Both of our stories today are about people who are just looking for a solution to their problems.

However, the solutions they settle on and ultimately use wind up being the worst thing that ever happened to them.

But before we get into today's stories, if you're a fan of the strange, Dark, and Mysterious delivered in story format,

then you've come to the right place because that's all we do,

and we upload two, three, even four times every week.

So, if that's of interest to you, on the next freezing cold day,

go ahead and spray down the follow button's driveway with water,

turning it into a skating rink.

Okay, let's get into our first story, which is just after 1 p.m., 16-year-old Marcus Freeman sat behind the wheel of his dad's pickup truck,

belting out the lyrics to one of his favorite songs on the radio as he and his girlfriend Carly drove down a highway in Northport, Florida.

The pair had just left the dentist where Marcus had just gotten some dental work done,

and in fact his jaw was pretty sore, but he was basically singing right now, as was Carly, in order to

distract himself from the pain. And for the most part, this worked, but every time a song

ended, it's like all he could think about was just how sore his jaw was. But Marcus was not like

your typical 16-year-old kid. You know, he was sort of accustomed to having discomfort in his life, both physical discomfort

and mental discomfort.

And he really worked hard to be someone who was able to push through discomfort,

including things like jaw pain.

So he was the quarterback of his varsity football team at his high

school, Northport High. And over the last year, he'd really begun to focus on his physical fitness.

And so he'd begun doing these really difficult physical workouts that were sort of like, you know,

vomit-inducing. And then also, you know, Marcus, he was for the most part pretty mentally well adjusted.

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