Under The Eyes Of God

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Save your license, save some money. Leave my jelly beans alone.
2008-06-18 20:01:00
I used to be a much worse driver than I am now. Or maybe I'm as bad as always but the police have gotten more lax. Whatever it is, I used to spend a lot of time worrying about whether I was going to lose my license because of speeding tickets, and I've probably paid double the amount of insurance money I would have if I'd just managed to lay off the gas.In fact, to save money and my license a few times, I had to go to traffic school -- sitting in some community center for a couple hours a couple of nights, with a bunch of people who I wouldn't want to associate with and who hadn't showered in a long time, while some dumb teacher droned on and on about "safety this" and "moderate speed that."I don't get busted as often now, but if I did, I'd go to this California online traffic school where you can save your license or insurance rates by clearing points off your license through the Internet. Gotaticket.com can help you clear your traffic ticket and keep your record insurance...
More About: Money , Beans , Leave , Jelly , Save

Coming Tomorrow: The conclusion to The Thing In The Basement.
2008-06-18 19:59:00
The Thing In The Basement is almost completed. Coming on Thursday: The finale. Find out what The Thing has in store for Jude.And then watch for an all-new story starting later this week!
More About: Tomorrow

I'm not just one in a million, I'm one in 133 million!
2008-06-18 19:37:00
If you click this link, you'll see the PeekYou page that's been created for me -- The Trouble With Roy -- over at Peek You. Those among you who are not ahead of the curve, those who are not as cool and hip as me and the over 133,000,000 people who are listed on Peek You, are saying What's Peek You?What's Peek You? It's only the best possible directory/informational listing around, that's What's Peek You! Peek You is like the white pages crossed with the good ideas behind social networking sites and collaborative information sites; it's a directory of people which can be added to modified, and searched by first name, last name, user name, you name it (ha!). And they offer a free people search to find who you're wanting to locate. While the Luddites still living in the dark ages use things like the "White pages" to find someone, those of us who are hip and happenin' and in the know are using Peek You -- it's faster, it's easier, the page you want isn't torn out, and it...
More About: Million , One in a million

And that's when I died.
2008-06-16 17:05:00
The Thing In The Basement (Fourteen): I decide to tell, And The Thing In The Basement (Fifteen): Massacre, And The Thing In The Basement (Sixteen): and that's when I died,up today!Page down past the ads or click the link you want.AfterDark features horror stories published in serial format. A new part is posted roughly about once per week. Want to submit your own artwork? Drop me a line at thetroublewithroy @ yahoo.com Want to get updates when I post stories? Do the same.The Stories:The Thing In The Basement:All Jude wanted was to give his family a good life. But what The Thing In The Basement gives, it can take away. The Deal: Little Jake is tormented nightly by a demon, and his parents won't help. His brother might, but his brother is gone.You Know What Happens After DarkFreddy learns why we always close the eyes of the dead, and wishes that she hadn't.Scientology:The Scientology ShirtbybrianefpGet this custom shirtat ZazzleWant a free t-shirt? Of course you do. Click there to ...
More About: Died

Get Twenty Bucks.
2008-06-16 17:01:00
DealKing.com has free money for you!Now that I've got your attention, keep it here a bit longer: for a while, when you buy an AT&T prepaid phone -- no contract and the phone is nearly free-- DealKing.com will give you $20 cash back. Just for being your lovely self!The DealKing.com is a price comparison engine that shows you a product's lowest prices and features valuable coupons and cash back rewards -- like the $20 bucks-- available at stores; this is a DealKing.com only feature and really elevates comparison shopping to a higher level. They've also got coupons, special offers and sales listed under "Hot Deals," an "Coupons" and "Stores" section of their website, making it easy to get to the latest offers for the stores you like.But the $20 is the most important. Go get your phone and your cash now.
More About: Twenty , Bucks

The Thing In The Basement (16)
2008-06-16 11:08:00
I saw Melissa, too. I saw the Thing going after her. It held her down and clawed and chewed at her face, shredding and tearing her skin off of her a little at a time.I looked around the room for the Thing as I opened the door. Melissa was only half-turned towards me. Angie had her head buried in Melissa's shoulder. I knew I wouldn't be able to see the Thing, but I thought I might see signs of it, where it was standing, or something. I darted my eyes around and took another step into the room.Angie opened her eyes and saw me. She screamed and wouldn't stop screaming. At that, I heard the rush of blood from the hallway, and felt a wet, cold wash on my feet. I heard Angie screaming and looked around wildly."Where is it?" I yelled. Melissa turned around. I yelled again. "Tell me where it is! Where do you see it?" Melissa yelled something like "see what" but all the things in the room were talking and Angie was screaming and there was the river of blood and my heartbeat and a cackling...
More About: The Basement

Soul-crushing
2008-06-06 22:30:00
The Thing In The Basement Parts Four (Soul -Crushing) andPart Five (Jude Will Be The Last To Die)posted today!AfterDark features horror stories published in serial format. A new part is posted roughly about once per week. Want to submit your own artwork? Drop me a line at thetroublewithroy @ yahoo.com Want to get updates when I post stories? Do the same.The Stories:The Thing In The Basement:All Jude wanted was to give his family a good life. But what The Thing In The Basement gives, it can take away. The Deal: Little Jake is tormented nightly by a demon, and his parents won't help. His brother might, but his brother is gone.You Know What Happens After DarkFreddy learns why we always close the eyes of the dead, and wishes that she hadn't.Herman:Herman The Wonder KittenbybrianefpGet this custom shirtat ZazzleWant a free t-shirt? Of course you do. Click there to find out how you can get one courtesy of The Best of Everything: Our Opinions Are Righter Than Yours.Lesbian Zombies Are Tak...

Some fears you can deal with readily. Like termites.
2008-06-06 22:25:00
We've been doing some home repairs lately -- some the result of accidents like the flooding of our basement and some the result of deciding to tear down some outbuildings in our yard-- and especially the latter has gotten me concerned about what might be going on in my house.When we began ripping down an old shed, what we found surprised me. The boards were rotting away and in some places had clearly been eaten by ... well, something. I'm no expert. But I started worrying about termites. If there were termites in the shed, they could or would soon be in my house. Luckily, I don't have to just guess and worry. I can get information about termites and their causes and cures by going to the Termites Guide. They've got information that will help me determine whether I have termites, what a termite bond is, and most importantly, how to get rid of termites.
More About: Deal , Fears

The Thing In The Basement (Five)
2008-06-06 16:47:00
That's what I was thinking about, a few months after we moved in, when we were eating dinner together. We were past the pizza-and-cardboard boxes stage. We were eating dinner, a quick dinner of sandwiches. Melissa was about a month away from giving birth to David and we were sitting in the kitchen. Sometimes I could sit there and be fine.Tonight was not one of those nights. Melissa's back was to the bricked-in wall. I was trying to focus on what she was saying, something about the yard, but I couldn't.The bricks were sliding around.They were rearranging themselves. Remember those little puzzles, with fifteen little squares in 16 spaces, in a square, and you would slide the squares around, one at a time into the blank space, trying to make a picture or word or something? It was like that. The bricks were not all the same color or shade; there were variations. Some were redder, some were more variegated or scratched up.And they were sliding around, rearranging themselves quickly an...
More About: The Basement , Thing

Don't hate me because my clock is backwards.
2008-06-06 16:34:00
Everyone hates my favorite wall clock. Everyone. Just because it's backwards. Literally so, in this case; it's one of those clocks that works backwards, to that the numbers go from 12 at the top to 1 just to it's left, then 2, working their way around the opposite direction. It's a backwards clock; it's a counterclock. And I love it, but everyone hates it because they say they can't tell time on it and it confuses them and they get used to it and then can't use regular clocks.Who knew that wall clocks could inspire that kind of passion? Still, now that I'm getting a little older and more mature, maybe it's time to update my home decorations with some new wall clocks. This is the perefect time to do this, because with the clocks I can get from 1-800-4Clock s, and the advice I can get on clocks from their blog -- advice like how to use a clock to brighten up a room and change the style of that room -- I can save some money and get a great new addition to our decorating scheme....
More About: Hate , Backwards

The Thing In The Basement (Four)
2008-06-06 16:29:00
Later on, while I'm lying in my car, before I get sucked back in, before I go back in, when I'm nearly nearly dead but not quite so, just nearly so, but after Melissa was already dead (and she got away, I think but I'm not sure) I heard a song.It was The Good Times Are Killing Me by a group called Modest Mouse.It was on the CD player in the car in the garage. Melissa must have left it in there. She always liked music like that.I was lying there, slowly falling asleep, and listening to the lyrics and thinking "How true."But I didn't die for a while. For a long while, as it turns out.I've ended the suspense, right? You know I die. I told you that in the beginning. Melissa dies, too. Don't worry about that. And Angie dies.You don't know Angie yet. Angie was our baby girl, our daughter. She dies, too, but you'll probably get to know her. If I tell you about her.David didn't die. I don't know why.What the Thing In The Basement Gives, the Thing In The Basement Takes Away, right?...

Writing like this won't get you a Pulitzer, but it will make someone feel b
2008-06-06 16:20:00
It's actually very easy for me to write the stories you find here on AfterDark. I'm a pretty creative guy and I have lots of ideas and manage to keep the words coming pretty well. I'm lucky that way; I rarely suffer from writers' block... with these stories, at least.In other arenas, I don't fare so well. One of the hardest things for me to write, in fact, are sympathy cards. I never know what to say, or how much to say, or how to say it. It's a lot easier to write about people getting their arms ripped off by vampires than it is to tell someone just how sorry you are that they've suffered a loss.But I have to send sympathy cards from time to time, and I've learned a couple of secrets. First, don't worry so much about how you're expressing your feelings. The important thing is that the person receiving the card knows that you care about them and are sharing their sorrow. So don't try to make it poetic or formal or inspirational. Just say what you feel. A simple "I'm very...
More About: Writing , Make , Feel , Pulitzer

Why is the wall hot?
2008-06-05 16:34:00
Part Three of The Thing In The Basement -- Why is the wall hot?posted today!AfterDark features horror stories published in serial format. A new part is posted roughly about once per week. Want to submit your own artwork? Drop me a line at thetroublewithroy @ yahoo.com Want to get updates when I post stories? Do the same.The Stories:The Thing In The Basement:All Jude wanted was to give his family a good life. But what The Thing In The Basement gives, it can take away. The Deal: Little Jake is tormented nightly by a demon, and his parents won't help. His brother might, but his brother is gone.You Know What Happens After DarkFreddy learns why we always close the eyes of the dead, and wishes that she hadn't. Want a free t-shirt? Of course you do. Click there to find out how you can get one courtesy of The Best of Everything: Our Opinions Are Righter Than Yours.The Best of Everything: Our Opinions Are Righter Than Yours!. If you want to know, or say, what's The Best, read The Best of...
More About: Wall , The wall

Birdwatching and babies together!
2008-06-05 16:15:00
I like to go on nature walks with my kids, which now include two nearly-two-year-old Babies ! I get some exercise, fresh air, and time with them. But a key part of the nature walk is that I also like to see, you know, nature: bird, small animals, that kind of thing.With twin toddlers, it's hard to get close enough to an animal to see it. Raccoons and foxes and hawks tend to get a little spooked by two-foot-tall running/yelling machines. So I use a pair of binoculars that lets me see the animals up close while still being close to my kids and enjoying time with them.Summer is the time to do all that kind of stuff- nature walks, photography, sightseeing, just being outside. And the point of my binocular-story is that the right optical gear can enhance your hobbies and fun times a lot.Take, for example, Prescription Sunglasses. If you wear glasses, you've got to go outside in the summer and without prescription sunglasses you have to choose between seeing but getting a headache, or n...

Is there a basement, or isn't there?
2008-06-02 22:35:00
NEW STORY:THE THING IN THE BASEMENTstarts today. Part One: That's Why I Killed Myself andPart Two: We Don't Talk About The Basement. are up already.AfterDark features horror stories published in serial format. A new part is posted roughly about once per week. Want to submit your own artwork? Drop me a line at thetroublewithroy @ yahoo.com Want to get updates when I post stories? Do the same.The Stories:The Thing In The Basement:All Jude wanted was to give his family a good life. But what The Thing In The Basement gives, it can take away. The Deal: Little Jake is tormented nightly by a demon, and his parents won't help. His brother might, but his brother is gone.You Know What Happens After DarkFreddy learns why we always close the eyes of the dead, and wishes that she hadn't. Want a free t-shirt? Of course you do. Click there to find out how you can get one courtesy of The Best of Everything: Our Opinions Are Righter Than Yours.Babies! Babies! Pets! Pets! wants you to submit phot...

I won't miss the salesmen at all.
2008-06-02 22:28:00
The last time I had to shop for furniture, I tried to sandwich it in between dropping Sweetie off at her hair appointment and going grocery shopping later that afternoon. I was rushed and didn't have all the money in the world. That left me wandering around a cavernous furniture store, fending off salemen and saleswomen and trying to examine couches without getting harassed into buying something I didn't really like and also not to waste a whole lot of time because I had to go pick Sweetie up and still had to get groceries.It was not what you'd call an ideal experience. Yeah, we got the couch, but there are better ways to get new furniture. Plus, they tacked on a delivery charge and I had to wait weeks for the couch to come, even though it was right there in the store when I paid too much for it.The better way to go about getting your bedroom furniture, home office furniture, dining room sets, or whatever other furniture you need, is to shop for it online at Furniture From Home. ...
More About: Miss

We Don't Talk About The Basement
2008-05-30 22:56:00
NEW STORY:THE THING IN THE BASEMENTstarts today. Part One: That's Why I Killed Myself andPart Two: We Don't Talk About The Basement . are up already.AfterDark features horror stories published in serial format. A new part is posted roughly about once per week. Want to submit your own artwork? Drop me a line at thetroublewithroy @ yahoo.com Want to get updates when I post stories? Do the same.The Stories:The Thing In The Basement:All Jude wanted was to give his family a good life. But what The Thing In The Basement gives, it can take away. The Deal: Little Jake is tormented nightly by a demon, and his parents won't help. His brother might, but his brother is gone.You Know What Happens After DarkFreddy learns why we always close the eyes of the dead, and wishes that she hadn't. Want a free t-shirt? Of course you do. Click there to find out how you can get one courtesy of The Best of Everything: Our Opinions Are Righter Than Yours.Babies! Babies! Pets! Pets! wants you to submit phot...

Two: We don't talk about the basement.
2008-05-30 22:51:00
It wasn't always like that. At first, we didn't even know about the Thing In the Basement.When we first found the house, I couldn't believe it. Melissa and I had been looking for a house for almost a year. I didn't make very much money, and we had even less once she became pregnant. I spent all of my time worrying about it. All of the time I didn't spend at my job as a copy editor of a series of local papers. Which was becoming more and more, because (I told myself) we needed the money and because (I told Melissa) they needed me at the office, since I didn't want her to feel like she was the cause of the problem. She wasn't.I would sit, sometimes, at my office, late at night, proofreading a story about a town board meeting, and wonder whether I should even go home. I'd wonder, sometimes, whether I couldn't just go drive the car into the lake.Then I'd shake it off, go home, we'd eat dinner, and go house hunting.So when we pulled up at what would become our house (it's not...
More About: The Basement , Talk

Time is money, but so is information.
2008-05-30 22:42:00
Individual identity theft is a big news item these days. But corporate identity theft is almost never talked about, even though it could be far worse than individual identity theft.Think about the amount of information stored in your computers, and the number of people that have access to that information. Think about who puts the information in, who manipulates it while it's in there, and who prints it out or otherwise stores it in hard format.Do you even know who does all that? Who could do all that? Do employees share computers? Do they take work home with them? Do they access the office computers from home?Clearly, you need a better handle on this. You need the compliance solutions offered by Aveska.Aveksa offers the only comprehensive Enterprise Access Governance solution. They have systems that allow automated, auditable business processes used to manage, monitor, report, and remediate who has access to the information your business holds; they can allow people to collaborate...
More About: Information , Money , Time

One: That's Why I Killed Myself
2008-05-30 17:51:00
The paneling was not quite straight. It looked straight, the black lines at formerly-fashionable almost random intervals, some of the lines thick, some of them thin, all of them separated by sheaths of wood or near-wood (it looked like wood but was probably particle-board, which was a type of wood, maybe, but not really wood. It can't be wood if it's just sawdust compacted into a shape that looks like wood.)That was how I felt at the end. Like a person ground into sawdust but then smashed back into the shape of a person.And the paneling! Why was that bothering me? You wouldn't notice that it was not straight, not unless you looked closely, where pictures hung, to see that if the picture was level (maybe they weren't?) the paneling was crooked. Maybe it wasn't, maybe the pictures were crooked and the paneling straight, but the whole effect, once you noticed it, was to give you the feeling that things were a little off-kilter.Well, give you the feeling that things were a little o...
More About: Killed

Plus, I kind of like cucumbers anyway.
2008-05-30 17:41:00
I used to work out 5 or 6 times per week, and really work out. I would run 6 miles, or bike for hours or lift weights or swim a couple of miles.That was when I was in my 20s and had all the energy and time in the world. And, snacks weren't as tasty back then.Now I'm almost 40 and I have 5 kids and a job and a house that constantly needs work and snacks are awesome plus there's a lot of good TV shows on, and I'm left with the feeling that my pants are shrinking everytime I wash them.I try to work out, but I'm older and creakier. I get home from work at 6 p.m., and then there's dinner, and then there's clean-up, and then helping with homework and suddenly it's 8:30 and I don't feel like going jogging right then. But I don't want to keep getting bigger, and in fact I'd like to lose weight.What worked for me in my 20s won't work for me now. So I'm checking out the options available from Weight Loss Diet Help. This site has information and comparison on a variety of options...

The Thing In The Basement: Table of Contents
2008-05-30 17:33:00
All Jude wanted was to give his family a good life. But what The Thing In The Basement gives, it takes away, too. One: That's Why I Killed MyselfTwo: We don't talk about the basement.
More About: Contents , Table

Where's Mary?
2008-05-30 16:52:00
"In Plain Sight" is destined to be the hottest, best show this summer. Premiering on June 1 -- that's just two days away -- the show focuses on a supposed courier who actually works for the U.S. Marshal service running the Witness Protection Program. She has to help and protect people ranging from mobsters to hitmen to regular people caught in the crossfire of powerful forces that want to stop the bad guys or keep being bad guys -- and everyone she helps is marked for death by someone.I am enthralled with the idea for this show. I was going to make sure I didn't miss it by camping out on my couch in front of my TV for the next 68 hours or so, but Sweetie told me that I had to (a) take a shower and (b) go to work, so as the next best thing, I'm celebrating the start of this series with a little game of "Where's Mary ?" Somewhere on this page is a picture of the star of the series -- Mary herself. Can you find her? Once you do that, make sure you catch USA Network's new origi...

COMING SOON: THE THING IN THE BASEMENT!
2008-05-29 23:33:00
"The Deal" is completed. Coming soon:"The Thing In The Basement " All Jude wanted was to provide a nice life for his family. A new house and a new promotion and a new baby seemed to promise that... but The Thing In The Basement has its own price. The Deal: Little Jake is tormented nightly by a demon, and his parents won't help. His brother might, but his brother is gone.You Know What Happens After DarkFreddy learns why we always close the eyes of the dead, and wishes that she hadn't.

You could also ask one of my kids but they don't answer their cell phones a
2008-05-29 23:11:00
If you want excellent horror stories, this website is the place to look. But if you want to find rap and hip hop lyrics, you essentially have one of two choices:One, become friends with Diddy, who is friends with everyone else and could just call up his rapper buddies and say something like "Hey, what was that rap you gave on your third album?"Or, two, look up your Rap Lyrics on Rap Artists -- your number one site for rap and hip hop on the Internet. They've got artists, listings, lyrics, and more, all updated pretty much daily.Diddy's not returning your calls anyway. So try method two and even if you don't know Diddy, you'll still be cool.
More About: Kids , Cell Phones , Phones , Answer , Cell

I take what I want.
2008-05-29 22:21:00
The Deal Part 10-- the conclusion! -- posted today!AfterDark features horror stories published in serial format. A new part is posted roughly about once per week. Want to submit your own artwork? Drop me a line at thetroublewithroy @ yahoo.com Want to get updates when I post stories? Do the same.The Stories: The Deal: Little Jake is tormented nightly by a demon, and his parents won't help. His brother might, but his brother is gone.You Know What Happens After DarkFreddy learns why we always close the eyes of the dead, and wishes that she hadn't.Eclipse Claudius was going to be the first man to ever walk on another planet. Now he's drifting through space alone. But he's got his memories...WisconsinNumber OnebybrianefpGet this custom shirtat ZazzleWant a free t-shirt? Of course you do. Click there to find out how you can get one courtesy of The Best of Everything: Our Opinions Are Righter Than Yours.Thinking The Lions is the hilarious compilation of the adventures of a guy with a ...

In order of scariness, it's vampires, werewolves, prosecutors, witches.
2008-05-29 22:13:00
Even the bravest among us might quail in fear when confronted with a force that's so much more powerful than we are that to stand up against it would be foolhardy. Like the government. The government has resources and assets beyond anything you can imagine. A single prosecutor probably has millions of dollars at his or her disposal, together with hundreds of staff members and an entire police force all working for them.If the government, in the form of a criminal prosecutor, decides to pick on you, you'd better be ready to fight them. But don't do it on your own. Get yourself a champion that's up to the task. Because you or I might cower in fear before the government, there's some people who don't: the lawyers at Kestenbaum, Eisner & Gorin, LLP. These guys are former prosecutors themselves; they have over 50 years combined experience in the courtroom. They're in the top 5% of lawyers in the country.They put their expertise and fearlesness to good use by providing you info...
More About: Order , Werewolves , Vampires , Witches

The Deal (Part 10)
2008-05-29 18:06:00
"Dad," Jake said again and his dad put his hand on Jake's bedroom doorknob. Jake grabbed his dad around the neck and clasped his arms and buried his head into his dad's neck as they walked into the room. He clenched his legs around his dad's waist, he hugged his dad with all his might and tried to pull himself into his dad if that were possible.His dad walked into the room and tried to put him onto the bed. Jake didn't talk, didn't open his eyes, didn't breathe, he just held on. With his eyes closed, it was not dark. It was bright, brighter than anything he could imagine, bright like the headlights of a car coming at you on the road. Bright like the sparks you see when you bite your tongue.His dad pried off his hands. Jake tried to grab his hands, but his dad put Jake's hands at his sides.Jake gave up. He sat there on the edge of his bed, looking at his feet. His dad stepped back, looked at him. Jake waited for him to tell him to undress, to take his shoes off, to go to bed, ...
More About: Deal , Part

Me go jogging? Now, THAT's scary.
2008-05-29 17:57:00
It gets a little hard, sometimes, being a master of terror like me. Spend enough time writing stuff like I do on here, and you'll find yourself feeling a bit morbid. The whole world starts to take on crimson tones and dark feelings and you'll end up looking suspiciously at the mailman in case he decides to rip your face off.I like to light things up. Get out of the house, get a little exercise, work off some of the paranoia and fear that my stories inspire even in me. I like to also not spend a lot of money doing these things. That's where #1 Coupons comes in. #1 Coupons is just what it sounds like: Your number one spot for discounts on stuff. They've got coupons and promotional deals galore. Why, right now I can go there and get promotional discount specials for BOB Revolution, Jeep Liberty Sport, Tike Tech, Contours and Ironman Sport Utility jogging strollers. Nothing will shake off the scaries like taking my twin boys for a brisk walk through the park, and they'll d...
More About: Scary

Don't Let Go!
2008-05-28 19:12:00
The Deal, Part Nine: Don't Let Go! Posted today!AfterDark features horror stories published in serial format. A new part is posted roughly about once per week. Want to submit your own artwork? Drop me a line at thetroublewithroy @ yahoo.com Want to get updates when I post stories? Do the same.The Stories: The Deal: Little Jake is tormented nightly by a demon, and his parents won't help. His brother might, but his brother is gone.You Know What Happens After DarkFreddy learns why we always close the eyes of the dead, and wishes that she hadn't.Eclipse Claudius was going to be the first man to ever walk on another planet. Now he's drifting through space alone. But he's got his memories...righteous indignationbybrianefpGet this custom shirt at ZazzleWant a free t-shirt? Of course you do. Click there to find out how you can get one courtesy of The Best of Everything: Our Opinions Are Righter Than Yours.Nonsportsmanlike Conduct! AlwaysMostlyRight!