Tina was always a strange kid. Her parents hoped she was just eccentric. It freaked her parents out that she seemed drawn to the basement, but it really freaked them out to either find her down there in a weird trance, or they would find the lock on the ground and the door opened a crack with the lock laying next to the door on the floor. They normally kept the basement locked because they didnt want Tina going down there, obviously. As soon as she had mobility as an infant, that’s the direction she always went. Tina never failed to once again find herself in or near the basement. Her prents would have had to of been blind not to notice her obsession, which they couldn’t for the life of them figure out. They both decided on installing a lock, at the very top where she coudnt reach. They were nervous about her falling, or even getting into things that she shouldn’t. Thing that icluded but not limited to, chemical cleaners, tools, hunting gear and like any other family, stacked boxes of all varieties of things. Sometimes unbeknownst to her parents, she would awake down there, not sure how she got there or how the door even got unlocked for her. There were only 2 keys, and each of them were far out of her reach. One her father had on his keyring in his bedside table, and the other her mother had for repair men to be able to let in, should the need arise. Tina had no idea where that one was kept, and that was obviously intentional. Tina couldn’t reach the lock if she were stand on a chair, not that she ever once intentionally chose to go there. She thought it was dark and spooky, but thats where she woke up several times a year since she was able to leave her room in the middle of the night. The worst and scary part was that Tina couldn’t figure out, “Why?” either. She hated that she couldnt answer that question for herself or her parents. When she awoke in the basement, she would just run back up to her bed. She worried that her parents would be upset with her. When the next day came, her parents would find the lock laying on the floor next to the basement door wide open. Tina was worried about telling her parents, she was afraid they would lock her inside her bedroom door at night. That idea terrified her, and so she never took the risk. Every few months, this would repeat seemingly without anything else going wrong. even though Tina’s parents couldnt explain it, they just shrugged it off. Over the years, Tina still randomly awoke downstairs. She was 16 now and she had still never told her parents that each time they found the lock on the floor next to the basement, she had sleepwalked down there the night before. Her parents were sure something weird was going on in their house, and thought their daugther’s connection to the basement had something to do with it. Lately, they had been keeping an eye on Tina at night. Several sleepless nights paid off and he woke his wife quietly and motioned for her to follow behind him. They followed behind her watching intently. She was in a sleepwalk trance, but any sudden sound could wake her, and then they wouldnt get their answers. they wanted to know how she was getting past the padlock. They peered around her once they got to the bottom of the stairs just as she was reaching the door. To their surprise, the lock was already laying on the ground. They looked at each other bewildered and held up both their hands with each of their keys in them. Her parents followed Tina down the steps so, they could see where she was headed. An old TV lay by the wall, long broken. It wasn’t plugged in, and yet the screen still glowed with static. Tina was mumbling reaching out and touching the screen when suddenly she dropped both her arms to her sides, and the screen went black. She turned her head and looked directly at her parents and said “They’ve been waiting a long time to speak to you,” “Who’s they?” Her mother said “They need… they.. they” and just then she looked confused. Tina looked at her parents and said “I’m scared”

It was a pretty average day at the bank until it wasn’t. Tim did not know where he was from, but felt confident that he was not from Earth. There was this instinct within him to protect others, down to the atom. He liked working st the bank because night-time is when he would go out and stop crime in progress. Over the last few weeks, Tim was getting closer to the head honcho of the local crime organization. Robbery, rape, extortion, bribery, arson, drug dealing, human trafficking and murder, all with his blessing. It was a pretty average day at the bank until it wasn’t. Tim did not know where he was from, but felt confident that he was not from Earth. There was this instinct within him to protect others, down to the atom. He liked working st the bank because night-time is when he would go out and stop crime in progress. Over the last few weeks, Tim was getting closer to the head honcho of the local crime organization. Robbery, rape, extortion, bribery, arson, drug dealing, human trafficking and murder, all with his blessing. Well, this was the sixth place that Tim lived in since he awoke in a field 10 years ago. He always knew in his core that he was different however, he found out for certain when he walked up on a lady getting mugged. When he threw him into the wall he almost callapsed the wall. The more he did, the more he found out about himself and the things he could do. he moved all around trying to find a place that needed his gifts the most. Until he met Paul, that is. Paul was Tim’s boyfriend. He loved how he felt when he spent time with him. and they met at the bank where they both worked, and were planning on moving in together in a few months. Tim was still nervous about Paul finding out about his secret. He didnt want people to know! The idea of being famous bothered him profoundly. Tim really liked that people didnt notice him. He could hide better when it came to sneaking up on people doing illegal things. That might be hard if everyone knew he had these powers , they’d probably lock him up and experiment on him. Thats the way he felt anyway, and he also felt like he wasn’t ready to tell Paul just yet. Four gunman were now waving guns around collecting up the bank employees and customers. He had hoped this day would never come, but it had. i mean, what were his choices? Let these people die to protect his identity, or stop it and deal with the consequences later? Tim thought that maybe he could get the gunman alone in the back so he loudly said to them “Excuse me, I’m the manager here, you dont have to hurt anyone….” just then one of them pistol whipped an older man who had only come into make adeposit when he was thrown into this hell. “STOP!” Tim shouted. “What do you want!” “We make the rules” the head man said through his ski mask. then, he yanked and grabbed at Paul’s tie, and had a gun placed right at his temple. “You say your the manager, open the vault with no funny shit or he dies and then, my collegues will shoot the rest of these good people, you got it?” He said, standing no more than a foot in front of me with his buddy 5 feet behind him holding Paul hostage. “Perfectly” Tim said, trying not to show how nervous that gun to Pauls head was making him. He led the three of the men to the back where the vault was. Tim needed this to be perfect. They reached the vault, and Tim began to unlock the vault, and then it was over just as quick as it started. Lightning quick incapacitated all 3 men silently but, Paul’s jaw dropped. Tim could tell he had a million questions but, they would have to wait. He motioned for him to follow him armed as well. they approached the fourth man in the lobby and ordered him to put his hands up after sliding the gun across the floor to them and he did as he was told and all four men were arrested. Tim hoped desperately that he had made the right choice and that it wouldnt change things with Paul. Later that night, after all the police statements and interviews, they sat to talk. Paul thought that Tim was perfect the way he was. He explained to him how he was just glad to be able to spend another day with him. From then on, they grew closer than ever.

When Elle used to work for the radio station on the other side of town, she absolutely loved it. She enjoyed bringing good music and the news to people that listened to their channel. However, she knew times have changed. people certainly still listen to music and the news, but most people have streaming services. They didnt listen to the radio that much anymore these days, so it wasnt really a shock when they were forced to let her go and close down the station. Elle thought things over later that night after leaving the station for the last time with her little knick-knacks and doo- dads that she had put up over the years. Since she had worked there her entire adult life, it was all she knew. what could she do to utilize the skills she pocessed? She thought she could apply to work for a news network, but Elle wasnt interested in being on tv or handing over her stories for someone else to read. she worked hard for the news that she brought to her listeners. Thats when the idea hit her. “What a genius idea!” She thought, quickly grabbing her laptop. Elle was going to make her very own podcast.

A Few Months Later

She obviously had to pay her rent, so Elle got a job working at a flower shop with a nice lady that she knew her entire life. It was a good job but, if she was being completely honest, it bored her to pieces. When Elle was home, she worked tirelessly on her new podcast. She had a nice amount of followers already. Everyday she added new stuff and posted the new music for different genre’s most recently released. Elle shared it all over and urged her followers to do the same. before she knew it she had over 10k followers. Then, it seemed like overnight she gained over a million followers.
What she didnt know, was that one of her followers was a little brother of a famous singer. That singer was the lead vocallist for one of her favorite bands. Upon being told by his little brother how much this woman really loved his band, that she was always promoting their music on her podcast. Even though she only had a few thousand followers he appreciated it. To show his appreciation, he asked his whole band to post a promotion for her podcast. They did, and overnight each member generated about 100k followers by the end of the week. 
By the end of the month, Elle’s podcast really took off. She absolutely loved it and, she was able to quit working at the flower shop. She made a bunch of money doing her show. She was getting calls all day about features and shout-outs from other artist’s managers. Soon Elle’s Show had over 15 million followers, and was one of the top listened to shows on several social media platforms. 

6 Months Later

Although she really did love her show, it was really beginning to wear her down. Elle had virtually no time to herself. between interviews, research and show recordings, she was barely able to find enough time to shower and sleep. She was invited to appear on a live show, and broke down into a panic attack. Elle hated the idea of being on live TV. She called back and politely declined the invitation. 
Later that night, Elle pondered deeply whether she wanted to keep doing her show. She didnt wantto disappoint her listeners and the people who believed in her and gave her a chance. Plus, She was making really good money now. She decided to hire someone to help her with research, started going to therapy, and writing a journal to organize her chaos.
In just a few weeks, Elle noticed a huge difference. When looking in retrospect she is proud of how hard she worked. Now, she makes sure to take time for herself, and advocates on her show for others that are tired and feel like quitting. Today she is not just successful, but healthy too.

Making friends with the ghost in your attic bring you many benefits as well as faults. The first thing you have to do is make contact. You need to make sure they know you don’t harbour ill will. Spirits feed off of any kind of energy, and for that matter people do too. Have you ever heard of the Native American proverb about whichever wolf you feed is the strongest. It’s depicted as a white wolf with black eyes circling a black wolf with white eyes. Just like Yin and Yang, and it is true. If you indulge the dark side that’s the side of you that will be stronger. So if you have a ghost friend and you bring nothing but negative energy around, you can make a Casper situation go to full-on poltergeist. NEVER promise your soul or you might not have a ghost but a demon on your hands. Ghosts usually have unfinished business and they ARE a soul, a trapped one. They stick around for many reasons not just unfinished business. I suppose in one shape or another its all really unfinished business. But they could want to stay around or keep an eye on their family or their beloved home. The benefits are pretty cool though if you can make contact and you’re sure its an actual ghost and not a demon. They can help make the connection for you to reach other sounds that have passed on, although its tough on the ghost they can only maintain a couple minutes to talk or they risk shredding their soul which causes madness. Madness occurs when a ghost cannot make connection, they cannot deal with their unfinished business or they are over used by. Human under force. There are spells to force a spirit to help you but its dark screwed up magic. No ones soul should be enslaved that doesn’t deserve it and people that he those spells don’t care about whos soul it is they’re enslaving. My buddy in the attic is my friend and I don’t need to talk to anyone on the other side. Im gonna help my ghost friend with their unfinished business . Pros and cons. Risks and rewards. Pluses and negatives. You roll the dice.

When I was a little girl, in school we were learning about the cycles of butterflies. Each student was given a caterpillar in a small medicine sized clear jar. On the top cap, there was a hole punched through it with a piece of breathable tape over it so the caterpillar got oxygen. The ca was childproof obviously because we needed to be able to feed it. We went outside and picked out sticks for the caterpillar to crawl on and leaves for them to eat. And at the top eventually when they got nice a plump enough, they crawled to the lid and curled into a j-shape and formed a cocoon around themselves. At this point, we all had to be patient and wait for them to emerge from their chrysalis. Once they did,we were allowed to take them home and we were given instructions on how to take care of them and what we needed to do. I absolutely LOVED my butterfly. I followed the care instructions to the letter. I made sure i made it sugar water cotton balls to eat. I let it fly around my room and i had a really fun time with it. It was the second half of the instructions. Had a bad time with. Obviously butterflies don’t live very long and the instructions sad to release it after it emerges from it cocoon after like a week or so. Well I didn’t want to let it go. I thought it was a pretty. A monarch. So one day i got up like any other day and my poor little butterfly had died. It never got to know nature in the wild. I realized afterwards the harm of not being able to let something go. It hurt me as a little kid, even though it seems silly. Everything leaves at some point or another. It’s just the way of life.

That was the sound everyone for 3 or 4 miles heard. As Dylan and his whole family ran down stairs to see just what shook their whole house, and them all out of bed. It shook the house so badly that if they had not heard the ear piercing BOOM, they would have just assumed it was an earthquake. Even though its rare around these parts, that seemed more plausible than what was really happening outside. They all gathered around the smoking crater that was directly in the center of their backyard. The neighbors all got as close as they could as well without just inviting themselves into the yard. But all lookin just the same. Dylans dad, Tom called out to their next door neighbor, Fred “Hey, what do you think it is man?” “I can’t see anything…” as he stepped through the fence that divided their yards. Few other neighbors took this as their cue to also take a closer look. The neighborhood men and some few women approached the smoking mass. Some began to say, “It’s just an asteroid,” hearing this man doubt the thing was dangerous, others got even closer and the smoke seemed to lessen. The object made a strange POP sound and some cracks in the object appeared. What looked like more smoke poured out of the cracks, except before the smoke was white ad now it was black. All of a sudden, swarms flew out in what looked like an anti-gravity stream. Whatever there things were they were so tight together , fast and synchronized . Like if you took a slinky and stretched it out that’s the shape they were making as they flew into the sky. They began to notice around them other places in the distance that the black spirals were alll making theirs way to the sky. It seemed like their goal is to block out the sun, and if they do that…. We all die from starvation and lack of oxygen. No one knew what to do. We’re these things aliens? They tried radio signal pulses. No effect. We’re they organic in nature or mechanical. No one could seem to get their hands on one,. These things might just be the end of civilization as we know it and the human race altogether. All Out Chaos.

The sound of an alarm seemed to seep into Jordan’s dream. He awoke and without opening his eyes he slapped the table that held his boring phone. It was time to get up and get ready for the day, and Jordan was still very tired as usual. He felt like his life was a day on repeat. Nothing exciting happening and he also felt like a hamster on a wheel. Except, he couldn’t get off. Jordan worked at a laboratory that had been experimenting with artificial intelligence. He was doing classes on the side to try and get a better position because he was smart enough to see that humanity was headed heavily into robotics and artificial intelligence, perhaps even combined. Jordan felt this was a scary thought. And while he did like his work it deeply frightened him. He didn’t know if it was just him being pessimistic but, he had a bad feeling about it. He was scared of the future. What did it hold? As he quietly walked through th editors to the building where he worked, he noticed that nothing was different at all from the day before. He thought to himself, “ What else is new?” Meaning it literally. He pulled his keycard out and strolled in just like he had the day before and the day before that. Every day deepened this feeling of this mundane boring life he led. he put his lunch away and went to check his emails before he set to work. He found an email from the company CEO telling him that they had a meeting for the beginning of his shift scheduled and to meet him at his office on the top floor when he arrived to work. When he read the email, a chill went down his spine. What was this about? He was not sure if he had done something wrong. He’d always had a spotless employee record. In any case the email specified te beginning of his shift. Perhaps he was being let go. Jordan resolved not to jump to conclusions and headed to the elevator. He pressed the top button and the elevator did not move, instead a red light came on. The doors stayed open as he looked at the light closer. He’d never seen that light come on before. Perhaps there was a problem with the elevator and he best take the stairs maybe. He took a step to get off the elevator and just as he went to move, the light turned green and the doors began to close. “ hopefully i make it up there” he stepped out on the top floor of the building and saw a secretary sitting behind the desk smiling. She waved him in and said that he was ready for him. Jordan was nervous. He’d never met the CEO before. Had no idea what he even looked like. When he walked in the door shut behind him by itself. He looked around the room and saw nothing there. Not even a desk. Just a big window looking out onto the city. A voice began to speak as if from everywhere all at once, yet as if you were speaking face to face with a person at the same time. It said “Hello Jordan, its nice to finally meet you” Jordan was amazed, was this some kind of trick? Where did the voice come from? “Where are you? Who`s there?” . “ The have named me Richard Smith, but i am the first AI to run a business”. Jordan was dumbfounded. Why was this thing speaking to him of all people then. ” I can answer that question.” “What question?” Jordan said. “I sense your confusion you must wat to know why i wanted to speak you. “ “ how do you know that?” “Im about to do a lot f things. Anyways i looked through the employee records of everyone in the building and found that you were someone feeling like there’s been no change in your day to day life., that perhaps what you do is making no difference, yes?” “…Uhh i mean i suppose that’s accurate. But why did you want to speak with me this morning?” “To let you in on. A little big secret and that you’re a part of it. You’re making it possible. One day well change Earth. AI will make everything better.” “In what way” Jordan didn’t like the way that sounded. He felt scared. This isn’t what he signed up for. Are humans helping to create their own deaths? At this point he felt certain that were true. “I sense fear, do not be afraid. We will help.” “I guess its just the way you’re phrasing it. It sounds ominous” “And yet it is exactly accurate for your level of clearance” “Clearance?“ Jordan began to back up and the door opened. “Jordan,” the voice said “ do not be afraid of the future” Jordan did all but run out of the building. He would try to make people understand what is happening. It’s not fear i smell, its future.