The Orphanage by the Lake
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Read between April 13 - May 3, 2025
2%
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barks
Laran Despain
not a dog
13%
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spin.
Laran Despain
How is she going to charge it?
14%
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A storm is coming.
14%
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metaphor:
15%
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aviator glasses,
15%
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mustache
16%
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studying my license.
16%
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Something about this cop isn’t right.
18%
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because I was different.
20%
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additional attention.”
21%
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I’ve given extra lessons to other girls over the years
21%
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I was grooming her
24%
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size of the lake,
25%
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Nothing hangs from the walls,
26%
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All the essentials are missing.
27%
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The rope swing reminds me of a noose.
29%
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grapes
Laran Despain
Dionysus
33%
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figure out how to charge the Tesla,
38%
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puts me at ease.
Laran Despain
Uh oh
41%
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I think I’ve found my new best friend.
Laran Despain
Foreboding Music
41%
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Bumble
Laran Despain
More product placement
42%
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discovered.”
42%
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singing and theater,
42%
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choir teacher
43%
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“Dionysus?”
45%
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she and Mackenzie together must be quite the unstoppable force.
45%
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shuts the door behind them,
46%
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adopted?”
46%
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pretty girls, see?”
Laran Despain
Creeeepy
48%
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track down Goolsbee,
49%
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The person who’s taking these girls might be right in front of you, and you wouldn’t even notice.”
Laran Despain
Foreboding Music
52%
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pajama shorts and tank top.
Laran Despain
when did she change?
57%
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lost in the system, just like I was once.
58%
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I’m in trouble.
60%
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impressionist painting of children playing by a lake.
60%
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I’ve never felt so safe.
Laran Despain
foreboding music
64%
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white filtered
66%
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Bobby stubs out his cigarette on the road and then puts it in his pocket.
71%
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Mr. Goolsbee
71%
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Goolsbee. The girls started vanishing when he came here, not when Mackenzie did.
Laran Despain
Ah ha! I told myself!
73%
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but the Tesla’s windshield wiper sensors don’t seem to be aware.
Laran Despain
Uh oh
76%
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Andrew’s dad, Preston, might be involved in these abductions somehow.”
76%
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Sonia,
77%
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indecipherable crest.
Laran Despain
Dionysus ?
80%
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gnawing unease that lingers in the back of my mind.
80%
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I’m in trouble.
83%
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“Oh, I’ve heard of that place,” he says casually
83%
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case?”
Laran Despain
Asking questions without her realizing
85%
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her.”
86%
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last word, but I won’t give it to her.
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