Have you ever... [disturbing]

 A few of the sites I visit have daily (or weekly) lists of things to read. Political, personal, about the world or a place or an incident, so I'm used to following links and reading about stuff I would never have looked for on my own. The article interviewing people who have or have had sugar daddies was interesting as was the one about tampons. The one on being the parents of autistic kids was sad and inspiring. The one about the murder house, I never finished. 

Lots of them I don't finish, either because they hurt too much to read, not as interesting as I though, too weird, or I just didn't want to know. But sometimes I click on something I shouldn't have or I read too far and then I can't stop. I knew better than to click on the one about being a human trafficker or the one about poop or any of the ones that the little blurb upsets me with the injustice of it all, but the other day I made the mistake of clicking a link from a book review podcast.

( cut )

The article haunted me and I couldn't sleep that night. I kept trying to make something like that palatable. Could it ever be right? My brain wanted the answer and it wouldn't shut off until I'd fulfilled my obligation to it. I can't remember what I came up with (I don't what to think too hard in case I do remember).

But does this happen to anyone else? Does your mind try to "fix" and reality that's just to horrible to be real? This is the second time in as many weeks that this has happened, but the first time it only took an hour or so to clear the pipes.



 

Story: This You

Sometimes the way sentences are worded pull me out of a story. I don't really like the "she saw him open the gate and come up the walk" or "he heard the door open." I prefer the closer "he opened the gate" or "the door creaked open". I know she saw or he heard it otherwise the,y as POV, wouldn't have noticed it and it would be written down. But although this bugs me, if the story is good enough I can ignore it. (Not to judge anyone who does this, it's probably like the fearful lack of commas that's normal in other places. They aren't really going to eat grandpa.)

But the other day I heard "Algy told Brad that his divorce was finalized in front of [POV]." Even "[POV] overheard Algy telling Brad his divorce was finalized" would have been better. But if she's putting on her shoes at the gym after class and so are the people she's overhearing, is it necessary to mention it was said in front of her, even if that was last week and not right now. How about "After last Thursday's class Algy mentioned that his divorce was finalized." or "Algy's divorce was finalized. He'd told Brad after class last week." This wasn't even an important part of the story. Algy never showed up again and neither did his ex, and the overhearing only really matters because she'd slept with Algy two or three books back when he was only separated and they split up. If he'd said it to her, it might look like he wanted to get back with her, but since he only mentioned it in passing to a fellow class member, he isn't asking her to break up with her now boyfriend or anything. But I think it could have been better worded.



Title: That You (or This You, I can't decide which I like best)
Length: 3.3k
Summary: Owen's memory of the last five years is gone forever, but he only wishes he remembered that last night.



Owen got out of bed and padded over to the window. His mom wanted him to rest up from the operation, but the doctor said he should walk enough to get tired at least once a day. Maybe he could walk by Jam's granna's and see why Jam hadn't come to see him.

He padded into the kitchen. "Are you sure you asked Mrs. Deschner to send Jam by?"

( You remember? )