[ text - s.uris ]

[stantheman]

At home, sometimes I thought that I'd really like to get a break from my family. The town I'm from isn't so great and well a lot of bad things were happening. I got mad at my dad a lot because it felt like I couldn't depend on him or any adult to care or help with the things that were happening. We ended up not needing the adults but it sucked.

I guess, it wasn't perfect at home but now that I'm here and my family isn't I really miss them. I wouldn't think I could miss them this bad. I miss going to the Synagogue and my dad making me study Hebrew. I always thought it was really annoying and boring.

Do you miss anything that you don't have here that you didn't think you could ever miss?

Is there anything that helps?

Comments

[ragnarsson]

By what? [He tries to prompt Stan.] Ghosts? Draugar? [The word for a fearsome undead creature in Norse legends who was one part zombie, one part vampire, and one part terrifying.]

Sure. [When Ivar is proud of something, he tends to want to show off to people. Besides, what good is having Kattegat there for people to see if no one uses it?] Do you know where the entrance to the thing called the holodeck is in the city?

[stantheman]

[ Stan hesitates because of all the Losers he is the one that has the hardest time admitting that any of what they went through was real. Later, he goes on to be the only one who would rather die than face It again. ]

No...It was...fear. It was what we were most afraid of. No adults seemed to care that something was wrong that kids were going missing... we beat it but it's probably going to come back. My friend Ben... he did a lot of research and the stuff that was happening seemed to happen every 27 years. It's like... [ There's a tinge of fear in his voice but something sadder and resigned too... ]

It's like there's a rotting center at the core of the town.

[ Stan doesn't know why he feels safe telling Ivar that. Maybe it's because Ivar had helped him get back his book, that even if he was in a wheelchair he clearly had skills that made him strong and powerful. Stan didn't have anything like that. He had his brain, that was all, no other skills really go along with the strategies and logical points he could make. ]

I don't think I know where it is but I could find it.

[ragnarsson]

You're braver than you think if you faced your greatest fear and survived.

[Ivar doesn't hand out compliments lightly, but he's had to face his own personal fears. Things that weren't so physical as a killer clown, but things that scared him nonetheless. Things like never being able to be a real Viking warrior and being forgotten without ever making an impact on the world.]

Only one thing to do if something like that has invaded. Burn everything down to the ground and then start over.

[It was a very Viking way of thinking. When all else failed, burn and destroy everything, and then start anew.]

It just looks like a small door. Meet me there and I'll show you what my home looks like.