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Most of the profiles didn’t have pics I’d noticed that soirls had become somewhat camera shy, their Friend counts similarly vacant, despite the ‘pictures or it didn’t happen’ ethos stalking our beleaguered generation like a specter

Withinto open the public profile of the ethers cutie sequestered in the rooh she were in protective custody At least whoet to her anymore

There wasn’t anything too unusual Or there at all really,been left blank, at least in terh Albu the same two people, who I took to be her parents

There was a shock of sick recognition Those eyes, s but vacant That smile, stilted and humorless except in the most macabre way Yes, I knew the bastard The one Rachel probably still called ‘daddy’ because he had her in such a fucking age regression Mentally if not physically

I had seen it soin kids rejected from ‘civil society’ Soht until their pious parents had a chance to sober up I didn’t laugh when Amelia once asked me how many brothers and sisters we had Honestly, I had lost track myself for a while

I could feel the rage rising inside ht to repress Certain people had the philosophy that others were going to hate us anyway No need to give theht If we did ould be the point? Our opposition beca rivalry and ‘fuck that stupid bullshit’

It wasn’t what they did to an and his flock of Jesus stalkers I could take it It hen they went after the younger kids, calling theot my hackles up They were kids and nah not nearly as much as the rocks the bullies would routinely huck at us, Old Testament style

The co a , deep breaths, I tried to calm down

The chair rolled back so hard it bounced off the opposing wall Dropping to my knees before the shire of vinyl I made my selection and put on some of the most brutal Black Metal known to humanity

I’d long considered starting a band called All Gods Are Bastards, or AGAB Our first and likely last, record would be called Songs for Exorcisms

“The power of Satan co even myself

The first song causto My exhausted carcass collapsing to the carpet in a mix of pants and sobsChapter Nine - RachelAs the rooster crows Not actually a saying but it should be Though indeed that wouldn’t express how early I woke up the nextEven nature's alarm clock still fast asleep in their coops when my eyes eased open to the dim blue dawn

I listened for aNot even the low ru traffic I checked the clock Five in the h that most of the world would still be deep in slumber Perfect

Tossing ht as you please My bare feetlight to the ghostly looking door With customary stops to look under the bed and check in the closet just in case

The chair was still in place under the doorknob so it didn’t seeh my dad had well and true put the fear of God in me

It was odd seeing the apartht only with a slightly surreal edge Ehtly other worldly Like the furniture hadn’t quite woken up yet

Keeping things on the dohipped up a hearty but low-cal breakfast, using only the stove, since the toaster or the blender were a bit too noisy to risk trying

I couldn’t believe I was roomed with him Let alone that ere in lockdown Forced to share a space in a form of imposed house arrest unseen since the Russian Revolution

I was suddenly reot stuck in a life-boat with an adult tiger Dad threw it in the fire, saying it promoted heathenistic beliefs because it was set in India but I had ed to finish it first

I wasn’t afraid that Augustus ht eat me or even that he would hurt me At least not in the corporeal sense It was my soul for which I was most concerned Froht back At least not against us