Paranormal, Extraterrestrial, and Interdimensional Phenomena

Beforehand - Taylor

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15 minutes earlier, A Suburb Somewhere Near Boston, March 2021

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"And we're live!!!" Nick Lang said, on the livestream that had just started for Starkid's Kickstarter, for a new show called Nerdy Prudes Must Die. Taylor was really excited for the new Hatchetfield musical. She had gotten roped in the the satanic cult that was Starkid very recently, in January of that year. She had been very depressed, and part of that was because Broadway had closed due to the pandemic, so had been watching bootlegs, but YouTube had suggested a show called The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals, so she had watched it, curious. Since then, she hadn't been able to stop watching this theater company. She had now seen TGWDLM, Firebringer, A Very Potter Musical, or AVPM, A Very Potter Sequel, or AVPS, and Black Friday, which was her favorite so far. Today she was wearing a t-shirt with the P.E.I.P. logo on it, Scarfy socks, a hoodie, a flannel, and black skinny jeans. Taylor loved fandom merchandise, and would wear only it forever if she owned enough of the stuff. She tuned out for a bit, snuggled in blankets and 5 furry Cabbage Patch Kid-like dolls, wondering what NPMD would be about. 

"Okay, well, why don't we get started? Okay, so as you all know, Nerdy Prudes Must Die is our next show! We're all very excited, and today we will be talking about it, maybe announcing some characters and casting, playing some scratch tracks, all the stuff we did for the TGWDLM livestream and the Black Friday livestream, to raise money for it. I see in the chat that people want casting and music now, but this was is what we're gonna do- so currently, we're at $348,592 pledged to the Kickstarter, but once we reach $350,000, we'll announce our first casting stuff, and play a scratch track. I think every $5,000, we can announce another character, and every $10,000, we'll play a track. As you may know, this show is set in Hatchetfield, and it is another horror-comedy musical. The Lords in Black may or may not be in it, I'm not giving that away just yet. I see the chat exploding, slow down guys. Okay, for those of you who don't know, the Lords in Black are... well, beings, named Bliklotep, or, Blinky, Wiggog Y'wrath, or, Wiggly, Pokotho, Pokey, T'noy Karaxis, Tinky, and Nibblenephim, or, Nibbly. Tinky's full title is 'The Bastard of Time and Space', while Nibbly's is 'The One Who Feasts in the Dark'. Blinky's is 'The Watcher With A Thousand Eyes', Pokey's is 'The Singular Voice', and Wiggly's is simply 'The Lord in Black'. They are things from the Black and White, a place beyond the universe. Everyone, why don't you get your dolls, and Jeff you can prepare the first track if you want, 'cause we're at just about $349,500." Nick explained, in Taylor's opinion pretty accurately, and detailed enough to explain to those who didn't know. Sometimes, she thought that the fans knew the material better than the writers and actors. It was kind of sad, but it showed how dedicated fandoms can be. Taylor for one knew the entire script of TGWDLM and Black Friday by heart, as well as some of the choreography, and was working on Firebringer, AVPM, and Trail To Oregon.

When the Starkids went to get their dolls and stuff, Taylor pledged 100 dollars, because she was already worshiping Satan, she loved Starkid, and, well, she wanted the Kickstarter rewards, so it seemed fair that she pledge that much. She also hadn't pledged for any other show. She picked up her Pokey doll (she had all five Lords in Black), and traced the eyes. Taylor did that sometimes when she got anxious. She didn't know what she was anxious about this time, but an unwarranted panic attack was coming on, she could feel it, and Taylor wanted to stop it from happening. Taylor's anxiety caused her to be prepared for the unexpected, and so there was a backpack under her bed with food, water, a burner phone with her parents and best friend's contacts on it, a pair of cheap earbuds, a sweatshirt, and an EpiPen, because Taylor was severely allergic to eggs, and would most definitely die if she consumed any more than 15 mL of the stuff, which wasn't particularly easy to work with, as . She hadn't needed that backpack yet, but she took it out and put it on now, as Nick answered some questions from the chat on the livestream, because something felt off. Like, it shouldn't be taking them this long to find a doll or five. It didn't help that Nick looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack. Most people wouldn't have noticed, but with Taylor's anxiety disorder, she could see the signs. It just made Taylor more anxious, so she typed in the chat, 'Idk why u r panicking, but take a breath, count to ten, and let it out, and tell yourself that everything's gonna be fine.' She didn't know why he was panicking, but she needed him to stop, or she would have an attack.

She sighed, and got up to ask her parents for one of her anxiety meds. They had recently given in and gotten them for her after a week of panic attacks every day. They didn't like the idea of drugs, but otherwise, she had crippling anxiety.

Taylor threw off her blanket, hitting a lamp in the process. As she leaned over to pick it up, a portal appeared behind her, almost identical to the ones in The Flash, a show she had been watching a lot of recently.

"Oh shit." She nurtured under her breath, feeling an attack starting. She grabbed her backpack from under her bed, and tried to grab her phone from her bed, but her hand grazed the portal in the process, causing the panicking teen to have to throw the bag over her shoulder as quickly as she could, as she got sucked in.