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.

4. The Teacher

Chapter 1 Episode 4: The Teacher (Sora's POV)

Scene 1: Doubt Being Cast

I was not wanting to admit to this out loud, as doing such a thing would have been requiring me to challenge literally everything that I had been feeling about the town. But the fact of the matter was that in all honesty, I was starting to think that maybe some of the stories that Matt had been coming around and telling me might have been the truth.

I was feeling that maybe if I just tried and see what facts could have been checked up on, and see where Matt was coming from with them all, then perhaps I would actually have been mostly just having to throw away every single belief that I had ended up having here. And I was just not ready for such a thing to be honest. I was not ready to be having everything thrown out the window.

I mean, the thing that started to put me in a relatively uncertain thing was the whole situation of the teacher, Steven Small. I hated to admit it, but the fact of the matter was that in all honesty, I was not one hundred percent sure if I was able to buy into the shit that I had started to tell myself.

I think the fact was that I had wanted to just not be challenging the idea that my teacher who I had trusted would have been doing such a thing. I was just thinking more and more that if something like that happened, then I was unsure of who I could really trust. But at the same time, maybe that was what made the answer so easy.

I had to trust nobody. I mean, for all I know, everybody in town had a agenda that was pushing them forward. Everybody was just trying to do something that was going to be advancing what they ended up wanting. They did not give a single shit about what I was feeling. I mean, even Matt was somebody who I had felt like was just trying to do something for himself.

In all honesty, I had no idea how I let my fears and ideas get this fucking all over the place. I was always feeling like I needed to be letting everybody into the group at some way. I always felt like it was important to be letting people be aware that there was never going to be a true moment in time where I was feeling like I was going to be truly in sync and feeling like I was going to be doing well.

I was feeling that maybe if I tried to be speaking to Steven again, and seeing what he had to say on the issue, and see if he was even going to be speaking to me about it at all, then maybe I would start to get my first real opinions on this. Maybe I would just see if he was able to defend himself in a way that would seem to be making sense.

I had been unsure of what to do, and for that reason, I ended up finding myself calling Tai, feeling that I needed to just see what he would have said to me. I was feeling that maybe he might have given me something to go off of here. I had no idea what I was expecting. I suppose that maybe just some clarity in mind was what I had been searching for.

Once I made the call, I was waiting for a couple of seconds, just to mainly see if he was going to be answering at all. I was just sitting down, and waiting around, feeling that I just needed the honest truth. Maybe that was going to be getting me something after all. Eventually, Tai answered me, and I was feeling that I just needed to see what I could get here.

"Hey Tai, I was just wanting to see how you were today." I said, lying through my teeth for no reason. Just wanting to see what he could have said to this. I was thinking that maybe by talking to him a little bit, I might get him to more properly respond to my questions and not feel like I was just being forceful.

"Doing alright enough. I just guess that maybe I am just trying to decide if everything that I have been doing was really worth it. Was it really worth going through all this trouble, and getting all upset over everything, and then having everything I could have wanted to do just totally thrown away." Tai said, and then I was trying to fully understand it, but I was unsure of what to be telling him, but I was feeling that maybe i just needed to try and give some bullshit here.

"Do you think that the stuff Matt was talking about could have been true? You know, everything he says about certain teachers here? I mean, I really do not want to admit it, as I like most of our teachers, but I feel like some of this could just be real." I said, and then I was just shrugging, and had nothing else I could say here.

"I am sure that at least a bit of it is true. I think that it would be best to not worry about it though. I mean, some things happen around town. But I think that you should just not worry about it. After all, nothing is happening to you here." Tai said, and then he was leaving it all alone. I was sighing, and I was wishing I could have said more here.

"I just think that maybe there is some stuff that he just should have never made rumors about. I think that there are some people who are more innocent than he is giving credit for." I said, thinking about Steven. Or at least hoping that my statement about him was true.

"I understand that you are just probably questioning a lot of things right now. And I was too. I mean, there are still many things that I feel like I will never really fully understand about this fucking place. But the fact of the matter is that as long as we keep a open mind, that is what matters." Tai said, and I was just trying super hard to be looking at it this way.

"Honestly, I just think that I can't decide if I want to be like you guys, and keep looking around, and trying to find the truth, or just block this whole thing off, and basically decide that it is not worth it." I said, and then I was sitting down, and I was wondering what the next stage of my time here would have been if this was really all happening the way I feared.

"You got to do what you feel like is going to be for the best. I mean, I can never make that decision for you. If you feel like you need to be going along, and trying to find out something else, then go ahead. But until then, just consider what it's worth." He said, and then I was feeling just like I had no real good answers for now at least.

"I guess it really is my choice still. Sometimes it is hard to be getting that out of my mind. That I really do not need to be having people come along and tell me what needs to be done. So I guess that maybe I just need to really remember that going forward." I said, and then I shrugged, having nothing else that I wanted to say.

"Thanks Tai. I will try my best to be remembering this from now on. It might be hard to always keep this in mind. But I will do my fucking best." I said, and then I was sighing, and I felt that I might as well end the discussion with that. There was no real need to be going any deeper into it than this honestly.

Once the conversation was over, I had started to feel a bit fucking tired. I was feeling that I really got nowhere with this. And that I was just still trying to decide what I was feeling like was going to be the best choice for myself. It might havebeen selfish, but then again, I feel that almost everybody is selfish in their own way.

I was then thinking that maybe just trying to have a basic conversation with the man would not be a terrible idea. See what Steven would have to say in his defense. Maybe when I was going to hear his perspective, there would either be something that just does not add up, or maybe it would be all that I needed, and I could just drop it.

I think that Steven was the only one that I cared for. I mean, he was my mentor in a way. He was the mentor of so many fucking people at this school that it felt like I just needed to try and really get to know what happened with him. To get people so fucking on edge with him.

Once I made my choice that I would go on and speak to Steven, and see what he was going to be saying in his defense, I was walking forward and forward, feeling that once I got to his place, I was just needing to make a case in point, and then I would have to hope he would listen to my concerns.

I was not wanting to be buying into the idea that silence was guilt. But in the grand scheme of things, I was feeling that maybe it was at least somewhat possible that this was going to have to be the only way to be heading down this path. I really was just wondering what the hell Steven would have wanted to tell me if I did try and approach him for some clues.

I was aware that no matter what else was going to be happening, and I was aware that no matter how much I was going to be speaking to Steven, those fucking things that T.K. had been doing had been starting to make me really have some fucking doubts here. I was hating the fact that this fucking twelve or thirteen year old guy was the only one making me feel this way.

I was aware that he was probably onto much more than I wanted to buy though. I was wanting to pretend like he was just making shit up. But at the same time, I was feeling that there was something that was sincerely right about whatever he was saying. And that I just needed to try and start to take these things more seriously. And I was hating the fact that T.K. was having this much influence in my mind.

I just felt that maybe if I got five minutes with him, to really hear his story, or at least what he was wanting to accomplish out of this, then I think that I might be able to finally get a feeling of who was more right or not between him and Matt. Although I was personally going to prefer taking Matt's way of going at it.

Eventually, I reaches the office of Steven Small. As I was there, I was sighing for a while, and I was just shaking my head. I could not believe that I was doing this. I was hating the fact that I was letting these stories drag down a great man. And that if it had turned out that he really was behind this, I would hate the fact that I was going to have these memories in my mind for the rest of my fucking life.

Once in the main office that Steven Small was working at, I was feeling that he was probably going to have no real desire to be trying to reason with me at all. And I was really hating this. I knocked on his door, and then I was waiting for a few seconds, while I let the ideas run in my mind.

When he answered the door, he looked at me, and I was seeing that he was now looking really happy to be seeing me. After I had seen this, I was telling myself that I needed to stop letting the fear of what everybody else was doing get to me so badly. I was needing to understand that people were just taking things too seriously, and jumping to conclusions too often.

"Hey Sora, I was not expecting you to come here during the summer. Was there something that you were needing?" He asked, and I was seeing him looking like he had clearly just wanted to get the subject rolling. Like he was scared of what I was going to be saying. I was starting to let what Matt said run in my mind.

"Yeah, I was just feeling that maybe I would have been able to get some information by talking to you. Since in all honesty, what everybody else is saying is just getting to me really badly." I said, and then I was looking right at him, and I was seeing him looking like he was officialy scared of what I was accomplishing here.

"What do you mean by the rumors?" He asked, and the way that he was asking me was starting to make me feel like I was just needing to stop worrying so much about everything else that people were saying, and that I just needed to try and confide with him. Since he was always so understanding of me and everybody else.

"Well, a lot of people are going around and saying that your connections with the people who went missing were rather strange. That it had seemed like you were aware of things that maybe you should have never known." I said, and looked right at him, and wondered if he was going to be trying to say something else here.

"Damn it. It feels like people are always making shit about me. It honestly really pisses me off. I feel like I deserve better than this." Steven said, and then he was just feeling like he was going to have a lot that he was needing to tell me. "The truth is that it is all a load of shit. It really is. None of these statements are true. And I have no idea why everybody keeps making these claims." He said, and then I was sighing, wishing that he had better arguments to be making his point.

"Do you have any way to be showing that this is true? That you really are innocent?" I asked, and I was unable to believe that I was even asking this in the first place. He looked at me, as if feeling like he was betrayed at the fact that I was asking him this out of all people around.

"Look, I do not like telling people this, since it is a bit of a uncomfortable subject to talk about, but the thing is that I am in a porn group. I record movies and take pictures of younger woman for their sexual projects. Simple as that. Of course I know what people are doing here." After he had said that to me, I was looking at him, a bit shocked at what he was saying.

"Of course some of the people that I worked with were going to be women that went missing. I had nothing to do with it. I really didn't. But the fact is that I am just stuck with everything that they worked on, and that people are always going to think that I had something to do with it, even when I know that I really did not." Steven said, having nothing else that he had said to the issue.

"Why not just tell people this, and sooner or later people are going to leave the whole thing alone?" I asked, feeling like it had made sense to be saying something like this. He looked at me, and i was seeing that he was clearly just unable to be taking this whole thing too seriously, and that I was just wasting his time.

"Look, the reality is that people will never listen. Hell people are going to be telling me that this is a even better reason to be thinking that I am the one who is doing this." After he had said that to me, he shrugged, and had nothing else that he had wanted to say to this. "But I feel like talking about this is just a waste of time right now."

"I'm sorry for asking. I just thought that maybe you would have given me a real alliby here." I said, and then I looked at him, and I was thinking that he was never going to be fully covered up. But I nodded, feeling that his answer would suffice for now, and started to walk away.

"I know that you believe me. That is the only thing that still gives me hope." He said, and then he looked like he had nothing else to be saying here. With that, I just left, and considered what I was going to be telling Matt if we hung out at all.

Steven must have been telling the truth. I mean, it would make the stories make sense. It would make the things and projects he was talking about make sense. So I think that he is probably right. And I am fine with something like this. And in all honesty, I was just thinking that I would go with that narrative before anything else.

Scene 2: Establishing A Connection

I was walking along, and I was heading to where Matt lived. I was thinking that the only thing that I could do to make things better for me was just to go on and talk to him personally. No need to be thinking about what I was wanting to do, when I was not even going to be taking the time to try and speak to him.

When I had gotten close to the house, I was seeing Joe walking out of the building, and I was seeing him looking right at me. I was confused at what I was seeing, wondering why Joe was here in the first place. I never really thought that Joe and Matt even got along in the first place. But I was telling myself to not think too much about it.

Despite this, I felt that I would try and take this as a chance to try and talk to him. See what he was feeling. "So Joe, what were you doing with Matt?" I asked, and then he looked right at me, and I was seeing that he had no real clue what to be saying to this. He shrugged, clearly being totally indifferent to it all.

"Just trying to see what Matt knows about this fucking town. You know, see if he had any new updates. But after a while, we just sort of ended up hanging out. Never thought I would be caught dead hanging out with him." After he had said that to me, I was wondering what was going on. I was wondering if he was meaning that in Matt's perspective, or in his perspective.

"So you have been trying to help him out this whole time?" I asked, and then he was shrugging, as if feeling that maybe that was a good way to be putting it. Like he had nothing that he wanted to be speaking of here. "I tried to speak to a guy, but he never really was giving me any clues. Maybe that was for the best." I said, and then I looked at him, having no idea where to go with this.

"Who were you trying to talk to?" Joe asked, mildly curious, but knowing that deep down inside, he really was not all that worried or caring about it. Just like he was basically just doing stuff that was checking out the check list. "I guess that maybe that would have a part to do with it all. According to Matt at least."

"I was trying to talk to one of my teachers, Steven Small. He was telling me about how teh reason a lot of people always make connections to him was because he was a porn filmmer." I said, and then I was smiling at this, low key wondering if Steven would have let me watch his stuff if I wanted to. It was wrong to be thinking this, but it really was just a general curiosity that I was having at that moment.

"I guess that might explain some things about it all. That is rather strange though. I never really thought that he would have been rather interested in things like that." Joe said, and then he was shrugging, having nothing else to say about it. As if he was just not caring at all. But then when I was wondering what Joe would have been wanting to tell me here.

"I mean, I guess that I should have expected it. Anyways, the reason why I looked around so much into him was because I trusted him a whole lot, and I was just hearing a few things from Matt, and it was starting to get to me a bit. I was feeling that maybe he might have been speaking the truth, as much as I was hating to admit it." I said, and then I was shrugging, feeling that I needed to just drop the subject for now.

"Want to just talk to each other for a while?" Joe asked, and I was really hoping that he was not going to be using this as a excuse to try and get to date me or whatever. But at the same time, if he really was sincerely trying to be friends with me, then there was literally no fucking excuse to be turning down this whole idea.

"Yeah, I guess that I will be able to do it for a bit." I said, thinking nothing about it. And when I had said this, I was really looking at him, feeling a bit happier with talking to him. "I just think that maybe having another perspective might be making this whole thing a bit different."

Joe and I were getting in his car, and Joe was clearly just thinking about something else while we were here. "So Sora, I know that you were probably not wanting to be doing anything like this. I know that your desires were probably not to talk to me." Joe said, and then I was looking right at him, truly having no clue what was going on at all.

"I mean, I am not going to turn down the idea of having new friends. That would be a total waste of time. And besides, being with a guy doesn't mean that I can't hang out with other guys." I said, and i was unsure of what I was going to be telling him. In all honesty, I was just trying to have a different perspective on this all.

"Do you really think that Matt and T.K. should just be giving this whole thing a rest? I mean, the only reason Matt started to hang out with me in the first place was because of the fact that he was feeling like he needed to try and move beyond this whole thing. And here he is, doing this right now. He is letting this whole thing drive him a bit too far. Just from what I had seen." After Joe had said that to me, I was nodding along, knowing that he was doing his best. But he really did not know how awful it all was.

"I think it wouldn't hurt if they did. I mean, they are only going to keep hurting themselves with all of the things that they keep on hoping that they will accomplish. And if they fail to get these done, then I believe that they are going to never really be taking it very well. And to be honest, I just would not wat them to be feeling hurt like this." I said, more so about Matt than T.K., but still with a degree for both.

"I guess that what you are saying is making some sense. I just have no idea what is even going to be accomplished with all of this besides just more suffering and hurting. I think that this was one of the main reasons why I always just turned a bit of a blind eye." Joe said, and to be honest, if that was true, then I really would not have been able to blame him at all.

"Probably smart. Not going to lie." I said, and then I was shaking my head, having nothing else that I could have said besides that. Joe was looking right at me, and I was wondering why I was saying all of this stuff in his favor. I hardly even knew who he was, and here I was, basically making it seem like he was the smartest person in the world.

"I think that I also heard a lot about my brother, and all of the stuff he was telling me of. I think that when I hear all the stories he has, and everything he is doing, I just can't help but feel like he is making a really compelling case about why people should just leave things alone, and not be making things even worse." He said, and then I was nodding, and I was having nothing else to say.

"What types of stories does your brother tell you?" I asked, feeling that maybe since we were seriously talking about this, that I might as well just see where this is all going to be heading. I was thinking that if I could have found something from him, then I needed to see what his brother had.

"His name is Jim. He is far older than me. And when he is telling me of all the stories he knew of Wayside, I always just wanted to know more. I always felt like I had needed to just see where this guy is always heading with these." Joe was saying, and then I was thinking that I just needed these stories right now. I was starting to feel slightly impatient, and the need to know was far beyond anything else.

"What were some of the stories that he has told you of?" I asked, and then I was seeing Joe looking like he was really having no desire whatsoever to be telling me of this. Almost as if he was feeling that Jim was going to be telling me off by doing this. But then he was sighing, and lookd like he was going to be making a huge deal out of it all.

"He had told me of one time when one of his friends was trying to help somebody be prevented from being missing. Like he had done everything that he could in order to make sure that this girl was going to be safe. Jim explained to me that he had felt like he had no choice but to go along with it." Joe was saying, and then he was shaking his head, having nothing else to say now.

"Interesting. Is there anything else that he has known of?" I asked, feeling that I just needed to try and see where the hell we would even head with this. "I mean, I think that if you want to know the truth, it is going to be best to get the personal story of somebody who had dealt with this all."

"He had told me of some of the stories that you can read about at the library. I tried to look at it all, but only found some things that were of casual interest to me." After Joe said that to me, I was nodding, and I was wondering if these stories at the library were going to be helping me along with finding out about the people who went missing.

"What did you learn when you had looked into the library?" I asked, and then Joe was thinking about the fact that this whole thing was kind of making him feel like this whole thing as just rather strange. "Joe. Why are you looking so out of it right now?" I asked, feeling that whatever he was feeling, he just needed to fucking tell me. I needed to at least try and help him out.

"Well, I had found out about how there was a mall here a few decades ago that had blown up, and that it was reported that there were a bunch of experiments that were down there." Joe said, and right when I was getting ready to ask, he started to continue the story without hesitation.

"One of the stories and experiments that had been reported was a story about how there were people who were down there, and then they were all taken and how many of them had some implants on them, or something like that. Then he had told me that a couple of the people were dead, and that their stomaches had been cut open." Joe said, and then I was feeling like there was one other question that I just needed to ask. One that was almost making too much sense when I had been thinking further about it all.

Scene 3: Two Girls

After meeting Joe, and hearing about what some of his suggetions were, I was feeling that maybe I just needed to try and do my best to be ignoring what else was even happening. I mean, I was wanting to go to the library. But I knew for a fact that if I wanted to try and learn more about the mall incident, then there was going to be a good chance that it would drive me too far gone.

That all being said, I was getting more and more convinced that it was going to be worth it. I mean, for fucks sake, everybody I knew was wanting to know more of the truth, and that they were just not even planning on letting the subject drop, for better or for worse, people were never letting it go. But I felt that maybe I could give it another day or two before I made my final choice.

I was sitting down at the park, and I was just thinking about what I had been dealing with when I was seeing two girls hanging out with each other. I saw that they were both around my age. I saw one of them was somebody who I had gone to school with a couple of times. I was wanting to see what her updates in progress were. You know, see how the summer had been treating her.

I was thinking that this was a bad idea, but at the same time, I was honestly just not even caring. I was just wanting to try and see where to go with this. So with that, I was standing up, and I was walking on over to the two girls, feeling that maybe I just needed some time away from guys, and some time away from labyrinth.

"Oh hey Sora. I did not expect you to be here." The one wearing a red dress said, and I looked at the other girl, and I remembered the other girls name after a second of thought. "What are you doing here?" The red dress one asked, referring to me trying to speak to her at all.

"I just wanted to see how Candice was doing. We were class mates at school for a bit, and I was just wanting to see how she had been doing." I said, and then I was shrugging, wondering if Candice was even wanting to be speaking to me here. I then looked at the red dressed one, and then I was feeling that I needed to try and wing my way with her.

"Mimi and I have been hanging out a lot. We were actually getting ready to be watching some movies." Candice said, and then I was feeling that maybe I could go along, and join along for the ride. I mean, it was none of my business. I was already feeling that their interest in the discussion was entirely over.

"Sorry for getting in the way. I know it was really rude of me." I said, and then I was shrugging, having no idea of what I could have said at all. I was then seeing Mimi kind of curious to be saying something else. Although the question was just a bit of a shock, considering the fact that I never thought Mimi would even be interested in this stuff.

"Hey Sora, do you know what Tai is up to lately? I saw him just being totally into a bunch of random investigating shit, and to be honest, I really don't understand what he was trying to accomplish." After Mimi said that to me, I was sighing, and I was feeling like the fact that she had brought this up just kind of killed the mood.

"Yeah, he had been trying to help a guy named Ocho looking for a girl named Andrea. I mean, there is more to it than that. But that is the short version." I said, and I had no real idea of what the hell I was even going to accomplish right now. Candice looked like she was unable to believe that this was the main discussion we had been having.

"Leave her alone Mimi. I think that she just wants her friend to be doing his own thing. Besides, it is not like it is affecting either of us right now." After she had said that to Mimi, this was when Candice looked at me, and I was just feeling unsure of what to say. I had noticed though that she had taken some more effort into her apperance this time then lately. Such as her having a pony tail, when she would usually have just regular hair.

"Alright, if you say so. But I doubt that she will be caring all that much what I am asking. I never meant to possibly be making you feel bad." After Mimi said that, I was thinking that maybe I could talk a little bit longer, feeling that maybe I just needed to be less hard on them if I wanted to have a small amount of a friendship with them.

"I would not really worry about what Tai is doing. He just does his own things, and it is a waste of fucking time to be worried so much about this anyways." After I said, thinking that as much as I loved my friend, he was always just trying to be playing the hero route way too much.

"Yeah, I don't even know why I asked anyways. I think I only talked with him maybe like five times in my entire life. Well, see you later. Thanks for talking to us." Mimi said, and then I was thinking about what Tai was doing, and that now it was getting to the point where now everybody was thinking about what the hell he was doing. Everybody knew that Tai was doing something strange, and now there was no way around it at all.

I was thinking that despite the fact that we talked about a subject that wishd we had stayed far away from, the fact that we had talked for a little bit, and just started to open up a little bit, I was feeling like maybe by talking to him again, I would really get Tai to figure out what the hell the whole issue to this is.

Maybe by speaking to him, and getting Tai to really get the whole situation to really make him more aware, I was feeling that this was really when I had no fucking choice. I was thinking that if I could try and speak to Mimi and Candice again, I would learn if maybe Mimi had something that she had wanted to know, or did know, but just for some reason, could not fucking say.

Eventually, I went home, and when I was inside, I was seeing that my mother was looking tired, and like she was sick from her work, but for some reason, just felt like she could never put it down. I was thinking that maybe I could ask her for some advice. Not that I would lose anything by trying to see what she would have said.

"Hey mom, I was wondering if you could answer a question that I have." I said, and I was seeing her looking up at me, and she was just kind of unsure of what she was even wanting to say. She nodded, and looked like she needed to understand the context first.

"I was wondering what you would tell a friend of yours that you think has gone too far with something, but not do it in a way that you feel like will be taking offense to it." After I said that to her, I was seeing that my mother was looking as if she had known that something like this was going to be asked one day.

"You just see why they are doing this in the first place. You try and help them out if you feel like you need to help them out. And if they are not listening, but you feel like this is something that needs to change, then just tell them the truth. Sometimes brutal reality is a better solution than nice lies." She said, and then I was wishing that she had never wanted to say that. I did not want to burn Tai's bridges. But maybe something like this was sort of just needed.

"Thanks. I will keep it in mind. Hopefully it never gets like that. But I will see what will happen in case it does get that bad." I said, and then with that, I was seeing her looking like she had wanted to ask for further context, but decided against it, and then she went back to her job as I was sitting down on the bed in my room. Maybe Tai was just not going to far as much as he was just lacking all subtlety here.

Scene 4: The Mall Event

The day after I had casually met Mimi, I decided that maybe there was something that I needed to check out. Joe had inadvertently gave me this idea, and I was feeling like it was as close as I could get to quelling my interest without riding suspicion and attention. As none of that was going to really be worth it to be honest.

I walked along for a while, and I was thinking that I would just read one thing at the library, about the mall fire, and then after that, I would drop the subject, and move on with my life. After that, I would see if Tai or somebody else would bring it up. And if they did, then I might be able to make a tiny bit of small talk.

Once at the library, I walked right inside, and I was seeing that the woman who was standing behind the counter looked a bit bored of the book that she was reading. As if the only reason she had been reading it was to just pass at least some time, without making it clear that she hated this job.

"Hey, I was wondering where the section about the destruction of the mall is." I said, and the woman looked up at me. She looked like she was sincerely curious why this was even something I was wanting to know about in the first place. She shrugged, as if having no idea what to be telling me here.

"Over there. I wonder if there is some hstory project going on or something. A lot of people your age are looking into that information." She said, and I was pretending like I had no idea what she was meaning, as she was pointing in the correct direction. I thanked her for the directions, and then I walked on over to the books, not wanting to take more of her time.

Once I was where I was directed, I looked at the news papers that were made from that time. I was wondering what it would be like if this information was destroyed. I mean, if these really did all connect to the town, you would assume that this would have been a top priority of some people. You know, to not create chaos and panic.

I grabbed the paper that was clearly about the event, and then I was starting to read some of the basic details that were all in there. Feeling that once I read this, at least some answers would be given to me.

"Wayside Mall destroyed mere weeks after opening. Nobody knows what made this happen, and all investigations are being put to a halt to learn what happened here." The header of the paper had said, and then I was laughing at this, feeling that there was a small chance that there was a bit of a lie to what this had been saying.

...

The story started near the end of the school year in 1951, when a boy named Justin Ryder was hanging out in his house. Just trying to get ready for the time when his parents were going to be gone of their monthly business trip. This was something that happened every month since he had turned ten, so year years ago.

The business trip was that the first week of every month, his parents wold be leaving for a small trip for roughly four to seven days. It started with just the weekend at first, but as he grew older, they would just add more and more time, and now it was almost always six or seven days this last year.

Justin felt that originally the extensions were mainly to just get more time to do their work, or his dads work mainly. But over time, Justin was more than certain that his parents just wanted two or three days amonth to just be alone, and be doing things on their own. And since Justin was always a good kid, who always got the best reviews from his teachers, they knew that there was no way their "angel of a son" as his mother constantly puts it, would do something wrong.

In the end, despite their motivations, Justin was glad to always have a couple of days a month to just do what he had wanted. In all honesty, he was kind of just wanting to use that as a chance to pretend like he was going on some adventures or whatever. Although he was not going to be shocked in the least that the minute he turned eighteen, if they were going to just leave him alone for weeks on end, and only show up for a day or two a month to make sure he did not fuck up the house.

Eventually, his thoughts were interuppted when his parents were calling out to him. "We are going to be leaving in the next hour. Just make sure that when the new neighbors show up, you greet them and make them feel welcomed here." His father said, and then Justin was looking at his dad, totally confused at this.

"When did they decide to move here? I remember nothing of this." Justin said, and then his mother laughed at this, as if thinking that this was confirmation that Justin was not really paying attention to some of the conversations that he had been having with his parents.

"About a week ago. They said it as related to a giant business promotion or something. Not really shocking though. Since everythig seemes to be related to those." Justin's mother said, and then Justin started to nod, feeling that maybe she was right about this. But then after this, Justin was wanting to just drop the subject for the time being.

Eventually, Justin was looking out the window, and he was just thinking he would have one casual talk with these people, knock it off the list, and then after that, he would be going on and doing his own thing once again. So that was not really going to be much of a concern to him.

Before he was able to think any longer about this, that was when his parents were already heading off. And then after that, Justin was feeling like he was having the time that he really wanted. Five to seven days of being totally alone, and not having to worry about what anybody was going to be saying or doing.

He sat down once again, just not even caring anymore. He had wished that this had never really been brought up. He was just wanting to enjoy the fact that his summer was going to be having a lot of time like this, and that he was able to not worry about what people were going to say about his family behind his back.

That all being said, despite the fact that he had not wanted to be around his neighbors for a while, he was feeling that maybe talking to them was the only thing that mattered. He was feeling that if they were having a child his age, he might be able to connect with the person well enough.

After he had considered that, Justin was feeling that maybe talking to this group was the only thing that would make his summer better. Besides, there was a chance that they would not be taking it very well if they had known that Justin was on his own like this. They might be disgusted by his parents.

So if for nothing else besides to just help people know that he was fine without their help, he decided that he would just go on and speak to these people to help clear things up as best as he was able to. Justin hated this, and he was scared that nobody he talked with would even have any interest in was going to give him the light of day. And if they did not like his parents, he was never going to have his monthly time alone ever again.

Eventually, he was seeing the moving truck coming up. As he was seeing the moving truck near by, Justin got out of the living room, and felt like he needed to just get this over with. Justin was walking along, he saw that when they were all getting out of the truck, he had seen that it was a man and his wife, and then they were with their small son. Probably eleven or so.

Justin felt better knowing that the person who was with them was close enough to his age. Made him feel like there was a small chance that he would have been able to have a regular old social game with these people. That he would be able to get these people to see that he was a team player much more than normal. So with that, he walked on over without a second thought.

...

When I left the library, I was feeling that there was a small part of me that just needed to go on and see where the story could have picked up. I was feeling that whatever happened, and whatever the issue with Justin could have been, maybe there was somebody else who would have been willing to talk to me.

I was going to go on and meet with Olive. The main reason for that was that Shaun was president of Lazarus and from what I understood wanted to make it clear to people that he was not going to be wasting any time with talking about those things, so I was feeling that there was no way to be so worried about such a thing. But that did mean that it was virtually one person out of the discussion for better or for worse.

I also felt like talking with Justin was going to be fucking impossible. Mainly because I never even heard of him prior to today, and I was feeling that maybe trying to see him was going to be a waste of time, since if he had wanted to talk, he would have been easily found on his own right.

I was just feeling that since Olive was the only one that I was at least sort of aware of, that I could go on and talk to her for a while, and see what she was feeling. I wanted to see if she was able to confirm or deny many of the stories that she had been feeling. So with that, I was walking to that garden area, where the church was. Feeling that this was a good place to try and get some information from her on.

But when I was getting near the garden, I was shocked beyond belief at what I was seeing. I was seeing a car with its back doors open, and two men wearing doctors masks carrying stuff out. I was feeling that I just needed to know what was happening, to just see what the hell could have come out of this.

I eventually started to get a calm and deep breath, and decided to just talk to them, and see what was happening. "Hey, what happened at the garden earlier?" I asked, and I was wondering if maybe it had ben exposed by Lazarus. I mean, I only seen it once, and I was aware from descriptions tht it was basically the most important thing in Wayside. Because it was secret.

I never even told Tai or Matt about it, since I was scared of how they were going to react to it. I mean, I guess that maybe I was letting the public idea of men being dangerous and scary get to me a little bit when it came to that idea. I think that maybe I was just wanting to make sure that they could have never risked the chance of doing anything at all.

I was seeing one of the men look up at me after he heard me ask him this question, and when I saw this, he looked like he was feeling like he was just not even wanting to try and hide the truth from me. "I guess that there is no use in hiding the truth from you. Sooner or later the news is going to be getting out anyways." After he had said that to me, I was nodding along, unsure of what to say to this.

"A woman was found here. Decapitated. Her name was Olive. Forty seven years old. Most of the garden is destroyed, and there is going to be a extracting of any information that is still salvageable." After the man said that, I was looking at the inside of the garden, and I was not wanting to say anything, but I was seeing what they were doing. I saw that there was one man wearing a radiation suit with a torch, ready for the order.

"It is not as you expect. My boss is going to be looking at all of this data, and he is going to see if there is anything he might be able to gather from this. In all due respect, President Reichenbach might be saving more of the towns eviornment by keeping some of these in the lab, where they can't be killed." The man said, and I was feeling like I needed to not hate him. After all, he was just doing his job.

Besides, the sound of his voice was sincere enough. I knew right then and there that he had genuinely believed in every single word of what he was saying. And for that reason, I was feeling like I just needed to try and take things a bit calmer than I was wanting to.

"I know wat she was like. I met her a couple of times. I know that she never deserved anything like that. I know that there is something going on here, and I think that she deserves to have somebody figure it out for her." I said, and then I looked right at him, and I was wondering if she was going to be rejecting this statement, or going along with it.

"Are you going to be helping out more? I won't be able to get all of this in the car on my own." The other guy said to his partner, and the man who had been talking to me looked over, as if clearly tired of having this discussion. As if it had never even mattered anyway what people were going to be saying.

"I am telling somebody what they want to know. We both know that it is only a matter of time before the information gets leaked anyways." The one talking to me said, before shaking his head, and then the other guy started to speak once more, and this time in a much more angry voice, and I was aware that I needed to leave before this was getting any worse.

"Are you seriously trying to just leak all of our secrets? Do you just want to get us both killed here?" After that, I was raising up my hands, and I was feeling that it was going to be for the best to just get the hell out of here, and not be making a huge deal out of this anymore. Clearly I was only going to make things worse by speaking to them.

"I better get going. I was not wanting to be making things any worse for you guys." I said, and I was starting to walk away, and I was feeling that there was something that I just needed to try and figure out. No other way around it. I was feeling that whatever I could get out of this guy, I needed to get. He was willing to talk to me. I just needed to be willing to take the fucking steps to start.

When I was walking by, I was seeing a man in his mid to late fifties standing at the side of the building, looking at the truck, and he was having tears coming down his eyes, and he was balling both of his fists. "How can they treat my wives death like a fucking statistic for research." He said, and then he looked right at me, and I was seeing that there was a pure level of hatred in his voice, and I knew I needed to not do anything to get on his bad side.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, and then he was looking at me, as if trying to see if I even cared. But then he sighed, and nodded, feeling as if there was nothing that he was going to be losing by talking to a random citizen about what he was going through at the moment.

Scene 5: Update The Information

I ended up meeting up with Joe again, and when I was seeing him, I had felt much better talking to him. I was wanting to just see how he was doing. I was feeling that maybe by speaking to him, and seeing what was going on with the information he had, maybe he would help me have a bit of a peace of mind on what was happeing to Olive. That whole thing was just still scaring the shit out of me to be toally honest.

"Sorry for coming back to this. I have no doubt that you really did not want to be talking to me about these things." I said, and then I looked at him, feeling bad over it. Joe was shrugging, having nothing to say on the issue. As if he was just wanting to see that I was doing well more than anything else. I sighed, wishing that I could see him feel better.

"I mean, I guess that it would be better to talk to me about this stuff than it would be talk to Tai or Matt. Since we both know how seriously they would be taking these things. And I highly doubt that either one of us would really want that at all." Joe said, and then I was slowly nodding, and I was looking right at him, feeling so much more comfortable being there and speaking to him. Like he could just be a regular old friend that I could rely on.

"I mean, I fucking love my friends. I really do. But at the same time, I think that this whole thing had ruined it for me. I think that had they just not mentioned this, and had they just left it all alone, I think that things would have been much better for me. But I guess that maybe that is just the selfish part of me speaking right now." I said, and then looked at Joe, wondering how bad it might have been to just be selfish for once in my entire life.

"It is alright Sora. I mean, I think that you probably just thought that this was all a passing phase. Something they would be interested in for a few days, and then done. You know, something that was at worst a minor annoyance, right?" He asked, and then I nodded, feeling that he had hit the point right in the head. But then I was wondering if there was more to it than just that.

"Although a small part of me wonders if I would have been this way no matter what. If I would have been upset over the way that they had been acting here regardless. I think that there is a chance that I just would have hated their goals no matter what." I said, and then shook my head, unable to even believe I would betray my friends in such a small matter. But seeing Joe not care over that was something that I was glad to hear.

"Anyways, so I did follow your advice with the whole library thing. I know that you were not wanting me to go on and do it. But the honest truth was that I was unable to really drop the subject. I just felt like I needed to see where this was heading." I said, and then Joe was sighing, as if feeling like he could not have had a way to really argue with this. But he decided to just see what she would have been able to tell him.

"What did you think when you had read it?" Joe asked, and then I was feeling that the whole research at the library itself was no big deal, as much as what happened with the Olive situation afterwards, and I was really hoping that he was going to have a bigger appreciation for what I had done after I had told him this.

"The whole thing that I read on its own was not what interested me that much. What was far more interesting to me was what I had seen afterwards. I decided to go on to a area in town, to see if I could talk to a person that was mentioned in the article." I said, not sure if I was wanting to tell him exactly about the garden. I was feeling that for some reason, he was just going to not believe in my story.

"Did you get to talk to them?" Joe asked, and then I shook my head, let down by this fact. For some reason, telling him that made me feel like I was letting so many people down. As if I had failed to do my duty or something on contributing to the cause.

"She had recently been murdered. There is no further details on it though. I highly doubt I even want to know more, if it were to be offered. The area she was at when she died had been looked through, and there is already a lot of things being taken away, and it looked like there was going to be all evidence just removed." After I told Joe this, I was seeing Joe looking like he was just trying his bets to be following along, as if he was more confused than anything else now.

"God damn it. That is a turn out that I was not really expecting." After Joe was saying this, I was seeing him looking like he was just wanting to say something else. But he was unsure of what to even say now. "Anyways, so do you think that you might want to be looking into that stuff more?"

"I would like to look more in that stuff. But I am being realistic, and I think that in all honesty, it would be horribly unsafe to be going through this, and I think that I just need to be putting my safety first." I said, and then I looked at Joe, wondering what he was going to be saying to that comment. He simply shrugged, as if having no comment.

"I mean, I think you need to know what you think Matt would want to do. And I would suggest that you would try and do the exact opposite. I think that Matt might be rubbing off on the wrong way when it comes to this. Although I do not blame him. Since his brother seems to be the one dragging Matt into this all as well." Joe said, and then he was shrugging, having nothing else to say to the issue, and I was sighing, and I was just feeling like this was a total betrayal for some reason.

"I remember Matt bringing up a person now that I think about it. You know, somebody who he claims has a big role in everything that is happening around here." I said, and then Joe was looking like he was wanting to just have me get right to the point. As if he was feeling that every time somebody stalled, he was just wasting his fucking time.

"A guy named Brad. he had told me that one of T.K.'s friends talked with him in that destroyed church near by He was saying that the Brad guy was clearly in a bad mindset, as if he was scared about dealing with something." I said, and then Joe looked at me, and I was starting to see that he was considering more.

"Sora, was the guys last name Carbunkle?" Joe asked, and I was shrugging, having no reason to know or care what the guys last name was. I mean, in all honesty, at the moment, I felt like there was no real point in worrying over something like that. As if he was just pulling my leg here.

"Yeah, I remember something like that. All I remember is that he had red hair." After I told him this, I saw Joe looking like he was just not wanting to hear this. As if he was feeling like what I had told him was just something that he could not have fucking believed at the fucking least.

"Joe, what do you know about Brad?" I asked, and then Joe was looking like he had not wanted to tell me this. As if he was going to be getting me killed for bringing this up. But then after that, he had looked like he had given up on worrying so much about it. "Alright Joe. I know that you are more willing to tell me than my other two friends. So please just talk with me here."

"I don't know how much you care for this. But Brad is the vice president of Lazarus Coporation. He has been with the company for 17 years. Longer than most of us have even been alive." Joe said, and I knew that he was saying 'most' because among all of us so far, he was the sole exception. "He joined when he was just nineteen years old, and has basically been rising up with the presidents trust the whole time. I doubt you care. But I think you need to know."

"Oh I am sure that T.K. and Tai would love to hear that. I mean, it doesn't really stick out to me too much. But for them, this is going to be a fucking giant deal." After I said that to Joe, I was seeing that Joe was just wanting to find something to tell me. Like this was just something that I needed to hear, for whatever fucking reason.

"I think that if you are wanting to help out Matt and T.K. and Tai, I think that both of us are going to have to see what we can learn on our own right. You know, without any of them getting in the way. I think that doing this will be helping them much more than they want to fucking admit." Joe said, and then I was wondering what his porposal was going to be for this.

"What are you proposing?" I asked, and then Joe was looking at me, and I was seeing that Joe just looked like he was going to tell me off right now. But then he stood up, and put hs shoes on, as if he wanted to just get this over with.

"I am going to think it would be a good idea to just check around with employees with that company. You know, you had told me about Olive. I think that maybe we can find out what connections with the business. Or if there is nothing that connects her with that, you should try and find out what people had against her. Maybe if you can find out the connections that she had, then you might actually make a real investigation here that will make a true difference." After Joe had said that to me, I was nodding, feeling that this was making some sense.

"I guess that this makes sense. And it would not be forcing us to do anything strange. All that I know is that two employees were involved in extracting her stuff out of where she had been killed." I said and then Joe was looking at me, as I was just getting ready to be going away, I was seeing that Joe was looking like he had needed to ask me more. Like he was just scared of possibly losing my trust with the way he was going to ask.

"Why are you not being super open about where you found that body? I mean, I know it is probably nothing, but do you think that there is something I might be wanting to about things?" Joe asked, and then I was sighing, and I was feeling that Joe was somebody that I needed to try and trust when it came to everything. And I wanted to earn his trust, so I just needed to be honest.

"I have a project that I need to do later tonight though. So we won't be able to do anything today sadly." Joe said, and then he was looking at me, as if feeling kind of sad to be saying that. I was wondering if he was wanting to tell me more, but I was just keeping quiet, feeling that it was none of my business what he was doing.

"Maybe in two or three days we can go and look at it." Joe was telling me, and then after I was nodding along, feeling that the longer that I was wasting time by doing this, the harder that it was going to be for it to all be working out here. "Thanks for talking with me, and letting me know what happened. I think that maybe we should be looking more into this later."

"Yeah, I think that once we take a look though, we should really decide right then and there if it is going to be worth looking into this more or not. To be honest, I think that in all honesty, it might be a good idea to just sort of leave it alone after this." I said and I was wondering if it was going to be best to just do this without Joe. Since I was not entirely sure if I was able to trust him or not. But I was thinking that I just needed to stop being like this.

"I mean, you're probably not wrong. But who knows, maybe you might end up being like Matt and deciding that you just want to be one big fucking hero." Joe was saying, and then I was shrugging, not wanting to say anything at all. I was thinking that regardless of what I was wanting to do, and regardless of what I was truly thinking at the moment,

"I want to just hang out with Matt and not be worried about these things again. I feel like everything in my life is all about these fucking things, and I feel like the longer we all look into these things, the less likely we might be able to really learn the truth here." I said, and then I was wondering if what else I was even going to be telling Joe. Since I had no idea why on earth I was willing to be so open about this all to him. Since I barely even fucking knew who he was.

"I think that the deeper you talk with these things, the more and more that this is going to be the normal. I might not want to tell you the truth. But just being one hundred percent real here. I think that you and Matt talking about this is just the stuff that you guys are going to have to be getting used to." Joe said, and I was not wanting him to tell me this. But I was thinking he was almost certainly right when he had said that.

Scene 6: Starting Over With Mimi

I decided to go on and see Mimi again, and see what she would have to say this time. Maybe this time, speaking to her would be able to create a better social situation between us. I was feeling that this was probably a bit strange. Since we were barely talking the first time around.

I reached her house, and then I knocked on her door. I was wondering what she would have been feeling if I knocked on her door like this. In all honesty, when she was going to be seeing me here, there was a very good chance that she was going to just be telling me that this was all a very bad idea. Which I gues was a fair assumption.

Mimi answered the door, and she was looking like she was just trying to remember the context of what made us want to be talking to each other. I was sighing, having no idea what the heck she would have wanted at all. "Hey, I was wondering how you were doing. You know, since in all honesty, I was just wanting to apologize for the strange first meet up." I said, and then I was looking at Mimi, wondering what she would have said to me.

"You know that coming to my house like this can be considered even more strange then you having a awkward first meet up." After she had said that to me, I was sighing, and I was not really wanting her to be saying that to me. I was thinking that the fact that we were having this discussion right now, was just a testament to the fact that I was having a really hard time letting things go.

"Yeah, I never really thought that out. But I would rather not talk about that right now." I said, and then after that, Mimi did laugh a small bit. As if thinking that maybe she could appreciate the fact that I was at least trying to be a friend to her or something. I was thinking about what else I was even going to be wanting to say in the first place.

"Anyways, so since we are here, I guess that I could apologize for being rude earlier. I just thought that you were wasting my time, and I was feeling like you were not really somebody very interesting at all." She was saying to me, and I was feeling like I might press my luck a little bit, and see what she would have been saying now.

"Don't worry about it. I was not really finding it all that rude. I was just thinking that maybe you were just really busy or something. I guess that maybe I was sort of doing it to myself as well." I said, and then I was shrugging, and now that I was here, I was feeling that we needed to find something to discuss. "So Mimi, I was thinking that now that I am here, we might as well at least try and find something that we can both work together on."

"What are you thinking?" She asked, feeling like she just needed to see what the plan was. I looked at her, and now was feeling that since I had gotten her attention, we might as well just talk for a little bit. "I mean, we might as well just work something out right now." She said, and then I was sighing, thinking that I might just tell her what the whole adventure going on was.

"I want to talk to you about what me and my friends are doing, that I think you might be able to help out on." I said, and I was still not hundred percent sure that I would call T.K. a friend, mainly due to him being three years younger than me. But then again, Joe was two years older than me, and I was starting to look at him as one a little bit.

"My friends Tai, Matt, T.K., and Joe have been looking into some of the things going on in Wayside. You know, we are all just sort of looking into different ways of figuring out what is happening to the girls, or various town secrets." I said, and then I was wondering what the heck Mimi was going to be saying to this idea in the first place.

"And I was wondering if you would want to help out as well. You know, just see if we could all combine our ideas into one big thing, and just be a small team. I mean, I think that it could be a good idea. Six people just checking out different things that they hear." Once I was finishing, Mimi looked like she was just trying to decide what to be feeling to this.

"I guess that there is not really a chance that I am going to be saying no to this?" She was asking, and then I was wondering what to be saying to this. I was thinking that I was not really having the position to be saying anything like this. I was seeing Mimi closing her eyes, and I was just thinking of what else I could say to make it better for her now.

"I mean, it is all up to you what we are going to do with this. I think that it would be good for us to work together. But I would not want to do something that you would not feel too comfortable with." I said, and then Mimi was sighing, and clearly did not know what else to be saying here.

"I guess that there are some things that I wish to know the answer of. And I have a feeling that for some reason, for better or for worse, talking to you and working with you might be the best way to be getting these answers." Mimi told me, and I was wondering what I was going to say to her. But I was feeling that a casual conversation was all that I could do here.

"What are you wanting to know a little bit more about?" I asked, and then Mimi was sighing, as if feeling like there was no real reason to be fighting with me on this right now. She was taking a long and deep breath, and decided that she would tell me the story now.

"I have a guy that I knew one time. A older guy. Leo. He vanished a while ago. Everybody puts so much emphasis on the girls, for good reason, that when it does happen to a guy, nobody seems to really care all that much." She was telling me, and then I looked at her, and I was unsure of what the heck I was going to be saying to this. I was thinking that maybe the only way to really seal loyalty was to just promise her that I would help.

"So Mimi, I am guessing that you want to try and find out what had happened to him." I said, and then I was shrugging, and I was seeing that Mimi was looking like for once in our conversation, she was having a better look of resolve. So for that, and feeling like this was the only way to get her to be wanting to help us, it would be best for the extra ally, and the eventual extra answers.

"Or at least try. I mean, I have nightmares of him some times. He was a guy who meant a lot to me when I was younger." She said, and then I was nodding, having nothing else to be saying, and then she just started to speak up once again, and this time, with a more determined response.

"I promise you that I will see what I can do to help. I have no ideas what everybody else is going to do. But I think that it might be best for us to do that together." I said, and then I was seeing Mimi looking like she was just trying to be feeling better about what I had said. I was seeing her shaking her head, as if having no idea what to think of me.

"You're a strange person. I have no idea why the hell you would be wanting to do this in the first place. Or why you would want me to come along now. But I will make it clear that once I know what happened to Leo, we are done. The connection, or at least that mission, is severed." She said, and then I was nodding, feeling that I would not have it any other way myself.

"Fair with me. I think that neither one of us were really expecting or wanting anything more." I said, and then I was seeing her looking kind of glad that this was something that we could be on the same page as. We were going inside of the house, that way we were not freezing, and I was going to her room.

"So for starters, what all do you actually know about this place so far?" Mimi asked, and then I was thinking about what else I was even going to be telling her. I was thinking that if I told everybody about what happened with Olive, then everything about that event was going to be one giant exposed situation, and everybody was going to suffer as a result of it.

"I guess that in order to answer your question, I would need to know what you think of the garden and wildlife of the town?" I asked, and then she was looking right at me, and I was seeing that she was clearly having no idea what the hell I was even asking this for. But then she sighed, feeling that there was no reason to deny the answer.

"I mean, the few bits of it I have seen are nice. But it all feels unreal. I mean, it is like I am just seeing something that does not fit in at all." She said, and I was nodding at this, thinking that what she was saying was making a whole lot of sense, as much as I was hating to admit such a thing.

"I sort of am the exact same way. I have no idea what to be feeling about it all. But I just see what I can get out of it when I go along with this. But I think that you might be intrested that some of the few remaining bits are being taken for testing." I said, and then I was looking at her, and I was seeing that Mimi had no idea what to be feeling over such a statement. As if it was too out of her mind to be too affected by this.

"I think that something like this should be expected. They are in such small supply that the people who run this town would not want to turn down the small amount of chances that they get to study them all." After she had said that to me, I was looking and feeling unsure of the passive way that she was responding to it all. In all honesty, it was just feeling like she was not even caring what the hell the bigger picture was going to be.

"I want to see if there is one spot in town that is actually still in stable condition, even if it is extremely unlikely." After I had said that to her, I was seeing Mimi looking like she had no real desire to be going down this whole thing. "I think that out of everybody, you would be the one person that I would feel most comfortable with taking with me." I said, and I was seeing that she was looking a bit unsure of what the heck to tell me, in order to turn down or confirm that this was her desire here.

"I guess that we can do this. I have no idea what the hell this is going to have to do with anything." After she had said that to me, I was seeing that she was just looking like she was just clearly wanting to move along the search for what happened with Leo. I was fine with that, but I just wanted to see if what I was imagining was true or not.

As we were walking along, i was getting closer to the church, and I was feeling that I was able to start to open up here. "I really honestly believe that if I can find out what the hell is going on with Lazarus, I can be able to figure out what to do about your friend. I think that the company is the only reason half the shit that is going on is even happening." I said, and then I looked at her, and I was seeing her looking like she had no desire to go further with that.

"That is why you need to be focusing on that stuff, and not on some random garden life. I mean, we are no in this whole thing to star to admire pretty plants." After she had said that to me, I was looking right at her, and I was feeling that the way that she was acting here was perfectly reasonable, but I think that she would start to feel differently about it once the bigger picture was here.

"Trust me, I know what I am doing here. You will understand what my plan is soon enough." I said, and then I was just wondering what the hell Mimi was going to tell me. She looked like she had no desire to be arguing with me anymore. Like she was kind of just beyond all form of reason.

Eventually, we were at the garden, and we were seeing a bunch of the men with torches startng to burn the place down, and despite the fact that I had no idea what to feel about the garden before, seeing this made me sick. I was feeling like this was just taking away the one thing that was actually giving this town some hope of joy in all honesty.

Mimi was holding her mouth down, and I was silent the entire time that I had been watching this. I was feeling that I needed to try and find something to say. I wanted to find some way to express the way that I had been feeling her. I was thinking that in all honesty, despite the fact that nobody would want to admit it, that this was going to be one of the darkest days in all of Wayside. And seeing that was the one thing that just made me want to give up all hope in humanity.

scene 7: Interview With Lazarus Employees

I was feeling it was time to seriously consider my options, and I was thinking that if Joe was onto a good idea, that maybe having thse discussions were going to be the best starting point to go forward. I was just hoping that Joe was not going to be telling me that he regretted even making this suggeestion or whatever.

I was hoping deep down inside that whatever these people would have felt about me coming here, they were going to be at least somewhat civil with me. You know, just willing to answer a couple of questions, to just give me a bit of a context on what I had needed to do. I doubted that they would. Let's get that clear. I had no feeling they would even consider it. But I was needing to just try.

I had also told myself that I needed to just probably do this on my own. I had a feeling that if Matt knew that I had been hanging out with Joe so much, even if I was strictly business, he might have been a bit unsure of what to be feeling right now. He would probably be having a vandetta against the guy for no good reason.

I think the only person who I was more worried about than anything else in this whole fucking thing was T.K. I mean, really think about it. What the hell were any of us thinking when we decided that the youngest member of this whole thing should just be left alone constantly, and that we should not be having any form of watching over him. I man, I think that the fact that we have all just basically left him out of this entirely was a horrible idea.

To be fair though, despite his age, he probably had a better idea of what he was doing than any of us. He at least seemed to have a somewhat organized idea of what he was wanting to do. Then here we were, just running around like a bunch of fucking idiots with no idea on what it meant to be working together for a common goal. Even though I guess my goal was not the same as the others.

I think most of all, my goal was just beyond the whole idea of keeping Matt or Tai in good shape. Although that certainly played a part. The biggest thing in it was a more external idea. I needed to be safe, and I needed to never quit for my own preservation. I mean, was it selfish that I was doing it for myself? Sure it was... But this was Wayside we were talking about.

I needed to look out for myself, and in a way, I was feeling that maybe the best way to do that was just be on my own, and not be worried over simple things such as being connected with somebody, or even loving them. If I fell in love with somebody super hard, I was having a feeling I would just get to wrapped up in that.

Before I was able to get inside, I was hearing Joe's voice calling out to me. I lookeed over at him, and I was seeing him looking a bit worried about seeing me. Like he was just wishing that things were not this complicated. I was sort of feeling the same way as him. But I was unsure of what to say around him.

"Hey, I was just thinking about what we were discussing earlier. I sort of had a feeling that I was going to see you go in through there, when I was seeing you walking in the direction of the building." Joe said, and while I was not one hundred percent sure if it was a good idea for him to be at my side, and with Matt and all. But at the same time, there was literally no regulations on fucking friends and stuff.

"It is probably a good thing that you came. In all honesty, I have no idea if I would have done a good job talking to these guys." I said, feeling that the need to be honest was more important than any possible need to make Matt not feel like I was possibly getting in the way of our relationship.

"I think that they might be willing to talk to me, since they all have a connection with my older brother Jim. So I think that maybe you should go on and try and think about what to say with them when I am here." Joe said, and then I was thinking that maybe Joe should be leading this sub section of the investigation from here on out.

"Alright, since you know way more than I do, I will let you be taking over for the time being." I said, and then I was seeing Joe looking totally unsure of what else to be saying. With that, we were walking along, and I was thinking of something else. "What if they try to figure out who we are? What type of shit should we tell them?"

Joe was shaking his head. "We do not fucking lie to these assholes. Trust me when I say that. These people are going to be doing things their own way. And I think that if you want to really get along with these people, you got to just earn their trust. Part of gaining trust in others is not lying." Joe was saying, and I was sighing, and then I was thinking that I needed to just keep my reservations quiet as he was saying this.

"Well, if something happens, this one I will blame on you." I said, and then Joe was nodding, feeling like that was a fair enough of a statement. But deep down inside, I was not really worried about what he wanted to do. I was more worried if I was going to be letting my emotions get in the way of these people telling us true facts.

"Fair enough." Joe said, feeling that nothing was going to be coming up, and that it was all going to be fine. Deep down inside, he had a decent amount of faith in the situation that he was in, and he was feeling that whatever Sora was so scared of, they were going to just talk it all out in due time. He was just more focused on getting the job done, no matter what else the cost was going to be.

Eventually, Joe and I were getting to the main office where one of the employees was working at when we were on the ground floor. We were seeing that this was a "general questions and concerns directed here" type of office, and we were both aware that this was probably going to be the best that we were going to be getting. So with that, Joe and I sat down on the chairs, and the guy who was working here looked like he was wishing that we were ot here at all.

"We are going to be short and brief. We do not want to be taking up much of your time." Joe said, and he was sounding sincere enough, and the man was sighing, an dlooked at me, almost like he was expecting me to clear up what Joe was saying. I was just thinking that I just needed to play along with it, and not be saying anything.

"What were you looking for?" He asked, deciding that being cordial was more important than anything else, and that he might as well just role with it at this point in time. I was kind of feeling bad for him, but I was not really wanting to say so in front of him, as that would give him the wrong idea.

"Well, I was actually wanting to ask about some of the projects that you have been working on." I said, and then he was looking at me, and sighed. As if he was needing to expect that this was the reason I did not say or do anything to restrain Joe. Which was hilarious in my mind, since Joe was not the one that he was needing to worry about at all.

"What types of projects are you talking about?" He asked, just feeling that if he got the ball rolling, and got this over with faster, the better it was going to be for everybody involved. I nodded, and figured that I was now the one with at least some form of power when looking at the ways we can talk with him.

"I was wanting to know what type of work was going on with the garden behind the church earlier. I saw that there was a man burining it down, with the company logo. That was the last set of wild life in Wayside, and I was wondering if there was a reason to destroying it." I said, feeliing that I just needed to give him a chance here.

"I know very little about that. All that I know is that our top scientist believes that some of the plants in there were dangerous, and could be possibly fatal is used or brought out of the garden. He said that it was a good idea to never even take the risk and just destroy the garden. Besides, most of it was destroyed anyways." The guy said, and then I was looking at Joe, and I was aware that he was a fucking liar.

"What was his name? The top scientist, that is?" I asked, and then the guy was shrugging, as if feeling like a fucking name was going to not be the end of the world by telling me. Then with that, he was just not really wanting to be going further on this now.

"Kenta Kitagawa. He has been working here since the company first started. And he is a rather smart man. Even if you do not agree with his methods, what his results compile are more important than virtually anything else. At least that is what my boss says all the time." The guy said, and he was standing up for a short quick moment.

"What does garden plants being dangerous have to do with killing the woman who was tending to them?" Joe asked, and then as he asked the guy this, that was when the man looked right at us, and he was clearly looking like he was just kind of scared of what we were doing. Like we had been asking him to basically give us all the main company secrets. Which I guess we kind of were in a way.

"Those types of records are none of my business. I just saw boxes come in, and a bunch of details about it being related to a purge. As far as I am concerned, there is nothing else that I might need to be coming by anymore." After he had said this, I was aware that as far that discussion was going, we just needed to drop it all for now.

"Alright, I get it. Are there some other things that you know of?" I asked, and then he was sighing, as if feeling like I was just never going to be letting this go unless if I had more. He was sitting down, and then he brought his fingers together.

"That is none of my concern. I have no right to be telling anymore. I wish that I would have been able to help you out more. But that is just really all that I can say here." After he was telling me this, Joe was placing his glasses further up, and I was seeing that maybe what Joe was going to do might have been a bit better than the way that I had been trying. I looked at Joe, and I was feeling that it was time to understand that there was no point in trying to speak to him anymore, so I was willing to just drop it now.

Scene 8: Matt's Concerns

I ended up starting to head on to where Matt had lived. I was feeling that now it was beyond time to just go on and see what he was feeling. I was thinking that since it had been such a long time since I had seen him, that I just needed to at least try and check up on him, and make him see that I was still willing to talk to him here.

Once I was at his house, I was feeling that he was not going to trust all that had happened. Since I had been hanging out with Joe so much lately, he might be personally feeling that it is just a big fucking hassle to even try and explain to me where he had been coming from here.

Matt answered the door, and he was looking right at me,and I was seeing that he was just looking like he had a lot that he had wanted to say. As if he was just seeing that he was talking with a long lost lover or some shit. In a way, I guess that he might have been. But for now, I was not letting the situation get to me.

"Hey, I am sorry that I have not been seeing you a whole lot lately." I said, and then Matt was looking like he was just refusing to even have a real statement to be making here. As if I had been just kind of ruining everything for him. He looked up at me, and just looked like he was sort of over it all.

"I just am unsure of what to feel. You were always upset at me when I was doing that. You know, just dropping off the face of the earth. And then you are doing that exact same thing right now." After Matt had told me this, I was sighing, and I was aware that he had every right to be upset at me when he had been saying this. But at the same time, I was almost just not even caring anymore.

"I guess that maybe what I did truly is not that different from what you had done earlier. I guess that maybe you are probably right." I said, wishing that maybe saying something like that was going to be a good enough starting point to calm him down for a little bit longer.

"I just feel like it is a really big deal here. You know, after all, the fact of the matter is that you are somebody who could very well go missing at any moment, and there is nothing that I can fucking do about it. Nothing that I can say or do that would truly increase the chances of you returning, aside from me just fighting for my life here." Matt sad, and then I was feeling like if he was going to try and guilt trip me, it would not work out at all.

"I think that you really need to stop worrying about fighting all of my battles for me. If I can't do this stuff on my own, or at least some of it, then does that mean that maybe it is my issue that I caused by not taking greater strides in all that I had wanted? I think that if I want to stay safe, I need to work on it myself to make it work." I said, thinking that what I had said was making at least a small lick of sense.

"This is not fighing your fucking battles. That has nothing to do with it. I have a right to make sure that nothing happens to my girlfriend. That makes a lot of fucking sense." Matt said, just getting annoyed that we were even having this discussion in the first place. Like he would not believe I did not really listen to him at all.

"Besides, I have my younger brother to be worrying about. I need to be making sure that nothing happens to him." Every time Matt brought up T.K. in order to make it clear that I was just making things worse for him by doing what I had been doing, a small part of me was even wondering why we even dated if he was going to be so worried over this anyways.

"Just focus on T.K. if you are feeling that everything he is doing is just so fucking scary. I mean, everything always comes back to him. I think that it would be best for you to just not be dealing with anything else." I said, hoping that he was going to not be too upset over me for suggesting this. But it had made sense to me.

"Sora just let me come along with you on these hunts. How about that? Do you think that maybe that could be a good middle ground? Just let me stay there, and make sure that nothing else happens?" He asked, and then I was thinking about it. I mean, nothing he was saying was sounding wrong. But I was just thinking about what I was wanting to actually be doing for myself.

"There are no hunts. Not really. Nothing like the stuff that your brother does. At least what I am doing is mostly safe." I said, and then I was looking at Matt, wondering how he was going to be argung with that logic. But he was saying nothing, as if to concede that maybe I was getting him there.

"Well, what have you done exactly?" Matt asked, as if feeling like he was needing to just calm down, and give me a chance. I was feeling a whole lot better when I was seeing him start to calm down like this. It was making me feel like I could start to actually have a coherent discussion with me, and not be annoyed shitless.

"Honestly, I just asked some people some simple questions. Nothing that you have not done. I just only did it in a way that was making it more subtle. I wasn't going around, and making a fucking show out of it." I said, while looking at Matt, as if wonering if he was going to own up to the fact that he had done that in at least some degree. He looked down, feeling at least slightly awful about what he was hearing.

"I guess that there is nothing wrong with asking a little bit of stuff. Maybe I need to calm the fucking hell down. Maybe I just am thinking about what the questions I would ask are. But the thing is that even if they were the same, you are probably a lot more calm and reserved about that shit than I would have ever been." Matt said, and he was looking at me a little bit differently, as if thinking that maybe the way that we were looking at this all was something that he might be feeling a bit better on.

"Well, I would probably not be doing it the same way as you would be in all honesty. I seen the way that you and T.K. and the others do it, and it is just full of chaos here." After I said that to him, he was smiling, as if feeling the need to start to be a bit more polite with what I was saying to make him feel differently about this discussion.

"Matt, do you want to just go on a regular old date for once? Nothing related to these investigations. Just a date for us to hang out, and see how we are both holding up?" After I had asked him this, I was seeing matt looking like he was feeling a bit better about this. As if he was just wanting that question to have been asked this whole time.

"Yeah, I would love that honestly. Part of me was wondering if such a thing was even going to be possible anymore. Given how much everybody else is just focused on these tiny little things, that it feels like nobody is able to look at what is here in front of us." Matt was saying, and he was aware that in a way, he was fully guilty of this.

"I was wanting you guys to do that earlier. And then you are going around, and telling me that this was what you had wanted this whole time. I feel like this whole thing is just a bit strange to really look at." I said, and then I was shrugging, and I was really thinking that Matt just needed to look at the way we had been discussing this.

"Okay, I get it. You really do not need to be telling me this right now." After he had told me this, I was sighing, and I was thinking about what I had been doing with Matt. I was thinking that there was a small part of me that was not one hundred percent sure if this was going to be the best relationship that we could have. Not that I was wanting to break up with him or anything. But I was feeling like we just needed to have more with us.

"I will see you later. I think that maybe when we meet up with each other tonight, we should just do our best to remember what we have in front of us." I said, and then I was seeing Matt looking like he had wanted more. I was seeing that deep down inside, he was just desperate for me to be giving him something to look for. As if he was wanting a reason to truly live.

"Matt, I am sorry for being so judgmental for everything. i think that in some ways, I was just not looking at the bigger fucking picture. I mean, I just try my best to be giving out a helpful and realistic answer. But maybe something like this can help us come together at least a little bit better." I said, and then I was just having no reason to be speaking about this anymore.

"It will be fine. I think that there is just something that I am not one hundred percent sure. But maybe that is just something that I got to accept. I thought that whatever T.K. is doing, he will either be eventually giving up, or in such a bad state that he will be coming to me anyways. Just like how he had done all the way back on Onett." Matt said, and I was thinking that if he was saying this, and meant it, then I would feel better.

"I think that if he was able to get out of Onett fine enough, and was able to survive, then maybe he was not all that bad, or that maybe none of what he was doing was too dangerous." Sora was trying to tell me, as if feeling like maybe she was needing to be making me feel better. I was looking at her, and to be honest, as she was saying this, I was thinking that she should have never said this. She really had no idea what she was meaning here.

"Trust me, if you knew what he was doing, and what he was always so scared of, you would know that it was much worse than anything you could have imagined." I said, and then I looked at her, and I saw her looking like she was just feeling like none of what she was saying could have made a fucking difference anyways.

"Sorry. I just thought that I might try and help a bit." Sora was saying, and then I was sighing, and I was thinking that I was just needing to not be so rude to her. She was deserving better than what I was saying. But I just needed her to understand that she had no right to make any assumptions with me here.

I was home that day, and I was getting ready for my new date with Matt, and I was feeling that whatever the hell Matt was feeling, he was going to not be too angry at me for trying to say anything about his family back on Onett. I was thinking that if he wanted me to not make these types of comments again though, then he needed to just be crystal clear what the hell happened with him and T.K., and that by doing this, I might be able to feel differently about this all.

I was thinking about calling Matt again, but then I felt that he just needed to wait for a while longer, and that if I wanted to see what he was feeling, I would just see it all at the fucking date. I was thinking that maybe I just needed to give him a small amount of space. But then again, I was convinced that if I needed to discuss things with somebody, then I could just call Tai and see what he found, if anything. Or talk to Joe for the hundreth time.

I thought that Mimi wanted nothing to do with this, considering the fact that I virtually knew nothing about her right now, and that I just needed to try and speak to her in a more personal matter before I could really make it feel like it was actually going to be worth the fucking time.

I left the house, and I was not letting the whole thing about the garden getting out of my mind. I was thinking that I just needed to see one final time what the aftermath of the fire would have been. And if I was going to be seeing this, then maybe if I was pushing my statement enough one way or another I could truly give off the idea of being a real bargaining chip here.

Eventually, as I had reached that area, I was looking around, and I was really hoping that I was not going to be running into any fucking employees here. I was feeling that whatever the hell these people had been doing was going to be finished up anyways. But there was also the small chance that there was going to be nothing else that I was going to do that would be making this actually give me any answers.

And besides, I was thinking that if Tai was wanting some answers here, and that if he was so scared of what he was doing in town, he was just needing to let me know as fast as possible. He was one of the few people who was going to be having some answers for me.

As I was at the garden, I was looking around, and saw the scorched ruins of the plants, and I was seeing one thing on the ground. I was walking up to it. And then I was picking it up, and wondered what the necklace was for. I opened it up, and I was seeing that it was a picture of her when she was much younger, and she was with a shorter guy with a white shirt. They were smiling uncontrollably for a photo.

I did not know if this was something that her husband would have wanted. I was also not sure if this was something I should have never given to him, in case if something would be coming up in order to have a real clue to make this journey go forward. But who knows, I just had no clue how I felt about any of this.

I was putting it in my pcoket, and I was thinking that I was probably never going to really be letting this one go, since it just felt like the worst thing that I could have done. I had hoped that one way or another, I would start to rest a little bit easier for her, once I knew why exactly she had been murdered.

I thought that when I would have this date with Matt, I was going to be doing my best to pretend like I had never done any form of investigating at this garden. I was hoping that in order for this lie to be kept up, there was going to be no secret that Joe had been leaking the truth to him. Which was going to be a fucking horrible situation no matter how I was going to put it.

I was thinking that if Joe had been telling Matt all of this, then that was going to be runing any form of a friendship that I might have been having with Joe. I was thinking that maybe I just needed to be not letting this whole thing get to me too painfully.

Every time I walked by, and I was seeing a police officer coming by, I was feeling that whatever the hell they were doing was going to all be related to what I had been hearing. I was thinking that I just needed to put what Tai had told me into consideration. Because on the small chance that he had been telling the truth, and that something was happening, I just needed to be keeping this whole thing in mind.

Eventually, I was at the house again, and then I put the necklace down on my table, feeling unsure of what to even be feeling. I was shaking my head, and then I was laying down on the bed, having no idea what the hell I was even going to do. I was thinking that if the necklace was a reason why she had been killed, for whatever reason, then I guess that a small part of me was going to be containing the answer to what had been going on in the whole investigation. But I guess that I just could not have cared at all.

Tai and I were going to have a really long talk soon enough. Maybe talking to him was going to be helping me feel better about everything going on than talking to Matt. I was thinking that if I just could get Tai to get to see where I was coming from, then that was all that I could have really hoped for.

Tomorrow. Maybe by speaking to him, and getting him to understand my perspective, I would eventually get Matt to hear what I was thinking. Getting Matt to think in my mindset was all that I could have really done. Who knew what Matt was going to think, and in a way, a small part of me was not even caring anymore. I cared for everything else he was feeling. But not related to this investigation.

Scene 9: Hanging Out With Tai

I was hanging out with Tai before I ended up going on that date with Matt, thinking about everything that was going on. I needed to just sort of pretend like everything that was happening was sort of gone. that nothing was a big deal. I was hoping that this disguise was going to be making me feel so much fucking better about all that was going on.

"So Tai, I know that it has been a while since we met up with each other last. And I am really sorry about that." I said, and then I was seeing that he was really just feeling a bit unsure of what to be telling me. He managed to smile though, and that was the thing that I was mainly wanting to really see.

"I think that I just realized that I was in way over my head when I tried to get involved with this shit. You know, trying to pretend like I was in for some wonderful investigation where I was going to expose everybody. But that just is not the fucking case. And I thin that it s time for me to understand that I need to just be there for my sister more than trying to be the hero." Tai said, and then I was nodding, thinking that he was probably right about that.

"That makes sense. I mean, I was not going to stop you from doing what you were wanting to do. But I was thinking that maybe you might have been doing something too big for your own abilities. No offense. Just being honest with you." I said, and then after I said that to him, I was seeing Tai looking like he was feeling slightly attacked by this statement.

"Sorry, I know that it might be a bit rude to be saying stuff like this. But I was just honestly thinking that maybe you needed to try and be open with your chances before you did anything that would hurt you." I finished, as Tai was looking out his bedroom window, thinking of what to do now.

"I mean, I am still not in true love with the idea of leaving this all behind. But the fact is that I can't fucking do anything about it. I have to trust the police that they are truly doing their best." Tai was telling me, and I was nodding along, hoping that we were able to sort of get along better with the future.

"I mean, sometimes you have to do something that you know is going to be pushing you forward more than anybody else. I think we both fucking know this." After I told him, and then I had wondered when T.K. was going to get that in his head. I mean, he might have been offended for some reason by the idea. But I felt that as he got older, he would understand self preservation needed to come first on at least some situations.

"That is going to be very hard to fully accept with Kari around. I think that Kari really does sort of ruin everything that I want to think with that. But I also understand that she's eleven years old. I need to let her have at least some fucking choice on what she is doing with her time." Tai said, and I was nodding at Tai admitting this. The only issue I had was how quickly Tai was probably going to be going around and taking the back peddle with this.

"I mean, fair enough. I remember when we were eleven, that one winged angel thing came along at us, and started to attack us and destroy our village." I said, and then I was looking at Tai, wondering how much of that event that he might have remembered. Tai looked at me, and I was seeing that he was looking kind of scared that I had that in my memory.

"God, I can't belive that you still remember that. In all honesty, I was thinking that I might have been the only one who did." Tai said, and then I was shaking my head feeling that whatever was going on with that was something that I was never going to truly be able to wipe away.

"I think that whatever the hell was going on with him, I would really want to know more of some day. Just to see if I was really seeing what had been in my mind. Or if it was something that I experienced in a fever dream. To try and explain away a horrible event at the town." I said, and then I was feeling that there was a very high chance it was the latter. But in case if it was the former, then something must have happened to cause such a thing to happen.

"I wanted to think that maybe it was just something that I had dreamed up. But who knows now. I think that whatever it might be, the whole thing might be leaving a scar on me for the rest of my fucking life." I said, feeling that I just needed to be fully honest with myself here.

"Matt was telling me that you had been rather riled up on something lately. Do you have any idea on what it might be, or do you think that you would be willing to tell me?" He asked, and then I was looking at him, thinking that his question was innocent enough. But I was thinking that whatever I wanted to say, it would never do true justice to how fucking just lost I had become.

"It's more that this whole thing is just confusing as hell. No other real way to put it. There is nothing going on that explains any of this stuff. I have tried my best to be keeping a open mind. But what the hell is happening here, is just beyond anything." I said, not wanting to bring up the garden, mainly because I did not wwant to relive it.

"After my date with Matt tonight, we should hang out tomorrow. Just go to the beach or something. I don't know. Anything would be better than this." I said, and then Tai was nodding, thinking that he was just going to not tell me any more of that, since I had already said so myself. But we needed to let this go.

Scene 10: Personal Operation

I was thinking that now that I had some time to be by myself, it was time for me to go on and see what I might have been able to find. With no guys or anybody getting in the way, and just being totally on my own. I was thinking that this was going to be what I had wanted more than anything else really.

I was getting ready to leave the house, and my mom was calling to me. It was kind of annoying me that she was wanting to speak to me at this moment. But I was feeling that maybe I was just needing to let her say her pice, in case if it were to be anything important. "Hey Sora, are you going to be doing anything that is going to be dangerous?" She asked, and I lookd at her, as if unsure of what to be telling her.

Oh course if I told her of my true intent, and what I was really thinking that I wanted to do, she was going to be telling me to basically fuck off, and stop trying to play god damn hero. Even though Matt and Tai were the ones that were doing it. But she did not know any better, which was good.

"I have nothing going on. I would never do anything like that anyways. It would be a horrible idea." I said, speaking my thoughts on the situation. But as I had said that, she was still not looking like she had fully believed what I had been saying. I was wondering why she was feeling this way, and if she had known something.

"I hope that you are telling the truth. I would really not be too happy if it had turned out that you were going to be doing something this whole time." She said, and then I was looking at her, and I was just remaining silent for a few moments longer. I was thinking that this was not a discussion she needed to have.

I was nodding, and I was not wanting to be rude to her, but I was not wanting to keep this discussion up any longer. I was feeling that the way we were talking was making it seem and feel way too official. I wanted her to be happier with me. But I was not willing to do it in order to win her true happiness over.

I was walking down the street, and I was thinking about just seeing if the picture that I found on that necklace was similiar to the boy I read about at the library, Justin. I was feeling that he was the only thing that was going to be giving me any fucking answers. I felt like if Justin was still alive somehow, then perhaps he could tell me some of what the fucking hell was going on.

So with that, I was thinking that the library would be my first objective. It was not going to be a wonderful start, but it was going to be something. I felt that if I did this, and I could not learn more about Justin, then perhaps I could go on and see what types of activities were going on in town that could explain.

Once I was at the front steps of the library, I was thinking that if T.K. or somebody else was going to be there, I would just lie to him, and pretend like I was not doing anything at all. I was going to just make some shit up about why I was getting ready for some random school for the future. Even though I doubted that he would buy it.

As I was getting inside, I was walking to the section that I had been reading earlier, and that I would just be quiet and respectful to everybody else. But as I was getting close to the section, I was seeing that there was a guy who was putting all of these things in a couple of boxes. I was wondering if perhaps this was a organization that was just making the books and stuff more neat.

I was walking up to the guy, and I was feeling that I just could ask some questions on what was happening. Maybe by just talking to him for a while, and seeing what he was doing, I would just see if these people were really so desperate to clear their garbage that they were going to be wiping away something that had been here for so long.

"Hey, which stuff are you moving around?" I asked, and then I was seeing him looking right at me. I was seeing that whatever I was going to be asking next would make him slightly worried about what I had been doing. He was putting the box down in a small cart, and then I was seeing him sighing, and looking like he was wanting to talk longer.

"I am just working on getting rid of some controversial stuff. Putting it in the back archives. I have been hearing that many of the reports from the early fifties are getting people to do dangerous stuff. I have no idea what it is. But I just feel that I need to do it without arguing." After he was saying this to me, I was feeling that I could pursue the subject a bit longer.

"Was it related to the mall fire? You know, with the Justn Ryder guy?" I asked, and then he was looking like he was not really thinking that he should talk about this any longer. But if he was goingto be dropping this information away forever, then it would not really matter what we were all saying about this.

"Yeah. It was related to that. But I would not want to talk about it any longer. I think that if this is such a big deal among my employees, then they would probably not want this to be discussed any further either." He said, while I got a idea in my head on what I was supposed to be doing to get him to listen to me.

"Would it be possible for me to take it? I mean, I would probably be able to use it better than this library never being able to use it at all." I said, and he was shaking his head. I was seeing that he was just looking kind of unsure of what to say. Like he had been considering it for a bit longer than he ever should have.

"No, I think that despite the fact that it is extremely unlikely for my bosses to ever see this, or to even look, on the chance that they do, and they try to find out what was responsible for what happened with it. So I am just not going to do it." After he was saying that to me, I was sighing, and I was feeling that he was going to not take no for an answer. I was nodding at this.

"Sorry for talking about it. I just never thought that it would have been all that big of a deal." I said, wishing that he was not going to be too annoyed with the way that I was talking to him. He looked at me, and I was seeing that he had virtually no thoughts on this whatsoever. As I was starting to walk along, he started to call out to me.

"If you want to know more about these things, then you can go on and talk to the video store. There are some recordings that they keep for historical context. That is the best that I am willing to give you." After he had told me this, I was feeling that this would have been a giant waste of time. And I was not wanting to do this at all. But I was also thinking that I had no fucking choice at all.

"Thanks for the suggestion." I said, and then I was sighing, wondering why I even wanted to be doing this in the first place. This man was probably just telling me this so I could go on, and just focus on other things in the first place. I was heading on out of the building, and I was feeling that maybe I did need to bring others into this discussion.

I would see what the man would have even said. Maybe if I asked, he was going to just tell me some basic shit, and then we would just drop it and move on. But I was also kind of curious why these people would be having so many things of footage of different places. Maybe it was where the businesses drop it off when there is too much tapes for the back rooms to store? That was going to be the guess I would have.

At the video store, I was walking inside, just telling myself if the rumors about there being back logs were true. I was thinking that maybe if I had slowed my way into this, he might have listened to me a bit. Besides, I was thinking that a simple question like this was going to be a bit esier for us to be handling.

"Hey, I was wondering something that might seem a bit strange." I said, and the guy was putting his cigarette down, and looked at me, as if feeling like he needed to just go along with this, because at least this would have not been boring.

"What were you wanting to know?" He asked, and then I was sighing, just wanting to get this over with. I was thinking the longer that I had been discussing this that the more silly that it had been sounding, and I would not blame him if he was going to be just rolling his eyes at this.

"I was wanting to know if it were true that this town has recorded archives of everything in this town. Like for instance, when the mall got burned down." I said, and then the guy was looking like he was getting a utter fear in his eyes. I was feeling that whatever I was going to tell him, the man was going to have no desire to tell me anything.

"The last time that somebody had done this at the video store, a few decades ago, the man who helped out was killed the next day. There is something going on here. And I am having no desire to throw my life on the line for anything here." After he had said that to me, I was looking at him, utterly shocked at what he was telling me. I had no idea what to expect.

"What the fucking hell?" I asked, not even remotely expecting something like this to be revealed. He was looking at me, as if shocked to be hearing that I had never known this. But then after he had heard me say this, I was seeing him looking slightly more unsure of what the heck he even wanted to tell me now.

"Yeah, that happened a while ago. There were three people, probably twelve or thirteen years old, and they went around, trying to gather intel about the town, but then they ended up getting the help of the worker here. He ended up dead within a dead. Something like a car explosion as he was leaving to go to work that day. Now next time you wonder why most people don't want to talk about this, either it is because we know nothing like me, or if you do know something, you do not want to end up like him?" He said, and then I was shaking my head, not sure what to say.

"Oh shit. That really puts a different spin on things. Was he the only one who ever did something like this?" I asked, and then I was seeing him puttingthe cigarette back in his mouth, having nothing else that he wanted to even be saying. As if thinking that we just needed to let it go.

"Sorry for bringing this up then. I was not expecting this to turn out that way. Please forgive me." I said, and then I was shaking my head, wishing that I was not going to be making the situation much worse here. I was seeing him looking kind of uncertain on what we were going to be discussing here.

"Don't worry about it. I mean, I never said anything, so I am going to be fine. But just in the future, remember that before you go on and talk to people about what they are aware of here. Just remember that in some cases, our fucking lives are on the line." After he had told me this, I was sighing, and then I was thinking that maybe I could just tell Matt this. Maybe this would let him be viewing it as a small wake up call here.

I was walking down the street, and I was feeling that if Matt was wanting to know more of the truth, then maybe we would just have to work together for a while longer, to make it at least somewhat better. I was certain however that T.K. was never going to listen to us, no matter how much we were wanting to talk to him.

Maybe if T.K. was wanting to help find out more truth to this, then he might have to just be doing things his way. I was not even caring what Matt was going to do on his own time. As long as he was going to at least consider what these people were doing, and as long as he was at least considering that people might be having their lives on the fucking line right now.

I was thinking that deep down, there was a good chance that maybe my mother might have been right here. Maybe if she was wanting to talk to me about the issues here, then this was something that I was going to have to be more and more honest with. Maybe if I was honest with her going forward, and maybe if I was never going to be making shit up, to pretend like this was no big deal, then I might have been able to start to get some respect from here.

But then again, if I started to talk to my mother about this, she was going to be telling me that I was never allowed to be speaking to my friends again. Like I was a monster to them, and then in some random way, despite the fact that I had nothing to do with it, they might be making me the bad guy here. Which was going to fucking piss me off. But I was not going to say anything at all, in order to not create any issues here.

Despite the fact that maybe I needed to see what Matt was feeling at the date, I was still wanting to go along with the plan of not having the subject of the town be brought up on the date. I was really wanting to have one fucking night where this subject would just be not a thing. And then I was thinking about what Joe would have said if I approached him again.

I wondered if Tai or Joe were really into the idea of gong to the beach. I was thinking that Tai would not be in love with the idea, so I was kind of dismissing that claim almost as quick as it had came into my brain. But Joe, since I barely even knew him to begin with, I was thinking was quite possible to be into this stuff. After all, he needed to do something when he was not worried about school.

I was thinking that if I wanted to keep any hope of Matt and I doing well though, I needed to fucking leave these guys alone, and not make it clear that I was going to be around them all the time. I mean, especially if I was going to the beach with them. So I guess that if I wanted to be making friends with people, I needed to go on and meet up with Mimi, and see what she was going to say aout the idea of just hanging out for a while.

Once I was getting to my house, I was hearing a call coming right to me. I was looking at my living room, and I saw that my mother was not even in the house at the moment. So with that, I was walking to the phone, and I was starting to answer it, hoping that it was going to be a update on our date. An event that I wanted more and more as time as passing.

"Hey Sora, I was wanting to make sure that we were still on for tonight." After Matt said that to me, I was smiling once again, and I was thinking about what I had been missing out on in the last few days. I thought that since I was having no intention of speaking to him about what these people had warned me of, I was thinking that this was something that I could just get along with.

"Yeah we are. I think that I am done even just thinking about these things. I want to just be doing something that I know we are both able to enjoy." I said, and then I was wondering why the hell I had just told him this. Almost as if it was going to virtually ruin any progress that we made.

"I mean, I just hate this investigaton honestly. It was something that I was fine with at one point. But now I am fucking over it. I think that whatever Tai wants, he is on his own. It was something that I had learned today that kind of put me over that edge, to be just thinking that this is far beyond me." I said, and then I was wondering what Matt was going to say. I had honestly wanted to get him to say something now.

"Sora, you need to be doing what you want to do. Don't let a single person tell you otherwise. I think that the faster you understand that this is your choice, the better that it is going to be for you." Matt said, and then he was kind of giving up. "I mean, I know that no matter what we were doing, and no matter what I want, that you are a smart woman. One that will take care of whatever she feels is right whenever she thinks it is."

"Yeah, you're right. Although it is strange how I was so heated over his earlier. And now I am just at the point where any attempts to care, any attempts to want to care, is just thrown out the window. I mean, what the fuck am I able to do about it anyways." I was saying, just kind of moving along from it all.

"Honestly, I think that perhaps I had a part of that. Sorry for that. I probably should have listened to what you were thinking here, and then not really pressed you here." I was saying, and I was thinking that whatever we were going to discuss, we were going to be picking it up later.

"See you in a hour or two. Thanks for letting me know that we were still on for today." After Matt was telling me this, I was nodding, and I was feeling happier than ever to go on this. It was reminding me of why I ended up ever lovng the guy in the first place. Just going on this date with the guy, and not letting anything get in the way. We hung up, and then I was getting ready to put on a good dress for him.

scene 11: a casual date

Matt and I were sitting down on the area where our date was going to be. I was seeing that Matt was looking kind of a bit tired, like he was just wanting to finally reach out to me. But then I was thinking about what the hell I had gotten myself into. "Matt, I can't believe that we have lost track of things so badly lately that this is where ithas come to." I said, and then I was looking at him, wishing that Matt would be helping me feel differently here.

"I am really sorry about that. I know a very large part of that blame is part of me. I wish that I could try and find a way to describe it better. But we both know that there is no way to justify the shit that I am doing all the fucking time." After Matt told me this, I was feeling bad for the way that I was looking at this, but could not really find a way to really apologize here

"I think that maybe we might try and find a way to talk to Tai. I mean, not to get him to tell us more. I want to try and finally get him to settle down. And besides, I think that if we all go out, and just have a casual discussion and hang out, then I think that things would be much better for all of us." I said, thinking that if we could just have a casual hang out with Tai, that was the shit that I would really need to make it better.

"I think that if Tai wants to hang out with me more, then heneeds to be telling me more of that himself. I have a fucking hard ass time buying everything that he is saying to me. He tells me that he wants to try and make things better, but I am convinced that he is only doing that to try and make you feel better about dating me." Matt said, and then I was sighing, unsure of what the heck I could have even said.

"Well, Tai probably just was not too secure at first. I mean, it does not take a genius to figure out that he likes me. On one hand, I can appreciate that. But on the other hand, he is having a hard time probably really seeing that these are things that I really want when I am with you." I tried to explain to Matt, to make him feel different. But the fact was that I was unsure of what I could tell him to make him feel better here.

"I mean, I guess that I sort of see where he is coming from. I mean, when I was a younger guy in middle school, I always had a hard time really connecting with people, telling them what I had been feeling, and now jealous everybody made me." Matt was saying, and I was thinking that if Matt was always defending people like this, sooner or later, it could be a real big issue here.

"Matt, I think that the best way to really get him to get to like you is to just get to know him better. Simple as that. Just talk with him for a while, and see what he might want to say. If he wants to get to know you, then just do everything in your power to make it work. But I guess that maybe that is something that you already knew." I said, feeling that whatever I was saying to him was just going to not really be making a huge difference.

"I guess that maybe we can try and make it up. I think that if he wants to try and talk with me, then I guess we can make the two of us connect better. I think that as messed up as everything is, with the town investigations and shit, I think that there is a good chance that maybe that is the only thing that can make us start to be better friends. At least since we would be having some real connections here." Matt said, and I was thinking that maybe he was right here.

"Yeah, if you want to look at it at just that, then maybe that might be good enough. But seriously Matt, I think that if this investigation is the only thing that is going to connect these things to you guys being friends, then maybe you guys really are just not meant to be so." I said, and I was thinking that this was a literal oxy moron to every thing that I had been telling him about connecting with Tai earlier.

"Well, people can make some friends with the most random people ever. I mean, I never thought that Joe and I would be able to get along in any capacity. But I think that if I had known that he was really not a bad guy, even from the start, then I think that I could have tried to get to know him better." After Matt said that, I was actually shocked to be seeing that he was sincerely putting Joe on a good light. I guess that maybe I should not brush Tai off either.

"Yeah, Joe is not a bad guy on the couple of times I spoke to him. I mean, I think that maybe we both just sort of over looked him." I said, and then I was thinking about what it would have been like if we actually given him a real chance from the start. If we had done that, then maybe things would have been different.

"Maybe we can try and hang out with him for a while. I think that maybe if you think he is a decent guy, then perhaps we could just see what hanging out with him all at once could do for us. Maybe it would be better or worse when its a bigger picture." Matt said, and I was wondering if he was doing this to get me to admit that we had been doing a lot of investigating together.

I was wondering what to tell Matt now. "I should have just never talked with that taxi driver. If I kept him away from me, then everything would be better. In all honesty, I think that speaking to that fucking guy sort of ruined everything." Matt said, and then I was sighing, wishing that maybe I could have just said something that would make him feel better. But I was just shaking my head now.

"It is not your fault. How the fucking hell did you know what he was doing? He was just wanting to do his fucking job. There was no way in hell that he could have known what the hell was happening here." I was taking a deep breath, and I had wished that maybe I could have never had this issue whatsoever.

"Don't know what to believe. Maybe that is something that I need to consider for the future. Thanks for telling me this." Matt was telling me, I was taking a long and deep breath, and I was just not really having anything to say at this point in time, so I was just hardly even caring anymore.

"Well, at least it seems like you are willing to give it a chance with everything. I mean, I was just worried that you were never even going to be giving it a chance at all. But I guess that I need you to be doing what is right for you." I was telling him, and I was wondering what it was going to be like to hang out with him, Tai, and Joe all at once. Maybe just the four of us taking things normally. And then maybe Mimi as well.

"Do you know a woman named Mimi? I think that maybe at some point, once we all kind of settle into a routine, we might as well just see what she might be feeling." I said, and then I was seeing Matt looking like he was confused as to who the hell she even was in the first place. But refused to say anything.

"I think I might have had some classes with her. After all, we are in the same class." Matt said, and then I was sighing, thinking that maybe I was needing to just keep these things in mind before we were saying anything to each other that might come off as totally fucking stupid to be stating. But I was just staying silent for a while longer.

scene 12: Night At The Beach

I was walking down my way to the beach after the date. After I had decided that I was going to that beach, I put on a small dress, a cheongsam to be exact, which I took from my mothers closet, feeling that she would not have cared all that much if I was wearing something like this for a "date" although I did not tell them that I had no intention of going on a date at the time.

I was glad to be seeing that Matt was starting to open up a bit better than he had been before. I think that in a way, the date did have some success due to that. It had seemed like he was willing to consider what we were going to be doing for all of the others. So when I am considering all that was happening with him, I had felt like Matt and I were going to be having a real fucking great relationship here.

It was kind of strange to me though, the idea that Matt was putting all the blame on this on the fact that he had talked to that taxi driver. I was feeling that there was no reason to be getting angry over something that was totally out of my fucking realm of understanding. I would ask him though what the issue was, and see what he might have been meaning here.

I laid down on the beach when I was there, and was staring at the red tainted water, wishing now that I really did have somebody at my side. You know, just talking to me for a while. As much as I loved the beach, and as much as I loved people who were hanging out with me, I was understanding that there was still so much more that I could have gotten out of this.

I wondered if they were going to actually talk to me about what they liked or disliked about this place. By they meaning literally anybody I talk with. I just wish that I could have been able to talk about something this simple once again. But I was wondering what it would be like to just have a real kiss.

Despite the fact that I had been trying to get this whole thing out of my memory for so much now, I was having the town coming right back once again. This time, when it was coming up there, I was thinking about how likely it would really be that somebody who went missing here once, and that if they were gone from this place, I was wondering if maybe I might try and find the answer by looking around for a while.

And while I was wanting to act like it was no big deal, dealing with these things and the fear that somebody might have gone missing here, I was thinking that I needed to take this more seriously. I was thinking that maybe the person who might have gone missing here was probably dozens of years ago, and nothing to be too worried about.

Eventually, as I was thinking about everything for a while, I was hearing a voice calling in my direction, and when I looked up, I was seeing that Joe had called out in my direction. "How have you been lately? I was just thinking that maybe I could take some time down here. Forget about everything that is going on." Joe said, and then he was walking down a while.

"I was just wanting to forget about what was going on. I saw a few things that I should have never seen. But I guess that when you live in this fucking place, something like this is probably to be expected." I was saying, and Joe was looking like he had wanted to try and tell me more.

"I think that forgetting all of this is almost going to just never fucking happen anymore. I mean, as much as we might not enjoy to admit it, I think that we are going to just have to accept that we are going to remember that nothing is ever going to be the same again." Joe said, and then I was shrugging, wondering what the hell even was the usual here.

"Why the hell are we even planning on doing more of this in the first place? I mean, I doubted that any of us really have any fucking personal stakes in what was happening here? I think that we probably just made a giant mistake." I said, and then Joe was looking at me, as if thinking that he was having nothing to do with that.

"Honestly, I have no idea what you guys were doing. I think that when I came along to the ride, I just wanted to be doing my best to be helping you out here. I think that it is just a good thing to try and end up actually getting some friends here." Joe was shrugging, and I was feeling that he did not need to worry so much about having friends, since he probably could easily do it if he actually tried.

"I think you need to go out more dude. I think that you probably really just secluded yourself too much. If you did not do that, then I think you would have grown to realize that you really could have made things much easier for you." I said, and looked at him, wondering what Joe would have said here, and if he would actually fucking listen to me.

"I will admit that for quite a while I had a hard time really going out, and doing stuff like that. But I think that trying to hang out with you guys and just trying to find a social circle that would actually be good for me, has made things a bit better for me. I mean, in a way, as strange and silly as it sounds, I feel like I really have been living a whole lot more." After Joe said that to me, I was nodding, glad to be hearing him say that.

"So Joe, thanks for dealing with most of the stuff when I was going aroud, and thinking that I could have a different spin on it compared to Matt and Tai. I know now that I really do not. So I would never really go out of my way and make that assumption again. Kind of makes me feel like I have a bit of a ego when I look at it." After I told Joe this, I was seeing Joe looking like he was just kind of finding it funny that I was talking like this.

"At least you tried to think about something else. At least you were willing to try something new. I think that you need to give yourself some credit here." Joe was saying, and I was then taking a moment to consider what it would have been if I just never mentioned this whole thing ever at all.

"Honestly, I think that the best thing that I need to do is just remember that at the end of the day, I need to try and enjoy my summer better. I think that by trying to enjoy summer much better, and make it seem like I never really looked at it any more, then I think that I might be able to move things along a whole lot better." I was saying, thnking that the faster that I tried to come up with some new plans, the better that it was going to be feeling like. And the more responsible it might seem.

"True enough, you only have one or two more of these left. Why the hell not enjoy this a bit better? You know, just have a good time while you are here one final time. I mean, I don't know. It's selfish." Joe said, and then I was shrugging, having nothing else that I could have said for a little bit.

"I mean, it is probably nothing. I mean, what if it really is nothing that is happening around town?" I asked, feeling that it was getting to the point where we needed to just look at that chance. I mean, after all that we had been trying to find, and with no results, I figured that something like this was a true possibility now.

"I mean, for all we know, we are just going on a fucking witch hunt. You know, I think that we need to recongnize that there is a 99 percent chance that nothing is going on. And that we are just wasting our fucking time right now." Joe was saying, and then I was considering what he had just said to me.

"I guess that maybe that one percent chance is still worth looking into here. I mean, I would agree that there is virtually no real way that something would be happening. But if something was happening, then I think that maybe the people might need some hope in the town, that they really are still having people looking around for them." After I had said that Joe, I was wondering what the hell I was even saying. I was just going all over the fucking place at this.

"Well, if you want to be looking into the truth, and if you feel like something might be coming along, I think that we are going to try and find some absolutely irrefutable proof on certain events just being too strange to brush off. I think that by doing that, and looking at it one bit at a time, you might eventually find out more here." Joe was saying, and I was having no real clue what I was going to be doing.

"Do you really want to be doing this? I mean, you were talking about how you just wanted things to be left alone. How you wanted to enjoy the summer?" I asked Joe, feeling that I needed to give him a chance, to see what he might have told me. I was seeing Joe looking like he was just relatively unsure of what to be telling me now.

"I don't want to be doing something like this. But I would rather be getting involved in this than having you guys get in danger. I mean, if this gets any worse, then I would not really want to be responsible for anything that is happening to you guys." Joe was saying, and then I was feeling that this level of relative commitment here was something that I should not really be taking advantage of here.

"You do not need to be protecting anybody here. I mean, I'm sixteen years old for god sake. I think that I just need to be doing whatever I think is going to be worth it all." After I had told Joe this, I was seeing him looking at me, and I was seeing that he was not looking like he was really all that thrilled at this point.

He was sighing, and I was thinking that he might not be super happy with this idea, and that maybe I was being a bit fucking rude when I was telling him this. "I thnk that it would be a horrible idea to be turning down the idea of having allies." Joe was telling me, and then I was thinking that maybe I just had horribly mis-informed him, and made him feel really bad.

"I am not saying I want to turn down the idea of allies. All that I am saying is that I am not hundred percent sure that we should be having allies if we are not sure that I am going stay as such with them." I said, and then I was shaking my head, and I was kind of starting to try and find a way to drop the subject, and make it all better for him.

"I would not be too worried about that. I have no reason to not be working for you in the long run. I think that we just need to be taking things a bit more seriously. I think that maybe we should meet up in a day or two, sit down, and really look at everything that is happening around town." Joe said, and then he was placing his hand on my shoulder, and I was feeling a bit differently when he was doing it. I was having no idea what to think.

"I wish that I was able to have a person who was as willing to just let me vent. It makes me feel like a bad person for not letting you have a fucking turn." After I was telling him this, I was seeing Joe looking like he was looking a bit out of the idea here. I was thinking that whatever the hell I was going to tell him, Joe was just simply never going to really understand here.

"I have no reason to be venting. At least not at the moment. I feel like I am on fucking cloud nine. I have people who are willing to talk to me, and willing to be friends with me. That is all that I really fucking want. I just want some friends." Joe said, and then I was thinking that I could tell him the idea that Matt and I discussed earlier, wanting to drag this whole thing a bit longer.

"I think that maybe I can tell you about the idea that Matt and I were having on our date. We were thinking that it might be a good idea for all three of us, and maybe even Tai eventually, to just hang out, and get to know each other." I said, thinking that maybe by saying that to him, he might be willing to try it all out here.

"Yeah, I think that this might be a really nice thing to do. You know, just get the hell out of here. Not be worried about what everybody else is dealing with. Do you have anything that you might want to do?" Joe asked, thinking that he would let us decide what we should be do if we hung out, since he really had no real ideas here.

"I think that maybe we can go on and have Matt decide what to do. I mean, I guess that there are things to say about just checking sights at the town. Since we really have nothing special about this place." I said, and then I was wondering if this whole thing was going to be able to help all four of us just build some trust in each other.

I decided not to be bringing Mimi up yet, feeling that since I hardly ever fucking knew her at all, that I might as well just be focused on the ones that I really do know, and that way, I could make the objective seem to be a bit more realistic here. But I was just thinking about why I was so focused on having a connection with Mimi.

"Yeah, thank you for doing this. It makes me feel a whole lot better." I said, and then I was shrugging, and I was thinking that as long as Joe was willing to give us a chance, then I was feeling that everybody was going to be making things a whole lot better. I was just thinking about what the fucking hell was even happening in the first place.

"Don't worry about me. Everything will be doing good though. I just think that no matter what the hell we are going to do, we just have to be taking some of our plans a bit more carefully. I think that when we hang out next, we need to really be looking at all the things we have, and really be thinking about what we know can absolutely just not be brought down at all." Joe was saying, and I was seeing that he was looking at me, as if thinking about what we were going to do.

"When do you think we should meet up?" I asked, feeling that if Joe was gong to be here with me, then I was going to be actually making so much more progress here. In all honesty, when he was with me, the investigation was a lot easier, and it was going to be making things not feel like I was so worried about it all.

"Maybe two or three days. I just want to make sure that my brother does not need any help. Since I have been helping him out a lot more lately. Trying to slowly seek my way into his company." Joe said, and then I looked at him, as if feeling that whatever Joe was going to be telling me, I needed to just see what he was going to do now.

"Alright, I guess that maybe something like that is a good enough wait. I would want to know where your brother Jim works at. I really think that it could be a super cool idea. Hell, if you are fine with it, maybe we can go there when we hang out as a group of four." After I told Joe this, I was seeing him looking a bit unsure of what to tell me. Although he clearly was glad to see me trying to support him.

"I will think about it. I will see what Jim might be feeling. he might hae a good idea of what to be doing now. He is a good guy giving me advice on what to do with you guys." Joe was saying, having no idea of what the hell we had been going through with, and I was just taking it easy.

Scene 13: T.K.'s Data

I was thinking that if I was going to follow through with what Joe was suggestiing, and look for the stuff that absolutely can't be denied in any way shape or form, I might as well just go on and talk to T.K. I doubted beyond anything that he did not have anything too major. But on the chance that he really did have something, we needed to get that information.

I was wanting to so fucking badly just not worry about him or anything. He was too young to get caught up in shit like this. He deserved better than to have everybody basically getting down his throat on everything that was happening. I was starting to wonder for myself if this was what I even wanted to do anything.

I knocked on the house door once again, just in my normal clothes once more, since I did not feel the need to try and impress even a single person at the moment. Once I was done knocking, I was looking around the street, wondering what I was going to accomplish by staying in the area for so long. Eventually, T.K. answered the door, and I was feeling like a fucking winner he was the one that responded this time.

"I was wondering if we could talk for a while. Just you and me. There were some things that I wanted to discuss." I said, and I was fully aware of how this probably sounded to T.K. figured that he probably assumed I was just wanting to talk about Matt or something, and needed his advice.

"I mean, I guess that we could. As strange as I might find this." T.K. said, and then he was walking inside, and I was wondering f this really was the right choice. But then I told myself to shut it, and just do it. I was then thinking that once we were talking, I just needed to make a statement quick so we did not lose track of the topic.

"I was wondering if you have been making any progress on the investigations that you have been doing in Wayside." I said, and then I was seeing T.K. looking rather off put by this. As if this was just something that he really did not want to discuss. Bt then after he had calmed down, I was feeling like we were now in a position to have a discussion.

"Why would you be worried over something like that?" He asked, and it wasn't in a defensive way I might add, but more in a extremely confused, borderline just flabergasted way. I was sighing, and I was aware that this probably really did sound fucking stupid to him.

"I knew that you were going to find this odd. But I made a friend a week or so ago, and we were talking about what it would be like to really get to the nitty gritty details of this town, and he suggected that the only true way to learn more is look at all the stuff that can't be disputed or brushed off as something random or logical." I said, and then T.K. was looking at me, as if thinking that I just answered my question already.

"I mean, everything in this fucking town is beyond a real explanaion. I think that you would be wasting your time if you even try to be doing something like this." T.K. said, and then I was sighing, feeling that I just needed to get him to actually think about whatever I had been saying.

"I mean I am talking about things that are just utterly bizzare. I mean, some of the missing cases you realistically probably brush off, or explain. But say if a woman went missing, after she had been making reports of somebody following her for a while. That is a bit different. But if say there is a run away story, and there is nothing showing up to really dis prove that, then I think that we probably need to try and give that situation a benefit of a doubt." I said, and then I was seeing T.K. looking like there was something that would be a horrible waste of time on this idea.

"And besides, there are other things in town that also just are a bit too strange to really look away from. I mean, like anything that I hear about people such as Justin Ryder is a bit strange." I said, and then T.K. was raising his hand up, as if just needing to get me to calm down for more than two seconds, and just try and listen to thinks from a pure logic stand point.

"Okay, calm down. One fucking thing at a time. Let's just take it one person at a time. I think that you are going to have a much easier time following this if you do that." T.K. said, and then I was sighing, thiking that maybe he was probably right as he had said that. But then I looked at him, wondering what his feelings were.

"Sorry. I never thought that I would be the one who was taking things too fucking hard. But I will see what you might have to say." I said, and then T.K. was then standing up, thinking that perhaps the idea of discussing things wth him was a bit off. But that there was literally no reason to be brushing him off so badly.

"Alright, well, if that is the way we are going to be doing this, then let's start with the most recent case. Figure everything that we know about her, and then go back wards. You can make things make more sense when you do that. And besides, that was the only reason I was doing this shit in the first place." T.K. said, thinking about the agreement he had made with Tobias, and shaking his head, unsure of what to think about that.

"So Andrea, if my memory is correct." I said, and then I was seeing that T.K. nodding, and he was looking like he was just wanting to finally be able to have a discussion with me about what had been happening here.

"As you know, the super obvious facts are that she is the cousin of Tobias and Rachel Wilson. It had seemed like she had a good, but not great relationship with them, and Tobias was telling me about how she had always seemed reserved for herself, and that she was always more focused on her friends." T.K. said, and then I was thinking that there was nothing too strange about such a thing.

"I mean, that is something that really does not shock me too much. Do you think that maybe some of the people that she was friends with were probably a bit odd? You know, like they might have been attached to any possible evidence?" I asked, and then I was seeing T.K. considering people.

"I have no idea where Ocho could be. I have no idea if he is a good person to be considering as a suspect or not. I barely even know who he is, or what he is doing in the first place." T.K. said, feeling that whatever Ocho was doing was something he would get to later.

"Rob has been cleared. He has talked in great detail about all of the things that he has been getting himself into when Andrea had gone missing. Rob even mentioned that people looked at the cctv footage of the times he claimed when we decided to go and be one hundred percent sure. So he is off the list." After T.K. said that, I was nodding, and I was feeling that what Joe was saying was coming to me.

"Alright, I guess that this is exactly what Joe was talking about when he was telling me to be looking at all of the really good evidence. So Rob is out of the discussion. Do you know anything about her other friends." After I was telling him this, T.K. nodded, and I was seeing him looking like he had no desire to be having this discussion at all.

"She had one named Julian. I mean, he is not as rock solid cleared as Rob, but he is very unlikely to have anything to do with it. He was out getting ready for a date that day, and when he had left the house was only about twenty minutes before the date. So unless if he somehow dropped to Andrea's house, had a discussion with her, and then bounced away in twenty minutes, then he almost certainly had nothing to do with it." T.K. said, and I nodded at this statement, thinking he made a good case.

"What about members of the family? I mean, as much as you may not want to admit it, I think that there is a small chance that they might have a connection to this." I said, and then T.K. looked like he could not have believed that I was actually bringing up the suggestion of this. He looked down, looking kind of sad to hear this.

"I really would not want to put them on the suspect list." T.K. said, and I was feeling that he was just making a big mistake by not at the very least putting this on the board. I looked at him, and was feeling that maybe I just needed to see what he would have been saying.

"Well, you were the one talking about objective facts here. So I think that unless if we have some, then we need to admit that there is at least a small chance that they could have at least known about what is happening." I said, and then I was seeing T.K. looking like he was kind of considering what I had been saying.

"Damn it, I wished that I never said anything like that. I guess that maybe we should go on and ask around." T.K. said, and then I was seeing him looking like he could not believe this. I was sighing, and I was happy to be seeing that he was willing to at least look at the idea in the first place.

"I guess that maybe I should try and talk to Tobias, as much as I hate to admit it, relating to anything that he might be feeling are strange details. He might be willing to tell me something if I was patient enough with him." T.K. said, and he was clearly looking like he had no desire at all to be saying what he did.

"Look, T.K., I know that this is not a really fun thing to be worried about. I have a teacher, who I am very fond of, and I do not want to admit it, since it hurts me deep down inside to say so, but I know that there is something about him that is just really not adding up at all." After I was telling him this, I was letting the memories of Steven Strange getting to me.

"I want him to never be even looked at. I wished that he was gone, and out of my life. But I have to admit that if it were not for him, and my somewhat unreal ideas on what is going on with him, then I would have never had any of these fears for the rest of my life." T.K. nodded as I had said this and I was hoping T.K. would not be dealing with my personal uncertainty as well.

"I guess that when you say that, I will admit that I do see some of the ideas of what you are speaking of. Sorry for just brushing you off." T.K. said, and then looked right at me, as if wanting to know what I was going to say if this was to be keeping up any longer. I was thinking that deep down, he was a good guy.

"Well, I know how much this idea is a horrible situation. Please do not worry about anything like that. I think that we just need to work together as much as possible." I was saying, and I was wondering what T.K. and I were going to do once we had figured more out.

"I will be there with you if you feel like you need the help. You know, trying to talk to Tobias for a while, and see what you might be able to get out of it." After I had told him this, I was really fucking hoping that T.K. was just going to never really be saying no to me ever again going forward.

"Thank you. I think that I might really need that for the time being.I think that in a way, it makes me feel like I am a fucking coward." After T.K. was saying this, I was wondering how the hell he would be a coward if he was doing shit like this all the time. I was thinking that I just needed him to know that he was needing to drop that subject.

"Trust me, if you feel like you are a coward over this, then almost everybody in this fucking town is one. So I would be thinking that this is just something that you are going to be fine for." I was saying, and then I was shrugging, thinking that T.K. was going to need to give himself some credit now.

"I guess that I will try and listen to you here. As much as I would be able to handle it." T.K. said, and then I was feeling like this was the first time that I was able to really look at him from a regular perspective. As if he was actually somebody that I could finally connect with. I was thinking that T.K. and I needed to just have these moments more.

With that, the two of us were walking down to Tobia's mansion, and I was wondering if I was going to regret telling him this, and if I was going to regret letting him feel this way over the idea of getting to know me. Since I had tried my best to just come off as a sister like figure.

Once there, I was feeling for a split second that maybe I should just be doing this on my own, and not be forcing T.K. into any of this. I was feeling that he needed more of a chance to decide what he was really planning on doing. This was just kind of a decision that I was regretting. You know, basically telling him that what he was feeling hardly mattered.

I eventually looked at T.K., and I was feeling that I just needed to tell him something to make him feel better about this all. "If you want to leave this, I will be doing the questioning. You know, if this is something you don't want to do with your friends." I said, and then T.K. was sighing for a bit.

He was considering it for a moment, something that was obvious. But then he was shaking his head, as if feeling that he was having no real choice but to just do this, as much as he was not in love with it at all. "Yeah, we just need to do this. I would rather ask them and be one hundred percent sure, then have you be doing my dirty work."

"Alright, I hope that this is something that we can be able to be fine with." I said, and then I knocked on the door, and then after knocking, that was when Tobias was answering the door. He was looking up at me, and I was clearly able to see that he was finding me kind of good looking, but that he was not wanting to say anything to not make this too hard.

"Hey, what is your brothers girlfriend doing with you?" Tobias asked what was a relatively reasonable question. T.K. looked at me, as if feeling that this was a really bad idea. I was sighing, and i was just wishing that people were going to be taking me more seriously than in general.

"I was wanting to ask you some fucking questions." T.K. said, and then that was when Tobias was looking right at me, as if feeling that he needed to just get to know what the hell I was doing to influence this whole thing. I was sighing, and I was thinking that this was something that I had totally fucking ruined now.

"Yeah, I guess that I am able to answer them," After Tobias was saying this, I was seeing him looking like he had not wanted to drag this situation out any further. But that we might as well just sort of get this better. I was feeling that whatever Tobias was feeling, I just needed to make something out of this.

"We were both wondering what exactly you were doing the night that Adrea had gone missing." T.K. said, as if feeling like he was sick to his stomach just even saying that. He looked at me, as if making it clear that he had hated this whole discussion. And when I was seeing this, I was feeling like maybe I had really made a bad fucking mistake by doing all of this.

"I thought that I already told you T.K." He said, as if feeling a bit worried about what we were doing. I was tired of this whole thing, and I was wanting T.K. to listen to me better. "Alright, well, I guess that if you forgot it, I might as well tell you guys." He said, as if feeling that there was no point, but that he was just needing to do this as a way to earn trust again.

Scene 14: Examining Evidence At The New Hideout

I was waking up, and I had remembered my agreement that I had made to be meeting up with Joe and I was feeling that I might as well spend a few fucking minutes talking with him before I ended up making things any harder for him. I was feeling about going on and talking to Tobias the way that I had done, since it had turned out that he had not really done anything at all.

Once I was eventually meeting up with Joe, he looked right at me, and I saw him looking like he was not really having much to be saying about the previous nights, and that he was just focused on rght here and fight now. "So my brother did decide that we can hang out at his area of work. But the condition is that we are only allowed to use the top room, where nobody goes into anyways." Joe said, and then I was thinking about that idea, and what we were going to get out of it.

"Do you think that he might not have wanted to do that?" I asked, and then Joe was shrugging, as if thinking that it was none of his fucking business what Jim was thinking, snce that was entirely out of his fucking personal idea. But then he was looking at me, with just something else on his mind.

"I think that if it really bothered him all that much, he would havd told me. So I guess he probably does not care all that much. I would still try and be playing it safe for a while though." Joe said, and then we were walking along, and I was feeling that depending on what the place looked like, maybe we could use this as a base of hide outs.

"I think that when we do get there, it might be best to just settle down, and think about all of the evidence that we might have. Maybe by just taking it one step at a time, then we might be able to make this work out better." I said, and then Joe was shrugging, as if thinking that what I was saying was so obvious.

Joe was looking like he was wanting to try and get me to calm down, and try and look at what I was doing again, and not be doing anything that was going to be too rash. But at the same time, I was hardly even knowing what he was wanting to actually say. "In all honesty, I think that I am probably mostly doing this for my friends than I am doing this for myself."

I admitted, and I was feeling that this was a perfectly fair declaration. I was having no interest in this on a purely personal level. Yes, people were going missing. A overwhelming amount of them girls. But realistically I knew that I had to be realistic, and I had to be aware that as long as I never went missing myself, then it was just something that I had to just be praying about.

Joe was thinking about what I had said, as if considering the mild irony of it, before he was shrugging, and felt that maybe I had my own reasons. "Yeah, I bet that you are probably right. I mean, I always have cared. But I guess that before now, I just never thought that I could or should say anyting about it." Joe said, feeling that the honesty was going to be important going forward.

Eventually, we were at the place that Joe was leading me, and I was seeing that it had looked like a cafe of sorts. We were going inside, and I was having no idea what to be saying for the most part. "This is where my brother works. He owns the place. Pretty much has been working here for as long as I can remember." Joe said, and then he was looking at his brother once the two of us walked on in.

"Are you his new friend?" Jim asked, and I nodded, feeling that I would rather just get the pleasantries out of the way, feeling that there was no real reason to be dragging this whole thing any further. But I was seeing that Jim was just looking like he was not too worried about it, and told us again what Joe already said: That we can do and talk about whatever we wanted, but only as long as it was upstairs, since he had not used that in years. Pretty much since he moved his stuff out of his parents house, and needed a place to stay out for a while when he was getting his own apartment. Now it was just a very old storage room for shit years ago.

When I was looking around, I was thinking of what the hell I was going to be doing now. I was just seeing a bunch of tables all over the place, and a small bed for somebody to sleep on if they needed it. Then there was a bit of a table. But overall it was just also extremely fucking dusty. "Wow, Jim was not lying when he said this place was basically never used."

"I mean, this would not be a bad place for discussing things related to the town, if people were willing to use it and work on making sure it was cleaned out a bit better." After I had said that to Joe, I was looking at him, and he was sitting down on the bed, which did not have sheets or a blanket, but had a pillow which looked like it had not been used since before Joe was even born.

"Well, I mean, would you rather be spending time playing maid, or spending time just working on finding out some information?" Joe asked, and then I was looking at him, wishing that he was not going to be acting like this, and that we were going to be able to just do what was best for us.

"I mean, we have virtually all day to be doing stuff right now. I guess that we might as well just sort of make something work from this. I would say that maybe we should at least get the dust taken care of." I said, thinking that this would be a really good starting spot. Joe looked at me, and then nodded at this idea.

With that, I was seeing that we were getting a good idea on what to do. "I think that once we are done with dusting, then maybe we can just get right to the discussion. For the next few hours, Until we had made everything just seem to make some sense." Joe was saying, and then wondered what to say now.

"Depending on how well this works, I might be making some time every night to be setting this whole thing up. Maybe an hour or two every day before I do anything else for the evening during the summer." After Joe was saying that, I was feeling glad to be seeing Joe looking like he had been willing to at least consider what it would be like to do this from now on.

With that, I was walking down, and Joe was following me, and then I was seeing Jim looking up at us, and I was seeing that he was looking like he was kind of annoyed at the fact that we were here during his business hours. "Sorry, we are just grabbing cleaning supplies. We will be heading back up." Joe was telling Jim, and then when he heard that, Jim seemed to be a bit less annoyed, and more willing to listen along.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to be rude or anything." After he had said that to me, I was grabbing the broom and dust pan, and Joe was grabbing some spray bottles, and then he ended up grabbing a empty trash can, and we were going up. We did not even stay long enough to hear what the customers coming in were saying to us.

Once in the room, I was looking at Joe, and I was feeling slightly bad for the way that he was confronting us. As if I was feeling like maybe I needed to be putting other people first. "Sorry for that. I did not think that Jim might have been slightly annoyed with us coming down during business." Once I said that, Joe shrugged, as if already moving on from that.

"Well, I think that since we got the basics, we might as well get to fucking action." Joe said, as if feeling like we were needing to just put everything else aside for the time being. As I was thinking this, I was nodding, and then with that, we were just getting right to work.

I will admit, I think we did not really expect to spend as much time on this as we did. I mean, every time it had seemed like we were finally making some progress, it was feeling like it was just coming back. The basic sweeping was only about twenty minutes, but the tables, and boxes, and swiffering was a really big hassle. I was seeing that Joe and I were starting to sweat a little bit as we had been going on.

"God, I think that maybe we were both really under estimating how long this was going to be taking." I said, and then I was laughing at this, and Joe seemed to be agreeing with this, as if feeling like we just needed to find out what we were getting ourselves into.

"I wish that Jim might have been keeping better track of this place. Even if it was just a 'just in case' type of ordeal." Joe was saying, and I looked at Joe, and then we were looking at the time that was on the wall. Which I was surprised that the clock even was working in the first place.

"We've already been doing this for nearly two hours. What the fucking hell?" I asked, and we were seeing that only the basis floor and some of the boxes, and a couple of the awful stains were taken care of. I was seeing Joe looking at me, and he started to shake his head a bit longer, as if truly unsure of what we were going to be doing.

"Want to just call it a night? You know, just stop this whole fucking things now?" Joe asked, and then I was nodding a bit, feeling that there was no reason to keep going any longer. "Yeah, I will probably just do a little bit every day. I think that is the only thing making this feel slightly less horrible."

With that, we were both sitting down on the bed again, and then Joe was looking at me, and slightly opened up the window, to make it feel like it was not a million fucking degrees. "Oh my god, let's just drop the subject for now... So with that in mind, Sora, do you have any thing that you are planning here? We were wanting to discuss details about the town, right?"

"Well, I guess that maybe we can pick up where we had left off." I said, and then I was thinking that maybe that was a dumb statement, since I did not even fully remember what we were talking about. Joe was shrugging, as if feeling like that was something that almost did not even matter at all.

"I think where we left off was just discussing everything so far. You know, making a story about everything. Just trying to tie everything into one coherent thought process." Joe said, and then I was nodding, thinking that I might as well just roll with this, and that we were needing to get right to action.

"I have found out more about people like where some of Andrea's friends have been when this all happened. You know, since she was the most recent one to be going missing." I said, thinking that this was a good starting spot. As Joe was looking at me here, I was seeing that he was wanting to see what I would have tried to say now.

"Well, to start with, due to the stuff that I learned about, we can remove Rob from the list of possible people who were involved with what had happened to Andrea." I said, and then Joe was standing up, and walking over to the desk that we had slightly been working with, and then I stood up as well.

I had no idea what he was planning on doing, but I was feeling that I just needed to see if I was able to follow along at all. Joe was then opening a drawer once more. "I remember we were messing around with this at one point. So just give me a second here." Joe said, and I was just remaining silent for a bit longer, as he took out a notebook, and looked at how many pages were empty.

After seeing that it was clearly empty, and that only a couple of pages had been ripped off, Joe looked for tacks, and then pulled a few out. "That way we can put some stuff up, and then go with that. I think it would be wise to actually make a fucking plan here." Joe said, and then I was slowly nodding, thinking that he might have been right now.

"So with that, let's just see what we can get here." Joe said, and then he was writig down Rob's name first, and looked up at me. "So what exactly do you think proves that Rob has nothing to do with this?" Joe asked, and then I was nodding along, thinking that it was reasonable enough to just jump right to that.

"T.K. was telling me of sme things that Rob had been doing, and the places he had been. Then with that, he had been telling me of the fact that he viewed the television footage in the area. And when Rob was there, and it was lining up at the time when Andrea was last seen, that was what proved he had nothing to do with it." I said, and then Joe was slowly nodding at this statement.

"What does he know about Andrea? Does he have a fully in depth relationship with her?" Joe asked, and then I was thinking about it a bit better. I had no idea what the heck I was going to say. I still had no real idea if their connections were anything more than what I had known.

"Well, from what I understand, it had seemed like this is all the stuff that we might say about him." I was saying, and with that said, Joe and I were starting to write down all the stuff we knew, and compiled it into a small list for him.

...

Rob was a freshman at Wayside high school, who recently started to get a bit of a interest in the arts of skating. Due to these new interests, he had been getting himself into physical trouble more than once. Such as the time when he was skating, and fell off os his board, and caused one of his eyes to get so badly damaged that it had permanetly blinded him in the right eye.

To hide the scabs, he wears a pirates eye patch. The incident occured around last March. It had been the big thing that had been talked about at Wayside school for nearly two entire weeks, with people calling him "Cyclops" at one point.

Despite the issues with his social reputation after the eye incident, Rob had a decent amount of friends who were supportive of him. He often hung out with Andrea, a guy named Julian, and the boyfriend of Andrea, Ocho Tootmorsel.

He had never dated anybody before, but people had been mentioning how it was pretty clear that he had a crush on Tobias Wilson's sister, Rachel. The importance of this is that Tobias Wilson was the slightly younger cousin of Andrea.

Rob and Rachel hung out a couple of times, but she never really showed him any interest. However, in the weeks following Andrea going missing, the two started to hang out more often than ever, and as a result, many people are starting to slowly think that they might be an item.

Rob does not have any connection to Andrea going missing, and can be considered no longer a suspect. Will continue to monitor in case if he ever does turn up something that could be able to bring some of the investigation to a close.

...

Once we were done with that, I was looking at Joe, and I was just feeling like I was just going to have no real way of going further with this. "Oh my fucking god. How much shit do we have when it comes to people who had nothing wrong. I mean, we are going to be here forever." I said, and then I was sighing, having no idea what the hell we were going to be discussing now.

"Yeah, I guess that police officers are doing that a whole lot." Joe said, and then he was placing a tac on the paper after he put it on the wall. "So now that we are here though, and we are starting to be making some connections. But now that we have a basic idea on what we are going to be doing, I think that we just need to be going forward with this." Joe was saying, and he was looking at the giant boxes that were all around the area.

"What do you think might be in those boxes?" I asked, feeling that there was a chance that we needed to go on and just see what was inside. "I think that if we wanted to finally put some things at ease, we are going to just have to look harder." I was starting to walk to the boxes, and Joe was starting to now look much more worried about this idea.

I wondered why he was so scared over something that really did not matter at all. But then again, I was just getting a bit more adventurous for everything. "I mean, do you really feel like this is going to be making a fucking difference?" Joe asked, and I was really having no idea what I was doing.

"I think that we should at least get his permission first." Joe said, and then looked at me, as if feeling like we were needing to be smart about this. As he was saying this to me, I was slowly thinking more about what he was telling me, and I was thinking that perhaps what he was saying made a bit of sense.

"Yeah, I do see what you mean. So I guess that maybe we should just wait. I can't believe that we are doing this." I was saying, and I was feeling like we were wasting a great chance right now. I was thinking that Joe needed to just actually be thinking about what we were doing now.

"When do you think that you are going to be able to ask him?" I asked feeling that maybe we could just make some fucking plans here. Joe was thinking about this for a moment longer, and then I was seeing that he was starting to be a bit more confident in all that he was getting himself into here.

"I think that maybe I can ask him after he closes tonight. You know, so I never forget what I was wanting to do. And maybe he might be willing to fucking listen to me." Joe was saying, and I was seeing that he was starting to be looking more and more like he was getting ready for everything that was happening now.

"Alright, I will be trusting that you will be doing this." I said, and then I was thinking that the sooner that Joe gave us this approval, the faster that things could be done the way that it needed to be done. I just hoped that Jim was going to be down with this idea, even if he was not going to be thinking much of it here.

"I think that whatever we find, even if it is not good evidence, if we feel that it might be used as any form of evidence at all, then we just need to put it on the wall. Just to get some fucking idea on what is going on." Joe was saying, and I was nodding, feeling that this idea was making some sense. You know, in order to just not forget about what was ahead of us.

"I just hope that this is something taht neither one of us grow to fucking regret." Joe was saying, as he shook his head, unable to belive that we were even talking about this in the first place. "Sora, I do know that regardless of what is going on, I really do not regret doing this. Since I feel that one way or another, I made some friends that are very important to me."

"See, there is some good that is coming out of this." I said, trying to be making him feel better about this. After I had said that to him, Joe clearly looked like he was not exactly sure of what was going to be done now. So with that, we just ended up chatting and hanging out for a few hours longer, until it was getting time for me to be leaving.

As I was at the cafe door, Joe was sighing, and was thinking about what to do now. "Let me take you home. Just to be safe." He said, and then I was annoye for a split second, before I nodded, and we went along with it, as I went in the car, and we just thought about what the hell to be doing now.

Scene 15: My First Time

Matt and I were hanging out again the next night, and after we were starting to meet up, Matt was looking like he was feeling a bit unsure of what we were going to be saying. "So Sora, I was just wanting to just talk for a while. Just to clear up some of the tension that I feel like might be growing between us." Matt said, and I was able to think that he was a strong man at least for trying to help out here.

"I did not realize that there was a real issue. But I guess that maybe there has been some issue with us not really seeing each other as much as we should have." After I was saying this, I was seeing Matt nodding, and it was feeling like we were just sort of getting a bit of civility here.

"Yeah, I mean, if you feel like there is nothing going on, then I apologize for even bringing this whole thing up. I just wish that I was never feeling so uncertain about what was going on here." Matt was shaking his head, and then he was starting to talk again, not really wanting to waste any more time on the issue here.

"Well, I was just feeling that maybe you probably needed some help with these things going on in town. You know, since you had been worried about if I had been distant. the truth is that I was just trying in rather strange ways to be trying to learn the truth about what is going on here." After Matt was saying this, I was wondering what he could have tried to be saying now.

"I just think that I needed to see what everybody was saying. You know, give them a honest to god chance. I have also been helping Joe a bit. Setting up a room in the upper level of his brothers work place." I said, and then Matt was just looking confused at this. As if he was wanting to oppose this idea. But then he was sighing, as if thinking that there was no reason to be saying anything.

"That sounds really nice of you honestly. I guess that I have a hard time just letting things go. And Joe has done nothing wrong, but at the same time, I just sort of sometimes that I am getting a little bit insecure over all that is going on." Matt was saying, as if feeling bad for telling me this.

"I think that when we hang out again tomorrow, we might all go there. I think we could even bring Tai along to it." I said, and then I was seeing Matt looking like he was just feeling a bit more unsure of what to be saying here. As if he was just trying to decide what the heck he was wanting to trust now. But that he was just kind of going along for the ride.

"Alright, I will trust you to know what you are doing." Matt said, and while it was clear that he was not too sure what to about us hanging out at a place like that, I was seeing that deep down, he did want to try and get to know Joe a bit better, and that this might have been the only way to be making things work out like this.

"Thank you Matt. It feels so much better to be hearing you say that. Joe and I have been working a lot lately on just finding out what is happening with this fucking town. In all honesty, I really think that with him at our side, he might be the main person who can actually get this shit all figured out here." I said, and then I was wondering if I was giving Joe too much credit here.

"I would probably agree. I guess that I would just advise against trusting somebody too much though. But I guess that you might be able to know that already, and that maybe I am just saying shit that you already know." After Matt was telling me this, I was sighing, and I wished that I knew what he was trying to get at. But maybe I was just not too smart at this after all.

"Do you think that you do not trust Joe?" I asked, and I was wondering if he was going to be fully honest with me when I was saying this. Matt looked at me, and was seeing that he was probably never going to be looking like he was one hundred percent sure of what we were saying now.

"I don't know if I don't trust him as much as just being unsure of what to say about him. I mean, I will see what happens. But for now, I am just sort of going along, and seeing what he will be able to turn into." Matt was telling me, and then I was sighing, wondering why he was having such a hard time having trust in the guy.

"Alright, I guess that maybe I can see what you mean. But I think that we just got to sort of roll with it all. He has done absolutely nothing to be getting us to be worried about him. I think that if we start to act all scared around him, then any chance that he might be having in being a ally of ours is going to be thrown out the window." I was saying, thinking that what i was saying made some sense.

"I think that we are probably not going to be accomplishing anything if we keep on having these discussions. I think we just need to be taking things as calmly and quietly as possible. I just never wish that we were having all of these discussions about fucking trust." I said, and I was thinking that the more we were having these discussions, the harder it was getting to handle it all this.

"Anyways, so do you think that I would be able to see what Joe is trying to accomplish? You seem to be havinga ton of faith in him, and I like him too, from what I have seen, but I justthink that I wantto see what his full plans and actual outline is before I make any judgment." After Matt was saying this to me, I was nodding, thinking it would be worth the chance to show him.

"To change topic, I was wanting to ask you something important." I said, and then I looked at Matt, hoping that this was going to be going the way that I had been wishing. Matt calmed down, and looked at me, as if wishing to make sure that whatever I was going to ask, I was going to just need to be making it quick and important for his own sake.

"I was wondering if you still have interest in me. If you still like me, and want to be with me." I said, and then Matt was looking shocked to be hearing me say this. As if wondering why I was even so worried about something like this, when it was never a issue earlier.

"Yeah, I do like you. I was honestly worried that you were going to be the one who was going to tell me that you wanteed to end this whole thing." Matt told me, and I was seeing him looking like he was just shocked that I had ever even asked this in the first place. But then with that in mind, I was wondering what I was even going to be doing.

"Thank god. I was always getting worried that I might be getting too deep into this. Or that you might find somebody else. I was also worried that you were going to be viewing my friendship with Joe and others as an excuse to not be seeing me anymore." I said, and then I was feeling that saying that was going to be making the whole situation at least slightly better.

"I mean, I never really got the interest in a lot of it. But I know that deep down inside that it is indeed your right to be doing stuff on your own. And I think that I need to respect that privacy for that reason. But I will say that there was a small amount of fear that I had at one point in time. That you were going to just be looking at guys differently than me." Matt was telling me, and then I was sighing, feeling that I just needed to be finding a way to make the situation less bad.

"Don't worry." I was saying, and in that moment, I was feeling like there was a bit of a fucking connection between us. Something much stronger than I had ever felt with them. As if it was just something that was becoming more and more absolute over time. But I was just havng a hard time really being able to say anything.

"Matt, do you really know what it is like to have a physical connection with somebody?" I asked, feeling that once I said the actual wordsof what I was meaning, it was going to be too far gone for me to take back. I wanted Matt to not get it. But at the same time, I really did.

"Yeah, I have no idea. I just help some people out when I can. But nothing too important." After Matt was saying this, I was looking at him, confused what he had meant. "I mean, I have had sex. But it was nothing I ever wanted. It was nothing that I ever felt connected with. It was just something that I did because I felt like I needed to." Matt was saying, and then I was slowly nodding, trying to understand him.

"You will have to tell me what you mean about helping people out when you can later." I said, feeling that something like this was going to be rather important. I just wish that he had never said that to me. Because from that moment forward, I knew that I was never going to truly be living the situation down for the rest of my life.

"Trust me when I say that it is nothing that you would want to know. I just knew that there were some people who were out there that were truly in need, and that I needed to help them out as much as possible." After Matt was saying that to me, I was just feeling that I needed to have him start to make some sense.

But at that moment, I was just finding myself not even caring anymore. Both of us were looking at each other in silence for a while longer, and then both of us were starting to just wrap our arms around each other. I was feeling that I was needing to be more careful about what I was doing. I was not caring. I wanted him at that moment. I sincerely wanted Matt right then and there.

We kissed, and held onto it for a while, and then Matt was looking at me, and was unsure of what to say. "Are you sure that this is something that you want to do?" He asked, and I was considering it for a second, before I finally nodding, and I was not going to be letting the chance slide anymore.

Eventually, we started to take each others clothes off. They were placed on the floor, and then I started to lay down on the bed, and Matt was laying on top of me. I was so fucking glad that the door was shut, so that way nobody was ever going to be seeing what we were doing. And we were going to get what we needed more than ever. And in that moment, we just fulfilled each others needs more than ever.

Scene 16: Friends Meet Up

It was four days after the hang out with Joe, and three since I had lost my virginity, and I was leading Matt to where the cafe was, and Joe had been working on cleaning it up that day. He told me that he ended up getting up at nine in the morning to really buckle down on the preparing for the hang out.

I was feeling that Matt was going to be asking a lot of questions about what I was going to be doing now. I was wondering how he was going to be feeling if Tai and Mimi were eventually able to join along. Or T.K. I was feeling that deep down inside, he might not be super in love with this idea.

Once at the cafe, I was looking at Jim, and he was seeming to be in a much better mood than he was when we were talking to each other the first time. He was probably pretty happy to be seeing that Joe was just making some friends in the first place, that he was willing to just go along with the whole thing, no matter what else was happening.

"Joe is upstairs. Hard at work with making that place presentable. I really am shocked at how serious he is taking it." He was saying, and then I was nodding, feeling that I might as well just sort of go along with it. Matt was looking at me, and I was just seeing that he was looking much more calm about this than before.

I was seeing that there were some customers that were starting to walk in, and then I was nodding at Matt, in order for us to be heading on out. "Jim's one rule is that we do not disturb the customers." I said, and then Matt shrugged, as if feeling that there was no real reason to argue with this, and then we went up the stairs.

At the door to the upstairs, Matt was sighing, as if finding this funny. "I never thought that I was going to be entering this place before. I guess that I just thought that it was a place for really stylish coffee." Matt said, and then I was mildly laughing at this, although I was unsure of what the hell Jim would be saying to this statement.

Once up the stairs, I was seeing Joe looked like he was relatively tired, but that he was able to put on a good disguise. I was seeing that most of the clutter was gone, and that many of the boxes were starting to be gone as well. I was feeling kind of sad at this, as it was a sign that most of the stuff there was having no material that actually mattered.

"Damn, I never thought that you would be getting so much done." I was telling Joe, and then he was shrugging, as if having nothing else that he was really willing to be saying after this. "I guess that when you get down to it, everything becomes a whole lot easier to handle."

"Well, I mean, I heard that there was a group of people that was coming along, and I was feeling that I was needing to just get this stuff at least somewhat under wraps." Joe was saying, and then he was sighing, as if having nothing else that he was wanting to say relating to the matter. Then with that, he was holding his right hand out to Matt.

"Nice to see you. It's been a while." Joe was saying, and then Matt was sighing, as if feeling a twinge of guilt as he was hearing thiss. But he was not really saying anything, due to the fact that he had felt that he was only going to be making the issue much worse if he started talking a lot.

"Yeah, I was just trying to help my brother not do anything too stupid. But I guess that this is none of my fucking business." Matt was saying, and he was sounding kind of angry at this idea. As if he was just wanting to do more to help T.K., but was sort of just completely beyond the point of wanting to care anymore.

"Maybe I could be able to try and talk to him if I ever got the chance. He might be able to try and listen to me." Joe was saying, and I think that all three of us were aware of the fact that this was just not going to be making the difference. But I was not wanting to say anything, since Joe had been trying his best to be helping out here.

"I think that he would never even want to try and listen. He would probably be feeling like you are just trying to lecture him, and act like you are better than anybody else here." I said, and then I was seeing that Joe was just kind of feeling bad about that idea, but that he was thinking that I made a good case.

"Regardless, I feel like there is a good chance that he probably already knows more about some of these things than any of us do." Matt was saying, and to be honest, I was feeling that maybe something like this could have been quite true, as much as I was hating to admit it.

"That would really fucking suck if that was the truth. But maybe that is what comes out of being extremely determined to make something work." After I said this, I was feeling that it was important to be giving him at least some credit where he was feeling it had been due.

"Anyways, so do you think that you would want to go on and hang out here more often?" Joe asked, trying to get back on track, as if feeling like he needed to try and take advantage of the fact that neither one of us were really making a whole lot of plans, so that we just needed to go along with it.

"Well, I would see nothing against it. But I guess it all depends on how busy we fucking get. But I just am wondering how many people we are going to be able to really even fit in here in the first place?" Matt asked, letting his interest take over for a bit. Then he looked at Joe, as if wondering what Joe thought.

"I really have no idea what the hell I can accomplish here. I mean, I bet that I can really put about half a dozen members in here. But that is just pure speculation." Joe was saying, and then he was having no idea of what to be saying now. But then he was looking right at me, and I was seeing that he was clearly wanting to see what I wanted to say.

"That is going to be good. Because I was thinking of other people that I can bring here." I said, and then I was looking up at Joe, and I was seeing him looking really unsure of what to be saying as he was sitting down on his bed. Like he was unsure if he was going to be wanting this in the first place.

"Who were you thinking when you were telling me this?" Joe asked, and then I was nodding, thinking that I might as well just tell him, and spill the beans. He probably was not going to care at all, but a small part of me was feeling like a fucking asshole at this whole idea.

"A guy named Tai. You know, really into sports. I mean, I don't think that you ever met. But he has been looking into the towns mysteries for his sisters sake, and I think that this is all that matters." I said, and Joe was nodding, feeling that maybe this was a good idea after all.

"Yeah, I suppose that you do make a good case. I just hope that he and I can get along." Joe said, smilingat this idea, and I knew that once the whole introductions was over with, we were going to be a perfect group of four. I felt sad about being the only girl in the set, but I was thinking that once I got Mimi over, that would be a bit better.

I was just stalling out for a bit longer, hoping that Joe was not going to be too annoyed with the fact that I already told Tai to come on over. I was thinking that when I can actually out some real sense to it, that might be something that would make Joe feel like I was sort of just going behind his back, and being a bit of a asshole on this regard. I just hoped that he was willing to be more forgiving in the long run.

Eventually, after about another half hour, that was when Tai was showing up, and he was walking up the stairs. I was seeing Joe looking at me, and I was seeing that he was clearly not in love with this idea. I was sighing, and I was kind of feeling sorry for the way that this had been happening, and I thought about what he must have been feeling.

"How have you been?" Tai asked, looking at me, and then he was looking right at Joe, wondering what the heck we were going to be accomplishing with this set up. Despite the fact that he was clearly not exactly in love with this idea, he was probably feeling that he needed to just go along with it, and at least be cordial.

"How have you been?" After Joe asked this, he was holding his hands out, and then Tai shook it. I was feeling that whatever else was going to be happening now, this was going to be a decent enough set up once it was all going to be fully over with. "I was just hanging out with your friends, and getting to know them."

"Doing okay. Sorry for showing up at this rate. I was just feeling that since I was here, I might as well just try and get to know how you have been. Besides, it seems like this is a pretty cool place, all things considering." After Tai told Joe this, he was seeing Joe looking like he was kind of feeling better about this. Knowing that at least Tai was being polite.

"I guess that it could be worse. I would rather be doing this than be alone forever." Joe was saying, and he was looking at Tai, an he was shrugging, as if thinking that was the most damn fucking emo thing he could have said. But then he was shrugging, and looked like he was hardly even caring anymore.

"Anyways, I was just looking at evidence with Sora and Matt, and just seeing what they might be willing to look at. I think that there is a whole lot that we can really get out of this." Joe was saying, and then he was shrugging, as if wondering what the hell Tai would have been saying to all of this anyways.

"What types of evidence have you been able to get?" Tai was asking, and Joe was looking kind of sad to be aware that there was no real chance to just have a casual hang out. That we were going to just be in a serious discussion. But after this, he had looked like he was just going along with it.

"None really. Just looking at a whole lot of exxonerations. But to be honest, I was wondering what you are aware of. Since Matt was telling me that you and him looked at a bunch of recordings. I even saw a couple of them." Joe said, and then I was looking at the three guys, wishing that they would just let me along for the ride, and let me know what they had been accomplishing.

"Shit, I was really hoping that I never had to talk about that stuff again. I should have known that something like that would have been impossible." Tai said, and then he was looking right at Joe, as if telling Joe that this was going to not be a fun relation if this was how things were going to be. But then he sighed, and decided to get over it, and just get right to work.

"So I ended up making a promise to Kari, my eleven year old sister, and the promise was that no matter what, I was going to be doing my best to make sure that I found out the truth of these people. And the starting point was going to where my crush loved to go when she had some free time. Feeling that maybe we could find something there." Tai said, feeling that this was easy enough to understand, and Joe nodded as if to confirm this.

"Once I was at the waterfalls, I was seeing that there was a small cave like area that I had never seen before. I thought that it was rather curious, so I decided to go along and check it out. So with that, I was looking around, and I saw that there was a bed, a camera, and loose clothes in the area." Tai said, and Joe nodded, as if feeling that there was no need to say verbally what he was meaning.

"I ended up grabbing the camera, and saw two people hanging out, and then the girl of the group was later forced into the cave by somebody, and the camera footage cut off after that. Once I saw that, I ended up grabbing all the other tapes, and handed them over to Matt. But I honestly have not seen many." Tai said, and then I was was feeling the need to hear what Joe would have said here.

"I ended up watching some of the other footage. Joe and I saw this one." Matt said, and I was kind of shocked to be hearing his voice again for the first time in a while, and he was getting to the main talking point. "It was showing a hotel on Nipton Avenue, and during the footage, a guy named Tomas was given a contract by a woman named Jaclyn to check something out, to find a man named Richard Watterson. After Tomas found him though, we learned that it was all a trap."

"Yeah, I honestly have no idea if that is in any way related to the missing people in town, but it does show that at least to some extent, there is a deep run conspiracy here, and that there is something that the officials are not covering. Because I never even heard of this incident until we saw the tape." Joe shook his head, unable to believe that he never even heard of it at all.

As we were saying all of this, that was when Jim was coming up the stairs for a few steps, and was calling out to us. "Hey, if you guys are going to be here for a while, I can make you a pizza or two. On the house. But just this once." He said, and I was assuming that he might have been wanting to put extra emphasis on how this was the first time, and wanted us to enjoy the time here.

"Yeah, let's do it." Matt said after we discussed it for a few moments and came to an agreement. Jim nodded, and then with that, he went down, and started to get to work on that. I assume that he did it because he knew that there was no customers around, so he probably just wanted to help his brother get some brownie points.

"I think at least in the context of Andrea, the most recent girl, I think we got to get to know the story of the butler, the parents, and Rachel. I talked with Tobias when I was talking with T.K. about a week ago, and he is cleared up enough. Besides, he's thirteen. Not like he could do much even if he wanted to." I said, and looked at Matt, hoping he was not going to get too angry with me hanging with T.K. like that.

"How do you earn the trust of Rachel and the butler and parents? I mean, just because my younger brother has made nice with the younger brother, and just because the younger brother is free, as you say, that does not mean that we should write anything off." After Matt was saying this, I was nodding, and I knew what he was meaning.

Scene 17: Brad's Therapy

Eventually, Brad was sitting dwn for a moment, and he was rubbing his hair when he was looking at the guy from across the table. The man decided to wait until Brad was more ready to be speaking. "So, you were wanting to get some sessions with me?" He asked Brad, feeling hat the wait was starting to become a bit much.

"Yeah, I was just wanting to see if we could talk for a bit about some issues that I have been dealing with. I really am not good at this." Brad was saying, and he was smiling at the therapist, trying to be slightly funny about the way that he had been feeling.

"What is the issue?" The guy asked, just wanting to progress the discussion for a while longer, and then Brad composed himself once again, and hoping that this man was not going to be disgusted with the truth that he was about to reveal.

"I killed her." Brad said, and then he looked right up at the man, feeling that now that he had gotten it over with, and he was just wanting to see what his therapist would say, the whole situation sarted to feel a while lot better.

"Who did you kill?" The man asked, clearly just trying to act like he was not too shocked by this, or disgusted. Brad was fully aware he would have gotten this response. He knew that this man would never forgive him for anything that he had done.

"I killed the woman who tended to the garden. My boss said it was for the good of the town, and in all honesty, I have no idea if he is telling the truth." Brad was saying, and he was not even caring if Shaun knew of this discussion. It was a therapy session. He was allowed to be speaking his full thoughts here.

"There is a garden at Wayside?" The therapist asked, almost more interested in that than the idea of the fact that the person he was attending to literally admitted to just killing a person. Brad was slowly nodding, getting back to topic.

"There was. But it is destroyed now. And my task to murder that woman was the last thing that needed to be done to accomplish this. Olive." Brad said, and he was feeling like he was confessing to god, and in a way, he kind of was.

"Was this the first time that you ever killed somebody? Do you rgeret doing it?" His therapist asked, feeling that maybe he was going to try and focus on the more sensible questions, and then try and build up from there, Brad was feeling that he had no idea which one to answer first.

"I do regret it. Not for the reasons you expect. Her fucking voice is in my head every moment. Every time I try and do something, she is talking to me. As if she was a ghost, trying to tell me the way that I need to go." Brad said, and he was wishing that Olive was able to accept the fact that he was too far gone.

"So Brad, do you feel like she might be right about everything that she is saying to you? Are you sure that you even want to be working for this man anymore?" His therapist was asking, and then Brad was shaking his head.

"I really have no fucking choice but to do as he says. It is the only way that I will be able to survive. And my survival is the most important thing that I can accomplish." Brad said, looking like he had wished that he had more say in these matters. But that these types of situations were just never going to be happening.

"You have no choice because that is what you believe in. I think that if you just let tell him what your issues are, then you can get him to understand. What I am more confused by is why he even wanted you to be doing this in the first place." His therapist was saying, and then Brad was sighing, as if wishing that he never had to say this.

"He wanted me to do it in order to prove my full loyalty. He is not sure if I am going to be fully on his side, and he is just trying to make sure that I am not going to be doing anything too dangerous. So I just do as he says. Even if I hate it." Brad continued, and then he was looking at his therapist, and he was feeling like he was not even accomplishing anything by doing this anymore.

"I mean, I feel like everything that I have ever done in my entire life has led to me just second guessing everything. You know, that I have never really mde many choices that I can look back on, and be able to feel like were smart and what was in the best interest for myself." After Brad was saying that, he was feeling better about finally just voicing his thoughts.

"You still have not answered my question from earlier. Was this the first time that you ever killed somebody? Do you feel like this will be the last?" His therapist asked, and Brad laughed at the last part, feeling that it was just a nigtmare to even go through with this.

"No way that this is going to be the last time. I am smart enough to know what my boss wants from me. As for if this was the first time, it was the first time that I did it directly, and the first time that I knew full well what I was doing. The couple of times before that point where I did not have full involvement on." Brad was saying, and then his therapist was nodding, feeling like these two were going to be having many discussions, and many long ones at that.

"So I guess that you plan to tell me the entire story of how things happened with you." The therapist said, and he was mostly scared of this idea. He had no idea if he was ready for something like this. Brad was looking up at the guy, and smiled.

"I guess that you could say that this is the main motive. Just to have a person who is able to listen to me, and let me talk, and know exactly what had happened. That is what I need more than anything else." Brad said, and then the therapist nodded at this.

"I will see what I can do. But I have no idea how to handle anything like this. I never have dealt with a man who admitted to murder." The therapist said, and then Brad looked at the guy, as if genuinely shocked at this statement, but decided not to comment.

"That seems too strange to be true especially in this fucking town." Brad said, and then the therapist was shrugging at this, as if feeling that Brad was making a fair enough point, but was just thinking that this was ultimately just distracting from the main point now.

"Well, are you going to be telling me these things or not? I only have an hour per day for this." The guy was saying, and he was aware of how rude that might have sounded at the moment. But he had just wanted to make the point clear that Brad was not the only person in the line up of people that he needed to see.

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry about that. I guess that I just sometimes get carried away. But yeah, so the whole thing started when I was just in middle school. When one slightly older guy showed up at my door. A guy who I would one day consider to be a friend." Brad said, thinking about how much things changed since those times.

"When he had come to my door, he had said that he needed to speak with my mother. I was only thirteen at the time, so I had no idea what the hell he had meant. But I was feeling that it was really important, so I knew better than to argue. Besides, I wanted to hear. So I went to my room." Brad said, picturing the memory in full once again.

"The guy was asking her about the family history that she had. About how her older brother died in the mines before she was even born. Something I had no idea of, and despte how much that must have been horrible for their family, I was wanting to know more. I had been enthralled at the story." Brad was saying, and then with that, he would tell the story of the first memories he had of his new life. And he never realized how much better he felt once he was done with it.

"Well, it really is a simple solution when it comes to Rachel guys. We simply just make friends with somebody who is around that age, who knows Rachel. And if there is none, then show your actual interest in her, but not in a "I only care about the case" fashion and it will all work out." Joe was saying, as if feeling like he was explaining science to first graders.

"Alright, I guess that you are probably right. I think that doing that though might be a bit hard. As we said, she might not be fully receptive to the idea quite yet. Might be finding it all a big load of shit." Matt said, as if this was the most tiring thing to imagine. Talking with a freshman like this again.

"Well, I mean out of the four of us, I might be the most able to do it. I just feel like I will be able to handle it a lot better here." Tai said, and then I was looking at him, as if unsure why he was saying this. But I felt that I might as well give him a chance, and see what he was referring to with this. At least it was one extra step of our plan taken care of.