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.

5. It All Seemed Harmless

June 2, 2021

So when T.K. was finished writing the bit with Sora, he sent it to his publisher, and he was feeling so fucking wrong writing in her socks, given everything that happened. When he was done thinking about the fact that now that it was over, he was standing up, and taking out a cigarette.

Although his wife wasn't happy about the fact that he was staying in Wayside for the time being, he was feeling that he really had no choice but to do so when it came to this giant investigation that he was setting into.

When he was done, he got out of the hotel room after spending about half an hour packing the most important pieces, and as he was walking off, he was checking out. He figured that he would go to a different area every time he finished a episode, that way nobody would be able to pin point that he was there in the first place.

As he was driving to Lazarus's main building, that was when he was seeing Gabe coming by the area. T.K. was wondering what in the world Gabe was going to be doing at this place anyways. So he got out of the car, feeling the need to talk with him for now.

"Gabe, what are you doing here right now?" T.K. asked, and then Gabe was turning around to see him, and T.K. was checking the look on Gabe's face get progressively annoyed the longer that they were looking at each other.

"Look T.K., I understand that my dad kind of likes you, and is willing to let things go for the time being. But the reality is that I am off doing my own things, and I would rather be doing them myself." Gabe said, and then after he was saying this, that was when T.K. was just trying to think of a discussion he would be having with Gabe to make this subject go along slightly different.

"Well, I made the same mistakes often times when I was your age. Trust me when I say that it isn't fucking worth it doing this on your own. You will only be making your family and friends grow increasingly distant from you, and hate you more than before." After T.K. was trying to tell Gabe this, he was seeing that Gabe did not buy it for a second at all.

"I barely even know who you are. How can I trust somebody that I have almost never talked with once in my entire life. Don't you see how insane something like this really fucking is? I feel like we need to actually get to know each other more." After he was telling T.K. this, that was when they were seeing the president of the company coming down to give his near the start of the month speech.

"I feel like that guy is kind of a piece of shit. I am convinced that he knows everything that is going on here, but doesn't want to admit it, for his own good." After Gabe was saying this, T.K. was sighing, wishing that he could argue with this guy, but just couldn't deep down.

"I grew up with him when I was in middle school. If you think he's bad, then my god, you should be glad that you weren't around with the last president of the company. The previous one makes this guy look like a fucking saint." T.K. said, and he was wondering how much Gabe would try to take the hint from that.

"Oh god, if that is the case, then I don't know if I even want to imagine what that guy was doing back then." After Gabe was telling T.K. this, he was remaining silent for a few seconds longer. "I am friends with his son right now. I feel like if he takes over, he might be the one who will finally take things in a different route." After Gabe was telling T.K. this, that was when T.K. was taking out a cigarette.

"Why do you have so much stake in this anyways? I mean, most of the things you did were over thirty years ago? I mean, you probably have nothing to hold you accountable for what is happening now. You might need to just enjoy yourself." Gabe asked, seeming genuinely interested at this point. And seeing that look of interest in Gabe's face was kind of changing things a bit.

"Well, the truth is that there are some things that I did back then, that I still haven't gotten closure on. I had a mission that failed miserably, and it was all my fault. And I still feel utterly horrible for everything that happened." T.K. said, and he was feeling like there was nothing to say now.

As he was heading to his car, feeling that his time there wasn't even going to be worth it. Once he was in his car, that was when Gabe started to run to his car, and then pounded on the window for a second. Gabe was starting to kind of lose his patience here.

But he decided that it was best to just give him a chance to explain his perspective. "T.K., I think I might have found something that you can help me with. Would you be willing to give me a helping hand, at least for this?" After Gabe asked T.K. this, that was when T.K. was feeling he needed to just listen.

That was when Gabe got in the car, and then he was bringing something out of his pocket. When T.K. was seeing the wrapping, that was when T.K. decided that he was going to have to change his entire strategy on how he was going to handle this discussion.

"Damn it. Why did you have to show me this? I was trying to put that behind me forever. How did you even know where to find that?" T.K. asked, and he was sounding like he was really holding his anger back. And when Gabe heard this, he was slightly scared for a second.

"It was in the forest. I found it a little bit after Ridge was born, and I figured that if I used this for the best, then things would finally turn around. I was only having the best of intentions. But when I found it, I knew for once, that everything that they were saying was true." After Gabe told T.K. this, he was really having no idea what the hell he was going to do.

"We really shouldn't be discussing this right now." T.K. said, and started his engine, and he began driving off right away. The entire time that he was driving off, he was looking at the cameras, hoping that nobody saw what Gabe had brought out.

"For the love of god, please be more careful when you bring that shit out. People have died over something like this. I understand how much it might bring you excitement to know that these things are true. But this is something that is way beyond your comprehension. And I understand that isn't what you want to hear. But it's true." T.K. said, and then he was parking in a random parking lot with no cars.

"So are all the stories about Gumball true?" After Rob asked him this, that was when T.K. was slowly figuring that there was no point in even lying all that much. After all, he wanted to build trust with Gabe a bit if this was the situation he was in.

"Yeah, they are. Every single one of them. He really was the best one of us all, and as a result, he was the one that fell the hardest. Out of the things that I gotten involved with, all the stuff about Gumball was the one that I regret the second most." T.K. said, feeling that he needed to be honest with him.

"What did you regret the most?" After Gabe asked him this, T.K. was thinking for a few seconds, and he was feeling that maybe Gabe did deserve to know more. Not because of the fact that he trusted him. But because he didn't want Gabe to follow down the same path that he had earlier.

"Well, it was in the mid to late 2000's when things really started to go down hill. If you know of a man named Heinz Doofensmertz, he had taken over the science facility in 1987. And the man turned out to be far worse than even Kenta had ended up being, and he quickly became the top priority of everything that I had been trying to accomplish." After T.K. said that to Gabe, he was thinking of what else to say.

"I was in my early thirties at that point. Not exactly old obviously, but I was definitely beyond my prime, and I was feeling that I was too old for something like this. Fighting around and trying to be a warrior." T.K. said, feeling that if he was opening up like this to Gabe, then he needed to tell his wife.

"Some people I knew I grew to trust to take care of things for me. But they ended up dying as a result of this. When I realized how much my operation had been botched, I decided that it was best for everybody around me that I just leave this whole thing behind." T.K. said, feeling that maybe by leaving it at that, Gabe would be satisfied enough to let it go.

"And I just feel like you guys deserve better than to be picking up after my mess. The mess that I shouldn't have ever created. And I feel like that is the reason why your father doesn't like me, or want to work with me at all." T.K. said, and then he was shaking his head.

"So you are just trying to protect everybody around you? Are you sure that this is the best way to do it? I mean, for gods sake, you are basically trying to just pretend like nothing ever happened. I think even you realize that something like this is a bad fucking idea." After he was saying this, T.K. was feeling like he was not going to make this work.

"I want to tell the people that are closest to me everything that I know. I only have told a couple of people. I just know that if I tell people everything, then the moment they know, they are put into danger as well. And I feel like I can never do something like that to them." After Gabe said that to him, T.K. sighed.

"Telling anybody is going to be a hard task. It is something that you are going to have to think deeply about. Even beyond the danger thing, you are basically giving them a bunch of information that is really sensitive." After T.K. was saying that to Gabe, there was a moment of uncertainty.

"But I feel like maybe if they know the truth, then they might be able to be prepared for it better. Prepared for all the bullshit that is going on in Wayside." Gabe was saying, and then with that, he was thinking about what to do now.

Before they were able to talk any further, that was when he got a email notification. T.K. opened up his phone, and saw that Izzy had contacted him due to the project that T.K. had been working on.

"I should get going. It seems like you have some work to do." After Gabe was telling him this, that was when T.K. was slowly nodding, wondering if this was something he really was ready for at all.

"Yeah. Just take what I said into consideration. You're eighteen. I can't tell you what to do with your time or your knowledge. Just at least try and make sure that when you do something, you know full well what you are getting into." After T.K. said this to him, he was wondering if Gabe would at least consider what he was saying.

"Yeah. Sure. Thanks for telling me a little bit." Gabe said, and then he was getting out of the car, and then he was heading away, and then T.K. was opening up to see the new message that Izzy had given him.

The email read: I think you are doing something really smart for us. I feel like this can finally bring us some closure. Thanks for doing this. Here is some of the details that I have. Make sure that you put the information to good use.

---

Chapter 1 Episode 5: It All Seemed Harmless (Izzy's POV)

Scene 1: First Day of Summer

It was the last day of the school year, and despite the fact that I had never hated school as much as the average person, I will admit with each passing year, I had been getting increasingly fed up with it. I had become more and more just sick and tired of everything that was going on around me.

But to be honest, I was thinking that when summer would come around, it was going to be even worse. Because at least during the school year, I could pretend like I was doing something productive, and something that sort of mattered. But when I was stuck here, at the house, I felt like I was wasting every moment of my life.

I was looking around, and I was seeing everybody going home, and they were all hanging out with their friends, and I was feeling really fucking just lost when I was seeing them all having the time of their lives. And to be honest, seeing that just kind of made me wonder why I even tried to be thinking about it.

As I had been thinking about this a while longer, I was sighing, and just decided to head on home, and not be thinking more on it. If I did, I was going to be feeling even worse, and everybody was going to be starting to notice that I was getting in the way of everybody.

The longer that I had been heading down, I was wondering if I was going to be doing something like a project during my summer. Or if I was going to once again get myself in the illusion of being productive, and then just quit after a few days, because I was just going to lose all interest in the subject.

Eventually, I was in my house, and I was putting my back pack down. I was going in my room, thinking about how if there was one thing that I could enjoy, it was that I could enjoy not having to do homework for a few months. Because in all honesty, I had felt like that was just a minor waste of time since half the time it wasn't even hard.

As I sat down on my bed, my younger sister called out to me, and I looked up at her. I was sighing, wondering what she was going to be telling me. "So Izzy, how has everything been?" She asked me, and then I was sighing, wishing that she would just kind of leave me alone for a second.

"Alright honestly. Nothing really to do though, and that is fine enough." I said, and then I was shrugging, and laid down on the bed as well. My sister was looking at me for a second, as if wishing to find something to tell me. "Besides, it's not like there is a while lot for me to be doing here."

"Why not try and make some friends? You know, I think that you would be doing a whole lot better with some friends." After she had said that to me, I was looking at her, and I was wondering why she was telling me this, and why she always cared if I was going out and having social activities or not. I mean, it was really not a big deal at all.

"I am not worried about it. I really have no idea why you always try and get me to make some all the time. I mean, it really is not a big deal at all. Although I guess that it could make the summer a bit less boring." I said, wishing that maybe I had put that into consideration the first time.

"Just go out, and get to know some people. Even if they do not like you, or vice versa, as long as you at least try something out first, then everything is going to be fine. At least you can say that you tried." After she was telling me this, I was nodding for a bit, and I was thinking that she did not need to be telling me this over and over again.

"Who the fucking hell would I even be able to talk with? I mean, let's be honest here... We really have nothing to do. Seriously though, I just think that finding somebody is going to be the hardest part of this whole thing." I was sighing, and I was well aware of the fact that in a way, I was just making excuses.

"Just go out, and try it. I am sure that you will find somebody your age. I did that when I went to school." She said, making it very clear once again that she was much more of a social butterfly than I was. But the difference between her and I was that she was eight, so it was much easier for her to get attached to people than it was for me.

"If it will make you give me a break, then I will do it." I said, feeling that if I just went with what she was saying, then I could just be fine and better when she was gone. So with that, I stood up, and just sighed for a moment. Feeling that there was really no other reason to worry over something like this.

She was smiling as she was looking at me, and I was standing up, just shaking my head. I wondered why I was always doing something like this, and why I even cared what she was trying to accomplish here. Since in all honesty, I had thought that she was having some form of ulterior motive for this.

I eventually got out of the room, and I was wondering if my sister was even going to be really seeing it from my way. But as I was going to the front door, I was feeling that I could at least try and get her to see what I had been feeling.

"Most of those people are not big fans of me. Many of them use any excuse that they can find to be making fun of my interests. It is something that I am not really going to have a easy time over looking." I said, and then I was shrugging, and I was looking at her, wondering if she was going to say much.

"But not everybody is like that. You will find somebody who will like you if you tried hard enough. Just check and see what everybody else thinks here, and you will eventually find somebody." After she had said that to me, I was really wishing that I could see her perspective. I wanted to see what she was meaning. But it was just fucking impossible to really be doing so.

"Don't you think it would be odd if people suddenly start to pretend like they want to be friends with me now of all times? I think that we just got to be realistic, and say that such a thing is not going to happen." I said, and I was feeling that my sister was never going to be seeing it my way. So I was feeling like I was just wasting my fucking time by even bringing this up in the first place.

"You are not giving yourself enough credit. You're a smart guy. Some people are going to be liking this, and some people will be seeing that you are doing really well on your own." After she was telling me this, I was feeling that the longer that we had talked about this, the more convinced that I was getting that this was going to be a horrible fucking idea.

"If you say so. I guess that I will just see what is to come out of it." I said, and then after I was saying this, there was something that I was saying in my mind that I was not wanting to be saying: 'What the hell does she even want with this? It is not like what I am doing is making any fucking difference to her.'

With that, I walked out of the house, and I was feeling that if for nothing else, she was probably right. There was nothing too horribly wrong with just trying to make this work out. Maybe if I just tried, and if I failed, then I guess that I will be able to say that everything was all fine. I would say that it just wasn't meant to be.

I walked along, and I was seeing people already enjoying their summer, or if the case of seniors, people celebrating the end of their school life. As if this was the greatest moment that they will ever have in their entire life. And I suppose that it probably was. Just getting this whole thing over with.

Eventually, I was seeing the guy with the eye patch down at the skate park. I was wondering what the hell this man was doing skating along still when he had gone blind in one eye as a result of this shit. I mean, I feel like he was fitting the literal definition of insanity. But despite that, there was something that interested me about him.

I walked on over there, and I was feeling that I might just ask him the question that was on my mind, and see what he had to say. And if he was going to tell me had no interest in the subject, then I was going to be leaving him alone. But if he wanted to talk, then I would be more than willing to do it.

"Hey, why are you still doing that stuff if it was responsible for such a bad injury on your eyes?" I asked, and then I was looking at him. Rob looked up at me, and I was seeing that as much as he was not wanting to say it, due to fear of coming off as rude, he just shrugged, and decided not to really say much here.

"Because it's fun. I just take it more carefully, and I don't really do tricks anymore. My parents have given up on the idea of me not doing this stuff. As if they are aware that I am going to just keep doing whatever I want, so they probably just hope that I keep my other body parts safe." He was saying, and despite what he had been saying, there was a small part of me that was respecting what he had been saying.

"I guess that something like that does make some sense. I mean, I do have some hobbies that I would do that for myself." I said, although I hardly wanted to admit it. Since it just felt so fucking wrong when I had been telling him this.

"See. So you do get it. Besides, it's not like I am doing anything to other people. I am just doing what I want to for my own sake, and I have a full summer to just get better at it." Rob was telling me, and then he was sitting down on the board. As he did that, that was when I was wanting to say more.

"I mean, I just think that everybody has that thing that would be worth it all for them. But that all being said, I just hardly even understand why some people take these things so fucking seriously. I mean, it is not like what we do is anybodys business. But the way that everybody talks about it, they make it seem like it is a fucking crime to just have things you are interested in." I said, and I was wondering if Rob was going to try and do a question and answer when we were not talking a bit further.

"So, do you want to go on and meet one of my other friends? I think that it might be kind of fun for you to do so." After Rob had told me this, I was looking at him, and I was feeling that this was going to be a rather strange event. And one that I was not really sure if I was ready for.

"Would you be willing to just slowly ease me into it? Like one person at a time." I said, and then I was seeing him consider what I had said. As if thinking that it was off that I was saying this. But then with that, he was shrugging, as if thinking that it was none of his business what I had felt.

"Yeah, I guess that we can fucking do that." Rob said, and I was seeing that he was looking really unsure if this was what something that he was wanting to do. So with that, Rob was starting to stand up, and he was looking like he had considered what I had been saying.

"I will introduce you to Rachel first. I think that she will be needing a new friend." After he was telling me this, I was shrugging, and I was having no idea who this Rachel was, but I was willing to take his word for it. If he had been feeling that it was for the best to start with her, then I would just sort of see what to get out of this.

As Rob picked up his board, I was wondering what it was going to be like I were to try and skate around a bit once or twice in my life. I was walking along, and Rob was scared to really try and get to have a conversation with me. As if this whole thing was just kind of making him feel a bit bad here.

Despite what I was not wanting to say, I will admit that a small part of me was wondering if perhaps my sister was right. That not only was this not hard, but that maybe this was going to be fucking worth it. So with that, I was just slowly relaxing a bit, and I was having nothing to really be worried about.

"I wish that maybe when this is done, I will talk to my family about you. See if they might be willing to meet you." I said, and then I was looking at him, and I was seeing him looking like he was just relatively unsure of what he was getting himself into. But for now, I was just needing to focus on getting through this meet up with Rachel.

Scene 2: Rachel Wilson

Eventually, Rob was leading me closer and closer to the Wilson mansion, and I was feeling that he was being utterly insane for wanting me to go there. I was thinking that I had done nothing to earn the right going in there. I looked at him, wishing that I could express what I had been feeling here.

I wanted to just go along for the ride though, a small part of me wondering if this was a set up, in order to be making a giant fucking joke out of me. That this was just something that both Rob and Rachel were going to be laughing at when it was all said and done. I shook my head, and told myself not to think about it.

"Are you sure that they would want to be seeing me though?" I asked, trying to paint it off as a more of a curious type of comment. When he was looking at me, he was feeling like I just needed to not take this whole thing so seriously. I was sighing, wishing that I had more to be going off of here.

"You never know unless if you try it." He said, and then we were eventually reaching the mansion, and to be honest, that type of comment did not give me any form of comfort. But then again, I was just thinking that Rob was just wanting to have an excuse to be hanging out with Rachel perhaps.

"That leaves me feeling a whole lot better." I said, trying to be funny as we were near the mansion entrance. Rob was sighing, as if feeling like he was unable to believe that we were going to be having this discussion. But he just glanced at me right in the eyes, with a super serious look in them.

"Just as long as you keep her missing cousin out of it, and just basically pretend like that is not even a thing, she will be fine with getting to know you. Trust me, if she was not, then she would have never wanted to talk to me either." He said, and then I was sighing, and I had almost completely forgotten about that.

"Oh yeah, I had honestly forgotten about that. I didn't really think that this was with her though." I said, trying to pretend like I knew better. But then again, I was just wanting to get this whole thing over with. I was just wanting to focus on getting this conversation done with for my own sake.

"Yeah, like I said, just keep her out of it. If you do that, and you are reasonably polite, she will not be holding too much against you." After he had said that to me, I nodded. And I was not wanting to hold this situation up any longer. I didn't want to do this, but now that I was here, maybe just getting it over with would be better.

Eventually, Rob knocked on the door, and despite the fact that I was not really wanting to do this, I was thinking that as long as I was calm and composed, then nothing else was going to matter. I just was needing to keep what Rob said in mind. After all, I had no knowledge of that subject, so it was not mine to talk about anyways.

Eventually, Rachel was out of the house, and she looked at me, as if wondering what the fucking hell I was doing with Rob in her house. I was sighing, and I was wishing that I had never had to do this. "When did you start to get to know Izzy?" She asked, and Rob was sighing, and shrugged at this.

"About twenty minutes ago." Rob said, and he was sounding kind of embarassed as he was saying this. As if he was saying some stupid and silly confession. I was shaking my head, and I was feeling like I had already just made a really big mistake by doing this, so I was starting to walk away.

"Never mind. This is way in over our heads. I doubt we should be doing this right now." I said, and was waving my hands down, and was starting to walk off, and then Rachel called out to me. I was taking a deep breath, and I was looking back, and wondering what she was wanting to say now.

"I never meant anything by it. I was just wanting to know a simple answer. I was not expecting it was all." She said, and I looked over at her, and I was seeing the look on her face. She seemed to be sincere enough. And when I was seeing the look on her face, I was sighing and wondered what else to say.

"Yeah, Rob and I were hanging out, and he was thinking that it was a good idea to introduce me to his friends, and he was saying that you would be a good starting point." I said, and then I looked at her, and I was seeing that Rachel was looking a bit uncertain of what to be thinking of this, but decided to stay quiet for now.

"Okay, that was all that we needed to say." After Rachel was saying this, she shrugged, as if thinking that I was being a bit silly to be so worried over something like this. I was sighing, and I was thinking that if they had known the truth, then they would be far less laughing in my face about it.

"Anyways, so what are we going to be doing now? I mean, you probably want to get to know me a bit before fully comitting to this." After I said this, I was looking at them, and I was seeing that neither Rob nor Rachel really had much to be saying to that, as if thinking that there was really no reason to be arguing with that quite yet.

"Yeah, I think that maybe we should just get to talk for a bit. So, do you have anybody that you were planning on hanging out with to start the summer? You know, before I ran into you?" Rob asked, feeling slightly guilty as he was asking this. I looked at him, and I was feeling that this was slightly less bad for him if he had known the truth.

"No, I have nobody that I really fucking hang out with. Honestly, I have a really fucking boring life. But that is something that I have gotten used to, as much as I hate to admit it." I said, and then I looked at him, and I was thinking of a way to put a better spin on this, to make him really understand that I didn't mind.

"So in a way, I guess that doing this is kind of a favor. After all, this is technically at least something for me to do, and I have no real reason to be turning it down." I was saying, wishing to keep him feeling like there was nothing wrong with what he was doing. He looked slightly more calm.

"If you say so, I guess that maybe we can go along with it. Anyways, why did you decide to introduce me to him first?" Rachel asked, and I wad feeling that this was a good enough question, and I looked right at Rob, and he was shrugging, as if thinking nothing of it.

"Because I honestly thought that after everything that happened with your family, that you needed to have a new friend. I just wanted to do what I was feeling would be right." Rob said, and then he shrugged, as if thinking that he was going to be getting her appreciation as a result.

"I appreciate the thought." She said, and then looked at me, and I was seeing that she was at least considering what Rob had told her. Probably was not in love with the fact that he was relatively making assumptions behind her back. But at the same time, in the context, she did not blame him too bad.

"Honestly, I need to just try and do something more important with my life myself. I have no bonds, and people barely even know me. I could fucking die today, and nobody would fucking care." I said, and then I looked right at them, and I was wondering if Rob or Rachel were going to somehow pretend like they were going to be able to change my mind on that statement.

"Did your parents put you up to it?" Rob asked, and then I was laughing, and I was feeling that after he told me this, I would just tell him the truth, and then we could all get a good laugh at it. Now it was kind of funny, when I was no longer dealing with my younger sister being a fucking know it all.

"Honestly, it was my younger sister, as silly as that might be sounding." I said, and then I was looking at them, and neither of them were really looking like they had much to be saying here. "Yeah, I know how silly it fucking sounds that she was basically forcing me to do something."

"Who is willing to bet that it is some way to make her more pipular when school comes back up? You know, the fact that she would be having the cool older brother. Tobias tried to do something relatively similar when he was probably her age. Just reversed genders obviously." Rachel said, and then I was shrugging, since the age gap with those two was much closer than the one my sister and I had.

"I honestly have no idea if that is it. To be honest, I feel like there is something else to it. But I have no idea what the hell to do with her. I just feel like most of the time, I just got to play along with what she is saying, and make it seem like nothing matters." I said, and then I was sighing, and I was feeling that maybe when this summer was over, I would see what her true motives were.

"Well, now that you are here, do you think that you might wat to try and make the most of it?" She asked me, and then I was sighing, and now that we were talking, I was thinking that I was just needing to make her feel at least a little bit better.

"I guess that I can. But do you even have anything that I might have a small interest in?" I asked, and then looked at both Rob and Rachel, and neither of them were looking like they had much to say to that idea. As if feeling like I needed to be giving them more to be working with.

"Well, I think that you might be more interested in just talking to my younger brother. But he can be a bit annoying, and he is always out hanging out with other people anyways. So I think that even if that theory were to be true, you might as well just pass the idea up." After she was telling me this, I was sighing, and had nothing else to say.

"Well, I think that even if he were in the picture, I would not want to be doing anything like that. I just think that it would be kind of silly to be talking to him after all." I said, and then I was shrugging, trying hard to not be sounding like a asshole when I was saying this. But at the same time, I hardly cared.

"Let's just get out of this area, and we can find something in town that we have more in common with if we tried." Rob said, and then I was slowly nodding, feeling that I might as well just go along with that idea, and with that, Rachel seemed to be fine with this, and nodded.

Scene 3: The Internship

I had gotten home that day, and I was looking in my room. I was so happy to be seeing that my sister was asleep, and I was feeling that with her not in the picture, I would not have to deal with her trying to get to know the details. Which was going to be beyond annoying if she was going to try that in all honesty.

Now that I was alone, I was sitting down on my chair, feeling that if I was wanting to do something productive so fucking badly, I would go on and just work on it during nights, and maybe just work on it for most of the summer if neither Rob or Rachel were really wanting to talk with me.

I opened up the laptop that I was working on, and I was just wondering if there was going to be any messages that I would need to be looking at. When it was summer, the weekend, or even after my homework on the school days, I would check my emails every ten to fifteen minutes. But now, if I was going to be busy all day, then I might only need to be checking it once every night before I ended up heading to bed.

When I had finished starting it up, I went right to my email, and started to look at it for a few seconds. The third message down was one that I was wanting to hear. Not because I was expecting it, but because seeing it showed that I was going to truly be doing something else with my life.

"Hello Izzy, I had gotten the email of one of your teachers relating to contacting you. My name is Kenta Kitagawa, and I am the head scientist of Lazarus Coporation. I want to work with you on finding a internship that you would probably appreciate." The email started, and I was now in total excitement as I was going.

"I read your paper on the theory of alternate universes and dimensions. While I do not agree with everything that you said in your paper, I do think you had a lot of great points, and I think that for a man of your age, you really are onto a great starting point. I was hoping that we would meet up tomorrow night, and discuss further work with each other. If you do not answer or see me tomorrow night, I will take that as a refusal." After reading this, I looked at the time stamp.

I was shaking my head when I realized that he had sent it while I was hanging out with Rob and Rachel, and that I was going to have to see him in the next twenty four hours if I was wanting a chance to be able to make this work. With that in mind, I was sighing, and I just really wanting to see what this man was wanting to tell me. Or if the internship had anything to do with that paper I wrote last minute to make sure I was not late for a paper.

When I went to bed, I just moved on for the rest of the night, and then I would just try and make things just seem a little bit better. And I was sleeping without any issue, and I was wishing that whatever I could have done with my life now, it was not going to be getting in the way of my projects. Which were the only things I truly cared for.

The next day, I woke up, and I was feeling that I might as well meet up with Kenta, and discuss his internship, and see what I would really be getting out of this. In all honesty, I was feeling that this could have been a bad idea. But at the same time, I was thinking that maybe my mind was just telling me that I wasn't worth it.

As I was heading off, I was hearing my sister calling out to me. I looked over at her, and I was wondering what she was wanting to tell me. "Did you end up following my advice that I had given you?" She asked, and I was sighing, wondering what type of advice she was talking about. Or if she was giving herself more credit than she deserved.

"I mean, I did go on and meet a couple of people. I have no idea if they are going to want to hang out with me long term. But I guess that I do see what you are meaning when you say that it is going to be worth the idea of just looking around, and trying to find something worth while." I said, and I shrugged, wishing that I could just get a move on here.

"You look like there is something you want to talk about?" She asked, and I looked over at her, and I was feeling that if I mentioned the Kenta situation, she would be telling me that I was not really doing a smart move by trying to speak to him. That this internship was going to be a terrible idea.

"Not really. I mean, there is something else that I want to be figuring out. But to be honest, I think that I really have no desire to be talking about it." I said, and then I was shaking my head, and I was wondering if she was going to be forcing this out of me. She was walking a couple of steps closer to me, as if wanting to see something.

"Izzy, do you feel like you need to talk about it with me?" She asked, and then I was shaking my head. This was my younger sister of all people. Why the hell would she be wanting to know more of these things in the first place. And to be honest, I was feeling that she was kind of pushing my patience a bit too much.

"No, I really don't think that I need to be talking to you about this. I just think that in all honesty, I need to be doing these things on my own. And I think that for both of our sakes, it would be best if we just drop the subject with that." I said, and then I was seeing her looking kind of upset as I was telling her.

"Let me know if you end up changing your mind, just let me know what is happening." She said, and then I was sighing, and I was walking out of the house, thinking that she was much too young to understand or care at all what the hell was going on here. I just needed to be doing my own thing.

When I was walking along, I was wondering if I just needed to head on right over to Kenta, and just see what he was wanting to say, or if I was going to be maybe checking up on Rob and Rachel eventually. You know, see what the hell they had been feeling about the prior night. And see if I might be able to connect to them a bit more.

I was walking down for a while, and I was having a feeling that even if I had no interest in getting to know Kenta, he was going to be making my life miserable. And for this reason, I was just needing to see what his offers were, and then see if I had interest or not. I had a feeling he would be far more willing to accept it if I refused outright.

Eventually, I was just thinking that the internship was that I was going to have to listen to him tell me all of his scientific theories, and he was going to be just teaching me a bunch of things. And if that was all that was going to come with it, I would have no desire to be dealing with this.

Once I was at the main building, I was just shaking my head, and I really had no idea what the hell I was going to be doing. I was feeling that it was really no big deal that he was wanting to talk to me, and that I just needed to fucking calm down, and just get it done with.

I eventually took the elevator up to the floor that he was working at, which was only like one or two below the top floor of the building. As I was getting out of the elevator, I was feeling really badly like I was going to be setting myself up for a hazing, and that none of this was actually meant to be done. But I shook my head, and just felt like I needed to do it.

I opened the main door, and I was seeing that a older guy, probably mid sixties, was sitting down on a chair, and I was feeling that when I would speak to him, I would just see what he was wanting out of the internship, and then I would just get this over with. Besides, when I looked at him, and saw how tired and old he was looking, I was feeling that there was nothing he would have done even if he was wanting to.

"I got your email from last night. Saying that you wanted to meet up for a bit." I said, and then I was seeing him looking like he was happier than anything when he was seeing me. Like he had wanted to just hang out for a while, by just getting to really know me. "I was wondering what type of offer you were having, and decided to just drop by."

"I was honestly not expecting you to be coming. Which would have been a bit sad, since I really do want to hang out with you for a bit, and just show my appreciation for everything that you are doing. It is going to be making my job here much easier and will be getting our plans done faster." After he had told me this, I was sighing, and sat down.

"I mean, why not hire somebody who is older, and could actually have more knowledge on how to help you out?" I asked, and then he was sighing, and looked like we just needed to get this done with faster, so that way I would be able to have some form of understanding what he was really getting me through or something.

"Honestly, I think that if I approach a older person, they will not have nearly as much time to learn all I need. Plus they might be using a hollier than thou approach at this. A teenager is young enough to learn everything in good time, but old enough to have a basic understanding of the bigger picture even before starting." He said, and then I was looking at him, utterly confused at this all.

"So you are essentially my age as a fucking weapon? That is a really odd thing to be looking at. But I guess that I will understand later on." I said, and then I was shrugging, and had nothing else to be saying. He was nodding, looking like he was glad to be seeing that at least I understood a basic grasp.

"Yes. It might not be the best thing in the world to admit. But you are correct. And I feel like by talking to you, we might be able to make things work out a whole lot better. The truth is that I am getting too old to continue this, and with each passing year, I need to understand that I might be approaching my last." Kenta said, taking a very serious tone.

"My company and I both have a big ambition of the future. We want to work something out right now. And we are understanding that we really need to just get more progress done with our project. Since it is hitting a really bad stopping point right now." He said, and then he looked right at me, wondering what I could say now.

"Wait, project? What are you talking about?" I asked, hoping that he was not going to be giving me any fucking shit. As he was looking at me, I was seeing him looking like he was just glad to be seeing me willing to be hearing the stories out without any interruption. He was standing up, and I was feeling that I needed to as well.

"We are working on a way to be giving Wayside a better chance to handle future attacks. I know you are probably wondering what I am talking about. But the thing is that there is something that is going to happen. Even if people do not want to admit it, we are not alone." He said, and then I was totally lost on what he was meaning.

"And I want to use your help on getting the town to become more and more like the way that my bosses and I have been planning." After he had told me this, I was nodding along, and I was feeling that I just needed to be listening along, and I was really needing to pretend like this was not bothering me at all.

"How am I going to be helping making Wayside a bigger city that is more prepared for attacks, or whatever." I said, and I was thinking that I just needed to get him to tell me the truth. Kenta looked like he had wanted to never be going down this story so fucking quickly. But he was deciding to just get over it.

"Because if this works out well, then you will be helping me and my part of the company out for the summer, and we will need a extra person there." Kenta was saying, and he was clearly looking like he was wanting to just show me something behind a door. Like he wanted this more than anything else. But then he was shaking his head, as if scared of what we had been getting into with the discussion.

"You are going to know more about Wayside, and you are going to tell me all the intel that I will be needing. This intel is going to be fucking vital to learning more about what the mistakes of Wayside were in the past, and how to fix them in the future." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, having no idea what to say.

"I guess that maybe this seems like a decent enough task. And nothing too hard. Where would you want me to be starting?" I asked, and then Kenta was looking like I was a dog who had been following his orders. And that I was doing everything perfectly. I guess that maybe in a way, he really was looking at me like this.

"I want you to go to a area in the forest of town, at a entrance that is not widely used. My colleagues and I found a building that we feel like needs to be checked into." Kenta was saying to me, and he was looking kind of tired of everything.

"You are going to be looking there, and you are going to be gathering up any knowledge of the building that you can, and you will be returning these new pieces of information to me. That is all that you need to be dealing with in your first contract." After he had said that to me, I was sighing.

"Alright, I will see what I can find." I said, entirely unsure of what the hell I was going to be accomplishing by saying any of this. I was seeing that Kenta was just looking more and more like I had been saving everything about this research by just simply agreeing with this. That this was all that he had wanted.

"If you do that, just let me know. Come back in three or four days, when you feel like you got everything that you need." After he had said that to me, I was nodding, feeling like that was a fair compromise. And with that, I was walking along, and I had felt like there was nothing else to be saying here.

Eventually, I was feeling like I might as well see what Rob might say if I try and speak to him. Maybe by speaking to him, I would see if Rob had anything that he would like to say relating to the contract. Or if he was even giving a shit at all. I was thinking that there must have surely been some form of a reaction that he was going to find.

I hoped that Rob and Rachel were going to be able to actually have something to say to this, or that they were going to be pretending to actually show a minor form of interest in any of this. I was looking around, and I was seeing the skating park's direction, and I was feeling that I needed to just check this out.

I was thinking that by starting with Rob, if there was something that was going on that was going to be a real issue, then Rachel was never going to have to hear what the possible issues were. I was honestly scared of what Rachel would have said if she was going to be knowing the truth. If she was going to somehow blame Lazarus.

Eventually, I got back to the skating park, and I was seeing him there once again. I saw him looking exhausted. And I was feeling like maybe I just needed to not tell him the truth. But despite my feelings of uncertainty, I just walked up to him, and felt that I might as well just see if I could try and make the situation slightly less bad for him.

"Hey, are you doing alright?" I asked and then he looked at me for a second, and I was seeing that he was looking rather unsure of what to be telling me. He shrugged, as if thinking that a casual response was all that he was really going to be able to give me.

"Honestly, not really. I feel like I might have made a really bad mistake a few days ago. Hearing about Andrea, and pretending like nothing is fucking happening at all." After he was telling me this, I was nodding, with the memory of the most recent person to go missing in my mind, and I was feeling that I just needed to try and see what he was feeling.

"Do you think that Rachel is going to need you to just be there for her? Just to make sure that she knows that somebody cares for her?" I asked, and then I was looking at him, hoping that one way or another, the answer he was going to give me would be making some fucking sense.

"I don't know if that is what she needs. But that is what she will be wanting. I am not dumb and I know what she will be wanting. I have had a crush on her for fucking months. I know how she is like." He was telling me, and then he shrugged at that idea. I was nodding, and smiled at the fact that I knew a bit more about him than I did last night.

"Anyways, you must have come here for a reason. Do you want to let me know what it is?" He asked, and to be honest, in that moment, I had no idea if that was what I was wanting. But I knew that it was what I had needed. And that was what I was going to go off of here.

"Yeah, I forgot about that for a second. Anyways, so I was wanting to tell you about a work chance that I was having. And I was feeling for some reason that you might be the best person to talk to about this." I said, and then I was looking at him, and he was just now looking like he had no idea what the hell this was going to be amounting to at all.

"Alright, what are you needing to tell me?" He asked, and then I was sighing for a little bit, and I was just feeling glad to be knowing that he was willing to give me a chance here. I was thinking that I just needed to run with what I was having.

"The scientist Kenta Kitagawa told me that he needed me to check some things out. To basically play detective if you will. And now that I am here, I feel like I want to do it. But at the same time, I feel like a small part of this might be a bad idea." After I told him this, he looked like he was just kind of confused now.

As we were talking about that, this was when the grinding noise mention much earlier had gone off. As I was hearing this, I looked at Rob, and he was looking like he was sick and tired of hearing these noises. In all honesty, there was no way in hell that I was able to feel differently about the way that he was hearing this. Despite hearing this, I was sitting down, and had nothing to say now.

"God damn, if helping him is going to be a way to be making sure that these grinding noises is at least toned down, then I am more than willing to deal with his internship." I was saying, having nothing to really go forward with the discussion on. Eventually Rob was looking at me, but had something that was kind of bothering him a bit.

"I think that whoever is related to that girl just needs to be enjoying the last couple of days that they are going to be having with her. As fucked up as it is to say, I have nothing to say about it." After he was telling me this, he stood up, and looked like he was wanting to just get this over with.

"Damn, I never thought I would be hearing you say something like that. But I guess that there is nothing else that I can do about it after all. Let's just fucking get this done with though. I think that maybe we just need to make sure that if for nothing else, we need to make sure that Rachel is going to be handling this fairly well." I said, and I was having no idea why I had said that when I thought on it a bit.

"I don't really know what investment Rachel will have with that girl. But maybe I am not going to understand her yet, with everything that is going on. But I have nothing else to say about it." Rob was saying, and he was picking up his board, and he was having nothing that he wanted to say any further.

"Do you want to talk for a while longer?" I asked, hoping that he would have something for me now. I was hoping that if for nothing else, I could just talk to him about this fucking town, and maybe just get to see what his whole perspective would have been. That was all that I had wanted from him.

"Yeah sure, besides it could give me a chance to really think about what I will say to Rachel when we talk for a bit." Rob said, and I was starting to feel a bit better about this, and I was feeling that whatever we were going to discuss with this town, it would be better to just have him at my side, and we could make something work out just fine enough.

Scene 4: The Old Chateau

That next day, I ended up going to that building, and I was feeling that once I was ready to be heading out to getting through this, I walked right inside, and I had nothing else that I could have been saying now. As I was inside, I was shocked at how relatively well conditioned the area really was. It just felt wrong seeing this.

I was shaking my head, and to be honest, I was feeling like there was nothing else that I could have done to make this whole thing work out. I was thinking that this was going to be a totally petty job, and he was just sending me to do it because he was not wanting to deal with anything like this for his actual employees into.

I walked up the stairs, and for some reason, the whole story was seeming totally wrong. I was just having a fucking impossible time really buying something like this. I was thinking that whatever the hell these men wanted, I just needed to give it to them before I learned too much about Wayside.

I was slightly interested in knowing the towns history. But at the same time, I was feeling that if it was at the expense of helping the people of Lazarus, or forcing myself to be wasting my summer away, I was thinking that this was going to be a horrible idea, and I was hating this whole thing.

As I was on top of the stairs, I was seeing a bunch of rooms that I could be looking at. I was walking in the room to my right, and when I was looking around, I was kind of let down at how little there really was in the area. Just a bunch of books, with nothing else to be getting here.

I placed my hand on one of the books, for some reason gathering a small interest in what I was seeing here. I was thinking that maybe reading about what these people has as books, I might be able to make some fucking sense out of this. I was looking along, and saw that most of the stuff in this one was really hard to read. Although it was obvious that it was a journal, and the '12' at the top made me think that this was the twelfth one.

Eventually, I was figuring that I would tell Kenta when I would evaluate with him, that there were at least twelve loose journals in there, and that maybe he needed to just check them all out. I was feeling that maybe by letting him know that, he would have a chance to see what these people were always feelings.

Once I was out of that room, feeling that there was nothing else to say, I walked into the other rooms, and I was seeing that there was a giant light blaring under one of the door ways. Confused at what this would have been, I figured that I would just go on and give it a check. So with that, I walked into that room, wondering what I would find.

Once I was in the room, I was seeing that it was a television that had not been turned off after all of this time. That was something that shocked me more than I could have ever understood. So with that, I was sitting down, and I was staring at the screen, wondering what I could have said if I had known any better.

As I was staring at it though, for some reason, I was seeing something. Or I thought that I was seeing something appear on the screen for a few seconds, and it was constantly fading in and out, and I was just wondering what I could have been able to really find here.

When I had been staring at the static screen, I was seeing people in the vision, and I was seeing that these people looked like they were trying to hide from something. With that grinding sound going off as a extra sound effect, and I was seeing that the older one of the two, a male, was carrying the younger woman by her arm as he was running. The man looked like he was twenty two to twenty four. The female looked like she was only a few weeks older than eighteen.

I was confused at what I was seeing, and I was seeing that the man had looked slightly familiar. I could not place it, but I could have swore that this man was a guy who worked at one of the gas stations. A cigarette going down, and I was seeing that in one of his pockets, there was a gun holstered in, and I was wondering who had fought in order to save this person.

As I was seeing this, he was eventually forced to stop when a car was pulling up, and a man was getting out of the car. He had a suit on, and he was throwing his glasses down on the ground, stomping on them for extra effect, and then the guy who had been running still refused to let the girl go, but he was still holding her.

With that, the man who was holding the girl was taking out the gun, and then he aimed it at the man who stomped his glasses. The man who stomped his glasses took out a gun of his own, and blasted the woman's head off, and half her face was nothing more than intestines before shooting the older guy seven times in the chest.

Before the man who was shot in the chest would go down, he ended up shooting the glasses guy twice in the neck, killing him as well. All three of them were on the ground, two of them clearly dead. I had no idea about the guy who was shot several times though. He had to have been dead. But I could have swore I saw him around town as well.

When I was done watching that, I ended up just getting up, and I didn't do anythin crazy like running out of the room screaming with all my innocece lost. But I did certainly have a different idea on what I was feeling I needed to be getting ready for. I was seeing things that in all honesty, I never wanted to see.

It was one thing watching people die in a movie or something. But to see it happen in real time was much different. Watching three peopledie in front of me, in such a casual way, to show that this been recorded, was something that was a bit creepy to me. And something that made me wonder if Kenta even wanted.

I was out of the room, and I had felt like I would just continue along, and find something else that I could be doing. I was seeing another room near by, so I decided to just go on and check that out for a bit, and see what I might find if I was more careful. But as I was inside of the room, something else was actually scaring me this time.

I saw a younger girl sitting down on her floor, playing with toys, and she was looking like she was very calm and blissful. I was walking to her, wondering if I could get her thoughts on what had been happening. Maybe she would actually have something to tell me to get me to understand the town.

When I was closer to her, I was seeing her looking up at me, and I was holding my hand out, feeling that for some reason, Ijust needed to see if she was actually here or not. For some reason, it did not feel real to me. Seeing her like this, and I was wanting to see what she was feeling.

She was deciding to go along with this, and held up her hand, and she was touching me for a moment. But I was seeing her hand going through mine, and when I had seen this, I was seeingthat she was looking sad. I was aware right then and there that she was a ghost or something. Or something that I was imagining.

This time I really did run out of the room, and then I was going to the room at the end of the hall. If ghosts were real, then I was going to just hide here for a while. I was going to just pretend that I was going to be safe in here, and that nothing was happening. I was going to just forget that I saw anything like this.

I eventually closed the door once I was inside, and then I was walking along, and sat down on a chair, and I was thinking that I might as well just go on and take a moment to see what the things in the house were really life. Since nothing else mattered.

Once I was opening up the drawers of the table, I was seeing a bunch of files, and I was just wanting to find something that could give me some fucking idea on what the hell we were getting ourselves into. I needed to know why Kenta cared so much about this creepy ass place, and I was just feeling that whatever his plans were, I needed to see if I was going to be getting myself in danger.

When I opened one of the books, I was seeing that it was a file book, detailing a bunch of transactions from the past. Most of these were from a few years ago, and I was seeing that there were the names of several missing people in the town. And when I was seeing their names, I also saw numbers under them. I saw that there were probably thirty names on these

One that was usually four or five figures, and then one next to the name that always had two digits. Usually between 13 and 20, with 15 being the most common. The lowest was a single representative of 11, and the highest being two showings of 26.

It did not take a genius to figure out that the two figures next to the names were the ages of these people. Although it was getting me a bit disturbed that most of these were around my age, give or take a year when they vanished. I was thinking that whatever was going on here needed to be shown to Kenta, since his company would want to know this possible evidence.

As I was looking at this, I was looking at a couple of other names, and I was just seeing that one of them was a name that I had never wanted to see in my life. A name that was going to be adding a whole different level of confusion, and urgencey going forward.

I saw my fathers name on a couple of pages on here. I was seeing that when his name would show up, another name of one of the missing girls was on here as well. And I knew that despite everything, I needed this with me, and that I was needing to show people that this was the truth as I was putting it in my pocket.

I stood up, and I was staring out the window, and when I looked, I was seeing that therewas a small path down to my right. I was thinking that I needed to just go on and see what this was. Maybe by doing this, I would go on and find out what the hell was actually going on here. I was walking ou of the room, thinking that when I wuld give my report to Kenta, I would just pretend that my father was not on there. As much as I wanted to know more, I did not want him to get in trouble.

Once I was out of the room, my fear of the ghost had mostly died down, and I was remembering that at the end of the day, there was virtually nothing that I could have done about it even if I was going to be confronted with it later. In all honesty, I was just wishing that these people were never going to be asking for all of the details.

As I was walking around, and then eventually, I was seeing that there was one other room that I needed to check out. So with that, despite not wanting to, and feeling that I had not explored everything that I had needed to yet, I would just go on and see what was in here, and then if I felt the need to go on more, then I would check this out on later days.

Once in that room, I was looking at the map that was on the wall. It was a giant map, and I was wondering what the hell I was going to find when I would look around a while longer. So with that, I walked to the map, and I was looking at it. As I was staring at it, I was hearing a voice calling out to me.

As I turned around, I was seeing that there was a man who was wearing brown robes staring at me. But he clearly looked like he was not supposed to be there. Like he was a fucking ghost. "That is the map of Wayside before the operations started. Before the Castle of Cagliostro was destroyed."

Having never heard of it, I was shaking my head, as a wy to show them that it was not ringing a bell. and he was standing for a second, having else to be saying. "What is the Castle of Cagliostro?" I asked, trying to see if this was something that I could be able to tell Izzy. If he would actually understand or have the patience to listen to this.

"It as the central form of all government here before the destruction of the mines. After it was destroyed, everything else slowly started to follow suit." After he had said that to me, I was feeling that I needed to just know more. I was walking to him, and he was starting to walk back.

"If you want to know more, you will have to figure it out yourself." After he had finished telling me this, I was shaking my head, and I was finally feeling like i had totally been lost. And with that in mind, I was just telling myself that I needed to go on and get out of here today. And that I would always just go on and investigate later if it was really so fucking important for me to be talking to Kenta.

Besides, I was wanting to sort of see if Rachel was doing well. I knew that I was going to have no fucking influence on the way that she was feeling. But at the same time, I wanted to see if she was going to have an opinion on the missing girl who was inevtiably vanish in the next couple days.

As I was out of the mansion, I was walking down the street for a while, and I had been thinking about Rachel, and I was just mainly wanting to see if we could really discuss what had happened to her cousin. I know that Rob warned me not to make a fucking story out of it. But in some ways, I was feeling like I was really having no fucking choice. I needed to see if I could have some way to help.

If for nothing else, I think that maybe I needed to just wait for a bit, and maybe give her a few minutes of casual discussion first before I jumped on her, asking her everything that she knew about the town. I was thinking that if I at least tried and keep a open mind to what she was probably feeling, then she would never have a problem telling me the truth.

As I was walking around, I was really hoping that the people in town were not going to go around and ask me what I had been doing. I was just really hoping that they were going to know that I was on my own, and that I was just trying to keep to myself, so that they would never feel like I was just trying to spread my views or shit to anybody.

Eventually, I was at Rachel's house once again, and I was feeling that just talking was all that I wanted. I wanted to just talk, and I wanted to just go on and make this work out as much as possible. I was feeling that whatever the hell Rachel had in store for me, and whatever she had been clearly feeling, I would just give her my all, and I was going to see if she had any real way to voice her true fears and not have it seem like a incoherent babbling.

I knocked on the door rather firmly, and I was kind of hoping that doing that was not going to be startling them too badly. I was sighing in annoyance, and I was just telling myself to calm down. Eventually, Rachel answered the door, and she was looking like she had no real reactions to this.

"Hey, I was not expecting to ever see you here again. You looked like you did not really enjoy these talks." She said, and then I was sighing, and told myself to fucking calm down, and that she was just trying to make small talk. But in all honesty, I was not going to be in love with the idea of people making assumptions on what I was feeling.

"I mean, I am not a social person in all honesty. That is the main reason. I just have a really hard time feeling like I belong anywhere." After I had told her this, I was seeing her looking like she was calming down a bit, and had nothing to say to this. I was just feeling that I needed to do whatever it took to make sure she was not upset with me for whatever reason.

"If you are not a social person, why are you here now?" She asked, and I was seeing that she was just asking in a more uncertain tone. As if just trying to see where were stood. But as I was looking at her, I was feeling uncertain on what the heck I was getting myself into.

"The truth is that I want to just see if you were doing okay. Especially after the grinding noise that we heard last night. I was just wondering if you were going to be holding up well." I said, looking right at her. I saw her looking a bit uncertain on what the heck she was going to say to this.

"I mean, I feel horrible for that person. I really do. But unless if Andrea returns home, or is proven dead, then I can't really find myself caring as much. As horrible as it sounds, when it is not with them, I just have to focus on my own personal issues." After she had told me this, I was sighing, and I wished that she had a better response here.

"Rachel, you do not have to feel horrible about puttng your emotions first. If you were horrible for that, then I think everybody in Wayside would have issues." I said, and then looked at her, wondering what she would have said to thia idea. She just remained silent at this. Then with that, she nodded.

"It is just that everybody wants to play detective. They turn what I have to deal with into a fucking game. They never really care what I believe. They just want to be the one that blows it sky high. It makes me feel like I am fucking stupid for my feelings." She said, and shook her head.

"And nothing is being done. Nobody actually sees the bigger picture. It is like a fucking joke. I hate it" She said, and then after that, she was putting her arms around me, and I was shocked at this, and despite feeling a bit lost on how to handle myself, I just held her back, and let her cry for that bit of time, despite having no idea how to handle it.

Scene 5: Emotional Turmoil

As I was eventually home that day, I was willing to admit that at first, I wanted to never deal with people around me at all. I was letting what was going on with my father getting to me. I mean, I was not going to report him or anything. Since in all honesty, doing something that would almost certain land him in prison, maybe even for life, was something beyond my level of civic duty.

But despite the fact that I would never report him, I was feeling that if he was indirectly responsible for certain things going down, and he had been well aware of them all, then I was really having no idea if I was going to be able to talk to him in the same way ever again. I was feeling that a small part of the trust would be betrayed froever.

But despite that, he was a perfectly normal guy when I was around him, and he never did anything that would remotely show that he was doing these things in his own life. It was something that was pissing me off to think about. I wanted to just stop thinking about it, so would not let the conflicting moral choices get to me any longer.

I went to my room, and I was seeing my parents and sister looking like they were having the time of their life. And for what was one of the hardest things to do in my life, I just ignored them completely. Normally I would at least say hello, or respond with a nonchalant "fine" if they asked how my day was. But I wasn't even going to do that.

With that done, I was in my room, and I was thinking that maybe I just needed to be calmer, and that maybe I just needed to give it a chance. Maybe there really was something that could explain what was happening. You know, maybe he had a good reason to be the way that he was. Maybe he was tied to some investigation with it, and he was a normal guy.

But despite that, I was laying down in my bed, and I was just thinking that I needed to tell Kenta what I found. I had a really bad feeling he was not going to be forgiving me if I ever failed his contracts. I had a feeling if I ever failed him, he would have found a fucking way to be making my life hell.

I went to bed soon afterwards, not even realizing that it was only nine thirty in the evening. It was just not even really a hard day either. I just did not want to be dealing with this at all. And that was something that was becoming more and more clear with each minute. I was feeling that doing this internship was going to be entirely against my best interest.

But at the same time, if this was something I was going to be doing long term, I might as well just make it work. If I needed to fucking just go on and check this place out better soon, and see what I might find, then I was thinking that I might as well just do that and then have the contract done.

The next day, when I woke up, I decided that I was not even going to really bother with my family at all. I was going to go on and I was going to just see what Rob would say if I told him about the stuff that I had found in that building. I was feeling like I needed to leave my father out of it, but in general, I was feeling that the general idea would stay the same.

In all honesty, I was feeling that whatever I was going to be saying to him, he was going to want some proof. He wanted me to show him that I was not lying about what was going on here, but that I was never going to have the answers at all. And in a way, the lack of answers was fucking scary to me.

I eventually reached the skate park again, and found him doing his usual shit. And like the previous time, when I was seeing him, I was considering just leaving him alone. But this time for different reasons entirely. I was feeling that maybe I needed to just let him be, and not be thrusting any more shit at him.

As I was walking off, and just getting ready to be leaving him be, I was hearing his voice calling out to me. I looked up, and I was seeing him finishing up the thing he was doing, before he was walking over to me. And with every step that he was taking, I was getting more and more convinced that he deserved better than to be dealing with me.

"Was there something that was on your mind?" He asked, and then I was sighing, and I knew that I needed to just get this over with. I needed to just get him to understand that I had never intended for any of this to happen. But then I told myself to just be quiet right now.

"I was wanting to talk to you about that internship that I mentioned earlier." I said, and then I saw him looking down, as if kind of shocked that I was bringing him into this. Not upset, just shocked. I was sighing, and I was thinking that the faster that I just got this out of the way, the better it would be.

"I decided to try and take him up on the offer, and when I was down there, I was seeing some really messed up shit, and now I am honestly questioning a lot of what is going on here. Like even more than I normally would." I said, and I was seeing Rob looking like he was just wishing that the hook would be better worth it, since that was a big start.

"I guess that we really should not be talking about this in front of people at the skate park." Rob said, and then I was nodding, thinking that this was a good trade. In fact, if I did come to mention my father, then maybe I wanted Rob to be the only person on the entire planet who was going to be hearing this.

As we were walking along, I was thinking about how to be talking in my most relatively quiet way possible. "So when I was there, I was finding a book that was having the names of many of the missing girls on them. These pages also had a bunch of numbers on them, and then eventually a name of a man on them as well." I said, and then I was thinking that this was a good start.

"Wait a second, are you trying to go on and tell me that this was something that was planned from the start?" Rob was asking, and I was feeling that saying that might be a bit too far. At least for him to hear, and at least for right now. But for the time being, I really had no idea what the hell I was going to be saying in the first place.

"I mean, I guess that it is possible. Not likely, but possible. And I think that something like this is already bad enough." After I was saying this to him, I was seeing Rob looking like he was rather confused and concerned at what he had heard. As if this as the worst thing he would have heard.

"I guess that this is something that we should have expected. But hearing that just makes it all so much worse. Even if there was a small part of me that felt this." After Rob was telling me this, I was seeing that he had looked like he was not wanting to buy into this idea any further.

"I think that there was something that I found in there that scares me even more. Even if it is something that you have no interest on." I said, and then I looked at him, wondering what he would have said to such a lead in. After this, he sighed, and looked like he just wanted to get this over with.

"Yeah, I guess that I can hear it." After he had said that to me, I was thinking about telling him about the one that I had seen in that static television. With the ghost story, there was no way on earth he was going to be giving much of shit. As if finding that to be relative silly.

"Well, I found something on a television. I think that I watched the footage of a murder on that television. It was showing a man leading one of the missing girls out of the forest. They were encountered by a man, who killed the girl, and probably killed the other guy. Then the one with the girl shot the one they ran into on the neck, and killed him. The three bodies were on the ground after this. But I want to know why something like this was never on the news." I said, feeling that this was the thing we needed to know the most.

"So basically you watched a crime scene unfold in front of you eyes, and then nobody did anything about it. I mean, I hate to say it, but I have a feeling that something like this should be expected with these people." Rob was saying, and despite the fact that he was clearly tryng to make it look like it was having no weight on him, he was clearly bothered by the way I talked about it.

"I just think that we got to be much more careful about what we are doing. We have something that clearly wants to hide every working detail that we have, and we need to be more careul about what is ahead of us. Or else all of us are going to die." I said, and then I was angry at this idea. Knowing that we were going to all fail.

"Well, if you think that we are going to be setting ourselves up for failure anyways, then I guess that we just need to fucking accept the fact that we got to find something to do to keep people from knowing that truth." Rob said, and then I looked at him, wondering why he would want to hide that.

"We have the chance to make it known to the fucking town what is happening here. I think we need to just take advantage of it. You know, show the people that we care about that there really is a fucking chance that we could be getting ourselves killed here." I said, and then I looked at him, as if feeling that maybe that last one was a bit too far.

"But Izzy, do you really have any personal stake in such a thing? Or are you just trying to act like a martyr?" After Rob asked me this, I was thinking that on the surface level, that was a perfectly find enough question. And to be honest, I had no idea what to be telling him.

"I don't know. I think it kind of goes all over the fucking place. I want to do what I feel like is right. But at the same time, I feel like what I believe is right is going to be totally fucking different from what everybody else believes." I said, and I was letting a small part of what I was thinking about my father slip into that comment. I hoped beyond god he didn't get it.

"Fair enough. That is basically how Tobias fucking takes it. He acts like he needs to be the hero. But at the same time, shows no way of ever doing it. I think that he just wants to do something that takes away the guilt of Andrea." Rob said, and then I was wincing at her name. I knew nothing of her, and yet it was still getting to me.

"I have no idea how to go at the way that Tobias feels on it. He just has to be fighting his own demons, and he has to do it in a way that he will be prepared for." After I had said that to him, I was feeling that Tobias had a lot of time to be making it work out. He was twelve or thirteen or something like that. He needed to just figure out what was best for himself.

"Well, he is going to be doing his own thing, and I am not even going to try and act like I understand what he is getting himself into." Rob said, shrugging, as if thinking that there was no other way to go at it, and I was slowly nodding at this, and thinking that I wanted to just keep it at that as well.

"Yeah, I think that as long as he is not being dumb about it at least, then we really have no right to be telling him how to do his shit." I said, and then I was shrugging as I was saying this, and I was thinking that we should probably just leave it at that, and not make the discussion any longer or worse.

Scene 6: A Good Afternoon

I was going to go on and check the old cheteau again later that day, or maybe the next day, since I was feeling like I needed to just try and get my mind off of it. I wanted to have another day to think about what to say or do about my dad. But mostly I was just wanting a day for not being worried about anything or anyone.

As I was getting ready to just be spending my day in the way that I normally would, before everything was starting up, when I was hearing a knock on the door. I didn't think much of it, but I was feeling that if there was Kenta there, or a associate of his, that wanted a update, I needed to just let him have it, and then be out with it.

Once I was opening the door, I was seeing that Rachel was there. I was shocked to see her here, and to be honest, I was having no idea what to be telling her. In all honesty, I was just kind of annoyed that she had been wanting to do this in the first place. "Sorry, I was just wanting to check up on you, and I heard this was where you lived."

On one hand, I was kind of pissed that she was doing this, and I was really wishing that she had my permission to be doing this. But at the same time, I was feeling that I just needed to give her a chance. So with that, I was sighing, and told myself to just calm the fucking hell down, and see what she was feeling.

"I just was not expecting it at all." I said, feeling that I might as well be cordial while she was here, since she was the one that did take the time and effort to go on and see me after all. So if I was not going to be doing this, then I was thinking that it was going to be a really big issue here.

"Well, I was just thinking that maybe we could talk about some of the things that we had discussed earlier. You know, before I had my little temper tantrum with you earlier." After she had said that, I was sighing, and i was feeling that she needed to stop saying it like that. She had every right to be feeling the way that she did.

"There was no way in hell you could have known that this was going to be happening. To expect you to be taking it with stride would be a fucking terrible idea." After I was telling her this, I was walking out of the house, and I was having no idea what to be telling her. In all honesty, trying to get her to open up would be impossible.

"I don't even know why I am talking to you about any of these things. I hardly even know who you are." After she had told me this, I was sighing, thinking that maybe she had just said the reason right there, and hardly even realized it. But I figured that I would t least try and mention that idea.

"In all honesty, I think that could be a part of it. Maybe you feel like you could confine with me a bit, and not feel like you are being attacked." I said, and then I was looking at her, and I sighed for a second, and I was really feeling like the idea of anybody trying to be social with me was just going to be a waste of our times.

"I have no idea. I guess that emotions can be complicated to be dealing with. That being said, I do know that for some reason, that talking to you about these is not so bad in my eyes. In all honesty, there is a small part of me that is actually kind of enjoying it." Rachel said, and we were walking down the street at this point, having nobody even aware of what we were discussing.

"Just be careful Izzy. Rob was telling me that you were wanting to work with Kenta Kitagawa for a bit." Rachel said, and then I sighed in annoyance, wishing that we were not going to be bringing this up at all. I looked at her, and wished that I had something to say to make it different.

"I have a chance to do something that I feel like can actually make a difference. I think that his ideas at least are good." I said, and then I was looking at her, and I was seeing that she had no real idea of what to be telling me. As if she was just thinking that she needed to give me a chance.

"If you want to do that, this is your choice, and I am not going to stop you. I just want you to make sure that you do not do something for that company that is going to turn out to be a fucking mistake." After she had said that to me, I was sighing, and I wished that people would let me make my own mind up on things.

"I don't trust the company. I just trust his idea of making Wayside the most advanced place in the country. Something that can actually be ready for what is to come." After I had said that to her, I looked right at her, and she was looking like I said something that was fucking stupid.

"I guess that it is your choice after all. I mean, you are the one who spoke with him. I guess that maybe after what I am dealing with, I just feel like I need to be much more careful with everything that is happening." Rachel said, and I knew that the extra comment that I was going to have was not going to be a really smart one. In fact, somebody was going to be accusing me of being a idiot here.

"I just will have to see later on I guess if it is something that was the correct choice. I mean, he just wants me to learn more things about the town. It seems harmless enough." I said, and then I shrugged, thinking nothing of it, and I was wondering what Rachel would have said to this.

"Yeah, I guess that their is nothing too awful about people learning about the history of the town." After she was telling me this, I was shrugging, and I was just needing to get back to Andrea, before that subject was going to be gone, and I wanted to really see what she would have said.

"Was Andrea really special to you? I know that she was your cousin, but did you guys get along well?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to see what I could have said. Rachel looked at me, and I was seeing that her mind was going through many emotions. Much more than she had wanted to admit.

"I mean, I loved her. She was my cousin, and I wanted what was best for her. But if I was being honest, I don't know much of her. I mean, I tried to get to know her as much as possible. But she was always subdued, and hanging out with Ocho." She said, and then I looked at her, confused beyond belief as to who that even was to begin with.

"So who is Ocho?" I asked, wondering what the fucking hell was going on. She looked at me, and she was shocked to be hearing me saying that. Like she had no idea what to be thinking about the fact that I was just clearly unsure what I was doing.

"He was Andrea's boyfriend. I would not bother trying to reach out to him. He is as good as gone, and I think that any attempts to find him would just be a total waste of time." After she was telling me this, I sighed, and I wished that she had given me a better response. But I was not going to be forcing it, since it was none of my business.

"Shit. I mean, I think that you both need to talk with each other if that is the case. Maybe you guys can come up with something that can help you out." After I told her this, she sighed, but decided to not say anything. As if I was just wasting her fucking time. "But I guess that Ocho is just doing probably whatever he needs to grief on his own."

"Yeah, I guess that maybe you are right. I wish that I could have something for you though. Anyways, Andrea was just always hanging out with him, or other guys. She was the person that was hanging out with Rob before she went missing. I hardly even knew who the guy was back then, and in a way, hardly even cared." She was saying, and I was finding it surprising that she was describing Rob like that. Since I thought that they were really fucking tight, from the way they had been talking.

"I never thought that you would be admitting that you hardly knew Rob at all." I said, and then I was looking at her, and I was seeing her looking like she was actually relatively let down at this whole thing. But I was just really having nothing that I could be saying to make the situation any different.

"Well, I think that the whole missing case with Andrea was the only thing that really brought us together. Before then, he was a friend of Andreas, and somebody I only casually knew. But that is as far as it had gone, and that is fine enough." After she had said that to me, I was seeing her looking like she was kind of feeling let down at the truth.

"And if she had never gone missing, then I think that maybe I would have hardly even cared about his existence in the first place." After he had finished saying this, he looked like he had not wanted to be saying anything else. "But to be honest, I think that if there is one good thing that came out of these cases, then I guess that maybe that is it." After she had said that to me, I was having nothing else to be saying here.

"So I guess that maybe you need to be looking at it all the different ways." I was shrugging, but then there was really nothing else that I could have been doing. But then I was thinking of something that I could have asked, that she was probably not going to be having too much of a issue on.

"What did you think of Rob himself?" I asked, feeling that I might as well just get her honest thoughts on him. He was looking at home, and I was seeing him looking like he had been feeling kind of let down by this. But had nothing really to be saying at all.

"He is a good guy. In all honesty, I think that he is probably one of the very few people that I know who is not stuck up, or caring only about himself. A lot of people I know only looks at what is going to benefit them, and they hardly even care to fucking hide it." She was telling me, and then she looked rather fucking angry at me, and then had nothing else to be saying.

"I think that maybe we all have some really bad trust issues. I mean, Wayside fucking does that." I said, and then I was just mainly trying to make the situation better for her. She looked like she had nothing else to be saying, but then she was looking like she had just kind of stopped wanting to say more. As if there was no reason to.

Scene 7: Contract Report

I felt that it was about time that I got to work before I ended up submitting my information to Kenta. I had a feeling he would not have been a happy camper if I never gave him any form of response. I was thinking that he was going to have a lot of stuff that he would want to tell me once this was all said and done.

Once I was at the mansion again, I was thinking that if for nothing else, I needed to just find everything that I could here. Even if I was not really wanting to waste my time doing anything like this, I needed to just settle down, and really bust out some form of results from him. I would examine every room before I did anything.

I went into the main eating room, and I was seeing a large table that looked like it had not been used in several decades. The food was so moldy that it had basically turned into nothing. I literally wanted to throw up when I was in that area, and I ended up putting a shirt over my nose to give me something.

I went to the main kitchen, and I decided to start to look around, and then I was seeing that there was a small empty container that was in the trash can. As I was seeing this, I instantly got some worry in my eyes.

I pulled it out, and when I was looking at it, I was seeing that it was clearly a vile of poison. As I had stared at that, I was wondering what the hell somebody was doing here. I wondered if everyone who had lived here had been literally murdered because of something like this. I was sighing, and rubbed my eyes at this.

In all honesty, when I had seen that, I was pissed, and I was also disgusted. I had no reason to be the former, and I was feeling that since this place was not my own, I had no real right to be judging what had happened here. But it was just all sitting wrong for me, and I was wanting my fucking answers as soon as possible.

As I was thinking this all over, I decided to just put the vile in a small bag that I brought. I didn't think that I needed it at all, but now that I was having it, I was thinking that I just needed to get this over with. So I put it in my pocket, and I was just now focused on the bigger picture. I now had something that I could for sure report to Kenta at least.

I walked out of the room, shaking my head, and wondered where to be going right now. I was looking at the windows all around me, and while I literally had zero desire in the world to be reading a shit ton of stuff, I was almost feeling like I had no choice on the matter. So with that in mind, I was walking up the stairs, and I was just wanting to be as super thorough as I could possibly get. There was almost nothing else to be doing.

Once I was in that room, I had considered just getting right to work, and reading the whole set of books and journals that were there. But I was feeling that maybe I just needed to see what else was there before I did anything else. I was not really wanting to push it off forever, but I needed to give things a chance first.

So with that, I did go to the log of journals, and I had placed the first one out. I put it on a small table, getting it ready for when I was going to be going back to it later. Thinking that there was no real need to be putting it off forever. As I had done that, I was leaving the room, and getting ready to be dong other things.

As I had left, I had looked into all the other rooms. I was going to start with the one that was on the left side of the one where the television was. I was not going to watch that creepy ass program again if I could help it. But everything else I was feeling at least needed to have some chance of being looked at. So with that, I got ready to just get rolling.

That room was clearly the master room. As I saw the area, I was seeing that it had looked like it had been up and abandoned before anything else. Like the owner knew that something was happening, and did not want to be around when it did, so they just left, and therefore could no longer be accused.

I wondered if the man who had done this needed to do it, or if they were just trying to be safe. If they had just wanted to pretend like everything was all natural away from this. I was scared of the fact that this house clearly had some knowledge that would be worth bringing to the police. And I was wondering if the owner was involved at all.

I opened up their drawer, and I was finding a bundle of writings in these. As I was seeing these, I was sighing, and felt like this man probably would have been best to take these on his way out. if he had wanted to fully have a chance to be safe. But maybe people do not think properly when they are scared.

"I have known ever since I was in high school that my interests or tastes were not supposed to be. That people thought that I would be wrong if people knew the truth. But every single time that I had been around, and I had been seeing fifteen or sixteen year old girls, and they were looking like they were having the time of their life, I knew that it was something that I loved. The allure to them always got me enticed.

Overall, I had been doing a good job keeping it together, or I was at least until I moved to this town. I would at least try and settle down with people of my age, or close to it. I would at least try and blend normally in society, and I would try my best to be making it seem like there was nothing wrong whatsoever with me. But I knew the truth.

But being in Wayside, and finally having a chance to just fully put all that aside, and have a clean slate in life, I thought that I would have actually done something worth while. I thought that I would fucking finally have a chance to no longer be thinking about my lust for young women.

But it was getting worse. It was not my fault, at least not entirely. The thing was that with the accidents, and the issues that the town faced as a result of them, people really were desperate for answers. It was all seeming to be a bit harmless, and it would help me subdue my desires just a bit better. When a red haired man came up to me, and told me a plan of his, I knew that I had to take it for myself.

So it was with one. He set me up with one, and we had a great night. It was amazing to finally address the desire that I always had, and finally be putting it to reality. I wanted it much more than I could have ever thought that I did after the first time. And I explained that to my friend, and he looked like he was having a glowing idea as I had told him this.

Over the first couple of years, as things in Wayside were returning to a mild level of normal, and it had seemed like men and women were finally starting to get back into a regular scheme here, that was when I decided to at least and pretend like I was a good and contributing member of society.

I met a younger, but still far more than legally old enough, woman, and we ended up settling down, and we had a child of our own. A daughter. And that was when it had become the worst thing in the entire world to hide. Knowing that she was there with me, and every year, I would be watching her grow.

And despite the fact that I knew deep down inside that it was wrong, and deep down inside that I deserved to be going to hell if I ever even thought of it, I would not be able to fucking help it. It was always something coming in my mind, and taking me by surprise. I just needed to see if I could have been able to go through with it, no matter what.

And it just happened to go that way. It just kept going and going, until one day, I found myself caving in. And it was never getting any better than that. But thankfully nobody else on earth needs to know, and I never have to be worried about doing it ever again, since I am just doing my best to be putting that all behind me." The first few pages were reading, and as I was reading this, I was shaking my head, and i was too disgusted to be reading this anymore, so I just decided to fucking stop, and put it all behind me.

...

I ended up going to Kenta's office, and when I was there, I was feeling that whatever he was planning on telling me, and whatever he wanted done with this contract, was going to be letting him down. I mean, I hardly found anything of worth, and I was supposed to be giving him actual work. Not just going around, and hanging out with friends the whole time.

But I had compiled everything I found, although ripping off the two or three pages that proved my fathers guilt, since I was never going to let my father go to prison if I never even gave him a chance to give his side of the story. But everything else I was keeping, and I wrote down my observations down on a notebook the night prior.

Once I was at the office, I was placing the stuff down, and looked right at him, and I was wanting to get the doom and gloom over with. If he was going to lecture me, I was wanting him to just get it over with, that way I could be able to focus on making things better in the future between us.

Kenta was looking at me, and he was looking like he was having a mix of emotions going on through his head. I was wondering what the fucking hell he was going to tell me, and if he was going to give me a lecture on not finding enough. "Was it scary in there? Did you feel like you were being watched?"

After he asked me this, I was lost on the point. I felt like he had been just pulling my fucking leg, but I was thinking that I might as well just be straight forward with him. I had a feeling he was going to not be very polite with me if I was going to start lying to him.

"Yeah, a part of it was rather intense. I was seeing some things that I was not really expecting to. It kind of got me a bit worried about some of these things that I am going to be doing going forward." I said, feeling like I just needed the honesty done with. Kenta smiled as he heard this.

"Thank you for telling me the truth. As with all things in this town, there are secrets that we do not yet know, and we are trying to gather them all up for research purposes. I wanted to give you something relatively easy, to see if you would be ready for the task quite yet." He said, and then I looked at him rather confused.

"Are you telling me that you already knew everything that was going on in there, and you were just giving me a test?" I asked, and I was honestly way more upset at this than I should have been. But he was looking at me, as if feeling like he knew what answer to be giving me.

"I never knew what was in there. I never been there myself. But I had people telling me about things that they were claiming to have seen in there, and I was just wanting to make sure that it was not all a load of shit. In all honesty, I was thinking that you of all people would be up for the challenge." He was telling me, and then I was sighing, and had nothing else to say to this.

"Alright, fine, you made your fucking point." I said, feeling that I might as well express my fucking annoyance, since he was probably the one person who I was feeling like I could do that around, and he would not have wanted to fucking blast me to oblivion. "But I am wondering if you found anything in there that might be helpful to your investigations."

"What did you find exactly?" He asked, and then I was sighing, and I really had no idea what to be telling him. What was there to tell him? That I found something that could probably connect my father to several crimes, but I am too much of a coward to own up to these actions?

"Well, for starters, I did find a journal that looked like it was giving off records of business deals. I have no idea what it all means at all. But I have a feeling that you are going to have a much better answer at that than I do. Although I did notice that the names of several of the missing girls are on there." I said, and Kenta looked at me, as if having no fucking expression on what to feel here.

"What else were you finding in there? What information related to the girls did you find?" He asked, and he was clearly sounding much more upset right now. I was wondering if he had a daughter or girlfriend who had gone missing as well. In that moment, not knowing any better, I really did feel bad for him.

"Not much. I just have a feeling that as stupid as it might be sounding, but it seems like there are some purchase numbers on there. They were rather high numbers under them all. I have no idea if they were bounties, or something else worse." I said, thinking about the alternative, and I was finding myself getting mildly sick even just thinking of it.

"Damn it." Kenta said quietly enough to where I had to really fucking try and hear what he was saying. As I was done hearing him say this, I was wanting to ask for more information so badly, but I knew that he was not going to give it to me, even if I had given him all he needed.

"Thank you for everything that you had found in there. It does help out more than you think. And I see the reports in there, and everything else you found. I assume that it contains everything that you had found in there?" He asked, and I slowly nodded, playing the role rather well. As he was seeing me do this, he was slowly nodding, and had nothing else to say.

"Thank you. I will contact you in three to five days, after I am done looking everything over, and when I have a free moment, and I will give you your next contract then. I want you to have at least a small chance to enjoy your summer after each contract. After all, you're not going to be fifteen forever." After he had told me this, I was shocked to see him have consideration for me in that regard at all.

"I really appreciate that." I said, and then I was smiling at him, and then before I was leaving, I was looking right at him, thinking that there was something else that I might be able to ask him directly. More for my own personal interest than for anything else. "So do you know anything about the Castle of Cagliostro?"

"Yeah, a small amount. It was the main branch of government of Wayside before the mines started to crash in 1938. There was a scandal related to the count of it as well. Most people were shocked that something which kept Wayside in several other smaller towns and cities in a several hundred mile radius in tact." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and had nothing else to say.

"There was a reference that was related to it at the mansion. I can't remember if I put that in the report or not. I want to know more about it. I am just curious how far the business really went." I was saying, and Kenta smiled at this, as if he was just glad to be hearing that there was something of interest that was coming in through for me.

"I'm glad to see that you are eager to learn at the very least. That is going to be a good thing to keep in mind going forward. If you work harder at this, and if you fucking try and do your best going forward, then I will be doing everything that I can to make it better for you as well." After he had told me this, I was sighing, and had nothing else to say here.

"Thank you for giving me a chance to do something for my summer that actually means something." I said, and then I ended up walking out, not giving him a chance to say more, since there really was no need for him to be saying more. After I started to walk off, I was hearing him starting to make some calls, and I was thinking that perhaps once I would get to know him better, and as I completed contracts, he would slowly with each one give me more.

...

Once I was eventually out of Lazarus's main building, I was seeing a slightly older, but much taller man with a green shirt talking to somebody. "I have to get up there. There are concerns that I need to voice to the president of your company." He was saying, and then the guy at the front entrance was looking like he was rather bored with this conversation.

"Matt, the answer will never change. You need to have clearance to actually see him in person. Unless if you have that, then the highest you can go is the third floor. If you would like, you would be able to tell one of our representatives about your issues..." After the guy was saying this, Matt waved his hand off, to shut him up.

"Screw this. You've made up your minds. I will not waste my time on this any further." Matt said, and then sighed as he was walking away, and the guard was shaking his head before going back to the front entrance, tired of doing this job where people never had a idea what his policies he had to follow actually were.

Matt was looking at me, and then he was smiling when he had saw me. As if he was finding something to tell me that would be finding to be the funniest thing in the world. "Fuck that man. I feel like everybody in this town only cares for themselves, and they are not even trying to be hiding it anymore." He was saying, and then I wondered what to be saying.

"I have clearance to speak to one person. But that is all, and I feel like I am not really doing much progress with him either." I said, and then Matt was walking to me, and he was holding his hands up, as if wanting to say more, but had no idea what to say. So he just sighed, and looked like he didn't even care.

"Who is it?" Matt asked, feeling that maybe he could fish some information out of me. I was feeling that maybe I might as well just tell him, since he seemed like a harmless enough guy. And besides, I was having no real feeling that Matt even knew who this Kenta guy was in the first place.

"Kenta Kitagawa. Said he wanted me to do a internship, so I am just trying to see what he might say. Nothing too bad has come out of it." I said, and then I looked at him, wondering what he was going to be saying to this. All he gave me was a simple head shake, and I was just confused now.

"Oh that man. He said the exact same thing about my younger brother. I honestly don't believe in a fucking word of what he is saying. I just think that the main difference between him and the others is that he is more willing to make it look like he is willing to appeal to what we want out of it." Matt said, and then I was looking at him shocked at the idea of him being so against this all. It just made no real sense at all.

"Well, I have given him information that he better put to good use. I guess that I will see if it works. If not, then I will feel really fucking sorry." I said, and then I was shrugging, and had nothing else to say about it besides that. Matt was sighing, and I was seeing that despite the fact he didn't even know me, he was kind of let down by what I said.

"I hope that this is the way you expect it. If it isn't, then I think that you will be apologizing to a lot of people. But I can appreciate the fact that you are at least willing to try something different. Unlike everybody in my friend group, who is just doing the same shit over and over again. And I'm starting to see that we are accomplishing nothing by doing this." After Matt told me this, I sighed, and had nothing else to be saying there.

"I mean, I would rather talk to him than talk to the president." I said, throwing a minor amount of shade at Matt for getting in my case at this. After I said that, Matt looked like he was willing to at least consider what I said. He sighed, and looked like he hated the fact that this was even my discussion anyways.

"Okay, you might have gotten me there. But I guess that this is neither here nor there. We just have to do whatever is going to keep us feeling like we are not putting things to waste. So I guess that if you can do that, I will have to be not such a hard ass on you anymore." After he was saying that to me, I was sighing, and I was just thinking that maybe we should just drop it for now.

"Well, if you want to talk about it tomorrow." I said, referencing the fact that Kenta promised me three to five days. Matt was looking like he was not sure on that, so he was shaking his head before he came up with another response for me. As if to just try and make me feel better here.

"Not tomorrow. I have things to do. Maybe the day after that. Really the best that I can offer you." He said, and then he was shrugging, as if having nothing else to say. I was sighing, and felt that we were not going to be getting anything better than that. Which was just annoying as hell.

After that, I was leaving the man alone, feeling that we just needed to get this whole thing over with. I was feeling that whatever the hell Matt was wanting to say, he was going to have to come up with a damn good way out of it, or else I was going to be feeling that we had been just getting this all messed up.

I was thinking that I might as well leave Rob and Rachel alone today. I would talk to them tomorrow, and see what they might be willing to talk to me about. I was tired anyways. And to be honest, I was feeling that if I was around them too much, they might just be distancing themselves away from me, and acting like I was just getting a bit of a annoyance.

Eventually, I reached my house, and went right to my room, and was not even bothering with anything else. To be honest, I was thinking that there was really nothing to be worried about at all. I was going to be fine with being alone, and I did not need to be digging myself into this shit further than I already had.

Once I had laid down on my bed, I was thinking about the journal entry I had read about that pedophile earlier. He was grossing me out, but at the same time, I had a feeling and fear that he was not going to be the worst that this town had to offer. In a way, I was haging a fear that he would almost be preferrable to everything else. At least he was just after lust, not power, is how I feared I would eventually see it.

Scene 8: The Blind Knight and the Departed

When I was finally done thinking about what I was going to be doing with Matt when it was time to be talking to him, if we were to ever talk to each other in the first place, that was when I was finally thinking about just spending my next days really going out, and perhaps doing something that I knew was going to be worth my time more.

I was walking down to Rachel's house, and when I was knocking on the entrance once again, I was feeling much less bad about being here than I had been before. I was feeling that I might as well just get used to being here, and that this was going to be a more long term solution than either one of us thought.

Once I was done knocking, and I was waiting for a bit, that was when Rachel answered the door, and she was looking at me, as if trying to decide what we were going to possibly be doing, or if I was going to just be sort of wasting her time. "Hey Rachel, I was wanting to apologize for everything earlier." I said, and then I looked at her, wondering what she would have even said.

"Apologize for what? You haven't done anything wrong. Or is this about something that I am not aware of?" She asked, and I was hearing her sounding kind of upset at this, and to be honest, when I was hearing her say this, I was sighing, and told myself to just calm down, and let this discussion flow along naturally.

"I know that I probably did nothing wrong. But to be honest, I feel like I just might have been just making things harder for you. And I feel like you probably deserve better than just dealing with me, and dealing with the fact that I have been wanting to just really try and be a friend. When you might not want that." I said, and I was not sure why I was even saying this shit at all.

"I mean, I will admit that there is a small part of me that is finding it rather odd. I will be real with you on that. But at the same time, I am aware that you are just trying to be doing something that you feel like will be making me feel better." After she had told me this, I was sighing, and I was just wanting to find a way to argue with her on this.

"I just thought that you might have wanted to go out and have some help after everything that has happened to you. So in all honesty, I just thought that I might have been the hero in it all." After I had said that to her, I was thinking of where this was even going to be heading.

"I mean, I do appreciate the offer." After she said that to me, I was seeing her looking like she was slowly admitting something she was finding to be rather cowardly, and I was feeling that I needed to try and find something to make this slightly less awful for her.

"I mean, I really would be feeling bad if there was somewhere in you that was just needing help, but nobody was able to give it to you. I am not a social person at all, but at the same time, I feel like I just need to give it my best chance. I wonder if this was what my younger sister was trying to accomplish when she was wanting to have me do this all." I said, and then I was sighing, as if having nothing else that I could have said to this now.

"Well, to be fair I have no idea what she might be trying too acomplish. And that is something that I will be fine with. Since in all honesty, she is probably much too young for me to ever really have a connection with." After she had said that to me, I saw her looking more and more like she had wanted to say more. But just could not find herself to really care to say it at all.

"I don't think I will ever really be able to have a idea of what she is trying too acomplish, and that is something that scares even me." I said, and then I was smiling when I said that, wondering if Rachel was going to be saying anything at all. Rachel was silent for a bit, before she was starting to speak again, but saying something I would have never expected to be honest.

"I think that the situation with Andrea is making me want to try and find a way to speak with my brother once more. Try to really get to know Tobias, and see what he is feeling. I think that by getting to know him know, I might be able to finally make it seem like I am not being as selfish as he might be accusing me of." After she had said that to me, she shook her head, and had nothing to say now.

"I wonder if you will be able to really get him to open up though. I think that you might have to be honest with yourself when you look at that though." I said, and then I looked at her, and I was really thinking that I might be kind of a asshole as I had said that to her. Rachel was looking totally out of it as I had been saying this.

"I don't know if he is going to be listening or not. That is the main thing that scares the shit out of me. That he is going to be far too stubborn to fucking really pay attention to what I have been saying. And with that, there is always a chance that I might end up being the next Andrea." After she said that to me, I was looking at her, and suddenly realized what she was meaning.

"If you ever need help with breaking through to Tobias a bit better, I might want to try and be there for you a bit, and see if there is anything that I might be able to say." After I had said that to her, I saw her looking like she was kind of upset at this idea. But not at me, which was confusing me a bit.

"I will not need any help honestly. I just wish that I am able to get myself the courage to do it. But I think that once I finally fucking do it, and I try and really get to speak to him, then that is all that I am going to fucking need." After she had told me this, I was seeing her looking like she was crazy uncertain of what she had just told me. As if she was just trying to make herself feel slightly better after all of this was said and done.

"Well, my offer still stands. But to be honest, I think that there to this than you might be feeling." I was saying, and the more that I had been saying to her, I was seeing that Rachel was looking like she was not wanting this subject to continue. As if she had been feeling like she would have been letting Tobias down if she had been like that more.

"I just got to give it a chance." After she was saying this, she had been walking down with me at my side, and she looked tired, and kind of like she had been losing all her hope. I was wondering why she was acting like she had been caring so much about the brother that she used to be expressing like he was the most annoying thing in the entire world.

"Alright, I will be leaving the subject alone now. Sorry for pressing it any further." I said, and I was saying that mostly just to drop the fucking subject. In all honesty, I was getting kind of annoyed with trying to be making this offer to her that I knew deep down inside she was basically telling me to fuck off with.

"Don't worry about it." After she was telling me this, she looked like she was not so sure of this anymore. As we were finishing this subject up, I was wanting to find something else to be talking about. I was wondering what else I could have said to make the subject slightly more fun for her.

"How has your summer been so far?" I asked, feeling like I might as well try and find something to say to make her feel better about this. After I asked her this, she was shrugging, and decided to look like we might be needing to find something else to make this go along better. Despite the minor annoyance, she knew that my intentions were good here.

"Okay enough. I am just tryng my best to not be letting the pain get the best of me. Sometimes it is really hard, and I feel like just quitting, and accepting that Tobias was right. But I always try and find a way to push through, and make the best out of it." She was telling me, and then I was slowly nodding, wondering what she meant about Tobias being right.

...

I eventually reached Rob, and I was feeling like I just needed to find something else to be talking to him about. I was feeling like whatever the hell Rob and I were going to discuss, it was going to be making a whole lot more progress about in talking to him than I would with Rachel.

"Hey Rob, can we talk for a bit? If you were really wanting to just get to make this all feel slightly better." I said, and then I was shrugging, and I was seeing him looking like he had almost just wanted this subject to be over before it was getting any worse. I was getting aware that I might be becoming a bit of a annoyance to him more than ever.

"What are you worried about?" He asked, trying to make it seem like we were actually getting something done better. I was then thinking about something else. I was thinking that maybe if I asked the question this way, I might be able to get him to listen to me much more.

"I was wanting to know if you wanted to actually talk to me about some other people who might have known Andrea. I think that it might be best for Rachel's sake that maybe we can start to put more effort into this. I think that maybe she will be needing this." I said, and then I was seeing him looking like he was kind of scared of what I was suggesting. And I was almost regretting saying it as soon as I had been seeing this.

"Oh god, I think that if we were to try and do something like this, we might as well just admit that we are getting ourselves ready for a fucking suicide run. My god, can we at least try and think about things a bit more here?" He was asking me, and then I was seeing that despite everything that I had been saying, he was glad to be seeing me at least looking like I was willing to give this a chance.

"Well, I think we have to be doing whatever is going to be making Rachel see that if for nothing else, we really did do all that we could. Isn't that what you would have wanted?" I asked, and then I was seeing Rob looking like he had considered what I was saying, and considered what to be doing with this idea if it were to go any further.

"I guess that maybe we do have something, or that I have something that might be making this a bit more personal compared to many of the other people who are trying to play hero." After Rob was saying this to me, I saw him looking like he was rather annoyed that we were having this discussion, but did not have anything else to be saying now.

"See? I knew that you were going to see what I meant. I know that you were probably going to not be in love with this idea, but I think that we both know that this is what you would truly fucking want." I said, and then I was seeing Rob nod along, and I was thinking that by telling him that, and by getting him to start to work with me better, then we would be getting through this all much faster than before.

"Damn it. You better not be doing something that is going to be getting us killed. But to be honest, I guess that dying for this would be better than dying a old man." Rob said, and then I looked at him, and I was not sure if I one hundred percent believed in that. But I was willing to go with it.

"Well, I think we can agree that we would not really want either to be happening yet. Just tell me about what could be a good starting spot." I said, and then Rob looked like he had wanted to just reject this idea altogether, but that maybe he was willing to play along with it, to see what we could get out of it.

"How about we speak to Julian first? He might have some things that he could be willing to tell us about Andrea. Such as what they were always up to. After all, now is really not the time to be turning things down for no real good reason. Besides, I have a feeling that maybe by doing this, he can see that I am trying hard too..." Rob said, as if remembering a prior conversation that he had, and that he wanted to just forget about.

"Clearly something happened between you two that is making this a bit harder to go through than normal. But I guess that this is not my business quite yet. I am more than sure that I will be seeing it come along eventually." I said, and then Rob was slowly nodding, as if thinking that there was nothing to hide about with it.

"Yeah, I guess that once we talk to him, even if it is not going to go anywhere, since it never fucking does, we might as well at least try and contact Ocho again. I think that by seeing him again, or trying to, we might be getting it clear that we want to really make this work." He was telling me, and I was wondering if he had more to say about Ocho now.

"Do you know why Ocho might be acting the way that he is?" I asked, and I was seeing Rob looking like he had wanted to have a proper answer here. But then he was just shaking his head, as if giving up on even trying to be finding anything here. I was sighing, and I had felt that was going to make it much worse.

"No idea. The best that I can come up with is that he is so deep in his work that he is hardly looking at the big fucking picture." After he had told me this, I saw him shrugging, and had nothing else to be saying on the issue. So with that, I was smiling, and I was thinking that at least he had a good excuse to be this way.

"Well, I guess that if for nothing else, he is doing something that he knows is the good thing. I just wish that I am doing the same thing with the whole Kenta issue." I said, and then I was shaking my head, hating the fact that I was even bringing that shit up again around Rob.

"We really need to discuss that better soon. I have a feeling that you are doing something wrong by working with him. I really think that if you continue to do that, then he will be forcing things to get much worse." Rob was saying, and then I was sighing, and I was wondering why everybody hated this man just because he was an employee of Lazarus.

"Okay, I get it, Kenta's fucking evil in your eyes." I said, and I was sighing, wishing that maybe he would at least give me a real reason why he was feeling this shit. If he would tell me what was going on at least, then maybe I would just try and give him some clear context why he might have been wrong.

Scene 9: Philosophy

I was ready to meet this Julian person that Rob had been telling me about. As we were getting ready to be heading on out, that was when Rob was looking at me, as if making it clear that he was going to be having some fucking rules to this hang out, and this discussion.

"You are not going to be bringing up a fucking word of this to Rachel. She needs to be away from this, and I think that this is going to be the only way to be making her truly feel better here." After he was telling me this, I was looking at him, and I was wanting to faintly argue this, since I was feeling that it might be wrong.

But then I looked down, and I was kind of annoyed at myself just not having anything to be telling him. I was thinking that maybe he was having a good idea here, and I was just feeling like I needed to argue with him for some reason. "Are we sure that this is actually what she would want?"

"It is what I fucking want." Rob said, and then I was sighing at this, and then looked down, and was slowly nodding. "Trust me when I say that I will never forgive myself if something were to happen to her because we decide to fucking play hero." After he had told me this, I was wishing that he would not really say anything like that, as it just made everything feel wrong.

"I guess that I will just be keeping this to myself then." I said, and I was kind of annoyed for saying that. I wished that maybe I was not going to be such a fucking bitch over this. But in all honesty, I was just wanting to make Rob feel like I was his team player, and that his ideas were all I cared for.

"Alright, let's just go on and meet Julian, and see what he has to say. Hopefully he does not go around and tattle on people for no fucking reason, and make things just worse for all of us." I said, and then I was shaking my head, and I was feeling that I just needed to be seeing why Rob was looking like this over Julian of all people. When they were supposed to be friends.

"I will try and talk to him about that later. Maybe he will be willing to listen to me here. After all, if we both feel like it is for the best preservation of Rachel, then he will go along with it." After he was telling me this, I was sort of nodding, and decided not to really say anything at all.

We walked along for a while, and for a while, I was just starting to feel slightly better about all that was going on. I was thinking that the longer that I was just focused on Julian, and what these conversations were going to be like for Rachel, I was probably going to find a way to be making this discussion feel like it was worth it in a way.

Once I was there, I was seeing that it was a guy smoking a cigarette while sitting on a flight of stairs, and he looked like he was rather annoyed with seeing me here. Like I was just a waste of his fucking time and breath. He might have been feeling that way personally. But to be honest, I just wished he needed to give me a chance.

"Who is this?" Julian asked, and he was looking rather annoyed at this, and I was kind of pissed at the way that he was talking. I was feeling that the fact that he was not even giving me a chance at all was something that I just needed to fucking get over. I was sighing, wondering what to actually be telling him.

"My name is Izzy. I met your friend a few days ago, and I am just trying to sort of help him out here. He is a nice enough guy after all." I said, and then I was looking at him, and I wondered if Julian was going to be saying to be supporting the idea of us actually working along with this after all.

"Well, I guess that maybe he is a bit more social than I ever thought that he might have been." He was shrugging, and then Rob looked down at the ground, as if feeling like he was kind of annoyed at this idea. Like he just wanted to have Julian be focusing more on the things that really fucking mattered.

"Okay guys, can we fucking focus on the fucking point?" Rob asked, and he was kind of clearly angry at the fact that he had wanted to be coming along with talking to me, and making it all work, and then I was just taking a long and deep breath. I was needing to have Rob understand my own perspective.

"Wow, and a bit more snappy than I thought as well. I guess that this is nothing too important though. Anyways, so what were you wanting to talk to me about with Andrea?" Julian asked, and then I was nodding, thinking that now that we were here, I just needed to be making this discussion work out as best as possible.

"I want to know if there was any information that you had? That we could be able to work together on gathering up. I think that maybe we could fucking work something out here, and maybe Rachel will be feeling better again here. I have no personal stake at this. But if I can provide closure for her, then I guess that I showed that I am not a bad guy after all.

"Information is something we all technically have. The better question will be if it is any good. No point in having information if it is all going to be ending up like shit anyways?" He asked, as if feeling like what he was saying was the most valid point ever.

"Okay, that is not the way that I was meaning for this conversation to go." I said, and then I was sighing, and really had no idea if I was going to be able to get myself out of this one after all. I was looking at Rob as if he was giving me a 'this is what I have to deal with every day' and then I decided to just remain silent.

"Well, there is nothing that I can fucking do about that, right?" He asked, and then I was just wanting to just punch this guy in the face for being so annoying. But them i was sighing, and told myself to just at least try and be polite with the guy, to be making him feel slightly better here.

"Okay, so I guess that this is going to be a long night. But I do want to just make this work out, and we are not going to be going anywhere if we are just at each others throats." I said, and then I was hoping that telling him this, I was going to just get him to be really taking a bit. Rob was looking like he was just going to come in and just take the conversation over at this point.

Julian was sighing, and I was seeing that maybe he was at least trying to consider what we had been saying. "Fine, I guess we can talk for a while about what is happening. So in all honesty, I have just been wanting to see if some of the people that I have been hanging out with would know the clues that I could need." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and just felt that it was better than what we were having a few minutes ago.

"You have been looking at this investigation too? Why have you not tried to approach Ocho about it?" I asked, thinking that asking him about Ocho just made a whole lot of sense. The guy was taking a deep breath, as if he had wished that Ocho had never been mentioned here.

"To be totally honest, the two of us never really got along. I mean, I never really hated the guy or anything. But he was the one that was always taking me away from being with Andrea, and there was a level of jealousy that I was having there." Julian said, and then he had been looking at me, and he was kind of annoyed at the fact that he had been saying that. As if he was feeling slightly selfish now.

"And I have only been really looking when I have not been trying to just drown those memories out by making more. Smoking, drinking, trying to make more friends. Anything that will just get this whole thing away from me. It is all that I want in this world." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and then looked at Rob, who looked like this was going totally off script.

"Don't look at me like this. Everybody has ways of dealing with these issues. Just because you might not agree with everything that I am saying doesn't mean that my idea is wrong. And if it keeps me feeling better, than that is all that I fucking want to be totally honest." After Julian said that, he stomped his cigarette out and walked to me a few steps, and Rob just slightly moved in case if he needed to interfere.

"I want to be putting this all behind me forever. I wished that I had the answers on what could be able to bring her home, but I have nothing at all. There is no answers, and I feel like I might have just failed everybody who was looking up to me." He was saying this to me, and then I was seeing him looking like he had wanted to say more, but just shook his head.

"Julian, I think that if you want to work on finding Andrea, then I think that helping us fully understand it all is going to be the best starting point. We are not going to be making this any worse for us. What do you know?" Rob asked, and then Julian slightly nodded at this.

"Well, I do know that near the end of when she was around, she was getting really attached to a lot of other people. She was having a close bond with some teachers. And Ocho had come to me relating some of his concerns on these people that she had been hanging out with." He was saying, and then looking at Rob, wondering what else that he would have said now.

"Was this teacher Steven Small?" Rob asked, as if feeling like he was just going to take this for what he could get. He was hearing something that he had felt like would actually help. And that was all that he had fucking wanted. This was when Julian stopped for a second, and looked like he was not a hundred percent sure.

"That does slightly ring a bell. But I am not sure if it is him. Ocho had told me that she was also starting to get more interested in some of the things going on in Wayside, and he admitted that at least part of that blame was his." After Julian said this, I was nodding at this, and I was wondering if this was part of the reason that Julian did not like Ocho too much.

"Was Ocho a guy who always liked to do some research on the town? What got his whole interest in it in the first place?" I asked, and then Rob was looking at me, and he was feeling glad to know that this was a comment that he was going to have a bit more of a contribution for since he had witnessed part of this.

"He got really interested one day in learning about the town fires. You know, the one on the tree house about five or six years ago. He was also interested in the idea of learning what happened during the mall thirty five years ago." After Rob was saying that to me, I was sighing, and was wondering if something like this was going to be creating some really big problems going forward. But I was feeling that I just needed to be relaxing a bit more.

"Do you think that Ocho is going to be letting the information that he learned get in the way of his own personal research? You know, if he is not going to be letting full logic determine what he is thinking." I said, and then I was wondering if Ocho had any real reason to be trying to get to know us here.

"I think that he is going to have a hard time separating some facts from emotions. But to be fair, I think that we are all like that. So let's not try and bash him too much for doing what he wants to be working on. Besides, I think that he might already know more about this than any of us do." Rob was saying, and then I was wondering what to be doing to get further with this.

"Do you think that maybe going to his house might give us something? I think that if we can't speak to him, when we are dealing with trying to find missing people, rules go out the window." I asked, and then after I had said that, I was feeling that maybe if I could force some extra information out of him. Rob was looking at me, and I was seeing that he was clearly not wanting this.

"Can we at least be thinking about what you are saying just now? I mean, there is no way in hell we are going to be losing trust with him faster than that." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and I was wondering what the hell I was even going to be accomplishing by telling him all of this.

"I think that you both have some valid points. But in all honesty, I think that the idea of just really getting to know everything possible might be what Andrea would have wanted. I am also interested in something else that I know none of the three of us have ever considered before." After he had said that to me, I was looking at him, and I was wondering where he was going to go with this idea.

"I don't think that her locker was cleaned out at the end of the school year. I think that maybe it might be best to just go on and check it out. Maybe if we find something there, we can see if she had some hints that we have never considered before." After he had said that to us, I was seeing that Rob was feeling better about that idea than the one I had earlier.

"God this is a terrible idea. But I guess that maybe we have a lot of stuff that we can do here. I say we go and check it out, but only if we just go to the locker and right back out." After he was telling us this, I saw him looking like he was rather annoyed at this, and I was seeing Julian give me a look of 'I'll take it'.

"Anyways, if we are going to be doing this, then I think we just need to be heading out as fast as possible." Julian was saying, as if trying to find a way to be making this look like we were going to be pulling this whole thing together. "But seriously Izzy, if you do not feel like this is a battle you want to fight, then just get the hell out of here. After all, you never even met her to begin with." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and considered it for a few seconds.

"I mean, I was given a internship by somebody who is working for Lazarus. If for nothing else, I think that this whole search could be able to help give me more information for him." I said, and then I looked at Julian to see what he was going to be saying to this. Instead he was right in front of me, as if looking like he wanted to beat the shit out of me.

"Are you seriously talking to those people? The ones who have the biggest chance of being responsible for everything that is happening." After he had said that to me, he was starting to look like I was now officially the worst human being in existence. That was when Rob was looking like he had something to say here.

"I don't like it. But it is his choice. Besides, he might be able to find something out better from in there. And for all we know, it might turn out that we were wrong about those people. We need to be giving them a fucking chance." Rob was saying, and then that was when Julian was taking a deep breath, as if thinking that maybe he over reacted.

"Maybe you're right. Besides, even if the company is doing something, there is no way that you could have been involved. Since you mentioned that the internship had just started." He was saying, and calmed down a bit more. I was still feeling that he was not going to want anything to do with me. And in all honesty, if we all had this much doubt with each other, I was feeling that maybe it would be best to just have us all work away from this.

"Tomorrow at nine in the evening." After Julian said that to us, I was seeing him looking like he was more composed compared to before. As he was telling me this, I was seeing Rob looking like he was wishing that we did not make this so fucking late in the night. But just kept quiet to himself.

"Are we really one hundred percent sure that this is a good time? I mean, there are certainly going to be some people who are taking care of stuff in there." After Rob was telling me this, I was seeing Julian looking at us, and he was looking like he had honestly just not cared at all what was happening.

"Yeah, well it is better to be doing this than nothing at all." After Julian was saying this, Rob looked up at the sky and he was looking like he had wished that we did not say that, since nothing he had said remotely indicated that he felt that way.

"Okay, I guess that we can do this at nine in the fucking evening." After he had said that to us, I was sighing, and I wished that we were not going to be doing this whole being at each others throats shit. It was going to be getting fucking exhausting to be dealing with this if it ended up getting any worse.

"Trust me, I will be keeping us all safe." Julian said, and he was pulling out another cigarette, and he had been looking like he had wanted to do something like this the whole time, and was finally glad to be able to finally have the chance to do this. I was glancing over at Rob, and I was wondering what we were going to be doing now.

"Have you been looking into this the whole time? Why have you not gone on and done something on your own if you have." I said, and I was feeling that I might as well just break the ice, and see what he was going to be saying. After I had asked him this, I saw him looking kind of annoyed at the fact that I was trying to get him to be talking to me more.

"I have been looking at various ideas for a long time now. It is just that I now finally have a real reason to be doing this idea. And for that reason, I am finally going to be going through for it." After he had said that to me, I was shrugging, and I was really having nothing else to say now.

"Just don't get yourselves killed trying to be playing hero. Without you, there are other things that we are going to be missing out on." After Rob was saying this, he was mainly just trying to get us to be looking at the bigger picture. Something that slightly worked for me, but not really for Julian I had the fear of.

Scene 10: The Goggle Boy

Eventually, Rob, Julian and I were meeting up, and I was feeling like this was going to be a terrible idea. I was thinking that we just needed to get this over with as fast as possible. That way we could be able to just pretend like we were just doing a casual hang out. Although anybody who knew the people that we associated ourselves with would know that idea was fucking stupid.

We were walking along, and I was looking at Julian, and I was wondering if there was a way to be speaking to him, to be making him feel a minor bit better about all that was going on. "Julian, do you feel like going around and doing this will really be able to give us the answers that we need?" I asked, and then I was seeing him looking like he had no real response.

"I have no idea. All that I do know is that I would rather just give it a look and just fucking see what we might be able to find." After he had told me this, I was seeing that even he was not one hundred percent sure of what he was getting himself into. Almost like he was kind of just feeling that he had gotten some of his hopes up here.

"I guess that maybe this is the best that I am going to be getting out of this." I said, and then was shrugging, and I had no idea of what the hell I was even going to accomplish. "Rob, do you think that we will be able to find anything in here?" After I asked him this, Rob sighed, and looked right at us.

"If I am being completely honest, I think that this is going to be a bad fucking idea. I think that we just need to be realistic at this going forward. But I guess that most people are going to brush off what I am saying as me just being a bit of a asshole. But I think that we just need to be more careful here." Rob was telling me, and I was seeing that Julian was just looking like he was kind of annoyed that he was saying this at all.

"Oh my god, do you want to fucking find Andrea or not? If you keep acting like this, there is going to be a good chance that you are not going to be finding her at all. At least with this, we are going to give ourselves a small chance." After he had said that to me, I just shook my head, and wished that I never said anything at all.

"I do want to find her. I guess that I am just getting myself a bit scared when I am saying all of this. But I know that deep down inside, this is the best chance that we really have." After Rob was saying this, he shrugged, and hoped that by saying that, he was going to be earning the respect of Julian again, and we were both getting near the school anyways.

Once we were at the front door of the high school, I was looking at the other two guys, and was shrugging a bit as I was doing this. Trying to at least pretend to be neutral. "Well, one way or another, we are here, and we just need to be getting this done with right now." I said, and then I was seeing that both Rob and Julian were looking like they had been feeling a bit better at this.

We go inside, and I was looking around, and glanced at Julian, feeling that since he was the one that was bringing us here in the first place, we just needed to be having him lead the whole operation going forward. "So Julian, do you know where exactly the locker that Rachel has was located?" I asked, and I was seeing him looking kind of shocked that I was jumping right to the point.

"Yeah, I can lead you guys over there." Julian was saying, and then I was seeing him looking like he was finally glad to finally be doing something right for once. I hoped that one way or another, Julian and Rob were actally going to be getting along, and not be making things much worse for this.

We were walking along, and I was seeing Rob looking just a bit more worried than angry at this. But I was seeing that deep down, he was not as worried about the stuff that he was mentioning earlier. Almost like he was just using that as a plot to be getting us to just focus on other things entirely.

"What would we be doing if there are other people in this school? Do you think that they would report us to the police?" Rob asked, and then I was actually considering that as well. As I had heard him say this, that was when even Julian looked like he was considering all that he had been saying for once.

"We just don't do anything. If the police are coming, we can just say that we had some last minute things that we had wanted to grab, and that we were wanting to do it when nobody was around. There is no way in hell that they are going to be giving it another thought after that." Julian was saying, but I was telling that he was not really buying what he was saying. He mainly just said that to make himself feel better.

We eventually reached the locker, and then Julian took the combination out, and took care of it as we were all looking around, and I was seeing that Rob and I were both just trying to be feeling slightly better here. As this was going along, that was when Julian was pulling his back pack out, and was ready to be putting everything that he could in there, to just see if there was fucking anything we could get out of this.

I was looking at Rob, and I was seeing that he was looking like he was really uncertain of what to be feeling here. Almost like he was just wanting us to get the items as fast as possible. I was feeling like i might as well just go on and try and talk to him for a while, and see how he was feeling.

"So Rob, what do you think we should do if there really is somebody who is going to be coming in here?" I asked, feeling like I might as well give his ideas a chance. As he was looking at me, he sighed a bit, and looked like he was feeling like no matter what he was saying, he was going to be stepping in over his line.

"I mean, I guess that there is not a whole lot to be saying if this happens. I just think that we got to just hope that they have no connections to the police. But aside from that, there is literally nothing that I could fucking say about it." After Rob was saying this, he sighed, and looked like he was just kind of tired of having these discussions, and looked like he was kind of pissed in a way.

"Yeah, I am not going to lie, but I have a feeling that the fucking police are going to be involved with a lot more about this town than we are wanting to admit. And in all honesty, we are just needing to be more careful going forward." I said, and then I shook my head, as if kind of annoyed with what I was saying here. I looked at Rob, and was hoping that he was going to be better for me.

"I would not go that far. But I would say that they are reallly fucking incompotent at their fucking job one way or another. And I feel like at this rate, even if I do not like it, I am sory of seeing where everybody else is coming from on just wanting to take it into their own hands. As much as I hate this." Rob looked at me as he was saying, and he was looking like there was a bit of a challenge to be going for here.

"Well, if they are actually doing their job, they would understand that there is nothing else in this town that is worth the effort. If they want our respect, they are going to have to work for it. And I have no idea how the hell what I will be saying here is going to be considered a asshole statement." I said, and then after I had said that, I was seeing Julian finishing putting all of his stuff in that back pack. As if feeling like he just won the lottery for having a fucking start at this.

Once he was done zipping everything up, that was when he was looking at us, and he was smiling or a while. "We are going to be getting out of here now. You know, better to play it safe than sorry." After Julian was saying this, that was when Rob was looking at him as if he was wanting to strangle the guy for saying this. After that, we were running out of the school, as if there was nothing else that mattered.

Once we were outside of the school, that was when the three of us were taking deep breaths, and almost looked and felt like we were actually having a good time. I would not believe that this was the emotion that I was having right now. I was then just trying to be making this whole thing feel less awful right now.

"Guys, let's please make that a one time thing. I think that I have had my fill of heists of stealing shit from high schools." I said, and then I was seeing Rob looking like he had wanted to say more. But then right now, he was looking like he was just going to be taking it easy. Like nothing else was going to matter.

"I heard something about a basement down at the bottom of teh school, where there are more things being hidden down there. Do you think that it might be best to go on and look down there eventually though?"He asked, and then I was sighing, and I was thinking that there was no real way to be answering this at all.

"Shit, I have a feeling that you are really going to be giving us no fucking choice on this. Maybe later though. I have a big feeling that tonight is not going to be a good time to be doing this." I said, and then I was looking at him, and I was feeling like I just needed to be taking this a little bit easier.

Eventually, that was when there was somebody else walking by. And the entire time that he was getting closer to us, I saw him clearly looking like he was wanting to just talk to us this whole time. I was getting kind of annoyed at this. But at the same time, I was feeling that maybe we could get his opinion on the matters.

"Do you think that we should be running or anything?" I asked, trying to decide what we were needing to do. I was seeing that Rob was looking slightly less worried about it once he was seeing who exactly that it actually was.

"Oh, I know this guy. I think that we will be fine with him for now." After he had said that to us, I was calming down a bit. I was feeling that I just needed to be giving Rob the benefit of a doubt. Maybe I was just going to be making things worse if I did not play along with this at all.

When he was there, Rob was the one who was making the greeting slightly less strange. "Hey Tai, how have you been lately?" Rob asked, trying to just make the situation seem like it was all casual, and that there was nothing wrong with what was going on. Tai rubbed the back of his head, as if finding it odd to walking to us. Then he looked at Julian and I.

"Who are they? And why are you at this high school to begin with?" He asked, and then Rob was looking like he was having a hard time coming up with a real answer here. As if he was feeling like he walked into a laughing stock. "I am just starting to head on back home, and see if my family is doing alright."

"Julian decided to come here and see if there was any hints of Andrea's location from her locker room? I feel like we might have to be looking at everything that we can get now. At this rate, rules go out the window." After Rob was telling Tai this, he pointed at Julian to make sure that Tai knew which one he was talking about.

"I mean, I guess that it might make some fucking sense. Even if I do not really agree with the methods." Tai was saying, and then shrugged at this, as if feeling like he was just getting used to the fact that he was not going to be able to go some time without talking about this after all.

"I think that we just need to be looking at whatever we can get. Honestly, there are some people that I am rather worried about, and I have found myself far more interested in the whole Andrea thing than I ever really thought I would have gotten in order to accomplish this." After Tai said that, he looked at me, and I saw him looking like he was not too confident with me now.

"Who are you? You have remained silent this whole time, and I am wanting to make sure that all of the people that I am going to interact with are people that I can fucking trust." After Tai was saying this, I was slowly nodding, and I felt that this was fair enough of a position to be feeling.

"My name is Izzy. I am doing this for a personal project. But I have gotten to know Rob a bit in the last couple of weeks, and I am just trying to see if there is a way to try and help him out." I said, and then I was seeing Tai shrug, and he was looking like he had not been all that worried about what we were discussing. He sighed, and looked like there was nothing else to be discussing.

"You really don't seem like the type of person who would be social with other people." Tai said, and then shrugged, as if having nothing else to say. Then with that, he sighed, and looked like he had wanted to try and find something else to be discussing here. "Anyways, do you think that what you found will fucking help out?" He asked, as if sincerely hoping that we were not doing anything that was going to be getting us killed.

"I know, but I guess that I am just trying to be doing something better with my summer. I mean, that is the purpose of life I suppose." I said, and I was hating every second of what I was saying. It was so fucking forced, and I was feeling that whatever they wanted to tell me just needed to be done with right now.

"Anyways, as to answer your question, I have not looked at any of it yet. I just grabbed everything from her locker, and decided to bring it to my house, where I could be going around and looking for a while." After Julian had said that to Tai, he was shrugging, and then Tai was trying to decide if any of that even made any fucking sense at all.

"Damn it. I was really hoping that I could see if this was going anywhere. I mean, if it is going to help prevent any other cases, and the safety of my crush, then that is going to be something that I will be willing to deal with." After Tai was saying that to me, I was seeing him looking like he was almost embarrassed to be admitting that he was doing it for something like that.

"Oh, you're doing it for love?" I asked, and I was mostly trying to be funny about it. I was seeing Tai looking at me, and he was basically giving me that "go fuck yourself" look, and I was looking down, and I was wondering what his worries were going to be. "Sorry. I guess that I just don't really know what it is like. I barely have any social experiences that make it feel like there is anybody that I like."

"Guys, I know that I was the one that suggested this, but is it really a good idea to be talking about all of this out here? I think that we might need to just be getting out of here, and discussing all of this shit at a different area." Julian was telling us, and I was seeing that by now, there was a slight look of fearing his face, and to be honest, seeing him with a minor taint of fear was something that I had wanted to see. As fucked up as that might sound.

"Yeah, I agree with Julian. I think that if we keep talking about this out loud, for everybody to be able to hear, then it really is only a matter of time before somebody is going to come along and decide that it is their right to be listening to us." After Rob was saying that to us, I was slowly nodding in agreement. Tai looked like he had not wanted to come along for this, but felt like there might have really been no choice on the matter.

We eventually went to Julian's house, and once there, that was when we were going to be getting right to work, and I was seeing that Rob was looking like he was really unsure of how people would react to four guys in this house one night near the start of the summer. Two of which Julian's parents almost certainly never fucking heard of.

Once we were in Julian's room, I was thinking of a question to be asking. It was a rather stupid one, but it was one that I was feeling desperately needed to be answered if we were going to be having any fucking idea on what we had been doing. "I think that it would be a smart idea for us to actually put this stuff at the Wilson house after we are done."

"Well, I think that it would really be a stupid idea to be talking about this if there is nothing in there in the first place. To be honest, if we bring this stuff over, unless if there is some damning evidence here, then they might actually be disgusted at us going to the school and bringing justice to our hands without their permission." Julian was telling me, and then he was starting to put all the stuff up in a slightly better organized fashion.

"I'm just looking at all the stuff with some dates on them, and then I am going to be organizing them in a much better fashion, and then for the stuff that does not have dates, I will be seeing if it is just some stupid homework piece or not." Julian said, as if thinking that dealing with homework assignments were going to be the worst.

"God, this is so much stuff. Did she literally fucking throw in everything that she did the entire school year in there? I mean, my fucking god." Tai was saying, and then he was looking at Rob, wondering if that was a personality trait that only Rob knew of.

"I think she said she wanted to keep all the stuff she did this school year that way when the first day of summer hit, she was going to be able to just burn it all, and then put the year behind us forever." Rob answered, and I was feeling that this answer was kind of sad given the truth of what was to come.

"I mean, I guess that I sort of understand the idea, even if I think that it is god damn ridiculous." I said, and then I was just seeing Julian looking like he was really into the idea of playing detective for a bit. But then he ended up looking at us, and I was seeing that there was a lot of stuff that he wanted to be talking about. But had no real idea on where to go here.

Eventually, Julian was done with this, and I was looking at Tai, and I felt that I needed to just talk to him for a while. I never knew the guy, and I knew that getting his trust was the one thing that I needed to work on. "So Tai, is your crush the only reason that you are doing this in the first place?" I asked, feeling that I just needed to be a bit more careful here. Tai looked down, and sighed at this.

"Honestly, that is a part of it. But another part of it is that I am just trying to do what is best for my younger sister Kari. She is honestly the only reason I have been getting really deep into this in a way. She wanted me to check, and I guess that I have now been doing this as best as I can." Tai was saying, and shrugged, and had nothing else to say now.

"I guess that it makes a bit more sense when you look at it like that. Do you really think that doing this is going to be helping you find her anyways?" I asked, and then I was seeing him looking a bit unsure. As if he was just thinking that something like this really did not even fucking matter anyways.

"I don't know honestly. But to be honest, I have to just give this the best chance that I can have." After he had said that to me, he was looking at me, as if begging me to understand what was happening, and not to be getting in his case about it any further.

Scene 11: My Second Contract

I was sitting down with Kenta at his office, and I was feeling that whatever we needed to discuss, I would rather have us just do it right in the open, and not have either one of us feel like we were making any real issues here. "So Izzy, I was calling you here because I have another contract that I want you to be looking at." After Kenta said that, I nodded at this.

"What were you wanting me to do?" I asked, tired, but wanting to just help this man. I wanted to be useful to his drive. I was feeling that as long as I was also doing contracts as well, it was giving me a excuse to be going out and actually using my time outside. To form bonds with people that I hardly really knew, but was growing interested in.

To be honest, I was feeling that now that I was out in the world, at least a little bit, it was a whole lot better than being stuck in my room all day. It was finally feeling like I was doing something more than just serving myself. That was the main thing that I had been feeling like I was missing now. In a way, I was almost needing to thank my younger sister for that.

"I need you to investigate a light house that is near the east exit of town. I am sure that you have at least heard of it." He was saying, and after a second to jot my memory, I nodded at this, feeling a bit better, and feeling glad that I was exploring territory that I at least sort of a had a fucking idea over.

"What are you expecting me to find?" I asked, feeling like maybe if I was being more direct with him, I would at least get a fucking answer here. I was seeing that Kenta looked like he was considering telling me for a second, and that he wanted to just get me to fully know what I was getting myself into. Then he shook his head, as if feeling that I just needed to see it for myself.

"I heard rumors that some of the things that were seen a couple of decades ago have been found again. I have no idea if the rumors are true. But I have a feeling that if they are, we just need to be taking extra care to find the truth." After Kenta told me this, I was then using my memory and recollection to be bringing the info back once again.

"Are you fucking talking about the monsters right now?" I asked, and then after I had asked them this, Kenta was slowly nodding. As if he had hated that I had already known this, and was sort of wishing that maybe he was not dealing with a man who did know the general basics.

"Yeah, I am talking about them. To be honest, I was kind of wishing that you have not already known that. This way you would have been able to have a genuine reaction. That way I would have been able to see if there was something that I needed to really look out for." He said, and then shook his head, as if kind of annoyed at this new turn of events. But he was shaking his head, and decided not be worried about it anymore.

"So you were wanting me to be scared out of my mind or something? Trust me when I say that if thesese rumors are true, and the monsters are real, then you do not need my blind reaction for that to be the case. If these are real, then I think that we need to be doing whatever it takes to be keeping ourselves safe." After I said that to him, I was seeing that Kenta was looking kind of tired, and looked like he had wanted to say more. But then decided against it for now.

"Well, most people in Wayside do not know of these monsters being here. So I think that you will have to be more careful when you are around them. If you do not keep these things secret, then mass hysteria might be created. I need you to just spend three or four nights watching for some hours, and see if you find them. If you do, tell me everything that you found on the fifth day or so. If not, then just tell me that there was nothing." After he had said that to me, he looked like he was just wanting me to be playing fetch like some fucking dog.

"But do you think that maybe you should be trying to go on and talk to them? You know, if these things really are here, then I believe that the town has a fucking right to know the truth." I said, and then I was seeing Kenta looking rather angry. As if annoyed at how little I was understanding. But to be honest, I was wanting him to help me understand, if that was possible.

"This is not a fucking simple speech that Shaun can make and then everybody moves on with their life. It goes much deeper than this, and I believe that you fucking know this. Shaun has to be taking these things carefully if he wants to give himself any form of a fucking chance to actually be careful here. But if we are not careful here, then what are we really fucking doing here?" He asked, and I was feeling like I needed to have a better response from him. One that shows more commitment here.

"I just have no real idea of what to be feeling here. I just think that we need to be hving a approach that can get people ready for what is to come. If they have a warning, and they are willing to fucking listen, then isn't that a good thing? Isn't that going to show that we are actually trying to be helping Wayside after all?" I asked, and then Kenta started to stand up, and he was looking at his wall, as if considering grabbing something that I had no idea of yet.

"You are treading a very thin line boy. You were given a job that you were supposed to be doing, and you are instead basically telling me about how your way is better, and you are trying to act like you are the big man on stage." Kenta was telling me, and then I was thinking that I just needed to try and find a way to be making this whole debate slightly less bad for both of us, or else everything was going out the fucking window.

"I am going to be doing your task. I never said that I was not. I just do not agree with the exact details of it, and I think that we need to be taking this seriously. Just in case if this is even half as bad as we are all thinking. I want to help you. But I think that we need to be both helping each other." I was saying, now officially holding my ground, and then Kenta was just trying to take a calm and deep breath.

"Are you honestly just trying to help?" He asked, and looked at me, and I was seeing him looking tired, but he looked like he was just trying to give me a chance here. As he was telling me this, I was slowly nodding, and I was just feeling like I needed to earn his trust in different ways than just one.

"Yes, I am really just doing my best to be helping out as much as possible. I understand that you are scared to be looking at new things, and I think that it is important to just look at what we have. But for now, we need to be working together no matter what. If such a thing were to even fucking be possible." I was seeing Kenta looked like he was not wanting to be having this dicussion, but he was wanting to alienate me from him even less than anything else.

"Fine, you made your point. I will trust you as long as I can here. I might not like this, but I am going to have to just give you a chance." After he was telling me this, I was starting to walk off, feeling that it might be best to be doing this before he might change his mind yet again, and before either one of us were wondering what we had been saying.

"Thank you for understanding me. I will just see what I can do to help you out." I said, and then I was feeling like whatever we were going to be doing, and then Kenta looked like he wanted to just say one more thing before I was gone.

"We will be picking up this discussion when you come back from your job in a few days. Once you are done with this, we have a long way to go, and I hope that you will be ready to talk here." After he was telling me this, I sighed, and then I was gone before this could be getting any worse between us.

...

Eventually, I was at Rachel's house again, and I was feeling that I just needed to be talking to her for a bit. "Hey, I was wanting to just check up on how you were doing. Since it has felt like it's been a really long time so far." I said, and then I looked at her, and I was seeing that Rachel was looking entirely unsure of what to be telling me right now.

"Honestly, I was wanting to ask you a few questions." After she had said that to me, I was feeling like I just needed to be totally honest with her from this point forward. I was feeling that for whatever it was, she was not going to be letting any shit slide from now on at all.

"Do you actually want to be helping out with Andrea or not? Or are you just playing a fucking decoy act? Because if this is just a act that you are putting up for whatever reason, just to be getting me off guard, then just fucking say so." After she was telling me this, I was shocked to be hearing her saying it like this. I was really having no idea what to say.

"I will admit at first, my initial thing was to just do this in order to be getting my younger sister to stop fucking nagging at me to be taking care of having a social life. At first it was just for my own gain. But now that I am hearing you out, and I am just getting to know you, that is when I started to just slowly become more and more of somebody who is wanting to do what is right." I was telling her, and then I was hoping that my growing honesty was going to be making her feel better.

"I need to have people just tell me what they are interested in. I have no idea if anybody is really doing this because they care, or if they are just doing it because of self-fish gain. I mean, you were somebody that nobody knew of just a week and a half or so ago. Now you are just coming along and hanging out with somebody in this group on a daily basis. And in all honesty, it just all feels a bit too sudden. It feels like there is some ulterior motive." After she said that to me, I was shaking my head now.

"I am not asking you to buy what I am saying here. That is not my place for you to be deciding. But the truth is that I want to do something that I know can make a difference. I wanted to be doing something that was no longer for myself, and I was feeling that something like this was the best start. You can choose to not buy me on this, but it is reality." I said, finally feeling like I just needed to get her to be more open with me.

"Izzy, I just feel like I need more friends here. I want more people to just go on and really get to know me. To see where my perspective is on this. It feels like nobody has ever fucking slowed down, and actually gotten to know how I have felt on this. I don't even know how I feel on this. But I feel like I just need to really understand." After she was telling me this, I was wanting to remind her of my social status.

"I think now is a good time to remind you of the fact that I have no fucking social abilities. I am just here because I feel like I want to be able to help improve myself. I mean, I am smart, and I can give you a lot of basic facts and knowledge. But when it comes to making a discussion, and really getting to know people, then I am fucking dense, and I might as well just not even try." I was telling her, and I was seeing her looking totally unsure of what to tell me now.

"Even if you believe that you have no social abilities, I think that the fact that you are trying to be seeing what others are thinking is a bigger improvement than many. I just think that if somebody really talks to me, and gets to know me, then I might be able to get myself better." After she was telling me this, I was thinking that what she was saying was a total load of shit. But I needed to remain silent for her sake.

"How do you feel? How do you think you feel?" I asked, and brought the original question down a bit, to be giving her a chance to more properly assess how she was feeling. She was looking like she had been totally overwhelmed by this question. But at the same time, I was seeing her looking like she was finding this all worth it.

"I feel like I am just so fucking desolate. Like all hope and emotion is gone. I want to feel more, and I feel like I deserve to have more. But for now, I feel like I just want to crawl away, and give up." She was telling me, and shook her head, as if ashamed at what she was telling me.

"If you are feeling desolate, maybe you are just needing to figure out how to be getting any form of emotion back. Find something out there that triggers a feeling within you. If that is possible." I was telling her, thinking that what I said was stupid. But it was my genuine best attempt to be giving her something else.

Scene 11: The Lighthouse

I ended up setting myself up near the light house that Kenta had told me of. In all honesty, I was feeling that I just needed to be careful with this guy going forward. I was feeling that once I got ths contract done, and I got to talk to Kenta more, he would have been able to talk to me more. As if willing to actually take this a bit more seriously.

I was seeing that the area was still relatively busy when I had first shown up there. As if everybody was still trying to take advantage of the final hours of light outside. I was wondering how the hell there would have even been something in there in the first place. I was feeling that Kenta was probably pulling my leg, once I was actually thinking about it a bit more.

Most of the people around me hardly even paid attention to my very existence. They probably just thought that I was a typical fifteen year old trying to spend his summer in a productive way, and were probably in some ways just glad that they were seeing that I was not just wasting my life away on the computer or whatever.

In a way, seeing that everybody was just not even caring that I was there was almost a blessing in disguise. I was not wanting people to be getting in my face over everything. At least with this, I was finally able to just sort of think for myself. I would actually be able to really let the reality of this all sink in further.

The longer that I was thinking about it, the more that I was feeling that if Kenta was indeed telling the truth about the monsters in this town, and if he was indeed telling the truth about his company trying to just make sure that the town is ready for future attacks right now, the maybe he was right. Maybe Lazarus was doing the thing that nobody else could.

Over time, it had seemed like more and more people were leaving. And seeing this was finally able to give me a chance to actually fucking get some time to really be planning my fucking mission out. If there even was one. But I needed to just try and make some productive use out of my time.

In all honesty, Kenta was somebody who had scared the shit out of me. If he really was doing all of this stuff, and if he was trying to help Wayside, and we were all just being idiots, and doing nothing to help out, then I had a feeling that maybe that was our fault. Maybe we were really the ones that had the problem. And I just needed to fucking grow up, and I needed to try and help the others around town move forward, and see that Lazarus was the only company that really cared.

As the sun had finally set, and there was nothing else going on, I was feeling that now would be the time to really take this more seriously again. I highly doubted that anything was going to be coming here while everybody was bustling around, and trying o be taking care of themselves. I was thinking that if monsters were here, we just needed to be more careful.

I had also thought that if Kenta really wanted to make sure that the reports were fine, and that I was not lying to him, maybe he needed to have at least one pther person there, who was going to keep me on a leash. I was kind of glad that nobody was here though, in case if I wanted to lie. I was just being realistic here.

As I was staring at the light house for a bit, a small part of me was wondering why we even had one of these in the first place. It just seemed so out of place, and to be honest, this was kind of dumb in my opinion. I was just thinking that there really was no real need to be having something like this.

But then I decided to stop thinking about it, since in all honesty, it was going to be a giant fucking waste of my time to be thinking about this all right now. So with that, I was looking around, and I was seeing that there was something walking by. It was hard for me to be seeing the shadow at first, and for a bit, I was thinking that maybe I was fucking crazy. But I decided against that feeling, and I was thinking that I just needed to go on and see what the hell I was going to find here.

I was standing up, and I was feeling that maybe once I took a couple of steps closer, I would see what I might be able to find if I was just getting closer and closer. I was looking around, and I was seeing that there was nobody around, and this was making me feel a whole lot better. I was thinking that if there really were monsters, and they had seen me, then I was going to be fucked. Or if there was somebody who was watching me, to make sure that I made my reports properly, then I was going to be having to hold myself accountable here.

As I was walking down the extra few feet, I was seeing that the shape of this monster was becoming more clear, and it had looked like it was something like a small dinosaur. I was confused at this, and I was feeling that if for nothing else, I was expecting it to actually be a man or something. I was expecting there to actually be a real explanation behind it.

So as I was seeing this, I was convinced that I just needed to be following this thing for a while. I needed to make sure that I was not imagining things, for better or for worse. I was thinking that if for nothing else, Kenta was going to get his report all right.

I walked down for a while, and it was eventually walking down a small path, and I was just focused on going down that path so that way I would be able to just get closer to it without having it notice what I was actually doing. I was thinking that if this dinosaur like creature knew what I was doing, then they would probably just kill me without any need.

I honestly was scared probably more of this thing than I was scared of Kenta or anything. If Kenta was aware of these things existing, I would be pissed of him not telling me. But at the same time, I was feeling that I could sort of get it. I just hoped that he was going to be keeping things a bit more real with me though going forward.

Eventually, I was starting to walk down what had looked like a small green path, like a mini forest that I had not even been aware of before. I was seeing the dinosaur walking to what looked like a small clearing. And now that I was seeing this, I was officially confused as to how people had not noticed this thing before. And I was thinking that maybe I could talk to Kenta about this more on my own terms.

As I was looking a bit more, I was seeing that there were some people with breathing maks on, and they were digging into something in the ground. I wanted to see what the hell they were digging up, considering the fact that I was going to have to report this to Kenta. And I was having a strange feeling that he probably was going to be at least somewhat aware of what was going on here. For all that I knew, he was probably sending me here in order to just make sure that everything was being taken care of.

I was walking behind one of the trees, and as I was seeing this, I was seeing that the drills were digging into something that looked like a bunch of colored shards. I was confused at this. But at the same time, I wanted to see what the hell this thing was. I was seeing that one of the employees was holding up their hand, as if telling their co worker to stop what they were doing for a second.

The one with the drill did just that, and then the man who gave the command was grabbing one of the shards, and looked at it for a bit. "My god, they were telling the truth..." He was saying, and then the one with the drill was curious to see what they were talking about. As if this was the only thing that they wanted to get to know. As if they had the right to know.

"What the fucking hell is going on here? I heard some rumors, but I still have no idea what we are looking for." The man asked, and then the one who gave the command looked at the one with the drill, and looked like they were going to just tell their employee the best news in the world.

"Chloe was telling the employees of her department that she had located a certain type of matter that was buried under ground. After some research, she determined that this matter was able to harness power that can be on par with magic. I have no idea if the effects are real. But the fact that the material itself gives me hope." He was saying, and placed the shard he picked up in his pocket.

The dinosaur like monster was behind an entirely different tree on the other wise of the grove, and I was wondering if this thing was going to try and kill the men who had been working on this project. And if they were, then was it really my fucking place to go on and try and stop it? I really did not think so.

"Do you want us to be working on grabbing more of these? Should we return them all to Lazarus?" He asked, as if officially scared of what he was getting himself into. As if feeling that being a part of a company that literally started to believe in magic was too much.

"I want the entire area cleared. I am going to be making a call to our executives, and maybe they will be willing to give me more instruction. You are not to stop until I give you some orders after my conversation." After he had said that to the man who had been working, that was when the man who had been working looked like he was kind of angry at this.

"We need to make sure that nobody else gets any samples. If anybody who is not a company employee can grab these, then everything that we have been working for will be destroyed. And we will not be able to handle what is to happen then." After he had said that, the man with the shard piece walked off, and he was pulling out a phone, to get ready to talk to the guy on the other end.

I was looking around, and I decided to just follow along for a while, and see what I might be able to find when I was talking to this guy. I needed to see if this man was going to be able to give me some answers. The dinosaur monster was crawling up the tree, and was standing on a branch up high, as if to see what was going to be said too. But to be honest, I was starting to really not care what that thing was doing. It almost seemed like a ally by comparison.

After the man was pulling out his phone, he started to speak for a second. "Hey, I am sorry for calling so late, and I know that you are rather busy." After the man was saying this to the person on the other side, the voice on the other end started to speak up for a second.

"Did you find anything that wil help your research project?" After the woman on the other end, who I was assuming was Chloe, asked this question, that was when the man started to speak up in a much better tone, as if feeling like this was the break through that both of them needed.

"Yes, I found more of that material that you talked about. In that small grove near the light house. With your permission, I was hoping to go on and extract all the matter in there. This will make sure that we will maximize the potential of this town even further." After he had said that to Chloe, he was feeling like this was just a boring porposition, since he must have known that this woman was going to give him permission.

"How long do you think that the extractions will be taking?" She asked, in a much more polite tone, as if aware that she was needing to get this while the anvil was still hot. I was feeling that whatever I was going to tell Kenta was going to just be getting him rather angry. As if he had listened to somebody just basically betray him.

"I only have one man with me right now. He is good, but will not be able to get this all done on his own before the end of summer. I am hoping that you can lend me a small crew. Even just three or four extra would be nice." He was saying, and then Chloe was thinking about it for a second. As if she had needed to consider her staff quantity so far.

"I will hire some extra people. I will make sure that I have three others for you by the end of the week. Until then, just do the best that you can with your one employee." She was saying, and then after that, this was when the guy on the phone was looking like he had wished for something better, but decided against saying it.

"Better than nothing. I will take it." After he had said that to his boss, he hung up before she was able to give him the generic speech of how he was not going to fail or else she was going to make sure that he was going to fucking pay for it.

Once he was placing the phone in the pocket, he was taking out a cigarette and he was starting to smoke it for a second. "God, when I get the fucking chance, I am going to kill that fucking bitch. But for now, I just need to focus on this." After he said that to himself, he was smoking the rest of his cigarette, which took roughly three or four minutes.

I was feeling that maybe this was something that Kenta needed to hear as soon as possible. But in all honesty, I was feeling that staying here any longer for tonight was not going to be helping me out. So once he was gone, I started to head away in the opposite direction, and was heading home. Maybe by doing this, I could satisfy Kenta. I had the proof he wanteed that there were monsters, and I was able to go on and tell him even more.

Eventually, I was at my house again, and I was feeling that if my parents were going to try and speak to me about how late that I had been out, then they were needing to just understand that I was just trying to do some things for myself. And no matter how much they were going to press further, I was going to just remain silent here.

I went right to my room, and I had felt that I would just take a day or two to really process what I was doing. Maybe by doing this, he was going to just be aware that I was doing more than just one night on this contract. He might have been upset if he had seen that I was only doing a single night with this. As if I had somehow failed him or whatever.

I was angry at myself for even accepting this, or taking my sisters idea of trying to be forming a more social life. If she had known what would have happened as a result of her just not shutting up, and not letting me do my own thing, then maybe I would just need to be telling her that I wished she would just remain silent here.

As I was sleeping that night, I was feeling that everything around me was coming down. I was feeling that deep down inside, I just needed to plan on my logic here. I hated the fact that I was so fucking scared of so many things now. That I was getting myself involved into way too much shit. It was almost as if I was just basically setting myself up for fear right now. And somehow I was feeling like it was my job to be doing all of this on my own.

I was telling myself to just be careful though. I was thinking that as long as I was just reminding myself that my life was too short to be scared, and that I just needed to fucking fight for myself no matter what, then that was all that I had fucking needed. Maybe if I was jsut focused on myself, and focused on my own personal survival, then that was going to be the thing that was going to keep me going forward. And that was all that I had really fucking needed to remind myself.

...

The next day, I was waking up, and I was feeling that I just needed to be by myself again for today. I was feeling that maybe I could try and talk to Tai again. I hardly really got to know him the first time we met, and I was feeling that by speaking to him, and see what he might have said on the whole issue, then that was going to be good enough to justify the idea of going out, and seeing how he was doing.

I eventually, I was walking to his house, and I was feeling that once I was there, I might have to reintroduce myself, and just make sure that he was doing alright. By speaking to him, I was going to make sure that Tai was going to be find. I needed Tai to see that my heart was in the right place. That no matter what was going on, my intentions if for nothing else were going to be good.

I knocked on the door for a second, and then after I had done that, I was seeing Kari answer. I was staring down at the eleven year old, realizing that this was the person that Tai was talking about when he was mentioning his sister.

As I had stared at her, I was feeling like I just needed to find something to say. "I was wanting to talk to your brother for a bit. Would you be willing to let him know that Izzy is here?" I asked, feeling that maybe by just breaking the ice somewhat with her, that was going to be what I needed. I was seeing Kari slowly nodding for a second.

"Cool, he made a new friend." After Kari had said that to me, I was slowly nodding, and I would not exactly go that far. But Kari did not need to know that. I was sighing, and I sat down, feeling that I might as well just go along with this, and see what she might be willing to do for me. In all honesty, I was thinking that Tai just needed to fucking listen to what I was going to say.

I waited for several seconds before Tai eventually came around, and then he was looking a bit more shocked to be seeing that it was me of all people. As if this was the one thing that he was just never really going to be ready for. "So Izzy, I will be totally honest, I was not expecting to see you here." Tai was telling me, and I was shrugging, as if something like this was sort of expected.

"Yeah, I mean, I just feel like we need to talk for a bit. I know that we hardly really got to talk to each other at first. And to be honest. I have no idea if that is what you prefer. But to be honest, I think that maybe we just need to talk a bit more before we just start to go our own ways again." I was telling Tai, and he was looking like he really was failing to see the point.

"I really have no idea why you feel like you need to be talking to me of all people. After all, we have only met once." Tai was saying, and then he was taking a long and deep breath. I was aware that he was not wanting to waste his time. I did not want to be wasting my time either. This was one thing that we could agree on for now.

"Tai, I think that we just need to talk about what you want to do in order to help find the woman that you love." I said, and then Tai looked at me, as if finding it hilarious that this was the way that I was choosing to word it. But then he was taking a long and deep breath, as if feeling that we needed to just not waste our time here.

"That was not exactly the way that I was wording it. I was trying to make sure that the girl that I have a crush on stays safe no matter what, and that she never goes missing. And that if she were to go missing, maybe there would be more that I could do about it. That I could actually do something that matters." After he was telling me this, I was slowly nodding, as if feeling kind of shamed for messing up the story a bit more.

"Sorry for getting the story wrong. It was not my intent to be making you feel like I was not listening to you." I said, and than I looked at him, as if feeling that by telling Tai this, he would keep better. I needed to make it clear that we were going to listen to each other no matter what.

"Well, I guess that if you are insisting that we talk about this for a bit, then I guess that maybe we might as well just do this, and if for nothing else, have a real introduction, and not whatever the fucking hell we had earlier." Tai was telling me, and shook his head, as if feeling that he was just needing to make sure that I was going to be a team player no matter what. That I was going to just not be dragging along like a fucking asshole or whatever.

"So Tai, there is a girl that you like, and you want to make sure that she stays safe no matter what?" I asked, and then I looked at him, feeling that I just needed to see what Tai was going to be telling me. Tai closed the door, and we were walking along, and he looked like he was hating the fact that we were discussing this.

"Yeah, I want to make sure that she never goes missing. I feel like it is something that is going to keep everything better for me. I think that if I can be the reason that she can return home, and know that nothing happens, then I feel that maybe I did something right with my life." After he was telling me this, I was looking right at him, wondering what to tell him now.

"Tai, do you feel like you are going to be making a difference if you just keep looking? Do you think that you will be able to let me meet her, and then maybe I can see if ther eis a way that I could be able to help her out?" I asked, and then I looked at him, and I was feeling that whatever I could say now was never going to be the same now.

"I feel that most of this is something that I need to just do on my own. You know, to make sure that she knows that I had never wanted anything to happen to her, no matter what. But at the same time, I have no idea if shewould want something like this. She might be wanting me to just not say anything like that." Tai was telling me, and he was looking kind of angry at this idea now.

"Tai, she will probably have a easier time buying that you can do something if you have friends with you. If you have friends with you, and you just do whatever it takes to show her that nothing else is scaring you anymore, then I think that she will be more willing to work with this idea." I was telling him, and I was seeing that he was just kind of quietly considering what I had been saying.

"Izzy, I want her to know that I am capable. If she does not know that, then even if I do everything that I can for her, she will still fnd a way to be making a excuse to not trust me. I think that I have to just do whatever it takes to show her that it is not all that big of a fucking deal." After he wa stelling me this, I saw him looking like he had kind of just given up now.

"The best way to probably show that you are capable is showing her that you have friends. If you show her that you have friends, and that you are not just scared, and that you will do whatever it takes for them, then I think that maybe she will start to be more open with you that way. You need to show her that you do not have a weakness." I was saying, and deep down, I was feeling like saying something like this was a terrible comment. Like I was pressuring him to push harder than before.

"To be honest, are we really one hundred percent sure that anything we are doing is going to get people to actually see any differently? I mean, I want her to know that there is some fucked up shit going on at Wayside. But I have a hard time buying myself that she will actually be listening to me at all. I think she will still find an excuse to turn it all down." Tai said, and he was clearly angry at all of this.

"Do you think that she will not be capable for making her own choices?" I asked, and I was wondering if taht was what he was trying to say. I was not wanting to be getting him mad at me. But at the same time, I was feeling like I just needed to make sure that I was not taking what he was saying the wrong way. He sighed, and looked down, and looked like he had no clue what to be telling me here.

"I really have no idea what I am trying to say anymore. I guess that in a way, that is the scariest part of this all. I want to try and see what I can tell her, and I want to make her see that I will not judge her no matter what. But in a way, that is fucking impossible." Tai said, and he was just looking like he was relatively tired.

"Tai, I think that the hardest thing in this whole thing is that there are so many things that we need to fucking do, and that none of us have any idea where to fucking go here. And that is the one thing that I can never really put to words. I just thik that the best thing we can do is find the fucking facts. And the show people the evidence in a way that makes it irrefutable." I said, and I saw Tai was looking like he did not really like that idea at all.

"What if people are not fucking ready for that? You know, ready for people to be showing them the flaws of the town that we live in? I think that if we try and force anything on them, then they might be taking it really fucking hard, and I would not even blame them if that is the way that they try and take it." After Tai was saying this, I decided to just not say anything.

"Honestly, I think that even beyond your crush, we might be having more in common than either one of us believe. We both have a younger sister, that I am sure we will both be doing anything in our power to keep safe. I will do whatever it takes to make sure that nothing happens to her, even if it means that I have to break my moral compass sometimes." I said, and then looked at him, wondering what he would have said to this. He sighed, and looked down for a second.

"Yeah, having a young girl with you does make things a bit harder to look at it on a personal level. I will admit that right now. Everything just goes along, and you feel like you need to do anything possible to never make things harder for them." After he had said that to me, I was looking at him, and I was slowly nodding in agreement with that.

"In all honesty, I feel like I need to be there of her as much as possible. I think that might have bee a subtle reason why I never left the house. Just to make sure that she would talk to me if needed. But now that I am doing this, I have a feeling that ironically enough, being there for her, and keeping her safe, requires the opposite of me sitting on my ass every day. It requires me to go out, and to be uncomfortable, and to be doing things that can push beyond regular boundries." I was saying, and then I was looking at him, wondering what else to say now.

"I think that you are probably a bit smarter than you are giving yourself credit for. I mean, you clearly know what you are getting yourself into, and you have put more thought and effort into these reponses than you want to admit." Tai said, and looked at me, and I was seeing him looking like he wanted to see hwat else I could say to this.

"I guess that maybe I just needed to start to listen to her advice if I wanted to go out,and actually do something that I was sure would be mattering. But I guess that if you need any fucking help, I will go on and talk to you now, and see what we might come up with." I was telling him, and then the longer that I had been speaking, the less and less certain that I was getting that I knew what I was doing at all.

"Izzy, do you feel like you are regretting not going out more, and that you regret not taking advantage of your life a bit more than you have been lately? I think that maybe something like this could always be a good way to eveluate what is going on here. After all, I still know next to nothing about you." He said, amd then I was wondering if he was actually enjoying this talk, or just doing it out of feeling that he needed to do it.

"I don't know about regret or not. I think that maybe I am just confused on how I feel right now on the general whole. I feel lost, and just totally feeling like I need to be looking at what is ahead in front of me more than anything though. I will do whatever it takes though to make sure that the knowledge that I am gathering though will help me though." I said, feeling like I was making a big mistake right now.

"Well, just make sure that no matter what you are feeling, that you will never be too upset with yourself. If you are upset with yourself, and you feel like you are making a bunch of fucking mistakes, then I think that doing that is only going to be making things just much worse for you. And we need to be working together no matter what." Tai was telling me, and I had no idea what to feel.

"Tai, do you think that if I try and find something to make this whole thing better, that it will come? Or do you think that everything I will try and accomplish is all going to be a fucking giant waste of time?" I asked, and I was feeling that the concern was a rather real one. And I was wondering if he was going to be letting me actually speak my thoughts out.

"You got to find those answers on your own, I fear. It might not be what you enjoy, and I can certanly understand the uncertainty of it all. But I think that the faster that you find what is holding you back, the better that everything will be for you. The better that it will be for everybody." He was telling me, and then I was wanting to argue with him. I needed to argue with him. Just to make my voice clear. But then I sighed, and just decided against it.

"I have a feeling that you were going to say that. As annoying as it might be to admit that." I was saying, and then I was shrugging, and had nothing else that I was wanting to say. But then again, I was wondering if I was going to be keeping this internship up longer. I had a feeling that doing this internship was the thing that I needed to keep my mind focused.

"Dude, I just have to do whatever it takes for us to all be in our game. After all, if you are feeling like you actually want in on this, then you are needing to make sure that you have your full focus on the mission, and nothing else. But I guess that I do not need to be telling you this after all." After Tai was saying this, I nodded, knowig that he really did not need to say it.

"Yeah, you really don't And I think that this is the thing that is scaring me the most. Knowing deep down inside that there are so many fucking things that I need to do, but am failing to fucking find something to keep myself going." I was saying, and now I was thinking about what it would be like to just return the report on my contract to Kenta, and if he was wanting to give me more. I needed to just get these things over with, that way I could be one day closer to the end of summer.

Scene 12: Concerns

I was sitting down, and I was just thinking of everything that had been going on. In all honesty, I was wondering why I was always getting my mind into all of this in the first place. I was thinking that if I just reported to Kenta, and just told him what the truth was, then he would finally be willing to fucking listen to me, and then by doing this, I could get him to see that I just want more.

As I was getting ready to report to Kenta the next thing that I was needing to do, this was when I was getting a knock at my house door, and when I looked at the time, I was scared out of my mind to be seeing that it was nearly two in the morning, and somebody was coming along today.

But not wanting to make any risks, I decide that I would just see what these men were wanting, and that by answering their door, maybe they would have a tiny amount of higher patience at this. So with that, I ended up walking to the door, and answering it. And I was shocked at the fact that it was Rob and Rachel both at once.

When I answered the door, and I saw them, I just took a long and deep breath, and I was feeling like I just needed to get this over with. Whatever they were wanting to bitch about, we all just needed to be done with this as fast as possible. "So what were you wanting to talk about?" I asked, and then Rob was looking down at the ground, as if feeling like he was already starting to regret doing any of this in the first place.

"We were wanting to share with you the concerns that we were both having right now. The stuff that you are doing with Kenta. We are both starting to feel like you are getting too deep with this mand, and that you are losing sight of what you were telling me that you had wanted to do." Rob said, and then I sighed, and I was really not wanting to deal with this discussion right now.

"I am doing what I need. Kenta was telling me of some things that were concerning him, and even if I am not sure what he is trying to accomplish all the time, I know deep down inside the the things that he is worried over are true, and I am just trying to help him out." I said, and then I was seeing neither Rob or Rachel really have anything to say here.

"What if it is going to turn out that Kenta is just using you for your eas to break personality? I think that it is rather possible that he is seeing you as a good scape goat, and that you are just going to end up giving him every single thing that he would have ever wanted." Rob said, and then I was sighing, and had nothing else to be saying here.

"Can you please provide me with a actual reason what is scaring you? I mean, I am open to suggestions... But I feel like I need more to be going off of here."I said, and then after I was telling both of them this, I was sighing, and I was feeling that I really did need to at least try and get where they were coming from.

"I understand that you are worried. And I know that the company has a horrible reputation. But maybe they are getting a bad flack, and we need to be giving them a chance to show themselves here. I think that surely at least some of them would be willing to show me a different side." I said, and to be honest I was not buying a word of what I was saying myself.

"Horrible reputations do not come up because people are bitter, or because people are just trying to take down competition. Maybe the reason that this place is doing so bad is because they might be responsible for the people who are going missing." He was telling me, and then I was looking down, and to be honest, I really had no desire to hear this.

"I have my back against the wall. Even if I wanted to just leave this, I have a feeling that these people are going to kill me. They are going to make sure that quitting is not a option. Let's at least look at that chance here before I suddenly turn into the bad guy." I said, and then I was looking at them, hoping they would understand my perspective.

"Okay, maybe that is true." Rob was saying, and he looked like he was hating that idea being brought up. But then once he was done with that, I was seeing him looking like he was getting back to a certain level of resolve here. Like he had wanted to say more. Rachel was then jumping in before either Rob or I could say more.

"Look Izzy, I understand why you are doing this. I really do. I think that in general, it is not a terrible idea. I think that what Rob and I are both trying to say is that we want to make sure that you are careful here. Can you at least be able to promise us this?" After she was asking me this, I was thinking for a bit, and I decided to slowly nod here.

"Thanks for at least getting what I was trying to do. I mean, I know that this is not going to be the way that you want it to be. But at the same time, when I am just trying to make sure that my younger sister is safe, that is all that I can do. After all, I am sure that you would feel the same way if you knew something was putting Tobias in danger." I said, and I was really hoping that what I was saying had been true.

Rachel was silent at this, and I was seeing that the look on her face was one of pure horror. As if she was just wanting me to just stop bringing up her younger brother into this. I was looking at Rob, and I was wanting to just find a way to be getting this whole subject to be less awful. But it was hard to really look at what they wanted.

"Damn it. Izzy, I wish that I could just be there for you. I wish that I was able to believe in Lazarus Coporation as much as you do." After Rob said that, I was shaking my head, and then I was feeling like my comment coming up would be making him feel slightly better about what was happening.

"I do not trust Lazarus. I trust Kenta, and that is going to have to be all that I have right now. If I can trust him, then I think that I might be able to really get more here." I said, and then I looked at Rachel, and she was starting to get back into a relatively composed state, as if this was all thatshe was having right now.

"Do you think that maybe Rob and I could be able to go on and meet this Kenta guy? I think that maybe if we meet him, we might be able to start to feel a bit better here." She was saying, and then I was wondering what I was going to tell her. That this was a giant fucking secet service, and that if I tried to tell her and Rob about his projects, he would just probably shoot them down?

"There is nothing honestly. I think that even if I trid and really force him to be telling you guys, he would just tell you off. So I feel like we just need to be brushing that idea off right now." I told her, and I was feeling that the honesty was the only thing that was going to be making her feel better here.

"If he is like that, then I think this serves our idea even more that he has something that he is trying to hide, but you are just trying your fucking best to not be seeing it. But I guess that you made your position on this whole thing very clear, and that trying to get you to change your mind is going to be a waste of fucking time." Rob said, and then I lookeed down, feeling really bad at the way he was saying this.

"I think a small part of me gets it." I said, and I was feeling that I might as well just be more open with them about the way that I was feeling right now. And not be going back and forth constantly. Maybe if I was just working with them, and we were just talking about it all out, then I think that we were going to fucking finally make progress here.

"Izzy, do you really think that doing any of this is going to actually be keeping your sister in a decent condition? I think that at this rate, we are just wanting to know this." After Rachel was asking me this, I was then thinking about all that Rachel was trying to ask. And I knew that she only needed a honest answer here.

"I have no idea if what I am going to be doing will actually be keeping her safe. I have no idea if everything that I am doing is for the best, or if I am just going around for no reason, and hurting all those around me because I made a big fucking mistake. But for now, I think that there is something that I can rely on right now. If I am doing this, then I can say that I have a minor role in what is happening here." I said, and then I was thinking that saying that was going to have to be good enough here.

"I had a horrible feeling that you were going to be saying that. God damn it, I wished that you were never going to be admitting that." After she had said that to me, I was wondering if I was letting her down by telling her this. I looked down, and I was thinking that I was going to be the one person who was always going to be uncertain going forward.

"What do you want me to do? Just sit there, and potentially let something come along, and then make things even worse? At least with this, and at least with pretending to be friendly with these people, I can actually have some form of a fucking influence. And that is what I am going to have to get while I can. It is not a great solution, but it is a start." I said, and then I was thinking that I was just wasting my time.

"I have a idea here. Something that I feel like might be able to make all three of us feel better." Rob said, and then both Rachel and I were looking at him, and I was feeling that maybe we were onto something. Or I guess that he might be onto something. So with that, I just took a deep breath, and let him talk.

"I say that we go to the store, and we buy a recorder and camera. We record the next conversation that Izzy has with the guy, and then see what might be said by that. Then with that, we then finally go forward, and see what he might be giving away. That way we can decide from experience if he is full of shit." Rob said, and then I was slowly nodding, as if actually thinking this was a smart idea. Rachel looked like she would agree with this too.

Scene 14: Shipment Contracts

I was meeting up with Kenta again, and I was feeling that I would just keep in mind what Rob and Rachel were saying. Since to be honest, despite not wanting to admit it, I was not wanting to be dealing with this in the first place. I was thinking that by speaking to Kenta, I would see if this was actually going to be worth my fucking time or not.

Once I was at the room he was working in, I could tell that he was clearly tired out of his fucking mind. Like much more than he usually was. I was looking down on the ground, and I was feeling bad for seeing this. But at the same time, I was just thinking that I needed to go on and speak to him right away. "So Kenta, I was wondering if you have any other plans on what I need to be doing?"

"Yeah, since you are here, I guess that I will be able to give you more. I have been thinking about our conversations a bit. While I am not sure if I fully agree with these things, I would not be too worried about it at all. I am going to just give you something that is going to be relatively mundane." He said, and then I nodded at this.

"Alright, so now that I am looking like I got your attention, I am going to need you to find a missing shipment that has not been found lately. By getting this shipment, you will be bringing it back to me. And I will study its contents to make sure that it is the correct order that I had made." After Kenta was telling me this, I was sighing, and felt like I just needed so much more than this.

"What do you think that I will be finding by grabbing this information?" I asked, and then Kenta was smiling when he had heard this. As if he always enjoyed seeing that I was going to be more of a team player than I was giving off. He stood up, and started to take out a cigar, which I was not expecting him to smoke.

"It is what will help us provide further fortifications to the town for the upcoming attacks. Surely you will see when it is your time that when these things are going on, nothing else will matter. I know that sooner or later, you will see every word of what I am saying is the truth." He said, and then I was feeling he was just giving me shit.

"If you want me to trust you, I need you to tell me more about what I am getting myself into." I said, and then I saw Kenta looking like he was getting really fucking annoyed with hearing me tell him this. As if wondering why I was always disrespecting him. Even though that was never even my intention in the first place.

"You will see soon enough. Soon enough, I will not have to tell you anything, as you will see it all yourself." With that, Kenta sighed, and then I was having a feeling that I was not going to be getting more out of him today. "Also, when you come back with this report, please tell me what you found at the light house. That way I can get everything that I need."

After he had said that, I was annoyed, feeling that I did not need to be reminded of that, since I had totally forgotten about all of that. But I was not going to be making a huge deal out of it for the time being.

Eventually, I was thinking that a good starting spot to be figuring these things out was going to be one of the gas stations. I knew that it was always going to be silly to be going to these places, since they had their own businesses as far as I was aware. But I was just wanting to keep everything on the table in case if I needed it.

As I had been thinking about my confusion at this subject further, that was when I was eventually at the one that Sheldon worked at. For some reason, I was feeling that maybe the company would keep him on a leash, due to the rumors going around. This way, they would know if Sheldon was going to try and go on and do anything dangerous.

I mean, I had no idea what the hell Sheldon did. He was always scared, and he was looking like he was kicking up some meth all the time. But at the same time, if he was willing to give me the information that I had needed, then none of this was going to be making a difference in my mind.

Once at the gas station, I was looking at him, who was smoking a cigarette, and looked like he was bored out of his mind when he was sitting down on a chair, just reading a book or whatever. I was feeling that if I tried to be talking to him, he would either be annoyed to great levels, or he would just give me everything that I had needed.

"Hey, I was wondering if you would be able to tell me something." I said, and then he was looking at me, as if shocked to be seeing somebody like me here. But then I was looking at the security cameras. Despite looking at them, a small part of me wondered if they were ever used or not. Probably just when there was a robbery. But it looked like Sheldon could not have cared less what he was watching.

"What were you wanting to know?" Sheldon asked, and then I was thinking that I probably just needed to be jumping right to the point. I felt that by being apologetic here, and that I was having no desire to be doing all of this, then he might be willing to just be more open to talk to me here. Almost as if I could appeal to him better that way.

"Well, I was wanting to talk to you about some shipments that my boss was saying were gone missing. He was claiming that these shipments were rather important, and I was having a feeling that you might have at least heard of them." I was saying to him, and then Sheldon now looked like he had wanted to just drop the subject, for our own sake.

"Who is your boss?" Sheldon asked, and then I was sighing, and I was rather annoyed at this question. I was feeling that he was going to be making sure that I fought my fucking ass off for this. But then I was thinking about what I was going to get accomplished by having this discussion at all.

"Some guy in Lazarus Coporation. I am doing this all as a internship. I have no idea what the information is being used for. I am just here to make sure that it is all given to him if needed." I said, and then after I had told Sheldon this, he looked like he was absolutely upset at this idea. But then he took a long and deep breath.

"Shit. They're seriously bringing middle schoolers into their shit now? When are they going to be able to say that enough is enough?" Sheldon was saying, and then I was feeling like I needed to just get right to the fucking point of the subject here. I was not giving a shit about anything else. I had no right to.

"Look, I have no idea what your past history with that man is, or the company. All that I know is that I was given a contract, and I am going to be doing anything in my power to make sure that I can get the job done." I said, and then I was seeing Sheldon looking like he was kind of just accepting what I said.

"Well, I know nothing about the shipments in question. Or at least I do not think that I do. However, I do know about various ones here and there." Sheldon said, and then he was starting to snub out the cigarette that he was smoking, and smiled when he was looking directly at me. As if he was looking like he was having a business deal that he was wanting to make.

"I am willing to just help you out here if you really feel like this needs to be done. In all honesty, I have a family that I want to help take care of. And when I see people like you just trying to be doing what you think is right, it reminds me of myself. So for that reason, I think that we should work together on something." Sheldon said, and then I was looking a bit unsure of what to be telling him here. I wanted to really just make sure that what I was doing was actually right.

"This is a tempomary alliance, if you will. Just something in order to make sure that you find what you need, and that I can say that I did my part in making you safe." After Sheldon said this, I was thinking that the idea of Sheldon keeping me safe was a really fucking joke. After all, nobody would ever use the word safe to describe how Sheldon was in the first place.

But at the same time, I needed to make sure we were not hating each other, and that we were going to be having at least some tangible codialness. So with that, I was slowly noddding, ready to just be going along with the shit that he was telling me. "Yeah, I think that maybe this could work. Besides, I feel that after the last few things I did for the guy, I need to just have somebody at my side here." I said, and then I was smiling when I was looking at him, seeing if he was going to enjoy this comment.

"You are going to have to really just tell me what your fucking issues are Izzy. I mean, I really do not think that you are being very smart with this. But I guess that it is none of my business what you are up to anyways. Besides, I was doing a whole lot of things that were even worse than this when I was about your age." Sheldon said, and then I was thinking that maybe I could press on harder, to see what he might say.

"Do you think that you might be able to give me some ideas on what you were doing when you were my age?" I asked, and then I was seeing Sheldon looking like he had wanted me to never ask that question. I was seeing that he was just thinkig of all the ways that he would have to explain this in a way that I could actually at least somewhat understand.

"Nothing that I should have been doing. I was just trying so fucking hard to be playing hero, and I was trying to be finding my sister. As if I was the only one who was going to be able to do that. But it had turned out that something like this was just not really meant for me." After he had said that to me, I was wanting to now know more about this.

"I am definitely not doing that. I know that I am not a fucking hero, and I am not even going to be pretending that this is my intention. I just think that there are some people who want support, and with my lack of social skills, I need to be doing my best to be giving this to them." I said, as if feeling like I needed to just be honest with myself.

"Maybe you not being the hero is something that I need more than ever. If you don't give yourself the preconception that you are the end all be all of this town, then I suppose that maybe you can have a better chance here." Sheldon said, and then he was walking to the entrance of the store, and he was messing with a sign.

I was feeling that maybe I could try and find a way to be talking to him a bit better. As if feeling like I needed to just find some shit to say in order to not piss him off. "What the fucking hell are we doing?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to be getting some form of a coherent idea here.

"I am going to be closing up shop for an hour or two. Calling it my lunch break. My boss doesn't mind when I do this occasionaly, as long as I do not make a habit out of it." After he had told me this, I saw Sheldon looking like this was the greatest idea that he had ever come up with in his entire life.

"Where are we going to be going?" I asked, feeling that maybe if I was going to be getting this information on a tighter basis, he just needed to be giving me everything that I had needed. "I feel like I need to know this if we are going to be working together." I said, and then I was telling myself to just calm down.

"Just finding a place near by, that we can discuss things a bit further. I know that it is ot exactly what you might like. But it is just the only way that we could talk for a while without the cameras in the place. I just am kind of scared of that." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and I was thinking that I needed to be really fucking safe going forward.

"Are you really sure that this is something that either of us should be doing?" I asked, and then I was seeing him looking like he was kind of annoyed with the fact that I was speaking like this. But then I was just thinking that by speaking to him on a real level, and we had a common ground to work with here, there was a chance that he would know that I was not playing around.

I got in his car, and then he was taking out another cigarette. This was oficially the most uncertain on what I had been getting myself into. I mean, on one hand I knew that trusting Lazarus was going to be a fucking mistake. But trusting Sheldon, a guy who I knew even less than them, was something that I was feeling like was going to be a fucking death sentence.

Scene 15: The Shipments

Despite everything that I had been feeling, I was thinking that deep down inside, once I was really getting to know him a lot better, that perhaps Sheldon was going to be the man who I would have to trust a whole lot more than Kenta. I liked Kenta more as a person, but when it came to pure trust and nothing else, I would be the first to admit that Kenta was not trustworthy.

Eventually, as we were driving along, I was feeling like I needed to try and at least establish some fucking connection with him. So with that, I was sighing, and just felt like I needed to do whatever I could to really break the fucking mold. "Izzy, I know that you are probably just trying to do somebody a favor, and I know that it really is not my business. But trust me when I say that you really do not need to be doing this at all." He was telling me for a second, and I was having no idea what to tell him.

"I wish that it was as easy as this. But the truth is that I feel like I am finally doing something good for once. And when I do something that I genuinely feel like is worth it, then I have to keep going. Even if I know that part of it is illogical." I said, and then Sheldon was looking like he was just feeling unsure.

"Illogical does not really seem like the word that I could have used to describe you. Maybe there are more things about you than I ever thought. Maybe you're more willing to take risks than you want to admit?" He asked me, and then I was looking down, and slowly nodded at this. As much as I was not liking to admit it.

"I guess that when you become truly lost and desperate, there really is no other choice that I have here. So with that, I am just going to do whatever I can get here." After I was saying that to him, I was looking right at him, and wondered what I was even going to be saying now. Sheldon laughed at this, as if having something bring him back some memories.

"Hopefully that decision does not end up getting you killed. But I guess that maybe there is no real reason for me to be saying that to you. It seems like you probably get the general gist anyways." After he had said that to me, I had nothing that I even wwanteed to say at all.

"Honestly though, as much as I hate to admit it, I think that you probably have a small bit of more in common with me than I really want to admit." After he had said that to me, I was thinking that the idea of Sheldon saying that we had anything in common was a really big fucking slap in the face. There was no way that I was anything like this guy.

Eventually, the car parked, and Sheldon was looking like he was tired, and wished that he was never going to be having this discussion. So with that, I was getting out of the car, and then I was looking around, hoping that there was noboy in sight. The more time that was passing, the less and less certain that I was getting that this was a good idea.

"Sheldon, what the fucking hell are you doing?" I asked, now starting to feel a bit worried about what we were doing. I was thinking that whatever the hell Sheldon was plannng, I should have probably brought somebody along with me. Just in case if Sheldon really was going to be doing something that might kill me.

"I am going to show you one of the places that I had found a older shipment, and I am hoping that by doing this, you can understand what the issues are a bit more." Sheldon said, and then I was feeling really unsure of what he was telling me here. It was seeming like he was tyring to intimidate me into listening to him. And to be honest, I was feeling that by doing this, any trust we would have would probably be destroyedreally fucking quick.

Eventually, I just sighed, and told myself to go along with it, and then we were walking down a side walk. "Sheldon, I really do not think that I am needing to be doing this. I think that just simply getting some fucking answers is all that I need. Besides, if they are not related to the fucking contracts Kenta has with me, then there is no use in this." I said, and then I was seeing Sheldon just shaking his head at this.

"Just because you might not need it when you report to the man, I think that you might need to know in order to better prepare for everything that is happening." After he had told me this, I was just thinking that he was not going to be letting this situation drop at all. And that was the thing that was scaring the utter fucking shit out of me.

Eventually, we were looking at a very small run down single story building that was on the right side of a bridge, that had a tree next to it. It had looked like it was used as a crack den. I looked at Sheldon, and I was wondering what the hell we were even doing anyways here. I was thinking that he was probably just pulling my leg.

"What the hell is this? Did you intercept drug deals or something?" I asked, and I was trying to make it sound at least somewhat funny. But I was willing to admit that this was kind of scaring me a bit more than just that. Sheldon looked at me, and he was looking like he really was feeling horrible for me at this. I was seeing that the shake of his head was probably enough of an answer.

Once we were inside, I was confused at what I was seeing. I saw a few guns on a table, and I was seeing a few beds with panties on them, and thrown around condoms. I was seeing that there was also a lot of empty cigarette packs. There were also loose video tapes that must have obviously been used for porn.

I looked around, and I was seeing a camera to the right hand corner of the room, and sinde it was a very small place, the camera was more than enough to be covering everything. I looked at Sheldon, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and find a way to be breaking the fucking mold here.

"What the fucking hell is this?" I asked, and I was starting to assume whore house. I was thinking that maybe Sheldon was going to somehow know the answer. Given everything that he had been saying earlier, I had a horrible feeling that he was going to have the answer right up the fucking sleeve.

"This was one of the first places that I had busted. It was the one that had started to open my eyes on everything that I had been pretending to hide, and think was not true, but was right there. After he had said that to me, I was taking a long and deep breath, feeling like Sheldon needed more.

"We have a fucking camera here. Are you sure that we should be having this discussion?" I asked him, and he was smiling at me, as if feeling glad to know that I was at least picking up the very basic observations that were going on right now. "Are you going to be getting me in danger because you decide that you need to show me something?"

"Nobody reviews these unless if they have to." After Sheldon was saying this I was seeing him walking to a table, and as I was seeing him do this, I was feeling like I just needed to get him to just come straight with me.

"Can you fucking slow down, and tell me what you are wanting me to know?" I asked, and by now, I was sick of this. Sheldon was just hiding shit from me at this point, and if he was wanting me to work with him, then I was needing him to just get this done with.

"Yeah sure, I guess that I can now. The truth is that these people are making business sales, and that Lazarus Coporation is doing delas underneath the table in order to become the main power broker of the town. It's smart, but it is dangerous. How a one company economy, especially this one, is becoming such a force to be recokened with." After he had told me this, I saw him looking like he had wanted to say more. But then I was walking right next to him, and found a piece of paper that I was dreading.

I was seeing that these were the exact papers that I had seen at the mansion in the forest. Not the wording or the names or the ages, but the general structure. After he had shown me this, I was seeing that some of them had a red high lighter on them. I was scared out of my mind, and then I was looking at Sheldon, knowing that he did not need to clarify what these ones were. But I was thinking that I just wanted him to be saying it first.

"These are the ones who are dead right?" I asked, and then Sheldon was nodding at this. After he had done that, and confirmed my fears to me, I was finally feeling like the gravity of this whole fucking thing was settling in a whole lot more. I was wanting to just see what he was needing to show me.

"Yeah, I can in fact irrefutably confirm one of them." Sheldon said, and then I was wondering if this was the one that I had seen in that tape from the mansion. I was feeling more and more that this was the man that I had seen in there. But I was feeling that I just needed to be more calm here.

"Who was it? How can you confirm this?" I was asking, feeling that him just getting honest with me was the only thing that was giving me at least some fucking leeway. Sheldon was shaking his head, and he was starting to swear under his breath. As if he was not wanting to believe that he was going to tell me this.

"I will not tell you who it was. But I will tell you how I found out. I was investigating, trying to be a fucking hero. Then I found a box in a hotel room that I was staying at for the night. The box smelled bad, and I looked at it. It was the head of a dead woman. She had been murdered at some point. Nobody found the rest of her body. It is gone forever." After Sheldon said that to me, I was starting to look down at the ground, and that honestly made me feel sick.

"Fucking hell. That is disgusting." I said, and then I looked at him, and when I saw his face, I knew that he was telling the truth. That there was not one bit of a fucking lie in him. I was shaking my head in disgust, and I was just thinking that I needed to be more careful with what I was getting myself into now.

"Thank you for telling me. I will keep that in mind in the future. I have a feeling that I am going to have to take this more seriously going forward." I said, and then after I had said that to Sheldon, I saw him nodding along, as if glad to see that I was at least pretending to listen.

Scene 16: The Pile of Money

I was thinking that I needed to try and find somebody else, and see what they were going to find. In all honesty, I had felt like talking to this man was going to be the only thing that would give me further indication on where the hell I was going to need to head. I mean, what Sheldon said grossed me out immensely. But I was feeling that I needed to try and find out more before I freaked out.

The next day, I went over to Joyful Burger, and I was well aware that Larry Needlemeyer was going to be beyond fucking sick and tired of these conversations that younger people insisted on having with him. But I think that he understood that we were mainly doing it because we were feelng like there was no other choice.

Once I placed in my order, and was getting ready to sit down, that was when Larry was calling out to me. As if feeling like we just needed to have a conversation, and sort of be done with. "Hey, are you going to be going on and asking me what I know about this town? Everybody else your age does that. Almost like they just want to view me as a biography." After he had said that to me, I was seeing him looking kind of angry at this discussion honestly.

"Yeah, I would be lying if I said that this wasn't a large part of it." I said, and then I looked at Larry, and he was looking like he had wanted me to have never said that. But then he was sighing, and decided to just remain quiet and calm, and decided that he was going to be bullshitting this.

"I knew that was going to happen. I guess that when you have a lot of years under your belt, that is to be expected." Larry was telling me, and then I was smiling at him, and I was thinking that what he was saying was fucking hilarious. But I decided to just remain silent at this.

"I am not really learning about the town per se, if that makes you feel better." After I was telling Larry this, he looked at me, and now he was looking like he was just wanting me to be saying stuff that made sense. So with that, I sighed, and figured that I would just be honest with him.

"I am looking into details about a shipment that has been missing. I have a feeling that you might know more." After I had told him this, I was seeing Larry looking like he was just kind of angry at this. Like he had rather wanted to be talking about boring stories about the town. Because at least those were not dangerous.

"Why are you looking into these?" Larry asked, and then I looked at him, and I was wondering if I had done something wrong. I was thinking that maybe I just needed to try a different approach at this, in order to get him to not look like he was going to stab fucking daggers into my eyes.

"I was told that if I wanted to do something that mattered, I needed to be the one that was going to be doing it myself. And in all honesty, I have a lot of stuff that I need to do for my sister. And I think that just simply pretending to be a man who loves Lazarus is going to be a good start to this." After I had said that to him, I saw him looking like he had wanted to just scream at me.

"Well, I think that whoever told you that shit probably did not want you to be going around like a fucking lunatic and like you did not really have any plans going forward." He was saying, and he was sounding more and more like he was just really fucking sad at this whole thing.

"I do have a plan. My plan is to see both sides of the argument, and then make my own choices that way. I am not choosing which side I am on or not until I know what both of them are capable of." I said, and then I looked at him, and I was thinking that I just needed this guy to be telling me everything possible now.

"I guess that maybe that is not a bad argument. I mean, maybe that is better than just blindly trusting somebody before you actually know what they feel." After he had said that to me, I was shrugging, and I was having no idea on what the hell I even wanted to be telling him in the first place.

"I just want to know if you know anything about that at all." I said, and then I was seeing Larry looking down the street, and he was seeing that a car was showing up, and it was not exactly the fact that it was a car that got him, as much as which car it was.

"Shit, are they seriously coming here again? Why the fuck are they not able to leave me alone?" Larry asked, and I was feeling that maybe if I could earn his trust enough, I could get him to just tell me what the hell he was talking about. Maybe that could make him feel like I was a team player.

"Larry, can you tell me what you are dealing with?" I asked, and then Larry was just remaining silent at this. He was then looking at me, and this time, he was doing it in a much more mocking way. As if he was getting in character once again.

"I will be making your meal now. Sit down, and just simply fucking eat it when they are here. Once they leave, we can debate a bit more." He was saying, and then I was slowly nodding, and I was feeling like I just needed to fucking go along with this. So with that, I sat down, and just let him get cooking.

I sat down, and I was feeling like whatever the hell Larry was going to be talking to these people about was something that I just needed to fucking pay attention to. Before I could be thinking too much about it though, that was when the two men walked inside of the area, and then they were looking around, and saw Larry cooking.

As they were walking to him, that was when Larry was walking to my table with the burger that he had taken my order from. He then looked at the two people who had just shown up. "Are you seriously trying to talk to me about my customers again? This is starting to become harrassment." He said, and then he had sounded like this part was not acting.

"Look, you are on incredibly thin ice here as it is. Do not mess it up even further by trying to play big." After the taller one, and the one with the glasses was saying this, that was when Larry just sighed, and looked as if he was just playing his patience.

"What would you even want from me in the first place? I am just a simple employee at a burger place. There is nothing that I could possibly tell you even if I wanted to." After Larry said that to the man, he sounded like he was speaking to a baby who did not understand the concept of not playing with fire.

"We know that you were involved with many things from the past. And we also know that you are hiding some money here." After he had said that to Larry, that was when Larry looked at him, and felt like that was just ridiculous. I was eating the burger. Partly for the act and partly because I really was hungry, while listening to them.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. Now unless if you have proof of what you are talking about, then just get out of here so I can finish cleaning up for the night. We close in less than half an hour." He said, and then I was seeing that the shorter one was looking a bit uncertain of what to be saying now.

"Dude, he's an ass, but he probably is not the guy. After all, if he really did have the money, I am sure that a customer would see it. Kids come here all the time." After he said that to his taller colleague, that was when his colleague was looking like he was rather angry at the fact that he was being shut down like this.

"I will be coming back here, and you better be telling me the stuff that I need later on." After he had said that to his smaller colleague, he was taking out a cigarette, and then looked right over at me. As if seeing me here was just a strange situation that he could not describe.

"I have no idea how the hell you can support that guy. He is a horrible man, and probably treats all his customers like fucking dirt." After he had said that to me, I was shrugging, and felt like I would have something to say to make it seem like I was not really phased at this at all.

"I don't come here for the employee. I come here for the food." I said, and then I was smiling as I said that, and then the two employees both actually laughed at this, as if they were remembering something that they were actually finding to be fucking hilarious.

"God, I wish that I was a teenager like that again. So fucking care free." The smaller one said, and then the taller one was nodding slowly, as is letting a minor amount of his hatred go away. With that, they were walking away, and they were out of the building. I started to eat my fries, to buy us some time before we left.

"Thank you for being there. God, those people are the worst. It is none of their business what I am doing. Besides, it is not like I am running any operations." Larry said, and then after he had said that, I was feeling like despite everything he had been saying, I did need to get some fucking answers from this man. I needed some fucking communication.

"If anything, I am the one who is stopping these operations. I fucking hate the fact that nobody fucking respects the fact that I am a busy man. And besides, when I was only a bit older than you, I was fighting my fucking ass off. I am far too old for fighting though." Larry said, and it was rather easy to forget he was sixty nine years old.

He really just did not look like it at all, in his credit. "So Larry, do you think that you are going to retire any time soon?" I asked, and then Larry was smiling at this comment. As if every day was bringing him one day closer to that mark that I brought up.

"When I turn seventy five. But that is really the best that I can go into detail right now before I start to get too nostalgic here." After Larry had told me this, I was mildly forgetting about our discussion earlier. Then with that, he sighed, and looked like he was ready to be telling me more.

"So Izzy, now that we are alone again, let's fucking talk about the stuff that I have been hiding." After Larry was telling me this, I was shocked to be hearing him willing to bring it up in he first place. But with that, I was nodding, and I was feeling like this was all that I had needed now.

"Yeah, let's fucking do it." I said, and then I was finally feeling like I would be doing something that would be sort of useful. I just hoped that my sister was not going to be giving me a lecture on how this was not her intention on getting me to head out more.

We were walking by, and then Larry was looking like he was mildly scared of people coming along, and telling him off again. But he had also looked like in a way, he was hardly even caring anymore. We were in the back room, although he turned on a bell ringer. Just in case if a customer was to show up.

"The only room in the store without a camera. We made this as a safe guard just in case if something like what you are seen earlier comes up." After he had said that to me, I nodded at this, and despite what I had wanted to say, I did actually understand what he was meaning when he had been saying this.

"So there is going to be a radical change in my plans from earlier. And I am going to need your help with it." Larry said, and then he handed me a back pack that was rather heavy. I looked at him, officially worried what the hell I was going to be doing with this information.

I looked in the back pack, and I was seeing a giant wad of cash. Like literally fucking thousands of dollars. I looked at him, and I was having no idea what the hell to tell him. "What are you going to have me do with this?" I asked, feeling that I just needed to try and make a plan with Larry here. Mostly for my own fucking sake.

"Take it to your house. Hide it below your bed or something. Just basically pretend like the money does not exist. Come back in a week, and I will talk to you about it more. I made a fucking mistake, and I am going to have to start to really focus on just making it better." After he had said that to me, I sighed, and decided to just remain silent here.

"Shit, this is beyond fucking stupid. But I guess that if it gives me a chance to be useful, then I will fucking do it." After I told him that, I was seeing Larry looking like he was just glad to be seeing a man who was not going to be arguing with him at all. It made him feel like there was some form of trust in humanity again.

"Just trust me when I say that this is the most important thing that any of us could do." After he had said that to me, I was thinking that he was just needing to tell me more. I was thinking that no matter what the fucking hell this man was feeling, and whatever the fucking hell I had wanted to try and accomplish, was just all thrown out the fucking window.

"Can you just explain to me what you did to get this?" I asked, and I was feeling like these people were going to be making me go insane. Larry was looking down on the ground, as if he was scared at the fact that I had wanted to know more. I saw him looking like he had wanted ths subject over with.

"I am just doing things to the side to make sure that the main businesses in town do not go forward with what they are doing. I do not expect you to understand anything yet. But at the same time, I don't really think it is going to be a secret for too long." After he had said that to me, I was shrugging, and decided to just drop it.

"Fine, I will just take the fucking back pack, and I will be off. You made your point that this is not to be discussed any further." I said, and then I was putting it behind my back. I was not realizing how heavy it really was in the first place. I wondered how the hell Larry even got all of this in the first place.

I was walking home, and I was feeling like I just needed some answers here. From anybody, about all of this. Whoever gave me some answers first was going to be the one that I was siding with. I was feeling that whatever I got myself into, I was needing to just keep my sister out of this. She was the one thing that I was becoming more and more certain of. That she was too innocent and pure to be involved.

Eventually, I got to my house, and then before my parents could say anything, I threw the back pack under my bed, and I was seeing that it had looked like neither of them had anything they saw. I was thinking that if my sister saw this, I could just tell her that I had gotten some food because I was hungry. Then with that, I closed the door, and then turned off the light.

I was closing my eyes, and then I was tired, and I was feeling that whatever people wanted to do was their choice, and their power. But at the same time, I was thinking that I just needed to see what the truth about what Sheldon and Larry said was. I was starting to wonder if Lazarus really was the good guy.

I could not believe that I was actually starting to buy into the idea that Lazarus was the good guy. I mean, Kenta was fair enough, and I felt like he was the one who was trying to make the most of a bad situation. But in all honesty, I was thinking that the others were people that I needed to be careful oveer. Or else I will get myself killed.

Scene 17: T.K. Shioda

I was feeling that maybe I needed to find a extra source out there to help me figure out what I was supposed to be doing, or what I was supposed to be feeling. In all honesty, I was feeling more and more like I was not going to be the guy who was going to be the best source of information.

I was thinking that trying to connect with a source related to Rob or Rachel was going to be a waste of time, given their entirely emotion driven outlook at this, was going to be a bad idea. I felt that trying to find one connected with Kenta was going to be had because of his pro Lazarus take. And Larry and Sheldon were hard to figure out since I barely met them and one of them admitted to doing deals, and another one probably was responsible for murdering a woman.

So with this in mind, and with my confusion and anger reaching an even higher point, I was feeling that I just needed to speak to somebody else. Somebody who I was certain was not going to have these connections that I was feeling could be dangerous one way or another.

That being said, in order to find somebody like this, I was thinking that maybe talking to Rob or Rachel for a short period of time, to help merely get a recommendation, would not have been such a bad idea. Maybe doing that would be able to give me some form of a working point.

It was going to be somehing that I felt like was going to be the only way to get an objective way of looking at this going from this point forward. I wondered if getting an objective way of looking at this mess was even going to be fucking possible. I knew that deep down it probably was, and that I could if I just looked harder. But for now, it was going to have to be something I fought for.

Eventually, with that in mind, I reached the Wilson house, and I was feeling lke maybe by speaking to either Tobias or Rachel, hell even Tobias might be better now that I think on it, I was going to just have to really come up with a statement that was going to be making it clear that I was needing to work with him on something beyond just his sister.

I knocked on the door for a few seconds, and then after I was waiting for a bit, I was running the entire last few nights in my head. I was wondering what the hell the money was being used for. I was wondering how he even got it in the first place. In all honesty, seeing that back pack with the funds scared the shit out of me. Knowing that he was probably deeper in this than most casual Lazarus employees.

When Rachel answered, I saw her looking like she was shocked to see me again. After all, it had been a couple of days. She might have thought that I moved on, or felt like maybe I was too good to be hanging out with her any longer. "How have you been the last couple of days?" She asked, at least trying to sound casual and neutral.

"Doing alright. Sorry that I have not been by. I guess that sometimes I get too caught up in the fucking idea of investigating that I forget about everybody else for a bit." I said, and then after I had said that to her, I was feeling that whatever I could have said was going to be probably either coming off as a lie, or something that she simply would not want to hear.

"Don't worry about it. At least you are trying to find something to keep you going. But seriously Izzy, trust me when I say that I do not need you to be doing this. I am fine on my own. I have already started to get it over with. I hardly even care anymore. It's Tobias that I am still worried about here." After she had said that to me, I was nodding, feeling that this was giving me a way in at least.

"Can I talk to Tobias then? I think that if it is true that you are mostly done with it, that is fine, and I appreciate the fact that you are willing to be able to let this go. But if Tobias needs help, then I need to speak to him." I said, and then I saw her looking like she was just refusing to understand me, but decided against it.

"If you can find him, then be my guest. But unless if you can actually figure out where the fucking hell he is, then I would be feeling like this is a giant fucking waste of time." Rachel was saying, and then I was thinking that I just needed to learn about her uncertainty when talking about him now.

"I will see what I could talk to him about. Thanks for giving me some ideas. I think that it is still just a good idea to be seeing what everybody else is dealing with first. In all honesty, I just think that Tobias is going to be the only one here that might actually help give me a different look at things." I said, and then I was thinking that Rachel was just not going to be happy with this.

"I just hope that you know what you are talking about. If I end up losing him too, for whatever reason, then I will never be able to forgive myself. If I lose him because of something that you or anybody else is doing, then I would want to make sure that this person regrets their choices forever." After she had told me this, I saw her looking serious.

"Okay, I think that I got it." I said, and then I was just wanting her to be giving me a small bit of a break. I was thinking about what it would be like if Rachel would have felt like there was a connection to his possible death. But then again, I needed to remember that he was probably not going to die in the first place.

"I will just look around for a bit, and see what I might be able to find." I said, and then I was seeing her looking like she was just kind of going along with this. I was walking along, and I was thinking that maybe when I would see her again, I would be more willing to just talk with her on various fucking things besides this.

And I was thinking that if for nothing else, talking to him and getting more perspectives from other people would make Kenta happy if it had turned out that he really was the good guy. I had no idea if he was the good guy yet, but I was thinking that just giving them all a chance, and then using that as a way to make Kenta feel better was going to be all that I needed.

And who the hell knew if there was any good guys or bad guys. I was having that strange feeling that in all honesty, there was no heroes, and there was no fucking villains. I was thinking that there was nobody in this town to be rooting for, and if that was the case, then maybe I could go on and see what it would be like if I was the least of all evils by just actually trying to get a different perspective on everything.

The idea of me being the hero of the story at the end of the day, and me being the one who was making the difference, was really the thing that was making me feel better here. It was the thing that helped me feel like there was a small chance that what I was doing was for the better sake of those involved. At the same time, I was feeling like I needed to actually make sure that I earned the feeling.

Eventually, I was at the park, and I was wondering what the hell I was going to be doing here for the first time in weeks on end. The last time that I went here was for research. To see the constellations on the stars, and write down the ones that I had seen. In all honesty, there was no other reason for me to ever go out at the time.

Eventually, as I was getting over the idea of not doing this for research, and that I was actually doing this for other people, I was feeling like I was finally doing something that actually fucking mattered. I was feeling that maybe when I was going to just talk to Tobias and his friends, I would make them feel like maybe they had a new sense of purpose as well.

Eventually, I saw that there was a younger guy who looked a lot like Rachel Wilson was hanging around with somebody. It was clear that this man was Tobias, and for that reason, I was feeling that I just needed to go on and speak to him. Mostly to just get his different perspective over with, and finally have something to work off of here.

I eventually walked up to him, and I was feeling that I would just introduce myself and my purpose, and I would tell him about what I was wanting to do. Maybe by speaking to him, I would start to see if he was too young for this or not. "Hey, I was wanting to talk to you about your sister."

After I had told him this, that was when Tobias clearly looked like he was just kind of annoyed at this approach, but that he was having no real way to deny what I was going to try and speak to him about. I was thinking that this was a way to really get some good bargaining chips down on the man.

"What were you wanting to discuss?" He asked me, clearly annoyed, and I was feeling that what he was saying was valid enough. After all, if somebody asked me about my sister, and I knew nothing about him, I would be pissed off as well, and I would basically tell him to fuck himself.

"She has been worried about what I have been doing. Getting involved with Lazarus. And I was told that you might know more about this than I do. And I was hoping that maybe you could tell me what I would need to know." I said, and then I was seeing Tobias looking like he was just rather annoyed and confused at the fact that I was approaching him at all.

"Look, let me ask this in the most polite way possible, but why the fucking hell would I care if you are involved with Lazarus or not? I would never do this in a million years, but it is none of my business." After he had said that to me, I saw that the other guy next to him was just looking like he was keeping score or some shit.

"Because we have been looking around a lot about the town. He probably thinks that we might have information to throw to him. Maybe he is not wanting to make up his own mind." The friend was saying, and then I was thinking that I just needed to find the right way to refute this claim. And do so in a way that would assert actual dominance.

"I think that I just need to be finding out what I can get here. That way I can make a choice that I know is for the best." I said, and then after I had said that to the two guys, I was seeing that I was just clearly wasting time in their eyes. "I have a feeling that for better or for worse, we need to work here." I said, and then I was shaking my head, feeling that I just needed to try and find a way to get them to calm down.

"My name is Izzy. Let's start at a more reasonable point." I said, and then I saw both guys looking like they were looking like they had wanted to argue more. As if this was just a waste of time. But they decided against it.

"As you know, he is Tobias Wilson. After all, Rahel is the only reason you are meeting us to begin with. My name is T.K. I have only been in town for a year, and I am just trying to see what I might learn about Wayside on my own casual interest. Or at least that was the real initial way of getting into it." T.K. said, and then he was smiling at this.

"Well, I doubt that I need to tell you that this was a fucking dumb choice." After I had said that to him, I saw him tired of people always bringing this up to him. As if he was needing to have people tell him this, rather than him just being shown it on his own fucking right.

"Yeah, I fucking got it. Believe it or not, I do not need you to talk about it all the time. I feel like if people were only making smart choices though, and never be making chances, then that is the real issue here." After he had said that to me, I was thinking that what he was saying was actually a fair enough point.

"Well, no matter what we are both feeling here, I think we both need to agree that the park is not a good spot to be having this discussion. Let's find a place where a couple less people are here." Tobias was telling me, and he was clearly angry at me, and I was feeling that there was a good chance that he had never wanted to be talking about this ever again. Not that I could fucking blame him given everything.

"Yeah, sorry. At first I was just feeling like I needed to see where you were to begin with. I hope that you don't mind." I said, and the two of them were looking a bit annoyed at this. I was seeing T.K. looking like he was slightly less worried about this than Tobias. But neither one of them were really looking like this was a good idea at all.

"Tobias, let's just talk to him one time. I think we both know he is going to harass us if we don't." T.K. said, and then I saw Tobias calm down a bit, and then he nodded. With that, we were walking along, and then I was thinking that I needed a great hook.

Scene 18: A Talk Gone Wrong

Tobias, T.K., and I were hanging out on top of the skating park, since it was closed up for the night, so the only people who would be there would be random annoying teenagers who had nothing better to do, like the three of us. I looked right at T.K., feeling that he was going to be impossible to really impress, and who I was convinced wanted nothing to do with me.

"So what do you guys actually know in the first place?" I asked, feeling that by trying to get them to open up, and just slowly getting them to relax a little bit, I could get them to see that I was just trying to be a helpful guy, and maybe eventually a friend. Even if I was aware that I had to earn that trust eventually.

"What stakes do you have with my sister?" Tobias asked, turning the whole subject around. In all fucking fairness, I saw that one from a mile away. I wanted to fucking scream at him to drop the fucking Rachel shit. Since she was still not even remotely the main topic of interest here.

"I had some classes with her, and then found out that one of her friends was over here. I just simply happened to meet her. There really was no big reason for it. It just sort of fucking happened." I said, and I was well aware that full honesty was the only thing that they would respect here.

After Tobias saw that look on my face, and saw that after a few seconds, he was almost buying into it, he sighed, and decided to just dop it for now. "Alright, I guess that you have no real reason to be lying to me. But the reality if that I have no idea why the fucking hell you even care about me in the first place. In all honesty, I hardly even know what I am doing." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and felt like maybe that was why.

"To be honest, maybe that is all part of it. The fact that none of us are actually sure of what we are doing, so we just have to go along, and see what we might find here. Besides, I think that we both know deep down inside that we need to have allies if we are going to be surviving in Wayside." I said, and I was thinking that this would especially be true if we were female. Which thankfully we did not have to worry over.

"So Izzy, what have you learned so far?" T.K. asked, as if clearly knowing that I was not just the simple and naive guy that I was trying to be making myself out to be. I was looking down, and decided that I just needed to be real with him. Although the fact was that maybe I was dumb, due to not having full objective opinions on this all.

"I have been just working on some stuff that a guy from Lazarus wants me to figure out. Kenta just told me that we are really fucking deep into something. He is working on a reconsturction of this town." I said, and then I was sighing, as if finally feeling like there was no need to be lying about all of this here.

"Oh shit. I mean, I think that I heard about that once or twice. But I did not think it was really anything. I mean, in all honesty, people might not be letting this slide. They might have power, but not enough to do this without a democratic majority." T.K. said, utterly convinced a election would be needed.

"I have no idea. I think that you are probably not giving them enough credit." I said, since I was well aware that if they had wanted this, that was exactly what they were going to fucking get. I was not a fucking idiot. I never wanted T.K. to be feeling that way. But I was thinking that he needed to be looking at things more objectively, like i had been able to.

"Besides, I have a feeling that you are going to be telling me that there is more to this than just Kenta having a big research big through." Tobias was saying, as if feeling like he was just needing to act like he was going to be the peace bringer of this situation a bit more than he had ever had the intention to.

"Yeah, you are exactly right. I was looking around, and trying to talk to people, and see all of their sides of the story, since in all honesty, I was feeling like doing this was the only thing that could actually make a difference. But when I talked with these people, I found out some really fucking disturbing things." I said, smiling at this, as if finding the disgusting situation this town was in to be fucking hilarious once I was getting over it all.

"I had found out that one of the missing people had eventually been murdered, and that her head was the only thing that had ever been found. Probably for proof of termination. Which I will admt is fucking disgusting, but I am not going to be getting too into the details of something like that. Just in case if it is not my business." I said, and then I was shrugging, having nothing else to say now.

"I guess that finding out that some of these people were dead all along should not be a shock at all." T.K. said, and he was sounding relatively disturbed at this statement. But he was looking like he was willing to be a bit more patient on this idea. "But I wonder why he is not bringing this to the police, and maybe that would be something that would bring this case down a whole lot more." After T.K. said that, he looked at Tobias, and wondered what to say.

"I think that it is because it was Sheldon who had found these people, and he has made it very clear that these people have no intention of ever following his leads. As if he was the worst thing that has ever happened. Too be fair, I think that with his stories, and his infamy, it might not be a shock that he is unsure here." I said, and then I was feeling that maybe telling him that was going to be a good enough answer.

"Well, maybe a large set of that infamy is that he is right, and everybody knows that he is right. But I guess that I do not need to be saying this. I think that we both know this quite well." T.K. was saying, and he looked like he was just trying to pretend like he was more casual about this whole thing than he really was.

"Izzy, do you have anything that you want to be telling us?" Tobias asked, and then I was shaking my head, and I was feeling that the one thing that I needed to just hide was the fucking money bad from Larry. If he had found out about that money bag, then I will be the first to admit that everything would be fucking gone forever, and I was going to be the fucking bad guy here.

"I think that everything else that I would want to talk about would be best to wait for a while longer." After I was saying this to Tobias, I saw him looking more and more like he was wanting to just try and be more forceful. But then he decided to just remain silent for the time being.

"I guess that we will have to be building his trust up more." After T.K. said that, he was looking up at the stars for a second, and pretended like everything was going to be fine. But then he decided to just not say anything else for a while longer. With that all being said, there was a car that was driving up, and I was thinking that all three of us were probably a bit more scared now more than ever.

The man who stepped out was a relatively thin man with black glasses. He was looking around, and took out a cigar as he was looking around. His cronies were coming by his side, and looked like they had wanted to say more. But decided to just remain silent, as if they were both just forced into submission so much that they hardly had the desire to express their true opinions on the issue here.

"Myron, they're just teenagers. Leave them alone. They will have nothing to say." After one of them eventually spoke up, the one named Myron was looking around for a while longer, as if wanting to say more. But then he shook his head, and decided to just remain silent for the moment, and went inside his van once again.

I was looking right at T.K. and Tobias again, and T.K. looked like he had no real opinion on what he was hearing, and that this was just a random comment that he had heard of. But Tobias looked to be far more interested in what he had just heard. "I think that I might know who that Myron guy is. But to be honest, I think that I might have to go on and talk to some people about it." After he told us this, he shook his head.

"What did you think the name was coming frm?" I asked, and then I was thinking that if this name really did have a connection, and if there was somebody that I could talk to about this, then I could go on and talk to him a bit, and see what he might have to say now.

"I remember hearing stories that happened roughly twenty three years ago. Things related to the older tall school, and that he was involved with it." After Tobias was saying this, he shrugged, and he looked annoyed, and like he was just thinking about what it was like if this theory was going to be proven wrong.

"Oh yeah, those stories were just mainly told to get the kids to stop behaving badly I thought though. You know, who acctually believes in fucking monsters." I said, unsure of what to tell them. I mean, the events only happened about 8 years before I was born. So in all reality, there was a good chance that these events were all over some new paper in the library.

"You never know that they are fake unless if we look into them. So I think that it might be best to just look forward here." After he had said that to me, I was wondering if Tobias knew anybody who was attending the school at the time, who might have something to say. But I was shrugging, and had didn't any to go any further.

"Do you know anybody who was involved with this whole thing though?" I asked, and then I was seeing that Tobias was shaking his head, as if annoyed that he had even brought this up in the first place. As if he were some fucking traitor. I was then thinking that we just neeed to take the chances now that it was here.

"I think that my father went to school at the time. Maybe speaking to him might give me some information." Tobias was saying to me, and I was seeig him just looking more and more like he had hated the idea of even mentioning this in the first place. Despite the fact that he clearly did not want this to be brought up, he had looked like he had accepted that there was really no other choice on the matter going forward.

"Well, I think that if he was really a student at the time, it might be best to just go on and see if there was anything that he might have known. After all, any information that we can get here is a fucking weapon that we will be needing to use." I said, and then I was smiling at Tobias, feeling that this was all that I could have said.

"I think that if I try and bring my father into this, he might be thinking that I am going around and sticking around with bad influences. And who knows, there is a small chance that he might be right here." After he had said that to me, I was seeing him looking like he had been kind of angry at saying this all.

"Well, you can always tell him that it is for the sake of finding out what happened to your cousin. Surely if you tell him something like that, he might be able to respect that a bit more than you are thinking." After I told him this, I was seeing Tobias looking like he had wanted to bring that up, but had no real willpower to be doing such a thing.

"I don't think that he would ever want to buy into that. I think that he is a man who is through to the fucking bone with trying to do things that would help the cops forward." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and I was thinking that hearing that was going to be a bit annoying. Despite the fact that I had no real idea what to be saying.

"Was he a cop or something?" I asked him, and then he shook his head, having nothing to say at this idea. I had a feeling that he was not going to be taking it well if I was going to be pressing things any forward. But I was having nothing to say here. Eventually, he was standing up, and then stared directly at me, as if having something that he wanted to just say.

"We are not going to be bringing my father into this. That is all that there is to the fucking debate." After he had said that to me, I was nodding, and I had figured that he had made his fucking point clear enough here. There was no way he would want to, and I was not wanting to make him angry at me for just trying my best to help out here.

"Sorry. I just thought that there might have been a chance to make something work here." After I told him this, I was seeing that Tobias was looking slightly less annoyed at everything, and looked more like he had just wanted to be making things seem to be slightly less rough with us. "Besides, I think that it was important to at least have the idea be made, that way we could know what was going on." I said, and then I was sighing, having nothing else to say.

"Look, I know that in all honesty, your intentions are good. I have nothing against that. I just feel that my father needs to be sure that I am not going to be doing something that will get him killed. Besides, I think that you know what it is like to want to make sure your dad does well." After he had said that to me, I was looking at him, and I was wondering if he knew of what I found.

Regadless, when he had said that to me, I was looking down, and I was aware that he had put me in a impossible situation, and I was thinking that maybe I just needed to shut up, and make sure that he was not going to be saying anything else. I wanted to just tell him off, but I refused to say more.

"Yeah, you're right. I guess that in some ways, we do have some common feelings here. I just think that maybe if something was to come up, and it would be making it clear that he was guilty, I would want him to have a chance to be safe." I said and then I was smiling at him, and I was seeing that he was feeling better at me telling him this.

"Besides, I feel like anything that he might have done was twenty three years ago. I highly doubt that anything he is doing now is going to be worth making a deal out of." After Tobias was telling me this, I was slowly nodding, and i was thinking that he was probaby right when he was telling me this. But I needed to make this situation feel less awful.

"Izzy, let's talk tomorrow." T.K. said, and he looked like this was not a fucking statement that he wanted to negotiate. So with that in mind, I was sighing, and slowly nodded, and I felt like I just needed to let him tell me anything that he had wanted. "I think that we need to see if we can work together here. Or if there is no way that our personalities might mess at all." After he had said that to me, I sighed, and had nothing to say.

When I was done thinking of my wording, I was ready to talk. "Yeah, I guess that it might be best for us to have these discussions. Maybe by doing that, we might have some idea of what we are getting into." I was saying, and then I was wondering if speaking to T.K. was the final pice that I needed.

"Just make sure that no matter what you do, you understand that I am just trying my best to help my friends here. And I think that if you want to help me out here, you will have to understand that you are helping my friends as well." T.K. told me, and then I was nodding, as if I fucking got it already, as annoyed as it was getting.

...

Eventually, I was sitting down in front of Kenta, and for some reason, when I was there in front of him, that he was going to be the one that would finally help me out figuring what the hell I was going to do. And when I was there, I was now feeling it was time to just fess up to what was happening, and no longer hide anything at all.

"Hey, I just wanted to talk for a bit about everything that has been happening, and I feel like it is time for me to really update you on all that I have been seeing lately." I said, and then I was seeing that Kenta was looking like he was just glad to be seeing me finally open up to him. As if I was finally taking some responsiblity.

"Damn, it's finally about fucking time you give me what you were supposed to this whole time." After Kenta said that, I was hearing him sound genuinely upset. I was feeling that I just needed to be more careful with this man going forward. I knew that he was going to probably kill me if I did not give him everything.

"I saw a man earlier today, while I was hangig out with some of my friends. He had looked like he was tyring to investigate everything that I knew, considering what he was telling the people that he had been with." I said, and then I was looking at Kenta, really fucking hoping that he was not going to be hiding anything now.

"Who was he?" Kenta asked, mildly annoyed, and figuring that this was just another generic boffon who was trying to be acting like he was the man who would save Wayside. I was looking down, and sighed, and figured that the sooner I just told him his name, the faster that we would get everything out of the way.

"Myron I believe. He was told by one of his colleagues that my friends and I were just some teenagers, and that we needed to leave him alone, and that we were just hanging out." I said, and then I was seeing that Kenta had clearly not cared for nearly ninety percent of that. He stood up, and started to mumble under his breath.

"Myron. My fucking god. They are not even trying to be hiding what they are doing now. My god, I thought that they were at least trying to be sort of subtle over this." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and I was really going to be losing my cool if he did not tell me what I needed to know.

"Can you tell me what you are fucking talking about?" I asked, feeling like I was just needing to be more assertive. If he was wanting me to be doing his dirty work, I needed him to work with me in return. This was not a fucking joke to me at all.

"He is actually going through with some plans that he was trying to accomplish earlier. I have no fucking choice but to listen to my bosses this time." After Kenta was saying this, I was seeing him looking like he was tired, and looked like he was hating everything that he was going to be dealing with.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, and I was feeling that whatever he was going to tell me, I was not going to be enjoying this answer at all. I was seeing that he had wanted to tell me more. But that he was unsure of how his bosses would feel to this. Then he shook his head, and decided against feeling bad over this.

"I want you to go and find that man, and assassinate him for your next contract. He is going to be a threat to Wayside as we speak, and even if you might not like it, this is really the only way to be going at this." After he had said that to me, I was looking utterly shocked at this, and I was thinking that he was fucking crazy for even suggesting such a thing.

"What the fucking hell? How do you even know if he is going to be coming back? And why would you be having me do it instead of somebody else? Why are you even wanting to do this at all?" I asked, and I was feeling like I was going to get myself killed for saying all of this to him.

"I heard rumors that he would be coming on the fourth of july. Giving a speech to celebrate the indepence or some shit like that. I hardly give a shit. The point is that he is coming here, and that is going to be your best chance to get him down." He said, and then I was standing up, and I was rubbing my eyes, and I was feeling that what he was saying was insane.

But seriously, why have me do it instead of somebody else, who is far better at this stuff than I could ever be?" I asked, and then I looked at Kenta, and I was hoping that telling him this shit would get him to shut the fucking hell up. I was seeing Kenta smile, as if thinking that he had something else he wanted to tell me now.

"Doing this will be able to make me see if you are going to be truly loyal to the cause, or if you are going to be hiding in fear behind what needs to be done?" He asked, and then I looked at him, and I was shocked to be hearing him tell me this. I was then sighing, and I was now convinced that he was going to make it clear that I was too deep into this to be refusing. I was sighing, and felt like I just needed to fucking calm down, and not say anything at all.

Scene 19: The Plan

I was hanging out with T.K. the next day, feeling that I just needed to get what Kenta told me out of my mind. In all honesty, what he had said disturbed me, and was making me fucking sick to my stomach. The fact that this man was wanting me to kill somebody probably for really no good reason besides political differences, was something that was just not sitting right with me at all.

As I was seeing him looking like he was really just not wanting to do this, I was feeling like I needed to find a way to ease myself into the discussion, in order to make him feel like I was somebody who he was going to actually find worth it. Or else he was going to just reject this conversation entirely.

"T.K., I have a feeling that you are going to have no desire to be discussing this at all, and that is fine. But the fact of the matter is that we need to be working together if we are going to have any chance in finding out about this town's issues. And I think that we both know this." After I was telling him this, I saw T.K. looking at me, and I was seeing that he was not looking too interested.

"I think that we both just need to be looking at information that the other one has. Just to make sure that neither one of us is missing out on much." After he had told me this, I saw him looking like he was just kind of unsure of what we were even saying anymore. "But Izzy, are you really sure that there is nothing going on? Or that you are going to actually be fucking pals with that guy you are working with?"

"I never said that we were going to be pals. All that I said was that I was just thinking that I needed to be working with him. I feel like he is needed for my own investigation. And by doing this, I can sort of just understand what I am getting myself into. I think that this is fair enough." I said, and then I was looking at him, and I was wondering what he would have wanted to tell me now.

"Yeah sure, I will believe it when I get there. But to be getting back onto a decent topic. One that I think will be able to get us actually going here." After he had said that to me, he was laying his back further down, and then he started to smile a bit further. As if he was finding himself to be proud of his investigative work or whatever.

"So I have been looking into Tobia's father, as well as that Myron guy. You know, just trying to see if there was any truth to the Wayside stories from 1963. Which I hardly even knew of before, given the fact that I have only been living here for about a year." T.K. said, and then he was smiling at me, and he looked like he was wanting to see what I felt here.

"Oh yeah... I never expected there to actually be anything that you were going to be finding. So now that you have looked into it a bit, do you think that you would have anything that you would want to give me?" I asked, and then he was sighing, and looked like he was getting tired of what he was hearing.

"Yeah, I think that I do have some things to give you. I found out that when the school year ended, one of the main students involved in all that was going on, Todd Robinson, was finding something that looked like a giant beacon. He would later call it a data hive of information explaining things and concepts that he had never thought would have been real before." T.K. said, as if thinking nothing else of it.

"What did the data information give off?" I asked, feeling like we needed to be taking advantage of this if it was true. And I was hoping that if it really was true, then I might be able to fucking just gather it, and then find out what Kenta might have been hiding from me this whole time.

"It was talking about a cycle, or invasion. The machine explained that since the 1860's, every twenty to thirty years, there is a gate that opens up in a certain area of the country, and these monsters come out of it. And that the invasion was coming right up at the time, in summer 1963. The previous one happened in 1936 or 38, I couldn't remember. But it as in New York City." T.K. said, and then I was slowly nodded, having nothing else that I even wanted to be saying.

"I guess that if this was the case then, that maybe there is some truth to what Kenta was telling me after all. I never thought that I would be saying that shit. But anyways, do you have any idea of what else was going on? I think that there might be something related to the missing girls that could connect to the school twenty three years back." I said, tyring to remember all the four digit numbers next to the names.

These four digit numbers had me increasingly convinced that these were the years that the people went missing. After I thought about that further, and thought about what we were dealing with more, I was wondering how many of those girls were even still alive anyways. It was a bit disgusting to admit. But it was just the truth.

As I was thinking this, that was when T.K. was sighing, and looked like he had something else that he had wanted to say. "Do you know what is happening with them? That look on your face seems to be giving me the idea that you know a bit." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and I was thinking that I might as well just be upfront about it with him, if I needed his trust.

"I have some ideas that I know of some things here. Despite the fact that I do not really know if you would want to be talking about those quite yet." I said, and then I was seeing T.K. looking like he had wanted to tell me to knock this shit off. But I think that even he was smart enough to know not to be pestering me further if he wanted my trust.

"One of the things that I had been finding out about was a journal that had the names of missing girls on them. I tried to be looking into it more, but these were just seemingly confirming what I could have already known." I said, and then I looked over at T.K., thinking that this would be a starting point at the very least.

"You are saying that you found this great piece of evidence and information, and then you decided not to be doing anything with it?" He asked, and I was seeing that he was looking really upset at this. I was holding my hands up, and I was hoping that he was going to calm down, and not be too upset over my lack of plannng here.

"I did do something with it. I handed it over to Kenta, thinking that he was going to at least keep it. If I left it in that mansion, it would have been destroyed, and then it truly would be worthless. At least when it is with him, he has a small chance of using something." I said, and then I sighed, and I was hoping that T.K. was going to calm down here.

He was sighing, and hoped that he was going to be finding something else to tell me. That would actually get me to listen to him a bit better. "Look Izzy, if that is something that you wanted to do, then that is fine. I am not going to be stopping you. But the fact of the matter is that things are always going to be worse with him than it will be with us." T.K. was saying, and I was sighing, and I was entirely unsure of what to be thinking here, since I hardly even knew him anyways.

"We are not going to be gettig anywhere by just discussing this shit right now. So let's just fucking talk for a bit about what we have here. I found out a bit more about Myron's plans here." I said, and then I looked right at him, and I was hoping that he was going to be more happy over this information than anything else. He sighed, as felt like he would roll with it.

"Is he going to be good, or is he going to be a fucking villain?" T.K. asked, and then I was shrugging, and I felt like that was going to be entirely dependent on what we were going to be learning here. But I was keeping to myself here.

"Well, I heard that he was going to be having a giant speech on the fourth of July. And I think that in this speech, he might be giving off an annoucement or something. So with that in mind, I think that perhaps I need to be there, and see what I might learn." I said, and then I smiled at T.K. finally feeling that maybe I could say something that made him feel better.

"And if he is having that speech, I have a feeling we need to fucking go there, and see what we might be able to find out that way." T.K. said, and then he smiled at this statement, and he had looked like he had finally said something that could make him feel like there was a purpose to his plan. "That is going to be a great starting point. Trust me when I tell you that I am going to be there."

"I am going to go there, and I just think that if he really does have something important to tell us, we will need to be just seeing what he has to say. And I think that it might be a big fucking waste to just turn him down." I was sighing, and I was really hoping that he was going to buy my lie. That he was going to have no intention of ever learning what I was going to do to that man.

"I think that if I could talk to Myron at some point before the speech is made, and see what he has to say, he might be able to tell me what the issue is. He might be willing to tell me what his plans for the future are. And I guess that this really is the best that I might be able to do here." T.K. said, and then he was sighing, as if he was having nothing else to be saying at all anymore.

"Well, if you feel like you might be able to get something out of him, then fucking do it. And then after that happens, just tell me what you might be able to learn. That is really the best that I can get here." I said, and then I was shaking my head. I was angry at this idea. I was angry at putting T.K. in danger here. But at the same time, I was growing to feel like it was what I needed to do for myself.

"Okay, I will do that. God, I never expected you to be having such a big deal over what I do with some Myron guy." T.K. said, and then I looked at him, and I was sighing, and I was thinking that as long as he was oblivious, that was all that I fucking needed from him. Just to be totally oblivious.

"I know that it probably does not sound liek a big deal. But I think that something big could come out of this. And with that in mind, I just think that maybe I can't ever let this great opprotunity pass up." After I had said that to him, I was seeing T.K. looking like he was relatively nonchalant about this.

"I guess that if you say so, I will just fucking let you do what you're doing." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, and I was thinking that I just needed to have him be leaving me alone. "Besides, I have no idea if what you are saying is going to be true or not." After he was telling me this, I was shrugging, and decided that whatever he was feeling the need to say, he would have just told me more.

"Well, I guess that none of this is going to matter if we do not make a actual plan on who we are going to be talking to, and how we are going to be talking to them about this in the first place." After I was shrugging, I was thinking that T.K. was probably going to be trying to come up with some crazy plan that would be making no fucking sense at all. But I was willing to pretend that it was great, if it was going to be keeping him from getting upset.

"What were you thinking?" I asked, and I was feeling that by pretending like I was having nothing else of stake to this, then I could get him to just get the information right out. I was looking around, and I was hoping that nobody on either side of the argument was going to be hearing this. That way nobody would be trying to tell me what I was supposed to be doing, or what they were already going to be doing.

"I was thinking about maybe talking to a guy who owns a local business. See what he might say, or what he might know." After he had said that to me, I saw him looking up at me, and I was thinking that maybe I just needed to try and let him be talking to whoever he was hoping to talk to. As long as he was doing it to himself, and not doing anything that was going to be tying to me, then that was all that I needed.

"I have other things that I think that I will be needing to do anyways. So I guess that I will not be able to help out all that much." After I had said that to him, I was seeing that T.K. was looking rather bothered by this. He had looked like he had wanted to be trying to tell me more, but then he was shaking his head. He almost looked like he was just wanting to pretend like we had never really talked at all with each other to begin with.

"Do you think that we might eventually try and work together at some point?" He asked, and then I was looking at him, and in all honesty, I had no idea if I ever had the desire to be doing this. I hardly even knew who this fucking guy was, and that was something that I just needed to be upfront about going forward.

"I think that maybe it might be coming back up eventually. I have no idea what is going on at this shit hole anymore. But I think that we better just be careful here." After I was telling him this, I saw T.K. looking more and more like he was willing to accept such a statement. As if he had finally understood that operating on his own was just fine.

"I will see if I can find something out without any help. If it is possible, then I think that it might be worth a fucking try. But I guess that what I want to believe is not all that important anymore." T.K. was saying, and he was clearly looking like he was not in love with this all. But that he could just let it all slide.

"Help is what has to be earned. And I had to learn that the hard way when I was in middle school. Having to do it all on my own, without any special guidance. I will never turn it down, and I think that it might be stupid to do such a thing. But in all honesty, if it just comes along, and there is no way of knowing if it is going to be credible, then I think that it is going to be a giant mistake here." I was trying to tell hm, and give him some life advice, but I was unsure of myself here.

"I hope that this is something that will be easy to learn or disprove. I think that the uncertainty of this mindset is going to be the worst part of it all." T.K. said, and then he shrugged at this, and then he looked like he was not even caring anymore. Then with that, he was starting to walk off.

"See you later. Hopefully the situation can be a whole lot better this time, and we will hang out more often that isn't related to this fucking job." T.K. said, and then I was seeing him walking off for real. I was looking down, and I was just getting tired, with no real opinions at all on what was going on.

When T.K. was gone, I knew that he was going to be a smart guy one day. He was going to be a guy who would know what he was doing eventually. But in all honesty, I just think that I was going to have to earn his trust before I really did anything. With that, I was laying down, and felt like I was way in over my head.

Scene 20: Destroyed Cargo Truck

I was now feeling like it was finally time for me to get ready to just start to do something else with my time. Now that I was finally feeling that my mind was getting used to the whole Myron thing, I was feeling like it was finally time for me to be doing something else. Something that was probably much more likely to get me killed than working for Kenta.

I was going to be checking out the history of the money in that back pack, and I was going to be trying to see if there was any connection that I can make that would help me fully understand what I was truly getting myself into by doing all of this. I was first going to check the actual quantity, and then see if there was any stories about it.

I honestly had no idea why I was doing this in the first place. It was probably the worst idea in the world for me to be doing any of this in the first place. But if I was able to figure out what the hell Larry had done, then I was guessing that in the end, I could use that as a bargaining chip one way or another.

Eventually, I was in my house, and then I closed my door right away, and locked it, so that way I would have a few minutes of peace and quiet, as I ended up just throwing all the money on the ground, and then I shut the blinds off, feeling that this was going to be even more important than anything else.

As I had done that, I eventually was seeing that they were all in one hundreds, so I started counting in stacks of thousands, and then ten thousands, and then after a while, hundred thousand. When I was done counting all of the money that Larry had given me, I was feeling just utterly shocked. It was more money than probably ninety percent of Wayside saw in front of them at any one moment.

I was staring at 1.6 million dollars, and when I was starting to realize how much Larry was having here, and how much the heist must have been worth, I put all of it back into the back pack, and then I shoved it down under my bed again. I then opened up the lock of my door, and that entire time, I was feeling scared out of my mind.

It was at that moment that I knew that if there really was something going on, and something that was going to connect to the town investigations that Kenta was wanting me to be looking at, then I was having no fucking choice but to just go through with it, and see what I might be able to find. So with that, I got out of the house, and hoped to god my family didn't decide to be looking.

I was heading down to the library, and I was feeling that maybe by doing some research there, and just seeing what I might find there, that was what I was really going to be needing. I was hoping beyond all hope that all the people that I had been hanging out with lately would let me have this one fucking thing that I was going to be able to investigate on my own.

I was thinking that maybe by speaking to people later about the issue, I would be feeling a bit better. But for now, I was just wanting to see if there was a bounty or whatever. I did not want to be getting involved in something that will get me killed, even if it was the right thing to be doing.

After about twenty minutes of walking, I had gotten inside of the library, and I ignored everybody else who wanted to speak to me, and I was heading on to the modern day section of the library. I had no idea how such a small place kept so many things for such a long time, but there was a separate section for 1986, and I was going to be looking at all of those if I had needed to, and then I was going to present some information to maybe Rob or something.

I started with June, and then day by day, I was looking at all of the papers and ideas that could be tying to the missing girls, or the robbery. But then again, a small part of me was wondering if it was even a robbery. For all that I know, this might have been one of the shipments that Kenta was talking about, and I had fallen right into it this whole time without even knowing.

I was hoping that this was not the case. And if it was, then I was wondering if I could see Larry as a traitor. But then again, if he really was doing this, then how could he had been a traitor, if he was not really having any obvious allegiances to anybody at all. I was thinking that maybe I could go on and speak to Kenta about that if I was wanting to.

I kept reading, and with each day, and each article, I was giving up more and more hope that I was going to be finding anything. Eventually, I had made it all the way through the June papers with no fucking results besides details about how the police are talking about the fact that they are just trying to find out more information with the girls. Just overly tired and annoying statements to be trying to get people to calm down.

As I had been thinking about how annoying that this might have been, I was then putting the June small file up, and then I was thinking about going to May. As I looked back in May for a bit, I only had to make it to the twenty third before I read about a cargo truck that had crashed into a tree, with most of the contents missing.

I was then nodding, feeling like I finally got something that I could be able to work with. If I remembered correctly, that was a couple of days before Andrea went missing. So maybe I could talk to Rob about this, and he might have something to tell me after all. And with that in mind, I was feeling that maybe I could just go on and get this over with for once.

As I was walking off, the librarian looked like she wanted to fucking murder me for not putting everything back properly. As if I was going to ruin her day by not making it incredibly easy. I was then smiling at this idea, thinking about how I was pissing people off by doing what I was wanting, and that people were going to be dealing with it all.

I had hoped that I would just easily find Rob at the skating park, and that he was going to be easy to talk to. I just hoped that maybe by speaking to him in a polite tone, and just explaining to him that I was officially feeling that I might have found something, Rob would be acting like I was the fucking hero of the day, and like I could have done no wrong at all.

When I was at the skating park, I was seeing that Rob was just going back to his tricks, and he was looking like he was just clearly trying to focus his visceral anger on something else. I was wondering what had pissed Rob off so much, and I was feeling that maybe just by speaking to him, I could get him to open up with me slightly better.

"Hey Rob, how are you doing?" I asked him, and he looked up at me, and he looked like he was kind of tired, and was just trying to decide if he was even wanting to be speaking to me in the first place. I was wondering what I had done to be angering him so much. I barely even knew the guy, and I was feeling that I might have fucking failed him here.

"I'm doing alright. I'm just angry right now. I feel like everything that we have been doing right now is just being thrown away, and that we are wasting our fucking time by doing this right now." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and I was feeling that I just needed to be making him feel better now.

"Rob, I get how you are feeling. It must be the worst thing in the world to know that everything that you have been doing is adding up to nothing. But Rob, you are doing your best, and you have been trying to be making things work. I just wish that I could have been saying the same about myself. That I was actually making a difference." I said, and then I was seeing Rob looking like he wanted to argue with me now.

"I think that doing my best is only going to be getting me so fucking far. But I trust that you are meaning your best when you say that." Rob was saying, and he smiled at me when he had said that to me. I was feeling like whatever the hell he had wanted to tell me now, he just needed to get it out of his system.

"Look, I think that if you are upset, then everybody can agree with you. But if we are going to have a chance in order to make things right, then I think that we need to focus on just changing up the tiny things. I am not the smartest person in the world, and I am certainly not the best when it comes to strategy. But I sincerely do understand the stakes at hand, and I am needing to just look at what I can do to help." I said, and I was seeing Rob looking like he hated this discussion.

"I was wanting to also ask you some questions, since I feel like I am finally finding something that can make a difference." I said, and then I was seeing Rob looking up at me, and he was looking like he had just had no idea what the hell we were even going to be speaking of here.

"What questions are we looking at?" After Rob asked me this, I was smiling at this, and I was feeling that for better or for worse, he was going to be listening to me, and he was not going to be rejecting a single word of what I was saying. I now truly knew that I was going to be making him feel like he was doing something right.

"I am looking at the starting point. I was given a contract to be tracking shipments. Now you had made what you thought on the whole Kenta thing very clear. We do not need to be going through that again. What I do want to be talking about is just trying to talk about something that I learned about, and my desire to see what you might have known." I was saying, and I was seeing Rob looking like he had wanted to just drop the subject of Kenta once and for all.

"What did you find?" Rob asked, clearly aware that he was wanting to hear me talk about a discovery. As he had asked me this, I smiled at his reluctance, and I was thinking about the fact that despite the fact that he obviously did not like this, there is a small chance that we might be starting to become friends once again.

"I found out about a shipment truck that crashed into the fucking trees, and that some of the cargo was lost. I think that this might be directly related to what I need to look into. And I am curious to learn if it was set up that way on purpose or not." I was saying, and then I looked at Rob, to see what he would have said here.

"Oh wow. That is rather interesting. I guess that we might be able to find something if we looked around hard enough. So Izzy, do you think that you are going to be working around it?" Rob asked, and then I was finding it ironic that he was now wanting to be talking to us about this now. As if it was the only thing that mattered.

"Rob, I think that we will need to try and find out what we are missing here. It might not be the best thing in the world to be getting ourselves into. But to be honest, I think that we have no other choice. Do you have any idea of if we should be briging Rachel to this?" I asked him, and then I was seeing Rob looking scared at this idea, and I was feeling that his reaction was going to be a good enough one.

"Alright, got the message. Leave Rachel out of it." After I was telling him this, I was hoping that he was going to be a bit more happy with me here. So with that, I was sighing, and I sort of forgot about it all. "Sorry. I know that protecting Rachel is the only thing that matters. So I just need to be thinking about that first." I was saying, and then I was smiling at this statement.

"I know that she will be wanting the turth really badly. But we are not going to let her know, no matter how much she begs for it. I think that this is the only thing that we can do for her sake. And if it seems like we have no choice but to tell her, then we can just simply say that we were doing it because we figured that it woud be safe."

As he had said that to me, I was sighing, and I was shaking my head, and then I was then leaving it alone right then and there. "Rob, I think that no matter what else is going on, we are going to have to just really think about what Rachel would do if we are in her shoes." I was saying,and I was laughing at this.

"Rachel... She is probably just never going to be getting over this, no matter how much she pretends like she does. But I think that we do not really need to go through this shit again." Rob was saying, as if wanting to just find out a way to make himself feel better. But decided against it all.

"Anyways, I think that now that we have something to look at, I am going to be trying to find that tree, and I honestly believe that we can find something if we look around hard enough. Some random clues that we might have missed out on." I was saying, and then I smiled at him, now just trying to explain my bullshit away to authorities when they try and question me.

"What if it turns out that it has notthing to do with what we need to find? That this is all a fucking farce." Rob was saying, and he was slightly silent at this, and he was sounding like he wanted to choose his next words carefully. Not that he really needed to be worried about what I was going to say anyways

"It probably is one. For all we know. But I would rather check and make sure that there is nothing we are getting out of it than us rejecting the idea, and then that being the one damn thing that makes the puzzle make sense." I was saying, and then I was seeing that Rob was feeling slightly better at this logic.

"I suppose that you are right. But I would rather not say that." Rob said, and then decided to just remain silent at this, and looked like he was getting kind of tired of everything that was going on around him. I looked around for a while, and then I was thinking about what it would be like if Rob went with me here.

"Do you want to come with me while I look around for a while?" I asked, and then I was seeing Rob think about that idea for a few seconds, and then he nodded, thinking about what we were going to be earning from this investigation. And to be honest, it was better to have him at my side, and be a ally than us being at odds with each other.

"Sure, I guess that maybe I can. But do not make a fucking giant investigation out of this too. We need to be focusing on Andrea, and nothing else. We are really starting to lose track of this, and I think that this is the thing that I am hating the most of all here." After he had said that to me, I saw him looking like he was really just not having any more patience in this at all.

"Yeah sorry. Trust me when I say that this will be the final thing that I check on this stuff. Everything else will be strictly related to Andrea, and I will fucking make sure that I do not get any more side tracked." I said, and then I was smiling as I was saying that to him, feeling that maybe by telling Rob this, he would actually start to calm down now.

"Let's go right now." Rob said, and then I was shocked at that part of the suggestion, but I guessed he was not in the mood for bullshit quite yet. So with that, I started to nod a bit, and then I was getting ready to just knock off one final piece of investigation before things would go to shit.

Scene 21: My First Kiss

I was hanging out with Rob at the tree that I heard the crash was reported to be, and I was feeling that by going here, we would just check around for ten to twenty minutes, and then we would be heading off after we had made our point and found all that we had needed. So with that, I was looking at Rob, wondering what to tell him.

"So Rob, do you think that we will actually find anything here? Just be honest, and tell me what you actually believe?" After I had asked him this, I was seeing Rob looking at me, and then he was sighing, as if feeling that since I did just tell him to be honest with me right now, that there was no point in hiding what he had been feeling.

"In all honesty, I think that we will probably find nothing here. Especially not related to the fucking case with Andrea." He was saying and then I was sighing, and I wished that he was not always coming back to that. But at the same time, as annoying as it might have been, I was thinking that maybe he was just espressing his annoyance, and that I just needed to be letting him have it.

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I know that you are far more worried about Andrea than this guys shipments. And I think that you are probably right in that. As much as I am not wanting to admit it." I said, and then I was shaking my head, and then I was telling myself to just be quiet, and not be saying anything else. Since he was already probably having no patience with this.

Rob was looking down on the ground, and he was looking around, as if just feeling like he might as well try and find something here, in order to make it seem like we were doing something right. I was thnking that maybe he was probably going to be purely focused on getting this done with more than he was going to be focused on hanging out.

"So Rob, how likely do you think that it will realistically be that we will be finding Andrea? I mean, I think that we have to be really smart here, and just really look at our odds here." I said, and then I was thinking that if I was going to be pressing him any further on this, then Rob was going to be thinking that I was worse than Hitler.

"I have no idea what to be thinking to be honest. All that I do know is that I am not going to be finding her by doing all of this. But at the same time, maybe by doing this, I might increase the chances of finding a different girl by doing this. So maybe it is not the worst thing in the world." After Rob said that to me, I was smiling, and was glad to be hearing his positive attitude to this.

"Even I do not fucking believe in that shit. What I do believe in is the idea that trying is going to be better for all of us than running around, and not doing anything that will actually fucking be helping me out. And by doing that, I am no better than I was when I was just hanging around and doing nothing." I said, and then I was sighing at this, wondering what was wrong with me to never be doing this when I was younger.

I knew deep down inside that my sister was right this whole time. Everything that I have been doing has beyond convinced me this. "In all seriousness though, even if I am not making any progress finding Andrea, I really am glad that I am doing something that I feel like actually fucking matters. And you guys were able to basically give me that chance to be the person I needed to be." I was telling him, and then Rob considered what I had said here.

"I guess that when you started off rock bottom like yourself, then anything that you are doing at the moment is a giant improvement. I guess that I always do need to be looking at it this way." Rob said, and he was clearly not buying it all. But at the same time, I was seeing that he was slowly coming around to it all. And that was all that I had needed here.

"Thanks for making me feel like utter shit. But I am getting it. I just wish that I had a better way of describing the way that I was truly feeling though. That way it can all make some sense here." I said, and then I was shrugging, as if feeling like we were going to be bonding if we just keep this up for a while.

"Thanks for getting to know me Izzy. I know that I can be a bit of a asshole, and I am sorry for that. You deserve to have better than me just brushing you off all the fucking time. I guess that maybe I am just scared out of my mind on what I am doing here. And I am scared that I am being useless here, and that is why I am just trying so hard to be doing this too." Eventually, he sighed, and then gave up on this too.

"I mean, I know that you probably do not view me as a friend, and I know that I have made a lot of things and decisions that you are not a fan of. I wish that I could be doing something that we can agree on more though." I was saying, being utterly sincere about everything that I had been saying. I just hoped that he was going to accept my apology.

"The thing is that I am hard against you because I do think that you are becoming a friend. I want you to be doing something that you know is good. Something that you can be proud of. And in all honesty, I just have a hard time getting around my head that sometimes doing something like that is involving doing something that I do not agree with." After he had said that to me, I was just finding something on the ground that I was confused by.

"Rob, do you know anything about this?" I asked, and I was feeling that whatever Rob was going to be saying to this, he was not going to be a happy camper, and I was thinking that maybe I just needed to be quiet, and let him talk. If my theories were actually fucking true.

"Oh shit... I was not really expecting to find this here." Rob said, and he was looking like he wanted to just strangle everybody who was involved in this, and that he was going to be making sure that it was going to be happening no matter what. I was actually kind of scared of what he was going to be doing for once in my life as I was looking.

"How did they end up finding this?" Rob asked, and then I was sighing, and I was thinking that I just needed to try and be a voice of reason. I had no idea if I was going to get him to just shut up long enough to tell me what the issue was. "Izzy, how the hell are they abel to grab this stuff and be able to have it for themselves?"

"Rob! Please fucking stop with your ramblings for a second, and tell me what the fucking hell is going on. I need you to just slow down, an dlet me know what is happening." I said, and then I was seeing him looking annoyed at the fact that I was just telling him this, and that I was not actually letting him talk here. But the he calmed down.

"I want to help you a lot. I want to make you feel like you can talk to me. But for that to happen, I need you to just be crystal fucking clear with me. No exceptions and no other rules." I said, and then I was staring at him, wondering if he was accepting my fucking firmness going forward. As he was hearing me say this, I was seeing him calm down a bit more.

"Alright, I guess that I do need to slow down. After all, you do not know everything here. Well, this was the thing that Andrea would like to put on her back pack every day before school, and she always had it around. When I saw it was gone after she had went missing, I thought that maybe she had given it to Ocho..." He was saying, upset at the reality of his claim being thrown out the fucking window. I was knowing that I inadvertently hurt him by looking into this.

"Rob, can you please tell me what you are feeling here? Do you think that we need to be showing this to Rachel?" I asked, contracts be damned. I was going to be helping out two friends in need and I was honestly not giving a shit what Kenta was going to be doing to me. He could have killed me for all I cared at this rate. If it was the way to help Rob when he was in pain, then it would be needed.

"I feel angry. I feel like I am just lost on what to tell people. I think that I need to just let my anger out on something. Somebody. But I have no idea how to be doing this. But I need to just fucking do this." After he had said that to me, I was having a feeling that he was going to try and hit me. That he was going to be doing ust that on me. And in all honesty, that was scaring me more than anything else in the world.

"We do need to show this one to Rachel. Nothing else is that important to me. But her being aware of something related to her cousin is something that I need to be doing, and it is going to be the right thing. We both fucking know that it is going to be the right thing." After he was telling me this, I was slowly nodding, and I felt like letting him speak his anger was what I needed to do.

"Alright, I will be doing it with you if you want. But if you would rather be doing this alone, for some reason, then I will let you." I said, and I was thinking that maybe that would be wise, since I hardly knew Rachel, and maybe felt that Rob doing this was going to be making it a better theory.

"I think that I will be needing your help here. No matter what I want to say, and I want to say a lot, I have a feeling that I will be unable to fucking say it without a witness at my side." After he had told me this, I was shrugging, and I was feeling like there was really nothing else that I could feel now.

"Alright, let's just fucking do it right now." After I had said that, I was thinking that the faster that we got this over with, the better Rob would feel with this. The more respect he would have for me, and the more that I felt like we could have a remote friendship here. This was what we needed more than anything else.

After I was done thinking all of this, Rob and I started to walk back, and the more that I was thinking of what to say to Rob, the more that I was feeling like every fucking word of what I was going to be saying was going to just be flat and weak, and I knew that it was going to not even matter.

Eventually, we reached the Wilson house, and then we knocked on the door. We were aware that it was ridiculously late in the night, and that the parents were going to be furious with us for trying to talk to them right now like this. But to be honest, in a way, I was really just not caring at all.

Eventually, Rachel did answer the door, and she was looking like she could not fucking believe that we were having this discussion in the first place. After I seen her looking like she was relatively unpleased with us coming in like this, that was when I was thinking that I just needed to be talking faster.

"Rachel, I know that you are probably mad that we are here right now..." Rob said, and then he was looking down, as if just wishing that whatever lecture she wanted, she would just get it over with, and then just express that she was not wanting us to ever do this again.

"But I think that we found something that you might want to see." After Rob said that to her, he was pulling something out of his pocket, and handing it right on over to her. After he was done, he looked at her face for a few seconds, as she was connecting the dots in her head.

"How did you fucking find this?" She asked, and I was seeing that she was just more shocked and sad than angry. As if she was just wanting to express her annoyance, but knew that it was not our fault that something like this was happening in the first place. "God, what the fucking hell did she do?"

"Trust me when I say that I have no idea what any of these connections are. But I think that maybe we need to be more careful with what we found. I think that this proves that something happened to her by force. It was found near where the cargo truck had crashed." Rob was saying, and then Rachel was looking totally confused at this piece of information.

"Wait, fucking how? I thought that the cargo truck crash happened before she went missing..." After she had said that, some memories were coming back to her mind. But then after she had done that, she was slowly nodding, as if everything was finally making some sense after all.

"She was talking about not finding it at one time. She was really fucking upset about it now that I remember. I thought that she had misplaced it. Fucking hell! What were these guys doing?" Rachel asked, and then Rob dismissed himself as he was needing to go on and use the restroom for a bit.

As he was gone, I was feeling that I just needed to try and find a way to make her feel better. If such a thing could even have been done, and I was wondering if it was even worth fucking trying to be doing this. "So Rachel, do you feel like you need to talk to somebody about this?" I asked, feeling that maybe just speaking to her casually was all that I had needed here.

She shook her head. "Thanks for finding that piece of information. I really fucking needed it." She was telling me, and then with that, she placed her arms on my shoulder, and I was just unsure of what to be telling her here. As if I was doing something wrong even though I had nothing to do with it.

"Are you sure that this is a good idea? I mean, Rob is fucking crazy about you, and you know him better than you will ever know me." I was saying, just rushing our every excuse that I could figure. After I was saying this to her, she was making me stop, and she was kissing me right in the lips with all her might.

Despite not wanting to admit it, and thinking that I was a real asshole for doing it, I was wanting to do more. I was enjoying it. I loved her lips on me, and I was enjoying feeling like a dangerous man for a moment. This was exactly what I had fucking needed when I was with her right now.

Once she was letting go, and was smiling at this. Then she was placing her arms off of my shoulder, and looked like she had just done the most important thing in her entire life. "Thank you for letting me just do that. I needed to get it all out, and I was feeling fucking lost here." After she had told me this, I was smiling at her, and then I was thinking about what was right.

"You're welcome. I enjoyed that more than I probably should." I said, and then I was looking down, and I was ashamed of the fact that I was liking this. I was ashamed of the fact that I was letting something that Rob had being taken away. I was feeling that whatever else I could express to show my disgust, it was not going to be enough. I was feeling like I was failing Rob, as much as I was not wanting to admit it.

As I was done, I was wonderng what a future with Rachel could be like. I was wondering if I was needing to be with her. If I needed another moment of this with her. And if I was going to be able to express my desire with her, and not feel like I was being a fucking monster for expressing this. But deep down, I was unsure of what to think anymore. So with that, I just hugged her for a bit, and was letting her cry in me, and I was going to be supporting her as a friend.

Scene 22: Birth of the Renegade

Despite everything in my mind screaming at me to not do this, I was finding myself really fucking wanting to just go on and take care of this whole Myron thing. I was thinking that it was because if I did this, then I could be showing Kenta that I was a team player. That I was the one man who would fucking do anything needed to stay safe, even if that meant totally fucking compromising my morals.

All that I was aware of though was that I was going to just make it seem like even if I failed in the contract, and could not find myself to kill this man, that it was something that I had wanted to do so badly. That it was something that I had tried so fucking hard too acomplish, but just could not forcus on the matter.

I was feeling that if I could just give off that impression really fucking well, then that was going to be all that I could even need in the first place. If I was going to kill Myron, and gain Kenta's trust, then I was just hoping that he would let me have one condition on helping him. Which was that my sister was going to be out of this forever.

I walked for a bit, and I was eventually at the mayor's office. I knew that speaking to the mayor was probably not really going to be giving me any respect points, and I highly doubted that anybody cared for me. But I was wondering if I could fucking get my voice clear to this man, and make him understand that I was not playing with him.

I knocked on his door, and I was wondering how much the mayor and I would talk about if I confronted him. If I were to confront him, and force him to talk to me, then there was a good chance that he would probably just go on and pretend that nothing happened.

When the mayor was seeing me, he was looking shocked to be seeing me. As if feeling that he was probably going to be wasting all of our time by having this discussion in the first place. "Hey, I was not expecting to see a student here at this point in the year." He said, and I was wondering how he knew I was still a student.

"Why are you here right now?" He asked, and he was clearly not even trying to hide his anger at speaking to me at the moment. As he was staring at me, and having nothing to say, I was thinking that maybe his anger was clearly a sign that I was going to be making progress with him just trying to cover some shit up.

"No real reason. I just need to talk to you about certain pieces of information that I have veen uncovering. And I think that you are the only person who I really trust so far." I was saying, and I was scared of what I was getting myself into. I was convinced that this was not going to be worth it at all.

"What do you want to know?" He asked, and I was seeing that he was just trying his best to be as neutral as possible. I knew that this man was really fucking busy, and I did not want to fuck up one of the few things that I could be doing to earn his trust right now.

So with that in mind, I was smiling, and then I was getting right to the fucking point. "I need you to give me information on a certain man who is coming here for a speech on the fourth of July." I was telling him, and then that was when the man was looking scared out of his fucking mind. Before he could let his fear start to reall manifest itself, he got a calmer composure before speaking.

"Look, I know that there is not a whole lot that I can tell you. I am wondering why you would even want to know this stuff to begin with." After he was telling me this, I was smiling at him, and felt like this was something that I could tell him if I wanted to earn his trust at least a little bit more.

"I am planning on gathering information for some employees of Lazarus. They were hoping that I could be able to help them with their research. And part of that is talking about a man named Myron." I said, and then I was seeing that the mayor started to calm down, as if feeling that composure was the only gift that he was going to be having now.

"They are really branching out, aren't they? Talking to random teenagers like you for their information needs. The truth is that yes Myron is indeed having a speech here on the fourth of July." The mayor said, taking out a cigarette and starting to smoke it. He now seemed to be totally careless here.

"Yeah, I guess that you could be saying that. But I guess that by this point, I have become truly desperate for something to help me out. So with that, I am just willing to help them out whatever they need here. To be honest, I feel like they are the only ones in this town who are actually doing something." I said, thinking that maybe if I explained the context of my trust, that could get the mayor to calm down a bit.

"I am not saying that I disgaree with your statement. In fact, I think that there is a lot of merit to it. But I need you to understand that I will not be able to give you everything that you will be wanting here. Myron is going to be doing his best to uncover the corruption at Wayside. At least that is what he says." He was saying, and I was bending forward a little bit.

"Do you believe in him though? Or do you feel like he is just making something up in order to get some votes here?" I asked, feeling that I just needed to try and talk politician here. I was not really good at this stuff. But for fucks sake, I was feeling that I just needed to do it.

"I guess that I can say that I believe in him if he had proof of his actual claims being supported. But instead, he spends all his time working in his office. I tried to get people to go on and investigate. But I only got a list of some of his big contacts." The mayor said, and then I stood up, not playing any more.

"Tell me the name of his contacts. I need to know as much as I can fucking get on this man. And right now." I said, and I was thinking that if the mayor trusted me this fast, then he was probably the most desperate man in Wayside, and I just needed to count that in my blessings.

"I will tell you the name of one of them. That way I know for sure that you are not going to be doing anything too dangerous." He said, and then I was thinking that this logic was dumb as shit. But maybe he was just trying to tie in all the loose ends if he needed to.

"Fine. If that is all that you will give me, then I will fucking take it." I said, and then I was shaking my head, wondering if I was going to never really get the trust of the mayor. I needed Jimmy White to understand that I was going to be the ally that he had needed. I needed him to see that I was a team player. But he would never let me have that I guessed.

"Chris Cook. He is a guy that owns the pimp lounge at a bar. But since you are not twenty one, you are not going to be able to go in there legally." After he was telling me this, I was looking at the mayor, and I was finding what he had just told me to the funniest thing in the world.

"Trust me when I say that I think you of all people of this town know that illegal and Wayside are the same fucking side of the coin. So please spare me the shit when you tell me not to be going around and doing that stuff." I said, and then I was seeing the mayor looking like he was wanting to snap my fucking neck as I was telling him this.

"You are seriously going to be endangering everything that I have been working for just because you want to be acting like you know better than anybody else in Wayside? Do you not realize how fucking selfish that something that this might be?" He was asking me, and as he had said that, I was shrugging. And I honestly did not care.

"If you support and love this town as much as you should, as the mayor, I think we both know that you are just going to have to be doing what is rough. I understand that the main part of the job is to be looking like you have a complete hang on this. But that is not going to be so fucking easy here." I said, and then I was smiling at this.

"And before you try and say more, I know that I don't know more about Wayside. That is why I am trying so fucking hard to be finding something that can make sense out of this. I want to learn more becuase it is the right thing to do." I was saying, and then I was shrugging, before I walked out.

As soon as I had left the office, the memories were coming right back. The memories of Chris Cook. And when I had been thinking of him, I wanted to scream out in anger. I wanted to just destroy everything that was aroun me as I remembered where I knew that name.

It was the name of that man who had been trying to get to know my sister a little bit too closely. He had been trying so fucking hard to be speaking to her on so many occasions that it was increasingly clear that he was wanting to be around her. As if she was the only thing that mattered in the world.

Thinking and knowing what his intentions clearly were going to be, I was sick to my stomach. And I knew that I was going to have to pay him a visit. If not for Myron, then for my sister. And I was going to make sure that he was never going to be trying to speak to her again. No matter what the fucking cost was going to be.

But despite the anger that I was having, I knew that first and foremost if I was going to bring this man down was just simplying locating the correct place, and then bringing down hell. I just needed to make sure that when I was going to be seeing him, that nobody was going to be around.

Eventually, I was walking along my path home, figuring that first I would need a weapon. Just to defend myself if need be, or if not, then to make my point. And I was thinking that if this man was working with Lazarus, this would be a way to show Rob and Rachel that I was not blindly following them around like a fucking dog.

Not like it would even matter though, considering the fact that I was feeling that I was not going to be working with them much longer anymore. I was thinking that I might quit soon enough, for my own sake. And that by quitting, I would truly get my friends to see that I was not having any of it. And that they would talk to me again that way.

The first time that I remember seeing Chris Cook was about a year ago. I was remembering that I had been coming home late from school. In all honesty, at the moment, that seemed to be the scariest thing that I could be doing. I wanted to just fucking explain myself away to my parents in order to not get them angry at me.

It was right when I was coming home from school, and I was seeing him talking with my parents. This confused me, but I was assuming that maybe my father and mother were friends with him, and just wanted to have a chance to catch up with him. Not my business if that was the case.

"Now we need to discuss your daughter, and how well she has been coping with school so far." He was saying, and then both of my parents looked like they were slightly worried about something for a second, before dropping it and looking all normal again.

"What did you want to know?" My mother asked, and then I was stopping, as if feeling that I was just needing to be the most careful person on planet earth now that I was being presented with this. And I was glad beyond belief that my sister was not here to hear this.

"I want to know how her progress is doing. I have been worried about her lately, and I just wanted to do my annual check up a couple of weeks early." He said, and then my mind had been running around as I had heard that. Remembering the previous times I saw him around. Or at least somebody who looked like him.

"She has been growing fine so far. Just trying to get along with people at school well enough. But she seems to be having a easier time at it as the year progresses." My father said, clearly uncomfortable at what he was saying. He looked like he was just wanting to end this discussion right now. I needed to just get to know more.

"Do you think that she will be needing extra help with her time here?" Cook asked, and then my parent both looked at each other, as if thinking about what it would be meaning if he would be coming by the house more often than just once a year.

"Do you really feel like something like this might be a good idea?" My mother asked, clearly just trying to suvert this whole thing. Cook was not having it, and it was showing that he was reveling in the power that he was being presented with.

"I think that she will be needing this if she were to have a chance at a normal social life going forward. Trust me when I say that things will not be getting any easier if you do not have somebody who is at your side to make things easier." He said, and both of my parents started to gulp in understanding.

After that memory of mine, I was remembering the first time that I had talked directly to the guy. He was at the house again one night, and he was just finishing up talking to my sister. And as he was heading on out, he had looked at me, and he was looking like he was just trying to decide what to think.

"What are you going to fucking do here?" He asked, and I was wondering if he was even aware of the fact that I was actually living here. If he honestly did not know that, then maybe that was going to be something I would hold to my advantage. But as he was here, I was feeling that I might as well play dumb, and pretend like I had no idea what he was saying.

"I was wondering what you were doing. I saw you here a couple of times, and wanted to know more." I said, and then I was mentally wincing at how fucking dumb that sounded, even to myself. But then I was just telling myself to be quiet, and not think much of it at all.

"Really? I have a hard time buying that shit, to be honest with you. I was just here, and I was wanting to make sure that she was coping well with school. I am worried for her sake, and worried that she might not be ready for such tasks." After he was saying this, I remained silent, thinking that while his intentions on paper to a idiot would seem good, I would not buy it.

"Look, that is somebody who I have known her entire life. Anything that you are going to do, and plan on doing, is my fucking business. If you do not agree with that, then that is your choice. But when I am here, then you will just tell me what I want to know." I said, and then I was seeing him just taking a long and deep breath.

"You need to simmer down. But I have a feeling that you are not going to listen to reason, no matter how hard I fucking try and convince you." After he had said that to me, I was walking by him, and I was feeling that I could just leave him alone. I had no interest in dealing with his shit, and I did not care at all.

"If you know what is best for her, you would be understanding that respecting the stuff that my bosses and I have been doing is going to be for the best. This is going to be your only warning. If you cross me again, I will hurt you." He said, and then when I was looking at him, and taking into consideration what he had been saying, I was aware deep down inside that everything he had been saying was the fucking truth.

I was going in my room, and then I was laying down on my bed, and I was wondering what the hell that man was thinking. My sister was coming up to me, and she was looking like she was wanting to personally apologize for what had just happened.

"Izzy, I apologize for what that guy was saying to you. I hope that you do not get too angry at him. He is just doing a lot, he tells me." After she was telling me this, I was looking at her, and shook my head. I was thinking that I was going to just pretend that nothing else fucking mattered at all. That he was just being an asshole, and that there was nothing that I could fucking do about it.

"Look, I am not going to change what anybody thinks of me. That is going to be a waste of time to try. I think that the only thing that I can do is just make sure that I don't do anything stupid." I said, and then I was smiling at her, feeling that this was going to be a promise that I could make to her and keep.

"Maybe stupid is fucking good." She said to me, and then I was looking at her, shocked and worried that she was saying that word to me. Not because of me personally. But because I was feeling that my parents would blow a fucking socket if they ended up hearing that terminology used by her.

"Be careful using that word from now on. I don't care personally. But mom and dad are not going to be down with that." I said, and then I was seeing her looking like she could not have cared less. Seeing her with such a determined face, like she was ready to take on the world if needed, was enough to make me proud.

Scene 23: Assassination

The assassination of the politican Myron was an event that I wished that I had nothing to do with, or had no knowledge of. But that was not going to be the case, as I was so close to being the one who was entirely responsible for it, and it makes me sick to my stomach even fucking thinking of that honestly.

When I was heading out one night, on the fourth of July celebration, I was going to just be watching the fire works show for a bit, and then I would see if the speech was even going to happen. To be honest, I had wished that nothing could fucking happen, and that Myron would never show up. So nothing even would be a issue.

That was when I was getting a knock on the door, and I answered it, wishing that nobody would know what I was doing, and nobody would know what I was going to be getting myself into. To be honest, the whole thing scared the shit out of me. Knowing that I was only going to be facing a matter of time before I was going to have to make my choice on the matter.

Once I was out of the building, that was when I was seeing one of those fucking men in black, and they were looking like they had hated the idea of doing this as much as I had hated the idea of seeing them. So when I was seeing the look on their face, I was feeling that maybe that was going to give me a bit of staying power here.

"Here is the things you are going to need to carry out your mission." He was saying, and as I was staring down, the more and more that I was realizing that I was not going to be able to do anything about it. I stared at the man, and I was just hoping that I was going to get myself out of this relatively fast now.

"Just aim at the target, and fire. If you don't let anything get in your way, I think that everything will be fine enough." He was telling me, and I was aware that even he was not buying a fucking word of that. But in all honesty, I was having no desire to be going on to fight with Kenta or anybody else.

"Fine, I will do it. Mainly because I feel like I have no fucking choice on the matter." I said, and then I was shaking my head, disgusted at the fact that I was saying that to him. I was feeling that whatever the hell I was going to be getting myself into, Kenta was going to have to have good reasons for it all.

"Thank you. I think that neither one of us want to really know what it will be like if you cross with the boss." He was telling me, and then after he was telling me this, I was considering what he was telling me, and slowly found myself nodding at the statement. I really did not want to know, and I was going to not give Kenta the satisfaction. For better or for worse.

As he was gone, I was walking off, and I was feeling that for better or for worse, I was going to have to just make the most out of what I could get out of this. I was hoping to god that Kenta was not going to be too angry at me if this was not going to be going the way that he was expecting. Then again, I had no idea what he expected.

I was going to try and settle some things with people that I knew though, in order to make me feel like I was going to be more motivated to be doing this job correctly. If not, then I was feeling like I was going to be going insane by doing all of this to begin with.

In this moment, no words could decribe how grateful that I was going to be that my parents and sister were not aware with what I was doing, and were not going to be able to stop me or anything that was going to happen. If they were, then I was going to not have the heart to stop them from trying.

I was eventually reaching the strip bar that I was told Mr. Cook was working at. As I was standing there, I was aware once and for all that I was totally in over my fucking head when I was standing there. I was debating with myself though that maybe my sister would not want this to happen to Cook. Maybe she did actually like him, in her own fucked up way.

As I was thinking this, I was shaking my head, and I was gritting my resolve as I had gone inside, and I was looking around to see men and women just minding their own business. Getting ready for their own sexual acts, and clearly not even minding that a fifteen year old was in their room at all.

It was honestly as if they had been totally used to somethng like this. And in a way, knowing all the shit that was going on in Wauside, there was a really fucking good chance that they might have been right about this.

Despite not wanting to admit it, that was honestly making me more sick than anything else at all. The idea that these people had been having sex with under age people so publicly, and nobody was going to care. I wonder how many of the missing people were connected with the sex rooms.

As I was walking inside, I was opening up the door that said "Chris Cook" on it. I smiled as I was going inside, feeling like I was going to be a fucking hero at this. I was thinking about all the girls that I was going to save, such as my sister, by doing something like this anyways.

I was seeing Cook looking up, and being annoyeed when he had seen me originally. As he was going to start talking, that was when I pushed his seat down to the ground, and then placed my foot on top of his neck. I was going to make him hear every word of what I was going to say, no matter what.

"I would not try anything if I were you. I have no mood to be messing around, and playing any fucking games. You have been trying to force my sister to be having a relation with you, and I am not going to be sitting around and letting you do this any longer." I said, quickly establishing all of who I was.

"I did no such thing. I was just trying to make her feel like she is safe." He was trying to tell me, and as he was saying this, I was not buying a fucking word of what he was saying, and I knew that I was going to have to work really hard for him to understand that this was not a fucking game to me.

"I will give you anything you want, if you just leave me alone." After he had said that, I was laughing at this statement, and started to be pressing harder on his throat, and to be honest, as I was doing this, I was finding myself enjoying the moment. I enjoyed making the guy suffer from my acts.

"What you are doing is the exact opposite of keeping my sister safe. You are using your selfish wishes to get to know her in order to talk to her, and force her into a life that she has no business in. I have no desire to be hearing your excuses at all." I was saying, and he was holding his hands up, as if trying to be appealing to me in some other way.

"All that I will say is that if you try and cotinue to use your advances on her, and if you try harder to make her follow your every lead, I will be sure to be the one who kills you. And I will make sure that nobody else has a chance in order to redeem you. This is not a game to me anymore, and I will make sure that you understand that." I was saying, glad that I was making my point clear.

I even took out a knife that I had brought with me before I left the house, and then I made a cut on his left cheek, and I was mainly doing that in order to help make my point to him that I was willing to fight back, and get dirty if I needed this. "This is going to be your only warning. I don't give a fuck who you work for." I said, and then stood up once again, and saw that he was not moving while I was walking along.

When I was leaving the room, I was feeling that maybe saying that to him was going to what I had needed to finally let go of the idea of being a paragon in spirit. I was really losing my cool with people going around, and just playing with my family. I was sick and tired of everybody going around and just thinking that they own all that I have been doing.

As I was walking out of the bar, I was seeing both guys and girls looking up, and they saw me walking off. I was seeing that none of them had anything that they had wanted to say to me. As if they were just trying to see what I was going to be capable of on my own. It was honestly feeling extremely liberating seeing people around me taking me more seriously here.

I was wondering if Chris was going to be taking my warning seriously. If he was, and he was actually going to be listening to what I had told him, then I was going to be feeling like that was all that I had needed here. But if he was going to be finding some way to defy what I had told him that I was going to do, then I was going to have to show him that I was serious about my shit.

I had just hoped that I was not going to learn that he was having connections with Kenta, and that by doing this, Kenta was going to be using said connections in order to basically fucking kill me for talking to one of his colleagues like this. But despite everything that was going on my brain, I was hardly even caring anymore.

Not that it was going to matter though, since I was relatively set on the idea that I was probably going to be quitting the job anyways. So it was not like what I was going to do was going to be hurting him any deeper. And I was thinking that in all honesty, even if I wanted to continue working for him, there was always going to be a stain anyways.

As I was getting all of these thoughts in my head, as I was getting my mind running at a million miles per hour, I was thinking that the best that I could do was just getting Kenta to just admit to me everything that was actually fucking happening, and not be giving me any shit either.

The only thing that I had regretted was that maybe by doing this, and that maybe by making my voice heard, people that were working with Cook might be using that as a excuse to actually make movements on my sister. To help get her off of the fucking picture before it were to get worse. Although the idea disgusted me so much I told myself not to think on it.

As I was sitting on top of the building, and I was getting ready to just snipe the man dead, and get this part of my life over with, I started to pull out the back pack, and look at everything that was inside. And what I was finding was disgusting me more than anything else that I knew of before.

I was seeing a gun in there, which was not a shock, and I was also seeing explosives in there. For some fucking reason, Kenta was wanting me to blow up a place, and when I was staring down at that, I was feeling that maybe that was when things were being taken way too fucking far for my liking.

I was taking the gun out, and I was feeling that once I finally had a moment to look at everything else, I would just try and calmly plan out where this was all going to be going. I put the gun down on the rail, and I was aiming down at Myron, and I was just telling myself that once I fired, I would run out, and pretend that nothing happened.

"We have been ridiculed for far too long by everybody who has money here. We have been convinced into believing that nothing can be done for the sake of Wayside. I believe that this is all rubbish. I believe that everything that is told to us is just used to scare us into thinking that we have no right to be fighting on our own. That it is a tool to be getting people into submission

People have been dying while those people who we are supposed to trust have been throwing away their responsibilities. We have been fighting our asses off to make sure that the young people of Wayside have a chance. I say that we should have never had to be going down this fight.

I can't promise you that if I get elected, nobody in Wayside will ever go missing again. What I can promise you is that if I get elected, everything I can and will do will be directed towards efforts on figuring out what went wrong with this town, and try to figure out what we can do in order to have a chance for a future."

Myron was about to continue his speech when a bullet hit him right through the neck, and he fell down to the ground, dying seconds after the bullet went through him. As I saw that, I was stunned, and even more than anything else, scared ot of my fucking mind what had just happened.

I had nothing to do with it. I did not fire the shot. I was just merely watching, and being interested in his last speech before I had to do anything. So when I saw that, and saw that he had just been killed without me doing anything, made me scared. And being scared of being suspected, I dropped everything, and started to run off, and not be really putting any thought to it all.

Scene 24: Leaving This All Behind

I was walking into Kenta's office after the assassination of Myron, and I was just hoping beyond god that he was not going to ever try and force me to tell him that I was not the one who had killed Myron. If he had known that I was not the man who had done it, then I was swearing he was going to be furious at me here.

I had honestly believed that if he had known that I was not the one who was behind it, every thing that we had been working on together, and every minor form of trust that we had with each other was going to be thrown out the fucking window. I was aware that he would have wanted me to just be his slave no matter what.

Once I was in the main office, I was seeing Kenta looking like he was just happier than ever to be seeing me here. "I knew that you were going to do what was right for us." Kenta was telling me, and then I was looking down, and I had nothing that I even wanted to say. In all honesty, what could I have said to him that would have made him believe that I had done something that I really did not fucking do?

"I did what I knew was going to keep my family safe. You do not need to be making me feel better about it." I said, and then I looked at him, hoping that he was going to buy into everything that I hd just said. He was looking a bit unsure of what to say next, so even he was putting some time and thought into this all.

"You look like there is something that is bothering you. Would you like to tell me what that is?" He asked, and then I was smiling at him, and I was thinking that doing this was going to be the first good thing that I had done all summer. And I had hoped beyond god that I was not gong to become the fucking villain for doing such a thing.

"I think that after all of this time, it might be best that I pull myself out of this internship. I think that neither one of us are getting what we really want out of this. So with that in mind, I think that I am probably going to be quitting now." I said, and then after I had said that to him, I was feeling that Kenta was dropping every minor amount of a indifferent presentation.

"Are you seriously turning your back on the man who had given you a purpose, and who had given you a chance to do something that was just more than his interest in school?" Kenta asked, and I knew right then and there that I might have made a real enemy by saying this to him.

"I am not performing as well as you would like, and I am feeling that if I stay around any longer, I am going to only be making things worse for you. I think that it is important for us to just drop this now." I was telling him, and then I started to walk off. Kenta was finally getting out of his chair this time.

"You are the one who I had felt would be able to help me make Neo Wayside a reality. You know more than anybody else here that if you turn your back here, then something is going to be coming here. And none of us will be able to reap the consequences." As he was saying this, I was looking down, and had no idea of what I was going to say this time.

"How do you really know that? I have no idea what these monsters are, and you have given me no proof that they even fucking exist." I said, and then I was looking down on the ground, and Kenta was shaking his head, thinking about how fucking piss poor of a liar that I really was.

"Your contract at the light house. I know that you saw a monster there. You know what I am talking about. You know what the fucking stakes in all of this really are. And yet you are going around, and pretending that you have no idea." After he had said that to me, I was sighing. I wanted this conversation to end. But he was not going to give me that luxury, I was fearing.

"How did you know about that?" I asked, and then I was putting my hand on the handle, feeling that the longer that I was going to be speaking to him, the more that I can learn of the strong hold that he had over me. I needed to be aware of what he had over me at all times.

"I know about it because you are not nearly as good at hiding as you might like to think that you are. I saw what you were doing, and my colleagues were able to report to me what you had found. So you are aware of what is going on, and you are aware of what you are fucking doing." He said, with a shocking level of passion as he was telling me this. I almost really did feel bad for him.

"You helped me be aware of their existence, and I am glad for that. But I am going to be doing things my way. It is going to be the only way that we are going to have a chance to survive. And for that reason, I hope that you are going to be with me. Because if not, then we are going to have to go our own separate ways." I said, and then I was walking off, with nothing else to say.

Kenta sat down, and he was smiling as he had heard this. As if he was almost proud of what I was doing, and actually had felt like maybe there was a level of strength that I had in me after all, for turning him down, and not letting anybody else influence my opinion on this going forward.
...

Eventually, I was hanging around with Rob and Rachel. To be totally honest, as I was there, I was starting to feel like maybe leaving Kenta might have been a bad choice after all. I was shocked to be feeling that in my mind. I was thinking that if I was going to talk to them, I needed to be upfront.

"I really am sorry for doing all of that stuff with Kenta. I know that you guys were furious with me, and that I did something that you will probably never forgive me on. But I guess that I just did what I felt was right." I was saying, and I was wondering if anything I was going to tell them would make a difference.

"But even I realize what my fucking mistake was. Even I realize what I had done was wrong. I quit the internship, and I am not going to be looking back, no matter how hard they fucking try and make me." After I was telling them this, I was seeing both Rob and Rachel look slightly impressed at me here.

"Damn, I was not expecting you to actually admit to something like this. I thought that you were going to be super into following him no matter what. Always defending every thing that he had been doing." After Rob said this, he started to feel a whole lot better about this. "First good news that I heard all week."

"Izzy, do you think that you are going to be public enemy by doing this?" Rachel asked me, and then I was smiling as she had asked me this. I was thinking that whatever she was going to ask me, I was going to be doing what I knew was going to be best for myself.

"If that happens, then I feel like I have a support group that will be helping me throughout all of this. I will be doing alright. But thank you for asking. It makes me feel better knowing that I have somebody at my side." I was saying, and I genuinely meant what I had been saying. I needed them to just work with me.

"Do you think that perhaps he was right with what he was doing?" After Rachel was saying this, she was looking back, wishing to just force some reponse out of me. I was looking at her, and I had no idea of what the hell I could have even said to make it any different.

"I think that he was right on some of his ideas that he was having. To be honest, as much as it might anger you guys to hear me admit this, but I think that he really did have some good points here. So I think that I will take them all into consideration." I was saying, and I really had no idea what the hell I was going to be saying. I was thinking that they were going to just reject every fucking word of what I said.

"Did you do that recording?" Rob asked, thinking that maybe he was just needing to go on and give Kenta a chance after all. After he asked me this, I was shaking my head, and I was finding it to be rather embarassing that this was how thngs were. I looked up at both of them, hoping I would not annoy them.

"No, I was just thinking after a while that I wanted nothing to do with this. I just dropped the subject, and I felt that he had to do things on his own. When he was starting to go around and ask me to kill people, that was when things had changed." I was saying, and I was disgusted at this statement. I looked at both of them.

Neither one of them looked like they wanted to go on any further with this. "Do you think that he has anything to do with that assassination that happened earlier?" Rob asked, and I was shocked that he was asking this. I was shocked that he had known about that in the first place. I was then looking down, thinking about how fast new travelled.

"Obviously he had something to do with it. But I guess that maybe I should be giving you a rest though. Ther eis no way that you could have known." I was saying, and then I was looking at Rob, and I was hoping that he was not going to be looking like he was going to blow a fucking gasket here.

"Guys, I don't think that it is very safe to be talking about these things so loudly." Rachel said, and then I was nodding, thinking that she was probably right with this. Besides, I was not wanting to admit that I really did almost kill Myron, and almost did it all just for political gain.

"Yeah, I think that Rachel is right on this one. I would not mind talking about this later, when we are alone. But for now, I think that we just need to be calm and quiet here." I was saying, and I was looking at both people. Both Rob and Rachel looked like they were having different ideas in their head.

"Let's just go on and go to the celebration and fire works tonight. Just forget about everything else. Just one fucking night where we can put this all beind us." After he was saying that to us, I was smiling at this suggestion, and I was thinking that as long as the three of us could just hang out, and do nothing too bad, then we were going to be fine.

"Yeah, I think that I might need something like that anyways. Just to get out of this whole fucking stir. I just hope that I don't end up regretting this." I said, thinking about what things could have been like if they were to get any worse than they already have. The general idea seemed fucking impossible.

With that all said and done, that was when we were all walking along, and I was feeling that I just needed to at least try and connect with Rob and Rachel again. Just to see where they were coming from with all that they have been thinking. "So guys, do you enjoy these fourth of July fire works shows?" I asked, feeling that maybe I could just break the mold.

"Honestly, it is probably my favorite holiday of the year. But I guess that most people already feel that way. So I am not going to go arond, and preach to the fucking chior when I say that." Rachel said, and I was not expecting her to be the one of the two to be giving a glowing review to the holiday. She just did not seem like the type.

I guess that it is how it is like when you do not have a good read on people. "I also just think that it provides for the one time in the year where most people I know put away their feelings and anger towards other people and things, and just go on and enjoy themselves." She was saying, and that last comment was on that I did understand a bit.

"Do you think that there are some people that you have some issues with, who you would want to just have a good time with?" I asked, thinking that it was a fair enough question.

"There are a couple of people who would probably like to talk to me, and I think that after everything that I have been dealing with, I would just give them a chance. I am scared of the people around me though." She said, and then Rob was looking quiet, and looked like he was totally unsure of how to react.

"I think that maybe if that sentiment were true, it would be a good time for Ocho and Julian to try and make up with each other. After all, they seemed like they were already not on the best terms to begin with. So maybe doing this might be what they need." After Rob said that, I was just not too certain on how I could contribute to that.

"I guess that maybe that is going to have to be something that they deal with on their own." After I was telling them this, I was sighing, and decided not to really go any further with that. In all honesty, I felt like I had no right to be commenting on this.

"I guess that if I want to do that, I think that I would just have to start to connect with Ocho and Julian in the first place. I always had a harder time connecting with them compared to you two. It just seemed like they did not have nearly enough of the same interests as them." Rachel was saying, and then she looked like she was looking a bit ashamed of admitting this so loudly.

Eventually we were getting closer to a hill where the fire works would be at a great angle. I was thinking that after this was done, I was going to have to explain to my sister that things did not really turn out the way that I was expecting.

"I never watched one of these shows honestly. I always just did something at my house, if I ever did anything at all." I said, and was honestly kind of shocked when I had said that, considering the fact that Wayside had a show every single year at least since I fucking remembered. So with the fact that I did not ever see one, it just seemed fucking wrong to be honest.

"I went to the one in 1984. That was the one that a lot of people were not super in love with. Then again, with that being an election year, I think most people just had a hard time divorcing that fact away from the show." Rob said, and then I was nodding at this, thinking that it was fair enough to say such a thing.

"Honestly, I think that sometimes people need to really understand that not everything in life has to center around fucking politics. There is more shit going on, and I think that people just need to enjoy what is right there in front of them as well." I said, and then I was shrugging, and I was feeling that I was just giving off a level of bullshit here.

"You were the one that just a moment ago was talking about how you never went to one. What changed that mindset so fucking fast?" Rachel asked, and she was mostly asking it in a joking matter. I was looking down on the ground, and I was feeling that her mentioning this was not going to be a situation that I was going to be super in love with.

"Yeah, I know that I might be coming off as a bit of a hypocrite when I say that." I said, and then I was smiling at this fact, and I was just thinking that maybe I was just needing to be in a playing mood here. After all, most of the time when Rachel and Rob were in a good mood, that was how they were.

"But the thing is that these last few weeks is just starting to show me to just appreciate the things that I am having here. You know, I have a big chance to do something right. I think that I might just have to take advantage of that when I can. Even if I am not in love with the things I am doing right now, at least I am doing something." I felt more conviction than ever as I said that.

As we were watching along, I was wanting to talk to my friends even further. I honestly believed that just pretending like the whole Kenta internship had never happened was going to be the best thing that I could possibly do. I was thinking that as long as Kenta was brushed away from me, then that was really all that I could be able to actually accomplish now.

"Guys, do you think that the rest of summer is going to be getting better, or do you think that this is going to be the standard of eveyrthing?" I asked, thinking that whatever we could have done here was going to be the only way that I was going to be even remotely ready for what was to come.

"I think that there is no real way on earth that thngs could get even worse than they already have been. So we just need to count the blessings that the real shit show happened already, and then we can just move on." Rob said, and he was saying it with such confidence, that I was actually start to buy myself into it.

As I had said that, deep down inside, I was feeling like I was making a really bad statement by saying that. I was thnking that if I was going to keep speaking in absolutes like this, then I was going to be totally and utterly fucked here.

I was thinking that if for nothing else, I was going to just think about what my sister was wanting, and how I could keep giving that to her. "Do you think that this is all going to be about pleasing your family still, or have you sort of just moved on from that?" Rachel asked me, and then I was shrugging as I had heard her ask this. I was feeling entirely unsure of what I was going to even say in the first place.

"I think that pleasing my family is the only thing tht is keeping me going forward. I just wish that I could have found something to say to them, to make them feel like maybe I had listened to all that they had said. That I am not just being myself, with no extra help." I was saying, and then I was smiling as I had said that.

"In a way though, you kind of are doing this all on your own. You made all the choices you want without any extra help. And you are the one who is deciding where he wants his life to head. Nobody did that for you. We might have given you ideas, but we did not force you to do anything." Rob said, and then I was shrugging at this, and I was thinking that I would just role with what they had been saying mostly.

...

After returning home that night, I was sitting down on my computer, and I was finally feeling like I just needed to focus on what was ahead of me. I was thinking that now I had a new chance to make a life better for myself, and that I just needed to take advantage of it while I could.

I opened up my computer, and I was wondering if Kenta was going to give me a message. Basically telling me that my life was going to stake on taking back my regsination. I needed to fucking fight for myself though. And I was having no real plan on replying to him. Even though it was likely vital to my survival.

But the one that I found at the top of my list was not one from Kenta. It was in fact one from Ocho. Which I was not expecting to see, and I was thinking that I just needed to read it if I was going to have any chance of doing the right thing going forward.

"Hey Izzy, I was wanting to talk to you about the internship that you had been working on, and I was hoping that you could help me understand the choices that you had made with it." After Ocho was saying this, I knew that no matter what I had said I was going to be absolutely fucked, and that I needed to just be more careful.

"I did it because Kenta seemed to be a nice enough guy, and he was directly approaching me with the chance to do something different. I wanted to see if there was something that could honor my sisters wishes of living a more productive and busy life. It all seemed harmless." I said, thinking that I might just have to leave it at that. As I sent the reply, I was just basically waiting for him to respond, every minute getting me more and more worried that he was going to frame me as the bad guy.

"You know that the company taints anything that they touch. How on earth did you think that anything that they were doing was going to be harmless? I thought that you would have figured out more than that." He was saying, and then I was wondering what his problem was going to be here.

After that third message, I was considering what he had been saying, and was thinking that as much as I had hated to admit it, that he was probably right with that. "I don't know. There is nothing wrong with feeling that you are going to be making the difference you sought to make though." I said in my response, and I was wondering if he was ever going to let it all slide.

"Well, I guess that it does not really matter now. You made your choice, and nothing I can say or do will prevent that. Let's just discuss the future though. See if perhaps we can find a goal that we will both be able to work with?" He asked, and then after he had said that to me, I was now feeling much more interested, and much less attacked.

"What are you proposing?" I asked, feeling that I was going to be a idiot for letting this moment slide. I was thinking that if I had a chance to get him to talk to me, and not be screaming around like I was Hitler, then I would be doing alright. "I have a feeling that if we find something that can benefit us and our friends, we will be alright." I said, and then I was leaving it at that for the time being.

"I have some files that I have connected. I have a hard time getting through them all. So much shit to read and understand, and to be honest, I feel like everything that is going on here is just contradicting everything else that I have been reading. I would like, no I would need you to read as many of them as you can, and tell me how reliable you believe them to be." After he was telling me this in his message, I was shocked to see this.

"Why are you suddenly trusting me to look at them all, when just a moment ago you were bashing me and wanting me dead for having a respondence with Lazarus?" I asked, and I was feeling like this was just a test at this point in time. There is nothing that I have done that would make him remotely trust me.

"If you are really planning on not helping them anymore, I could use you as a person who was inside the job at one point in time, and use what I can and get the truth about certain things. If you are helping them, I would see that you are nothing more than a mole who is just going to do whatever he wants and needs to for survival." After he had said that to me, I was thinking about how he was just basically having all of his bases covered.

"I guess that it makes sense. Besides, I have a feeling you are going to send me the files even if I do not agree with this. So if that is the case, just fucking send them and get it over with." I said, and after I wrote that message, I was starting to stand up, feeling that this conversation with him was going to stress me the fucking hell out.

Before I could turn off for the night, and pretend that I had nothing else to do or worry about, that was when I was getting another email. I was seeing some files attached, and I was seeing that every two or three minutes, another one would show up in a reply message. And as I was seeing this, I knew I had no choice but to just read them all.

Scene 25: Absolution (Brad third person POV)

Brad was finding himself back in Shaun Reichenbach's office, and as he was sitting there, he was starting to feel more and more uneasy about everything that he had been doing. He had been certain of one thing: That this was a mistake.

"Brad, I have another job for you." After Shaun said that, Brad was feeling like he had just needed to find a way to argue this one. As if he was feeling like he was going to have his entire honor set driven by this statement.

"Are you really sure that this is going to be a good idea? Do you not have other people who can accomplish these tasks?" Brad asked, memory of decapitating Olive still giving him nightmares, and still making him feel utterly sick at humanity as a whole.

"You are the only one who I know will carry everything out without fail. You are the only person who truly appreciates what needs to be done." After he had said that to Brad, this was when Brad was wanting to argue more. He wanted to at least pretend like he was having a grip of honor. But that was just not happening.

"Damn it. I guess that even if I want to argue that, it would be impossible to do so." After Brad was saying this, he was standing up, and then smiled at how much he was disgusted by this. "If that is the case, then what is thy bidding my master?"

"There are two people that you need to track down this time. The first of which was located in the old ninja fortress in that forest. Her name is Mildred. She was a colleague of Justin and Olive." Shaun said, hating the idea of killing his friends.

"She was a member of the Knights of Hayabusa. A group of a dozen women who were trained by Ryu Hayabusa over thirty years ago. Who were trained to give hope and peace to the girls of Wayside." Shaun said, and then brad was shocked at this new revelation, and the part of the story that he had never heard.

"What happened to the others?" Brad asked, feeling that understanding them was going to be the key in stopping them, and the key to him changing his mindset on life.

"All of them are dead. Killed over three decades ago. All but one. It is the day that this piece of history changes. And you will see who the second person will be after that. It is somebody close to her." After he had said that to Brad, this was when Brad wanted to know more.

"She would have been very helpful." Brad said, thinking that this was going to be the only way to try ad get Shaun out of this. Just trying to convince him of how she would have been used. Brad refused to have another person on his name unless he had to.

"Yeah, she would have been. But she made it clear to me that this was not going to happen." Shaun said, and then with that, Brad was just walking off, and he was mainly not wanting to risk angering his boss any further. He knew what his boss could have been like if he was angry.

With that, Brad was walking down for a while, and he got in his car, and was driving along to the forest. He had not been in there in such a long time, that it was barely a quarter of the size that it once was when he was just a teenager. He remembered when he would hang out with his friends there, having relative innocence, and a level of humanity once again.

Before he had left his car, he took the two lightsabers that he had. He had not wished to use the one that Olive had. If he had done so, he would have been feeling that he would be disgracing her memory, and just pissing all over the place from what he should have been doing. But deep down, he knew that Shaun would not care.

Brad walked up the hill, and wondered if Shaun knew more about the genocide of those eleven women and Ryu Hayabusa. Somebody must have been rather dangerous in order to kill all of those people on his own. And he was thinking that since those were twelve people with training, that none of them went down without a fight.

As Brad considered the fact that Shaun must have clearly had some information related to this, Brad decided to just not be thinking about anything else at all. And he was going to just pretend that none of it mattered.

Eventually, Brad reached the old fortress that had looked like it had not been used in decades. As he had stared at it for a while, he was wondering if this was why Shaun wanted MIldred to die. That way there was no more connections to the place, and therefore he could either destroy it, or turn it into his own place with no arguments at all.

Brad went inside of the fortress, and then he was seeing that there was a woman, who was clearly in her mid forties as well as Olive, meditating. Despite the fact that he was finding it disturbing to admit, he was thinking that she was sort of attractive.

As he had been walking down, he had waited for a response. "It clearly seems that you do not know what you are getting yourself involved in. Not that I blame you, as your leader does a great job hiding his intentions to those who are following him." She said, and then was standing up.

"I knew him once. He was good looking, and a great speaker, and could really tug at the strings of people. Of course I believed in him, and of course I thought he was right in what he had said." Mildred said, as Brad took out his blue lightsaber, keeping Olive's dug in. "You dare bring the weapon of my friend with me to my assassination." She said, as she pulled out a yellow blade from her pocket.

"How did you know that I was going to be coming here? " Brad asked, and then he was looking at MIldred, who looked like she was slightly sad at the discussion that they were having at that moment.

"I have the horrible curse of beig able to see into the future, and what happens with me was included with that. I have known ever since the day that I was born that you were going to kill me on the fourth of July in 1986. Everything that I have been doing has been leading up to this moment And I am aware that no matter how much I might want to try and fight it, I will not win." Mildred said, and then Brad was thinking his next question carefully.

"If you have known since the day that you were born that this was going to happen, why have you not changed it? Why are you going to fight me?" Brad asked, and he was hopint that she would not be too offended by this question.

"I have tried to change the future in my own way. Eveyrthing just happens the same anyway. Everything that happens is the product of destiny for better or for worse. I also know that I will be fighting back because despite the fact that I know you will kill me today, I know that from my visions of the future, that I go until there is nothing left in me." After she had said that, Brad was slowly nodding, and had no idea what there was to say to her now.

Before he could let the situation settle in any longer, that was when she was charging at him, and Brad knew that for better or for worse, she was going to be putting up a better fight then Olive was going to. And he also knew that after this was done, he would have to stay around, and get his next target.

Brad then dodged the attack with his blade, and then he was looking up at the desperation in her eyes. She looked like she was just trying so hard, knowing it would fail, to fight back from her fate. Despite the fact that Brad knew what she said was true, he needed to feel bad for her.

"You could have saved Wayside. And yet you hid here like a fucking coward." Brad said, hoping to anger her into creating the opposite situation. He hated himself, and if his own death was needed in order to get himself to not commit any more crimes, then that was what he had to do.

"Much of the same could have been said about you. You had so much potential, and you were a guy who many people respected when you were younger. But here you are, just being a yes man to your fucking boss. Do you not see the connection?" Mildred asked, as the two did a few rounds of basic slashing and blocking.

"I did not know any better. I was told that this was the way that I need to go. I was convinced that the only thing that I could have done was just fight for them." Brad was saying, as Mildred kicked himin the face, and she slashed a cut onto his left hand after that kick.

"How could you be so sure of doing the best to help Wayside when you are not even sure that what you are doing is the best for youself?" She asked Brad, walking towards him, ready to make a killing stab, but then Brad rolled to the side, creating a upward stroke and leaving a large cut on her face.

"Submission is preferrable to death. If I can make sure that I can survive another night, then I might be able to make a difference." Brad told her, taking out the orange blade, and turning it on as well. Olive's memory be damned. If he was going to defeat Mildred, he needed both.

Mildred looked furious at the bringing of the second blade, and with that, she went into a frenzy. She attacked him harder, and Brad blocked the next blow which would have sliced down his head with both the blades. He looked up at her eyes, and saw that there was a pure murderous intent with them now.

"I was willing to work with you, and see what you had felt, but you came in here, and brought that upon me? You are the worst person that I could have imagined." Mildred said, and she was now only having one mission in her eyes. And that was to get revenge, no matter what.

After she sliced a perfect arc near him, Brad was getting into panic mode, and he was feeling that he was going to have to make the killing blow soon enough if he was going to have any chance of being able to defeat her. And he knew that she was right: Any chances of debates were out the window.

The room was dark, which he was able to use to his advantage. "You might have forgotten that I have been doing this since you were a child. I know all the different techniques from my master." She said, holding the yellow lightsaber firmly. But before she could put that threat to use, she felt a hole come in through her chest. Then a second one a second later. Then she fell down on the ground, either already dead, or very close to it, as Brad exposed himself from behind her, taking her pendant, and seeing his next target on that one.

"Please leave him out of this. He deserves better than you killing him because your boss says so. Even when I was staring at my killer in the face, aware of what he was going to do, I had a hard time fully accepting it. I guess that was my weakness." She said, as Brad was looking down at the woman he had killed and was bleeding out.

"You of all people must know what you will do if you defy the will of my master. If there was nothing that could have happened out of it, then I might have felt a bit differently. But he will not broker failure under any circumstances." Brad was saying, holding up his hand in a fist, ready to make his point as clear as day here.

"Then maybe you will have to determine the worth of your own life. Determine if it really is as important as the one who is in my pendant." She said, as Brad stared at the adult man with the blue shirt. He looked like he had been practicing the arts of battle ever since he was just a teenager.

"The ones of value survive until they have run out of value. It is a part of life. The way that the cycle continues. If you do not wipe out those who have served their purpose, then those with the new life will not be able to come forward. I do not agree with the ways that my boss does his goals. But the ideas themselves make sense." Brad said, hoping that his argument would make sense to Mildred.

"I sincerely hope you do not keep your values the rest of your life. Sooner or later you will see the value of those around you in a different light. Once you face a near death experience, by the hands of one of your great friends, you will feel differently. Shaun will throw you away when you no longer have a use. Just like he did with me and my fellow knights." She was saying, and Brad slowly nodded, as if expecting that answer.

"I knew that you were going to tie it to him. I just had a feeling that his story was not going to be cohesive enough to actually believe." Brad was saying, as if just thinking that learning the truth of what Shaun did was just something he could have gone no further than being able to associate stuff a disappointed son would feel.

Before he said anything else, he saw that Mildred really was dead. Her right hand slightly held up, wide open, and blood coming down her mouth. The two holes just showing a clear sign of how she had passed. With that, Brad walked out of the builing, all of his presentation gone. He was going to have to think about how he was going to kill the man who was the next target.