"At fourteen, I believed I was simply living my life. Today, I wonder how much of that transformation happened without me noticing."
The summer of 2003 was defined by a specific kind of teenage isolation: weightlifting in small rooms, heavy weed use, and an exclusive obsession with the dark, hypnotic sound of Memphis rap group Three 6 Mafia.
But that summer took a turn into the unexplainable.
During a weekend trip to a cottage outside Ottawa, a late-night joint in the pitch-black woods ended with an encounter with a massive, red-eyed entity standing in the trees. The fear didn't end when we returned home. Over the following months, inexplicable occurrences plagued my apartment, culminating in a terrifying afternoon when my friend and I spotted the same figure standing in my bedroom in broad daylight, leaving behind a heavy thud and a strange, hoof-shaped mark on the floor.
An excerpt reflecting on youth, psychological shifts, dark influences, and the mysterious events that bonded two fourteen-year-olds as blood brothers.
Read the full journey in Beyond Millennial: A Psychological Memoir, coming soon.