Tag Archives: fiction

EYG Comic Cavalcade #187

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January 19

I hope everyone is having a great MLK Day. I know not everyone is off work today, but my school is still off, so this has given me a chance to get this finished after yet another busy weekend.

I have been picking up a bunch of Marvel Team-Ups recently. The ones I got this week include #5, 6, 16, 17, 22, 23, 25, 26, 27, 55,57, 64, 66, 68,72, 73 and 86.

Books this week:

Uncanny X-Men #22. “No Clean Hands” Written b y Gail Simone and art by David Marquez. Cover art was done by David Marquez & Matthew Wilson. Mutina is back and wanting to join the X-Men. Yes, it may not be the most heroic reason and it sure seemed as if Wolverine and Nightcrawler have a different mind about that.

Where Does the Rainbow End? #1. Written by Francesca Perillo and art and cover art by Stefano Cardoselli. New book from Mad Cave. A new futuristic story involving robots and humans and how they now interact with one another.

Like a Bell in the Month of May #1. Written by Dustin Victor and art by Metro Catpiss. This was a book I picked up at In This Issue in Bettendorf. The owner of the shop told me that this was a couple of local creators who did this book. I thought it was cool so I picked it up. It is a weird story. It felt as if there was a page missing or something. I am still happy to have picked it up.

Avengers #34. “Heroes” Written by Jed MacKay with art by Farid Karami. Cover art was done by Russell Dauterman & Rachelle Rosenberg. I also picked up variant covers by Leonardo Romero and one by CAFU. This is Legacy number 800 for the Avengers. However, this issue felt a little lesser than I expected. It felt more like one of those clip show episodes of a TV show that reviewed previous episodes.

The Ultimates #20. Written by Deniz Camp with art by Phil Noto. Cover art was done by Dike Ruan & Moreno Dinisio. We get a bunch of the new Ultimate Vision and Nick Fury as we are moving toward the end of the Ultimates Universe.

Amazing Spider-Man: Torn #4. Written by J. Michael Straczynski and art by Pere Perez. Cover art by Humberto Ramos & Edgar Delgado. There is a scene in this book that I absolutely loved and felt vintage Spider-Man. When Spidey finds Evangeline sitting on a construction site, what follows is perfection.

Dungeons of Doom #1. Written by Phillip Kennedy Johnson & Benjamin Percy with art by Justin Mason, Robert Gill, Carlos Magno, George Jeanty & Karl Story. The aftermath of the death of Doctor Doom rages on in the Marvel Universe and we get a bunch of people looking to take advantage of the situation.

DC KO #3. “No Mercy” Written by Scott Snyder and Joshua Williamson with art by Javi Fernandez and Xermánico. Cover art was done by Javi Fernandez & Alejandro Sanchez. It is tag team time as the remaining competitors get to choose a defeated champion as their partner… and no one chose Batman.

Black Cat #6. “Night Court” Written by G. Willow Wilson and art by Andres Genolet. Cover art was done by Adam Hughes. Black Cat needs help so she goes in search of Daredevil so he could help her find…. Matt Murdock? She needs him to help defend her in the court of vampires.

Geiger #20. Written by Geoff Johns and art by Gary Frank. Cover art was done by Gary Frank. I also grabbed the Wicked homage cover by Sean Von Gorman (Gold Medalist). The Northerner is here and looking for help from Geiger… and he’s not too anxious to join in.

Doctor Strange #2. Written by Derek Landy and artist is Ivan Fiorelli. Cover art was done by Alex Horley. Doctor Strange and Angela are running around the world of Asgard. I have to say that I was not as into this issue as I expected.

Sai: Dimensional Rivals #1. Storytellers included Peach Momoko, Iban Coello, Stan Sakai with Emi Fuji. Cover art was done by Peach Momoko. Sai is around the dimensions with different artists. Some of the work of this book was fabulous and I especially loved the black and white pages. This is an intriguing book that I am interested in continuing.

Minor Arcana #13. Written, illustrated and cover art by Jeff Lemire. Theresa heads to another fortune teller with some specific questions. The fortune teller is out of C.A.N.O.E. (Clairvoyant Association of Northern Occultists & Esoterics).

Alice Forever After #1. Written and cover art by Dan Panosian and illustrated Dan Panosian (London part) and Giorgio Spalletta (Wonderland part). A new series set in Wonderland with the characters of Alice in Wonderland. Where is the White Rabbit?

Space Ghost #7. Written by David Pepose and art by Jonathan Lau. Cover art was done by Francesco Mattina. Space Ghost takes on the Anti Matter Man. Can our hero stop him? Doesn’t seem like it.

Crownsville #3. Written by Rodney Barnes and illustrated by Elia Bonetti. Cover art was done by Jason Shawn Alexander. We got ghosts! Crownsville has been a fabulous book so far and the story of this haunted asylum is really creepy.

Axi-Cab #1. Written by Philip Nelson and art and cover art by Cee Raygun. There are two actual stories in this book, first one entitled “The Warden’s Last Ride” and the second one being “In the Air Tonight.” A murderous cab drives around looking for justice or vengeance. Another new horror story that was pretty good.

G.I. Joe #17. Written by Joshua Williamson and art and cover art by Tom Reilly. The Dreadnok War closes with an unlikely alliance between the Dreadnoks and Cobra Commander. Plus, a shocking final page of this story.

Transformers #28. Written by Robert Kirkman and art by Dan Mora. Cover art was done by David Nakayama. Man… Megatron is just absolutely brutal in this issue. The last few pages of this issue show how monstrous Megatron can be.

Other Books this week: Knull #1, Good as Dead #4, Logan: Black, White & Blood #1 (Silver Medalist), Luna Snow: World Tour #1, and Blood & Thunder #9.

Quick Hits: So Battleworld #5 finished this series off with a really weird final page. Is it meant to be a tease for another Battleworld series?? Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #14 is hopefully my final issue of this series. I have had some books ordered before I wanted to cancel the book so I needed to buy them (store policy). It did have a nice cover. The penultimate issue of this series is Die!Namite: Blood Red #4. Still fun with the group of female comic stars. C.O.R.T: Children of the Round Table #5 brings our heroes into more training and prepping them of the final issue. Things are getting strange with The Last Day of H.P. Lovecraft #3. I picked up Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt #2 off eBay since I missed it when it was out. Silver medalist cover this week went to Wonder Woman: Black and Gold 2026 Special #1. Finally, this week we got It Killed Everyone But Me #5, which I actually have not had a chance to read yet.

Agents of Shield S2 E1, E2, E3, E4, E5, E6

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“Shadows”

“Heavy is the Head”

“Making Friends and Influencing People”

“Face My Enemy”

“A Hen in the Wolf House”

“A Fractured House”

The second season of Agents of Shield starts off with new team members and characters leading to the Inhuman story- tied to Skye’s arc.

With Shield, Mac has arrived. Mac becomes a major force on this show moving forward. At this point, he is just a semi-regular, but he will become more as the years go on. Trip remained with the team after the end of last season. Bobbi Morse arrived in episode six. Morse is the name of the Marvel comics character Mockingbird, but the TV show never called her that. Lance Hunter was a merc at first when he arrived with Lucy Lawless. Lucy did not make it though as she wound up dead at the hands of the Absorbing Man. Turned out Bobbi and Hunter were formerly married. I remembered how much I loved these two. They were not on this show long enough.

Kyle MacLachlan joined the show as Skye’s mysterious father. He dropped the first hint about a new name for Skye. We learn later that he is basically the character of Mr. Hyde. He played a wonderful crazy.

Jemma went undercover at HYDRA. It did not last too long, but it helped bring us Bobbi. It is also a way to show the problems being faced by Fitz. Fitz was struggling during his recovery from the water trap from last season.

Raina is having troubles all over the place. Karma is surely mucking her up badly. She is scared of Skye’s father and Hydra’s new baddie, Daniel Whitehall, who was actually tied to an object from the Peggy Carter days.

Ward is being held in a cell in the cellar of the Shield base. They were using him as info. Then his older brother came back into the arc in episode six.

Melinda May is still such a bad ass. I loved her episode where she had to fight herself.

The Pitt S2 E2

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“8:00 AM”

Does Dr. Robby have a sneaky, behind-the-typical-treatment treatment for every emergency situation? He sure feels like he has a folksy solution to all kinds of situations, from shoulder dislocations to baby urination. It feels that our new Dr. Al-Hashimi isn’t as impressed as I am.

Dr. Whitaker’s main focus of the day was trying to comfort a Alzheimer’s patient whose husband had died that day. It was heartbreaking seeing him, for the second time, tell her that her husband had died. He took her to see the body and even that did not seem to work as she just thought he was resting. Alzheimer’s Disease is truly a tragic thing.

A man who was choking on broccoli delivered the line of the episode. After they had removed the broccoli, he told about his wife making him count calories in an attempt to lose weight and he said “I never choked on an sausage egg McMuffin.” LOL.

Dr. King got knocked to the ground and struck her head. She spent most of the time worrying over her part in a malpractice case that she would be testifying in later today so I hope that head blow does not come back in a bad way.

Maybe I am getting used to this show as I was cringing and saying out loud “What is going to be in there?” as they started to cut off the cast from the arm of the man who was brought in last week with a horrendous odor. The made sure he showered last week and disposed of his clothes this week. Anyway, back to the cast, I knew something would be coming out of that thing and, sure enough, we has a whole bunch of maggots. Ugh!

We also have evidence that an 8-hour erection is not a good thing. Not sure I needed the dick-shot in the scene. I could have used my imagination.

Another solid episode that was spent more with the characters than anything major in the emergency room. The show blends the cases and the doctors/nurses brilliantly and this is why it is one of the best shows on TV.

The Perfect Family

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There was a family everyone admired. The D’Amore family looked perfect from the outside—a loving mother, a hardworking father, and three well-behaved daughters. Little did they know, perfection can hide terrible secrets.

         It was November 15, 1992, the D’Amores arrived at church at  7:30 p.m. The building was quiet, and the air felt strangely cold, as they stepped inside. Before church the family went to turn the lights on and unlock the doors. When the girls got back together the lights went out and Charlotte went to turn the circuit breaker back on.

That’s when the screaming began.

Mr. D’Amore  body lay motionless in the hallway, blood pooling beneath him. He had been murdered. Mrs. D’Amore immediately called the police, clutching her younger twins, Lizzy and Belle, who were crying in confusion. When the officers arrived, Mrs. D’Amore realized Charlotte, her oldest daughter, was missing.

Moments later, a scream echoed from the back hallway. Charlotte appeared walking toward them, oddly calm .She told the police she saw something, something she couldn’t explain, almost demonic in nature in the pale glow of the moon light.

The police took the family home that night. Once inside, Mrs. D’Amore sat her daughters down and spoke gently. “Something very bad happened to your father,” she said. “But we are safe now.” She turned to Charlotte. “Are you okay, sweetheart? I know that was scary.”

Charlotte stared at the floor. “I can’t stop seeing his body,” she whispered. “Mom, I’m scared. Her mother hugged her tightly. “No, Charlotte. You didn’t do anything wrong. Go get some sleep.”

Charlotte went to bed with her sisters that night listening to their quiet breathing. What her mother didn’t know was that Charlotte had lied, she remembered seeing the figure first, seeing the blade in her hands, then washing something off her hands.

One year later the family returned to the church where it all took place and tragedy struck again. Mrs. D’Amore was killed in the same hallway as her husband. This time Charlotte was seen with a blade in her hands. Years of being starved, and abused had filled her with rage. Something about that church and that day had caused her to snap and finally act out. Charlotte was arrested, and Lizzy and Belle were taken away.

Ten years later, Charlotte was released, her only desire is to find her sisters.

By: E.N.S

I Forgot

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E.M.

One day an author wrote a story that had 5 characters.The story was about 5 old people playing cars and their names were Joe, Bob, Sherrill, Kathy and there was a 5 person. But who was that 5th person? It was a mystery. But they were determined to find out who this person was. 

So they began their first game of cards. Joe drew first and picked up 3 spades. Next the mystery person went, they all examined his face to see if they could remember who he was or if they even knew who he was.

Once the first game of cards was done it was sherrill who won and they then decided to go get some food and learn more about this mystery person. 

They all ordered chicken because everybody likes chicken and once they got their food they began to question the man. They asked him things like; where he was from, how he randomly showed up with them, what his favorite color was, etc. They learned that his favorite color was orange but they couldn’t remember anything else. 

Wait a minute they all thought, why can’t we remember anything he just told us? And then they remembered, they had all been diagnosed with a disease but they couldn’t remember the name. 

Then the secret man told him, you all have dementia and I am your caretaker. They were all confused what dementia was and why they needed a caretaker. So the doctor explained to them that dementia meant that they were beginning to not remember everything. But they were confused and they didn’t think they were forgetting anything at all. They believed he was lying to them and he was a fake caretaker and called the police on him. But they couldn’t remember what number it was to call the police. So the question remained, was this a fake caretaker or did they really have this dementia disease?

A Dark Town

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A Dark Town

In Houston, July 21, 2004, a report came into the Waller County Police Station about a supposed alien siting while a man was sitting in his backyard. The report wasn’t from the man, but from his neighbor, who had called the station 5 other times that week about seeing an unnatural amount of light coming in through his bedroom window, seeing his neighbor just looking up in the sky at nothing, and at one point, he even saw weird non human foot prints outside his house. 

Miguel, who was the man who made the calls, went over to the man’s house to talk about the strange things that were happening. The guy’s name was Dan. They ended up talking a while, and Miguel said that he thought that the aliens were kidnapping people and putting them in their UFOs and taking their places.

When Miguel suggested this idea, Dan agreed but for a second, he looked very surprised that Miguel’s theory was so complex. Dan asked Miguel how he thought this, and Miguel said that he’s been thinking about it for a while and that was his best guess.

Miguel went home and went on with his evening. At 8:04 pm, he heard a sudden scream come from Dan’s house. As soon as he heard it he wanted to hide, but knew that he had to find out what was happening, so he ran to Dan’s house. Miguel stepped inside the house, because the door was open, but when he walked in he saw Dan…his eyes were glowing white and light was shooting out from his limbs. He was making a  terrible screeching sound that almost made Miguel black out right there.

Miguel looked at his watch and he realized that the time passed an hour and it was now 9:03 pm. Dan must be doing this. The sky quickly became dark until it was 10 pm. Dan slowly turned into an alien. Miguel now knew…Dan was always an alien. 

Once Dan was done transforming , a UFO came out of the sky and beamed the stolen residents down. Miguel took the chance and pushed Dan into the beam, and he got sucked up. The hatch to the ship closed too soon, so Dan hit the bottom of the ship. With the force of the hit, the alien’s ship blew up. Miguel saved the hostages and they all went back home.

The Homeless Crime

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The Homeless Crime

By: L.M 

There was this homeless man. 

“I’m going to try and get money!”

So the day after he went around the city and found as many clothes he could find, it didn’t matter the color. After he found what he could he put the clothes on over his other clothes that he had on and went back to his box to sleep for that night because it was getting dark outside. 

It is now the next day the homeless man woke up, He was hungry of course but there was no food around that’s why he wanted money.  After thinking about how to get money he remembered the clothes he found and he was going to use them to rob a bank for at least $1,000, he wanted at least that much because he didn’t want to starve. He was fine with sleeping in a box but having no food was not acceptable with his standards.

 Now It’s 9:15 AM now the homeless man thought that he shouldn’t rob a bank yet, he thought about going and stealing peoples wallets. He thought about it for 28 minutes and he decided that it was a good idea so he put on those clothes that he found and did just that. After a long time it was now 12:45 PM, He had gotten 3 wallets, the money that was in the wallets added up to $51 with that cash. He remembered that he lived by a GoodWill, so he went into the GoodWill and bought a pair of pants, shirt, gloves, winter hat, socks and shoes the cost of all that was $20.39 with tax.

Now he goes to a place called McDonald’s and just gets some fries for $3.86 with tax. But only the fries didn’t fill him up because he hasn’t eaten in 3 days so he went back into Mcdonald’s and ordered 2 Big Mac meals For $16.46 Including tax. With purchasing all that stuff he is left with $10.29. After that he went to a home depot to get a ski mask for $5.08 and now the homeless man will steal wallets for a living until he can get a job.

THE END

The Pitt S2 E1

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“7:00 AM”

I just finished the first season of The Pitt on HBO Max just in time for the start of season two. And season two kicked off setting up the overarching drama that will be running through the day.

The show’s concept is that every hour is shot in real time as the day shift comes in to take over. Doctor Robby arrived at the hospital on what was supposed to be his final day before heading on a sabbatical.

The show had its typically gross injuries that made me turn my head away. I have always had trouble with medical shows dating back to Quincy. This is far more realistic than most medical shows.

We have a brand new attending physician who will be replacing Robby when he was gone. She is Dr. Baran Al-Hashimi, and she definitely has a story to tell. They ended the episode on her as she stared down at a baby that had been deserted in the hospital’s bathroom. She also has a series of “improvements” for the Pitt that will surely create a conflict with Robby.

Dr. Langdon’s story continued. It did not seem that Robby had forgiven him yet. They had Langdon apologize to Louie, the patient we met last year who drank a lot. He is back and I am getting the feeling that something terrible is going to happen to him. The scene between Langdon and Louie, when Langdon revealed that he had stolen Louie’s medication in season one was a great scene and it made me like Louie all the more. I sense heartbreak coming.

Whitaker seems to have taken some steps to being even stronger than he was before. He led a moment of silence for a patient they lost (as Robby watched approvingly in the background). However, the first impression of the new interns was not the most impressive I have ever seen.

The Pitt is such a fantastic show and I am happy that it will be back weekly moving forward.

Agents of Shield S1 E11, E12, E13, E14

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“The Magical Place”

“Seeds”

“T.R.A.C.K.S.”

“T.A.H.I.T.I”

This block of four episodes went into deep details about Tahiti, a magical place… or at least, what it truly was.

The information Coulson was able to ascertain about the mysterious magical place showed him some of the horrors that he went through to bring him back from the dead. He learned that he was dead for several days, not several seconds as it had been told to him. We saw the horror-scape imagery of them working on Coulson’s brain, implanting memories to help him forget the time of his resurrection. That image was truly horrific.

We are introduced to John Garrett, played by the awesome Bill Paxton, whom will become a major issue later this season. Garrett was Ward’s former SO and he came to the Bus to take control of the prisoner, Ian Quinn. Coulson did not want to give him up because he had shot Skye twice, leaving her for dead.

The whole Skye gamut was rough as the team tried to find T.A.H.I.T.I. and hope to find a way to save a dying Skye.

Several tense moments. Several of these episodes, especially T.R.A.C.K.S., played with POV and would go back to different groups of the agents, showing what they saw during the same time frame. It was a clever episode that ended with Skye getting shot.

We learned that the drugs that were created to save Coulson (and eventually Skye) came from the dead body of a Kree, hooked up to a machine inside T.A.H.I.T.I.

I’m still finding more and more times where Ward’s actual Hydra roots came in conflict with what he did. I do not remember much about these episodes, but the questions about him actually being Hydra is absolutely not being hinted at yet.

The team is bonding all the more with every episode. Next episode will be the one to feature Lady Sif, as we saw Lorelei arrive in the post credit scene of episode 14.

Agents of Shield S1 E4, E5, E6

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Three more episodes of Agent of Shield, and, if I am being honest, I do not remember any of these. I know I watched this show religiously when it was on ABC, but I do not remember much of anything in them.

I remember Raina, but more during the Inhumans run when she got turned into a cat-like being.

I know I have not watched these episodes multiple times, but, even still, I should have more memory of them than what I do.

The whole Agent Ward leaping out of the Bus with a parachute to save Jemma Simmons was cool, but it made me wonder about his statis as a Hydra agent, which we know will come about soon.

I did not remember Skye’s betrayal of the team because of a former boyfriend from the Rising Tide, but I think I do remember her confession about not knowing her parents or her backstory.

There are plenty of intriguing hints being dropped for these different characters including Coulson’s time dead, May’s traumatic event, and especially Skye.

It was fun seeing Titus Welliver, the Man in Black from LOST, as one of Coulson’s superiors in Agent Blake. I don’t remember what happened to him as a character, whether he died, was Hydra or is out there somewhere.

I guess it is a good thing that I am starting this rewatch because I do not remember much about this series, outside of how much I loved these characters. I am reminded how awesome Fitz and Simmons are, how bad ass May is, and how downright cool Skye (eventually Daisy Johnson) is. I do remember how Ward was the one I liked the least of the crew, and that is still the case.

Of course, above them all was Phil Coulson, who I still state is one of the best characters to come out of the phase 1 MCU.

Pluribus S1 E9

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“La Chica o El Mundo”

It really feels as if Pluribus has only just started its season. It’s hard to believe that the show is already up to its first season finale already, but that is the case. Apple TV + dropped the finale a couple of days early (before Christmas).

And what a finale this was. In some ways, it was smaller, quieter than I might have expected. But then again…

There was an A-Bomb!

Carol and Manousos come face to face in this episode and some of the early scenes between these two were truly hilarious. I loved the use of the umbrella to block out the chance of the drones spying on them, reading their lips.

The mistrust between Carol and Manousos was on display as they tried to communicate via cell phone translation programs. There was some high comedy with that translation program as well. When the phone was in the sewer, but still translating, well, that was the height of funny.

Carol seemed to believe that Manousos had taken it too far with his “experimentation” on the Others. Carol’s close relationship with Zosia was coloring her perspective and she joined Zosia on another isolation attempt. This time, however, it seemed clear that Manousos was not going to fold like Carol did. He seemed like a type of guy who does not mind some isolation.

Carol never really understood the relationship she shared with Zosia. Carol looked at it like it was a typical, normal relationship, but that was not the case. Carol looked to be in denial about a lot of what was going down. When Carol learned that The Others had her frozen eggs (that Carol and Helen had decided to harvest years ago) and that they could change that into stem cells, the same stem cells the Others needed to turn Carol into another member of the hivemind, things crashed around her. Carol had Zosia return her to her home and decided to join with Manousos after all.

And the atomic bomb reveal at the end was insane. Maybe it was not literally an A-bomb… though Carol had asked about it earlier in the season…

Pluribus’s first season was sensational. I know the series has been renewed for a second season. I hope we do not have to wait three years to get the next episodes.

The Secrets We Bury

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The Secrets We Bury is a documentary streaming on HBO Max recently dealing with the disappearance of George Carroll.

According to IMDB, “In the early 1960s, George Carroll walked out on his family, leaving his wife, Dorothy, and their four children behind. Decades later, the Carroll siblings are still left haunted by what happened to their father. Seeking much-needed closure for himself and his family, ‘The Secrets We Bury’ follows Mike Carroll as he unravels the mystery of his father’s disappearance and uncovers a story much darker and more complex than his family could have imagined. Told through extensive sit-down interviews with the Carroll siblings and layered with intimate archival footage of the Carroll family spanning decades of their lives, the documentary offers a sensitive look into one family’s journey to find closure. Part mystery and part family drama, ‘The Secrets We Bury’ raises important questions about whose stories we choose to believe, and why.”

This was a slow burn of a documentary that had a wild story involving abuse, disappearances, psychics and murder.

There are beats in this doc that are difficult to believe, making one think that there is a part of this story that is not being told to us accurately. In particular, the psychic who, apparently, was able to direct Mike where to look for his father.

The documentary spent a bunch of time in this story telling us how Mike’s mother could not have been involved with this cover up, how that she believed the story that she told them, about George abandoning them. I think this is the biggest error of the doc. There is no way that I don’t believe that she had, at the very least, the knowledge of what had happened to George, if not participated in it. They did a lot to try and make it seem like she was an innocent, even going as far as to showing us a reading by the psychic where the mother supposedly said as much. Nope. I don’t buy that at all.

This was a intriguing case that will never truly be solved. It was a mysterious and thrilling story.

3.75 stars

Out of the Shadows, And Into the Light

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“Stacy, we’re going to be late for the party!!” I yelled. We were getting ready to go to Jaden’s party. Everyone was talking about it for weeks upon end!! We were so excited to go. We just went shopping for new dresses and outfits just for this!!

We were just about to Jordan’s house when a strange light in the distance appeared in the sky. Like a huge fireball, with a strange object falling from the sky.

 “What was that??” Stacy yelled, “I Don’t know?? But That gave me the willys!!”

We drove over there to see what it was. As we got closer, we saw a bunch of people running like they were running for their lives. Stacy told me that we should turn around, but I was curious!!

The tension overwhelmed the vehicle. 

“Hey!! I hear something. Do you hear that?” I said

 “Ya, I hear that too, like people yelling for us to turn around, and hide!!” Stacy said 

“But wait,” I said, I turned down this gravel road and saw these strange creatures falling from the sky. That’s when the thought came to my mind that they were aliens. But I didn’t really think they existed. We turned around and drove down to the police station. The streets were filled with crowds of people and those strange creatures. They looked like ginormous spiders, but with 6 legs and their faces seemed to crack open into 3 worm-like faces with rows and rows of blade-like razor sharp teeth. 

“These creatures must have come from the enormous explosion.” Stacy cried. 

“Y, y..ya, I, I guess you’re right.” I said. 

“Cristal,” she said, “are you ok?”

 “Ya, Ya, I, I, I’m fine.” I said 

“We have to get out of here, we’re not going to make to the police station.” said Stacy 

“I know, but there is no other place to go!!” I said

All of a shudden, there was a loud thump from above our vehicle. “There’s one on our car!! One of the creatures scraped and scratched our vehicle and broke our windshield. I put the car in reverse and ran into a light pole. The creature slid down the car and sliced Stacy across the left side of her face with its large knife-like claws. Stacy screamed. I put the car in drive and luckily we were moving!! I quickly pressed the brakes and flung the creature off the car. As soon as it flung off, I ran it over with the car, and kept on driving down the gravel road to my home. RRRRRRRRRRRR Pat, Pat!!

“No!! Come on, Come on. We’re almost home!! Why break down now??!!” I yelled

“Wait here!!” I yelled “Stay right there!!”

 “What?” Stacy asked 

“I’m not staying here all by myself!!” 

“I know, but you’re hurt. I don’t want you to get hurt even more!!”

“What if another one of those creatures comes?? They would hurt me even more!!” 

Stacy gave me a frightened face that I’ve only seen her make once before after she got the news that our parents got in a car wreck and didn’t make it. I knew I couldn’t leave her there, and I most certainly wouldn’t want her to go through that all over again if something were to happen to me too.

 Come on, run as fast as you can to the house!! I yelled!!

 Stacy swung her hands up, and I pulled her out of the car .

 We ran as fast as we could, but then randomly Stacy fell to her knees and stopped moving. The cut on her face oozed this yellow hue and she all of a sudden she screamed and cried. She wouldn’t talk to me, but I knew something was wrong and we needed to move. The soft movement of the wing blowing the weeds through the field dramatically ceased as a roaring crash breaks the silence. There was one of those creatures again. They followed us.

 “I hear it!!” Stacy exclaimed “The closer they are, the more clear it gets.”

 We ran as far as we could thinking we could out run it, but we couldn’t.

 “Stop!!” I yelled, “don’t move” 

We kept hearing the noises, but nothing was chasing us any more. Stacy cried, and the creature heard her and started chasing us. I held her mouth as it stood right in front of us. It stood there as if it couldn’t hear us. A truck on the other side of the field went flying by, and caught the alien’s attention.That’s when we decided to make a run for it, but Stacy couldn’ t move. She acted as if she were paralyzed for a second. Then she got up like she’s never walked before. I didn’t have time to think, so I placed her on my back and ran. Every little noise I made caught the alien’s attention, but since the truck was much louder, it didn’t come after us.

 We ran as far as we could and made it home. 

The house was quiet, and eerie. Usually there would be loud music playing, or someone yelling at the other team on the tv. There might be someone making dinner, or taking a shower, or  wrestling each other to see whose better, or practicing for a big  ballet recital. There was always some sort of noise in our house. Even at night, Stacy always has the tv on for noise. But there was nothing. The house was empty. Not a peep. No one playing loud music or someone yelling at the other team on the tv, there was no one making dinner, or taking a shower, no one was wrestling, or practicing ballet. Nothing. Noone was there not even my parents. Was I expecting them? I don’t know. Was this all a dream. Would I just wake up and climb into my parent’s arms. Would they hug me like they used to, and would I hear their soft whispers telling me they love me?? 

 I cried but Stacy held her cold deadlike hand over my mouth. 

“Shrrrrrrrr.” She whispered as she pointed out the window. That creature was back. It climbed the side of our house, and onto the roof. I took Stacy to the bathroom, and we went into the closet. That is where we hid from the creature. We heard it crash through the window upstairs. The creature seemed to be crashing, and knocking things over to make us jump. Stacy fell into my arms as if there was nothing left in her. She was sick, and I really needed to get her to the hospital to get her some help.

“I felt her pulse just to make sure she was alive. What?” I thought to myself, I looked down at her and there was this strange look on her face. She looked at me as if she were saying I’m ok, don’t worry about me, but I was worried about her.

I grabbed Stacy and wrists and looked at her and I told her that “I  was going to get her some help, and that I loved her. She smiled at me silently and cried in pain. That’s when the alien-like creature crashed through the door of the bathroom. I really started to freak out. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t leave here without getting caught. The shadows of the creature seemed to creep under the slight crack below the door frame. Something must have happened that caught its attention and it turned around and went outside. 

I cracked open the door just enough to see if anything was there. Luckily there wasn’t, so I slipped out the door leaving Stacy behind, and I grabbed a first aid kit out of the bathroom cabinet. As soon as I grabbed it, the toothpaste fell out of the cabinet. I swung my arm and somehow I caught it in between my pinky and ring finger. I gently sat the toothpaste back and I tiptoed back to grab Stacy. I pulled her out of the bathroom and into my bedroom, where there was a walk-in closet with locks on the doors(as if that was going to do anything). I laid Stacy down and we stayed as quiet as we could.

  Later on that night, we both tried to stay awake. I looked down at Stacy to see if she was asleep, but she was so sick that she couldn’t even really talk much. We both eventually fell asleep, but I got spooked or something and woke up. I looked at Stacy, who was squeezing my arm as tight as she could. She was so weak and her eyes looked around desperately. I tried to scream but my throat felt like it was in my stomach. I knew it was only a matter of time before… It was too harsh to think of. I held Stacy tight and hugged her. That gash on the side of her face started to ooze again. Just like last time, that yellow gue oozed out of it. I grabbed the first aid kit, and poured peroxide on her gash. As I poured it on her face, I covered her mouth with a sweater that was hanging up. She screamed in pain as I poured it. I rinsed it off with a bottle of water from my nightstand in my room. I covered it up with some gauze and tape, along with some pain reliever cream.

Just then, a loud bang came from the left!

“we’ve got to go!!” Stacy whispered. 

I told her that we can’t leave or they will get us both.

“It’s locked!!” I told her “Don’t worry!! 

  “What if they find us!! She whispered

  “They can’t find us if we don’t talk, or make any noises.”  

“Do you think they’re looking for us?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know what they are even here for.”

 All of a sudden one of the creatures busted into my room. It must have heard us talking. We couldn’t move, we were like frozen in our place. 2 figures came out from the shadows, and creeped over to the door. Stacy was shaking uncontrollably, so I held her tighter and tighter to comfort her. I knew that the moment they left I had to get her out of here.

I found my box of nail polish and threw it at the window to distract them. They went outside and as soon as they did, I picked up Stacy, grabbed my stuff and ran. Ran without thinking about making a noise, I had only one thing on my mind. And that was getting Stacy help. I knew we were being chased, but I still ran. My legs felt like jello but I pushed onward, and hid behind this car in the empty parking lot. I closed my eyes and wished this was all a dream. When I opened my eyes Stacy was laying in my arms. She looked around, She looked as if she couldn’t remember what happened. I looked at and at Stacy, then behind the car. I could see now 3 creatures flipping cars, and another crawling in from behind the others. I could see tears in Stacy’s eyes. I couldn’t believe how hard it must be for her. I mean, we both lost our parents, but she is only 14 years old. I mean, Ya, I am 18, but still. She is heartbroken. I scooted over closer to her and gave her a big hug. “Did you hear that? It’s getting louder!!” she cried 

A low humming noise came from behind the car. All of a sudden the car flipped on top of us. I leaped over top of Stacy. The sun roof window crashed on top of us, and somehow we made it in the car. The creatures piled up stacks high on top of the car, compressing all of the air out of the vehicle. The windows were breaking , glass flying everywhere. Every little move is a new pain. Stacy was unconscious and not moving. I held her tighter and tighter?

 I knew that only one of us could escape. Stacy sort of nudged and shook, then went cold. I knew she was gone. My eyes filled with tears as I hugged her one last time, wishing this were all a bad dream. An arm grabs Stacy by the leg. I grabbed a large shard of glass and cut the arm off of the creature. A loud screech from the creature, and all of the creatures piled on top of it.

I squeezed through the small hole of the car window, grabbed Stacy’s arm and dragged her out. I picked her up and ran towards the police station. I pulled at the doors, but they were locked and evacuated. Then all of a sudden out of the shadows, and into the light came one of those creatures. It crashed through the windows and came after me. I ran and hid behind a bush. I heard me and jumped into the bush. I ran but it grabbed me by the arm and its razor sharp claws sliced into my arm. I cried in agony and ran away. I saw a light in the distance. Hoping this wasn’t the end, I followed it. I started to see red lights along with other bright lights. I could faintly read the words “HOESTPITALE”  

AKA– “HOSPITAL” My vision was very blurry. As I dragged stacy, I crawled quietly through a meadow and got onto the cement were someone grabbed me and pulled me into a room and worked on me. I wouldn’t let go of stacy. 

I woke up in the recovering room. I was alive!! But how?? I guess the hospital realized what had happened, so they bordered the doors and windows, staying quiet. They saw what had happened and dragged us in. Stacy sadly died. They said that her face got infected. They also told me that the main reason was from the cut from one of the aliens claws. They inject poison into you when touched. My cut on my arm was very deep. They injected cleanser into my arm, along with anti-fungal, muscle relaxer, and anti-poison. Hoping they didn’t have to amputate the arm, they kept injecting me with new things. 

Today I live with a nasty black and purple scar, with bumps all over it on my arm. I am now 20 years old, and am getting married in April. But even though my life seems to be going better, I will never forget the day I lost my sister because of the aliens.

Blood in the Sand

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It all began on a dark and stormy night, where a dark person waits with a dark purpose.                         

“Nooo! Stay back! Help!”

 “Susan! We’re coming!” said Hanes. 

“Oh my god,” said Tara. 

“What’s all the noise? Can`t you see people are trying to… oh,” said Joyce.

5 hours earlier. “Hello all you wicked wacks listening to all my songs and raps, I got 

another song for you so don’t touch that dial.” said the DJ on the radio in Dave’s car. “The weather is going to be bad tonight with a sandstorm through the night.”

 “Wrong station,” said Dave as he swapped stations to find the right one. “LOUWWWWWW” 

“Take me home” 

“Chestnuts roasting on an open fire” 

“That’s it. That’s what I’m looking for,” said Dave. 

  “Ahhh, I finally arrived, Brd Manor. It took three airplanes, two buses, and a car with a tree, but I made it,”said Dave as he masked the beauty of the mansion. 

“Dave!” said a familiar voice. All of the sudden a girl comes blasting through the door and ran at Dave. 

“Joyce!” said Dave to Joyce as they did their secret handshake. 

“I’m so glad you could come!” Said Joyce “I have your room all set. So set your stuff in the guest room, and I will introduce you to the family.”

 As he walked down the hall to his room. He heard someone’s muffled voice down at the other end of the hall. When he got to the door he peeked inside and saw a woman yelling at the phone. 

“If you think you can get my fortune you are dead wrong! No! You listen! I am not going to my entire estate to the likes of you, ” said the woman who looked vaguely familiar 

“I see you’ve met my mom, Ms. Susan Brd,” said Joyce. 

“ You scared me, wait, that’s Susan Brd one of the wealthiest people in the continent,” said Dave. “Yes, my crude, rich, never-spending-time-to-see-her-family, mother,” said Joyce.  “You do not want to get on her bad side, trust me. Oh and there are my brothers from other fathers. Jack Brown and Hanes Motov.” 

“Hey Joyce, who’s your friend?” said Jack. 

“I was just showing my old college buddy, Dave here, around the house,” said Joyce. “Can I show him? Only I can give him the best tour around the old place,” said Hanes. “Sure, just make sure you are back by dinner. Today it’s spaghetti and meatballs,” said Joyce. 

“Thanks, you won’t regret it. Come on Dave,” said Hanes.

1 hour and 46 minutes later. Hanes and Dave enter the corridor.  

“I think that’s everything.” Said Hanes. “Oh look at the time, we’re going to be late for dinner, let’s go this way…No…maybe…no.” 5 minutes of tedious searching later. “ Oh, hi Tara. Dave This is Tara Oster, our maid/butler/cook/housekeeper, and most of all, Joyce’s all out friend since her dad was the one who spent time with us. But, he died when she was four and mom sent us off to boarding school but didn’t send Joyce. It was just her and Tara.” 

“And underpaid. Hello master Dave,” said Tara. 

“Hello Tara,” said Dave. 

“I think we better go,” said Hanes. 

They finally arrived at the dining room and sat down to eat. 

“So you finally decided to come and sit down to eat,” said Susan. “You probably got lost in the house again like Thanksgiving, didn’t you?” “No…Yes.” Hanes said as he looked away. “He almost always lies,” said Joyce. 

Many minutes of silence passed by until Dave said. “Great cooking.” And everyone looked at him. After dinner Dave said, “ Let’s play a game.” 

“That’s a good idea,” said Jack. 

“Okay what will we play?” asked Dave. 

“Why don’t we play Guess Who,” said Jack. 

“That is a great idea,” said Hanes. 12 rounds of Guess Who later. “Let’s be done and get some sleep,” said Jack. 

“Okay,” said Hanes. 

“Time to turn in,” said Dave with a yawn. 

“Goodnight,” said Jack. 

There was a knock at the door. As Dave opened the door he saw an ebony silhouette of a man against the dark Saudi Arabian sky. 

“Hello I am John Hathers, my car broke down and I was wondering if I could stay here for the night. Till the car shop opens tomorrow morning.” 

“Well sure John. You can stay for as long as you like. Please, come in,” said Dave. “Thanks,” said John. 

“I’m Dave.” 

“Hi Dave,” said John. 

“Shhh. Don’t want to wake the whole house,” said Dave. “There is your room, please call me if you need anything.” John was very grateful of Dave.

    “Nooo! Stay back! Help!” 

“Susan! We’re coming!” said Hanes. 

“Oh my god,” said Tara. 

“What’s all the noise? Can`t you see people are trying to… oh,” said Joyce. Susan was 

lying on the floor motionless. Everyone stood in amazement. Jack’s eyes filled with tears, and he began to cry. Tara just stood there motionless, looking at her late boss. 

“Is she, dd…dead?” Stuttered Joyce. 

“Everyone get in their rooms and lock their doors. Tara, call 911.”  

“But” 

“No but’s!” Dave said before Jack could say anything. 

“I will call you one at a time to interrogate you.” 

15 minutes later. “Nothing, not a bit of motive and plenty of opportunity for all of them. I might as well get some rest,” Dave thought. “No use staying up all night not finding out anything.” 

As he walked into his room, he found it a mess. His luggage was on the ground, the bookcase was knocked over, and everything else was wrecked. He heard someone running down the stairs so he ran after them. He caught the person and found out it was Jack. 

“Jack what are you doing trying to sneak your luggage out of the house in a sandstorm?” said Dave. 

“I don’t want to be a part of this,” said Jack. “I just wished we had one good holiday before she passed away. The family being away and all we didn’t have many holidays together. Was that too much to ask of God?” Dave locked eyes with Jack and locked the door. 

“You need to leave,” said Dave in a woman’s voice. He walked back to his room and Dave could hear Jack scream into his pillow from Timbuktu.

“AHHHH!” 

“Here we go again,” said Dave. 

“That was Joyce!” said Jack. 

“What’s wrong?” said Dave. 

“Someone went past my window with a gun,” said Joyce. 

“Come on Jack, we can catch them if we hurry,” said Dave. “It’s time for a chase scene montage.” 

5 grueling minutes of chase scene montage with music later. “We lost them whoever they were,” said Dave as he ran out of breath. 

“We can’t stay out here, it’s too…” Jack’s voice could barely be made out in the storm. Once they got inside they couldn’t see. 

“Jack, Hanes, anyone.” Dave called but no one answered. 

“Dave!” called Jack. “Where are we?” 

“I think we are in the kitchen,” answered Dave. “See if you can find something to wipe our eyes off with.” 

“Find something, see, we can’t even find each other and our eyes are filled with sand,” said Jack sarcastically. 

“Ahh, found a towel,” said Dave. 

“Here you go Jack. Now, you head to bed and I will see you later.” 

As he went to the living room he saw someone walking crouched toward the parlor room. 

He followed and  found out it was Hanes. 

“Hanes,” said Dave “ What are you doing up this late?” 

“Nothing.” said Hanes as he looked away suspiciously. 

“Tell me the truth Hanes,” said Dave. 

“Okay we all hated her, we all hated Susan. We held a secret meeting before this event to talk about how we all hated her. We all wanted her to kick the bucket, I never thought someone would actually do this but here we are. In a house full of people and with a dead body.” He said as his voice got more serious and became louder. 

“Cool your jets Hanes. Everyone in this house is safe with Detective Dave Maceade on the job,” said Dave. 

“Someone is dead.” Hanes said sarcastically. 

“I was off the job then.” Said Dave. “Now, you go to bed and get some rest and I will see you and everyone else in the morning.” 

Dong. Dong. Dong. 

“Three’o’clock, hmm. So far so good, might as well get some coffee,” said Dave as he talked to himself. He whipped off the sand on the window and looked through it. “Looks like the storm is over.” 

He grinded the coffee beans and poured them into the coffee machine. 

“Man, last night was crazy,” said Joyce as she walked into the kitchen. 

“Well good morning to you too,” said Dave. 

“Ohh, are you making coffee, in that case. I want an espresso with two pumps of hazelnut, four pumps of vanilla, three marshmallows, extra whip, small bits of chocolate, and a partridge in a pear tree,” said Joyce. 

“Very funny, coming right up,” said Dave. 6 minutes later. “Finished with your espresso with two pumps of hazelnut et cetera et cetera,” said Dave. “Exactlly how you like it, extra toasty.” 

“Wow,” said Joyce. “You have a real gift. You could go places with a talent like that.” “Thanks, but I like it when I am a detective,” said Dave. “I just get so much thrill out of it, solving mysteries, crimes, and murders. It’s just so exciting.” Jack and Hanes came walking down the stairs. 

“Morning you two,” said Dave. “We were wondering when you would come down.” 

“Have a seat,” said Joyce 

“Thanks,” said Hanes. 

“Can we get some coffee?” asked Jack. 

“Write your orders down,” said Dave. 

“I slept like a log,” said John. 

“Oh yes, Everyone this is John Hathers. His car broke down and I let him stay for the night before the whole multi billionaire dying and all that other stuff,” said Dave. 

“So, John, what do you do for work?” asked Joyce. “I am a DJ; I was on the way back from the radio station when my car drove into a sand dune. I tried to back out but I was too stuck, I tried to push it out but I was in too deep,” said John. “So I walked for what felt like forever until I got to this house. When I walked up to the front door and Dave answered, he let me in and let me stay in the guest room for the night. And I’m so happy he did if he hadn’t. Then I would not have met all of you.” 

“Do you think you have met everyone?” said Jack. 

“Because there is one person you haven’t met.” 

“Good morning everyone,” said Tara. 

“That’s Tara,” said Dave. “The butler of her late employer Susan Brd, aka the woman who died last night.” 

“Sorry, for everyone’s loss,” said John. “I know I didn’t know her very well being a celebrity and all but, she must have meant so much to you all.” 

“Actually,” said Dave. “They all hated her.” 

“What?” said John. 

“They hated her, each and everyone of them. They all had a reason for wanting her dead. From her not spending time with her kids to staff not being paid enough,” said Dave when a thought appeared in his mind. “And I think I know who is behind this.”

“Who?” asked Joyce. 

“The only person who isn’t here. You can come out now.” Dave called around the corner and out came Susan Brd. 

“Susan!” Joyce gasped as she began to faint. 

“She’s going to faint.,” said John. 

“Catch her,” said Hanes. 

“I got her,” said Dave. “Fall into my arms.” Joyce fell through his arms and onto the floor. “Opps,” said Dave. “Yes, it was Susan pulling the strings this entire time. Ever since she knew about the secret meeting Hanes told me about last night she was furious with all of you so much that she figured out a plan to pay you all back. She was going to pretend to be dead like one of you knocked her off. But, John and I showed up and really confused things. But she had taken some pills to make her fall asleep for hours, making us think she was dead. And we would have known she wasn’t dead if we had checked her pulse, which is a rookie mistake that no one should miss with a straight train of thought. Which, let’s face it, none of us had that last night. You all were so worried about her and you all cared about her for one of the first times ever.” 

“You all cared,” said Susan as her eyes began to fill with tears and a second later she started to cry. As everyone tried to comfort her Dave remembered something. 

“So I just remembered I called the police so Susan is going to jail, sorry Susan,” said Dave. 

4 minutes later. As the police arrived, put Susan in the cruiser, and left, Dave felt a sense of fulfillment. 
4 short months later. Susan will spend 50 years in prison for faking her death and her evil scheming. Jack and Hanes became the biggest acts in show business to hit New York since Hamlet. Tara started her own fashion line for staff like butlers, maids, cooks, and housekeepers. Joyce went on to start her own tech company called The Most Expensive Electronics and Tech for the Wealthist People. I know a very long name right, like her coffee order. And Dave, well I went on to be the next Benoit Blanc. I went on to start a family and I started this book series which started with the mystery I call “Blood on the Sand.”

Daily Countdown: TV Shows #1

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#1

LOST

So we have come to the end of our journey that started on the first day of September. We have reached the number one show of all time according to EYG, and, if you knew me at all, this would have been the least dramatic reveal of a number one ever.

LOST is, far and away, my favorite show ever. I remember the feeling I had when it came to an end: an emptiness in my gut that took several years to fill.

Some claim that LOST had one of the worst endings of any show, and I respectfully disagree. I found the LOST finale to be perfect. It focused on the characters that I had come to love for the previous six seasons.

LOST ran for six seasons on ABC, giving us 121 episodes of awesomeness.

A group of people, who were from all walks of life, boarded Oceanic flight 815 in Sydney, Australia for Los Angeles. That flight did not make it to LAX. Somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, the plane came across some major problems and crashed on an island. Almost immeditaely, you learned that this island was unlike anywhere else. As Charlie said…

“Guys, where are we?”

The Island was a character all its own, with a mythology and mysteries for the audeicne to chew upon. That was one of the criticisms of the show: they did not reveal the secrets of the Island. Again, I think there were plenty of mysteries revealed. It may not have spoon-fed you the answers you wanted, but if you paid attention, you could make educated answers to everything on the show.

The Island had a polar bear, a smoke monster, a group of Others, healing properties allowing a crippled man to walk again among other things.

The ensemble cast was brillaint. Led by Matthew Fox, the cast included Terry O’Quinn, Naveen Andrews, Jorge Garcia, Josh Halloway, Maggie Grace, Emilie de Raven, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Evangeline Lilly, Malcolm David Kelley, Dominic Monaghan, Harold Perrineau, Michael Emerson, Ian Somerhalder, Henry Ian Cusick, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cynthia Watros, Elizabeth Mitchell, Nestor Carbonell, Jeff Fahey, Sonya Walger, Sam Anderson, L. Scott Caldwell, Jeremy Davies, Ken Leung, and Rebecca Mader.

Some of these actors will forever be their characters to me. Many have gone on to do other major roles (Evangeline Lilly was Wasp in the MCU, Terry O’ Quinn and Michael Emerson have had plenty of other roles), but my first thought will always be that they are their characters from LOST.

4 8 15 16 23 42

“See ya in anothe rlife, brother“

“You guys got any milk?”

“We got to go back!”

The greatest show of all time in the opinion of EYG… LOST.

That wraps up the first Daily Countdown. It was quite the undertaking, but we are far from done. Tomorrow we start the next Daily Countdown. It was actually a harder list to compile than the TV one. Tomorrow we start TV THEME SONGS.