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#im pretty sure he pressed the button with his left hand in cannon but lets destroy cannon even more
aterfish · 3 years
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This has been probably done few times already but i wanted to share my take on uhh... different kind? of hazmat suit for Danny.
more ideas under cut:
This suit was made by and for ghost hunters, so it was made with anti-ghost technology. Because of that, after the accident, most of Danny's ghost powers, like flight, intangibility and invisibility, were sealed. The suit is keeping ghost energy from getting outside, the same way it is from getting it inside. Unfortunately, heat from electricity melted the zip and buckles, so he is stuck inside.
Danny can still use ectorays because of the damage on his right glove from getting electrocuted to death. Charging them takes some time, so his main strategy are singular but strong and well aimed shots.
Not being able to emit ghost energy like every other ghost, makes his attacks more concentrated and thus more powerful. This also lets him use powers in human form far easier, which is helpful when he needs to disappear. (and maybe he gets sick after not using them for a while? 👀)
The suit is oversized which makes Danny slow and clumsy in fights, so instead of using agility, he tanks most attacks. It can take it, but in every fight it gets slowly damaged more and more. This lets him slowly use more abilities in his ghost form, but also lefts him more hurt after each fight.
Danny thinks it's because he and his enemies are just getting more powerful, so it is a bit of surprise for him when in his final battle the suit finally falls apart...
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Star Wars   Episode 4;
    Destroy malevolence
Didn’t we just do that?
I’m assuming this is going to be focusing on the     aftermath of the        destruction       of  the        malevolence
And the preceding unraveling of       general grievous’s      net work
 [And several        acquaintances         probably          trying           to    break    him  out,]
Anyway...
On with          It!
       Quote;
  “A Plan is only as good         as those          who see it out,”
   Odd                 I’ve      Stopped      giving much stock        into the    quotes
 Consider ing     the last one     had a relatively good      one
 And     Is on the    lower     end    of     my     expectations
 My criticism       of this       Is a       Short    Plans can be good         But   People flawed
  The   narrator   sounds     a    bit    more   enthusiastic
 Weirdly      drawn     out      pause
But      it   does     get     the      point   across
 Allows   enough     time
“ Grievous          in       retreat,”              Honestly           Is        this       where       we’re      going        to       start
    Like       no      disrespect-         (I have the       patience)    But are we honestly going to spend the whole entire time watching Obi-Wan fuck up catching Grievous?
 That would work       with the theme         of       Jedi Masters
They make it seem a lot less   stupid
[Recap
 Also        I really like the movement on the     ship
Much     more     real istic 
       Continuing to          Hold on it       not so much
  This is like         someone     continuously          kicking        someone         when they’re         already         down
Or like a fire
 After a while      it just gets sort of    boring
 Or worrying
 And you realize they could  just     take them   into custody
 Or that the fire is starting to     envelope   nearby    forest     With       everyone      having         a bucket of     water
Obi wan, why
 Do     you   torment    so?
He can’t even   die
If so;      He’d     be dead
 I love how       Plo Koon       and       him       are          just    watching      the      shit     show      like            “Bitch”
   You know they could both take         him
  But are just that dedicated to being   sandry old man
“Commander, how much damage to the      enemy ship?”
 Have they suffered    enough?
  Also, geez dude’s been demoted it to       commander
    I mean I know he’s just       Comms Guy              But geez.         (He probably       deserved it)
Oh no,        Random     dude          On          The       ground
    Why?
 “ She’s lost primary       shields and stabilizers,”
   So shooting at it is doing      minimal damage
             “ It can take all the fire               our cannons                  can manage,”
           Okay,                    time to get you two                down there
           “ we must     summon            reinforcements,”
     Plo is slowly becoming that we          “need reinforcements”            guy
      Like          he can’t do anything           by himself
       (Except           for last           episode)
     “ That’s why          I’m here        Master Plo,”
  That’s not the right       tone
   And.....          I was kind of hoping we’d get a        Master Plo and        Obi-Wan episode
   This time       around
   Never mind the fact that         Anakin can’t take on grievous
   “ what are you able to contact              Master               (Liam Niara)                   (That’s how voice text spells it)                (I have no idea)
        “ Yes, master,”
       That’s better
    “She’s busy with a bunch of separatist         reinforcement’s nearby,”
   Bit too much     eye movement       but otherwise      good
  “ she won’t       be able to give us support till she’s turn        ing them away,”
Meanwhile         you’ve already pretty much      kill ed         him
    Guess            just         play        poker?
   Then        we’ll  have to do with what we have
   Oh now with the teenager around you’re so brave
  How’s        that going to help?
Burning
On fire
Really, no   mercy
Poor     droid     jerking   around
Ex     ploding
Perfect balance of kar       mic   pay       back
“We’ve      lost      our    primary       weapon,”
  Shit     just     continues    to                get       worse      and      worse
General     grievous      is        just              there        with his hands       in his head
Not        looking       too    great
“ The hyper drive is dis   -abled,”
It’s been disabled since last episode but good     repeating
Good      to         re-iterate
“Argh,”
“ General       general,”
   The     forward   engines        are     shutting     down
“ im   poss     ible,”
Dude,     look         around
That’s   pretty        -         heavy         denial
You     should     just     sur       -render
More Sho              -oting
 This        is       going         to         be        a         sl   -ow       ep      i      sode
Ahsoka       Managing       systems
   A not    bad role       for her
 Certain-
“ Admiral            Status-        Re        port,”
    Shit’s         fucked        once        again
    They’re           hyperdrive         must        be       damaged
    What          you         didn’t         figure          out           the           first          time          will        Obi          won         must’ve         checked
   Compulsively             For the         170th time           in the last           hour
     “This            our          chance”
It wasn’t a few seconds ago?
     “all         ships        target       the      bridge     maximum         fire        power,”
   Dude,        what       do       you      think      that’ll        do
 Grievous         is      made          out        of      pure        titanium
   It’s       like..          a      slightly         long       fall           for      him..
 Generals..     really     don’t    wanna     deal     with   Grievous’s      shit     today
Episode is     22:40      Long       Left
 All     they’re     doing       is     shooting    at     him
Grievous     Called      Dooku
“Dad      I       crashed       the     car,”
Sustained     advanced   damage
 “ I know,”
Just     dead   panned
“ I have     arranged         a       trap,”
Oohh!     Interesting
  But     Also        completely        bullshit
   Guess       this            is           his       punishment
  Being       used        as        bait
  “To     give     you      an     advantage    over       the   Jedi,”
 “ I   assure   you,”
 Please       no
You’re not compound     your failure     this day,”
 Ah, there’s       the chewing out     I was looking for
 Perfect
Continue
 “ war       ship        to       fall,”
 Oh so it wasn’t going to be a - get them sent to prison- thing
 So     how are you planning to       unfuck                 the situation
Cause      this looks pretty bad
  They will never catch me or this ship
             Bless him               he’s trying
              The expression just says                 ‘I have no idea               how’
           Like              He            knows           what’s          expected            of          him          but         has         no          idea
    How?!
   Heading       towards          you         is          a        very      important      galactic        senat        or,”
   In the middle of a       war zone
Seriously       not        a     good       time      for         a   photo     op
 “ With      her         as        a      hostage,”
  “call       off       the      attack,”
  Ok no one is calling off an      attack this important      for        a   senator
  Nor     should      be    letting      her        get    captured         ....
 *Bowing    down*
*Assumed authority*
 Blue
 It   looks   remarkably    better     this     episode             👍     Also        of        course        it’s      Padme        Amidala     Couldn’t        be        any      of      the    4000     other    senators       we     know     nothing      about              
   Really           getting       into         the      love     triangle      stuff      right        away,           aren’t         we?
  Like       why   couldn’t      we     slow     burn        it
 (I   know    she    was       in    the   movie)     But
  I     wouldn’t         mind    “Are   you       sure   the     infor   mation      from     the     chan cellor     Palpatine       is   reliable?”
Fore     shadowing!
Good    job     authors       you       get      a   cookie
“ it was secretly given to him         by the leader of the     Bank-he Clan,        himself!”
 Okay        Amidala’s          tone      kinda      works
 Could      use       a       little       more   monotone     but      it   works
   I gave Anakin like      three   tries       so       I’m     not   gonna       be    too     harsh
There        is       still       time      for      the     minimal     improve      ment        it      needs
“ if they       leave     the   separatist     alliance     it     will    go     along      way       to   shortening   this   war,”
Er-     Okay      it   makes   sense   for     her   character
 She’s sup   posed      to be   around      the same       age      as   Anakin
“Beep,       Beep,”
 “ We’re     approaching       the     system       now,”
  “Oh     shit,”
Crud
 “ my   goodness,”
  Best      Droid
 “This        isn’t        right,”
   Then        Move!
   That’s          a       droid     warship
    “We’re          in         the       middle          of          a       battle!”
   Hey,        that’s          a        smart      character
   Hyper drive out of there
  “ we’re scanning         a small ship off         our bow,”
     Get out of        there   “ Good,”
 Yeah, how are you going to get     her?
 Seeing as how  like a million warships are belting     your bow?
  I know those must be like       raindrops to him
But     come on
Don’t      go    into    the    burn     -ing      wreckage
   And       towards      enemy        fire
 Then   again     she     was     probably    heading     towards      the     Jedi        ship
   So     (as       a   civilian)       that       makes          sense
   “Master          I’m        picking           up            a         signal          near           the         enemy        vessel,”
   Tone
    Enemy     reinforcements
   That’s-            A         Good          Call
Respectively
 “ it looks like-”
 “A Naboo ship”
  “Gunners        stand         day,”
     Hey      everyone’s     competent         today!
      (Not          that         there’s           anything         wrong          with          enablers           being           stupid)
       This          just           requires          more          brain       power
   “ what          in      Blazers        are       they      doing      out     here?”
   A valid     response
  But      weren’t       they         the       ones        that        pledged        transport        ships?
  Like      oh      yeah      stupid going out into a war zone
   But     not      completely      out of the question
 “ Ahsoka      contact         that ship,”
  Bit      too      much      energy
    But       still         resp        ect           able
     Literally          coming        from        fiery        hell
     Identify        yourself
  “Padme       what        are       you       doing      out     here,”
  Cringe
   That line sounds like boomer.        What boomers think high school      jocks sound like
   And we’re like  no
  “ I       was       sent      on         a    special    mission,”
  Good      job     Writers
  The        ‘Bang he         Klan        Wanted        to negotiate        a treaty
   Good      reason
   “Get       out        of      there,”
  Too        Force        ful
   Better        Idea;        Have     Obi-Wan         try         to         calmly      explain         the         situation            to           her
      Possibly       distracting          her for        general       grievous           to       kidnap
   “ Activate              the         tractor         beam,”
     Damn        we’re       going        back         to  old old sci        Fi- with tractor beams and       shit
     I was expecting like a hook and chain,     a harpoon
   Was not expecting   that
     That        made        me         laugh
   WTF
   Tell      them        some     nonsense        is        going         on!
   “i’m     afraid       it’s        much     worse      than      that,”    Gunners          Do        Something?!
   it’s a beam; it can be broken
  “ Padme what’s happening?”
  A go- decent response
   “ i’m         being         pulled         inside        the      droid      cruiser        by        a     ��tractor      beam,”
   Good     Commun        ication
  Whelp,        Done
   So       at      22: 40           Rest       of        the     episode         is   hostage     situ      ation?
Inter      es    ting
 Much      Better      Than         Just      Shooting        at        it       for        an      hour
    “I will not be made a separatist bargaining      chip,”
    Initiative
    Though           Less          Emo        -tion
    Should           be       recited        like       something       she       had        to      read        off        a   paper
Guessing I’m not Padme I’m Padme’s    handmaiden  thing only works     once
Continue       your    attack
 You     must   continue-
I hope     she get some   actual action
Nothing too intense       because she’s still a kid
But like a surprise attack on     General grievous
Destroy     this   monstrous   ship
That’s kind     of      like-
How-
I saw the next frame
Wtf-
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WTF
  HIS FACE JUST-
CON-torts
    You are not Romeo and Juliet   movie
    You are two kids reinacting Romeo and Juliet              clumsy
   Get it right
  “Admiral,     order      our   ships     to   stop     firing,”
 No   one’s   gonna    stop     this
 No   one‘s   gonna   comment...
Okay....
Obi-Wan      And        Plo   Koon          are        just     gone
  Left      when      Anakin      started       acting    unchild like
   Never     mind      still       there
 Nothing   suspicious      *Rubs    beard*
 Whelp
   It     does      not     look       safe       out     there      my     lady
  Screw      with      the     tractor      beam      and       leave
  No      one    can     stop   you
Droid     Related
 “I      see     now   this   whole   thing   was     a   trap,”
The     Bang’he       Clan     Works      With           The-
    I       can’t     even     make     that         joke   because       the   bang’he      clan      are   working      with       the     separatists
  Good    writers       you       out     joked      me
“ we   walked    right    into     it,”
 Pressing     buttons       isn’t   going       to   help   lady
Sir  the     republic   cruisers     have     halted    their   attack
Bit   too   much   emotion      for     a     droid     but    it   works
“Jedi     are     so   predictable,”
  Hit       him       with          a      gun
   Get        the      repair       team      up     here
  “ i’m     going     down      to       the   main   hanger,”
The arm motion was a little weird...     for ‘I’m going down to the main     hanger’
 Street    Railways?
Are we   getting *tour    the inside of the    ship??
Nice
This     ship   must     be   returned      to   Count     Dooku     intact
Nice   little   interaction
Rail      ways
There’s     no   room     for   failure
Hard       Moral
One      on   fast   speed    ing   train
Moves       over       to   another   pad
   Don’t     think     that’s   gonna   help
“Come        on     I’ve   over       loaded     the   power     system,”
 THAT’S        actually      really      clever
   Good          job     whoever        gave         that        order
    General      grievous        goes          boom
    Fighter        door       opens
    Find            a       Fighter
    And        fly        out
   * Anakin        walks          away*
       You know this would be a good idea if Obi-Wan had ordered him to do so when feeling the emotion of ‘love’, miscommunicating the concept of love, and didn’t realize that’s what he was doing -  what clues him      in
“ where do you think you’re going,”
 “ someone’s got to save     her,”
    Still too much emotion
   “I thought you might say     that,”
     Did you give him that, did you give him an        order relevant to that?
     There he goes   again
     Yeah           Someone        should         really        check         up        on       that
     Or       get    Obi-Wan         to        lay off           the       suicidal      orders
  “Craving     adventures        and     excitement,”
     No,      orders
   “ You        get         used           to         it”
Could      be     just       a     response
  But     too     much    reaction        And      Person         ality
   Oh,          Shit’s        On          Fire
   “Come on 3PO hurry,”
     Flaming wreck lady
    “not sure this is such a good       idea,”
   Neither     is       being       held      captive
   You’re made of like solid gold
 Timing
  [also the announce in the background        like a train station - just cracks me up]
  Time to get blown up
   “ Mind the gap”
   “Mind the gap”
      Haha
     You        two       come       with       me
 Command
That droid’s-
 No, wait-         It’s Amidala
   And C3PO
  He’s trying to      help
   Looks       Inside
  Beeping
   Timer
   Look     like        the   engine-         Are           Set           To -
    Timing
   “Destroy          themselves,”
     He        really        needed        them         to        say           that
   Get      out       of      my     way
 “Ow,”          You        don’t      want          to       die
   That’s         just           rude
    So         is     death
   You    should       get       out        of        there
    He’s        going               to       come         back        around
   Geez
   Fire squad         is a train         wreck
    They’re          Trying
      Crud      if this gets back to      Skywalker          and        he      thinks       she’s      dead
  After        That     Speech
  Who knows what toxic morals of love         Obi-Wan taught him         could activate
  This could       become     a train      wreck
 Ahhh!
 It got      worse
Seriously       who made the droids that have to        with      stand       high    water pressure          Light weights
   Oof
  Even high water pressure        cannot kill him
  Even running away      cannot save him
 Wonder     what that attack       would’ve done
 Sound the alarm
 “We have stowaways,”
   Or...
   She was never on that   ship
   Seriously      no one besides the republic      saw her 
I’d go with “she isn’t on board,”
   Run
Back     to the        republic ships
   Who are doing       nothing         while grievous rebuilds
    Like,         The medical station is   right there
    You might want to get back       on moving     them
Just Saying
  “ i’ve trusted you already formulated a brilliant   plan to     rescue     the      Senator,”
 “ as a matter of fact     I have,”
 Umm,
Weird        How to     Code     that
“ what do you have a Plan B               Every     good plan has a back up,”
  Stop        forcing his    dependence on you
 “ I don’t   have a back up   yet,”
  Too     much    emotion
 Really
 Questioning
Not really   helping his   self-esteem
Really “ we’ll sneak behind them and dock at the emergency air     lock,”
   So I’m guessing this is going to set up     Padme     going       there
“ That’s       your        plan?”         Discouraging
“Fly     land,”
That’s literally what all maneuvers     rely on
Also     it       sounds       like   something     out      of       a     fairy     book
  Which        might        explain      Anakin      toxic      behavior
  “ Walk        in         the        door,”
 “Basically,”
    Too      much       emotion
  “Oh     Brilliant,”
  Dick
 Firey       Wreck
 “ Might I suggest we keep     moving?”
   Bit       Loud         There            It
   “ I think        I hear      battle droids   approaching,”
  Talking         is      not     helping
 “But      we also need to contact         the fleet,”
     Getting out is the prerogative
      They don’t know where you are
       And you can’t stay in a constant       location
       If I can just keep this        com panel working
     Ahhh!
Well     just      disappeared
 “The Damage to the hyper drive       was not as bad as        we first        thought,”
   How?!
  It’s been     damaged     for about    two episodes
 Also, Good for    Her
“ We’ll be able to get underway again shortly,”
  With this   mess of a ship
   Hyperdrive would send half of it flying
   It’s barely holding together by a      string
   You’re     screwed
 I must inform count     Dooku
 Seems     oddly    suspic.
Continue the search
 Find the     stowaway 
  How does    that change anything      in Amidala’s eyes
 Getting     to know the boss     isn’t worth it
Just be more careful
  Roger, roger
  Commander
 Intimidating
  *Spark*
  Oh        She       Was          In          A        Cabinet
   Thought         she       made           it        in
  C3PO        Looks      creepy       in      one     frame
   Shit’s        Constantly          on         fire
    “If they spot us        we’ll be pulverized,”
     With what guns??
     You’ve been doing all the hitting           this entire time
     They’ve been sitting         Geese
     “They’re            too           busy repairing the ship,”
       Thank you
       [also Obi-Wan              complainers rules]
       “ They             don’t                   have              time                to             notice              us,”
         Cocky
        Subtlety               has            never            been             one              of             your            strong             points             Anakin
Neither        Yours            Person           who           orders            him!
“ Everything       I     know       I      learned     from        you     master,”
  Point       Yes      Attitude?     No
   Oh       if      only      that      was      true
  Should            Be
   Might         be          a              side           jab              at           how           he          took          orders           from            the        Chancellor
     There          we          go
     Only      Obi-Wan        was          worried
  “Didn’t         You         Hear       It,”
    Your        circuits          are       loose
    Or       maybe       you’ve       lost       your   hearing
From        the   impact
 “ No      one’s        crazy      enough           to        do         that,”
    Cut
  “Anakin”
   Perfect
 “You’re        Crazy,”
   You   groomed      him      this      way
“ spinning           is          not       flying”
    “But          it’s          a      good      trick,”
   Too     much   emotion
   Do      not     want       to       be        spotted
   Good       job
   You’re      standing        more        in              the       doorway         than         he          is
    “I knew it it’s them,”
     That droid       is just having a day
      Aww              But his        friend came down           to check           with him
    That’s adorable
    Oh no
   They’re backing off       peacefully
 ASSHOLES!
Obi-wan     specifically
   You stay here           R2
  Again     why did you bring him
  Another        bold strategy by -
     Say Skywalker
     ‘Skywalker’
      Ordered
     “I presume,”
    No, Obi-Wan’s 
 When it’s not Palpatine’s
    “That’s my master”
           Children               don’t                show          preference                  for            handlers
      “ once they rescue the Senator we will need to reinforcement to finish off the enemy
    Sounds nonsense           but OK
          Dude             really              Likes         enforcement’s                 “ i’m on my way,”
       “Master Plo”
  “ We’re receiving a transmission,”
    Padme
Weird distance to start a conversation at
Running for some reason
 “ Master          we found the     senator,”
   Good
“ We’re patching       Her through,”
 Helpful...?
  What       is       it       with    Skywalker      and   becoming         a     Barking        over-   animated     Puppet      Every      time     senator       Amidala      gets     involved            ?
“Anakin       where       are       you,”
   Better;        where        are      your    coordinates
    “ On       lower      levels,”
   Better       but      where
   “I don’t          know,”
    Give a better location
     For how long
     Problem with this whole plan
      Give Landmarks
      Get to the     rendezvous point
     “Obi won and I are on board too,”
     Better; get to the ship on level ____ on your ___ side                 Optional; Closest landmark ____
             We’ll meet you   there
           What what are you doing?
           Not the best point to      argue
       Ahsoka, how can we get to the senator
     Better how can we both get to the escape pad?
    In case   we both get separated
    Taking longer to coordinate       that complicated-
    How long till they get separated?
    Center of the ship
Half way between the two of you
 Neither      Ahsoka gave neither
   Bad instructions
“ we’re on our way
    To a very unspecified point on not   specified level at a not specified   time
Let     the hijinks   commence
 “ Did                    you hear that                                    Padme?”
You’re on the same com
 “ i’ll be there,”
   Some-how
The question    to my answer was       22:40
  When do the Hijinks begin?
   Let’s             See
Marching      Intimidated 
  “we just detected        An unauthorized communication          Coming from within the        ship,”
    Shouldn’t he be making a phone      call?
  “ what did it           say?”
  Interesting
Well      we don’t know
 That’s how encoding works
 We didn’t catch it in   time
 Off
 Droid     winces
Monitor     all internal     communications
Like they’ll do it again
I want   that senator    on this bridge
Good   luck with that
You haven’t   even   saw her
Rail-ways
Nice
Busy
Should be a cakewalk
Is Not a cakewalk
All the way up there
“I do not see her,”
 Yeah, that’s the problem-
 She’s here master
I sent it
Or you got the wrong port
(So you heard her voice     so she’s clearly somewhere on this ship)
 He’s probably late again
But we do have company of another sort
Oh        She has a gun
  And somehow none of that hits     her
   And of course that gets the attention
    I’m honestly glad they didn’t go with miscommunication          Causes        fake stand up         scenario
      Even if this is         faux       Romeo and Juliet
     Good job
    Lots of       jumping
    Look     Jedi
    Good job         nice guy
    No wait         That one       guy had     common sense
   “I knew that was a bad idea,”
    Mercy
    That you didn’t show on the other      guys
    Who       were far more hesitant
     And you took out that    one guy
    Who didn’t do   anything
     Just wasn’t as  vocal
     Dicks
    Jump The peashooter      isn’t doing the job?
   Jump
 He tried
  Power      Thrust
  Ana       kin
“ There.      they          are!”
    Bull         shit
  No way     
he saw those guys
 On all those     Packages
 Also       ‘the i knew     It was      a bad     Idea     Guy       Got     New     Friends
“Fire!”
Fuck
The   bridge     is     out
“Jump     to me,”
 Try       it   with     a     little    bit     more         disinterest
“ I’ll use the force”
Even she realizes it’s not that     intense
  “ You have to trust me,”
    Good Luck
  OMG
 It looks like     she just      falls
Also Obi-wan’s in the back   like     it’s none of my business
Like dude came on a rescue mission      And     has become completely useless     never helped   once     Complained  the whole way   there
Manages
“Got you,”
“ NICE    CATCH,”     Obi  -Wan from the sidelines
    10/10        Hilarious
“ I’ll fetch the droid,”
   What??
       No
This          isn’t                   cute
     Disgusting
“Oh the things you do to get me alone,”
   KIDS don’t-
    Ack-
Please      no     more     smoopy-
nope
I’m     putting   it in     the    “bad”    corner      Till       it   stops   trying     to     ship   children
  Bad    Movie
 That’s          Not     Cute
Obi-wan             Sucks
   Can’t      even      levitate        A       Droid
  “Stop         me       please”
    Poor        Droid
    Blast          You’re            Weak
     “ That’s           not           good”
         Yeah             you’re               weak
          “Anakin               I got            separated                from                your                  droid,”                  Thank                   God
                 I’ll                   take                  care                    of                      it
             Better                             “ We’ll                   meet                      you                      back                        at                     the                    Twilight”?
                 “ I                overheard                 grievous,”
            Annnnnd
     “ They’re hyper-drive             is nearly fixed,”
       Soooo, He better get you back to the      ship so we can start blasting it with Cannon balls again?
“ i’m already headed in that direction,”
  Soooooo, don’t do it, Obi-wan?
  Or have Anakin and take the extremely important senator       And come back for you later?
  “ i’ll make sure the   hyperdrive stays off line,”
  By shooting it with more cannon-balls?
Ha ha Ha ha ha
  We’ll see about that
 What?!        Person who can do nothing!
 Like seriously if they just go back to the ship-
  That Jedi
“I’m getting you out of here,”
  Good decisions
 “I need you to help me find 3PO,”
 How?
“ I know I know     he does,”
 Padme’s        expression
“And       i’ll be there     soon,”
  That’s        almost       adorable
       Oh          like          that
‘Someone stop this contraption,”
Careful        Words
  Yeet
There        We          Go
  Into      those      boxes
“ I       suppose             I did ask for that,”
Ha-he
   That got a small giggle   out of me
 Stomping
  Bait
Murderous        Intent
 Get        Fucked        Obi   Wan
Really    rolling out all the stops
Hahaha
 “ Hello there,”
 [Took a pause.   a long break]
  General Kenobi
“ kill him,”
Straight.       To.     The.       Point.
More in line with the characterization we’ve seen up so far, not that much for conversation
Dude’s       just rolling
 There        went the others
 Bowling    pins            they          are
Oh     grievous   has     a     gun
And   hiding behind the enemy
Thought     he sent     both those     guys flying
Apparently     I was wrong
Must’ve        Been        a       Third
 Ha
Didn’t     Work
Yeet
That    poor      Droid...
 Spark*
  That        was        impressive
    Nah      he        ran      around      things
It really set up your forces for a     brawl among       them selves
“Argh,”
Dude,   how   insecure
“ Guard         the         hyperdrive,”
Oh     yeah       he      did      shit        to         it
  Also   sending     basic       level      mooks        to     deal     with        it
Shooting         Things
 Again       how      did   Anakin         and   Padme     end      up     in      the    situation?
 They      were      at      the     train    station      last
  Now         they’re         at??
 And       have      agroed         every       enemy
  Who      should       be     focusing       on    Obi-Wan   because 
  That        was        their     last        order
   Grievous      has      just         completely       ignored       Anakin
 Hiding
 You          aggroed              Them!
  Why      are        you      calling       Obi -Wan
“Come in     Obi-wan,” 
 Get     her     to       the shuttle
“ i’m afraid     grievous     is onto     us,”
“We      noticed,”
 Hey   you guys Aggroed those guys completely on your own     don’t blame Grievous   for this
“Ack,”
Those      are      Tanks
 You’re  peashooter     isn’t going       to       do       much
 Also,          Anakin      shouldn’t     be     able       to      take     them   either
This           should       be        a     properly     terrifying     moment
“ We’ll           meet      you     back        on       the     twilight,”
Good     plan
“Obi-   Wan!”
Writers      don’t     screw       this        up
 “Come     In,”
 His   communicuff     clearly    got   damaged
What’s      wrong?!
 They’re       jamming      all     communication
No again   it’s far more likely that his       communicuff        Got     Damaged     (Especially   with      Grievous      listening        in,”
Not everything is     jammed communi         cations               Yeet, yeet         Yeet
That     should    not     work Those        are     tanks
Anakin   is        a     lightweight
His skill set is     unspecified
But     he shouldn’t  be able to cut more than     butter with that knife
Light wieght     clankers     should   pose    a   challenge
Due   to   the   amount   of   energy
  “That    might      buy         us      some         time
   Unlikely
   I       suppose         you        have          a        plan      Yeah,          Get           to            the         escape         pad
     Follow            Me
    ...To          the          escape           pod
      C3PO             I do believe           I’m lost
       Seriously            you           haven’t           found              this             guy
       Enemy          Territory
       And           all            alone
       You’re         a           service            droid
         Probably             wouldn’t              notice              anything
             “Ah,”
             Dude, they’d probably just adopt       you into the clan
            “ I surrender,”
               Again I really want to see the C3PO and battle droids     conversation
               (When not aware of the other side)
 It’s      a projector...          R2 D2
    “ you are a sight for    old eyes,”
      A nice   interaction
“ Master     Anakin         sent       you          to       find        me,”
  “ what        kept           you        then?”
     He      does         have         a       point
    Dude     got   thrown      off      the     train    about      an     hour     ago
R2′s      just been messing with him
“ follow me,”
“ The general        is demanding     a        status report,”
Oh some driod on droid    interactions    (without   the    general)
 Nice
Is    the    hyperdrive   re-paired         Yet
  From     there?
“ i’ll     give     him     the   good   news,”
This   isn’t   the       escape     pad
Did   you   take   a   wrong    detour?
Also    no   one   guarding   the   super   important    one   panel   repair
Just       Light weight    clankers
   Also that’s not   good news
  (Especially considering       it’s one panel)
   Surprised     this goes      so well
Also;      now     there’s      tanks
  Surprised you think that peashooter can do anything   ma’am
   Like seriously   should’ve grabbed a bigger gun
  The   droids     have     some
  And      you can’t tell me       there       hasn’t been artillery     laying around    this     entire       time
   Yeet
  That almost-      Turned into murder                 This is why not going to the escape pods      immediately    was       a      bad      idea
  Again          this       should        be         a      stressful        fight
But turning your child soldier       Into an all powerful      can never lose       child soldier
 Is bullshit       movie
 Opened   Door
  “Ever since I’ve known you       you’ve been playing       with droids,”
  Ack
 “I used to put them together,”
  Alright...
 Now I only take them   apart      Child soldiering...
  It sucks
So,    where do we start
GETTING TO THE ESCAPE PAD!
Obi-Wan      supposed to be here                               any minute!
With whole lot of     bullshit!
   Move!
First we need to get one of these     droids so they don’t know we were here
No destroy the thing and     go
They’ll figure it out in like   five seconds
When they go to start the thing     up!
Running is a good   option
“I’m gonna     hot wire   this ship,”
How does       this make       anything            better?
 He’s already down   and       in kicking position
  Everyone’s waiting for Amidala
 You’re not helping, good sir!
  (In fact I’m pretty sure   you’d have to fix something       To make     it go,”
Secondly,      This is a     HUGE    -ass ship
As a reason it has an   electrical team
Squeezing two little   wires
Isn’t going to do       much
It requires continuous effort   to different parts of the ship       To make a dent
And I truly doubt     such   a large ship is going to have such a     non-complicated        Start-up     compared   to hotwiring     a car
Point being;     this shouldn’t work
Give      Grievous      a little surprise
Again    if it’s anything less     Then a      bomb
 Dude isn’t   gonna have   much             trouble
And    this      is       a         waste       of      time
I’ll guess     I’ll clean up the droids   then
LITERally im   possible
That’s     a      tank!
 You   carry   light     weaponry!
Back     to    the   fleet
Plo           Koon         Is       doing     nothing
Having     tea   and   cookies   with     Ahsoka
Our     ships   are       in     attack     position
So...    nothings   changed
“Master     Skywalker,”
  No      one        else      either
   “No,”
Deadpanned
 “ The      droids        are     jamming      our     transmissions,”
(More   likely   reason     for     that      on       a       -damaged     ship)
But      Ergh-
“We need to give him more     time,”
 Opinion!
“ i’m sure we can,”
I’ve been sitting on my ass-         
  [Plo’s            Head        Moves     -Railway]
   We’re         back         here      again?
   Obi-Wan         should         be         at        the     station        by         now
    Everything         is       behind        him
   Yeet
   Yeet
Make it to the   Coms   center
Break      Some      Shit
Oof     Those       Poor     Droids            Good      Pa     rell       els
  Splat!
 Obi won    looking   back-and-forth
 Obi-Wan       you       are        a      Jedi     master       this      shouldn’t       be     hard
  Run
Tum   ble
I was fully planning on   him   stacking it
Roof
Also, Obiwan
  Stop fecking         Around
  Get to the   place
  Woof
How
Did you   end up   falling over?
Ironically Obi-Wan    shows    less    emotion    than     Anakin
* Slashing      the       train*
 Okay...     what     did     I   do
Snarky        little     shit
 Could        be     snarkier
 “That         oughta    do it,”
Ana     -kin      Doing      Obi-wan’s          Job
 Also   Oh     shit      is he       plugging           in       the            location         of         that       supposed          fight           with           master-
How’s the house cleaning going-
 Im-
 That dude made out of     -metal
  He is     FIVE    times     your   bodyweight!
 HOW?
 Done?
 You     MOVED         a     Tank??
HOW-
 That’s-
What       ever
 * Guys       coming            in*
    Oh   yeah       that’s         a       door
       I         guess       repairs         are       finished
Or       they went       on      lunch       break
   Prepared        to charge        up the hyperdrive
     Right on it
“Roger, Roger,”           -famous last words
   Sparking
 Driving
  Are we      seriously      waiting     on   these   two
“Are      you   quite   sure   the   ship       is       in   that   direction?
He’s   basically   a   GPS
That     way    looks   potentially   dangerous
All   of    them   do
 “Haz       ardous,”
 Better   Example     beeping   irritatedly
“I know       the whole     place      is    dangerous,”
  Thank you   R2-     D2
“ I   suggest   we       stay   here   and    let   master   Anakin   find   us,”
Bad     idea
A better idea than anyone in the ‘let’s meet up in an undisclosed location’ came up with
Good idea
3PO
Fecking   Irony
“Don’t    just   stand   there,”
See?
“Let’s      get    back     to    the   ship,”
Irony
Power          up   the   engines     R2
You know   Obi-Wan’s     likely going to screw up your shit   right
*obi-Wan     comes     around     the   corner,*
Dude you have shit to     screw up    
Did you forget?
There shouldn’t be an     escape pod   for you
What
Hold the   ship
No, you didn’t do     anything...
Then again he could just     cannonball   it
How’s that- 
Okay     Very light   bullshit
“ i’ll   contact    the     fleet,”
It’s   the   most   you’ve     done   this   entire   time
Focus      On         The     chair
Do        cking      Clamp
There     We       Go
 Off        We     Go
 It’s       still   Burning
Grievous        Off
Why?
He doesn’t know   
Obi-Wan’s off   the ship
Last   saw   him   on   the     train...
(Not     followed    up     on   directly)
Flighters,   Where        I thought they all got     destroyed?!
All batteries   open fire
Again     Plo Koon does not give a shit       who dies
(Until sitting on his ass gets        too   boring)
Also    this isn’t his fleet
They shouldn’t listen to   him
(Especially after he got his last one   killed)
More       Shooting at the   burning     wreck
Turb      ulence
And     Obi-Wan   still    didn’t   do        his     job
Guns
You can       shoot back   at any time
“ I wa-”
Obi-wan      being   completely       useless
Anakin       having       too     much     emotion
“I   got      it,”
Shoo   ting     stuff
Somehow       doesn’t    go   down   immediately
Hit
“ She     seems     to know   her way   around,”
Gross
Hit     Something
The      Hyper       Drive
-repaired
Also   Obi-Wan   didn’t   fuck   up   shit 
Dis     appointed
Also   it   certainly    as   frick   isn’t   now
After   they’ve   been   shooting
Should we retreat     to   friendly    space?
If You can make there it with it in     one piece      (Which    was    the   qualifications)
Engage     the   hyperdrive
With   me   not   on  it
“Secret base      sector four,”
Interesting
“Prepare-”
Enthus iastic
“Yes,      Sir,”
Fighters      still   chasing
Intense
“Nice   Shoot,”
 Gross
“Beginners     luck,”
 Beeping
“Pardin-”
“Hyperdrive   is   activating,”
Obi-Wan
“ Oh-shit     Caught in a   lie.”
“-what”
-They’re getting hit with cannonballs     Anakin what did you do   ?!
(What Did      I    order you    to do?)
Coordinates    are   locked
“Hyperdrives     engaging,”
  Shit’s     about       to    go-
Ar-
Sp-       arking
Glitzy     display         Base
“ I think   there’s     a   problem,”
“General     I think     there’s a problem with the   hyperdrive,”
Yeah       The ship got refired     upon     it’s probably       re broken
Seriously
“ I thought     the hyperdrive     was fixed,”
And then it got shot again...
The navigate computer is heading a straight into the   moon
What        ??
Fools       reset the           Navi         computer
“Quick,”
Tech    Support
Dooku
Worst         time      to     call
(Don’t       think     it     could’ve       gone       more       sideways)
Also good job         Anakin         You crash landed them       on a planet         with significantly larger surface area       and resources     that they       can             use      to         re-build
 Aka              you made things harder      than they needed to      be
  Obi-Wan,        what are you     ordering       this kid
Narrowed eyes
-No     reset       it
“General,”
 Harsh
But I’m interested         in where this is going
Since        Grievous           has          had           a lot of       shit thrown at him
Doesn’t matter     which side of      enablers         he still enabling
 But          I suppose        over involved         positivity            Would be            kind of a nice      change          for         him
 Over         over involved           negativity
 Speeds         off
“Trans         -mission         Has          been          cut,”
  Intentionally
* also      smart        droid
“ We’re     Gonna         die
[Explosion]
 How?!
Whelp       Obi-Wan has to have a sit down talk with Anakin.    about the ‘ Drive the         ship into the moon,’ order
Also I realized      (thanks to Obi-Wan)     they know nothing about what just     happened         Grievous           either             decided         to        just       end          it 
or they’re all dead
Obi-Wan
 Dick move
“ I imagine        you had           something       to do       with that,”
WTF- orders
“ all part of       the plan,”
Obi-Wan schooled       Anakin in      extraterrestrial terrorism
Cheering     at least the ion cannon     isn’t coming back
Nice shot
           ...So Destroy Malevolence
               I have to say      I really like this episode
 Despite the plot      stretched thin
        There was a noticeable increase in the quality of       animation
        The child characters were     good 
The other characters were a lot more consistent  And a lot       smarter                               
0 notes
redditnosleep · 7 years
Text
The Aftermath
by Sergeant_Darwin
On October 16th, 2009, a boy by the name of Finn Carlton walked into the band room of my high school and closed the door behind him. He pulled a pistol from his coat pocket and fired six shots. Then he tied his belt around a pipe on the ceiling and hanged himself.
Six shots; seven bodies. That’s what the authorities found when they entered the room. Finn’s victims were apparently made to kneel in a straight line before they were executed, and their half-eaten lunches had been spoiled by the carnage. Six rounds. Six heads. One bullet each.
Chloe Cannon—15 years old, loved the color blue, played the French horn. Cute in a mousy sort of way. Murdered.
Xavier Mayweather—15 years old, on the track team, always rode his bike to school. Murdered.
Ronald “RJ” Saldaz—16 years old, had a notebook he sketched in, already bought his tickets to the midnight premiere of the new Harry Potter movie. Murdered.
Zach Trainor—15 years old, 280 pounds, played the tuba. Refused, several times, to join the football team. Murdered.
Marianne Ortega—15 years old, barely spoke English, liked horror films. Murdered.
Christopher Carlton—16 years old, played the French horn, secretly dating Chloe Cannon. Murdered. By his older brother, no less.
I didn’t know any of these students in life. But I know them all too well in death. And I hate each one of them with my whole heart.
This all went down during my junior year. Our school was closed for a few days, but it’s amazing how quickly business as usual returns. A grief assembly, a memorial plaque in the band room, and bam—it’s like everyone’s forgotten. Everyone’s moved on. Everyone except me.
Myself, I never experienced the grief. I didn’t know any of these kids, and while I felt for my peers who were close to them, my life wasn’t really affected by their gruesome ends. Sure, there was the existential shock, the “life is fleeting” realization, but I’d already lost a sibling in a freak accident years before. I was familiar with death. That’s why, in the weeks following the tragedy, I didn’t have any trouble sleeping.
So there I was, a month after the shooting, on a school night, not having any trouble sleeping. I had forgotten to silence my phone, so when I got a text, it buzzed on the wooden nightstand near my bed. Groggily, I rolled over to check it and was instantly jerked awake by what I read:
IM GOING TO KILL HER BOTH OF THEM SURE WHY NOT
“Jesus,” I muttered, eyes fixed on the macabre message, a threatening collection of black pixels backed by a heartless electric glow. I found a morbid fascination then, as I do now, in letters—meaningless squiggles, by themselves, which can combine to strike with more terror than the steepest cliff or the most menacing beast. The combination of these particular squiggles drilled a strangely familiar fear into my heart.
I glanced to see what number the message had come from, but that field was blank. It appeared as though the text had not been sent by anything at all. Frantically, I hit reply: “What? Who is this??” I waited for a few minutes, but received no response. Unsettled, I got out of bed and turned on the light. I wanted to do something, I just didn’t know what. Finally, after staring around my room for a moment, I decided I’d splash my face with water.
I went to the bathroom and looked myself in the mirror. A good, long, hard look. Staring myself down, willing myself to get a grip. Finally, I splashed my face with the icy pour from the tap. I patted dry with the hand towel and went back into my room. My phone’s LED was blinking from the nightstand—I’d received a text message. I shut the door, turned off the lights and took a step toward my bed, wondering somewhat anxiously if the new message was a reply from whoever had sent the previous one. But I’d barely moved before I stopped dead in my tracks.
I wasn’t alone. There, hovering in front of my nightstand, faintly luminescent and barely visible, was a girl—a tiny, mousy-looking girl, a girl who was strangely pretty in a non-obvious way, a girl who would never celebrate her Sweet 16 or stretch her undersized legs to reach the pedals of a car. A girl who was dead.
Chloe Cannon wore a thin blue nightgown that reached her knees. Her feet did not touch my floor. She bobbed slightly, up and down in the air, seemingly staring not at me but at a point in the wall directly behind me. She appeared both solid and not—her skin had a distinct silver pallor yet I could see the light on my phone blinking through her torso. Her face looked vaguely sad. I could not move; I could not speak.
We remained still, together, for what felt an eternity. Finally, I convinced myself that I was imagining things. I took a step toward her. Then another. Another. But not another. I could not bring myself to step closer, because as I neared her, her face began to change. Her left cheekbone began to sag. Her skull began to dent. Her eyeball began to rotate and protrude from its socket. A dark spot began to appear amid her fine, silvery hair. I backed away in horror and the bullet’s fatal blow faded from sight as quickly and seamlessly as it had appeared. In desperate panic, I flicked the light switch up.
She was gone. I heaved a sigh of relief. I had been seeing things. I thought perhaps the shooting had affected me more than I’d let myself believe. Still, my knees wobbled—I could barely even stand. Bracing myself against the wall with my arm, I stared at the blinking notification light on my phone. Eventually, my curiosity over who had sent that morbid message was too much. I flicked off the light—no hovering girl, that was good—and scrambled into bed. Safely under my covers, I grabbed my phone and opened the second text message. This time, I found no morbid fascination in the squiggles before me. These five letters and two punctuation marks, backed by a harsh glow in the comfortless dark, carried only dread.
CHLOE :)
I didn’t know Finn Carlton. To this day, when people hear what high school I went to, they usually ask me if I was acquainted with the scrawny kid who murdered his brother and five others before stringing himself up in the pipes. They ask it with a sort of reality-show fascination, and it feels like they’re only asking so they can later tell their equally fascinated friends that they knew a guy who knew the guy. And their face always falls a bit when I say no, no I didn’t. I’d never seen him before.
Of course, that’s not entirely true. Finn actually didn’t live too far from me, and we both walked home from school most days. I was a year younger than him, and we truly didn’t know one another in the least. Not a word was ever exchanged between us. Still, I knew who he was. I stared at his backpack some days on my way home—black, with bright green trim. The green was my favorite shade. I have to admit, it was a pretty cool backpack.
I suppose part of the reason I tell people I didn’t know Finn is that it’s simpler than going into detail about how I really didn’t know him but I knew of him and sometimes stared at his backpack when I walked home from school. But there’s another reason, too, and I’m reminded of it every time his victims come to me, when I’m scared and cold and in lonely moments: I’m ashamed.
I checked myself into a loony bin (oh, pardon me, a psychiatric hospital) the year after I graduated. That’s how bad things had gotten. I’d never seen Chloe again, but I’d seen all the others. By this point, Xavier and Zach chilled in my room practically every night. They never hurt me—but if I got too close, their faces would fall out of place and their death wounds emerge.
If I’m being perfectly honest, they didn’t scare me that much. They didn’t seem to bear me ill will—apart from that bizarre message the night I saw Chloe, they seemed content to merely hang about, and their presence had become almost comforting. If they were real, I figured I could handle that. No, what truly frightened me was the idea that they might not be real, that I might in fact be out of my fucking mind. All I wanted was to live a normal life. Xavier, Zach and the others weren’t getting in the way of that, but a mental illness certainly would.
I thought it would be an easy process—“Hey, doc, I’m going nuts, can you lock me up for a while and hit me with some meds?”—but it’s not that simple. As it turns out, there’s a lot involved in admitting oneself into the farm, not the least of which is a series of probing interviews with psychiatric professionals. I know they mean well, but in my experience, chats with these quacks usually do more harm than good. They drag up stuff that your mind hides, and sometimes your mind hides that stuff for a reason. I must have met a dozen people who went in for a five-minute checkup and came out remembering how their uncle used to touch them when they were kids.
For me, it didn’t happen quite that way. I was in my third and final interview, this one with the head of the institution herself, when I finally remembered. It wasn’t gradual. It came all at once. I broke down sobbing, realizing what I’d done, what responsibility I bore. It’s a surreal experience, to forget. Not just to have something slip your mind, like where you put your keys, but to really, truly, forget. I wish I had forgotten forever.
Seeming a bit taken aback by my outburst, the hospital administrator signed a piece of paper and tried to hand it to me, telling me it would account for at least a ninety-day stay. But I barely heard. I wiped the snot from my nose, blinking back tears, and stared behind her in horror, where Chloe Cannon hovered, the strange sad look still etched on her face. It was the first time I had seen her since that night, long ago, in my room. I pointed behind the lady, shrieking.
“She’s there! She’s there!”
Now thoroughly alarmed, the administrator whipped her head around, and then, apparently seeing nobody, pressed a button on her desk. The paper she had been trying to hand over fluttered to the ground. As the men in the white coats came to restrain me, I wrenched my gaze from Chloe and looked at the paper, face up on the concrete floor. And as they dragged me from the room, I saw a message written, in the unmistakable handwriting of a teenage girl, where the administrator had signed:
WITH MY DADS GUN I GUESS OF COURSE I KNOW WHERE HE KEEPS IT
Chloe’s face, twisted in a cruel smirk, was the last thing I saw before all went black.
October 15th, 2009. Chloe Cannon and her friends had less than 24 hours to live. Of course, they didn’t know that then. Nobody did. It was just a regular day in our regular town.
School had been out for half an hour, and I was on my way home—and who was right in front of me? You guessed it, boys and girls, Finn Carlton. I walked a few dozen paces behind him, my feet crunching the leaves on the sidewalk, my breath barely visible in the brisk autumn air. I stared at the green trim on his black backpack. God, it was a good-looking backpack.
His head hung and his shoulders were slumped. That was odd. I mean, the kid never had great posture, but on this day he looked like his books weighed a hundred pounds. He was sniffling a lot, too. I can’t be sure, but I think he was crying.
I didn’t care much about that, though. Finn Carlton’s problems were none of my concern—at least, that’s what I thought at the time. No, most of my thoughts were on my mother. She didn’t have work that day, and that usually meant she had a damn fine meal waiting for the family at home. And I know you all think your mothers can cook a damn fine meal, but trust me, they wouldn’t even compare.
Anyway, Finn had barely even crossed my mind until he reached in his pocket. He pulled out a ringing cell (a flip phone—2009 was a simpler time) and answered it.
“What do you want?” His voice seemed thick, like a guy trying to sound more masculine than he felt.
At first, my ears barely even registered the first half of the conversation.
“No, I can’t . . . I can’t ask her . . . Because, man, I think you already know . . . Dude, she’s with Chris . . . Yes, my brother Chris, what other fucking Chris would I be talking about?”
My ears perked up a bit. Drama. Just what I needed to take the boredom out of this brutally dull walk. I quickened my stride somewhat, hoping to get a bit closer and catch more of the conversation. I took care to avoid the leaves on the sidewalk, not wanting to draw Finn’s attention to my presence. He continued:
“No, I’m not guessing, I saw them kiss . . . I don’t know, next to the band room . . . Are you fucking high? Of course it was her . . . Yeah, you’re telling me. I feel like shit. I’m losing my fucking mind over here.”
I didn’t know who the girl he mentioned was, but I did know of his brother Chris. He was a year younger than me, and it always struck me as strange that he and Finn were related—while Finn was quiet, scrawny, and a bit morose-seeming, Chris was a handsome, upbeat kid who gave off the impression that he was going places in life.
“Oh yeah, dude, that was the last straw,” Finn continued, his voice shaking with rage. “You have no fucking idea how done I am with this shit.” Then he was silent for a long time. Finally, he spoke again, and his voice sounded different. Lower. Meaner.
“I’m going to kill her . . . Both of them, sure. Why not?”
My blood instantly turned to ice. I stopped dead in my tracks. Did he just say what I think he just said?
Finn laughed, a harsh, excited laugh, then spoke again. “With my dad’s gun, I guess . . . Of course I know where he keeps it.”
My head was reeling. I stood, alone, on the sidewalk, my breath short and my heartbeat quick. I tried to force what I had just heard from my mind. Surely he couldn’t be serious. But God, he sounded like he was. He sounded deadly serious. I don’t think I’ve heard that tone of voice from anyone else in my life.
Finn had continued walking and was almost out of earshot. He stepped further and further away, and I had no interest in hearing any more of his conversation. I felt sick to my stomach. I was only close enough to hear one final sentence before he trailed off:
“I don’t know, man—tomorrow’s as good a day as any.”
It happened the next day, at lunch. I was in the cafeteria, sitting at the usual table with the usual people, when a pop, muffled but clearly audible, rang through the air. A few seconds passed, then another. Another. Another. By the third pop, the cafeteria was silent. By the sixth, pandemonium had ensued. Students trampled over one another in their flight to the west exit, away from that sound. Teachers tried unsuccessfully to give the mob order. Everyone—myself included—was getting the hell out of there.
As I ran with the crowd, my thoughts were with Finn Carlton, who was presently undoing his belt and staring at a pipe on the ceiling of the locked band room. Those pops rang in my head, grisly echoes playing over and over and over, getting louder and louder and louder. This is your fault, is all I can think. This is your fault.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang!
The final knock on my cell door awoke me. Perhaps cell is too harsh a word—it was a nice room. They took good care of me. Still, when I climbed out of bed and saw those beautiful words on my calendar—DAY 90—I dressed with a little pep in my step.
I could have left at any time, of course, but the paperwork would have been so complicated. That, and I couldn’t think of anything better to do on the outside. So I stayed, for three long months, talking to therapists and swallowing pills and sharing my feelings in hilarious group circles with other inmates who were actually crazy. And that’s the thing, the one thing I learned from my time in the funny farm: They were crazy. I wasn’t.
No, Chloe Cannon was real, in life and in death—as real as my fingers flying over my keyboard right now, telling you my story. Her secret boyfriend, Christopher Carlton, he’s real too. So is Xavier Mayweather, and Marianne Ortega, and RJ Saldaz, and every last pound of big Zach Trainor. They’re all real, realer to me than they ever were alive, even though they’re all lying in the frozen December ground with traces of lead still in their heads. They’re all real, and they won’t leave me alone, and why should they?
I’m the reason RJ never got to use those Harry Potter tickets. The newspapers reported tirelessly on the victims after the shooting, and one of the details they really harped on was that RJ was a huge Harry Potter fan and that he’d bought tickets for the upcoming midnight premiere months in advance. I think J.K. Rowling even sent some nice shit to his family. I didn’t catch the movie in theaters, but I got it on Redbox a few months later. I wish I could say I was alone when I watched it, but RJ didn’t miss a single frame.
I’m the reason that the kiss shared between Chloe Cannon and Chris Carlton, the kiss they meant to hide but that was seen by a jealous brother anyway, was their last. I’m the reason Xavier never broke five minutes in the mile, the reason Marianne never learned better English, the reason Zach never lost all the weight he’d meant to. I’m the reason they’re all dead.
I got Chloe’s final message in an email two years ago:
TOMORROWS AS GOOD A DAY AS ANY
--CHLOE :)
Though I see her every night, she hasn’t spoken to me since. There’s so much she could say, but I think she’s choosing—somehow, some way—to let it remain unsaid. Isn’t it better if I fill in the gaps?
What’s it like to still be alive?
How can you live with yourself?
You could have saved us.
She never says it. None of them ever do. I don’t even know if they can. But as they crowd around my bed every night, all six of them, I can feel it in their stares. They all want to be alive, and they’ll haunt me as long as I draw the breath they crave. I’m not crazy, I’m not hallucinating, I’m not a freak—I’m simply and overwhelmingly consumed by guilt.
I have a gun that I keep in the corner of my closet, a gun not unlike the one Finn Carlton stole from his dad’s dresser, in a box that you could only find if you’re looking for it. I look for it sometimes. I pull it out sometimes, too. And every once in a while, I put a bullet in it, close the chamber, and hold it to my temple with a trembling, sweaty palm. Every time I do, I feel my six friends, my six tormentors, cheering me on. But I’ve never pulled the trigger. Not yet. I guess the time’s just never seemed right, but perhaps there’s no sense in putting it off any longer. From where I sit now, I can see the box—just the corner, peeking out from the top of my closet. Taunting me. Daring me. When will I give in?
I don’t know, man—tomorrow’s as good a day as any.
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