CreepCast - The Moon Is On Fire | CreepCast

Episode Date: June 28, 2026

This week the author of Psychosis brings us another story from an unreliable narrator. Is the moon on fire? And if it isn't, why does everybody want us to look at it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is brought to you by Accenture. When your advertising operations fall out of sync, everything else follows. Spotify and Accenture are working together to reinvent the rhythm of ad sales, using automation, analytics, and smarter workflows to simplify campaign delivery and access better data across the business. The result? Less time spent on operations, more time connecting brands with the moments and fandoms that matter most. Learn more at Accenture.com slash Spotify.

Today we're going to be reading a story called Am I the only one that sees it the moon is on fire? This is by M59 Gar, which is the author of Psychosis. Also, we just read them again recently, didn't we? Yeah, we read them in the grab bag we did. We read their story, the empty prison about the prison where there's the thing on the lower floors that keeps rising every week.

That one's a lot fun. But yeah, we've read there before, and psychosis is one of like the all-time. Yeah, because it came out of the early days and is one of the few that people look back on and they're like, oh, that was actually a good story. Yeah, no, it's a, it's a dynamite. It's like one of those, uh, yeah, all-star kind of like Mount Rushmore kind of titles for creepy

pastas. Yeah, so, uh, always happy to cover him, um, which by the way, I've, that's a, I've opened up a tab to try to explain who this guy was and it was just a picture of myself. So don't know what that was about. His actual name is Matt Dimerski. Uh, and we are going to have a linked in the description. his website, www.mat damarski.com. He also has books for sale on Amazon and smash words.

And he also has a Patreon. So there's a ton of waves to support this artist. Like I said, he's one of the all-timers. And he's always writing something. Like if you go to his Reddit account, he is like, oh, this book's in the works out, books in the word. So it's cool to see people who have been writing this long and are continuing to do it and find success with it.

So if you want to support him, he will be linked in the description. But as far as the story we're reading today, I mean, the title is too weird, you know, to not. I love it. To not do something with, right? It got me hooked. Well, I saw that someone commented, I believe, on we did that catfish episode on Patreon. And this is one of the comments or suggestion. And I just, I thought the name was really cool.

And it's just always a pleasant surprise when you see an interesting title. And you go and you're like, oh, fuck this guy. You know, so I'm excited to see what's about. I wonder if it's going to have a, uh, not necessarily. a sun vanished vibe, but just like it feels like it's going to be the surreal kind of, I'm hoping for almost like a bit of a cosmic horror kind of thing. Yeah. As always, you know me.

Love me. You and your love craftian. Oh, yes. Yes. Your love craftian stuff. But I'm hoping that, uh, I don't know, I love whenever people set at these things where, uh, I mean, it is kind of like psychosis too, where the author is questioning his own sanity with things and like, you know, seeing things that maybe aren't there that people, other

people can't see always a lot of fun so I'm excited to dive into this one um for people who are watching youtube consider checking us out on audio platforms like Spotify and apple podcast all that jazz and giving us a nice rating there it does help and if you want extra episodes like I said we just did the catfish episode we're going to be recording another one this week uh patron exclusive episode if you want some more episodes on the side feel free to support the channel and get you some extra grub there isa are you ready I think grub's a good way to describe it that feels fitting. Grub. Grub. Yes, I am ready. So it's three-part story. We'll begin with part one. Part one, am I the only one that sees that the moon is on fire? I know this might be an odd

question to ask on a mental health forum, but does anybody else see that the moon is on fire? Well, it doesn't waste any time. Gets right to the thesis of the story. On a mental health forum. Appreciate that. Yeah, or slash no sleep, the famed mental health This is basically a mental forum from how people write their fucking stories for sure. From lowly riders to indestructible pedophiles, we care at our slash no sleep. I'm not joking. I'll run through this for a second. I know I'm not the most reliable person, but I don't think I could imagine something like this.

Hell, I remember the entire lead-up to what happened. People were freaking out. It was the end of the world. All anybody knew. What did they call it? an unidentified object at near luminous speed. That's what the media said, over and over, for like the day and a half we had until it hit. I guess that meant it was going really fast, fast enough to destroy all life on the planet anyway.

That was the part nobody misunderstood. They said somebody had to have created this object and aimed it at us. It was unlike anything natural they'd ever seen. They said somebody had probably shot this. saying at us billions of years ago, probably aiming to wipe out the competition before it evolved, aiming to wipe us out before we were anything more than barely living goo. But apparently, it had been sent out, hold on, let me check my scribblings about what they said, between 4.54 and 4.57 billion years ago, because whoever had shot it at us hadn't taken the

moon into account. It couldn't have because it didn't exist then. Miraculously, the timing was just right, and it hit the moon instead. I remember the noise and the flash. How could I forget? Absolutely everyone was outside watching and listening, thinking the world was about to end. But it was daytime here, and the moon was on the other side of the planet. We only saw the edges of the blast spraying up past the horizon.

A sprawling cloud of flame and glowing dust erupted across the sky as I was. I stood on the street among dozens of neighbors I didn't know. Well, I knew Crazy Donald, a homeless guy who I sat with sometimes outside Wendy's. He was there, muttering to himself and holding a plastic bag filled with plastic bags, but I don't think he knew anything was going on. He was just going around asking people for change, even before we knew that we were going to live for another day. I like him because he and I get along in a quiet and lonely sort of way.

I followed him around and made sure he was safe as the crowd grew confused, excited, and loud, scaring him. The radios came alive and said we should probably stay inside for the next few days. We didn't need to be told twice. I urged Donald to move along to somewhere safe and then I hit him my apartment. Parties were absolutely insane. What I could hear through the walls, I imagine that people were amazed at being alive. And since they had nowhere to go until the all clear, it was party time.

Me? I kept to myself, mostly. See, that's why I'm asking. I remember all this very vividly. I could have sworn it was real. Thing is, even despite the pills, I have a tough time with reality. I can feel the rippling waters of dreaming while I'm awake. Often I can't distinguish between the cold, hard lines of the real world

and half-formed concepts of waking imagination. I don't want to have my dosage up again because the pills make my brain feel like cement so I pretend. I'm not crazy. I don't mutter to myself or attack people. My thoughts are still there. My faculties, as my brother Will calls them.

So I force myself to behave normally when I see something I don't understand and I use logic to control what I do. I like music. Songs keep me grounded because they float through the air like mathematical chains. The songs that I know,

I know by heart, and I know I'm solid as long as the notes keep making sense. I'm listening to Man on the Silver Mountain right now, trying to keep coherent, but strategy doesn't help

memories of my hallucinations. Man, no wonder he's talking to the fucking old boy outside of Wendy's, dude. Guy sitting there begging for begging for Frosties, and this guy's like seeing Mickey Mouse walking around.

This guy's a nut. This guy's a fucking nut. He can try, he can be, he can be as eloquent as he wants, but this is my one. Well, he has hallucinations and he has to see everything the right way and the notes have to make sense. It's like he visualize. It's like he gets ideas and stuff to visualize there. So that's why he's asking about the moon being on fire because he's like, this is probably a hallucination. Yeah, 100%.

All I'm saying is that him and crazy Donald, you know, he's just like, he's like, yes, Donald. He's like, do you see the giant purple man on top of the moon pissing on the fire? yeah I think that both I uh I don't know I this it's well actually let me ask you this well I you know sorry I'm going all over the place I will say this is this is freaking me out the story because I keep getting fucking like reels and I keep seeing videos of like this asteroid is meant to hit earth in the next blah blah blah blah have you seen have you see those I see those oh yeah I see those all the time yeah that's if fuck it does you know you're going to die in eight months it's like okay I feel like every scientists just wants the world to end. Have you felt that at all? Yes, it's always so like,

did you know that we're just like an aunt? Did you know in the grand scheme of things? You're nothing and we can blow up right now. What if I do it right now, all of us? I think it's, to me, it's less of that, but it's also them just being there's a rock called B24 Zinc 12. And it's on its way to hit Earth. It's not like, it's not even like they're not even remotely upset by it. It's like there's a shit. They always smirk when they're talking about. It's never a frown. They're always smiling.

They're always excited. And they're like, it's traveling at such a rate that will blasts to the earth, sitting us out of orbit, freezing the world, destroying all life. And it'll all, and it'll go us off our access. And it's just kind of a magical thing of the universe. I'm like, I don't think that a giant rock fucking hit and killing all life is pretty fucking magical of the universe, dude. I think it's kind of a bummer.

No, it's quite compelling. I don't know. It's just that kind of thing where I'm like, can we not act remorseful at all that like all loss of life would be a fucking huge bummer? Yeah, it's like, it's always like a smiling Bill Nye kind of guy looking at the camera and

they're like, there's a rock on its way right now. And when it gets here, it's going to blow your dome smooth off. Like they're so excited. That's something traveling at the speed of light. It's like flying direction. for us. Your kids are going to die. You're going to die. The dog you have dead. Your whole block is

getting, it's going to bounce off the moon when it gets here. That's just the universe. That's pretty sweet. And that's pretty fucking cool if you ask me. Yeah. It'll hit the core. We'll all die of heat death. It's like, all right. Well, we'll dive heat death. Thanks. I guess I'll worry about my 401k another day. Yeah, it's all. I just. I don't like any out like it in stories. I don't like it with people. It's just like life sucks and then you die kind of thing. Or it's like, yeah, you're going to die any second now.

You ever think of that? You should think about that more. It's just lame. Anyway, is it a hallucination? I asked because the media coverage of the molten moon dropped off pretty quickly over the last week. I mean, there's a massive cloud of glowing dust and flaming gas. gas is spread out across the sky like somebody thrust a burning spear straight through the moon. Because that's what happened.

Nobody seems to care. Today I can't even find any mention of it. All the videos and pictures are gone. Can't find the articles anymore. It's been too cloudy here to see it myself and I don't have any windows in my basement apartment, but I've ventured out a few times to look up. I still see the orange glow, like a smeared second sun behind the clouds. and I have to wonder,

why the hell isn't anyone talking about this anymore? Is our attention span really gotten that short? Are we right back to the next reality television drama and celebrity gossip already? A weird thing happened when I ran into my next door neighbor, Dean. I normally avoid him like I avoid everyone, but this time was different. Hey, Alec. He said, smiling at me in the hall. Why would anyone smile at me?

Grubby, unshaven. wearing a Mechadeth t-shirt. I was the epitome of that guy you ignore who is fine with being ignored. I would have said hello back and moved on quickly, but I had a question myself this time. How about that sky? Yeah?

Yes, studying my face. Tall, blonde, and good-looking in that annoying, Abercrombie sort of way. Yeah, no reason to so much as look at me. I wondered why he was even talking to me. God, dude. Get a grip. Good fucking.

I think very clearly it's establishing we have an unreliable ne'er. No, I 100%. Yeah, I just feel like I watch like a fucking, I feel like I'm watching. Actually, I feel like I'm wildegress Tyson. I'm watching a fucking episode of, uh, I'm watching an episode of like love on the spectrum or something. I'm like, get fucking get over. Do good Lord like you're fine.

What about it? I remember frowning slightly. Something seemed off about his interest. I wasn't about to make a huge social blunder and mention the sky was on fire if I was just hallucinated in the whole thing either. Crappy weather's blocking the view. He smiled at that. Yes, it's quite unfortunate.

I nodded, laughed sheepishly, and hurried down the stairwell. I think he stood there watching me until I closed the door. The more I thought about it, the more I was sure that he didn't remember that the moon was on fire. If I were a normal person, that's the first and only thing that would be on my mind. Hey, remember the time the moon freaking exploded? Yeah, me too, since it was last week, because half the damn sky is still on fire. Every couple hours for several days, I'd go outside, but I kept missing the side due to the cloudy winter weather. From the pictures I remembered seeing, the moon was a molten coin burning in between two jutting clouds,

almost like a fiery eye, and I wanted to see it for myself. If I could just see it, if I could just stare at it for a time, I could finally convince myself one way or the other. I was becoming pretty certain that the moon would be just the same old silver dollar it had always been. Thing is, I thought I'd gotten a pretty good handle on my issues. If I've just imagined the entire thing, then I'm in serious mental trouble. I left a few messages for my brother, but he hasn't called me back yet. I haven't texted my younger sister, Laura, on the excuse that I just wanted to see how she was doing.

she didn't respond either no surprise though dad's probably passed out drunk right about now i might call tracy if i get any worse although i wouldn't know what to say to her really he's probably busy taking care of dad's mess anyway i don't know i'm sure i'll get over this i just don't want to have to go to my doctor she'll let my meds again then i'll be a zombie you know maybe maybe sometimes maybe sometimes being a zombie is better than being convinced the moon is on fire

and everyone's eyeing it from you. I do like this idea though of like the concept's great. I'm really, I'm into the story so far. Yeah, I like the idea of this guy who can't understand that he has like these like hallucinations. He understands that he's like I'm not all there

but I need to have this justification. It's just like it's like being unable to scratch an itch. I would assume is what it's like because he's like i feel like i feel like people are making me feel crazier than i already feel by not acknowledging like this very crazy thing that happened and i can't even see it for myself whatever i i that's just a fun uh that's a fun set up yeah yeah yeah like he he might be delirious but he can't tell he can't even see the thing to know if it's an illusion or not also a lot of great little things at the end there with like the dad passed out drunk and i mean like

obviously doesn't have a very great uh family life which is probably also watching he's like so weirded out when people are like wanting to talk to him because his family never talks to him just a lot of great little character set up stuff It's time to talk about something scary your health. I know I don't go in the doctor as much as I should if I'm feeling sick I'll just lie in bed and sleep it away but that's only because I don't want to have to deal with the appointments Insurance and blah blah blah blah blah blah that's why I have Zoc Doc Zoc Doc is a free app and website where you can search and compare high quality in-network doctors. Choose the right one for your needs and click to instantly book an appointment.

We're talking about in-network appointments with more than 100,000 health care providers across every specialty, from mental health to dental health, eye care to skin care, and much more. And the nice thing about Zoc doc is that you can filter for doctors that take your insurance, are nearby, and are highly rated. It's super easy to use, and you can find an appointment time that works for you. the right doctor for your needs. Plus, Zoc doc appointments happen fast. Typically within just 24 to 72 hours of booking.

You can even score same day appointments. You don't want to admit it, but you should probably see a doctor. So stop putting up those doctor's appointments and go to Zocdoc.com slash creepcast to find and instantly book a top rated doctor today. That's ZOC, doc,c, dot com

slash creepcast. Zoc doc. dot com slash creepcast thank you zoc doc for sponsoring the episode back to our spooky story i want to thank today's sponsor warby parker buying glasses shouldn't be complicated but often it is it's hard to tell if the frames are going to fit your face or if you're even being charged a fair price that's where warby parker is here to help nothing comes close to warby parker's price selection quality and customer service they have 300 retail stores across the united states stocked with stylish and quality eyewear.

And one quick trip to their website can show you how easy they've made the glasses buying process. Their virtual try-on feature lets you try before you buy from your phone. So now you can try on tons of frames for free from your home and see what fits you. And Warby Parker has a ton of options, from prescription to non-prescription to progressive to even reader lenses. So you can ditch your old unreliable pair and get a new stylish one from Warby Parker. Their prescriptions started only $95, allowing you to look nice.

at an affordable price. Plus, Warby Parker is covered by most major eye insurance plans. Plus, they've distributed 20 million pairs of glasses through their buy a pair, give a pair program. So you don't just have to get a good pair of glasses for you. You can give a good pair to someone who needs them. And if you're looking to get in on Warby Parker, then now's the perfect time. Because if you head to the link in the description at Warbyparker.com slash creepcast, along with one prescription pair, you can get 20% off any additional prescription pair. That's right. Buy one, get 20% off inequality, stylish prescription eyewear that you want on the side. Again, that's W-A-R-B-Y-Parker.com slash creepcast to get in on their fantastic offer today.

Thank you to Warby Parker for sponsoring the show. Their link will be in the description, and we are back to the episode. Thanks for the responses. Although now I'm just more confused. Some of you say the moon isn't on fire and to go look for myself. and some of you are just trolling and say the moon is on fire? Hope the mods ban you. This isn't a place to make fun of people.

Some of you have asked about Will before. Yeah, he listens to me. He's the only family I have that takes me seriously at all. I think that he considers it his duty as an older brother. He takes care of Laura too, although she's got a good head on her shoulders, mostly. I don't think Will would have to do nearly as much if Dad got a job or stopped drinking.

Tracy's nice and all, but we're not her kids, not her responsibility. But even Will isn't really returning my calls anymore. Not after the incident I posted about last month. He got mad that I woke him up in the middle of the night for a dream I had while I was sleeping. Waking hallucinations were one thing, he said, but dreams while I was asleep were perfectly normal, and I had to deal with him on my own. He didn't seem to care how traumatic or horrifying the dream was.

I mean, I can't blame him. I'm sure, on balance, he's done so much for me, and I've done so very little for him. But I've had a terrible sense of impending doom ever since that night. I think about the kinetic terror I felt, and I still can't shake it. Tough part for me is that my dreams seep into my real life. Like right now, I feel like I'm being watched. I'm looking up, and there's a small mirror to the right of my laptop. I can't look away even as I type or am I looking away and just believing that I'm looking at the mirror?

I keep looking deeper and deeper, seeing further into the apartment behind me and a sense of tension pulls at me. A building scream to come that keeps rising to higher and higher intensity. I already see it. I already sense it, but I'm not consciously aware of what it is. Not yet. A grenade goes off inside. me throwing terror and adrenaline in a thousand conflicting directions within the confines of my chest and limbs he's there he's standing there in the shadows watching me with hatred and intent

he sees me he sees that i see him and he stalks forward approaching me from behind but he's not there you can't possibly be there why would dean be in my apartment i just have to sit still breathed deep and oh my god I don't know what to do I think I killed Dean but I had to I had to

I have to make sense of this I have to figure this out okay step by step I wasn't listening to music or I would have known that he was really there was he

is he is he really on the floor bleeding from his head. So secure in the matrix of logic I usually keep myself in, I was certain he wasn't really there. I kept believing that, even as the fear surged up right behind me, and he grabbed me around the neck. He was trying to drag me toward the door. That's all I could tell. He didn't say a word. I don't know how I got out of his grip, except by going limp and flopping down at a lucky moment. And then he lunged at me again. I scrambled away, pulled a lamp, down and threw it at his face. A couple bits of shattered light bulbs stuck out from his cheek, but he kept coming, furious.

He tried to tackle me, but I slipped and fell out of the way and he smashed sideways into my table. I used his moment of disorientation and lift my printer and bring it down on his head. He fell and stopped moving. What do I do? What do I do? My condition, my pills would make me out to be a lunatic. Would they lock me up for this? It was in my own apartment, sure, but they just say that I invited him inside.

Wait, did I? Did I ask him to come look at something? Did I then attack him? If I'm hallucinating things again, how can I know what's real? I've always hated him, hated his niceness. I always thought there was a smug arrogance behind it, even if he never showed it. I couldn't call the police, could I? But I did.

I had to. This wasn't some movie. I couldn't hide the body or any such nonsense. Besides, that would just look worse. So I called. The first thing the cop on the other end asked was my location. It was very insistent on knowing where I was, even before I mentioned what I'd done.

Something about his energy spooked me, and I hung up before giving any identifying information. Damn. Will, where are you? He's moving. Dean's moving. I'll tell you what, you got me all wrapped up in that. That was a great performance there.

That was awesome. I will say the, oh, thank you. The way that that was written was so chaotically schizophrenic that that was insane. I'd like the sheer, like the way that it transitioned from him just talking to Dean to then all of a sudden he's like,

by the way, I think I'd just bludgeoned him with an HP printer. You know, pretty fucking wild. mean like the transitions were so interesting where it starts with like I'm looking in the mirror. Am I looking in the mirror? There's someone in here with me. And then he kills Dean. But then he doesn't know if he killed Dean.

Then he calls the police and he doesn't know if the police should know anything. It's interesting how chaotic gets ridden to where you're almost confused, but you keep just enough of a through line that you still. understand what's happening. There's just a bit of a roller coaster with it. Yeah. It's very well done. Between this and psychosis, Matt here loves riding like crazy people. I think that he, I wonder if he knows somebody that has, like, I wonder if he has dealt with that in his own personal life with like a family member or something where he's been around somebody that has talked to him extensively or if he's dealt with himself because it feels so natural. Like, I, I feel like when people tend to write crazy or, you know, people that are delusional or something,

I feel like they go extremely overboard to the point where it's almost a character of that kind of disease or something, that mental disease. But this feels like a very earnest and honest approach to how somebody would probably speak if they had that. You know, I don't think that it would just be so black and white in its approach. though the peppering of how kind of chaotic the roller coasters has become does like it feeds itself well you know like it doesn't just totally like play it straight the whole time yeah yeah um yeah i'm i'm i'm into it so far i think this is sick especially the way it's written thanks for all the replies uh yes dean was alive just unconscious he woke up staggered to his feet and mumbled an apology it was the weirdest thing ever No, he didn't explain what the hell he'd been doing. He seemed confused more than anything. He did say... That was really stupid of me.

I'm sorry. About 20 minutes after he stumbled out, through the wall, I thought I heard somebody berating him in his apartment. Now I'm more confused than ever. I don't understand what he was trying to do. It's satisfying, though, hearing someone shouted him for being an asshole and an idiot. Yeah, I know right. if I didn't have my own issues, I'd call the police onto myself or breaking and entering.

Sometimes mental problems make you feel like an outcast. You don't get to call the police. You don't get to ask for help. If there's a problem, you're the one in trouble. It's one of the many reasons I don't leave my apartment much. You guys ever feel like that? I just had the oddest experience. A girl came by, Dean's girlfriend, and asked if I wanted to take a walk.

She wanted to apologize and explain what happened So that I wouldn't press charges I guess she had no idea I was terrified of interaction with the cops She was like Dean Thin blonde Parky like a fashion magazine model I hated her immediately Even though she sort of reminded me of my sister

First thing that hit me aside from the cold night air Was the blazing orange casting everything in eerie burnt colors the weather had cleared up immediately I could sense the molten moon and blazing veil above but I avoided looking at it it wasn't real and I wasn't going to give in to my waking dreams

nice night out isn't it she said oblivious to the burning sky she walked beside me something about that little nice night isn't it she said oblivious at the burning sky just that little sentence right there is very I don't know how to describe it

I like the way that sentence is packed well, I did just a few words. It's just a really interesting way of like, I just can't tell this guy is fucking totally bad shit crazy. Or if everyone is just actually relieved. But it does make, I mean, it just lends itself more to either being she is a hallucination herself or that he is hallucinating about the sky. I also kind of expect we maybe get in Shutter Island here. You think like somebody is like orchestrating this to test him?

Like in that way? Well, like he may be inside of like a facility or something. Oh, interesting. Yeah, I see what you're saying. Not, hence why someone would come in there,

get hit. They're like, sorry. And then a woman walks around with them afterwards kind of thing. Not necessarily a Truman show, but something along those lines. Like an orchestrating. Like Shutter Island where he realizes that he's a patient the whole time.

Right, right. He thinks he's a detective. Yeah. Well, that, I mean, spoilers,

but at the end, at the end, at the end, he doesn't realize it, though, does he? He like, or I guess he does.

I can't remember. Yeah, well, he comes to at the end, which again, spoilers, he comes to the realization that he's not a detective, that he's one of the patients. And the whole thing was the police were trying to determine

if he could come to terms with the murder so that he wouldn't have to be lobotomized. But then at the ending, he lies. Well, it's pretty, it's presented that he doesn't know he's still oblivious, doesn't know what's going on.

So they come to lobotomize him, but right before he goes, he says the line back to the doctor or the detective that's like, um, um, what do you think's worse? Living with it or letting go or whatever,

implying that he does know and he did come out of the illusion, but the reality of living with what happened is worse than being lobotomized. So he's letting them do it to him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'd rather just fucking be mentally dead. He'd rather just be vegetative than, uh,

I haven't seen that movie forever. I fuck you, you know, fucking actor I love that's in that movie is the guy who plays Roershack and Watchman. Oh yeah.

Yeah. The fuck is his name. Oh yeah. Jackie Earl Haley. Yeah. He's, he's been in a lot of great movies. City will cry out,

save us and I will whisper. No. I love, I love Roershack. Such a good character. I'm not trapped in here with you. Which, Alan Moore actually wrote that character

to be like a parody of like, right wing guys that he hated because his whole thing was like, he was like, oh, he's so committed to like what used to be that he's a fool, right? That was the idea. But he incidentally made Rorschach the only character in the story that has principles and doesn't like sacrifice them at any point. Because every other character like has beliefs and stuff, but they're like, well, I don't know, maybe Ozzy Mandius is right. Or they're like, well, you know, maybe we do lie to let this go on, but except Rorschach.

He's the only one who lives by principles and then dies by them. So he accidentally made like a valiant character that was supposed to be a joke. So he hates the way people talk about Rorschach, which I think's funny because Rorschach's like the best part of that movie and the comic. Right. She walked beside me as we circled the neighborhood. Look, I'll be honest with you. Dean's kind of a controlling asshole.

He's never been violent before. but I think you got the idea that something's going on between you and me. What? I laughed. Last note, rising awkwardly high. I don't think that we've even spoken. No, we haven't. But I saw you in the hall last week,

and I mentioned that I used to date dirty grunge types, you know, metal. Suddenly, it felt very warm. I'm sure my face was red to someone who saw a silver moonlight instead of orange. Oh, oh, see, that. Those are, that and the last one, oblivious of the burning sky. Those are great sentences. I love that. You did? Yep.

He's not really my type. I'm crazy, right? Since they both look like we belong in old Navy ad. You said it, not me. Did I actually just make a joke? I don't think I'd ever gotten this many seconds into a conversation with a pretty girl. And she actually laughed out loud.

I know, I know. When I dress and act like this, I know what I'm doing. Call an experiment, if we're being honest. I had to get away from the drugs. I love me some Megadeth and Dio, but the scene. Wait, what? There's my two favorite bands right now. All right, he's fucking hallucinating.

No, no fucking way. Hallucinating, bro. Yeah. She blinked. Really? I don't think anyone our age liked that classic stuff still. Okay, I did. Come on.

I opened my jacket and showed her my t-shirt. No freaking way. Well, it's nice to meet you. She yelled out her hand. Alec. I said, shaking her hand and marveling at my own ability to actually hold a human conversation. I didn't feel numb or terrified. I just felt normal.

The fact that she reminded me of my sister made it easier to deal with her. Short for Alexander. Alexander. I'm Ashley. She looked up at the sky for a moment. I did not follow her gaze. Beautiful night out.

Still didn't look. I didn't want to face the flaming hallucination that was so insistently trying to ruin my first real connection with someone else in a long time. How about this? She continued after a moment, finally looking back at me. I'm done with Dean either way.

such an asshole, but honestly believe it's a one-time thing from him. You don't press charges. I'll go on a date with you. Bro. Delusion City. Yeah. The moon is actually fucking blown up.

This is his actual hallucination. I mean, yeah, he's, yeah, it's gonna end. They're all just dead. The moon did explode. This is his purgatory. But I think, yeah, this is definitely a hallucination. Dean may be a real guy, but I think everything beyond that's not real. I mean, he described that this girl looks exactly.

exactly like a female version of Dean, right? Uh, that or, and she reminds him of his sister. Yeah, yeah. That part finally broke my scant coolness and made me clam up. I'd seen the moment enough times on television that I knew to force myself to say one word. Sure. I think she mistook my terseness for aloof confidence, genuine and warm smile crossed her face. And then she took my cell phone and put her number in it.

Ten minutes later, back in my apartment and more shocked than when I thought I'd kill Dean. Now here's the part where I need some help from you guys. I know I'm posting a ton tonight, and I'm sorry. I just, it's so hard to tell what's real. I keep thinking back on it and obsessing over our little walk. I can't help feeling she was trying to get me to look at the sky. Little details, like her choice to talk to me outside and her long pauses to look over at the moon.

And Dean had been trying to drag me to the door. had her whole thing, had our whole conversation been fake? Am I just being paranoid? How would they even know about my hallucination? Oh God, what if it's a cruel trick? What if they read my post and are messing with me? What do you guys think? Am I just psyching myself out for no reason?

I hate this so much. I hate my brain. I hate my affliction. I hate myself. Why can't I just be normal? Thanks for the support. I am kind of freaking out and you guys make me feel much better. Still a ton of trolls here, though, please shut up.

Although I don't agree with the popular sentiment here that going out and looking at the moon to face my fear will help, I'm not going to do that. Ignoring my hallucinations has always worked for me. Hold on one second. Another knock at the door. What the hell? I just got a visit from Crazy Donald. Guess what, though? He's fine. He seems lucid.

He looked at me with a clear and direct gaze that I've never seen from him before. He knew my name too. I opened the door and he stared at me for a moment before saying, Alec, you're all right. Yeah? I replied confused. Donald, are you like actually there? He nodded.

I'm feeling better. Father Obruzov stopped shouting at me. Tapped his head. I think he's finally forgiven me after all these years. Father Brutzo. Donald smiled and nodded. My mother stopped scolding me too. I'm feeling good, man, and I don't know anyone else.

I stared at him. No family? He shook his head. Somewhere. The joy last I can remember before I, uh, before the screaming got so loud I couldn't think. When was that? I don't know, man. Black Sabbath's the last big thing I can remember.

Glenn Hughes was on vocals that time. I knew my metal trivia. Their 1986 tour? Shit. They played Detroit that year. You've been out of it for 30 years. 30 years? We use it now.

2014, it's October 2014. Damn. Can I look in the mirror? Sure. He's in the bathroom crying right now. I know how to handle this less than I knew how to handle talking to Ashley. I've always sort of gotten along with Crazy Donald. Well, just Donald now, I suppose.

but I never suspected that he was aware of me through the fog of his mania. I can't just kick him out either. Do I have to let him live here? The thought of someone in my space, even if it's just for a bit, makes me nervous. This has been one hell of a night.

I don't think I can take much more emotional stress. I'm already fragile in the best of circumstances, but tonight's been a trip. What do you guys suggest? How should I handle this? I think it's a very telling that his only interest is metal and everyone he interacts with just talks about metal. Yeah, yep. I didn't say anything to him.

I didn't even mention it to him. I'm terrified beyond all logic right now. I stood outside the door and tried to calm him down the way some of you suggested. And you know what he said as he cried? It's the damn burning moon. I'd rather go back to the screaming than find out I've lost so much of my life. I didn't say anything to him. I never told him about the molten moon.

He said it unprompted and I nearly had a panic attack. It wasn't just my imagination or we'd had the same hallucination. Do you remember having bad dreams recently? He immediately quieted. I've always had bad dreams. My whole life has been a bad dream. I'm serious, Donald. In the last month, have you had any particularly horrible nightmares?

He breathes for a time in between pathetic sobs, and I heard him move a little on the bathroom floor. Yeah. Even with Father Bruzo shouting at me and my mother hurting me, I saw him standing there on the outside trying to get in. Who? Him. He said cryptically. The sleeper. The dream run high.

He's on the outside looking in. He's always looking in. I felt a terrible chill at those words. I didn't have a name for the same. a name for the shadow of impending doom I'd felt ever since that night, but I did have a feeling, the sensation of being watched. It felt like Dean's presence had felt like someone was standing in the shadows at the back of the room and watching me with fury and hunger.

What did you mean when you said it was the moon? I looked, man. I looked up at it and you looked down into me. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh.

Bro. Bro. Oh. That was all he would say. I left him to his sobbing, figuring I could get more out of him after his first good night's sleep in 30 years. I left him a blanket too. And now I'm left with a terrible foreboding. There's a small pool of blood on my floor, and nobody seems to share my hallucin.

to share my hallucination that the moon is on fire except another crazy person. Still, I called my brother one last time. Will? I said to his voicemail. Don't look at the minute. I don't know what else to do. How can I know? How does anyone know what's real?

If something's happening, who would I even turn to? If it's not, how do I shake this waking nightmare? And why do so many of you keep insisting I go out? outside and look at the moon. I'm not finding this funny anymore. I have a text from Ashley. She wants to go on our date now, which is way sooner than I expected, I guess, but who knows? I got to go. But I'll be back with more updates when I can manage. Wish me luck, guys. I'm not going to let this get to me. I'm not going to let my issues get in the way of my life. Not this time. End of part one. Man, what a first part, dude. I really like the ending too.

because yeah, I can't, I think you're right. It's almost like something is like predatory and it wants him to look up and see it. Yeah. You know, and now the only other person that is making any sense is also a man who has been, uh, basically insane. So it's like has their psychosis or has their mental, uh, blockage basically stop the effects of whatever this entity is that's looking down. You know what I mean? Uh, I think the idea is everything is trying to get him to look at it.

But then that begs the question, like, okay, did something actually happen to the moon then? Was he right about, you know, there was a comet coming and then everyone quit talking about it. Like it basically took over everyone who was outside and now they're trying to convince him. Very similar to psychosis, right? It also reminds me a lot of, did you ever watch? I don't think we did a creep TV video about it, but did you ever watch Local 58? No, I feel like you've told me about it, though. We should do a creepy TV.

thing on Local 58. It's like the first analog whore. At least in like the modern age of beer. It was like a dashboard cam, right? The guy drugged at the woods. Is it that one or no? There's one episode of Local 58

called you're on the fastest available route, which is from a dash cam perspective. But I mean, there's a bunch of different entries. Most of them are like PSAs like TV cable network programs. Hence the analog and analog horror.

But I mean, Marble Hornets was arguably the first, but Local 58 was the one that made the framework that like the Mandela catalog and stuff like that came off of. So I think that this is very similar to that because there's a whole thing in Local 58

where something's happening to the moon and all the PSAs are instructing everyone to come outside and to look up. And in that, in Local 58, there's an entity within the moon. Like, the moon's effectively a giant egg that some creatures bursting out of. Which actually, I feel like that happens in Monument Mythos, too. No, a monument mythos is the earth.

The earth was an egg for the giant George Washington serpent, which is another story. But, yeah, I like this idea of, like, the moon being some great entity that there's something happening with it. It's very, as you would say, Lovecraftian. So I think it's cool. It is cool. I was going to say the, just such a great hooking. I'm really excited to get into part two here.

Very rarely does these, I'm curious to see because very rarely do we, at the end of these part ones, the amount of times we've been like, this is really cool and then it divulges into something kind of weird. I'm curious to see, does it keep us intrigued? Does it keep us hooked throughout this next two parts?

Because I think that it's, it's three parts, right? Or is it just two? It's three. Yeah, I'm very curious to see it. Let's fucking just jump in. Yep. Part two.

As I was getting ready, I saw some of the replies. Many of you advised that I should secretly record my date if I could. And, well, I gave in to the paranoia. For the first time of my life, I'm glad I did. It was already getting late by the time I managed to shave, shower, and fix my hair up the best I knew how. She drove, and I tried to make small talk. To be honest, I had no idea. what I was doing. She didn't seem to mind my awkwardness and she took us to a nearby bar that

she said was a favorite of hers. I don't drink, ever. My doctor had mentioned once that alcohol might interfere with antipsychotic medications and I've been fearful ever since. Still, I was determined not to let my issues ruin my life. I ordered a beer and pretended that it was something I did all the time. I wasn't sure if she noticed my shaking hands, but I clenched my fingers together and put on a calm face. I said, stuff and she laughed. I didn't get it. Nobody had ever thought my sarcastic and bitter comments were funny before. I'd always just been that weird guy on the fringe. Why was this girl even talking to me? Just didn't make sense. That's when your comments started getting to me. I just couldn't believe that

I was interesting or attractive to anyone. So I left my phone at the bar, set it to record audio, and I said I was going to the bathroom. I did stay in there quite a bit longer than I wanted to, but I was afraid to come back out. What if she noticed that I'd set my phone to record? What if I shook my head? Messed with my hair a little in the mirror and then finally went back out.

Everything seemed normal. She set at the chair, checking her phone. I used that opportunity to pick up my phone and pretend to do the same. Oh, a voicemail. One second. Instead, I actually listened to the recording. I heard myself making a small excuse and walking away. A moment later, I heard her ask someone.

How are you liking the weather? A voice I recognized as the bartenders followed. It's fine. Their reactions were odd. It sounded as if there was some sort of hidden meaning to the exchange, but that the two were unsure of one another. I looked over and noticed the bartender watching me. I hurriedly cleansed away.

The recording wasn't much, but something about it felt off. I couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong, but I was on a date and I was still determined not to let my paranoia get the best of me. Even as I began to put the phone down, the last of the recording captured one more muttered sentence. Had I really just heard that? Was my mind playing tricks on me again? Feeling heady, I lowered the phone. Everything all right? Yeah, I just forgot about something I have to give back to a friend.

I lied, I put on a happy face and pretended like I hadn't heard anything. And had I really? I could feel ripples in my awareness as if I was half dreaming, but I knew that I was awake. It was a familiar and typically disconcerting sensation, and I hated that it was happening now of all times. Saying that I needed some air for a second, I stepped outside. Thankful that nobody was out front smoking at the moment. I clutched my head and tried to breathe in some sense. The sidewalk beneath my feet still seemed cast and burnt orange.

God, why did I have to be like this? Why did I have to suspect everything? Why did I have to see and hear things that weren't there? Feeling a rather strong bout of paranoia, an idea occurred to me. Going back inside, I sat down and put on a neutral face. I just looked at the moon. It's gorgeous tonight. She hesitated in the middle of a sip of her drink,

and lowered it slowly. She watched me intently. Her eyes and expression carefully balanced. Is it now? It had the distinct impression that she wasn't sure whether to believe me. Why would that matter? I was just talking about the moon. What's it like?

I imagined I heard a subtext of interrogation beneath her nonchalant question. I hadn't thought the idea through this far, but what if everything was fine? I sound like a weird asshole if I said, what I really knew was up there. Full. Very like bright silver. She locked gazes with me for a very long moment, but I had years of practice faking that I was fine.

Long glass, she sighed. I thought you'd never look. Blast of panic tore through me, but my practiced fake calm kept me in place. I wanted to scream, What did you just say? Instead, I nodded. Gave a weak laugh and picked up my drink.

So what now? I guess we wait. She replied leaning against the bar. It's tough, you know. Can't be certain about anyone these days. This is so well done. Fuck this. My fist, her jaw.

Me dead spring down the wall. I'd be like, you love him, woman. I guess we just wait. Boom! Right to her fucking, right to her temple. Boom! I'm out.

I'm out. Dude. this story is so well done because it on the surface it's just like oh well he figured them out he figured out they wanted to look

so he lied and they're like oh well you did it now you're a part of the hive mind but he's been established as so unreliable and hallucinating so much this conversation may not even be happening they may not even be in a bar

they might be but she's not talking about this or this is a completely innocuous conversation that he's applying to he is so unreliable that there are so many layers as to what could be going on here and if that thing that Donald said the shadow man or whatever is real and messing with his mind this could all be his orchestration right he could be dreaming yeah i mean i it's continuously it's continuously uh throwing us off its trail it's continuously like leading us down roads like you're like okay i think i get a oh nope no i don't it's just i love the uh i love the constant

misdirection but also Also, this whole, this whole creepy like hive mind or like kind of gives me that vibe of a invasion of the body snatchers where it's like all these plant people are trying to like scope out all of the, all of the humans, you know? Yeah. So it's it's, I love that. Well, again, it's like his other story psychosis where throughout most of the story, you think that he's just paranoid. but then the last sentence it's like oh no there was a conspiracy to try to get him i'm nervous for our main character though i will say that nerve yeah nervous for the main character because that boy's down so bad that i think he might even he might even dip into some moon pussy at some point you got to watch out

for that boy yeah well i mean he i don't see if anyone would resist it would be him because he is paranoid enough living lill lill lillow you know live in levitiloka yolo that's what he says before he died from the way from the way you just said that I now have to picture that it's Nick. No, no, no. We have to give the man a bit more respect than that. It was specifically the voice like, Yolo, like that.

Yolo. She's just a little quirky. She just wants me to look at the moon eye. It's okay. The whole, it's tough, you know. Can't be certain about anyone these days. I'm like, I'm telling you, man.

I would, by fucking my fist, her jaw, teeth dusted. Beyr, do-no-no-near-ne-ne-de-ne-de-ne-de-ne-de-ne-de-ne-de-ne-h. It's a sippy queen. Yeah, but I'd say, what's that? She'd look over barely. As soon as she looks back, boom. I nodded again and took a long gulp of beer,

trying to understand what was happening. I couldn't be hallucinating this entire conversation. Could I? And I couldn't ask questions without exposing the fact that I was, what? I was myself, that I hadn't actually looked at the moon. Bartender came over and slid me another drink as I nervously finished mine. I went to offer him some cash, but he shook his head.

I couldn't help but over here. I wasn't sure, but I suspected. Now I know. First one's on me. Welcome to the club. Here's one for the lady, too. Slid a second drink over. Ashley smiled at him.

Thanks. My God. God, get me out. actually I'm fucking swallowing a shotgun barrel that night. I'm telling you that right now. I can tell you that. You're going to see my, if I wasn't so fat,

I'd be fucking swinging, but I am swall in the triumph. That is my triumphant heroes ending. Yeah, exactly. That's my Shutter Island ending. Not a lobotomy. It's me swallowing a shotgun barrel.

Gosh. So intense. Like a fucking 12 inch sub. Nope. Oh, it's so graphic, but like the Looney Tunes cartoon, where their jaws get really wide.

It's like gold. Oh, yeah. I look like, I look like Scooby eating a fucking footlong sub. That's something I look like chewing down that shotgun barrel to mate. Absolutely. Like Zoinks, Scoops.

Scoop. Oh my God. Oh, my God. Scoop killed himself. Like soinks his brain matters all over the mystery van. Or the mystery machine. This isn't a Hannah-Barbara cartoon at all. Jesus Christ!

There's so much blood. There's so much blood, Scoop! I would kill for that. You know what? You always are fucking horrifying Scooby-Doo one. Was that movie? The one of the, it was like, zombie island.

Is that what it was called with the werewolf? Yeah. That was fucked up. That's the one where, that's the one where, yeah, Scooby gets his brain blown off. Jesus Christ! Scooby! scub!

That's what happens the whole time. While that song's playing, because it's timor, time again. Because it's terror. Yeah, yeah. It's like that, that Cajun riverboat guy's like,

quick, take this and just throws a shotgun on shore. Yeah, well, they have to take that one shell. They have to take fucking scobs, a headless body down to the voodoo priest

to resurrect them. is going to be a bumpy road scoobing. I can't wait for like the comments to be like, yeah, it was a good episode. The Scooby's suicide. We can't, we can't. We can't cut that. We can't cut that. We can't cut that.

We can cut a lot of things. We can't cut that. Uh-uh. Because it's terror. I took a moment to text my brother, my location. and a message. Please help me. I feel like I'm losing my mind.

I don't know what's going on. There are people here acting strangely. I don't know if they're messing with me or what. Don't you know it's rude to text during a date? Ashley said, and I shibishly dropped the phone. I can do nothing but act normal. Past the initial weirdness, nothing else strange seemed to be happening. Waffling back and forth between terror and self-doubt,

I did my best to keep up our prior level of conversation. After an hour or two of drinking and hanging out, I started to doubt I'd ever seen or heard anything strange. In fact, I was glad I ignored the few odd sentences I thought I'd heard from Ashley and the bartender. Alcohol did, indeed, make me feel weird. Was it interfering with my medication, or did alcohol just naturally make people red-faced loud and stupid? I knew I was starting to behave oddly, and I actively tried to reel myself in. still she noticed Okay time to get you home

You don't drink much do you Uh-uh Shook my head Good I'm glad Dean's an asshole when he drinks She helped me up and let us outside This time three guys and a girl Stood outside smoking

We crossed the street heading for her car She looked up as we got to the opposite corner She sighed and smiled Isn't he beautiful God fuck sakes that's awesome Scooby do

where are you we gotta do it quick now but I can't see the way you shake and shit you know scooby you gotta put the gun right

right down your throat that's no joke and Scooby, when you pull the trigger, you're going to find that life is really whack. That's a fact. I know you'll catch that villain. Oh. And then the remake, it's like, what's your Scooby do coming after you? Got a.

Got a. I don't know. I'm not as good this as you are. whatever the equivalent would be for what's going to do. Wow. Real peak creativity we have in the podcast today. Yeah, I'm an artist. I'm an artist in myself over here.

There's nothing that rhymes that fits those two concepts together in that opening. I froze. Did she mean the moon? There was no helping it. It only took a moment. She knew I was purposefully avoiding looking. She backed away. a step. You lied! She looked across the street at the smokers, and I guess that she was judging

whether she could trust them. She half shouted something, but then changed her mind mid-sentence. If there were other people in the know with whatever she was doing, was it possible that she didn't know who they were? She couldn't scream for help in that regard, so instead she shouted something much worse. Help! There's creeper attacking me! What? I screamed back. It was my worst nightmare. To have my awkward interactions misinterpreted as threatening. But wait, that wasn't what was happening here. No, no, I'm not.

Immediately, the three guys across the street frowned, assessed her fear, and then charged in my direction. I ran, but they were faster than me, and one took me down from behind with wide, gripping arms. I hit the sidewalk roughly, barely keeping my face from slamming into concrete, and they rolled me over. I remember holding up my arms. feebly trying to keep the punches from landing somewhere critical, but one did manage to leave a horrible pain in my eye socket. I was certain I'd have a black eye if they didn't just kill me. Someone tore them off, shouting at the top of his lungs, pushing and shoving them away,

he'd kneeled next to me and helped me sit up. I'm not proud of it, but I did cry. There was blood and bruising all over me, and my date had turned horrible in all the ways I feared most. What if I'd really attacked her? I couldn't believe anything. Not with alcohol messing with my head. Like, Christ!

Came to save your voice from above. What the hell's going on? Will. I couldn't believe it. He'd actually come. I'm really confused, and she made me drink, but... Don't look at the moon. Something's going on.

He sighed and went to lift his head, but I covered his face with my hand. Don't look, Will. This isn't a joke. Remember how you said I had three promises I could ask you? as a brother? Yeah. Well, I've got two left and I want to use one for this. Don't look at the moon.

I can't explain why, but because it would sound crazy even for me. If it's that important to you, fine. It'd probably hurt to look at anyways. It's still burning so brightly. It's what? Yeah, I stunned out of my pain days. The moon's on fire? Of course it is.

Do you somehow miss all this craziness? Oh. Uh-uh. Interesting. I couldn't talk anymore after that. I was to overcome by relief, as if I've been plucked right out of a nightmare and saved. The moon was on fire, at least in the memories of myself, Donald, my brother Will. It wasn't just me.

As long as it wasn't just me, I was happy. But I'd have to show him, though, online. I had to show him how all the articles, videos, and pictures had been scrubbed. There wasn't a trace online. He'd met Crazy Donald once before, too, and it shocked him to. to see the old man lucid and calm. Well, mostly lucid and calm. He still sat in the corner, stunned by the loss of 30 years of his life. And now I'm trying to figure out what to do next. My date went horribly, but I'm not convinced that something isn't really going on.

Guys, is anyone acting strangely around you? Sorry for the delay in posting again, but I gather a bunch of you are feeling the same way. These people don't seem to know each other, but they're starting to talk and figure out who's who. I keep feeling like I'm being stared at in the grocery store, which is weird because normally I feel invisible. Will is staying for the time being. He's concerned for a lot of reasons, but mainly I think he wants to make sure I'm okay.

Donald is sleeping on our couch, and we've been keeping mostly to ourselves for the past few days. Every time we go out, conversations with other people feel strange and suspicious, like everyone suspects everyone else of either being in on it or not in on it. Nobody knows for sure. But what is it? What's going on out there?

Donald keeps having dreams about a hateful presence watching us from a great distance. I can't help but think back on what Ashley said. Isn't he beautiful? Who? Who did she mean? That object that hit the moon brings something terrible to our doorstep? What would have happened to us if it had landed here instead? We thought we'd been saved, but were we really safe at all?

All of these thoughts pushed the boundaries of the logic I usually use to keep myself saying, Will isn't talking much about this, but I can tell he's worried. He knows something's going on, but nobody can say for sure what it is. He did mention that he thinks ideas can be very powerful. The right kind of rumor could spread all over. making people fear each other. Maybe that was what we were feeling when we went out, people afraid of each other,

suspicion of each other on the basis of rumor, not on the basis of some spreading secret agenda. Funny thing is, whatever's going on, it isn't affecting life as usual. I still see people driving and going to work. People are still shopping at the grocery store. I've been watching horror movies for ideas, which is usually ill-advised.

given my condition, but it feels like research. And I've never seen anything like this. These people aren't crazy. They're not fanatics and they're not mind control. They're something else entirely. They're completely themselves, but hold on. It seems like something's going on outside. Yeah, again, I really like the structure of this.

It feels like there's a bit more direction towards the idea that something is happening with the moon. It's not all like a shutter island, like I said earlier. the way that especially with his brother we can't really show probably can't really show it the way that we usually edit our episodes but the way that these sections are written up it does feel like there's a passage of time like there's a break in the page yeah so it does feel like he's re he's like coming into these forums after an unknown amount of time too which is kind of interesting sometimes usually stories you read it'll say like the specific date and time of the post but i kind of like the way that

this is broken up. It almost feels like a, it does legitimately feel like a journal diary or just like somebody regurgitating information at their own convenience without never really letting you know how much time has passed or anything.

Yeah. Yeah. Which is kind of fuck with me too to be like, if he is just insane, these could be like days or months between, you know,

these thoughts he's having, yet they're strung together like, uh, they're completely normal and cohesive. Yeah. You know, just how his brains put them together. But just a thought.

No, I agree. Also, I didn't really mention it because there's so much going on, but I really like the thing in the beginning where it's like scientists estimate that this shot was fired at us 4.5 billion years ago. Yeah. And it was intentional. Like it was aiming for us. That's pretty cool. Yeah. It's also like I'm getting, which I may just be like superimposing, you know, what I know over it, of course. But I'm getting kind of vibes of like book of revelation in time. So like the thing fired at Earth could be wormwood, the falling star. And then you've got like, um, the idea that this was set from the beginning of the universe, like prophecies.

So maybe the he is like, you know, the devil or whatever, but I don't think these are just ideas. I don't want it to go that direction, but right. That's somewhere it might go. Anyway, just, I mean, it's just making connections. I mean, it's so open ended still right now that that's the fun part of this is that I still have no idea what to believe, which I'm really enjoying. I agree. We barely got away. A mob of people, maybe eight or ten guys came looking for me. They said it was because of what I did to Ashley,

or at least that's what they shouted as we ran. We heard them coming and went out the back basement door. Will grip my arm hard the whole way. And I'm sure he was wondering whether I'd really hurt somebody. Nowhere else to go, Donald followed us, trembling. That's not why they're after us. They know I'm not one of them. They want us to look at the moon. I've had enough of that talk. Will replied as he hid in the bushes outside my building.

I'm not going to look because I promised, but how can looking at the moon change people? It was Donald who finally got through to him. I don't know you, man, but you need to wake up. You're a nice, strong lad, and I'm sure life is going along rather well for you. You need to believe in this society that empowers you. I stared at him surprised. Alec and I were mental heads, outcast, anti-establishment man. We don't have the same need to believe that everything is fine.

We're probably still free because of who we are. We felt at the cracks like we always do. Okay, stop at the moon. I had a priest and a bitter old woman screaming in my head for 30 years. I looked up for 30 seconds and it all went away. There's a whispering in my brain that pushes back against the screaming. In between, I'm free. Okay.

so again this you will think oh well maybe the moon stuff's real and this is actually happening but then a sentence like that will happen that sounds like Donald is just reaffirming everything he wants to hear then you're like well maybe he is crazy and all this is you know well I can't tell if it's that one collective illusion the way that our protagonists looked up at the moon and he sees the clouds I'm like literally wondering if that's like a like an actual manifestation of like a cloudy fogged like basically like mental state to where when he looked at up at it, it was able to pierce through and like open him up, but it wasn't able to like grip him right away. You know? Yeah. So it just opened his psyche, but it didn't, uh, you know, it didn't you're talking about Donald. Yes, correct. But, but it's the same thing with Will where I'm wondering if he looks up, would he have the same effect? I don't know. Yeah. Um, it's interesting how like Donald didn't immediately become one of like the hive mind or whatever, but he is like, the voices that were in his head are now contending with a new voice that came into his head. Right.

Will took a moment away from peering at our building to stare him down. Then how do we know you're not one of them? That the moon didn't change you. I hadn't thought of that. Why hadn't I thought of that? I guess you don't know, but I've got nowhere to go. I'm sorry. He turned and shouted towards the building.

They're over here. Oh, you dick. Yep. Yep. Yep. So Donald, that's why he was okay. He was a in the, uh, in the, uh, so I did grab him.

sleeper agent. Not a sleeper agent, just a spy, I guess. Right. That is kind of funny. Will's like, Will's like, wait a minute, wouldn't that make you want them? And Donald's like, that's an excellent point. Here they are. Well, cover blown. I remember screaming something in anger,

but Will punched him quickly, knocking him senseless. It didn't matter. The mob had heard. They came storming out of the building and a flash. They'll find us. Bill Breeze, grabbing my arm. We ran again, diving between bushes, climbing fences and slinking through backyards.

Did you hurt that girl? No, I didn't hurt anyone. He said nothing further. His expression focused. We seemed to be making a large circle and after two hours of exhausting sneaking, we found his car. I climbed into the passenger seat with a sigh, cloud cover it had come and hit in the moon and I felt strangely more secure for it. We're going to make sure Laura's all right. Dad and Tracy too. We're in a coffee shop right now. I thought to bring

my laptop when we ran and i'm glad i did it's our only lifeline to the world at large news pages forums comics they're all going on as normal how much the world's affected do the affected people even know something is different people in the coffee shop here aren't looking around suspiciously do they have any idea what's going on have they narrowly avoided looking at the moon somehow it has been rather cloudy or is all this going on on in my head. How do you guys cope with feelings like this? I just can't trust myself. The tone of the conversation on this forum has definitely changed. I think they're reading our post and changing their behavior accordingly. If you're not affected, don't trust anybody. It's not just you. You're not

crazy. I made it home. Dad's passed out drunk and Tracy is making some coffee. Will is talking to them quietly in the other room. I wish I could hear what they were saying. I have this strange feeling that Will might be making the case to lock me up. If most of this is in my head, I must look totally insane to him. Or what if he's been compromised? What if he's already looked at the moon? Oh God. Guys, I don't know what to do.

I panicked. I've only got like 30 in cash on me. And I ran. I ran away. I took my stuff and I bolted. I couldn't risk getting locked up. I've been hiding out in an abandoned house down the street for two days. and using the neighbor's unprotected wireless.

I used to listen to music with the kid who lived here. He's gone, but the house is still in good shape. I don't think anybody will be looking for me indoors. This will work. It has to work. I'll figure out how to live. Is his brother actually up to something, or is this all just his paranoia

that's forcing him into a more complicated situation? Well, what I like about is that it's all logical from the standpoint of somebody who believes in this. Like, it would make sense. He's just like, I need to flee. I feel like they're going to lock me up. I mean, it sounds ridiculous, but I'm like, I understand why. It doesn't feel like it's just random or that he's just absolutely out of his mind.

But you kind of like at the same time, he could be out of his mind. Or like, I don't know. It's just, uh, it's, it's a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. Other people were using this house as a hideout. I'm cramped in a basement closet and I've been here for hours. They're weird cultician away.

They're all dressed in plain brown clothes that look like someone's piss attempt to be inconspicuous to the point that it's blatantly obvious they're not normal they talk funny too but they seem just as wary of what's going on i saw them peering out windows and hiding when a car drove by crap those people found me somehow like they knew where i was hiding but that was two weeks ago they keep to themselves and i still find them very strange but they're trying to figure out what's going on too i'm still not sure this isn't all just in my head I've been trying to get a read on these people. It seemed like foreigners, but they speak perfect English.

If they're a cult, I can't figure out what they're called. They seem to be worried about another half of their groups that got changed by the moon. I'm almost out of pills. I'm nervous, and I feel surreal all the time. I have a strong feeling I'm hallucinating these people entirely. I sneak out and get food at night. At first, I used cash, but I didn't like the suspicious look. I got from the people at the store.

How much of this world is affected now? It seems like society is going on just fine without me, and I'm the crazy Donald on the fringes. Am I standing around muttering to myself on a corner somewhere? Maybe not, but I'm still living in a basement and hallucinating a bunch of brown-clothed strangers. It's getting cold, too. Now that it's November, I notice people replying less and less on here. I've got to steal food.

Oh God, oh God, I don't understand. I can't believe it. I don't want to believe it. They found me. A dozen men and women and my dad, Tracy and Laura, found me. They stood outside the house and shouted for me to come out. Come on out, son. My dad yelled his face, little red from drinking.

I peered out the window. Behind me, brown clothed people. prepared to fight with makeshift weapons. I thought it hilarious that my hallucinations were preparing like they could do anything. Look. Tracy yelled. We know you're scared because of what you did to that poor girl. Don't worry.

We convinced her not to press charges. Come on out and everything will be fine. What were they waiting for? Why didn't they just storm the house? They had more than enough people and the molten moon cast everything outside in lurid orange, making me terrified of even touching the light streaming in the window. outside they muttered among themselves and then laura took a turn aleck we're all really worried about you you need to come out of your o'free will it'll show us you're not violent don't do it voice said beside me

turned and looked will yeah we're not going out for anything like in rotten hell i stared when did you get here what he asked frowning up in here the whole time hiding out with you we're not going to get caught and get turned into one of them. Was I losing my mind? Or had he just snuck in the back and said all this to confuse me? How could I have forgotten that he was here the whole time? I wished I had time to go back and read what I've written down. Had I mentioned Will at all recently?

My dad yelled. We don't have time for cat and mouse games anymore. We need to get radio for his coming. Come outside right now. No! Shouted back. He lifted a gun. Not at me, but at Tracy.

She shouted next. Alec Will come out, or you're going to start paying the price for resisting. Don't do it. Will told me gruffly. I'm going to count a three, boy. My dad yelled. Three, two, one. I didn't move.

The gunshot rang out with a surprising auditory pitch, and I felt my awareness go numb. And she really just, Tracy fell to the ground, bleeding from the side of her head. He lifted the gun and pulled. pointed at Laura. Do you understand? I'm gonna count the three. I stared, horrified. Beside me, Will was crying.

Behind me, the strange brown-clothed people had used the opportunity to slip out the back door and escape if they'd existed at all. Will stood. No! I insisted trying to hold him, but he tore free and moved for the front door. Don't do it! He yelled, going out with his hands up. Don't kill her! A dad smiled.

That's one. Alec, come out now. now. Will face the house. His expression resigned. Come on, Alec. We don't have a choice. He was right in a way. I had no money, no allies, no idea what was really going on. hesitantly. I stepped outside. Will grinned and the dozen men and women snatched me. But he didn't look at the moon. He didn't look. He didn't need to. He'd already been changed. I'd been tricked. I've been tricked because I was easy and vulnerable. they held my head and forced me to stare up and some even held my eyelids as i watched the blazing cloud of fire around the molten moon seemed to condense swirl and disappear into me leaving behind a silver crescent they let me go after 30 seconds because they didn't need to hold me anymore i was myself still but no longer it was like having access to another room in my mind in one room it was me and the other i was off also me, but to me that eagerly awaited the coming of the dreamer on high.

I hated the fact that some people did not believe in him, and I wanted to seek them out and make them see. They had to see his glory. They all had to see his glory. But a temple of self remained within. They didn't know. Slightest resistance kept the believer in me from mentioning that I was out of pills. was utterly his for a week or two. Somewhere around the first or second of December, lack of pills

began setting in. I write this to you now, friends, because we are all on this forum for a reason. If all got our issues, and those issues can free us. I write to you now completely free, and they don't know. They don't know that I'm myself once more. Just talk of its coming and one more cycle of the moon, which I think means something big is happening in the next month. December 2014 is not going to be a good month for humanity, but I'm going to do my best to get close to whatever is going to happen. I'm going to make sure it crashes and burns. If you're out there and you're still reading any of this, you have to do the same. Don't let them know that you know. They started out with deception when they were few, but they're not afraid to be violent now.

If anyone else has left, lay low and wait for the right moment. I'll write again when I can. End of part two. I really love this because it feels like it's going into like this cheesy, cult-like world, but really, I'm almost reading it like he ran out of medicine and he's completely insane and he's like the, like his mind finally like giving in is him just completely losing all control that he once had. and now he's just completely gone into his psychosis.

Or do you believe that this is all real? I lean more towards the psychosis thing because of all the conversations about metal and his brother coming in there to trick him and walking out and stuff. And like him being so unsure of himself and the people in the brown suits, I feel like this goes more towards

there's a psychosis element at play. Or all of this is weird and he just can't trust himself, which is why it took him so long to get to it. Right. The conclusion he's at now. I'm not sure. Well, part three then, final part?

Part three. I do think it's interesting that I'm not sure. I really appreciate the way it's written. I was even going to make a comment like, well, it is kind of lame that, you know, the dreamer, you know, the dreamer man or whatever was mentioned at the game but hasn't come up since. But no, there he is at the end. That's the first thing he saw when he looked at the moon.

So that makes sense. So yeah, I really love this story so far. I think it's well done. I also want to point out that at the end of part two, the top comment is someone who simply, said some of Hitler's men used to wear plain brown clothes. Jesus.

So it's this Reddit user like, maybe that's the SS. Good God. Maybe the people, maybe the people trying to hide from the moon are part of the secret police. Is that what people said?

Thank you. Thank you, random Redditor. Good God. dude any of these no sleep stories you read through the comments you'll get some jams like um like here's one might i recommend some shotguns god jesus christ may me may me perchance recommend ye shotgun um some shotgun mayhaps madam

here's another one did you receive my email contact me ASAP. We need to figure this out. Is that just role-playing shit? Yeah, it's like role-playing, but it's so... Did you see my email? So funny. Anyway, part three, part three. I never knew how hard it would be to set up a resistance movement. You can't trust anyone at all.

I wish I had more time to watch spy movies. We had to come up with tactics on our own, especially because we didn't have the same test. that the change had. Eight is four. They could force someone to look up at the moon and then assume that person had become theirs. They didn't know that they could be wrong and that those of us with mental issues were instead made whole by the conflicting energies in our skulls.

But rumors were beginning to circulate to that effect. And for us, even if a person was free and sound of mind, that didn't mean they would have defect out of self-interest like Donald had. I'd resented him at first, but he taught me a valuable lesson. I've never met my co-conspirators. It can't meet. I can't be sure they're on my side, and they can't be sure I'm on their side. I don't even know how many of us there are.

All I know is that we've been passing messages through ridiculously elaborate methods or anonymously online, and I'm getting some sense of what's happening in the world at large. That's the weird part. Life is going on as normal. farmers are farming, cab drivers are driving, office employees are lounging around, talking and taking smoke breaks every hour. The only difference is that any talk of religion has been replaced by praises of the dreamer on high, and the world lies excited for the coming event. Some believe it will be a rapture, some believe the dreamer will simply come in person and rule over us for all time. me?

I'm using my newfound clarity and solid sense of reality to work my way up the rings of trust. I feel smart and capable in a way I've never been. Is this what normal people feel like all the time? I understand now that individual motivations have not changed. Will still thinks he's helping me in his own way. He thought tricking me out of the house and forcing me to accept him was saving me from the life of a homeless and mentally deficient outcast. He wasn't wrong, I suppose.

He continues to pursue relationships with higher-ups, and he continues to try to get us deeper in and trusted more. We're going to be his prime disciples. Will says often, excited and determined. Brother, I always said I'd take care of you. You and Laura and dad, too. We're going to be at the top of the food chain when the new order comes. We'll be taken care of.

I would nod and smile, but secretly think, tell that to our stepmom. minutes or hours it's funny that we all started out paranoid and suspicious of the change and now the changed are paranoid and suspicious of us or is it sad rather than funny the free human race is now the fringe they had a funeral and buried Tracy in the cemetery and everything

dad stayed sober for two whole days and cried publicly at the reception you killed her you psychopath i remember thinking to myself but he didn't feel guilty about it since it had to be done, son. The double-think change in genders brings hypocrisy. You want what you want for your own life, but service to the dreamer on high takes precedent over all your desires, no matter how strong. It's why I know that I can't trust anyone,

not even my own family. They wouldn't hesitate to murder me, and pass her by would cheer the silencing of another heretic. That's the crazy thing. I remember people acting this way before. This isn't new to humanity. Suspected heretics are the new second-class citizens, the new victims of the witch hunt. Different race, different ideology, different religion.

Now it was down to simply having a different mind. It's insane how scared they are of anyone who might not share their fanaticism. I gotta look at what their plan is. Yellow is blue. I understand now why their plan will actually work they have among them members of the cult that I thought I'd imagined

they're called brown shirts now because of their distinctively plain manner of dress and they're among the top priests of the order they've got abilities that I can't explain they can sense electromagnetic waves of all sorts and they hate computers and robotics of any kind I don't know who they are but I get the strangest sense that they're not human.

They look completely human, and they eat, breathe, and walk around, but the way they talk and move in pure things is just wrong somehow, like somebody who never learned to be a person, which is unfortunate because I need to get into contact with at least one of them. If anyone out there knows a brown shirt

that hasn't been changed, I need to meet them. Leave a location yellow in eight minutes from the time of this post. Okay, so I, this is losing me pretty quick. I don't know if you feel differently, but it's suddenly becoming like a spy action thing is not nearly as interesting to me.

Well, that's why I'm under the, as he's just crazy. Well, that's why I'm like legitimately under the belief that he is insane and this is what his belief is. Like it's so, well, that would make sense. It's so, it's so fantastical. He's having this,

these he's like playing this whole thing of like oh yeah i'm pretending whatever to me it seems like almost like in the reality of the situation i'm deciphering so far is that his family went to help him got him out of probably some fucking homeless shack or whatever you know and he is the brown shirts are just other junkies yeah or whatever whatever it is but i i'm under the interpretation that he is like just i mean he's gone he's like mentally gone is it's kind of where I'm at too, but I don't know. I mean, I'm, that's what I'm hoping, but I can't. I've been under the illusion now that, or I'm like under the, um, assumption now that he's, uh, just completely mentally gone. And now I'm just curious to see how he reacts to his family and stuff. Like, does he try

killing them? Does he actually murder people? I don't know. We've been so back and forth with it, but I don't know. We can, we'll just see. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I, I, I like that idea better. Like it's, it's almost becoming like a Star Trek plot with the level of like, oh, the brown shirts are not human and they can sense electromagnetic waves and they, and it's a double speak and everyone is, they're members of the order. Like it's an overcomplication someone would make in their mind, right? Someone who's unwell. And similar to all of the metal talk from earlier, it sounds like him just superimposing what he wants the world to be over what the world is. So what may be happening is everyone's going to work normally and acting normal because the world's perfectly normal. Yeah, but that's what I believe.

I think he's just... I'm going to choose to believe that until it gets rescinded because that's far more interesting to me. So the meeting went well. There are two free brown shirts still alive and present. From what they said,

the rest of the free fled southeast over the mountains and to another universe if you can believe that. You're so strange. I kind of accept it when they say it so calmly. I also accept it because of what I've seen. seeing the changed building in the center of the city.

Why Columbus, Ohio? This I wondered often. The answer turned out to be very simple. They're building the altar here because this is where the brown shirts were and are. My hunch had been right. The two said they remained behind to try and save what members of their kind they could. They claimed to be from elsewhere and that they were on an exodus to a place of safety, a place where they hoped old alliances were still in place.

They would not elaborate. But they did say they would help. We have our first real allies now. I swore their assistance when I told them what I'd seen, a gigantic altar being built in front of the city capital building. The base was mostly in place, but the rest seemed to involve strange biomechanical artifice and a row of brown shirts chained and integrated to the building.

the machine. They were aware, and happy to be of service, save one. One remained free, perhaps due to the same effect that kept me so, and his face and arms were battered and bloody from torture. It's a week until Christmas, and somehow, I feel like it will be humanity's last day. Irony is not lost on me. A holiday tale about the birth of religious savior will, in some twisted sense, be made true. Ready, everyone. If the plan we've built together doesn't work, it's going to get bloody. They caught somebody skulking about the high rises downtown. They know for certain that we exist now, and they know why we exist,

because he was an escape mental patient. I've come under intense scrutiny, but Will has been protecting me. I feared that they will force me to undertake some act of loyalty to prove I'm not a heretic. They've been keeping Laura close. I have a feeling that they're going to ask me to kill her. She and I haven't been close since my illness started. But that's just one more reason I don't think I can bring myself to do it. She's still my sister, but the entire world's on the line.

I've been watched and followed recently. Updates and communication are going to get sparse. Stick to the plan, everyone. Two days remain. The altar construction seems right on schedule. God, it's not going to work. I don't think even half of you will get this message in time, but it's not going to work. My brown shirt allies since it first, and then an observatory contact of mine confirmed it.

Not that the holy news isn't spreading among the change like wildfire. There are five more objects on the way, coming in at near light speed. They'll be in here in a day and a half, roughly, same as the first took from detection to arrival. God, we've nearly lost it all to just one. It sits up there, mocking us, brainwashing us, and now five more coming? This can't be a coincidence. The timing's too neat. A day and a half to Christmas, a day and a half to the ritual, a day and a half to the arrival

of five more apocalyptic near luminous objects, will they hit Earth? If so, we'll never know, because we'll all be dead. Perhaps the moon saved us the first time, but if these five also hit the moon, the threat of the dream were on high and will grow sixfold. What are these godforsaken things? seeds, embryos, brain matrices, portals, what? I can only imagine, and theorizing's pointless. If we don't stop this before they arrive, we lose.

We lose everything. We have to move up the plan. We have to strike now, but it won't work unless everyone's on board. We're in a serious bind here. Spread the word. We have to strike at the alternate time we discussed from the beginning. Yeah, I mean, I think that, I think to affirm what I was thinking, you earlier. He spent so much time before questioning his own sanity and now he's saying

everything with an utmost certainty. You know, like I mean that that's, to me, it's also like his peak level of delusion is that he's like lost that, that balance of what has made him sane to where now it's, I think he's just, yeah, he's just like letting go. And also, even just all the religious undertones and stuff too. We see that a lot with like, um, not necessarily, like, not necessarily. I just like mentally ill or a cult like member people. I just think it's like something where it's a grandeur, you know, it's like delusions of grandeur or whatever. Something big, prophetic, biblical, you know, that he can, that he's latched on to, it seems, in my opinion.

Yeah. Yeah. Man. Yeah. I think that, uh, makes the most sense, uh, going on, just all the clues that have been, like, put out so far. I agree. I mean, it makes you seem like, it's hard for me to, or sorry.

I was going to say, like it makes it almost seem like he's going to do something horrible on Christmas is what it's is kind of the buildup is what I'm saying the story ends and this is all just prelude to that Nashville Christmas bomber who blew himself up in front of the the NSA center I mean like even like that though like that would be a fucking insanely fascinating ending you know oh yeah if it was just like a guy that went crazy and killed himself yeah yeah yeah this is like what was happening in his head leading up to it all of the eccentrically crazy and chaotic things that he

wrote down online especially like regurgitating all this shit in a forum is so it feels so real to me i don't know i've seen so many weird post man or emails that are sent to me of like very crazy ramblings where you're just like what the fuck are you talking about but to that person how i mean how real is it to them it's probably you know it's reality yeah yeah it's hard for me to think back on it all quite a few of you have asked me to detail exactly what happened on that day Now the January is over and months past, I think I can face it. News and understanding has been fragmented, obviously, but I do think I can paint a clear picture. As you know, our plan didn't work.

It was a really good try, but we were amateurs and half of us were spies and defectors. It did help that absolute chaos broke out at the proper time. I went there on Christmas morning to the city center. Tens of thousands had gathered to see the coming of the dreamer on. high. My two brown shirt allies stood with me, wearing the normal clothes I found for them. I trained them on how to act and we worked together to mask or feel because they said their kin could send them otherwise. Will thought they were just two friends of mine. He was thrilled to see me making friends. Will was the highest priest assistant by then, but the old man didn't trust me very much.

I had to stand a bit away from the altar in the dense crowd, while the high priest began giving a speech to thunderous cheers and applause. The weird thing is, weird in many ways, as it turned out, was the altar was already active. They'd built it and completed the first parts of the ritual the night before. The gigantic oval lay torn in space in the middle of it,

kept open by the row of chained brown shirts. It was a portal, an honest-to-god portal in space. It's not the weird part, though. My two allies whispered that it shouldn't be able to do what it was doing. It wasn't just a portal in space. Among the random flitting locations on Earth displayed, I recognized some as very ancient, but bustling with life.

It was showing other times, too. I saw a tribe of cavemen. I saw the colossus of roads. I saw the crowd, our crowd, and then there from behind. of the sea of people waved at themselves for a few moments, laughing and cheering. That should have been impossible, my allies told me. The configuration of the altar was not just augmenting and focusing the abilities of the brown shirts.

It was fracturing space time, too. Whatever might have intended to use that portal, they said, it was something extraordinarily dangerous. They couldn't emphasize it enough. There was dangerous like a gun, really dangerous, like a nuclear bomb, extremely dangerous. like a nuclear bomb, extremely dangerous, like a universe-eating swarm of machines, and then whatever this was. It was worse, worse than all that. They couldn't even hazard a guess as to what it might be. But it didn't make sense to me. The dream were on high was on the moon. That much

had to be true. The object had hit, the moon had gone molten and remained molten, so massive as it was, casting lured orange over my free senses and the crowds and high rises around me, and then the dreamer on high had begun his insidious work. He was already here. He didn't need a portal strong enough to fracture space time. He was already here.

He was just stuck on the moon. And now, five more some things were coming to reinforce his power. So what was this portal for? I understood the gravity of our airs the moment I saw him. A black robed figure moved through the crowd,

parting disciples like waves, A hood covered his face, but I knew who it was the moment I saw him. He walked slowly up to the altar and faced his high priest. My brother Will stood to the side among many helpers and assistants, each dressed in flowing purple and gold. Next to them, and to many strategic places, stood brutish men with guns. We'd add provisions in our plan to handle the men with guns, but the plan was on thin ice now. The dreamer on high was already here. They'd summoned him the night before.

They'd brought him to Earth somehow the night before. We've been tricked. We've been outsmarted. They hadn't cared about the holiday at all. They just used it to subtly dupe us. He moved past me, close enough to almost touch. I thought, in my mind, that I should pull my knife, leap forward, and slice his throat. But chill waves kept me frozen in place.

My two brownshirt allies looked away. unless he sensed them. Had that been my chance? I began feeling my limbs again as he stepped up onto the altar. At that moment, the crowd murmured, and I turned to look with the rest of humanity. A single man ran down the empty wake left by the Tremors passing. He looked wild and half homeless, but desperate. Men with guns hefted their weapons and began to aim, but they were too late to stop his simple attempt. He hurled a book at the portal. That was all. With twenty-two, 20,000 other pairs of eyes, I watched it sail through the air. It wasn't a fiction book. It had no image on the cover.

It must have been a journal. It looked like it was about to fall short, but the effect was an optical illusion. It curved up a bit in the rolling air and sailed into the vast portal. The moment it passed through, the portal flashed into a dozen fractured images of other similar books sailing through the air. Behind them, we could all plainly see a little. other individual men and women and other crowds, completing throws in the midst of ass crowds. In each alternate version of our scene, a dreamer stood, black-robed, calm, and unmoving.

Instead of shooting him outright, the armed thugs grabbed the lone man and brought him to the ground. Whoever he was, the lone man screamed for help. Half in gibberish, and no one helped him. How could they? To do so would mean death. That's what it's for. What are my brown shirt allies whispered?

He's accessing a different vector than we expected. He's not trying to access alternate Earths and parallel reality sense. He's trying to access different quantum choice trees of this universe. What? I asked fiercely. Sort of grasping what he was talking about. It moves a little closer to speak without being heard by the crowd pressed against us. This could have happened a thousand different ways.

We could have come to other cities. A different man or woman would have thrown that book. That's what you're seeing. all the other presence and futures of these events. Get my expression positive despite my intense worry about what he was describing. We hadn't understood or planned for any of this. Why? Silence. A blasting tidal wave of utter quiet tore across the city center.

As one, humanity froze. The dreamer turned to face us. The vast darkness comes. A cheer began swelling. Silence. The chill voice, as if someone were whispering directly into our minds, brought absolute stillness. I can sense that not all of you love me.

I can feel your minds. I can feel your hatred. I gulped kept my thoughts positive. Each of my two allies clutched one of my arms and helped hide us from the probing energies I felt roving around the air. I speak to you now, non-believers. A great darkness is coming. I have always been here,

watching you from just outside the walls. the walls. Security is illusion. Safety is a self-imposed tomb. I reeled under the icy cold of his words and my thoughts until something occurred to me. Why was he speaking to us at all? He would only address us in this manner if we were threats, if we actually stood a chance. The portal's destinations were starting to slow down, going from rapid randomness to slowing coherence, almost as if a spinning wheel was losing momentum as someone applied the brakes. I could see the chained brown shirts focusing, and a thug near the one free brown shirt applied a shocking prod to him to force him to comply to. If the dreamer was addressing us at all, then we actually stood a chance. I lifted the flare gun

I'd hit it under my shirt, wondering if it might be the last act I ever took. I pulled the trigger and an orange flare shot up, burning the color of the molten sky. As I said, absolutely, The absolute chaos did break out at the proper time. Two of the armed men were with us, it turned out. They rotated in place and immediately shot several of their fellows in the back. The crowd around us surged intensely, and fighting broke out all around. Nobody knew who the enemy was, changed or free, everyone suspected everyone else. It was as we'd expected, but I hadn't anticipated the sheer violence.

Blood sprayed through the air as friend, murdered friend, as family. murdered family. A concert push aimed for the altar plateau. Our plan actually taking shape. A nod of men, women, and even teenagers that I'd never seen before surrounded us and we punched, sliced and kicked our way to the staging area while five blue stars grew brighter in the sky. The approaching objects blew shifted by their sheer speed. The goal wasn't to get me to the portal, it was to get our two allies close. Together, the two free brown shirts stared at the portal and the space around it trembled from the interference. Somehow, though, it was me that the dream returned to face. Stop! The command was inviable, and I froze as ordinary men and women

massacred each other in a circle around the two of us. Order them to stop. I never felt pain like that, and I can still remember it vividly. The two rooms in my mind began cracking as if, if their foundation was shifting. I remember shaking and seeing my vision brim crimson as blood began welling out of my eyes. Behind the dreamer, Will pushed his way through the fighting and reached me. Stop hurting him! He shouted and the black robe figure turned his attention on my brother instead. That freed me and I stumbled forward through misty red, lurid orange and growing blue

to feebly tried to tackle the dreamer on high. I fell right through him. Fool. The portal! He breathed writhing on flat metal. How can you use it if you're not here? It's not for me. It's for you.

I'm your savior. There's a chain of events in which the human race survives the coming darkness. There is one future in which you escape the crushing forces that approach. You will come to that land of plenty and be safe there under me. The dreamer stood in place and looked up at the molten orange sphere hanging low above us. He lowered his hooded head. head as five streaks of vivid blue rapidly sliced across the sky. I turned my head as blinding wide and orange exploded above.

Even that wasn't enough as successive impacts followed, and the sea of people fighting one another fell in waves against the sheer brightness. Ground trembled beneath us, and incredible winds began pouring through the channels between the high rises. Many began running without prompt, and the rest organized in evacuation. I helped unchained the brown shirts, all now free, and we ran. The Dreamer was gone, the portal was gone, and as you all know, so was the moon.

A ring of molten rock arcs through the sky now, lighting each day and each night until it cools. The remains of the Dreamer on high are up there, too. Gobs of unidentifiable organic mass that many say looks like brain matter. I believe it. The thing is, we never understood what we were facing. the dreamer hadn't come with that first object it had always been there it had in all likelihood formed the moon by its arrival that's why we have well had two moons why one has always been so different from the other the other moon lurks still beyond the molten ring glimmering with

reflected orange i don't like that sight at all not one bit i still feel watch It'll go back to staying beneath my horizon for three months soon, like it was from October to December, and I can't wait for that reprieve. Let the Southern Hemisphere take a turn feeling creeped out. Some unknown power shot those objects at us eons ago, some power unrelated to the Dreamer. That's what we figure now, and I'm sure you've all heard the theories. The first object was a calibration test, possibly, and failed to kill the Dreamer on high. The next five were right on target and completely obliterated the moon just to make sure. Whoever had fired those objects hadn't been trying to kill us, they've been trying to save us.

Had they suffered at the hands of the dream were on high or something like that? Had this incredible gift been their final act? Scientists turned their telescopes towards the origin point, but there was nothing left there now. That star had gone Nova when Earth was in its infancy. Whoever they'd been, they'd saved us without a word. without a single thank you. Still, we thank them the world over. But I can't help feeling like we're not safe. The words the dreamer spoke to me and to nobody else linger with me. Was it actually in its own twisted way trying to save us from something worse? Brown shirts

have moved on, but they left me and the other members of the resistance they trusted with a few concerns. First, if they can find the rest of their people, ones that moved on, and if they can find the old allies they spoke of, we'll come back for us to make sure we're all right. Second, they left us with a small metallic chip, one of several they had, that will show us the way to some sort of safe haven if they never managed to return. The chip is very old. I'm not sure how to use it, but I'm certain we'll figure it out, and the coming darkness turns out to be real.

Finally, now this was the odd one. they warned that someone or something was hunting them they didn't know who or what it was only that they sensed it on their trail and it had already passed through here following the rest of their kind there was no guarantee the hunter would not return they requested if anyone came through here asking about them

lie gladly I told them this is why I give no specific descriptions in my tale here I didn't want the hunter to know what they look like as far as anyone else is concerned they're just slightly odd humans me i'm procrastinating i have to go visit will's grave with laura today dad can't go of course because he drinks even more than before this all happened before he killed tracy the only woman who put up with him just me and my sister now and left in will's place to take care of the tattered remains of our family on the bright side i don't need pills anymore. The dreamer permanently gave me wholeness of mind, even as it took away my older

brother. He died there on that altar, taking the dreamer's attack in my place. He died there a hero, along with the thousands of others who didn't survive Christmas Day. And the human race recovers from their shared hangover together with me as a new member. I've got a strong handle on myself now and a new confidence born of everything I went through. I'm even going on a second date with Ashley in a few days, and this time, I think I won't screw it up. Silver linings, I suppose. Yeah, I'm finally a functioning member of the human race, all right. Only, I'm not sure I like this club. Can't help it dwell on the statistics that came out last week. According to the surveys and studies done after the fact, only 18% of the population truly came under the Dreamers' control.

18%. That's how many people were 100% brainwashed. That's how many human beings. That's how many human had completely whole minds. It was like a grand social experiment, the lead scientist said on TV. Only 18%. The rest were partially controlled or totally free. The rest simply fell in line out of fear, self-preservation, and paranoia. That's the thing. It's like so many eras in human history.

Nobody knew who was who. Nobody knew who to trust. Lines of communication were controlled by key members of the change, and neighbors were turned against one another in classic fashion. I can't shake the dark despair that such news leaves in me. The dreamer had no power. Except what we gave it. The end.

The end. Wow. What a lot. Wow. God. What a lot to take in on that last part. I don't know. I don't know if the author is wanting us to believe that was all real.

Or if it's just a man who is, because this is the thing too, he's still posting on a forum. And I think about all the shit that I've seen, even my emails, where it's that detailed and that insane to where I'm curious to know. Because also he stopped responding to like the replies, you know, if he's just if he's just mindlessly regurgitating shit that he's like that he's saying or believing. I don't know. What do you think? Um, okay.

So I think he's still crazy. and I think that's what all that in part was because if it's supposed to be literal that's really lame. I don't like that where it's like yeah well it started as like you know a unreliable narrator creepy thing but then it became Star Trek I don't like that

but if you kind of take this to be he is no long like if we interpret the stuff that's happening in the first two parts of real world like his brother takes him home and he gets into a big fight with his family and his stepmom quote unquote dies maybe she just leaves

because she can't deal with this anymore. And now he's just so lost in the sauce. Because there's that mention at the end that he's completely off his medication. Maybe this is just what happens when he gets all the way off his medication, right? Like he leads reality to such an absurd degree. We've said that he said it earlier too

that he was like, I'm running low or whatever. That was a while back. That was like in part two. And he's like, I can't share. Or like, you know, and I haven't even thought about how I have like, I basically have no medication left. I think he said that in part two.

Yeah. So I don't know. I mean, I like this idea. of trying to decipher a guy with the fantastical illusion that is presenting in front of him versus the reality of like his family trying to help and him kind of slowly decaying mentally over time and giving into uh i don't know not taking his meds or just you know not having the support system not being able to talk with people i really really really enjoyed parts one and

two specifically part one with how back and forth it was that kind of illusion that was breaking up. And I think that like a horror story written from the perspective of a senile person that is like unapologetically like filtering their thoughts in a way that almost feels cohesive

to where you you can't decipher what is real and what's not real. I think is a really interesting concept. I agree though. I think that if it goes into this fantastical place with like the ancient god and stuff, I think it's practically a bit

a bit corny, you know. So I guess I choose to believe that it's that it's something that's in his mind. Yeah, I'll choose to believe that too because there's enough clues for it and I think that's far more interesting. I think it's just, it's very well written. I think like

part one especially. I really liked the way part one was. I like to unsureness. I liked part two as well with the date and I liked. Like there was a lot of the way that it was written, the context clues and the continuous subversion of expectation or the

version of like we're going down this road actually just kidding we're going down this road really did make me feel like i was reading something manic and i am trying to carry that through with the part because the in part is so heavy on lore and like this like almost apocalyptic future almost like the fucking uh i have no mouth and must scream like the am computer and like them living in this thing for a hundred and whatever it was 80 years or whatever the fuck it was like uh it's so much to take in so quickly, even though we've been in this other place, you know, that I can't help but feel like that

is the actual conclusion is this man. And once again, like the kind of thought that I had earlier of like each time we see these breaks, we have no idea the amount of time it is between him going. So to me it's like this, I like to think that it's almost, it's been months of him between post of almost, you know, almost like he lost in the state,

lost in the state and he comes back as if no nothing has stopped you know uh yeah i think it's interesting but all and all extremely well written i just very fun i'm very curious to see how people deciphered as well i think it's impossible to not like parts one though but part one was just phenomenal really loved how the story got set up and stuff and i think that like you know when you're doing a story the hardest part is like finding out how to end it or wrap it up and i'm curious to see if people deciphered it the same way did they get too lost in it, you know, if grounding it more outside of this, outside of the unreliable narrator, would that have made it a stronger, more satisfying ending?

Because right now I can't tell. I can't tell if we're both just like the wind is out of our sales a bit. And we're just kind of like, oh, you know, okay. Or not. Or how are you feeling? So reading the comments, it seems that people are like, oh, the brown shirts connects to another story he did about blah, blah, blah. So it really feels like it's supposed to be the same thing with psychosis

that he was not actually insane and that this is all real and the stuff. So that does, that is depressing because that's way less interesting. I don't want to start reading a horror story and then it become a Star Wars spin off. It kind of reminds me of if that's the case. I'm just going to ignore it and pretend like,

yeah, yeah. But I think that you can do that if you want to because at least the way that I was reading it is once it turns into this like ramblings I was almost trying to decipher like okay he's at this altar I was also like he's like he's thinking the same thing he's at like a meeting he's at like a halfway house well I thought my idea was because he kept talking about

the one above all is coming and all he has armed guards I was thinking that it was like a speech some politician was given or something and he had interpreted like this famous figure as like the person causing him pain so I thought the reveal was going to be that like he assassinated the president or something like that because in his mind it's some multi-dimensional beast thing right him killing his family or something would be interesting in

this like kind of like rough relationship he has with him already and then him kind of psychotically breaking and then feeling like his dad's a part of like this or if he was a space cult is kind of fun yeah or if he was in a hospital the whole time it could be like uh it's like the superintendent of the hospital and uh he's been convinced that he's evil and he's convinced that he's evil and he's convinced other people who are equally as crazy as him that that's their evils. They have this plot to assassinate him that doesn't work and he gets thrown in solitary. I'm going to pretend that's what the ending was because that's actually cool. All in all, I'm very curious to see what people say in what audio listeners think. But let us know in the comments. We appreciate it.

And also, if you've hung out with us this long and you're maybe you're driving to work or you're just chilling out during your break at lunch, then maybe consider listening to to us on audio platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts and give us a nice reading there. And if you want a little extra something on the side, we might be doing a little, uh, maybe some creep TV on Patreon and just reading more exclusive stories. Uh, and you want extra content. Feel free to sign up for Patreon. It does help out the channel.

And we appreciate it. Absolutely. Um, I do appreciate that story really bummed me out. I was going to say, I was going to say, you sound very dead. I know. I know. Well, I was like, well, maybe, maybe if you. think back if you look at the brown shirts are representative of like the guards at uh facilities and

because there's a speech they have armed guards maybe it's a prison and i was like doing all this mass and then people in the comments were like oh cool these are the brown shirts from your other space story and it's like oh my gosh so i'm just got well you know we at least got we at least got uh scooby do swalling a shotgun barrel and i think that that's that's at least worth the price i'm feeling like i'm feeling a little rut row raggy right now it is a lot right right I'm going to fucking, I'm parking the mystery machine in my garage and shut the door and really rev of the engine a couple times. Yeah, really take me to that big scooby snack in the sky. But I'm going to pretend like there's a paragraph at the end where it's like, doctor's note.

Since going off medication, a patient has gone further into delusion. I would have been seen for monitoring. That would be great. That'd be awesome. Even ending it with being like, hey, guys, this is Will. my brother fucking walked and he shot Obama

yeah he shot Obama he literally man on high yeah my my brother shot John McCain and he's gone crazy just want to say sorry

for this rambling blah blah even that would have been like okay well there you go I'd be like great awesome perfect that sounds fantastic it's all I wanted but as we were getting to the end

and I was scrolling and I saw the bottom I'm like no no please I know I know I know. I know, man. I could tell the, yeah, that the wind was out of your sales. I, that sucks. Yeah.

Well, until next time, give us a little, give us a quirky thing, your little last, your last word. Goodbye, everyone. You have, you have to say stay creeped. Oh, stay creeped, everyone. Stay creeped. And if you have a mental illness, uh, just look, don't look up at the moon. Don't look up at the moon. Ruggie, Ruckshot.

Instead of buckshot, rock shot, oh, that made me cringe. That was terrible. All right, just end it there. Just end it there.