Since folks were asking about DarkKitten and me, I figured it was finally time that I broke my silence. I ask, as you read this, that you please bear in mind rule one. I firmly believe people are innocent until proven guilty, but, I also can't ignore the evidence, so, here goes.

As some probably know, Darkkitten and I were more than just writing partners. We were close friends, and, we had big plans of getting together and seeing where life took us from there. We joked all the time about being an old married couple already because we just got along so well. We never had an argument about anything because we always seemed to be on the same wavelength.

I suppose that should've been a red flag to me, but I was dealing with my own mental health problems over these past 15 odd years, and, quite frankly, they got me through that in one piece. That's why it's so difficult for me to talk about this next part, but, y'all deserve some answers in lieu of our books being pulled from Amazon and the like.

Basically, a few months ago, I and several senior administrators for the site received a message from someone claiming to be Darkkiten's partner, informing us that they had been arrested, and wouldn't say what the crime was.

I spoke with this person extensively, and through my own digging was able to corroborate several things, including that the person I knew as Darkkitten, Ashleigh McGreagor, was just a pen name, and that everything they had told me up until this point was untrue.

I was also able to find out what they were being held in jail for, and that's the reason the senior staff and I decided to pull our books off Amazon and just cut ties with them. I won't say exactly what they're accused of here, but I will say that electronic devices were confiscated, and the DA claims to have an airtight case.

Like I said before, please keep rule one in mind. But even if they are innocent of the crimes, they still lied to me, borrowing an exhorbitant amount of money in small amounts. Like the frog in the pot of cold water, I didn't realize I was being boiled until it was too late. I'm working on that, and I don't judge them. Like I jokingly told the staff, "I look at it as very expensive therapy." Because it was therapeutic. Our time "together" gave me the space and the sounding board I needed to heal past a LOT of my personal trauma and PTSD.

I even have an official ADHD diagnosis now, and have become an outspoken ASD/ADHD advocate for undiagnosed people, but especially kids, because that's where a lot of my trauma came from. Even if I wasn't trans, my life would have been one disappointing failure after another due to the undiagnosed ADHD. But, like I said, I'm able to move past all that and Iowe Darkkitten for helping me through it.

Nothing in life is ever truly black and white, and I've made peace with that. I'm sorry that I didn't say anything sooner, but I think some part of me was hoping, waiting for Darkkitten to give me a call and tell me it was all a huge misunderstanding. Unfortunately it's looking more and more like that's not the case. There are still a lot of unanswered questions, things that just don't add up right, but it's enough there that we've been forced to distance ourselves both for my own protection, and the site's integrity.

Is a part of me still angry? God yes. I'd be lying if I said I was completely okay with everything that's happened. But anger doesn't change anything, doesn't make anything better, so I've chosen to just try and move past it. I've started writing again, and I've been learning programming over the last 3 years (3 years in October as a matter of fact, the anniversary of getting on Straterra for my ADHD.

I might talk more about that some time, or about programming, or what I've been up to. Who knows? I didn't mean to just ghost the Big Closet for sure! After COVID everything just seemed to get more and more chaotic.

Anyway, if you want to stay in touch or just reach out and give me a virtual slap once in awhile, my socials are at https://linktr.ee/ScaerieTale and @Scaerietale on Discord (I think. lol. Pretty sure that's it).

I'll try and get through my 30+ PMs this week too. Love y'all.