The Mists Are Angry

Today in Misery

As school ended and all of the students left their respective buildings, a murder of crows descended and swarmed around a random student, carrying her away. No one seemed to register what was happening, even as she struggled and and kicked and screamed for help.

When I asked Julia what the fuck just happened, she informed me "That's just Margo. This happens every day."

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

The Town Called Misery 2

Now....let me tell you about where I live.

I live in the Avery Ward, to the South East of Misery. It's...a trailer park. The neighborhood comprises of mobile homes, abandoned metal barns, and ruined or half built gas stations and strip malls, of which only three are functional. The sky in the Avery District was a muted grey [a deviation of the perpetual white sky in Misery, instead of the normal blue]. The neighborhood was dreary...but it was also full of -life-. The people here were happy, there was almost no crime, and the community here was much closer to each other than in the other wards.

My neighbors include Oisin, who lives in the shed next to our trailer. He always wears a skirt, and gives really bad life advice. The Sisters of Clemency live next to him; they're all nuns from the Houses of Ten (there are 8 of them; the other two live in their temples, as their doctrine dictates). All of them are super nice, and only Charity, who follows Astros, tries to convert me.

Behind us lives Anthony and Aiseline. They're a couple in their mid 60s who, despite mirroring each other, aren't related but are married. They claim to be able to speak to vehicles, but say that lawn mowers and pogo sticks can't talk and aren't alive.

Next to them lives Whistle. Whistle is pretty ordinary looking, but is also very open about his profession in the buying and selling of drugs. The police keep catching him, but he always gets out within a few hours. How? He won't tell me; he just winks, then takes a hit of whatever he bought.

The crown jewel of my neighbors, though, is a boy by the name of Micah Prince. He's a junior at MSAA, and his brother Enos is a sixth grader. Micah Prince is infamous; what for, though, no one will tell me. When prompted, they ask me if I know "What the Blood Parade is"; when I told them that I didn't, they immediately clammed up. I would have asked him myself, but every time the thought crossed my mind, I would freeze, or the hair on my arms would rise. -This is a very bad idea-, my body would tell me. And so, even though he was in five of my classes, I never said a word to him.

Of note, though, there is one other person in his trailer other than his mom and his brother. A meek, small girl who was about my age; she seemed familiar, but I didn't know why...

Code

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Here goes nothing...

My name is Story Page.

It has been three months since my family relocated to Misery, a town sequestered somewhere in the Northern Rock Coast.

And I will be the first to say it--this town should not exist.

Misery is a hub of supernormal activity. Danger stalks the night, and bloodsuckers watch their prey from the shadows. Spirits and invisible men walk amongst bakers and businessmen. Anything can be anything, and nothing is as it seems.

Out of the ordinary events happen on an hourly basis, and yet the townfolk are not only completely aware of this, they have embraced this.

Unfortunately, no one has ever tried to explain this weirdness; they've made their peace with and grown up with it.

So I've taken it upon myself to look at this town with fresh eyes. Through study and interviews, I will share what I've learned with you. Ask me anything; as long as the information gets out to the rest of the world, nothing is off limits.

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.

A raven was struck by a car last week

Instead of exploding, or being ripped in half, it became several other species of birds, including a couple of really beautiful pigeons, an albino macaw, a crow with four eyes, and a peacock.

The peacock now wanders around town, showing up in the most random places. Currently, he's nesting on top of my home.

Despite the fact that Kevin hates the peacock with a passion, and tries to attack him, the peacock will still go to the Marcus Ward.

I had the unfortunate expirience of being behind a car that was constantly falling apart.

Well, its tires were. As the person drove, their tires broke and fell apart into sand and dust, leaving trails behind. Despite the constant disintegration, they kept reforming, seemingly from nothing.

Still, the slant in the car and its uneasy handling lead me to believe that the car should be scrapped, or the person's liscence revoked. Probably the latter--I doubt the former would hold.

i really enjoy learning about misery and hope to get the chance to read more about it :)

Thank you. Spread the word--people need to know about this place. ((For real though, thank you~))

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))