Hello, everyone! Sorry for the long wait, I've been working to give you this: a 100% completely original chapter! That's right, this chapter isn't based on anything in the original story. This is all my material. I've been working on it for a while, and I'm hoping you all like it.

So yeah, enjoy.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

The brief buzzing sound played as the tv channel was changed over and over and over again. Jake, the tv remote held in his hand, was trying to find a good program to watch. But as he flicked through channel after channel, nothing caught his interest.

Sighing in boredom, Jake switched the tv off and threw the remote back down onto the couch frustratedly. What was he meant to do now?

Today was definitely not one of his more interesting days. Jeffrey, who was normally around to hang out with Jake, was not in Jake's house today. Jake had called Jeffrey over the phone to see what had happened, and Jeffrey had responded by saying that he was apparently busy today with 'some stuff that happened recently' and was too preoccupied to come over to Jake's house and discuss their plans to invade the neighbor's house today.

Jake didn't know what to think of this. He accepted that his friend might have other things in his life to deal with besides the neighbor, but it had placed Jake in an awkward situation instead. Despite the danger and harm he and Jeffrey always put themselves through to invade the neighbor's house, Jake had to admit that it had been extremely interesting to try and invade the neighbor's house, perhaps a bit too much.

But now that Jeffrey wasn't available, Jake could not do another invasion of the neighbor's house. The two of them had agreed ever since they started the entire operation that they would never, ever invade the house without both of them being there together unless they had a good reason to do so.

So now Jake had no idea what we meant to do without the distraction of Jeffrey and the danger and excitement of invading the neighbor's house. The tv wasn't playing anything interesting today, and Jake had already gotten bored of it, so now he was left to ponder what else he could do today.

Man, what now? He thought. I only just realized how boring this place gets when I'm not distracted by the neighbor and his actions. I seriously need to buy more furniture soon, and get this place upgraded. But now...what should I do? He thought for a moment. Hmm...wait, didn't I make a list yesterday? I should go ahead and check that.

Jake walked over to the place where his list was: the fridge. He had only recently gotten a refrigerator and plugged it into one of the walls; he had used to rely on Jeffrey to bring some food from his house, or an order from a local restaurant to do so, but Jeffrey was not available to cook for him all the time, and Jake wanted to save his money for better purchases then fast food.

So yesterday, he had ordered a fridge and some other items, like a microwave and a stove to be brought in to his house. The guy from the local furniture store had accepted the deal of bringing it to Jake, but only under the conditions that Jake would allow the guy to quickly drop off the fridge by the front porch and then drive off. Jake, just wanting to have the fridge, had accepted, and the fridge had been delivered without any major problems.

Now it was plugged in, although so far, Jake had not filled it with any kind of food whatsoever. This had caused him to make a list last night, where he had recorded down everything he planned to buy, and he had promised himself that today, he would go on a grocery trip to get everything he needed.

He headed across the room to the fridge: He had put it with other items to make a small kitchen set, which had some counters that gave him room to work, as well as a stove, oven, and microwave that he could also use. Heading up to the fridge, he spotted the list stuck to the refrigerator doors with a magnet in the shape of the letter A.

Jake took off the magnet, slid the list out, and put the magnet back. Then he scanned the list quickly to remind himself of what he needed: Milk, eggs, some jugs of water, sandwich materials, a couple tubs of ice cream for when he wanted dessert, frozen foods like chicken nuggets and fish sticks, a couple frozen pizzas, and a box of blueberries and a box of pineapple for when he wanted fruit, as well as a bunch of other items that he would need to have. It wasn't everything, but it was enough to get him off at a good start and get him through the week.

Hmm, this seems to be enough. He thought. This should get me through the week, maybe longer if I'm lucky. I won't have to depend on Jeffrey any more, at least.

He folded the list up into a smaller size and tucked it into a pocket on his jacket, where he could keep it safe and memorize it whenever he needed to. Now that he had the list in his possession, he could go on a proper grocery trip and purchase everything he needed to keep going through the days of his life.

Well, now that I'm ready, I shouldn't waste any time. Jake decided. He stepped away from the fridge and looked around. Jo-Jo, who was in the room with Jake, was currently messing with his scratching post in the corner of the room.

"Hey, Jo-Jo, I'm going out." Jake said, even though he didn't know if Jo-Jo could even understand him. "I'll be back in an hour or more, okay? Stay on your best behavior while I'm gone."

The cat looked over at Jake, let out a tiny meow, and focused back on the scratching post. Jake took this response as a 'yes'.

With Jo-Jo accounted for, Jake finally felt ready to leave. He was looking forward to getting out of the confines of his house, getting out into the fresh air, and getting a proper look around town for the first time while he went on a grocery run. He felt a bit silly for not doing something like this before.

He headed out of the living room and into the foyer, where he quietly opened his front door, stepped out onto his porch, and closed his house behind him. Jake also made sure to lock his house this time as he took out his house key and locked the door with it. He was going to be out and about for much longer then usual, and he was going to be much further away from his house, too, so he thought it a good idea to secure his house while he was away.

Not that he really expected anyone to rob his house, anyway: almost everyone in town was too afraid of the neighbor to risk such things, and the neighbor hardly cared enough about the rest of the street to try and do such an underhanded tactic. It was only when the rest of the town interfered with the neighbor that he actually stepped out and did something, but Jake knew that if he played his cards right, he would be able to avoid the neighbor entirely today.

Looking out on Sunset Avenue, Jake could see that the street was the exact same silence as it ever was. The street remained as empty and untouched as it ever did. There was no doubt that everyone was staying in today. The only sound Jake heard was the wind, which was blowing a light breeze through the town. Jake could feel the cold air on his skin, and for some reason, it made him feel slightly calmer then he usually was.

Then there was the neighbor's house, right across the street. The neighbor wasn't out in the street or in his front yard today. Jake, who had been checking outside the window every now and then, had not seen the neighbor leave his house even once today. Jake had no idea what the neighbor was up to, and today wasn't a day where he would be trying to find out. He could only assume that the neighbor was busy watching tv inside his house and that he was taking no notice of the outside world.

Despite this, Jake knew he had to be extremely cautious now that he was outside. He had already heard all the stories of the residents of the town who got kidnapped for making too many disturbances outside, and he didn't feel like joining them down in the basement.

He had seen the remaining residents of the town do their errands very quietly; from when Jake had driven back and forth when he went to the convenience store to do his part-time job, he usually always saw people passing out on the streets of the commercial district of town. They always seemed to be in a hurry to get to wherever it was that they were trying to go to. He always saw a few customers come in as he worked at the convenience store, but they hardly ever said anything unless they had to.

With all this information in his mind, Jake decided he would make the trip quietly. He would not drive around town today, as he usually did, but he would instead walk over to the main area of town where all the shops and major buildings were. He always knew this was possible; the town wasn't that big, and the driving he did was done more out of a desire for less difficulty traveling through town rather then a need to actually drive through town. His car never saw use besides these times, because he never drove anywhere outside of town, having heard the other stories of people getting kidnapped when they tried to drive out of town, their cars left abandoned at the side of the road each time.

Stepping down the front steps of his porch, he walked to the other side of the yard and onto the sidewalk. He passed by his red car, which he kept parked near the front path towards his house, and headed right. He kept going down the sidewalk, keeping as quiet as he could as he got away from the area where his and the neighbor's houses were and got to the intersection between Sunset Avenue and Cooper Street.

From here he turned left, crossed the road along the direction of Cooper street, and kept going. Keeping a brisk yet not too fast pace, he got away from Sunset Avenue. From here, he knew that it was less dangerous; the neighbor's area of control was more present in Sunset Avenue then anywhere else in town. Yet he still made sure to be quiet, because regardless of that fact, the neighbor could still do something anyway.

The rest of the walk towards the other side of town went uneventful. Jake simply passed other streets as he kept walking down the sidewalk towards his destination. There were eight whole streets that made up the resident side of town, and while that was smaller then most existing towns, this area of town was still sizable. He passed Woodland Avenue, then Oak Lane, then Jackson Avenue, Clearwood Street, and finally passed Strawberry Lane before he was past the area of town that was the residential district.

Now, at last, he had passed into the commercial side of town, where the shops and other buildings were present. He was on the intersection between Cooper Avenue and Franklin Lane as he came here. He could see people passing along the sidewalk around the area, in a hurry as always, and he could even see activity happening in nearby shops.

Crossing the road, he kept going down Cooper Street. On the corner of the intersection was the clock tower, the tallest building in the entire town, which stood high above most of the others. The clock embedded into it was ticking and ticking as usual. Jake felt a strangely calming feeling just by observing this clock tower, though he had no idea why he felt this way. Perhaps the clock tower was simply a building that looked friendly and nostalgic, even, which was in contrast to the threatening atmosphere of the neighbor's house.

Jake passed by a number of other shops as he went down, looking in the windows as he passed. Around half of them were empty, while another half had a few people inside, talking to each other. Jake knew people would be more comfortable talking indoors in this town. For some reason, indoors was the only place where a lengthy and fairly noisy conversation could be held without the risk of kidnapping.

Halfway down the street, Jake passed by the most notable place in town: the town hall. It was a white building, in its own area of prominence, with double doors leading in. Inside was the government of the town itself, but Jake had only ever known that they existed when Jeffrey had told him. As far as he had heard, the government of the town had gone into relative inactivity since the neighbor had arrived and put the town under threat. This would have normally been a recipe for chaos and crime, but with the rest of the town under threat as well, nobody dared step out of line, which ended up showing the town as a rare case where a place could be peaceful without control.

The town had hardly ever been controlled anyway, even before the neighbor had come. Jake had heard that the mayor of the town was a benevolent man who was hugely into the idea of letting the residents of town live in peace and tranquility, with the freedom to do anything they wanted...as long as it was within reason.

These thoughts led to Jake standing transfixed at the sidewalk, staring ahead at the town hall. He was wondering what the mayor could be doing now, what the entire town's government would be doing now that everything had happened to put the town in such a depressing state. Were they hiding out, hoping that the neighbor would leave and let the town be, despite the fact that this seemed unlikely? Were they doing something behind-the-scenes to put a stop to the neighbor? Or had they been disbanded entirely, with the town hall secretly abandoned without the town's entire population being informed first?

Jake shook himself out of these thoughts. Whatever the case may have been, it wasn't his priority to stare at the town hall forever. He had a grocery trip to complete.

So he kept going, passing more tiny shops and even a public town library before he arrived at the corner of the intersection between Cooper Street and Marigold Street. The corner of this area of town was actually a place Jake passed every day as he went to work at the convenience store: the pizza restaurant.

It was a red building on the outside, with glass double doors and a sign on the front that said Open. On top of the building was a large sign, which said Giovanni's in stylish red letters that matched the color of the building itself. Posters were pasted across the windows, advertising new pizzas and other recently-added products.

It was here that Jake came to another stop. Through the glass double doors, he could see a lone man leaning against the counter from the other side, the counter with the order signs and the cash register. He looked vaguely Italian, with tanned skin, a noticeable black mustache, and a large white chef's hat. He seemed to be the only worker there. This man was just there, staring off into space and looking fairly lonely.

Jake, for no reason at all, suddenly felt curious about this man. This man was sitting in this pizza place all by himself, forced to wait for customers that might not even be coming. He wanted to go in there himself, seeing as he had not tasted pizza in a long while. He knew he was meant to be making a grocery trip, but he was also quiet hungry and had yet to eat lunch, and pizza sounded tasty to Jake at the current moment.

Jake reached his hand out and pushed against the doors, opening them up to the sound of a jingling bell. He was now in a small dining area, with tables set across the room for people to eat: some for two, some for three, and some for four. It looked big enough to host a large amount of people, but right now it was empty save for a small man sitting at a table in the corner by himself, munching on a basket of breadsticks.

From across the room, the Italian man seemed to come back to reality, and his eyes went into focus as they eyed Jake come in. Instantly, the man sprang up with a happy smile.

"Ah! A customer! Just my luck!" The man cried. "Welcome, welcome! Come on in!"

Jake grinned. "Oh, uh...thanks. Will do." He crossed the room and went to the counter where the man was.

"It is a-very nice to see a new customer today!" The man said excitedly. "I am very appreciative of new customers, you know! Now, what would you like to order?"

"Let's see..." Jake stared up at the sign listing the items available for order, then looked back at the man and said: "One small pepperoni pizza, with a grape soda to go with it."

The man nodded in pleasure. "Ah, yes! Coming right up!" The man turned around and faced the area behind him, in which Jake could see was a white kitchen area with lots of stoves and other kitchen appliances. "Lyman, I need you for something!"

A man in a chef's outfit appeared from around the edge of one of the kitchen appliances. He looked portly, but also very pleasant.

"A customer is here! He has asked for a small pepperoni pizza!" The man at the counter explained. "Make the order right away, please!"

The chef man, apparently named Lyman, nodded in enthusiasm. "Right away, Giovanni!" He disappeared around the corner.

The man at the counter, who seemed to be named Giovanni, turned to Jake. "My chef, Lyman, is getting right to work. He will have your order ready within 30 minutes or less."

"Alright, thanks." Jake thanked Giovanni, grinning and nodding. "That chef of yours seems pretty enthusiastic."

"Oh, yes. He has not cooked a pizza for a customer in a while, so he is very happy to be able to do so." Giovanni replied. "He has only been cooking breadsticks for the time being. For that man in the corner." Giovanni quietly tilted his head towards the man in the corner of the room, who was still chewing on breadsticks. "He's the only customer we have had for a long time. He comes in every day at the same time and orders a basket of breadsticks...do not ask me why, I do not know who he is. He seems very odd to me...but I can hardly complain. It is good to have at least one regular customer."

"Huh. Yeah, it would be, I suppose. Otherwise, you guys wouldn't be making any money, right?"

"Well, in this pizza business, yes." Giovanni's smile faded, and he suddenly looked a bit sad about something. "Um...you do mind if I sit down and talk to you, do you? I...need to explain something."

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Um...sure, I guess. Where do we sit?"

"Anywhere. I do not mind."

They sat down at a nearby table, where Giovanni let out a tired sigh and began to explain.

"Firstly, I must apologize for this. I know you are but a paying customer coming in for food, I do mean to drop this on you by force when you have only just met me."

"Hey, it's alright. I'm curious about what you want to tell me, honestly." Jake admit calmly.

"Thank you, friend." Giovanni smiled. "I want to ask you something. Why...why are you invading the neighbor's house?"

"Huh?! Wait, how did you know about that?"

"From Lyman, actually. There have been rumors around town about you and...what was his name? Jeffrey, right?"

"Uh, yeah."

"I thought so. Anyways, yes, I have heard rumors. People have taken notice of your attempts to get into the neighbor's house, the talk has been all around the town. I have heard about it, and I am curious why you seek to invade the neighbor's house."

"...well, because me and Jeffrey, we...we decided we had to do. To try and see if we could do something important."

"You are trying to free the people in the basement, are you not?"

"No, I- how did you know about that, too?!"

"Again, the rumors. They are not sure of it, but they seem to think you are attempting to find the missing people. Is that true?"

"I...I can't say, but if I were, what would you do about it?"

"Nothing. I wouldn't stop anyone from doing such things, but if you are, I must give you a warning. The neighbor is not someone to be trifled with. You might already know this, yes, but you should keep large emphasis on that fact. That man has kept this town in this horrible state for a very long time; he is a professional in his art of forcing us to keep quiet and not do anything against him."

"I mean...I already knew that. You seem to be cautious of him, too."

Giovanni nodded slowly. "Yes, I am. See the place around you?" Giovanni looked around at the pizzeria. "This was founded by me and Lyman a few years ago, when we came to town to start our business. It was a dream of ours to do so. We had been planning it for years, and when we arrived, we managed to get a space in town for a large restaurant and open after some construction.

"It started out great. Our restaurant's business was high; we had many customers come in every day and night, who enjoyed and simply relished our pizzas. We were joyful beyond compare; we had wanted to give this small town a taste of the finest pizza we can craft, and we were succeeding in our endeavors. It seemed like there was no other direction we could keep going towards then up.

"But then...the neighbor came, and from there, you know the story. You know how he started to cause weird happenings in town, in his own house, that peaked the curiosity of many living here. You know of the boy who went in there to find out what the neighbor was doing...and never returned. You know of the promise the neighbor made to everyone here, and how the missing reports went up drastically after that.

"Because of this, our restaurant started to sink. Customers would never come in anymore; they never seemed to think about this place anymore! We have lost so much business that we have almost completely given up on this shop. The only way we continue to make money is through an online order service that Lyman set up himself; he has hired a crew of people to deliver his pizzas to the town closest to this one, and has managed to rack up much money through this. It is only because of him that we're even still here.

"And now...I don't know what to do." Giovanni went silent for a moment. "I thought I would continue running this pizzeria for as long as I could. I thought I would become known throughout the state, known for my wonderful ideas and Lyman's wonderful crafts...but now...my business is doomed. I rarely have customers anymore, and I do not even see why I continue to sit at the counter, hoping for business to boom again. Perhaps...perhaps I should close down this place for good..."

They were both silent for a while. Jake was emanating with sympathy towards Giovanni. Giovanni was perhaps the most clear evidence of how the neighbor's forceful kidnappings had started to crack at the foundation of the once-happy town and at the lives of those who barely had enough to scrape by. Hearing such things made his insides tighten, as if an iron hand was gripping them and twisting them ever-so-slightly.

But, if anything, this strengthened his resolve. He knew that, with his, Jeffrey's, Aaron's, and Nicky's efforts, they would be able to turn this town around. They would be able to uncover the truth behind the neighbor, free the innocents imprisoned in the confines of the dark basement deep below ground, and show the rest of the world how the neighbor was treating them. They would fix this, all of this, no matter what it took to do so...

"Hey, come on." Jake spoke up after a long silence. "You don't have to give up, Giovanni. There's still hope for a better tomorrow, hope that one day, this town will be better again."

"But how can we know that such times are coming?" Giovanni sighed. "How can we know that someday, the storm on this town will finally cease to exist?"

Jake hesitated. "We...we can't know. We might never know when that day might be, if it ever comes at all. But sitting here, surrendering to this fate of a miserable existence, is not what we should do! If we want these dark times to be over...if we want to bring back peace in this town and end this all...then we can't give up! We have to keep going, and someday...someday, we'll find brighter days! I know it!"

Giovanni was silent again. Then his face changed to a more determined look. "...you're right. You're absolutely right. What am I saying? I can't give up my hopes yet, not when there is still so much left for me to do." Giovanni straightened up. "Jake, you have the right idea. I know this is not the best time for this town, but I can't just let it be this way!" He stood up. "I will keep running this shop, with Lyman's help, and I won't stop! I will continue until the day where this all finally ends!"

Jake grinned. "That's the spirit! I'm glad you're back on your feet."

Giovanni bowed. "It is thanks to you, my friend. It has been a great pleasure to have someone like you stumble upon this little shop...oh, enough rambling! I must get you your food! Let me fetch you your grape soda." Giovanni hurried away, going back behind the counter to a fridge and fetching a grape soda, then hurrying back to Jake's table and setting it down. "There you go! Your pizza will be ready in a minute; Lyman should be finished with it by now."

"Thanks. I'm just happy I get to have some good pizza."

The rest of the stop in the pizzeria went in much higher spirits. Giovanni brought Jake his pizza minutes later, looking in very high spirits and becoming significantly more excited then ever before. He kept kindly asking Jake for anything; napkins, a refill, or even a specialty dessert. Jake, who wanted to not eat so much, had to say a lot of 'no, thank you' and 'I'm good' and 'I don't need anything else' before Giovanni finally felt happy with the service he had given Jake and had hurried away to deal with the other customer, who had ordered another basket of breadsticks while Jake was there.

Some time later, Jake finally opened the door to leave, waving to Giovanni as he exited the store.

"Goodbye, friend! Thank you for eating here!" Giovanni called, smiling. "You are welcome back here anytime!"

"You're welcome!" Jake called back. "I'll make sure to come back pretty soon! See you another time!"

He closed the door and stepped out back into the area outside, back onto the sidewalk. Jake was in such a good mood by this point that he nearly forgot that he had to be careful and make his trip faster and more quietly then normal people would. It was time to get back on track and get his groceries.

He went around the corner of the street and started up Marigold street, keeping to the left side of the road. He saw the gas station as he passed by the corner, which happened to be right next to the convenience store he worked at for his part-time job. Today wasn't a day where he had to check in for work, but Jake decided that he would make sure to keep an eye on his calendar (specifically, the calendar app on his phone) and keep note of the days he was supposed to come in.

He kept going along Marigold street, passing the Hard-Labor Gym on the left as he went. He remembered stopping in here before to do some quality exercise, and he found that the gym was a great place to do so. It had many machines and dumbbells for proper workouts, tons of manuals instructing how to properly do exercises, and so much more to accommodate the experience in there. The burly man who ran the place, whose name was Bill, was cool enough to let Jake workout in there for as long as he liked, and the lack of other people that visited meant that Jake almost always had the place to himself. He did see other people come in to the place to work out from time to time, but he mostly found himself alone when he arrived there.

As he passed, Jake saw in the window that Bill was inside at the moment, currently helping someone in the gym by instructing them on how to correctly do a squat. It might have even looked entertaining to watch it unfold, but Jake decided to keep walking along the street. Now was not the time for more distractions; the visit to Giovanni's had been enough, as far as Jake was concerned.

He kept going, arriving at the corner of the intersection between Marigold Street and Breaker Avenue. And the building on the corner was exactly where he needed to be: the grocery store. He could tell not just because the building was labeled as the grocery store, but also because this building was much bigger and more impressionable then the tiny shops he had passed by. Even bigger shops like Giovanni's didn't seem as big as the grocery store. Only more prominent areas like the town hall were bigger then this place.

Whew, finally here. And after all those delays, too. Jake thought. It wasn't that the delays were bad or anything. After all, the visit to Giovanni's to get pizza was very pleasant after the conversation he had had there. Finally time to get my groceries.

Jake decided he needed to refresh his memory on this subject. Taking out the list from his shirt pocket, he scanned it once more to remind himself of everything he was planning to get here, minus the impulse buys that he had yet to make or not make. He made sure to memorize its contents before putting it back.

Then he stepped inside the grocery store, feeling like a man on a mission as he began to look around.

Half an hour of searching later, Jake arrived at one of the checkout lanes with a cart full of groceries. The employee at the check-out register, a bored-looking teen boy, barely said a word to acknowledge that Jake was there. Despite this, the scanning and payment of the groceries went without a hitch. Jake figured that this employee wasn't much for conversation, but in terms of work ethic, he was pretty decent.

As Jake paid for everything, he suddenly got another thought: how would he carry everything home? It would be hard to carry all of his items all the way back home on foot, and he had not brought his car to use to carry the items. Feeling the need to improvise, Jake pondered for a moment before coming up with an idea.

"Hey, sir?" Jake asked as politely as I could. "Mind if I take this cart and wheel all these groceries to my home? I'll return the cart sometime afterward."

The bored employee shrugged, but nodded. "Yeah, yeah, go on ahead. This place's rules state that carts can be carried out of here as long as they returned within twenty-four hours, so...go ahead. Just make sure to return it and not steal it, I guess."

"Thanks. I'll make sure to bring it back in that timeframe. See you around."

"Whatever."

Jake grinned and wheeled the cart out of the store, heading back onto the sidewalk on the corner of the previous intersection. Now it was time to get home, which Jake knew would take a little bit. The cart was making it significantly easier to get everything back home, but even still, he would still have to push it all the way there.

He started down Breaker Avenue, deciding to take the other way around this part of town to get to the residential district. He once again kept to the left side of the street as he went, passing yet more tiny shops and even a police station. The police station in particular looked about the same quality as the other buildings in town, but the window blinds were shut and the doors were locked. Closed, the sign outside said.

Jake, seeing this, has a funny feeling that the police station had not been open since the neighbor had arrived. He didn't know how he could feel such a thing, but the look of the place told a story, in a way, and this story seemed to tell Jake how exactly the place had come to be like this. Besides, it was obvious that there were no active police in this town, or at least not a police force big enough to stop the neighbor from doing everything he was doing.

Jake looked to the right. On the other side of the street, he could two separate blocks that had their own range of shops. One side had a clothing shop, café, and other areas, while another side had a hardware store, an arcade, and other areas of its own. This was all well and good, but seeing as he was heading home...well, then he had no interest in that area right now.

He passed another building as he got to the corner of the intersection between Breaker Avenue and Franklin Lane: a bank. The building was closed up tight, in a similar manner to the police station, except that this time, there was a sign stuck to the doors that said: Closed for Renovations. Apparently, it was being renovated, but Jake doubted that anyone had been working on it recently.

So he kept walking, turning left again on the corner and heading down the sidewalk. He passed by a post office on his way down the sidewalk, which was open, unlike the police station and bank. He could see a postman and a woman conversing inside, but he didn't bother too much about it. They had their things to do, and he had his.

Finally, he reached the corner of the Franklin Lane and Cooper Street intersection, finally returning to where he had started when he had entered the town. He was close by the crosswalk to get to the other side of the street, which connected to the sidewalk of the road that led back towards the residential district of town. He was getting close to getting back home.

However, the whole way, Jake had been pushing the cart. He was a little tired from doing this, and decided to take a small break. He spotted the perfect place to do so: a green metal bench on the sidewalk right in front of the clock tower. There was somebody sitting there, but he figured he would simply be polite and ask to sit there. Then all would be fine.

Jake walked over, wheeling the cart forward, over to the bench. The only other person sitting on it was a portly man wearing a black suit and bowler hat, with a grey mustache as well. Despite these features, the man only looked middle-aged. He had his eyes closed and looked deep in thought.

"Uh, hey. Excuse me." Jake spoke up.

"Hmm?" The man mumbled, opening his eyes and looking up at Jake. "Oh, hello. Need something?"

"Yeah. I was wondering if I could sit here. I was pushing my cart of groceries home, but I wanted to take a stop here. Is that all right?"

The portly man laughed jovially. "Ah, of course you can! You need not ask!"

"Thanks." Jake took a seat on the bench, allowing himself to relax and take a breather. "Nice to see someone else out here. I haven't really seen anybody else outside besides a select few people."

The man frowned. "So you have. I am not surprised to hear such things. Everyone is much too afraid of being outside too long, given the current...circumstances."

"Huh? You mean the neighbor, right?"

The man nodded. "Precisely. Almost the entire town seems to fear him- although I do not, at least, not as much. I am wary of him, but based on what I know, it is just fine for anyone to be outside. We just need to talk quietly and not draw attention to ourselves."

"Wait, really?! But from what I've heard, it's dangerous to be outside."

"And whoever told you so would be correct; it very much is. But the reason for that is because many in town tend to be quite noisy with their conversations. I have tried to tell my people to maintain inside voices and not speak openly without being safely inside a building, but none seem to have taken my words to heart."

"Yeah, seems like it- hey, wait a minute! YOUR people? How are they your people?"

The man's frown became a smile. "Ah, that's right. I almost forgot to mention. I'm the mayor of this town."

"The mayor?!"

"Yes, exactly. In fact...I think we neglected to say our names! This won't do!" The portly man held out a hand. "Here, let us shake hands and say our names."

Jake gaped for a moment, but then gripped the man's hand and shook it. "Yeah, you're right. Nice to meet you, sir."

"Please. call me by my name." The man replied, smiling from ear to ear. "My name is Edward Horton. It is a pleasure to meet you."

"I'm Jake Anderson. And...same."

Edward's eyes widened. "Jake Anderson? Oh, it is you! I have heard of you before, young one."

"Really? Well, I thought you might. Apparently, everyone in town knows who I am."

Edward nodded. "Indeed. You and your friend's names have been whispered throughout town. There have been many rumors, actually...rumors concerning what you have been doing in this town. Am I right to say that you and your friend are responsible for the recent invasions of the neighbor's house?"

"Huh?! Whoa, whoa, I didn't say that! I can't really say whether or not I'm-"

"Relax, Jake, relax. There is no need to lie to me; I assure you that I am in your confidence and will not say a word of any of this to anyone else unless you give me your permission."

"Oh. Then...yeah, I'll tell you the truth. Jeffrey and I are invading the neighbor's house. What of it?"

"I suspected as much. Firstly, I want to thank you. You and Jeffrey are the first residents I have seen to ever stand up to the neighbor, and for that, I respect you two quite a lot. Secondly...I want to warn you. Despite what I just told you, surely you and your friend know the dangers of the neighbor and his house. I hope you know to be careful, because the last thing I want is for you two to be kidnapped as well. I may not be telling others I know this, but...still, I do not want you to get kidnapped."

"O-of course! Me and Jeffrey are always careful." This wasn't exactly true, but Jake said it anyway.

"Very good, very good. I am just comforted to know that there are others that wish to stand up to the bad situation my beloved town has been put through." The man sighed. "I have been quite displeased with the neighbor since the beginning, but I am unable to do anything. The neighbor has sent me and my other workers a letter before. From what I read, it seems as if he does not want to do anything drastic to me, but he has threatened to take action should I attempt to try to escape town or call the authorities. I cannot try either without risking the safety of my people, so I have been forced to sit and stay inactive...

"...but it pains me to do so. My people have been suffering for a long time, and there is nothing I can do to calm them or assure them that they will be safe and happy. I do wish I could do something more...but I have been trying. I started a radio station recently."

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"Yes, yes, it does sound quite odd at first, but it is for a good reason. I have a radio broadcast that anyone in town can tune into. I have been using it as a means to give everyone daily talks and try to ease the minds of my people, more specifically the ones who would have taken risky actions had I not been there to convince them not to do such things.

"It is enough, I suppose...but still, I wish to do more. I wish to show the neighbor out of this town so I may bring hope back to the citizens of Hortonville. I have been mayor here for a long time as well; it is in my family tradition to pass the title of mayor onto the son of the current mayor, once the mayor becomes much too old to keep his position." Edward frowned even deeper. "But I am having trouble. I have yet to find a wonderful wife, or to have a son who can pass me. I may not be able to continue the tradition at all..."

Jake was silent again. This situation was forcibly reminding him of the talk he had had with Giovanni. It reminded him so much of that conversation, in fact, that he knew what to do before he even started to do it. Opening his mouth, he spoke up.

"Mr. mayor, I can help you." Jake said, looking determinedly towards Edward and hoping this would show his passion. "Jeffrey and I...we're working hard. We've been at this for a bit now, and I think we can do it. We can save all those people."

Edward raised his eyebrows. "Really? Are you quite sure? That will be a massive undertaking, you know, and I do not like the idea of letting you put yourselves in danger."

Jake shook his head. "We understand the risks, Edward, and we know who we're dealing with. We're ready and willing to keep on trying until we finally put an end to all of this. We've gotten close to getting inside the basement, and then-" Jake paused. He briefly considered telling the mayor that he was in contact with Aaron and Nicky...but he thought it better not to tell the mayor. Even if he was putting trust in the man, Jake wasn't ready to tell him anything more then needed. He didn't want to cause a huge panic. "-then, well, yeah, we're ready. And please, Edward, don't try to stop us. We've got our hearts set on doing this and we're already making some good progress. So please, for the sake of this place, let us continue doing this. And you too- you've got to keep working harder, and someday, everything will turn out alright. You might even find someone who likes you someday."

Edward smiled. "Ah...you are certainly right. I have not given up, nor do I intend to give up." He paused. "It is quite surprising to see you so determined. I have not once seen a youth as determined to do the right thing as you are."

Jake cringed a little. "Yeah, I know, it's weird for people my age...but I'll still do it. I want to do it; I already promised Jeffrey, and I'm actually starting to get into this too. I figure there's no turning back now."

"Then I place my confidence in you. I trust you, and I hope you will continue to do work for the better of this town." Edward's watch (he was wearing a watch) beeped all off the sudden, and Edward looked at it. "Goodness, look at the time. I must be getting back to the town hall now; I have matters to discuss with my assistants at the council." He stood up. "This was a very good chat, Jake. It was a pleasure meeting you today."

Jake stood up as well and grinned. "Likewise. Have a good day, sir."

"You too, young one. Stay safe."

Edward walked off in the opposite direction Jake had intended to go down, heading down the street. Jake felt even better about himself now that he had had a conversation with the mayor of the town himself; Jeffrey had told Jake there had been a mayor, but he had never met him in person until today. Seeing him and knowing him, Jake felt like this guy was the right person to run this town. Not only did he seem very pleasant when Jake talked to him, but he remembered how Giovanni had described the mayor as a 'benevolent man', and now that Jake had seen the mayor himself, this description made much more sense.

But anyway, that was besides the point. It was time to go home, and Jake knew that he would be home much later then he would like if he didn't come home soon. He didn't like to leave Jo-Jo at the house alone, as the cat enjoyed his company and felt happier when he was around. Jake wanted to keep it that way, so it was advisable for him to return home as soon as possible.

He gripped the handle of the cart and began to push it again, as he headed across the crosswalk to get to the other side of Franklin Lane. From there, he went on the sidewalk as he backtracked the way he came, heading into the residential district and back towards home.

Some time later, after traversing the same road he had traversed before and passing by the same number of streets, Jake arrived back at Sunset Avenue. He was careful to wheel the cart as quietly as he could as he went up the street back over to his house.

He got to the front yard and down the front path, where he had some difficulty getting the cart up the stairs and onto the porch. As soon as he did, he unlocked his front door and stepped inside his house, closing the door behind him and wheeling the cart into the living room.

Jo-Jo sprang up as soon as Jake entered, and he ran over to Jake and began to nuzzle his legs.

"Hey, Jo-Jo. I'm home!" Jake greeted the cat in pleasant surprise, kneeling down to pet Jo-Jo, who purred loudly once he did. "Got the groceries. Wait for a bit, and once I load everything in, we can watch some tv, alright? I've got a cat program on tv that I think you might like."

Jo-Jo meowed in understanding and ran off, running up to the counter of the kitchen setup and hopping up onto the counter, where he sat down waiting for Jake to get the groceries put away. Jake chuckled happily at this amusing sight before he went over and began to get to work.

It took him around ten minutes to put everything away. He worked silently, putting item and item in either the fridge, freezer, or cabinets while Jo-Jo watched him. The cat could not help Jake, but he was watching with what seemed like interest, while also occasionally looking away to clean himself a little bit.

After Jake finished, he stepped away from the kitchen setup and went to his tv, plopping down onto the couch and turning on the tv with the remote. Jo-Jo joined him, jumping into his lap and curling up there. Jake made sure not to move so as to keep Jo-Jo comfortable. He switched channels until he found the particular program he wanted to watch, then let it play.

He sat there watching it, once again silent. He didn't have much he wanted to say today, which was new for him. He was much more used to talking actively, but since Jeffrey was not around, he had nobody to talk to except Jo-Jo, and Jo-Jo didn't qualify much since he was a cat. He knew he could've talked to Aaron and Nicky, but he felt like leaving them be today. He would contact them again tomorrow.

Suddenly, a buzzing sound came from his jeans pocket. Jake reached in there and pulled out his phone, which was buzzing and ringing. Jeffrey's name was displayed on the screen, alerting Jake to the fact that he was calling him. He quickly hit the green button to pick it up and lifted the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" Jake said.

"Hey, Jake!" Jeffrey's voice greeted from the other end of the phone. "Just thought I'd check in with you. How are you doing?"

"Pretty good. How'd you find time to call me? I thought you were busy with something."

"I was, but I'm taking a break from it to call you up. I felt pretty bad for not coming over today, so I decided to call you at least once to make sure we're on the same page."

"Don't worry, we definitely are on the same page. I figure we don't need to hang out with each other every day, anyway."

"I guess so. Anyway, what's up? How's Jo-Jo doing?"

"He's just fine. He and I just curled up on the couch to watch tv; I only just got back from getting groceries and he's already settling in with me."

"Really? You got groceries?"

"I mean, yeah. What's with the tone of surprise?"

"Sorry about that, ha ha. I just never heard of you actually going out to get groceries before; I almost thought you were too lazy and kept forgetting to do it."

"Oh, thanks!" Jake replied sarcastically, and he and Jeffrey both laughed for a moment. "But yeah, I figured the time to go buy some stuff was way overdue by now, so I went and did it. Can't keep relying on you or the town restaurant's to give me meals."

"Definitely. Anything else you did besides that?"

"Eh, nothing much. Had a few conversations here and there, but it wasn't real eventful." This, once again, was not entirely true, but Jake felt like he didn't really need to give Jeffrey the details. This wasn't intended in a rude way, he just figured that it wasn't important enough to say.

"And you went outside. Did that turn out alright? You didn't make any loud ruckus or anything, did you?"

"Of course not! If I did, would I be talking to you right now?" They laughed again. "But seriously, I was careful. Didn't provoke the neighbor at all."

"Good to hear. I was worried you might do something, but it's nice to know that you didn't."

"What's up with you, Jeffrey? Anything special happen on your end?"

"Not really. My day has been pretty mundane, actually. Not much to tell."

"Huh, well, didn't expect to hear that response from you. It's alright, though, I won't press you for any stories."

"Thanks." There was a small commotion on the other end of the phone line. "Oop, I've got to get back to what I was doing now. Sorry to end this conversation so abruptly."

"No, no, it's fine. I'm sure you've got more important things to do." Jake said, trying to be a good friend. "You get back to your stuff. I'll just get back to what I was doing, too."

"Thank you, man, thank you. I'll see you later, alright? I think I'll be around to do some neighbor stuff tomorrow. That good with you?"

"Definitely; I'll be ready for when you arrive. See you tomorrow."

"See you."

Jeffrey hung up, leaving Jake alone with Jo-Jo. Jake slowly put his phone away and started to stroke Jo-Jo, his eyes staring blankly at the tv as he thought to himself. Jeffrey sounded like he was doing good, and if that was the case then he had nothing to worry about. And if this stuff he was doing was apparently mundane, then maybe it was for the better that Jake didn't know. It probably wasn't anything important to begin with, he told himself.

Now that he was done with that phone call, it was time to relax. He would bide his time for now, and tomorrow, things would pick up again...