Tamika Wood’s Birthday Party

& Other Stories by Le Kendall


Untitled Cello Piece: Content Notes

This post contains content notes and trigger warnings. If content notes or trigger warnings make you uncomfortable or offend you please feel free to skip it! I wouldn’t want you to unexpectedly encounter content which you’d rather avoid during your leisure time.

It isn’t possible to warn for everything, but I have tried to warn for the most common triggers. You may choose not to read this story, to skip certain chapters, or to choose to read certain chapters when you’re feeling mentally and/or emotionally prepared.

Please keep yourself safe and I apologise if I’ve missed anything that negatively affects you. I want reading my stories to be enjoyable, however I do sometimes include some serious themes along with love and kissing and stuff.

If you know that you have triggers which are uncommon or I may not have anticipated please feel free to ask me so that I can add them to the content notes or give you spoilers to let you know whether or not something does or does not happen.

Some of these notes may include spoilers.

General Notes

Untitled Cello Piece is not episodic in the same way that other parts have been and I do not believe that a chapter breakdown will be particularly useful or that you could skip chapters and have it make much sense.

However this part of the story is independent from much of what has happened so far and will not be necessary to understand what happens in future stories in the Tamika Wood Cinematic Universe. If the included themes would be too distressing for you to read about you can safely skip Untitled Cello Piece entirely.

Audio Stuff

Haha. Okay so there’s a character from the USA in this story who only speaks briefly and my accent is… probably not great, sorry. (It was ear-bleedingly awful but thanks to some assistance from a kind reader who provided an audio sample I was able to do another take!)

I cry a lot in Chapter 6. The sobs are real sobs. I was crying too much to press stop on the recording and left it in.

Themes

Mental Health

Much of Part Four deals with themes of mental illness, self harm and suicide (see detailed for spoilers about self-harm and suicide).

If you are experiencing thoughts of suicide or self harm please keep yourself safe. You can call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or find a crisis line in your country.

Sexual Assault

Brief, passing mention of past rape in chapter 3.

Intimate Partner Violence

This story includes suspicions of intimate partner violence. It was not witnessed by Michelle and she does not know for sure whether it did or did not happen.

Childhood Abuse

There are references to past events which includes physical violence against children. These are the same events mentioned in I Can’t Talk About That.

Cults and Predatory Groups

This story involves a predatory self help group which takes advantage of vulnerable people. This “Cult-lite” group is not religious in nature and is not – at least to any of the characters knowledge – involved in sexual coercion or exploitation.

Racism

Not everyone is white in the real world and not everyone is white in this story. Australia is a super racist country though. (See detailed notes for spoilers about racism)

Detailed Notes

Spoilers follow. Only read past this point if you think knowing some of these things in advance will enhance your enjoyment of the story rather than the opposite.

Self-harm and suicide

The main character mentions thoughts and feelings about self-harm and suicide. No descriptions or methods are mentioned. None of those thoughts or intentions take place “in the present” and are descriptions of feelings and thoughts that have happened at other times.

The character of “Dan” dies by suicide in chapter five. Nothing is described and no methods are discussed.

Racism

In chapter four a suggestion is made that a person of colour should endure being verbally racially abused on purpose in order build character. The suggestion is not carried out.


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