Sunafterwinter - Sun.after.winter

american teenager, ethel cain // carrie, stephen king

skeletons

Makes me laugh. Every time.

“The Weight of Unseen Things”

In the quiet hours, where shadows stretch long,

I carry the weight of what’s gone wrong.

Not a weight you can hold, nor a chain you can see,

But the echoes of choices that made me… me.

They whisper at dawn, they linger at night,

A chorus of “what-ifs” that dims every light.

The words I swallowed, the roads not taken,

The promises made, then cruelly forsaken.

Do you feel it too? That invisible strain,

The tug of regret, the ghost of pain?

A smile for the world, a mask so tight,

But inside, the storms wage endless fights.

And yet, within this chaos, a spark still glows,

A small, fragile ember that quietly knows:

We’re stitched by our scars, but not wholly defined,

There’s beauty in breaking and mending in kind.

For every tear shed, there’s a seed to be sown,

A garden of lessons where resilience is grown.

The weight may not vanish, but strength will appear,

In carrying what’s heavy, we conquer our fear.

So here’s to the burden, the ache, the climb,

The fight for meaning through space and time.

We are not alone in this labyrinth of feels,

For what we bury, someone else heals.

And maybe that’s life: a tangle, a dance,

Of holding the pain while giving hope a chance.

So, to you who feels heavy, I see you, I care—

Your heart’s not alone, we’re all anchored there.

- DK

My car lurches wildly into the parking lot and I abandon it, still running, at the curb, ignoring the guard who calls after me: “Hey! You can’t leave this here.”

I race into the hospital. A flock of bedraggled “get well soon” balloons bob wildly behind me.

I stop at the desk and startle the poor clerk there. “Where?!” I gasp.

I rush off before he can tell me. I know in my heart where my destination is.

As I near the end of the hall I am greeted by a whole crowd of anxious mourners and well-wishers, all bearing tokens of affection; flowers, cards, teddy bears. Our balloons join into one giant, grieving stormcloud.

“Any news?” I ask the nearest person. And they shake their head sadly.

“We can only wait now,” they say. And though we have never met before, we squeeze hands.

All of us hope for the swift recovery of our beloved AO3.

-- Just Removing this gem from the comments :) --

i suppose that one of my most unpopular opinions is that christianity - in it’s most liberating & progressive forms - does require a lifelong commitment to self-sacrifice. you are called, like Christ, to burn yourself in order to keep others warm.

i’m not a fan of the modern idea of “cheap grace,” which scoffs at things like undeserved forgiveness. you are called to forgive the worst people you know, even if it takes a lifetime.

while grace is abundant, free, and gentle - we find the example of Christ condescending himself to live among the “least of these,” suffering and dying - and calling his followers to do the same.

christ’s mercy never waned for those followers who walked away, but many did walk away once the calling became difficult.

while a lot of the language of “discipline” and “discipleship” gets misapplied by conservative christians to tie heavy burdens onto others, i think it’s a mistake as a progressive/leftist believers to ignore the fact that following Christ can certainly require intense levels of personal discomfort and difficult work.

yet, we don’t suffer alone.

it’s sad that something as beautiful as plastic surgery is being commercialized and commodified like this….

I love them,,,

This is an appreciation post for the fanfic authors who aren’t included on rec lists

For the fanfic authors who don’t get art of their fics

For the fanfic authors who can’t get to 1000/500/100 hits

For the fanfic authors who don’t get comments/reviews

For the fanfic authors who write for small fandoms

For the fanfic authors who write rarepairs or gen fics

For the fanfic authors who get hate for the ships/characters/fandoms they write

For the fanfic authors who write in English despite it not being their first language

For the fanfic authors who don’t write in English

For the fanfic authors who don’t think anyone reads or likes their work

For the fanfic authors who aren’t big name fans

For the fanfic authors who don’t get requests in their inboxes

For the fanfic authors who can’t write stories that are more than a thousand words

For the fanfic authors who only write one ship

For the fanfic authors who are just starting

For the fanfic authors who have been writing fic for years

For the fanfic authors who use fanfic to practice writing

For the fanfic authors who write self-insert fics

For the fanfic authors who write about their OCs

For the fanfic authors who write to vent or cope

For the fanfic authors who are just waiting for their big break

Keep creating, I love you ❤️

"There's no hope for the future." And that's how they felt during the Atomic Age, during the World Wars, during the Enlightenment Revolutions, during thr plagues, during the Viking raids, during the fall of Rome.

Yet, we persisted.