Long running manga

So I was thinking of collecting several of the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure manga but then I saw that the series has 118 volumes and it hasn't ended yet. This reminded me that there are other long running manga that are still going like Naruto, Fairy tail, Berserk, Dragon Ball (getting its Super arc soon as a comic), and One piece. It's so crazy that people follow these and other series at the same time. I mean I follow Dragon Ball and Berserk, but they don't have as many as the others mentioned.

Cultures mixing to make wonderful things

The best examples I can think of are Japanese series that take Western influences. The first one that comes to mind is Berserk with its European influences and that in turn influenced the Souls series and speaking about that series, Bloodborne is heavily inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, an American author. There's also Silent Hill and Resident evil that are influenced by the West especially with the latest Resident evil. This is all I can think of off the top of my head and thought it was interesting to bring up. Comment below any series that you know that are a result of cultures taking influences from each other.

Buying physical or digital

Me personally I buy physical books, movies, video games, and tv seasons. I do this because you buy something that has actual weight to it and you can show it off to the people you know and let them borrow it. Sure it may get lost, damaged, or broken but usually that all depends on how responsible you are with that item.

That glimmer in someone's eyes

Do other people see this when they look at someone who is extraordinarily nice? They seem to have this shine in their eyes that makes you feel like you can both see and feel their shining soul. I feel like I might be going crazy here if I have't already, but this is just something I've seen before and never really said it to anyone.

Why I'm Christian and believe in God

Believe it or not it's because of science. Now this'll borrow a bit from my questions for atheists post but not entirely. So if you think about it everything in nature works in a system and an intelligent system at that where everything has a purpose and works off of each other. You can say that this system is just random and has no intelligence to it but random is in itself a system that needs to follow a set of rules. You should also know that random like luck doesn't really exist as something may seem random or chance if you view it from a certain angle like flipping a coin. The way you flip a coin, the wind speed, and surface it bounces on ultimately decides what side it will land on. So now if you believe that nothing is up to chance and everything happens for a reason then you have to believe that there is something keeping the cogs of life going in this particular order and created it to act this certain way. That's how I came to truly believe God exists in a nutshell essentially.
There's also the question of the system of morality that always says certain things are good and others are bad with few in between or neutral choices. The main reason we should treat each other with love and compassion is because all humans have value in their life above every other lifeform. In Christianity, this is because humanity is made to love and made out of love. It is also God's most valuable creation as it shares His likeness. So if you take that away, what value does humanity have? Hell, what value does value have if it is just made up?
These reasons are why I'm Christian so if you have any questions or (legit) counter-arguments then leave it below.
Have a nice day.

Another paper I wrote for school that I found interesting

Albert Oon

March 28, 2017

Intro to English Paper 2

How to Tell a True War Story – Tim O’Brian

Fiction can be more truthful than Non-fiction (especially a war story)

            There are many different ways to tell a true story and get the moral of it across. One of the ways that doesn’t seem like a good way is to make up a story with elements of the truth. You’d think this would be obvious but it’s actually more obvious to do the opposite. You see, the truth can be lost in a real story from one person’s perspective and they’ll lose details or not realize them when the event is occurring that may be picked up by others. You would need more than one person to tell a true story so you can get all the details and perspectives, but even then, the scenario can blind all the writers. This is true especially in war as confirmed by Tim O’Brian in his story The Things They Carried and in a certain short story called How to Tell a True War Story. He says in an early segment that, “In any war story, but especially a true one, it’s difficult to separate what happened from what seemed to happen. What seems to happen becomes its own happening and has to be told that way. The angles of vision are skewed. When a booby trap explodes, you close your eyes and duck and float outside yourself. When a guy dies, like Lemon, you look away and then look back for a moment and then look away again. The pictures get jumbled you tend to miss a lot. And then afterward, when you go to tell about it, there is always that surreal seemingness, which makes the story seem untrue, but which in fact represents the hard and exact truth as it seemed”. This paragraph perfectly says what an event in war would do to someone and how it affects them when they try to recall what happened and what the facts are.

There are many things that fiction can do like add in believable details that would be missing from someone’s memory or in some cases where the truth is hard to believe so they need those fake details to make sense. You can fit an entire moral lesson and true story into an entirely fictional character who acts real, but isn’t and probably wouldn’t exist in this world though they seem they would. Many details in all fictional stories have elements of truth in them and are what ground the story into reality that gives readers the lessons and experiences the author wants. Tim O’Brian enforces this in the previously mentioned chapter by saying that, “Without the grounding reality, it’s just a trite bit of puffery, pure Hollywood, untrue in the way all such stories are untrue. Yet even if it did happen and maybe it did, anything’s possible even then you know it can’t be true, because a true war story does not depend upon that kind of truth”.

This part can be continued with a previous part that says that, “In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It’s a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness”. Tim O’Brian’s story is an argument for fiction being more truthful than fact just by looking at this paper with most of it taking up most of it since it defines the point so well with the story and the author being the best example of this truth. A war story is the best example of a story that needs some fictional details to feel complete and real. Soldiers and others will be consumed by the violence and sorrows of war without really taking notice of the details of their surroundings and who can blame them? If they do then they might be shot or captured by their enemy. A filling in of fictional details is almost necessary for these kinds of stories given the way war is and how it affects those caught in the crossfire of its horrible ways.

In conclusion, true stories, especially true war stories can never be told without a little fiction. Some of the greatest fiction stories ever made have the greatest truths about reality in them that most other non-fiction books have. Tim O’Brian’s story, The Things They Carried is one of the best examples of fiction helping fact and getting the reality of war, in this case the Vietnam War, across to readers in a way that feels real without being one-hundred percent real. The last part I will quote is a part in the ending segment of the short story mentioned where it says that, “In the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It’s about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It’s about love and memory. It’s about sorrow. It’s about sisters who never write back and people who never listen”. Of a course a war story can be many things like how you can make different kinds of fictional stories. The truth can set you free in all cases, but the way you arrive at that truth can differ, whether it’d be through watching the actual events play out or through the telling of a fictional story based in reality.

Pictures of Robbie the Rabbit I drew

Since there's no other use for them now, I decided to show you these pictures of Robbie the Rabbit I drew for school. I drew them with charcoal vine and pencil.

Me on the season of Lent (from Twitter)

I think that's a great thing to give up especially when I still have that feeling sometimes. Besides I've given up on trying to kill myself for a while now.  I haven't given up anything on Lent season for a while. Probably because I can't eat meat on Fridays which is like 80% of what I eat.

Birthday gift to you

Sorry I couldn't post this the day of my birthday but nevertheless, here it is. This picture is a cover of one of my books that holds one of my greatest secrets that not many people know. Some of the secrets are hinted at in this picture so see if you can see the little details.

Pictures of the "Actual Readiing" Books I have

These are just pictures of the "actual reading" books I have. I wonder why some people call books like these "actual reading". Is it because they feel like comics are less somehow because they use a lot of pictures with dialogue? That's a stupid reason because comics are just a different way to tell a story. Some people don't like really wordy stories with my small reading audience being the proof of that. I'm sure that if I can reach out further I can find more people who would agree with me.
Also how is a certain form of entertainment like video games or movies less than another like books or theater. Yeah this is a minority opinion but I feel like it should be addressed because why not. Each form of entertainment makes up for its shortcomings (that other forms of entertainment excel at) with their own quirks like with; video games and their interactivity, movies with their visuals and acting, and comics with their combination of dialogue and movement that happens in their pictures.

My thoughts on why people follow me on Twitter

 It's like when someone unfollows me I'm like, well what did you expect from me? Most of my thoughts are in my books, blog, and retweets. I wonder why people even follow me here. All I do is retweet, sometimes talk about my books, and comment on our people's tweets.

London atttack

I think this comment on Stefan Molyneux's latest video says it all.

 

squishypitbull12 hours ago

So who is always acting a bit mischieviously? The Nice Attack was a Muslim The Paris Attacks were Muslims The Shoe Bomber was a Muslim The Orlando attack was a Muslim The Beltway Snipers were Muslims The Fort Hood Shooter was a Muslim The Underwear Bomber was a Muslim The U.S.S. Cole Bombers were Muslims The Madrid Train Bombers were Muslims The Charlie Hebdo Attacks were Muslims The San Bernadino Attacks were Muslims The Bali Nightclub Bombers were Muslims The Davao Philippines Attack were Muslims The Minnesota Mall stabbings was a Muslim The London Subway Bombers were Muslims The Moscow Theatre Attackers were Muslims The Boston Marathon Bombers were Muslims The Ankara Airport Turkey Attack were Muslims The Pan-Am Flight #93 Bombers were Muslims The Iranian Embassy Takeover was by Muslims The Air France Entebbe Hijackers were Muslims The Batta Meena Pakistan Attacks were Muslims The Beirut U.S. Embassy bombers were Muslims The Libyan U.S. Embassy Attack was by Muslims The Beheading of the French priest were Muslims The Buenos Aires Suicide bombers were Muslims The Israeli Olympic Team Attackers were Muslims The Kenyan U.S Embassy Bombers were Muslims The Saudi, Khobar Towers Bombers were Muslims The Beirut Marine Barracks bombers were Muslims The Besian Russian School Attackers were Muslims The First World Trade Center bombers were Muslims The Beheading of journalist Daniel Pearl was Muslims The Achille Lauro Cruise Ship Hijackers were Muslims The Bombay & Mumbai Indian Attackers were Muslims The Narcissist C.Kaepernick & his squeaze are Muslims The September 11th 2001 Airline Hijackers were Muslims The Beheadings, stabbings, live burnings, & drownings by Muslims The Piracy off the Barbary Coast in T. Jefferson's time were Muslims The Daily inhumane acts by the religion of peace, Islam- the Muslims (Forgive this poor attempt to list all Muslim attrocities in recent history) Where do folks seem to act kindly toward one another? Hindus living with Jews = No Problem Sikhs living with Hindus = No Problem Baha’is living with Jews = No Problem Jews living with Atheists = No Problem Hindus living with Baha’is = No Problem Christians living with Jews = No Problem Jews living with Buddhists = No Problem Buddhists living with Sikhs = No Problem Shintos living with Atheists = No Problem Hindus living with Christians = No Problem Buddhists living with Hindus = No Problem Baha’is living with Christians = No Problem Christians living with Shintos = No Problem Buddhists living with Shintos = No Problem Atheists living with Buddhists = No Problem Confusians living with Hindus = No Problem Confucians living with Baha’is = No Problem Shintos living with Confucians = No Problem Atheists living with Confucians = No Problem Where in the world does the poo always seem to hit the fan? Muslims living with Jews = Problem Muslims living with Sikhs = Problem Muslims living with Hindus = Problem Muslims living with Baha’is = Problem Muslims living with Shintos = Problem Muslims living with Atheists = Problem Muslims living with Christians = Problem Muslims living with Buddhists = Problem Muslims living with other Muslims = Problem So what are some Muslim Social Clubs? ISIS: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Ansaru: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Hamas: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Taliban: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Al-Badr: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Al-Nusra: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Al-Qaeda: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Hezbollah: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Abu Sayyaf: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Boko Haram: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Islamic Jihad: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Lashkar-e-Taiba: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Jemaah Islamiyah: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Muslim Brotherhood: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Palestine Liberation Front: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION Abdullah Azzam Brigades: AN ISLAMIC TERROR ORGANIZATION, etc. Now let's reason together whether or not we should allow millions MORE Muslims to immigrate to the EU or America or Australia. Hmm, a real stumper, huh?

Harry Potter Puppet Pals and regular Harry Potter

Who else remembers Harry Potter puppet pals? I remembered it when I tried remembering things from Harry Potter and this is one of the first things that popped up besides the Harry Potter ride at Universal. I'm honestly not into Harry Potter and don't really get why so many people like it even after watching all the movies. Sure I can read the books, but I write books that are liked by people who don't like reading books for a reason. Someone could try convincing me otherwise if you want but I don't think I'll change my mind unless proved wrong.

Bloodborne and loving the Souls series again

After beating Bloodborne for the first time last month, I've gotten back into liking the Souls series. I've gotten the GoY edition of Dark souls 1 and 2, played both to completion with the DLC, thinking about getting the GoY of Bloodborne of Dark Souls three, and finally I've been really getting into Berserk (I'm up to Vol. 9). I don't know what about Bloodborne really got me back into Souls. Maybe it's the gameplay, world, or this basically being H.P. Lovecraft the Video Game. I'll probably write a story inspired by the themes in this game later and buy the game again, but until then, you should play the game yourself if you haven't already.

Sample of Deception & Despair Prologue + Chapter 1

Prologue – Gather the Players and Set the Stage!

            My name is David and my first high-school summer vacation is oddly enough going to be spent with my grade school friends. Iris is arranging it at a lakeview hotel and is inviting most of the people we know from my grade-school class via social media. We’re supposed to stay there for the entire summer vacation with visits to the beach, amusement parks, and adventures through the wild. Since I don’t really have any plans for the summer and no real friends to spend it with, I accept her offer and my parent drive me to the hotel.

            They drop me off and say your usual parenty things like; “Have fun!” “Be safe!” and “Don’t get too touchy with the girls!” Once I take my stuff out of the car and watch my parents leave, I look over the group of familiar faces outside the hotel. I decide to walk over to one of them that I think I know the most.

            “Hello,” I say to Ella who is standing by the river.

            “Hey David, it’s been a long time hasn’t it?”

            “Not really, it’s only been a year.”

            “Right, but it feels like a long time.”

            “Do you still draw pictures?”

            “Of course I do! I’m honestly shocked you remember that.”

“Why?”

“Because not many of us remember that much about each other.”

“Well I remember a couple things about everyone.”

            “That’s good. I’m sure they’ll appreciate that.”

“So what are you going to do with your drawings, are you going to become an artist?”

“Nah I’m not going to draw boring landscapes and extremely vague art. I’m going to do comics and manga.”

“Really? That’s so cool!”

“I know right?”

She reaches for pieces of paper in her bag and gives it to me.

“Here are two drafts of two of my comics.”

The first one she gives me is about a popular spider superhero’s mind and body being taken over by one of their biggest villains. The villain realizes what it really means to be a superhero and he decides to outdo the hero he previously hated, become superior in other words. The second one is a manga about an antisocial high-school girl who is trying to make friends and be popular, but she is constantly stopped by her own shyness and lack of courage.

“These are really awesome!”

“Thanks,” she says with a bright smile on her face.

“Hey David!” says a familiar voice.

“Go on,” says Ella, “I shouldn’t take all of your time.”

“Ok, I’ll see you later!”

“See ya!”

I walk over to the person who called me over. His name is Stan, an old bestfriend of mine. He smiles as I approach him.

“Hey man!” he says “Trying to get with one of girls already?”

“It’s not like that!” I say while my blushing face says otherwise.

“Yeah, yeah. So what’s up? How have you been?”

“Fine, you?”

            “Ah great man! I’ve been trying to write a novel and it’s going great!”

“Really? I didn’t think you become a writer.”

“Me too, but after seeing everything wrong that’s been going on in the world, I had to show it to people in order to change the world.”

“Wow you’re really want to make a difference don’t you?”

“Yeah, I’ve always been this assertive, don’t you remember?”

“Of course I do.”

He pats me on the back.

“That’s the friend I remember! You know it’s a shame that all of us went to different high-schools after grade-school. I mean, we’ve all been together since pre-k.”

“I know.”

We take a moment to take in the realization that all of us have separated after being so close. It’s kind of hard to imagine.

“You should probably talk to Peter,” says Stan, “Nobody probably know shim better than you do.”

“Right.”

I walk over to Peter who is reading a comic. He doesn’t seem too happy and seems to be totally entranced by the story.

“Hey Peter,” I say to him as I touch his shoulder.

He turns to me and actually smiles.

“Hey David, it’s nice to see you again.”

“Whatcya reading there?”

“Oh, it’s a comic based on one of my favorite video game series.”

“Isn’t this the one with demon summoning and tarot cards?”

“That’s right! I appreciate that you remember it as one of my favorites unlike everyone else.”

“Well it is one of my favorites too. Do you like drawing and writing like Ella and Stan?”

“No, I’m a critic. I like going through movies, video games, and comics and reviewing them.”

“Oh yeah I remember that you have over five hundred thousand subscribers on your channel right?”

“Five hundred fifty thousand subs to be exact.”

“That’s so cool man! Hey, can I be on your show?”

“Sure, just give me your number and I’ll call you when I’m making another review.”

“Awesome.”

I take out my phone and as he gives me his number, I realize that I don’t have it nor do I have the numbers of the other people here. I also realize that I don’t have any cell reception in this area.

“Hmm,” I say.

“What’s up man?”

“Do you have the numbers of anyone else here?”

“No, but I’m sure Rita, Stan, and Iris do. Why?”

“Just asking. I’ll see you later?”

“Ok man.”

I walk over to Arthur who is playing his guitar. Stan, Ella, Iris, and Rita are also listening to his performance. He and the others smile at me as I join them. He finishes playing his song and the group disperses, but I stay behind to talk to Arthur.

“Hey,” I say as I extend my hand.

He shakes my hand and we both let go and snap our fingers.

“Ey! You remember our handshake!”

“I see that you remember it too and the only country artist that any of us listen to!”

“Cash country for life!”

“Yeah!”

“So what have you been doing?”

“Nothing too special, you?”

“I’ve been trying different genres besides rock and country. I’m trying hard rock, metal, and punk.”

“So basically different types of rock? Hahaha.”

“Hahaha now that I think about it, yes. I guess I haven’t changed much and neither have you.”

“I know.”

“And speaking of that, are you still trying to get with you know who?”

“I haven’t really talked to her since we graduated.”

“Well now’s your chance to redeem yourself man, go talk to her.”

“Uhhh.”

“Don’t worry man you got this!”

“Ok, but you gotta teach me how to play the piano later.”

“Deal, but I’m still pretty rusty with it.”

“That’s fine.”

We do our handshake and I go to walk over to Rita, but I bump into Iris along the way.

She hugs me tightly then says, “David!”

“Iris! You’re squishing me!”

She lets go, letting me breath again.

“Thank you!”

“I’ve missed you so much!”

“Me too, but you didn’t need to hug me that hard.”

“Oh you know me and my strength.”

“Yeah and I remember you beating high-school kids in weightlifting and track.”

“You remember that?”

“Well I seem to be the one that remember everything about everyone.”

“I hear. Everyone seems to think that.”

“That’s a good thing right?”

“Of course it is! A good memory is an important thing to have including a healthy diet and strong muscles!”

“I see.”

“You haven’t talked to Rita yet I hear. Why haven’t you?”

“Well I was about to, but then you-”

“Oh I’m sorry! I was just excited to see you.”

“It’s fine.”

She hugs me again and we part ways. I walk over to Rita who is sitting on the front steps of the hotel. Rita smiles at me as I walk over to her and I smile back.

“Hi, David.”

“Hi, Rita.”

We blush and don’t say anything for a few seconds while looking each other in the eyes before saying anything.

“Sooo….ahem. How have you been?” I say.

“Ok, kinda better now since you’re here.”

“Yeah, it’s good to see you too.”

“You know it’s weird how we’re the only ordinary people here who aren’t special in doing anything.”

“I know, but we’re still in high-school so we still have time to find something to be good at.”

“Yeah, but it still kinda feels overwhelming.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll help you find out what you want to be.”

“Really?’

“Yes. We’ll find out what we’re going to be together. Maybe we’ll even do the same thing.”

“Haha, yeah. We’ll start our own business and set our own rules.”

“That sounds awesome!”

We laugh at the idea.

“Hey, I was wondering. Why haven’t we gone inside yet?”

“It’s because Iris wanted to wait for everyone else who is coming out here and it’s boring to stay in the hotel, so all of us are just staying out here.”

“Oh, well no one told me.”

“I’m sorry, but didn’t you enjoy staying outside here talking to us?”

“I did. I really liked catching up with everyone.”

“…Who did you like talking to the most?”

Aw jeez! Why did she have to ask me that while looking at me, excepting a right answer?

“Uh…”

She starts leaning in closer to me while staring deep into my eyes.

“You! Of course,” I embarrassingly say.

“Me?!” she says in shock.

“W-well yeah we’re like mostly the same stuff and in grade-school we uh…”

She smiles at me, stands up, and gives me a hug.

Whew! That was weird to say. I actually liked talking to everyone equally, but I know what Rita wanted me to say and I said it. I’m actually surprised she got up to hug me and…wait a sec.

“Hey…uh…Rita?”

“Mmm?”

“Haven’t you hugged me long enough?”

“Mmm.”

“Uhhh.”

Pretty much everyone is looking at us with smiles on their face.

“Well I guess no one else is coming so we might as well go in,” says Iris as she takes her stuff.

Everyone else grabs their stuff and starts to walk into the hotel except for Rita and I because she is still holding me with a bright smile on her face.

“Uh…Rita? Everyone is going in.”

“Mmmmm.”

Another few awkward seconds pass by.

“Uh…Can someone help me here?”

Ella and Stan help Rita get off me and we enter the hotel. As the last of us enter and the front door shuts, the shutters on the windows and doors tightly close, trapping us in the hotel and scaring us all.

“What the hell is going on?” says Stan.

Something that I can only describe as a cat appears from above and lands on the landing leading to the next floor in front of us.

“Hello boys and girls!” it says in a feminine voice, “My name is…

We all stand in shock as we look at the cat and attempt to understand what is going on.

“Speechless I see? It makes sense to be since you don’t see a cat of my calipurr every day.”

It does a modeling pose.

“Wa-What are you? And why are we trapped here?” I say.

“I! Am the cutest thing you will ever see in your entire life!”

She does another modeling pose.

“Really? You look more scary than cute,” says Arthur.

“Aww! Why thank you! I do try to go for both. So enough complementing, now it’s time to get down to business. YOU are here to play my little game of life and death.”

“And what happens if we don’t want to play?” says Peter.

“Oh that’s simple.”

Kat’s klaws come out of her hands and feet.

“I’ll slice you up into bite size pieces and eat you up as if you were delicious candy!”

Wow she’s serious!

“Now then.”

Kat’s klaws retract.

“Since there will be no more objections from the peanut gallery, I will explain the rules to my game. One: You may not harm or put your hands on me. I know how cute and adorable I am, but you may not lay your hands, feet, whatever on me.”

“Like anyone thinks you’re cute or adorable,” Stan says under his breath.

“Da fuck did you just say?!” Kat says with her claws out.

“Na-Nothing!” Stan says while being scared out of his mind.

“Anyways…Second and most important: One of you must kill ONE of your friends in secret to escape here!”

We are in even more shock than before, speechless to even react.

“When two or more people find the body, you will have to investigate the scene to find out who done it and then we’ll have a trial so you can pin point the killer. If you find out who the killer is and you pick the right person, that person will be EXECUTED!”

Executed?!

“Yes children, EXECUTED! And not executed quickly and without pain, but executed in their own painful and agonizing way!”

What the hell is going on?! This can’t be real!

“Now if you don’t pick the right person, everyone except the killer will be executed!”

“Tha-That won’t happen!” states Ella, “We won’t kill each other for your amusement!”

“A-A-Ah! Now this is where the third rule comes in. If no one kills someone within the day, I will be the one to kill someone and the first rule protects me from execution.”

“That’s not fair!” I say.

“It’s totally fair! And to add to the fairness, today and tomorrow will be a free day for you. So decide who you’re going to kill and how so be ready to embark on this adventure full of THRILLS! CHILLS! And KILLS!”

Kat disappears in a puff of pink smoke, leaving us in a deadly and tense situation.

Chapter 1 – A Trip Into Despair

We stand in shock at the hotel’s entrance, not knowing what to do or say. We can only look at each other to see if someone will make a move.

“So…what’s going to happen?” says Stan.

“I don’t know,” says Arthur.

“I guess we should just look around. We have to calm down and figure out how we can get out of this,” I say.

“David’s right,” says Rita, “We can’t just stay here moping around. That cat might just kill us if we do nothing.”

We all nod at each other and agree to check different parts of the hotel.  I check the bottom floor and the only doors that open are sixteen rooms probably for the sixteen people in our class and since nothing else is here, I go to check on everyone else. Arthur is sitting down on stage in the dining hall playing his guitar.

“Hey,” I say as I walk to him.

“Hey.”

He continues to play.

“Are you feeling ok?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“What song are you playing?”

“One that I wrote.”

“It sounds pretty good.”

“Thanks man.” Sighs “This is some crazy shit that we’re going through, ain’t it?”

“Yeah, but don’t worry.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “We’ll get through this!”

“Thanks man. I needed that.”

“Anyways…did you find anything here?”

“Nah man. Besides a stereo system and a few other music related things, there’s nothing here.”

“Ok. I’m going to check on everything else.”

“Ok man.”

I decide to go check on Stan who is examining the barriers on the windows.

He sees me walking towards him so he says, “What’s up?”

“Nothing, I’m just checking up on everyone.”

“Why?”

“I just want to see how everyone’s doing?”

“Hmmm.”

“What is it?”

“If I didn’t know you any better, I’d say you were planning to murder someone.”

“What?! How could you say that?!”

“I’m just thinking about it and now can you blame me with everything that’s going on?”

“I guess you’re right. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. I think we need to be more worried about that cat than any one of us.”

“I know. That thing really looks like it’ll kill us.”

“And it doesn’t help that we’re trapped here with no way out. It probably also wouldn’t help if we could make an exit because it’ll kill us if we try to escape.”

“Right. I don’t even think we have any tools we could use to escape.”

The reality of the situation sinks into us as we both feel sadness and afraid at the same time.

“You should go listen to Arthur play his songs,” I suggest, “It helps lighten the mood.”

“I don’t want to listen him play music, I want to find a way out!”

“I know, but…”

Sighs “I guess you’re right. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. See you later.”

He walks away and I go to see Rita who is messing with some electrical panel.

“I didn’t know that you knew how to work these things,” I say as I sit next to her.

“I have an idea how to.”

“That’s pretty cool.”

“Is it really?”

“Yeah, it is.”

She giggles and smiles at me.

“So anyways, what are you trying to do?”

“I’m trying to open the barriers, but it’s kinda difficult. It seems like the cat did something to this.”

“Hmmm…well I believe you can fix it, but won’t the cat try to kill us if we leave?”

“I don’t think so. It wasn’t one of the rules she said.”

“Oh that’s right! So we do have a chance of getting out of here!”

“Yeah! Besides, if she did try to kill you,” she holds my hand, “I’ll protect you.”

I hold her hand with both of mine.

“I’ll protect you too.”

I feel the refreshing air of hope and relaxation flow between us. I let go and get up as she is still holding my hand.

“I’m going to see how everyone else is doing, see if they need any help. Ok?”

She lets go of my hand as her smile slowly fades.

“You sure you want to do that?”

“I’m positive. Everyone needs a little help.”

“Ok…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”

“Ok!” she says with her smile back on her face.

I walk back to the rooms to find Iris putting nameplates on them.

“What’s are you doing?” I ask.

“Designating everyone’s rooms so we won’t fight over them. I already talked to a few of them and they agree with me.”

“Oh, ok. Here let me help.”

“Thank you.”

I start placing nameplates on the doors and notice that not only do they have our names of our classmates on them that are here and those that haven’t showed up, but they also have 8-bit pictures of their full body.

“Should the rooms we’re using be close together?” I ask.

“I think so, so we can all know what each of us are doing at night.”

“That sounds smart, but what if someone is going to-”

“It’s not going to come down to that!”

She slams the nameplate on the door.

“We aren’t going to let that damn cat make us kill each other! We aren’t!”

Iris’ eyes seem to burn with hope and determination, which in turn give me some just by looking at her. I nod at her to agree and she nods back with a smile. We finish putting up the nameplates as Peter walks into his room.

“You should probably try to cheer him up. You know him the best,” she says.

“Ok. I will.”

I enter Peter’s room to see him laying down in his room his head in his pillow.

“You alright man?” I ask him.

He flips himself around then he says, “I’m fine, it’s just this situation…it’s fucked up.”

“I know right?”

“It’s really making me feel tired. All I need is to rest and process it all and I’ll be back up in no time, ok? So don’t worry about me.”

“Ok. I’ll give you your space.”

“Thanks.”

He flips back around into his bed as I leave the room. I then go to check on Ella who is drawing pictures by the front door.

“Hello.”

“Hey David,” she says with a smile.

I sit next to her.

“Whatcya drawing?”

“Just stuff for my comic. I need to keep myself calm somehow.”

“Are you almost finished it?”

“Yeah and once we get out of here, I’ll publish it for everyone to see and enjoy.”

“Can I have one of your first copies?”

“Of course you can! I’ll even sign it and put my number in it so we can be together.”

“Be together?”

“I mean hang out and do stuff, I didn’t mean-”

“Do stuff?”

“Shut up! You know what I mean!” she says while blushing, “Besides, you’re with Rita…aren’t you?”

“Not really. I mean we just started talking again.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

“So if you want to be together…uh.”

I move closer to her. We look at each other for a few seconds before slowly moving our lips closer to each other. Suddenly, something catches the corner of my eye that makes me turn my head then jolt away.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I say to Kat whose head was getting in between us.

“Oh! I just wanted to be in this moment!”

“Get out of here!” screams Ella.

Kat bounces back and says, “Fine! But I’ll get my kiss sooner or later!” then she speeds away.

I get up after that awkward moment.

“You’re leaving?”

“Yeah. I promised Rita I would go back to see her. I’m not leaving because of her it’s just that-”

“Don’t worry about it David. I understand. Besides, I feel better since you came here.”

“Oh, uh. Thank you.”

“No problem.”

“Oh one more thing. Did you know Rita is good with electronics?”

“I did.”

“You did? I didn’t.”

“Yeah she fixed my phone for me when it was completely broken.”

“Well she’s looking at some kind of electrical panel to try to remove the hotel’s barriers.”

“That’s awesome of her. You should definitely go check ok her so she can stay motivated. Now that’s something you’re good at.”

“I guess you’re right. So, I’ll see you later.”

“See ya!”

I go back to see Rita and it seems like she hasn’t made any progress, but she is pleased that I came back.

Stan walks up to us and says, “Hey you two, we’re having a meeting in the dining hall to discuss things.”

We agree to go with him and we find everyone already there.

“So let’s go over everything we’ve learned,” says Stan.

“There is no one else besides us in this hotel,” says Arthur, “That cat thing probably killed them all and put their bodies somewhere.”

Peter speaks up, “Has anyone figured out who the mastermind doing this to us yet?”

“No, do you have an idea?” asks Iris.

“I think I do and I think it’s one of us!”

“What?!” I say.

“Think about it,” Peter continues, “Iris found nameplates for our entire class and only our class. On top of that, it has a full body picture of each of us on it. The cat also seems to know us because of the way it speaks to us.”

“So who is it? Wait, who do you think it is?” says Ella.

“We don’t have all the facts yet so we just have to sit and wait for more clues to come in,” says Stan.

Peter crosses his arms and looks to the side before saying, “I have my guesses, but nothing solid. So I’ll have to agree with Stan.”

“I have to agree with him too,” says a voice I’d rather not hear.

Kat sits on the table with us as if she was with us the entire time.

“What are you doing here?” I ask her.

“Oh I just wanted to get into the conversation. Be a social butterfly you know? Besides, I will win no matter you do!”

Kat runs out of the room laughing. We stay silent for a while after what she said.

I then break up the silence, “I think we should rest for today. Hopefully we can figure something out tomorrow.”

Stan supports me, “David’s right, look at the time.”

Despite not being able to see the light outside or lack thereof, the clock still displays the right time.

“Ok,” says Peter as he leaves.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Iris says.

Everyone else goes to their room including me and once I get to my room, I immediately fall asleep because of everything that has happened today. I sleep the entire night without dreaming and I wake the next day because of a knock at my door. I open the door to see Stan.

“Hey David, we’re going to have breakfast in the dining hall soon.”

“Really? Who’s making it?”

“I am of course!”

“You are? I didn’t know that you could cook.”

We start walking towards the dining hall.

“Of course I can! I can make breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

“What about dessert?”

“Uh, I’m still working on that.”

We both laugh as we enter the dining hall with everyone already there and breakfast on the table. I sit down and gaze upon all the French toast, pancakes, and bacon.

“Alright everyone, let’s feast!” proclaims Stan.

Everyone starts to dig in. Man, I didn’t know Stan could cook this well! Everything is so delicious that I can’t stop myself from eating!

“Hands off the food!” says Iris.

I turn around to see Kat taking plate-fulls of food.

 “They’re paws numbnuts! And a cat has to have her fair share too!”

Kat takes her food and sits down next to Rita, Ella, and I. She chows down on everything as I awkwardly try to ignore her. After breakfast Kat is satisfied and disappears to do God knows what. We thoroughly search the hotel for anything to help us, but we nothing new. We regroup in the dining hall again to plan things out.

“Damn it!” Peter says as he slams his fist into the table, “There’s nothing here!”

Kat appears out of nowhere, laughs at us then says, “Of course there’s nothing here that can help you. I made extra sure to do so.”

None of us decide to say anything.

“Anyways,” Kat continues, “You should’ve prepared a murder plan by now because if I don’t see a corpse tomorrow morning, I’ll make one myself!”

“No you won’t!” states Iris, “You’re just bluffing so you can force us to kill each other!”

“Oh really? I’m bluffing?”

“Y-Yes! Yes you are!”

“Well we’re just going to see if that’s true by tomorrow.”

Kat disappears in a puff of pink of smoke and we decide to go back to our rooms to rest for tomorrow hoping that she really is bluffing. We wake up the next morning, but before we make it to the dining hall, Kat stops us by the entrance to the hotel.

“Today’s the day!” Kat proudly proclaims, “IIIIIIIIIIT”S MURDER TIME! Or as I like to call it FUN TIME!”

“Wait what?!” says Arthur.

“That’s right! I wasn’t bluffing when I told you that I would kill you if no one died by today.”

“Screw this shit!” Peter says as he tries to run away.

“Uh-uh-uh!” Kat says as she moves extremely fast to block him, “You run away and I choose you as the one to die.”

Peter walks back to us with his head down and sweat running down his face.

“Now then,” Kat moves back in front of us, “I choooose…you!”

Kat points at Rita.

“What?! Why me?!”

“Because I said so!”

Really?! That’s why?! Why the Hell did it have to be her?!

“Now since I’m such a nice little cat, I’ll give you the chance to kill me.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’m confident that I can’t be destroyed. So confident in fact that I will give you weapons with which to kill me with. Follow me!”

Kat leads us to the gym room that has a bunch of weapons on table in what I assume to be a bulletproof glass box. Kat then gets into the box and beckons Rita to destroy her.

Rita says, “Fine then. I will destroy you!”

            She confidently walks towards the cage, but I stop her.

“Rita!”

“Don’t worry David, I got this!”

Rita winks at me and enters the cage and thinks about what weapon to use.

“She knows how to use guns and other weapons David,” says Stan.

“What?” I say.

“I’ve seen her use them before when we went to a gun range a few times.”

“Jeez, Rita really knows how to do a lot of different things that I don’t know about.”

“Out of all of us, Rita has the best chance to destroy that cat. It made a fatal mistake when it chose her.”

Stan smiles and the despair I felt before is swept away.

“Go Rita!” I cheer, “Kill that piece of junk!”

Rita smiles as we all cheer for her. She then grabs all the melee weapons (sledgehammers, metal pipes, and swords) and uses them on Kat. The swords shatter, the pipes bend, and hammers bounce when they hit Kat who is standing still. Damn it! Nothing seems to work, but at least she still has guns.

“Come on, kill me! I’m still standing here without a scratch on me!”

Rita goes for the guns, but when she shoots them at Kat, the bullets bounce off Kat and don’t even leave dents. None of it works. The shotguns, rifles, not even the magnums can kill Kat!

“You only have one weapon left! Make it count!” says Kat.

A grenade launcher is all that’s left, one more weapon of hope. Rita picks it up and unloads all of the ammo on Kat with each explosion covering Kat in black smoke. The last grenade gets the box around them to shatter and then we wait for the last of the black smoke to clear. Kat still appears to be intact, but she’s motionless, which makes us wait to see if she’s still operational. Minutes seemingly pass by as we watch to see what happens.

“What? Why are we all silent?” says Kat who is still perfectly fine.

We are all in a state of shock and terror at the reality that Kat can’t be killed.

“Now then,” Kat says as she pulls out a switch, “It’s my turn!”

She presses a button and a chain with a collar comes flying out the gym door and takes Rita away with the collar wrapping around Rita’s eyes. She flies out the door while kicking and screaming. I try to go after her, but the doors electronically lock and I can’t manage to break through it.

“Rita!” we scream out as if it’ll help bring her back.

“Now! Let’s give it evvvvverything we’ve got!” Kat says with excitement, “IIIIIIT’s EXECUTION TIME!”

Music that I can only describe as clue music starts to play as the lights in the gym dim and a TV monitor drops down from the ceiling that shows us Rita locked into an electric chair. Kat appears on the other side dressed as a lightning bolt and flips switch that lights the room up and electrifies Rita. Even though I can’t hear her because of the music, I can still feel her screams of agony and it kills me because I can’t do anything. Kat then begins to flip more switches in the room which causes the room to be even more lit up and in turn cause Rita more pain to the point where her skin starts to bleed and fall apart. Kat continues to flip switches in the room until Rita eventually blows up with pieces of her flying everywhere. After it’s over, Kat turns everything off including the music, as she wears a janitor outfit and starts to clean the room.

“Aww screw this!” she says as she takes out a switch and blows up the room.

The TV then turns off and goes back up. All of us are unable to react to what has just happened afterwards. We can only take in the reality of Rita’s death and attempt to do something.

“YOU MONSTER!” I scream out loud, “How could you do that to her?! WHAT THE FUCK did she ever do to you?!”

“Ah! I love it! All the sadness, anger, and despair are so delicious! I truly hope that this has given you a reason to kill one another and on that note, I shall see you all tomorrow. Oh, my bad, I mean see you all minus one! Hahahahaha!”

Kat disappears and we are all left in a state of complete despair. So much so that we don’t say anything and just return to our rooms in complete silence. Rita…why did it have to be you? Why did you have to die that way? Why? Why?