The Town Called Misery 2

Today In Misery

As you remember, Colem Arth died from a cougar attack.

Well today, he walked into class, perfectly fine. Now, I know what I saw. There's no way he could be alive, walking, or even in...one piece.

Yet, there he was. Laughing and joking, as usual.

When 5th period came around, a piece of rebar came through the window and stabbed him through the heart, killing him instantly. While my classmates were shocked, they treated the incident mostly as a nuisance, rather than the tragic event I saw it as. They mostly tried to figure out how Colem managed to "pull that off".

I was sent to the guidance counselor after the incident. Despite being a literal anteater in glasses, Mr. Lingua was good at his job.

A PSA

All bathroom cabinets in Marcus Ward will be leaking black sludge from 2am to 6pm. Do not look at the sludge. Do not interact the sludge. We know that it smells bad. But there are dire consequences for those who ignore our instructions. The sludge will be gone at the scheduled time.

Another billboard has come to life and is currently on the loose. This billboard has been dubbed with the name Kyle, and exhibits an ability to change the poster displayed on its face at will. It was last seen with a "Tchivsky's Levitation Night" poster in Avery Ward. Report any signs of movement.

The Underground Tunnels are closed for repair. It is recommended that you learn teleportation, or learn the Old Crow Song until the Tunnels reopen.

--Taken from the community billboard in the Rec Center. There are no Underground Tunnels...right?

Mists of Misery 2

Dear Readers, I have made a breakthrough in my study of the mists.

A classmate of mine, named Julia, mentioned a friend of hers named Cynthia. She went missing a month before I came into town, and right before her disappearance, she was suddenly overcome with a desire to study the mists.

When Julia heard about what I was doing, she gave me Cynthia's notebook, as a warning and a message, to get word out about her friend's disappearance.

Cynthia's notebook doesn't contain much; however, she attributes much of the strange behaviors of the mists to an entity she had seen within them. Appearing every night at midnight, this "Man in The Mists" appears to generate the mists, and prowls within them, watching, yet unseen. According to the notebook, it is guessed that he cannot see or move outside of the mists, as the Man avoided random holes within the mists, one of which happened to capture Cynthia's house the night she saw the Man. There is little information beyond that [she gives wildly different explanations for what he could be, amongst which a god, a fey, a monster, and an incomprehensible alien are given]. The book ends a night before Cynthia vanished, in which she states that she intends to meet and/or capture the Man in the Mists.

And so, dear readers, two questions arise with this new information: who is the Man In The Mists? And where is Cynthia Jennings?

Today In Misery

The cougar came back today. This time, it had stayed past sunset, so everyone was forced to spend the night. Luckily, the staff stocks sleeping bags for this very scenario.

I was given a good glimpse at why no one is called to deal with the cougar whenever it shows up. One student, I believe his name is Colem Arth, came to MSAA late, and was immediately attacked by the lion.

I will spare the gory details, but let it be known that my hands shook as I typed this, and I didn't get any sleep that night.

Several dogs tried to attack the cougar, only to meet the same fate as Colem Arth. In fact, the only thing that went out into the courtyard and survived was Principal Lee Anders, who decided to wear a jester hat today. He was too far for me to see what he was doing, but he came straight to the cougar and touched it. When he left, he held 8 bloody cougar paws. Where he got them from, I don't know. The cougar still had all its paws, since it walked away fine come sunrise.

The school gave us the next three days off due to the incident.

story, have you ever been harmed or changed (even temporarily) because of the things happening in misery? also, are you close friends with anyone or do you prefer to keep your distance out of fear?

Sadly, Reader, I have been harmed on more than one occasion in my time living in Misery. It’s not a targeted thing–The weirdness in Misery will often harm or affect someone in some way.

While they don’t individually cause bad luck, swarms of the mote like demons can. I had a particularly bad and almost lethal day when a demon swarm decided to stalk me. Because of this I was almost in a car accident, several angels went feral on me, and a pixie, a Phooka, and a rock golem all tried to kidnap me [which was how I learned that there is a Faerie Court in Misery, despite being told on numerous occasion that the Gentry were extinct or fictional] Because of the trip to the hospital resulting from that day, Principal Lee Anders has conducted an investigation on what caused the swarm to follow me. It’s still going on to this day, and I’m required to wear a silver ring on my middle and ring finger everywhere except for my home.

I was also harmed by Kevin, a black cat the size of a grizzly bear, though it was more of an accident than anything. Kevin just happens to be overly affectionate [he only sticks to the Marcus Ward, thankfully]. Similarly, I was attacked by a spooked colony of bats, and a curious murder of crows, according to the girl with cow eyes and Margo the Crow Girl.

As for changes…nothing permanent. But everyone seems to think that one is imminent. They keep calling it “the Misting”, despite the fact that I’ve avoided the Mist since that first night.

However, I’ve been temporarily changed a total of three times. In a joint advanced chem/alchemical transmutations class, the girl with pink hair who fixed the internet had tripped and dropped her concotion on my head. For the rest of the day, I had a third eye that was red, my hands had turned into black stone with three massive fingers, and my hair had turned orange. I was regarded with pity and artistic awe [there are still drawings of my…form in the art buildings. And one in the greenhouse for some reason].

The second incident was a completely different expirience. I was going to go to the Rock Beach to try and interview this clique of girls that always seem to hang out in the water. On my way there I stepped through an arch of red roots and yellow flowers. When I was on the other side, I had visions.

Not visions in the sense of seeing the future, Dear Reader. However, I saw spirits, or muses, or some kind of minor god that tried to guide me down certain paths for a week. I also saw what I assume was the aforementioned Gentry without their glamours. During that week, my eyes had been blue, even my pupils, for some reason. I don’t know how I saw anything. The science doesn’t make sense.

My third and final change was by my own folly and accident. Julia texted me an incantation in High Méliès for translation (I took the language for all of middle school, and was surprisingly good at it. And MSAA doesn’t offer the course).

I say incantation, Reader, because when I translated it, the next day Kurt, the boy who sweats a lake, bumped into me. And for the next day and a half, we were entangled.

Not entangled by ropes or anything physical, mind you. But by magic. The incantation [I refuse to repeat it, to prevent an expirience similar to mine], turned out to be a binding charm–anything that happened to me would happen to him, and vice versa. Kurt….heavily abused the situation. My retaliation got him suspended, though, and the guilt still eats at me.

Temporary changes aren’t that uncommon though. People often wake up with them, or gain them after walking away from some phenomena. Permanent changes are less common, but still happen regularly. An example of both is detailed in an earlier post of mine, with the Forest of Crystal Fruit.

As for your other question, Reader….Friends. I used to keep my distance out of fear, only approaching people for a story or sources for events that happened before my arrival.

That changed upon learning about Cynthia Jennings. Originally, Julia Ingram only gave me the missing Cynthia’s journal as a warning. But when I suggested that I could probably use it to find her, Julia became more forthcoming with what she knows, which, to be fair, wasn’t a lot. But due to being a native, she was much more effective at finding/referencing material than I was.

At first, our relationship was strictly professional. However, the more time we spent together let her open up and relax. Our interactions still focus mainly on trying to find Cynthia, but we do stuff outside of that together. We often eat lunch with each other.

Julia is my only friend, I think. She has one other friend besides me–Sara Powers.

Outside of Julia, I have a few other acquaintances that I’m on good terms with. Margo and I will occasionally talk or text, and the girl with the cow eyes will give me a smile and wave when she sees me. And my neighbors will hold conversations with me and give sagely wisdom if I ask for it.

Micah Prince will sometimes give me a nod or raise a glass of brown soda to me when he’s on his porch, but he otherwise treats me with gentle ambivalence. He’s reluctant to share knowledge, and gets defensive when I bring up the girl who lives with him (when I can remember her–I needed a sticky note to remember to mention her)

I hope that answers your question Dear Reader.

((Sorry this took so long! I think this is my longest post–I had to go through a bunch of notes to keep this accurate. Thank you for such a great ask anon))

Today In Misery

The Net was shut down today, which was inconvenient since everyone had some kind of project due.

So a girl with pink hair took the router and drew a circle around it with black sand (she carries a bag of it with her at all times....apparently). She whispered something to it, spat on it, then plugged it back in. Everyone had wifi immediately after.

She still won't tell me what she did.

Her Name Is Sara Powers...

Her name is Sara Powers. And she has a strange condition.

During my first week in Misery, I was required to stay after classes ended every day, as a sort of study hall to catch up on what I missed, as well as a seminar on the required extracurricular activities that they offered.

One of those extracurriculars was gardening, which provided the herbs for home ec, tea reading, and rootwork classes. It was also one of the only clubs that, by necessitiy, had its own building to itself, the greenhouse.

Sara Powers was a reserved and....let's say "abrasive" individual. Like 50 percent of Misery's population, she wore dark, concealing clothes, dark make up, and dyed her hair black, though streaks of her natural brown would occasionally peek through. Upon meeting her parents, it seemed like she was raised into the fashion, rather than choosing it like most of the Miserians.

She always seemed to be able to appear out of nowhere--I thought that this was her oddity, like Kurt's constant sweat of lake water or Anthony's apparent ability to talk to vehicles. However, my visit to the greenhouse proved that this was not the case.

When I entered the building, I didn't expect to see Sara in there. She didn't seem like the type to garden, or in fact care about anything that was alive.

She was kneeling on the ground, digging through a cherry red messenger bag and muttering to herself. She gasped, and pulled out a crude and shoddily crafted wooden mask.

I would have walked in and said something, but then Sara put the mask on.

Describing what happened is....hard. I could say it was like she shed her skin, but that wouldn't be accurate. It was more like her body was made of dual faced plates, and the plates were faced to the side that showed off Sara. But when she put on the mask, those plates flipped to reveal this new....creature? Entity fits better.

And yet, that description still doesn't do it justice.

What matters is that Sara was not there anymore. This new thing....she had skin that seemed to be made of polished wood. Her hair was made from the branches and trees of a willow tree, and she stood as tall as an oak. Her leaves covered the fact that she was completely naked, but it didn't hide the fact that she was levitating--my guess was so that she didn't harm the grass beneath her feet.

When this entity appeared, all of the plants in the greenhouse bloomed. Leaves stood and brightened to a healthy green; flower pods opened up and revealed dazzling heads; fruits ripened and herbs became ready for the picking.

It was like this creature was....

Spring. The word Miserians used to describe Not-Winter. I never understood it until now.

I had gasped. That was a mistake.

The creature spun to face me, and was just as shocked as I was that I was standing there right then and there. The entity grabbed her face and ripped it off; the plate ripple shifted back to Sara, and the crude wooden mask appeared in her hands. Her eyes were wide; mine were too, those hers were still the same pupiless yellow that the entity had, instead of her normal grey-green.

The entity. Spring.

Sara and I stared at each other for what seemed like forever. She began to countdown. "5...."

I was gone before she reached 4.

Ymc det vwmt kbs twyda umc? I've tried every single cipher I can think of for it, everything from Rot and base, ceaser, and like 30 others but can't figure it out, double layered? Or just a more complex one? -Codebreaker

His Name Is Kurt

His name is Kurt. 

The boy who is always soaked to the bone. While he didn’t give me his name himself, his older brother, Lucas [the one who wears the welding gloves everywhere] happily gave it to me.

Kurt has no friends by choice. Anyone who approaches him is immediately met with a paragraph long verbal lashing. 

He’s always wet, as if he had just crawled out from the ocean. It is not sweat either; the custodian Principal Lee Anders has assigned to him claims that it is actually lake water. How she acquired this information, though, she wasn’t keen on giving. 

The moon was bright and full, visible even as the waning sunlight cast a purple glow on the remaining clouds.

I watched as they drifted lazily around the celestial body, and soon they covered its face, cutting off its light.

This was a mistake.

A single blade of red light fell to the ground , slicing its way through the offenders.

The clouds screamed; not an audible one, mind, but one you heard with your very soul. Scarlet bled into the clouds, creating a beautiful corpse. The moon stared at the town of Misery like a bloodshot eye.

I stared at the spot where the light fell, and I shudder to think of what would happen if it had fallen on someone.

The stars themselves cower from the moon, their light dimming to avoid offending it.