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Nick Reiner was at a troubled youth program as a kid.
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this post was submitted on 16 Dec 2025
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Chapotraphouse
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damn i shouldn't have read all that. or i should have. terrible but eye opening and now my day is ruined
Sorryyyyyy I also regret reading the whole thing when I did years ago. I did put a content warning after a few minutes though. It is horrible but also strangely compelling to read.
Oh absolutely. I feel like I'm getting PTSD just by reading this and I can't stop reading it
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i genuinely thought it was going to end once he made it to Brooklyn. Silly me🙃Yeah you really should take breaks with that story. It is A LOT for one sitting.
fucking hell it just keeps fucking going. I thought I was nearly done by chapter 52 and i checked and there's 100 of these wtf
It's so compelling. I can't stop. I hope it was life changingly cathartic for Joe to create this amazing piece of work.
The later half (around chapter 65ish), Joe's life gets a lot better when he finally graduates and turns 18. He still has a lot of lingering issues and trouble adjusting to life after Elan, but he eventually builds a future for himself. Although, he does keep tabs on/in touch with other survivors and they all have various issues ranging from PTSD to drug addiction.
What's more is this not only does this continues to today, there are thousands of Native Americans subjected to similar abuse in residential schools across North America. The last of them didn't close until the '90s in Canada. It was widespread and systemically supported by multiple governments. "Kill the Indian, save the Christian" was their motto.
Absolutely horrifying what children are subjected to because they're seen as property to be bought and sold, not the people they actually are.
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I'm frightened to consider how the hell they managed to find him. How'd they know he was in Brooklyn, much less specifically where in Brooklyn?spoiler
If I recall, even he's not sure how it happened, but he believes it's because the guy who ran Elan was probably well connected with other local intitutions and could contact them to look for himhim suddenly turning to religion after that experience isn't too surprising though. i'd be goddamn terrified if they somehow found me that far away. Hell, when he introduced me to the drifter in the van, I was sure that the guy actually worked for Elan and went out there just to grab him and take him back
Yeah same, definitely broke my brain and I don't know that anything other than everyone who ever ran one of these places being redacted will ever fix it