She found them in the kitchen light that used to feel like home. Maya stood in the doorway with her keys still in her hand. Her boyfriend's shirt was on the floor, Her bestfriends laugh died in her throat, for a second nobody moved.
Then the apologies started, overlapping and useless. Maya didn't wait for the rest, she turned and ran.
The night air hit her like a slap. She didn't take the main road, she cut through side streets she barely knew with her kitten heel slapping the pavement, her chest felt tight enough that each breath felt stolen, and betrayal sat in her stomach like a stone.
The person who said he loved her, the girl who used to sleepover and braid her hair. Both of them in the same room, as if she never existed.
She didn't notice the block changing until the streetlights thinned and the voices started.
A group of them stepped out of a parked car and a stoop. Too many. Too close. One of them said something about a pretty girl running alone. Another laughed.
Maya's body understood before her mind did. As she tried to step around them. one of their hand found her arms. Someone yanked her bag. The world narrowed to breath and concrete and the knowledge that she was smaller than all of them.
She screamed but it came out broken. A hand clamped her mouth, she bit, kicked, twisted like an animal with every strength she could at that point but it was futile. Her sundress tore, her knees hit asphalt, and for a few terrible second she believed this was how the night was going to end.
After the kitchen, after the laughs, after everything she thought was hers.
Then a car turned to the corner really fast, headlights washed the streets white, then a voice shouted really loud from the car while the head poked out from the window. Then the hands that held onto her really tight loosened.
Maya tore free from them grabbed her bag, and ran until her lungs burned and the voices fell behind her.
She collapsed against a closed laundromat, shaking so hard her teeth clicked. Then she realized her phone had cracked when she brought it out to check the time.
She didn’t call him. She didn’t call her. She called no one for a long time, just sat on the curb with blood on her palm and the taste of metal in her mouth, trying to remember how a person was supposed to stand up after the people who were supposed to keep her safe had already finished breaking her first.
When she finally walked again, it was towards the all night diner two miles away, not towards any house that had ever belonged to love. The city kept going and her heart did not know how.
THE CRATER OF EMBARRASMENT.
Leo had spent the whole van ride rehearsing how he would look at the rim of the volcano. Wind in his hair, camera raised, the kind of boy who belonged in a nature documentary.
Instead he stood on the black gravel with a stomachache and a hat that refused to stay on.
The tour group shuffled towards the overlook. Steam rose in lazy white columns. the ground felt warm through his sneakers.
A girl from another family called Maya, has the same camera strap as his, and kept glancing at the crater like she was memorizing it.
Leo decided this was the moment. He stepped closer to the rope, "Pretty wild, huh? You can actually feel the heat." His voice cracked on "Heat".
Maya smiled politely, while someone coughed behind them. Leo lifted his phone for a panoramic shot and took one more step backward without looking.
His heel caught a loose chunk of a lava rock, he windmilled, grabbed the nearest solid thing and discovered it was Maya's backpack, both of them lurched.
His phone slipped, bounced once on the gravel, and landed screen down three feet from the drop.
A ranger shouted "Nobody move!", Leo froze in a half crouch, one hand still hooked on Maya's backpack, the other hovering over the phone as if he could levitate it back.
The group had gone silent, except for the hiss of steam. His stomach, which had been complaining since the chili at lunch, chose that exact second to gurgle out loud, wet, and unmistakably.
Maya's eyes widened, then she snorted and she laughed so hard she had to sit down on the path.
Leo's face burned hotter than the ground, he retrieved the phone (the case was scuffed, the photo was of his own shoe) then he mumbled, “Sorry. Gravity’s different up here.” The ranger let them stay a few more minutes.
Maya wiped her eyes and said, "You almost became a tourist attraction", they both smiled and helped each other up.
On their walk back. Leo's hat finally blew off and tumbled towards a steam vent, this time he didn't chase it, he just watched it go and said, “That one’s for the volcano.” Maya smiled and high fived him.
The story would follow him home, of course, but on the van ride back down the mountain, he decided that wasn't the worst thing that could happen on a volcano.
At least no one had to be rescued. and the photo of his shoe, if you cropped it right, almost looked Artistic.
If you're talking about the lack of belief in God, the proper term is "atheism" though there are different positions:
Atheism: not believing that God or gods exist.
Agnosticism: believing that we cannot know for certain whether God exists.
Deism: believing in a creator or higher power but not necessarily in organized religion or revelation.
Religious doubt: believing in God but struggling with faith or certainty.
Know where you belong and stop castigating other's beliefs
@japan_nobunaga Honestly, every neighborhood needs a Dale. The man said burgers, come rain or shine, burgers were happening. I love people who keep their word like this.
Sending lots of love to the Apple community on my last day as CEO. My title changes tomorrow, but the love I have for the Apple community never will. Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration. My gratitude is endless, and I’m excited for the next chapter!
@japan_nobunaga There’s something beautiful about kindness that doesn’t ask to be noticed. Wendell made helping people feel so normal that nobody has to feel ashamed for accepting it. We need more people like him.
THE AVENGERS DIDN’T JUST LOSE VISION. THEY CREATED THE WEAPON THANOS NEEDED.
This one follows Vision himself through the MCU.
1. THE MIND STONE WAS NEVER THE AVENGERS’ TO BEGIN WITH
Thanos originally gave Loki the sceptre containing the Mind Stone.
Loki lost it on Earth, and eventually it fell into HYDRA’s hands.
2. TONY AND BRUCE OPENED THE DOOR
After recovering the sceptre, Tony and Bruce discovered something far more advanced inside it.
Their first attempt to use that intelligence helped create Ultron.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
3. ULTRON BUILT THE BODY
Ultron wanted a stronger body for himself.
He combined advanced technology with vibranium and created the synthetic body that would eventually become Vision.
The Avengers stole it before Ultron could upload himself.
4. TONY FINISHED WHAT ULTRON STARTED
Tony and Bruce uploaded JARVIS into the body.
Then Thor arrived and used his lightning to complete the process.
Vision was born.
Think about how strange that origin actually is:
Thanos supplied the Stone.
HYDRA experimented with it.
Tony and Bruce unlocked it.
Ultron built the body.
The Avengers brought that body to life.
Every side unknowingly contributed something.
5. THEN VISION BECAME AN AVENGER
The Mind Stone was no longer sitting inside an alien weapon.
It was now attached to one of Earth’s defenders.
Vision fought beside the Avengers, formed a relationship with Wanda and became someone they were willing to protect.
Which made what happened next much harder.
6. THANOS CAME TO COLLECT WHAT HAD BEEN ON EARTH ALL ALONG
By Infinity War, five Stones weren’t enough.
Thanos still needed the Mind Stone.
And Earth had unknowingly spent years carrying it around on Vision’s forehead.
Wanda eventually destroys the Stone to stop Thanos.
Thanos simply reverses time, brings Vision back and tears it out himself.
THE DARKER WAY TO LOOK AT VISION’S STORY
The Avengers thought they had created another hero.
But from Thanos’ perspective, Earth had taken an Infinity Stone he once handed to Loki, built it into a living body, protected it for years…
and eventually had it waiting for him when he came to complete the Gauntlet.
Vision wasn’t created for Thanos. But almost everyone in the story unknowingly helped turn one of Thanos’ missing Stones into the centrepiece of an Avenger.