitama left King to find Tet...]
When seen from the sky, there was a trail left from what seemed to be a white blur, causing damage wherever the trail went and kicking up massive dust clouds as a result.
Said blur of white was Saitama running around like a suit-wearing lizard running away from tax collectors, a frantic expression on his face.
"Where is that brat!? Dammit! I'm already late for the sale!" Saitama was so busy thinking about the sale that he didn't realize he was running on the surface of the lake at the moment. When finally realized it, he was approaching the end of the lake... with the small village he pointed out earlier barely a few hundred meters away from him.
"Aw, crap." Saitama thought, seeing the village at the end of the lake. If he had just passed through at this speed, he would cause as much damage as a hurricane or a flash flood would, and he had no money to pay for the damages. This was probably one of the most difficult situations in his life.
Everything slowed down to a crawl as Saitama started thinking- his brain overclocking to get him out of this mess. He could not maneuver left or right in time because of him running on water. Stopping was not an option either, as the friction of the water was very low, and if he forcefully stopped himself, he'd probably just cause a flood, damaging the village either way.
"I can't go right, I can't go left, and I can't stop, either." Saitama clenched his teeth. "What should I do?"
He abruptly realized what he had to do. The question wasn't 'What should he do?' The question was 'Where should he go?'
"Up! I have to go up." Saitama shouted in an epiphany as he jumped upwards, avoiding the village entirely. However, he made a small mistake. He hadn't calculated where to land. And as a result, he hit a huge mountain at hypersonic speeds and collapsed it.
[The present...]
"Ah, it's nothing important," Saitama said nonchalantly. "I just looked through the entire country until I decided to give up and find you."
"It seems like he's hiding something..." King thought. "Ah, whatever. If Saitama says it's nothing much, it probably isn't anything major, or he's already dealt with it."
Though he'd like to question Saitama more, now wasn't the time for questions.
They had reached the capital city of Elkia.

I'm back and going through Battle of the Exes 2. Long in depth thoughts through each episode with a TL:Doverall thoughts of the season at the end. Ran out of room to add much more preamble to this so check out previous posts if you're interested.
Battle of the Exes II
EP 1:
Going just by the quick intro it looks like their budget went up. Lot of glances at much more involved challenges.
Not Johnny R again. :/
Fucking Knight again with a mullet.
CT saying he shaved his beard since Diem was going to be there is hilarious.
Wes looking skinny these last couple seasons is so weird.
I like John the rookie comedian immediately. Very self aware, which doesn't seem like it'd be good for this show.
CT and Diem pairs again? I mean I didn't assume she'd be with someone else, but seems weird to do the same duo a second time.
"..and she had no gag reflex." Zach is gross and a douche right from the jump.
Sarah and Jordan seem like a good pair.
Nany "I have options" wow, self burn?
Bananas?!?! Damn Nany, literally who don't you go through? No judging but damn, Bananas?!
If Theresa is strong this season, her and Wes could be great. I feel like her perception of a strong challenger came out of nowhere last season though.
This first like 5 minutes seems more explicitly sexual than any of the previous seasons lol Straight up talking about gag reflexes, world class bj's, getting caught in the bathroom. They like pushing the exes and hook up factor super hard?
Wait...so was Dustin just lying his ass off last season? He said he had some "agreement" with Heather but that he was single on Free Agents? So he wasn't and THAT's what Jessica was talking about at the reunion?
Most of these rookies just seem like they were cast by some completely other production company or something. They seem like they were cast for comedic possibilities, rather than actual personalities. It just seems like a huge swing in casting style. I hope this isn't like a shifting in focus?
I love CT, I will try not to say it as often this season.
"Take my dog on the most ridiculous vacation." Wes has his priorities straight
I swear "Shut the fuck up" is the most common words to come out of Bananas' mouth.
OK, these houses are really getting ridiculous. This place looks like a resort.
Dustin seems like he's trying too hard. Like he's trying to pick up on this Jessica/Jay joke/rumor, but he just kind of runs too much with it and just keeps going on. But it seems like it's more to appease the people around rather than like he actually cares? It seems so weird and awkward?
Bus and flying to another bus to just the first comp? They definitely got their budget upped this season. Last season all the comps were in the same damn watering hole lmao
Not to be an instant naysayer, but I hate these kind of comps. They're just boring as hell. Oh, you gotta walk across a big height and you might fall. The effect is more on the cast than viewers, it just becomes boring and repetitive for viewers.
CT seemed to have the best idea, but Diem seemed to not want to do it. Just get a big push and hang on while CT holds her. They did it the first little bit, but it didn't seem like she pushed all that hard.
I feel like a Wes first power couple is the best possible choice for potential drama.
I'm glad Theresa's sketchy ass vote from Free Agents has stuck with her. Purely because it was just so stupid.
"The Banana one"
Johnny just trying to nonchalantly swim over to listen to their convos.
Wes trying to get on the good side of rookies? Seems like a bold strategy. They're a lot more volatile and emotional and probably a lot easier to break and beat down the line. But also more likely to fuck you somewhere along the line.
I feel like sending Bananas in right away is dumb when you know he'll likely stay. At least get an idea for the eliminations before you send him in. So you have better knowledge. Him and Nany are probably automatically in the top 3 or 4 of pairs for the whole season. Sending them against some rookies is just dumb.
Is Dustin on the outs really because of his gay porn? Or is it just because he's awkward and seems to get along with the women a lot more than the guys? I could definitely see a lot of these guys being put off by the dude being in gay porn, but he also just seems like he's trying too hard all the time.
"You threw me in on the ruins." I feel like that is extremely putting The Ruins lightly.
Wes really just seems like he's having fun with this meeting. Like he just wants to scare Johnny.
Yeah, I could literally see that conversation ending with Wes saying "I'm not throwing you in, I'm just messing with you." and that being why Johnny says "Fuck you for even making me have this conversation then." I feel like Wes was having fun with it and editors wanted to use it for suspense.
Dustin and Jessica going in first really does seem like a "random" ass choice... You literally could have thrown in the other Johnny and said he skated by last season and you can't have it happen again. Or anything. Seems weird to say Jessica/Dustin are in the middle so...bye.
This comp looks simple but interesting still. I like it.
Welp, Dustin/Jessica gone. I feel like there was something more going on with this social dynamic in some way.
Drunken Diem dancing. A Diem season staple.
Weird, seeing the people leaving?
The Challenge actually enacting twists? I kind of liked the purity and straight forward aspect of the show! :/
Exes II: Ponderous edition
EP 2:
The Real World Explosion is such a dumb name. Ran out of dynamic locations?
"Get the fuck over it! Something happened you didn't like in the past!" Well, Jordan has a way with words... I think I'm getting the character turn...
Well it seems Johnny has already established the friendship in the house and that everyone is going to have his side.
A suck and blow competition, yeah they're definitely leaning in to it.
Johnny not getting by this season! lol
If Avery and Johnny somehow win, I feel like Avery is an episode away from quitting.
Ok, this ball and bat section is hilarious.
Can you not just spit the peanut butter out? You just have to get it off with your tongue, not eat it? Did I miss that part of the instructions?
Apparently they couldn't just spit it out?
"Vets, vets, vets!" Just really helping Wes and his case of getting the rookies after you aren't you Bananas?
Wes and Bananas going back to back? Will they go for it?
Nany being the one who's wanting to pull the trigger? lol
Nany ain't fuckin' around this season. Damn.
Theresa fucking this up more than anything. You're just being stubborn. Did you learn these habits from Laurel?
"You'd be dumb not to put us in." Theresa, sit down.
Uh oh. Diem not feeling well :( Every Diem moment is just going to be ominous.
They're really just repeating this boring elimination challenge? That definitely seems like a choice.
I would love nothing more than for Johnny to go out his very first elimination.
Damn, Johnny gets to stay. Not a big let down as the other two seem entirely forgettable. I just wanted Johnny out for spite.
Nany just seems to have come in to this season with a mission to be confrontational. Why does Avery being jealous and not ok with with you and Johnny happening have to be addressed? Just give it time and let it try to develop?
This weird Jay stuff is....weird.
It's a bummer with how CBS all access puts up the ads for their site because the Diem and Knight memorial pictures flash on the screen for like a half second before going to a commercial and coming back to the previews.
EP 3:
I figured this, but Johnny seems childish.
CT being pulled by producer?!
Geesh, CT is not having any of this. Killer look to the producer and just puts the phone off speaker lol Good for you CT.
Man, this is heart crushing too watch.
Oh god, seeing Nia actually sucking her thumb is unsettling. Stop it!
God this is sad and soul crushing. I can't do this!
"Only way I usually go home this early is when I hit somebody." Still able to joke lol
Well there went about a third of this seasons competitiveness.
Bananas and Jordan walking in talking about the possibilities of the comp doesn't really seem all that standoffish to me.
Jenna, your face ain't all that cute and you seem to have the personality of a brick wall.
Theresa's hand getting stuck lmao "MY HAND! MY HAND! MY HAND!" It kept you on, count it as a blessing.
I can't wait for Knight and Pennsetucky to go.
Jemmye off instantly, maybe I'll get what I want this episode.
Zach not waiting until the final to start screaming at his female partner...
I'm assuming players must have wised up to the fact that it's not always benneficial to go last? Especially on something like this where it could rain and effect grip. Just put yourself a couple groups back to get an idea but not last in case it does rain.
Simone and John must be gone here. I thought John would be funny and interesting to have in the house but he's had literally zero screen time since the introductions.
"I want Bananas in the final." What in the fuck? What are you smoking Jordan? You're just going past hoping to have yourself in the final, but you want to have Bananas beside you guys to beat him?
"I'm the same way, out of all the girls in the house, I never want to say your name." The unsaid part of "Your partner on the other hand..."
The problem with playing the middle game Sarah is that sooner or later it becomes hard to hide what you're doing because someone expects you to show your hand or make a decision sooner or later.
The good news though, is that this game is better when there is apposing sides politically. One big alliance just ruins the game, just look at modern Big Brother. It destroys the game and makes it not worth watching.
Food eating Elim?
Oh shit...a replacement for CT/Diem? I actually didn't expect that. Hopefully some good competitors.
Well what the shit, why even say shit? Jesus.
Oh shit, they brought back I Can from the duel but with food? NICE! I actually liked that comp idea, but thought it wasn't handled well at all.
Milk on the table makes me think spicy stuff.
Simmone...chick. It's a betting challenge and you go lower...
These guys are completely clowning the Are You The One cast lol
Don't give me weird ass slow mo while he's inserting a damn brownie in his mouth.
These rookies man...
"A little urgency!"
These rookies have no damn drive. Jesus.
The first vet that gets eliminated is going to have an easy ass time with whatever the hell Exile is. Just filling up that house with all these shitty rookies.
EP 4 - EP7 missing. It was probably a lot of celebrating. Knight and Pennsetucky get taken out, then Johnny/Nany. "Groupon pussy" was an amazing line that was said. Rookies still suck. blah blah blah
EP 8:
I'm going to start this episode by bitching about how much the CBS all access app/site sucks. The app is terrible, I constantly get double dose of ads, the app literally needs reset every 2 episodes because the app itself gets bogged down and starts lagging. The website constantly just freezes up between ad breaks and flipping back to the show. I've had times where the episode didn't keep track of my progress on an episode and I had to fast forward through the episode and I then had to sit through all 3-4 ad breaks before it got to where it needed to be.
I'm usually all for the Rookies coming in and fucking up the game and killing the vets gang up mentality, but the rookies this season are just damn terrible. They're not interesting, they have no real killer mentality, they stuck competitively. This cast is booty.
Sarah having to be the one too initiate some kind of team bonding is a damn bummer. Jordan is an asshole and it sucks Sarah wants a win that bad that she's the one to suck it up and feed in to Jordans ego.
TJ telling the crew about the guys having to be on the outside makes think this definitely comes up and isn't just a safety thing.
"Too fucking easy. I hesitated." Yeah, Leroy and Nia probably would have killed that if Nia didn't hesitate so long.
Jonna being able to jump back in time was great. Damn
This is a cool ass comp, but seems more cool than easy.
Zach flipping out for no reason. He just wants to flip out. Chill the fuck out.
Sarah's enthusiasm is kinda getting overboard...
Jordan completely fucked that up. He hugged the wall when coming back and yelld for Sarah to go. I mean, you gotta be the one to stay aware of where you're going and standing.
"Well, you did exactly what they told you not to do, so you need to do a better job of paying attention." TJ laying it down.
Jonna crying, Zach walks up and opens up with "I'm going to explain where all my anger is coming from..." follows up with "What did I blame you for that wasn't your fault?" God damn Zach. You flipped out for no damn reason and there was no blame, you just flipped your shit.
"You give the two black people fried chicken... I ain't even mad. I'm going to enjoy it." and "Surprise, motherfucker." I'm liking Leroy this season.
Zach asking to make Jay tremble. What in the hell is wrong with Zach?
I feel like Wes is completely lying about Zach being his number 1 just to hope he gets him thrown in lmao
"I hope you learned a lot here tonight too." "That you're a fucking snake..."
"It's guy code." Zach, shut up.
Zach instantly knowing Wes did it. I laugh knowing damn well Leroy and Nia probably went straight to Zach after talking with Wes.
I'm actually not sure who Leroy/Nia are throwing in right now. I feel like the smart play would be Zach or Wes if they're wanting to better get to the end and win, but they could easily just throw in Jay/Jenna to not make a move.
I'm guessing Jay/Jenna and all this talk really just gets Zach flipping out more after this.
Also seriously what the fuck is happening with the Exile house? There's four couples after this?
I don't understand them all fawning over Wes being such a great manipulator. He really didn't say much other than "Don't throw me in, throw my biggest partner in so you become my biggest partner." What?! You people are so easily swayed and accepting of just anything?
Going to Jay and Jenna and demanding a thanks lmao wow what a power trip
A sledgehammer elimination...for Jordan. Eesh this guy doesn't get the best luck when it comes to elim's
Oh nevermind, he's killing it lol
Zach is definitely doing this stupidly. He's getting barely any surface area of the hammer on the beam. He's basically trying to chop the damn thing in half by hitting the corner of the hammer.
Jordan walking to the beam and away from it to hand sarah the hammer is just about the same way the rookies have approached these elims.
They're somehow selling the Jonna and Sarah closeness but they seem farther apart than Jordan and Zach were. Editing!
Really hope Sarah gets a win here.
Zach still just whining because Jonna is getting words of encouragement lol
Hey it looks like Johnny and Nany may actually have some competition now.
Seriously if someone isn't coming back like right now this is the most bullshit twist. Ok, there's instantly a tease for it. I was about to say...
EP 9:
Wes getting this far and then getting messy out of fear? Where have I seen this before?
Jordan saying "I'm done wheeling and dealing." Your mark on this season is mostly not making deals lol
Jordan being mad at how Theresa talks to people is fucking hilarious. Wes calling it out. "On the asshole scale you are easily over Theresa."
I get where Jordan is coming from not just wanting to help the biggest competition in Wes. But if he plans on future appearances on The Challenge, it's real damn dumb to just show vets that you aren't open to working together at the end.
Jordan is completely bullshitting lol He started talk about Theresa by saying he didn't want to make the deal because he doesn't like the way Theresa acts and talks to people. Like she's queen of the place and she's a bitch. Why would Wes even bring up Theresa to compare Jordan to if he didn't talk shit first? Just randomly picks his partner to compare Jordan to?
"We're here and now, not ten years ago with roided up Wes." hahahahahaha
I honestly wouldn't say Wes used to do roids, he more seems like the rivals 1 final completely altered how he prepares for these challenges. It's like he died in that final and switched to way more focus on running and endurance and slimmed the hell down. Especially after fresh meat 2 where it seemed like he could get by pretty well on talent and politicking so why not just prepare more for the final?
Wes' heart looks like it's in his damn stomach as soon as he walks in to the dome.
Leroy "What the fuck ya'll clapping for?!"
There's been a whole losers bracket? Where the fuck has that been shown?!
Wes instantly "It's going to be Bananas"
Wes is instantly not enthused. He looks miserable.
I hate that this losers bracket has just gone on and not been shown at all. Was this maybe shown on their website at the time or something?
In Wes' eyes this would just fucking suck. You played a pretty damn good political game. Had a lot of weaker people going just to further help Banana's and Nany to get back in the game with 1 or 2 challenges left before the finals. And they're coming back with a lot of momentum. I'd be pissssssed.
I'm all for it from a tv watcher though, because otherwise this would have been a landslide boring season.
Another elim rehash. I wasn't a huge fan of this one though. At least this time around they aren't having to pull around a fucking 10 inch rope.
Is...Zach and Jonna winning this?
Jordan helping Bananas is like the dumbest twist of fate ever. The guys by all accounts hated each other. Bananas would probably beat Jordan in most challenges and final. Is it solely out of anger for Wes? lol
I am so confused on what happened during that? By all appearances Zach and Jonna had an easier set of rope/knots to work with, were shown well behind multiple times. Then all of a sudden it's like Zach/Jonna made zero progress.
Zach blaming Jonna lmao Fucking Zach
There's Bananas being that "Humble winner" that he loves to tout and bitch about Jordan with...
I think Wes is overstating just how much he's done, but it would absolutely blow to get to this point and just have your worse adversary come back in the game.
Bananas on the fucking high horse all over again... I really don't understand when people say they don't know where the Bananas hate comes from. He talks like he plays a certain way, but then when you actually see him play...it's nothing like how he talks about. It's bullshit. He's a douche. Talking all this shit about Wes making a ddeal with the devil. We can bring up how much shit you've done to get to some of your finals dude. The island, making a deal with Ev to fuck over your own alliance, to only fuck them over again and leave out the girls. The ruins fucking over everyone and passing it off as "fair" and what everyone wants, until it gets down to you and you flip your shit that you're going to go in. You've constantly played like shit all the way up to Free Agents where you actually had to do shit and then you had the constant best partners since then with Frank and now Nany.
Wes trembling.
Hey, I remember this challenge from Fresh Meat... The show has come a long way from throwing balls around while standing on tree stumps to now being elevated above water and doing it.
Nia literally can't stand? lol
TJ advocating for someone to quit?! Who is this man?!?! I've never seen this man before.
Damn! Jordan got a huge ball hit on Wes lol Point blank head shot that apparently Wes didn't see coming at all.
Leroy trying not to jump lol
I feel like everyone should have been throwing that to Bananas. Let him put the blood on his own hands. He has a choice of either going back on his word or give Wes an easy win. See which matters more to him. Ya'll just did his work for him, making sure Wes goes to the dome and then being able to jump out and not have to worry about going in. Ya'll dumb.
Jordan suddenly being a fucking Johnny boot licker is certainly fucking something.
Yeah Leroy, Ya'll are stupid. You can't talk much shit Leroy, you would have been talked in to doing the same shit. You put in Zach instead of Wes only because Wes said not to lol
Apparently people in this game don't view returning players the same way as Survivor or Big Brother. Those mother fuckers instantly have a target on their backs when they come back in no matter what the party lines are(most of the time). How you don't instnatly just throw them back in the dome seems crazy. You already left once, why should someone who's made it this far deal with the risk of possibly going home? At least that's usually the mentality around this type of situation.
Nia is at least calling it true. I'm not saying it isn't the worse of the decisions, but she's definitely calling it true as hell.
This Nany/Johnny vs Nia blowup is my life. Give them alllllllll the shit.
The thing that wasn't talked about enough is how Johnny threw it knowing he'd be safe and knowing Leroy would be going in. Leroy got used and played and doesn't even realize it.
Ep 10:
Theresas smile during this fight is Chef's kiss
Sarah being straight up. "Yeah, I want to make this easier for myself going forward. It's a game." I think Nia is 100% vindicated in what she's saying about Johnny/Nany, but the reasoning behind it doesn't matter.
Fucking Johnny trying to talk fucking shit afterward. Seriously going to Leroy like nothing was done out of line and acting like Nia is insane and ruining everything. Somehow Johnny just keeps being able to play his bullshit politics and act like he's the nice guy afterward.
Crazy to think Sarah's been on 8 seasons already. Maybe because of the early dq's with teammates makes it seem smaller but I feel like it hasn't been that damn many.
I hate the echo chambers that these games create within themselves. Everyone who came up with the decision, who agrees to the decision, and is in no way getting screwed by the decision sitting in a room laughing about the people being upset being insane is just hilariously blind and inept.
I am liking the trend of not showing these elims until the contenders see it.
Hall brawl....Well bye Wes/Theresa. Sucks for you that you played a pretty great game and get fucked over by a twist.
Just for reference it isn't just that it's Nany/Johnny walking back in the game that makes me dislike the twist. I don't usually like twists at all in these shows unless they're known by everyone before hand so they can be played around. Even if CT and Diem walk back in the house somehow I'd still have an issue with it.
I think Wes knows they're already out. He doesn't look in it at all.
Both teams envisioning Nany is pretty hilarious.
Yeah, I'm not sure what that Wes strategy was...
I feel like Wes has a history of quietly quitting when he knows he's already lost. He quit against Ev in FM 2, and now he just lays down and says his head hurts?
"He's fine, he's being a pussy. Karma's a bitch." What in the hell did Wes do? Put you in to get eliminated? lol Fuuuuuck Johnny. "It's a game" "It's a game" "It's a game", but also get killed, karma's a bitch, you're being a pussy.
I literally don't know what Wes is doing lol but man I'm so fucking tired of hearing Johnny talk.
Jordan being an ass licker to Johnny after two whole seasons of Johnny talking non stop shit about him is fucking depressing. What happened to all that pride and ego talk?
It's on one part funny to watch Wes' downfall, but at the same time it's so agrevating watching it come from a twist and at the shit hands of Johnny while he talks shit.
I am not ready for the amount of times I'm going to see Johnny on seasons going forward :/
It was weird hearing shit talking of Nia sucking her thumb and then suddenly seeing it a lot this season. It's fucking WEIRD.
"It was Jordan who did it, you can't blame Bananas." Leroy, you are god damn stupid lol Johnny was talking about this shit before the competition even happened.
Apology tour. Kind of worthless at this point. There's slim pickings and it all doesn't really matter too much at this point.
Seeing the city stuff made me get excited for the idea of a city final again. We were robbed!!!!!
I literally can't get passed the Jordan ball licking of Bananas. What in the holy hell heppened?!
This is kind of a boring challenge to watch leading in to the final...
Why am I still dealing with Jay and Jenna on this damn show?!
At least it seems like these rookies won't skate by to the final and will actually see an elim. I'd rather the vets not have an easy win. The three teams other than the rookies would be a pretty good final as long as Sarah doesn't heat stroke out of this one like Cutthroat.
Uh oh, guess I counted Jordan/Sarah in too soon.
Bananas urging Nany and yelling for her to go and then falling himself is beautiful.
Johnny instantly saying "You know I love you guys" I fucking hate this guy.
They're arguing hahaha Sarah wants to stick to the same damn plan of keeping light weight and Jordan wants to lick fucking boots.
Johnny being upset hahahahahaha
Fuck Johnny. Angry they're not seeing a challenge! hahah Johnny will literally flip every fucking thing on its head when it comes down to him.
Hahahahaha Johnny, if you were concerned about that so much why were you fine with Leroy and Nia going in? Oh because now it's you going in?
I don't get the Johnny love. This dude is 100% fucking two faced. He passes it off like he's this extremely loyal smart player, but all that shit goes out the window when he can say anything against him going in.
Sarah is playing the vet and Johnny's style of game of making their way easier and cutting the fat. He's just mad his arguments are being used against him.
EP 11:
Sarah's absolutely right. "They taught me how to play this way, and now want me to play the nice girl. The nice girl game has fucked me."
Nia mad they don't have the easy elim as well lol
Johnny trying to pretend they would throw in the rookies is fucking hilarious. He talked about it being a game the entire last episode. He screwed over Leroy and Nia and jumped out knowing they wouldn't go in.
I fucking hate Johnny. He's a complete hypocrite.
Nany, Nia and Johnny ganging up on the girl who is the most chipper and least argumentative or confrontational of probably anyone who's been cast ever is definitely something. You guys played too many seasons with Frank.
My favorite thing about the location changes is there is always someone who has to ask where the location is lol
Johnny, I literally don't care if you're excited about something or not. This show is literally your career. You can deal with it.
"Wish I could actually be happy I was here." what a whiny bitch.
I'm with Jenna, down with seafood. Fuck seafood!
The team who hasn't been in an elimination "I've worked my ass off to be here." You're already talking like a vet.
Johnny "I can't deal with anyone else being smart or happy" Bananas
The buddy up between Nany and Nia has surprised me the most. What?! lol How does Johnny just screw people over and ends up best friends again the next day.
Is this Johnny/Evan/Kenny all over again? Sarah already lived through that saga.
Jesus Nia...
"Can we just eat and have one decent fucking day?" Of course Johnny would be the fucking one to say this shit. Talk all kinds of shit, encourage abuse, and then act like you're the victim and just want an easy day. Like you aren't the miserable stupid fuck making is miserable because oh no you have to go into an elimination.
If Nia gets kicked I actually will be bummed. It's deserved, but I wanted to see Leroy/Nia vs Nany/Johnny...again.
"Nia's gone, as if I didn't have enough to think about right now." Oh poor you Johnny. Let's somehow make Nia being taken away about you lol
"I should be able to just relax right now." Mother fucker you should be home. You literally got eliminated weeks ago. You had a twist that got you back in the game and are now going back in to an elimination. You're not owed shit.
I don't want Jay/Jenna in this final even the slightest bit, but fuck off Johnny. Fuck that entitled vet bullshit.
"You've had six eliminations, anything can happen." Of course you'd count the elims to come back in that we didn't even get to see lol you faced some week ass rookies.
Damn you Jay. Nany and Jenna falling in water would have been amazing.
I really don't want Johnny to just have an easy in to the fucking final.
"Nia crossed the line physically with someone and we take that seriously."....now
Do you seriously bring in Leroy another partner right in front of Sarah's face when you pulled her out fucking twice? Once for the same fucking circumstances?!!
Wooooooooooooow
They brought back Theresa to be Leroys partner for just this elim. I'm kind of pissed, but it was also wanted, but also kind of glad? I have so many conflicted feelings.
Fuck this noise in the face of Sarah. Kinda makes sense because she was already there. But at the same time she shouldn't get another chance. But she's going against another team who got another chance. I'm.....kind of ok with it? Mainly because it's against Johnny/Nany, If it was the same circumstance and Johnny/Nany hadn't come back before hand, I don't think I'd be as fine with it. Especially with Sarah sitting right there lmao
Johnny fucking yelling "Owww" Karma's a bitch I think you've said Johnny? Or "He's fine, he's being a pussy"?
Fuck Johnny!
"That's yours Nany! That's your x!" Please get it, because I failed to.
Seriously, when did the perception of Theresa shift over the last couple seasons? All of a sudden Theresa is seen as some challenge threat, where they said she was an upgrade to Nia, they talked her up the previous season as well.
Hahaha I love TJ clearly not standing at a point where he can watch Theresa kick Nany in the face repeatedly lmao he could very clearly just step to that side and watch it all happen, but he decides to keep it as a blind spot hahaha
I would have rather seen Leroy/Johnny both in the final vs Sarah, but god am I happy to see Johnny/Nany gone.
Theresa's first final and yesterday she was at home. Geesh, I am not a fan of twists.
"I would have expected my own mother to screw me over before Sarah." Johnny is such a peice of shit lmao He will literally die on any hill he talks up.
I could honestly see Jay and Jenna quitting lmao
Troll tolls!
They didn't even bother giving Theresa a different jersey lol
"I wanna go out a winner." Sarah talking about being done with The Challenge?
Jay and Jenna are so fucked lmao "We are, of course, going to finish." Yeah....that exact moment makes me think you won't.
I like that TJ still blows the horn as a necessity lol It can't be heard, no one can even see it, but sure let's blow the horn.
EP 12:
Jumping out of a helicopter to swim to a kayak would be fun as hell
"I would shut up a lot of people who talk a lot of crap about me"-Theresa. Have you watched the last couple seasons? People talk you up a lot. You were getting picked first in Free Agents some times over Laurel. In both exes you were considered one of the strongest girls. I know people may not like you but I feel like the last couple seasons you've been considered one of the best competitors for the girls.
Leroy being the one to get yelled at by the girl is hilarious.
"I could buy tons of shoes...a house. I wouldn't have to talk to my family anymore." What?! Jenna why are you still on this season?! lol
Hey, Nia called it. A word puzzle.
Nooooo you left th....ok they ran back and screwed them up. Jesus almost made a rookie mistake of leaving the puzzle there solved.
Hahaha cut back to Jay and Jenna talking about them working so hard to get here.
Flashbacks to Sarah getting DQ'd because of her partners lol in the final where Leroy gets a partner given to him.
What the hell is this path? lol cows now goats.
God damn, Sarah and Jordan take those first glasses like champs. Damn!
Quit calling it flip cup. It's not the same thing! lol
They're talking about Leroy and Theresa being on the heels of Sarah and Jordan when they're just now getting to the cows. They aren't even to the goats yet lol They aren't on their heels at all.
Yeah, Sarah and Jordan are gone and still no Leroy/Theresa
Jay and Jenna fucking walking after the checkpoint lol wow
I could get through almost all sick food things, but this weird half solid liquid would be a damn struggle for me lol
I need a counter for how many times Jenna says "whatever" for no reason
I can not imagine puking multiple times and forcing yourself to jog afterward lmao
"Oh it's a drinking game." Jenna says before seeing whats in the cups
I almost want to puke watching this.
The role reversal with Jenna haha
I will be SHOCKED if they aren't quitting. Shocked
People saying "I've never quit" have almost certainly quit.
"Are you crying? Are you serious?!" TJ, I love you.
Jay/Jenna, I wanna give you shit because you took Johnny and Nany's spot in the final making it a really interesting final, but at the same time. Johnny kind of made his own bed.
"You know how much shit twitter is going to give us?" Flashes twitter handles!!! I am dead. straight dead.
"A TUBE!!!!!!!"
First flip cup, now corn hole.
That's a huge goddamned lead blown. There had to be some struggling that wasn't shown. Jesus.
Theresa acting like she's shocked they're puking because of this caviar.
30 min time limit on this checkpoint doesn't seem to make sense if they have to run back for the rocks. Why even bother running and eating more tubes if you can just sit there and not tire yourself out? You don't even have to make it blatent, just struggle to eat the caviar.
I feel like the editing isn't doing a great job, or just don't have much to work with lol They're trying to paint like Leroy and Theresa are right on the heels of Sara/Jordan, but every time they show Leroy/Theresa they're barely traveling at all, but when they're showing Sarah and Jordan, outside of her having to stop to shit, they have been going fast as hell.
This sleeping situation lol
Theresa talking TRUTH!!!!! Johnny don't give a fuck about you Leroy. You're an idiot.
"What happened to Wes?" He got fucked by a twist...
"So I guess they were a layup." That's fucking right!
Five minute lead is pretty ridiculous. But I hate two day finals anyways, so...
Didn't Leroy have trouble on a climb previously? Or am I just thinking of Zach? I'm not sure.
Happy to see Sarah/Jordan get a win.
I have a feeling this reunion will be really interesting. Hope it has a good host.
If anything, this season has made me like Leroy more. Even though he got played and fails to realize it.
I completely forgot CT/Diem were on this season.
Reunion:
Weird to have Nia on the reunion?
Fucking Nia starting already. Jesus christ.
Johnny is such a whiny bitch. "I have never played that game." What in the hell lmao
Johnny trying to have the high ground here is hilarious.
"She will never win again because she branded herself a traitor." I love LOVE that Johnny has been able to shake off how he played with Kenny/Evan lmao The difference between Johnny and Sarah is that Sarah had the balls to just straight up make the move where Johnny just sits in the back while he convinces others to do it for him.
"Sexual harassment usually does that." Zach with the perfect statement on Nia. Why the fuck is she on the reunion? They just wanted someone on Johnny's side to talk shit to Sarah?
"This is the first season I've ever had any drama with girls." You came in to the house with previous drama. You can't come in to the season and immediately call out Theresa if there already wasn't a past. There may not have been a lot of drama, but that's basically a lie.
"There was a catalyst that got her to that point." Can we cut to an episode before where Johnny was calling Nia a fucking psycho and that she was off her rocker? lmao That's befor the supposed catalyst that Johnny is trying to excuse for Nia.
This is the type of shit of WHY I HATE JOHNNY it's so god damn clear how he plays, but he fucking tries to bitch about how other people play. Johnny outside of the house or on the face of everything he will be loyal as possible. He will defend people, like NIA, he will trash anyone who goes against any of his people, but he will turn around and have Jordan put Leroy/Nia in the elimination and act like it's just the smart move. He catches no fucking shit for it. It doesn't fucking stick to him because he isn't the one doing it. He's a spineless hypocrite.
Fuck this noise of trying to excuse Nia. Nia even being on the reunion is ridiculous but everyone standing up for her is absurd. They're mad at sarah and jordan so they'll excuse anything.
Wes really seems like he leaves the challenge house and just lets go of everything. He comes to these reunions and barely says a word.
Haha Everyone saying the layup was smart, but everyone mad at Sarah for using it. That makes sense lmao
"Everyone got a second chance and I went home. Even her(Theresa) Yeah Wes, you kinda got screwed.
Johnny HATES Wes getting all this praise for playing a great game.
Johnny saying Wes promises everyone everything and then gets them eliminated one by one his hilarious considering CT(I'm pretty sure it was him) said that about Johnny's game in a previous season.
Was really about to wonder if they were going to mention Knight and Diem. They kind of do them dirty only having them at the last 5 minutes and just having the biggest asshole at the reunion talk about Knight.
Overall Season thoughts:
Kind of a middling to lower season for me. Half the cast was complete filler and uninteresting. Rookies weren't only bad they just had no real fight or drive in them at all. I don't like twists in these games at all and to see one handled so poorly made me hate it even more. Nothing was shown of the exile at all, we as viewers didn't even know what was going to happen with them until suddenly Johnny/Nany show up. It also ultimately did nothing but make one episode interesting and get Wes out of the house. Literally every person on the season got a second chance but Wes lol that's just hilarious and fucked up.
That being said, I think Wes' game strategy is boring. It made most of the season boring and likely wouldn't have worked if there was even a little more people on the season who were competent.
I still hate Johnny and I'm still completely mystified when people ask about the Johnny hate or not understanding it. I seriously don't understand how you see how Johnny plays or portrays himself, but then see how he describes how he plays and portrays himself and not see a huge degree of difference between the two. He's a complete hypocrite and two faced. He will yell until he is blue in the face about being loyal and how everyone else is playing a dirty game, but he's also the same person who talks about Leroy/Nia needing to go in to beat Wes and then throwing the comp to not be the one to have to do it. He's a complete bitch and I am so damn tired of him. At least Sarah had the balls to make the move of putting him in the dome herself. She didn't throw the comp so someone else would have to do it. If you were so worried about the rookies not making the finals then why didn't you say the rookies needed to go against Wes? Oh was it because getting revenge on Wes was more important than your fake morals and making sure your alliance is safe?