Solved Murders - True Crime Stories - Mike Oxlong’s Journey From Mechanic to Adventurer, Illness, and Family Legacy PART3 #36

Episode Date: August 23, 2025

#horrorstories #reddithorrorstories #ScaryStories #creepypasta #horrortales #adventurejourney #familylegacy #illnessfight #mechanicstory #resilience  In Part 3, Mike Oxlong faces the deepest trials yet as illness and the weight of his family legacy push him to his limits. His journey from mechanic to adventurer becomes a battle of endurance, spirit, and hope. This continuation reveals the raw emotions and challenges of fighting for survival while honoring the past. A gripping conclusion to a powerful saga.  horrorstories, reddithorrorstories, scarystories, horrorstory, creepypasta, horrortales, adventure, illness, familylegacy, mechanic, resilience, survival, emotionalstruggle, strength, healing, personaljourney, hardship, fighting, hope, darkjourney

There's so much rugby on Sports Extra from Sky. They've asked me to read the whole lad at the same speed I usually use for the legal bit at the end. Here goes. This winter Sports Extra is jam-packed with rugby. For the first time we've got every Champions Cup match exclusively live, plus action from the URC, the Challenge Cup, and much more. Thus the URC and all the best European rugby all in the same place.

Get more exclusively live tournaments than ever before on Sports Extra. Jampack with rugby. Phew, that is a lot of rugby. Get Sports Extra on Sky for 15 euro a month for 12 months. Search Sports Extra. New Sports Extra customers only. Standard Pressing applies after 12 months for the terms apply. You didn't deserve what happened.

And it doesn't have to define you. You don't have to carry it alone. I know a safe place where you can tell your story, and you'll be believed. Call the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre National Helpline on 1-800-77-8888. Whenever you're ready to talk, they'll be ready to listen. When Mike passed away, the world felt quieter. Like somebody had turned the volume knob way down and forgotten to turn it back up.

For most people, Mike was that crazy adventurous guy, who hiked jungles, surfed massive waves, and wrote a best-selling book about how to live every day like it's your last. But for his son, Test Tickle, Mike wasn't just an adventurer or an author, he was dad. The guy who taught him how to ride a bike, patched up his scraped knees, and stayed up late explaining why the stars twinkled when Test was six and couldn't. sleep. And losing him felt like someone had ripped a chunk out of Tess's chest. At first, Tess tried to act like he was okay. He put on his, I'm fine mask at the funeral, shook hands with relatives he barely knew, and thanked people for their awkward condolences.

But as soon as the last casserole dish from the neighbors was returned, and the house was empty again, Tess disappeared. Literally. He locked himself in his room. No one saw him for hours. Then days. Then weeks. His mom, Julia, started knocking on his door every night, her voice soft and pleading. Test, honey. You okay in there? You need to eat something. I'm fine, Mom, he'd mumble back, though his voice sounded thin and cracked. What Julia didn't know was that behind that locked door, Test wasn't just sulking or wasting away on video games like a typical 19-year-old. No. Test was building. You see, Test wasn't your average kid. He was a genius, like, scary genius. The kind of person who taught himself advanced physics at 14 for fun.

While other kids were playing Fortnite, he was programming his own AI chatbots and designing blueprints for solar-powered cars. His dad used to tease him about it. Kid, you're going to invent some robot overlord one day and make me proud, but after Mike's death, all of that brilliance turned inward. The grief hit him like a freight train, and instead of crying or screaming, Test poured all his pain into, well, something else. He started with sketches. Pages and pages of diagrams, equations, and notes that looked like gibberish to anyone else. Then he ordered parts, circuit boards, wires, rare metals, using up his college savings. Packages piled up outside his door until Julia threatened to cancel his Amazon account.

What the hell are you doing in there, Test, his older sister, Claire, yelled one afternoon, pounding on his door. Go away, Claire, you're scaring mom, you selfish jerk. At least tell us you're alive, but he didn't answer. Not really. Months passed. And then one night, Test finally emerged. Julia was sitting on the couch, scrolling through old photos of Mike on her phone and trying not to cry. Claire was sprawled out next to her, watching some reality show where people screamed at each other over burnt soufflés. The door creaked open, and there he was. Test looked, different.

Thinner. Haler. His shaggy brown hair stuck up in every direction like he'd been electrocuted. His hands were trembling slightly, and his eyes had that wild, sleep-deprived look of someone who had been staring at screens for way too long. I need to show you something, he said softly. Julia and Claire followed him into his room, and their jaws practically hit the floor. The place looked like a cross between a NASA lab and Frankenstein's workshop.

Wires snaked across the floor, strange devices blinked with eerie lights, and on his desk sat, a thing. It was about the size of a microwave, sleek and metallic, with a glowing blue core that pulsed like a heartbeat. What the hell is that? Claire whispered, her arms crossed. This, this is my project Omega, Test said, his voice shaking. It's a, a weapon. Julia's hand flew to her mouth. A weapon. What do you mean, a weapon? Test turned to face them, and for the first time in months, they saw the full weight of his grief in his eyes. After Dad died, I couldn't stop thinking, what if I'd been smarter?

Faster. What if I'd invented something that could save people, stop bad things before they happen? So I built this. He gestured toward the device. It can destroy entire cities with a single blast. It's the ultimate deterrent. No one would dare hurt us if they knew we had this.

Julia staggered back, clutching her chair. chest. Claire just stared at him like he'd grown two heads. Are you insane? Claire yelled. You're talking about mass destruction. There's so much rugby on sports extra from Sky. They've asked me to read the whole lad at the same speed I usually use for the legal bit at the end. Here goes. This winter sports extra is jam-packed with rugby. For the first time we've got every Champions Cup match exclusively live, plus action from the URC, the Challenge Cup, and much more. That's the URC and all the best European rugby all in the same place. Get more exclusively live tournaments than ever before on Sports Extra. Jampack with rugby. Phew, that is a lot of rugby. Get Sports Extra on Sky for 15 euro a month for 12 months. Search Sports Extra.

New Sports Extra customers only. Standard Pressing applies after 12 months for the terms apply. You didn't deserve what happened. And it doesn't have to define you. You don't have to carry it alone. I know a safe place where you can tell your story. And you'll be believed. Call the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre National Helpline on

1-800-77-8. 8-88-8-8. Whenever you're ready to talk, they'll be ready to listen. This isn't protection, it's playing God. For hours, the family argued. Julia begged him to destroy it. Claire screamed about ethics and morality. Tess defended himself fiercely, his voice cracking with desperation. You don't understand. Dad's gone because we couldn't stop the inevitable. This, this is my way of making one. sure I never lose anyone else I love. But at what cost, Test? Julia whispered,

Do you really think your father would want this? That night, Test couldn't sleep. He sat in front of the device, staring at its eerie blue glow. His mind was a storm, grief, fear, love, guilt, all swirling together. And then he heard his dad's voice. Not literally, but in his head, the way he used to when Mike gave him advice. Kid, life's not about building walls or weapons. It's about connection. Adventure. Love.

That's how you protect the people you care about. Test broke down sobbing. The next morning, Julia and Clara woke to the sound of smashing glass and metal. They ran to Tess's room and found him standing in the middle of the wreckage. The weapon was gone, reduced to a pile of broken circuit. and twisted metal. I destroyed it, Test said simply. His eyes were puffy, but there was a strange calm in his voice. You were right. Dad wouldn't have wanted this. Julia pulled him into a hug so tight he could barely breathe. Claire joined in a moment later, mumbling something about him being

an idiot, but a lovable one. In the months that followed, Test slowly came back to life. He went back to college, started designing renewable energy tech instead of weapons, and even smiled again. Mike's death had left scars, but Test had learned something important. True protection didn't come from fear or power. It came from love.

There's so much rugby on sports extra from Sky. They've asked me to read the whole lad at the same speed I usually use for the legal bit at the end. Here goes. This winter sports extra is jam-packed with rugby. For the first time, we've got every Champions Cup match exclusively live, plus action from the URC, the Challenge Cup, and much more.

That's the URC and all the best European Rugby. all in the same place. Get more exclusively live tournaments than ever before on Sports Extra. Jampacked with rugby. Phew, that is a lot of rugby. Get Sports Extra on Sky for 15 euro a month for 12 months. Search Sports Extra. New Sports Extra customers only. Stand up pressing applies after 12 months for the terms apply. ...ness and the bonds you shared with others.

Years later, Tess became a renowned scientist, not for creating weapons, but for his inventions that made the world safer and greener. People admired his brilliance, but they didn't know about the dark path. he'd almost taken. Only his family knew. And every time they saw Test laughing or tinkering in his lab, they knew Mike would have been proud.