About a month after [[The Pallet]] arrived, [[Ernest]], [[Sam]], and [[Sterling]] were up at the shop while I was working on embroidery. I knew it was going to be something serious since Sterling only ever showed up when there was "business" to handle, at least from what I could tell. The 3 of them together, meeting, couldn't be a good omen by any means. I had a weird feeling today, like my "spidey senses" were tingling. I don't know how to describe it but I always listen to my gut. Sometimes, I learn more from my intuition than I do from reading and processing things logically and physically, so I knew not to ignore this. As Sterling popped around the corner while I was working, I saw them all with their usual rolling devices, getting some blunts ready. I mentioned something about passing some weed my way and Sterling said "I thought you'd stopped smoking after you found out about..." as Ernest sharply interrupted him with a "Shh" and a finger of the mouth, smirking like the devil. Sterling went quiet and I just pretended like I didn't even pay attention to Ernest interrupting him as I said "No way!" but in the back of my mind knew that something had been up for a while, I just didn't know what. As they shut the door to the studio, almost fully shut, but cracked enough to see the billowing smoke and hear whispers, I knew something strange was happening. I heard conversations about them not smelling things until they were in the studio, which was odd, but as I leaned in a bit closer I was blown away. I don't know exactly what was said but it sounded as if they were talking about my wife "going away" and were asking Sterling about my kids and if they'd be okay. He was telling them how important his kids' mom is to them at an early age. Were they really talking about getting rid of my wife!?! I thought this had to be wrong but the more I listened the more I knew they were talking about getting rid of her. What else could it have been? I knew they were liars who didn't care about harming their community (which already deserves punishment) but didn't know they were evil, until this moment. Why else would they be talking like this? Ernest talking about "having to take care of my kids" afterward or something? What was he even plotting? All I knew is, from this moment, they had to be stopped. They weren't my friends, my family or even just ignorant men who wanted their community to party, they were my enemies. Fast forward a few weeks or so after this conversation, Ernest had invited me to a New Years thing at some cabin in the mountains, I assume Gatlinburg / East TN area. He said that Sterling, Jr. Mane (his cousin), and I assume Sam would be there. I pretended like it would sound interesting and said I would ask my wife, which I never did obviously. Everything about him was off at this moment and he didn't even seem like the same person I'd been working with for years. All I could see was a liar, someone who is flooding his community with hard drugs, a killer, plotter and fake piece of shit. I was smooth and cool about it and never brought the invite up again, but I know they would have tried something then... Oddly enough, throughout all of this, I never felt as if they had any plans on harming me in any way. For some reason, I felt as if they wanted me isolated, separate from my family, friends or anyone else that wasn't connected to them in some way. What did all of the monitoring, the plotting, the illicit activities, the isolation, the lying have to do with me? Was I their golden goose? Was I the ultimate front for their real business? Even to this day, I may never know...