Longest Novel: Fall of The Republic

by morgan kingsley

In 2020, a middle-aged author, living too deeply in the past, decides to write the story of what really happened to him and his friends when he was younger, and as it unfolds, a giant conspiracy starts to show itself. An AU of seasons 1-4 that take place in the United States. Crossover with several other series for one overall universe.

35. Musical Ambitions

Chapter 3 Episode 3 – Musical Ambitions (Josiah's POV)

Scene 1: October 27 2020 10:56 pm

I was seeing Seth on his bed, writing something very intentively while I was getting ready for bed. Being room mates for eleven years now, I know a bit of what he was really doing, and I felt like I just needed to try and see if I could give off the supportive vibe.

"Hey Seth, do you want to talk for a bit?" I asked, and he was looking up at me. I knew that for most of the last year or so, he kind of stopped wanting to talk to me as much. At first, it was kind of nice. To have somebody finally figure things out on their own. But now when I was seeing the fact that he was still being like this, it was indeed kind of hurting a bit.

"Honestly, I do not really want to talk to people much about anything anymore. I just feel like everything that Gabe and Todd are doing is completely against the best interest of the rest of the family." Seth said, and I sighed, simply feeling like what he was saying was true to a degree.

"I don't really enjoy talking about that much anymore. It just feels wrong to be wishing them bad luck for everything that is happening." After I was telling him this, he was shaking his head, simply sounding like he was hardly fucking caring at all.

"I never said that I wish them bad luck. All that I am saying is that I feel like they need to fucking stop looking into this stuff, and realize that they are only making things worse the longer they are fucking doing." Seth said, and then he was sighing. "Nobody really seems to care when I talk about how I want to do well at the comedy show."

"Do you feel like you want to work with me on that show together? Maybe we can make a great fucking duo." I said, and I was feeling like this idea would be best for both of us. Seth looked right at me, and I was seeing him shocked that I was even willing to fucking go along with this.

"What would you be doing? Working on your fucking guitar? I know you have been having a hard time with your songs lately." He said, and he looked down, kind of sounding like he was regretting saying this. I sighed, since this was not something that I wanted to discuss at all. But he was fucking right.

"I know that I have been. But to be honest, I feel like this might be good motivation for me to step up, and really get some good fucking tunes in there. And besides, I think that we would be able to be a winning combination if we worked together." I was telling him, and I was being one hundred percent serious as I was telling him this.

The moment he heard me say this, and as he was looking at my face, and seeing that I was not lying at all, I was seeing that there was a bit of him that was calming down for a while. He slowly nodded, and I felt like we were going to be the greatest duo of all time.

"This would be awesome. But I do not want to make things worse for you, especially since I know that you were always somebody who was trying to be popular." He said, and I was sighing, feeling like that was such a subjective term, and I was not really wanting to think much into it.

"Honestly, popularity is a stupid fucking concept. To be completely fucking blunt when I say that." I said, and I was wondering if he was going to fucking listen to me. Seth was looking like he was still not too sure what he would want to say.

"Are you just saying that to make me feel better, or do you seriously mean that?" Seth asked, and I shrugged, since in all honesty, I had no idea what was going on in my mind most of the time anymore. "Regardless, you're willing to do it, and that is enough for me." He said, and I was slowly nodding, wondering what was to come from this now.

"Honestly dude, I do mean everything I say. I might not be the nicest person in the world at certain points, but I never would be going out of my way to lie to you to just make you feel better." I said, and I was feeling like telling him this, in this way, was really the best way that I could fucking pull this off.

As Seth was leaving the room, I was wondering what his fucking plan was. I sighed, and got up, and started to follow him, wondering what his plan was. And I was wondering why I was even fucking caring about any of this in the first place.

"Seth, what the fucking hell are you fucking doing?" I asked, and I was barley keeping my patience in check as I was seeing him fucking around. I was feeling like he needed to just tell me what he was doing, so I would not think that he was just basically forcing me out of this conversation.

"I am just thinking about what I am going to do. I want to really make this show the best." After Seth was telling me this, I was laughing at this. He was throwing his arms around, just trying to convey any normal feelings." He was fucking hilarious when he *wasn't* trying to be. Which was the main issue he was having. His humor came when he wasn't forcing it.

"Oh yeah? What is your fucking plan?" I asked, and I was thinking that the longer that I played along, and was acting like this was something that was going to fully come together, the easier it was going to fucking be for him.

"I was thinking of doing a piece that went down the entire sibling list. You know, discuss certain quirks that each of us have, and make it a completely fucking personal piece. I think people would fucking enjoy that." Seth said, and I was thinking that the family would probably not enjoy that at all.

"I think you need to be much more careful with that then you are. People might not actually enjoy that nearly as much as you fucking think." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to kind of get real with him. He looked at me, as if telling me to stop over thinking.

"You need to fucking relax dude. There is nothing to be worried about when I talk about you. In all honesty, you're probably all funnier than me." He said, as I was thinking a second to think about what he was saying. Since I never expected him to out right admit that.

As we were talking, that was when Gabe was walking inside, and I could tell from the look on his face that he was utterly fucking pissed off. I was sighing, and I was wondering what the hell I was going to say.

"What fucking stick got put up your ass?" Seth asked, and Gabe just looked at him, and I could tell from the look on his face that he was clearly not in the mood to fucking play around at all. I wondered what had happened, and if I could help.

"You need to fucking stop dude. Not everything is a fucking joke. Sometimes people are actually dealing with serious shit." Gabe said, and then I was feeling like even if he was hurt by something, the way he went at this point was way too fucking far, and I was not going to hide that.

"Don't talk to your fucking brother like that." I said, feeling like I just needed to place my foot down a bit. Gabe looked at me, as if finding my comments amusing or some shit like that. Like he was wanting to see what I could have fucking done.

"Well, maybe I wouldn't if he would actually take things seriously for once in his fucking life, and realize that not everything is a fucking comedy skit." He was saying, and Seth was recoiling at this, aware that Gabe might actually fucking hate him, and that idea was really fucking hurting.

"Forget it. If you're going to be a fucking asshole for no reason, then why should I even bother?" I asked, and then I started to leave him alone. As I was leaving Gabe alone, I was seeing Seth looking like he was just having a hard time really believing this happened.

"I never seen him get that upset before. Was it really over me?" Seth asked, and I was sighing, and I wondered what in the world I was even going to be able to say. To be honest, I never wanted to deal with this at all. I felt like the fact that I had to witness Gabe of all people get into a argument was a bit scary.

"I have no idea honestly. I think that something might have happened, and I will try and fucking talk to him about it. Because if he starts acting that way in general, then things are really going to be rough for him once he graduates high school." I said, and I was shrugging, and Seth was looking like he had so many things he wanted to fucking say.

"Sorry if I did anything wrong. I wasn't trying to be mean. I just saw he was in a bad mood, so I tried to be funny." Seth said, and I was feeling like at this rate, given what happened, I might as well tell him, just so that way it would never become a problem in the future, like it clearly just fucking was.

"Well, to be honest, there are some times when comedy is not what people want to fucking hear, for whatever reason. And while I appreciate the fact that you were trying to make things better for him, in your own strange way, I feel like this is something you need to be more careful of." I said, feeling like telling him this now, while it was still fresh, would make him feel better.

"I guess that does make sense. Just usually, Gabe is at least willing to *pretend* like he is interested in it. To not even have that is what shocks me." Seth said, and I felt like I would indeed have to concede him that much. Since that was something we just all needed to fucking calm down about.

"Yeah, like I said, let me talk to him. Let me see what the issue was, and we can work something out. There is something going on." I said, and I was seeing Seth looking like he was fucking scared of what I was going to do.

"Okay. I will try." He said, and I Was sighing, and I wondered why in the world we were even worried about this so much. For all we know, maybe Gabe just had one really fucking awful day, and just needed to take a moment to himself.

"Thanks for agreeing to work with me. That makes me feel so much better. You were always one of my favorites." He said, and hearing him say that, despite having no prompt, was something that genuinely made me feel so much better, and I was feeling like I just needed to fucking take it.

"Well, I have no idea how. I am kind of a asshole." I said, feeling like I would at least have some fucking fun while I was telling him this. Seth looked at me, and I was seeing him thinking that something like that should not even fucking matter.

"You've only been a asshole like once or twice to me." Seth said, and I was slowly nodding, not really in the mood to have this discussion. I was tired, and I wanted to go to bed. Especially to be ready for when I was going to talk to Gabe about this later. The fact that he took it way too far.

Seth went to his room, and I was feeling tired, and I was feeling like there was really no fucking point in talking any longer. I sat down, feeling like I just needed to think about everything that was happening, before I made any fucking judgements.

But despite everything, I was glad to finally be able to get Seth to agree to work with me here. He was a nice guy, and I felt like when he was making everything about himself with the comedy, then he could really stand out as a nice guy.

Scene 2: October 28 2020 1:14 am

When I was finally ready to go to sleep, that was when Todd was calling out to me. I turned to him, and I was feeling like I just needed to kind of listen to him, and see what his fucking issues was. "Hey, I just wanted to apologize for being a asshole just now. I just had something happen, and I didn't want Seth knowing about it, so I just kind of deflected."

"Well, maybe you just need to be more careful. I mean, I can tell from the look on Seth's face that this really fucking hurt." I said, and then I was sighing, feeling like I just needed to try and calm down, and not be riding his ass about it constantly.

"What even fucking happened?" I asked, and then Gabe was looking like he was shocked to hear me even ask him this in the first place. Probably thinking that I would have brushed him off given everything that was fucking happening.

"My friends are fucking gone. Those men in black fucking grabbed them. I was able to get Michael out tonight, but Carly is still in there. I have to take care of this in the next day or two, before I lose my fucking chance." He said, and I was shocked that he was even fucking telling me this in the first place.

"Fucking where?" I asked, feeling like while I was feeling a lot of fucking pity for him, he needed to fucking talk, and not give me any fucking bullshit responses. Gabe sighed, clearly disgusted with everything that had been going on here in the first place.

"The place where bad things happen." Gabe said, and I was thinking of the last time I heard that exact wording on that exact phrase. Something I recalled dad mentioning when he was talking about his friend, Sheldon, all those years ago.

"Are you fucking serious man?" I asked, and then he was slowly nodding, and I was heading right to my couch, and I was thinking about what I was even going to be saying. "So what's the fucking plan?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to get right to work with him.

"The fucking plan is that you do not get involved. I take care of this on my own. You go ahead, and work on your talent show. You seemed like you were really fucking excited about that. And besides, you need to make sure that Seth and the others don't hear. I can maybe handle Seth, but that's it." Gabe was telling me, and I was feeling like I was being useless as he was telling me this.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now? You're not even giving me a chance to try and make things right? That is fucking messed up, dude." I said, and I was sighing, and I wondered why he was even suggesting something like this. But I was sighing in relief, deep down inside, at what he said.

"I mean, I hate to say it, but I guess that I can fucking take it. After all, I have no idea what in the fucking world is even going on, and I feel like you are better off with this alone." I said, and I was feeling disgusted at the fact that I was actually not only agreeing, but appreciating this as well.

"Yeah, and I know you are not going to fucking like it at all. But I need to make my own choices here. I am sure that at the end of the day, you would be willing to accept this." After he was telling me this, I was feeling like everything he was saying was messed up beyond belief.

"I honestly wish that this had never happened. I wish I never went into that fucking forest in the first place!" Gabe yelled really fucking loudly. He was then rubbing his hair really roughly, and I wondered if he was about to have a fucking panic attack or something like that.

"You need to calm down, and fucking breath. Just think about what is going on here. I am sure that we can make something work out." I said, and I was really hoping he was going to fucking listen to me here. I needed him to fucking listen to me as quickly as possible.

"Do you seriously think I can fucking breath, when this shit is happening? Are you fucking kidding me?" After he asked me this, I sighed, and I was thinking about what he was telling me. To be honest, I was kind of seeing what he was meaning. As much as I despised admitting it.

"Okay. So I guess that I did sort of over step a line. But the thing is that this is something that you are making worse. And I think that you need to consider the very real possibility that you just need to relax." I said, and I was feeling like the sentiment itself was rather fucking rude. Even I couldn't fucking deny it. But I hardly fucking cared, in the fucking god damn slightest.

"I will try and fucking talk to the police about it. They might not be super happy about it. But they will certainly give me something." After Gabe was telling me this, I was then slowly nodding, and I was glad that he was fucking calming down, and not fucking arguing with me.

"And I will listen to what you requested. I will leave this alone. Besides, I don't even want to get into this anyways. This is fucking crazy. Dad wanted this to never fucking happen." I said, and I was feeling like I needed to remind him of that at first.

"Don't remind me of what dad wanted. He will fucking hate me forever if he learns." He said, and then he went to his fucking room. I shook my head, hating the fact this was a discussion. I was wondering when these two older brothers were going to learn their fucking lessons.

I laid down on the couch, too tired to go to my physical bed. The fourth time this month. But in all honesty, sometimes it was more comfortable here than it was there. And it would allow Seth to do whatever he wanted for the full night anyways…

Scene 3: October 29 2020 12:16 pm

The next day, I was hanging out at the school, and to be honest, I really had no idea what in the world I was even going to be doing now. I was working on my music, but still thinking about the conversation I had with Gabe, and I was wondering if he ever wanted to so much as speak to me about what he needed to do. Or if he was going to just be leaving me alone.

I was seeing somebody else playing on their guitar, and I was trying to not think too much about what he was doing. I wanted to help him out. But to be honest, I was feeling like going up to him, and saying that I wanted to watch him play music would be kind of a bit strange. So I was looking back at my notes, and I was thinking about how I had fucking nothing at all.

I was sighing in annoyance, and I was looking up at the fucking ceiling. Nothing I wanted to write was going to really stick out to me. I was shaking my head, and stood up. I was thinking that I would never get over the fucking conversation that I was having with Gabe. And I was hoping that when I would speak to him at school, then things would probably be better for both of us.

I started to look around for Gabe, and I was feeling like the longer that I would focus on this, and stop fucking focusing on the music, the better that things would fucking be. I was also thinking that it would be better to be doing this, so I wouldn't be fucking thinking about that one person who was working on their guitar.

When I eventually Saw Gabe once again, I was considering if this was even going to be fucking worth it at all. I was sighing, and had no idea what in the fucking world I was going to accomplish in the first place.

I walked up to him, and I was having no idea what the plan was even going to fucking be in the first place. "Gabe, can we fucking talk again for a bit?" I asked, and I was seeing Gabe was looking like he had no interest to even have this discussion at all. But he closed his eyes, as if pretending like this was all perfectly fucking normal.

"No, I really have no interest in this discussion right now. We have talked about this enough." He said, and I was shaking my head. I was really not in the mood to have no for a fucking answer. "I mean, what do you even want to talk about anyways?"

"I want to fucking talk to you about your fucking plans right now. I know you told me to not worry about it. But I have been dealing with a lot of shit from Seth, on what I need to be doing now." I said, and I was seeing that Gabe was looking like he was just simply not fucking caring at all.

"Josiah, I don't fucking care about the shit that Seth is fucking dealing with. If he doesn't like it, then he can fucking deal with it. I mean, I shouldn't have been so rude about it, I will admit. But that doesn't mean that I regret it." Gabe said, and then he was sighing as he had said that.

"Besides, why do you even fucking care? You always seemed like you were mildly annoyed with how fucking clingy he was getting with us. So what is the fucking issue anyways?" After he was asking me this, I sighed, since I knew he was using some of the shit that happened against me.

"You're right. Never mind. You made your fucking point. Forget that I even fucking mentioned anything at all." I said, and then I was starting to walk off. And I was seeing Gabe looking like he was getting tired of this discussion. I wondered what his fucking issue was, and why he even fucking cared at all.

"Josiah…" Gabe said, and then I looked right at him. I wondered what his fucking defense was going to be. I just shook my head, not really in the mood to hear this, so I started to walk off, and I was feeling like I would just pretend like none of this was even fucking happening at all.

Then he started to follow me, and this was the part that was starting to kind of annoy me. I was barely keeping it to myself, since in all honesty, I felt like he just needed to fucking leave me alone. I gave him a chance to talk, but he wasn't really in the mood.

"Gabe, you need to fucking leave me alone right now. I am really not in the mood to talk with somebody who doesn't want to give me any information at all." I was telling him, and I was kind of seeing Gabe looking kind of tired of dealing with this shit.

"Josiah, just tell Seth that I was sorry. And tell him that I am going to be rather busy with working with Robbie Dan and what not." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, and I really had no idea what I was going to tell him at all.

"What is going on with you and Robbie Dan in the first place?" I asked, and I was seeing Gabe looking like he was wanting to tell me so much more. Like he needed to. But just had a really fucking hard time really placing it properly.

"Let's just say that I have been working really hard with him." After he was telling me this, I said, and I was aware that he was placing more effort in working with Robbie Dan than he was with working with me. And in all honesty, that was kind of pissing me off.

"Okay. Whatever. The fact that you seem to be more worried about him than you are about us is a sign that there is something you need to change." I said, and I was seeing Gabe kind of feeling like he was being attacked by this, and seemed to be fucking tired of this.

"That is not it at all. It's just that I would rather not bring any of you into this at all." Gabe was telling me, and then I was really having no fucking interest in this discussion at all. "And Josiah, I think you would understand what I am doing if you saw the bigger picture."

As he said this, I was kind of tired of him saying this. I was then feeling like I just needed to find literally anything to make the situation at least slightly better for us. "I am going to fucking go to that talent show. If you want to fucking come, and watch, you can. But if you do not want to, then just leave me alone." I said, and I was feeling like there was no need to discuss this any longer. Gabe was feeling a bunch of regret the entire time I was leaving.

I sat down in my classroom, and I was getting just fucking over it. I was going to just focus on my fucking music, and I was going to maybe talk to that guy with the guitar, and maybe I could just pretend like nothing like this was ever fucking happening.

Scene 4: October 30 2020 4:28 pm

When I was about to head home, I was seeing that the guy with the guitar was walking by. I was having a smile on my face, as I was walking there, and I felt like trying to talk to him would be at worst just a waste of time. "Hey, I was seeing you playing guitar yesterday, and I just wanted to see if you would be willing to tell me how it went."

He was shrugging, as if finding my comment to be a bit strange, but also mildly flattering. Probably thinking that I was just trying my best to make him not hate the idea of talking to me. But he was still looking rather awkward at this whole thing. Which I guess made since, because I barely even knew him.

"Anyways, my name is Josiah. I am really into music, and I have been getting ready to perform at the talent show. Are you planning on playing there as well?" I asked, and then I was seeing him looking like he was still not wanting to talk about this too much. But he decided to stop arguing this too much.

"Simon. This is my first year here. I have just been playing my guitar for a while, and trying to not worry about what is happening. I heard that random grinding sound like on my fourth day here." He said, and then I was confused about the grinding noise. I was then slowly nodding, realizing he was talking about the one that happened just after Ridge was born.

"Oh yeah, that happens every once in a while. That one actually happened the day that my youngest sibling was born." I said, feeling like I might as well try and have some fun about this. "Many people make random ass rumors about the place." Simon looked at me, kind of finding my comment strange, as if wondering why in the world I even said something like this in the first place.

"Rumors? Why would they even fucking make rumors about some fucking grinder." Simon said, and I was sighing, not sure what in the world I was even going to be saying. "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I just thought that with what you said, you would have been more willing to fucking answer."

I didn't realize how scared and uncomfortable I really was at this moment. I was sighing, and I was then feeling like I would fucking tell him what I had already known, to make him feel better, going forward, since he would at least know what to get himself into.

"Well, I am not sure if you have heard about that Wendee girl who went missing." I said, and then he was sighing, as if feeling like there was no way in the world he was going to fucking hide this. He nodded, as if feeling like there was no need to play around teh fact that this was beaten in his fucking head.

"Well, that happens relatively often. Every handful of months, a person goes missing, which usually follows the grinding noises." I said, and then I was shrugging, having no idea what in the world Simon would say to this. In all honesty, he seemed to be kind of having a hard time believing that.

"If that was what was happening, then even the most corrupt place in the world would be exposed. I'm sure somebody would fucking try and fucking go to the FBI about this. I mean, okay, some times, I can believe. But every few months, is really hard to fucking believe." After Simon was telling me this, and I was annoyed with what he was telling me.

"I hope that you're right. To be fair, I have heard that it is far less often than it used to be. Anyways, sorry about mentioning it. If you just want to forget this hang out happened, then I will just go home." I said, trying to make it better for him. As I was telling him this, Simon was looking like he was feeling kind of bad for what I had fucking told him.

"No, I mean, I would be kind of interested in getting to know about the fucking music. Let's just not fucking waste time talking about the stupid shit with grinding noises, and missing people. I'm sure you've already heard that twenty thousand times." Simon said, and I was wondering why he was even fucking saying this in the first place.

"Music. Yeah, I have been working on the talent show, but I have been failing miserably at getting any material that I fucking enjoy." I said, and I was feeling like telling him this would get this subject to at least change into something that would get him to want to talk for a while longer.

"I can show you what I have been working on, if you were interested." After I told him this, I was hoping he would want to see this. He sighed, and slowly nodded, and then placed his guitar behind him again, simply not that interested in arguing at this point. Probably just trying to branch out a bit more.

As we were walking towards my house, and I was seeing Simon looking like he was kind of unsure of what he would even want to fucking talk about. He was smiling as he was getting ready to talk to me. "So Josiah, is it true that you have a shit ton of siblings?" After he asked me this, I laughed at this, thinking he didn't even get the start of it.

"Yeah, ten of them in total. Only one sister though." I said, and smiled at him, wondering if he was going to be interested in what I was saying. "But I hardly think much on it anymore. After all, everybody in town has talked about it twenty trillion fucking times."

We were eventually at my house, and Simon was looking fucking scared of his fucking mind of this house. Mainly because I don't think he was used to the idea of dealing with a bunch of fucking guys running around, like chickens with their god damn fucking heads cut off.

One of the twins had come up to us first. Dylan, I believe. Since he was wearing those overalls. "This one of Dylan. He is one of the two twin siblings. But still, since he's only three, you're not going to be getting a ton out of him." I said, and then Simon looked like he could not believe this was even happening.

We were walking along, and Simon was pointing to one of the bedrooms. "Is that your bedroom?" He asked, and I nodded, and then I was rubbing my hair, not really in the fucking mood to be having much of this discussion. "Do you want to show me it?" He asked, and I was shrugging, feeling like there was no reason to argue this.

Eventually, once we were at the bedroom, I was seeing Seth hanging around, and he was writing some fucking notes, and as he was looking up at me. "This is Seth. He has been trying to get ready for the talent show as well. You know, with some comedy material." I said, and then Simon was looking like he wasn't really too interested in this either.

"Are you going to be working with him on the show? If you are both going to fucking do it?" He asked, and I was shrugging, not sure what Seth was wanting to do, and I wasn't too sure if this was a conversation we needed to really have. To be honest, I kind of regretted throwing him into this, against his own fucking desire.

"Who is this?" Seth asked, and I was seeing him looking like he was getting kind of annoyed with him just randomly being there. I was unable to even fucking blame him. Considering the fact that this did sort of just happen out of nowhere. I shrugged, not sure what to even say now.

"Simon. A guy in my grade who just fucking moved here." I said, and then I shrugged, and I was wondering why in the world we were even having this discussion in the first place. As we were talking, this was when Jack was walking by, with his basketball being tossed around.

"This is Jack. He is working on trying to become the captain of the the third grade basketball team." I said, and I was smiling at this, and Simon was looking like he was actually kind of interested in knowing more now. Now that he had been here for a while, there was no reason to not have at least some interest in this.

Jack looked like he was kind of unsure of what he was supposed to be doing here. "The oldest two are always out all the time. There is a good chance that you are not going to be finding them any time soon." I said, and as I was saying this, I was kind of holding my annoyance back a bit. I was seeing that Simon could figure that out.

"Oh yeah. I heard that your oldest one is basically out working all the fucking time." He said, and then Jack was shrugging, as if feeling like he would take this as a chance to throw some shit at Simon a bit, and just try to have some fucking fun in the process.

"Well, I have no idea if you should really consider streaming on twitch all the time to be working. But he does get paid quite a fair deal over it, so I guess it counts." Jack said, and I gave him a 'shut the fucking hell up' look. I felt like Todd deserved better for the fact that he was trying at least.

"I wish I could make a career off of streaming on twitch all the time. Anyways, so how is your progress on becoming sports captain?" Simon asked, and Jack was looking down, and I was seeing him looking like he was actually kind of shy about this whole thing.

"To be honest, it could be going a lot better. But I am still enjoying it, so far." Jack said, and Simon smiled, as he was looking around. I had a new idea, since he was already here in the first place, so why not.

"Let me show you the youngest." I said, and Simon was aware that I was talking about Ridge. So with that, we started to walk along, and head in that direction. The entire time we were heading there, I was seeing Simon looking like he was just trying to figure out how he enjoyed this place so far.

Eventually, when we were in the room, I was seeing that Lydia was watching Calvin and Ridge. So I figured I would do all three at once. "That is Lydia, the only girl, and the middle sibling. This is Calvin, the second youngest. And that is Ridge over there, still only about two and a half months old." I said, feeling better that I knocked all three out in one stone.

When we were at the front entrance to the house again, this was when I was looking at Simon. "Well, thanks for checking the place out. Next time, you should show me your place." I was telling him, and I was seeing Simon looking like that was a terrible idea. But he slowly nodded, as if feeling no need to argue.

Scene 5: October 31 2020 5:24 pm

The next day, I was feeling like I just needed to try and talk to Robbie Dan, and see what was going on with him. I was having a feeling that he was going to be much more willing to tell me what was going on, instead of Gabe. And Lydia was with me at the same time, with Jack and Henry, all ready to go trick or treating. Seth already left, but he said he wanted to do this alone.

And to be honest, given the fact that he was already almost twelve years old, I was not able to fucking argue with him, even though I kind of wanted to. I felt like this was a terrible idea. But I was more focused on just simply talking to Robbie than anything else, that I was hardly thinking about anything else at all.

"What are you and fucking Gabe doing anyways? I really need to talk to you about this. Since Gabe is giving me literally nothing at all." I said, and I was kind of annoyed with saying this. I felt like if Robbie did not give me this, then I would just want to give up all hope on anything fucking working at all.

"Are you serious? I mean, he is leaving school this year, and I want to have a older person with experience give me advice on how to handle school well. Nothing fucking wrong with that." Robbie Dan said, and he was shrugging, unable to fucking believe that he was even needing to say this in the first place.

"Are you telling the fucking truth? Because a couple of days ago, he was basically acting like he was about to fucking get himself killed or whatever. Then he was telling me about one of his friends who was taken a while back." I said, and I was still unable to believe that I was having to resore to Robbie Dan of all people about what was happening.

"I have no idea what he is doing with that. We just have been working together on my homework every time we meet up. Anyways, do you seriously think I could fucking do anything to change this?" He asked, and I was thinking about what he said. He was seeming honest enough, and I was choosing to not fucking argue with him at all.

"Yeah. I guess that I am being a bit unreasonable. This whole thing just seems fucking wrong though. I mean, Gabe had never been like this until Ridge was born. But I guess that nothing else matters." I said, and I was feeling like whatever I would fucking tell him would be a fucking waste of time.

"Sorry then. Well, the truth is that I want to just break out of the social stigma that my family has been getting into. After all, my two older siblings have been having some issues lately, and I just want to make these twelve years the best that they could possibly be." Robbie said, and I was just trying to not think about what he was telling me.

"And besides, I know that Lydia really likes me, and to be honest, seeing her trying so fucking hard to get me to like her back is something that has been kind of funny." After he had said that to me, I was shrugging, and I really had nothing else that I even wanted to fucking say at all.

"Sorry, look, I know that you probably had nothing to do with what happened with Gabe. I guess that I was just kind of scared of what was even happening." I said, and then I was really having no idea what in the world I could have said to make Robbie seem even slightly less upset with this, and less like he was being attacked.

"It's okay. I get the general fuckin point of what you were saying." Robbie said, and I was feeling like whatever he wanted to say, I just needed to fucking be careful on. But in all honesty, I wondered if he even fucking wanted to talk about this anymore. I looked up at the three younger siblings, and saw that they were getting annoyed with the way that we were taking so long.

As we were talking, Lydia was calling to us, and I was having a feeling that our conversation was going to have to fucking end for the time being. I was kind of annoyed with how much I wanted to talk with Robbie, but fucking couldn't. "You guys are being slow pokes. You need to fucking catch up." She said, and I sighed, as we both went to her, and I was trying to hide my relative annoyance at this whole thing.

…

Scene 6 2020: November 1 2020 10:26 pm

I was out at the park, just playing guitar, something that I would do late into the night once or twice a week, and my parents have gone to the point where they had let it go, and stopped arguing with me about it. As I was playing my music, that was when I was looking around, and I was seeing one guy walking by. With a blue hoodie on.

He seemed slightly familiar, but I was just focused on my music more than I was focused on getting to fucking know. Before I was able to play for too long, that was when he was noticing the music, and he turned around, and was seeing me. He started to walk towards me, and I was getting slightly worried about what his plan was.

"Are you seriously playing guitar in the park at ten in the evening?" He asked, and that voice was definitely familiar to me. I was placing the guitar down, feeling like for both of our sake, I would just make the conversation go by as fast as possible, so we could just be able to move on.

"Yeah. When I have such a large family, I have to take some time away from the house, where I could be able to focus. My parents really only have the rule that I need to be back by midnight." I said, not really in the mood to talk about my life too much, since I was feeling like he was just going to judge me.

"You're Rhett, right?" I asked, feeling like I would just keep a casual and nice discussion as well. Considering the fact that he was talking to me, and I was feeling like I might as well just fucking go along with everything that was happening.

"Yeah. I always saw you playing with those musical instruments, and to be honest, I always wanted to tell you that I was feeling like you did great. But I never felt like it was the proper time. I just think that maybe you should do this more often." After he was telling me this, I looked right at Rhett, and I was feeling like I would take the compliment, and not fight it at all.

"Well, honestly, I don't do it for fame. I do it because it is something that I enjoy doing. And if other people fucking like it, then they can watch my stuff." I said, and then I was starting to put my guitar back in its case, well aware of the fact that I was not going to get more done tonight, for better or for worse.

"What are you doing out so late? I mean, I rarely ever see you in the area." I said, thinking as hard as I could to see if I could remember even a single time that I saw him the area. I was failing miserably the entire time that I had been thinking about it.

"Just something that I have been doing over the last several months or so. I always just feel better when I can just walk around during the night, and not deal with bullshit around me. Especially since my parents ended up getting that fucking divorce." He said, and then I was thinking about that. I vaguely remember hearing about that, but didn't pay any attention to it at all.

"How did that end up going by the way? I remember that was talked about a bit during last school year." I said, feeling like I just needed to fucking break the ice, and make him see that I was not going to be a miserable asshole to him, because of things that happened to him that were out of his control.

"Well, mom got to keep me, but dad got to keep the house. So we have been living in a really fucking shitty apartment, and she had to take a second job just to barely keep us afloat. To be honest, I'm probably going to dropout the second I hit sixteen, so I can get a full time job." He said, and I was nodding, feeling like that wasn't a terrible idea.

"Oh shit. I guess I can understand why you take all those walks, just to buy yourself some fucking time. Do you feel like you can talk to people about it?" I asked, and he was shrugging, not sure what to even say to that.

"I have been seeing the weekly school councilor all year. Every Tuesday and Friday. I'm sure she's probably getting sick of it at this rate. But I don't care. But to be honest, I wish that I could just have something that can take my mind off of the issues until I become old enough for a job. Like just friends or something. Nobody wants to talk to me." Rhett said, and shrugged, and I slowly nodded at what he was telling me.

"To be honest, I knew dad was trying to get me as well. He said that she wasn't fit to be a parent. But she basically put her foot down and said that if he was going to get the house, then she deserved to have me at least. I guess that I do sort of see her perspective. Or at least I try." He was saying, simply rambling at this rate.

"I mean, sure, we barely know each other, but would you be willing to talk during lunch tomorrow? If you make a friend or two, it will get easier. And besides, I'm sure talking to the councilor every few days must get pretty fucking boring." I said, and he was shrugging at that.

"I appreciate the fucking offer. I will have to fucking consider it a bit though. I mean, I hardly know what you want out of this. I guess that after everything, like my father, and what not, I just always get a bit scared of the fact that people want second motives." Rhett said, and I was thinking deeply on what he was trying to tell me.

"Does your mom even know you are seeing the councilor at all?" I asked, and Rhett shrugged, as if he was hardly caring one way or another. I then wondered why I was even bothering having this conversation in the first place, when he was clearly having no interest in doing so.

"Honestly, if she does, then I don't care. I honestly don't even fucking care what anybody thinks about me right now. If people want to say shit about me, they fucking can. But right now, I just want to simply make it through school as well as I fucking can." Rhett said, and I was simply nodding, feeling like what he said made some sense.

"Sorry if some of the questions were a bit too personal. I guess that I was just kind of interested in knowing what you had fucking felt." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and defend myself at least a little bit, from what was happening.

"No, it's fine. I would rather talk about it with somebody my age over somebody who is a bit out of tune here." After Rhett was telling me this, I was wondering if it was fair to say that about his therapist. Especially since she was probably trying.

But I choose to not say anything about it, since I didn't want to be a asshole. "Hey, are you going to be going to the talent show? I am going to be performing there, and I feel like it might be good for you as well. Just have something to take your mind off of this…" I said, and I was seeing Rhett looking like he wasn't sure what to think.

"Oh yeah. I kind of forgot about that. To be honest, I never really had much interest in those things. But if you want to go ahead, and do that, then I think you would do pretty well." He said, and I was seeing that he was just sort of smudging his way through the conversation. Probably thinking about the best way to get out of this.

"I mean, your mom would probably want you to do something new, that can take your mind off of things for a while." I said, and I was having no idea why I was trying to get him to go along with this. Maybe I just simply wanted him to have a good time, without dealing with fucking stress all the god damn time.

"Yeah, I guess that I fucking can. I mean, in all honesty, I just feel like I need to find any excuse I can to extend my time away from the house every day. I mean, I hate seeing how fucking tired and completely fucking beat up she is every single time she comes home from a shift." He was saying, and I had no idea what in the world to say.

"I mean, I sold off like eighty percent of the games and movies that I had. Stuff that I knew I was never going to play again. To be honest, that was the hardest choice I ever had to make. And even then, that only helped with one month worth of payments. Nothing fucking much." Rhett sat down next to me. I wasn't sure if I wanted this, but I was glad that he was feeling like he could talk.

"I mean, I know that nobody fucking cares about these things. Everybody is so fucking focused on the grinder, that they don't give a shit about the here and now. They talk about how great the economy of this town is, but then I am living proof that they are not." As he was saying this, I was wondering what in the world I was even going to say now.

"My two older brothers have become annoyingly obsessed with that shit lately. Like they have completely changed their personalities basically because they want to fucking know what is going on with the missing people. I mean, I guess that I can fucking see why. But that doesn't change how much it fucking sucks to see them slowly become completely different people." I said, and shrugged.

"Yeah, I sort of saw that argument you had with Gabe about like what four days ago. I didn't think much of it at the time. But hearing that from you, makes perfect sense. Do you feel like you are going to make things better between you two?" He asked, and I was having no idea what in the world I would even fucking tell him.

"Yeah, that was the worst one that I ever had with him. I swore that he was starting to just act like a different person the more he was talking. I wanted him to just fucking come back, and be the nice, albeit somewhat dumb, guy that he used to fucking be. Nothing like the way that he is acting right now. I want nothing to do with that now."

"Do you think you will fucking talk to him about that at some point? Just fucking talk to him about these issues, and maybe get him to fucking change his mind? I think that now that it's been a few days, he might see reason." Rhett said, and I wondered how in the world I would even tell him that something like that was just impossible.

"I don't know. Either way, I don't know if I want to keep talking to him until that shit resolves itself. Maybe then, I can be able to fucking calm down, and see that there is hope to change this." I said, and I was feeling like telling him was what he simply needed to hear.

"I guess that makes some fucking sense. I don't know why I even fucking talk about this shit so much? I just completely fucking get derailed the entire time that I fucking talk, and I just feel like that is becoming a bigger and bigger issue that I fucking have." Rhett said, and he turned towards me, wondering what I would say to this.

"That is fine. Sometimes people just need to fucking talk. How about we exchange numbers." I said, bringing my phone out, and we just exchanged them, and the cyan color for his contact showed up. I stood up, feeling the need to head on out.

"That being said, it is getting extremely late, and I do need to make it back home on time. Talk to you later." I said, and started to head off, as Rhett was heading off on his own way. I had no idea how I was able to just talk with him so easily, given everything he had went through. But I do know that he probably just needed that perspective for a bit.

When I was home that day, I went right to my bedroom, and decided to just not play too many risks, since I did not want to be loud about the fact that I was still doing these late night expeditions. I went right to my bed, where Seth was looking at me, and he was smiling as he saw me.

Scene 7: Nov 2 2020 1:52 pm

The next day, when I was seeing Bebe talking to Robbie Dan during lunch break, I decided it was time for me to become a fucking man, and admit that I fucked up, and with that, I walked up to him, and I was taking a deep breath, hoping he would forgive me and not think that I was a massive piece of shit for the things I said.

When she was done talking with him, I went up to him, and I sat down. I was having a strange time thinking of a way to make my point, and I was wondering if he was even wanting to fucking hear it at all, considering the things that had been going on. "Hey Robbie, I just wanted to talk for a bit." I said, and I closed my eyes, hoping that he was willing to fucking hear it.

"Oh god. When you guys simply just want to talk for a bit, some fucking retarded shit happens." Robbie said, and I was feeling like since in the general scheme of things, that was probably how it sincerely came off, I decided to let it slide that time.

"No, I just wanted to apologize to you for the way that I was trying to force information out of you earlier. I mean, I shouldn't have fucking done that. I was not my place to try and make you tell me what you were doing with Gabe. After all, what you are doing is still pretty fucking innocent. I guess I'm scared." I said, and then Robbie sighed as he was hearing this, feeling like he couldn't even fucking fight that point at all.

"Look dude, I understand that you love your siblings like crazy, and I think it's great that you feel that way. But the truth of the matter is that I think you need to see that I am not going to do something wrong." Robbie said, and I was sighing, since in all honesty, I had no idea what I was supposed to fucking even believe with this guy in the first place.

"Anyways, Bebe and I were just simply talking about it ourselves. We just simply agreed that I wouldn't fucking lie to her, and that everything that is happening, I will be fully honest with her over." He was saying, and I was looking right at him, wondering if that was even going to be true at all. It just still seemed slightly strange. But I was feeling like maybe he deserved a chance.

"Yeah, I guess that maybe I should just let it go. After all, you seem to have a idea what you're talking about." I said, and I was shrugging, feeling like I just needed to finally let it go. "But that being said, if you ever do need to talk to me, or anybody else, then just fucking come up to me, and we can make things work out." I said, as I was seeing him looking like he was trying to believe it.

"Anyways, Bebe was also pestering me to telling her if I like Lydia or not. I mean, I get that she was just simply trying to have some fucking fun. But it can be a bit annoying, not going to lie." He said, and I was sighing, feeling like I should probably let him just say what was on his mind. And not be too annoying to him over it.

"Wow… I can't understand why everybody is becoming so obsessed with that idea." I said, and Robbie was nodding, as he was standing up, and he was shaking his head, simply not really knowing what else to even fucking say.

"Anyways, I should probably get going soon. Don't want to be super late for classes. My parents usually are fine with five minutes, but anything more than that, and they would be fucking furious." He was saying, and I was also finding his fear over this situation to be utterly hilarious. He simply needed to fucking have some fun here.

"So Robbie?" I asked, and then he turned around to me, and I was seeing that from the look on his face, that his annoyance was starting to show up just a little bit more. I was feeling like if that was the case, then I needed to tread water just a bit more carefully here.

"Just enjoy school. Don't do anything crazy. It's not fucking worth it. You don't need to prove anything to fucking anyone." I said, and then Robbie was looking confused as all hell what I was meaning when I said this. "Look, I know that you clearly have something else going on. But I'm not going to fight you when you clearly won't fucking budge."

"And in all honesty, I never really wanted to know what it was exactly. That is not my fucking place. As long as it just remains with you and Gabe, I couldn't really stop it. But the thing is that I think you are still way too early in the school system to care about things you literally can't fucking change." I said, and then with that, I was seeing Robbie Dan looking like he was almost feeling slightly scared of what I was even trying to say.

"It really is nothing important. I mean, nothing is really happening out of it anyways. Besides, with how Gabe is, I think that if it were, he would be coming up to you, and making it very clear what it is." He was saying, and I shrugged as he was saying this. I felt like what he was saying was fair enough.

"Just make sure you still keep your fucking promise to go on and help Lydia when she fucking needs it. She is going to need that more than anything else." I said, and I was choosing to just respect his boundaries. Not because I actually wanted to. But because I knew there was no other way to do this at all. Robbie sighed, glad that this was all I said.

"I will. Don't fucking worry dude. I have no intention of not." Robbie said, and hearing him explicitly say that was something that made me a million times better. Knowing that he wasn't going to be making shit up, to just make me feel better.

"Well, I really should let you go now. You know, like you said, classes and shit." I said, and then when he was gone for real, heading to his elementary school, I was standing up, and I was wondering how fortunate he was to be a boy. If he was a girl, and three years older, there was no way in hell he would be able to walk to school alone safely.

When he had left, this was when Bebe was coming up to me again. I was not in the mood to discuss shit with her right now, since I knew for a fact that she was going to be having so much shit to say, and I was feeling like whatever it was, it was all going to be fucking negative.

"Look, I appreciate the fact that you want to talk to him. But I think for all our sakes, it might be best to just let it go for now, considering the fact that he clearly doesn't want to speak." Bebe said, and she shook her head. "I hate doing this. Because I don't want him to do anything stupid. But I guess that there is nothing that I can do."

"Better than what fucking Gabe has been doing. He has become fucking miserable to talk with after what happened. To be honest, I never thought that I would see the day would Gabe would become a fucking pill to fucking work with." I said, and I was shrugging at this, not sure what in the world to even say.

"Yeah, but to be honest, given everything that happened, is that even something you can fucking blame him on? After all, that shit would be something that would drive anybody down a well." She said, and I was looking right at her, finding her wording of the situation to be rather interesting, and I was wondering where she heard that.

"Well, we better get to work." I said, and then I was walking to class. I was feeling like this whole thing was fucking wrong. But at this rate, I didn't fucking even care anymore. I would do whatever I could to make it all work out as best I could.

When I was home that day, I wondered if I was really able to fucking judge Gabe at all, for what he had been doing with Robbie Dan. I mean, at least he wasn't being a totally miserable asshole this whole time, and at least he was still there for the guy.

Scene 8: November 3 2020 3:51 pm

During the election night, I was seeing that the television was on, and I was seeing that for some reason, Henry of all people were really intentive on it. I was finding that odd. Probably because he was finding the different colors and shit to be rather interesting. I don't know. He would understand later that this was no fun matter.

"Welcome to the election night 2020. Tonight, we will be seeing if President Donald Trump will win a second term to the office, or if Joe Biden will manage to beat him. As per usual, any states that the republican, Donald Trump, wins, will be in blue. Any states the democrat, Joe Biden, wins, will be in red. And if a third party somehow managed to win a state, they will be high lighted in green on the map." The guy said, as I rolled my eyes, feeling like this was procedure at this rate.

"Why are you even watching this crap? You're too young for this." I said, and I was mildly coming off as antagonistic, as much as I hated to admit it. But I needed him to see that this was not something that he should be interested in seeing.

"Dad told me to keep it on tonight. Said this was the one night I was not allowed to change channels." Henry said, and pointed to a note that explicitly fucking said so. I was looking at the recorder on the tv, and realized that just like every fucking bi annual election, this was something he recorded.

"That is some of the only shit he ever fucking records. I swear, it's like politics is the only thing he ever fucking cares for." I said, and I was sitting down, and I was looking right at Henry, feeling like I just needed to fucking be real with him as I was telling him everything on my mind.

"Henry, let me be real with you… This is not really something worth getting worried over. People will move on with their lives as if nothing happened in a weekend. At the end of the day, the only thing that changes is that the sun went up and down twice, and potentially a different old fuck will be in the office." I said, and I wasn't saying that because anybody else told me to. I genuinely fucking meant every word of what I said.

"Dad doesn't think so." Henry said, and I placed a fake smile on my face, knowing full well that dad did not think that way, since he made it annoyingly clear that he did not. And to be honest, I felt like whatever I could say to him was just going to just not fucking resonate with Henry at all. I wasn't fucking stupid. I knew how things were.

I was standing up, and I was starting to head on out, to meet up with some of my friends, and just simply not deal with this bullshit. I wasn't really in the mood at all, and I was pulling out my phone. "Hey, so Michael was saying that if you wanted to talk to him at any point, he would be willing to." Gabe sent by text, and I was sighing, wondering what the fucking point of this was going to be.

"Why would I want to talk to him, when I barley even fucking know the guy?" I asked him, feeling like I just needed to be completely fucking honest as I was thinking about he was telling me. "I mean, yeah, I'm sure that it has something to do with that whole thing from earlier. But do you maybe have something else?"

"Look, I understand that you might not like it, but I feel like Michael is too scared to talk to me. I have no idea why, he just fucking is, and I feel like I just need to fucking work with him on his wishes. So because of that, I want you to be the one that tries to make it work out." He was telling me, and I sighed, and I really had no idea how in the world I was even going to change this at all.

"Okay. If this fucking happens though, I need you to promise me that you are going to fucking be crystal fucking honest about all the shit that is going on. I mean, Henry is over here watching the current president be decided, and that is somehow not my biggest worry." I sent, and I wondered how Gabe was going to be reacting to this comment.

"Wait, why the fuck is he watching that stuff when he's fucking five years old?" Gabe asked, and I was feeling like that was a great question, and one that I wished that I had a fucking answer for, but I just fucking didn't, at all.

"He said because dad wanted this to be the one day that was not switched to something else, so Henry probably just wants something fucking on, to kill time." After I sent him this, I sighed, since I really had no idea what in the world to tell him.

When I was having this conversation, I checked the first results. While I wasn't super interested in this, I wanted to keep at least mildly in touch. So every fifteen minutes on these nights, I check my phone. So far, Trump was at 26 electoral votes from Indiana. Biden 0.

"Okay. I will fucking talk to him. I don't know how useful it will be. But I will fucking do it. How about tomorrow? I will see if he gives me anything at all. And if he doesn't, then you just drop this fucking subject." I sent, feeling like this was fair enough, and made my standards very clear to him.

"Okay. Fair enough. I guess that I fucking get it. But to be honest, I feel like we just need to take things more seriously." Gabe sent, and then I was then thinking of the next thing that I wanted to fucking tell him. Especially since I was feeling like I needed to just call him out for the things he had been saying earlier.

"I thought you said you wanted me to have nothing to do with this anyways. So why is this suddenly changing all of a fucking sudden?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to kind of call him out on his bullshit, since I didn't want to handle this at all.

"Yeah, and I don't. But I feel like I have no choice on this one. Just one fucking set of questions. Simple as that. This is all that I fucking ask for. Do that, and I will permanently leave you alone." After he said that to me, I was sighing, since I knew that there was no way in hell that I was going to change this at all.

"Okay. I guess that I will try and take your fucking word for it. This better fucking be worth it." After I was telling him this, I was feeling like this was going to be a fucking nightmare. The fact that I was even having to have this discussion in the first place.

"Thank you. I really don't feel comfortable doing this. Just trust me when I fucking say that." Gabe said, and I was sighing, since at this point, I had no idea what in the fucking world I wanted to, or could, fucking trust. I felt like this whole thing was a fucking mistake.

When I was getting ready to go inside, this was when I was seeing Seth. I sighed, and I felt like I would just maybe hang out with him for a while, and see how thing would work. I was also wondering if it would even make sense meeting up with Rhett or Simon, when I barely even fucking knew them at all. Seth walked up to me, and I was ready to start, after I did another check, and to my not surprise, electorally the same results. 26 to 0.

"Hey Josiah, can we end up talking for a bit?" He asked, and I was sighing, feeling like as long as it was away from the television, and away from the election, I would take it.

"Yeah. I need that fucking break. So let's fucking go." I said, feeling like this was going to be the perfect fucking chance. As we were leaving, Seth was looking like there was something he wanted to fucking talk about.

"I was just wanting to apologize if you were ever feeling like I was forcing you into the fucking talent show. I mean, I don't know. You might have wanted to do it with friends, and I am fucking coming in and forcing you to do this." He said, and I was shrugging, not sure what else to fucking tell him.

"No. I was going to be going anyways. I just figured that with you here, then I might be able to have something else to do there. So yeah, at the end, I have no issue." I said, and I was seeing Seth wanting to discuss something else further, but just seemed kind of unsure.

"Yeah. Well, I just see that you are starting to form some fucking friends, and I was just wanting to make sure that you weren't being forced into anything bad." After Seth said this, I simply shrugged, and I simply had nothing else to fucking say to this. This was ridiculous.

"I have just been talking with some new people. Nothing important. To be honest, I would be shocked if these really ended up going anywhere." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to be honest as I said this. Seth was looking shocked at the sudden change in the tone of my voice.

"Anyways, want to go to Joyful Burger?" Seth asked, and I was feeling like my fucking lack of money was more than enough to fucking say no. But I wasn't really wanting to make him feel like I wasn't even trying to be there for him. So with that, I sighed, and agreed to go along with it. For the time being, at least.

"Well, to be fair, anything that takes my mind off of the election for a bit, I will fucking take." I said, feeling like this was something that I needed to just use as ammunition. I wanted nothing to do with this election, and I had no idea why anybody fucking would.

Once we were getting closer to the actual location, I got another notification. Some states had been called. Kentucky with 18 and Oklahoma with 16 for Trump, putting him at 60. And Delaware with 5, Vermont with 4, Massachusetts with 26, and Maryland with 23 for Biden, placing him at 58. As I was getting ready to place in our order, I was getting another text from Rhett. Which was shocking, since this was the first one he sent since the verification text he sent earlier.

"Seth, I am going to need a bit." I said, and I was seeing Seth looking like he was both mildly surprised, but also not really wanting to fucking fight this at all. Probably thinking that it was important.

"Hey, would you be willing to meet up this weekend? I feel like it might be a decent idea to show you my place?" Rhett sent, as I closed my eyes, thinking this was really not the time. But I couldn't say no.

"Saturday or Sunday?" I sent, very simply, as I was looking back, and I was seeing Seth looking confused at why I suddenly did this.

"Maybe Saturday. Sooner the better." He said, and I was wondering if I was able to fully agree with his sentiment. But I was feeling like telling him otherwise was not going to be doing anybody any favors at all.

"Sure. I will arrange people to not bother me during that day. I don't know what I will be able to do to help though." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest as I was telling him this. He needed to know that I was not the man for the job.

"Thanks dude. You have no idea how much this means to me." Rhett said, and I was feeling like he was going to be sending another text soon, so I just decided that I would wait a bit.

"Just having a hard time with everything, and despite the fact that I want to try and be happy, and not bother people, it is not going to fucking work." When he sent this, I was now starting to kind of feel bad for thinking the way that I did.

"Look, I mean, my parents are still together, and I have a decently funded house. I have no idea what you are going through." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him, and not get his hopes up when he would be seeing me.

"It's okay dude. I am not expecting perfection. I just need somebody to talk to. Thanks." Rhett said, and I felt like I just needed to end this now, for the time being.

"I'll get back to you later. I have to take my brother out to dinner. See you Saturday." I said, and then walked in, and sat down, feeling like I just needed to focus on Seth once again, and not think about everything else.

"I just needed somebody to talk to. We're good now." I said, trying to make that point. Seth sighed, and decided to just simply not argue, to not try and make me feel like shit for no good reason. And besides, I wanted to talk to him anyways.

When I was taking a break from texting Rhett, I was checking the results. Tennessee and West Virginia had been called for Trump, with 25 and 9 electoral votes, respectively. Placing him at 94 to 58.

We placed in our orders, and I was feeling like I needed to try and fucking break the mold at least a little bit here. "So Seth, how has school been going for you so far?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to see if he adapted well or not.

"Decently enough, I suppose. Not the worst school year ever. I think that by this point, I am just kind of zoned out, and just doing whatever I can to get through each school year as well as I fucking can." He said, and I shrugged, feeling like that was fair enough.

"Yeah, I suppose that I can see that. I have days where I feel like that. To be honest, I already feel like high school has been much better for me than anything else. Middle school was more strange than bad, and elementary was just torture." I said, and then Seth nodded at that.

"Can't believe that I have been in middle school for nearly two months already. And the first quarter report cards are coming in. I don't even fucking know what my grades are going to be." He said, and I was laughing as he said this.

"How are you unsure of your fucking grades?" I asked, and then Seth was smiling as I asked him this, as if feeling like he going to admit to being a naughty person or some fucking shit like that.

"Well, to be honest, I don't fucking check them at all really. I just get my homework, do it, and do the tests, and move on with my life. I mean, I do try to work it out. I'm guessing probably a C average. You said yourself that middle school is the last period where it doesn't really matter too much." He said, and I nodded, feeling the need to own up.

"Okay. I guess that's fair. I mean, college doesn't track your fucking middle school GPA. From what I understand, once you started college, and have a few terms under your belt, they hardly even fucking care about high school anymore." I said, and I was shrugging, kind of feeling like I needed to affirm what I said.

"So yeah. I just simply try, and whatever happens, happens. And besides, I doubt mom and dad are going to scream over D's. They might get upset over a fucking F, and especially more. But I mean, a D counts as a GPA point." Seth said, and I sighed, feeling no need to argue with him.

"True. I mean, to be fair, they never really cared for when Gabe got any D's in high school. I think they were just happier that at least he didn't have to take any classes again." I said, and shrugged, feeling like whatever else we could say would be pointless.

After we got our orders, another quick notification popped up. Trump won Arkansas, which had thirteen, North Dakota with 5, and South Dakota with 5. Placing him at 117. Biden won New York with 74, New Jersey with 34, Connecticut with 15, Colorado with 21, and Rhode Island with 6. Placing him 208.

"I guess that I also don't really want to be in the house anymore. Dealing with the shit that Todd and Gabe are doing all the time, has really just kind of ruined everything for me." Seth said, and I was slowly nodding, wondering how many others were feeling the same way, given everything that happened.

"Yeah, I do completely fucking understand. I know that they are not seeing the issues in their decorum, but I think that everybody else is picking up on it as well, and that is really starting to just kind of dampen everything." I was saying, as Seth was taking a massive bite.

"I mean, they have gone deep into this shit that I am not even worried about the election right now. That can happen either way, and I will simply move on with my fucking life. But this shit with Todd and Gabe has really started to get out of hand." I was saying, feeling like he needed to hear that I completely fucking agreed with him.

"Thanks for telling me. I was hoping that I wasn't looking too deep into the whole thing. I always worry that I am judging people too harshly and what not." After he was telling me this, I was slowly nodding, thinking that I would let him finish.

"And the thing that really gets me un-nerved is that I know deep down inside, they will refuse to fucking tell us shit. They will deflect everything that is said, because they are scared of what is happening." After I was telling him this, I was sighing, thinking that the honesty was the best thing.

"I mean, everybody tells me to live a normal life. What the fuck is normal about having ten siblings? I am always getting people at least once a week asking me what that is like. It is beyond fucking annoying. People just can't respect the fact that maybe I don't want to discuss this at all." After Seth said that, I thought about his point.

"Yeah, I think that people just sort of see the novelty of it, and cling onto it more than anything. And they always feel like everything is their fucking business. It can get annoying, but I think you just have to let it go." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest.

"Besides, I think that once Ridge gets older, and everybody starts to see more and more that mom and dad are truly done, they will start to kind of move on, and not worry about it so much. I think that's the main thing. Wondering when they will be done." I said, as I was eating a couple bites.

"Well, I think that people should just learn to keep their thoughts to themselves." After he was telling me this, I slowly nodded, and I was thinking that there was really no point in saying anything else. He was allowed his opinion.

While I was walking back, I casually checked my phone, and saw another couple states been called. Alabama with 20 and South Carolina with 19 for Trump. Placing him at 156. In the popular vote, Trump was doing much better. He was pulling 54.7, to Biden's 43.9.

"Josiah, thanks for trying to clear things up with Gabe earlier. I knew it wasn't going to fucking work. But I feel like the fact that you tried so hard is a good sign. And maybe I should be fighting my own fucking battles." Seth said, and I wasn't really wanting him to fucking say that, since I was not sure if he was ever going to be ready for such a thing.

"I knew that he needed to just consider what was going on. In all honesty, I feel like he kind of made a bunch of fucking mistakes as well. But I guess that you do not really fucking care to fucking hear that." After I told him this, I was wondering if Seth was even wanting to fucking hear that at all.

"Yeah, I mean, I know you are just trying to make things different here. But I think that there is a level of consideration that he needs to have, but he is refusing to fucking take in." As Seth is saying this, I really had no idea what in the world I was ever going to say to him.

"Look Seth, I am on your side. I think he crossed a line, but I am not going to be losing out on my family over this." I said, tired as hell at this argument, and I was feeling like the fact that this was even becoming a argument in the first place was starting to get a bit old.

"Do you have any idea why in the world he is trying to get you to talk to Michael anyways? I heard that argument you had with him earlier." He was saying, and I was slowly nodding, feeling like I needed to acknowledge what he was telling me.

"Because of some shit that happened with his friend. I mean, I have no idea what exactly is going on. I just feel like it is best to fucking go along with it, and not argue with him at all." I said, and I knew that this wasn't a great answer. But at the same time, I was hardly even caring at all.

"But what would he be thinking you can do about shit with his friend? I mean, you probably never once interacted with one of his friends." He said, and I slowly nodded, glad that Seth was picking up on the fucking shit that was happening.

"Yeah. Exactly. That is what I am fucking talking about. I hardly know shit about that guy, and he is expecting me to suddenly have all the fucking answers here. It is fucking ridiculous." I said, and I felt like there was no reason to discuss this any further.

"The fact that he is expecting you to fucking do this is a sign that they probably had a really bad falling out, and that he doesn't want to confront his fucking past again. I mean, at least I am assuming that is it." He said, and I was shrugging, since I wasn't sure, and in all honesty, I was hardly even fucking wanting to think too much about it.

"Look, if they have a fucking falling out, and he doesn't want to go into it, then I feel like that is on him." I was saying, and I tried to make him feel like there was no real reason to dig any deeper into this, but I was feeling like this was just simply not how it was going to work.

"Sorry. I just felt like I needed to bring that up as a possibility." After Seth was saying this, he was shrugging, and we were getting closer to being home. But when we were getting close, I was then thinking about what to say.

"Let me introduce you to Simon. That one guy who I am going to be working with. Maybe you guys can fucking work together a bit." I said, and I was hoping that he was willing to take my suggestion. I was seeing Seth looking like he was just trying to not get discouraged by that.

Next up with a projected win for Joe Biden in New Mexico, which was 10, California with 139, Washington with 27, Illinois with 49, and Oregon with 16. Putting him to 449 so far. New Hampshire, which was 7, was too early to call. Trump also picked up Louisiana with 19, Utah with 12, Nebraska with 9, Wyoming with 4, Missouri with 24, and Kansas with 13. Placing him at 234.

"Hey. I didn't even know you were going to be out tonight. I thought with all the election bullshit going on, everybody would be fucking around, and just staying home. You know, pretend to be caring about politics and all that shit for the night." After Michael said that to me, I was laughing, since he clearly did not know how my father was. This guy lived and breathed politics.

"Anyways, my parents were watching, and to be honest, I did not want to be dealing with it at all. So I just decided to leave for a bit. How are you guys handling this?" He asked, and I shook my head, not really wanting to turn this into politics.

"Honestly dude, I just feel like no matter what happens, at the end of the day, it will just be a the same thing. A old guy suddenly taking over, and we have to live with it, no matter what. I don't understand the point of looking so deeply into this when we all know it will be the same no matter what." I said, feeling like what I said was making perfect sense.

"What do you think, Seth?" Simon asked, feeling like he would at least pretend to be interested in hearing my younger brothers perspective. Seth was sighing, as if unsure of what he was wanting to say about this himself.

"Personally, Trump has been president the entire time I even remotely knew about politics, so if he leaves, it will just be more strange to me." He said, not sure what in the world he was wanting to say to this. He looked at me, as if hoping I would change the subject.

"Okay. I think we all said what we needed about the election. I don't think we need to talk any further on it." I said, and I was seeing Simon looking like he was kind of feeling bad for the way that I was suddenly taking the subject. Probably thinking that my seriousness was a harsh sign.

"Okay. Sorry for bringing it up. I just assumed that since it was obviously on everybody's mind, I would see." Simon said, and I was seeing him looking like he was rather uncomfortable at this now, and I was wondering if maybe I had been too harsh with him. But at the same time, I was hardly even fucking caring anymore.

"Anyways, I think that if we stay out too late, sooner or later, mom and dad will eventually fucking go down our throats." After I was saying this, I was mainly doing this as a way to be funny. But I knew how they were, when they were serious.

Since the last update, Trump picked up Mississippi with 13, and Ohio with 45 placing him at 292.

When we were heading off, this was when Simon called out to us, and I turned around, to see what he was wanting to talk to me about. "Hey Josiah, sometime soon, we really need to get to work on the music. I know that you have other things going on, so I know that I need to try and be patient. But this getting to kind of push time." After he was telling me this, I was slowly nodding, understanding his point.

"Okay. I guess that makes sense. I am not sure if this is going to work out as well as we both hope. Considering the fact that neither one of us have any real material here." I said, and I was looking at Seth. "Do you have anything to work with, Seth?" I asked, feeling like I needed to give him the floor for the time being.

"To be honest, I have been kind of having a lack of motivation to work on the jokes for a while. It just seems like every time I get started, I get a little bit into it, and then I end up losing my motivation to fucking continue." Seth said, and I wondered if this was still related to what happened with Gabe earlier, or something else.

"Look, I know that you and Gabe had a really bad fucking fight lately, and I understand being scared, but I think that you just need to embrace the idea of it more." I was saying to him, and I wondered if Seth was going to fucking listen to me at all, or just brush every word of what I said off. I was seeing from the look on his face, that it was slowly turning into the latter.

"I don't fucking care about that anymore. At least not from a comedy perspective. There is something else that has popped up at my school, that I feel like needs to be looked into. But nobody takes me seriously." Seth said, and I was seeing Simon looking like he was rather uncomfortable with what he was hearing. Probably scared of what he walked in on.

"Okay. Clearly I walked into something that I should not have. I better get fucking going." Simon said, and he was starting to walk off. I sighed, since in all honesty, I kind of knew that something like that was going to fucking happen.

"Let's just fucking go home." I said, not really wanting to deal with him ruining my hang outs right now. I knew that he didn't mean to, but sometimes it was hard to handle this shit.

On the next update, I was seeing that Biden had finally picked up Virginia, which was 32, and placed him at 482. At this point, I was wondering if the polls severely over estimated Trump near the end. In his favor though, he did mildly counter act with Idaho's 8, which placed him to a even 300, which meant that the initial polls did under estimate him.

Once we were at the house again, I was sitting down with Seth, and I was feeling like I needed to try and listen to him, and see what had been going on in his mind. After all, he was scared, and I was feeling like I just needed to give him something here. "So, what exactly has been bothering you?"

"Well, to be honest, I think something is happening to one of the students in my class, and I am scared for her safety." After Seth said that to me, I was feeling like my entire world was coming to a screeching halt. I looked right at him, and I felt like I just needed to take this slowly.

"Well, what evidence do you have?" I asked, and I was seeing Seth looking like he was just glad to see that I was no longer brushing him off, and I was at least willing to fucking listen to him for once.

"Honestly, every time she goes in that classroom, she seems normally pretty well. Then when she leaves his room, she seems beat up. Like a bruise or something. Plus, the teacher has no cameras in the room, which is another red flag for me." Seth said, and I couldn't believe what I was hearing at all.

"Dude, this is some really serious shit that you are throwing around. You need to be extremely fucking careful with this." I said, feeling like I just needed to place my foot down as I had said this. Seth was sighing, and I was glad that he was also taking what I said seriously.

"Look, I know that nobody fucking believes me. But I know what I am seeing, and I am sure that most other people in school do too, but for whatever reason, they are deflecting the issue. As if too fucking scared to fucking admit it." Seth said, and I was feeling like whatever he was saying, I just needed to try and plan around.

"What if I provide you with recorded evidence?" Seth asked, and I was shocked that he was even suggesting such a thing. I mean, how could an eleven year old who knew nothing about computers or technology because he was so busy with jokes even remotely do something like this.

"If you can, I promise to check it out. But I think we both know that there is no fucking way this is going to happen. You don't have the tech skills." I said, feeling like I needed to be harsh as I was telling him this, but if it would get him to fucking listen, then I would take the leap. I saw Seth genuinely looking like he was considering every word of what I said, and how he was going to make that work.

At next update, Trump countered with two very large updates, and third minor one. One with Florida at 71, Iowa with 13, and North Carolina at 37, placing him at 421. This meant both of them were now in the 400's at least.

At the end of the day, as was kind of expected if you saw the polls constantly close in every week, Donald Trump won re-election. Ended up with 745 electoral votes, and Biden ended up with 499. It ended up being 33 states Trump, 17 Biden. He won thirty three states at the end of the night, picking up Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, New Hampshire, Michigan, and Pennsylvania from the last poll update that I paid attention. He ended with 80.2 million votes, so 51.0 percent, and Biden got 74.6 million, which was 47.4 percent. At the end, I wasn't surprised he won but I was indeed surprised by how much he won by. For better or for worse, he had a very clear mandate going into the next four years.

Scene 9: November 4 2020 10:39 pm

The next day, I was talking with Michael, and I was really not in the mood to be dealing with any bullshit at all. I was feeling like whatever was going on with him, he just needed to fucking tell me right then and there, and not hold anything back.

"Look, I understand that things might be rough for you. I get it. But the fact of the matter is that my brother Gabe is worried out of his fucking mind for you, and I feel like you just need to tell me what is happening." After I was telling him this, I was seeing Michael just looking like he had no idea what to even say.

"I mean, Gabe did end up saving me. In that sense, I should be thanking him for everything. But the truth is that I feel like he really hurt me, because of the fact that the person who needs to be saved, Carly, never fucking was." Michael said, and I sighed, feeling like my brother didn't do that on purpose.

"Well, then, what are you fucking thinking here?" I asked, and I was seeing him looking like he was just kind of annoyed with the fact that I was trying so hard to fucking pressure him to fucking talk. I sighed, feeling like his refusal to talk was only making things so much worse.

"Well, I was wanting to talk to Gabe again, perhaps about saving Carly, and making sure that things are fucking done properly this time. There is nothing I want more than to make sure she fucking comes home." He was telling me, and I sighed, not sure what in the world I could even tell him.

"Well, I think that we both know that something like this is just not going to fucking happen. So I feel like it might be best for you to just kind of let it fucking go." I said, and I was feeling like being honest was what he straight up needed.

Michael stood up, as he slammed his fucking hands on the table. "Gabe has everything he needs! He has intel, he has a weapon, and he has a way to do this stuff, that he is not taking advantage of." As he was saying this, I wondered what he fucking meant, about intel and a fucking weapon.

"What do you mean by he has a fucking weapon?" I asked, and I was seeing that Michael realized the error in what he was saying. He was taking a deep breath, feeling like he was just needing to pretend like this was a statement that he had perfectly fucking planned out ahead of time.

"I mean that he knows Jayson Reichenbach, and has been friends with the guy for a while, and I feel like he needs to take advantage of the connections he has with that fucking guy, and maybe just make it work out." After Michael said this to me, I was sighing, and I felt like what he was telling me was a fucking joke.

"Look, I know that he has been talking with Jayson, but I think that we both know that there is a good chance that Jayson is going along with this, as a fucking way to get Gabe to expose some of the stuff that he knows." I said, and Michael was sighing, as if glad to hear that I was thinking some of the same shit that he had been thinking this whole time.

"Okay, so I am not fucking insane for thinking that shit. You are fucking proving that this is indeed something that could be going on here." After he was telling me this, he was simply shrugging, and had no idea what to even think now. I felt like this was a complete fucking lose lose.

"Anyways, the point is that I feel like since that connection is indeed there for now, that I might as fucking well use it, and that Gabe would be insane for not thinking the same way. Simple as fucking that. If we can pull this whole thing off, then everything will be better." Michael said, and he seemed like he could not believe that he had said this in the first place.

"Do you think that anybody is going to fucking survive this whole thing? I mean, you need to think about that. Our entire lives will be at stake. We got to find something to really make this whole fucking planning worth it." I said, and I wondered if he was even remotely wiling to fucking listen to me.

"And Gabe told me that he wanted me to stay out of this, and that is what I plan on doing. I only did this because he wanted to make sure that you were still willing to talk to him. After this talk is done, you guys are literally all on your own." I said, feeling like I just needed to make that clear.

Michael looked like my fucking refusing to work with him here, when he was wanting me to open up a bit, was something that he was just going to have to try his fucking best to not be so fucking scared of at this rate.

"I know what Gabe fucking said. And I am glad that he seems to be placing your values first. But the thing is that I need you to fucking consider at least. That is all that I fucking need. Just fucking consider." After he was telling me this, I looked right at him, and I could not believe that he had just said this.

"I'm still a minor dude. Even if I wanted to, legally I can't. There is literally nothing that I can fucking do about that. So yeah, one way or another, you are fucking alone." I said, and I saw him looking like my response was the worst outcome possible.

"Well, can you try and fucking talk to Gabe? Get him to see my view, and maybe he will be willing to listen to you. Just fucking talk to him, and see what he knows." He said, and I was sighing, really having no idea what in the world I would even fucking tell him.

"I have no idea. I can try and talk to him, and see if he would even be willing to hear me. But that is all that I can give you. And you need to fucking take it." I said, not wanting to go any further than that. He nodded, accepting that trade off.

When I was home, I was giving Gabe the entire relay on what I had talked about with Michael, and I was feeling like I just needed to let him fucking choose what he had wanted to do. I wasn't really in the mood to have this discussion at all, and to be honest, I never thought that any of this was going to be a good fucking idea at all.

"The fucking point is that he thinks that since you got into this whole thing, and you know Jayson, that you are going to be the best person for the fucking job, and that you need to fucking do it." I said, and I was hoping that he was going to take what I said fucking seriously for once. As I was finished, I was seeing Gabe looking like he was unable to believe this whole fucking situation.

"What am I going to do? Sooner or later, everybody is going to fucking see that I have no idea what I am fucking doing, and that I am fucking full of utter shit. I thought that I had a idea what I was getting myself into, but that is just a fucking lie. Before I realized how out of bounds I was." Gabe said, and then he sighed, feeling regret as he had said this.

"Well, then you shouldn't have fucking gotten involved in some crazy shit that I wanted nothing to do with. That nobody in this family wanted to do with. You need to live with what you fucking did to yourself." I said, and I felt like I just needed to make it clear that this was to be placed on him.

"But since you fucking started this, it is indeed your job to fucking finish this. And I think you need to fucking do that." I said, feeling like I just needed to kind of place my fucking foot down on this, and I was seeing Gabe looking like my statements were the one thing he wished he did not here.

Gabe sat down, and he looked fucking tired, and I was wondering if maybe I was being a bit too much of a asshole here. Maybe he needed somebody to fucking relax with him. But relaxation was out of the discussion, in my mind right now. And I think he knew that as well.

Scene 10: November 5 2020 2:18 pm

The next day, while I was at school, I was talking to Simon again, feeling like if I was wanting to actually make the idea of us performing together work, I was going to have to find something to make it worth it for him as well.

"Simon, I know that you probably don't want to do this, so if you feel like you want to just drop this subject, then let's leave it alone." I said, and then I was sighing, wondering what in the world I was even going to fucking tell him.

"No. It's nothing like that. To be honest, I am just still processing how fucking assertive your siblings were. It was hard to really get used to everything that was going on, when they were all in my fucking face." After Simon said that, I was sighing, since I knew that he was right. But I wanted to try and find something to say in their favor.

"It's okay. Honestly, I have been trying to get them to tone it down for fucking years. But they're still all really young, so I think that they probably just do not want to fucking listen." I said, and shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it any longer.

"But anyways, if you really did still want to work something out, then I guess that I would be willing to give it a try. After all, you seemed to be nice enough about it." After he was telling me this, I smiled really widely, and I was feeling like I Just needed to get to work on this.

"And Seth and I talked about it more, and we are really going to be going with the idea of working together on this. I just honestly believe that Seth needs to have somebody at his side, that he can trust." I said, and I was sure that Simon was not really going to care, but I just needed to let him know that was the plan.

"Okay. Thanks for letting me know." He said, and simply seemed to only be casually invested as I was saying this. Probably thinking that it was more odd than anything that I felt like I needed to tell him about how I was going to work on bonding with my brother.

Before long, I was seeing Rhett walking up, and I was feeling like if Simon was going to get confused, I would just simply tell him that we were talking, and I was just giving him a chance to make a new friend while he was here. "Don't worry, this is something that I set up." I said, and I was seeing Simon just looking kind of shocked more than anything.

"Hey Josiah, don't forget about Saturday." Rhett said, as he was waving towards Simon. Probably thinking that he didn't really want to make the situation too much worse. Simon shrugged, as if having nothing of interest to say here.

"Is this one of your friends?" Rhett asked, and I was shrugging, feeling like neither one of us would have gone that far, yet. "Josiah and I met a few days ago, and he agreed to help me out at my place this weekend."

Simon seemed completely indifferent to everything that Rhett had just said. As if thinking that it was really no big deal what Rhett was doing with me. "Well, we're more just partners for now. Working on the talent show. I don't think we've really talked about anything else." I said, and then Simon gave me that look as if saying he couldn't believe that I ended up forgetting that one talk.

"Oh yeah. We did talk about one other thing. But I doubt that you want to talk about that." I said, and then I was seeing Rhett looking really interested in what we had talked about that made Simon get so fucking triggered. I was taking a deep breath, hoping he was not going to press the issue further.

"I didn't even realize you were trying to make friends. You always seemed like a loner dude." Simon said, and Rhett was looking at him, and was wondering where in the world Simon was feeling like that was his place to be judging.

"You've only been here for a couple of months. You don't know how hard it is to deal with a fucking divorce where one parent takes everything and leaves the other one with just me and only a months worth of rent just to shut her up." Rhett said, and as soon as he had said this, this was when Simon looked down on the table, and he was looking like he was actually kind of regretting even opening his mouth in the first place.

"Okay. Sorry. You're right. I've only been here for a while. But in all fairness, how was I supposed to know this if nobody ever says anything?" He asked, and then Rhett sighed, as if thinking about what he heard. Probably thinking that maybe there was a mild form of truth to that after all.

"Okay. I guess that I can give you that much. I have been having a really hard time talking about what happened, and that just kind of gives me a hard time really keeping in track everything else." He said, and then Simon nodded, as if glad to see that even Rhett was choosing to budge a small touch on the subject.

"Look, I understand that things are rather rough here. So let's not fucking fight with each other super bad. But yeah, anyways, so we were just talking about the talent show. I know you said you had no interest in joining at all." I said, and I was kind of feeling a bit sad at that, to be honest.

"Well, I won't fucking perform, but I wouldn't be completely against the idea of watching it as a viewer. What type of music are you even planning on playing there, anyways?" He asked, and then I shrugged, thinking that since he was willing to show even remote interest in the subject, I would just tell him.

"Well, I usually like to do rock and metal. But I have no idea what Simon likes, so I was kind of hoping we could discuss this a bit." I said, and then looked at Simon, where he was simply not sure what to even fucking say.

"To be honest, I don't really have a preference. I just kind of try everything out for a bit, and then change interests as I go. Nothing too fucking exciting." Simon said, and I sighed, feeling like this was not at all how I was hoping the fucking subject would go, since that was going to be giving me fucking nothing at all.

"Oh fucking god. That is the angle you are going to be playing at?" I asked, and I will admit, I think I myself could hear the minor annoyance in my voice as I was saying this. Then with that, I chose to not really think much of it at all.

"Well, I mean, what else am I going to be saying? That I completely fucking get what I am trying to go for, and that I have this epic fucking plan?" He asked, and then with that, he was sighing, and felt like there was no real point in even talking about this at all anymore.

"Okay. This is turning a bit strange. Well, like I said, see you Saturday. I guess you can come to if you wanted to." Rhett said to both of us, and gave the last bit to Simon as just more of a way to at least pretend like he was being nice. But I was having a feeling he didn't really want Simon to be there.

As he was gone, Simon sighed. "Well, since you've had a hard time writing songs, how about I write, and you just work on practicing?" He asked, as I sighed, feeling no need to argue with this idea. It would have at least given us something.

At the time I was sitting down for my next class, I was over this whole thing. I was over feeling like I was treading on super thin ice, and I was over feeling like everything that I had been doing was just super fucking uncomfortable. I mean, why did Gabe send me off to do that shit, when he initially claimed that he had no interest in doing so.

Scene 11: November 6 2020 4:40 pm

The next day, when school was done, I was heading home, when Bebe called me once again. I turned to her, and I was feeling a bit more sympathy for her compared to some other people so far. "What were you wanting to discuss?" I asked, not really in the mood to argue with her or anything. Especially since I could virtually guarantee that it was related to Robbie.

"Todd hasn't messaged me in two days. Normally I'm used to a day here and there. After all, he does a lot of working, but two days is something he never does before." Bebe said, and I was sighing, feeling like I would almost rather have it be about Robbie if this was the subject.

But I told myself to not be a miserable asshole about it, and sighed, feeling like I would at least pretend like this was a subject that I wanted to talk about. "Well, to be honest, he often times has a hard time talking with people. Give him another day, and if he doesn't send something then, then go ahead and come in to talk to him." I said, thinking about all the times that it took him hours or days to respond to some texts I had to send him.

"Yeah, but I'm just worried that he is probably just over working himself too much. Or getting too involved with that shit he and Gabe have been doing." After Bebe said this, I looked down, feeling utterly helpless to talk to her here.

"Well, to be honest, I think that Gabe is the bigger person you need to worry about for that shit. He has been really bad about it lately. In all honesty, I'm getting kind of annoyed about it myself." I said, feeling like I would be fully real with her.

"I heard about that. It's none of my business though." She said, and she was sounding like she was simply trying to just not think too much about it. "Either way, I just feel like I need to make sure that he is okay. So just try and talk to him later? And if he doesn't want to date anymore, just tell him to at least let me know."

"To be honest, that is not what he is going to be thinking at all. You seem to be the only person lately that can keep him sane. So I think he will want to talk to you about this." I was saying, and I was hoping she would actually listen to me.

"I really fucking hope you're right. But anyways, thanks for talking to me about that. I know that we ever interacted before, especially compared to your older brothers or Lydia. But this whole thing just really is rubbing me the wrong way. I guess that maybe my parents are right, and that I get way too attached, or obsessed with things after a certain point." She was telling me, and I was sighing, feeling like this was fair.

"Let's be fair though, after everything that has happened, and with some of the things I have to deal with on my own social circles, I can't really fucking bitch too much." I said, and I was seeing Bebe looking like she wanted to know more about what I was meaning.

"Well, lately, I have been trying to get ready for the talent show, and I feel like when I am done with this, then those people might not want to see me as much anymore. Like they will be thinking that there is no fucking point." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to be fully honest with her.

"And then there is the other guy, who has been dealing with his parents divorce. And I mean, when I hear about it, I feel bad for the guy, and I want to fucking help him out as much as I fucking can. But I think that it might not be possible." I said, wondering if she had anything to say about this.

"Parents divorce? Oh yeah, I think I vaguely heard about that. But I never talked with that man before. How is he handling that anyways?" She asked, and I was sighing, feeling like I literally just fucking told her, so I had no idea what she was fucking talking about.

"And don't worry, before you even need to ask, I'll let you know that I haven't so much as even talked with Robbie Dan since that one time earlier. I think that you don't really need to get your fears up over that." I said, and I was seeing her looking like she was just not too sure what she was wanting to fucking feel here.

"Okay. I will try to trust you." She was saying, and I was slowly nodding, feeling like I just wanted to save my fucking ass at some fucking points. "Besides, I think that if I tried to talk to him here, he would be telling me to just fucking leave him alone. He always makes this a attack against me and my parents. I mean, I can sort of see being scared, but it can be a bit over the top." She was telling me, and I really had no idea what to tell her at all.

"Well, I think that this can be a rather shitty thing to do. Maybe you do need to try and talk to your brother about this. Try and get him to see the error in his ways." I said, and then Bebe was looking at me, and I was seeing that she had clearly disagreed with the shit that I had been saying.

"Well, I do think that maybe he is right. That I am being too harsh on him. After all, when I was his age, I was just going around, and hanging out with friends all the time myself. And my older brother didn't say a fucking word about it. In fact, he hardly seemed to even fucking notice." Bebe said, and I was wondering why we were even discussing this.

"Look, like I said, I haven't spoken with him, and I don't know if I really even fucking need to. If he says something to me that really comes off as strange or worrisome, I will let you know." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to let this Robbie Dan thing go.

To be honest, I will admit that this was not the worst thing we could discuss. At least she wasn't talking about Trump winning a second term. I think that if she had brought that up, then I would have not even bothered talking to her about anything at all. I would have just left her high and dry.

"And I promise you, I will talk to my brother about what is going on. I am sure that once he sees how much it worries you, then he will fucking budge." I said, and then I was seeing Bebe looking like she was still not buying it at all.

"Thanks. I guess that I shouldn't be asking for more." She was telling me, and I was wondering what in the world I was even going to be telling Todd in the first place. There was no way in hell he was going to appreciate me coming on him like this. And I wasn't really wanting to have this discussion to begin with in the first place.

"Oh, and good luck on your talent show. I mean, I wish that I had the courage to get up there and do shit." Bebe said, and I was shocked that she had admitted this. I sighed, since I was feeling like her telling me this was just mainly a way to get me to feel better about what had been happening around me.

"Thanks. I have no idea if I'll win. But sometimes getting a name is more important than willing." I said, and I was being one hundred percent sincere as I was saying this. As I said that, I saw her looking like she thought that this was a interesting comment. Before she could talk further, I started to walk off, wanting to just be home, and be away from everything for the next day.

When I was finally heading home, I was wondering how Todd would react when I would tell him that he needed to respond to Bebe more. I even pulled my phone out, and texted Todd about it. "Bebe is worried about you not responding to her messages. Just give her a quick update." I sent, feeling like that was where my part ended.

Scene 12: November 7 2020 10:28 pm

That next day, I was meeting up with Rhett, and we were at his truck, and he was looking like he was utterly disgusted with how the area had been set up, and just the entire grossness of it. I was trying to find a way to make him feel a bit better, and not feel like he was dealing with a terrible fucking place.

"It seems like you do not enjoy this living situation at all?" I asked, and I was unable to believe that I had said something so stupid. I mean, that did not take a fucking genius to figure out, and I was over here acting like it was some fucking amazing shocking secret.

"I just didn't really think about the fact that I needed to clean up this place before we started to hang out. I just didn't really think it would fucking matter." Rhett said, and he was sighing, as if unable to believe that he had just admitted to this in the first place.

"Well, I mean, you do need to remember that I live with ten fucking siblings. Nine of which are boys. So truth be told, I am the last person you need to worry about when it comes to cleanliness." I said, feeling like I just needed to be fully honest as I was telling him this.

"Yeah, I guess that is true. I guess that I just do remember some things my parents used to tell me when I was younger, about how I should always try and work on set up whenever I get a fucking chance. That is the main issue." He said, and I was thinking about what he said. We went over to his 'room' which was actually just the right corner of the trailer.

It was a mattress on the ground, a small basket for laundry with what looked like three days worth of clothes, a tv right in front of the mattress with a Xbox 360 and PS3, both systems having maybe four games on them, and a dvd player that looked like it was from 2010. When I saw this, I sighed, and I was kind of feeling bad.

Looking at his phone, I could tell that it was from probably at least 2016, and the laptop he had was clearly also old and worn down, with hairs in some of the key boards. "Wow, how do you even handle living like this?" I asked, genuinely feeling bad for him, and feeling like I just needed to fucking help him out here.

"Well, at least I can eat, and I can bathe. So in all honesty, I have no real right to complain." Rhett said, and then he really had no idea what else to say. "To be honest, it is incredibly hard to give a shit about things like that election we just had, or some fucking crap like the missing girls when I get up every morning with back pain all over."

"To be honest, I guess that I do sort of see where you are coming from. Do you think you might try and talk to your mother about maybe getting her to try and have your dad at least let you have an apartment?" I asked, and Rhett was shaking his head. Not really sure what to say.

"I mean, with her work load, and the fact that she can barely even sleep to begin with, I feel like something like this would really not be in the best interest to bring up. Maybe later, but for now, I have no real interest in pressuring her about this." He was saying, and I slowly nodded, feeling like what he was saying did make some sense.

"Do you think that maybe if you try to say that to her, she might be thinking that you do not appreciate the effort that she is placing in? I mean, I guess I can see that, but maybe you just need to try and spin it in a way that if she has a small house, she only has to have one job. Or only do half hours on the second." I said, hoping to get him to see that I was genuinely trying to help him out here.

"Well, she has been trying to work on some cases against my father. So she is technically doing something. But until that is resolved, I have to take what I got. And besides, like I was telling you earlier, I plan on getting a job the second I hit sixteen, and picking up as many hours as I can. Even if I can only do two hour days or something, it would be better than nothing." Rhett said, and I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was seriously stressed out about this.

"When is your sixteenth birthday anyways?" I asked, feeling like that was a good way to figure out how insane this whole thing is. "Maybe I can try and talk to my father. You know, work on getting you a internship or something." As I said that, Rhett looked at me, and I was seeing him looking so fucking happy to even hear the suggestion.

"My fifteenth birthday was September 30. So over ten months away until 16." After he said that, he was sighing. "You're lucky. Being a May child, being able to do adult shit a whole four months earlier." Rhett said, and I was laughing at that, thinking that him telling me this was not quite true. I was scared that I was going to have to get a job at some point.

"But if you can talk to your dad, get the internship going, you are a fucking hero then. I will basically just have to spend the rest of my life in your debt." After Rhett said this, I was laughing at this, thinking that what he was saying was kind of funny. He had no idea what in the world he was really meaning when he had said that. There was nothing glamorous about what was really happening here.

"Well, I will fucking try. I mean, this is not a living space that anybody should be having." I said, and I was feeling like the fact that I had so much to work with at my house was something that I needed to be thankful for. After all, I was able to fucking eat as much shit as I wanted, and I didn't have to worry about anything else.

"Thanks for fucking seeing that. I mean, I make the most of what I can every day, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it. At all. And I am just hoping that I never come off as whiny to my mother or whatever." After Rhett was saying this, he was pulling out his laptop, and had a couple of tabs on youtube open.

"Honestly, I just kind of waste my hours away on youtube, and don't pay attention to anything else. No reason to be thinking about anything else. At least when I watch videos or whatever, I can just sort of escape to someplace else for twenty to thirty minutes." He was saying, and I was laughing at this. In a 'oh god that's sad' type of way. Not because I was actually thinking that what he was saying was really funny at all.

"I mean, when I was younger, I always wanted to have a brother. Or even a sister. But now, given everything that is going on, I know for a fucking fact that if mom had a second child, there would be no way in hell that things would be properly financed. She would have to either take a third job and basically work herself to death, or force dad to take one of the two." Rhett said, and I wondered how that would have worked out.

"Some nights, I hate my dad for the divorce. Hate him for the fact that he forced us to live like this, and that he never can see the fact that he was being so fucking selfish doing so." Rhett said, and I wondered what else I was even going to be able to tell him.

"I'm sorry if this is a uncomfortable question, but what did you guys divorce over?" I asked, and I was hoping that I was not going to be pissing him off as I asked this. He sighed, thinking that this was a question that was going to be asked sooner or later anyways, so he might as well tell me.

"I have no idea honestly, but I think I heard from some of the rumors around town that my father had a affair with somebody or some shit. Something about sex." Rhett said, and he shrugged, as if thinking that this was really not what really mattered at all.

"To be honest, I hardly fucking care what the reason is. It happened, and I have to deal with it. Simple as fucking that. There doesn't need to be a god damn fucking essay about it." Rhett said, and I wondered what in the world I was even going to be able to say to this at all.

"Sorry. I guess that I was just curious. I didn't mean to piss you off." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to get out of this subject as fast as possible. As I said this, I was seeing from the look on Rhett's face that he was seeming to regret this.

"I know you mean well. But it's a fucking mistake. All of this shit is a fucking mistake. And I have to live with it now." He said, as simply as possible, and sounded like this was not something that ever needed to become a fucking debate in the first place.

The next time I would see my father, I would try and get him to open up about the internship for Rhett, and I hoped to god he would be willing to accept. Or maybe I would at least look for places that would maybe allow him to work at fifteen, and then give him those areas as a reference.

Scene 13: November 8 2020 3:56 pm

The next day, as I was heading out of the house, and I was getting a text from Gabe. I knew that this was going to be coming sooner or later, so for my own sanity, I just choose to not fucking fight with it at all. So I took the phone out, and decided to see what he was wanting to tell me.

"How did that conversation with Michael go? I need to know what the fucking hell is even happening here." After he was texting me this, I sighed, and I knew that something like this was inevitably be where the subject was heading.

"Decently enough. I think that he is willing to work with you a bit, but just be sure that you know what you are doing with him. His mental state seems to be a bit frizzled." I said, feeling like I just needed to be completely honest with him.

"Shit. Okay. I mean, I guess that's better than nothing. Thanks for telling me." He said, and I decided to just let the subject go for the time being. I rubbed my eyes, wondering why I was even having this discussion with him in the first place.

"Gabe, do you think that Carly will ever fucking return?" I asked, and I was wondering if he was going to be fully honest with me. I was hoping he was not going to be giving me any bullshit at all. Since to be honest, any bullshit was going to piss me off.

"To be honest, I don't think we are actually going to fucking find her. But I do promise that I don't even care how realistic the whole thing is, I am going to at least fucking try." Gabe texted me, and I sighed, not sure what in the world I was even going to say.

"And besides, I told you that I wanted you to have nothing to do with this. So you can fucking leave this alone. Just pretend like this conversation never happened." When Gabe texted me this, I was sighing, not sure if this conversation was ever going to fully end, or if I ever did want it to end.

"Well Gabe, after you forced me to have a fucking discussion with your friend, and be his therapist for a bit, I feel like I need to be much more careful here." I sent the text, and I hoped he was going to fucking listen to me for a bit.

"Okay, I guess that this is fair. But I explicitly told you that I only did that because I felt like I was having no fucking choice on the matter." Gabe was texting me, I was kind of upset with the fact that this was even a discussion in the first place.

"Have you even found any evidence in the first place?" I asked, feeling like since he did force me into this, I did deserve some fucking answers here. I was wondering how serious Gabe was going to be when it came to looking around for all of this.

"No. Not really. Every time I try to talk to those men in black, they completely fucking reject talking to me at all. Which is strange, since they were the ones that were behind this shit in the first place." After he was texting me this, I wondered to myself if I even wanted anything to do with this in the first place.

"What do those fucking men in black even fucking need right now? That just seems fucking random as all hell." I sent, and then with that, Gabe was sending me another text, and this one was really making me get blood sent running down my spine.

"They were the people behind Carly going missing. I saw it fucking happen in person. I couldn't stop them fast enough." After Gabe was texting me this, I sighed, and I was really having no idea what in the world I was even going to fucking tell him. I had no desire to have this discussion at all. But if this was the case, I knew I would have to.

Before too long, that was when Jack was starting to walk towards me, and I was sighing in annoyance when I was seeing him. "Hey Gabe, what in the world are you doing?" He asked, and I looked right at him, not really in the mood to have this discussion with him.

"I was working on a fucking conversation with Gabe. Nothing too big. Just stuff about his friends." I said, and then I was seeing Jack looking like he had virtually no interest in this discussion at all. "Sorry for bothering you. I know you are supposed to work on your sports."

"To be honest, I would rather be dealing with your sports than anything else right now." I said, and I was seeing Jack looking like the tone of voice I was using to make that point right now was kind of sad, and I was wondering what was bothering him so much.

"Oh, okay." Jack said, and he was trying to decide what he was feeling about this. But then with that, I was sighing, and I was kind of feeling mildly tired about what had been going on. "Do you want to come with me right now?" He asked, and I was sighing, feeling like that was a bit of a stretch.

"Well, I was mainly just going to be playing at the park. If you want to practice at the field over there, then you can come along. I just need to be away from this fucking house." I said, and I was seeing Jack looking like he was just trying to decide what to think about this.

As we were walking towards the park, I figured that I needed to try and fucking talk to him, and I was seeing Jack looking like he was so proud of the fact that I was starting to actually pay attention to the work he had put in.

"So Jack, I heard you were the one that won the game for the team in one of the games. I think that is awesome." I said, feeling like I would get Jack to start to open up again. "If you did, then I think that this would be rather awesome."

"To be honest, I mainly delivered the winning shot. And that is when everybody gives you fucking credit. But I will take it that way." After Jack said this, we were at the park, and I sat down, and I was getting ready to play my music as I was watching Jack walk right towards the playing field.

Jack was already starting to hit some shots, and I could tell that he had been practicing quite a bit, and had improved greatly. Before the start of the school year, to be honest, he was honestly not all that great at it. But it was seeming like he was really just wanting to work this out.

I wondered what Gabe was talking about with those men in black. I was in a situation where my mind was conflicting if I wanted involvement or not. I wanted no part in investigating, but I also wanted to see if he was safe, and I was also feeling that if something happened to Gabe, then I could take what he had given me, and use that as a starting point.

But the other biggest thing that I wanted to work on was figuring out how in the world I was even going to be able to help Rhett with his mom's situation, since I was feeling like that was the biggest issue right now.

I hoped beyond god that dad was willing to fucking work with him, sine if he fucking did, then this would fucking indicate that he was going to be able to turn this around for all of us in the first place. I was looking at Jack, and I was telling myself that I just needed to stop fucking thinking too deeply about it, or else I was going to make things worse.

I was telling myself that the next time Jack had a game, I would come by, and I would be playing music for him, and make him feel like he was finally doing something good for his family. I smiled as I was considering what I was going to be doing.

But until them, I was just working on my music, hardly caring about any of this stuff, and I was telling myself to just focus on my own personal issues. And when I talk with my father, once we got a fucking plan, I would tell Rhett what we were going to do, and I would finally help him out as much as possible.

I eventually went home, and I sat down, and just got right to the guitar, not really in the mood to have any other discussions with other people. I mean, I knew that everybody was going to be pressing me for more information, and to be honest, I was just not in the mood at all.

Scene 14: November 9 2020 12:31 pm

That night, as I was getting ready to be going to sleep, Henry was coming up to my room, and I was wondering what in the world he was planning here. I knew for a fucking fact that what Henry wanted to do was going to be fucking suicide.

"Hey, can you help me?" After Henry asked me this, I looked at me, and I was wondering what angle he was going to be playing at here. But I was choosing to not fucking argue with him at all, and that I would listen to what he needed to fucking tell me.

I got up, feeling like I just needed to fucking hear what he wanted to tell me. I was glad that Seth was already asleep, and I was assuming that virtually everybody else in the family was asleep as well, so I would just see what had been bothering him so much.

"Henry, what do you fucking need?" I asked, and I wasn't even caring if I was going to be sounding like a asshole when I was asking him this. Henry looked up at me, and I saw him looking like he was wishing that I would not be judging him over everything, and just listen to him.

"Well, I wanted to tell you some of the things that Gabe had been doing. I heard some conversations that he had with Michael." After Henry said that to me, I was shocked at this. I knew that this was going to be my best opening to see what had been going on with everything.

"What has he done?" I asked, looking towards his and Todd's room, and I was feeling like I would have to try and talk to them as soon as I fucking could. This whole thing was driving me insane, and I really had no idea what the plan was going to be.

"He is working with Robbie Dan and going into the forest every Sunday with him, to check things out. I don't know what. Just that he fucking is." Henry said, and I was sighing as he was telling me this, since I knew full well that he was telling the truth.

"Maybe I should fucking tell Bebe what is going on here. Maybe she will take this more seriously." I said, and I was looking at Henry, and I was wondering if he was going to fucking listen to me. "What does Robbie Dan even fucking want in there in the first place?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to try and understand the fucking plan here.

"Do you think she would fucking listen?" He asked me, and I looked right at him, and I was feeling like that was the main thing that I needed to be safer on. "And Gabe was talking to Michael about a weapon that they fucking found."

"Well, Bebe has been worried about Robbie Dan for a while, so I assume that even if she wouldn't want to fucking listen, she would, for the sake of her fucking brother." I said, and I was looking at Henry, hoping that he wouldn't fucking fight with me here.

"I knew that something was going on between you and Gabe for a while, so I just wanted to clear things up." After Henry was telling me this, I was thinking deeply about what he had been saying, and I was wondering if this was even going to be fucking worth it at all.

"Just stay out of this, and I will figure things out with Gabe and the others. Trust me. I just need some fucking time." I said, and then Henry was looking like he was kind of upset with the fact that I was telling him the same thing that everybody had been telling me.

"You said you don't like it when everybody else does this to you? What makes me so fucking different?" Henry asked, and I looked at him, and I was unable to believe that he was even fucking asking me such a question. This whole thing was crazy, and I think he needed to fucking see that for himself.

"You're fucking five years old Henry. No way in hell am I going to be bringing you into this. This is where I have to draw the fucking line." I said, and I was looking at Henry, hoping that he was going to be seeing that I would not be negotiating this at all.

"Come on. I can fucking help. I told you what was going on here." After Henry was telling me this, I sighed, and I wondered what in the world he was even going to possibly want from this at all. This was fucking crazy, and I just felt like I needed to get him to knock it off.

"You did great so far. And I appreciate the insight you provided. But the answer is still going to be no, regardless of if you fucking like it or not." I said, and I was seeing Henry looking like he could not believe that I was telling him this, and in his eyes, treating him so fucking unfairly.

"What can I do to help then?" Henry asked, and I was shaking my head, wondering if he was going to just simply not fucking get it, and I was going to be mildly annoyed if this was going to be the fucking situation here.

"Just don't do anything at all. Let me do my own work, and I will make it come together." I said, and I was seeing that Henry was looking like he was still not wanting to hear this. But I was not going to budge.

"Let me talk to Robbie Dan, and you just continue to pretend like nothing ever happened. Simple as fucking that. You do not need to be looking at things any deeper at all. In fact, I would rather that you do not." I said, and I was feeling like the more clear and putting my foot down that I was here, the better.

"Okay. If you say so." Henry said, and he was sounding like he was still not getting into what I was saying. But I was feeling like if he was willing to fucking listen to me, and not fucking argue with me, at all, then the better that things were going to fucking be.

"Thanks for understanding. I know that things must be rough for you right now. But I promise you that unlike Gabe and Todd, I will be doing what I know is the best. And I would not be letting you down at all." I said, and I was seeing Henry looking like he was still trying to buy what I was saying.

"Do you think Lydia will want to know? She thinks Robbie Dan is cute." Henry said, and I was seeing Henry looking like he was embarrassed to be talking about this. I looked right at him, and I was feeling like something was up, but I was choosing to just not say anything.

"Well, I think that Lydia can keep those fucking thoughts to herself, since they hardly fucking matter at all." I said, and I was feeling like I Just needed to be honest as I was telling him this. "Besides, that has literally nothing to do with the shit going on."

"Okay." Henry said, sounding really fucking let down as I was telling him this. I wondered what was going on with that guy, and I was wondering if he was going to be listening to me at all. But then I was feeling like I just needed to get back on topic, and not make things any worse.

"Anyways, let me talk to Gabe and Robbie, and I will fucking see what he might know. Surely he will have something." I said, and I was shaking my head the entire time that I said this. "I just hope that I do not regret this whole fucking thing. Because this is turning out to be a disaster.

As Henry slowly nodded, he was heading back to his room, and I was walking outside, and I was going to be letting the night take me away once again. I needed to just be out in the night, where I could not have to deal with as many noises, and less fucking people being in my fucking face.

But as I was getting ready to settle down, Henry was heading back to me, and I was getting kind of annoyed this time, since I did not really want him to be here right now, and I was feeling like he had made his fucking point.

"When do you think you will be talking to Gabe?" Henry asked, and I shrugged, not sure what I was going to tell him. And I was also unsure why he was caring so fucking much right now. I was feeling like the fact that he wanted to know so much was only going to make things worse for me.

"Whenever I have the time. To be honest, when that happens, I might just simply not be talking to anybody about it. It wouldn't be doing anybody any favors to dig things up, and I think you would soon see that dragging yourself into this isn't going to be doing yourself any favors.

"Fine. Talk to you later." After Henry said that, he was starting to slowly walk off, but we were seeing somebody slowly walk to the block, and I was wondering who this person was. I looked right at Henry, hoping that he wouldn't be one of those men in black.

When I was seeing that it was Gabe, Henry was then suddenly looking like he was not nearly as excited to actually do this as he thought, so with that, he was starting to slowly walk off. I was laughing at this, knowing that he wasn't nearly as ready for these situations as he assumed.

When I was thinking about what Henry was saying, and the fact that Robbie Dan was now involved in this in a much deeper level than I was ever fucking expecting, I was feeling like it was time to talk to Gabe, and I was going to just not take no for an answer, no matter what was happening.

Scene 15: November 10 2020 3:26 pm

The next day, I was trying to speak with Robbie Dan, regarding the situation with Gabe, and I was hoping that unlike Gabe, he would actually fucking work with me. So when school was over, I was pulling him aside, and I hoped that he wouldn't play the act too long. A couple moments I would expect. But full time would be the issue.

"So Robbie, what can you tell me about the shit you and Gabe are doing. I am not against you just so you know. I do not think you are the one setting this whole thing up." I said, and I was seeing Robbie Dan looking like he was not sure what to think here.

"Honestly, that is not really something I want to fucking discuss." Robbie Dan said, and I was sighing, feeling like I should have fucking seen that coming. But to be honest, I was hoping for something else. I needed him to fucking work with me here.

"Robbie, if Gabe has gotten you involved in dangerous shit, then I need to fucking know, so I can try and talk to him against this." I said, still thinking that Gabe was the one behind this all. Robbie looked at me, and I was seeing him looking like he was kind of shocked with what I had been saying.

"You're not fucking getting it. Gabe is merely helping me figure shit out. He has very little to do with this. I was the one that asked for his fucking help." He said, and I looked at him, not sure what I wanted to say to him. To be honest, that was just something that I could hardly fucking wrap my head around.

"But why the fucking hell do you want to know the truth?" I asked, and I was seeing him looking like he was happy to finally see that I was taking what he said a little but more seriously. "I mean, nothing has ever fucking happened to you. So there's really no point."

"Because I just know that something is incredibly fishy here. You know, everybody can fucking see it, and I want to try and fucking change that." After he was telling me this, I sighed, since I was not sure what the fucking game plan would even fucking be.

"Well, I need to tell you that you do not need to be getting involved in that at all. This is beyond what either of you two are meant to deal with. But at least with Gabe, I know that legally I can't change his mind." I said, and I was seeing Robbie looking like he had no interest in hearing this from me. Probably thinking I was just being utterly preachy again.

"I know that I don't need to get involved. I want to get involved though. And besides, I thought that the biggest thing that hurt this town was that nobody would be willing to fucking take the change to make it better. So when I fucking do just that, everybody tells me to fucking stop." Robbie said, and threw his hands up in the air.

"What about those men in black? Are you scared of them in the fucking slightest?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to see if this would be the moment that he would fucking finally budge a bit. Robbie looked at me, sounding utterly shocked that I was bringing that subject up.

"I never really got the point of those people. Everybody acts like they are the scariest thing ever." Robbie Dan said, and I was feeling like his way of talking about it was not the best strategy here. And one that was showing that he truly did not understand what was happening here.

"Well, that is not the fucking point. If you get them or not is completely fucking pointless. Those people are going to do what they need to keep those asses saved. And if that means putting a bullet in your head, then they will do that." I said, hoping that my scare tactic will be hurting Robbie at least a little bit, and force him to understand this is no fucking joke.

"What do you even get out of this anyways? I mean, I already made my fucking mind up dude. It's your choice to go along with this or not." Robbie said, and I wondered how in the world I was going to paint this off to Bebe. She was going to be fucking furious, and I wouldn't even blame her.

"And then when Bebe sees what you're fucking doing? And sees that you got this delusion of solving shit in your brain? What do you think she will be telling you? She will be blaming everything on me, and my brother. And she will probably break up with Todd because of this." I said, wondering if he was seeing the bigger picture of what I was saying.

"Why would she be breaking up with Todd over shit that I am doing? At least make your story make sense." Robbie said, and I was feeling like the longer we talked, the less likely he was going to budge, and the less I had any desire to be having this argument.

"Fuck this. Are you going to promise me that you'll at least keep Lydia out of this?" I asked, feeling like that was where I would have to fucking fight. As I said this, Robbie was nodding, as if feeling like I was just trying to fucking throw him under the bus.

"Yeah, I fucking will." Robbie said, thinking that the fact that I was so scared about this, and not really looking at the bigger picture was just a sign that I knew nothing about him at all.

"And if Bebe comes to me, I will tell her that I am just simply doing my best to just make a good difference in this world. Something that I feel deserves respect." Robbie Dan said, and I was slowly sighing, not really having the will power to argue with him anymore.

"Alright. Have fucking fun explaining that shit to her. Maybe she will listen to you." I said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like when he said this, and made his fucking point, I would just listen to him, and leave it go for now.

As we were walking, this was when Lydia was showing up, and she was looking so happy to see Robbie Dan here, that I was feeling like it was impossible to bring them further down into this subject. "Hey Robbie. I was wondering if you were going to be here today." She said, and then Robbie looked right at her, and I was seeing him looking like he was regretting this entire discussion.

"Yeah, I was just talking with your fucking brother. But that can fucking wait for a while." He said, and then with that, I was seeing Robbie give me some daggers. Even if he had not, I would not have fucking dragged Lydia of all people into this discussion, so with that, I remained silent, and decided to just remain silent for the time being.

When I was home that day, I was just thinking about what I had learned. Why the fucking hell would Robbie Dan throw everything away, for something that he wasn't even sure would fucking work out in his favor. I mean, that was beyond the peak of fucking insanity. And Gabe going along with it was just something I could never understand.

Scene 16: November 11 2020 4:13 pm

The next day, when I was heading home, I was getting stopped by Bebe. To be honest, this did not surprise me. I honestly wanted out of this though. Since in all honesty, I was feeling like whatever Bebe wanted from me, she just needed to make her fucking point, and move on.

"I saw that you were talking to Robbie. What was fucking happening?" She asked me, and I sighed, since I wanted nothing to do with this discussion. I tried to put on a fake smile though, and pretend like this was indeed something that I wanted to discuss.

"To be honest, I was just talking to him about a couple of fucking things. He seemed like he was kind of flustered, and I wanted to help him." I said, and then I saw Bebe looking like she was not sure what to say to this. Probably thinking that my statements were something she needed to discuss with him later.

"Honestly, I don't want to talk about this too much. You guys need to figure out your own shit." I said, and then with that, I was wondering if she was going to fucking listen to me. "And I think that the fact that everything keeps coming back to us just shows that you have a really bad working relation."

"What did he seem flustered about?" She asked, and I was wondering why she even fucking cared. I shrugged, not sure what I was needing to tell her, and why I was even telling her anything to begin with.

"Just shit like how he is going to get along with Lydia. I think that he just wants to really work that. To be honest, I can appreciate his determination." I responded, hoping to shut her up, and make her think that I was not the bad guy here.

"He wouldn't talk to you about that." She said, not as a question, but as a statement. "Out of all your siblings, Todd would be the only one he would talk to about that." I laughed at that, thinking that we both knew that this was bullshit.

"Well, maybe he fucking would. Maybe Todd wasn't available, and he needed somebody to just open up with. When are you going to realize that you might not know everything?" I asked, and I was hardly caring if I was coming off as rude, or antagonistic, as I was telling him this.

"I am going to be going on another date with Todd today. Maybe you can stop fucking going around, and trying to act all fucking smart and shit." After Bebe was telling me this, I seriously had no idea what in the world I would even tell him.

"What are you going to do? Tell on him?" I asked, and at this rate, I was seeing Bebe looking like she was respecting my fucking comments, and thinking that I was funny at least. "Honestly, I think that Gabe wants out of this discussion just as much as we all do. So maybe we just drop this, and pretend like nothing fucking happened." I said, thinking that these comments would settle down on her.

"Sometimes you guys are impossible to work with. No wonder Todd talks the way he does sometimes. Maybe when you all realize that I am simply just trying to help, then things won't be so fucking miserable for you all." She said, sounding genuinely hurt as she was saying this.

"Well, I think I need to know more about you." I said, and I started to walk home, feeling like this was a fair enough statement. Maybe she would fucking actually think about that before she would say anything else.

"Okay. I guess that's fair. Todd is mostly the only one I really opened up with. Lydia tries to talk to me, but always seems to be lost for words." Bebe was saying, and she was sounding like she was actually mostly considering what was being said for once.

"Well, as you know by now, I have been having a hard time keeping jobs, because I can never last more than a couple of months before getting fired." Bebe said, and I was laughing as she said that, and I wondered why that was the case.

"What was the fastest you got fired?" I asked, and Bebe laughed at that, probably thinking that I was going to use this as a chance to make fun of her. But just decided to just drop the subject for the time being.

"Five days. Worked at Joyful Burger during the summer earlier this year. June 18 to June 23. Got terminated because I spilled somebody's soda on their food and didn't fix it fast enough. I honestly never even bother putting that one on my resume, since it was so fast." Bebe said, and I laughed at that, thinking that at least she was being a good sport about it.

"What was the longest?" I asked, and Bebe laughed at that. As if thinking that was almost just as embarrassing as the one about five days. But I decided to just simply not say anything.

"Honestly, the pizza shop. That was about six or seven weeks. When I get fired, I wait about a month or so before trying again. That was the only time that I was actually employed longer than I was unemployed." Bebe said, and I was sighing as I heard this. I wonder how she was able to take it so well.

"Honestly Bebe, I think it is kind of shocking that you still even try that stuff. If I were you, I would wait until you graduate, when you can really work on building up your resume." I said, and I was aware that this might come off as judgmental. But it was something that I sincerely could not for the life of me understand.

"Well, who knows, one day, I might land on the lucky one that lets me stay. I have to at least fucking try." She said, thinking that what she said made perfect fucking sense. I sighed, not really wanting to fight this any longer.

"Well, good luck on that. I am sure that Robbie wants you to do well." I said, feeling like I just needed to at that, in order to make her see that I was not going to be judging her for what had happened at all. Bebe looked unsure what to say.

"Yeah, I bet." She said, and she was sounding like she wasn't too fucking sure what to tell me. "Anyways, well, I guess that I just also feel like I should stop worrying about things like what people think of me. Just such fucking loose concepts." She was saying, and I decided that I would let it go.

Eventually, we made it to my house, where I was finally feeling like I would be able to settle down for the day, and I was feeling like when Todd and Bebe would finally leave, I would relax, and fucking work on my talent show. Since I had been placing that one off way too many times already.

Todd was walking inside, and he was smiling as he looked at her. "Good to see you again. Sorry that I haven't been talking as much as I want. I just feel like every time I try to talk to somebody, it always feels fucking strange and off." After Todd said this, Bebe was looking at me, as if thinking that this was indeed how I was supposed to act around her.

"How has Josiah been treating you? Decently, I hope." He said, and I was laughing at this, feeling like I would decide to not really screw around too much. And if Bebe was able to keep this under wraps, then I felt like there was no need to say anything at all.

"We were just simply talking about some of the previous jobs that I had earlier." Bebe said, and I laughed at this, and I was wondering if Todd was going to be upset about that. "Got hired at the shoe store today. I wonder how many days that one is going to take."

"Are you sure that you should be laughing about it so much. I mean, I think that your parents are going to be kind of bitter assholes about this." Todd said, and he was saying it as a sign of genuine concern rather than judging her. Bebe shrugged, simply not caring at all.

"Look, until I graduate, they really have no ground to stand on getting upset. I am just using this as a way to dip my feet in my water. And besides, my grades and Robbie are more important than staying at a job. As long as I am putting aside small amounts of money, then that is fine." Bebe said, and I was still thinking this was a bit ridiculous.

"Anyways, so I know that Robbie has still been keeping his word, on making sure he would be there for Lydia." She said, and she was more sounding like she was wanting to keep the subject going, and not drag anything too far down. Todd sighed, clearly aware that she was still bitter about that.

"Yeah, honestly, that kind of shocks me. I thought that maybe he would do something for like a couple of weeks, and then drop it. I guess that I need to give your brother more credit." He said, feeling like he was going to be happy to say such a thing.

"Anyways, if you want to leave, we can get going." Todd said, sounding like he was kind of tired of this discussion. Bebe nodded, glanced at me for a second, as she was heading off. And as they were leaving, Todd looked over at me, and seemed like he could not believe what I was doing.

"God damn it." I said, and I was shaking my head. Unable to believe all the shit that is going on here. I couldn't believe that we were even throwing outsides down this discussion in the first place. I was hoping that Todd and Bebe would be able to fucking settle things down for a bit.

I was home that day, and I was seeing Bebe and Todd talking to each other, and having a great time. As I was seeing this, I smiled, feeling like the fact that they were hardly aware of how much shit was about to fucking hit the fan, that things would be fucking better.

Scene 17: November 12 2020 5:17 pm

When I was nearing my house, I was getting a text from Rhett, and I sighed in annoyance, since I really did just kind of want to go home, without having any extra issues at all. People were just getting on my nerves.

"Hey, I wanted to just talk for a bit. Are you free?" After he asked me this, I sighed, since I really had no idea what in the world he would have even talked with me about. But I figured that I would at least communicate with him, and maybe make him just kind of get off my back.

"I can spare a couple of hours. Just give me a bit. But I can't stay all day." I said, and then I placed my phone in my pocket, as I placed my guitar down, and started to head towards Rhett's house, without so much as telling anybody what the hell I was doing.

I wondered what in the world he would even want to talk to me about, considering the fact that I barely knew how to help him out, and I knew deep down inside, my father would never approve of the idea of a job for him. He would just brush off the annoyance.

Eventually, I made it to the trailer, and Rhett looked like he was just in physical pain, from the area that he had been living in. When I asked how he felt, he shrugged. "Not really great to live in a place where I can't stretch my full body out when I am trying to sleep."

"Regardless, so my parents are making further progress on the whole settlement. Mom was telling me that she is going to be meeting him in person on the 23rd, and try to see if there is some money she can be able to get from him. She told me she was hoping to at least get a couple of months worth of food taken care of." Rhett said, and sounded unsure of himself.

"Do you think it will actually fucking work though? I mean, clearly she has a lot less influence on things than your dad does, and I think that maybe you need to see that she is just not going to win this one." I said, and then Rhett was sighing, sounding kind of upset with this.

"Well, she had to change her position on the matter a lot. Originally, she was wanting to get him to cover the first two semesters of me being able to go to college. But she recognizes he will not listen to that, and had completely toned her goal down. I mean, the fact that it seems like that is already this horrible ask is enough to show me that he never really fucking cared." Rhett told me, sounding disgusted at this.

"Whatever. I mean, I know this is not going to work out at all. I think even your mom deep down knows that this whole thing is just not going to work. She is probably almost entirely doing this as a fucking last resort. Face it Rhett, your dad is not going to be giving you jack shit." After I was telling him this, I hoped that he would be able to fucking listen to me for once.

"In the mean time, I was hoping that it might be possible for you to help me out with my school work. I am not sure if I really want to just completely fucking drop this. But if I do, for working to help my mom and the finances, I want to fucking learn as much as I fucking can here." After Simon was telling me this, I was sighing, since in all honesty, I felt like this was going to be a terrible idea.

"I guess that I can do that." I said, and I was feeling like I was just needing to be fully honest with him, so he would not be upset with the fact that things were just not fucking adding up. "To be honest, I have not talked to my father about the internship."

"It's okay. With how you were just sort of abruptly bringing this up, I was not really expecting something like this to fucking work out." After he was telling me this, I was slowly nodding, since I was not wanting to fucking think about this too much.

"To be honest, I still want to fucking make this work out as much as possible. I just need some time. The biggest issue is that I am hardly able to fucking see him in the first place." I said, and I shrugged, and Rhett was looking like he wanted to know what was happening.

"What is your fucking father doing in the first place?" Rhett asked, and I was kind of regretting talking about this, since I knew that in all honesty, if he was wanting to pester me into this, then I might as well just tell him what I knew, to just end this discussion.

"He is a private detective. He has been working on checking the information that Gabe had been giving him. I know that Gabe is trying to tell him about the things he has been finding. To be honest, I feel like Gabe has been doing a rather fucking terrible job at this." I said, and I was seeing Rhett laughing at this.

"I think that I might try and talk to him about what is going on with my parents. I feel like there is something going on here, that he might not fucking see." After Rhett was telling me this, I wondered what I was even going to tell him.

"Rhett, I think you are just going to need fucking evidence if you really think that your father is having something to do with this?" I was telling him, and Rhett was looking fucking pissed right now. I knew that this was not the statement he was wanting to hear. But I hardly fucking cared.

"I know that I need evidence. I want to try and fucking find some. Do you think that you will be able to fucking help me?" Rhett asked me, and I was sighing, since I knew that there was no way in hell that I was going to give him what he needed.

"My father has barely been able to fucking talk to me lately, and any time I tried to fucking speak to mom about him, she just brushes me off. So clearly she wants me to just remain away from this entirely." Rhett responded, clearly beyond annoyed.

"Well, I think that you need to just tell her that if you want this to be looked into, that you are going to fucking check this out, with or without her permission, and that she just needs to fucking talk with you." I said, hoping that I would make him fucking listen to me, at least a bit.

"Rhett, I know that this is probably not what you want to fucking hear, but I feel like I just need to be fucking honest with you." I said, and I wondered how much Rhett was even going to want to discuss my opinion on the matter.

"She is basically the only person I have with me at all times. I feel like if I try to tell her this, then she will fucking get furious with me. She would never want to hear this at all. When I told her that I had people coming over, she was more worried about me being jealous of you than anything else." Rhett said, and I laughed as I was telling him this.

"Trust me, there is nothing to be jealous over with my family. I mean, the biggest appeal that we have is the eleven fucking siblings." I said, and I was wondering if Rhett was willing to fucking listen to what I was saying though.

"Yeah, I guess that with my situation right now, I really shouldn't be getting jealous over people having so many fucking siblings." After Rhett admitted this, he sounded like he was so fucking upset. I wondered what the main issue was here.

"Anyways, I wish that I would be able to fucking talk to my mother here. I mean, if she fucking would, then so many things would be cleared up. But I think that something like this is just never going to happen." After Rhett was telling me this, he seemed like he was just beyond tired of hearing this.

"Okay. I promise, I am going to talk to my fucking father. I promise by the 23rd, I will get something done." I said, and I was shaking my head as I was saying this, hoping that I would remember to do this. But I decided that I would at least fucking try.

"Okay. I mean, if you can, then I will admit that this would be better than nothing." Rhett was telling me, and I really had no idea what in the world I could have said to this. "But Josiah, why do you even care so much? Nobody fucking cares about what I'm dealing with."

"Because in all honesty, I think you really got the bad end of the fucking stick when it came to this." I said, and I really had no idea what in the fucking world I was even going to accomplish. "But if this is how you are reacting, then I have no intention to talk about this longer."

"It's not that. I'm just kind of confused is all." After he said that to me, I had no idea what I was going to even fucking discuss at the end. But I hardly fucking cared in the first place.

As soon as I was done with hanging out with him, I did start to feel really fucking bad about this all. I was feeling like it was wrong to be telling him that I hadn't done any updates, all because of the fact that I was too fucking lazy to just see when people needed help.

Scene 18: November 13 2020 10:34 pm

The next day, before I was finally able to fully go to bed, that was when I was seeing Gabe again, and I felt like despite everything that happened, it was finally time to bury the hatchet, and not be at each others throats for no fucking reason.

"Gabe, I wanted to apologize for everything, and I wanted to finally put this whole thing behind us once and for all. I do not want to be fighting with you all the fucking time, and I see now that it is not going to be giving us any fucking answers." I said, and Gabe was shaking his head.

"Don't worry. I was behind most of that as well. With the way that I was talking to Seth earlier. I want to try and apologize to him, but he barley even wants to fucking speak to me at all. I think that I am just simply not going to get it to work with him." Gabe was saying, and sounded really fucking let down.

"Well, maybe you kind of did that to yourself. You know, Seth trusted you more than he trusted anybody else. As the nice sibling and what not, as he says. So when you turn around, and fucking treat him like garbage, of course he is going to be fucking upset with you here." After I was telling him this, I was seeing Gabe looking like he was now considering what I said.

"I know that. And I feel like I really should have never done anything that I had done. But I feel like I really was just not in a good space at all. I just hope that Seth will be able to fucking see that I did not fucking mean him wrong when I was saying what I said." Gabe said, and then I choose to not fight him.

"Well, I think that you need to fucking understand what you say has power over people. I want you to see that when you take things too far, then you just need to accept responsibility over that." I said, and I was not going to be budging on him at this rate. I just needed him to fucking hear what I needed to say.

"I want to understand that. I mean, I never thought that it would fucking matter what people thought of me anyways. Everybody always made fun of me being a fucking idiot, who never understood what he had been doing." After Gabe was telling me this, I sighed, wondering how much of that was my fault, because I wanted to just sound like I was right, at all times.

"Look, I know that I said some terrible things about you back then, but I thought that you wouldn't really fucking care about that. After all, you never fucking show anything at all. Always just trying to take things way too seriously." I said, wondering if he was going to fucking listen to me for once.

"I don't care about shit like that. Honestly, I consider ninety eight percent of our arguments to be witty banter, and nothing else. But when other people who don't know what I have to struggle with, say shit like this, it fucking pisses me off to my fucking core." After Gabe was telling me this, I wondered what in the world I was even going to be saying then.

"Well then, you need to fucking talk to Seth, and clear shit up with him. I am not going to be able to hold Seth off on this forever. Sooner or later, he will get pissed off, and he will force you to tell him what happened. And when that happens, well then I think that is something you need to just fucking accept." I said, and then I was seeing Gabe kind of consider what I had been saying.

"What would I even fucking get by talking to Seth? Just to get him to not be pissed off at me forever? Sooner or later, we were all going to drift apart anyways. You know how things are. I figured that it wouldn't even matter anymore, since it is all done anyways." Gabe was trying to tell me, and I could not believe the fact that he wasn't even wanting to fucking try.

"Well, beyond the fact that he would have your respect again, you would also be able to have a easier time living at this house. Not having to deal with people constantly hating you for being a complete fucking asshole to them. How about that? You know, I think that alone would make it worth it." I said, and I was feeling like saying this could make him consider things again.

"Look, I would be willing to give it a try. Mainly because you're right, I do not want things to be worse between you all. Fine. I might as well see where this will go." After Gabe said this, he sounded like he could hardly believe what he was getting himself into in the first place.

"And make sure that when you do talk to him, you do not add any level of hostility to the subject? He deserves better than that, and I think we both know this." I said, glad that I was seeing him finally not fucking arguing with me here.

There was a car that pulled up, and I was seeing three of them men in black getting out of the car. Gabe looked right at me, and I was seeing him looking like he was just hoping that I would not fucking argue with him on what was going on.

"We were just wanting to check up on you, and make sure that you weren't doing anything violent, or causing any public panic. Rob Reichenbach is worried that you might be spreading dirty rumors about this town when you talk with people." One of the men in black said, and Gabe shook his head at this statement, unable to believe what he had been hearing.

"The fact that Rob cares so much about what I am saying shows that he is involved in what is going on, and he is a fucking coward for not fucking admitting it." Gabe said, hoping that saying this would get the men in black to hear him.

"That is not for you to fucking decide. And besides, you are hanging around his son. He wants to make sure that you do not become a bad influence to his own son." After the man said this, Gabe seemed to tense up, as if considering what he was being told.

"Tell me where fucking Carly is, and I might be able to fucking drop this god damn subject." After Gabe said this to the men in black, he was taking a second to consider what he had been saying. Hoping that those men would actually consider this.

"You know full well that this won't be able to happen. We were given strict orders to make sure that nothing gets talked about in the open. And that means that you do not say anything yourself." After one of the men in black said this, I was confused what Gabe was even doing with them.

"I promise that I will drop this subject the moment I get told where Carly is. Why the fucking hell are you unable to fucking tell me something so simple?" Gabe asked, and I could hear the anger in his voice clearly not hiding anymore.

"How would you feel if one of your fucking family members was killed off because of you, and not being able to ever fucking let things go?" One of them asked, and was pointing towards me. I was suddenly becoming much more serious, since I knew that he would be able to do it.

Gabe was then pulling out the hilt that he unburied from earlier. "I will protect my family, no matter what it might take in order to do so." Gabe said, and then he turned the blade on, and then I was wondering what the plan was even going to be now.

One of the people started to pull out a gun, and he was pointing it directly towards Gabe. I had no idea how in the world Gabe was able to actually still keep a level of fucking calm, considering the fact that there was a fucking gun to him. I was feeling like I just needed to get the fucking hell out of here.

As I was taking several steps away, hardly even noticing that, the gun was being fired, and Gabe deflected it, and before long, took all three men down. I was both scared, and shocked, at the fact that I just saw my older brother murder three men in front of me. But deep down, I knew he had to fucking do it.

As Gabe was done with those men in black, he turned off the blade, and he then started to place it back in his pocket. I was still having a hard time accepting the fact that lightsabers, or at least a close version of them, were real, and I wanted to talk to him about this. "Just pretend like this never happened." He said, as we started to head back, hoping to not get caught in what happened.

Scene 19: November 14 2020 3:41 pm

The next day, I was meeting up with Rhett again, feeling like we needed to just get some more stuff talked about. Especially with hoe clearly flustered he had been getting lately, and for justifiable reason as well.

"Hey, I just wanted to tell you that if you needed somebody to take your mind off of things for a few hours, or if you just need a dinner for that night, you can come to my place. I know that you are probably starving over there." I said, hoping that I would make him see that there was ways that he would make this work.

"What if mom takes it the wrong way, and assume I'm attacking her and her parenting?" He asked, and I was sighing in utter annoyance at this. I was feeling like he was just trying to fucking argue with me at this rate, and at this point, I was just getting kind of tired of it all.

"Well, I don't think she would be so worried about that. I think she would honestly be more happy that at least you were able to fucking survive." I said, feeling like I just needed to get him to fucking listen to me for once. I was seeing Rhett looking unsure what to say.

"Yeah, to be honest, it is getting really bad, and I think I would just need to have somebody to be with, and not think about the issues of this world too much." Rhett said, and he was sighing as he had said that to me.

"And the truth is that people are always going to be there, if you would just look hard enough. Besides, I think that my dad will want to see the guy that I am trying to work on getting the internship started with." I said, and I was seeing Rhett looking like that idea was still really hard for him to take.

"Look, I want to help you here. But I feel like this whole thing is going to bite us in the fucking ass. I have no fucking confidence that what I am doing will actually help you guys out in the long run." After Rhett said to me, I shrugged, not sure what to tell him.

"Well, that is fucking fine then. I am sure that everything will turn out well." I said, and then I was sighing. "But I think that if you try, and then say it's not good for you, as long as you tell my dad why, I think he will accept it." I said, shaking my head as I had told him this.

"Just show me your fucking place." Rhett said, sounding like he was no longer in the mood to argue with me, which was something I would fucking take, to be honest.

It took about an hour, but when we made it back to my place, I was wondering if this would go just as well as the Simon introduction. As we were looking around, Rhett was looking at the pure mess of this place.

"What a fucking place." Rhett said, and I could tell that he was just more trying to process things. "How do you guys stay sane all the time?" He asked, as he was looking at Calvin trying to master his walking, as well as fucking speaking.

"Well, I think that we don't really stay sane. We just kind of fucking wing it most of the time, and just hope that we at least give off the illusion of being sane." I said, hoping that he would be willing to fucking play along with me as I said this.

As Rhett looked at me, he sighed. "Well, I guess that when you are dealing with a place like this, music is really not the worst thing to deal with." He said, clearly referring to the volume of the shit that I played. I rolled my eyes, hating his fucking way of bringing me down like that.

"Hey, at least I have a hobby that I fucking enjoy." I said, and I was seeing Rhett shrugged, as if wondering why I was taking what he said so fucking personally. As if thinking that I needed to see that he was not trying to drag me down at all.

"So Josiah, what are your plans soon?" I mean, you said that you were going to try and get the talent show done. But beyond that, do you have any other plans?" He asked me, and I was shrugging, not sure what in the world I was even going to fucking tell him.

"To be honest, I feel like whenever I try to make plans, things go fucking crazy, and completely fucking get ruined. So I just don't even bother anymore. What I just do is fucking hope that I can give off enough of the impression that there is a plan, that people just leave me alone." I said, knowing that was not a good mentality to have at all.

"Well, okay, I guess that is how it fucking is." Rhett said, and he was sounding like he was just trying to not say anything at all. But then he smiled as he was looking right at me, as if feeling happy to be here.

"This place is pretty cool though, not going to lie. Must be nice, living like this." After he said that to me, I slowly nodded, and I was glad that he was seeing the upside of what we were doing.

"I guess that maybe I wouldn't mind stopping by here one or two nights a week. Just to do something else with my time, and see the town for a bit more of what it is." After Rhett was telling me this, I was smiling, hearing the tone of his voice get more positive as he was speaking.

"I knew that you were going to see that I didn't mean anything wrong with what I was trying. I wanted to fucking help you. And to be honest, I am sure that your mother would fully understand." I said, or at least, I was hoping she fucking would. If she loved him as much as Rhett said she did, she would.

"Yeah, I mean, I also think that over time, I need to just stop worrying about everything. I am scared for her case, and I am aware of the fact that she is not going to fucking win. I know for a fact that it won't happen. I'm not fucking stupid." Rhett said, sounding really upset as he was talking about this again.

"That man has connections everywhere like he is some fucking mob boss who runs the show. If he wants to get something a certain way, he will fucking get it. I know that I sound paranoid when I say that, but it is the fucking truth." Rhett said, and then he was shaking his head as he was telling me this.

"Well, maybe you can tell your mom that. She might be willing to listen to you, if you just fucking gave it a try." I said, feeling like I just needed to tell him this, and maybe he would fucking see my point.

"I do try and tell her. But then she says that I am just over looking at things, and maybe I fucking am. But why the hell would he have been able to get as much as he has? Honestly, I think that there is some truth to it." He said, and I was feeling like he was just scared, which made perfect fucking sense.

"Dude, I think you are just fucking scared. There is no reason to be thinking so deeply about this as you have been. Just take a god damn deep breath, and see how you are saying this." I said, hoping to get him to relax a little bit, just a little.

Eventually, I was seeing that Rhett's discomfort at everything was fading away, and I was seeing that he was now looking more like he was happy to know that despite everything, there was people that were there for him, or at least would try.

Scene 20: November 15 2020 3:31 pm

Before I was able to do much that day, Todd Jr was walking up to me, and he looked like he was feeling bad for something, and wanted to clear it up with me. I sighed, and I felt like I would give him a chance to tell me what was on his mind.

"Josiah, I feel like we really need to talk. Just about the things that I heard with you and Gabe." He said, and I looked at him, and I was feeling like whatever he wanted to tell me, there was no real fucking point in this at all.

"What about? I mean, I have no idea what you could possibly add that I don't already fucking know." I said, not really in the mood to have this discussion with him. Todd even looked like he was a bit pissed at what I had just said.

"I was the one that requested that he looks into all the things that he has. I was behind this all, and I thought that I would be able to fucking get him to see new and different things. But I will admit that I probably just only made things worse." After Todd was telling me this, I looked down at the ground, unable to believe what he had just said.

"Did you not once think, in this entire thing, that maybe this was a bad idea? That you should not be forcing your brother into this shit? I mean, seriously? What the fucking hell is wrong with you?" I asked, and Todd looked like these comments were actually really stinging him, and I was glad that he was finally listening for once.

"I did think that this might have been a mistake. But I chose to do it anyways, because I knew that Gabe was the best bet that I had." Todd said, and shook his head, now starting to realize the selfishness of what he had been saying.

"Let me drive you around. We can talk then." He said, and I was shaking my head, unable to believe what I had heard. Unable to believe that he was thinking that this was genuinely something that I wanted to really talk about in the first place.

"Just give me like one hour." He said, and I was aware that he was going to do this, with or without my consent, so with that, I decided to just let it go, and let him tell me what was on his mind. So we went to the car, and started to drive off.

Once we were at some barely shopped at burger shop, so we could talk for a bit, Todd sighed, and looked like he was ready to lay it all out, and I was feeling like I just needed to hear him, and see what he needed to tell me.

"Look, I understand that this is not what you want to deal with, and I never wanted you to deal with that shit." Todd said, while the cook was still away, and he was sure we were able to get at least some discussion time without having people running down our necks.

"But the fact of the matter is that Benjamin and I know that Wendee was sold off by the video store owner. He is going around, acting all sad, because one of his employees is gone. That is just a act, and I need to get deeper in there, and learn what is going on with him myself." Todd said, and I was shaking my head.

"If you even fucking try, he is going to be tracking you down, and he will make sure that you never have the chance to bring the information to the public. I don't think you would be stupid enough to fall for this shit." I said, not even caring if I was pissing him off here.

"I know that. But the thing is that one of my friends, Dan, has been really into this for a while now, and there is no way in hell that I am going to be letting him force himself into this without having any fucking road map. I care too much for my friends to see them like this." After Todd said this, I slowly nodded, understanding his perspective, a little.

"Tell fucking Dan to stop doing this then. I mean, does he seriously think that he is going to keep getting away with this forever? I mean, I am shocked, beyond belief, that Benjamin has gotten away with it this long." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest.

"I am not going to be able to. He has made it very clear that he will be doing this, regardless if I want in or not. At least with what I am fucking doing, I can be able to have a small chance to pull this whole thing off." Todd was telling me, and I was sighing, really having no idea what I was going to do.

"Todd, I understand that you want to be there for your friends, but what do you really want for yourself?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to get him to start speaking emotionally, and not logically.

"Truth be told, I want to make sure you all have a nice life ahead of you. Not having to deal with this bullshit. Monsters, as I am starting to think of them, running around, and ruining lives in this town." Todd said, and I was laughing at this.

"I never wanted any part of this. I wanted to believe it was fake. But that is simply not true. And now that I know it isn't, I have to do this." Todd finished, as our burgers came out, and I looked at him, unsure.

"How did you even get involved in this in the first place?" I felt like I needed to understand how any of this was even happening. "I mean, seriously, this whole thing just seems rather fucking odd." I asked, genuinely feeling like I deserve a fucking explanation on what was going on here. Todd looked down, looking sad at this.

"Well, Dan was telling me that he was worried about how Benjamin was doing, and wanted to see how the guy was doing. I don't really get it, but he was. And when that happened, I was wanting to protect my fucking friend. Then it turned from one conversation, to this. It has been a three month long process." Todd said, and I nodded at that.

"That makes sense. I knew that around the time Ridge was born, you started to get involved in this shit. But I just thought maybe I just only started to notice since then." I said, laughing at the absurd shit that I was saying, since I knew that nothing like this would really fucking work out.

"Well, I think that knowing that Lydia was also going to school now, was also my kick in the butt to bring it to high gear. I mean, I do not want anything to happen to her, no matter what." Todd said, and I was slowly nodding, feeling like that was making sense.

"Yeah, I guess that does make some sense. Do you feel like you would have done this if it weren't for Lydia?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to try and see his honest perspective on the matter. Todd sighed, not really in the mood to have that discussion at all.

"Well, I mean, I might have sort of been more interested, but still in a extremely casual sense. In all honesty, I think that it took until this issue with my friends for me to see that there was no way around it, no matter what I wanted to fucking try." Todd said, and he sounded like he was just trying to hold back his anger here.

"What are you going to be doing with Lydia, once she finds out the truth then?" I asked, really not sure what I would do. After all, if one of her fucking brothers died, then I think that she would never really be able to get over it.

"To be honest, I have no idea. I think that if Lydia wants to know everything there is to know, then that is entirely up to her. But until then, I am going to just have to keep calm, and make sure that she doesn't really grow wise to what is going on." After Todd was saying this, I shook my head, unable to understand how in the world this whole thing was even fucking happening in the first place. I just could not believe what my brother was doing. I just ended up eating my entire burger in one go.

"Shit. I can't believe this is happening. I thought that with your refusal to talk about this before, then everything would be fine." I said, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was feeling really terrible for my comment just now. Thinking that he was doing something wrong.

"Honestly, I want to make this work out. And I think that to make this happen, it would be best to just keep you out of this. I know you might be thinking that this is false, but Gabe and I agree that keeping you all out of this is the best option." Todd said, and I shook my head, feeling like we both knew that was bullshit.

"Look, I'm sure we both know that is not going to fucking happen. We're not fucking stupid. I think it is only a matter of time before something shows up, and forces me into this." I said, feeling like I just needed to give him the fully honest treatment here.

"Well, I hope that unlike Gabe, at least you can finish high school first. How about that? I hope that you can get your fucking diploma before life decides to be a fucking asshole to you." After he was telling me this, I was shaking my head, thinking that the fact that he was speaking like this, and not seeing how it was, was a massive issue I fucking had.

"Okay. That is something I can fucking tolerate. At least that seems like something that can work. And while that happens, I am going to try and fucking help my friend Rhett get a internship with my fucking dad." I said, and then Todd looked at me, thinking that the tone of voice I used was a bit strange.

"Well, how do you think something like that will even fucking work? Do you think Dad will actually fucking listen? He's barely even home half the time, doing his private detective work, but with how many missing girls cases happen, he can hardly fucking solve any." Todd said, and I was slowly nodding.

"Well, regardless, the next time I fucking see him, I am going to talk to him about it. Hopefully he will fucking accept." After I said that to him, I was seeing Todd looking like he was finding that subject to be a bit hard to accept. But choose to not say anything at all.

"Okay. Do whatever you fucking want." Todd said, and started to eat his burger, not really wanting to fight me on this one, regardless of what was happening. So with that, I was smiling out the window, happy at what was happening now.

When we were done, I was seeing Todd looking like he was sad at what he had just said. As if he was finally letting all of this settle in, and he was no longer trying to defend himself when he knew that he had made a really big mistake.

Scene 21: November 17 2020 3:36 pm

I met up with Simon, and the entire time that we were talking, I was seeing that Simon still looked kind of worried about something. "Look, I know that you have been trying to help that Rhett guy a lot. I just want to make sure that you know what you are doing. After all, there are a lot of rumors about his father." After he said that to me, I was shaking my head, not really in the mood to hear anything like this at all.

As we were talking, the grinding noise went off once more, and I was seeing Simon looking like he was just more shocked than anything else. "That is the second time since I moved here. What the fucking hell is that?" He asked, and I had to remind myself that he was no expert on this whole thing, at all, ad that I needed to be patient with him.

"I'm more surprised at the timing of it. The last one wasn't even two fucking months ago. What the fucking hell are they even fucking doing up there?" I asked, just trying to process what had been happening. "Do you have any girls in your life that you want to watch out for?" I asked, perfectly aware of how strange the question was.

"What? Why?" He asked, and then I sighed, feeling like the fact that I was going to have to give him a crash course on this was going to be rather annoying, for both of us. But I sighed, feeling like I needed to be safe.

"Give it a week, tops, and a girl is going to be going missing. Fuck it, there is going to be a labyrinth party tomorrow. Might as well go to that, and we can check things out, and you can see what you are dealing with." I said, and I was seeing him looking like he was finding my questions odd.

"Oh fucking hell, I didn't realize you were for real when you were telling me that? I thought you were just saying that to scare me." Simon said, and I was hearing the fear in his voice. He was shaking his head, hoping this was a fucking joke.

"Yeah Simon, I have been here my entire fucking life. I know how this fucking town works." I said, and I was seeing him looking like he was suddenly having the fear of god placed in his, as if realizing what he was going to be dealing with going forward. He shook his head, unable to handle this whole situation.

"I'm going to talk to my dad tonight anyways. About a internship for Rhett. You can come with me if you want, and you can learn more." I said, feeling like I just needed to get him to be involved with this, as soon as possible. Simon slowly nodded, scared of what this would mean.

Once we were at my house, I was seeing that dad indeed was available. I was glad to see this, so I could get to work on both Rhett and Simon. I walked up to him, and then sighed. "Hey, I needed to talk to you about some of my friends." I said, and my father sighed, not sure if he was ready for this at all.

But he slowly nodded, to give me permission to talk. "So I have a friend named Rhett, and his parents got a really bad divorce. And now he is forced to live with his mother in a shitty trailer. And he says he was planning on quitting school and getting a job as soon as he hits sixteen. I was wondering if instead of that, you would be willing to let him work with you as a internship, with your cases, until his sixteenth birthday, so he can get work experience without having to quit?" I asked, and then my father was thinking about that.

"Well, to be honest, I do need somebody at my side, to help me with this fucking job. After all, I am seventy years old. So honestly, despite his age, if he wants to, I will be more than willing. Besides, we need more detectives in this town." After he said that to me I was smiling at this, glad that he was willing to work with him.

"Thank you so much dad. I mean, I can see how desperate that guy was from the look on his face." I said, genuinely meaning it, since I wanted to let Rhett continue his education. I was taking my phone out to text him the news.

"How about every Friday and Saturday, since you can stay up late on those nights, from four to midnight? And between just the three of us, I'll even throw him 10 dollars an hour for his troubles." After my dad said that, I slowly nodded, feeling like this would be what he would need to hear, to make things slightly better.

With that, I texted Rhett the news, without the payment part, so that part could be a nice surprise. "My father said he would be willing to let you have the job, on Fridays and Saturdays from 4 to midnight." I sent, hoping Rhett would take it.

"The other thing that I was wanting to talk to you about was a friend over there. Constantly talking about his doubts on the grinder that we had just heard about. Now I know you don't want me to look into it. But can you just please confirm this for me?" I asked, and he slowly nodded.

"I don't want to. But I fucking can." He said, sounding mildly annoyed with this, but knowing that it was better than arguing with me, and he was going to learn sooner or later anyways, as we both knew. So he waved Simon over.

"Yes, it is all true. Every time one of those grinding noises, a girl has been going missing for an extended period of time. Although we have come to the conclusion that the majority of them are run aways." My dad said, and I was having a hard time buying that.

"But most of them were like fourteen or fifteen fucking years old. There is no way they can be able to get away with it forever." I tried to tell my dad, feeling like I just needed to try and make him see the logic flaws with that.

"Are you seriously doing this to? It is already bad enough Todd and Gabe are running down my fucking throat about this. I have been doing this for nearly sixty years. I think I know what I'm talking about." My father said, and then Simon was sighing, trying to be the voice of reason.

"What makes you think they all ran away?" Simon asked, trying to just simply not make the situation any worse. My father turned towards him, glad to see him actually opening up at least a little bit in comparison.

"Well, tried to run away, I guess is the better response. The one who went missing in May of this year, her remains were found about three to four miles out of town." My father said, and then I muttered the most important part under my breath.

"Partial remains." I said, not really in the mood to be hearing this. I was feeling the fact that my father was deliberately holding some info back was something that I was taking massive issue with. My father was looking at me, as if giving me a 'not today' look.

"The point is, how in the world would that have been found if they were stuck here. Several miles away from the town. Regardless of if you like it or not, not everybody is a fucking part of a giant conspiracy. People fucking hate this town, and want to leave. Most just don't fucking go anywhere." My father said, and he sat down.

"And with that one I just heard today, I am going to have to find out who that is, and why she ran off. And maybe your friend, Rhett, when he sees this, and sees the truth of how things work, he will be able to tell both of you that you are acting irrationally." After my father said this, I was shaking my head.

I was starting to walk to my room, as Simon was walking behind me. Clearly he was worried about what I would do. I was pissed at my father, for the bullshit he was making, and I wondered why in the world he was thinking this was acceptable to make this shit up.

Scene 22: November 18 2020 3:17 pm

The next day, when Gabe was planning on meeting up with Jayson, I decided to go along, to see what I might be able to get, since I knew for a fucking fact that Jayson was a better bet than virtually everybody in that fucking business.

When we were at the company hall, Jayson was looking at me, and then at Gabe again. "What the fucking hell are you doing, bringing him into a very dangerous area?" Jayson asked, and sounded like he was actually kind of disgusted with Gabe's choice to bring the guy here.

"Because he fucking insists on coming along, and to be honest, I am not really in the mood to fucking argue. Probably something you should expect when dealing with my fucking siblings." Gabe said, and he was sounding like he was actually kind of pissed when he said this.

"This is not a good idea. But I guess that there is nothing that I can do to stop it. Alright, well Josiah, what the fucking hell do you possibly want?" He asked, now at the point of just not wanting to argue with us.

"I want to know why you guys keep dragging me into something one day, and then the next day insist that you want me to be completely fucking away from it. It makes no god damn sense, and is starting to piss me off." I said, not really in the mood to hide what I had been feeling.

"Well, that is something your own fucking brother is doing, not me." Jayson said, and he was sounding like he was just kind of annoyed with the way he was being thrown down the drain because of this. He then looked at me, trying to see what I was going to say.

"I know that. But I just feel like I need a clear fucking answer for once. Something that gets me a idea why the hell we are doing so many crazy fucking things, and why it seems like there is no fucking plan on how to change this." I said, and I was feeling like I needed to get them to listen.

"Gabe, please stop bringing your fucking brothers into this. I think anybody with common sense should have figured out that this was going to be exactly how they were going to react." Jayson said, waving his hands in annoyance. Then I was feeling like the way that he was attacking us really felt low.

"They keep fucking finding their way into the subject. Not much I can fucking do about it." Gabe said, and he was shrugging, as if thinking that this was something that can somehow be averted. Jayson was shaking his head, unable to believe this.

"This is fucking unbelievable. You know how my dad feels about this shit. He is going to be getting down your fucking throats about this, and ruining everything you guys have been working towards." Jayson said, and then he shrugged. "But the truth, and I am getting tired of saying this, is that I am not involved in the business at all, I barely have any idea what is going on at all.

"Just tell me what I want to fucking know." I said, and I was seeing Jayson looking like he could not fucking believe the gawk that I was showing by telling him that so casually, and acting like I Had been the one running the discussion.

"Well, the truth is that my dad is gone on a business trip for the time being. He doesn't come back until the 22nd. So the truth is that I literally couldn't fucking tell you much, regardless. That man has shit in his office on lock down. I wanted to go in once to just see, but that never worked." After Jayson said that, he sounded mildly upset at that, as if he hated the fact that this even had to be discussed.

"Oh shit. Well, if that is the case, then there is nothing that I can do. I guess another reason why I want to know if because I have a friend who is getting involved in this shit, helping my dad out and what not." I said, and then Gabe looked at me, as if unable to believe that I would even set something like that up to begin with.

"What the fucking hell Josiah? Why did you think it was a great idea to bring one of your fucking friends into this?" He asked, and I was holding my hands up, trying to get Gabe to fucking calm down, and not be too upset at the situation.

"Truth be told, I think he would have wanted to learn the truth anyways, and I was just mainly helping him out. Besides, he's the one that had his parents divorce." I said, and then Gabe sighed, feeling like this was something that he would not be able to argue with too much.

"No, you are right. I guess that I just get scared when I see you doing something that in all honesty, we need to be more carefully planning out. But regardless, since he is working with dad now, I suppose there is no need to be arguing about the subject too much." Gabe said, now sounding like he was willing to resign to the reality of it, and was not really in the mood to have a argument on it. I was glad that he was willing to see reason.

"Regardless, now that one of my friends is working with my dad, and has been getting involved in figuring all this out, it now officially concerns me, and I need to know what is happening, before you guys go off running around like crazy." I said, feeling like now that this was the reality, we just needed to fucking settle into it.

"God damn it. I thought that I was very fucking clear in my wishes to keep you out of this shit. I guess that I just need to be more clear next time, or else this fucking shit is going to fucking happen." Gabe said, and he was sounding like he was just trying to keep himself from fucking losing it. I was wondering what in the world was going to be keeping him so angry, about me just simply looking at things for once.

"I know that you were fucking clear dude. But I mean, my friend is in desperate need for money, and he wants to find work that can keep him busy." As I said this, Jayson was waving his hands, as if to get us to both shut up, at least for the time being.

"Guys, you both need to fucking stop with this. What's done is done." Jayson said, and then he looked right at me, trying to hide his annoyance. "Point being, is that I simply do not know what I can be able to fucking do to help out. With my dad gone for another few days, you are going to be on your fucking own." Jayson said, and then he sighed, feeling glad to just finally say what was on his mind.

"Besides, the thing is that since we all have a fucking idea what is going on, we can make a fucking plan around it." After he was saying thus, he was shaking his head, and had no real thoughts on what to say. "To be honest, I think you guys are both fucking insane, for even trying to do this."

"Okay, you're fucking right. Let's just calm down, and stop making this even worse than it already is." I was shrugging, feeling like the fact that Jayson was the one that had to fucking stop us from acting the way that we currently had been was a really fucking bad sign.

"Well, since you already started this anyways, I feel like I have the right to meet this Rhett guy, and see what he fucking knows. So can I fucking meet him?" Jayson said, and I was surprised with how innocent he was sounding here, as if feeling like there was no point in even fucking arguing with anybody anymore.

"Yeah, I will try and see if I can set something up with him. He might not like it. But I am sure that he will be willing to go with it." I said, hoping that this was going to be working out better for all of us. "God damn it, I can't fucking believe that I am going to be doing this. I hope that Rhett will forgive me."

I was wondering if Rhett was doing well, given everything, and I wondered how well he would work with my fucking father, given what had been going on. To be honest, I was feeling like I might be making a mistake.

Scene 23: November 19 2020 5:39 pm

The next day, I was meeting up with Jayson, and I did not have Gabe with me. I wanted to apologize to him, and make him see that it was never my intention to be making him feel like I was attacking him. And I was hoping beyond all hope, that he was going to fucking see that I was telling the truth.

"Look, I am sorry for the way that I treated you earlier. I guess that I just was desperate for something to get me to understand what the fucking hell is going on. But I should have thought about what you were needing." I said, and I was hoping that he was going to be able to buy what I had said. Jayson looked like he was kind of not sure what to buy.

"To be honest, I have no idea what the hell you and your brothers are always trying to pull. It is borderline bi polar what you guys fucking act like, and I honestly am not even sure if I should be caring anymore." After Jayson was telling me this, I laughed at that response, thinking that maybe we were really like that after all.

"I mean, one day you guys are thinking I have nothing to do with it, and then the next day, you guys are running down my fucking ass, thinking that I single handedly chose what has been going on this fucking town. It's all really fucking complicated, and I just wish that I had a fucking clear answer what you want from me." Jayson said, finally sounding kind of out of it.

"What I fucking want is answers. But I can see that you clearly don't have them. You make that very fucking clear, to a really big caliber. Now all that I want is to talk to the people who do have some." I said, and I was hoping that telling him this would help him kind of see that I was not pressing him down any further. He sighed, simply not sure what to even say.

"Well, like I said, my fucking father is coming back on the 23rd. If you want to see him then, go ahead. But I think that talking to me is only going to serve to waste both our times. Look, like it or not, you guys fucking lost, and there is no point in arguing this." After he was telling me this, I slowly understood what he was saying.

"And I think that when you see him, if you want to pester him about why he hates working with you guys, then you can. But until then, I think that you should just work on school. Besides, he would be telling you that anyways. Work on fucking school." Jayson said, and then he shrugged as he said that, unable to believe he was sounding like that now.

"You guys are really no fucking help at all, I hope you fucking know that." I said, shaking my head as I said this. "Anyways, there isn't much that I am going to be doing here. I just simply wanted to apologize, and make sure that you knew that I wasn't trying to be a fucking asshole."

As I was starting to head off, Jayson sighed, and called out to me. "What is the main goal behind this anyways? I think we both know that Lydia is fine for now. She's only seven fucking years old. Nothing fucking happens to them."

"Yeah, I know. I am mainly doing this for my friends right now. Like Rhett, given the divorce that is happening, and I think that he deserves some fucking answers. And I think for better or for worse, your father might know what is happening." I said, and I was shaking my head as I said this.

"My father is not going to have anything related to that, and I think we both fucking know that. Seriously, my dad is a businessman, not a fucking therapist. Look, I'm sorry that this is happening to Rhett. It sucks, but there is nothing that we can fucking do to change it. Maybe you just need to be there for him, instead of making theories." After he said that to me, I slowly nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, I kind of know that is true. But Rhett is going around, talking about how horrible his fucking father is, and I want to be able to know if any of this shit is justified." After I was telling Jayson this, I saw him looking like he was finding this conversation to just simply be getting us nowhere whatsoever.

"Well, maybe his father really is like that. And there is nothing you can fucking do to change it. I mean, pieces of shit happen all the time. Maybe his dad is one of them." Jayson told me, and then he was starting to head off again.

"I'm going. Just remember that you can talk to my fucking dad in a few days, and maybe you guys can go around, having fun making theories and shit. But I want no part of it." Jayson was telling me, and I was feeling nothing else I was going to say would matter.

"Sorry for fucking bothering you." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and end this discussion at least relatively cordially. With that, I started to walk off, and I was feeling really let down over the fact that I had no fucking answers at all.

I wondered if Rob would even fucking work with me at all. Considering the fact that I would be acting like a total fucking asshole to him, he would probably just fucking tell me off, and I almost wouldn't even fucking blame him, as much as I hated to say it.

Scene 24: November 20 2020 4:15 pm

When I was done that day, Robbie was coming up to me, and I was seeing him looking like he had a bunch of things on his mind. I decided that I would listen to him, and hear what he had to say, even though I was thinking that this was going to be a bad fucking idea.

"Hey Josiah, I know that we kind of were getting in a bit of a fight earlier, but I just wanted to see if we were able to maybe just put that behind us forever." After he was saying this, I was shocked that he was even needing to tell me, since I hardly cared anymore.

"I don't fucking care about that. You can do whatever you fucking need. I kind of got over that really fucking fast." I said, and I saw from the way that I was telling him this that Robbie appreciated me trying to make him feel better.

"Are you sure? Because it seems like every time we talk, there is something that is bothering you. I was just worried that maybe it was because of me." After Robbie Dan said that, I shrugged, and I was feeling like I just needed to calm him down a bit.

"Honestly, I think that I am just bothered by a bunch of various fucking things, and I am sorry that I made you feel like I was just judging you." I said, no longer wanting the two of us to be having this debate at all. I just wished to make him feel like we were getting along.

"If you seriously mean that, then I will leave you alone." Robbie Dan, and I saw him looming like he was just kind of thinking that me telling him this was only to make the situation less bad between us. But I sincerely did not want this to become a issue.

"Robbie, honestly, if anybody here is pissing me off, it might be Bebe honestly. I think she is always just too scared to look at matters objectively, so she just gets scared, and runs away form the issue. No offense, but I think she needs to see that what she is doing isn't good." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and be honest with him here.

"But her and Todd are dating. I thought that you would like her by principle that way." After Robbie Dan said that to me, I sighed, since I knew that he was trying to just stick out to his sister, and make it better for us. But to be honest, I felt like he would just never get it, no matter what.

"Look, fact of the fucking matter is that we got into a lot of fucking fights, and the fights are making things worse for us all. And I think that it might be best to just simply not try and convince her of anything at all." I said, feeling like I just needed to end the subject, for both our sakes.

"Sorry. I have a feeling that I am the subject of a lot of them." Robbie Dan said, and I was sighing, glad that he was at least seeing where the issue was, to a degree, and that he wasn't going to fucking fight me with that. Perhaps he was needing more credit than I was giving him.

"Yeah, I will admit that you really kind of are. But trust me when I say that I feel like maybe it would have happened, no matter what I said, or what I did. I think that maybe Bebe and I are just not naturally suited to work together. I think that is just how things are." I said, wanting to end this subject for now.

"Shit. I will try and talk to Bebe then." After Robbie Dan said that to me, I was sighing, since I really had no idea why I was even fucking talking about this at all, since Robbie was going to take this so fucking personally, no matter what I said.

"You made a bond with Todd, and Gabe especially. I think that Bebe is just worried that your friendship with Gabe might be a issue in the long run. After all, you really get off well with the guy." I said, pointing out the most important thing going on.

"Yeah, well, maybe it is because Gabe treats me with respect, and doesn't judge me for various little fucking things. Maybe if everybody was like this, then I would be able to have a easier time getting through this all." Robbie Dan said, and I was holding my hand up, not sure what I was even going to be telling him at all.

"I'm just telling you how it is. Not what you want to hear." I said, and we started to walk off, as I was now feeling we needed to talk further into the important shit.

"What are you and Gabe even fucking working on anyways? After all, you guys have been kind of buddy buddy for a while now." I said, feeling like I just needed him to finally open up for a bit. Robbie Dan sighed, and calmed down for a second.

"Well, to be honest, homework is only part of it." Robbie said, and I sighed at this, thinking that he must have thought I was massively stupid if I did not already see that shit from a mile away. But I chose to not be a asshole, since he was just trying to talk.

"Well, I think every human being alive was able to fucking figure that out without you saying it." I said, and I was seeing Robbie looking like the way that I was talking to him was off putting him a bit. But I needed him to hear that.

"It's a hard topic. The truth is that I wanted Gabe to do me a favor, and just see if the rumors were fucking true. And it seems like many of them were confirmed by him. Why are you trying so fucking hard to ruin what I have?" Robbie asked, and I was shaking my head, unsure what the hell he was even meaning when he said that to me.

"What the fucking hell Robbie? I just asked a fucking question. No need to be a utter asshole here." I said, finally standing my own ground, from the way that he was acting over a fucking question of all things.

"I just want to know why everybody is acting crazy here. Simple as that. Everybody acts like the world is about to end, and I want to see if I can change it." Robbie said, and I was shocked at the way that he was saying this. I mean, it was not a statement I expected.

But for his sake, I decided to just drop it, and not make it any worse. "Sorry. Forget I fucking asked." I said, and then with that, I sighed, and wondered what I got into here.

Eventually, I went home, glad that the two of us were not going to be at each others throat anymore. The fact that he was willing to work with me here, and just kind of put a dispute behind us forever, showed that he was more emotionally intelligent than I was giving him credit for.

Scene 25: November 21 2020 3:53 am

The next day, I woke up to go to the bathroom, and I was then seeing that there was a text from Rhett. "So I just finished the first day with your dad, and I feel like we need to talk about that shit soon. I think that your father is getting himself involved in some seriously dangerous shit." Rhett said, and I was sighing, and then called him, to clarify things up.

"Of course he is involved in dangerous shit. I mean, he is one of the biggest private detectives in Wayside. Why the fucking hell would it be any fucking different?" I asked, and I was feeling like Rhett needed to see how ridiculous what he said must have sounded, even if I was kind of being a asshole to do so.

I started to head outside, not wanting people to know what the conversation was, and I was hoping that my dad would not notice what I had fucking done, since I felt like he was the only one who would have gotten me in trouble if worse came to worse.

"Well, to be honest, I thought that maybe he might have been saying a bit much, you know, bravado and shit, to get people off his back. Especially with the people going missing. But I can't help but think now that maybe these indeed just have some really fucking bad luck." After Rhett said that to me, I sighed, not sure what the hell this would be meant.

"That is a really big turn around, if you seriously fucking believe that shit. To be honest, do you really believe for a second that people are just running away on the normal here? There has got to be something else happening here." I said, not sure why I was so fucking hard on him right now.

When I eventually reached the park, I eventually decided that I would stop being a fucking asshole, and I would see what was going on with him. "I am at the park, if you want to talk, since you don't start until four anyways." I said, feeling like I just needed to give him the offer.

"Honestly, I would rather not do that, if it is going to be getting in the way of your musical ambitions. I mean, honestly, you have been working so hard on showing a good performance, that it feels wrong to get in your way now." After Rhett said that to me, I sighed, feeling like this was the worst outcome he would have given me.

"Rhett, it is okay. I am not angry at you over any of this. I just feel like we need to be much more careful here. I mean, I know that isn't possible, due to working with my dad and what not. But for fucks sake, I just think that we need to be more careful here." I said, not sure what in the world I was even going to be telling him now.

"You were the one that wanted me to work with your dad, after all. I mean, I appreciate the gesture, but you can't get upset when I am just following your queue." Rhett said, and I sighed, not sure what I was going to even fucking tell him.

"Yeah, I fucking know. But regardless, what have you been able to fucking learn?" I asked, feeling like I needed to get to the subject again. Rhett sighed, annoyed that I was going back to that, and not talking about his personal feelings.

"Well, the two of us talked with the mom of the person who we think went missing this time. I heard that she was a grade lower than us, and was trying to get into the high school gymnastics program." After Rhett told me this, I was then sitting down, listening to him here. I felt like I needed to let him talk more.

"What did her mother think?" I asked, feeling like since he brought her up, I might as well see what was going on here. I closed my eyes, thinking that whatever in the world Rhett was going to tell me, it was going to be a miserable experience.

"Well, she thinks that her daughter might be running away to California. She said that her daughter always loved going to California to be seeing her family, and that she was always wanting to go there when she grew up. But that makes no sense to me." Rhett said, and I was wondering why that did not make any sense at all.

"What is so fucking odd about it?" I asked, feeling like I would just hear his opinion on it. Not that I thought that it was going to go anywhere. Rhett sighed, as if thinking that I wasn't showing enough interest in this to make him feel better.

"Well, if she was heading to California, or just simply running away at all, then why was all her stuff still there? Why was there no money taken? How would she be able to get long without somebody finding her? To be honest, this whole thing makes no fucking sense." Rhett said, and I slowly sighed at this.

"To be honest, none of these stories do. I am surprised that they have tried to get away with saying complete garbage all the fucking time. But I mean, what the fucking hell are you able to fucking do about it?" I asked, knowing that my question would leave him unsatisfied, but I felt the need to be real here.

"I know that. I am trying to fucking explain that to people, but they simply do not seem to care to hear this. And my mother is still working on that meeting, which is in a couple of days. So I do not want to be getting her dragged into this." Rhett said, and I sighed, not sure what to tell him.

"Well, I think that maybe you can try explaining this to my fucking dad. I am sure that he would be willing to fucking listen, if you just opened up with talking to him soon." I said, and I wasn't sure if that was true. But I was just not wanting to talk about this.

"I have tried to talk to him about my thoughts on this. But he simply seems to think that I am over thinking this, and that I just need to be doing my fucking job. He simply doesn't want to really fucking hear it." Rhett said, and I sighed at that, knowing that sounded exactly like my dad.

"Well, I think that you just need to remember that my dad is a bit of a hard ass. He doesn't really play around at all. I mean, I can respect that to a degree. But it can come at a bit of a cost when it comes to actually trying to get shit done." I was telling him, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him.

"The worst part is that I know that deep down inside, I know that your dad is easily the best bet that we have to understand this. And that is the thing that makes it harder. Knowing that there is a good chance that everything he is saying is true." After Rhett was telling me this, I wondered what I would even fucking say to him at all.

"Well, just let me know if you two come up with any other updates on what might be going on with that girl. I mean, I guess that by now, I am curious to know more." I said, and I was shaking my head, unable to believe that I was saying this at all. I knew this was going to get them in a lot of trouble. But I hardly cared anymore.

I sat down, at the bench, thinking about what Rhett and dad were going to be doing now. They knew so many things that I wanted nothing to fucking do with. And in all honesty, I was feeling like the fact of the matter was that one of my friends was getting involved in that, and I needed to be much more careful here.

Scene 26: November 22 2020 2:59 pm

The next day, I was meeting up with Rhett again, now that his first set of days with my dad was done, and I wanted to see how he was doing. "Rhett, how was it, working with my dad?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to see how he was doing. To be honest, I was worried that if I kept pushing this whole thing too far, he was going to grow to resent the situation that I was trying to set up.

"Well, I think that your father probably needs to take some time off. I mean, he was telling me that he only takes one day off every week, and on certain weeks, he doesn't even do that. I just think he needs to remember to relax a bit." Rhett said, and I sighed, not sure if I was able to confirm this or not.

"To be honest, my dad is always just trying to find a way to make things better for us around town. But I think that he doesn't see the big reality of the situation. Which is the fact that Wayside is a inherently fucking broken ass place. No matter what you do, things are never going to be the same." After I told him this, I was seeing Rhett looking unsure.

"My mother used to always say the same thing. You know, that Wayside is a place that I need to leave as soon as I get older. I always thought that she was just telling me that as a way to motivate me to take my studies more seriously and what not, but I feel like she might be right." After Rhett said this, I slowly nodded.

"What does your father think?" I asked, feeling like surely that man has stated his opinion on the matter a couple fucking times." After I said that to him. Rhett sighed, and simply seemed uninterested in talking about his father, which I knew was a bad way of going at things.

"Well, my father always has told me that people act this way because they do not know what type of work he and his bosses do. He said that he was trying to get to be the department lead of his business. But I don't know what he fucking means by department." Rhett said, unsure what to say.

"Department? I think I remember my father saying that the departments were sort of like the sectors of the city. Maybe he means each sector is one." I said, unsure if that was true. "Regardless, so you're saying he doesn't see the fucking issues at all."

"Basically. And to be honest, I've only spoken to him like fucking twice since the divorce. I never really have the patience to deal with him, and his fucking aggrandizing. He clearly wants to believe that he does more for this plan than he really does. And in all honesty, I am not really in the mood to handle this guys bullshit at all." Rhett said, and shrugged as he said this.

"You seem like you really do not like him at all." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and tip toe around the subject, since I knew that if I went too deep into it, he might start getting upset at me for the way that I was talking.

"Well, I think that it might be hard to do so when he always just talks about his fucking job, and hardly takes any time to see how I feel on certain days. Honestly, I have no idea why he even wants me so much from the divorce." Rhett said, and I was sighing, feeling like I did know why.

"Because if what you are saying is true, then he does not want to admit that he lost something, and your mom being able to keep you would be showing that he lost something." I said, feeling like as much as I hated to admit it, this guy was probably looking at things like a fucking game, so I needed to just say it as such.

"Wonderful. The worst part is that I don't even fucking doubt what you are saying. All my mom wanted was just some fucking finances to help her out. To be honest, I think the fact that he doesn't even know how to accept rejection is a sign that he probably should never have gotten into business in the first place." Rhett said, and I wondered if he was truly feeling this way.

"Oh yeah, isn't that tomorrow? Tell me how that goes. I mean, I know that she will probably lose. But I feel like if she can put up a good argument, then maybe she might get some of what she wanted." I told him, and Rhett nodded, looking like he was glad to know that I still was paying at least some attention to what was going on with him.

"Yeah, well, I am praying that she does get something out of this. If she doesn't, then I feel like my life is going to be utterly miserable going forward. I mean, I am fucking starving every day, and my clothes are literally ripping apart every day." Rhett said, and I nodded, noticing it now that he had mentioned it.

"Well, I think maybe we can take some of that money that you got from my dad, and use it to buy stuff." I said, feeling like I needed to engrain that idea a bit. He was after all making this so much harder than it needed to be. He was sighing as I said that, probably thinking I wasn't paying attention.

"I already told my mom that I was going to give her the money that I would make, and she would be able to use that towards bills. Maybe eventually, if she starts getting afloat, she might buy me clothes, but for now, I'm just helping her two days a week just simply getting the trailer to not shut down." Rhett said, and I wondered what in the world I even could do.

"I'm sure that she would be more than fine with letting you keep half, or hell even twenty five percent of it. I mean, she would probably want you to have that money if she knew you were buying clothes, and food every day to not starve." I said, and then I was shrugging, feeling like I just needed to put it out there.

"Well, maybe if I talk to her, she might. But for now, I'll take the school lunches, and the fact that your dad has been willing to provide me the meal breaks on those two days so far. Your father is a good guy, and I think that I need to be more patient with him, even if I heavily disagree with some of the opinions he has." He said, and I sighed, feeling like I just needed to give up.

"Regardless, I am just waiting for tomorrow, and hoping that the results turn out in our favor. That is simply the best that I can fucking reach for." After Rhett said that to me, I sighed, since I knew that there was no way in the world I would get him to leave the subject alone.

"Well, I just hope that something comes from this. I can't imagine seeing you this upset about the fucking subject forever. It would be one of the worst things to deal with." I said, counting my blessings that he was at least trying to not be a total fucking tool when it came to the subject.

"Regardless, no matter what I do, I am still going to be the social reject of the grade level." Rhett said, and I sighed, not wanting to talk about that as well. He was just making this a pity party, or whatever, for some fucking reason.

"Well, you only would be if you never try and go out and see if you can make it better for you. I think that is the main thing you need to do. Try and find a place for yourself, in the school." I said, feeling like this was the only way to make it work.

"I am like that already. Talking with you, and I am sure that in due time, I might be able to get things to work with Simon. I just need to make sure that I don't lose this." Rhett said, and I was sighing, since I knew that nothing I would say would get him to think differently.

"Well, sorry that you are dealing with this." I said, feeling like nothing else I would say would make the subject better. "I mean, I guess I have nothing too big to worry about then. Not having a good standing on the talent show. Not that big of a deal."

"Yeah, I wish that was the biggest thing I had to worry about. Even though I know I wouldn't even fucking win that." Rhett said, and I was feeling like maybe he just needed to give it a try, before he completely brushed the subject off, given the fact he was never even tried.

I wondered how long it was going to take for this work project to fall out of place. I knew from the way he was acting that it was going to fail at some point, and I was just making sure I could do damage control when it did.

Scene 27: November 23 2020 4:05 pm

The next day, soon after school, I was meeting up with Lydia, ready to talk to her about school and what not, as I was mentally pleading that everything would turn out fine with Rhett and the trial that his mom would have.

"So Lydia, now that we are relatively deep in the school year, what is your thought on it?" I asked, and I was feeling like if she was already hating it by first grade, then she was going to be having one of the most miserable times in school ever.

"It's okay so far. Just really fucking boring. The same thing every day." Lydia said, and I laughed at that, thinking that this was fair enough. "I can't wait until middle school. I hear that's so much better."

"I guess it depends on how you define better? I mean, more shit fucking happens, sure. But people are still assholes, and you're still dealing with classes that aren't interesting the fucking slightest. To be honest, I think that you will probably be severely let down." I said, feeling like I just needed to be fully real with her as I said this.

"Is this why people are so glad to be out of high school? Never having to deal with classes again? Then what is the point of college?" Lydia asked, and I was feeling like her billion of questions was only making the situation much worse for us since she wasn't calming down.

"Well, I mean, that does have a small part of it. You know, people just feel like things are going to be better." I said, and then we were starting to walk towards the park. I felt like I just needed to ask him the other main question, that needed to be asked.

"How are you and Robbie Dan doing? Is he still doing his job, making sure you get your classes done?" I asked, feeling like I needed to just fucking crack down on this, to make sure that Robbie Dan was not going to be falling back on his promises or anything.

"He's been really nice so far. Keeps telling me that you guys are expecting too much from him though. That he can't do everything." She said, and then I was shrugging, not sure what in the world I was even going to tell her.

"I mean, to be fair, I think the main reason is because he's close to your grade. Even Jack is a bit too old to help you out, and is doing all those sports anyways." I said, hoping to give her some new perspective on the way that Todd had acted, when he requested that Robbie Dan was trying to do this.

I was having my guitar with me for the first time in quite a long time, and I was slowly playing with it, while I was talking with her. "Do you think you are going to win the talent show?" She asked, and I was sighing, wishing that I was still able to have that be my biggest worry, when I was barley even thinking about that anymore.

"No, and honestly, I don't even fucking care about that right now. I'll still play for the fun of it, but I am not going to be too worried about it honestly." I said, and I shook my head, not really having a clue what to tell her. I was getting a text from Gabe, and I looked at it, wondering what he was going to be telling me now.

"Hey Josiah, I was hoping that we can talk again, regarding the whole Carly thing. I figured that since you already found out, and since Rhett is working with dad now, I might as well let you come along, and work with us." After Gabe was telling me this, I looked at Lydia, and I wondered what to say.

"I'm with Lydia right now. Can't work with you right now. But I can talk with you about this later. Tomorrow, maybe?" I texted back, refusing to get Lydia into this. That was where I think we both drew the fucking line. I sighed in annoyance, not wanting to have this discussion at all.

"Oh shit. Didn't know you were talking with her. Fine. Talk to you later though." He said, and I was sighing, not sure what in the world I was going to do. I placed the phone in my pocket, wondering what Gabe wanted to talk with me about tomorrow. This was a fucking hassle.

"Who were you talking to?" She asked, as I sighed, since I didn't want her to know that Gabe and I were technically talking about her behind her back. But I felt like if Gabe was going to force this subject on me, then I would try to make it work, without dragging others into this.

"We were just talking about our jobs right now. You know, one of my friends is working with dad right now, and I have been keeping tabs on that." I said, hoping that this was going to get her to at least drop the subject for the time being.

"If your friend enjoying it?" Lydia asked, and I laughed, feeling like that was the last word to describe investigations of missing girls. I was feeling like she did deserve to know exactly what dad had been doing though, since she was going to learn anyways.

"Well, Lydia, truth be told, dad is doing some really fucking serious work. He is the one that is behind the investigation of all the missing girls in town. He has been trying to learn exactly what happened with them. He claims that many of them try to run away." I said, feeling like being fully honest with her was the best bet.

"Is that why he never comes home on time?" Lydia asked, and I was shrugging, feeling like that was a good way to put it. But when you are doing this full time, I would not want him to be slacking off at all, so I would not even blame him at all.

"Yeah, that is a large part of it." I said, as I was shaking my head. "I have no idea what dad is really doing though all the time. I wanted to ask him a few times, but to be honest, I never got the time or the courage to do so. The point is that Rhett is helping dad with that."

"Do you think Robbie Dan might be able to do that, when he grows older?" Lydia asked me, and I was shaking my head, not sure what in the world I would even fucking do with that. The kid was still eight fucking years old, there was no way I was going to trust him with this information.

"That is his fucking choice. I have no idea what Robbie thinks of this, and to be honest, I don't even fucking care to. I think that we both know that at his age, he is going to change his mind many times." I said, considering the fact that I have seven years on him, and I already changed my mind on the situation like five times since Ridge was born.

"Do you not like Robbie?" She asked, and she sounded genuinely hurt as I was saying this. I sighed, not really sure what I was going to tell her, since the whole thing was a complicated subject. And I feel like most of that was his sisters fault, to be honest.

"To be honest, the two of us have just gotten into a ton of fights, and it can make the subject a bit hard to work with. But I don't hate the guy at all." I said, hoping to get her to at least take what I had said. Lydia sighed, not sure what to say.

"But Robbie has been so good to me this year, I think you need to give him another fucking chance." Lydia said, and I was sighing, wondering why in the world she even wanted to tell me this to begin with. I shook my head, not sure what to even say.

"I know that. And to be honest, half the issue is his sister Bebe. I think she just doesn't like me at all, and I don't even fucking blame her. But that does translate a bit into how I talk with Robbie himself." I said, feeling like I was just needing to be honest to Lydia.

"I thought Bebe liked you guys." Lydia said, and I was sighing in annoyance, feeling like she was just dragging me down this fucking never ending path of judgment, and to be honest, I was feeling like she was just never going to understand that the way she was acting was rather annoying, to be perfectly blunt about it.

"I mean, I think that is half the reason she is having a hard time talking with us. She wants to make sure that we don't do anything stupid, or put ourselves at risk. And because of that, she just sort of judges us for our choices." I said, hoping that telling her this would get her to see my perspective.

"Oh okay." Lydia said, and I was seeing her sounding like she was just trying to back off a bit. I was sighing in relief, knowing that at least for a few seconds, she was willing to just fucking drop the subject, and not try to argue with me on every single little detail ever.

"I mean, it's okay. After all, everybody has different opinions on things. That is perfectly fucking fine." I said, and then I decided to just let the subject go for the time being. I mean, I knew that Lydia was just trying to understand various things, but at the same time, I was feeling like she was taking it too far.

"And to be honest, I am not going to try and have a fucking argument with Bebe every fucking day. Or Robbie. I feel like fighting with people all the time is only going to be making things much worse for everybody." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and make the subject more appealing to her.

"And in all honesty, I know with how much Todd and Bebe love each other, even after just three months, I do not want to be making things worse for them. So I think that I just need to let the subject go, for the time being at least." I said, and I was shrugging, wondering why I was even saying this to begin with.

"Okay. Cool." She said, and then I was shrugging, not sure what in the world I was even going to be telling her. "Thanks for seeing me. Tell me how your talk with Gabe tomorrow goes next time you see me." She was telling me, and I laughed, not sure what I was even going to be able to say to that in the first place.

As I took a deep breath, I was hoping that this was going to be making Lydia at least slightly willing to drop the subject. I was thinking that if she was going to try and drag me through this subject, then my patience was going to quickly run out.

When I was finally in my room, I was playing guitar for about twenty minutes or so, which I guess was better than nothing, when Gabe texted me again. I kind of knew that he was going to try and reach out to me again, and this time, I was ready for it.

"Hey Josiah, so I just wanted to give you the short version: But I think that Carly isn't coming back." Gabe sent in the text, and this part was confusing to me, and I felt like I needed to just be more careful about how I responded.

"Why not? I thought you and Michael were on that." I sent, and at this point, almost a month later, I already had almost completely forgotten about the fact that Michael ever left. Since that was only like two days or something, and to put it bluntly, he was a guy.

About fives minutes of practicing later, I finally got another response from him. "Well, I was reaching out to Jayson again, and he said that he was reaching into his fathers folders finally. But that is the most that I can tell you for now." He said, and I sighed in annoyance as I needed more.

I gave myself another five to respond, so I could think about what I was wanting to fucking say to him. "Look, you better give me everything tomorrow. People are already running down my fucking back about this. I need to know what is happening." I sent, finally feeling like I just needed to be real with him.

"I was already going to. Jesus. Give me a fucking break." Gabe said, and I sighed, knowing that I was still able to get him unsettled before anything else. That just showed that I had a lot more influence on him than he probably wanted to admit.

"I just hope you know what you're going to tell me." I sent, leaving it at that, for now, since I was wanting to make it clear that this was not a fucking joke, and I was not going to be happy if this ended up getting any worse than he had been telling me.

Scene 28: November 24 2020 7:30 pm

The next day, I was meeting up with Gabe, and I was feeling like I just needed to really get to know what was on his mind, and what the plan was going to be. To be honest, I felt like this whole thing, with trying to find the truth of Carly, will drive me insane.

"So what the fucking hell is going on with the case?" I asked, the second that Gabe was in the room. He looked at me, slightly annoyed with the way that I was starting the subject, but sighed, as if feeling like maybe something like this did make some fucking sense.

"To be honest, as I said, I have a feeling Carly is gone forever. Michael and I were trying to see if we could be able to find her earlier. But when we were starting to get a lead on the case, that as when we went to the shack that we were told of." After he said that, I was sighing, wondering why they were even going there in the first place.

"Why did you fucking go there? I thought you of all people didn't trust strange leads. So I think you need to fucking take accountability for what is happening here." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to place my fucking foot down as I was telling him this. He looked at me, furious with the way that I was talking to him here.

"I mean, I don't fucking trust them, but I do see that sometimes, they are better than nothing, and that is what I need right now. At least fucking something to work with here." Gabe said, and he sounded like he was slightly annoyed with the way that I was talking to him.

"What a god damn fucking hassle." I said, and I was sighing in annoyance as I was telling him this. I really had no idea why this discussion was even being had in the first place. "Look, I think that you just need to accept the truth of this." I said, and I hated the fact that I was telling him this, since it just felt so fucking wrong.

"This is one of my friends we are talking about Josiah. I think that it might be hard for me to act like this, when I am literally dealing with what everybody else is saying behind my fucking back." After Gabe was telling me this, I sighed, wishing that I knew how to help him better.

"Look, I know that, but I just do not want to see something happen to you. Maybe we can find something to make this easier. I mean, you said that dad was working on this stuff. Maybe you can talk to him about Carly, and find out what he knows." I said, hoping that I would make him feel at least a bit better about what was happening here.

"Yeah, when I try to talk to dad about hints, and what he knows, then he just brushes me off. I feel like he still insists on the idea that me getting involved in this is just a horrible fucking mistake or some shit like that." After Gabe was telling me this, I sighed, not sure what in the world I would even fucking tell him at all.

"I just feel like he needs to know what you are doing before you do anything too fucking ridiculous. Simple as that. I have no idea if I really trust what other people have been saying too much. But this is something you need to be more careful on." After I told him this, I hoped that I was going to get him to fucking see where I had been coming from here.

"And besides, I thought that Michael was really going to be cracking down on this shit himself. After all, he knows how serious this whole thing really is, and he had been missing for a couple of days himself. So I think the two of you guys really have a lot to fucking work on." I said, and I was shaking my head as I told him this.

"Yeah, well, every time I try to speak to him, he seems like he is barely able to really coherently make his fucking point, and I Think that if I try and really let him know what the plan is going to be, he always just fucking tells me to leave the subject alone for the time being. To be honest, I am starting to think that he can't even stand the fucking sight of me anymore." Gabe was telling me, and I sighed, not sure if I wanted to hear this.

"So he needs to fucking go to therapy or some shit." After I was telling him this, I shrugged, not sure what in the world I was even going to tell him. "I mean, even though he might be pissed off now, I don't think he will be upset at you forever." I said, and I was wondering how true this really was.

"And I think that he will never understand how much I blame myself for everything that had happened here. I mean, for fucks sake, how in the fucking world am I able to do that? I got way too into this subject, and then Carly had to pay the price." After Gabe was telling me this, I wanted to try and make him feel better at this.

"So Gabe, why do you feel like you were responsible for this stuff? After all, you just simply choose to try and investigate what was happening, and I think that you thought you were doing something right." I said, and I was feeling like the fact that I was having to tell him this, despite my personal uncertainties, was kind of fucking ridiculous, but I was going to keep that to myself.

"What is your friend doing with dad anyways? Do you think he will actually benefit with having him work with dad or anything?" Gabe asked, and I was shocked that he was suddenly bringing that up right now of all fucking times. I sighed, not sure what to even fucking tell him at all.

"Well, he needed some fucking money, and I decided to help him fucking get there. I have no idea why in the world everybody is fucking upset with this. I mean, after his parents got divorced, he was telling me how much he wanted to go on and fucking help his mother." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and fucking get him off my fucking back with this.

"Money. Why does everything in this world always revolve around fucking money? I swear that is all people fucking care about anymore." After Gabe said that, we were walking along, and then Gabe sighed for a bit. "I mean, I hate to ask this, but could people being sold off to sex trafficking be okay if it is to help the town economy?" He asked, and I was confused as hell why he brought that up out of god knows where.

"Why the fucking hell are you worried about that all of a sudden?" I asked, and I was feeling like I just needed to be fully honest when I asked that. This question did actually kind of make me uncomfortable. Gabe looked at me, and I was seeing him looking like he had been disgusted at even saying that himself.

"Well, truth be told, I can't fucking help it. I mean, I have heard rumors that the girls are being sold off to trafficking, and I mean, I feel like that might be true. Especially after the footage that Todd was telling me about." Gabe said, and I was shocked at this statement, and I felt like I just needed to see what the fucking hell would happen here.

"I think we both fucking know the answer to that question is no. And why in the world does Todd even fucking think that in the first place anyways? Sex trafficking…" I said, trying my best to try and not let that reality sink in. I was scared that maybe that was indeed possible.

"Yeah, I know that it isn't. But with what Todd was telling me, with Wendee being taken away or whatever, and then the fact that the town has been doing rather well, all things considered, I just can't help but wonder this." After Gabe said that, he was shrugging, simply not sure what he was feeling here.

"And truth be told, if this is how it is, and I have the memories of the town that I love so much in my mind, I just feel like I need to at least mention that idea, for myself." Gabe said, and I was unsure what to even fucking feel about him saying this at all.

As we were talking, I simply had to consider what to hear. I was calling Rhett, in the middle of our conversation, since I was feeling like I just needed to see what in the world he was thinking about everything. As the person working directly with dad, I felt like I just needed to see what he knew.

"Hey Rhett, did you and dad learn more about the California girl? You were telling me that the whole story was really fucking complicated." I said, and then I felt like I needed to clear everything up before Rhett got confused.

"My older brother Gabe is also with us. So he will be hearing everything you say. Just feel like I need to give you a fair heads up." I said, and I had hoped that this was not going to fucking piss him off all that much, since I was just trying to give him fair warning.

"Oh, okay. Thanks for telling me. Well, to be honest, I have been looking into that exact thing so far, and this is where I am starting to kind of get confused. The thing is that it looks like she never had any family in California. Or none that she was close with." Rhett said, and I was confused there.

"So why the fucking hell would a fourteen year old girl be going down there, if she did not have enough connections to handle it?" Gabe asked, and I hated the fact that I knew he was perfectly in the right for getting upset at this.

"Well, that is the thing that is making this complicated. I was looking around online at some of the other people who have gone missing in the last roughly five years or so, and a lot of them hardly turn up anything at all. Especially fucking Benjamin's sister. She is like off the radar entirely." Benjamin said, and then he was shaking his head at this.

"That makes no sense. Her case was one of the most popular ones in Wayside at the time. If she had that level of attention drawn to her, then why would the case be basically off the fucking radar now?" Gabe asked, and I was feeling like I needed to be careful with how everything was discussed now.

"I am not saying that it fucking makes sense asshole. All that I am saying is that this is exactly what I fucking read." After Rhett was telling Gabe this, I was shocked that he reacted that way, considering the fact that I was wanting to create a relatively cordial work space between all of us right now.

"And besides, I think that another part that really interests me is the fact that the tree house that is in the forest, is not the same one that was around when labyrinth was made. Which makes sense given the fact that it would be nearly ninety years old now." Rhett continued, and I was surprised he was able to fucking learn all of this in such a relatively short period of time.

"Hey Rhett, sorry to change topics a bit, but how are you and your mothers trial going? Do you think you will be able to come out on top?" I asked, hoping that this was going to be a set of good news for once. Rhett sighed, clearly not wanting to talk about that for now.

"To be honest, I have no idea what is happening there. I think that mom said they are going to have to continue for a while, and she said that there is no clear person being favored yet." Rhett said, and then I sighed, hoping to make him feel better with this statement.

"So it looks like you might have a fighting chance after all? It seemed like when you started, she was going to lose the whole thing by a mile." I said, and then I was hearing Rhett seem slightly less sure of what to say with this, since he had to be careful

"I guess when you put it that way, I do see where you are coming from. I guess that I just wish that we would just fucking win already, and be done with this." After Rhett said this, I sighed, wishing to try and make him feel better.

"Well, good luck on that and try to just keep a bright perspective." I said, and then with that, the call ended, and I was looking right at Gabe, wondering what he was going to be saying to this, or if he had a response planned at all.

I was looking at Gabe, and I was sighing. "What the fucking hell? Why does everything have to be so fucking complicated? Why can't anything ever just be clear cut for once in my fucking life?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to try and find a way to express my annoyance, and still be relatively funny.

"Look, you do not have to believe me. But that is the theory that I have, and for now, I am going to be sticking with it." Gabe said, and then I was slowly nodding, and then I felt like I needed to just go along with it, for now at least.

Scene 29: November 25 2020 10:35 pm

The next day, I was approaching Todd Jr, and I was feeling like I just needed to get him to fucking talk with me, and not give me a fucking lie or anything at all. I closed my eyes, not sure what in the world I was even going to say.

"I need you to tell me what you know about Wendee. Is it true that there is a chance that this is all because of sex trafficking?" I asked, and I was not going to fucking hold back as I was telling him this. Todd sighed, not sure what to even fucking say.

"So Gabe decided to tell you that theory after all." Todd said, sounding mildly annoyed, but not at all surprised as he was saying this. He closed his eyes and was slowly taking a second to think about what he had heard.

"Well, it is indeed true that something is going on with Wendee, and I think that Gabe has made it very clear what he believes about Carly. To be honest, I think that everything we found is pointing towards that, in some way or another." Todd said, and then I decided to probe him on the issue further.

"But how would people be able to get away with it? And why do you think this would be the case, if people are constantly having adoptions all the time?" I asked, thinking about what I said. I mean, I guess I could sort of see where they were coming from, but that did not mean that I had to fully understand, or agree with that conclusion.

"I have no idea how they fucking get away with it. I am not sure why I even believe this theory so much, when it could just be a sign of ultra paranoia. What I do know though is that people have been vanishing for over eighty years, and I also know that dad is not telling us everything." Todd said, and I felt like I just needed to keep that one to myself.

"Why do you keep insisting that dad is always fucking lying to us? If our siblings hear that, they are going to be fucking heart broken." I said, and then Todd simply shrugged at that. "And besides, Rhett is telling me that my dad has been working his ass off on this, and there is no reason to think that he might be lying at all."

"Your friend has only been working with dad for two fucking days dude. Of course it seems like everything is going to be fine for now. But what about when time passes, and we know more and more what he is actually fucking doing? I think that we both know that sooner or later, the hard reality of what is happening is going to sink in." Todd said to me, and I was just letting what he said sort of sink in, since I knew that he was being fully serious as he said this.

"Well, why do people even continue to refer to it as labyrinth anymore, when the mines have been completely fucking destroyed for decades? Is there a chance that some are still around?" I asked, feeling like I needed to bring up the idea at least once.

"That is actually a really fucking good point." Todd said, and then he seemed to genuinely consider that question for a bit. "Want to fucking find out?" He asked, and I tried to think about what he had been saying. This was now a fucking terrible plan.

As we got in his car, we were driving towards the forest, and I was thinking about what to ask. "Do you believe for a second that all the stuff Robbie Dan and Gabe are doing are indeed related to school? I can't help but feel like every time I hear that statement, it is a load of bullshit." I said, and then Todd laughed at the way that I was acting here.

"Of course it's fucking bullshit, and they fucking know it. They are playing us like we are a bunch of idiots, hoping that we do not call them out of their crap. But the truth is that I feel like basically every human being alive sees it." Todd said, and he was sounding like his anger was kind of being kept in.

"And you know what, despite that, there is a part of me that hardly even fucking cares anymore. If that is the way that they want to do things, then what the fucking hell am I to try and fucking stop it?" Todd asked, feeling like he needed to be just blunt.

"As long as he keeps his promise of helping Lydia out, and making sure that she doesn't fall behind in her studies, then they can do whatever the fucking hell they want now. I am going to have no patience trying to stop this shit now." After Todd was saying this, he sighed, simply having no mood to argue with anybody anymore.

"Yeah, especially since she obviously has that massive fucking crush on him. And she doesn't even fucking try to hide it at all." After I was saying this to him, Todd was sighing, almost wishing that I had not brought that up, as if that made him upset.

"I feel like she is way too young to get into that shit. She always wanted to fucking be more mature than most people her age, but this is fucking ridiculous." Todd said, as we pulled over at the side of the forest, and he looked right at me.

"Let's just simply not think about that. It just annoys me to no end, even thinking of it. We got a job that we need to do, so let's fucking do it." Todd said, and I was slowly nodding, since I knew that arguing with him was simply not doing anybody any favors.

"Dude, I thought that you said you thought Robbie Dan was a decently okay guy. So I would have assumed that out of all the people for her to have a fucking crush on, this would have pissed you off the fucking least." I said, and then I was seeing Todd looking like he had no idea what to say anymore.

"Never mind. Forget the subject. It was starting to get boring anyways." He said, and then with that, we were continuing along, walking down the path. I felt like maybe I did need to dig a bit deeper, but on something else entirely, since I had not wanting to royally piss him off yet.

"To be honest, I was wondering what made you so fucking convinced shit was happening in Wayside. I mean, the idea of trafficking seems a bit out there?" I asked, and then Todd was shaking his head, not wanting to go too deep into this.

"Well, Gabe and Michael found that one fucking shack, and while nobody was there, they found a bunch of fucking beds set around the place, and a fucking set of supplies and foot. There was also some fucking straps. Gabe even said one of the beds was still relatively warm." Todd said, and I was sighing, not sure what the hell I would say to that.

"Maybe he walked into some fucking random old guys house, and then found nothing there, and came to conclusions." I said, feeling like I needed to at least mention the idea to him. Todd sighed, seeming more annoyed than anything else that I was bringing that idea up in the first place.

"Josiah, I fucking saw everything that was happening. I wished that I was just making it fucking up, but that is not how it is. I mean, Benjamin sounded fucking crazy to me too at first, until I saw everything he was trying to show me." Todd said, clearly upset at what he was saying.

Eventually, we were seeing dads car in the middle of the path way. It had looked like it had only been there for a few minutes. I looked over at Todd, wondering what he would be thinking to this. Todd got a smile on his face, knowing full well what he might be able to fucking find.

"What the fucking hell is dad doing here?" I asked, trying to hold back my slight fear and frustration that this was happening. Clearly if this was happening, he had been with holding some information from us, and I wanted to know what that was.

"Do you want to look around?" I asked, feeling like since we were here already, we might as well just fucking check, and see what was happening. He sighed, not sure what in the world he was going to say. But then he seemed fucking over it all.

"Sure, I guess that we might as well." Todd said, and with that, we were starting to check around, wanting to see what dad might have been doing here in the first place. I was kind of scared of what we were going to find here if dad was indeed doing 'investigation work', and I was wondering what he would tell Rhett when they would work together again.

"What the fucking hell does dad want to fucking hide anyways? He's been fucking hiding shit from us this whole time, and I am fucking pissed." Todd said, and I sighed, wondering why he was acting this way to begin with, and why I always fell for this.

"Maybe he is not as much as hiding it as much as not needing to tell us, since we never had a interest in this subject until now." I said, feeling like I just needed to give dad some potential credit. Todd sounded like he had no real interest in this discussion anymore.

As I suggested this to Todd, I saw him looking like he was slightly annoyed with the fact that I had been telling him this in the first place. "Todd, what do you think is going to fucking happen?" I asked, feeling like the longer that I was pestering him on this subject, the more likely it would be that I could get him to talk.

"Either we find him or it turns out we wasted our time looking around. Sorry that we aren't really looking for the fucking mines anymore." He said, and I shrugged, not really too worried about that for the time being, given all things considered.

"It's okay. I mean, I doubt that we were going to find it anyways." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him as I said this. Todd was then taking a cigarette out, and smoking it. I forgot that he did that, but honestly, I hardly cared, since it was his choice after all.

"I'll look for it again later. Even if I can't take you." Todd said, and I was hearing him sounding very serious in his reply. I chose to not respond, since I really had no idea what in the world I was even going to be telling him. It just all seemed hard to understand.

Before long, we were seeing dad looking around at a open area, checking out various things, such as a pair of clothes that were loosely thrown around. I was aware that he was indeed doing his job, as he started to take notes, and was smoking a cigarette still.

Scene 29: November 26 2020 4:15 pm

I was alone that day, and I decided that I would try and talk to dad, and see what he might be willing to tell me about his work in the forest. And I felt like the best way to do this would be to just simply be honest with him, and tell him that Todd and I found him in there.

"Hey dad, I wanted to just know how you and Rhett had been doing so far." I said, feeling like that was a more reasonable starting point, and was something that I was sure he would be willing to update me on, given the fact that this was one of my friends that I was talking about.

"He has been doing pretty good so far, and I really respect the effort he puts into this stuff. But the issue is that I think that he is too set on the idea that there is some giant conspiracy. I mean, he does try to show me some stuff to prove his point." Dad said, referring to internet posts, most likely.

"I think that the more he is seeing what is really going on in town though, such as various pieces of evidence, he does see that it is not as simple cut as that. The two of us have been looking into the most recent case." As dad said that, I nodded along, knowing that Rhett had already said his pieces on the issue.

"Yeah, he had made his opinion on the matter quite clear to be honest. He was telling me that he thinks that the whole California thing just doesn't really add up as much as people are saying. Although I am not sure how much of that is conspiracy." After I was telling him this, dad sighed at that, kind of thinking that he had been well aware of what he was hearing.

"Well, to be honest, I do see what he is saying that the California thing might be a bit rough. But we know that she has wanted to go there for a while, and that is the best starting point. I mean, the last grinder noise was a bit of time ago, so I am surprised that people are still as interested in this as they are." Dad said, and I was sighing at this one.

"You told me that when Riley went missing, Sheldon spent days on end at first trying to fucking find her, and that he just never did. So clearly people care more when it personally affects them." I said, feeling like I just had to try and remind him of the stories that he was telling me.

"Well, Sheldon was a extremely determined individual. Much different from the norm of this fucking town. He was never going to be living shit down, no matter how much he was wanting to. It even seemed like there was a couple of points in time where it did die down a bit, his interest in it, only to come back up. He said himself that in the seven years between his sister, and when the 1963 incident, he had actually almost completely moved on." After Todd Sr. said this, he was looking down on the ground, hating the fact that he was telling me this much already.

"So you do admit that something is happening there? Why the fucking hell are you always deflecting the situation then?" I asked, feeling like I was starting to show some of my annoyance to my father. My dad simply took a deep breath, hoping that I would back off, before things were going to be getting much worse.

"I never said there fucking wasn't. All that I was saying was that you guys need to just be more careful. This isn't a fucking game, and I feel like the sooner you guys fucking see this, the better that things will be." After dad was telling me this, I shrugged, and I felt like there was no reason to discuss this anymore.

"I mean, I thought that I told you that you should be focusing on graduating, and not these various fucking things." Dad said, and I was recoiling at the way that he was rudely telling me off. I knew that he was trying to just keep me simply safe. But I was feeling like he had gone too far with this.

"I do want to just fucking focus on graduating. And I would much rather be working on my music than this honestly. But I just feel like something like this will never fucking happen. I mean, my friend is working with you, and I feel like that is more than enough to force me to be into this, until we get a fucking answer." I said, hoping that I would get him to just leave me alone for the time being.

"And my friend needs the money more than anything, and he has been going on and on about how he think he might just simply quit his fucking schooling once he turns sixteen to go into this full time." I said, hoping that by telling him what was going on, dad would see that I now literally had no choice but to get involved.

"If he quits though, then that is really going to ruin the long run. I mean, you guys might not want to hear it, but you guys are fifteen years old, three years until graduation in the long run is really not that fucking long at all in the grand scheme of life." After dad was saying this to me, I was sighing, not sure what in the world I was even going to fucking tell him at all.

"That is what I tried to fucking tell him. I have no idea what he is going to be doing though. I just hope that the divorce trial works out in his favor, since if it doesn't, then I think he will almost certainly go through with this. And I fucking hate that." I said, shaking my head, and I hated the fact that this was a genuine discussion I had to have.

"Look, just do me a favor, and try to not fucking play hero. This place is already having enough issues without my sons playing hero." Todd said, and then he was starting to walk off, and I was shaking my head, feeling like my father could be such a fucking asshole at times.

"Be safe." I said, feeling like I needed to not only get the last word in, but make that last word at least somewhat pleasant. My father sighed, and took a cigarette out, as he was really gone now, and I was shaking my head, feeling like this whole thing was a fucking mistake. And there was no better way in the world to fucking put it.

I wondered if he and Rhett were actually really getting along, or just only barely working together because of me. I was having a terrible fear it was becoming more and more the latter, but I was also holding out hope that maybe it was really not all that fucking bad.

I mean, I felt like what he was doing needed more people involved. And I was thinking the fact that Rhett was there was one of the only things that could make this slightly better for everybody involved. I sat down, and I was pulling my guitar out, and I was trying to just simply not think of the fact that I was having to have this debate on a borderline fucking daily ass basis now, and I was pleading that his mom would win the trial, so there would be some extra money being sent over to his family.

Scene 30: November 27 2020 1:19 am

I was about ready to go to bed, when Jack was coming up to me, and looked like he was feeling slightly worried about how I was going to be reacting right now. I looked at him, wondering what the issue was going to be now.

"Hey Josiah, I wanted to talk to you for a bit." He said, and I was sighing, wondering what the fucking hell the point was going to be. "I am scared about Gabe and Todd. What can you tell me?" He asked, and I sighed, not sure what in the world I would even be able to tell him.

"To be honest dude, I have no idea what in the world they have done, and to be brutally honest, I hardly even fucking care to know. I think the fact that they have been lying to all of us as much as they have been makes me just simply want nothing to do with it anymore either." I told him, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him.

"But don't you want to know what the hell your fucking siblings are doing? I mean, Lydia has been coming to me about it. Fucking me, and I have no idea what in the world I could tell her. I think she just wants some fucking answers, that I can't give her." Jack was asking me, and I sighed, not sure what I was even able to fucking tell him.

"I want to know. But not at the cost of everything else. And besides, I think that since that they have insisted on lying so much anyways, I might as well just fucking leave it alone." After I was telling him this, I shook my head, not sure what I could even tell him.

"Sorry. I just guess that I want some fucking answers too. As well as the fact that they have started to fucking flake out on the fucking sports, and I feel like they just simply do not care anymore." Jack was telling me, and I really had no idea what the hell I could tell him at all.

"Well, I think that they just simply never really had much interest in that subject, if I am being honest with you. After all, sports was always the thing you kept wanting to fucking do all the time." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him as I said this.

"I know. But usually, they used to at least pretend like they fucking did. Now they are fucking not even taking the time to pretend anymore. It just fucking pisses me off, and I am tired of it." Jack was telling me, and I wondered what I could say now.

"Well, maybe you could be helping Lydia out, and just being with her since she is still having a hard time adjusting to school." I said, feeling like I just needed to get him to fucking stop this fucking shit right now. As I said this to Jack, he looked slightly pissed off here.

"But she is already buddy buddy with Robbie Dan, and I do not want to fucking ruin that. So I will just be leaving them alone." Jack said, and I could clearly tell from the tone of his voice, that he was not wanting to talk about this at all anymore.

"I doubt that you helping your younger fucking sister is going to be making things any worse. Just fucking relax." I said, not really in the mood to be having this discussion at all. "To be honest, I think that Lydia probably just needs one of her siblings at her side as well, and that might as well be you."

"Yeah sure. If you fucking say so. After all, Lydia and I always get into fucking fights, and it always feels like the two of us are super at odds with each other." Jack was telling me, and he shook his head, sounding upset at this.

"Who cares about that? I am sure she probably doesn't even remember half of those fights to be honest. I think you just need to relax a bit, and remember that at the end of the day, you guys are still family." I said, and I was feeling like this statement was going to be generic as all hell, and would not settle with him. But I hardly fucking cared at all.

"That doesn't change anything at all. But I guess that in the end, if you believe what you say, I might as well just fucking give it a chance. I just hope that you do not prove yourself to be a fucking idiot by saying this." After Jack was telling me this, I sighed, and I was really having no idea what in the world I would tell him at all.

"See dude. I knew you were going to fucking see reason." I said, and I headed out, after grabbing one of his basketballs, feeling the two of us might screw around, and just throw some balls, and see if this could be used as a training session.

"I have nothing better to do anyways. So why the fucking hell not?" Jack asked, and then we were outside, and then I threw him the ball, so he would be able to get some fucking practice in on it before anything else.

"To be honest, I envy you with the sports. People are going to respect you to death and back. The fact that you are leading your team to victory on several occasions." I said, hoping that saying this would get him to feel better.

"Well, I just do something that I fucking enjoy. Nothing fucking more to it than that." After Jack was telling me this, I sighed, and I wished that I was able to fucking look at it this way. "I thought you were like that with the music as well." After he was telling me this, I sighed, not really wanting that to become the lead of the subject.

"To be honest, I think that I am probably not going to be winning those fucking contests. I fucking hate admitting it, since it just means that all the shit that I did was for fucking nothing. But I think that I am personally just now doing this for the experience than I am mainly doing this for the fucking fame. I hardly fucking care about fame at all." I was saying, and deep down, I knew that this was wrong. But at the same time, I hardly fucking cared at all.

"But why would you not win? I mean, truth be told, you have been doing a great job on it so far. And I always see people talk about how jealous they are of your performance. So maybe you deserve something." Jack said, and I was shaking my head, not wanting to fucking hear it at all.

"To be honest, I think the general public of Wayside doesn't really give a single shit about rock music. They care more for that pop crap, even though it is much worse in every way." After I was saying this, I was shaking my head, not wanting to be making things worse at all.

"Okay. Sorry. Didn't mean to upset you." He said, and I was shaking my head, not really wanting to have this discussion at all. To be honest, I felt like he was just not seeing the bigger picture of what I was going to be doing.

"You didn't upset me. I am just speaking reality." I said, and I was shaking my head, not really in the mood to be talking about this any further. "Forget everything that we discussed. This isn't fucking worth it." I said, and I was just telling myself to drop this.

As the two of us were finished discussing, I was finding myself hating the fact that I was even having to brush Jack off like this. To be honest, I felt like he was just needing some fucking assurance, and I was completely fucking deflecting that, and I was hating myself or it.

Scene 32: November 28 2020 4:01 pm

I was stuck with watching Ridge duty this day, and to be honest, given everything that was happening, I hardly fucking even minded. It was enough to take my mind off the bullshit that was happening in the first place. As I had been watching him though, Robbie Dan was in the area. So clearly some discussion about various things were going to happen as well.

"So Josiah, how do you think Ridge has been able to handle things so far? I mean, he is already over three months old. How do you feel about that?" Robbie Dan said, as I was holding him in my lap, and it was feeling so strange to have a person who was theoretically young enough to be my son in my lap, and knowing that I was going to be responsible for his upbringing, in a sense.

"I know. I don't know how a three month old baby can feel like he was born just yesterday, and also feel like he is utterly ancient at the same time." I said, probably thinking that most of that was due to my lack of involvement with him.

"I will admit, I thought part of the incentive to go around, and protect your family at all costs would have been for Robbie Dan. I never realized that you were mostly in it for Lydia." Robbie Dan said, and he wasn't really saying that in a negative tone. I just slowly nodded, not sure what to tell him now.

"To be honest, it's hard to really know what to think with Ridge and all that, when he still doesn't even speak yet. I mean, there is just the knowledge of knowing that there is an entire future ahead of him that makes that one better for us all." I said, and I was hating the fact that I was giving Robbie Dan ammunition to judge me,

"Well, just make sure that you actually fucking know what is going on with him. I mean, with ten siblings, obviously everybody is going to have a fucking favorite. But I am just worried that sooner or later, everybody is going to just forget about some of their not so favorite ones." Robbie Dan said, and I was shocked that he was trying to give me a lecture on this. But then I sighed, and reminded myself that he was probably doing this out of care for us, and not out of judgment.

"I know that you really do mean well, and that is why I am trying to not get upset with you when you say stuff like this. But that doesn't change the fact that you are making assumptions." I said, and I was shrugging, not sure what in the world I was even going to say.

"I mean, I have been rather busy this last month or so, dealing with Rhett's parents divorce trial, and that has taken up the vast majority of the time that I have." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and give him some context to work with here.

"What is that?" Robbie Dan asked, and then I sighed, reminding myself that he was seven years younger than me, which when you are our age, is a humongous age gap, so clearly he would not be involved in what was going on. So I felt like I would catch him up.

"One of my friends is having to deal with his parents divorcing, and because of that, he has been forced to deal with the trial going on, so his mother would have a larger percentage of money, to be able to raise Rhett." I said, feeling like I just needed to be more open with him as I said this.

As I told this to Robbie Dan, I wondered why in the world he was even wanting to hear this. "Sorry for asking. I just got really curious was all." Robbie Dan said, and he sounded like he was scared for my reaction. I shrugged, not in the mood to deal with this right now. He was over reacting, and I think we both knew that.

"It's okay dude. I hardly fucking care. People just want to know everything, and as some people say, curiosity killed the cat." I said, and then I was handing him Ridge, and Robbie Dan looked like he was scared out of his mind at this. Probably thinking that he was scared of dropping the baby. I was walking to the door, just to let in some fresh air.

"Want to go outside for a bit?" I asked, unable to fucking handle this at all. Robbie Dan sighed, and slowly nodded, and then he left the house as well. As we were walking, I decided that I would get to ask him some questions now, since this whole meet up was rather fucking strange.

"What are you doing here right now anyways? I mean, I am not trying to fucking sound rude, but in all honesty, I just don't fucking get it." I said, feeling like I just needed to throw him some truth bombs. Robbie Dan sighed, as if scared about my reaction.

"I was hoping that I could be able to see Lydia today, or maybe work with Gabe for a bit. But he seems to not be here, and I was seeing you there, so I decided to try and get to see how you might be feeling this time." Robbie Dan said, and he was shaking his head, sounding like he now regretted this.

"I have no idea what Gabe is doing. Probably more of his CSI bullshit. As for Lydia, her and Todd are going out to the mall, so he would be able to go Christmas shopping with her." I said, and then Robbie Dan laughed at that, probably thinking that she would be wasting her time with this.

"I completely forgot about Christmas to be honest. I mean, I just got so wrapped up in all the bullshit that was happening, that it was the last thing on my fucking mind." After he said that to me, I was shocked to hear him admit this, but I chose to not say anything at all. After all, that was his issue.

"Well, so you basically did not put any effort into setting anything up at all? Fucking wonderful. Why the fucking hell am I not fucking surprised." I said, and I was feeling like I might be a bit harsh as I was saying this. But in all honesty, I had hardly fucking cared at all.

"Give me a break. At least unlike most people my age, I didn't turn out to be a complete piece of shit, and I actually fucking care about the well being of what is going on in this town." Robbie said, and I was shocked at his way of saying that. To be honest, I couldn't even blame him for saying this.

"Wow, I mean, that is like a whole new level. I didn't think you were going to throw your entire class away like that. I mean, you also need to remember that you're only fucking eight." I said, feeling like the more that I was telling him this, the more he was going to start going less harshly on the people in his grade.

"So me telling the fucking truth is something that is getting me in trouble. Why the fucking hell am I having to deal with people judging me because at least I am being honest about things?" He asked, and I sighed, and I was choosing to just not fucking respond to this. After all, he already made his mind up on the matter.

"Well, I am just saying that once you guys get older, then they might be able to start showing more interest. Just show them some fucking patience is all that I am trying to fucking say." I said, and I was feeling like telling him this was something to make him feel better.

"Okay. If you fucking say so." He was responding, and I was feeling like nothing else that I would say would make things any better. "Regardless, the point is that I lost track of everything that is going on, and in all honesty, I have no idea why I would even be so worried about things like this." After Robbie Dan was telling me this, I sighed, and I just decided that he was already making his mind up on the matter.

"But yeah, I think that if you want to try and find Lydia, then just go to that fucking mall, and I am sure that you can find something there. She might be a bit annoyed with you interrupting her time with Todd, but I am sure that she will get over it." I said, not sure if that is true, but I just needed to fucking try, and give him some confidence on trying out.

"Yeah, I guess that I fucking will. Who knows, I might even know what she might be buying you guys early." Robbie said, as he was shaking Ridge a bit, who was still asleep, and he was probably just trying to go through with some bullshit that he read online, on how to make them feel better. I smiled, knowing he was just trying to have a good time with this.

"Please don't fucking spoil it for the siblings. I mean, I am not too worried if I learn, since it is most likely related to music, but the other siblings can be a bit annoying when it comes to that stuff." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him as I said this.

"Jesus, you need to fucking relax, and have a good time bro. I wasn't going to fucking spoil anything. I am just telling you what I might be able to do." Robbie said, and he was slowly handing me Ridge back, who was opening his eyes a smidge, and then closing them again, before he smiled, as if this was going to be the best day of his fucking life.

"Anyways, see you later. I just want to make things right, and who knows, maybe just really just make it all work out." He said, and then he was shaking his head as he was heading off. I sighed, not really sure what in the world I was even going to be doing now.

Once he was starting to head off, I was shaking my head, not sure why in the world I even fucking cared anymore, as I was starting to head home, feeling like I needed to remind myself that I cared because I did not want him to screw things up with Lydia or anything like that.

I did not believe that I was actually not only having a conversation with Robbie Dan, but that it was going so well. It just did not fucking seem right at all. I hated talking to this guy, since he was such a asshole. But at the same time, I did have to remind myself that he was still only eight years old.

Scene 33: November 29 2020 4:42 am

I was woken up one day, when I was having to deal with Calvin, and I was shaking my head, and then I walking to that room, to see what he was going on and on about, and I was feeling like him being so upset this early in the morning would ruin my rhythm today.

I picked him up, and then as I was bring him to the living room, he was starting to speak small sentences to me. "Nightmares, screaming noises." Calvin said, and I knew right away he was referring to the grinder, and I was sighing, not sure what in the world I was even going to tell him.

"Don't worry, it's be alright." I said, and then I was shaking my head, unable to believe that fucking Calvin of all people was now having to deal with this. I turned the television on, and I saw that it was clearly the channel that Henry had left it on before he went to bed.

But as I watched though, it was something much different than what I was expecting. It what looked like really fucking old CCTV footage (remember those only get kept up to 30 days, so anything over a year is ancient in that standard).

Regardless, it was filmed in November 2013, I couldn't remember the exact fucking date though, and as I was watching, it was another two of those men in black. I was feeling like this might have been innocent archived footage that was just released during quiet periods when nobody was awake, so I chose to not say anything at the moment.

"Is the package secure?" After one said this, the other guy smiled, and laughed at this, as if almost proud of what he had done. I was wondering what the fuck was going on, so I decided to remain on this channel, just to see how things went.

Once the other person confirmed with a yes, they continued driving towards some random spot in town. I was just watching, wondering if this was going to be one of those things that Calvin would randomly remember several years from now. I just hoped not.

The car parked at the pier, and then they went outside, after going to the back seats, and pulling some random early to mid twenties guy out of the car, where his hands were tied down by ropes, and then he was set down on his knees.

"If you really want to show that you are in the program, you need to take him out. He has been a real threat to our business so far." After the much older of the two, a guy with a very rough beard, said that to the young one, who was still completely clean shaven, and looked like he hadn't even been out of high school for more than two years, the younger one took a gun out.

"But what if people trace this back to us?" He asked, hoping that he would not have to force himself into this, but the tone of his voice was also clear indicating that he knew full well that this was something he knew would happen, no matter what he tried to do.

"We own either full or partial shares on every single company in this town now. At worst, a minor law suit where we can claim self defense, would come." The older guy said, as the younger one was pointing the gun right to the mains forehead.

"Look Ferb, I understand this was a friend of yours. That is why we chose him, to see if you really would be able to fucking do the job." As he said that, the younger one, Ferb, looked at his boss, and shook his head in disgust, and then he looked back at his friend.

"Sorry Baljeet." Was all Ferb said, before firing the gun, and spraying the persons brain matter all over the ground, and killing him. Then with that, Ferb stood up, and then looked at his boss, disgusted at the fact that he had to do this.

"Look, I understand that this is not what you want to do in your life. But you have no fucking choice. This is how business works young man." The older guy said, and handed out two cigars, and handed one of them to Ferb.

After about five minutes of ambience of them just smoking cigars, the older one cleared up, and said "We need to clear the fucking body. Don't want to make it too fucking obvious." He said, and then Ferb nodded, disgusted at this, and then they both picked the body up, and then threw him into the water.

Once the body was in the ocean, the one with the beard took a deep breath, and felt like he needed to be nicer to the guy, for everything he had went through. "I understand that you are dealing with a lot. It must genuinely hurt to kill a friend of yours you had since you were ten." He said, and then he sighed.

"Everybody is deliberately given a tough one the first time, as a way to build nerves of steel. The first time, I was forced to kill my girlfriend of three years. What made it worse was that she was five and a half months pregnant. Was going to be a boy. But business and business." He said, and then he looked at Ferb, and then slowly nodded.

They both went to the car, and then they were opening up the trunk, to show a girl with a plastic bag on her head, and she was also tied down. "She's going to the Watterson casino right?" Ferb asked, already sounding like he was much more strictly business than he had been earlier.

"Yep. Richard said that he would know what to do with her now. Well, before we go, we have to see if she is even alive." The boss said, and then pulled out the bag, and saw that the woman's face was in shock and terror and it took a few seconds to see if there was any breathing at all.

"What is with the whole bag thing anyways? Wouldn't it be worse for business to have the woman die before she is sent off?" Ferb asked, and then the man sighed, feeling like that was a fair enough question, and one that had only seldom been asked.

"Well, it keeps the girls silent. If the girls are still alive by the time they reach the drop spot, then they can be used as breeding product, and everybody is happier. If they already died from suffocation before reaching the destination, well, the transaction had already been finished, and we just simply bury her, or throw her into the grinder. Either way, we never have to deal with her again, and nobody would be any the wiser. It's a safety measure either way. Has been used since 1986, when Yolei's Inoue's dad set up the scheme to, in his words "shut the worthless fucking cow up for five minutes."" He said, and they were seeing the girl slightly breathing, indicating she was indeed alive, but probably too tired and scared to fight.

"Give it two or three more minutes, then we put it back on, and then we head to the Watterson casino. We usually take a two to three minute break every ten minutes or so to just make sure that there isn't asphyxiation that is caused. In 27 seven years we have been doing this, we only had like three or four actual fatalities caused by this. I am sure you know one of them." He said, and then Ferb nodded.

"Yeah, that was the whole reason my brother even found out about it in the first place. Anyways, I guess that I kind of get it. I mean, it seems like a lot of trouble, but if you guys run the business as much as you do, then I have to assume that you know how to handle this. Just make sure that you do not pin the blame on me in case this gets found out." He said, and then the man in the beard was touching Ferb on the shoulder.

"Well, the grand moment will be coming soon. Then we have to bring this slut over to the casino, so we can get to work." He said, and then he continued his cigar again, as the grinding noise went off, and he smiled as he heard this.

"That is my favorite part of this. Every time that goes off, that is a piece of evidence that will never be used again." He said, and then he looked at Ferb. "The Shiny Gentlemen is a way to keep the kids in line too, and the adults are too scared to say anything, for fear of going there as well."

"What happens to the girls after they are ground up?" Ferb asked, still clearly sounding slightly disgusted at this question, but I think he probably just accepted the reality of the situation, and figured that fighting this would not really be worth it.

"Well, they are usually used as fertilizer. That way the crops can improve, and the food supply of the town is better. These are little secret tricks that we have been picking up over time over all these years. Sooner or later, they all work out fine enough." After he was saying this, Ferb slightly sighed, and then with that, the bag was placed on her face again, and tied up enough to where it would not fall off, but still loosely enough to where it would not guarantee death.

Once they got in the car again, Ferb was starting to drive off. "To be honest, I am surprised that after all these years, everything had been exposed already. I heard the closest it came to happening was fifty years ago, with Sheldon Lee."

"Yeah, Richard was there when that happened, as he was on the verge of taking over the Watterson casino. He talked about it multiple times, and how you shouldn't be speaking with various people about what you find, or else they might be using that against us." He said, and shook his head at that.

"How much longer do you think that geriatric fuck is going to be in the business? I mean, do you think he might try repairing the issues he has with Gumball, to make him take over the casino again?" Ferb asked, and then the man with the beard was groaning, and shaking his head as he heard this.

"Look, you're new, so I will cut you some slack, and let it go this time, but our boss fucking hates it when we bring up Gumball. He claims that it is a massive invasion of his personal life. I mean, I understand you are curious, but that shit will be getting you killed faster than that girl back there." The guy said, and then he sighed.

"And until you transfer families, you have to answer to Watterson. That being said, given how things are, information about Gumball does inevitably slip in once or twice a year or so. But the last I heard it, Gumball had been in prison for drug dealings, and still had about a year left of his sentence. Richard was expressing how much he hated that his only living child is a white trash washed out drug addict." He said, and then Ferb sighed, as they were getting closer to the casino.

"Sorry I asked. I didn't realize it was a sore spot for him. I guess that I was just interested in knowing what was going on here." After Ferb said that, he shook his head, and sounded like he was regretting the fact that he was delving as deep into this as he had been.

"If I get any updates, I will tell you, as long as you promise to not tell ANYBODY, or even so much as bring up his name around Richard. Besides, to answer your business question, from what I understand, he is dating a twenty four year old, which I have no idea how he set himself up with one when he's seventy fucking five, but he was saying half the reason he was setting himself up with her is for the purpose of having a child, and being able to have him take over the casino when he does die, but he will be the man behind it until then." He said, and then Ferb nodded.

"Fair enough. I guess that makes sense." After he said that that, Ferb and his mentor were at the casino, and the two of them got out, ready to work. The man looked at Ferb and just slowly nodded, as the brought the girl out, took the bag off, and brought her inside, where they eventually brought her to Richard. And that is when the recording ended.

When the broadcast was over, I knew I had some time before everybody was going to be awake, so I decided to rewind the whole way, and then record on both the television, and then record with my phone as well. I felt like this was the closest to incriminating evidence that would be used. If for nothing else, it would provide closure to two cases from November 2013.

I just fucking hoped that dad was going to be taking this seriously, and not be brushing everything that I say off, and he would actually be able to check this out. This was bigger than everything that we had so far. This could be sending so many people in jail.

When everything was done, and Calvin was finally asleep again, I was starting to see what Todd and Gabe were talking about with those men in black, since they just kept coming by the fucking place. Every several nights, I would be seeing them show up, and I would see them scouting about. It was a bit much.

Scene 34: November 30 2020 2:43 pm

I was talking with Seth, working with him on the talent show, since in all honesty, I felt like I had kind of brushed that off too much, and I wanted him to see that I was still proud of working with him, even if it was kind of hard to fucking see at times. "So Seth, I am sorry for not being there for you enough lately. I just also found myself caught up in Gabe's bullshit."

As I said this, I was seeing Seth looking like he was hating the fact that I even said such a thing. Probably thinking that he was going to be losing me as a sibling as well. I sighed, and felt like I just needed to try and make him feel better, given everything that was happening.

"Josiah, why did Gabe snap at me earlier?" Seth said, and he was asking it more in a way of just wanting to finally get closure on the subject, than him actually being upset. As Seth said this to me, I sighed, and I was shaking my head, feeling like he did deserve the closure, as much as I hated to admit it.

"He probably did it because of the fact that he got himself involved in some really bad shit. And I mean, really bad fucking shit. And I think he is having a hard time accepting the consequences of his actions." I said, and I was feeling like telling him this was going to be the best way to get him to see that I was not a liar.

"Is it true that he is checking out the stuff that is going on with the missing girls? Why would he fucking get involved in that in the first place?" Seth asked, and he wasn't even seeming angry at this. I was sighing, and I wondered why in the world I was even talking about any of this in the first place. To be honest, I was feeling like this was all a terrible idea.

"Yeah, he is. I mean, I don't think I will ever fully get what got him into it as well. But that is how things are, and to be honest, I think that he is currently the best bet that we have." I said, hating to admit this, but felt like there was no other way.

"Sorry to ask. I guess that I was just confused what was happening." After he was telling me this, I sighed, feeling like there was no point in arguing any further. "Forget that I even mentioned it. I guess that I can just try and talk to him about it, and see if he is finally willing to work with me for once about it." He said, and I was sighing, since I think we both knew that the answer was going to be no.

"Just focus on your comedy shit. I can't afford to have you getting involved in this shit as well. I would really hate it if one of my younger siblings gets involved in this." I said, hoping that I would get him to see my point. He shook his head, tired, and angry at what I said.

"Wow. Okay. I never thought that you would be the one to say that." Seth said, and had a smile on his face as he responded. I guess that there was a mild level of humor in this. Considering the fact that for the longest time, I was never really interested in this shit at all.

"Well, I would rather deal with even your most unfunny joke of all time than deal with that shit again. So I think we are going to be fine." I said, and I was feeling like I was just needing to get this discussion over with right now. It was far too much to fucking bear, and to be honest, I could not handle it.

"I guess when you put it that way…" Seth said, and he was starting to sound down again, and then he looked right at me, and then he smiled. "To be honest, I will take it. It's better than nothing." He said, and then I was sighing, since to be honest, I had no idea what the fucking hell to tell him at all.

"See. You're learning." I said, and then with that, I shook my head, not sure what in the fucking world I was even going to be telling him. "Anyways, don't worry about it too much." I said, and then I was getting another text. I looked at who it was from, and saw that it was from Rhett.

"Well, I guess that when I see how things are, it is rather hard to not fucking notice." He said, and I was sighing, and I was feeling like he was just trying to find a way to make me feel shittier for what was going on. But I choose to not say anything, since I knew that he probably meant nothing by it.

"Anyways, is that your friend who is dealing with the divorce?" He asked, when he looked over the caller ID. I looked up at him, thinking it was kind of rude for him to be looking over like this. But at the same time, I was feeling like being upset with him was not going to give us any answers

"Yeah, that's him. It has been hurting him really hard. It seems like half the battle is about him right now. I wonder how he is even keeping his sanity at everything that is going on." After I was telling him this, I saw Seth looking like he had no idea what to fucking say.

"Why the fuck is he the main focus of the divorce? Did they fucking divorce because of him? What the fucking hell?" Seth asked, sounding confused by this, and sounding like he just needed to try and understand why Rhett was even like this.

"To be honest, I am not sure if I get it all myself. But that is just how things are, and I am beyond the point of fucking arguing with him. And in all honesty, I guess that most of what he says might still be relatively valid here." I said, and I was hating the fact that I had to fucking admit it.

"Okay. It's just all rather confusing to me is all. Just like how people claim that school is actually one of the best parts of their life. I just would never fucking understand how anybody can fucking feel that way at all." After he was telling me this, I sighed, not sure what in the world I would even be able to tell him.

"Well, I mean, to be fair, it seems like people are forced to work crazy long hours at different jobs, and at this rate, they probably wish that they could go back to high school, and just only have to worry about credits, and who they are fucking dating." I said, and I laughed at this, not sure if that was the case. But it was my best guess.

"Yeah, I guess that does make some sense. But whatever. Sorry for being a bit of a nosey guy at the issue." Seth said, and he smiled as he was telling me this, as if that was the main point of what he needed to accomplish now.

"It's okay. Not everything has to be perfect, and totally clear. I get that." I said, and I was shrugging, feeling like I just needed to end this subject before it got any fucking deeper. "Besides, what I do fucking know is that Gabe got himself too deep into this, and I do not want to get involved like this." I said, feeling like I just needed to leave it alone for now.

"I just wish that I knew what the fucking hell was going on with Gabe right now. That is all that I'm fucking confused by right now." After Seth said that to me, I sighed, since I was not really in the mood to discuss this right now. It was rather much, but I was not going to argue or anything.

"If Gabe tells me more, then I would totally be willing to tell you more." I said, and then I wondered what he was going to say to this. He was shaking his head, clearly feeing like I was trying to push him further down this path.

"Alright. I guess that I will fucking take this." Seth said, and he was sounding like he was rather annoyed at the fact that I was barely giving him anything. But I was not going to be making a giant issue here, and I wanted him to be feeling like he could be feeling safer around me at the end of the day.

"Seth, I understand that it might not be the answer you want to hear. But there is only so much I can fucking tell you. I have no idea why you even think that I know everything that I fucking do. This whole thing is a fucking disaster." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest when I said this.

"Do you think that if I try to ask Todd about it, that he might be willing to help me with it?" Seth asked, and I had no idea what the hell I was even going to be telling him. I felt like Todd was actually even less likely to talk than Gabe was, and that was really fucking saying something.

Eventually, Seth and I were back to making material again, and for once, it was seeming like I was going back to those days of before Ridge was born, where I was totally just worried about music and shit, and not even thinking about it at all. For some reason, working with Seth was able to bring that out in me, to a degree at least.

Scene 35: December 1 2020 7:54 pm

That night, before I was getting ready to settle down, and just focus on school the next day, that was when I was getting a call. I decided to answer it, feeling like just in case something was happening, I just needed to be one hundred percent safe.

"Hey Josiah, I was wondering if you were willing to talk again." Rhett said, and I was sighing, not sure what to say. I knew that he was going to be throwing some serious shit on me, and at the moment, I was hardly in the mood.

"Honestly, I was just kind of thinking that maybe if she is just doing this for me, and not really for herself, I think that it might be best to just tell her to just drop this subject. I don't want her to push herself too hard for me." He was saying, and sounded like he was just really regretting this.

"That isn't something you really need to be so fucking worried about. I mean, to be honest, she was going to probably want the money anyways. She is probably using your situation as extra leverage." I said, and then Rhett seemed to just get silent again after I said that.

"Well, when you put it that way, it makes it seem like her intentions were not really all that noble at all." Rhett said, and sounded upset at the way that I was low key throwing his mother under the bus like this. I didn't regret the words as they left my mouth though.

"Can we just talk for a bit? I mean, I know it's a school day, but there's still a few hours before we have to go to bed, and I just simply need somebody to talk to." He was saying, and I was sighing, feeling like there was no need to argue with him at all.

"Sure. I guess that I can. I doubt anybody really cares how late I stay up, as long as I still go to school and do my homework." I said, and I was sighing. I really did not want to be having this talk right now, but I was well aware that there was no way in hell that I would change it.

"Give me thirty minutes, and we can talk." I said, annoyed at this, but feeling like there was no point in having this conversation at all. "I just think that you need to be more careful here. You do not know what your mother might be doing here."

"Please don't make this about her. She is doing everything that she fucking can here. Give her a fucking break." After he said this, I sighed, and then I just felt like it would be best to just drop the subject, so I would not piss him off, thinking it would be best to at least make it to the house first.

When I was getting closer to his trailer, I was wondering how the new house was going to be when they would be moving to a new one after the divorce trial was done. I was sure that soon enough, she was going to be winning something. Even if it was just on the account of public opinion.

Eventually, when I was there, Rhett had already been waiting for me, and he was looking down on the ground, and I saw him looking like he was just glad to be seeing that I was actually taking the time to be seeing him in the first place. "Thanks for coming here."

"Well, I mean, I knew that there must be a good reason for you to try and talk to me when I am supposed to be trying to get ready to go to bed for the night." I said, feeling like I needed to make him clear that this was not the fucking time for this. Rhett looked like he was even feeling bad for the way I acted.

"Well, to be honest, I just feel really scared, and I just think that I need somebody at my side to try and make this better for us. This whole fucking thing is a mess, and I can't fucking talk to my mother about it without her getting annoyed." Rhett admitted, feeling slightly upset with what he was saying.

"Well, I think you need to see that your best choice of action is to make yourself uncomfortable, and just fucking talk to her, and see what she might fucking know. Seriously, you are making things worse for her." After I said that to him, I was seeing Rhett looking annoyed at the fact that it was seeming like I was hardly taking it seriously.

"It is never going to be that fucking easy dude. If I try to talk to her, she is going to be upset at the fact that I wasn't listening to her, and then suddenly, I'm the fucking bad guy." Rhett said, sounding rather annoyed with what I said.

"But if you do not talk to her, then you will never know what is going on here. Regardless of if you like it or not, this is the choice that I have made, and there is nothing you can do to fucking change it." Rhett was telling me this, I choose to just simply not fight back at all.

"I just need to be out of here for a while." Rhett said, and he was starting to walk off, really fucking annoyed with everything that was happening. I sighed, and I was feeling like there was nothing that I can fucking do to change this. So with that, I was walking behind him.

"Rhett, where do you think you're fucking going?" I asked, not really in the mood to argue with him. Rhett sighed in annoyance, seeming to just simply not be in the mood to hear what I was saying. I just decided to remain silent, and stop arguing with him.

I was wondering what I was going to possibly say to Rhett in order to get him to finally open up for once. I mean, I knew that he was trying to always give his mother the best spin that he could, and I appreciated the fact that he was not giving up, but it was a bit strange.

Scene 36: December 2 2020 3:30 pm

The next day, before I was fully home from school, Robbie Dan stopped me, and I looked right over at him, wondering what in the world he was going to try and tell me now. I sighed, and just wanted this to be done with as soon as possible.

"Josiah, I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate the fact that you are trying to be concerned for me. I mean, it is so strange to know that you guys all want to fucking be there for me when I barely even know you." After he was telling me this, I sighed, not too sure what to tell him.

"Look, I just don't want to see you getting yourself killed. That will really suck for both of us if you do it." After I said this, I was sighing, and I felt like saying this was going to at least partially deflect the fact that I was sincerely scared for him, despite me trying to not show otherwise.

"I was thinking that maybe since people in this town haven't found out the truth yet, that I would be the one who could fucking do it. Would you be willing to fucking help?" He was asking, and I sighed, not really sure what in the world I was going to even do with this.

"Look, I know that I already made my opinion on what you are doing quite clear, so I am not going to go down that fucking rabbit hole again. I just want to ask you if you really know what you are doing here?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to be fully honest with him as I said this.

"Well, if you already know that I am going to be doing this, and that you do not want me to get in danger too, then how about you grow the fucking hell up, and help me out with this." After Tobias was telling me this, I was trying my best to not anything to his response.

"And then be putting a target on both our backs?" I asked, unable to believe that I was seriously considering what he was saying. This was beyond fucking insane, and I could not believe that I was actually finding myself partially agreeing with him here.

"But I guess that I would rather be doing this than be waking up one day, and seeing that you went missing as well, or died. So I guess that I might as well go along with this. Even though I thought you were already working with Gabe on this." I said, hoping that he would get that fact in his head.

"But we only work together on Sundays. I need more than that. I need to see what I can do when school is around." He said, and then he was starting to walk away. As he was heading off, I knew that I had no choice but to follow him, and just keep my annoyance to myself.

"I thought part of the agreement you made with Gabe was that you were only going to be doing this when he is with you. So now you are going back on that agreement?" I felt like I needed to try and appeal to his sense of honor by saying this. Making him feel like maybe this was not a good idea, no matter how you fucking put it.

"Well, yeah, but this is something that I can just slowly do in the mean time. After all, you never once showed any interest in working with me before, so I know that this is not something that I am going to be able to do all the fucking time." He said, and I sighed, feeling like he was not even fucking wrong as he said this.

"Where the fucking hell are you even leading me to anyways? I mean, you are not giving me a lot of confidence on what I should be working with right now." I said, hoping to get him to just calm down for ten fucking seconds, and leave me alone.

"The abandoned train tracks dipshit. I think that there might be something there if we look around for a bit. Not going to find anything if you trudge along, and show no fucking interest." He said, and then I was feeling like the way he was doing this was just kind of driving me crazy, and that I just needed to remain silent.

I was wondering how in the world I was supposed to know this, and I was thinking that he was kind of needing to be more realistic when it came to this shit. There was no way in hell we were going to find anything here, and I think he knew this.

"So Robbie, do you like Lydia back?" I asked, feeling like I might as well just try and get to know him, on a truly personal level. Robbie looked at me, and he was clearly flustered. "It's okay, I won't judge you either way."

"To be honest, I think that she might be trying too hard to get me to like her. I mean, I know that she clearly has a crush on me. And I mean, I guess it's kind of nice to have somebody think I'm a nice guy. But it is rather fucking odd is all. I just have no idea what I can even do with her." He said, and sounded relatively unsure what to feel now.

"She always talks about you guys. Even if you do not realize it, she really loves all of you. Even Ridge, and we know nothing about the person he is going to be turning into." Robbie Dan said, and I sighed, feeling really happy to hear that.

"I mean, I kind of knew that she did. But it is always so much better when I can hear other people say it. I just feel like I haven't really gotten to know her enough lately. When I was younger, and she was only a couple of years old, I wanted to be at her side all the fucking time, and I thought that we could make it work." I was telling him, feeling like I just needed to be honest.

"Truth be told, I think the best way for you to change that is to fucking talk to her, one on one, and really just put everything behind for once." Robbie Dan said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like he clearly did not understand how hard something like this would be.

"But with everything that has happened, such as the whole Rhett issue, and the fact that the grinding noise went off recently, with one of my friends literally working with my dad to change it, it feels rather hard to focus on this for now." I was trying to tell him, hoping he would fucking see that.

"You really do care about making Rhett have a better time here, do you? I wish that I could have been able to help you then." After Robbie said that, I was shocked to hear the tone of his voice change, and actually grow one of being much more humble. I was wondering if he was actually finally getting serious for once.

"I mean, he is somebody that is clearly struggling with a lot, and I feel like if I am not there for him enough, then it will be entirely my fault if something were to fucking happen. So yeah, I fucking have to." I said, and I felt like even if Robbie would never get it, he would just have to fucking take what I said, and not be arguing with me at all.

"So Josiah, I think you do see, now that we are talking, why I feel like this whole thing is something that I need to be doing. I am not doing this for fame, I am doing this because people need to know." As Robbie said this, I sometimes forgot that he was only eight years old, and that in some regards, he was actually more mature than I am right now, which was a really bad sign.

After an hour or two of walking, we eventually made it there, and I was feeling like we just needed a fucking break before we even fucking started. "Ten minute break dude." I said, and then he was looking shocked at what I was saying. I was feeling mild excitement for the fact that this was the first time I could genuinely say this and not sound ridiculous. "Well, when you get to my age, you will understand how nice it is to just fucking relax for a bit." I said, and then sat down, regardless if he liked it or not.

After I had rested for ten minutes, I got up, and started to head to Robbie. "So what is our first move?" I asked, and then Robbie was looking at me, with a smirk on his face, as if this was something that he was glad that I fucking asked.

"We are checking every single train, and seeing if we can find something here. Or if we can even go inside in the first place." Robbie said, and I was shaking my head. This man was a fucking monster, for even suggesting that we do this. I closed my eyes, and told myself to just suffer through it, for my families sake.

"Fine. I guess that this is something that we can fucking do." I said, and I was shaking my head, not wanting to do it however. But feeling like there was no need to argue with this at all. We were walking to the first one, which was a green train that looked like it had only been there for like five years or so.

"I heard the train station was rather popular back in the day. And that it's only really lately that it doesn't get used much anymore." After Robbie said this, I slowly nodded, not sure what I was going to be saying to this.

Once we went inside, the two of us were seeing that there was twin sized bed thrown in there rather carelessly, and a radio on top of a stand, probably for news. There were some bottles of beer, about fur packs of cigarettes, two of which were completely empty, one had like 3 left, and one had been untouched completely, and a magazine next to it. Some loose condoms were there too, and a journal that when we looked was essentially unreadable through a combination of terrible hand writing, and water.

The magazine was a porno one, as I could tell. As I was looking at it though, most of the pictures were of people that were at one point associated with the Needlemeyer casino. I threw it on the table, sighing in relief since I was glad that that business was basically done now.

"Isn't that the family where it was proven that a bunch of pedophiles were in there, and they were only dating girls in their twenties because that was how low they could legally go?" Robbie asked, and I was shrugging, thinking he got the gist of it right.

"It was also the one that had a really bad habit of snuffing the female workers here, on a every couple weeks basis. I am surprised it managed to stay around as long as it did." I said and then started to head out, not wanting to tell him of the broadcast that is on my phone, feeling like I still needed to give that to my father.

Robbie left the train as well, and then he was sighing. "I thought that there would be more to work with her. After all, this is a place that would seem perfect for criminals." Robbie said, and I will admit, I could hardly argue with that all.

"True enough. I just think that maybe they probably died after a point." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest as I was saying this. As we were walking along, the two of us were walking towards the red train, which I knew had been there forever, since I recall that one as a small child.

"I will say, whatever stuff in there is probably taken by now. So it is probably not going to be fucking worth it." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him as I was telling him this. Robbie looked at me, and sounded kind of upset with my way of saying this.

"You need more fucking faith dude. I am sure that we can find something if we look hard enough." He said, and I was sighing, not sure why in the world I was even trying to fucking fight him here. He clearly made his mind up, and to be honest, I was beyond the point of arguing with him here.

Once at the train, I was looking at the sky, and thinking about the sun was going to be down in about thirty to forty five minutes, and we were probably nowhere even close to being done for the night. I was wondering if crashing here for the night was best.

We went inside, and this one was much more interesting, objectively speaking, then the other one. This one had a duffel bag there that looked like it had been relatively recently used. There was a gun on the a seat, and clothes that were hanging out, probably to dry.

There was a fridge that was there, and when I looked in it, it looked like the stuff here was still sort of fresh. There was another log, and this one was one that I was able to actually fucking read. I was now really interested in what we had gotten ourselves into here.

"Well, somebody is working here. I wonder what this guy is doing." Robbie Dan said, and he sounded kind of interested, but there was clearly a part of him that was clearly scared, and he was not doing a good job hiding it at all. Not that I could even fucking blame him.

Robbie grabbed the log, and put it in his hoodie pocket. I was thinking that this guy was being a complete fucking idiot for even thinking to do something like this. But I decided to remain silent because I think he probably knew it, and was just willing to take the risk regardless.

"To be honest, do you really think that this is going to be helping us at all? I mean, this guy is probably just doing some recon work or something. Nothing fucking worth dragging ourselves into." I said, hoping that I would get him to fucking leave this whole thing alone.

"I have no fucking idea Josiah? I mean, I think we need to take the fucking chance." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, and to be honest, I was sort of aware that he was going to be saying this, and that was the thing that made it worse for me.

I just hope that I do not regret this." I said, and then we were looking around, and we were seeing a map with a bunch of X's on it, and I decided to catch a photo of it, so that way I would see what areas in Wayside he marked off for whatever reason.

Before too long, a guy walked in, and he had a hand gun, and a machete in his possession, and a back pack. As we were looking at him, I was wondering what I would be able to say. To be honest, his presence there was kind of scary. "Look, we were on our way out, and we promise to never come back." I said, and then I was running off, and I grabbed Robbie, and was dragging him, trying to just create enough distance to where he would decide it's not worth it.

Scene 37: December 3 2020 10:57 pm

As I was trying my best to be heading to bed, I was getting a call from Robbie Dan. I answered it, shocked that he was calling me at relatively close to midnight. But I figured that it was probably due to what had been happening, and what we had seen earlier, so I was feeling like I just needed to let him tell me what was on his mind.

"So Josiah, I think that we need to show that journal to Rob. Even if we do not have his permission, he needs to fucking know." Robbie said, and I was confused out of my fucking mind what the hell he was talking about, but I felt like I just needed to let him talk.

"But fucking why? I mean, for gods sake, nothing we found there would be interesting to Rob." I said, and I was leaving the room, feeling like I just needed to have him see that this whole thing was fucking crazy.

"Because I have been reading the entire fucking journal so far, and a lot of it is a confession on the things that he has been doing around the town, such as looking around the town, and finding these monsters, and this is finally irrefutable proof that several of the things that we see are true." He was saying, and I was sighing, not sure what to tell him.

"Why the fucking hell did you even take that? We are going to be having a fucking target on our back, and I think we both know that we are lucky that something hasn't happened to us now." After I was telling him this, I was hearing Robbie sounding like he hardly fucking cared.

"I needed to fucking read what he knew, so I would be able to know what I could plan about it. I mean, I saw some monsters in the forest, or what I thought were monsters, but I didn't think that this man would be able to fucking confirm this." After Robbie was telling me this, I was sighing, feeling like there was no need to even argue with him at all.

"If this is what you are going to be doing, then just let me fucking meet up with you, and we can fucking talk for a bit." I said, and then I was shaking my head, unable to believe that I was even dealing with any of this in the first place. It was all fucking ridiculous.

"But if I leave, then Bebe might be forcing me to let her follow me. And I do not want to be dealing with that at all. I know for a fucking fact that if Bebe knew what I was doing, she would never want to fucking speak to me again." After Robbie was trying to tell me this, I laughed, feeling like this whole fucking thing was a self inflicted issue he made.

"That is all your god damn fault. You are the one who refused to fucking let this go, and I think you need to take responsibility for what happened. And to be honest, I think you need to understand that your sister just wants to fucking help you out." After I was telling him this, I was feeling like this was ridiculous that I had said this.

"Josiah, fucking spare me the lecture. I just need you to let me do this." After Robbie was telling me this, I sighed, and I wondered why in the world we were even going to be having this discussion in the first place.

"Robbie, just fucking listen to me right now. I think that if you want to report this fucking report to the mayor or Rob, then I think you need to let multiple people come with you. Remove blame." I said, and then I shrugged.

"And I think this means you should never go to the fucking train graveyard again. That man will notice you, and everything will be ruined." I was sighing, feeling like the more that I was talking about this, the more that I was feeling like this whole thing was just god damn ridiculous. But I guess that was the risk I was going to have to take here.

I was leaving the house, feeling like there was virtually no fucking point in fighting this. To be honest, I felt like Robbie was going to be getting too deep into this, and I mean, I felt like it would be better for me to die than it would be for the eight year old fucking children.

When I eventually made it to his place, I was seeing that Bebe was already waiting for me. I sighed, feeling like the fact that she had already been here, waiting for my next move, was probably a sign that I was needing to tread on some careful water.

"What are you going to be doing here at this hour? There is nothing to do right now." Bebe said, and then I was sighing, and I felt like I just needed to try and be honest with her when I said this. Maybe she would fucking that I was just trying to help.

"You're fucking brother needs to calm down, and I am just trying to tell him about how he doesn't need to force himself into this." I said, sighing, unable to believe that I was having to care about the phases that a fucking eight year old who I hardly knew dick about, when he already hated me.

"Do you not think that I already know this? I have already been trying to talk to him about this right now, but he doesn't seem to be interested enough to hear my opinion." After she said that, I then felt like I just would be wasting my time by having this discussion.

"Can I just fucking talk to him, and see what I might be able to fucking get from him?" I asked, feeling like if I was just trying to really get her to listen, I needed her to hear that there was utter conviction in my voice, and that I would do what I must.

"What did you do with him yesterday? He seemed scared out of his fucking mind when he came home, and looked like he was being hunted down. I am not sure if I want you to be around him because of that." She said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like she was trying to make me feel bad.

"And here I am, trying to fucking make things right. Just give me a chance to fucking go in there, and talk to him. That is all that I fucking need." I said, and I was seeing her looking like she was regretting the fact that she was finding herself agreeing with this.

"If you genuinely believe that you can help make him feel better, then I guess that I will have to let it go." After she said that to me, I went inside, pushing her to the side, not even caring how rude I was being or not. I just needed to make sure that this fucking boy listened to me, and listened to me good, while I would explain to him what was going on.

I went right to his room, and then knocked on the door, not even caring if their parents were awake or not, and feeling like if they were, then they might even be willing to help me. Robbie opened the door, and looked utterly shocked to even be seeing me there in the first place.

Scene 38: December 4 2020 7:55 pm

The next day, while I was playing guitar, I was getting a knock on the door. I was confused what was going on, and didn't really have the mood to argue, so I was getting up, to see what was even fucking happening. When I answered though, I was shocked to be seeing both my father and Rhett here. I wondered what their fucking point was, and I was hiding the fact that my excitement for the subject was relatively low on the bar.

"Hey Josiah, I know that you have been getting in a lot of trouble by working with me lately, but I feel like we need to talk for a bit, and just work some things out. Rhett said, and I was shaking my head, not really in the mood to be having this discussion in the first place.

"What are you fucking getting at here?" I asked, barely keeping my uncertainty at bay. As I said this, that was when my father was interjecting with the conversation. When he talked, due to his job, I knew that I needed to show him some fucking respect.

"I decided that you just needed to see some of the shit that we have been trying to fucking find. If you want to fucking know what we are doing, then fucking come." My father sounded like he was mildly pissed off with this. I sighed, feeling like this was the best I could get.

I got in his car, feeling like there was no need to argue with him. Especially since in all honesty, I was having a feeling that if I did try to argue with him, my father would be really losing his patience, and I did not want to be pissing my father off here.

As we were driving along, I wondered if this was Rhett's idea or not, and if it was, I wondered why he was trying to force this onto me out of nowhere, when I had no idea what was going on. "I just think that after everything, you truly do need to see what is going on here, and not be hiding shit."

Rhett was sighing as he said this, and eventually, we were getting close to my fathers office, which I barely ever fucking gone into, and I was feeling like doing this was a sign that I was in way more trouble than I was guessing.

"Dad, why are you doing this? I never once fought with you about anything else. Give me more fucking credit." I said, and then I was seeing my father looking like my response was not what he was wanting to fucking hear.

We pulled at the side of the parking lot, and then the three of us left the car, and went inside the office. As we were inside, there were a bunch of notes on the wall, and a bunch of letters and names on pieces of paper, placed around.

"What the fucking hell is all of this? Why is the name of half the fucking town written down on this fucking wall?" I asked, and then my father was looking at me, and then at Rhett, and he actually seemed slightly sadder when he was looking at Rhett.

"Truth be told, I am trying to connect everything in this business together, and see what I might be able to find. This town is run on one big corporation, and it is not something that can happen over fucking night." Todd said, and I was holding my hand up, wondering what in the world he was fucking talking about.

"What fucking business?" I asked, feeling like my father needed to start making sense, as I looked down on the table, and was seeing a bunch of drugs wrapped up in bags and what not. "Why the fucking hell is there heroin on the table? Are you saying that this town is being run by drug dealers?"

I felt like I was well within the reason to demand that he started to tell me what was going on, because I needed to try and trust my father, which was hard to do so when he had not given me any responses whatsoever.

"Well, that is a part of it. Not all of it though, but it seems like the Watterson family most of all has been running heavily on drugs lately." My father said, and I was sighing, wondering why this was even allowed, despite them being a well established casino.

"But fucking why dad? Why would they allow drug operations to be run? Isn't Richard Watterson supposed to be retiring anyways?" I asked, feeling like if I got to know more, I might have to try and find out how to reach out to Gumball as well.

"Well, his children are still rather young, and his oldest son has been basically off the radar for nearly thirty years. They have no choice but to continue running his business like this." After he said that, I was shocked as hell at what he was saying. It felt so fucking wrong to hear him say this.

"So you're admitting that Gumball is actually a real person." I said, as Rhett was walking to the wall, where some of the names were. He was reading them rather carefully. Then he was looking at my father, wondering what to say.

"Why is Tucker Carbunkle listed under Tristian Lee? And why is there a list under a man who's been dead for nearly fifty years?" Rhett asked, and my father looked like this was the last question he wanted to be asked, since that was by far the most important one.

"It is a theory that I had heard, and every time a young person is born in this town, I place them under a certain list, to see if they can all be pieced together. I have no idea if the theory is true yet or not though. So for now it is all speculation." He said, and I was wondering what he was going on about right now.

"Dad, where did you adopt Lydia from?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to fucking force him to tell me more. I looked right at him, and I was seeing the demeanor on my father's face instantly become much less willing to talk with me.

"That is none of your fucking business Josiah. And I think we both know that you would be better off making sure that you keep your accusations to yourself." He said, and then I was shaking my head, unable to believe that I heard this.

"I'm going to get back to work. Let me check the high school files again, since the principal let us read those this weekend." Rhett said, and then he was walking out of the office. I was wondering if he was doing this was a way to avoid getting involved in what was going to become clearly a big fight.

"Are you saying that you have been to labyrinth?" I asked, and then my father was looking like he wished that I would just be more careful with how I talked to him right now. But I was starting to think that maybe I just could not care less anymore.

"Enough with that shit. You know that labyrinth isn't real, and you know that you were spoon fed a load of crap when people told you about that." My father said, and then I was shaking my head, feeling like he was just giving me a fucking lie.

"Well, I mean, I think we both know that at least part of the rumors are true. Given the fact that it would explain the drugs. Is it more than just the heroin?" I asked, hoping that he would just talk to me about it. Anything at all would be better than what I was growing to fucking fear.

"Your friend can tell you that none of what is happening is real. He has been at my side this whole time, and I think if you don't want to trust me, then you need to trust him. I thought that by showing you this, that you would be able to appreciate the reality of what I have been working on more, but instead you want to make a fight-" He started, but I rudely cut him off, not in the mood to have this discussion at all.

"FUCK YOU!" I left the office, not even wanting to deal with the excuses. My father was involved in what was going on. That virtually confirmed it, and the fact that he was fucking lying about it and thinking that I was crazy, was what was pissing me off. I just wanted him to fucking be honest with me, so I would know what I was supposed to be ready for.

Scene 39: December 5 2020 1:22 am

When Rhett was done working, and we had hung out for a bit, I came up with a idea that I knew Rhett would fucking hate, but at the time, I hardly gave less of a shit, and I was going to make it work. "Rhett, I am going to be going to the Watterson casino, and I am going to be trying to make fucking Richard talk. No matter what it takes." As I said this, Rhett was shaking his head.

"This is a fucking crazy idea dude. You are going to be getting yourself killed before you have a chance to talk to that man." After Rhett was saying this, I simply shrugged, not even fucking caring anymore. I felt like I had no choice.

"Don't you want to fucking help your mother though? Especially since I think we both know that she is going to lose the fucking case." I said, and I was seeing Rhett looking like me saying that was the last thing that he wanted to fucking hear.

"I do want to help her. Okay, fine. Especially since I know that you are going to do this either way. At least if I am with you, then I can make sure you stay safe." After he was telling me this, we were starting to head to the casino, and I was hoping people wouldn't two high school students heading there strange.

But to be fair, if even half the stories about T.K. were true, he was doing this when he was fucking thirteen, and to be honest, sixteen was around the age people start rebelling in large strokes anyways, so I was feeling like I was going to be perfectly fine at the end of the day.

"Rhett, sorry about earlier. I should have waited until you were off the clock before I had my dispute with my father. To be honest, I think that as long as I just wait a couple of days, and let the tenseness die down, the two of us can talk again." I said, and I was just saying my hope more than anything else.

"Look, I doubt that your father is involved. I saw the shit he was showing me. I doubt that he would be doing any of that. I do want to tell you that, just to make you feel a bit better. The biggest thing that I want to know is about the names." He said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like deep down inside, I know most of the stories were true, even if I hated to admit it.

Once at the casino, we went right inside, despite having to be a bit sneaky due to not wanting to have everybody fucking know who we were, and what we were doing. "I noticed that you have not been hanging around Simon as much lately. Do you want to talk about that?" Rhett asked, and I was shaking my head, not in the mood to deal with that right now.

We were seeing some girls sitting down with older guys, as they were smoking some blunts, and they were just talking about some people who they found doing anal in the bathroom. I was shaking my head as I heard this.

"If dad was right about one thing, this place is a fucking cesspool, and that this is a place that we always need to be looking out for. I wonder how he lived as long as he has." I said, and then I saw Rhett looking at some posters.

"Ross Bean." Was the name of a poster, and it was showing a older guy, probably fifties or so, standing with a cane in front of him, with a relatively strange smile on his face, and wearing a black suit. As I was starting to piece it together, I looked at Rhett, and sighed right away.

"Is that your fucking father?" I asked, and I was seeing Rhett balling his fist, looking like he was wanting to beat the shit out of somebody as he was seeing this. Then he took a calm and deep breath, clearly just not wanting to start a scene up.

"Why is he working with Richard fucking Watterson? I thought that even he would show more respect for this fucking town than that. I just wish that I would talk to him, and fucking ask why." He was saying, and I was placing my hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down.

"Maybe we just need to give this guy a chance, and see what he has to say. I mean, he might have some really good arguments." I said, hoping that I could get Rhett to just relax a smidge, so he could focus on the job at hand.

"At first, I was thought it was just the affair. I mean, maybe he could have been able to explain that one to me, and I would have been able to forgive him. But this is fucking crazy. He clearly has no fucking regard for the needs of his family at this case." Rhett said, and he was walking away, trying to just keep his calm.

"Rhett, we need to be smart when we do this. We can't draw attention to ourselves. Maybe we can find your father, and just see what he knows, and then we fucking leave him alone." I said, wanting to keep him calm, and not get him too upset.

We eventually, went up the stairs, and I could see that Rhett was just looking for his fathers room, and hardly caring about anything else at all. I was feeling like whatever this man was going to do, he needed to be top level careful with it.

"Josiah, I am sorry about this, but I am going to have to put helping you on hold until I get this shit figured out." He said, and I didn't like it, but I knew that there was no way to argue with him. So I just decided to look with him, and I was mentally pleading deep down that his father wasn't really there.

Eventually, we did find the room, and Rhett barged the door open, and Rhett's father hung up the call the second he saw Rhett, without even giving the person a reason why he was hanging up. He looked both scared, and interested, to see what his son was doing there.

"What the fucking hell are you doing Rhett? You're supposed to be at your house?" He asked, and then he started to take a few steps forward, and I secretly hit the play button on my phone, to get a audio recording, just in case.

"You call a fucking trailer a home? And why are you fucking working with Richard Watterson? A corrupt, murdering and raping piece of shit?" He asked, and I was feeling like he just needed to be much more careful with what he was saying, to make sure he didn't cause any issues.

"Don't talk about my boss like that, especially in his own casino. He has been working very hard on keeping this town running. Ever since he took over in 1994, he has been very clear on one thing: The Wattersons always win." He said, and then he looked at me.

"Why are you hanging out with my son? Every fucking Robinson in the world is a controversy magnet. It seems like that is all you ever fucking care about." He said, and shook his head, sounding clearly disgusted at what he was saying.

"I am hanging out with your son to make sure that nothing happens to him. And leave the rest of my family out of this. I just had a fucking fight with my father." I said, and then Ross shook his head, not really in the mood to be discussing this.

"Look, I am trying to do business with my colleague right now. And besides, you're not even legally of age yet. Technically you literally are not supposed to be right now." Ross said, and then Rhett was shaking his head, and balling his fist.

"Now you are suddenly caring for rules and regulations? Where was that side of you when you were with mom? She has been working seventy hours a week, and seven days a week, just to make sure that I have a even remotely decent amount of food, and a back up of money in case things got even worse." Rhett said, and then his father was sighing, and sat down.

"Your mother and I just stopped loving each other. But I thought that when you were with her, you were going to be in good hands. But here you are, screaming at the top of your lungs, talking about shit like murdering and raping? Richard Watterson had to keep his fucking son in line when he was the one doing all those things." He said, and I shook my head.

"I don't think a ninety to twenty year old just out of high school student could have been able to do the things that Gumball is accused of doing. And why would he go after his own mothers work place?" I asked, trying to make it clear that I did not buy a fucking word of what was being said.

"Do you seriously think I give a rats fucking ass what you think dude? I was there when it happened. Richard had to spend nearly ten years repairing the damage his son fucking made. All because he was butthurt that his two younger siblings died before they ever graduated." He said, and I was shaking my head, not really feeling like this was important right now.

"Look, I think we both know that this is not the fucking point right now. So can we just focus on the main topic at hand?" I asked, not really in the mood to be having this talk with somebody who ruined my best friends life.

"I am just trying to tell you that I think you need to give the old man more credit. And especially since the eighty two year old man is just trying to live every fucking day as much as he can, so his son will be old enough to have a basic understanding on how to run a business." He said, and then I was sighing, and shook my head.

"Why not just let his wife who's literally over HALF A FUCKING CENTURY younger than him take care of the casino until his son turns eighteen? That would make more sense than a piece of shit geriatric working here until the day he dies." I said, hoping to get him to at least consider what I was saying.

"I mean, he is turning six in roughly three months. I mean, it's not really anything, but at least he can fully talk, which is better than nothing. And that would be if Richard died in the next year or two, which we know is not happening." After he said that, I was sighing, and then felt like this was a joke.

"Besides, going back to Gumball, the story said that in January of 1994, he killed his mother. But why would he do that? I mean, he was literally advocating her fucking business the entire time. This makes no fucking sense. This whole thing reeks of inside job." I said, hoping to get him to finally fess up.

"She was also heavily under the influence of drug abuse. After her two younger children died, of course she was going to be using the stuff she was saleing. I mean, can one really blame her. I would be feeling the same way if you fucking died Rhett." Ross said, with a shit eating grin on his face.

"I don't fucking believe you dad. And I have no idea why you think I would be stupid enough to." After he was saying this to his father, I was feeling like every word out of Rhett's mouth was a really bad decision that he needed to be a lot more careful about going forward.

"Your mother should have never left the porn industry. If she didn't, then I would have been able to get you in the divorce, and you would be raised by a actual fucking parent." He said, and took his pipe out. He was then blowing the cannabis in our face.

"You should be glad that I didn't ground you when you were clearly under the influence of marijuana, and try to teach you some lessons. I just feel like I was too fucking soft on you, and this is what came out of it." He said, and then Rhett looked at me, trying to hide his annoyance.

"I have no idea what angle your fucking playing at anymore, and I am not sure if I even want to fucking know. I feel like this is fucking crazy." Rhett said, and then he started to walk off. I was sighing, and I started to walk up to him, trying to just get him to talk to me.

"I am not playing at any angles. I am going full fucking throttle into the business Rhett. When you fucking see that, maybe you will learn to appreciate me more." He said, and at this rate, I was feeling like I just needed to try and find something to make him feel better.

"So if there is anything that your father has been doing, then maybe we can incriminate that on him too? I mean, I know that you do not want to bring your father down, but I think that we both know that this is something you might have to do." I said, hoping that I could get him to talk.

"I can't believe that the hands of this entire business could be handed over to a fucking five year old at any fucking second. This is a fucking joke, and I feel like if that happens, I might have to befriend him." Rhett said, and then I was shaking my head.

"Why did my father have to become such a fucking disgrace?" He asked, and I was feeling like he was needing to just be more careful with what he was saying, considering the fact that anything could potentially happen if this got worse.

We left the casino, and I was glad that Rhett and I had the recorded confession. It wasn't much to be going off of, but it was certainly better than nothing, and I was hoping that when I show my father, he was not going to be fucking around, and he would actually at least consider what I was going to say. "And even if the media has to water it down, for the audience to understand, it is still something."

Scene 40: December 6 2020 6:15 pm

The next day, I was meeting up with Gabe, since I was feeling like he would not judge me for the fight that I had with dad. If anything, he would probably say that dad might have kind of had it coming. I was not sure if I was going to go that far, but it was something that had been bothering on my mind.

"So I got into a fight with dad earlier. About the stuff that Rhett had been doing. I just feel like now that I know what Rhett is doing, I just need to be at his side much more." I said, and I was seeing Gabe looking like he was still unsure of how to feel about that.

"I see that you really care about making sure that Rhett is doing well. I can respect that." Gabe said, and I shrugged, feeling like that was fair enough. But I knew this was not something to really mess around with.

"Yeah. This whole thing with Rhett had basically made me completely push aside the fact that I was going to be helping Seth with the talent show. I kind of feel bad, since I know that he really wanted to fucking do that." I said, and I was hoping that Seth would forgive me.

"To be honest, Seth has been really had to talk to lately. More so of just the fact that it seems like he is completely distant from everybody. I wish that I could see what I can do to help him out. But especially after what happened earlier, I don't think he would be willing to fucking talk." Gabe said, and he sounded mildly ashamed of himself here.

"Regardless, what are you going to be doing now? You know dad has a really fucking hard time letting go of that shit. And now he is going to be having a fucking eagles eye on you." Gabe said, and I was hardly fucking caring. I was picking up my guitar, and started to head out.

"I know that. But I think that maybe that is a sign that he is trying his best to hide the truth from us. I mean, I fucking hate to admit it, but I think that dad might have been bought out by people." I said, and I was shaking my head as I said this. Feeling like the fact that I had to admit that about him just made me sick.

Once we were outside, and I was heading on towards Rhett's house once again, to help him out after the argument he had with his father, Gabe was taking a deep breath, now only just barely hiding his uncertainty that this would work.

"Look dude, I think that we both want to be able to find out what dad was doing. But you need to be smart when you go at this. After all, he has been busting his ass off every single fucking day to make this work." Gabe said, and then I looked right at him, not wanting to debate with him right now, of all times, about this shit.

"Rhett and I talked to his fucking father last night. Trying to get some intel from the bastard. So far, he has given us nothing though. That man is working for Richard Watterson, and I feel like I need to be there for Rhett, to make sure he is safe." I said, and then Gabe started to take what I said with a bit of seriousness.

"What the fucking hell were you doing at that casino in the first place?" Gabe asked, and he sounded like he was disgusted at the fact that I even took the risk like that in the first place. I shrugged, not caring at all what he thought.

"I wanted to see about the Watterson guy. Everybody keeps fucking saying that this man has been behind the operations for nearly thirty years now. Ever since Gumball ran out of town, and his wife and younger two children were murdered. I mean, I guess I sort of see why he would do that. But I think that he might also be behind a large part of this business." I said, and then Gabe looked down.

"He had that boy a few years ago to make sure that when he finally dies, there is at least a heir ready to take the company over, because he knows that with being eighty two fucking years old, that is bound to happen." I was then pulling my phone as I was saying this.

"Why are you suddenly bringing your phone out? You don't even have a fucking text." He said, sounding utterly annoyed with the fact that I was trying to just kind of ignore him, at least in his eyes, that was what I was doing.

"Because when I was walking Calvin, I believe, I was watching a really fucked up broadcast, and I recorded it on my phone. Despite my fight with dad, I want to show him the material. Or maybe even Rhett, and he can figure out what he wants to do after that." I said, and Gabe just looked like he would not believe that he was agreeing to this.

"What do you mean by fucked up? Can you start making some fucking sense." Gabe said, and he sounded really fucking annoyed at what I was saying. I sighed, and I felt like nothing I would say would be making him feel any fucking different at all. I just felt like he was unable to see that I was trying to make it work.

"Well, it was showing a man get murdered, and the video even admitted that Richard had been supplying Gumball with drugs, as a way to just keep him subdated, and not doing shit for himself. We might not want to admit it, but Richard knows Gumball is his biggest threat, and will kill him if there is a chance." I said, feeling like the fact that I was even talking about this at all, was just fucking crazy. I mean, how in the world was I supposed to be expecting this?

"Then why are you fucking showing this to Rhett, and not to fucking dad? I think dad will probably need this more than any high school student will. Especially since Rhett can only do so much with his father running down his spine." Gabe was saying, hoping to get me to consider otherwise.

"Never mind. I am just going to be showing this to him, and I frankly don't care if you want me to or not. This is my fucking choice." I said, as I started to walk off, and I was going to be getting to that trailer, and hopefully Rhett would have the courage to show this to my dad. The courage I was lacking.

"If dad knows what you are going to be doing with Rhett, he will be fucking furious. He will be accusing you of bringing him into something that he should have never explored." Gabe said, and then we kept walking, with me deflecting everything he said, until we got to the fucking trailer area.

"Furious or not, I hardly fucking care. He is going to have to deal with it." I was telling him, and then eventually I was at the trailer park, where I knocked on Rhett's trailer, and he answered. He was looking over, and I was wondering if he was scared of something or not.

"Hey Gabe. Never thought that I would be able to talk with you." He said, and smiled as he said this, and Gabe was shaking his head, unable to believe that we were doing this in the first place. I was feeling like I needed to diffuse the situation at least a bit.

"I wanted to show you something that I found a while ago. Maybe this will help you with dad, and show him that maybe there is some evidence he needs to look into with Richard." I said, and then I was going inside. Gabe was looking like he was just utterly out of patience here.

"I fucking told you that I wanted you out of this, and to let me take care of the job on my own. Why does nobody ever fucking listen to me!" Gabe yelled, and I was starting to consider what he had said. It was a good point, even though I fucking hated to admit it.

"Because we know that you are not doing a good fucking job, to put it bluntly. Just let us fucking help you." I said, and I was sort of beyond the mood to deal with him right now. Gabe was looking like he was unable to believe that he was having to deal with this.

"And besides, this is something I would have happened to find anyways, and I would not want to ruin my chance of making something work." I said, and then I was looking right at Gabe, and I wondered if he was going to fucking listen to me now, or just constantly argue.

"Just show me the fucking recording." Rhett demanded, suddenly taking us out of the talk. I sighed, feeling like he was starting to become more and more the voice of reason here. So with that, I went to his computer, and inserted my charger to the computer, so he would read it.

Once I started it up, I was standing up, and going to the freezer, where I found a surplus of El Monterey frozen burritos. Like six or seven full packs of it. I threw a ten pack of the dark blue ones in the oven, and let it cook throughout the duration of the video.

The entire time Gabe and Rhett were watching, I was seeing the looks on their faces change a bit, and I was seeing that they were both starting to look like they were taking what I had said seriously for once. Perhaps they knew that this was not just a fucking joke.

"And yet my dad is still working with him?" Rhett asked then he stood up, and I was feeling like I needed to try and play devils advocate here. Considering the fact that we had no idea how in the world his father would have felt from this.

"Well, maybe your father doesn't know all about that? I mean, that was seven years ago." I said, and then Gabe was shaking his head, unable to believe that this was what he had to fucking see in the first place.

"I saw that pier. One of the men in black told me that one of the missing girls was found dead there. Or, as they clarified, a woman." After Gabe said that, he was shrugging, and simply seemed to be unsure of what to say.

"And besides, regardless, I think we both know that my father clearly fucking knows. That man had a fucking portrait dedicated to himself in the casino, like some fucking shrine. He clearly has worked with that man for far longer than he will let on." Rhett said, and shook his head as he said that.

"I need to show this to your father. Let me download it to my computer, and I can show him on the 11th." Rhett said, and then he hit the download button, and I wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but I was not going to fight him on his choice.

Eventually, the cooking was done, and Gabe and I each took three, and Rhett got to get the remaining four due to the fact that he was by far the skinniest of the three, and probably the skinniest person in my entire fucking grade level, since I would be fucking shocked if he broke 110.

Scene 41: December 7 2020 8:08 pm

When I was about getting ready to practice with Simon, I was getting a text from Rhett. I was looking at it, and it was very simple, what the text was telling me. "Can you please come over?" He asked, and I knew that with the timing of it, that this was probably something rather serious, and I knew that I had no right to fucking brush this off.

"Give me thirty minutes." I said, and I was starting to head off, and before I was able to get to far, Simon called out to me. I looked right at him, wondering what his fucking point was. "I am needing to see Rhett. He has something that he needs to tell me. If you want to come, go ahead. But practice isn't happening today." I said, hoping to get him to stop.

"No, I'll go. Anything is better than just ending the hang out less than an hour after we fucking start." After Simon said this, I could hear the mild annoyance in his voice, and I knew that he wasn't really wanting to fuck around at all.

So we were starting to head there, and Simon was then thinking about how to approach this gently. "Why do you think you need to speak with him?" As he asked me this, I shrugged, not sure what in the world I was even going to be telling him at all. If he would hear.

"I just fucking feel like I need to." I said, and I was shrugging, not sure what in the world I was going to tell him. "You are in no way required to stay here." I said, trying to just simply hide my annoyance with the way that he had been acting right now.

Eventually, we were at the trailer parking area, and there were numerous cars in the area. Rhett saw me, and then he started to walk over, without even finishing the officers question. He was shaking his head, still reeling from what had been happening.

"Hey, thanks for coming here on such short notice." Rhett said, and rubbed the back of his head. Then with that, Simon broke his silence, feeling like there was no choice but to just fucking know what was even happening in the first place.

"What the fucking hell are you guys doing here? Why are there so many officers?" He asked, suddenly scared that things were going to be coming back to him for whatever reason. Rhett started to walk back to the officer, and I was just following him, hardly giving Simon's question any mind at all.

Once we were there, he pointed to the open area. I looked through, and instantly saw what the issue was. I was starting to shake in fear, knowing what would happen to Rhett going forward. "Is that your mother?" I asked, although he did not need to confirm. I knew already what he was going to say.

It was the body of a woman, laying dead with a bullet through her head, and her clothes all off, with semen all over her. The family picture with her and Rhett was also bloodied and shot through. "I missed her last call one hour before I came home."

"I wished that I knew what she was calling over." Rhett said, and then he showed me the time stamp. For some reason, he used military time for his phone, but I was able to figure it out rather well. 17:48, which would translate to nearly 6 pm.

"I have been talking with the officers for nearly two hours now." Rhett said, as Simon looked down, and saw the vomit all over the area. Rhett saw that Simon had noticed. "I threw up the second I saw it. Unable to believe what happened. I just now finally got my first quiet moment.

"The police had to check the cameras over there to confirm I had nothing to do with it. Not that I mind though. Just a part of procedure." He said, and pointed to the cameras in the open vicinity. "But the guy was wearing a black top hat and his body was completely covered by the dark light."

"Why the fuck would they break into your place?" Simon asked, and I knew that the tone of question was harsh, but I got what he was trying to say. The fact of the matter was that this family had nothing at all, and I think that it was rather odd, myself.

"I have a feeling that it is part of my fathers divorce settlement. You know, the day after you came to me the first time, there was that report." He said, referring to the 8th of November. I then nodded, remembering that, although very loosely.

"The person that my father was alleged to have the affair with was also found, in virtually the same set up. At first, I paid no mind to it. But now it's impossible to not get into fucking of conspiracy territory." Rhett said, and he was balling his fist as he said this.

"So either my father is doing this, or at the very least knows who is. And now everybody is going to be wondering if I at least had a part in setting the whole fucking thing up." Rhett said, and I could tell that his anger was barely being contained. Not that I could fucking blame him at all.

"What have you told the officers?" Simon asked, and then Rhett was looking at the guy, as if wondering why in the world Simon was showing so much interest in this subject to begin with. Probably thinking that Simon was just looking too deeply into this.

"Just what I fucking told you guys. That I found her like this, missed her last call, and then threw up and immediately called you guys. I was too fucking shocked to scream. I haven't even stepped inside once this entire time." Rhett said, and then he shook his head.

"At least until my eighteenth birthday, I am going to have to live with my father. He was the first person called when the police came over. Said he would be coming by around 22 or so." Rhett said, and I could tell that Simon was also confused with the military time usage as well, but decided to let it go, for the time being.

"I mean, another thing that makes me convinced that he knows what is happening is the fact that I was the only thing he didn't get in the divorce, and he just had to fucking fight for it. Couldn't leave good enough alone." As he was telling me this, he shook his head, as the officers were asking around the area.

"I FUCKING HATE HIM!" He yelled so loudly, that the entire area stopped, and looked over at him, wondering what was happening. I was shocked at how much he raised his voice, considering the fact that he was always a rather quiet person, and I never once saw really raise his voice.

"If it's okay with you guys, would you be fine if I just tag along your practices for a while? You know, make sure I have to stay in that house as little as possible? Preferably only when I have to sleep." Rhett finished, and then Simon slowly nodded, although clearly not liking it.

"Yeah, sure. I mean, you clearly have a lot on your mind. And I can talk to my father about setting up a case here." I said, and then Rhett was shaking his head, as if not in the mood to deal with this, for the time being.

"I don't fucking trust anybody in this fucking county. The only person I trusted has a bullet in her head, and was raped afterwards by her killer." Rhett said, and I wondered if he was ever going to fully get over this.

"I swear, I won't be able to fully sleep for the rest of the fucking year, I feel like." After he said that, I slowly nodded, feeling like that did make some sense, considering what was going on. Simon then shook his head. "And don't you fucking dare mention this to that brother of yours who works with the vice president of Lazarus. I would rather have this never be solved than deal with that douche bag."

I hated the way he said that, as that was taking away a option. But I completely understood, and I was feeling like I just needed to drop the subject, and not make a fight with him on this. I couldn't ever get over what we fucking saw.

The three of us were just standing there, as the police were carrying away the body. Rhett started to cry right on the spot, and even Simon, who hardly knew Rhett at all, decided to hug the guy in support. I just knew right then and there, that I needed to talk to my dad about taking this case more seriously.

As Rhett was processing the whole situation, the grinding noise had gone off once again. Almost as if to taunt everybody in that area, and to taunt Rhett for what happened. I was starting to seriously wonder if his dad was involved in all this with the girls, too.