"You know, up until Murkoff pushed him far enough… Eddie knew what he was doing. He was crazy enough to think that lying to Murkoff would get him home free, though."

We sat in front of the TV, guards behind each door to ensure we wouldn't escape. It was early in the morning, no one else was awake yet. I rested my head on his shoulder, too tired to keep it up. I channel-surfed as I saw him doze on the couch we sat on. Suddenly, I heard a very familiar intro begin playing. It was the intro to Eddie's favorite childhood show. I shook him awake and he grunted. "W-what is it?" He cracked his neck slightly and saw the familiar black-and-white scheme play along the television. I pulled the corners of my mouth up in a smile.

"Hey, I've been waiting for this show to come on for a long time. I wanted to see what it was like."

Eddie gazed down at me. "You've never seen it?"

I shook my head. "I remember my parents watching reruns of it sometimes… but I was never interested."

Eddie must've known this show backwards and forwards. It was what most of his therapy sessions consisted of. Ironically this particular episode was about a kid named Eddie. He was trying to pick up girls at the soda bar or something. It would've been laughable if I hadn't been so tired. I joked with Eddie, "Damn, dude, I didn't know you were in Leave it to Beaver."

"Quiet, you."

"Alright Eddie… if that really is your real name."

He shushed me again and I lied my head back onto his shoulder. We sat there for half an hour more before I spoke up again. "Eddie… do you really want a girl like that?" I asked as I watched Beaver's mother and father converse on the TV screen.

"Hm? Like what?"

"One who talks like that… like you're always right? Like she has no opinion outside your kids?"

He was confused, an eyebrow raised in my direction. "What's wrong with that?"

I avoided his question for a moment to throw another of my own at him. "Eddie, what do you think a woman should be?"

He began to get the uneasy look on his face that he always got when a therapist or doctor came to his cell. "Well…" He swallowed, "I want a girl who's… everything. Loving, caring, means well, loves our children… just like the one that married my father."

"That's it? That's all you look for? What else is there?"

"I want…" I saw the nervousness flood over him. "obedience."

Now I was the one with a raised eyebrow. "Obedience? Eddie, people aren't obedient. Dogs are obedient. You can't… you can't tell a person to be obedient. That's like telling your pet to… Fuck, I don't know, grow hands and then walk on them… and then when they can't, you beat them."

He didn't understand. He couldn't. All he knew was what his father taught him… and Christ, what his father taught him was something awful. He had told me once that he had never once trusted someone as much as he trusted me. Ever. He then proceeded to explain to me, in vivid and horrifying detail, what his childhood consisted of. How the issues had only begun to pop up after his mother left. About how whispers would find him in the night and take him to their rooms. About when the phone lines were cut so no one would find out… and about how the windows and walls were sound-proof. About how he cried for Mother but she wasn't there. How he nearly lost a finger for trying to struggle... God fucking damn.

"Eddie, love isn't temporary. Love is something that is unconditional… even when someone fucks up, you don't hurt them."

He cocked his head.

"I guess now wouldn't be the best time to apologize for that kiss a few weeks ago?"

He looked down at me quickly, pain written all over his face. "No, no, please don't take it back. I've never felt a thrill like that. Never. Please don't tell me it was a mistake."

I felt him tense up more and more as he looked progressively upset. "A-alright, alright… you know, I didn't really want to apologize for it anyways." I smiled at him.

"We're fucking lunatics." He said to me, "And I love us for that."

I chuckled. "You corny bastard."

"You're just not of my time."

"Oh please. Get over yourself."

He joked with me until the show ended, going completely silent afterwards. I had begun to get tired a few minutes before so I had shifted into Eddie's lap to lie down.

"I'm glad you knew what you were doing."

I picked my head up."Hm?"

"…At the showers that day."

"How come?"

"…Because I've never been able to be gentle." He turned away from me slightly. "No one ever taught me that touch wasn't dangerous."

I nestled my head back into his lap. "Eddie, you're too old to act like this. Hell, you're too fucking manly to act like this." I cracked a smile.

"Like what?" He asked, confusion and concern in his voice.

"You could fucking snap me in half, but you're spilling your life story to me right and left... I mean I'm not complaining, but it's just… unexpected."

"I understand."

Ever since Eddie began to trust me, he became more playful and more like a kid to me. He became a brother to me. Jesus, he was the only man I've ever kissed, nearly the only PERSON I've ever kissed. I figured, you know, hell, if I'm going to die in here, I'd better make it worth my time. But Eddie was a surprise. I thought, shit, I'm in between two serial killers and I'm as thin as a toothpick. I was writing my will in my head.

But when I heard the sounds of the asylum at night, I felt myself losing my mind. It was only the concern I had for the crying ma murmuring, "I'll be a good boy" in the cell next to me that kept me from killing myself. He just kept repeating that phrase, lying on the floor in agony. I didn't know friendship could bloom from mental illness. I didn't even know that was a thing. What the hell.

Waylon shivered and placed his camera in my lap, starting the Jeep we sat in. The passenger seat was cold. How did you operate a car again? It's been so long.

Waylon hadn't put on his seatbelt yet. He stretched over me to reach into the glove compartment, looking for batteries or something. I still felt the salty wetness on the brims of my eyes, refusing to blink. I wouldn't let the tears flood over.

"You ok?" He asked me.

I hesitated. "…Hell no."

And yet again another flashback because fuck. I actually think its kind of weird how in Leave it To Beaver there's a kid named Eddie. Maybe that's another reason why Eddie thought he belonged there? ._.