#bbd bb

I’d say they were very close, considering the photo with the childlike handwriting that says “Best Dad Ever” I think it belongs to little Lane.

I don’t know exactly what their relationship or dynamic was like, but I’d say they loved each other. Lane’s mom seemed very excited to have him. Two months before his birth, she took a photo with Amy and wrote “Two months until we meet you.” His father was probably the one who took the photo.

2nd: Lane and his dad

I talked to one of my friends about it, and she said the photo reminded her a lot of her cousin and uncle. You know how little boys who are close to their fathers tend to stick by them around the ages of 5 to 7? Looking at the photo, I think Lane was around that age. He could’ve been younger though idk.

(he's indeed 5 to 6 here, the photo has 91 at the top corner implies that it was taken in 1991)

My friend also pointed out that most boys she knows who are close to their dads tend to stay attached to them from around 5 until they hit their 11.

So, is it safe to say Lane was closest to his dad around that time?

When did Lane’s dad die?

Laly mentioned that he passed away when Lane and Amy were very young, but different cultures define “young” differently. Where I’m from, losing a parent between the ages of 7 and 10 would be considered very young.

However, in the 1995 photo of Lane and Amy, Lane was around 9 to 10 (not his birthday yet). Amy still looks very happy. Lane’s eyes seem a little darker than they do in the photo with his dad, but that could be because of many things.

I don’t think his dad passed away around that time or before it, because Amy looked genuinely happy. A child can try to act mature, but their eyes don’t lie. Amy’s eyes still have that spark MC describes, so I think their dad was probably still alive then. If he’d already died, I don’t think Amy would’ve looked that bright.

There’s also a note on the photo. I don’t know whose handwriting it is, but it isn’t Lane’s or his mom’s. I assume it’s Amy’s because she has a habit of drawing hearts, stars, smiley faces and things like that in her handwriting.

Why does it look so different from her handwriting now?

It could simply be because she was younger. We don’t know.

She wrote about how good it once felt to be ordinary. Maybe she was referring to a time when their dad was still alive, nothing had changed much, and life wasn’t half miserable. It could be nostalgia. Who knows.

So when exactly did the man die?

I honestly have no clue haha fml. But based on Lane’s 1999 note, he seemed to be doing well in English. He got 88% and he was around 14 because the sheet says Grade 9 and 1999. His teacher wrote that he did good work and should keep it up.

There are 2 possible scenarios here.

Scenario 1

His dad died before Lane turned 14, maybe when he was around 12 or 13. That could be why Lane tried to keep his grades up and make his mom happy while still grieving his dad. I’ll explain why I think that when I talk about his mom.

Then, when he was 15 or 16, his mom remarried. That might be what Laly meant when she said his grief was interrupted.

Around the time he was 16, he had a girlfriend who ended up breaking his heart. Their photo says it was taken in summer 2001, so they probably dated for a while before she ghosted him and they broke up.

Amy then bought Lane a ticket to a Slipknot concert and wrote “Smile Lane” on the back.

(Laly spoon-feeding y'all, this is indeed ticket bought by Lane’s ex gf, maybe they went together, idk)

“Smile Lane” is Bianca’s handwriting.

Lane said his ex left him when he thought things had finally gotten better. Maybe he meant that he thought he’d started recovering from his dad’s death. Then his mom announced she’d remarried, so it became one painful event after another. Amy probably bought the ticket to cheer him up.

Scenario 2

His dad died when Lane was 14, right when he entered high school. That could’ve shocked him badly and explained the blank period in 2000, when he was 15. Maybe he was grieving, so we don’t get much information about that year of his life.

His grades might’ve dropped because he was tired of everything and started becoming more reckless. Then, when he was 16, his mom remarried another man, which added even more to his wounds. After that, he met his ex-girlfriend.

Lane also mentioned a teacher who was always kind to him even when he failed her class. She seemed to teach geography and encouraged him even when he got a terrible score (21%)

Lane and his keepsake

Lane has a necklace in his bathroom with the initials CF on it. I think CF could stand for his dad’s name because Lane’s middle name starts with C. MC says his middle name seems to have been rubbed off on his driver’s license.

Could Lane have rubbed his dad’s name off because it reminded him too much of him? Maybe it made him feel worse, especially if he thought “Damn. Dad must be disappointed in me.”

Let’s call his dad Connor for now. I know it’s a stereotypical name, but it fits the blank and it’s just a nickname I came up with.

I think the necklace belonged to his dad because Lane wore it on 1st Jan 2004, which was New Year’s Day. He’d only gotten his license on 17th Dec 2003. He was speeding, drinking and smoking when he got pulled over.

When the officer offered to call his guardian because he was underage (drinking), Lane got angry and nearly punched him. He ended up getting arrested.

Could that have been around the time his dad died (1st Jan I mean)? Maybe that’s why he went out smoking and drinking alone while wearing his dad’s necklace. Who knows.

I like imagining Mr. Connor as a typical officer dad. Someone who believes strongly in justice, has a rough side and comes across as intimidating (even when he is good-looking) at first because he’s serious. But underneath that, he’s the most caring person ever.

A classic family man. A suburban dad. The dad-next-door type. You know what I mean.

Third: Lane and his mom

It’s easier for me to imagine Lane’s mom because she reminds me a little of my own mom but not exactly. I’ll explain.

Lane mentioned that she always thinks she’s the victim. She cries in the kitchen or gets upset when her kids don’t say they love her back or hug her.

Could she be narcissistic? Maybe.

Lane also said he’d gotten worse beatings from women when he told MC about a customer punching him at his old job. I don’t know if he was joking, but if he wasn’t, maybe his mom hit him too. (Lowk if I were a boy, my mama might’ve beaten me too)

I can imagine Lane’s mom being like some women I’ve met in real life. During the 1990s and early 2000s, she might’ve been under a lot of pressure after losing the man in the house and having to raise 2 children alone while they were still young.

Maybe she developed a toxic love-hate relationship with them. Emotional abuse, manipulation, guilt-tripping, all of that.

She could say the most hurtful things to her kids one moment, then cry and apologise the next. If that happened constantly, every day, it would affect Lane badly.

That could also explain why his grades dropped. He might’ve just gotten fed up with everything happening at home.

Laly also said that Lane looking like his dad is important. I can imagine Lane’s mom expecting him to “man up” and become the man of the house, even though he was still a child. That kind of expectation comes from toxic masculinity and the stereotypes people might’ve had about Mr. Connor’s job.

Maybe she compared Lane to his dad too. Like A LOT. 

That would make things even worse because every time she looked at Lane, she might’ve seen an uncanny version of her dead husband. That could’ve hurt her even more.

His mom might’ve remarried quickly because she needed financial support, not necessarily because she was in love. Lane might not have been able to handle how fast she seemed to move on.

There’s also the disciplinary action form dated 18 March 2002. Two guardians signed it, and one signature has “father” written beside it. Lane would’ve been 17 (16 on paper bc not his birthday yet) then and probably completely done with everything.

That means his mom had to remarry before he turned 17 (base on year not his birthday). So her remarrying when he was 15 or 16 would make sense if his dad died when Lane was around 12 to 14

Lane said that after the suspension, his mom kicked him out for a week and he stayed at Ludwig’s house. He also said he never graduated.

So yeah, you can finish the puzzle from there.

Lane also said something about Amy leaving him behind in some way. I assume she graduated and moved away from town, while Lane stayed behind to deal with whatever was happening with their mom.

4th: Lane and his stepdad

I don’t know much about the guy, but I’d say he probably wasn’t very active as a father figure.

There could be many reasons for that. Maybe he saw that Lane still hadn’t moved on from his dad and didn’t want to seem like he was trying to replace him. Or maybe he didn’t marry Lane’s mom for love.

Maybe his mindset was “They aren’t my kids. I’ll provide financial support but I’m not raising them.”

That could be why Lane and his stepdad didn’t have the best relationship.

Lane did say the guy did what a typical dad would do, but maybe it was very subtle. Maybe he didn’t want to deal with drama or emotional messiness, so he stayed distant even when he knew Lane wasn’t okay.

That could be why Lane kept the same cold dull relationship with him.

5th: Easter eggs in Lane’s apartment

First Easter egg: Amy’s eyeshadow palette

Amy’s eyeshadow palette has these words written on it:

“My Heart Is In Pain But I’m Smiling For You.”

If you click on the “Pain” palette, the shadow gets scraped away and reveals red underneath.

Those are lyrics from Stereo Love by Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina, released in 2009.

It could represent both Lane and Amy. Lane said he still hadn’t moved on, while everyone around him acted like everything was fine. Maybe for a long time, he had to pretend he was fine too, until he couldn’t anymore.

Laly also mentioned that he hates family gatherings. Based on his mom’s Christmas card from last year, he didn’t go home then either.

Second Easter egg: The COD receipt

I’m not kidding when I say I woke my cousin up in the middle of the fucking night for this. The only thing I know about COD is Ghost smut on Tumblr, probably written by some underage girls with wildly unrealistic fantasies about emotionally unavailable military men.

Anyway, if you click on the barcode, MC keeps saying it looks weird.

My stoopid ass has experience working in a convenience store, so I kept staring at the barcode trying to figure out what was wrong with it. I noticed the dividers indeed weren’t in the normal order (like MC said) but I still had no idea what it meant.

So I woke up my cousin because he’s been obsessed with COD for years. He used to play it while babysitting me in 2009.

He was confused and annoyed, but he still answered my call to look at the barcode because I was scared it was something related to COD that I couldn’t figure out myself.

Unfortunately, he was useless!!!!!!!!! He passed out while we were still on the call!!!!

So I had to take matters into my own hands.

And AHAHAHAHAHA, I finally figured it out. This is unreal.

It’s an alternate reality game puzzle created by Activision to hype up the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 in 2009. I did hear my cousin mumble something about a campaign launch before he passed out, but I still had no idea what he was talking about.

The TC# works based on the dividers in the barcode.

Original:

TC# 23 5 18 14 5 18 9 19 19 1 4

After the dividers:

23 5 18 14 5 18 | 9 19 | 19 1 4

IT’S AN A1Z26 CIPHER.

You just organise the numbers based on the alphabet, where 1 = A, 2 = B, and so on.

So we get: 23 = W 5 = E 18 = R 14 = N 5 = E 18 = R / 9 = I 19 = S / 19 = S 1 = A 4 = D