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.

12. The Idiots Plan

Episode 12: The Idiots Plan (Izzy's POV)

Scene 1: Vindication

I was starting to feel that at this rate, I was kind of starting to get people to not look at every single thing that I had been doing so fucking literally with Lazarus. It honestly felt like I was making some progress on finally showing people that I was a different man than they had tried to make me out to be. But in all honesty, I was feeling that perhaps people just really wanted to stop bringing it up because there was no reason to keep this going any longer.

I was feeling that despite everything else though, that there was one person that I still needed to try and talk with to clear things up. The one person who I was feeling would never be able to forgive me after everything that had been going on, and I was feeling had every right to be looking at me as a piece of shit.

I needed to try and speak to Rachel, and just see what the hell she was feeling, and perhaps the two of us could be able to clear things up just a little bit better. Which was honestly all that I was kind of hoping for at this point in time. I just wanted to finally get some fucking things cleared up.

As I was walking along, I was wondering what in the world she would have wanted to say to me. On one hand, I was thinking that she would have been relatively quick to forgive me. But on the other hand, I was convinced that she was going to probably just still hold some bitter feelings for a while longer.

Eventually, I made it to the front entrance of the house, and I was already wondering if I was even needing to bother with such a thing anymore. I was shaking my head, and I was already feeling that if she saw me here, there was always going to be a level of disgust that she was going to have with me. But then I knocked, deciding to just get it the fucking hell over with.

Before too long, that was when I was seeing Rachel answer the door. As she was looking at me, despite everything that had been going on, and despite the fact that I had done a good job kind of burning her bridges, I was seeing that she was still kind of happy to be seeing me here. And that was all that I had wanted.

"Hey Izzy. Sorry that I have been rather distant from you lately. Just a lot of things going on through my head, and I have no idea where the fucking hell to be going with them all. But I guess that perhaps I need to give you some extra credit." After she had said that to me, I was laughing more so at how uncomfortable this situation was than anything else.

"Don't worry about it. A large part of this is my fucking fault. I mean, I should have tried and communicate with you more than I have been. But who knows. Maybe a part of me is scared of confronting you and just seeing how much you have been in pain at this whole situation really is." After I had said that to her, I was having no idea what the hell to tell her.

"But seriously Rachel, how have you been lately? I mean, everything has just been running through my mind lately. And I am starting to just think about all of the mistakes that I have been making lately." After I said that to her, I was wondering how deep this conversation was going to go, and if this was going to be working at all.

"I mean, I guess that no matter what, it always does seem like a nice thing when I see that you have been moving on from these issues. I just wish that I was able to tell Rob what was going on with me, and how I feel." Rachel said, and then I was starting to take a second to consider what she was saying before I was going to give my response.

"Honestly, what do you want to tell him?" I asked, and it was interesting because when it was coming to things like human emotions, I was the hardest one to be relying on at all. I was smart in everything else besides that." After I said that to her, I was feeling that whatever she wanted to tell me, we could just get this over with.

"I have no idea what in the fucking world I want to tell him. I mean, I have no idea if I am starting to love him, or if my mind is wrong. But in all honesty, I think that the two of us just need to find some time to really consider what the fucking hell I am thinking here. All that I want to do is finally just find some peace at this." Rachel said, and she was clearly referring to what was going on with Andrea.

"Do you think that Ocho will give you closure on Andrea? I mean, sure he has been working hard at it. But I feel like there is only so much that he can fucking do about it. I feel like sooner or later, he will be the last person that you can rely on. And I wanted to finally have some fucking hope in that guy for once." I said, sighing, having nothing else to say.

"To be real with you, I think that he might not really actually save us anymore. I want him to, and I feel like that was what Andrea would have wanted. But to be honest, I feel like that is just simply never going to fucking happen. And we are all going to just have to deal with it." After Rachel said that to me, I was thinking of something else we could do now.

"That sucks to hear. But I guess that if this is something that you feel, then that is something that might have to be taken to my fucking abilities here." I said, and I really had to see what the heck she was going to say. I was seeing that from the look on her face, she was actually getting kind of scared of what I was suggesting.

"What the fucking hell are you planning on doing with your fucking abilities?" She asked me, and then I was shaking my head, and I was already feeling that doing so would just make things worse. But in all honesty, I was thinking that this was going to be the only way that I could make a difference.

"I think that if I am going to try and help you find out what happened with Andrea, then I am going to have no choice but to find out even more with the company. I mean, I know that you are going to be mad at that suggestion. But there is only so much that I can do by ignoring everything. I have the computer skills to do something, and at this rate, I need to take advantage of it." I said, and then I was seeing Rachel looking like she was actually kind of accepting this.

"Fine. Whatever. I mean, as long as you do not get too deep into this company again, then I have no reason to try and stop this now. Are you going to try and talk to some others though? You know, at least create some form of a fucking back up to this whole thing. I think we need to rely on the idea that not everything is going to be certain.

"I mean, I guess that if we are going to talk about this, I think that perhaps we are going to finally have to look at the yonger group of people, and just see what the fucking hell they might have to say on this issue. As much as we might hate to say so, Tobias and his fucking group of friends are probably going to be the answer." I said, and I was shaking my head, unable to believe that I was dealing with this.

"No, I am not going to be having Tobias try and feel like he has a even better reason to be doing the shit that he already has been. Everything that Tobias has been doing is all because we have esentially enabled him to be a fucking insane loser." After Rachel said that, I was then wonering how long it was going to take for her to stop trying and always protect her brother.

"Rachel, be realistic, he has a plan. He will do whatever he wants, with or without you working at his side. You might as well just help him while we are at this. That is all that I can really fucking say about it." After I had said that to Rachel, I was feeling that even though she would not enjoy me saying this, I really did not fucking care at all.

"I mean, I know that he is going to do what he wants, and that I am only delaying when he will be doing things on his own anyways. I am not a fucking idiot. But at the same time, I feel like if I can just hold it off a bit longer, and hold off the fact that I feel like this might be my fault, then that will just make things at least a little better.

"What the fucking hell do you mean?" I asked, and I was not going to be letting her run away with this one. She was going to tell me what she had meant, and I really did not fucking care if she was going to be angry at the way that I was going to force this onto her at all.

"I threw a party that one time that the grinding noise had gone off, and that was the one that happened right before Andrea had gone missing. I think that it might be my fault that she is gone in the first place. And because of that, I really have no fucking right to yell at Ocho for everything that is happening." After she had said that t me, I was actually kind of angry at her for that.

"Are you fucking serious right now? Everything that has been going on can fucking retrace back to a party? I mean, if that is the truth, then I think that you need to learn everything that you can about that." I said, and then I was feeling that whatever she had been lecturing me about in the past needed to fucking die right then and there.

"This is why I do not want to be talking to people about it. People are going to be looking at me like I am the fucking villain here. All that I did was have a party that I thought would be a lot of fun." After Rachel said that to me, I was wanting to fucking scream at this point. But then I was sighing, taking a quick moment to think things out better.

"Sorry. I mean, I should have seen where you were coming from. But seriously Rachel, if this is going to be what things are like with us, then I think that we need to just fucking be more straight forward here." After I had said that to her, I was seeing her calming down, and I was seeing that despite everything else, I was sort of making her see understand my perspective.

"You do not really get to lecture me about what the hell I am doing when you have that on your back. But that being said, we need to work on this together, and we just need to fucking let it all go." Once I was done speaking to Rachel here, I was wondering if I was just feeling better about this all now that things had started to calm down a bit.

"Just stop. I mean, I have to deal with what is going on all the time, and you are just making things worse for me. I think that I am never going to really be letting it down. So please, let's just focus on how we are going to be making things a bit better for both of us going forward." Rachel said, and then I was feeling that depsite everything, I could not be too upset with her here.

"I mean, I think that everything that we have been dealing with is just making us all at odds with each other. Maybe that is how the house always wins at the end of the day. It just always comes back to us all hating each other in some fucking way." After I had said that to her, I was feeling that my way of telling her this was going to just not really sink in.

"I wonder if this is how Sheldon failed the first time. Always getting at ends with the people that he cared the most about, and then as a result nothing else fucking worked out at the end of the day. If that is the case, then I think that maybe I do have some fucking sympathy for him." Rachel said, and then I was feeling that maybe I needed to try and talk to him.

"Yeah, I am going to have to try and force it out of him." I said, and then I was seeing her looking like she was thinking that this was a dumb idea. "If he does not want to talk to me, then there is no choice but to make him see reason. And I think we both know he is the only one who can turn things around."

"Just do whatever you can, but I have a feeling that things could be turning for the worst if we just work too hard on making him give away everything. He is the only nice person here to us." She said, and then I was already making my plans on how to get Sheldon to speak to me here.

Scene 2: The Spy

I was feeling that I would try and talk to Sheldon once again, and just see what the heck he was willing to talk to me about. Even if it was meaning that I was going to have to be putting my foot down, and making it clear that I was not going to leave until he told me everything that I had wanted to know. This was all that I had in my mind.

Perhaps when I would see Sheldon again, I would just try to show him that I regretted many of the things that I have been doing, and I want to try and redeem myself. And that perhaps the only way that I was going to do that was to actually just tell him everything that I had been feeling. Maybe he was just wanting to see that I was being sincere in my worries here.

I was having a feeling that Sheldon wanted nothing to do with most of us. And I was having a feeling that perhaps he was just always going to be thinking that I was a bit of a hassle. And that he was only going to try and pretend like he was wanting to deal with the shit that my friends and I have been doing.

Eventually, before too long, I was at the gas station, and then I was looking around, and I was seeing that he had been in the middle fo a cigarette. I was feeling that as long as I was just nice but firm with the things that we needed to talk about, then we could pull this whole thing out. I just needed to take the first step finally.

"Hey, I know that you are probably going to not really like the idea of me trying to talk to talk to you about things that my friends have approached you on. But I feel like I really have no fucking choice." I said, sitting down, and then Sheldon was placing his cigarette down, and he was clearly looking like he was already over it.

"What were you wanting to discuss?" Sheldon asked, and then I was nodding at this, feeling that this was my chance. "I mean, I feel like there is only so much that I can try and say before I just can't take it anymore and give up." After Sheldon had said that to me, I was thinking that I needed to make my first question count.

"I was wondering if you have been in contact with Brad lately?" I asked, and then I looked right at him. He was looking like everything suddenly went cold. As if I had been bringing up the one fucking person that he had tried his hardest to be able to move away from. Seeing that expression finally made me feel like I was making some progress.

"What did you talk about? I know that you guys had a falling out. That is common knowledge. But if you guys had one, then why are you always going back and talking to each other still?" I asked, and then I was seeing Sheldon look like he was just feeling like he had been attacked, and needed a momeng to relax a bit here.

"I was talking with him about what has been happening in Wayside lately. He was also telling me about some things that he was scared to do, and wanted to accomplish, but was scared that he would not have the strength to do it." After Sheldon said that to me, I was wondering what Brad would even be meaning here.

"What would Brad be so scared about working with?" I asked, scared out of my mind, feeling that perhaps this man was going to be the real reason that things were going the way that they have been. "I heard that he has been getting far more popular lately. But does that have anything to do with what he is scared of?" I asked, and then after I had asked him this, I was seeing Sheldon looking like he already wanted this to end.

"He was scared about what his bosses were doing. I mean, I think that he is worried that he is going to have to get involved in the political scene now. After all, the mayor election is this year, and that was the whole reason Myron got assassinated in the first place." After Sheldon said that to me, I was wondering why that would even matter.

"That election is going to be keeping everybody fucking distracted. I feel like soon enough, all the discussions about people going missing is going to be thrown to the side. I wonder if I will be able to learn more about it." After I had said that to him I was seeing that Sheldon was looking like he was considering that.

"I was never very interested in all that political bullshit back when I was younger. I think that you should be paying more attention to it. After all, the people who get elected are going to have a affect on what happens in this town." Sheldon said, and then I was wondering if Sheldon was going to be mad at this next part.

"Are you even sure that we are going to be making a difference? I mean, after all, it seems like the only people who get elected are members of the Democratic party." I said, feeling that there was no real need to bother with it if this was always going to be the way that it would.

"That doesn't mean that if you aren't in that party, that you shouldn't try. I mean, a friend of mine from back then accepted the Republican nomination for the mayor position. He knows that he is not going to win, but he also knows that they are the only party that may get enough votes that can scare the company." Sheldon said, and then I was sighing, wondering what Sheldon knew about this "friend" of his.

"What does you friend really believe in? It doesn't matter what his party is if it involved breaking in line against what the people in the town have been trying to accomplish all these years." I said, and then I was wondering why I was letting myself get distracted by a talk of politics. After all, it had nothing to do with my main goal.

"He believes that the only way to make this town know the truth is if he can get elected, and force a investigaton on the company and the town secrets." After he had said that to me, I was seeing Sheldon looking like he was just feeling like this idea was just simply never going to work out.

"But I know deep down inside that this is utterly bullshit, and my main evidence behind that is the fucking library. That place got fucking burned down to hide the shit that this town is keeping. And the reconstruction promises that it wll not be keeping any troubled archives. They know that they are going to get caught, and needed a way out of it. Simple as that." After he had said that to me, I was taking what he had said into consideration.

"I really want to know what led to that library getting destroyed. I mean, nobody really was getting a whole lot of it. And my friend has been feeling utterly terrible for everything that happened." After I said that to him, I saw Sheldon looking like he had wanted to try and make me feel better, but had no idea how.

"Izzy, if you feel like you want to make a difference, then I think that you need to know what your real motivation to it is. Can you tell me what your motivation is?" Sheldon asked me, and then I was looking right at him, and I was having no idea if there ever was going to be one, and I was wondering if perhaps I was just doing it for friends, and absolutely nothing else at all, as unheroic as that might have sounded.

"I mean, I feel like at one point in time, I was doing this for my sister, to try and keep her from getting in danger. I feel like you probably know what something like that is like to deal with." I said, and then I was looking right at Sheldon, wondering if he was going to be reacting to this.

Sheldon looked like he had wanted to strangle me for even bringing up his sister, but then he had taken a long and deep breath. "I had a feeling that people were going to be bringing her up. Probably trying to force me to play along, and not be a total asshole." After Sheldon said that to me, he looked like he was having a lost sense of direction.

"Look, I heard all the stories. I understand if you do not want to talk about her. But I feel like if you are going to try and move forward with this, then we need to be finding a way to just make sure that you can confidently be at peace." After I had said that to Sheldon, I was then just thinking that I was over staying my fucking luck here.

"I mean, I never really tried to treat Riley all that well, and it is all my fucking fault. If I had just spent more time with my older sister, and did not always get jealous of stupid shit, then perhaps she would never never gone missing. I feel like it is all my fucking fault." After he had told me this, there was a sense of regret in his voice.

"Sheldon, do you think that this is what Riley would want for you to do?" I asked, and then I was looking right at him, wondering if I was going to earn his trust with pushing along a bit harder. As he was looking directly at me, I was seeing him looking like he was just having a million things run through his mind.

"I think she would have wanted me to do this if I knew that I was going to commit. But I think that is my main issue. I have had a hard time really sticking to it, and it has started to bite me in the fucking ass." After Sheldon had said that to me, I was wondering how long it was going to take for him to stop trying to act like he was a total monster.

"But Izzy, I think that the reality you have to be looking at is that if you want to make a difference, and if you want people to really give you what you need, then what you are going to have to do is become one of them. Get in the scene, and make them listen to your concerns. If you do that, then you might have a chance after all. Just make sure that you are willing to play the dirty game if you have to." Sheldon said, and then I wanted to end this dicussion. But that was just not going to fucking happen, and I hated that.

"Sheldon, just tell me everything that you know." I said, and then I was looking at him desperately. "If you can give me anything, than I will go with it." I said, and then after I had said that to him, I was seeing Sheldon just wanting to fight it again. But then he shook his head, and nodded, ready to just tell me whatever I wanted to hear.

"Alright, I will tell you. But don't cry at what you are going to hear. It is not my fault if you are broken here." After he had said that to me, he sighed, and was getting right to it, and I was listening for as long as I was able to for our sake. And I was making sure if I ever needed to, I would tell others what I had heard.

Scene 3: Nicole Watterson

There was another house that I was feeling that I needed to check. In all honesty, I had no idea if I was going to be getting them to actually want to speak to me. But I was feeling that perhaps if I could get this one business woman to talk to me, then I could finally just finally figure out what my sense of priority really can be here.

So I started to walk my way to where Gumball's house was, feeling that maybe by just seeing what the hell the family was doing here, I would see why this woman was basically supporting a giant business that was allowing other females to be exploited. It just didn't really make any sense to me. But I was feeling that it would be a big mistake to not give her a chance first, to try and explain things a bit better for me.

Eventually, I was at the front of her house, and then I knocked on the door. I was convinced that she was going to be giving me some shit about what I was doing wrong, and that I was getting in the way of hanging out with her children. Trying to really give off the impression of being a family woman, just to mainly throw me off, and get me to second guess myself.

Before long, Gumball answered the door, and I was really not in the mood to be hearing his excuses, or whatever the hell he was wanting to tell me. "What are you here for?" He asked, more just in disbelief than anything else. As if probably thinking that I was goihg to try and use him or whatever. Not that it would be a terrible mis assumption to be thinking this.

"I was wondering if I could talk to your mother about the business that he is running. I heard a lot of great things about it, and I was hoping that she would be able to explain to me what she is working on." After I had said that to Gumball, I was seeing that he was not really looking like he believed in a single fucking word of what I was saying. Which was making this rather fucking annoying.

"There is no fucking business dude. She is just trying to make sure that all of us can be able to live comfortbaly. She is getting rather tired of all of these rumors about this family." After Gumball said this, I was just feeling that whatever the hell he was wanting to talk to me about, he just needed to stop being a fucking ass for five fucking minutes, or else I was going to be losing my go damn cool.

Before too long, I was seeing Nicole walking by, and she was looking over at me. "Don't worry about him. He just gets rather worried about me. But in all honesty, I am trying to maintain the business on my own." She said, and then she started to walk towards me, feeling that she might as well just talk for a bit.

"Gumball, whatever he wants to talk about, I will be able to handle. Thanks for your concern though." She said, and then after she had said that to me, Gumball started to walk off, and I was seeing that he did not believe in what I was saying for a single fucking second or my life.

"So Izzy, what did you want to talk to me about? I heard a lot about your work that you did for Kenta. Sad to hear that you had to part ways with him." She said, and I was wondering if she was actually not aware, or if this was just something that she was saying to get me to be more willing to talk to her.

"I just felt like that man was planning on certain things that I had no interest in continuing. Nothing personal honestly." I said, and then with that, I was ready to fucking continue what I was saying. "Anyways, I was wanting to just have you tell me more about the work that you have been doing. I heard about it a couple of times at school last year, and was shocked at what you were capable of."

"Yeah, we live in a world where if you're a woman, then you really have to work on what you want. But I doubt that you want to really be hearing about that. As for my work, I am just trying to show people my vision of the future of this town, and by doing so, give them a small margin of hope." She said, and I was sighing at this, wishing for more.

"Have you ever considered letting people be taught by you? I mean, I know that you would probably not want me to do a internship due to everything that happened. But in all honesty, I think just a day or two where you show me around would really help me understand things better." I said, hoping that I was coming off as sincere enough.

"I guess that it would not be a bad idea to help people start to see that I am not the terrible person that some try to claim. Everybody always tries to act like they have a idea what I am like. The sacrifices that I have made." Nicole said, and then she was walking to her car.

"After raising three children in this town, I have had no choice but to do many things that I am not proud of. But at the same time, that is something that I am going to have to accept. It if not my fucking fault that nothing I have ever planned on has worked out the way that I had planned." After she had told me this, I was getting closer and closer to her, but still at a distance to where nobody could accuse me of doing anything.

"But Nicole, are you telling me about business deals that you had with the Lazarus company, or something else entirely?" I asked, feeling that whatever in the world she was talking about with not doing things she was proud of, I was going to have to play fucking therapist, and I really did not appreciate it.

"I have been working with them this whole time. But that is not the issue. I don't care what people think about that shit. If people are going to hate me for working with them, then they do not understand what it is like to have to lay everything down." After she had said that to me, I was slowly nodding, feeling no real reason to argue.

"Yeah, a person that I knew has told me that her father is leading the materia project, and that she has tried hard to not get angry at the constant lies. But that over time, she has started to move on." After I had said that to her, she was looking at me, as if she was piecing together who I was talking about.

"My son has told me about her. I have a feeling that she is going to be a bad influence, and I really do not want her arond him at all." She said, and then I was sighing, as if thinking that there was not a whole lot that I was going to be able to say to really change that sitiation. "And I believe that if this keeps up, I might have to talk to her father to get him to stay away from Gumball."

"I mean, I have nothing to do with what she is planning. I just am trying to figure out what I am missing out on. I don't have any interest in this whole investigation besides knowledge. That is one thing that Kenta and I have been able to agree on, even if our ways of trying to get that knowledge is a bit different." I said, thinking that there was no better way to word it.

"I guess that you are really trying to make me think a bit differently about the people that hang around you. I will let you see what I have to work on, but I feel like that is probably the most that we should be doing. There are several other people in this town who can give you the knowledge that you seek without putting your life in danger. Such as Larry for instance." Nicole said, and then I laughed at that idea.

"I already tried with that fucking dude. He has no intrest in talking to me. And to be honest, with some of the stuff that he says, it is a miracle that he is alive in the first place." After I had said that to Nicole, she was getting in the car, and then I was starting to feel like I was losing my chance.

"If you want to talk about my work, I am willing to do it tomorrow or the next. But right now, I will have to settle everything, and get it all running together. I know that might be a bit of a pain for you to deal with." Nicole said, and I shook my head, as if thinking that there was nothing wrong with that at all.

"I don't mind waiting a bit. Honestly, given what I will have to discuss with some poeple, that might not be the worst thing in the world." I said, and then I was shrugging, thinking that I might as well just use this time to try and create a fucking plan, and to actually have something that could get us out of this alive.

"I just hope that you do not turn out to be lying. It would be a shame if the one person who gives me at least a modicum of hope in your age range turns out to be a fucking liar. But I guess that this would not be something that would concern you too much." After she had said that to me, she was finally in the car for real this time and was starting to head off a bit.

I was standing there, just relatively unsure what to say now. There was nothing else that I was trying to piece together anymore. That woman was giving me some unsure vibes, and I was convinced that whatever was going on with her, I just needed to try and force it out of her. Or else I was going to be totally screwed.

Scene 4: Aspirations of the Master

There was something crossing my fucking mind. I had been hearing about one specific politician that I needed to try and reach out to. I had no idea if I was going to atcually buy what he was saying. But if he was sincere enough, then I was feeling that perhaps the two of us could be able to work on some form of a contract that the two of us could be able to actually follow through with.

I was wondering what made this person lose all his credibility among the general public if he had been thrown away the way that he had this whole time. Perhaps he had tried to oppose Lazarus or something dumb like that, and then as a result, he ended up losing the following that he had been able to gather up.

Eventually, I was at the spot where I was hearing about his speeches being held at. As I was looking at him, and despite the fact that in all honesty, I was feeling that I should not trust him, I was feeling that talking to him was still going to be giving me more answers than talking to Lazarus was ever going to. So in the end, I was going to not be too fucking upset with this.

"Hey, I was hearing that you were a aspiring politician, and I feel like people my age need to have a role model that we can be able to look up." After I had said that to him, he was looking at me, and he was looking like he had no real clue what in the world he was actually going to be telling me.

"I have been on this for a while, but I know that I am not going to be winning the fucking election. But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't try. The people in this town deserve to have a person that they can be able to look up to." The man said, and then he looked at me, trying to decide where to go next.

"What do you want to do? Clearly you are going to be in this for some form of personal gain. And I would want to know what it was, that way I can just see what I can do for you." After he had said that to me, I was looking right at him, and I felt like perhaps he would have already told other people this.

"Are you the guy who Sheldon said was a friend of his who has not been able to get very far in the political career?" I asked, and then he was looking like the mere mention of that friendship was kind of hurting him a bit. Then he was shaking his head, focusing on something else.

"Yeah, Sheldon is the main reason that I know what I do now, and he is the man that is giving me the motivation to continue this going forward. But with him gone, I understand that I am now going to be up to this all on my own." Todd said, and then he was looking up at screen that was at the center of town.

It was showing Brad on screen, and he was talking once again. "The incident at the Temple of the Ancients is a tragedy, but it is something that should have been expected, and by all means, if the place is going to be destroyed further by those who are behind this conspiracy, then the one sacred thing in town is gone." Brad said, and then he looked right at us.

"I feel like that man is taking the chance to capilitize on the paiin and suffering of others, and just turning it into his own story. It is a shame that everybody is believing what he is telling us." Todd said, and then he was looking at me. "It must take a man who has no future ahead of him to try and just turn it into his own story."

"Did you ever speak to him in the first place? I mean, for all that I know, he might have some good points." I said, trying to just give him some credit. As I had said that to him, I was seeing Todd shaking his head, as if finding what I said to be nicely naive, even though I never got this whole idea of hatred.

"I knew him before, but I feel like everything that ever happened with him is just driving him further and further away from what he had once tried to do. If you are going to try and look at him as a role model, then you are going to be sadly mistaken." After he had said that to me, he looked at me again.

"Honestly though, the younger people that I have talked with have started to give me the impression that I can finally have a chance to win this thing. You guys have been severed by the issues that have been presented by those around you, and that has made you all suffer." After he had said that to me, I was shrugging for a second.

"Are you going to be running your entire campaign on the idea of appealing to the younger generation? I mean, if you feel like you can really hone in on it, then perhaps you have a chance. But what are you actually planning on doing once you actually get in office?" I asked, feeling that I just needed to give him a chance to talk.

"Once I get in office, all that I can do is finally just tell the truth. I know that promising to destroy corruption is a hard task that nobody will really listen to." Todd told me, and I was wondering if I could get him to be feeling slightly better about this. "When I was younger, I was believing that Jimmy White was going to be the one who would actually bring Wayside to the modern age."

"Wasn't he the one that won the election in 1956?" I asked, remembering history class in eighth grade rather vaguely. "I heard that he had gotten elected on the promise that he was actually going to turn Wayside around to being a safe guard once again. But then he ended up only making it worse."

"Yeah, he got elected that year, and served two six year terms, under a certain promise that many people, myself included, actually believed to be true. But then here we are. In all honesty, if you are wanting to do something to help yourself, you need to be making sure you never fall for stupid tricks." Todd said, and then he was shaking his head.

"You are going to have to beat that one doctor if you are going to try and get elected. As he ended up getting the democratic nomination. Do you think that he would be able to do a good job if he was elected to the position?" I asked, and then he was looking right at me, and shook his head a bit.

"Honestly, I think that he will just follow through with what people tell him to do. I don't think for a second that he actually has a single fucking bit of back bone. And that is why his campaign is going to be one that I will not respect, no matter what else he might try and say." Todd said, and then he was shrugging.

"And with a lack of experence, even if he was doing his own thing, I hardly believe for a second that he will actually be somebody who can make a tangible difference. If you want to get people to like you, then you have to really get a form of experience that people can actually view as genuine. Being a doctor is nothing like that." Once he said that, I was considering what to say next, before we were interuppted.

As we looked along, I was seeing that it was a man who had black hair, and was probably close to Sheldon's age. "Hanging out with this guy? You do know that doing so will create a lot of problems with your reputation." He said, and then Todd was looking like he was kind of annoyed with the sudden interupption.

"Jeremy, it's been a while since I've seen you. What were you wanting to talk about." After Todd said that to Jeremy, he was smiling at the fact that it had seemed like Todd was willing to at least hear his statements. Jeremy looked at me, as if trying to decide if he was wanting me to have anything to do with it or not.

"Do you think that he would want to hear anything like this?" He asked, and then after a couple of seconds of silence, he was then shaking his head. "Whatever. The thing that I was wanting to talk to you about was some newer evidence that has been popping up all relating to your claims, and I was hoping that you would set aside some time."

"Are you sure that you would want to do this? I mean, we already know that I am going to have no chance in winning the election. I am just trying to get people to hear my speeches, and consider what I have to say for next time." Todd said, and then that was when Jeremy looked like he was not phased by this comment.

"I would not be worried about that. The truth is that I think that you are the best bet that we have right now, and I think that no matter what your chances of winning are, I need to do whatever I can to try and get you into office. But the question is if you will be willing to hear what I have to say." Jeremy said, and then Todd was slowly nodding.

"So I have been able to find proof that you are not the culprit of the assassinations. And I was wondering if you would be willing to work with me on something in trade of the information being exposed." After he had said that to Todd, I was wondering if he was going to see that this was a objectively good offer.

"What? I mean, doing something like that would get people to accuse me of only caring abot personal gain. If I want to show people that I am innocent, then I have to do it on my own right." Todd said, suddenly looking like he was showing a much greatr resolve.

"But if you do not clear your name, then you are going to have no chance in getting elected, and nobody will respect anything that you are trying to do. Everything you ever fought for will be for nothing. Do you really want that?" Jeremy asked, and then Todd was just remaining flustered for a few seconds longer.

"Just promise me that you will think about my offer. If you want to go through with it, then I will want to meet you in one weeks time, where we can discuss matters further." After Jeremy said that, he was starting to walk off. Todd was taken aback by this, and just had nothing to say.

"I wonder if he is just saying that for me throwing my guard down. I guess that if I want to be sure, I will have no choice but to at least give him a chance." Todd said, and then he was looking like he was just starting to gather all his options up. He looked at me once more. "I think that it would be best for you to head out for the evening. He is right. Being wih me will ruin your reputation."

Scene 5: The Motivated Woman

That next night, I was ready to try and see Nicole, and see what she was planning on showing me. I was just kind of hoping that she was actually going to be telling me what I wanted to know. Perhaps if Nicole would give me some context here, then I would be more willing to just leave her alone, and not treat her like she is a fucking liar or anything like that.

Once at her house, I was taking a deep breath. She was going outside, and she was looking right at me, as if taking what I was doing into consideration. "So Izzy, what are you planning on doing right now?" She asked me, as if trying to pretend like this was the thing she was most excited for, but doing it rather fucking poorly.

"I was hoping that you would show me your job sight, and perhaps just give me a good idea on what you are doing." I said, hoping that by saying this, and sounding like I was mildly pleading, then she might be able to gather a small hint of extra sympathy for me. "I mean, I know that you were wanting to show me anyways, so why not just do this right now?"

With that, Nicole was taking a deep breath, and then she was slowly nodding, as if finally having no real reason to argue with me. "Alright, I have a feeling that I am not going to be able to convince you otherwise. So I am not even going to fucking try." After she had said that to me, we were going inside of the car, where I was seeing Nicole looking slightly worried.

"I know that this might be hard to believe, but I really am scared out of my mind for my children. They have gone through so much, and I want to try and just give them the best life that I can. If they had known how much I was worried about them, I am sure that they would be thinking a lot differently of the shit that they have been saying about me behind my back." Nicole said, as if trying to just keep her anger contained

We drove along for a while, and I was wanting to say something real quick, but I was having a hard time really pin pointing what I had wanted to say. "So Izzy, what was the real reason that you quit working with Kenta?" She asked me, and then I was looking at her, and I was scared of her question. Perhaps she had already known about his project, and I figured I needed to be honest.

"He kept talking about this Neo Wayside project. I did not really believe in it, and I was feeling that it was all a lie. So I decided that I just wanted nothing to fucking deal with it. But in all honesty, I am scared that he is going to use me to create a safe out in case something happens to him." I said, and then I shook my head disgusted at the mere idea of what I had said.

"Neo Wayside. I thought that he was only letting executives know about that. He was planning on showing it during the next board meeting." After she had said that to me, I was looking at her, and I was feeling that I needed to know all about this board meeting, even if it was meaning that I was going to force.

"When does he plan on having this meeting?" I asked, and she was looking at me, as if finding it hilarious that I was assuming that it was his choice on the matter. I was wondering what she was thinking at this moment. But then we were getting close to where her work sight was.

"It is going to be in a few days. But that is not for Kenta to decide. I have a feeling that the notification that Shaun is ready will come soon. After all, you and your friends have been getting really fucking busy, and he might want to try and do something about that." After she had said that to me, I was looking at her, and the way that she had said that scared the fucking shit out of me.

"What are you going to fucking do?" I asked, and I was unable to really get anything else out of my mouth. I was looking in front of me, and I was clearly just feeling that whatever she was wanting to do, she was going to be making it work, and that was when I was feeling that more and more that I was way out of my fucking league.

We were getting out of the car, and I was following her for a bit. As we were heading to the building, I was then wondering if the only reason she wanted to speak with me was to give me some evil warning or some shit like that. "Just let me tell you this right now. That T.K. fellow has been making way too much of a scene for many people in this town to be feeling comfortable anymore. We might have to discuss what to do about him and his friends."

I was looking down on the ground, and I was pretty convinced that she was going to be getting him killed, and that there was nothing that I was going to be able to fucking do about it. I walked inside, feeling bad for his brother, and I was starting to wonder how I was going to change things up for the better.

Once inside of the office, that was when Nicole sat down on her table, and I was taking the chair in front of it. "I work on all the budget expenses. Every single time something happens to this town, I have to take care to make sure that there is enough money to pay it off. I have to stay here every single day, barely able to rest because I am too busy dealing with damage expenses." She said, and then she looked right at me,

As I was looking in front of me, now realizing that she had a crazy amount of power that I was just feeling totally helpless. I was seeing that there was a small crystal inside of a glass covering. "What is that?" I asked, and pointed right at it. "Was that something that you were able to buy with the money that you got here?"

As she had looked down on that, she was smiling for a second. Like this was the proudest piece that she had been able to get. "That is something that I got on my trip down in Georgia one time. There was a cavern full of this shit down there. Hardly even on the map. The only reason that we know about it is because of some research that Kenta had been doing." Nicole said, and then I was shaking my head.

"So basically you have all the money in town, and you are still working here? I mean, you could be able to do so much more with your time, and you are wasting it by working with a company that probably does not really fucking like you in the first place." After I told her this, I was seeing her looking like my attempts to get her to take a different perspective was just not going to be working at all.

"I mean, I know that you are just trying to get me to have a lighter stance on the town and the situation that it is in, but I have a feeling that you know deep down inside that it is not going to be worth the time. But if it makes you feel better, than by all fucking means, just shoot whatever you can." Nicole said, and then I was sighing, deciding not to say anything else about that.

"How much money do you guys have to give Carbunkle in order to do all his television appearances?"I asked, and then she was looking right at me, as if finding that question to be one of the better ones that I could ask, and something that she was actually willing to answer.

"He gets paid five thousand a show. But it is the price that we are willing to pay if he is able to get people to have a different perspective on what we are all doing in this town. After all, soon after he started making these shows, public approval of the company started to turn around." After she had said that to me, I was still finding the whole situation rather hilarious. That people were willing to actually listen to him here.

"I mean, I guess that Brad is doing something good then. Not getting people to always be losing their minds. But I feel like given everything that is going on, people have more than a good enough reason to be so fucking worried about this." I was saying, looking around, just having no idea how I was going to respond at all.

"I guess that maybe this place is not as bad as some people might be fearing. So I really have no reason but to just drop the subject." I said, and then I was starting to stand up. I was feeling that by this point, she was probably going to have virtually no wish to talk to me any further.

As I was getting closer and closer to the door, that was when I was hearing Nicole calling out to me. "I know that it might be tempting to always get in business that isn't yours. And I know that it isn't your fault. But I think that you just need to understand that I am working way too hard on this to get people constantly coming in to try and play detective." Once she said that to me, I was deciding to just drop it, and then I was walking off.

Once I was starting to just try and leave the office, in all honesty, I was scared of what she was going to try and do. I was having a small feeling that she was going to try and talk to my parents about this. And if they were going to do that, then any chance of me being able to help the others out is going to be thrown out the fucking window.

The entire time that I was walking home, there was another thing that was crossing my mind. I was convinced that the crystal that I had found was very similiar to the one that T.K. had told me about him finding on Onett, just with a different color. And I was feeling that I needed to try and talk to him about that.

Another reason to go on and talk to him was due to the fact that I was convinced that whatever Nicole was thinking, or the other members of the company, that he might actually be in real danger, and that I just needed to try and do whatever it took to keep him safe, for at least a small portion longer.

So no matter what else was going to happen, I just needed to go to his place right away, and I was just going to have to hope that he was going to listen to me, and not try and any shit on me to be making it seem like I was being a asshole who was just trying to get in his favor.

And besides, I was feeling that if she had known about Neo Wayside, and she had known that Kenta was going to make a statement about it before long, then she was going to be aware that Kenta was going to be getting his way no matter what. If anything, she might have already been working with him to try and win me over.

But the one thing that I was more worried about was what Kenta was going to do once he had found out that I was going to try and keep an eye on him. If he was going to be aware that I was digging even deeper into this than I ever had before, then in all honesty, despite what Nicole said, I would be the main target.

Eventually, I had made it to T.K.'s house, and I was hoping beyond god that if he was here, the two of us could be able to talk for a bit. I was hoping that he just did not have any plans, because if he did, then perhaps everything else that we had been doing was going to be thrown to fucking waste.

I knocked, and waited. I feeling so bad for him, knowing that there was a good chance that everything that he had been doing was going to be totally thrown away for no real good reason. It was all my fault these things happened, and if I had never taken that internship, then I might have been able to keep him safe for a while longer.

He answered, and eventually, he was looking like he was just trying to decide what exactly he was wanting to say by seeing me. Almost as if seeing another person willing to talk to him was both a terrible thing, and complete fucking blessing. I was looking right, now feeling like I just needed to try and make the moment easier for us.

"I was wanting to talk to you about that Nicole woman." I said, and then I was aware that saying it like that might be showing a complete lack of tact, but at that moment, I really was not caring at all. If it was going to get his attention, then that was all I cared about honestly.

"Yeah, I know about her. She's Gumball's mom after all. Do you know anything about her?" T.K. asked, as if finding this entire conversation to probably really have no good point. I was feeling that keeping T.K. aware of what was going to happen might be the best thing that I can do.

"I think that when there is that next board meeting, she is going to try and present evidence against you guys, and she is going to be trying to give a budget on the reconstruction project. Everything that goes on financially is all related to her." After I was saying that to him, I was seeing him looking like this wasn't to shocking.

"And from the stories that I have heard about those crystals, I am sure that the blue crystal in that office also has the same power and potential as the one that you found on Onett. She told me that she had found it in a project that happened in Georgia. Do you think that there is any good information that we can be able to get about Georgia?" I said, and then I looked at him, hoping that T.K. was having something to tell us.

"I mean, I have no real idea at all. I heard about it once or twice when I was in Onett. I feel like I also heard my father mention it. But in all honesty, I have no idea what you might be finding if you are going to be looking any further with that. Might honestly be a waste of time." T.K. said to me, and I was feeling like I might be wasting my time.

"Perhaps there is more information about that somewhere, that I was not able to get when Matt was downloading that small piece of information from Kenta's computer." After I had said that to T.K., I was not caring what he was thinking about with the fact that I had made his brother do that.

"I know that it might not be the thing you want to hear. But in all honesty, if I was going to try and get in that building, everything was going to go to hell. Trying to have somebody go inside there was the only way that I would make it out with that information. I just really hope that he does not hate me anymore for that." I said, and I looked at him, hoping that he was going to take my apology.

"I mean, I did stupid shit like that as well. I would not be super worried about what Matt thinks. In all honesty, it seemed like he was actually enjoying hanging out with you, so I would not be making a huge issue out of it." After he had said that to me, I still had a feeling that in all honesty, I needed to find something else.

"I just think that the best thing for us to learn is what the budget on the libraries reconstruction is. If I can find out what they are up to with that, then perhaps we can get a true idea of how desperate they really are." I said, and I was having no idea why I was so worried about that over anything else. Probably because that was still the most recent issue.

"Do you know if Richard is up to something? I mean, everybody already knows what Nicole is up to. But nobody ever talks about Richard. I have a feeling that he probably knows more than he is letting on, and for some random reason, we are all just kind of giving him a pass here." I said, still thinking about what we were possibly missing out on here.

"I mean, I would not be too worried about it. That guy seems like he is unable to actually do anything on his own. And I think that it is more than just him putting up a presentation." After T.K. said that to me, I was still feeling like there was more to it than what he had been letting on.

"Still, just make sure you keep an eye on him. I am convinced he knows more than he wants us to. And I am going to hinge all my bets on it." I said, and then I shook my head, having nothing else to say on the matter for the time being. I just wish he listened to me better.

Scene 6: A Quick Break

I was feeling that this conversation with T.K. relating to the blue crystal that I found in Nicole's office was just taking me the wrong way. In all honesty, I was having a feeling that there was something that I had been fucking missing. And I was going to make sure that no matter what else happened, I was going to get to the bottom of this.

I was heading to the skate park. I knew that along with Rachel, Rob was another person that I needed to try and make things up with. Since in all honesty, I had really just burned bridges with too many people and I needed to just try and just act like we were going to be getting out of this normally.

As I was heading there, the only thing that was really starting to worry me was if Rob was going to be trying to show me something else, and then I was going to be way out of my league once again. Then again, being out of my league was something that I honstly had grown almost completely used to at this rate. I just hoped that Rob was willing to actually take things calmly.

When I was there, I was glad to be seeing that he was still there. Which was a good thing, since that meant that he did not change his avalibility, and that I was going to be able to still hang out with him for a while longer. So with that, I walked right to him, wishing that perhaps I actually had a good reason to hang out with him, rather than just a random moral obligation.

"Hey Rob, how are things going?" I asked, and then Rob was looking right at me, and I was seeing that there was a mix of emotions that were running through his mind. I was suddenly starting to feel like maybe I was going to have to try and provide support for him, in case if it was beyond either of us.

"Doing alright. Just wishing that I did not have a bunch of random people trying to talk to me, and force their views on me. Especially when I was hanging out with that Mimi girl recently, who was just basically trying to convince me away from my thoughts." After Rob said that to me, I was sighing, and I felt like he had a story he needed to tell me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, and then I was looking right at him. Rob looked right at me, and I was seeing him just trying to decide if he was being relatively unreasonable, or if he was not giving his arguments enough credit here. Then with that, he decided to stop thinking about it, and just tell me.

"I was at the skating park recently, and I was trying to talk to Mimi about my opinions on Carbunkle, and I was feeling that she would have been willing to listen to me and what I was feeling on the matter. But her friend Candice was there, and she was not wanting to hear any of it. Not like in the sense that she disagreed with me. She seemed like my very presence in the area was a complete fucking waste." Rob said, and then he shook his head.

"I'm sick and tired of being hated by everybody, and people acting like I am just wasting their time. I am just trying my hardest to actually make a difference, and nobody is willing to give me a chance. I guess that's another reason I like hanging out with Rachel so much. She seems like the only one who is still willing to listen to me." Rob said, sounding sad as hell.

"Rob, if you need any help with figuring that out, then I can see what I can do to help you out. I mean, I am in this for different reasons, but I am willing to put this aside if it means that we can be able to work something out here." I said, hoping that by speaking to him like this, perhaps we were going to forget about this.

"I mean, I would like to talk with you. But in all honesty, I am always going to be worried if there is something about that company that is driving you. I mean, everybody else in town is like that already. But with the fact that you were actually there, talking to them, it feels totally different." Rob said, and I was kind of wondering why I was always having to have this discussion with him.

"I have no stakes in that anymore. Every time I try and get involved in those things, it feels like I am always throwing everything else way. It is clear that most people do not really respect the fact that I had gotten myself in that in the first place. But the thing is that this town is falling apart, and I am just trying to make sure that I can do my part in slowing that down." I said, hoping he would listen to me here.

"Yeah, I heard that the incident with the library got you pretty bad. Sorry to hear that. Was probably the one place in this town that you felt comfortable in before this summer started." After he had said that to me, I was slowly nodding, and I was wondering when I was going to be able to express it any different.

"I mean, if you want to talk all about those investigations, taht fucking library was probably the only place in town that was going to give normal people a chance to figure things out. And now with that gone, it is like there is a deliberate attempt to remove any knowledge that we could get. If I had known that could have happened, I would have written down any archive that I could have found." I said, thinking about what I could have done here.

"And when Matt saw that happen, since he was with me during the time, he seemed like he was also pretty broken by this as well. I was thinking that I could have tried to help him out. I think the main reason he feels responsible for this was that the fire happened right after he left one time, and he assumes that it was to target him. And a woman who was the librarian was burned alive." I said, wondering why I was giving him all of this information right now.

"So Izzy, what do you think that you are wanting to do here? Are you in this just to give me another update on the situation, or are you going to want to talk for a while longer, and just take it easy?" After he asked me this, I was slowly nodding, thinking that hanging out was not that bad after all.

"Hanging out would not be that bad. Could give me a chance to think about other things than what the two of us are dealing with on that whole town investigation shit." I said, and the mere thought of it was just making me mad to think about. With that, Rob was sitting down on the board, wondering where this was going to head.

"I mean, I think we all got in over our heads. There really was no reason to be getting so deeply involved in this. I guess that the main reason that I got so into it was a sense of trying to make things right after what happened during the internship. But maybe I'm just adding fuel to the fire by constantly bringing it up." After I had said that to him, I was wondering if Rob was willing to listen to me here.

"And I think that this was another issue that I was having. The fact that it had felt like everybody was always coming to me to talk about things that were not related to my real thoughts and feelings on shit. It just felt like I was being nothing but a bridge piece of those who were trying to hang out and be detective." Rob said, shrugging.

I was then starting to really look at him for once. The moment that I was looking at him, and I was wondering what I was going to tell him, I was noticing something else. The fact that his face was having relatively similiar appearances to Shaun Richenbach. With the tone of his nose, and the jaw was almost the exact same.

I decided to drop it. I mean, there are people with similiar jaw lines, and I was feeling that perhaps I was just getting too fucking deep into it. "Do you think that Tobias is still wanting to be playing these cases out? I mean, I feel like he was the only one who was really trying to be a cop with Andrea." I said, feeling that Tobias had amazing intentions that were blown out of hand.

"I think that Tobias hardly feels anything anymore. Before Andrea was found, he clearly had at least some hope in this town. But now I think that whatever is happening, he just wants to get it over with, and honestly I do not really even blame him either." After Rob said that to me, I wonered if Tobias was ever going to feel the same way again.

"Maybe the best thing that I can do is try and speak to him myself. I mean, I know that he is going to reject any idea of hanging out with me. But at least if I try and talk to him, then I can say that I tried my best, and that is what matters to me." I said, and then with that, I was just telling myself to stop thinking about it for the time being.

"I doubt that he is going to want to talk to anybody at all. I mean, you are more than welcome to try, and I think that Rachel would be fine. But I think that the only person that he is willing to talk to anymore is that T.K. guy. And to be honest, with them being the same age, I think that this might be something we just have to accept." Rob said, and he was shrugging at this statement.

"How are things with you and Ocho?" I asked, trying my best to be making small talk. It was not doing that well, but I was feeling that as long as I was getting him willing to talk to me, and as long as we were not seeming to be totally lost, then I was feeling like I would be happy with this situation.

"Ocho is doing alright. I mean, he is willing to talk to me at least. That is what really matters to me. I was wondering if after a while, he was wanting to not even do that. But I think that as long as we keep talking with each other, and that is all that really fucking matters." After Rob said that to me, I was wondering if I was going to be able to talk with him any time soon.

"So do you think that one of these days, I would be able to speak to him? I mean, I know that he probably would not be super happy with hanging out with me. But there is nothing wrong with trying, I would assume." I said, and then I was seeing that Rob was looking like he was just trying to give me a honest answer here.

"Well, I think that he is one of those people that are willing to talk to anybody if you can actually find him. But actually finding him is going to be the main issue that you are going to have to encounter." After he had said that to me, I was nodding, feeling that this would be a fair assessment that I would have to live with.

"That is probably why Andrea had liked him so much in the first place. He really does seem like one of those guys that is super nice when he is around. I just hope that one of these days, I will be that type of person who people can respect." I said, and then I was blown away by the fact that I was saying that. I never really thought about wanting that before. But now I was wanting it.

"I mean, he was always a guy that seemed to be a little out there, and was hard to talk with, but I never once thought that he was a bad person. I mean, I know that he is probably a nicer guy than I have been lately. I know that I can be rather rude at times." He said, and I was impressed that he was willing to admit these things.

"It does just always kind of confuse me when I hear that Julian always seemed to be against him. I mean, I know that he might have liked Andrea as well. But that is just so strange, how he was willing to totally over throw what everybody was saying just because of his own personal feelings." I said, and maybe that was because the only girl I liked so far was Rachel, and I knew for a fact that she damn well preferred Rob to myself.

Rob was looking right at me, and I was seeing that he was trying to decide what he was going to be saying now. "Izzy, is there something that is bothering you?" He asked, and then I was sighing, having no idea what in the world I was going to tell him. He probably was going to tell me to get over it or whatever.

"I am just thinking about the person that I like. And how in all honesty, I am never going to have a chance with her. But that I have made my peace with that a long time ago." I said, and then I was seeing Rob look like he was rather excited about this, and I was feeling that he was going to force me to tell him.

"Who do you like?" Rob asked me, and then I was sighing, and I was feeling that there was really going to be no choice but to tell him. Maybe by telling him, then we would be able to make something work out here. And I was feeling at this rate, it was obvious enough to where I did not need to be too worried about.

"Rachel. I mean, she is the first woman to really tried to treat me well. She was the only one that really made me feel like I was actually going to make a positive difference in this place. Until the internship dragged me out of hand." I said, and then I was bringing myself back to that, and I was annoyed at that once again.

Scene 7: The Question

That next day, I was wanting to talk to Rachel again, and this time, was to ask her a certain question that I was hoping she would at least entertain. Perhaps I was thinking too deeply into this, and I was perhaps just trying to justify not talking to her as much. But in all honesty, I did not care anymore.

I was feeling that the next chance that I would get to talk with her, I would ask her if she was liking me. And maybe I can be able to ask her on a date, and then with that, the two of us could finally move closer to what I wanted with my life. So with that, as I was leaving, I was seeing my parents calling out to me.

"Hey Izzy, are you alright for now? We were worried that with everything that is going on lately, that perhaps you would need to have somebody at your side to keep you safe." As my parents were calling out to me, I was sighing, and I was feeling that any situation that I could be in was a failure.

"I am doing fine. I am just trying to hang out with my friends as much as possible. In all honesty, I have no real idea if they are actually even buying into all of this bullshit. I am just trying to stay away from it as much as possible." I said, and then with that, I was feeling that I might as well just leave my parents alone, thinking that they were not going to even care to pursue this situation any further.

Eventually, I was feeling that I might be able to buy myself some time, and that if my parents were really wanting to talk to me about this, then they were going to have to accept that this was all going to be done my way, and that I was not going to talk about random shit unless if they had evidence proving my involvement.

"Just stay safe. If we hear anything about you doing something dangerous, then we are going to have no choice but to force you to stop whatever it is that you are doing." My parents were saying, and the thing was that when I was seeing the look on their face, I was seeing that they were genuinely concerned for me. And that made me feel so much different.

As I was finally gone, I was thinkig that nothing else mattered besides just talking with Rachel. No matter what she was thinking with Rob vs me or whatever, at least I would be able to finally have an answer. And that is the thing that was finally making me feel like I was getting along further than I needed to worry.

And who knew, maybe she didn't really prefer either of us, and that was something that I could be able to say would finally give me a small chance to make this whole thing work out much more than I ever thought was going to be possible. And if for nothing else, I was still aware of the fact that my parents actually were believing in me. That was all that I had really needed.

Before long, I was finally at the Wilson house. I was taking a long and deep breath, putting everything that happened into consideration. I was thinking that I just needed to stop trying to turn this into a love contest. It really did not matter what she was thinking of me.

I knocked on the door, just trying to find a proper ntroduction. But then I remembered that at the end of the day, we were supposed to be friends, and that I was just taking this whole thing way too fucking seriously. I mean, it was just a conversation. Nobody was expecting anything more than just that, right?

When Tobias was the one that answered the door, I will admit I was actually kind of let down. I was wanting it to be Rachel so badly. But when I was seeing that he was already dressed up for something, I figured that I could see what he was planning on doing.

"So what are you doing today? I was wanting to go and see Rachel, but if she is not here, then I guess that I will leave." After I had said that to him, I was seeing Tobias looking like he was slightly unsure of what to say in response to me.

"Yeah, she already left for today. I was planning on hanging out with one of my friends. Was there something that you needed? I could always just relay the message to her later today?" After he asked me this, I was looking down on the ground, and then right back at him, now more ready than ever.

"I was wondering if she liked me. Would you be able to get that answer for me? I would feel so much better once I have a idea what her feelings to me are." I said, and I was seeing that Tobias looked like he was just unsure of what to tell me. I was having a feeling that expression would be enough.

"I guess that I can see what she thinks later. But I have a feeling that maybe it is not going to be going as well as you thought. Sorry to tell you that." Tobias was saying, and then he was walking off. As much as I did not like hearing that, I was willing to admit that this was something I expected.

"Thanks for letting me know at least. I guess that I should have expected that." After I had said that to him, I was seeing him walking off. As he was several feet away from me, he turned back, and I was seeing that there was another thing in his mind that he wanted to say.

"If it makes you feel any better, she really did miss you. I mean, when she was talking about you, there was always a glimmer of excitement that she was having. I guess that maybe that is enough to show that she did like you." Once he was done telling me this, I was just trying to decide if that was really going to be enough to make me feel better or not.

Once Tobias was truly gone, I decided that it was no longer really worth the stress of dealing with what people were thinking about me, and I was just going to focus on my work again. WIth all the shit that I had talked about with the library, I was feeling that maybe I could start with that, and just move from there.

So with that, I was taking my steps to the destroyed wreckage, and I was thinking that while there was nothing there, I would finally have a place where I could truly think for a moment. After all, maybe that was the rea issue that I was facing. That I was not taking a fucking moment to consider the shit that I had gotten myself involved with.

And in all honesty, if Rachel did not like me, and if there was something about what I have been doing that has been getting her unsettled, then perhaps that was showing that I had actually been doing the right thing this whole time. The longer that I had been getting myself involved in shit that was way out of my league, the closer that I had been getting to finally uncovering a truth that had probably been hiding way too long.

Once at the burn site of the library, I was seeing that there was nobody around. Almost like eveyrbody had already moved on. People made more of a fuss when the garden had been destroyed, and even that still seemed to be kind of growing dangerously close to old news at this rate. If it weren't for Carbunkle making a scene out of it, nobody would care anymore.

I was looking at the rubble, and I was getting on my knees, and I was wondering how much of the history of Wayside had been here. I was starting to think that maybe this was a planneed event that had been set out to happen this whole time, and that perhaps this would have happened even without Matt being there in the first place.

I was then starting to let that idea run trough my head, and as I was startig to kind of think about that more, I was telling myself to stop thinking about things like this, as it was a terrible way to just try and absolve the guilt that I had been having, and that these were all excuses at this rate.

As I was thinking about it more, and just trying to think of certain things that I could do to change the mood of the situation, I heard voice that called out to me. "Hey. It seems like it still gets to you as well. Not a day goes by after I found out the truth where I do not think that I am at least partially to blame." After Matt sai that to me, I was staring at him.

"And that is probably why you are a better person than me. At least you don't try and make stupid fucking excuses for what happened. You own up to what happened, and try to improve on it." After I said that to him, I was wondering why in the world this was just being such a big issue to discuss.

"Hey Matt, do you think that you are going to try and reform things with Sora soon enough? I mean, I think that despite how much you might deny it, there is going to be a part of you that is going to regret that choice. After all, I think that you two were a great couple." I said, suddenly changing the subject.

"I probably should. I mean, the wya that I was treating her near the end was not fair for her at all. I should have given her so much more. And yet, I basically just threw it all away because of some fucking idea of justice. It seems like T.K. has his shit together more than me." Matt said, and then he was getting to the rubble once again.

"Do you think that Carbunkle is telling the truth? That is the shit that everybody keeps debating all ths time. Everything comes back to fucking Carbunke." I said, and then I was wondering if Matt was going to be annoyed at the question. As I asked him this, I saw that he was clearly looking like he had no clear answer on that.

"I think that the biggest thing we need to understand is that everybody in this town lies. I have no problem with him lying. But I wan to know what the fucking lie is before I judge him." Matt told me, and then he was shrugging. "But in all honesty, if you pay attention to when he is on the conferences, he just seems like he is in pain." As Matt said that to me, I was trying to take what he was saying into consideration.

"You seem rather different anyways. Do you want to tell me what the fucking issue is?" After he asked me this, I was shaking my head. In all honesty, I was feeling that trying to talk to him about this was going to be fucking pathetic. Nobody was really going to care if I was going to get rejected by a random girl.

"I found out pretty much once and for all that Rahcel did not like me. I mean, I was able to keep some fucking hope on it before. But then Tobias basically confirmed it, and now that I know that, I feel like I am just getting myself all worked up over nothing. What does it fucking matter if she had no romantic feelings for me?" I asked, trying to pretend like it was no big deal. I looked at Matt, and I was suddenly feeling a trear down my face.

"It will get better in time. Soon enough, you will find soebody who like syou. Just take a moment to breath, and you will be able to move forward. I can see why that would bother you. But that is just something that will be less of a wound with each day." Matt said, and then he was looking at me again. "But there is always Sora. I should try and reach her again. I did her wrong."

Scene 8: Money Returns

There was somebody else who I had felt like I needed to try and finally make things clear with. I was thinking that I just needed to try and see if Larry needed to get his money back. After all, this was something that he had given to me, and there was really no fucking context on what he was needing from me.

The next night, I was leaving the house without even giving so much as a trace to what I was doing, so that way, my parents would not be able to call me out of anything. Perhaps if they had known what I was trying to do, they might have been just trying too hard to exert their authority over me.

I wondered if my parents were already aware of most of the stuff that I had been doing. If they had been, then that might have only made things so much worse, and it was only going to be a sign that I was not nearly as good at hiding myself as I had once thought that I could have been.

I walked on over to Joyful Burger, and I was aware that if there was one fucking thing that I was able to be sure of, it was that I was going to be finding Larry there. All he ever did was work, and I was feeling that it would take him getting arrested or killed for him to be nowhere at all.

The entire time that I was walking during the night, I will admit that I was scared out of my fukcing mind that something was going to come out to me, and throw my entire plan at risk. It was just all reminding me back to when I was trying to do that work for Kenta, and how during this time was when I was out during night the most, and when the monsters were roaming about the most.

If I was ale to find proof that those monsters were real, and take pictures of them or whatever, that was what I was going to be able to use to finally take down the company, since I would be able to show that they were just trying to hide the monsters from everybody else, ergo avoid public panic by fucking lying.

When I was finally at Joyful Burger, always looking around just to be one hundred percent sure that nobody was checking me out, and nobody was aware of what my intentions were, I went right inside, and I was looking at Larry, who was doing his general work as usual.

As he was looking at me, for a second, he was looking like he was just kind of unsure of what to tell me. But then he had smiled, and looked like he was actually much more happy to try and talk with me right now. "Do you still have what I gave you earlier?" He asked, and then I nodded, feeling that perhaps by getting his hopes up, that was all that I had needed.

"Yeah, and nobody has come around to try and ask me about it. I am starting to think that people do not really know what that is at all." I said, and I was actually rather happy when I had said that to him. As I had said that to Larry, I was seeing him just look like every single fear that he had lately had been lifted off of his shoulders.

"Honestly Izzy, that makes me feel so much better. I was scared that there was going to be somebody who was going to come along and ask you around. But I guess that I did not give you enough credit at all." Larry said, and he was actually sounding like he had kind of regretted saying that to me.

"Larry, what the fucking hell are you even planning on doing with that money?" I asked, and then I was seeing him looking like he was actually considering what I had asked him for once. Maybe if he would tell me what was happening, the two of us would finally be able to actually work something out.

"I am not planning on doing anything with it besides keeping it away from those who would intend to use it for wrong." After Larry was telling me this, he was shrugging. "Although in all honesty, I have a feeling that perhaps if I was able to use it on my own research, that would not be the worst thing in the world." He said, with a small hint of a smile, I was nodding at this for a second.

"Not that you would really have all that much time to do anything like that, I am sure we are both aware." I said, and then I was seeing Larry looking like he was considering what I had said, even if he did not like to admit it at all. "But do you think that you are going to keep this fight up for any longer? After all, most people your age would have already long given up by now." I said, hoping that he would not be upset with me bringing up his age.

"That would be the worst thing that I could do. Just use my age as an excuse to not be following through with my moral obligations. I mean, the older that you get, the more that it should be something that you need to work on, to make sure that you are helping out those who are in need." After he had said that to me, I was slowly nodding at this statement.

"I never was trying to give you that impression. I just wanted to see what you had to say on the matter." I said, and then I looked at him, hoping that he was not going to be offended by what I had said to him. "I mean, I guess that I am just seeing myself in what I say a little bit."

"It's alright. I knew that you were not doing it on purpose. And to be fair, I think that if you were trying to talk to anybody else, then this would be a valid enough assumption to make." When Larry had finished with that, I was seeing that there was somebody walking inside of the resturant. When he had come inside, I was seeing Larry instantly drop whatever happy demeanor that he had earlier.

"Richard Watterson. What the heck are you doing here?" Larry asked, and I was shocked at the way that he was hardly even trying to hide the fact that this was actually scaring him a little bit. Then he was looking at me, as if trying to tell me to get out of here, but knew that it was not going to happen, so he just shook his head.

"I was just wanting to see how the area was doing. After all, it has seemed like you have been really making a lot of progress lately. And I was just wanting to make sure that this guy was still behaving." He said, and then he looked right at me, and I was suddenly feeling really fucking overwhelmed.

"Are you trying to follow up with that conversation that I had with yur wife earlier? I think that I got the message. That I need to be careful with what I am doing here." I said, and then I shook my head, not even fucking caring if he was going to be offended by the way that I had been talking to him.

"You have no right to be talking to me like this. I have no real interest in the politics of what you are getting into. I was coming to talk to Larry about a business offer that he was dealing with." After he had said that to me, I was seeing that Larry was clearly looking like he was running a million miles per hour.

"Richard. I don't think that I will be able to give you what you are looking for. As much as I hate to inform you." After Larry said that to Richard, I was feeling that he was a really bad liar. Richard was taking another few steps, and I was wondering if I was needing to try and find something to say to help Larry out a bi.

"I was considering getting a job here, and I was having him tell me all the rules. He is a great mentor, and I really respect him more than a lot of people here." I said, and then I was shrugging, thinking that since there was a tad bit of truth to what I was saying, that would be able to buy us some more time.

"Don't worry about that Izzy. I respect a lot of the work that he has been putting forward as well. But the truth is that the two of us were talking about a deal a while ago. You see, despite what people might be thinking, I have been dealing in business for a long time." Richard said, and I did not believe that shit for a second.

"If that is the truth, then I would have at least heard about some of the things that you have been doing by now. What type of business are you even getting involved with in the first place?" I asked, hoping that Richard was willing to at least give me a minor form of context here.

"I have been dealing with the political side of Wayside for all these years. Trying to deal with voter funds, and campaign ads. But I have been doing all my work at home, while Nicole is going on and working on creating the next factory." Richard said, and then I was shaking my head.

"Trying to turn Wayside into a giant fucking pizza?" I asked, and then both Larry and Richard looked at me, and they were confused at the analogy. As they were thinking about it more, I was seeing that both of them were starting to actually kind of get it.

"Yeah, I suppose that you might. But despite what I might have a hard time saying, I am rather proud of my wife. Becoming the first woman to be the head of one of those projects, and is one of the most popular people to have been working on it." Richard said, and then he was looking right at Larry once more.

"Larry, I know that you are always busy, and I know that you hardly take the time to get involved in any of these campaigns anymore. But the matter of the fact is that people are wanting to know if you are going to accept the offer?" Richard said, and wrapped his hands together.

"I have to decline your offer. I know that you have been working rather hard to give me a chance to show my knowledge to the public. But the fact is that I am not going to clear my name by cheating. I am not going to get elected by becoming the right hand man of a sector of your company." Larry said, and I felt like I needed to finally get involved more in this discussion.

"Wait a second. What do you mean by getting elected? Did you try and run for mayor once?" I asked, feeling that I just needed know the details more. Larry looked at me, and I was seeing from the look on his face, that his emotions were going to be more of an answer than anything else.

"It is one of the few major failures in my life, and something that I try to never talk about again. People clearly did not want me, and I need to respect that. Richard over here needs to accept the fact that nobody wanted me either. To try and change that result is to basically deny the will of the voters." Larry said, and then Richard was shaking his head.

"You have been becoming a lot more popular over the years. The younger crowd love and respect you. I mean, look at you. Many of these people have hope in you. Something that is very much needed for this place." Richard said, and then he was sounding more and more desperate with each sentence that he spoke.

"This town no longer functions. It is clear to anybody who lives here. I mean, just because I was proven right doesn't mean that I should be going around, and basically be screaming 'I told you so' in front of everybody. The reality that we are living through is bad enough as it is. I can't make it much worse already." Larry said, with a hint of shame in his voice.

"I mean, there is that one guy who has those two sons. I think one of them is named Joe or something. He seems like he has been getting a lot of support lately. I think that if you want to ride your support on somebody, you need to be looking right at him." After Larry said that to Richard, I was seeing Richard looking like he was not wanting to even consider that idea in the first place.

"I mean, I know that he is probably going to win. He already is getting endorsements by people such as Carbunkle. who have also spiked in popularity. But the reality is that since I know nothing about him really, that I have a hard time really growing to trust him as well." Richard said, and then I was starting to realize something.

"Are you guys talking about that there is a bunch of different views on how this town should continue? Even with the company itself?" I asked, thinking that if the company could not agree with each other, then that was a sign that things were not as they seemed.

"The reality is that this company is not nearly as united as you might be thinking that it could be. In a way, it is actually rather disorganized. But the truth of the matter is that everybody is all under one common thing, and that is that we take answers from Shaun. If it were not for Shaun, then this entire company and town would be broken into a million different perspectives." After Richard confessed that to me, I was suddenly shocked at this all.

"God, I never thought that one of you would be willing to admit to that." I said, and then I was smiling at this, and I was not sure why this was making me so fucking happy. Maybe it was knowing that there was a level of sneaking in that I could accomplish if I was to get in peoples good graces.

"The main thing is that if that ever got revealed to people, then the public panic would be thrown through the roof. There would be nothing to work with, and that would make this town just go into utter chaos. As much as you might not want to believe in it, I love this town, and I want to do whatever it takes to keep it together." Richard said, and then Larry was looking like he did not buy that for a second.

"If you care so much about this town, and you want to show people that you are not a fucking liar, then you just need to run for mayor. Sure, it might be too late now. But maybe in 1992, you can make people listen to your speeches." Larry said, and he was sounding rather mad as he has said that.

Richard looked right at Larry, and there was a smile on his face. As if he was hoping that somebody would be able to say that to him. "Perhaps I will do it. That is what I wanted somebody to tell me. Get my confidence up." Richard said, and then with that, he looked right at me. "Take things easy. You are going to be out of high school in a few years. Enjoy your time to have fun." With that, he walked off, and then I looked right at Larry.

"Do you think that he will actually go with the idea of running next time?" I asked, and then I was seeing that the mere idea of it was getting Larry scared out of his mind. I was wondering why Larry hated him so much. I mean, sure I did not know anything, but I wanted to know, and I was feeling he would be my best chance.

"Honestly, I think that there is a rather good chance that he will do it. If he does though, we just need to fucking be careful though. I mean, he always seems like he is one minute away from blowing a fuse." Larry said to me, and then I was looking down at the ground, and looked right at him again, wondering if he wanted to hear it at all.

"Do you want that money back? I mean, I think that keeping it with me might be a rather big mistake." I said, and then I was looking right at him, desperate that he was going to say yes. I did not want that with me anymore, and I was wanting to just try and move on from my life.

"No. I think that if I get it back, then the cameras might be able to just point it back to me. And I am already in enough danger as it is. Did you not hear what Richard was fucking talking about?" Larry asked, and I was feeling like he was just getting rather hyterical at this whole thing.

"Alright, I have a feeling that we are not going to be getting a good conversation out of this. But still, I guess that I will have to be satisfied with what I have here. At least I am kind of getting some context on what I need to be getting ready for." I said, and then I looked right at him, and I was wondering what I would take with what Richard said.

"If what Richard says is true, and this company is not nearly as strong built as people might be thinking that it is, then perhaps that might be many peoples way in. I think that he might have made a giant mistake admitting that." I said, and then I was wonering what I was going to take with it.

"If people find out what you are planning on here, then I think that you are going to need a back up plan. After all, those people still do pretty much have everything in this town locked away. Do you are still in way over your head." After Larry had said that to me, I was sighing, and I did not really care at all.

"You were talking to me about moral obligation. If I am able to do something, then doesn't that make it something I really do need to do?" I asked, and then I was seeing him looking like the statement was kind of making him annoyed once again. As if he did not want that to be brought back again.

"I should have never said that. Sometimes I get in over my head. You do not need to let what I believe on certain issues constantly get to you all the time. Sorry that I ever even said something like that." After he had said that to me, I was still not really going along with it. I was feeling like he was just trying to give himself a little bit of time now.

"Thanks for taking the time to talk with me. Sorry the conversation with Richard earlier. I feel that whatever is going on with you two, that is going to have to get sorted out." I said, and then I was looking right at him, and I was seeing Larry just looked like he was not wanting to hear it.

"Just make sure that you have a back up plan. Something you can go to in case something fails. That is all that I want here." After Larry had said that to me, I was slowly nodding, not really wanting to hear it. But I was willing to play along with it if it was going to be making him feel slightly better.

Once I was outside again, I looked around, and I was feeling like Wayside was going to be a new place going forward. Having the new context that I was having, it felt like I was going to be able to change the way that Wayside was, even if I was going to be needing a lot of help to do it.

Scene 9: Love Will Conquer

I was feeling that despite the fact that it was going to probably get her rather annoyed, that perhaps I would try and see what Sora was thinking. After all, Matt did express his interest in wanting to actually flesh things out with her, and to make up with her. If that was the truth, then I believed that if I was wanting to give off any impression of being a team player, that I just needed to go and reach out to her.

Eventually, as I was going along for a while longer, I was wondering if Sora wanted to even hang out with me in the first place. She was probably always going to be finding my presence to be rather annoying. And in all honesty, I was honestly not even caring anymore. If somebody didn't like me, then there was nothing that I was going to be able to do about that.

Before long, I was at her place, and I was already telling myself that this was a terrible fucking idea, and that she was going to basically be making fun of me the entire time that I would be speaking to her. Maybe if I just approached her with a interest on what Matt was like with her, that would be enough to perhaps get her to like me.

I knocked on her door, not even thinking much more about it. I mean, it was just one simple afternoon, and then after that, I would be able to move on with my life. After all, there were other people that I would always be able to hang out with, and I did not really ave to worry about what everybody else was saying.

Eventually, she answered the door, and I was looking right at her, and I was already feeling that this was not really a good choice. And in all honesty, I was already thinking that I was going to be doing them a favor if I just left, and pretended like I had nothing to do with them.

"Hey, sorry for randomly coming along, especially since we hardly ever talk with each other in the first place. But in all honesty, I wanted to just see how you and Matt were doing. You know, from your perspective." I said, and then after I said that to her, I was seeing her looking like she was not really in the mood to deal with this anymore.

"I mean, he was the one that was basically telling me that it would be in my best interest to just quit things with him. Even though that is not really his choice to make. But I guess that sometimes guys can be rather fucking stubborn." She said, and then I looked her, wondering if she was going to snap at me or whatever.

"So you think that he made the wrong choice by telling you that stuff? I mean, I thought that you were really having a hard time with him, and that perhaps you did not really wan to be with him for that much longer anyways." I said, and then I was wondering why in the world I was even saying this anyways. It was not my choice to make here.

"I mean, I think that he needed to try and work things out with me. I mean, I wanted to work things out with him, and I still do like him at the end of the day. But why does this interest you all that much?" After she had asked me this, I was wondering what in the world I was even planning here.

"I just think that Matt would not have the courage to talk with you, and in all honesty, I felt like it needed to be me who would reach out to you. I know what it is like to say that he has a hard time really reaching out to those who matter to him. And I think that is all our fault." I said, and I was already aware of how insane this whole thing sounded. I was wondering why I was wasting my time saying this to begin iwth.

"Yeah, you got that right. Maybe I should not have agreed to date a guy who has a hard time actully having a real conversation with the woman that he is dating. And who knows, I think that part of the issue is my fault. I will be more than willing to admit that. I was perhaps not giving him enough as well. And who knows, I guess that there is a part of him that wantd to keep me as safe as possible, and that is something I do respect." After she had said that to me, I was then seeing her close the door finally.

"But in all honesty, I feel like if I was smart enough, and brave enough, to go through the emotions that I am feeling, I would try and talk with him once again. I think that my biggest mistake is not taking the fucking time to really see how he feels. There were so many things he was trying to do, and I was not supporting him." Sora said, as we were walking along for a while longer.

"I guess that if you did love him, you would have to say that this is a complicated emotion, and I can sort of see where people are coming from when they say that they will never be able to fully understand it." I said, and then I was wondering why I was trying to act like I was now suddenly the expert on this subject.

"Yeah, I suppose that is possible. But in all honesty, I am aware that everybody is going to say that I am far too young for me to be ale to really know what I am talking about when it comes to teh discussion of loving somebody or not." Sora said, and then I was feeling that since I was never in a relationship, I needed to not even waste my time with that debate.

"Honestly, I am not even going to be able to say anything on that. I have never been in a relationship with a single person in my entire life time, and at this rate that I am going, I probably never will be able to." I said, and then after I said that, I figured that if for nothing else, I would tell him what I believing in at the moment.

"I asked the one girl who I was thinking might have liked me, and then I found out that she did not really like me. I mean, as much as it hurts to know the truth, it is nice to have a level of closure on the subject." After I had said that to Sora, I was feeling that we could finally just leave this subject alone.

"It's alright. I understand that it hurts when somebody you like turns you down. I had that happen to me once a couple of years ago. And when that happened, I wanted to end this discussion of love so fucking badly. Thinking that it was doomed to fail, and that I just needed to let it go. I think that Matt was the first person ever that made me feel like I was finally going to have a chance to try and work this whole thing out." She said to me, and then I was finding the subject to be almost amusing.

"So do you think that you like him though? I mean, I know that you have been trying to act like it is not all that big of a deal. But I think that deep down inside you know the answer to if you like him." I said, and I was wondering why I was pushing at this so fucking hard.

"I feel like I do. This whole situation has got me rather confused. But I feel like I need to be talking with him about this more than anything else. I feel like if I want to finally have the answer, the two of us need to just talk for a bit, and then I think the two of us can finally come to a real answer." She said to me, and then she looked like she was having a few emotions running through her mind.

"You are probably a bit smarter than you give yourself credit for. I mean, I know that you were in that internship all because of the fact that Kenta saw something through you. Clearly he would not have tried to reach you if he was not a hundred percent sure that you were going to be the right person for the job." After she said that to me, I was slowly nodding for a second.

"And I get that you are probably scared of whatever it is that is going on with you. But I think that you need to understand that there is more to what is happening then some mistake that you made in a internship a while ago. Don't let your mistakes cloud your mind so badly that you start to consider yourself a idiot of nature." Sora said to me, and then I was standing for a few seconds while I was seeing her walk along.

"Where are you heading right now?" After I asked her this, she was looking like she was almost kind of glad to be seeing that I was still at least showing some interest in this topic beyond the things that she had said about me. She shrugged, as if thinking that the answer was obvious enough.

"I am going to go to Matt's house. Regardless of what he says, and what I say, I will finally be able to finally have the answer that I wanted. And who knos, if for nothing else, the two of us could be able to work something out." After Sora was telling me this, I was wondering what else I was going to be able to say in the first place.

"Do you think that you might be needing my help at this? I mean, I am not very good at this stuff. But maybe I could actually help him out a bit." I said, and I was feeling that whatever the hell Matt was planning on talking to her about, that perhaps I just needed to be there at the side for a while.

"You should not have to be forced to deal with shit that I am doing with my love life. I mean, I appreciate the offer, but I have to be standing my own ground sooner or later." After she had said that to me, I was then sighing, not really having any idea what I was going to say.

"This whole situation goes a lot deeper than that. If you really want to be making a difference, then you all need to be in your top game. I think that we both know this..." I said, and then I was wonering what the fucking hell I was even getting myself into in the first place. I was having no idea why I was trying to be the fucking referee of somebodys love life.

"I have a feeling that somebody will be able to let you know what is happening soon enough. Just do whatever it is that you are doing, and I am sure that I can work something out here." After Sora said that, she was leaving me alone, and there was officially nothing that I was going to do to stop it.

I was starting to feel like everything that we had been doing was all coming to a head finally. I was having a terrible feeling that one way or another, everythng that we had been setting up for was all going to be answered soon enough. and that perspective was almost exciting me as much as it was scaring me.

Maybe one of these days, when things would finally come together, I was going to be able to explain to people why this summer was the craziest one of my entire life. And probably will forever remain as the craziest summer. But feeling that I had made my duty as a person in the town, I needed to walk home.

If for nothing else, I was feeling that somebody would finally tell me what was going on with them when I would see their relationship status. And I was just hoping that the things that I have been doing would finally be enoygh to really gain the respect of a lot pf pepple in this place.

Scene 10: Drive

That next night, when I was feeling like most things were getting relatively calmed down, I was trying to just tell myself to stop fucking focusing on it at all. But there was something else that was running through my mind, and this one thing was basically the thing that refused to let me relax even just a little bit.

I was getting out of bed, feeling that I could just talk with Joe, and get this over with, and that one way or another, by finally just seeing every single percepton of this town, then I would finally feel like perhaps I could be slightly less worried about all that was going on here.

As I was getting to my front door, I was seeing that my mother was just glancing at me. She was going to be giving me that shit once again, and to be honest at this rate, it was getting way too fucking complicated for me to really put things behind. I was having a feeling that sooner or later, she was going to fucking force this discussion.

"Izzy, what has gotten into you lately? You need to take a moment to slow down and think about what you are actually wanting to do." After she had told me this, I was sighing, really not in the mood to be having the conversation right now.

"Not tonight. I just have one more thing that I need to work on. This is the one night that I really can't fucking focus on this shit." I said, and I was aware of how rude that I was being. But it was something that I just needed to try and move away from. So with that, I was getting out of the house, ready to move on.

I was feeling that there was something else that I could do if nobody else was having any interest in me. Perhaps by talking with Joe, or somebody like that, I would have a different point of view. Perhaps he was the only one that was not going to let me constantly bring everything back to what had happened with the internship, what felt like a million years ago.

I walked on over to the cafe, wondering if I was going to by chance catch him at all. I was thinking that perhaps he would have been just wrapping things up with Jim or whatever, and that once I would speak with him, then we could both move on with our god damn life, and I would be able to stop thinking so hard on what I had failed on.

And besides, for all that I had known, since Joe was the only one that I hardly ever talked with, I would be able to just get him to slightly break open a bit better. Not that it was going to happen. But who knows, false hopes was the only thing my gimmicks were even running on in the first place.

Before long, I was finding myself at the cafe, and there was nothing else for me to convince myself to go back on now. So with that, I was shrugging, and felt that it would be best to just get this over with. And once I was inside of the cafe, I was feeling that if for nothing else, I could be able to get a nice cup of coffee.

Before long, I was seeing Joe, who was still talking with Jim, but stopped once he had seen me. As he was looking right at me, I was seeing that for whatever reason, there was just a look of absolute uncertainty in his eyes. But then he was slowly nodding, and then looked at Jim. "Thanks for taking the time to listen to what I have to say."

Once he was in front of me once again, I was seeing him looking like he was just slightly tired. "Let's go a drive. I feel liek it could be a good time to talk for a while. Perhaps there is something that we can both be able to work out here." After he had said that to me, I was shocked at the way that he was talking here.

I got out of the cafe, and then I was just wondering what I was going to be talking to him about. I was thinking that if Joe had something against me, and something that he was going to try and make clear with me, that he just needed to do it, and get it over with right then and there.

We were both inside, and Joe was taking a long and deep breath. "I mean, I know that I probably sounded way more harsh with what I was saying earlier. But I really did not want to talk while my older brother was still able to hear. In all honesty, I think that he might just report you outright." Joe said, and then he shook his head.

Joe started the car up, and then we were driving along, and then I was shaking my head. "Look, I know that it might not be the best situation that either one of us could be able to find ourselves in. But the truth is that I have good intentions for doing all that I am doing, and that I do not want to make you ever doubt me." I said, just taking a moment to relax.

"I don't doubt that. But the thing that I am worried about is what if the company put something on you or your possessions. Like, I don't fucking know, a chip. Something that shows every word of wat we have been saying with each other. If that is the case, then nothing else will ever matter anymore." Joe said, and then I stopped everything that I was wanting to say, to at least consider what he was saying.

"Shit. I guess that you do have me there. I have no idea what I would be able to do if they know that shit. They might be knowing everything that they already need from me." I said, and then I was shaking my head, and i really had no idea what in the world I was going to tell him.

"I think that at the end of the day, most people here are going to ave a perfect justification to thinking that there is always something that we need to be keeping an eye out for. And to be honest, I just think that I want you to be one hundred percent sure that you are going to be ready for whatever tasks are ahead of you." Joe said, and then I was just wanting to fight him off here.

"I mean, I have things that I can keep me motivated. I mean, there is my younger sister, and there is you guys. I know that Rachel does not like me back. And that is something that I am going to have to make my peace with. But the truth is that there is so much more that I want to do besides focus so much on that." I said, and then I looked right at Joe, hoping he would believe me.

"Rachel told you how she felt? That's rough. Anyways, I think that the thing you need to understand that is that you need to be ready to fight for somethings that you are not going to be comfortable with. I never wanted to be dealing with this situation with Aurora. And here we ae, stuck with this." Joe said, and then I was starting to feel pity for her again.

"Have you even gotten anywhere with that anyways? I mean, the last time that I heard anything about it, thngs had started to seem like you were kind of going off the deep end in order to find the truth of what happened to her. I mean, I know that it is none of my business, since I feel that it can be hard to keep my focus if there was a girl that I had been dating.

"No, not fucking really. I guess that maybe some people are right in their statements though. Sometimes when I think about her, it does get kind of hard for me to be thinking about this realistically. I wan to be going around, and just be the big fucking hero who can expose everything that has been dragging me through the mud." Joe said, and then he gripped the wheel tightly, just thinking about what he had said.

"So is Aurora going to still be the main motivation for what you are getting yourself into, or do you think that you want to try and do it for other reasons. Not that it really fucking matters." I asked, and I was wondering what I was even trying to ask him. But then again, maybe there was a small part of me that was hoping that I could see if he was being a bit of a hypocrite here.

"I mean, I guess that if you have to put it like that, then yes she would be the man reason that I am still going through with this. But the other thing that I want to deal with is the fact that I feel like there is something that can really just unravel everything, and that we just need to be looking a bit closer than we ever have been." Joe said, and then he was taking a moment to think it all out.

"I guess that I could be able to tell you something that confirms what you are saying. After all, I was having a conversation with Larry recently, and that was when I was seeing Richard was coming inside, and I was thinking that he had revealed way more of this job than he had ever planned on doing." I said, and then I was seeing Joe looking rather confused.

"Who the fuck is this Richard guy that you are talking about? Are you referring to that obese guy who lets his wife do all the work?" Joe asked, and I was feeling that this assumption was not even all that wrong. I was unsure if this guy was telling the truth in the first place, or just trying to throw me off.

"Yeah, that's the guy. He was telling me that he is involved in all the political deals in the town. I don't know if that is true. But if it is true, then I think that the stuff he told me can really just help us out way more than he would have ever imagined." I said, and then I was looking at Joe, hoping that I could get him interested in.

"He was telling me that this entire town and organization with Lazarus is all just one big fucking mess, and that the only thing keeping it together is Shaun. If he is telling the truth, then the reality is that this company is really just one step away from being a complete fucking wreck." After I had told him this, I was wondering if I could get him to be more open here.

"I mean, I don't want to believe that it is that simple. But if that is the truth, then everything in this town is all one big fucking lie in a whole different way. I think that you need to be trying to find what that way in could be." Joe said, and then I looked at Joe, thinking that he was being insane here.

"Look dude, I am just one guy. I need to have some fucking help here. Do you think that there are people who could be able to actually fucking pull me through this mess that I am in." After I had said that to him, I was feeling like this was just a giant fucking statement of pure insanity.

"Well, I think that you probably don't even need to be asking for that help. It is right there if you look hard enough. I mean, I have no idea if I will be able to really turn things around for you. But you can be assured that I will be putting in far more effort to help you out then anything else." After Joe had told me this, I was then wondering if this was going to be getting myself killed here.

"Joe, you do not really need to be making those types of promises. I mean, I know that you probably have a far more social life than I do. Why not just try and take advantage of it, and have the time of your life." I said, and then I was feeling that Joe was going to have to consider what the people in his family were thinking.

"I mean, my brother Jim himself has told me that he is virtually not going to try and bother with this anymore. When I have him making these types of promises, there is nothing else that I have to worry all that much about. It was honestly the best feeling that I was having in the entire world." Joe said, and then I was just trying to not be making a big deal out of this, but I was feeling that something like this was impossible.

"I guess that it would be really nice to have something like that in front of me. Every day that something happens, my parents are always getting in the way. They always want to know every single detail of what I am doing. I mean, on one hand, I do appreciate everything that they are trying to do to make things better for me. But on the other hand, I think that they need to understand that I got to be making my own choices here." I said, not even aware if what I was doing was a big fucking fiasco.

"I think taht if your parents find out what you have been doing, they are going to be stopping any contact that you have with other people. They are going to make it clear that the one thing you were never supposed to do is the exact thing that you are doing." Joe said, and then he shook his head. "But I think that they are never going to see where we are coming from here."

"Let's get this back to Aurora. I mean, you are always just talking about what you are planning to do. But do you have any methods in which you plan to go through with these plans? I mean, breaking into a science facility? What good did you really think you were going to get out of that?" I asked, and I saw him looking uneasy at what I was saying.

"That was something that I needed to do. I never think people are going to see where I am coming from. And in all honesty, that is something that I can respect. But the fact of the matter is that I was given a request by somebody to actually try and find something else that they were worried about. I was thinking that I could be able to balance both of these things out for once." Joe said, and I was having a hard time really wrapping my mind arund this all.

"What the fucking hell? I mean, what the heck was somebody requesting. I mean, there has got to be something else to this all. There is no way that some random science lab is the answer behind all that is going wrong with this town." I said, and then I was feeling that I just needed to stop getting so fucking agitated.

"Alright, I need to fucking calm down. But I appreciate everything that you have been offering me. I mean, I have a hard time really showing it when I am glad. But I guess that maybe that is a personality trait that I need to work on." I said, and then I was taking a moment to consider what I had been planning on discussing from this point forward.

"Just consider what I said. If you ever find anything, let me know right away. As long as that cafe is still there, that is probably going to be the one place in this town that is still fucking safe. So I think we just need keep it that way for as long as humanly possible." Joe was saying, and then everything else was turning quiet.

"Just make sure that you practice what you tell me. Because if you don't, then I am not going to waste my fucking time listening to more of your pieces of advice." I said, and I was suddenly shocked at the way that I had said that. But when we were at the next stop light, I got out of the car, feeling that the moment of letting the anger pull through was the best thing I could do.

When Joe was starting to drive away, I was really starting to realize how addicting the night life could be. It was just feeling so great to be out in the city, and I was wondering what Wayside was really going to be like when I had full time to really look at everything. Who knows, maybe that was all that I had needed.

Scene 11: The Man In The Black Suit

I was now feeling that there was one other thing that I needed to do. The comments that Joe made both got under my skin, and were a strange motivator at the same time. So with that in mind, I was feeling that I just needed to try and reach out to somebody else, and I did not care if he was going to be finding it to be a waste of time. I was going to make him talk.

So with that in mind, I was heading right to where Ocho had lived. I was feeling that by talking to Ocho, and seeing what his motivation really was, I would understand why he was always trying to pretend like he was the big fucking hero of the day. Why he was always acting like he was the one that needed to turn things around. In all honesty, I felt that he was probably the best of us all.

And I was thinking that if for nothing else, he probably had more answers on what was going on in Wayside than I would have ever been able to dream. And when it came to living in this town, and trying to make a difference, answers was really the only thing that fucking mattered at all.

Once I was there, I knocked on the door, and I was just waiting for several seconds before Ocho had finally answered. He was looking like he was tired, and I was staring to see what Matt was saying when he had made those comparisons before now. I was wondering if I was needing to try and talk to him about some things, to make him feel better.

"Hey, I was wondering if I was going to be able to catch you here after all. I mean, from all the stories that I heard, you always seemed to be really hard to find." I said, and then I looked at him, wondering what he would say to that question.

"I need to sleep sometimes after all. But what are you wanting to talk about?' Ocho asked, and then I was feeling that now that I was here, I was not really have a good answer to his question. I was looking around, and then I was now suddenly feeling like a total fucking idiot by asking.

"Well, the thing is that I know that you have been going around, and playing detective a lot lately, and I was wondering if I was going to be able to help you out for a while. I know that you probably don't really want to do anything right now though, so I should probably just leave." After I had said that to him, I saw him looking tired already.

"Look, this is going to be a huge time sink, and I doubt that you are going to really want to deal with that. I don't want to fucking deal with it, and I am the one god damn doing it all the time. I think that you would be best to just leave it all to me. I already know all the answers that I fucking need." Ocho said, with a level of full confidence.

"But everybody is going to know who you are. Everybody knows the type of outfit that you are wearng, and everybody is going around and talking about you. I think that you realize that if you want to actually have a chance to accomplish these things, you need to have a person at your side taking care of other things." After I had said that to him, I was hoping that I could get him to see a minor form of reason.

"Obviously people know who I am. That is the whole point that I am looking at Izzy." Ocho said, and I was still feeling like this was not the way that either one of us were really wanting to talk about this right now. So with that, I looked down on the ground, and was just trying to think of something that I could say to him.

"Look, I think that we both just need to find something by working together. And I think that in order to accomplish that, there are certain things that both of us need to be willing to work on." I said, and then I was feeling that if I was going at this well enough, I could get him to at least try and see some sense here.

"I need to find one specific place. And if you can be able to do that for me, then I would be enternally grateful for that." Ocho said, and then he shrugged, as if thinking that what he was saying was easy enough. And in all fairness, on paper, it really should have been, so with that, I slowly started to nod.

"Alright, what the fuck do you want?" I asked, and I was saying it more in the 'oh boy let's get this over with' sense than anything else. As I had said that to him, I saw Ocho looking like he was actually going to be satisfied with my work, so he was going inside of his house, and I was following him for a bit until we got to his room.

"I am going to find that crystal cave. And I am going to give myself a weapon." Ocho said, and then he was pulling something out of his drawer. He was showing me another one of those crystals that I had found in Nicole's office. I was wondering if he had fucking stolen this thing, and I was already letting the worst run through my mind.

"If people find out that you have that, then I think that they are going to make sure you never live to see the day light again." I said, and I was wondering why I was taking this so seriously. After all, he probably did not really like me all that much, I was feeling that trying to gain his friendship was going to be a waste of time now.

"I know about that Izzy. But I need to do this if I am going to have any remote chance of surviving this. And besides, I have a outfit that might be able to buy me some time when it comes to that point." Ocho said, and then I was wondering what the heck he was talking about now.

He was going to his closet, and he had pulled out one of those black suits that was exactly identifical to the ones that I had seen so many people in Wayside wear. As I had seen that, I looked at him, now more curious how in the world that he had even gotten that in the first place. "How did you manage to get ahold of that?"

"I made a bargain with somebody, and that person didn't really want to be working at that job much more anyways. So it was a great fucking way for me to actually get something that I needed." After Ocho said that to me, I was then sighing, and in all honesty, I felt like I needed to accept that arguing was a waste.

"Alright, so you have a plan. I can accept that. But how exacty are you going to follow up with this plan? I mean, surely you got to make sure that it works out. You have no idea where this crystal cave even is?" I asked, and then Ocho was grabbing the suit, and then I was seeing that he was already starting to try and put it on.

"Wait a god damn second dude. I think you need to understand that there is not enough time for you to be doing shit like this. You need to relax, and sleep before you go out and do anything." After I had said that to Ocho, I was seeing him starting to shake his head as he was taking his shirt off. As I had seen his chest, I will admit that he was a decent looking guy all things considered, despite some of the scars that he had.

"There is no rest that people can have when they are trying to pursue justice. I feel like I made a mistake by ever assuming that something like that could have been able to happen. But I guess that if I can find that cave, and finally give myself some answers, then I might be able to rest easier." As Ocho said that, he was starting to take off the rest of his pants.

I looked away, feeling that he would have wanted that, and I felt that I needed to try and respect his wishes. "I mean, I know that you are probably going to be rejecting the idea of coming along, and I do not blame you if you did, but the reality is that I am already making my choice, so you need to deal with the fact that I am doing this." Ocho said, and then I was sighing, having nothing else to tell him.

"I don't trust you right now. Not because of what you think of me or whatever. The reality is that I don't trust that nothing is going to happen to you. You are going to be heading out, and you are not even properly ready for this. Of course I have to come with you if I want to see this through." I said, and I was seeing Ocho look at me with death glares for a couple of seconds when I glanced aside for a second to see his progress, as if annoyed at the way that I was speaking.

Eventually, he was done getting his clothes on, and when he was finished, I looked over and saw that he was indeed ready. As I was looking up and down, I was honestly thinking that he actually looked like if he was another five or ten years older, he would have been able to pass along as somebody who was in that company.

"Not going to lie, I think that you actually pull that look off rather well. What do you plan on doing now? Are you actually going to go?" I asked, and I was feeling that now that we were doing this, I just needed to take this one moment a time. Ocho was looking like he was starting to really get worn down.

"I am going to be heading out tonight, and I am going to find that cave. And when I am in there, I am going to make the weapon of the guardians of Wayside." He said, and I was thinking this man was now officially insane when he was saying stuff like this. With that, I just decided not to say anything any further.

"And then what are you going to do after that?" I asked him, and then after I asked this, I was seeing that Ocho looked like he was actually kind of unsure of what he was going to tell me. But then after a second, I got him to finally show me some real emotions here.

"I am going to go along and start to fight for what is right. I am going to go and truly do what should have been done all these years. Going inside of that company building, and I will expose what those data secrets are, or I am going to fucking die trying." Ocho said to me, and then I was looking at him, just trying to decide what I was going to say.

"And I have a feeling that you are not going to hold back on that idea? Whatever, I might as well just accept it. At least you are actually willing to fight for something, when I am here just constantly judging." I said, and then I was wondering why I was finding myself agreeing to this nonsense. This was absolutely insane in every way imaginable.

"I know what I am doing. And I think that perhaps you are going to be able to understand my perspective a lot better than I believe, once you are actually getting involved in it." After he had said that to me, I was then looking at him, wishing to argue, but then I sighed, and decided against it.

"Does your mom know that you are doing this fucking crusade?" I asked, and then Ocho looked away, and I was feeling that his silence was more than enough for me to get the answer that I had needed, and the one that I had more than suspected at this rate. I considered just walking off right then and there.

Scene 12: Finding The Cave

The next day, I figured that I would try and meet up with Ocho, and see how he was planning on going to find where this fucking cave was. After all, he was sort of sounding like he was actually having a fucking plan at how this was going to go. As I was leaving, I hardly even had to worry about my parents. They did look at me for a second, but I saw that they were willing to leave it alone.

Probably felt like trying to get me to talk with them would be a waste of time, so that it would be best to just leave the subject. In all honesty, I really did feel bad for them deep down, but at the same time, my own personal goals was far out weighing an of the guilt that I had been feeling.

When I was out of the house, I was deciding that I would walk right to the forest. I was thinking that Ocho would probably have already been there, and that he was probably already deep in his investigation. So even trying to waste my time going to his house was going to provide me nothing beyond a minor form of closure.

As I was walking along, I was seeing some of the other people walking by, but not really paying much attention. I saw Tai, and he was at least showing some acknowleding of my existence, but that was mostly it. And in all honesty, that was what I had wanted, since I was fearing that if he was trying to talk to me, he would have forced me into a giant discussion I would not have had the time for.

Before I eventually reached the forest, I was then just looking around. I saw that there was nobody around, and this was a outcome that I was expected, but I was kind of wishing that maybe I would have seen Ocho here already. Maybe he really did get some sleep, and decide to just wake up and hadn't gone here now.

Before long, I just shook my head, I walked right inside of the forest, and I was looking around for a bit. When I had started that internship, I was expecting stuff like this. Simple search and run, and nothing else. If it had been that, then I think that I would still be working with Kenta at this point, and there would be nothing else to it at this point.

As I had been looking around for a while, I was already seeing a bunch of foot steps. The moment that I had seen these, I was feeling that I would try and follow them for a while. I was glancing around me every thirty seconds or so when I was following these, wondering if somebody would have seen me here.

I followed these for about ten minutes or so before I was seeing the foot steps stop, and then I was looking right up, and I was seeing that Ocho was working here. "Hey Izzy. I was not expecting to see you be here today. I mean, when you left, I was convinced that you were going to be talking to other people about how much of a idiot that I had been." After he had said that to me, I was shrugging, and I had nothing to say.

"I mean, I was tempted to hang out with some oher people for a bit when I was on my way here. But then I decided that I would just try and see how you were doing. I mean, I still meant what I said when I was telling you that you need to have a team here. If you try and do this all on your own, then you are going to be getting yourself killed." I said, and then I was staring at him, and I was seeing that he was actually considering what I was saying.

"Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, I guess that you make a good case. But in all honesty, I just think that if I had other people at my side, and they were killed, then I would have a hard time really fucking forgiving myself. But at this point, I feel like I need to let you make your own choices." He was saying, and then he looked around, just taking a second to think.

"So Ocho, what is your fucking plan right now? Are you still planning on finding out where that cave is?" I asked, feeling that at this rate, I might as well just go along for the right. Ocho nodded, and I had noticed for the first time that he was still wearing that suit that he had put on earlier.

"You can come with if you want. But if you don't, then I would not fucking blame you." He said, and then with that, I was just sighing, and we were walking along, and I was seeing that Ocho was starting to become slightly less cold with each moment.

"Do you have any idea where the cave is? I mean, sure you know that it is in the forest. But if that is really the most that we know, then we have to be looking a little bit deeper than that." After I asked him this, I was not evem caring if I was going to be getting on Ocho's nerves here.

"I mean, I don't know where exactly it is, but I did have a guy tell me a general idea. And that is enough to really be giving me a lot of hope here." Ocho said, and when I was seeing the hope that he was clearly having with this, and I was feeling that perhaps I just needed to shut up, and let him have this.

"Fine. I will follow your lead. After all, this person probably know more about it all than we do." I said, feeling that this person has probably been doing this for a while. Ocho had also been doing this far longer than I had been, so I just needed to jst at least try and take his word for it.

With that, I was just following him along for a while longer, and in all honesty, I was having no idea why in the world I was always such a stubborn person to this man. I mean, he was trying to do more for this place than I had been, and here I was, just judging him at every single moment, and not really looking at the bigger picture of what he was doing.

As I was considering everything that I had been dealing with, I was feeling that everything Ocho had been trying to accomplish was going to be the one thing keeping the whole situation in Wayside feel like we were going to have even a remote chance of moving forward pasthe shit that had been going on.

Before long, I was seeing a path that Ocho was getting ready to walk down. The moment that I had seen this path, was the moment that I was starting to realize that Ocho really was going to be onto something, and if I just waited around for a bit longer, perhaps this was what I needed.

"We need to go down that path if I am to follow the directions correctly." After Ocho said that to me, I was feeling at this rate, I need needing to stop thinking about every little detail on this. I was finally having a great chance to turn things around, and that was all that I had needed. So with that, I was following him for a while.

The longer that I had been walking, the more convinced that I was always wrong about everything that I had been doing. "Maybe the biggest mistake that I have made is the fact that I always just tried to be closed out with the people that I talked with. If I talked with people more, and just saw their perspective, then perhaps I could have had more people who actually showed some fucking respect for me." Ocho said, and then after he said that, the two of us were stopping because of another thing that we saw.

The two of us saw that it was a car, and not just any car, which honestly would have been fucking terrible enough. But it was a car that looked like it belonged to somebody that we both knew. "Isn't that the car of that one guy who is running for mayor?" I asked, referring to Joe's father.

"Yeah, I think that you knw exactly who that fucking car belongs to. And you are going to try and still act like there is nothing going on with that man? I mean, as much as I hate to admit it, but if this guy knows what the crystal cave is, then there is really no need to try and act like we are keeping things a secre at all." Ocho said, and then I was seeing him looking like he was getting close to crying.

"I mean, everything that I have been doing, I thought that I could have been ready for. And now here I am, and now I realize that everything that I have been doing is all a giant fuckinbg waste, and I should have probably just given up on this long ago." After Ocho said this, I was then wondering if it was going to be possible to try and console him a bit.

"I mean, we don't know everything yet. So I think that perhaps we just need to be walking alng for a while longer. For all we know, we might be able to beat him here." I said, and I was feeling like this was the cloest that I was going to be able to get to really making him feel any better at all.

As I had said ths, I was seeing him calm down a little bit. Almost like he was willing to at least try and think of things from my point of view. So with that, I was starting to walk down a bit longer, and I was seeing that Ocho was doing his absolute best to just not be losing his cool at the moment.

Eventually, the two of us were getting closer and closer to a opening, and once at the opening, I was seeing that a couple of people were actually there already. I was sighing, and I was trying to keep myself calm. "I think that maybe my theory is pronably going to be proven wrong." I said, and then I was just trying to make myself seem at least slightly less down beat from what I was getting ourselves into.

Before I was able to try and say anything else, that is when Ocho was taking a few steps closer, and he was seeing that there was something glowing. I was wondering what this was, but then I was starting to see that it was a natural formation. "Could this fucking cave actually be true? Oh my god, I can't believe we are doing this." Ocho said, and he was both sounding excited and scared.

"Would you be willing to try and create a distraction while I go on and try to go inside the cave. I mean, that is all that I want to do right now." After Ocho told me this, I was looking right at him, and I was thinking that this man was absolutely insane, and needed to at least try and see things from what my perspective was.

"Fine. I guess that I would be fine with doing that. Even if this is a dumb ass idea, and let's be honest, it really fucking is." After I had told him this, I was taking a long and deep breath, wondering what I was going to be getting myself into. But before long, Ocho was already heading away, ready to go inside that cave.

I willed myself to deal with this shit for the time being, and then with that, I walked out of the brushing that I was hiding myself in, and then I was seeing that Joe's father was looking over at me, bothered by the fact that some random fifteen year old was willing to interuppt his discussion.

This was when I was seeing that the other person he was talking to was another one of those men in black. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be out hanging out with your friends?" After he had asked me this, I was sighing, and I was feeling like that was a personal attack if there was one.

"I was just trying to think of new places that I could show them." I said, and then I was looking to my side, and I was seeing Ocho at the entrance of the cave. He looked around, and then he was looking at me, and then he nodded at this. I was slowly giving a small nod, so that way he knew that I got the message.

"I never thought that I would see you here. I heard a lot of great things about your campaign for the mayor. And I think that it would be in all of our best interests to know what you plan on doing with this great town." I said, thinking that the more that I could be able to get him to open up with me, the more time that I would be able to give Ocho.

"I never thought that I was going to be seeing people in your age range even remotely be interested in the politics of this town. I have all but lost hope in getting young people to see the importance of this place." After he had told me this, I really had no idea what in the fucking world I was going to be able to tell him. I mean, he was indeed giving me a lot that I was needing to try and live up to.

"Well, I mean, I will be old enough to vote in the next election, and I want to try and use this one as a way to get to know what Wayside is up to. I mean, I know that your son is probably not all that interested in this stuff, but you can't let every single person in my age range be decided by him." I said, and I was not wanting to be bringing Joe's name down, but I was feeling that I had no real choice.

"Joe always seems to be interested in the idea that I am not having the best interest in this town. It drives me crazy, and I just want to be able to show him that I can finally make this town stand above all the false accusations that they are getting." After he had said that to me, I was confused at what he had been saying.

"Wait, how can you be so sure that these accusations are false? I mean, shouldn't you at least look into these first before making that choice." I said, and then I was starting to show more frustration to this than I was really hoping was going to be possible. "I mean, how can you know for sure if Joe is full of shit?"

"I mean, think about it. If all these stories were true, then something could have been exposed by now. But never once has anything slightly proving these theories have come up. It is all a lie that has been created to try and explan the fact that there has been no definitive answer to how this town has been rebuilt after such hard odds." After he told me this, I was having no idea what I could have said to this.

"What are you even doing here anyways? I mean, I never even heard of such a thing until I started to see this path." I said, and I was wondering if I was going to accidentially expose the truth of the situation that I had been in at this moment. Then with that, Joe's father was looking around, and clearly just looked like he was just trying to find a answer that would not get me to get too interested.

"Well, I had heard about it in a report that I was reading. And when I read all about it, I knew that I needed to at least check it out, and see if the rumors were all true or not." After he had said that to me, I was feeling like I needed to pretend like I believed in this shit, even though I did not for a second.

"Where did you read up about this report in the first place?" I asked, feeling that the harder that was pressing matters with him, and the harder that I was getting him to talk, the more that this whole thing could have turned around for the best. Joe's father looked like he was rather hard pressed.

"You are one stubborn bastard. I hope that you know that. I mean, you should just be happy knowing that I have been doing everything in my power to know the truth of everything here." He said, and I was feeling like this statement was not going to enough to convince me, and I did not need to be hiding it any longer.

"Sorry for questioning you. I just got curious. I think that if you are trying to do this town the right thing, then perhaps you need to decide to not tell anybody the truth about its existence." After I said that to him, I was seeing Joe's father looking like he was at least taking what I was saying into a minor amount of consideration.

"Strange how you are saying that. I thought you guys were all about just not lying to anybody, and then here you are, talking to me about keeping up these lies. It seems like you understand that there is nothing that we can do about it sometimes." After Joe's father was telling me this, I was shaking my head, since i did not want to be hearing these.

"Just make sure that if for nothing else, you are not going to be going in there unless if you know everything that there is to know about this. I mean, for all that you know, there could be some fucking trap set in there. And you are just planning on going into this like it is nothing?" I asked, and then I was shaking my head, thinking that this man was a fucking insane bastard.

"We are trying to survey the area a bit, and see what this place has in store. That is the only way that we are going to be able to really learn the truth. If you believe in the idea of knowledge like you say that you do, then you understand how vital it is that we come into this right now." After he was telling me this, I was just wishing that I could have taken ths differently, but I was just feeling that whatever Ocho was doing, he needed to get it done as fast as possible.

"I got to say, it is going to be a good thing for you to keep this interest up. If you work hard enough over the years, you just might be able to have a career ahead of you. Wouldn't you want that?" Joe's father asked, and I was feeling like that would have been one of the best sounding things ever at one point, but totally wrong now.

"I guess that I have no idea what I really want right now. I want to keep Wayside safe, and I want this town to thrive. But I have no idea how something like that is going to work. Maybe it never will, and I am pursuing a lost dream." I said, not even trying to be sounding deep when I was saying that. I just wanted to express how I had really felt.

Scene 13: The Dark Nights

I was wanting to kind of just stay alone thime time, since in all honesty, I was having a feeling that Ocho wanted nothing to do with me, and that everybody else was already doing their own fucking thing. So I was just going to leave, and be on my own, where I did not have to deal with anybody else. Besides, I wanted to have a chance to prove myself capable of accomplishing what was set out to me.

I walked out of the house, and the first moment, I was staring up at the sky, and I was wondering what it was going to take for Kenta or whoever else to decide that I was being too much of a danger, and decide that they were going to eliminate me or some fucking shit like that. Just the mere thought of it in my mind was kind of pissing me off.

I shook my head, and then I was walking off, not thinking of what anybody else was going to say. As I had been walking along, I was hearing some people talk about some random things that I had no real interest in. All of which were seeming related to the campaign for certain candidates who were running for mayor. Even though I could have swore that Joe's father was having something up with him, and I just could not be able to pin point what that was going to be.

I was also wondering how Ocho was doing. I mean, I did leave him alone after a while, and I was wondering if perhaps he was in danger. As much as it sounds strange, and as much as he was seeming to be kind of rude with me on his own personal ambitions, I was feeling that perhaps he was still the best hope that we had here.

So with that, I started to walk on to Tai's house, wondering if he was willing to talk. I mean, I wanted to be alone, but at the same time, something about being out in the public during the night was something that was making me feel way less sure of doing something like this. As I had been walking to his place, I was seeing a car driving up to me.

As it was getting closer, I was getting more and more aware that the person who was driving to me was planning on running me over, I ran to the other side, and I started to run as fast as possible, trying to just get away from this man. I was wondering if this person was working with Joe's father, and that now that I had seen the cave, I was going to have to be the first person to be removed.

I started to hide behind a tree for a while, and I was taking as few breaths as possible, and I was glad for my small stature for once in my life. Because if I was tall or large, then these people would have been able to find me really fucking quickly. I was seeing the car driving by, and I was seeing that there was indeed Joe's father in that car.

It was at that moment that any remote chance of his innocence was thrown out the window, and he had officially become a real villain. One person got out of the car, and looked around for a few seconds. I was just mentally hoping that there was nobody who was willing to check out where I was.

After nearly two minutes of walking around, the guy was returning to the car. "I think that he might not be here anymore." After he had said that, he was getting back inside, and then I was waiting for another twenty seconds to make one hundred percent sure before I started to take any steps at all.

When he was gone, I decided that I was going to go on and see Tai for real this time. After all, I needed to have somebody that I could speak with about what was going on around me. And that was more than enough to just get me freaked out beyond belief. As I was walking to his place, I was wondering if he had even wanted to speak with me at all.

It took about fifteen minutes for me to reach his house. To be fair, I was going as fast as I could, which meant it would have taken at least twice as long if I was willing to go at a normal pace. Eventually, I knocked on the door, wondering what I was going to tell him now.

Eventually, when Tai answered, I was looking around, still trying to be one hundred percent sure. I was not going to let somebody put him in danger because I happened to walk up to his place. When I was sure that we were alone. I was placing my hands on his shoulder. "Dude, I am sorry for coming here like this. But I just needed to find somebody to talk to, and get my mind off of these things." I said, hoping that he would be willing to deal with me.

"What are you going on about? I mean, I can't be able to help you if you do not tell me what the issue is." After Tai had said that to me, I was nodding, feeling like that was fair enough. So with that, I started to take a deep breath, feeling that I was never going to try and let Joe's father live this one down.

"Everything that we were saying about Joe's father is true. That man knows where everything in this town is." I said, and then Tai was looking like he was just trying to keep up with what I was saying, since to be fair I was kind of just randomly throwing this all on him without any context.

"What the fucking hell are you talking about? Where are you even getting all of this from anyways?" Tai asked, and I figured that I might as well give him a brief summary of what was happening. I hoped that Tai would understand why I was scared of the shit that was happening.

"I went to Ocho's place, trying to force him to talk to me. Eventually, he was willing to open up, and he was mentioning the crystal cave again. We went to the forest yesterday, and looked around for a bit. We walked down a strange new path neither one of us had seen before, and then we found a car. At the end of the path, we found Joe's father at the entrance of that cave." After I had said that to him, I was hoping that was a good enough summary.

"What the hell was he doing there? Does that mean that maybe he was the one who had broken into the temple of the ancients? If that is the case, then that means that everything that Brad had been saying was true." After he had said that to me, I was not wanting to think of it that way, even if I could see where he was coming from.

"I have no idea what that Brad guy is talking about. I mean, for all that I know, he could really be the one person in this town who really is trying to tell the truth. But that is not really the thing that I am super fucking worried about right now. I am trying to look at the bigger picture here." I said, and then I was looking right at him, wondering what he was planning on saying now.

"I mean, everybody is already talking about what that guy is going to do during his term. I think you need to understand that he is as good as elected. And that if you try and find anything to say against him, then it will be a waste of fucking time." After he had said that to me, I was not really in the mood to be hearing it honeestly.

"I don't care about that fucking election. I don't care about these things that I have no control over. What I am planning on focusing on is finding out what in the world is in that cave. I mean, Ocho was making a big deal out of it, and clearly he probably knows of something else here." After I had said that to Tai, I saw Tai looking back, and I was seeing that he was still obssessed of the idea of what Kari was going to be saying.

"Tai, are you seriously still on about this Kari shit? I mean, there is nothing that you are going to be able to do about it. If she doesn't fucking like you, then that is all that there is to it." I said, not even caring if I was sounding offensive when I had said that to him. I was seeing Tai looking like he was actually mildly annoyed at what I was saying.

"Sorry. I am just worried about what would happen if she hears all this shit. I am worried that she is going to be getting a lot of dumb fucking ideas in her head." Tai said, and then I was nodding at this. As I was doing this, I was seeing Kari walking out of the room, and she was looking like she was trying to go to sleep.

"What the hell is going on? You are talking so fucking loudly that I can't be able to go to bed." After she had said that to me, I was nodding, feeling that perhaps Tai was needing to take over for this one after all. It was my fault that this was happening, but I was not able to change it.

"Sorry. Just Izzy coming here, and he was trying to talk to us about the shit that is going on in this town. Nothing that you need to get yourself involved with." Tai said, and then he was taking a couple of steps forward. "In fact, I think that we should be leaving, so that way we don't wake up anybody else."

As I was seeing Kari look at me, I saw her looking tired. "Just don't do anything stupid. Tai always finds some way to put himself in danger." After she had said that to me, I was laughing at this, and then with that, Tai was closing the door, and then we were walking off, and Tai was shaking his head at this.

"Are you going to try and talk to Ocho again? I mean, if you want to know that so badly, the only way to get to know the truth is probably to actually go inside the cave. Or talk to Joe's father again." Tai said, and then I was seeing him looking like there were a few more thoughts in his head.

"What are you thinking?" I asked, feeling that I might as well just try to see what he was feeling. "Was there something that you were wanting to check out?" Tai looked at me, looking like he was slightly embarrassed at what we were doing.

"I think that since we are out during the night, that perhaps we might as well just check out what are some other leads that we are throwing away. After all, that Walter guy who died a week or so ago. We still know nothing about that." Tai said, and then after he had told me this, I sighed, having totally forgotten about it.

"I mean, I have a feeling that the police have just kind of brushed that off as if it was ancient history already. And the fact that it seems like nobody fucking cares about that makes me wonder how quickly we will be forgotten about once we are taken care of." Tai said, and I was wondering why he was caring so much about what the fact that some random drug dealer or something like that had been assassinated.

"That is the most random thing in the world for you to be interested in looking further into. I mean, I get that you spoke with him once. But that is just so strange." I said, and then I was seeing Tai shrug, as if thinking that I needed to not be thinking so much into what might interest me, and instead what would interest him.

"I know that it might not be the thing that excites you the most, but I feel like that can give us some answers. I think that we just need to be keeping an eye out for it." Tai said, and then I was seeing him looking like he was just wwanting this subject to drop. As we walked on longer, I was then seeing Tai looking like he had something else to say.

"Besides, Joe was also interested in that stuff as well. We were involved in this one together, and I think that you might have to consider the fact that if he is interested in knowing what happened, then there is a good deal of validity to this all." Tai said, and then I was wondering what I was going to say about Joe.

"I really don't think he likes me that much. I mean, we were in a drive, and he was basically giving me a lecture about what I am supposed to do with myself. I mean, he's not my fucking dad, and here he is, acting like he is." I said, and then I was seeing that Tai was not that intrested in hearing it.

"I mean, I think you have to accept the fact that everybody is going to be looking at you strangely. I mean, with everything that happened with this town, and the internship that you had done, I think people need to accept the fact that you were responsible for getting people to think this way." Tai said, and then I was tired of hearing this, and I didn't want to deal with it any longer.

"I fucking get it! I mean, you guys bring it up on a daily god damn basis! Jesus, you do not need to be bringing it up all the damn time." I said, and then I was looking right at Tai, and to be honest, when I had said that, I was kind of feeling bad for lashing out at him the way that I did. But I did not care at all.

"Sorry. I was just trying to explain to you why people are always going to be at least a little bit unsure of what we are doing. Just try and not be too upset about this stuff." After he had said that to me, I was not really in the mood to be hearing it anymore. I was just getting sick and tired of this,a nd I did not care who was aware of this.

"I did not mean to bother you. I just want you to understand what you are getting yourself into. I mean, this whole thing is just geting everybody tired, and scared. We are all wanting answers, but none of us are really having a way of showing this. Tai said, and then I was just looking away, not wanting to hear it.

"Where the fucking hell was this guy even working from anyways? I mean, please tell me that if you are going to be checking this stuff out, that you at least have a fucking plan here." I said, and then I was taking several steps ahead, not even wanting to bother waiting for him if he was going to show no interest in this.

"He was at the sector five slums. If you want to look at what he was doing, then you need to be looking over there." Tai said, and then I was wondering what else there was to this. I was shaking my head, not having any interest in this. I was trying to be interested, but I was unable to muster it.

"I think that figuring out what is happening with Ocho is going to be far more important than anything else that we are dealing with. I mean, that might be something I would be willing to look into one day, but only after I am sure that we have broken everything else down.

"Yeah, you're right. I just don't know if I want to be a part of that. I think that you probably understand where I am coming from." After Tai said that to me, I was nodding, and I really was not going to be in the mood to deal with this at all. So with that, I was walking off, wonderig why I even tried to talk to these people anymore.

Before I was fully away from him, I turned back one final time. "Sorry for wasting your time. If you want some help, try and find me. I don't really think that many of our goals are going to be fully alined though, and that is nothing that I can fucking change." With that, I was leaving him alone, for real this time.

As I walked on for a while longer, I was wanting to see what in the world Joe's father was trying to do, fucking running me over. I wondered if he was even aware of the fact that Ocho had gone in that cave. I was wondering if perhaps he had already dealt with Ocho, and that everything else was going to be all up to me. And to be honest, if he was already done with Ocho, then that meant that I really was the biggest loose end to what was happening.

I started to head on back to the forest, wondering if I was going to be able to find out where this place was if I was going to be able to retrace all the loose steps. If I could find out where that cave was again, then I could be able to finally recreate a mental map of this town. As much as it was confusing me that I was the one who had to be dealing with this, I honestly did not fucking care anymore.

I reached the forest relatively quickly, since I only wwanted to just go in through any random entrance. As I was looking around though, I could not help but still feel like something else was going on here. Like somebody was watching me, and was planning on doing something with me at any moment if I had slipped up.

I was feeling like something wwas watching me. And that feeling alone was enough to get me scared out of my mind. I had no idea where the hell I was going to go, and I was wondering if some of the monsters that I had been hearing of before was actually in this forest, ready to eat me if I made any sudden moves.

I was wondering if the main reason that Lazarus was doing the things it had been was because the monsters were taking the girls, and the town was trying to avoid public panic on two different ends. If that was the case, then perhaps they were really actually the good guys after all. Perhaps I was needing to give people a different perspective here.

I watched along for a while, and then I was shaking my head, and then I was walking down a while, with one only interest in my mind, and that was to just find that crystal cave. And I was not going to be leaving things alone until I finally found out where that thing was.

All in all, I probably was in thre for nearly thirty minutes before I was starting to feel like I wasted my time looking around for this area. Perhaps I was going to just have to do this during the morning when I was at least having some form of light. But that was taken away the moment that I was seeing something resembling a light in the distance.

As I saw this light, I was starting to walk along for a while longer, hoping that this was not going to be getting me killed, and that this was the final answer that I had needed. Eventually, I was seeing a person who was also in the forest, and he was standing over a person, who was on their knees.

"We mst demolish this cave under all costs. Every time somebody finds out about it, more and more panis is caused here. We need to keep people in a calm demeanor." The man standing above up, and he was wearing a golden mask, and he was wearing some form of suit.

He looked over when he heard my footsteps, and he was glancing back at the person who had been on their knees. "You're a lucky man. Get out of here. You have one more chance to prove your value." The man said, and then the one on their knees was standing up, and running off, before his would have been killer changed his mind.

"The failed sicentist who believes that he has more value than he really does." He said, and then he was taking his left hand out, and he was holding a hilt, and then he ignited it to reveal a red energy blade. These swords looked awesome in Star Wars, but seeing it in real life scared me.

"What involvement do you have with this organization?" I asked, and then the man was laughing at this, and I was trying to walk off, taking back wards steps, and I was slowly feeling myself lose my pace, and I was trying to not trip and give him a perfect chance to kill me.

"Involved? I am the one leading it. Now tonight, there is one less string that I have to deal with." As he had said that, I did trip, and he was holding up his blade, ready to stab me in the chest and kill me when I was seeing a car driving through, and the blaring light made the man get away.

As I was getting ready to accept my sure fire death, that was when I was seeing that Matt was in the car, and then he was yelling at me to get inside. I nodded, and then I got in the car, as he was driving off, and I was not wanting to waste any time. As we were driving off, I was seeing that the mask was off for a second, but I did not get to see who it was.

Scene 14: The Man of Nightmares

That next day, I was finally feeling like I was ready to talk to Matt about it, since I refused to open up when he was driving me home, much to his annoyance probably. But I was just feeling scared out of my mind. It was strange for me to be feeling scared over these things, but I could not help myself at all.

When I was finally willing to open up a bit, I sighed, and looked right at him, glad to not have to deal with other people while we were in his room. "Honestly, when I was seeing that guy, I was convinced for the first time that I was going to die. I had no other fucking thoughts about it besides that. I have a feeling there won't be a week where I don't think of him." I said, and then I shook my head for a second.

"I think that maybe this means that some of the stories that Mimi told me were true. God, if that is the case, then what in the world is this man planning." After he had said that to me, I was then shaking my head, not sure what in the world I would tell him. "I mean, I really don't want to be going around and praising Mimi for figuring this shit out more than any of us."

"Well, she does have her own personal stakes in this due to the fact that she knows that her father is the one who is behind most of the shit that is going on around town. But the whole story about her trying to look into this to stop a guy from dying is probably the most insane shit that I have ever heard." I said, wondering what I was going to do now.

"But if that is indeed true, and there is something that is going to happen to that Gumball guy in the future, then I guess that perhaps I need to be taking things into better consideration. After all, she seems to think that it is important enough to be looking into this more. So I need to take it seriously as well." I said, finally accepting the reality of the shit that I was involved in now.

"Do you think that you are going to try and talk to her now? I mean, you were the one that actually dealt with that guy, and you were the guy who knew what he was even doing with that one guy. What was he doing anyways?" Matt asked, changing topics, and then I was shrugging, just as confused to that myself.

"Well, he was telling that guy that he needed to destroy that cave, ane make sure that nobody comes out and finds out about it again. And I think that there was a chance that the man would be murdered. But then he was let go afterwards, due to his desire to assassinate me." I said, and then I was shaking my head.

"Honestly, I never thought that I would see the day when seeing a real life lightsaber would not be the coolest thing in the entire world. But here we fucking are. And now I don't even want to think of them again." I said, and then another thing was coming across my mind for a second.

"I wonder if all the crystals that had been found by various people are the ones needed to create one. I bet that is what Ocho was trying to find when he was going inside of that cave." As I was saying this, I was seeing that Matt's mind was going in a million different directions, and I wanted to know what this was.

"When T.K. and his friend Ness had found that green crystal on Onett, and T.K. took one with him to Wayside, I wonder if it was the crystal needed to make that lightsaber. I feel like I seen one before." After Matt was saying this to me, I was shocked at the fact that he was saying this. I never had seen such a thing, and here he was actng like it was common knowledge.

"Onett. I feel like the more that I hear about that town, the worst that it gets. I mean, I would honestly rather live here than a place that doesn't even really pretend to hide the fact that there was some shady shit going on after a certain period." I said, wondering what I was going to be talking about.

"I think that the more that I get upset about it, and the more that I think about what I could have done to try and make it different, the more upset that I get. For now, I think that Iam going to try and figure out what I am going to do about my friend Ocho. Since I want to make sure that he is safe more than anything else." After he said that to me, I was feeling that itw as extremely unfair that everything was always returning to Ocho.

But despite everything, I was telling myself to be reasonable, and see it from his perspective. "I hope that Ocho knows what the hell he is doing. Or else every single person that we know will be fucking killed soon. And I think that this man with the golden mask will be the one behind it all." I wondering when I was going to stop thinking of him.

"Did he say anything that might be able to get you to label him with anybody?" Matt asked, and then I was shaking my head, since that was the worst part. I should have had something that could have pin pointed him right away, and then I would be happy, but I had nothing like that.

"No he didn't. Honestly outside of the whole evil monlogue, he was not really giving me any impressions. I guess that he does have that going for him. Being able to actually keep a fucking secret." After I had said that to him, I was standing up, and I was already heading off, but not sure what to do.

"What the hell are you going to do? I mean, you have nobody who will be willing to work with you. You have said this yourself. And yet you are trying to be all on your own." After he had said that to me, I shook my head. I was feeling that with everything that happened, I was just needing to take more responsibility.

"I mean, you have been talking with me. That shows that you are willing to help me. But are you willing to be branching out, and try to see what exactly Ocho did to be the most wanted man in Wayside by this power hungry company who controls way too much shit?" I asked, and then I was seeing that Matt looked like this was the opposiet of what he had wanted.

"I mean, I wanted to know what Ocho knew. But I wonder how he did get everybody to hate him so much. I mean, for fucks sake, he was just tryig to find his girlfriend, and here he is, basically dealing with everything on his own like a damn champion. If it were not for everything else, I would be considering him my role model." Matt said, and then I was nodding at this one.

"Well, I guess that tonight, you are going to be making your way to that cave." I said, and then Matt looked at me, and I was seeing that this was exactly the fucking opposite of what he was wanting to do, but that he was just taking it easy. Then with that, he looked down, just clearly trying to not be scared out of his mind.

"Just when I was thinking that I was getting closer to finally sorting shit out with Sora, this whole shit comes along. I guess that I should have expected something like this all along. Nothing in life is ever easy." He said, and then I was just feeling glad to be hearing him at least him and Sora were making progress again.

"That is so good to hear. She was telling me that she still liked you, and that she was feeling like there was something to work out. I was feeling like I was doing you guys a favor by trying to tell her to come to you that one day. I hope that I did not make things too hard." I said, and then I was just keeping myself collected for a second.

"I mean, Sora and I still have a ways to go, but I think that the fact that she and I have been willing to talk for today is enough to say that maybe it was not nearly as much of a lost cause as I was fearing that it would have been. I mean, I hope that she does understand that I really was trying to have the best interest in her mind when I was saying those things. I was never wanting to hurt her when I was saying this." Matt said, looking at the wall again, where he was seeing a picture of him and her on a date.

"I wonder if T.K.'s love life is ever going to be this complicated. If it is, then I have no idea if I want to get involved with that shit either." I said, and then I was laughing it off. I was wanting to give off some impression of being funny, even if the situation that was all around this was probably the least funny thing ever.

"I think that he is probably not even getting himself involved in that shit. I would be surprised if he is even paying attention to anybody at all due to the shit that he has been looking at." Matt said, and then I was wondering if it was even a good thing to be talking about how he was not looking at that, since it was letting him get too over head.

"I wonder how everything that I do ends up turning into a conversation about peoples fucking love lives. It always comes back to that for some ungodly reason." I said, and then I was laughing at this, wondering if people really just felt like I would be the one who would actually make them feel better.

"Yeah, I guess that some times we do get ourselves involved in overly petty shit. But I guess that there does need to be some fucking calm dicussions here." After Matt said that to me, he was getting himself up. Then he looked at me, trying to decide what he was wanting out of me.

"I am going to try and speak to Ocho now. I feel like I am probably the number one person that he is still willing to listen to. You can come if you want. But I wouldn't blame you if you do not." After he had said that to me, I was considering what I had wanted to do here.

"I might be able to come along. There is something that I do want to see tonight. And then after that, I would have more than enough energy to come." I said, and then after I had said that to him, I was seeing Matt nodding. I felt like I needed to finally just see Mimi once and for all, and apologize for the way that I had acted earlier. Dismissing the way she had been talking.

Scene 15: The Summer Camp Grounds

As I was heading to where Mimi lived, I was wondering why in the world I was so scared of what she was thinking about me. I mean, I was convinced that she probably wanted nothing to do with me, and I was only stroking the fire. Once at her house though, there was nothing that I could do besides just knock on the door, and hope that she was willing to answer.

Eventually, when Mimi answered the door, I was seeing her looking like she was just not too terribly excited to see me, but that she was willing to at least pretend like this was something that she had wanted to do. "So Izzy, what were you needing to talk with me about?" She asked, and then I looked at her, and I was feeling that I just would be best to get the apology done with.

"In all honesty, I was worried about you, and after some of the things that I have seen, I wanted to make a formal apology about the way that I was acting earlier. Not believing what you said about the man with the golden mask." I said, and then after I had said that to her, I instantly saw her getting much more scared than before.

"Izzy, are you sure that you want to be talking about that in a super public place? I mean, you never know who is going to try and talk to us right now." She said, and she was sounding like the entire situation was suddenly turning cold on her. As I had seen this, I was aware that I needed to do whatever it took to make her feel better now.

"I mean, I just thought that since I had now seen that, you deserved to know that I take back everything that I had said, and that I want to do everything that I can to make the situation slightly better for you. I was a massive asshole for not giving you a chance earlier." I said, and I was wondering what the hell I was going to be saying to continue this subject up for a bit longer.

"Shit. Well, I guess that there was a small part of me that was holding out hope that I might have been imagining these things. But I guess that we just have to figure out where to go from here." After she had said that to me, I was nodding, feeling that now that we were here, I might we well just try and make a plan now.

"Well, he was saying that he was the one who was running this whole thing. So I just feel like I need to figure out where his base of operations really could be..." I said, and then I was seeing Mimi looking like she was starting to remember something that she had been kind of scared to consider, but now that we were here, there was no other way.

"Oh god, I think that we need to go to the summer camp. I feel like I saw a mask once in the big house. The mask literally looked the exact same as the one that both of us were seeing." After she had said that to me, I was looking right at her, and I was wondering why the person would hide there.

"Well, if that is the truth, then we might as well just find out what the hell this guy is hiding over there." I said, hoping that this was not the main base of operations, and only just a random place they hid their stuff because they were having some form of business meaning or whatever. I was just desperate for anything.

"Well, I think that if you are wanting to help me out, then we need to be heading there right now." After she had said that to me, I was slowly nodding, and figured that arguing was only going to be making things worse. So with that, I was seeing Mimi turning around, as if looking to see if her parents were wanting to tell her something, but decided against it.

As we were walking along, I was seeing that Mimi actually was looking like the fear in her eyes was slowly changing to one of utter excitement. Knowing that once and for all, there was a level of truth to the predicton that she had, and that she was no longer going insane. I had no idea how something like that could have made her feel better. "I feel like if we want to stop everything going on in Wayside, we need to burn this entire fucking forest down." I said, unable to believe that I had such a morbid indea in my mind.

"I wish that you were wrong. But I guess that you could be onto something as well." After she had said that to me, I was slowly nodding, and then with that, we continued our walk, and with each minute, I was seeing that the pure fear that Mimi was going through was getting much worse over time, and I was feeling so fucking bad.

It took nearly an hour, but before long we were finally at the summer camp. When we were there, I was seeing that people were looking relatively shocked to be seeing us here. As if we were a bunch of unwelcomed guests. "I wonder why people are already brushing uf off as a bunch of troublemakers." I said, trying to be keeping a minor form of humor here.

"To be fair, we are probably getting famous in this town for being rather fucking disruptive. So I guess that in all honesty, I am not really able to blame them too much." After she had told me this, I was trying to keep her perspective. But it was getting hard for me to really be looking at things like that.

As we were walking along, I was heading right to the big house. I was seeing that Mimi was looking like she was scared of us going there right away. "What? I mean, we are not really planning on messing around at other places, are we?" I asked, and I was more doing so out of confusion to her reaction than anything else.

"What if he is already here?" Mimi asked, and then I was thinking of a response that would probably be able to get her to be feeling slightly better. She was following me reluctantly as I was already taking another few steps towards the entrance, giving my reponse in a casual sense.

"Honestly, I think that we are probably going to be fine. I mean, we have only seen anything like that during the night time. So unless if something happens that really fucks up everything, then we will be fine." I said, and then I was opening up the door, and I was seeing that Mimi just looked like her last trace of arguments were gone.

As we were inside of the big house, I was seeing that there was a couple of people in there. When I was seeing the camp director, smoking a couple of cigarettes, he was looking like he was rather fucking happy to be seeing her once again. Mimi looked down, and I was seeing that she just wanted us to get out of here as fast as possible.

"Long time no see. I was wondering if you were planning on becoming a camper for a few weeks. Would probably do you some good to stay away from trouble makers who have no desire to do anything besides mar everything with un-needed controversy." After he had said that to Mimi, I was seeing that she had looked like she wanted to argue right back, but could not find it in herself.

"I was wanting to come here with one of my friends, to see what the place was like. We were both hearing something that peaked both of our interests." I said, trying to keep Mimi safe for a few seconds longer. She was looking at me, and I was seeing that she was kind of shocked to see that I was willing to take over from here.

"Oh yeah, and what might that be?" The camp director asked, and then I was looking right at Mimi, wondering what she was planning on saying. When I was seeing that she was still looking too scared to continue the discussion, I decided that I would take over for the time being.

"I heard that you guys were creating a factory near the camp. I was just kind of shocked to see this, and I wanted to really see it in person. But once I actually got here, I was distracted, and I decided that I wanted to see what this place had to offer." I said, and then I was seeing that the camp director was looking kind of pissed that I was bringing this up.

"It always seems like nobody really cares for anything else besides that. Always thinking that us working on these projects is a terrible waste of time." After he had said that to me, I was then wondering if I was really making a giant mistake by saying this. I looked at Mimi, desperate for her to come along and say anything at all.

"I was not saying that at all. I was just thinking that it would be a good thing for me to understand what the project entails." I said, and then I was seeing that the camp director looked like he was still not too sure of what I was saying here. "I mean, one of the things that adults are angry at people in my age over is not having enough knowledge on these important issues. And I was hoping that you could help change that." After I told him this, I was seeing him slowly looking like he was kind of relaxing a little bit.

"Well, I guess that if you want to know more, then maybe I would be willing to show you. But is your friend Mimi actually wanting to be here. The last time that we had a discussion, she always just brushed me off." After he had said that to us, I was seeing that Mimi looked like she was rather scared to be talking about this anyways.

"I was going through a rough phase. I just found out about some the things that my dad was doing, and I was feeling like I deserved more answers than he was willing to give me. I was being entitled. I hope that I do not create any more of a issue." After she had said that, she was clearly sounding like this was the last thing that she had wanted to say to him.

The camp director was smiling as she had said this. He started to walk down the stairs, and as he was finally walking away, I was seeing that there was indeed a mask in the area. I was gulping as I had seen this. I was wondering if this man was going to be the one who was behind everything after all.

"Let us have a dinner, and I can discuss some of the things that I have been working on with you." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and felt like I just needed to go along with this for the time being, feeling that I really had no other choice on the matter.

Scene 16: Dinner With A Director

When we were sitting down, I will admit that it was the first time in a long whiile that I actually felt uncomfortable about being somewhere. I was feeling that at any second, something was going to happen to me, and I was wondering what this man was going to be telling me as his excuse to justify the shit he had been dealing with.

"So you are interested in the work that I have been doing? If I am being quite honest, I am not the one who is in charge of the project of the factory. I am merely in this to make sure that people do not go inside of it, when they are supposed to be enjoying their time at camp." After he had said that to me, I was looking right at Mimi, wondering what she would say now.

"Even if you are not the one who is leading the project, surely there are some things that you know about it. I just would like to know more of what is going on." I said, wondering if my persistence was going to be willing me any points. The director was sighing, and then he decided to continue.

"I am sure that Mimi already told you the things that we are trying to find in there, so I guess that there is no point in lying about what we are doing. My bosses believe that there is a substance called materia that can be found in this area, and they are trying to extract it all, to help fulfill the project that the president of Lazarus is working on." He said, and then I nodded at this.

"I have no power over what happens here. Like the mayor, all that I do is really just keep a lot of information. This information pertains to the campers that have come here over the years. The camp has been around for a very long time, and I had to take over the duty in a rather abrupt fashion after things that happened with the previous camp director." He said, as if trying to avoid giving off any sensitive mateiral.

"What was that golden mask that you have in your house? That looked really nice." I said, and then I was mentally slapping myself for not even trying to be more careful about what I was doing. As I asked him this, I was seeing that bringing thos up already made him far more uncomfortable with this entire discussion.

"Oh yeah, that. Just something that somebody stored in there. Said that they were using it for a show. But they come by so rarely that I have considered just throwing it away when I do my nxt round of cleaning up of the big house." After he had said that to me, I was havig a really hard time actually buying what he was saying.

"Who was this person?" Mimi asked, and then the camp director started to look more and more scared with each moment. I was feeling that perhaps we were really holding him on a leash this time. He was looking at his watch, and I was wondering what his excuse to be leaving soon would have been.

"I will not be able to stay for too long. I have a lot of things to do, and a lot of paper work that I am going to have to fill out. I hope that you would be willing to understand." After she had said that to me, I was seeing that Mimi looked as if she was not really willing to leave the subject alone.

"We just want to know who brought the mask over. If you can give us a name, we will be willing to leave you alone." After Mimi said that to him, I was seeing that the guy was looking like he was just trying to carefully decide what he was going to be saying next, and had hoped we would buy it.

"I think it was some guy who doesn't even live here anymore. Some fucking guy named Tucker Carbunkle. I don't even know if he is alive in the first place." After he had said that, he was getting up, and then looked at us both in the eyes. "This is the last time that we are going to be talking about this subject. It is a hard discussion to have, and I do not even know all the details anyways."

Once he was out of the room, I looked at Mimi. I saw that the director had already placed down the money for the meal. So I figured that at this rate, we might as well eat whatever we ordered. "I feel like that guy still knows something that he is hiding. I can't believe that with all that information, he would not have at least some fucking answers." I said, and then Mimi was slowly nodding in agreement.

"I mean, I can understand if he was not wanting to talk about it at a public place, due to the fact that people might hear us. But he could have just done it at the big house if that was the case. So clearly he was just trying to get out of here as fast as humanly possible." Mimi said, and then after she had said that to me, I was wondering what I could do to get him to talk once more.

"But he did bring up a interesting name. Tucker Carbunkle. I feel like i have heard that one before. Do you think you know anything about it?" I asked, and then she was looking at me, and shook her head. I was sighing, as if expecting that answer. But I was convinced that either that name was a lie, or I might just have to find him.

"I think that he was the brother of Brad or something. I remember hearing about that once or twice. But I think that there is really no connection. I wonder if he is the one that was in the forest. If he is, then I feel like he already would have given off way more information than would have been his best interest." Mimi said, and then I was starting to think a little bit about the apperances of both, and then it just felt wrong.

"In all honesty, I think that he is not the guy that we are looking for. The guy in the forest was slightly larger. Although that might have been due to the suit that he had on." I said, and then after I had said that to her, I finished up eating the sushi that had been placed down on the table. Mimi was looking like she was almost done as well.

"I have no idea what your general stakes in this are, with the expection of your father. And in all honesty, I am kind of scared to be finding out more of what you are planning. But I think that the situation is getting increasingly impossible to finish. If you don't want to keep going, I would not mind if you just stop talking with me." I told Mimi, hoping she would get the hint that this was not the way that I was wanting my time to be used.

"Izzy, you keep saying stuff like this, and yet you have no plans on how you plan to fix this. If you actually had a fucking plan, then I might be more willing to leave the subject alone. I mean, I don't need to have stakes in this. Even if I had wished that my friend Candice would be more willing to talk with me about what her fucking issues are." Candice said, and then I was remembering what Rob had said about Candice earlier.

"I remember hearing about her. One of my friends Rob said that she was rather rude to him, and I think that he might never have any desire to talk to her again." I said, and then I was wondering what Mimi had to say on that matter. "I mean, personally, there is nothing that I can fucking do about it. But if she is going to be this antagonistic to everybody, then I might never see what you see in her."

"I think you need to understand her spot on the matter. She probably felt like Rob was doing nothing more than leeching information. She probably felt like he was going to be one of those people who would constantly make promises, and get people to trust in him, and then soon enough, he would reveal his true colors as a failure. Everybody else does this already." Mimi said, and I was trying my best to see it from her view.

"I guess that it could make some sense like that. But I feel like given everything that is happening, we need to at least pretend like we are not wanting to basically throw us all away as fucking worthless." I said, feeling that my patience for people who were going to be poot sports was quickly running out the window.

"See you soon. Hopefully the next time, the two of us could be able to actually find something that will suit us both. Since I think that I can vouch for both of us when I saw that we did not get what we had wanted." I said, and I was really just not caring how rude I was being when I said that.

As I had left the area, I was seeing Mimi with her last couple of pieces. She looked like she was kind of hurt with the way that I had been speaking, but that she was willing to just leave it alone. I looked back at her for a short second, and I was feeling slightly bad for the way that I spoke. But I just felt like it was the right thing to say.

I was feeling that if this had kept up for a while longer, I would officially be the one peron who would be on my own forever. I mean, I hardly got anybody to like me, and I feel like I was just digging my holes deeper and deeper, and that everything I had been doing had just been going nowhere, so that in that sense, I was just wasting time.

I had just hoped that by the end of summer, people were still willing to at least speak with me. Willing to understand where my perspective was, and the fact that at the end of the day, I was really still trying my best to not be hurting anybody. Just when iw as starting to feel like people were over my internship.

I was feeling that the only person who was still at least relatively willing to speak to me was Rob. And who knows, maybe Rachel was still able to tolerate my presence, despite the fact that Tobias had told me that she had no romantic interest in me. Although I was wondering if I was still willing to see her after taht.

I went home that day, and I went right to my room. The entire time that I was walking away, I was seeing that my younger sister was looking like she was really happy to see me. I was feeling that if she was wanting to still talking with me, then I might as well just go along for the ride for now.

"How are you doing? You look like you're kind of depressed right now." She said, and then I was laying down on my bed. I was tired, and I was upset,and I was having a feeling that if I went too long, then I might lash at her, which was something she didn't really deserve.

"Alright. Just tired. And I feel like I am going to have another long day ahead of me. I can't really mess around too much." I said, and I was hoping that she was not going to be taking too much from that, and think that I was being a asshole or what not. I closed my eyes, just ready to sleep.

Scene 17: The Girl Of My Dreams

I was back at the Wilson house, not even caring about if she was liking me or not. That was totally fucking unimportant to what I was wanting to deal with. I just wanted to speak to her, and see what she was feeling. And besides, I was feeling that with the stuff that I had done with Mimi, that I needed to try and redeem myself, and not get myself into any more shit.

When I was with Rachel, she had looked right at me, and I was seeing her looking like she was trying to find something to say. "Look, I am sorry for the way that I was acting earlier. You were just trying to do the best for me, and I keep losing sight of that. I feel like in a way, I am the one who really is the bad friend." Rachel said, and then I was shaking my head.

"I shouldn't have been so focused on the workd around here that I refused to see the bigger picture. I made a lot of mistakes, and I am going to be doing whatever it takes to fix them. I am going to try and be a real friend to you going forward. Not this guy who is trying to fucking juggle everything at once, when I have no need to." I said, and then with that, I saw that Rachel was just considering what I had said.

"I hope that you are telling the truth. That would be the most amazing thing that I could hear." She said, and then I was nodding, hoping that with the way that I was speaking, the level of sincerity that I was posing would seep through. "I mean, at ths point in time, just basic friendships are really more than what Ineed."

"I just think that maybe I should be sticking to you guys more. Maybe getting to really know who Tobias is for once. I never really got the chance to see him for who he really is, and that is all my fault." I said, and then after I had said that to her, I was wondering why I was even bringing Tobias into this. He was having nothing to do with me.

"It's so strange. How before Andrea went missing, I never much cared for his personal being, and thought he was a annoying piece of crap many times. But after she was gone, I want to make sure that he stays safe at all costs. And now that he just basically never wants to speak to me, I realized that I was the worst sister ever." Rachel said, and then she shook her head, as if disappointed in everything we had done.

"Well, I think that when something terrible happens, it does affect the people around them. I believe that this is what happened with you. It helped you realize what was most important to you, and made you start to become the person that you know you should be." I said, and then I was looking at Rachel, wondering what she would have wanted to say to this.

"But in all honesty, I just want Tobias happy. I mean, I never thoight that I would have said that. If you told me three years ago, or hell, even three months ago, that the thing that I want is the safety of my younger brother, I would have thought that you were crazy. But here we are, and now that we are here, I am just trying to see where I could go to change it." After she had said that to me, I slowly nodded, trying to see her perspective.

"Well, I think that you need to force him to understand that this is your perspective. Don't let him think otherwise. He will always be on your side. But do you think that the two of you will ever go back to being the way that thngs once were?" I asked, and then we were walking along, and I saw that she was just looking worried at that idea.

"And in all honesty, I think that when it comes down to it, I want to be there for you and Rob. I mean, you were the two that were there for me when I was starting. I was trying to be happy, and I wanted to be popular. But now I feel like the idea of being popular, and that insane pursuit will forever be the worst thing that I was trying to accomplish." I said, wondering why I was telling her this to begin with.

"Popularity. What a fucking joke. If you were trying to do this to be popular, then you should have known that hanging out with the guy with a fucking destroyed eye would have been the worst idea to go with. But whatever, I guess that something like that is better than zero." After she had said that to me, I shook my fucking head at her statements.

"Yeah. To be honest, another reason why I was having a hard time coming to you lately was the fact that Tobias admitted to me that you did not like me. That really hurt to hear, and for some reason, I had let that get in the way of what mattered to me. The main thing that I want to focus on is making sure that you can have a wonderful rest of your summer. It doesn't matter if you do not like me." I said, finally feeling that saying this was the best confession that I could have made.

"I mean, I just don't know if I am ready to date or anything. And there is also the fact that you need to consider is that Rob had been there for me this whole time, and he has done everything that he could since day one. I mean, it will be hard to not have at least some bit of a preference for him." After she had told me this, I was slowly nodding, trying to take it the best that I could, since I knew that deep down, she was right in everything that she had said.

"Rob is a good guy. I will grant you that. He is one of the few people that I feel like will truly be out there for those that need it. I just wish that I was like that myself." I was saying, and despite the fact that I was still sad, I was feeling that if there was one person to lose against, then it was best to be him.

"So Izzy, now that you are here, I guess that we might as well just talk for a bit. I mean, you were always talking about how you just wanted to have normal friendships. But you never really went out of your way to fight for those. Do you want to stay with me for the night?" After she had asked me this, I was shocked to hear this. I was feeling like everythng was just running through my mind.

"Shit. I did not expect you to say that. I have nothing else to do, there is no reason to not fucking do it." I said, and then after I had said that to her, I was seeing Rachel looking like she was unable to conatain her excitement any longer. "I just hope that one of these days, I can understand why I have been so scared to talk with you and everybody else."

We went inside of the house, and I was hoping that Tobias would not be upset at me being here. I was wondering if he was even here in the first place. "Is Tobias stiill here for the night?" I asked, and in all honesty, I didn't want to speak to him. But I wanted to have some form of clarity, where the two of us could clear things up, and I really had no choice.

"He is, but he is planning on leaving soon. I think he was talking about how he was wanting to see T.K. or something like that. I mean, I don't know what he does with his friends anymore. As long as he doesn't get himself killed, then I hope that it's fun at least." After she told me this, I was slowly nodding at this statement.

We sat down on at the living room table, and I was seeing that Rachel was now looking much more willing to just fucking kick back, and relax. I was seeing her looking like everything that had been going on in his life was all running around her at a million miles per hour. "I mean, I just really hope that it was not my fault that Andrea went missing. All because I had that fucking party. If it is, I will never forgive myself." After she had said that to me, I was slowly nodding at her fears.

Before long, Tobias was walking down the stairs, and he was looking over at me. When he saw me, I was seeing that he was almost looking like he was just having immediate regret in his face. "Hey dude, I hope that you don't mind what I had said earlier. I was not trying to be rude when I said that. Are you fine with it now?" He asked, and the amount of water treading he was doing was fucking insane.

"It's fine. I am more worried about the well being of your sister than if she likes me or not. I am jus here to talk to her, and see what was going on." After I had said that to him, I was seeing that Tobias was actually looking like he would be satisfied with that answer. "Have a good time. Don't do anything too fucking dangerous."

I was seeing that Tobias was looking like he was shocked to be seeing that I was taking it in such a mature manner. Almost as if he was expecteding me to be having a giant fit about this. Which let's be honest, it would have been rather fucking tempting, especially at the moment. "Well, thanks for that. I will keep that in mind. I better be heading out, so that way they do not have to worry about waiting for me."

Tobias was quickly leaving the house, and then I was looking at Rachel, and I was wondering what I was going to be saying now. "He honestly seems like a nice guy. Just a bit uptight. I hope that once the school year rolls around, he will be able to put this all behind him." I said, and then I was wondering if hearing that was the final thing that Rachel would have needed to hear that I was wlling to just put this all behind me forever.

"Yeah, maybe he will be able to. If he does, then I think that maybe we can all make a process of recovery. Not that it really fucking matters. People just always do their own thing, and they want me to somehow act like here is not a lot of fear in my mind." Rachel said, and then I was feeling that her telling me this was going to be hard for me to say anything for.

"I mean, in all fairness, he did have a connection with her. He always seemed to be rather close. Almost like he was considering her to be more of a sister than he considered me to be one. Which I guess is bit of a shame for me to admit." After Rachel said that to me, I was placing my hands on her shoulder, hoping to try and make her feel better.

Scene 18: Embrace Darkness

I was at Rob's place again, and I was hoping that by talking to him, I would be able to let him know that Rachel and I have basically cleared everything up, and that we were going to finally just be happy to be friends with each other. And besides, I was always having a feeling that there was something that was going on with him.

Before long, I was at his house, and then I knocked on it. The entire time I had been waiting, I was actually finding myself almost proud of the situation that I had placed myself in. I was honestly feeling like nothing else mattered. That my friends and I were going to finally just be happier for once. And to be honest, I hardly was worried about what everybody else was thinking.

Eventually, Rob answered the door, and he was looking like he was glad to finally be seeing me over here. "Thanks for coming here today. I just feel like I need to have somebody to talk to me for a bit." After Rob had said that to me, I was slowly nodding, wondering if I could get him to stop being so worried for so fucking long.

"So Izzy, how are you and Rachel doing? You were expressing interest and trying to speak to her." Rob said, and he was sounding like he was actually more excited about that than he was to speak about his own personal feelings. So with that, I sighed, and I decided that I was just glad that we had made up.

"We talked with each other yesterday, and we are doing well again. I told her that it really does not matter if she likes me or not, and that in all honesty, I just wanted to be friends with her to begin with. I got too over my head, and I let feelings get in the way of the bigger picture." I said, and then I was feeling like speaking this way was able to just put this all behind me.

"That's good. In all honesty, it can be hard to try and hang out with a bunch of friends, but not be sure how they all view each other, and then everything just turns out to be a pain in the fucking ass." After he had said that to me, I was wondering why he would have to worry about that. I was sure Rachel and I would have been fine enough to talk in small doses.

"You seem like you are rather unsettled about something. Was there something that you needed to talk to me about?" I asked, and then Rob was slowly nodding, as if finally feeling like he was more willing to speak to me here. He was walking far away from me, so with that, I was slowly forced to follow him.

"I mean, I might as well just be honest with you. The fact is that there is a bunch of dark thoughts in my head. The longer that we are doing this, the more that I am starting to consider if maybe these people really had the wrong idea after all. I mean for gods sake, if they were really so awful, then this place would not have been nearly as profitable as it has been." Rob said, and then I was seeing him looking at me, wondering what I would say to him.

"Rob, are you sure that this is something that you believe? There are a lot of things about this town that are probably rather fucking evil." I said, and then I was seeing Rob looking at me, like he did not need to have me remind him of this shit over and over again.

"You don't need to remind me. But the thing is that if we have barely gathered up anything, and if all the adults are telling us that this is a good business and town, then perhaps we are all in the wrong. That is all that I am really trying to explain here. And now I am here, wondering if I need to give this company a chance after all." After Rob said that to me, I was feeling like it was finally my time to yell at him, and be angry at the fact that he was saying this.

"You were the one that was against me doing this. You were telling me about how I should never get involved in this, and here you are, telling me that you are considering it. Where in the fucking world is this coming from?" I asked, and I was taking that in a far more upset direction than I was planning here.

As I was seeing Rob's face, when he had looked right at me, I was seeing that he was rather upset at the way that I was yelling at him. "I mean, I never said that it wasn't dumb for me to be acting like this. But I just feel like there are many times when I jumped way ahead, and then made wrong judgments." After he had said that to me, I was just feeling like maybe I needed to try and be nicer to him here.

"I mean, trust me when I say that there are some people who never care for anything besides their own personal gain here. That was why I refused to continue working for Kenta. I realized that despite how much I enjoyed his work, and thought that he was going to be the best person for the job, that he is just in this for his own messed up experiments. I mean, for all I know, there are others who aren't like that. But don't let yourself embrace these thoughts and ideas." I said, and then I was looking right at him, wondering what I was even saying here.

"And I feel like if Rachel ever heard me saying something like this, I think that she would probably never want to speak to me again. For all I know, she would have every fucking right to be throwing me away after that. But I just feel like I needed to at least consider the idea. And I felt like you would have been more open to talk to me about this. I guess that I was wrong." After Rob was telling me this, I was feeling like I needed to just relax with him a little bit more.

"Sorry for reacting the way that I did. I mean, you're right. I should have at least heard you out, and considered what you were saying. I guess that I was just assuming that there was a hint of hypocrisy here. But I am already getting over this right now." I said to him, and then I was almost feeling like I was just making a big fucking mistake here.

"Who knows. I think that the best way for me to be able to get a better sight at what is important here is to talk with Ocho again. I mean, he was the one who loved Andrea more than anybody, and I think that perhaps he is the one that more than any other has the right to really act like he is the one that has all of the answers here." After he had said that to me, I was wondering what it would be like to have Ocho at my side again.

"I wonder if Ocho is even safe in the first place. I mean, the last time that I saw him, he was going inside of a cave after I was buying him some time. For all that I know, he might be in danger or something, and it is all my fault. I feel like I have no choice but to see him next." I said, wondering if Rob would have wanted to come along for the ride this time.

"Do you want to see him again? I mean, he might be able to talk with you for a bit, and I am sure that if you want to go down the right path again, you are going to have to speak with him." After I told him this, I was seeing that Rob was at least considering what I was saying. I was hoping that he would say yes, since I wanted him to follow down his correct path once again.

"I would like to see him again. Do you think that he would be willing to see me, given the things that I told you earlier. I mean, if he knew that I was considering that, I think that he might just want to brush me off entirely." After he had said that to me, I was shrugging, having no idea what to say.

"Honestly, I think that this is something that you will have to see in yourself. For all that I know, he might be willing to talk with you. But that is something you need to decide." I said, and then after I had said that to him, I was looking down at the ground, and I was wondering how long it was going to take before people would really understand my perspective.

"Yeah, I should speak with him. I should really learn how he is able to go through this whole thing without losing sight on himself. I mean, he is still able to keep his eye on the main goal that he has, and I feel like in a way, that is probably the most inspiring thing a person can do." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, wondering what I was going to be able to tell him now.

"I think that the main reason that we are losing track and he never did, was the fact that he always had a goal that he was trying to accomplish. One specific goal that he never lost sight on. And here we are, just jumping around for thing to thing, and never really keeping any real plans." I said, and then I shook my head at this.

"I guess that maybe that makes sense. And besides, even though we all know what happened with Andrea, he never really lost sight on figuring out why in the world this happened. And this was why I think he is probably the best of us all, even if he can be a bit rude at times." After Rob said that to me, I slowly nodded at this statement.

"Do you think that Ocho is worried about you? I mean, if he is, then I think that is another good reason to try and talk to him. To just clear up those issues that are going on." I said, and then I was seeing that Rob was not too terribly sure of what we were going to talk about now.

"I guess that he could be worried about me, since I remember in the last time that we talked, he was talking to me about how I had been handling the whole situation with Andrea. He always was telling me to never lose sight of what was most important to me." After he had said that to me, I sighed for a second, considering what I was going to say now.

"Yeah, I just hope that you can sort out those fears that you are having right now. All that stuff about thinking that the company could be right. I mean, you are allowed to be feeling that way. But I think that you just need to be more careful about what is happening here." After I had said that to him, I was wondering if he was going to be listening to me at all here.

"Rob, sorry that everything in this town is making you second guess everything that is happening here. I don't know. I am just being a bit hard on people for no real good fucking reason. It is all one big mess that I am involved with." I said, and then with that, I was starting to go home, planning on my time with Ocho.

Scene 19: Hope Lies In Cyan

I was back where Ocho's house was, and this time, I did not fucking care if he was going to be upset with me being here or not. I was going to do whatever I needed to, to get the information that I needed. And if he was going to fight it, then that was something that he needed to realize was not the way to get people to like him.

Eventually, he answered the door, and he was looking at me, and as soon as I had seen the look on his face, I could tell that he was sincerely proud. As if this was the thing that he had wanted to do more than anything, and now that it was here, he was finally able to have the chance to make it all work out. "It's so fucking good to see you Izzy. It is all because of you that everything is finally turning out the way that it needs to be."

"What did you find when you were in there?" I asked and I was feeling that this was not the time for us to be messing around. I needed to know what his plan was, and I needed to see if I was actually going to be able to help him accomplish this. Everything else was fucking side shit.

"Yes, sorry for distracting you. Let's go into my room, and I will show you." Ocho said, and he was really starting to remind me or myself when I was hearing the way he was speaking: Way too eager, and almost just break neck pace. It just really was kind of making me consider what everybody else had been saying.

We were heading right to his room, and I was wondering what his parents were going to be saying to this. I wondered if his parents even cared that people were constantly coming to the house at late hours in the night. I just knew that my parents would have been furious if this was all happening.

As soon as we were inside, Ocho closed the door, and then he was taking a long and deep breath. Almost as if the excitement was just beyond comprehensible. With that, he was pulling something out of his drawer, and then he was handing it to me. I saw that it was another one of those crystals. As I was looking right at it, I was shocked at this.

"A cyan one. I wonder if the colors really mean anything. But I mean, just because you found one of them doesn't really mean that it is going to matter all that much. We have no fucking idea what they even mean anyways." I said, hoping that he was going to at least consider my perspective.

"I am going to make a weapon out of it. That was what the person I talked with last told me to do. I just felt like you deserved to know, since you were the one that helped me out so much along the way." After Ocho said that to me, I was feeling that this level of sentiment he was trying to present was strange.

"Who is this person that you are talking about? Are you sure that this person is really the one that you can trust the most?" I asked, really hoping that he was going to just give me some context here. I was not going to rely on a man who I have never met once in my life to be the one who would determine everything.

"Justin Ryder. I have been seeing him a couple of times. He said that after Andrea went missing, he was wanting to help me out with bringing justice to this town. I mean, after all, he used to be best friends with Shaun, and probably is disgusted with the way that this man has turned out." After Ocho had said that to me, I was wondering what the hell I was getting myself into.

"I was wondering if that guy was even alive anymore. I heard about him once or twice, but I never really have much interest in looking any deeper than that. But do you really feel like you will want to be able to trust him? For all you know, he would be leading us down something else." I said, and I was showing a insane level of uncertainty with every word that I had been saying.

"Izzy, I thought that you were going to be the one who would understand how important it is to get this guy on our side. I mean, he was the closest thing that we have ever gotten to the truth being exposed right away." He said, and then I looked right at him, wondering why in the world he was keeping up with these lies right now.

"I think we both know that Sheldon Lee was the closest thing that we have ever gotten to the truth being revealed, so I think that this lie is just simply not going to work." I said, and then I was taking a deep breath. "But then again, Justin was the one that is most involved with the people who have been dying lately. Maybe this really is his battle now." I said, and then I looked at him, wondering what he would say to this now.

As I was considering everything that we had been getting ourselves into, I was looking away from the crystal, not wanting to let that really cloud my vision any more. With that, I was sighing, and decided to ask him another question. "So Ocho, do you think that you are going to be speaking with Rob any time soon? I think that he will really need your help soon."

"Yeah, it would be nice to try and speak to him again. But I have a feeling that he will probably be to focused on trying to make things work with Rachel. After all, I have a feeling that the two of them are probably in love." Ocho said, and then I was feeling that maybe it was the only way to get him to open up. Even if Rob was not going to appreciate this.

"Ocho, I think you will have to speak with him. He was telling me about how he was almost starting to consider that these people are on the right directon. I mean, I feel like he might be doing something that he will later regret if he continues that belief." I said, and then I looked at him, wondering if he would consider my statements.

"I never thought that he of everybody would be the one saying this. I thought that he was the biggest one to denounce this aside from me. Maybe there was something that came along, and made a great case. I don't fucking know." After he had said that to me, I was looking right at him, wondering if Ocho was actually sincerely believing in this.

"I think that you will have to just talk to him before he does anything that can be a big mistake. I just wish that I was going to be at his side a bit better, considering everything that he had been doing. It is all my fucking fault that everything is just thrown in a hazy mess." I said, and I was wondering if I was coming off as a tad narcissistic when I was saying that to him.

"Izzy, are you going to be making a plan or something? I mean, you were talking about how important it was to always have a plan. I really hope that you are not going to be doing something that immediately throws everything out the fucking window." After Ocho was telling me this, I was wondering why in the world he would even care what I was thinking.

"I have no idea if a plan is even going to work. I just hope that I can be able to get people to over throw their worst traits, and be able to fix these. I feel like everybody fixing the biggest issues that they have is the only way that things can be changed." I said, and then I was wondering if Ocho was going to at least consider what I was saying.

"So basically you are going to try and play fucking therapist? I think you probably understand that this is not going to be working out nearly as well as you are hoping. But I guess that at this point, you are just as truly desperate as I have become. Maybe that is going to help you see my perspective." Ocho said, and I was not really in the mood to hear it.

"Ocho, I hope that you know what you are doing when you make that weapon. If you fail, then I do not even want to think about what can happen." I said, and then I was opening up the door a bit. I was seeing that Ocho was looking like he was rather annoyed at the fact that I was bringing this up again.

"Stop reminding me of this shit. It gets really fucking old always having you guys try to talk to me about this stuff all the time. I mean, let's not forget that I was the one who was doing this all on my own. And now here you are, acting like you are so much better at this than I am." Ocho said, and I was wondering if he was going to simmer down a little bit here.

As I was wanting to leave, I was feeling my mind coming back to Rob again, but this time, I was wanting to just turn it into a conversation that could give me a new perspective. "So, Rob and I were wondering how you have been able to do this all on your own. How have you never once lost sight of what you were wanting to accomplish?" I asked, and then Ocho was smiling at this once a little bit.

"I am always just reminding myself of what I think Andrea would have wanted me to do in this case. Every time I think about her, and how much I loved her, then that is what keeps me going. Besides, there is a new person that is starting to slowly make me feel like I can do more for those currently here." After Ocho said that to me, I felt like I needed to know who this woman was.

"Who is she?" I asked, wondering why in the world I was caring so much about this. Ocho slowly put the crystal back in the drawer, sat down on his bed, and stared at the wall ahead of him, thinking of her for a couple of silent seconds before telling me the answer.

"I am starting to like Mimi's friend Candice. She is a good girl, and she really helps me feel like there is more to this investigation than I thought. Maybe if I could talk with her, I could express to her that she is giving me a new light at the end of the tunnel." After Ocho said that to me, I was shaking my head, hoping that he was not going to be that way forever.

"I think you are going to have to stop thinking that. From the things that I have heard, she seems to be a rather rude person. Somebody who does not know when to let people just express their own thoughts and emotions." I said, and I was thinking that there was a small chance that I was wrong. But I was sincerely doubting it, and I was wanting to keep him safe. With that, I walked out, hoping his weapon was going to turn out the way he had wanted.

Scene 20: Failure of the Idiot

When I had woken up that day, and sort of made my peace with the situation that had happened, I was feeling that the only way for me to be able to push through this all was to finally just accept the fact that I was a failure, and an idiot atthe same time. There was nothing about what I had been doing that was good, and I was feeling that I just needed to accept my faults.

I was feeling that the only way that I could be able to actually make any difference was to change my strategy entirely. There was no plan that I was having that I could really work with, and that was fine. Maybe T.K. was right, with his bullshit of talking to everybody and getting on all of their good ends.

I was hearing a voice calling out to me. I was looking around, and I was seeing that it was my younger sister. I was really not in the mood for her trying to tell me to be feeling better here. But I was having a strange feeling that she was not going to be taking no for an answer, so I decided to just let her have her moment.

"Hey Izzy, I was just wondering how well you have been holding up. You seem like you have been through a lot, and I was hoping that you would be willing to talk to me." After she had said that to me, I was standing up, to try and make myself seem at least slightly less weak and pathetic.

"Terrible. I feel like everything that I have wanted to do during this summer vacation has been a terrible waste of time. I feel like I am a fucking failure, and there is nothing that I can fucking do about it." After I told her this, I was wondering what I was doing. "And in all honesty, I feel like there is no point in wasting my time with this anymore."

"What were you trying to do?" She asked me, and then I was walking to her, and I was placing my hands on her shoulder, unsure of what the hell I was going to be telling her. I was sighing, and I felt like the only thng left for me to do was lie to her, and get her to think that I was doing something else, so she woudl get all the way off of my back.

"I was just trying to become friends with certain people, and I was trying to help them all out. But I did not really help them. In many ways, I only ended up making things worse, and I feel like they might want nothing to do with me ever again. But I guess that maybe I was just meant to be alone." After I told her this, I was shrugging, thinking that there was nothing else to say anymore.

"Maybe you were just going at it the wrong way. You have been acting differently ever since you had that internship with Kenta. Are you still working with him?" She was asking me, and then I was unable to take it anymore. The fact that she was also pulling this shit on me, and that I was still dealing with this man, even with her.

"I stopped working with him a while ago, I learned that the two of us were looking at things way too differently for me to be able to justify working with him. But that is something that is not related. I just thought that these people liked me, and could rely on me. But then I only ended up making things worse." I was shrugging, and decided that I was just going to leave it alone.

As I was walking to the front door, and I was looking right at her, having no idea what in the world I was going to be doing. My sister was calling out to me, having nothing else to tell me. "Izzy, do you think it was because of you that they are being distant, or something else entirely?"

"I mean, one of them had her cousin go missing. And I have been trying to keep her comfortable, and feeling like there is always somebody to talk to her. But I feel like this is never going to happen. I mean, she talks with me, but I feel like there is always something that I was missing out on." After I had said that to her, I opened up the door, and I started to walk out.

Once I was out of the house, finally feeling that I just needed to tone down everything, and take it one step at a time. I was not really going to be showing any apologectic behavior, since doing so would indicate a weakness. But just because of that, I was needing to help everybody overcome their biggest fears here, and perhaps by doing that, everybody, myself included could just look at this with a clear mind. Maybe realize if we even needed to do this.

I mean, if Rob was planning on considering if these people were right, despite everything that I had been saying, then that was the final proof that I really needed that we had been taking this whole thing way too far, and that I really had no patience to try and deal with this anymore.

Before I was able to think about it too long, a car had pulled up, and I was looking at who it was going to be. I was seeing that it was Brad Carbunkle, and it had looked like there was Shaun in the passenger seat. After he had pulled up, I was wondering what in the world Brad was wanting to tell me.

"Nice to see you here. I know that you have not been very fond of the work that I have been doing lately, but I was hoping to perhaps try and clear things up eventually." After Brad said that to me, I was shaking my head, not really wanting to hear whatever fucking excuses he was having to give me.

"What have you been able to figure out anyways? I mean, are you just trying to get a bunch of publicity by talking about this case?" I asked, and I was wondering why in the world I was even telling him this in the first place. I felt like if Brad was actually trying his best to investigate this, he would have just given me a straight answer.

"I have been looking into the incident at the Temple of the Ancients. And along with that, I have been given a tip about something in the middle of the forest. I plan to check it out, and see what I could be able to find." After he had said that to me, I was then feeling like I was able to corner him.

And I could see from the way that Shaun was looking at us, that he was probably even more worried about this than Brad had been. Almost as if he was going to have something that he had told Brad to be revealed. "Are you talking about the crystal cave? How thoroughly are you going to be looking at that?" I asked, and then I was seeing both men looking cornered here.

"I am not in the right place to be making these comments. You should just leave the subject alone. Talking about these things is going to pull you down a path like those students who always just make a lot of trouble for no good reason." Brad said, and then he was clinching his fists to the wheel as he was starting to drive off.

As he was gone, I was mentally angry at myself for not at least pretending to be nice to him. If I had been able to at least give off the impression that I was willing to listen to him, then perhaps this whole issue would have been a lot more tame by comparison. "I really am just unable to get myself out of this situation."

As I was mentally punching myself, I was feeling that if Brad had known something, and if he was just trying to throw me off, I just needed to have somebody at my side who was going to be able to help me prove what I was saying was indeed true. So with that, I was walking on over to T.K.'s house, since he was the one who had the closest relation with Tobias out of all of us.

As I had been walking there, I was borderline convinced that Brad was the only one who I needed to be worried about. I mean, he was having the endorsements of every single person in this town, and he was basically given free fucking will to everything that he had wanted here, and there was nothing that we could do about it.

Before long, I was at the house, and I knocked on the door. Eventually, T.K. answered the door, and I was already seeing that just from his expression he was clearly not in the mood to deal with this. "Look, I know that you do not believe in everything that I am doing. So I think it would be best if you run the show." I said, hoping he could appreciate what I was saying. As I said that to him, I saw T.K. looking like I was lifting a pressure off his shoulder.

Scene 21: The Young Man

So when I was finally ready to talk with T.K., I was wondering what I was going to tell him. "I feel like since you are better aware of everything that is going on, and you are the one with the most stakes in this, that you should be the one that tells me what you are doing this for." I said, hoping that by that point, T.K. was not going to be looking too deeply in the way that I was going at ths.

"Well, I guess that there are not a lot of things that are happening now. Might as well just tell you what I can." T.K. said, and then he was closing the door, and I was seeing that he was looking like he was so fucking sad at everything that he was doing. "You seem like you are rather upset about something." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, wondering what I would tell him.

"Just talked with Brad earlier. Not just that, but Shaun was there in his car. And I think that when we were talking, Shaun was looking as if I was coming rather fucking close to exposing something real quick." After I had said that to him, I was seeing T.K. looking like he could not have cared less what I had been saying.

"Honestly, I have no idea what to believe with that guy, and in all honesty, I think that trying to learn more about him is going to be a waste of time." After he had said that to me, I was shrugging a little bit, and I really had no clue what I was going to be telling him here. "To be honest, I think that wasting our time talking to him is really not going to be getting us anywhere."

"But that man is talking with the big head of the company. If you are seriously thinking that this is going to be a waste of time, then perhaps we are all lost here. I mean, you are talking with Tobias lately. I was hearing that you are probably the only person that he is willing to talk with." I said, and I was was starting to head away, and T.K. was starting to follow me.

"Yeah, he has been talking with me lately. But in all honesty, I think that you not need to be getting too involved with this right now. He is still just trying his best to getting over what happened with Andrea." T.K. said, having no idea what in the world we were getting ourselves into.

"I am planning on heading to the Temple of the Ancients. Would you wan to come with me while I check that place out? I mean, I know that you are probably going to laughing at the idea, and telling me off. But I think that we are seriously going to find what we need in there." I said, and I was thinking that if for nothing else, that was the most serious thing that we can be able to look at here.

As I had told him this, I was seeing that T.K. was looking scared. Then with that, he looked down, and then he was shaking his head. As if he was not going to believe that he was planning to agree to this. "Fine, I guess that we have nothing to lose if we are going to check it out." After he had said that to me, I was wondering if this was going to be the best way to finally get him to at least talk.

"I just started to realize that trying to be looking at this case myself is not going to be the best way to find out the truth. I feel like I just need to be letting others sort of lead the ride. Do you think that you would be willing to help me understand what is happening? You have been in this since day one." I said, and I was seeing that T.K. was considering what I had been saying.

"I really don't know what I can be able to tell you to help you out right now. I guess that perhaps I just have been getting rather distracted. And a large part of me is just denying the evidence that is being presented to me, since in all honesty, it just fucking hurts to be thinking about the truth." After he had said that to me, I was confused at what the hell he was saying.

"What are you talking about with evidence? I mean, if you have something that is right there, and you are just hiding it, then I think that this is going to be throwing away everything that we have been trying to accomplish." After I had said that to him, I was seing that T.K. was looking like he was upset at the way that I had been speaking.

"I mean, I remember what Tai told me one time when he was telling me about him seeing some camera footage with Davis. I mean, I bet that he has nothing to do with it all honesty, but if he could have any clues as to what is happening, then I think that I need to take the responsibility to see what this could be." After T.K. said that to me, I was wondering why Davis would have any connection here.

"Seriously, Davis? That guy probably can't figure anything out for himself. I think that if you are going to try and pin point things to him, then that is going to be a massive fucking let down." I said, and then I was looking at him, wondering if he was going to be bothered by the way that I had spoken with him.

"I know that it might be stupid. But just give it a fucking chnace. I mean, I have a bad feeling that if Davis can be involved in what is going on, then I just need to try and fucking tell him that I really do not appreciate the lies that are happening." T.K. said, and he was being a lot more firm at this than I was expecting him to be.

"Whatever. I mean, I think that if this is true, we need to see him as soon as we are done with the Temple. Not that we are going to be finding anything here. I mean, I think that this temple is really the biggest thing that I need to be worried about." I said, wondering what in the world this temple was going to bring me, especially considering the fact that if we were caught going inside of there, then our reputation would be thrown out the fucking window.

Eventually, we were going along for a while longer, and we were getting near the entrance of the temple. I was placing my hand on his shoulder, feeling that I just needed to try and get him to talk with me. "T.K., is there something going on, that you need to tell me?" I asked, and then T.K. was shrugging, as if thinking that I was wasting his time now.

"I think that I should talk to my friend Yolei soon. She has told me that there was something she needed to discuss. And with the expresson on her face, I fucking believe in her. I just think that if something is going to happen to her, then it is all going to be my fault for not talking with her earlier." After he had said that to me, I was sighing, and felt like this was a waste of time.

I stared at the temple, and I was wondering if I should be going inside or not. And just watching it felt so fucking imposing, and I was feeling everything remotely resembling a fucking plan was being thrown out the fucking window. I took a deep breath, wondering what I was going to do.

Scene 21: Monster

Once we were done staring at it like a bunch of idiots, the two of us had gone inside of the temple of the anicents. As I was looking inside, I was feelng that just being inside of the building was going to be really throwing down every little bit of ethics that we had still been able to keep up. As I was looking right at him, wondering what T.K. was planning on doing now.

"I feel like whatever is going to happen now, we just need to get through this as fast as possible. I already feel like we are doing something horribly wrong by being here in the first place." I said, and I was shocked to finally start to try and be the voice of reason. T.K. sighed, as if having no idea what in the world we were going to say now.

"I mean, we are here now, so there is nothing that we can fucking do about it. We might as well just see what we might be able to find, and see if we can learn or something new." T.K. said, and then he was taking a few steps, and as we were walking along, I was noticing something of a burning smell.

"What the fucking hell is that smell?" I asked, not able to hold it in any more. I mean, I didn't mind the first twenty seconds or so, when I was able to assume that perhaps it was just me imagining things. But the closer that we got, the more clear that it was going to be that it wasn't just me.

I was seeing that even T.K. was starting to get a bit uncomfortable at this smell. I was glad to know that it wasn't just me. But then before long, we were looking at a podium at the end of this hallway. I was clearly able to see that there was some form of a item that we needed to place on the podium if we were having any chance of making any further with.

As I was staring at the podium, I was looking right at T.K., and then I was shrugging. "I think that we should just get the hell out of here. It is not like we are going to be getting much from staying here. Although I got to admit that it is still in nice condition, despite the fact that a man had died recently here." I said, and I was still wondering if I was going to be able to find a clue on the true culprit here.

I was looking around, and then I was checking about for a second. "Sorry for dragging you along with this. But I just have a terrible feeling that Shaun is going to use the death recently as an excuse to try and destroy this building. Get rid of any last thing that is still bringing Wayside back to what it was like earlier." After I was telling him this, I was wondering if I was being a bit of a fucking idiot here.

"I mean, I thought that this area was the one fucking thing in Wayside that people are still showing a level of respect for. I think that if anybody is going to destroy this place, it is going to be some random fucking guy who is trying to pretend like he is the face of justice." After T.K. said that to me, I was shaking my head for a second.

As the two of us were debating, I was looking at the writing of the walls. I took out my camera, that I had placed in my pocket when I had decided that I was going to check this place out, just in case, and I was already taking pictures of the writings. T.K. was taking a few seconds to consider what to say. But he just let me take a handful of pictures.

"I mean, holy crap. I think that this is some stuff that even Lazarus will have no idea over. We can be able to review this information, and get the truth of what this place really stands for. I believe that this is the best advancements that anybody has made here in decades." After I had said that to him, I was so fucking thrilled that I was almost not noticing T.K. placing his hand on my shoulder when I was still taking some pictures.

As we were looking up, I was seeing that it was a man who was wearing something like a black hood. He was bent over with a hunch back, and he was starting to walk towards us. "Is that a monster? Perhaps that is a temple guard. I think we need to be heading out right now." After T.K. was telling me this, I was starting to take what he was sayigng a bit more seriously.

"Yeah, I think we just need to be getting the hell out of here. I got something to work with. I guess that this will be enough to work with." I said, and then I was starting to walk along, and then T.K. was starting to get closer to the exit as well. I was feeling that both of us just scared out of our mind.

Before long, we were at the exit of the temple, and then we were leaving, and then I was looking right at him. T.K. had looked like he was scared out of his fucking mind, and I was wondering what he was even wanting to say now. "What in the world was that thing? I guess that perhaps we are making a big mistake." I said, and then I was placing the camera down in my pocket again, hoping that people would not try and find out what I had found.

As we were taking a couple of deep breaths, that was when I was seeing a car coming up once again. This one was different from Joe's father. For some reason, I was initially thinking that it was going to be him, considering what had happened before. "I think that we need to be getting out of here as soon as possible." T.K. said, with a relatively scared look on his face. I was feeling just terrible for him.

"I mean, don't you want to know what this person really wants to do here? For all we know, we could be able to learn some extra details from this person that could help us learn more about this temple." I said, and I was having no idea why I was arguing with him so much over this. As I had said that to him, I was seeing T.K. shaking his head.

"You can have your fucking investigation later. We are making a big mistake by still being here. And if you are having any plans on what you want to do to figure out the writings, then we are not going to be able to do this when we are having people coming along here." After T.K. was telling me this, I was seeing him balling his fist up firmly.

But we were not going to be able to debate this any longer, due to the fact that the car had come up, and there was somebody heading out of the car. I was starting to debate what in the world the two of us were going to do now as an exucse. But when I was seeing who it was, I was starting to lose the little bit of composure that I was having here.

"What the fucking hell are you doing here?" I asked, and I was not even caring if I was going to be pissing her off as I said this. But I was wondering what Nicole Watterson was going to be doing right now, considering the fact that she was working on a factory, not working on me.

"I was wanting to make sure that you did not do anything that you were going to regret. I was scared that if you were going to look too deep into this, then you might be able to figure it all out." After she had said that to us, I was seeing T.K. looking like he was trying to decide what to say now.

"What does this have to do with working on the construction of a factory?" T.K. asked, and then Nicole was walking to the front of the temple, and the two of us walked to the side, just to give us some space between her. I was scared of what she was going to be doing now. For the first time, I was scared of somebody at Wayside.

"Wat do you know about this place? This place has nothing here that gives me any answers." I said, and then I was shrugging, and then I was suddenly realizing that I had just admitted that I came in here. I was seeing T.K. looking at me, and I was seeing him looking fucking pissed at the fact that I had basically done this.

"Honestly young man, this place contains knowledge to the monsters that have been studied here. I am sure that you understand that those rumors are true. But we do not know everything about them yet, and this is the best thing that we can be able to get to find out more about them." Nicole said, and then she was looking right at us.

"So is that what Wayside has been doing all this time? Doing research on random fucking monsters that might not even be able to come along? But what does that have to do with anything else at this place? The missing girls, the grinding noise... everything." I was saying, and I was looking right at T.K., and he was looking like he was just trying his best to be hiding the fear that he was clearly feeling by being here.

"In a matter of speaking, yes, that is what we are trying to figure out right now. I think that you have to understand that this entire town has been trying to get ready for the next invasion. And you are holding us back, trying to find out the truth. When you were in that internship, we had great hope in you. We were thinking that you were going to be the one who would finally help us find the truth." Nicole said, and I will admit that with the way that she was saying this, I was starting to really feel bad for the way that I had done this. I was feeling like it was all my fucking fault.

"Sorry for everything. I never thought that you were going to be doing that. I mean, does that mean tat the stories are a lie? The ones talking about how nobody goes inside of this temple?" I asked, and I was starting to express my anger at this. If she was lying to me this whole time, and everything was a bunch of bullshit, then we deserved to have so much better here.

"You are taking this way too seriously Izzy. I have never gone in here. And it is a commonly accepted rule that it is not allowed. But ever since we found out about that person dying, and that there was people in here, that we no longer have to hide our research." After she had said that to me, I was seeing her looking like she was on top of the world.

I was seeing a agressive look on her face, but then she was starting to sigh, and calm down. "Look, I like you. And Gumball is friends with him. So how about this? Just this time, I will let you go. Do whatever it is that you want. But this is your last warning. If we see you again, I will have no choice but to bring you to Shaun, and have him decide what to do with you." After she had said that to us, I nodded, grabbing T.K.'s shoulder, and forced him to start walking away.

Scene 22: Newer Evidence

I eventually was at Joe's area in the cafe the next night. I was feeling that with over a day or so to think on it, then I would be able to properly look at her intentions more than I had been earlier. When I was staring at Joe, I was wondering what I was going to tell him. "So Joe, do you have any idea on what this could all mean?" I asked, feeling that I needed to try and see what he had to say.

"I have no fucking idea. I wasn't the one who created a bunch of random signs, or decided to break into the Temple of the Ancients." After Joe had said that to me, he was starting to calm down a bit, and he was looking like despite everything, he could be able to appreciate the risk that I had been taking.

"Well, I have to admit that in all honesty, what you did was a lot more courageous than what I could have been able to do. I guess that we just got to try and figure out what we can be able to find out about these monsters. I mean, if what you are saying about Nicole confessing their existence is true, then we really have no choice but to look at it better." After Joe said that to me, I was then wondering why this was even needing to be a topic of discussion any further.

"I heard about one person who tried to look into these monsters all these years ago. A girl named Dana or something. She wrote a whole book on it. But nobody took her seriously, due to thef act that she was thirteen years old at the time that she had made it." Joe said, and then I was shaking my head at this idea.

"Dana? I feel like I might have heard that name before. I think that she was one of the people who have been assassinated in the last couple of years." After I had said that to Joe, I was seeing him looking like he was just really let down by this statement.

'Well, I think that any chance of us finding out a crucial piece of evidence is gone out the fucking window. I mean, the only way that we can be able to learn more is if we managed to find some form of random copy of that book. But that is extremely unlikely due to the fact that if this was true, the company would have thrown out all evidence related to it." Joe said to me, and there was somebody who was indeed coming by my mind.

"There has to be one extra copy of it somewhere. I think that if you want to find it, you will have to try and find a person who still hung out with her back in the past." I was saying, and I just hoped that this discussion could have finally just gotten us at least one or two steps closer to finding out the truth of this town.

"Do you know anybody who might have wanted to hang out with her?" Joe asked, and then he was looking at all the pictures again. He was just taking a few seconds to finally put this all in perspective. As he was saying this, I was suddenly having a name come by my head, and I looked right at him.

"I think that I can talk to that politician who gives off those speeches. You know, that Todd guy that nobody liked. I think that he would be in the proper age. And then there is the fact tht I am sure that he had mentioned here at one point. Like I am ninety nine percent sure of it." I said, and then I was looking right at him, hoping that he was going to at least consider what I had been saying.

"Shit, that is actually true, then I think that we need to be finding time to talk to him as fast as possible. If you need me to take care of that, I can be able to do that." Joe said, and I was shocked at the way that he had been taking any form of lead on this shit. "I mean, I think that people are always going to suspect you of doing something else now. I think that I might be the only option that we have right now."

I was so upset at the way that he had been saying this. Not because of me being offended or anything, but because deep down I had known that he was telling the truth. Deep down, I knew that if I tried to do anything, then it was all going to be one big fucking waste of time. "Fine. If you really believe that you are the only one who can do it, then be my fucking guest." I said, and I was shaking my head.

"You can come with me if you want. I am just trying to be realistic when I am looking at all of this." Joe was telling me, and then I was wondering what in the world I was going to do about the translations of this camera. "What is coming across your mind right now?" Joe asked, having no idea what to say now.

"In all honesty, I have no idea what in the world I am wanting to say. I mean, even beyond the translation issues, I feel like if all of this is true, and they are just trying to stop monster invasions, as insane as it sounds, then perhaps I was wrong about what we are doing right now." After I was telling him this, I was thinking that there was a level of truth to what we had been saying.

"But I feel like no matter what else, there is just so many pictures that do not add up, and we are all just making a big mistake by leaving this alone as long as we have been. There has to be more to this than fucking monsters, and I think that we both fucking know it." I told him, unable to keep my theories and ramblings hidden any longer.

"Well, what else are we going to be able to find? I think that if we can find out something about these monsters, we are going to be able to find out more about everything else. Let's just try and find where those monsters are first, and then we can finally have the truth." Joe was telling me this, the level of certainty in his voice was making me start to take things were going to be better with his involvement.

As I was starting to get my feelings in check, I was looking at him. "I know that I was rather rude before, and I am sorry for that. But thank you for being willing to take the time to listen to what I had to say. I feel like everything is going to come together a whole lot better." I said, and then and then I was feeling that I just needed to get it over with.

"Thank you for taking the time to listen to everything that I had to say. It makes me feel better knowing that despite everything else, you are willing to at least consider everything." I was telling him, hoping that I could be able to get him to feel better about wasting his time to get to know me.

"Dude, if I was letting one minor spat that happened several days ago determine what I believe about everybody else in the rest of town, then I would be really losing my mind right now. I would probably hate ninety eight percent of Wayside in a month." After Joe had said that to me, I was seeing him looking sligtly worried here.

Joe was putting the pictures up, and he was looking at the wall that was becoming increasingly covered up with a overwhelmin amount of material. "How did you manage to get all of that material in the first place? I mean, I thought that you were supposed to be unpopular." After I said that to Joe, I was seeing him looking like he was kind of bothered by the way that I was bringing that up right now.

"You really do not need to be bringing that up right now. I mean, I am just trying to help out." Joe said, and then after he was done saying that to me, I was shaking my head, unsure of what in the world I was even going to tell him now. "Regardless, I think that that we just need to take this carefully. Honestly, I just think that once we find out everything that is happening, then Jim might be able to take what we are saying more seriously."

"What does Jim have to do with this? I mean, I know that he never liked this whole investigation. But in all honesty, I think that he is against it because of the fact that he knows that this is the truth. I know that you do not like the dismissive behavior that he shows, but I think that we would have to learn his perspective before anything else." I was telling Joe, hoping that he would at least be willing to drop it for the time being.

"Sorry. It just always gets to me when I know that he is never listening to us right now. It just makes me feel like he doesn't really care about what is happening." After I had said that to him, I was feeling that we were all wasting our time. "Just good luck with talking to Todd soon. Hopefully he will actually be iwlling to listen to you." I said, and then I was starting to head off.

Scene 23: The Fighter (Brad)

After Brad had been told of what had happened at the temple of the ancients from Nicole when the two teenagers had left the area, he was suddenly feeling that it was time for him to be getting into business mode. He got in the car, and drove right to the forest, taking with him every single weapon that he had built up over the years.

The closer that Brad was getting to the temple of the anicents, the more and more that he was feeling that this whole situation was all going to be turning out down for the count. He got out of the car when he was finally on the path to reaching the temple.

As he had gotten down the path, he was thinking about his time with Victoria, and he had been thinking about the situation that he had gotten himself into, and wondering if Victoria would have ever forgiven him. As he was questioning all of these things, that was when a voice called out to him.

"What are you going to do at that Temple?" After the man asked Brad this, this was when Brad was taking a second to consider the mannerisms of the guy, realizing more and more that this man was going to have every intention to kill him.

"I am just doing my job. Have some things that I need to clear up." Brad said, as he was reaching down for the lightsaber that Shaun had given him. As Brad was getting ready for this, that was when the man had already gotten his blade ready.

"What are you planning on finding there in the first place?" He asked Brad, and this was when Brad was just looking away, trying to decide what he was going to do. "People have come and defaced the area too many times, and none of this is right." He said, getting himself in a pose where his left leg was in a slightly bent pose as he was turning a green lightsaber.

"One of my associates had come up there recently, and I am trying to make sure that they are going to be safe." Brad said, and then he was holding the blade with both hands. Both of them were staring at each other for a few seconds before the man that Brad was facing made the first move.

Brad had figured that if they had made the first move, then he was going to have every right to be able to fight back, and that this was when he had lost every right to have people consider him the man behind it all.

The two of them clashed their blades for the first time. The heat of the blades was getting Brad to be losing all focus for a few seconds, and he was starting consider giving up. But then with that, the two of them split apart, taking a few steps apart.

"I never thought that Shaun's second in command was going to be a man who would be so clumsy at fighting." He said to Brad, holding the blade just by his left hand now, and Brad was wondering if he was purposely weakening his pose to give Brad a chance.

With that, the guy started to swing again, and then he kicked Brad in the chest, and then Brad was falling down on the ground. As the man was already trying to give the killing blow, Brad jumped up, and then he was taking a couple of steps back.

"At least I am serving a life purpose, and I am not getting misguided by a false assumption of being a noble warrior. Every time people go around, and make these lies about the town, then the panic is only getting worse." After Brad said that, he was taking a deep breath, wondering if the lie could even keep up longer.

The two of them clashed their blades once again, and this time, the man started to bring the green blade down enough to where it was starting to hit Brad's shoulder, and at this rate, the pain was getting too much for him to contain, and then he was jumping away.

"I know that you are the true culprit. Everybody who knows you will be able to confirm that. Imagine how your girl will be able to feel about that. Knowing that you killed these people. Do you think that she would have forgiven you?" He asked, and the first part of the confession was one thing. But the second part was making Brad lose his mind.

Brad eventually lunged at the man, and then pounced him down on the ground. Then with that, he punched the man several times in the face, trying to get him to bleed. Once he had felt like he got the man to bleed, he got himself up, feeling the need to let his arm calm down from the pain on his shoulder.

"I know that more than anything else, I am doing the right thing for her. She loved me, and I will love her for the rest of my life." Brad said, and he was not even caring if he was sounding like he was obsessed a bit with Victoria. But in all honesty, she was the one thing keeping him down to some form of happiness.

As Brad was starting to calm down a bit, that was when Brad was feeling a sense of death coming along. He started to jump out of the way, and was glad to be doing this, as he was seeing the green blade fly by, and then it ended up hitting a tree.

"I know that if I had done anything that you were doing, then nobody would ever want to support me once again. I think that the sooner that you realize that you made a mistake, the faster that you can have a chance to become a human being again." The man said, and then Brad was feeling like he had finally had enough.

As he had seen that, Brad started to get frustrated, and then he charged at the man, and then in a rush of anger started to slash the blade down over and over again in a fit of anger, and then after several rounds, he ended up cutting a giant gash across the mans chest. "I am not a tool." Brad yelled, holding the weapon up in case if he needed to slash down again.

"You are letting yourself become one, because over time, you are refusing to make your own choices. At the end of the day, the ones you love will be looking at you ashamed of the path that you have gone down." The man said that to Brad, he was coughing up some blood.

"You can make sure that no matter what is happening, I will do everything to make sure that the people that I love will finally be able to have a chance to move forward in their life. And I franklydo not care if you do not believe in me." After Brad said that to him, he was gripping the blade tightly, but despite that, he was slowly turning the blade off, able to feel that this man was already dying.

"That woman who was involved in checking out the pyramid. She doesn't even care for what your company is presenting. And yet you claim that you are fighting for her? Do you not realize how much of a mistake you are making? She is going to turn around when she does not need you anymore." After the man said that, Brad was starting to think that this one was true. So with that, he took a long and deep breath.

Eventually, Brad saw that the man really had died, and then he walked along, and grabbed the off hilt of the green blade, and then he was placing the hilt in the pocket, wondering how long it was going to take for the mans body to be found while Brad would pretend it never happened.