I crash as soon as I get home. Good thing it’s Friday, because I am way to braindead to get any homework done. Or really anything. I just get on my computer and space out watching a bunch of those art timelapse videos. Mmmm yeah, so satisfying.

I feel a jolt when I hear a knock on my bedroom door. Mom came to get me because one of my friends came over. Slightly apprehensive, I go to the front door…

It’s Ruth. Still in the modest purple dress and leggings she wore to school, she stands in the doorway looking at the ground.

“Oh… hey!” I greet uncertainly. “Um…”

“I’m sorry for how things went today,” she begins. “Kevin told me about what happened after school. You were right. I could’ve figured out something if I had put my mind on it. But…” she trails off, still looking towards the ground gloomily.

“Hey, I’m not really mad at you,” I say. “I was just panicking. It all worked out okay in the end, so…”

She shakes her head. “No thanks to me.”

“Well, hey! You don’t have to personally do everything, right?” I say to reassure her. “And I mean, you had just had people mad at you from that speech, so I understand that you probably felt discouraged.”

“I still feel discouraged,” Ruth says. “I don’t know what to do about anything anymore.”

“That’s okay! I don’t either!” I say. “I just make it all up as I go along!”

A different voice says, “Yeah, that’s pretty much how Charlotte rolls.” Jason approaches, wearing his usual favorite cardigan.

Ruth looks up at them. “Jason, right?” she asks.

“Yeah!” he confirms. “And you’re Ruth.”

“We were just talking about what happened at school today,” I explain. “Oh boy, I have a story for you…”

“I won’t hold you up any longer,” Ruth says. “I best be getting home.”

“No, you can stay and hang out if you want!” Jason pleads.

“Thank you, but I must decline,” Ruth says. “We’ll see each other tomorrow, and I have things to do between now and then.”

So Ruth climbs into her rusty old truck and drives away, leaving me to summarize the events of the day to Jason as we walk around the complex. They are a very good audience, gasping and sighing with relief at all the right moments.

“...Thankfully, Kevin managed to convince her to just let me get picked up by my parents, since it was after school anyway. So I came home and pretty much just zoned out until Ruth got here!”

“Oh man!” Jason says nervously. “That’s scary… are you going back to school next week?”

“I guess that depends on how tomorrow goes!” I say.

“I wanna be there tomorrow too,” Jason says. “We all have to stand together right now. I’ll be cheering you guys on!”

“That means a lot to me,” I say, smiling at him.

By this time, we’ve circled back around to where the lake is. When we get to Jason’s apartment, they stop.

“Oh yeah. I came by because I wanted you to meet someone,” they say nervously. “Promise not to freak out, okay?”

“Trust me. Nothing can freak me out more than what’s already happened,” I assure them.

“Er, well… it’s my mom’s boyfriend,” Jason explains. “He has a new job, and they think they might make it official soon. Which means… he’ll be my stepfather.”

“Wow! Congratulations!” I say.

“The thing is… her boyfriend is…” He looks around to make sure nobody else is around. “His name is Isaac Everheart. He used to be a teacher at your school.”

“Oh yeah! I never had him, but I’ve heard about what happened,” I say. “He was framed by that one other teacher.”

“Okay… good,” Jason says, breathing a sigh of relief. “I didn’t know if you knew he was innocent or not… Let’s go say hello, then.”

They lead me to their apartment. Jason’s mom is there with the man I only vaguely recognize. She’s wearing a cute, clean blue blouse. The man with her has neat dirty-blonde hair, glasses over his deep blue eyes, an athletic physique (which makes sense since he was a coach,) and a matching blue polo shirt. Honestly they make a cute couple!

“Isaac? This is my best friend, Charlotte,” Jason says.

“Hi!” I greet. “I had Mrs. Kellerman for biology, so we never met. I’m Charlotte.”

“These two have been friends as long as we’ve lived here,” Ms. Ives explains to him.

“Yeah, no problem,” Isaac agrees. He stretches out a friendly hand of greeting, which I shake.

“So you two are getting married?” I ask. “You look cute together. Are you having more children?”

Ms. Ives laughs nervously. “Let’s not jump the gun here, Charlotte. I’m getting old enough to where I’d have to have a serious talk with my doctor before considering something like that.”

“Yeah, don’t pester them like that, Charlotte,” Jason says. “Hmm… that reminds me, though. If you ever want to have children, but you can’t… you know, the normal way… I do know two kids who used to live here and are now in the foster care system.”

Ms. Ives smiles sympathetically. “We’ll have to talk about that after we move into our new house. We’re not all going to fit in this apartment.”

“You’re… moving?” I ask, feeling a pang in my stomach.

“Don’t worry, we’re staying in town! I’ll still go to ECHS next year!” Jason says.

“Oh. That’s good at least,” I say, relieved. “When I get my driver’s license, I’m gonna bug you every day!”

Ms. Ives giggles. “You’ll always be welcome where we live, Charlotte. And hey- if anything ever happens with your family… you have us.”

“Thank you, Ms. Ives!” I say, feeling sad, relieved and happy all at once.

“It was great to meet you!” Isaac says. “I never had kids before, so I’m trying to figure out what kids are into. Being a teacher gave me some idea, at least.”

“I’m sure you’ll do great!” I say. I put one arm around Jason. “They’re a good kid! Never gets into trouble or does drugs or anything.”

“Hahahaha…” Jason laughs nervously, looking embarrassed.

I hang out with Jason’s folks for the evening. They even have me over for dinner! Jason’s mom is the best cook. Grilled salmon on a bed of rice… it made my mouth water!

----------------------------------------

It’s midnight, and Lily is still furiously typing on her computer. “That stubborn ass! What’s he not getting about this?” She looks close to tears.

“Honestly, just ignore him at this point,” Ashley comments wisely. “Not every idiot on the internet can be won over. I mean, look at this!” Ashley gestures at the screen, showing a lengthy series of increasingly angry forum posts. “These people are a bunch of Neanderthals.”

“I thought we were a community, though,” Lily says sadly. “Now they all think I’m a ‘Jew,’ whatever that means.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I interrupt. I crane my neck over to look at his screen. “‘The fall of the west?’ ‘Degeneracy?’ Lily… you know this is just nazi rhetoric, right?”

“Not everyone here’s like that,” Lily defends.

“Is this still on that 4Chan site?” Zoe asks, laid out on Lily’s bed and looking only barely awake.

“No, no. We’re on the Gatekeeper’s Remorse forum now,” Lily explains. “It’s a community of people who try to find hidden truths about the world.”

“Not finding many of those right now,” Ashley snarks.

Lily sighs, turns her chairs around, and puts her hands over her face. “I don’t even know why I care about this so much.”

“I mean, I think you should care about this,” I say. “All of us here either could be, or have been, affected by these horrible laws.”

Looking unsatisfied, Lily wheels around again and gets back to keysmashing.

Zoe retires to bed, taking up the couch I slept on last time. Ashley goes with her. Nova has passed out on Lily’s bed. I find that I don’t feel tired. And clearly, neither does Lily.

1 AM comes. I watch the argument roll on.

AgarthaAmbassador

Okay let me drop a bombshell on you guys then.

I’m not a religionfag but I actually know for a fact that there are dark spiritual forces at play here. I won’t out my sources for privacy reasons. But people I know have been at the front lines of a spiritual war. They’ve met the demons who are helping human traffickers kidnap children. The same ones that have ties to the governor. Doesn’t that seem suspicious to you?

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

dark_steven

Either you’re just making shit up at this point or you’re legitimately retarded. Can you prove the demons have ties to the governor?

Polylith

Of course she can’t. How could you prove something like that?

I’m not saying I don’t believe there’s a spiritual war, but if something like that were happening, it’d be beyond our comprehension.

AgarthaAmbassador

I’ll get my friends to testify if you’re not convinced. I think they’re all asleep right now though so it’d have to wait until morning.

But someone they knew got kidnapped and taken to Play Hard. She was on the inside. And they saw someone who I know for a fact works for the government there.

She had something about the will of “the governor” and “the queen.” The people she said it to are older and didn’t understand what she was saying. But at least the “governor” part is pretty obvious. And that person was 100% working for the government. She’s my mom, and she always refused to go into detail about what she does at work.

dark_steven

Agartha Ambassador said: I’ll get my friends to testify if you’re not convinced. I think they’re all asleep right now though so it’d have to wait until morning.

That’s convenient.

Agartha Ambassador said: She’s my mom, and she always refused to go into detail about what she does at work.

Yeah, just like my uncle who works at Nintendo.

SimonSaysTruths

Agartha Ambassador said: She had something about the will of “the governor” and “the queen.”

Any idea what this “the queen” part was about? Is that some feminine manifestation of this “Moloch?”

AgarthaAmbassador

SimonSaysTruths said: Any idea what this “the queen” part was about? Is that some feminine manifestation of this “Moloch?”

I know it’s a spirit who’s in league with Moloch, but not Moloch himself. Otherwise I don’t know.

SimonSaysTruths

When you talk about spiritual wars, it made me wonder about the legend of the Wetigo or Wendigo. A spirit who causes greed and evil to spread in people. Just because Natives aren’t around anymore doesn’t mean that their spirits aren’t.

dark_steven

Great, you convinced the fag who’s obsessed with savage cave people drawings.

AgarthaAmbassador

Okay now you’re just being racist. Mods?

SimonSaysTruths

Dark_steven said: Great, you convinced the fag who’s obsessed with savage cave people drawings.

They were not savages, they were better than white people in some ways, like taking care of the environment better.

Polylith

Okay, let’s get back on topic, this discussion of native people isn’t going anywhere.

Even if this story is true, it’s not really enough to prove that the governor is some puppet of Moloch or the Wendigo or whatever we think it is now. I don’t know what the context your mom would’ve said that is. Also, if she works for the government, couldn’t we say she was trying to investigate the traffickers?

Lily loses her temper and slams her fists on the desks. “I don’t know, okay! I wasn’t there! Shut the fuck up you piece of shit-”

“Hey, no more slurs, please,” I say. “Although I can see that’s popular here.”

“I wasn’t gonna say a slur,” Lily says. “I’m just so sick of Steven. He’s a piece of shit retard.”

“Um… some people consider that a slur, you know,” I point out.

“Whatever,” Lily says. “I give up. Fuck this website.” She spins around in her chair furiously.

“You know, there’s a reason we haven’t been telling people about this,” I say. “I mean… it really is impossible to explain to anyone who hasn’t been there. Nobody would ever believe us.”

“I believe you,” Lily says defiantly.

“Yes, well… you were an unusually easy person to convince, since you already believe supernatural stuff exists,” I say. “Also, ‘religionfag?’ That’s a new one.”

“A lot of people in this forum hate religion,” she explains. “Well, the ‘main’ ones, anyway. They’re all into paganism and gnosticism and shit like that.”

“Are you?” I ask.

“No,” she says. “I don’t believe any religion is right. But, obviously some supernatural stuff exists.”

“Yeah, I can’t really deny that at this point either,” I say. “My point is… talking about spiritual wars and stuff probably isn’t going to convince many people. Maybe there’s something else you can do to help.”

“Like what?” she asks, raising an eyebrow.

“You have a blog, right? Make a post telling anyone who lives in the area to show up at our protest.”

“I dunno, Anja,” she says. “I’ve never done activism before. I don’t post about LGBT whatever stuff.”

“Well… now’s a good time to start,” I say. “This is really important.”

“Yeah, I know,” she says. “It’s just, a lot of people who post about that kinda stuff are kinda cringey and annoying.”

“Wh- does that outweigh the importance of what’s going on???” I say indignantly. “It’s the internet. I’m pretty sure you can find all sorts of people who are ‘cringey and annoying!’”

“Eh, you got a point there,” Lily admits. “Alright, I’ll do it. And if they call me gay or something for posting it, whatever.”

“There are worse things to be called,” I say. “Believe me, I know from experience.”

“I’m basically gay anyway,” she rambles. “I’m into guys, and yet I only ever hang out with guys. Nova, Nathan, Pedro, all of those assholes on the internet…”

“Huh. That’s interesting,” I say. “Why do you think that is?”

“Because girls are annoying,” she explains. “Honestly, I hate most of them.”

“Rude,” I say, narrowing my eyes at her.

“Oh, come on. You know what I mean. All those annoying floozy girls with their gossiping and their purses and makeup. It makes me sick,” she rants.

“Why does it bother you so much how other people live their lives?” I challenge.

“Because they always sneer at me like I’m from another planet,” she says. “Bunch of cultists.”

I suddenly get a brain wave. “It sounds like… what you really hate is the expectation that you need to be like them.”

She stops for a moment and thinks about this. “Yeah, maybe if they just left me alone, I wouldn’t care.”

“You know, I’m a tomboy, Lily. I don’t gossip, or wear purses or makeup. But I don’t… hate other girls. They can be very pretty. You don’t have to conform to that.”

“They’ll try and make me,” Lily says bitterly.

“Then, ignore them! You can hang out with boys and play games, and be yourself!”

“Yeah, right,” she says.

“What do you mean, ‘yeah, right?’ That’s what you do anyway!” I question.

She shakes her head. “Listen, you don’t get it. You’re a tomboy because you date other girls, and they’re into that. I don’t.”

“Straight girls can be tomboys too,” I point out. “Nova says he likes tomboys.”

“Well, that’s Nova,” she dismisses. “None of my guy friends have ever tried to hit on me.”

“Huh. That’s actually… kinda surprising,” I say. “Gamer boys have a reputation for being… desperate.”

“They just see me as one of the boys at this point,” Lily declares. “That’s why they were weird about you at the tournament, and not me. Also, I’m a fatass, and nobody wants to date those.”

“And does that bother you?” I ask.

“Being a fatass? Eh, well, I don’t really-”

“No,” I interrupt. “Being seen as ‘one of the boys.’”

“Nope,” she says without hesitation. “Fine with me. I didn’t want to date any of them anyway. Just not my type.”

I stop for a moment, thinking hard.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asks, sounding slightly scared.

“Do you… wish that girls also saw you as one of the boys?” I ask.

“What kinda question is that?” she asks, frowning. “You mean they’d want to date me? I told you, I’m straight.”

“No, no,” I say quickly. “In the sense that they wouldn’t expect you to be ‘like them.’ If they saw you as a gay man, basically.”

She thinks about that. “Maybe then they’d stop sneering at me,” she says. “That’d be nice.”

“I see…” I say.

She yawns. “Anyway. We should probably go to bed. I’m tired of arguing with these fucks, and I think everyone else is out.”

I look over at Nova, who managed to sleep through that entire conversation, snoring lightly.

“Yeah. Good idea,” I say.

“G’night,” she bids.

“Good night,” I say.

I decide to just climb into bed next to Nova. Who cares anymore? Lily seems to be sleeping in her desk chair.

Although I’m tired, my brain is still active. I keep thinking…

Maybe tomorrow, I should try and strike up a conversation between Lily and Charlotte. I just… wonder how that’d go, you know?

----------------------------------------

Hey everyone, Agartha Ambassador here. Today I’m going to break my usual type of content and talk about something a little closer to home.

If you didn’t know, I live in Texas, and recently the Texas government has been passing laws targeting LGBT people. A bunch of LGBT people and their allies are planning to protest outside the capitol building in Austin. If you’re in the area, it’d mean a lot if you could show up. Some of my friends are in that community and they’re pretty scared. But instead of just talking about them, I let each of them type something out. Enjoy.

hey guys. i've known agartha ambassador for years, and i know she can exaggerate stories sometime. but you gotta listen to her on this one. i've seen, i've been there. those human trafickers prey on poor and broken families, and they don't care who's gay or straight or anything. schneider's trying to make it seem like we're your enemy, but we're not. he's the enemy. he's using this as a bullshit excuse to grow his power and using us as a scapegoat. we gotta stop him however we can. if u have any friends who are gay or trans or bi or ace or anything like that u should tell them you stand by them and that their rights matter. we live in america the land of the free and ppl should be to do what makes them happy if it doesn't hurt anyone. come to austin and help if u can if not stay safe.

I'm a lesbian from central Texas. When I came out to my parents, they were furious, to the point I didn't feel safe at home anymore and moved in with my girlfriend's family. Now there are people trying to say that people like the ones who took me in are criminals who want to harm children. The truth is, they saved my life. I met the people who really want to hurt children. All they cared about was how I look. The people who took me in are nothing like that. They've only cared for me and loved me unconditionally. What the government's doing is only going to harm more children by tearing them away from their loving parents. We have to change their minds before more lives are destroyed. Please, share my story and do whatever you can to help. May the lord bless you all.

I'm the girlfriend of the person above, and my parents were arrested yesterday. For years I've heard that the Republican Party is the party of small government, the party of cutting government overreach, the party of freedom. That's clearly a big fat lie. Does this look like freedom to you? Arresting people for the crime of permitting their children to be gay? What good does it do me to own a gun or pay low taxes if I don't even have a home? It's time for all of us to overcome this mass psychosis that's overtaken our state and see what's really happening. This is an authoritarian power grab, and if we don't stop it now it could be the end of the free world as we know it. I'm gonna fight with everything I've got, and I hope you all do the same. Think I'm being hysterical? Pay a visit to the nearest Holocaust museum. Someday, it'll be too late. Don't be a bystander.

Not sure what I can even add that hasn't been said already. I guess I should say that, this is only possible if we believe it is. No one person can do this. Abraham Lincoln didn't abolish slavery by himself. Susan B. Anthony did get women the right to vote by herself. MLK Jr. didn't propel the civil rights movement by himself. All of these people had movements behind them. Armies, literal or figurative, who were behind them and their causes. One person can be defeated. But the ideas will outlive us all. We have strength in numbers. Even if you feel alone in your comminity, you're not. There are hundreds, thousands, millions of people out there who share your struggle. We all have a shared interest in fighting for freedom. If you're not queer, fight for your neighbors, friends, and family who are. It's not only us who will be affected. If we lose our freedoms, everyone will be under constant scrutiny. Everyone will be under the boot. Everyone will be forced to follow the whims of the elite without so much as a hope of having their voices heard. We can't let that happen. These forces and anti-humanity, so as humans we must come together against them. I look forward to getting to meet you in Austin. We can do this.