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.

19. Sheldon Oswald Lee (remaster in progress

Scene 0: Letter to Cody

December 27 1992

At the end of the evening, a fifteen year old freshmen in high school student named Cody was being driven home by a man named Ken. The two never really got along too well, and that resentment was always very clear in the way that the two of them carried discussions with each other, and the fact that Ken tried to bury the hatchet, but failed.

Cody had gone on a date that night with a girl in his fucking class. He wanted to try and impress her, and make her love him, but despite the fact that he was trying so fucking hard to do this, he was having a lingering suspision that nothing he would do would truly fucking settle in. To be honest, he felt like he was never going to be ready for a relationship.

Before he was wanting to leave, Cody decided that he just needed to try and fucking open up to Ken, and see what the man would be saying. "Ken, I wanted to fucking get that girl to like me. She really was something special, and I feel like I completely fucking ruined it." Cody said, feeling like he would try and be honest with this guy.

"To be honest Cody, I think that something like this takes some fucking time. I'll tell you, even if you don't fucking believe me, that my first girlfriend was actually your fucking mother. The two of us really fucking hit it off, and the two of us could have really gone far. But my older brother fucking died, and then I completely became a fucking shut in." After Ken said this, Cody was having a hard time buying what he heard. It all just seemed way too hard to trust.

"Are you the person my mother dated who was rumored to pass away when she was in high school?" Cody asked, and this was when Ken decided to try and just take things more casually at this rate.

"Yeah, I was. Because that was when I first went into the digital world, and the only person in town who really knew about it was my fuckung father. And I mean my true fucking father." After Ken said that, Cody was confused at what he heard.

"Your true father?" Cody asked, feeling like he needed to try and force Ken into telling him more about the truth than he had ever.

Ken was starting to feel like he needed to change the subject, and not have Cody be getting on his case anymore, since he was feeling like doing this was only going to be making things much worse. "Look, I need to get back to the main fucking point." He said, feeling like he needed to make his point.

"Cody. I know that you will probably never believe the sincerity of my efforts to try and make things right. And I understand that I burned a lot of bridges. But if there was ever one thing I never lied about, was my friendship with your father." He said, and then he was starting to pull something under his driver seat.

"I was going to give you this yesterday, but considering Saturday is the only day your dad ever has off, a tradition he's kept for thirty years, I had to wait. He wanted to wait until you were old enough. But as a high school student, I feel like you need the truth." He said, and then he handed Cody the gift.

"He made these several years ago, right after your mother died. To be honest, I think between you and me, your father deep down knows Brad did it, and always has, but he never wanted his best friend to be the culprit in his eyes." After he said that, Cody sighed, not wanting to hear it, but he took the gift nonetheless.

"A full confession of everything. I tried to tell him to trim some parts out, but he said he wanted it all, no matter what." After Ken said that, he shrugged, feeling no need to discuss it any further.

"Why would dad give this confession, and not the people in town who will need it the most? Like the fucking police or something?" After Cody asked this, Ken decided to keep his opinion to himself.

"Without going into detail, they are in on it as well. No matter if he wanted to or not, if he fucking tried to, they would be turning him into the fucking bad guy." Ken said, and Cody was able to hear from the sound of his voice, that he was being utterly serious.

"I'll check it out." Cody said, and then he was starting to leave, and as he headed out, he looked at Kevin, and there was a hint of uncertainty in what was going on. He wondered if he needed to give Ken a chance to show himself after all.

"Cody, I know that it might be hard for you to fucking believe this, but your father truly was one of the best people that I ever met in my entire life, and I thought that all of the stories about him were complete fucking bullshit." After he said that, I shook my head, not wanting to hear this at all.

As Cody was considering what he heard, he was wondering why he even tried to deal with the bullshit in the first place. "Dad was supposed to tell me everything. He said that when I was no longer a child, then I could be able to start to understand the truth." Cody was saying, trying to show how much he was hating being treated like fucking garbage, despite feeling like nobody would actually listen to him anymore.

"He wanted to tell you everything. He said he fucking would if he had the time, or the ability to, but considering the things he had been doing, he just had just realized that this was simply not going to work out at all.

"I think that what you should be doing if you want to try and show people that you are truly changed is that you need to give your son more fucking time to get to truly know you. You have brushed him off for the first decades of his life, but I feel like it is your duty to try and fucking make this right." After Cody was telling Ken this, that was when Ken just started to quietly hate Cody for the way that he was being told how to do things.

Cody stood in front of the house, starting to let everything in the last months really come through to him, and he took one of the cigarettes that he stole from his father out, and he started to slowly smoke it. Considering what had happened. Considering what his father was going to potentially tell him when it was time. The whole thing was kind of both interesting, as well as the scariest thing in the entire history of the world.

Given the situation in the last years, he started to see why his father got as deep into it as he had. The feeling to let something so simple just engulf you, and keep your mind off of the issues in the world, even for just a couple of minutes, let him start to see that his father was probably right after all.

Once Cody was in the house, he sat down in his room, and he was opening up the gift. It was a large set of recordings burnt onto discs. Each one with a different date on the, roughly two weeks or so from the previous one. There was a little more than a dozen in there.

When he started to piece it together, he had realized that these were during the days he was at his therapist office, talking to that woman who died a handful of years ago, and when Cody looked at the date, he realized her death was only a single day after the final session was made. Which he remembered was a hard thing for his father to adapt to.

On the top he saw a letter, and it was obviously addressed to him. Cody shook his head, wondering what in the world his father was going to be telling him. No matter what in the world his father would say, there was always going to be a level of distrust between the two of them.

Cody opened up the letter, wondering what in the world his father was going to be telling him. Especially since as his father admitted, he wa snot good with sappy shit, and Cody knew that this was going to sound god awful.

"Hey, I know that I haven't been there for you as much as I should have. Especially since your mother died, and I want to change that. But my personal demons have been hard to get over. I decided to make these recordings for you to hear, when I was certain that you were going to be old enough to handle the truth.

When your mother died, I guess that I had just realized how similiar the two of us had become. When I was roughly your age, mine did as well, and a large part of your childhood had been the consequences of the choices that I have made, and the fact that I never took the time to try and get to really know you.

The fact of the matter is that this town has a lot of dark mysteries involved in it. Things that I never wanted you to fucking learn, but I knew you had to fucking hear. I was one of the few people in town who truly got to see the truth of what happened in town, and I had a chance to try and fucking change it, but I fucking ruined it, but running away, and showing no interest in trying to fucking change.

Cody, I know that you want the truth. Of what caused all this to happen in the first place. I wanted to tell you for so fucking long, and I wanted to clear up so many things, but I felt if I did so, I would lose you to, and I wanted to make sure that you stayed safe after everything that had gone through.

I want you to understand the truth of the matter is that no matter what may happen, and no matter how much we might be screaming at each other now, and hate the situation we are in, that I am very happy for the person you are becoming, and I do feel like you are going to become the person that you need to be when the time comes.

From your piece of shit father, Sheldon Oswald Lee."

When Cody was done reading the letter, he pulled the first disc out of the package, and shook his head, wondering what in the world he was going to be hearing. Wondering what in the world turned his father into being the man he became. In a way, it was both exciting, and disturbing, imagining what would come.

What Cody did not realize at the time was that everything that he thought of his father would be completely changed during the run. A person he refused to fucking understand, and in some ways, felt like was making things worse, was actually now the person who he had realized was the only true hope that Wayside would really have in order to turn things around for the better.

Chapter 2: The Place Where Bad Things Happen

Episode 1: Sheldon Oswald Lee

Scene 1: Moving to Wayside

June 18, 1956

Hey, my name is Sheldon Lee. I was told that recording our sessions for myself to look back on might be something good for me. Anyways, my story started in mid 1956, when I was ten years old, and my father decided to move my thirteen year old sister Riley and I from Arkansas to Wayside Minnesota. His reasoning was that this was where he used to live before moving down there, but since mom had died from cancer that March, he felt that maybe it was time for us to have a completely fresh slate here.

The entire move Riley had been complaining her fucking ass off, trying to find a way to let dad stayed down. She even tried to use the excuse that she wouldn't be able to see mom's gravestone very often anymore as a result of the move.

But he had made his mind up, and three months after her death, we pulled up at Wayside, and unlike Riley, I was excited for the change in life style, and I was happy to be doing something new.

Once we had reached our new, light blue, house, Riley got right out of the car and stormed her way over to her bedroom without helping out at all. Which left dad and I to bring all the stuff in, while we placed all of Riley's boxes in front of her door, while she refused to talk with us.

"Thanks for helping me get the stuff inside the house. If you want to take the rest of the day off then go ahead. I choose a house near by some people your age, so you would have a easier time connecting with people before school starts." My father said, as he looked towards Riley's room again, and had a smile on his face, and seemed like he had something on his mind.

"Thanks dad, you're the best." I said, and then I walked out of the house, trying to not think about the trouble that Riley would probably be getting herself into for not helping out with the move. I mean, I sort of understood, but that didn't change the reality of it.

I eventually looked around town for a bit, and before long, I was seeing a red head boy playing with his soccer ball, and I knew that this was the guy my dad was talking about.

"Hey, are you the new kid here?" He asked when he finally noticed me. I slowly nodded, hoping that he would be willing to actually hang out.

"My name is Sheldon. My dad was telling me that you lived nearby, so I decided to try and see if I would be able to hang out for a bit." I said, and then I was seeing him looking excited to see my interest.

"Dakota. Yeah, I heard that there was going to be a move in, but from what I was hearing, I thought it would be another week or two." Dakota said, and I slowly nodded, not sure if I was really interested in hearing this or not. But I was willing to go along with it.

"Anyways, there are other people our age here. Ashley lived down the street over there." Dakota said, pointing to a white house. "But she is out with her family right now. Won't be around for a while." After he said that, he shrugged, thinking nothing of it.

"Is Wayside a good place to live?" I asked, and then I was seeing Dakota looking like he was unsure of how to respond to this. And I was finding myself wishing that he would just fucking tell me.

"It is, if you can let go of a massive caveat that this town comes with. I'll just leave it at that. But you'll see it soon." He said, and I was wondering what in the world the issue was, but I choose to remain silent.

He placed his ball down, and shook his head. "I'll show you the park nearby." He said, and then I slowly nodded, not in the mood to argue with him at all.

After ten minutes, we made it to the park, which was much bigger than the one that was where I lived before. I was having a real shit eating grin on my face when I saw it, as I was able to tell with the way that Dakota looked right at me.

"I knew that you were going to fucking like it." Dakota said, and I was feeling like once Riley would see what this town had to offer, she was going to grow a lot more positive of the place, and take back everything she had ever said about it earlier.

"What made you even move to Wayside anyways? It's usually about a work promotion, or something like that. Nobody comes here naturally." After Dakota said that, I was feeling unsure what to say. But I felt like I needed to tell him, since he would be finding out at some point anyways.

"Well, my mother died from cancer, and my father just couldn't handle living in that house anymore. Said it brought him too many bad memories. I guess that I could sort of see that." I said, not sure why in the world I was even telling him this in the first place.

"Sorry to hear about that. I guess that I can sort of get your pain though. What grade are you in?" I sighed as he asked me this, since I was embarrassed to tell him the truth.

"Fourth grade. I was supposed to move up to fifth, but after my mom died, I stopped going to school as often as I was supposed to, and my dad just decided that it might be best to just let me take the time off, and be to myself. And when I would go to Wayside, we would just pretend the first time through the year never happened." I said, saddened at what I was telling him.

"It's okay. I'm actually in the same position. I actually turned eleven a couple of weeks ago, and was supposed to move to fifth grade. But I got into a fight, and beat the ever loving shit out of a classmate, and my parents barely saved me from getting expelled, on the condition that I had to repeat the year." Dakota said, and I was shocked to hear this scrawny guy (even compared to me, and I found out from my doctors before the move that I was nearly fifteen pounds underweight) did that.

"Okay, I have to fucking know. What made you do that in the first place?" I asked, and then Dakota sighed, as if feeling like this was exactly the question he wanted to avoid.

"My cousin went missing. Lola. She was in the eleventh grade, and was about to become prom queen, when suddenly she fucking vanished." After Dakota said that, I slowly nodded, understanding what he had meant.

"And the guy I beat up was making fun of me over it, saying she ran away because she wanted to get away from my fucked up dysfunctional family. I think that might be the only reason I didn't get expelled. Since he did provoke me into it." Dakota said, and I had no idea what the hell I would even tell him.

"Honestly, most of the summer so far, I have had the house to myself. Dad is always away doing business trips, and every year around summer time, my mom tried to have a second child, but has been failing to do so every time." Dakota said, and I wondered why she would still be trying to do that, when she was clearly having no fucking luck doing so.

"That must be nice. Having the place to yourself." I said, deciding to talk about that instead of the mother thing, since I wasn't wanting to piss Dakota off with saying something like that, when we were trying to get along, and be friends and what not.

"Well, I have been considering bringing some of my friends over, and having the time of my life. To be honest, I have considered inviting Ashley over. You can come over if you want, and I might even try and bring some new people over, so you can be able to start to assimilate yourself into this town again." After he said that to me, I was slowly nodding, kind of thinking that I would go along with the offer.

"Who are some people that I might be able to get along with?" I asked, feeling like if I told my dad that I was actually already making a lot of friends, and that he was making the right choice in moving us over, then he would be feeling like Wayside was going to work out.

"Well, there is that guy Sam in our grade. He has a younger brother as well, Kevin. He might be a good first person. He's a usually quiet person, from what I seen." Dakota said, and I was slowly nodding, feeling like this would be a good start.

"But if he's in our grade, then technically he was supposed to be a year younger than us, so you might not know all you can about him." I said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like I just needed to try and remind him that he might not have all the details.

"Well, point is, I have seen him enough to know that he is not the type of person who would make controversies. Just give him a fucking chance, and you might be able to see that." After Dakota said this, he looked right at me, and I was seeing him looking like he was wondering what my next response was.

"Look, I mean, I guess that I can try and fucking figure that out soon enough. And besides, you also said that you were willing to introduce me to Ashley." After I was telling him this, I was seeing Dakota looking like he was worried how that was going to go.

"Don't fucking be hard on her dude. She might be a bit of a stuck up person when you first meet her. But that is not what she is like at all." After Dakota was telling me this, I was sighing, since I was not really in the mood to be hearing him try to lecture me.

"Seems like you might have a bit of a crush on her." I said, and winked at him. Dakota gave me those death daggers, which I was feeling was esentially confirming what I had been saying.

"She the fucking hell up." Dakota said and I was seeing from the way that he was looking down, and had a uncertain look on his face, that he was totally trying to hide it.

But I didn't want to ruin it right away, and make him resent me over something simple like this. So I just decided to shut the fuck up, as he said, and play with him instead, and enjoy the new chance at life.

As Dakota and I were playing on the slides, and just having the time of our lives, I was finally feeling like things would relax, and that my life was so much better. Within a week, I had already forgotten all about how life was like at Arkansas, and I was just feeling like I was on my way to making life work out for the best.

Scene 2: Meeting Sam

June 20 1956

A coupel days after I met Dakota the first time, he decided to show me to that Sam guy. I was happy to see that he was willing to actually follow through for me, so I was willing to take whatever he was willing to give.

When we were at Sam's house, I could tell from the look on Dakota's face that he was clearly still feeling like this whole idea was a fucking load of shit. "Sheldon, to be honest, I think we need to be much more careful with what we say to him." Dakota said, and I looked at him, shocked that he was even saying it this way.

Before I answered, that was when Sam answered the door, and I could see his younger brother was with him already. Which was nice, since I did want to know about his brother as well. I looked at both of them, and I could see that neither of them looked too comfortable with this whole situation.

"Hey Dakota. Didn't expect you would actually follow through with your promise on bringing the new guy to seeing me. I guess that I need to give you more credit." After he was telling me this, I was shrugging, and I was really having no idea what to tell him now.

"Well, I feel like this new guy needs to see the town for what it is, and have the time of his fucking life." Dakota said, and he smiled as he said that to Sam, and then winked, feeling like he would totally be getting me out of the fucking rut that I was in.

"Hey, my name is Sheldon. I just moved here a couple of days ago. Haven't really gotten to know the town too well yet." I said, feeling like I would play super nice and casual, and not be making a fucking deal out of it at all. After all, it was no big deal at all.

"Well, this place is not so bad. Just don't go around asking people about the shiny gentlemen." Sam said, and I looked at him, wondering what the fucking hell he was talking about, and felt like I needed details.

"What the fuck is that?" I asked, already failing the one thing he was telling me not to do. But I mean, how in the world was I supposed to not get interested in what he was talking about. The shiny gentlemen was something completely out of the blue.

"Well, I kind of walked into that one, so I will let you have it this one time. But the shiny gentleman is basically the fucking thing that makes the grinding noise in town go off, and people associate that with when people in this town sometimes go vanish." After he was saying this, I shook my head, wondering what the fuck was going on here, that this had to become a frequent discussion.

"Anyways, this is my younger brother Kevin. He'll always keep you on your toes, so try and just be careful about what you say around him." Sam said, and brushed Kevin's hair a bit, trying to be affectionate, but I could see from the look on Kevin's face, that he was not really the fact that he was being thrown under the bus.

"Hey, it's not my fault that I am trying to make sure that you don't get yourself killed over your crazy antics." After Kevin said that, I could see that despite everything, and this clearly be a frequent discussion with the two brothers, that Sam was just not really in the mood to argue anymore.

"Okay guys, where do you think we should show Sheldon first? Dakota asked, feeling like we just needed to kind of get back to the point.

"I want to go to Joyful Burger." Kevin said, and Sam looked at his younger brother, and despite the fact that there was clearly some minor annoyance, he was slowly sighing, as if feeling like there was no point in fighting it.

"I told him I would take him for a while, but I haven't yet. So would you guys be willing to do it, so I can finally put this behind me?" Sam asked, and I was clearly seeing that he had wanted nothing to do with this.

"Yeah, sure. I mean neither of us have anything better to do in all honesty." After I was saying this, I was seeing that look on Dakota's face looking like he was a little less than excited, but I was thinking that he had kins of known that I was going to do this one way or another.

"Just be careful of what you're going to do there. The guy who owns that shop is one of the most powerful people in Wayside." After Dakota said this, I shook my head, wondering why in the world I was even supposed to care about something like this anyways.

"That sounds really boring, and I have no idea if I care enough about that." I said, and I was shaking my head, not really sure what the hell I would even accomplish by saying this.

"Oh, you will have to. My dad and mom constantly talk about him every god damn week, or his father at least. His dad is some fucking geriatric that runs a casino or something." Dakota said, and Kevin was looking at Dakota, disgusted at his liberal use of the F word, and I wondered why that was such a issue in the first place.

As we were heading out, I was feeling kind of glad that if for nothing else, at least we were having a plan on where to go from here. To be honest, I was wondering when Riley was going to start heading out. After all, we had already been here for a few days, and she hasn't done anything.

"You said you had a sister right Sheldon?" Dakota asked, and I nodded to confirm what he said. Although I was wondering why in the world he was even bringing that up all of a sudden, since it was out of nowhere.

"Yeah, in seventh grade. Her name is Riley. But she hasn't done jack shit since we moved to Wayside, and anytime my dad tries to talk to her, she basically shows him that she has no interest in the subject at all. I can tell that my dad is getting slightly annoyed with her lack of helping out with the chores and such." I said, feeling like I just needed to keep it there, and not make things much worse for them.

"Well, to be fair, chores do suck, and I just get them over with as fast as possible, so I can have the rest of the day to be free." Sam said, and I was shrugging. I mean, I didn't mind them as much since it gave me something to keep me busy while I fully woke up in the morning, and I would be fully energetic when I hung with friends.

The four of us sat down at Joyful Burger, enjoying the meal, and having the time of our lives, and to be honest, I was feeling so much better about everything that was happening, that I just felt like I could truly take in every single moment that I fucking had. And even though I had only been in Wayside three days, I was feeling on top of the world.

"So Dakota, I know you don't want me to bring this up, but I feel like I just need to know. Do your parents have any plans on trying to eventually find your cousin?" I asked, and Dakota sighed, as I was seeing Kevin looking confused at what we were talking about, and probably thinking that most of this was way in over his fucking head.

"Yeah, that is really not something that I want to remember. I mean, I don't really want to get held back a second year in a row." Dakota said, and then Sam slowly nodded, forgetting that Dakota was in his grade now. Probably must have happened at the tail end of the year.

"Well, just remember to take the punches, and not really think about what those assholes are saying. And I think they will see soon enough when they went too fucking far." Sam said, trying to just find a way to make him feel a bit better here.

"A lot easier fucking said than done, when you are the one being attacked by people who not realize how much something like this sucks." After Dakota said this, I started to feel bad for him. And to be honest, I would one day see the pain that he was in, even if at the time, I was thinking he might have been having a bit of a issue with it. And I was feeling like I just needed to be more careful with him going forward.

"Regardless, my parents don't want me talking about it after the incident, and to be honest, I don't really want to either. So can we please just drop it? At least for now, and if we want to talk about it later, then we can?" He asked me, and I considered what he was saying. I looked over at Kevin, and I nodded.

"Yeah sure. Sorry. I guess that I have a hard time seeing when it is time to just let a subject go." I said, feeling like I really needed to learn how to do that without making things much worse than it already was.

"So Dakota, who do you think you are going to try and introduce me to next?" I asked, feeling like the further down this list we went, and the faster that we did it, the better that things would be for both of us.

"Well, if Ashley is still not at the house yet, then I will try and bring you to Harold Wilson. With how rich his parents are, you will want to be on his good side as much as possible. Trust me." Dakota said, and Sam was looking shocked at this idea.

"Harold Wilson? Do you seriously think he will be talking to you after all the times that you ended up making fun of him earlier? I think we both know that there is a zero percent chance that shit is going to fucking fly." Sam said, and then Dakota smiled, thinking of the perfect response.

"Well, I would just apologize to him, ham it all up, and explain that I think it would be great to meet a new guy. You know, if I can really pull at his heart strings, then everything will be fine." Dakota said, and I saw Sam looking like he did not buy this shit for a second second.

"If you fucking say so. But don't go around blaming me if this shit falls down hill fast." Sam said, and I was sighing at this argument, wondering why in the world they were even having this discussion anyways. I looked over as Larry brought us our lunch.

"Thanks for coming in today." He said, as he saw me for the first time. "You're the new guy. Welcome to Wayside. Have a great time, but stay safe, and stay out of trouble." He said, as he walked off, and I was confused.

As I thought about what I was going to do with Dakota this year, to make sure that he understood that he was not alone, I looked at Sam, who seemed like he understood, and Kevin who was thankfully oblivious to the conversation that we just fucking had.

Scene 3: Meeting Ashley

June 23 1956

A few days later, I ended up meeting Ashley, which I was glad to finally get this done with, since in all honesty, I knew that was the one that Dakota was most excited for this whole time.

"Are you the new guy that Dakota has been talking so much about?" Ashley asked, and I was clearly hearing from the sound of her voice that she was not that interested in this discussion.

"Yeah, he was saying that I should meet you before school started. But also said that you were out doing something." I said, and I was noticing the fact that like Dakota, Ashley also had red hair, which I was finding to be a bit strange, since only like one to two percent of the world had red hair.

"Well, where do you think we should show him now?" Ashley asked, and Dakota was considering that question. I had a feeling that this was going to be the suggestion he was going to be most proud of.

"Well, there is the falls." Dakota said, and I smiled at this, wondering what they were like, if he was going out of his way to mention those.

"Sure. I feel like that might be a good place to start with." Ashley said, and she looked at me, and I felt like they were going to be doing this, with or without my permission. Which thankfully would not be a problem with them.

Before long, we were already heading there, and I was getting excited over the limitless options in Wayside, and I wondered why in the world Riley would ever try to waste something like this in the first place.

"So have you talked with Sam?" I asked, and Ashley looked at me, as if thinking that the question was a bit strange, considering the fact that they go to school together and what not.

"Well, yeah, the two of us have been in the same grade. Yeah, I already heard about your situation. But I think that you don't need to worry about that. Wayside takes education very seriously." After Ashley said that, Dakota was laughing at that, thinking that this was a great joke.

"Well, if that was the case, then the student I fought with would have been the one who got in trouble, after all the shit he said about my cousin." After Dakota said that, he shook his head, and I was seeing Ashley looking like she was rather unsure of how to respond to that.

Eventually though, we made it to the forest, where Dakota and Ashley directly led me to where I needed to go for the waterfall. I was super excited at what I would see, that I was barley containing my excitement.

When I saw the waterfall, I was beyond shocked at the sheer scope of it. I was also very excited, since I wanted to see if I could be able to jump down, and make a giant fucking splash.

"Do you think that I should jump down?" I asked, pointing to the top, and I was looking at both Dakota and Ashley. Both of them looked decently excited at my suggestion, and I knew that this was virtually their way of confirming that they wanted me to.

"Totally fucking do it. I bet that you could make a better splash than fucking Harold." Dakota said, and then Ashley sighed in annoyance at Dakota mentioning him again.

"Can you stop with your hate boner over Harold for like ten fucking minutes? I swear every single time we hang out, you mention how much you dislike him." Ashley said, and then Dakota shrugged, thinking that something like this was just sort of the price to pay.

"Well, I can never trust people who can buy their way out of every single issue in the entire fucking world." After Dakota was saying this, Ashley rolled her eyes, and I wondered what their fucking issues were.

"This seems to be a very frequent debate that you guys have." I said, and then I was starting to walk up the hill, so I could just make my fucking ultimate jump. But I was clearly seeing Ashley was looking like she just couldn't believe that this subject was being discussed again.

"Yeah, you have no fucking idea." After Ashley said this, I was eventually at the top of the hill. I smiled as I was looking down, and closed my eyes, and I was ready to take the leap of faith. I took a few steps back, and ran down, and made the biggest splash I possibly could, and I even ended up getting Dakota and Ashley a bit soaked.

"Wow. That was a really epic fucking splash honestly." Ashley said, and I saw her looking like she was just trying to find some other way to put it. But then she shook her head, and decided to just simply not say anything else.

"Well, I guess you got what you fucking wanted Dakota." Ashley said, and I was hearing her sounding kind of unsure what to fucking say here. But then with that, I was then starting to swim towards them again.

"You guys should totally fucking go and try it out. It's actually a lot of fucking fun once you do it." I said, hoping that I would not be the one who would have to do the entire fucking chore.

"I relaly don't think I should be doing anything like that." Dakota said, and I could hear in his voice that he was hoping that I wouldn't pressure him on the fucking subject at all. I was then looking at Ashley, wondering what she would say.

"Well, if Dakota doesn't want to fucking do it, then I will fucking do it myself." After Ashley said that, she was walking to the top as well. I sat down, and I was watching, wondering what was going to happen.

"Wow, you know how to make me feel like I am being the bad guy here." Dakota said, and he shook his head, sounding like he was kind of upset with this. Before long, she made her own jump, and while her splash wasn't as grandoise as mine, I don't think she was even trying to be. I was just seeing Dakota looking like he was kind of feeling like he was being pressured into something he had no desire to do.

When Ashley was with me, Dakota threw his hands in the air, feeling like there was no need to fucking hide anymore. "I have a feeling if I don't do this, then you will never be letting me live it down." Dakota said, and then he was walking to the fucking edge of the cliff.

"I hope you guys both know that I wasn't really meaning most of the stuff that I was saying." After Dakota was saying this, he shook his head, sounding like he was relatively annoyed with this.

He made the jump as well, and when he landed, it went all over the place. He was popping his head out after a few seconds, and I was seeing him looking like he was kind of feeling bad for what he just did. As if feeling like I was the bad guy here.

We all jumped in together, and then started playing splash fights, and did so for a while, before all three of us decided to dry off at the side of the cliff.

"So what is your beef with this Harold guy anyways? I mean, all that I know is that he is supposed to be like super rich or something." After I said that, I was seeing Dakota looking like he could not believe that I was actually bringing that up right now, when we were supposed to just be having a good time.

"To be honest, he and I just got into a couple of fights about things earlier. I was telling him that his father probbaly has a good idea what happened to my cousin, and what not, but then Harold kept denying it over and over again. To be fair, this might have been my fault. But I just can't wrap my head around it otherwise." Dakota said, and I sighed.

"So you did it to yourself?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to give him the fucking real ass scoop of the matter. Dakota gave me daggers as I said that, probably because he knew that I was right.

"Oh come on, you didn't have to put it that way. But I guess, in a matter of speaking, what you might be saying is technically true." Dakota said, and I was aware of the fact that he hated to say something like this to begin with.

"I think that in all honesty, you need to stop getting into so many fucking fights here. I think that if you constantly have screaming matches with people about everything, then sooner or later, you won't be having people who actually want to support you." I said, and I saw Dakota looking mildly annoyed with what he said.

"Regardless, I'm just not sure if I can trust the guy. I would have been saying that regardless. And I think you all need to fucking get off my fucking back about this." After Dakota was telling me this, I saw looking right at Ashley, wondering what she would be saying here.

"Anyways, so guys, is there any other place that I should see?" I asked, and then both of them looked at me, as if appreciating the fact that I was willing to take iniative on the matter.

"Yeah, well, there is one other palce that I can think of. But I think that we should probably just not worry about it for today. After all, we still have a few hours left in the day." Dakota said, and I looked right at Ashley, and I considered what our friendship would be.

"Thanks for taking the time to meet me." I said, feeling like I needed to show at least a level of politeness, to make her not feel like she was wasting her time here.

"Thanks." Ashley said, although I could tell that she was still not too sure what to think here. I could tell that despite everything else, she was probably just still kind of feeling like she might have been wasting her fucking time here.

"I feel like this will be the best summer in the entire world." I said, and I was holding my hands out, and I felt like nothing else fucking mattered. Making summer turn out for the best, and just staying on my fatehrs good graces, to make sure that nothing bad happens, will be for the fucking best.

Dakota and Ashley looked like they were able to appreciate the happiness that I was showing, and I was wanting them to fucking understand that they fucking needed credit for what was going on.

By the end of the hang out, I was already making plans on how I was going to get Ashley and Sam to hang out with each other, and I was wondering if I was going to get to introduce my friends to my dad and Riley.

I was finally feeling like for the first time since moms death, that I was finally having the burdens forever lifted, and I knew she would be happy with me.

Scene 4: The Tree House

June 26 1956

A little bit later, Dakota, Sam, Ashley, and I went over to the forest once again, where Dakota was claiming there was something else that he really needed me to see, and claimed that it was super fucking cool. I wasn't sure if I believed him though.

It turned out to be a tree house, and while not exciting as the waterfalls, I was still happy to know that even after just a week at this place, people were already treating me enough be hang out in this type of official capacity. We went inside the tree house, where Ashley started the conversation.

"So I think that the next person you should be meeting is Harold Wilson. He is somebody in our grade, and is the richest person in our entire class. Not as much of a asshole as his father." After Ashley said that to me, I looked over at Dakota, who clearly was upset at her mentioning Harold.

"I already arranged a meet up in a few days. He also said that he was willing to see you for the fourth of july." Ashley said, not even giving Dakota a chance to try and fucking whine his ass off about this. I was excited about the fourth of july, and I wondered how that would work.

"So Dakota, I suggest that you come along anyways, and see if you might end up liking it this time. You might be shocked." After Ashley said this, I was seeing Dakota looking like he had not wanted to even discuss the idea at all.

"Guys, look what I fucking found." Sam said, and he was pulling out a pack of beer from a cupboard in the room. He grabbed a can for each of us, and I knew that I was going to be ready to liven it up in here, so I grabbed the can right away.

"Oh man. I know that you have the best ability to just find random shit all the time." Dakota said, and Sam was looking at him, wondering why he had to say it this way, since it was just sounding liek a case of blind luck at this point.

As we had been taking some sips, and I was thinking about how gross it was to have this in the first place, wondering why old people enjoyed it so much, there was this loud grinding noise. I looked over at Dakota and Ashley, and I wondered what they knew.

After a while of waiting, this was when Sam started to speak up. "Labyrinth." After he said that, Dakota gave him death daggers, wondering why he would tell me about that.

"Why the fuck are you telling him about this? He wasn't supposed to know about that." Dakota said, and then I shrugged, thinking nothing of it in the first place, and I felt like I just needed to know.

"Well, I was going to probably learn sooner or later anyways, so fucking tell me." I said, and then Sam looked at Dakota, wondering why the hell this guy was turning out to be such a hard ass now.

After a few seconds, he calmed down, took a long and deep breath, now that the reality was settling in. "Alright, if that is the case, then I get to be the one who tells." Dakota said, looking at both Ashley and Sam, as if to tell them to not spread the story.

"Well, my cousin was not the only time that this has ever happened. A person go missing." Dakota said, and then he walked to a wall, where a tally mark was shown on the wall.

It was filled with like about forty marks. "That's how many people have gone missing over the last roughly twenty years. And when that grinding noise goes off, another one will be there." Once Dakota said that, I was then starting to really understand what he was saying.

"Is anything done about it?" I asked, and Dakota shook his head, feeling like that was the best joke somebody could make about Wayside.

"People make stories to explain it. That is where that labyrinth came from. People claim that monsters are in the woods, and monsters take them. I never believed that part though. Maybe people are right, and she just rand away." Dakota said, and then he sat down.

"Yeah, I guess that is why I can't have fun with the story though. Every time I hear people screwing around about it, I remember my cousin, and the fun is fucking gone." Dakota finished, but then with that, Sam was starting to speak up again, trying to get the conversation back to normal once again.

"Sorry about that. I wasn't trying to make you feel bad. I just call it that because everybody else does." Sam said, and then Dakota was feeling like he would try and argue with Sam there, but then decided that maybe it would be best to just leave it alone, for the time being.

"It's okay. Regardless, the fucking point is that now that the grinding noise gone off, somebody is going to be going missing soon. And worst yet, we're not going to be able to hang out here for much longer." After Dakota said that, I was confused by that part, considering the fact that missing people had nothing to do with hanging out.

"Why aren't we allowed to continue hanging out?" I asked, and then Ashley rolled her eyes at this, probably thinking that once I knew the answer, I would try and go even deeper into it.

"Well, every time the grinding noise goes off, that night, or at latest the next night, there is this large party that the teenagers host, and they use it as a way to celebrate the legend of the town." After Ashley said that, I was confused, since this was literally not a legend, if people had been going missing this whole time. But I guess that my confusion was just really rubbing them off the wrong way.

"So yeah, that means that people are going to be having a party soon, and we won't be invited since we're not teens yet. Although we could always try and just sneak our way inside." After Sam said that, I was shaking my head, feeling like if I was gone all night, especially since I never once told him that this was going to be the intention.

"Next time." I said, feeling like that would be good enough. I started to head towards the door, not really in the mood to stay here anymore, after the grinding noise, when Sam was looking down at the beer, and I saw him start to think of something.

"Have you guys ever gone to one of these?" I asked, and then Sam was shaking his head. Almost embarassed to admit that he was not one of the cool guys that can have all the VIP treatment, per se, when he goes around.

"I went to one like last November. Wasn't that interesting though. Probably will be the only one I attend." Dakota said, and I was shaking my head at how certain he was trying to sound with his statement.

"But yeah guys, the beer here. People are going to fucking notice that we took some, and then tehy are going to be looking for us. You do not realize how much this is going to be screwing us over!" Sam said, and I was seeing him going into total genuine panic mode. I had no idea what the fucking hell was going on with him here.

"Oh who cares. It's not like we're being video recorded here anyways. It's a fucking six pack of beer for gods sake. People can just buy more." Dakota said, and then Sam was still looking like he wasn't too sure what to feel.

"Anyways, well, like I said, considering the fact that the party is going to start somewhat soon anwyways, it should be best if we do wrap up. Not want to deal with the garbage that teenagers talk about." Dakota said, and then he started to head off, as Sam was looking down at the beer, and still looking kind of worried.

Eventually, we were all out of the tree house, and I was then shrugging. "Would have wanted to check more things out in there, see what people left behind. But that fucking party has to ruin everything." After I said that, I shook my head, feeling like I was just wasting my time with this.

"Well, there's always later. But it seemed like you were more interested in the falls anyways." After Dakota said that, I slowly nodded, thinking nothing of it. After all, how could a fucking tiny tree house compare to a beautiful waterfall?

"To be honest, how can people have a party in that tree house? I mean, I doubt it can fit more than twenty people, and that's if it was crammed. I mean, there's always the general area. Plus, it seems kind of unstable." I said, feeling like this entire thing was just reeking of terrible god damn fucking idea.

"I don't know. But to be honest, I think that it's also because it's like twice a year that it's fine. If it was every month or two, all the time, I would think differently though." After Dakota said that, I was shocked to be seeing him actually sounding like he was interested in something for once, and not just kind of being agnsty the whole way through.

"Yeah, I still don't know if I would want to go to one. Just the risk of it falling on the ground while we're having a ultimate party is bad enough." I said, and I was totally ruining the mood, and I fucking knew it." I said, and I shook my head, not sure what else to say.

"Either way, that's another part of town that I said I would introduce you to. So yeah, I guess that Harold is next. Just make sure that you're careful when talking to him. Don't want to make his fatehr get upset with you for being a jerk to his son and whatever." Ashley said, and I saw Dakota shake his head, as if hardly caring about this at all. Probably thinking that Ashley was trying too hard to make something work.

"Sorry that I was pressing so hard with the story. I guess that I was just trying to understand." I said, and then I hoped that Dakota was able to accept my apology. I hated the fact that he was probably feeling like he was just getting into something he never wanted.

"It's okay. You would learn someday anyways." Dakota said, and I could hear the tone of his voice being clearly forced, but trying to create good will.

We started to head back, and despite the fact that people were trying to tell me that it's not that exciting, or interesting, I needed to at least try one fucking labyrinth party in my life time. Just to see if it's really just that. Teenagers having random parties. Although I wondered what the point of celebrating it was, when you know sooner or later, people would go missing. The whole thing was bizarre to me.

Scene 5: The First Labyrinth Party

June 27, 1956

That next day, as I was in my house, I was trying to get ready to head out to go to the labyrinth party. But before I was able to do anything, my sister Riley called out to me. I turned around to her, wondering what she would be saying.

"Sheldon, what are you doing today? Dad has been rather worried since we heard that grinding noise yesterday." After she said that to me, I was sighing, since I had no idea how in the world I would even respond to this at all.

"Honestly, my friends told me that is something that happens often, and that after it happens, there's this really cool fucking party going on. I want to try and go there." I said, and I saw Riley suddenly looking much more interested in what I said.

"Oh shit. Do you think I would be able to go to that party?" She asked me, and I shrugged, having no idea what in the world I could tell her. And in all honesty, I had no idea if I even wanted to bother.

"If you want to go, I don't see why the fucking hell not. I mean, dad might not like it too much. But I am going to be heading there, with or without his persmission." I said, and I was seeing Riley looking shocked to hear my sudden defiance.

"Well, if that is the case, then I guess that there is nothing wrong with me heading out. If I see you there though, I think it might be best to just not bother with talking to each other. Might get people making a bunch of jokes about us behind our back." After Riley told me this, I sighed, feeling no real need to argue with her about this.

"And Sheldon, just stay safe. This is my first time going out since the move, but you have been going out nearly every day, and I feel like something like this could be a really bad choice." After Riley said that to me, I shook my head, and I was not in the mood to argue with her here.

I sighed, since I had no idea how well that would fly if she tried to talk to dad about this. But then I was feeling like the fact of the matter was that if I went to this, then Riley would probably have a much better ground to do so.

Riley was starting to leave the house, and I was having no idea what in the world my plan was even going to be for the time being. I just shook my head, and I was heading to my room, to get ready for the labyrinth party.

To be honest, I was feeling like Riley was the one who needed to be safe. I already had far more experience than her at Wayside, and I was feeling like out of the two of us, she was the one that needed to tell me.

But despite the way that I was feeling, I was well aware of the fact that Riley would never fucking listen to me, and she would tell me that I needed to leave her alone, and stop judging her here.

Later on, I was getting ready to head to the labyrinth party, more so just to see how it even was in the first place than anything else. On my way over there, Sam decided to try and come with me, and see what we would find.

"Do you seriously think that the party is going to be providing anything interesting at all?" After Sam asked me this, I sighed, since I had no idea what I was going to tell him.

"Probably not, if we're being totally honest. But to be honest, I feel like I have no fucking choice but to just see what I can fucking find. But I don't really care about those missing people. The police can take care of that." I said, and I would, later on, laugh at my way of looking at it at that moment.

Eventually, we were getting close to the tree house, and then another question was coming on my mind. "How in the world does this place still stand? I mean, we were barely keeping on when we were there. This place is going to fall down for sure one day." After I said that to him, I saw that Sam was kind of considering what I said.

"I don't know. I'm assuming every couple of years or so, they reglue the wood together or add new pieces where parts are falling down. You know, to give it some extra stability." Sam said, and then as we were there, about to go up to the party, that was when we heard a voice calling out to Sam.

"Oh hey, Harold. How are you today?" After Sam asked this, Harold shrugged, and looked over at me, as if finding me to be far more interesting than having a small talk conversation with Sam.

"Wouldn't miss out on the coolest fucking party in Wayside, no matter what the cause is." After Harold was telling us this, I looked right at Sam, and I saw that Sam was almost looking like he was regretting this idea.

"Well, Ashley was saying that she wanted to introduce this guy over here to you. This is the new guy who moved to Wayside a while ago. His name is Sheldon." Sam said, and Harold looked right at me, and I saw that he was looking like he had no idea what to say.

"Yeah, she said you were the coolest guy in town. And that it would be a big mistake if I did not try and get to know you for a bit." I said, as Harold got a smile on his face, appreciating the fact that despite everything else, she was still appreciating his company.

"Well, if she thinks that, then I guess that I might need to try and prove myself." After Harold said that, he smiled for a few seconds, and then he was starting to head straight to the ladder, as Sam and I looked right at each other, wondering what his plan was going to be.

Once the three of us were actually inside the tree house, we were seeing much older teenagers already messing around, and I was already feeling like I was so fucking out of place.

"Okay, well, I can tell right away that we are not supposed to actually be here. But I don't care, sicne I can use my status with my father to let people treat us with mild politeness." After Tobias was telling me this, I looked right at him, and I was feeling like this was a terrible idea.

I was looking around, out of interest, to see where Riley was, and I was seeing her pretty quickly, hanging out with two people around her age, and aside from my friends and I, they were still clearly the youngest people ther,e since virtually everybody else was in high school at least.

Eventually, Harold sighed. "I want to try and make things up with Dakota. But that guy has always been kind of a asshole to me, and I know for a fact that he wants nothing to do with me. Kind of makes me a bit upset. Since he is being such a fucking asshole." Harold said, and I was shcoked that he was bringing this up at all.

"I think we both know that there is no way that Dakota will be falling for that shit whatsoever. I just feel like even trying to do so will be only wasting each of our times." After Sam said that to Harold, that was when Riley and her two friends were starting to head on towards our direction. I thought that Riley had not wanted to speak with me, but I choose not to be a total asshole to her while she was going to speak to me.

"So this is the prodigy who has been making friends left and right among his classmates?" The guy said, and then he was looking right at me, as if wondering what I was going to say. I looked right at Sam and Harold, wondering what in the world they would say in my defense.

"Yeah, I guess that you can say that. This is Harold, and this is Sam." I said, and I had no reservations with calling Sam a friend, since I knew him full well. But Harold was kind of hard to really call a friend.

"My name is Steven, and this is Christen." Steven said, pointing to the other girl, who had elected to stay silent the whole time, refusing to say anything, probably in fear of how I would react.

"Anyways, I have been coming here every labyrinth party since I was nine years old, so younger than any of you. Trust me when I say something is wrong here. Something is going on in this place, and nobody fucking believes me." Steven said, and Harold was looking at the guy, thinking that he was clearly off his fucking rocker this whole time.

"What the fuck do you think you found here?" Harold asked, and the guy was clearly thinking about what Harold was asking, and almost seemed perfectly aware of how insane he was sounding the whole time, and also looked like he no longer cared.

"Truth be told, I think there are monsters here, or some form of exportation. The monsters make sense. When I was twelve, I was searching the forest the night the grinding noise went off, and I was out way into the evening, and I was seeing these glowing fucking red eyes." Steven said, and under any other situation, I would laugh him off, but the look on his face was totally real.

"How did you survive?" I asked, feeling like I needed to at least hear his side of the story, since I was feeling like he might be onto something.

"The police and my parents were looking for me. I was never so scared in my life. I was running back, and fell into their arms, as I was seeing the thing start to create a actual physical form." Steven said, and I was even seeing Riley and Christen looking like they weren't even going to fuck around either.

"Oh shit. What the fucking hell?" Riley asked, and gone was the borderline cockiness, and she was actually showing genuine fear.

"And the fact of the matter is that I fucking saw two men in black with Jimmy White one day, and they were talking about the package, and I was even seeing a woman in the car, and there was a clear look of desperation on her face." Steven said, and then he shook his head.

"This is not a joke. Don't fucking make it one." Steven said, and then he took a deep breath, feeling like he made his point, and was proud of that, if for nothing else.

"Well, I will protect Christen." I said, and winked at her, and I was trying to get her to like me. But I saw from the look on her face, that she was thinking that I needed to not be making any jokes.

"Just be careful dudes. Don't take the adults words. The stories are true, and there is something going on here." He said, and then with that, he was starting to head off, with both Christen and Riley following. I looked at Harold and Sam, confused out of my fucking mind what to say now.

Scene 6: Interuppted By Fireworks

July 4 1956

That day, I was out down town, trying to just enjoy my time, when I was seeing that Christen was there as well. I had almost forgotten about her, but seeing her again, made me realize for real this time, just how truly beautfiful she really was.

I was seeing that Riley was there as well, so I wasn't going to be able to hang out with Christen one on one. Which to be honest, would probably not have been a really good idea.

"So Sheldon, sorry that you had to listen to that story with Steven earlier. You know, about the monsters and shit. He always has that level of paranoia here." She said, and I shrugged, not sure what in the world I would tell her.

"It's okay. I thought it was kind of cool." I admitted, feeling like this was also a way of knowing that there wasn't a total load of bullshit on the stuff that I theorized.

"Yeah, I guess that you can say that. He has always been really uptight about that stuff, and literally nothing anybody says has changed his mind on what he saw." She said, and then I was shaking my head, hardly even caring about the details.

"Well, anyways, I wonder if he is going to be showing up today anyways." After Christen said that, she shook her head, and sounded like she was just simply trying to figure out where to go from here.

"Hey Sheldon, are your friends going to be here tonight?" Riley asked, and I was hearing that she almost sounded kind of worried about me. I sighed, and I was wondering why in the world she would even fucking care in the first place anyways.

"Yeah, probably at some point. But I'm not too worried about it." I said, just trying to give off the impression of being neutral here.

"Okay. If you fucking say so." Riley said, trying to just simply not think about the fact that I was clearly trying to just hide the fact that I was not doing well, and that I wanted to say something to Christen.

As we were talking, this was when I was hearing Steven's voice calling out to me. I looked right at him, kind of wondering what in the world he was going to be telling us. "Sheldon, how are you doing today? Are you still having nightmares from what I said?" He asked, and I was shaking my head, not really in the mood to hear this.

"Well, I was going to be watching the fire works, until everybody decided to hang out with me." I said, shaking my head, feeling like I would have to try and hide my relative annoyance at what was happening. Steven was laughing, as if thinking that I was just kind of being a bit of a asshole.

"Christen, have you ever been in love?" I asked, and I already knew that I was going way out of league when I was asking her this. She looked at me, and was shocked at that question.

"No, not really. I just never really found the perfect guy for it." After Christen told me this, I smiled, and I wondered if I could ever be that perfect person.

"Dude Sheldon, don't try and worry about those fucking tiny details, and just try and have some fucking fun." After Steven said this, he took a cigarette out, and I was wanting to try smoking for once.

But I choose to not ask, since I knew that he was going to fucking say no, and I knew that it would be fucking useless. "What, I was just fucking curious." I said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like Steven and everybody else needed to relax here.

"But yeah, Sheldon, I don't really think love is a subject that I am ready to be looking into, honestly." Christen said, and to be honest, I was so fucking glad to hear that she was admitting this.

"I never been in love either. Although I feel like I am starting to." Riley said, as she glanced at Christen, and I was wondering why she was looking at her friend like that. Especially since Christen was a girl.

"Well, when you know for sure, you need to tell me who it is." Steven said, and I saw that he was totally hoping that he was the guy who she liked. But then Riley gave him the look of sympathy on her face, and I knew that it was not him.

"Well, okay. If you say so. But to be honest, I don't expect you to say anything when you find out." Riley said, and then I was feeling like maybe I would tell Christen.

To be honest, I was happy for once, feeling like even if she said no, I would be able to let her know how cute I thought she was, and we could maybe see where to go from there.

"Hey Christen, I know that this might sound a bit random, and I wish that I could say it in a neat way, but I think that you are actually..." As I was getting ready to tell her how much I thought she was beautiful, and that I liked her already, I was totally distracted.

"Oh my god, these fire works are really awesome." Christen said, totally cutting me off, and pointing me towards the sky, so we could watch, and then Riley was looking over at me, and I was seeing that she knew what I was trying to tell Christen, and I did see the pity in her face.

"Yeah, my favorite holiday of the year, to be honest." I said, and I was smiling, feeling like even if she didn't like me back or anything, hearing her display even a remote amount of interest in the conversation at all was enough to make me better.

Before long, Dakota and Ashley saw me, and they decided to hang out with me, and I looked at Christen, as the fire works were still going. I knew that I was never going to tell her the way that I truly felt about her.

"Hey Sheldon, we were looking for you. Want to hang out for a while?" Dakota asked, and I slowly nodded, feeling like I would tell Christen the way that I felt about her beauty later. Maybe she would actually accept my offers.

"Yeah, it might be best. Don't want to interuppt my sister and her fucking friends." I said, trying to hide my feelings, and hoping that Riley and Christen wouldn't start pretending to be butthurt with what I was saying. So with that, I was starting to walk with them.

"Oh Sheldon's in love." Dakota said, picking up the hint on the Christen thing. I looked at him, and I was just simply not really in the mood to be hearing him tease me about this. I was wanting to get her to like me back, but it was failing.

"Does that mean that Sheldon has a fucking heart?" Ashley asked, in a mocking tone, trying to get me to have a clear reaction. As we were well beyond the ear shot of Christen and Riley, and at this point, I was just getting annoyed as hell at the way they behaved.

"SHUT UP!" I yelled, at this point, kind of shocked at the firmness that I had used. I felt like I was taking it too far, when I was seeing both Dakota and Ashley looking at each other, and both looked like they regretted pushing me.

"Sorry. I thought that I was being funny." Ashley said, and I was sighing, now feeling like I was being the asshole, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and repair things before they got too horrible here.

"I do like her. But I know that there is no way in hell that she will like me back. So I don't want to deal with the turmoil of the rejection or anything like that." I said, shrugging, feeling like I would just try and salvage this whole thing at least a touch.

"You need to give yourself more credit. You're one of the nicest people that I have ever met." Ashley said, and I was looking right at her, shocked that she was trying to pull this card on me right.

"I think that we both know that's bullshit. I mean, you know people like Sam, and Dakota, who is a usually nice guy, when he is not displaying a hate boner for Harold." I said, and I shrugged, thinking that I would just try and deflect the bullshit she was trying to give me.

"Well, that is the thing. You said usually. But you've always been nice. And I think that Christen might want to hang out with you more, due to the fact that Riley never fucking goes out." Ashley said, and I was feeling like she just needed to fucking stop with this.

"Yeah, I wonder when Riley is going to finally start to reach out to more people once more. I guess that she is just scared of what is going on here." I said, and I was shurgging, not sure what in the world to tell him.

"Riley is kind of cute honestly. I wonder if she might try and start dating soon." Dakota said, and I looked right at him, feeling like he needed to stop that shit right now, or else I might have to call him out.

"There is no way in hell you're allowed to fucking have a crush on my sister. I will have to fight that really hard." I said, and then I was shaking my head, feeling like I just needed to try and put my foot down for once.

"Well, as long as I do not act on it, I feel like I should be fine." After Dakota was telling me this, Ashley was looking like she was just already over this discussion, and is finding this beyond gross. For once, I was forcing myself to agree.

"Guys, can we please fucking change the subject right now? Can we just talk about the fourth?" Ashley asked, and then she was sitting down, just starting to look at the show, as I started to slowly nod.

I was sitting down, and I wondered what the plan was going to be now. "Honestly, I am just glad that I enjoyed Wayside as much as I have." I said, and for once, felt no reason to worry about it.

"Well, yeah, Wayside is a really cool place once you know it long enough." Ashley said, wondering why I was acting like this was something so fucking shocking.

"Do you know what Sam is doing today?" I asked, feeling like I would just try and stop thinking about Christen, and stop thinking about how much better for her Steven was.

"Yeah, I think he is hanging out with his brother Kevin or something. To be honest, I think that Sam is one of those people that you really have to work to like." Dakota said, and he shrugged, as if thinking that this was all super fucking obvious.

I went home that day, as I was seeing Dakota and Ashley both looking like they understood what the issue was, and I wondered if they were going to try and make me feel better, or just let me be able to reflect on what happened.

Scene 7: The Group

July 9 1956

A few days after the celebration, Ashley was going through with her plan to show me to Harold, even though I already met the guy once. But I decided that I would try and keep that to myself, since she was genuinely trying to make connections, and she wanted to show me that she was really popular and what not.

Harold was looking pretty happy to see Ashley anyways, so I was feeling like this was a sign that the two of them really did like each other, and just had a hard time admitting it with each other.

"Man, I heard that you guys were having the time of your lives at the fire works. My father set up a whole show for me and everything, so I wasn't able to be with you guys. Sorry about that." Harold said, still showing a level of happiness, and lack of care of everything else.

"Yeah, and I was almost about to tell a girl that I liked, you know, my feelings. I said, feeling like now that the dust had settled, I would try and be honest with him about it. I was seeing Harold looking shocked at this.

"I just wished that Sam was there, since he is one of the coolest guys that I ever met, and he doesn't have any beef with anybody here, unlike Dakota and you." I said, and I was almost feeling bad for bringing that up again. Harold just sighed, as if more annoyed than anything that I brought it up.

"Well, we might be able to drop by and hang out with him. Still never met his younger brother, Kevin." Harold said, and I was seeing him kind of zone out as he was saying this, and I wondered if he was just shocked at that more than anything else.

"Do you guys know each other?" Ashley asked, as if feeling like her plan had failed miserably. Harold was looking at her, and I was seeing from the look on his face that he was actually kind of feeling bad for her.

"Not really. I mean, we met one time, but that's about it." Harold shrugged, feeling like with the way that Ashley was reacting, he needed to try and do some damage control. I was feeling like a nice hang out would probably be nice to have.

"Shit. That goes my ace in the hole. Well, I guess that we can meet up with Sam. After all, I wanted to see if he enjoyed the fire works as much as we did." After Ashley said that, Harold was sighing in mild annoyance, but decided to go along with it.

As we were walking away from the mansion, which I wanted to check out, but decided to let my selfish desire be hidden, as I did not want to create a fight or anything like that, and I saw that Harold was looking rather interested in asking me something.

"So Sheldon, were you able to get that girl to know how much she meant to you?" He asked, and I was shaking my head. I wished that I could have, but once again, I feel like my fucking fear of rejection was ruining my chances to make it work.

"I was getting there, and I probably would have done it, but I was interrupted by fireworks. I wonder if that is god's way of telling me that he does not want me to confess to her." I said, wondering why I was not allowed to be with Christen, if that was the case.

Eventually, we met up with Sam, who was playing ball with Kevin, and I was seeing the two of them getting along rather well. Much more than how Riley and I got along, and seeing that always did make me feel like I was being attacked.

"Hey guys. Sorry that I was not with you during the fourth of July celebration. I was planning on going, but totally got distracted instead." Sam said, and he was sounding kind of sad at that. Harold was then smiling, ready to rain on the moment with what he thought would be making me feel better.

"Sheldon almost fucking got laid. I wished that I was there to see that, but I guess that I was just out of luck." He said, and I looked at him, wondering why in the world he would say it that way, when that was not what happened at all.

"I did not almost get laid. I almost just told the girl that I liked my feelings. Simple as that. Nothing more." I said, and I was mildly annoyed with the way that he had to word that. I was feeling like he was just trying to give me too much credit here.

"What's getting laid?" Kevin asked, and I already almost forgot that Kevin was there in the first place. I slammed my hand on my face, feeling like I kind of had that one coming, and it was all because I just was around people my age.

"You'll know more when you're older. Trust me." After Sam said that to him, he was then shaking his head, feeling like he just needed to get right back to the point. "So Harold, did you show Sheldon what I suggested earlier?" He asked, as Harold nodded excitedly.

"Do you think that I will be able to play there on opening day?" I asked, not even thinking about the fact that something like this was probably not even really all that big of a deal. But I just wanted, no needed, the bragging rights.

"I can probably arrange something with my dad. I mean, he always likes to give my friends something extra." Harold said, and I was aware of the fact that even if he did not see it, that truly screamed "people hang out with me for the perks that come with it" which is not what I would do, but I could how other people would do it.

"Cool. Your dad sounds awesome." I said, feeling like it would be better to not hurt Harold's feelings. "Anyways, do you think we can find Dakota, and get him to want to hang out?" I suggested, and I was seeing Harold looking like he had wanted nothing to do with that.

"I don't really want to, but if you guys do, then I will just go along with the ride. But that guy can be a total fucking asshole." Harold shrugged, and I was looking at Kevin, who was shocked at the fact that we were throwing around swear words all the time.

"Can I fucking come?" Kevin asked, probably thinking that if we were all swearing, then he might as well join along, and enjoy it while it lasted. I sighed, looking at Sam, feeling like that was entirely his choice, and not mine.

"Yeah, sure. No reason not to." Sam said, and I was hearing him sounding more annoyed than anything else. But he did not want to ruin the whole thing, or piss his younger off, so he went with it. As we were heading over to Dakota's house, I could hear Harold and Kevin talking a bit.

"So, have you enjoyed summer so far?" Harold asked, feeling like he was needing to crack the ice a bit, and make the younger guy feel like his opinion mattered, and that people were not going to be treating him like garbage.

"Yeah, I guess that you can say that I enjoyed it. Haven't hung out with Sam as much as I wanted." Kevin said, and I was shocked to hear him say that, since it was showing that despite everything else, he did actually had a bit of respect for his older brother, and that was making me feel like things would work out.

"Well, your brother always seemed like the type of person who liked to remain to himself, from what I have seen. So I would not take it personally." After he said that to Kevin, I was seeing that Kevin was looking happy to hear that Harold was trying to make him feel better.

"I guess that's true." Kevin said, and I was seeing Sam looking over at us, and I was wondering what he was thinking about the shit that Kevin was saying. I wondered if he was feeling bad, and wished that he would been there for Kevin more or something. But before long, we were at Dakota's place, and he answered right away, but did not look too excited to see Harold there.

"Hey guys, how are you today? I'm not sure if today is a good day honestly." Dakota said, and he was about to go inside. "There have been some new leads on my cousin yesterday, and I just need to accept the fact that she is simply never coming back."

"What happened?" Sam asked, almost sounding like he was really feeling bad for him. But that was when Kevin was just looking around, and he seemed fucking confused, and scared of what was going on around him. I wondered if it was a good idea to bring the six year old after all.

"Well, it seems like her items were found as one of those so called mile markers, and there was camera footage that showed her going into a store alone before she went missing. So basically she probably ran away, or if gone." Dakota said, and shook his head, obviously wanting this discussion to end before it got any worse.

"Oh shit, sorry to hear that. I wasn't expecting that. I did think that there was a small chance that she might be found at some point." After Sam said that, he was shaking his head, wondering what else he was going to even say now.

"It's okay. I guess that deep down, I kind of had a feeling something like that would happen. I know that this town is a fucked up play ground for old guys, and that was something that I expected." After Dakota said that, he was walking out of the house, and I was even seeing Harold look like there was total sympathy on his face.

"Well, what would you want to do today?" Ashley asked, and Dakota looked at her, and I was seeing that beyond everything else, he was glad that at least she was willing to be there for him, and that she wasn't just trying to sweet talk him or what not.

"I guess that maybe we can go on and just go to the park for a bit. I can't really get it in my heart to do anything else at all." Dakota said, walking past all of us, as he closed the door, and I wondered what else the plan was going to be.

"Yeah, that might be best." Sam said, as he looked at his brother. He was rubbing Kevin's hair, to try and make Kevin feel better about what was happening. But Kevin still looked like he was way out of it, and wanted to know what was happening.

"I will let you know if anything else shows up." Dakota said, as he was starting to leave, and I was feeling like nothing else we would say would make him say anything different.

I was feeling like maybe I would try and talk to dad and Riley about what happened, and see if the three of us could try and be a happy family, so that way in case something happened, we would not lose the memories we had gotten.

Scene 8: Mezmers Office

July 11 1956

Dakota, Ashley, and I were meeting up again the next day, and this time, Ashley looked like she had a really happy look on her face, as if ultra proud of herself.

"How about I show you my parents office?" Ashley asked, and I looked at her, as if thinking she was insane for thinking that I wanted anything to do with this, since I had no desire whatsoever to waste the rest of my day on something like this.

"I super don't want to do that." I said, feeling like I would be honest with her, but I knew that at the end of the day, there was nothing that I could do to change her mind.

"Oh come on Sheldon. What else were you going to be doing today?" After Dakota asked me this, I was looking at Ashley, and I was feeling like they were both just trying to nag me onto this, and I was feeling like this entire idea was going to implode.

"Fine. If you want to do that, then I guess that I can come." I said, feeling no interest in arguing anymore, and feeling like if they were wanting things done this way, they were going to get it done this way, with or without my approval.

We eventually started to head over to Mezmers's, and I was feeling like whatever Ashley wanted to tell me about it would probably not be that interesting. After all, it was just a fucking burger place. How in the world was something like that supposed to blow my fucking mind.

Once there, Ashley looed over at me, and I told myself to pretend to be excited. "Yeah, how long have your parents owned it?" I asked, and then Ashley seemed glad to just simply see that I was asking questions along with it.

We went inside the resturant, and to be fair, the inside did look incredibly cool. There was some form of like space theme going on here, and I was wondering if her parents were fan of that stuff.

"They told me that when I grow up, I can go on and take the place over. Isn't that fucking epic?" She asked, and I was shrugging, not sure what in the world I was supposed to even fucking say there at all.

"Well, at least you got a future secured." I said, and looked at her, feeling like as long as I was showing her that I was indeed still paying attention, then she would probably get off my ass about it, for a bit.

We walked up, and when the counter guy was seeing that it was Ashley, he got a smile on her face, and I was wondering how much of that was him just playing a role to not get in trouble, or was genuinely happy to see her.

"I was wondering if I was able to show them my parents office?" She asked, and the guy looked shocked at her question, finding it sudden, out of nowhere, and a bit strange, and was looking for a way out of it.

"I mean, if you feel like your parents would be fine with that, then I guess there is no reason to say no." He said, and then I was already seeinf the fallout on his face, as if he was feeling like this was going to go real south real fucking fast.

But Ashley did not seem to be too worried about it as she walked to the office, with Dakota and I following her, and I was well aware of how south this could go if we were not careful here.

Once in the office, I was glad to notice that neither of her parents were here, which made me think that maybe something like this was actually not all that insane after all, even though part of me still felt like it was wrong.

"Well, this is where the entire business was born from. My dad was saying that he wanted to create a place where kids would go to after school every day, and just be themselves." Ashley said, and then she sat down on the chair, staring at us.

"To be honest, I think that having me might have changed my parents. From stories I heard, they never seemed to be wonderful people to talk with back then, but after I was born, they became at least tolerable." She said, and then I sat down on one of the other chairs, with Dakota doing the same.

"Well, either way, I don't care. Their behavior back then is all in the past. Nothing I can fucking do to change it." After she said that to me, she was then thinking of something else to say. "Although the employee we saw earlier has been ina ratehr bad rut."

"From what I heard, his seventeen year old younger sister went missing after the grinding incident when we were at the tree house. He said that he was just focused on getting the job done every day, and going home, and not worrying about other people." After Ashley said that, she shook her head, and felt like she needed to go back to a sore subject again.

"Sorry to bring that up again. I know that you don't like talking about it Dakota. Especially after what happened." She said, and Dakota was shaking his head, feeling like she needed to stop.

"Well, it is a part of life, no matter how much I might like it or not. I just wish that I had a better sense of acceptance." He said, and then he looked right at her, wondering what else to even say here.

"Just forget I ever mentioned it." She said, and then she looked right at me. "Sorry about Christen earlier. Do you think that maybe she might like you more if she knew you were helping me out here?"

"I don't want to fucking talk about it. After all, when Riley tried to talk to me, she was already trying to make me sound like the bad guy here, and like I was some fucked up bitch or something for liking her friend." I said, and I really had no idea what in the world to tell him here.

"Sorry that it seems like you and your sister just will never be able to get along." Dakota was telling me, as I was opening up a folder that was on the table, and I was starting to read through it.

"Do you think your parents would be pissed at us reading this shit?" I asked, and held up the folder, wondering if she had any thoughts on it at all. Ashley had a look of mild terror in her eyes, as if thinking that I was a fucking idiot for even fucking taking the risk or anything like that.

But she didn't say anything, and as a stubborn rebel, I decided to use that as my queue that I was allowed to continue reading. "Haylee Reed. Age seventeen. Twelve percent of profits from all transcations." After I read that, I was really confused, and placed it down on the table, feeling no interest anymore in confusing bullshit.

"Haylee Reed? I think that's the name of the sister that I was talking about." Ashley said, and she was starting to leave the office. I was confused what the issue was, and I was following her, and Dakota started to come along, wondering what we were going to be doing.

Once we were out of the room, the guy was serving some customers, and he was looking like he was far too busy to be dealing with this. Ashley looked over at me, and I was seeing her looking like she just needed to go through with some insane plan.

"Do you think that we should try and tell him what is happening? I mean, my parents have a file related to him." Ashley said, and then Dakota was placing his hand on Ashley's shoulders, really fucking firmly, and I was seeing that there was a look of utter fear in his face, like this was the worst idea we could come up with.

"How about we talk to your parents first? After all, that might be something that was completely out of nowhere." He said, and then he was letting go of Ashley's shoulder, and I saw her considering what Dakota was saying. She looked over at him, and saw that he was being utterly serious.

"Yeah, I guess that I can do that." She said, and calmed down, as if feeling like she just needed to try and put on a good presentation. "Sorry, I guess that I just got everything in over my head. I guess hanging out with you has done that."

As Ashley said that, I was seeing the look of hurt on Dakota's face, but I was seeing him looking like he was accepting what she was telling him. He slowly nodded, feeling like she might have been right.

"Look, if that is genuinely how you believe, then I guess that I should probably stop hanging around you too much. I do not want my cousin to be the reason that you start having doubts about everything." Dakota said, and he sounded utterly hurt as he was saying that.

"Sheldon, we should just go. Clearly I am being a bad influence on Ashley." Dakota said, and he was looking at her, utterly sad at her admission. "I really do enjoy hanging out with you. But I don't want to be getting you all caught up in theories, and I never once wanted you to try and dig into something as tragic as that." He said, referring to the fact that the employee was still dealing with the emotional pain of his sister going missing.

As we were out of the resturant, we were sitting down on the rock in front for a while, and I was rubbing my eyes. "I think that maybe I was being a bit aggresive. But I do not want her to go down my path, and I certainly don't want her getting into thinking that her parents know something about Haylee." Dakota said, and I shrugged, thinking of what to say now.

"Look, it was partially my fault. I should not have looked into that fucking folder. I was just curious, and I thought that it would be funny." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to get Dakota off of the blaming himself game, since in all honesty, he had nothing to do with that, and it was literally my fault.

Before long, Ashley was leaving the resturant, and she had two bags of food. She gave Dakota and I one bag each. "Look, honestly, I don't agree with your choice, but if you want to just move on from hanging out because you feel like you're affecting my opinion on things, then I will let it go." She said, and then she shrugged.

"But at least take this free dinner. The least that I can do." She said, and then after that, she was heading back inside, and I looked at Dakota, and I saw from the look on his face that he was beyond confused, and beyond caring to figure it out.

"Why do women have to be impossible to read?" He asked, and then he took the burger out, feeling like if he had it, he might as well eat it and I did the same thing, as I thought about that folder.

Scene 9: The Night Life

July 17, 1956

Sam and I were walking around downtown at night, just trying to mostly enjoy ourselves. And I was seeing that he was just looking mostly fine. "So after the argument you had with Dakota and Ashley, do you think you will just lay low with them for a while, and then eventually hang out again?" Sam asked me, and I was shocked that he was bringing that up.

"To be honest, yeah, I will. But to be honest, I kind of enjoying hanging out with Harold and you a bit more, most of the time anyways. You guys always just seem to be the most excited to see me." I said honestly, feeling like soon enough Dakota and Ashley would make up, and they would have each other, while Sam and Harold had no real friends besides me.

"Have you tried to connect with each other? You know, outside of me?" I asked, and then Sam was shaking his head, as if feeling like there was never any need to until I showed up in the mix and all that.

"No, not really. I have considered it a couple of times ever since you showed up. But if I'm being realistic, I am not sure if we ever really even have enough common interests or anything to make it fucking worth it." Sam was telling me, as I slowly nodded, feeling like that did technically make some sense.

"I can perhaps arrange a meet up, and see if you two have something to go with even beyond hanging out with me." I said, feeling like I just needed to go full in on the suggestion. He looked right at me, slightly annoyed with my suggestion.

"Oh shit. Well, if you do, then I feel like I will have no choice but to do it. I will probably leave Kevin behind, since it always seems like Harold is slightly annoyed with me bringing him along. I guess that I can see it, since he's only six and all." Sam said, and I slowly nodded in agreement, feeling that was a huge part of it.

"Well, I think you will see soon enough that Harold just seems to be a bit unsure of how to talk with people, especially considering the fact that he was never really forced to before, due to the fact that he lived with rich parents and what not." I said, feeling like I just needed to give him something in his favor.

"Well, regardless, I don't hold anything against him. He is a nice guy, and I do want to get to know him more. And I think that maybe while Dakota and Ashley are busy repairing their friendship, that might be a good time." After he said that, he was then caught thinking again.

"What other places in town have you not seen yet?" Sam asked, and I was looking at him shocked, since he was suggesting that we go out when it was completely dark out.

"To be honest, I think that my dad might not like something like that. So I think we should be careful here." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and put this whole thing down, and not make it much worse.

But I was seeing from the look on Sam's face, that he was totally not buying that shit for a second. He was totally convinced, for better or for worse, that my father was going to be fine. I sighed, feeling like there was no need to argue with him at this. So with that, we were walking down towards the downtown area, which made me wonder what he was wanting to show me.

"What are you even trying to show me?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to break the tension, and see where this was going. Sam smiled at me, as I was wondering why he was so excited for something like this in the first place.

"Well, just more of the town, that you have never seen before. I go down town once or twice a month during the night, to just simply see the surroundings, and have a good time." Sam said, and I was shocked that his parents let their ten-year-old son do that in the first place.

Before too long, we reached the area, and it was like a bustling night city life. People all over the area were walking around, and I was seeing where Sam was coming from to a extent. So many people were in the area that they probably just simply would not have seen us at all. "Where were you thinking we should start?" I asked, and then Sam smiled, happy to know that for now, I was willing to do what he wanted.

"Well, one of the things that I like to do is just to wander around. Especially, at this time of night, if you pay super close attention, you can hear the broadcast station guy talking. And it's always interesting to hear him talk." Sam said, and I looked right at him, finding that to be a bit out of nowhere, and I was wondering why he would enjoy something like that in the first place.

"The broadcast station?" I asked, and then after a few seconds, I was remembering something, and I smiled. "Oh yeah, the place on top of the mountain. I have seen it a couple of times. Totally forgot about it though." I said, and I shrugged, wondering why he was even bringing that up of all the fucking things.

"Yeah, it has been going for years. The guy up there usually talks about current events, and seems to be the only person interested in talking about the towns cases. Which is probably why Dakota showed me it, with his cousin and all." He said, and I looked at him, shocked that he got this from fucking Dakota of all people, which was showing to me that even if he did not show it, the two actually were probably at least somewhat close.

"Really? Surprised that you learned that from Dakota. But I guess if you're telling the truth, then with his cousin, that would only seem to be the obvious person." I said, and I was unsure what to fucking say here.

"Well, Dakota wants to gain as much of a heads up on what is going on with his cousin, so I think it does make sense, as annoying as it can be at times. And to be honest, when I see his sadness, I just want to do something too." He said, and I looked right at him, wondering what game was playing here.

"Are you straight up fucking admitting that you are going to be doing what he does, and look into this as well? I mean, I think that Dakota might not really want you do that." I said, and then he shook his head, as if not really caring at all, and thought that I was being irrational.

"Well, one thing that my parents told me is that I should always help people who are in need, no matter what the cost is." After Dakota said that to me, I looked right at him, and I was wondering if I had the desire to argue with him at all, or just let it go.

"Well, if you fucking say so, then I guess that I might as well just let it go." I said, feeling like I would just drop the subject for now, not wanting to make it even worse for him. I shook my head, though, not sure what to tell him.

"I want to teach Kevin that mindset as well. I always worry that he might not know what is right and what is wrong, so that is my main goal in life." Sam said, and I was wondering why he even cared about what Kevin does.

"But don't you think it might be best for him to make his own mistakes, and not be riding the coattails of you or anything?" I asked, feeling like I would just be honest as I said that to him. Sam shook his head, looking like he was wondering why I said this to begin with.

"Anyways, let's go." He said, and we were walking on, and I was feeling like I went way too far, considering the fact that he didn't even reply to my answer anymore. I felt like I needed to push him later. But for now, I felt like I had done more than enough to piss him off.

We walked along for a while longer, and before long we eventually made it to a well. "Kevin almost fell down this last year. I had to stop him, and I swear on my life, I had never been so fucking scared." He said, and I looked at him, and I was seeing the fear flash through his eyes again, and I knew there was no way around it.

"Wow, and considering that drop, he would have died for sure." I said, and I looked right at him, and I was starting to feel some pity for the guy, knowing that things could have gone a lot worse depending on how things had gone. I shook my head, wishing that I could have been there for him now.

"Yeah. And I heard that something similar happened a couple of years ago. Like to some twenty-one-year-old college students. Hit their head on the pavement and died on the spot." After Sam said that to me, I was shaking my head, and I was imagining what I heard, and it was making me really uncomfortable.

"Why not put a bucket there, and perhaps give the person some fucking chance to soften the fall?" I asked, and only when I was much older, did I realize how ridiculous that sounded. But at the moment, it sounded totally fucking genius, and what not.

"Well, I think that it's not exactly how that works. But I guess that I can't really blame you for thinking that way." After he said that to me, I was smiling, and I was glad to see that he was at least considering what I fucking said.

"Anyways, I guess now you know the closest to death that I ever fucking had. Regardless, now that it's been over a year, I sort of don't even care." After Sam said that to me, I was slowly nodding, and I was happy for him.

"Wow, you seemed to be getting in good spirits relatively fast. I thought that you would have been dwelling on that for the rest of your fucking life." I said, and I was shrugging, not sure what in the world I could tell him.

"So Sheldon, what was your favorite place so far?" He asked, when we finally moved on from the well. I shrugged, not sure why in the world it was even a question. I was very clear what my favorite place was, since I discussed it many times over.

"The waterfalls. I was so blown away by that place, that I would love going there every week for the rest of my life. Even though I know that this will never happen." I said, and I was thinking about how much happier I would be if it did indeed happen that way, with friends to.

Sam and I hung out for another hour or so before heading home, and I was tired, and while I was glad that I got to hang out with Sam, and add a little history with him, I was indeed glad it was over, so I could be able to fucking rest up for a while.

Scene 10: Innocent Feelings

July 21, 1956

Eventually, I was at Harold Wilson's house again, and the two of us were just chilling out. "So I was at the beach yesterday." Harold said, and he was winking at me, with a shit eating grin on his face. As he said that, I was pretending to be interested, feeling like he was going to tell me what was on his mind, even if I didn't want to.

"Yeah, and what happened?" I asked, feeling like I might as well just play along with what was going on in his mind, and see if this even was going anywhere at all. Harold then smiled, knowing that at least he had my attention now.

"Well, I found your sister there. With her friends, and she was wearing a really cute bikini." Harold said, and I was giving him death daggers, feeling like he needed to stop this shit right now.

"Don't fucking tell me that you have a god damn crush on my fucking sister." I said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like if he did, then that was when I was going to have to start kind of being a bit of a asshole here.

"Well, I mean, I don't know. I really like what she had. But I didn't speak to her though. She was looking like she was trying to flirt with Christen or that Steven guy. Kind of ruined the whole mood." He said, and then he shook his head, as if feeling like he still had a shit until then, and it got totally ruined.

"Yeah, she has been hanging out with them a lot now that you mention it. I wonder if she just feels more comfortable around them than anything else." I said, feeling like I would try and talk with her about it later.

"From how you described it, she had been kind of having a hard time talking with people when she had first moved in. Was it because your mother died?" Harold asked, and I slowly nodded, thinking there was no reason to lie.

"Yeah, it seemed like my mother meant a lot more to Riley than she was trying to let on, and I was kind of shocked about that." I said, and I was shrugging, not sure what to tell him.

"Well, I mean, most people inherently feel more attached to their mothers than their dads. I guess I can't be too shocked, considering the fact that my father for instance is always just out doing his job, and never seems to be having time to see me as much anymore." He said, and shrugged as he said that, sounding sadder than he was letting on.

"But I guess that there is no way that a businessman like myself would be able to get her interest in knowing. Honestly, I'm surprised you still come here often, and that it seems like it isn't for purely personal gain." He said, and I was slowly nodding as he said this.

"To be honest, I just think you're a decently nice person to be around." I said, and I was shaking my head as I said this. "But Harold, I am kind of curious if you plan on making things up with Dakota to begin with? Because honestly, that shit is getting hard to fucking deal with."

"That's the issue. I keep trying to do that shit. And it seems like I am sort of getting somewhere most of the time, but then he starts becoming overly bitter for some reason, and then it gets fucking ruined again. And there is only so many times I can do this before it becomes a clear waste of fucking time." He said, and I was seeing him looking like he was beyond the point of contending with me here.

"I swear, he is trying so fucking hard to hide his feelings for Ashley that it is annoying, and I would rather not deal with it at all." He said, and then with that, he simply shrugged, and then with that, I saw him looking like he was kind of almost regretting his issue.

"Let's just go to the beach again." Harold said, and I was shocked at the sudden change of attitude he had. It seemed like he was forcing a subject change, and I knew he clearly more bothered by the Dakota shit than he was trying to let on, but wouldn't say why for some reason.

"Sure." I said, not sure what else to say. And I was also wondering if he was thinking he would find Riley there again, especially with what it seems like him having a crush on her. Which was still way beyond what I wanted to deal with at all.

"Do you go often?" Harold asked, as he was getting his shoes on, and was already picking up a couple of water bottles. "To be honest, I try to go there decently often. Always nice to watch the water waves. I don't know why." Harold said, as we were walking, and I was still finding the whole thing rather fucking odd.

But I was seeing him trying to be cordial, and I was seeing that he was no longer talking about how hot my sister was, which really made me uncomfortable, and not want to be there. But I think that I needed to give him a pass since he probably didn't mean anything by it.

"Well, I haven't been there yet since I moved, so I suppose this could be a nice change of pace." I said, and I was wondering why this was even what was on his mind in the first place.

"So Sheldon, do you think you are going to be well off when we start school?" Harold asked, and to be honest, I was feeling like that was just simply not how things were going to be. And that was totally fucking fine.

We eventually were at the beach, and I didn't have a answer for him, mainly because that was such a hard and broad question to answer, and I had no idea why I would waste my time with that.

We sat down, and I was watching the water waves for a second. "I have no idea what I think anymore." I said, feeling like that would be good enough. Before too long, that was when we were seeing another one of our classmates, that I hadn't met yet, hanging out with us.

"Hey Cathy!" Harold yelled, and she turned over, and was seeing us, and I saw her looking kind of shocked that Harold of all people was wanting to talk to her. But with that, she walked over to us, and was then looking right at me, and I saw her looking like she had wanted to say something, but then shook her head.

"Is this the new guy?" Cathy asked, and I slowly nodded, feeling like there was no point in hiding it anymore. But then I shrugged, wondering what to say now.

"Do you guys know each other well?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to be as cordial as I could, and I wondered if I was even supposed to be here. Cathy shrugged, simply not sure what to say, I was certain she did not really want to be here at all.

"Not really honestly. We had a few classes at school together, and that is basically it. I was just here waiting for my friends to show up." Cathy said, and then she looked down on the ground, kind of feeling sad at this.

"Are they not going to fucking show up?" What fucking assholes." Harold said, and I was looking at him, wondering what his issue was, and why he was even caring about what Cathy was going through in the first place.

"Please don't make it even worse than it is. I don't think anything happened to them." She said, and then she looked right at me, wondering what she was going to say now.

"Sorry. I guess I do have a tendency to fear the worst in most cases. I shouldn't be doing that with other people though." Harold said, and then he was simply shrugging, as if just desperate to start changing the subject again.

"Wow. You must have had some issues back then." I said, and I knew I was being a fucking asshole with my wording. But I think Harold probably didn't have much else to say to it.

"Well, to be honest, I fucking did. But that is all in the past, and it is not going to do anybody any favors digging it all up. And besides, I think most people probbaly don't want to hear a history lesson about how people can really be assholes." After Harold said this, Cathy got a smile on her face, as if enjoying the fact that Harold wasn't holding any hostages in this.

"Anyways, since you're fresh here, I think when my friends come by, I can show you to them." Cathy said, and she was rubbing the dirt off of her classes, and I was wondering why she even brought them with her. Considering the fact that they were going to get dirty just by being in the fucking area to begin with.

"Sure. That would be cool." I said, not sure what else I could say to it besides that. And in all honesty, I was aware that the whole thing was going to happen with or without me wanting to do it. So I was feeling that I might as well just go along with it, for the time being.

"And make sure he stays out of trouble. It is already bad enough when you guys are going around, planning up a bunch of schemes." After Cathy said that, she winked at Harold, hoping he would understand she was trying to give him shit.

"Yeah, I will try." Harold said, and I was finding it funny how he wasn't even promising that he could actually fucking do it. But in all honesty, I was glad that Cathy respected Harold, more than Dakota did at least.

After an hour or so of talking with Cathy at the beach, and getting to know her personal side of the debate, Harold and I were heading home, and I was seeing the unsure look on Cathy's face, as I was she was starting to realize that there was a good chance her friends were not going to be there after all. But she still held out hope.

"See you soon." Was the last thing I said before I was leaving, and I was wondering if she even wanted to be around me in the first place. I was smiling, having another friend with me, and I was honestly pretty happy to start to make progress with that.

"Don't you think she's kind of cute?" Harold asked, and I was shaking my head, thinking about Christen, since I was still trying to fucking win her over. After all, she was really the only person who I had been thinking about lately.

Harold laughed, and patted my shoulder, as if telling me that he didn't buy that for a second, and I was wondering why he was doing this anyways.

As Harold predicted, and to my fears, her friends did not show up that day, as we would learn the next time we saw her. She thanked the two of us though, for being at her side, and trying to help her out. and for being there for her when it was clear other people decided to not fucking be.

Scene 11: Ending and Beginning

July 28, 1956

A few days later, that was when I was finally seeing Dakota and Ashley talking again, and they were seeeming to start to slowly make up a bit. I was feeling glad to be seeing that they were no longer having a clear level of resentment with each other.

It put a giant smile on my face, finally seeing them connect again. I hated them being against each other, and arguing. It made me feel like I wasn't there for her enough. I sat down with them, hoping to get their attention.

"Sorry that you had to deal with us bickering for so long." Ashley admitted, and I was slowly nodding. Feeling like I just needed to give her something to make her feel a bit better.

"People just need to fucking express what is on their mind at times. And sometimes that leads to fights. I get it. Just make sure that you don't lose sight of your friendship." I said, as I sat down on Dakota's yard. I felt like I needed to just be nice and simplistic.

Eventually, that was when I was seeing Cathy walking by. IT was clear that she was heading towards my place. I looked up, and I looked right at her, wondering what I was going to say to her. I shook my head, hoping to make her feel better.

I called out to her, and she turned around, looking shocked to see me here with Dakota and Ashley. I sighed, wondering what in the world she was wanting to do. "Hey Sheldon, I just wanted to see how you were doing. You know, I was the one at the beach earlier." She said, and I slowly nodded at this.

There was no way I could forget that pained face, and her looking like she wanted to fucking have a friend at her side, and not feel like she wasn't good enough or something like that.

"What were you wanting to talk about?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to be careful. Cathy was then slowly nodding, as if feeling like she wanted to open up. But with Dakota and Ashley there, it was hard for her to feel like this would be a good idea.

"I was just wanting to apologize to you for doubting you earlier. Your suspicions were true. My friends didn't show up after all. I was so fucking pissed off that they did that to me. I wonder if I did something to them." She said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like I needed to make her feel better.

"I guess maybe my friends aren't as tight with me as I thought. But I guess that maybe that was something that I had thought could happen. As much as I hate to admit it." She said, and then that was when Dakota stood up, and felt like he needed to try and give her some advice on how to handle things.

"Truth be told, you never really know who your friends are, and what they will be doing for you, until you really get to know them. The people who you loved might be the ones that are going to turn their back on you." Joe said, and Cathy looked shocked that he was saying this to her anyways.

"But I have known them for fucking years and years. And then when I finally thought that I would be able to trust them, they just fucking turn their back on me." Cathy said, seeming to be just furious here.

"Well, it was one time. I am sure that they are not going to be like this forever." I said, feeling like I needed to defend them a touch. For their own sake. I was seeing Cathy looking like she was hoping that I would be right.

"Didn't you guys get in a really big fight earlier?" Cathy asked, referring to Dakota and Ashley. I was seeing them both looking like they were a bit annoyed that this was suddenly getting brought up. After all, they had been friends for a while, and it was just a couple weeks.

"Well, I guess I might as well spill the beans, since most people seem to know anyways. But the truth is that when my cousin went missing, I wanted to try and find out the truth as fast as I could. But my obsession was becoming a issue for those around me. And Ashley started to make theories about her parents. That was when I realized that I went too far, and I wanted to just end this." Dakota said, and I was seeing Ashley looking like there was a lot of regret on her face.

"And I decided that maybe it was time to finally reach out to her again, and fucking get to know what was going on with her." Dakota said, as I was seeing Ashley looking like she was just simply trying to see where this was going to be going.

"I mean, some of the shit that I was saying did make some sense." Ashley said, and then Dakota was shaking his head. As if refusing to go down this path once again. Then he looked at Cathy once again.

"I really don't want to talk about this right now. It is only going to be making things worse for us both." He said, finally feeling like he just needed to try and draw the line.

"Sorry that I got in on this discussion. I heard something, and thought it was strange was all. So I wanted to just see how things were going." After she said that, I looked right at Dakota and Ashley, wondering what they would say.

"Don't worry. I didn't know you were friends with Sheldon." Ashley said, and then she was shrugging, as if feeling like friends was a bit of a term. Considering the fact that we hardly knew each other, and it was all becuase of the fucking beach.

"Well, we only hung out once at the beach. Harold was there, and he was talking about the crush he had on Sheldon's sister." Cathy said, and then I was shaking my head. Feeling like she really needed to stop bringing that up. Since it was kind of starting to get on my fucking nerves.

"Honestly, the more you bring that up, the more annoyed that I am going to get. I don't want to think about Harold lusting over Riley." I said, feeling like I just needed to end this conversation right now. Both Dakota and Ashely looked like they thought that this revelation was comedy gold or something like that.

"Wow, I thought that he has a thing for Ashley." After Dakota said that, I was seeing him almost looking like he was kind of happy for once. No longer feeling like he was going to be upset at Harold just even being in the area anymore. Which was enough to make me feel a bit better.

"Look, I mean, I know you guys have a lot of nice memories together, andI feel like I might be making it worse to be around you all." She said, and I was slowly nodding. I didn't like the way that she was bringing herself down like this. But I did understand it to a degree.

"If you want to hang out for a bit, I am sure that it would be perfectly fine." Harold said, and I was seeing him looking like he was just honestly kind of glad. Feeling like he would take his mind off of what was going on. At least a little bit.

Cathy shrugged, and decided to take the offer. "To be honest guys, I feel like when I see how easily Sheldon has friends, and makes people connect, it kind of shocks me. A random guy who barely lived in Wayside, is suddenly the role that everybody fucking wants." She said, and she simply sounded kind of upset at what was going on here.

"It just all comes in knowing what people are wanting to talk about, and picking up on their thinking cues. It is easier said than done a lot of the time." I said, feeling like I would be honest. While still being relatively charitible. I didn't want to come off as a total asshole after all. Especially with everything going on here.

"But beyond that, most of it is because I want to fit in as well. I would have hated going to Wayside, and spending all my time feeling like I never belonged." I said, feeling like telling them this was going to be a way that I could be honest with them about what was going on with them.

"Fitting in? That seems to be the biggest thing that everybody in town needs to work on." After Cathy said this, I slowly nodded. I was just simply glad that she was not going to be getting on my case about this too much after all.

"What about you Dakota? Especially with you being held back and all?" She asked, and I was seieng Dakota looking at her slightly upset. As if feeling like she was really going to be getting on his nerves if she was going to be bringing that up in the first place.

"Well, being held back is not really something that I want to fucking talk about?" After he said that to Cathy, I was seeing that he was trying to simply sound like he was being relatively neutral on the whole subject. But that was clearly a fucking lie.

"And besides, I feel like it is just the fact that this is what happened as a result of my shitty behavior, and that is something that I just need to fucking accept." As Dakota said that, I was wondering if he actually bought all that talk about responsibility and shit. I just highly doubted it.

"Well, as you said, the person you went against was the one that provoked you first. There is no reason to not own up to that one." She said, and Dakota was shaking his head, as if thinking that if she was going to try and tell him this, and did it up, then he would just try and drop this subject again.

"Cathy, I wonder if you are going to be trying to make things work with your friends." Dakota asked, as if he was just wanting her to shut up about this. As he said this, I was seeing the look on her face look shocked at the fact that he was suddenly changing the subject like this all of a sudden.

"Yeah, I should. Thanks Sheldon." She said, relatively neutrally, as if to try and hide the sting that she probably felt with him.

Cathy was starting to head off, and I was feeling like I would try and stay at her side going forward. She was in pain, and I needed to try and spare her the fucking pain.

As she was gone, I was then taking a long and deep breath. It was hard to have a clear and focused mind when she was there. For some reason, I was always feeling like I just needed to try and find something to say to her. To make her feel like she was valued.

"Do you care about her?" Dakota asked, and I looked at him. Hating his question, since it was making me feel so fucking unsure. I took a deep breath, feeling like I just needed to try and be careful with how I responded.

Scene 12: I'm Wonderstruck

July 31, 1956

Later, I was seeing Christen heading towards the house, before I was meeting up with Harold, and I was wondering what she was going to be telling me. To be honest, I was scared that I was going to let my crush start to seep into the conversation, and I was going to be seen as a fucking idiot and what not.

"Sheldon, what are you doing today?" She asked me, and I shook my head. Not sure what the hell I would even fucking tell her at all. After all, I was having a feeling that she was just trying to be nice for the sake of being nice.

"Heading out to a friend. Are you going to be meeting up with Riley?" I asked, hoping that I would be able to just see what her plan was. I saw from the look on her face that she was seeming to be kind of happy that it would be working.

"Yeah. She was telling me that she wanted to talk to me about important things at the time. You know, I am scared for her." She said, and I was wondering what she fucking meant. After all, Riley was seeming to do fine with everything.

"I mean, she said that she was coping, and having a good time adapting to Wayside lately. And I know that you have been doing your own thing, and that I need to be patient with you and everything. But I just wanted to make sure you knew if you could help her out and what not." She said, and I was sighing. Feeling like she was wrong to feel this way.

"Well, there is nothing that I can do about if she doesn't want to talk to me. After all, if that is something she doesn't want to do, then so be it." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and be honest with her.

"But are you going to be giving up on making sure she is happy then?" She asked, and I was feeling like that was a loaded question. I just shook my head, not sure what to tell her.

I just simply looked at her for a few seconds, trying to decide what I was wanting to fucking tell her. I felt like there was so much shit that I needed to say, and I had no idea if I was going to be able to say it all.

"Sheldon, do you like me?" She asked me, and I was unsure if what I could be able to say the truth. "After all, when you were at the fireworks with me, you were wanting to say something. Before you were cut off." As she said that, I shook my head, unable to comprehend going down this path.

"Well, I do think your cute. But I know you don't like me back. I should have just never fucking bothered." I said, feeling like I would just be honest as I fucking told her this. But then as I said this, she just looked kind of scared of how I went down this route.

"Shit. I was fearing you were going to say that. Well, Sheldon, I think the biggest issue is that I feel like you're too young for me to try it out. And besides, you are working with your friends, and having a great time with them. I think that should be more important." She said, and I looked at her, feeling like this was a fucking mistake.

"What is the fucking issue though?" I asked, hating the fact that she was telling me this, I wanted to know why I was too young for this. I was also double digits, and three years wasn't too big of a deal.

"Look Sheldon, I really do think you're a great guy for your age. But I feel like this is going to be a terrible idea, and I think you need to be more careful here." She said, and I was shaking my head. It was all feeling so fucking wrong, and I fucking hated it.

"Besides, I think that you should just be enjoying your time with your friends more. After all, you have no idea how much time you will have with them. And I would not want you to lose that fucking chance soon." She said, and I decided to just drop the subject for the time being.

"If you say so. I hope you know that this is not what I wanted to fucking hear though." I said, feeling like I would just try and be honest with her, and make her see that despite how much she was meaning well, and didn't want to hurt my feelings, I was going to have a hard time letting this one go.

"I know it's not what you fucking wanted. It's not what I fucking wanted as well. This is really hard for both of us." She said, and I was wondering what was meaning by this. I was wondering if this was her admitting that she had felt the same way. In which case, there was indeed a small chance this could work out.

But I chose to not say anything. I was feeling like if I did, then I would only make things worse for everybody else. And I was not wanting to hurt her over this. I was not wanting to make her feel like she was a terrible person over just simply fucking saying no to me.

"Sorry for bothering you. See you later." I said, feeling like I was going to just try and salvage this a bit. Hoping that this was not going to get any worse than I had been fearing. To be honest, I felt like with Christen, even if she did not see it, I wanted to be the best man possible for her. Because I loved her, even if she didn't fucking see it.

I started to head over to Harold's house, and I was feeling like whatever I wanted to say to him would have to do. After all, I knew that Harold was one of the few people who would talk to me about this.

Once I was at Harold's place, I was feeling like I just needed to see what he would say. I sat down at his porch, and I saw that Harold was looking like he was kind of unsure of what he was even going to tell me.

"I tried to tell Christen the way that I felt about her, and she was fucking telling me that I shouldn't have fucking done that." I said, and then I looked at Dakota, wondering if he would be willing to listen to me talk.

"She said that she can't be with me, because I'm too young. But she admitted that she felt the same way." I said, feeling upset at the fact that my age was something like an excuse for her to not follow her feelings.

"Well, you know how she fucking feels. I feel like that should be good enough for you, to be honest." He said, and I was seeing from the way he looked at me that he was feeling like I was being a bit over reactive.

"Well, it should be. But I feel like if she feels that way, she should just stop fucking caring about various things like our age and what not, and just fucking go with it. But then when I see that she just can't do it, then I feel like I made a massive mistake." I said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like this was something he would probably not care to hear at all.

"I guess that maybe your sister Riley might be a fucking reason. She might be thinking that with them, if she tries to go out with you, then she might be jealous." Harold said, and him talking about Riley was clearly making him happy. I was at the point where I was hardly even caring anymore about the crush. I just didn't even react at this rate.

"I guess that I also wonder if maybe Christen and Riley could be seeing each other. I mean, they have been hanging out all the time, and they seem really fucking tight with each other." I said, feeling like I just needed to bring the idea up at least once, for my own fucking sake.

"I have no idea what they want to fucking do. And if they don't tell me what is going on with them, then there is no fucking point. But regardless, talking about this is only going to make things worse." I said, feeling like I just need to try and fucking drop this.

"Maybe you can try and show her that your age doesn't fucking matter. Just listen to her. Be there for her if something happens. If you just slowly make her open up more, and she starts to talk to you more, then over time, I think she will see that she was wrong to treat you this way." He said, and I had no idea why the hell I was even listening to this in the first place.

"But women are impossible to convince otherwise when they already made their mind up. That is one of the fucking things dad always goes at me about. Telling me that I should just let it go when they fucking talk." I said, not sure why in the world I was even telling him this.

"I can see that you're scared. And that is fine. But I think that we both just need to fucking see the bigger picture if you want to make this Christen thing work out." He said, and then I was just wondering what he meant.

"She said she liked you back. So you already know that the deal is basically done. After that, you just got to show her she is your world, and that despite the age gap, you will do anything for her." He was telling me, as if feeling like what he said made perfect fucking sense.

But as he said this, I was feeling like maybe if I just went full in, and just put aside the fact that Christen was worried for my age, I would just show her that she was wrong. And by showing her she was wrong, then perhaps we would both be happier. And both of us being happier was the biggest goal that I had been searcing for.

"Thanks for trying to help me out dude. It makes me feel so much better having somebody like you at my side." I said, feeling like even if it wasn't one hundred percent true, I would make it all work out at the end.

"You bet. Anything to make a friend feel like he has a fucking chance of making this whole thing work out." He was telling me, and then with that, I decided that I would just kind of let it all go at this rate.

"And remember at the end, even if Christen doesn't go out with you, then you won her over already." Harold said, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and take it. It was hard, but he was right, and that was enough.

I was then feeling like the more that he was trying to make me feel better, and the more he was genuinely wanting to make me feel like I could open up with him, the more that I was feeling like maybe it was my fucking fault for not seeing how things were already. But I guess that I was just having a hard time seeing the bigger picture.

And at the end of the day, seeing Harold trying so hard to make me feel better, and make me feel like I was valued, was more than enough to just make me think that I could have been wrong about this whole thing.

---

Scene 13: Mystery Man

August 6, 1956

The next day, Sam and I were meeting up, and as we were getting ready to head out, when we were seeing a man heading to the house, getting ready to talk to Sam's dad. As I saw this, I looked over at Sam, to see what he might have thought here. I saw Sam look slightly confused. Probably not even sure who the hell this guy was to begin with.

The man had a very recognizable purple jacket on. Which was strange because everything else about this man's face was absolutely generic, and hard to place. He looked over at us, and for a second, I was seeing him looking like he was excited to see Sam there. But then he shook his head for a second, and decided to just simply keep to himself, and not say much at all.

"I need to speak to your father about something very important. Is he still here?" The man asked, and then Sam was slowly nodding. Probably finding the question to be a bit off. But then he pointed to the garage, where his father usually would have been working on his projects.

"Thank you. This is something of the utmost importance." He said, and then he was starting to head off. I looked right over at Sam, and I wondered what he was going to say. But I was seeing from the look on Sam's face that he was clearly just as confused as I had been this whole fucking time.

"I almost kind of want to know what's going on here." Sam said, and I saw him looking excited at this. But almost as soon as he said that, he shook his head, and seemed like he regretted even saying that to begin with. "Never mind. It's not like it's going to be that important anyways. Dad would probably tell me to stop getting involved in his things anyways."

"I'm sure it's some really dumb business deal or something. Doesn't your dad own something?" I asked, and Sam simply shrugged, as if not sure if not really sure if he was supposed to care about something like that at all. "Never mind. You seem like you want to just leave. Let's just go." So with that, we were heading off, and I had no idea what to even say.

As we were walking off though, I was quickly seeing that despite how much he was pretending like he had moved onto other things, he was still kind of thinking about that guy we had seen earlier. "Do you think that maybe Harold would have a idea about him?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to throw the option on the table. I just felt like I had no other choice.

"Probably not. But his dad might. So I guess that I can see if his dad knows anything." Sam said, feeling like he would try and take the bait, and see if it would work.

Before long, we eventually made it to Harold's house, where he was trying to talk to a girl in our class, and see if he was able to win her over. But it was clear that it was having virtually no impact, and I saw from the look on his face that he looked like he was kind of giving up.

As soon as it had seemed like he had given up, he looked over at us, and started to head on over to us. The girl looked rather confused at why he was suddenly dropping the subject, and she was walking over to her parents car, and I wondered if she was secretly jealous of the fact that he was not paying attention to her as much anymore. "Hey guys. What are you guys doing here today?" He asked, and I could hear that he sounded slightly on guard.

"We wanted to see if there was something you knew about a guy who works with my dad." Sam said, and Harold looked like he was finding the entire comment to be a bit ridiculous. "Look Harold, this is something serious. I really want to know..."

Then with that, Harold was raising his hands up, as if finding the comment to be a bit much. Then with that, he took a deep breath, and sighed. "Of course I probably know nothing about that. My dad keeps those things to himself. Not wanting me to try and get in his business about anything." Harold said, and shook his head, as if wondering what Sam was even trying to accomplish here in the first place.

"Well, he has a purple jacket. A really large one that goes to just like three inches above his ankle. He also has decently long black hair." As he finished, he looked right at Harold, as if mentally pleading that there was something that Harold knew. But then as he said this, I saw Harold start to look like he was piecing things together a bit more.

"I don't think I myself have ever talked with him, but I do recall dad talking with somebody like that once. Maybe you can get something after all." Harold said, and closed his eyes, as if regretting this in the first place. "Fine. Let me see if I can convince dad to talk to you guys about it for a bit." After he said that, he was starting to head into the house. I looked at Sam, wondering what he was even thinking here.

"He seems rather on edge over that. Did he hear his dad talking with him about something?" After Sam asked this, I was instantly seeing him looking like he was regretting everything now. "I just hope that Kevin didn't have to get involved in whatever random ass conversation they're forcing on each other."

Before long, that was when Harold's dad saw us, and I could instantly see from the look on his face that he was not happy at all with the fact that we had come here to discuss something random as this. "Look guys, I understand that you guys don't understand how busy I am, but I need to work on something."

"We were wanting to ask you about the man in the purple jacket. Harold was saying that you have worked with him before." Sam said, and then his dad looked right over at Harold, as if trying to hide his annoyance for a few seconds. Then with that, he shurgged, and sighed. Clearly seeing that there was no reason to be hiding behind everything.

"I just simply said that you probably had a idea what was going on here." Harold said, a bit defensively, and seeming to be mildly scared of how his father would react. "They simply asked me about that guy, and I said that I knew nothing about that at all." His father just simply shook his head as he was saying this.

"Look, I just do business with the guy. He has come here a few times wanting to work something out with me, and he has a lot of great offers. Nothing wrong with working with somebody who seems to have a good grasp on things." He said, as if he was the one that was becoming victim of the way things were.

"He keeps saying that he needs a position in Lazarus Coporation, so he can talk with that Kenta Kitagawa guy. There is literally nothing else I know about the guy besides that. Why do you even care so much?" He asked, as he was already starting to head back to his office. But then with that, Sam called out his response, hoping that he would get Harold's dad to stop once again.

"He has been talking with my father, and I want to know what is happening between the two of them. I guess that I was just curious." Sam said, referring to his father. After that, that was when Harold's father shook his head. Then with that, he turned around one final time, hoping to get the subject very clearly across.

"You guys drop this. This literally does not concern you. No reason to get involved in something you don't have any idea about. Okay. Just fucking stop. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a job that I need to do, and I need to get back to it now." He said, and then with that, he was gone. When he was in his office again, Harold looked right at us, as if pissed off about this.

"Don't worry. He will be over it soon enough. I probably won't get in any trouble. That being said, I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a bit annoyed with the fact that he was basically acting like we were committing the crime of the century for asking a fucking question." Harold responded, and after that, he smiled, and seemed to think his response was fair enough.

"Still kind of feel bad for you. You kind of just got thrown into that whole thing because I simply asked a question. I should be more careful about these things." After Sam said that, that was when I was seeing Harold looking as if he was wanting to know what he would be able to do to make his father start to open up once more.

"I wonder if it has to do with the fact that I caught what he was talking about one time to one of his business partners, and I asked him about it the next day, and he was fucking furious. Told me that this was something that did not concern me and everything else." After he said that, I saw him considering the things going on here. "But that doesn't change the fact that I wish that dad would just talk a bit more."

"I guess that I should just let my dad do whatever he wants to do with that guy. After all, it's not like they are breaking any laws by fucking talking to each other." After Sam decided to leave it off at that, I was hearing that there was a mild sense of relief that he had been feeling. As if glad that maybe it was some shit he never had to deal with at all.

"Besides, I will probably never even fucking see this man again. After all, what are the chances that I happen to be in the exact same area at the exact same time that he is?" Sam asked, and I was aware that he was probably just telling himself that to make himself feel better. The look on his face was showing that he was not nearly as set on that as he thought.

"If you fucking say so. Regardless, I think that I need to apologize to that girl from earlier. I feel bad for cutting her off like that when I saw you guys." After Harold said that to us, I was seeing him looking like he was kind of saddened by this situation.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Sam said, and patted Harold on the shoulder, to try and make Harold feel at least slightly better about it.

I started to head home with Sam, and I wondered what else was on Sam's mind. After all, he seemed rather upset at the idea of Kevin getting involved in this. I wondered if he was seriously thinking Kevin would have gotten involved in such a stupid fucking thing anyways. Or if he was just overthinking it to a large degree.

---

Scene 13: Christen Goes Missing

September 1, 1956

It was right before school was starting up for the next year, when I was sitting down with Harold and Sam, and they were both talking about what girls they liked or how much they were hating the teachers that they were having next year.

Eventually, as I was going to start getting involved in the discussion, that was when Riley was storming into the room. "Do you know where Christen is?!" She yelled so loudly that dad had to stop what he was doing, to check what was happening.

"What the fucking hell is happening here?" He asked, clearly annoyed at the fact that we were cutting him from his job. Riley looked at him, happy that at least she was getting his attention on the matter. She took a deep breath, ready to talk now.

"Christen hasn't been seen all day, and her parents and friends are trying to look for her." Riley said, and as if on cue, the grinding noise instantly went off. And it sent shivers right down my spine, and I saw Riley turn into a ghost right then and there.

"Why did that fucking go off? Do you know what fucking happened?" She asked dad, and then dad looked at her, shocked as all hell that she expected him to have the fucking answer when we only been here for a few months.

"That would mean that your friend is going to be the next victim of labyrinth." Sam said, and then Riley looked at Sam, as if he was the most interesting human being on earth right now for telling her this.

"What the fuck is labyrinth?" After Riley asked this, Sam was shrugging, and I was seeing that he was clearly flusterred. Harold decided to come in and save the day for both of us right now. Which made me have a huge sigh of relief, since I had no idea what I would even fucking say here.

"Well, it is the fabeled legend that people make to describe the girls who go missing. Something about the mines in town. Dakota knows more about this anyway. His cousin went missing a few months ago." After he said that, Riley was having a light bulb on her face.

As Riley was starting to leave, my dad finally had enough. "Riley, you do not take one fucking step out this god damn door." My dad said, clearly beyond his patience at the way people were acting right now.

"While I don't believe the subject about labyrinth, since that's clearly a fucking story, the mines are something to look into. I will talk to your friends parents directly." He said to me, and then he rubbed his eyes. "Then I will try and speak to Jimmy White about this. Maybe he will know something. But you guys stay here, and do not make a fucking fun little story out of this."

"You have the house while I'm gone. Go order a pizza or something. Just make sure that you four do not leave the house today." My father said, and then he handed me some money, and then I felt like I just needed to argue a touch.

"What about when Sam and Harold need to fucking go home?" I asked, hoping that my dad would see how insane he was being. He looked like he could not believe that I was actually bothering to ask this right now.

"Don't fucking argue with me. I will explain it to them later." He said, and then he left the house, as I looked at my friends, and then I looked at Riley, shocked that he trusted me with the house more than my sibling who was three years older (which was humongous when you're fucking ten).

"Well, I might as well order that fucking pizza." I said, and then I started to head to the home phone, feeling the need to just try and maintain at least the presentaton of calm and collected, despite everything going on.

"Are you guys seriously not going to be fucking taking this more seriously? This is my fucking friend who is gone!" Riley yelled, and I was seeing both Harold and Sam looking rather uncomfortable with them being dragged into this.

"You heard what he fucking said. Dad is going to try and fucking find Christen. I mean, I like her, but I need to face reality." I said, feeling like I needed to try and put my fucking foot down on the matter for once in my entire fucking life.

"Do you think that Dakota's parents will actually have anything though?" After Harold asked me this, I looked right at him, and I was shocked to be hearing him pick up a interest in the subject. But I figured that I would try and be honest with him.

"I don't know. I mean, maybe Jimmy will have talked with them about something. After all, Dakota said that they had been meeting up once every week or so ever since the case happened." I said, feeling like that was enough for me to know that this was indeed fucking happening.

"Dad has also spoken very highly of Jimmy so far. Maybe that guy relaly is the best bet to figuring out what in the world happened to Christen." Riley said, and she was sounding like she had given up on the matter entirely.

"My father also works with him relatively often. Maybe I can also try and talk to my parents about it. After all, one of these days, I'm supposed to take over that company." Harold said, and I forgot about that.

"Oh yeah, isn't it when your dad dies, you take the company effective immediately? Like a king?" Sam asked, and Harold nodded, as I went to the phone, and decided to order the fucking pizza, and just keep my mind off of the matter.

"Dad is wrong. I believe that labyrinth is real, and that something is hiding there." Riley said, and I was seeing her looking like she was just trying to calm down for a second, and I really had no idea what I could have even said here.

"But until we actually get some fucking proof, there is no point in trying to convince anybody of this. Not that they would listen to something as admitedly outrageous as this." I said, feeling like I needed to be real when I said this.

"I guess that if you want to find out the truth of Christen, then maybe you are actually going to have to fucking talk to Dakota, and see what he might fucking know." After Sam said this, I was seeing Riley looking like she was unable to believe that she was considering that.

"But I don't really know if I want to be hanging around with him all the time. He always just seemed like one of those guys that was trying way too hard to get me to fucking like him." Ashley said, and then she was shaking her head, as if deciding that it had to be done, for better or for worse, despite hating the truth.

"He's not a bad guy, honestly." I said, and I was feeling like I was being attacked for hanging out with somebody who had been rather nice to me lately. And I was wondering what she was even trying to accomplish by saying this.

"That's not the point of the discussion. I am just allowed to have a fucking opinion. Anyways, my friend Steven was telling me about the fact that he never believed the rumors to begin with." Riley said, and she sat down, as if hating herself for this.

"What did Steven say exactly?" Sam asked, now starting to show a bit more interest in the discussion. I shook my head, and rolled my eyes, feeling it was ridiculous that this was when he was starting to get into the mood of the discussion. But I chose to shut up, and not say anything, to not piss him off.

"Something about how a couple of years ago, a girl who had gone missing a long time ago had her body found, and there was reason to believe that had been there for a while." Riley said, and then Harold seemed to remember something he read one time.

"Do you guys know anything about the mile markers?" He asked Sam and I, not even bothering with Riley, considering the fact that she made it clear she did not have enough experience on the matter. Sam shook his head in confusion.

"Well, it is something that I heard about once, when I was talking with my dad. He says that they are the momentos of the favorite thing that each of the missing girls had. I'm not sure if I quite get it." After Harold said this, I was feeling like it would honestly not even fucking matter at all. It was sounding like a load of crap anyways.

"Your dad? I thought that your dad never really brought that stuff up with you? Said you got in a lot of trouble if you tried to." Sam said, feeling like there was a error in his story. Harold sighed, as if thinking that there was some level of truth to what was being said, but not entirely the picture.

"Well, he doesn't like doing so, because he's scared of how it would affect my opinion of him. But I have heard him talking with my butler, if I was being more precise." Harold said, and I could see from the look on his face that he almost felt kind of dirty even mentioning that he had one in the first place.

"Sorry, I guess that I am just uptight about this whole thing, and really have no idea how I can feel about everything right now. I am not trying to accuse you of fucking straight up lying though." After Sam said this, I was seeing Riley looking like she was already instantly losing any interest in the subject.

"Can we fucking focus on fucking Steven? Maybe I can try and convince him to tell me some shit, and he would be more willing to work with me..." After Riley said this, I really had no idea what in the world I was even going to be telling her at this rate. I felt like there was no way to change it anyways, so why should I even bother?

"Look, I think that you can try that, but don't get fucking upset if he turns out to not have what you fucking want. Okay? Simple as that. I am not going to risk you guys all getting fucking hurt over this. I frankly am sick of discussing this." I said, standing up, and I was wanting them to feel like talking about labyrinth was a fucking mistake, and the worst choice we could make.

Thankfully fate decided to save me some time. The pizza came, and we were able to mostly calm down from that point forward, although after a couple of slices, Riley did head straight into her room, which did not shock me at all, given the way that she had been earlier. I sighed, not sure what in the world I would even say.

Scene 14: First Day of Fourth Grade

September 3 1956

When school started that year, I wasn't as upset as I was on usual years, because this time, I had a group of friends already there to help me out, and there to make me feel like I could finally be able to actually just relax a bit.

My dad's car pulled up at the front of the school. "I can start walking soon right?" I asked, and then my dad was sighing, as if annoyed to have this discussion again.

"Look, it's just more of a being too young thing. Like I told Riley, when you start middle school, then you'll be old enough to walk to school. So just hold it out for another two years, and I'll never bother you about rides ever again." He said, and I slowly nodded as he said this.

"But people are going to start making fun of me." I said, feeling like maybe that would be the argument that would convince them to fucking stop with this shit. He sighed in annoyance, as if not wanting to talk about this again.

"And I don't care what those douche bags think. Trust me, you will probably forget all about this in a few years. Just have a good time, and don't worry about any of that. After all, this is your chance to try and make fourth grade year a great school year again." My dad said, and I sighed, not wanting to be reminded of the fact that I was held back. A fact I actually managed to almost forget about.

"Okay dad. If you fucking say so." I said, despite the fact that I wasn't really wanting to deal with this at all. But to be honest, I was beyond the fucking point of arguing. So I got out of my car, and started to head to the school, where some of my friends were here.

Sam was already waiting for me, and I smiled as I saw that, and headed straight over to him. "How does Kevin feel about starting school this year?" I asked, and I could tell the answer from the smile on his face.

"Let's just fucking say not well at all. He was complaining about it to mom and dad the whole time, and talking about how it wasn't fair. I tried to tell him because this is just his first year, that the change in life style sucks, but over time, he will get used to it." Sam said, and he shrugged, as if not really too invested in the discussion.

"Can't believe I have to deal with another nine years of this shit. That part does kind of make me dread the future." I said, feeling like I just needed to be fully honest with him as I said this.

"Just keep your head down low dude. I don't bother with assholes either. They are always just desperate for attention, and don't realize that they're just being assholes this whole time." After Sam said that to me, I sighed, and I was wondering what the fucking issue was now.

Before long, Harold was getting pulled up by his father. He looked over at his dad, and I was seeing that the two of them were kind of uncomfortable with each other. They probably got into some fucking fight or what not earlier, and they were just trying to not make it even worse.

After the talk was done, Harold got right out of the car, and I could tell that he was really over everything. He looked over at Sam and I, and I could tell that whatever they discussed must have not been pretty at all.

"Hey guys. How do you feel right now?" Harold asked, and I shrugged, not sure what to say. But I figured that given the situation that happened earlier, with Christen, that I needed to relieve the tension that almost certainly was still in the air.

"Well, since you guys are both here, I wanted to sincerely apologize for what happened with the whoel Christen issue earlier. I didn't want any of that to happen, and you guys were dragged into my father trying to make things right." I said, and I hoped that my apology would fucking suffice.

"To be honest, I think your father was the one making the massive mistake. Trying to trust his fate to Jimmy White does not seem like the type of thing any human should do." Harold said, and I thought that if Harold of all people was saying this, then it was probably fucking true, and I needed to tell dad.

"Do you think that I should tell my dad? I mean, I don't want him doing anything that he is going to fucking regret." I said, and then Harold shrugged, as if thinking nothing against it.

"To be honest, I think your father will be smart enough tyo figure that out on his own, so I will just let it go for the time being. But if something happens, don't get upset at me." After Harold was telling me this, I shrugged, thinking that he was just trying to make things more dramatic than they needed to be, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to deal with that yet.

"I was surprised that my father reacted the way he did. I mean, I wasn't expecting him to put me in charge of the house. I guess this means that he actually does trust me more than Riley." I said, and I wasn't sure if that was something that I really wanted to handle.

"I wonder if it is also because you're a guy." After Harold said that, I looked right at him, wondering why the hell me being a guy would have anything to do with his choice.

"I highly doubt that my father would be making choices based on that fact alone. That would be fucking ridiculous." I said, thinking that this mere idea was fucking insane. But then I looked at the school once again.

"I was starting to fall in love with Christen. And I could tell that my sister was getting jealous of that. I think that maybe she was jealous of the fact that her friend was not spending as much time with her anymore." I said, not realize how much Riley was actually hurting inside.

"Well, I think that the best thing you can do is try to make things right with Riley. I mean, regardless of if you like it or not, she lives with you every day." Harold said, and I was wondering why Harold was preaching the idea of family to me.

"Well, I think that the best thing to do is wait for her to start with that. After all, with how much she is hurting about Christen, and the fact that she is hanging out with that Steven guy, I think that it might be best to just respect her space." I said, feeling like despite everything else, that truly was the best thing that I could be doing right now.

"I wonder if she is going to start doing stuff like skipping school and what not, as a way to avoid dealing with this shit." After Harold said that, I was shaking my head. I was thinking that there was no way in hell that Riley would be risking something like that with my dad.

"No way in hell on the first fucking day." I decided to keep my optimism at bay, and just go with that, feeling like I needed to wait to see how the rest of the year was going to turn out.

"Well, just tell your dad that I recommend that he visits mind, and maybe the two of them can discuss some things together. Maybe that would help." Harold said, and I was feeling like maybe I would go with that, as a starting point.

"What does your father even fucking do anyways?" I asked, feeling like after all these months of him being talked about, I would just need to try and finally figure that out. Sam rubbed his eyes, as if feeling like I just opened up a fucking can of worms there.

"Well, he is the president of a company, that works with the biggest name in town. The Reichenbach family. They own esentially everything here." Harold said, and I was slowly nodding, thinking that he was esentially a glorified business man. To put it bluntly.

"Do you think that I would be able to meet these Reichenbachs?" I asked, and Harold looked down at the ground, thinking that this was kind of a impossible goal to be shooting for.

"I think that you would have to become one of the hot shots in town if you want any fucking chance in making this work." Harold said, as I looked down, thinking that there was esentially no way that would happen.

"So basically never?" I asked, feeling like I would rather just get the confirmation out of the way. Sam looked behind, and he was seeing Dakota and Ashley showing up. I wondered if he was jealous of them being so close and what not. I mean, they literally lived like right next to each other.

"I never fucking said that. All that I said is that it would be rather hard." Harold finished, and then Dakota already was making his shit talking comments as soon as he was right next to the two of us.

"He's already getting you into trouble, and you haven't even started the fucking school year yet?" After Dakota said this, Harold looked right at him, and I could tell from the look on his face that he was getting completely sick and tired of the way that Dakota was always acting around him.

"Well, at least I'm not always making fun of people, and saying shit about them all the time." Harold said, and even Dakota stopped at this one, and shrugged in concession. I was feeling like I just needed to try and find something to say to get them to both stop this bullshit at once.

"Can you guys at least pretend to get along? You guys are going to have to start going to classes together, and it's a new fucking school year. Might as well try and make the best out of it." After Ashley said that, I was seeing Dakota actually looking like he was strongly considering her point. He sighed, and slowly nodded.

"Yeah, you're fucking right. I should try and make things better. Besides, Harold wasn't the guy who was making fun of me because of my cousin." Dakota said, and then he was holding his hand out to Harold.

"Here's to at least pretending like we're friends." Dakota said, and Harold slowly nodded, and took Dakota's hand. As they shook on it, both of them looked at me, as if thinking I was the only reason they were able to do this.

Before too long, we went inside the school, and started the next school year. Which I did not realize at the time was the last school year that I would be able to live like a relatively normal child, and not be bogged down by the bullshit that my town around me had been committing.

Scene 15: The Mansion

September 8 1956

It was after the first week of the school year had finished, when I was meeting up with Harold, and he was showing me the mansion that he lived in, because he was telling me that he wanted to bring some friends over more often, to let them see what the place was like.

As we were at the mansion, I felt like it was time to ask, and I was hoping that Harold would actually help give me some light on the matter. "So you need to explain, but why does Dakoata seem to hate hanging out with you so much?" I asked, hoping that he would actually give enlighten me here.

"To be honest, I think it is entirely because it is super obvious that he likes Ashley, and he probably feels like O might be getting in the way of him having a chance to be with her." He said, and I was feeling like his honesty might be for the best.

"Well, I think that he probably needs to see that trying to fight with you constantly isn't going to be increasing his chances of getting her to like him." I said, just totally confused at what he was even trying to accomplish here.

"Well, that is his choice. Anyways, truth be told, I'm not too worried about it. If he doesn't like me, then he doesn't like me. Not much that I can fucking do about that." He said, sounding like he was just simply not even caring anymore.

"So Sheldon, how has Riley handled the whole Christen thing? It seems like she was really brought down by that." He said, and I sighed, not really wanting to talk about that at all, since it was going to open up some fresh wounds.

"She doesn't want to talk about it, and I think that she might be more upset if I try to bring it up to her. I think that she might have had a thing for Christen, if I am being completely fucking honest." I said, feeling like I just needed to let it be known.

"After all, she always seemed jealous when I was talking with Christen, and when I tried to tell her that it was fine, she would always just not fucking believe me." After I explained that, I decided that I just needed to let it go.

"Sorry to ask about that. I just knew that you were saying that it was really hard to talk with her anymore, and I could see that the subject was wearing down on you." Harold explained, and I really did not want to talk about this.

"Look, I am going to be honest, I don't really think it is in my place to be talking about that at all. When I try to talk to Riley, she just brushes me off, and even dad has gotten nowhere with it either. I think she will need to be ready on her own." I said, hoping to just drop this god damn subject.

"Well, I guess that all we can do is just travel around town, and see what we could find." After Harold said that to me, he simply shrugged, hoping that I would actually go along with the plan.

As we were leaving the house, I was wondering what he was going to show me. The entire time that we walked over, I was starting to realize that he was bringing me closer to the high school, which was something that I just did not fucking understand.

"Why are you bringing me to the high school? I thought that nobody wanted anything to do with that yet." I said, and then Harold was shaking his head, thinking that I just needed to try and be patient, and actually see what he was going to show us.

"Well, look at this." Harold said, when we were eventually there, and I was starting to see what he was wanting to show me. It was a giant construction project, a large part of it had already been completed. I was smiling as I looked at this, and then at Harold.

"My father is working on this in his spare time. He is trying to create a massive park for students to go to after school, and for summer break. I know that there's the one a couple of blocks from your house, but he wants a bigger one that all the kids can enjoy." He said, and I smiled as I saw this, finally figuring it out.

"I come by the area every week or so to see how the progress is. And I get more excited every single time, when I see that there clearly has been a lot of effort put into it. My dad is awesome, and always gets things done when he puts his mind to it." He said, and I could hear how proud he was of his dad.

"How long has he been working on it?" I asked, feeling like maybe I could ask dad what he thought on it, and if he was fine if I would be hanging out there, with my friends and what not. Harold smiled, and I knew that he had won me over by showing me this.

"He started working on it like three or four days after you moved here. And he has been working on it basically every single day. He usually stays out almost all night, even when his colleagues are home, so he can work on other projects." As he said that, I knew that no matter what happened, I just needed to keep my thoughts to myself.

"I hope that this will finally get Dakota to see that I really am fucking cool, and that I know what I am fucking doing." He said, and then I was smiling at this, as he was esentially confirming that he did care more for Dakota's opinion than he was trying to let on.

"Well, I hope that your desperation to get him to like you doesn't affect everything else though." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest as I was telling him this. Harold seemed to be kind of annoyed when I was telling him this, as if thinking that I did not understand him enough.

"Don't worry. I was just saying that because it was crossing my fucking mind. I am not too worried with what the guy might be thinking. I already know that he probably would just try and hide what he thinks around me, only to tell everybody else how cool it is behind his back.

"Yeah, that does sound like a real Dakota thing to do, now that you mention it. Well, if he does talk about how cool it is, I will let you know that he said it." I said, and winked at him, hoping that this type of playful way of speaking would get him to have some fucking clear mind.

"Anyways, so I have been thinking that maybe when I get older, I would go down, and try to get into this type of work as well. Helping the town out, and helping bring some fucking joy to Wayside. Something that I feel like is heavily lacking here." After Harold said that, I smiled, and was glad that he was trying to actually do something that was for the town, and not himself.

"Well, I hope that this shows you that I can be rather cool, when I want to be." After Harold said that, he smiled, and I was feeling like there was no need to try and argue with him. He was having a good time anyways, and I did not have the heart to tell him off.

"I never said otherwise. But yeah, I think that maybe I should tell my dad about what your's is doing, and maybe he will want me to help you guys." I said, and I wasn't sure if that was going to be true. But I was feeling like I needed to put the suggestion out there, and I was glad to see that despite everything, Harold was still in good spirits.

"Sheldon, do you know how awesome it would be if we became like super popular. Just having all the chicks digging us, and wanting to hang out with us all the time. I think that it would be the coolest thing ever." Harold said, and I was thinking of telling him about the conversation that I had with Christen before she went missing, if that was the case.

"Well, before Christen went missing, she did tell me that when I was a bit older, than she was willing to give the two of us a try. She just felt like due to my age, I would not be the best bet for it yet." I said, and then Dakota was looking at me, and I saw that he was looking rather proud of me for hearing that, and that I was awesome.

"That's awesome. I knew that you were a chick magnet. You needed to just see that you had it in you." After Dakota said that to me, I was shaking my head, since in all honesty, I wasn't sure if I was really in the mood to be hearing anything like that yet.

"Well, to be honest, I just felt like needed to tell her before summer ended, so I would not forget. I just never expected that what happened would go down. But I guess in hindsight, I better be glad that I did tell her, because at least I was able to get a degree of closure." After I said that, I was shaking my head, feeling like just needed to be honest as I was talking.

"Well, I wonder how old you would have had to be before she was willing to give it a try. Because saying 'when you're older' is kind of vague, if we're being honest." Harold said, and I was nodding, glad that he was feeling the same way that I did. But regardless, I was still taking what I could get.

"Point is, she liked me back, and I feel like I need to just be happy that she knows that I was a good guy." I said, feeling like I just needed to not think too deeply about various little things. And if I was being real, I was wondering if she really meant what she said, or just told me that, to make me feel a bit better.

"Well, either way, I think that we just need to be more careul going forward. I know that if Riley heard you say that, she would probably never want to forgive you." Harold said, and I was sighing, thinking exactly about what he was saying, and I was not sure if I was ready to see the heart break on her face if I ever ended up telling her that.

"Sheldon, I think that this year is going to be the best school year ever. I can already see how well you're doing, and everybody seems like they want to be your best friend. In all honesty, I'm happy you're doing well." Tobias said, and I smiled as he confirmed that.

And to be honest, I was feeling that when Riley would be able to start putting Christen behind her, and start to see the town for what it had to offer, she would start to see that there was so much more that had to be offered if saw it.

I was looking at the project once more before I was heading home, and to be honest, seeing how far it already had come, and seeing Harold looking like he was genuinely happy, and not having a single care in the world, was something that made me feel so much better.

Scene 16: Fun Times

September 16 1956

When I was getting ready to be done with the weekend, I was hanging out with Sam, and by this point, I had done my best to just accept the fact that Christen was gone, and that there was nothing that I was going to fucking do to change the fact that she was gone.

Kevin was with us this time again, and while it was not my favorite thing in the world, I was willing to accept the fact that this was what my friend wanted to do, and that fighting it would give me no favors.

"Do you think that Ashley is going to try and ask Harold out soon enough? It seems like this entire summer and school year so far, she has been incredibly thirsty for the guy." After Sam said that, I shrugged, since I had no idea what to believe.

"Yeah, probably. I mean, if they do though, I know that talking with Dakota about anything is going to be a waste of fucking time though. Dakota will never allow that." I said, and I was shaking my head at the thought of that imminent argument.

Eventually, we were at the forest, where Kevin was already looking like he was regretting coming along with us, and looked like he wanted away from this as fast as possible. Sam looked at him, and shrugged, as if there was no way to change it now.

"To be honest, I was just thinking about a couple months ago. You know, when Dakota was telling us about his cousin, and all that information that they got on her. I can't help but feel immensely sorry for him, after all that. He probably thought there was a chance." Sam said, and I shook my head, feeling like there was no way he thought that given everything.

"I think Dakota fucking knew she was a goner, but just wanted to think otherwise. I mean, did you not hear the way he was talking? Of course he had a clue what was happening." I said, and I was seeing Sam looking like he did not buy it at all.

"To be honest, as long as we keep fucking Kevin safe, then I am fine. I really do not want anything to happen to my brother." Sam said, and I slowly nodded, fully in agreement, which was why I was feeling like he needed to try and work with me better.

"Do you know any other place in town that I might be able to look? I think that I might take the whole Christen thing more seriously, to help Riley see that I am not playing around here at all." I said, and then Sam was looking like he hardly cared about that at all.

"To be honest, I have no idea if that is going to work. You know, finding Christen. That's not happening. But I think that if you want to check places in town, for fun, try the station up there." Sam said, and pointed to the top of the mountain, which was feeling like a million miles.

"So Sam, do you think the stories of monsters are real? Riley's friend Steven eats that shit up all the time." I said, and pointed to him, wondering what he thought of that. Sam sighed, clearly having no interest in the subject whatsoever.

"I have no idea what to believe. I mean, I never met Steven." Sam said, and then Kevin interrupted us, and I had almost forgotten that he was even there, since he was so quiet before this point.

"Guys, are you climbing up that fucking fountain? I don't want to fucking go!" He yelled so loudly that Sam actually looked aroind, hoping that people did not notice three young guys running around the story, and swearing up a storm.

"No, we don't even have enough supplies to be going up there in the first place anyways. That would be totally fucking suicide." Sam admitted, and shook his head, as if not enjoying that reality, and wishing that we were able to go there more.

"But Maybe sometime later. And who knows, maybe we can show people what we fucking found." I said, and shrugged, hoping that this would be able to get Sam's interest. "Well, want to go to the waterfall instead? Not have to deal with any girls." I said, thinking that this was Harold's level of expertise anyways.

"Yeah, I guess that might be nice. Dealing with girls can be a bit tough at times. Especially when you have Dakota and Harold competing at obnoxious levels for Ashley." Sam said, and I was unaware at the time of how much this rivalry between my three friends was going to have a large part of my life.

As we started to head to the falls, I was looking at Kevin, feeling like that could really put a bad screw on the plans if I did not clear that up soon enough. "Do you know how to swim?" I asked, not wanting to be liable for the six year old fucking drowning or anything.

"No. I'll just fucking watch." Kevin said, and I sighed, and I was feeling like that would be fine enough. I was also curious to learn if Sam was much of a swimmer in the first place anyways. "Sorry about Christen." Kevin said under his breath, and I looked at him, and I was shocked that he even said that anyways. After all, he barely even knew Christen in the first place, and didn't know how much it killed me when she went missing.

"Well, thanks." I said, feeling like I just needed to give him credit where credit was due. He was trying to help me out, and make me feel slightly better. And that was enough for me to think that maybe he was not all that bad of a guy after all, despite being kind of annoying.

Once we were at the falls, I was feeling like I needed to try and just not think about what was going on. I needed to try and be positive for them, and try and act like I was actually not going to be too down the drain here.

I jumped right in the water, and watched as Sam did as well. Kevin sat down, and placed his right hand lying down on the ground, as he was watching us, and clearly having a great time, and I was feeling like when Kevin was much older, he should try and have a good time with us as well.

We screwed around, just splashing and nothing for like twenty minutes before Sam was willing to start talking again. "You know though, from what Dakota and Ashley described it, it seemed Steven was pretty serious about the monsters, and sounded like he was in no mood to be called a bullshitter and what not. Maybe we should take him more seriously." He said, and then he looked at me, wondering if he would get me to react at all.

"I don't know what to think with that guy. It seems like he was being totally serious here, and that scares me more than anything else." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest as I talked.

"Do you think that maybe one of these weekends, you would want to go on and check it out?" Sam asked me, and I looked right at him, and I was feeling like this idea was fucking terrible. I mean, it could go wrong in so many ways, and I was thinking of how I would tell him that.

"I mean, what about Kevin over there? He wouldn't be able to come along if you actually wanted to do this?" I asked, and Kevin was looking at us, as if feeling like my suggestion was rather mean, and thought that I needed to let him join in on the action much more.

"I won't even tell mom and dad!" Kevin yelled, and I was seeing that Sam was already looking like he was thinking that this would be a utterly horrible idea, and felt like maybe Kevin needed to try and fucking back off.

"Forget that I even mentioned it. It was kind of a fringe idea in the first place." Sam said, trying to just get the subject back down to something at least sort of resembling normal. Then he looked right at me, as if hoping that I would be able to help him out here.

"I do think I will talk to Steven though, and see what he knows. Maybe he can really enlighten the subject for me." I said, and I was thinking about what it would be like if I tried to get him to talk to me about those monsters, and his theories. I never thought that they were true. But what if they were? And I was just wrong for never considering it?

"Well, when that happens, I would want to come along." Sam said, and then he was looking at Kevin, and sighed as he was looking at his younger brother. "I will tell you everything I found. How about that? No missing details." Sam said, and he was sounding like the idea was going to drive him insane, but Kevin looked like he was totally down with it.

"Okay. I guess that'll do." Kevin said, and I was having a gut feeling this was a bad idea. But I could not place it for the life of me. I was just feeling like this could go so bad so fast, and I was just hoping that they were not going to try and strictly enforce this.

"Okay so do you think that you'll want to bring anybody along?" Sam asked, and I was shaking my head, feeling like this was going to be a bonding between the two of us, but then another idea came to mind.

"Maybe Harold, since his father is a rich corporate guy, and he might be able to help us. But that might be the only idea that I have." I said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like all other ideas was going to be useless.

"Yeah, maybe I can try and speak with Harold about it soon." After Sam said that, he was smiling, and I was feeling like this was finally going to work out for the best. And I was then feeling like when Kevin saw what his brother and I had been able to do, he might be able to have more respect for us after all. And everybody would be so fucking happy to just know that Sam and I were doing all the work for them anyways.

"Sorry Kevin, but monsters are only something you should be looking into once you hit double digits." I said, and stuck my tongue at the guy, and I saw him looking kind of pissed at the fact that I was throwing him under the bus like that.

"I can try for this weekend, but I will let you know if it can't work." Sam said, and I was slowly nodding, feeling like I would hold him to that promise, in case things happened and what not. But I felt like we would be good.

When we were starting to head home, with the sun setting a bit earlier than I wished, I looked up at the broadcast station up at the top of the hill, and I took a deep breath, wondering if the people who worked there had any idea what happened with Christen. But I took myself to not think of it, for now.

Scene 17: New Glasses

September 22, 1956

That Saturday, I was meeting up with Cathy, since I wanted to see how she was doing into the school year. As I was at her place, she was looking super fucking happy to be seeing me there. And I wondered what the issue was going to be.

"Hey Cathy, sorry I haven't been seeing you earlier in the school year." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and appease her a bit, and make her see that I was not going out of my way to be a asshole.

"Yeah, it's okay. Besides, I was thinking that you were too busy with Harold and his personal projects. You two always seemed really tight." Cathy said, and I was shrugging, thinking that this was partially true. But that wasn't the fucking point here.

"Yeah, I mean, he and I were talking about the park that his dad had been working on. I am so happy for him for having something that he is looking so forward to." I said, feeling like I just needed to show her that I wasn't having any potential residual anger.

"Yeah, I was wanting to see how that was going. But before that, I have to get a new pair of glasses, since mine broke." Cathy said, and she sounded slightly sad at that, as if those were her favorites that she had just lost.

"Alright. Yeah, I guess that we can do that. Although I don't think I will be any fucking help." I said, feeling like this entire set up was just a bit strange, but I had no idea what to think.

As we walked along, Cathy was then thinking of what to say. "My friends apologized for that time a couple of months ago. I mean, I accept their apology. But I wished it took less than two months." Cathy said, referring to the beach incident. I was slowly nodding, remembering what she had told me earlier.

"Well, I think they were just seeing how much it hurt you, and realized they could no longer hide from it, and decided to just get it over with." After I said that to her, I was shaking my head, feeling there was no point in dwelling on something that was in my mind basically ancient history now.

Eventually, we were at the mall, and we went right to the glasses shop, and I was seeing Cathy looking at all the options here. Probably just hoping that a select brand she likes would be there.

"Oh god. My usual pick isn't here today. That is going to fucking suck, having to pick something that I am not used to at all." Cathy said, and I was wondering why it even fucking mattered.

"They're fucking glasses. I don't think it should fucking matter what you get." I said, and then Cathy was looking right at me, and I saw her looking as if she could not believe the way that I was reacting.

"I know they're just fucking glasses. But for gods sake, they were a brand that I always wore, so it is going to take so much time to get used to something that I don't wear." After Cathy was telling me this, she was looking like she just couldn't understand why I reacted this way.

I was shrugging, feeling like I would just drop the subject, and she was looking at them, and picked the one she was seeming to hate the least.

She eventually put it on, and she was looking at me, and I was seeing her looking like she was hoping that I wouldn't say anything too mean and what not, and that I would actually be nicer to her.

To be honest, and I think maybe it was becuase I no longer had to worry about Christen, but when I was seeing her, I was blown away by how beautiful she was, and I was trying so fucking hard to not say anything.

"Wow. You look wonderful." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest as I was telling her this. When I said that, the look on her face instantly got lit up, and I was feeling like there was nothing else to fucking say.

"Thanks dude. That makes me feel so much better hearing from you." She said, and then with that, she was heading to the counter, with a sense of confidence she didn't have earlier, and I was glad that my comment was able to help her feel a bit better. Especially since I was trying to still stick to the 'I loved Christen' narrative that had driven me the last three months.

"Well, I am glad that I was able to help out with that." I said, and I was shaking my head, wondering what in the world I was even going to say. After all, I barely even knew her.

The counter behind the counter, probably twenty two now that I think about it, was looking at Cathy, and I could see from the look on her face that she was making him very pleased to see her.

"Nice to see that you're doing well again." The guy said, and I was wondering if the two of them had a history. Cathy had a smile on her face, and she was looking like she was just trying to hide the fact that she appreciated his input.

"Honestly, I thought that I was done for. But this man right here helped me feel so much better." She said, and then she sighed in contentness, and I was just glad that I was able to make her feel at least a bit better.

Cathy bought the glasses, and she was beaming with hapiness as we left the store and then started to head to the skating park, where I finally felt like I was just doing a million times better.

Eventually, we went to the parks construction project, and I was shocked to see that it was literally like ninety percent of the way there, and I was wondering if we were going to be able to play there any time soon.

"Harold's dad must have been really fucking serious about this project." I said, and then I looked right at Cathy, and I smiled at that, thinking that Harold would be so proud of his dad, and the work they were doing.

"Yeah. That's good for them. I honestly was worried that Harold was going to be flaunting a project that was simply never going to be going through." Cathy said, and then with that, she took a deep breath, and then looked right at me, and then seemed to think for a bit.

"If I might be perfectly frank with you, I am worried that I am not going to be wanted among your friend group, and that I am going to just be getting in the way of their fun. After all, I have by far known you the least out of them all." Cathy said, and I was shaking my head, hardly caring.

"To be honest, if they are going to be like that, then I think that they might not really be real friends to begin with. I am going to be doing things my fucking way, regardless if they fucking like it or not." I said, very fucking firmly. Not giving a shit if that was going to be making a issue.

"Thanks. I really do appreciate you makeing me feel better. I mean, on the couple of times we talked, you always seemed like the man who would be there for his friends, no matter what fucking happened. And I don't want to lose that chance." After Cathy said that to me, I sighed, and slowly nodded, knowing exactly what she fucking meant.

"Well, I am there for my fucking friends, no matter what happened. And I think that maybe your other friends will see that soon enough. I mean, Natalie and Jamie really do seem like good people at heart." I said, feeling like maybe it was just me thinking that without context, but I just couldn't think of them as terrible people.

"Yeah, I mean, I think they will be mostly fine. But Sheldon, do you really think the best in everybody? I mean, there are just some people who are just utterly fucking terrible, no matter how you slice it or dice it." She said to me, and I was shrugging, not sure what in the world I was even going to start telling her.

"Well, I was worried that Dakota and Ashley might not make up, but it seems like they are starting to make up again. I think that Dakota just really let the fear get to him, and I feel bad for him." I said, and then I was shrugging, having no idea what in the world I could even say to this.

"Well, I think that Dakota having a massive boner for her made that much easier to deal with. After all, I don't think a single person in Wayside doesn't assume that he likes her." After she said that, I remembered my conversation with Harold a couple months back.

"Remember when we met on the beach a couple of months ago? Before we went there, he admitted to me that he had a crush on my sister Riley, and at the moment I was so fucking mad at him, because I just could not believe that he would think that way." I said, and I was finding the situation almost hilarious now, since the dust had settled on the revelation.

"Does he seriously think he has a chance with a woman three years older than him?" She asked, and I was shrugging, not sure what in the world to tell her. After all, how Harold things is different than how everybody else thinks.

"I don't know. I mean, I was just more grossed out at the time to even think rationally. I mean, how would you react if you found out that one of your friends was peeping to your sister?" I asked, and I was shaking my head, not sure what to even tell her.

"Oh my god. I think you might be over thinking it a bit, since in all honesty, it's just a fucking innocent crush." She was telling me, and I was trying my best to see what she was saying. But I just had a hard time fucking thinking things through.

"Yeah. That is what I have kind of told myself over time. It is just innocent feelings, and I am kind of being a asshole to him over it. I mean, it's been some time, so it's no big deal now." I said, feeling like I would just drop the subject for the time being, for my own sake.

"So Sheldon, what even made you so against it to begin with?" She asked me, and I was shrugging, since now that I was being rational, I didn't know.

"I'm not sure. And I don't know if I will ever be sure." I said, feeling like I would just leave it at that, feeling like there was no reason to go any deeper into it than I already had been. After all, I was still his friend at the end fo the day.

But I was thinking that if he genuinely wanted to take a chance with Riley, then I guess that maybe I should let him have that fucking moment. After all, I had no idea what was going on with him. And his fathers reputation might give him credence than I wanted to admit.

Scene 18: The Storyteller

September 25, 1956

After school that next day, when I was on my way to hang out with Sam, I was seeing that Steven was inside the house. He was already talking to Riley. I knew exactly what was going on here. They were wanting to talk about Christen, and everything that was going on with them.

"Hey Sheldon. How has school been treating you lately?" He asked, and I looked right at him, wondering what he was going to try and do now. I looked right at Riley, wondering if she was going to be saying anything at all.

"Doing okay. You know, just trying to work on my friendships." I said, trying to make it seem like I was doing well. I was wondering if he knew what happened with Christen. And not that bullshit stuff about monsters and what not. I needed him to just simply tell me the truth for once.

"Good. Glad to hear that you're mostly doing fine. I was just talking with your sister over here about the theories I had with the monsters." He said, and I slowly nodded. Since we already heard that months ago, at the tree house.

"You already told us the story though." I said, feeling like me being a bit testy was the only way that I would get him to feel like he would actually fucking talk. I just needed this to work.

"Yeah. Well, now that this has happened, I think people would be wise to actually fucking listen to me." He said, and I was hearing from the tone of his voice, that he was trying to hold back the anger that he was having. Needing to make it clear that he was not in the mood to listen to me judge him.

"Well, I am just wondering what monsters will have to do with Christen. After all, she has already been gone for a while now. And nothing has shown up about it yet." I said, feeling like I just needed to call him out on that. Steven took a deep breath. As if thinking about what I was saying.

"They are hiding in the forest. Not just hiding in there, but I have a feeling that they have been set up in there, and are staying around because the people who own most of the businesses here don't do anything to change it." After he said that, I looked right at him, wondering what the hell was talking about in the first place.

"What do you fucking mean? Allowing business to continue?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to see what the hell this man was talking about in the first place. "I mean, I think that with Sherman Peabody and what not, people might not be very happy with them being here." I said, and then Steven was shaking his head.

"I'm impressed you even know him. Especially since he hasn't been working here in years." After he said that to me, I was shaking my head. Feeling like I would just show people when I was on track with what was going on here.

"Well, I heard dad talking about him once when he was having a talk with one of those guys in that fucking black suit." I said, having the memories come back to me as I was thinking about it.

"Oh shit. Those people always scare the shit out of me. I see them around, and I genuinely feel like something is going to happen. After that time in the forest, every month or so, they would come by my parents place. Asking them for progress updates on how I was doing.

"Oh shit. If that is true, then maybe I should be taking what you say a bit more seriously." I said, feeling like I needed to at least acknowledge the idea a bit. As much as I fucking hated it to be honest.

"Yeah, exactly. I know what I am doing." Steven said, and he was balling his fist, as if tired of people pretending like that isn't true. He was even pulling something out of his pocket, which was planning on showing Riley.

"What is that?" Riley asked, feeling like she would get back into the conversation. After I had so rudely cut my way in, and what not. I kind of felt bad. But I needed to do this, for my own fucking sake.

"A picture that I took. I went to the forest every weekend during summer, and took pictures for hours on end. On every entrance of the forest." Steven said, and then Riley slowly nodded at that. As if she was suddenly getting it.

"That's why you never wanted to hang out on Sundays..." She said, and then Steven was nodding. Glad that she picked up what he was saying.

"If you don't believe me, look at this one." He said, pointing to the photo. As both Riley and I looked at it, I was seeing he was having a good point after all.

As we were looking at the picture, it showed something that looked like a short blue statue walking aroud. with a golden cross on their chest. There was also something like a fire on their eyes. Nothing like the forest monsters I would have imagined.

"There is no fucking way in hell you can fucking explain that as a person or anything else. That is clearly a fucking monster. Just staying here, and nobody seems to be paying it any mind." He was saying, and then he was having a ultimate shit eating grin on his face. As if he was so proud of the fact that he was able to call this one so fucking quickly. With virtually no help.

"I guess that you might be right." After I said this, I shook my head, feeling like I would just go along with this. Hoping that I would help me understand why this was even here in the first place.

"Yeah. I am fucking right. And I am going to do anything that I can to show that this is exactly what happened with Christen. If people do not want to help me, then that I will have to do this myself." He said, sounding like he was barely keeping himself calm at this idea. The idea of knowing that no matter what, he was right.

"Benjamin, do you think that I can show this to my father? He might be more willing to listen to you if I fucking do." Riley was saying, and he looked shocked at the fact that she was now taking what she said seriously.

"I mean, if you seriously think that can help, then I guess that might work. But in all honesty, I think he will find some excuse to brush this off. Probably will try and make me sound like I made it all up or something." He said, sounding kind of pissed as he was saying this.

"Trust me. He won't fucking say no to me." Riley was saying, and she was saying it with such confidence, that I was forcing myself to believe in her as well.

"I hope you're right. I tried to talk to my parents about it, and they fucking refused to listen to me. Basically telling me that doing this is only going to be making it worse than it already is. They literally just could not care less what I want to tell them." He said, and I was feeling like maybe I could find something else to say.

"Maybe after what happened to you in the fucking forest, they are just scared for you, and do not want you to get down this path again." I said, feeling like if I said this, they might be willing to fucking take me seriously for once.

"Well, maybe I wouldn't be going down this path if this shit never fucking happened to begin with. But that is notw what happened, and that is no longer a option." He said, and I was seeing him looking like he was hoping that I wouldn't ever suggest that again.

"That is a lot easier fucking said than done, and I think we both know that." I said, hoping that I would get him to calm down, and tone it down. At least a notch. I was then seeing Riley looking like she was finaly ready to get involved in the conversation once more.

"If I am allowed to be honest, I feel like Steven should be allowed to do this. If there is any remote chance that this can bring Christen back, then I feel like we need to go through with this." She said, and then she looked right at me, thinking that I needed to see her value.

"This is the best chance that we have, and wasting it is not going to be helping anybody out at all." She said, sounding like she was just going to try and take control of this conversation. As much as she was needing to.

"Sorry that I got involved in this conversation. This never had any stakes with me. Forget that I even fucking mentioned it." I said, feeling like I just needed to withdraw from this whole thing. I felt like whatever they wanted to do, I needed to just get myself out of it.

"You're more than allowed to. This is your house after all." Steven said, and I was shaking my head. Thinking that since this was dad's house, saying something like that was only going to make things worse for everybody.

"I need to get going and see Sam. Do whatever you fucking want. I am not going to force myself into this any further though. This is not my fucking job." I said, and then I was wondering why in the world anybody even trusted me in the first place. I was some random asshole who kept getting in the way of everything.

"Have a good time with Sam." Riley said, and I was able to hear a faint taint of jealousy. Something that was making her upset at the fact that I was having a good time with my friends, and that she was wishing that she had that chance as well.

"I will. And please remain safe. No matter what happens, I will never forgive myself if something happens to you guys." I said, feeling like even though I was the younger brother, there was a sense of protection I needed to offer.

I looked at Riley, hoping she would not let her feelings get in the way of her safety, and against all odds, that the monster stuff was false.

When I had realized how late I already was to the hang out, I ran all the way over to Sam's house as fast as I could. As a way to make him feel better about what was going on. I didn't want him to think that I was just holding him down or anything like that.

Eventually, I reached his place, and got out of my bike as fast as possible. When I was looking right at him, I was wondering what in the world I would even fucking say now. "Sorry I held you up for so long."

"It's okay. You must be busy." He said, and I sighed in relief. Knowing that he wasn't pissed off at me. I was then walking inside the house, feeling better about what I was doing. Knowing that he wasn't furious with me or anything like that. It made me feel slightly different.

Scene 18: Bad Luck

September 28, 1956

Soon after that, that was when Dakota, Sam and I were getting near the forest, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and find something to talk to them, to make them feel much better.

"Why are you so fucking settled on going to the fucking forest, and seeing what we would fucking find?" After Sam asked me this, I shook my head, feeling like there was no reason to fucking lie about it at all.

"Well, because Steven told me something would possibly help me out with finding Christen. Something about monsters." I said, and I was seeing Sam looking like he instantly understood that I was still in pain over what happened, despite my trying to hide it.

"Oh god. I never thought you actually believed those fucking stories." Sam was telling me, and then I looked right at him, and I saw that Dakota was just looking shocked that this was my reason behind everything.

We went inside the forest, and looked around for a bit, trying to decide what we were going to do. "Alright guys, we need to figure out what to do now." I said, feeling like I needed to at least pretend like I was having control over the situation.

"Are you going to head to the tree house again?" Dakota asked me, and I shook my head, feeling like there was literally no point in doing that at all.

"No fucking point. We have gone there so many times, and nothing has fucking ever come from it." I said, feeling like that idea just needed to die as fast as possible.

"Fair enough." Dakota said, and then as soon as he said that, there was some loud ass noise that stopped us in our tracks. I was looking around, wondering what the hell that was. But I choose to not say anything, and to pretend to be calm.

"What the fucking hell was that?" Sam asked, and I was hearing him sounding like he was just trying his best to hide the fear in his voice. I sighed, not even able to fucking blame him. After all, this was rather terrifying.

"I think we just need to get the hell out of here." Sam said, and I was hearing the fear in his voice. I looked at him, and I was feeling like he might be right. But I was feeling like this was more of what I needed to prove my theories correct and everything.

"Where the hell would we fucking go though?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to try and be honest with him. "If this is real, then I think we just need to see what this is." I said, and I was aware of the fact that Sam and Dakota would hate what I said. But I knew that I was right.

"I don't fucking know Sheldon. Just out of here. Away from the bullshit that is happening here." Sam said, and then before long, we were turning behind, and we saw one of the monsters that Steven was showing me in that photo the one time. I wondered how in the world I would get that unlucky with my situation.

Sam screamed at this, suddenly feeling like he was about to die. Then with that, Dakota grabbed a fucking rock, and tried throwing it at the monster. Which made no fucking dent. I sighed, knowing full well that something like that would happen.

The monster just looked down at the rock, and then back at us. Then they were holding their arm out, and were starting to head towards us.

The three of us started to run towards a tree, just to hide it for a bit. We eventually got there before too long, and I was taking a deep breath, wondering what to fucking say.

"Sheldon, do you have any idea what that fucking thing is?" Sam asked, and I shook my head. How in the world was I going to? That was something that was way out of my fucking league.

"I mean, I saw it in a picture Steven showed Riley and I. But I never thought for a fucking second that I was going to actually see it." I said, terrified. I mean, I knew why Steven had that fear in his mind after all when this happened to him last time.

"Do you think we should fight it?" Dakota asked, and I looked right at him, thinking that the idea was fucking insanity. And I felt like any false move was going to be getting us killed. But then I was looking behind, and I was already seeing them close in.

The monster grabbed a tree, and then drew it out from the ground, and this was when Dakota threw up at the sight. Knowing that this monster was so strange it would be able to rip us apart just like that if they had wanted to.

Then thew threw it right towards us. It was about to turn Sam into sphagetti sauce when he came back to behind our tree at the last second. As that happened, and I could hear the swoosing sound, and the branches cracking, I was getting beyond terrified, and I knew there was nothing else I could do.

"I think we should get it distracted, and away from us. That is the best that we can fucking do." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and keep the other two calm and collected.

I saw a giant tree branch, and pointed to it. "We need to use that to distract it." I said, feeling like this idea was going to fucking fail. But it was better than nothing at all. And I started o head towards it, while Dakota and Sam stood up, wondering what I was going to fucking do now.

I grabbed it, and then threw it with all of my might, and made sure there was a emphasis on the sound effect, so I would get the monster to be too distracted to deal with us right now. As I threw it, the three branch soared a bit aways, and I did see the monster get a bit distracted.

When we had a fucking chance, the three of us were running out of there at a million miles per hour. Not taking a fucking second to stop. Since I was sure we both knew how bad this could turn out if we weren't careful enough.

I never saw a look of utter relief bigger on Sam's face than I did in that moment. Knowing that he was going to survive tonight. And that alone made it worth it for me.

The monster was aware of what we were doing before too long, and then started to run after us. I was wondering what in the world I would even do to justify coming here again. My potential death and what not was not nearly fucking worth it.

Eventually, after what was probably five minutes, but felt like a fucking year, we made it out of the forest, and I never felt so happy to be seeing the streetlights.

When we were out of the forest, and I was just thankful that we were alive in the first place, that was when we were seeing Cathy there, and she looked like she was just simply trying to decide what she was wanting to say.

"What the fucking hell are you doing here? I was hearing something going on when I was walking home. But I didn't realize it was going to be you guys." She said, and she sounded like she was just trying to piece it together.

"Well, there are like these fucking monsters here. Seriously. I never thought that they would be real. But they like came up to us, and were ready to fucking attack. I was scared out of my fucking mind." Sam said, and I was shaking my head. Feeling like his reaction was the result of him not taking what I had said seriously.

"Okay, what? Monsters? Sheldon, do you have any idea what he is going on about?" She asked, and I slowly nodded, feeling like I would use this as an excuse to tell her the truth.

"So when Christen went missing, I decided to check out of one of the things that her friend was claiming was going on here. Which was that monsters were not only real, buy actually infesting this place." I said, and I was aware of how fucking insane the whole thing sounded.

"Oh shit. I didn't realize you were still trying to find Christen. Sorry about that." She said, and I was hearing her voice sounding like she was aching for me, and wished that I would be doing better.

"And we then found one, and almost fucking died to it. And now I feel even worse than I had before. Knowing that these fucking things are real." I said, and I shook my head, unable to believe that I was going down this discussion in the first place.

"Oh shit. Okay. This is quite a lot to fucking take in." She said, and I slowly nodded. Feeling like I just needed to try and respect her space here, and not be rubbing it in her face how she was not seeing this all yet. But as she was saying this, I almost saw Sam looking like he had wanted to say something, as a way to make her feel better about this all.

"I fucking know it is. I mean, I want to pretend like this is all a fucking lie as well. But I mean, since they are real, I think we need to try and do something about it." Sam said, and I was shocked that he was even saying something like this in the first place.

"But Sheldon, do you think maybe things would be better for you if you just simply didn't look into this at all anymore? I mean, for all you know, these investigations are just making things worse for you." She said, and I was furious with the way she said this.

"I'm getting close to figuring it all out. I just need some more time. And I think that this is just showing that Steven knows what he is talking about." I said, feeling like I just needed to get her to feel like this was indeed working.

I simply looked down at the ground, and I was feeling like after what I had seen, and the fact that I was barely escaping these places alive, was probably a sign that I just needed to fucking stop looking into this. After all, even fucking Riley would have never wanted me to die over this.

"We need to get out of here though. I don't want that thing to fucking risk seeing us here." Sam said, sounding like he was about to lose his mind. I slowly nodded. Feeling like this was fair enough. So with this, we were starting to walk off, and I was seeing Cathy just looking like she was beyond confused.

"Do you guys want to explain why nobody is telling me jack shit here? I mean, you guys almost died. Or at least that is what it would seem if your stories are true. And I am just sort of going along with the ride right now?" She asked, and I was seeing her looking like she was trying to figure this out. I promised that I would tell her later. But I wasn't sure if I would really do that, or lie.

---

Scene 19: Missing The Embrace

October 2, 1956

One day when I was at school, during lunch, I was feeling utterly fucking terrible, and like there was no way that I could be able to put everything behind me. It was all because of Christen, and mostly my mothers death. When I thought about what happened with her, I was finding myself disgusted at how things had gone down, and I wondered if we would have still lived in Wayside if mom was alive. Or if my dad would have chaged his career.

Cathy must have noticed me at a certain point, and she sat down, and I saw her looking like there was something on her mind. "Sheldon, do you need somebody to talk to?" She asked, and I was shaking my head. Not really in the mood to go down this subject again. "You don't need to hide the way you fucking feel right now."

"I am just thinking about my mother. It's been over half a year since she passed away, and I still have a hard time letting it go. I mean, I have moments where it seems like I am moving on, but then other nights where it falls back on me, and then things just start all the fucking hell over again." I said, and then looked right at her. "So it's really not something that I want you to get involved with. Especially since you seem to be doing well already."

"But I want to make sure you're happy Sheldon. I mean, I don't know what it's like to have a parent die. So I feel like maybe I can't help you out there." She said, and then I was shaking my head. I had no opinions on what she was saying anymore. She admitted herself that she didn't know how I felt, so there was nothing to be upset with.

"But I mean, I know that sometimes people just need a fucking friend." She said, and then I was laughing at this one. She was referencing herself, and the situations that she was in. I was glad that she was able to be honest with me when she said that to me. "But Sheldon, be honest. Do you feel like you are able to move on, or are you just not going to?"

"I don't think I can. I loved my mother, and that is the reason everything about her hurts so much. I keep telling myself that I just need to keep her in my memory. Think about what she would have done if she is here. But I also know that the older I get, the harder that it will be to do this." I said, feeling like the butterfly effect would have gone too far out.

"Why is that?" Cathy asked, and I was certain that nothing I would say would really explain my perspective well. After all, until she dealt with a tragedy like that herself, I feel like maybe that was something she would never really understand.

"Just the fact that each major decision I make, I am increasingly unsure if this is the one that she would have wanted. And I have to remind myself that at the end of the day, it is my fucking choice. I am my own person. And nothing else. So I have to sort of just let that shit go as well." I said, and I wondered if what I was saying would help her understand teh context at all going forward. I had hoped that it fucking would.

"Well, it looks like you fucking see that right now. And I think that should be enough for you to just move forward. You know that she is gone, and you will always miss her. But there is no point in forcing yourself to think of what she would want you to do. Because you're just arguing something that will never happen anyways." She said, and then after that, I slowly nodded. I knew she was right. I fucking knew it. But it was something I wanted to think differently.

But I just could not get it in myself to think differently at all. I slowly nodded, and I smiled at her, to make her feel like I was at least considering what she said. "I guess that I will try and fucking see where you are coming from here. But I just feel like maybe what she would have wanted would be what dad would have wanted as well. So I guess that maybe they are more connected than I want to realize."

"What was she like anyways? Your mother?" Cathy asked, and I looked at her, shocked that she was bringing this up. And I started to think. Tyring to think objectively speaking, and not letting emotions run my judgment. After all, everything she was saying was still valid in it's own way. As much as I hated to admit it.

"She was somebody that was very gentle. Always talks about what is going on with me and Riley. She always seemed like she was willing to kind of support us. But she was always somebody that expected us to make up for our mistakes when we make them. There was never any room for excuses." I said, shrugging, thinking that was both good and bad depending on how you look at it.

"But on those last few months, it seemed like she was a completely different person. Just super quiet. Ultra reserved. Never talking to anybody at all. It seemed like she was scared to say anything, in fear of us hating her or anything. I have no idea what was making her change like that. Probably not wanting to be seen as weak or aggresive in those months." I said, feeling like I just needed to give my mother credit where she was needing it.

"Do you think she did a good job doing that then? If she was able to still leave a good impression on you, then that means that her fears were completely wrong?" She asked, and I shook my head. I had no idea what in the world I was even going to tell her. After all, it was seeming like she was grasping at straws, and not understanding everything that I was saying. Or at least not fully.

"Yeah, she did. If that was her intention, and she was genuinely scared of me not liking her as much near the end of everything, then she was able to avoid that. I guess that I just wish that I was able to give her peace of mind in the end, and make her see that things were not as bad as she was thinking.

"So Sheldon, do you feel like you need to get a therapist about these things. Even beyond your mother, it might be nice to have a person just be able to listen to you, and the things you have to fucking say." She said, and I was shaking my head. I felt like getting a therapist was only going to make things worse for my dad, and I absolutely did not want him to go down that path, or to make things much worse for him.

"If I did, then my dad would be accusing me of having something wrong with me. He would be thinking that he made some horrible mistakes, and then everything will have to fucking start over again." I explained, and I was feeling like if for nothing else, despite the fact that dad and I did not take nearly as much as we probably should have, I wanted to make him still feel like he was being listened to.

"What about your sister Riley? Do you know if something is going on with her at all?" She asked me, and I was shaking my head. There was no way in hell I could get her to see my perspective. Riley was too busy trying to get anything remotely resembling being popular that I literally did not matter anymore.

"To be honest, I have no idea what is going on with Riley, and I do not know if I ever intend to know. She can be a asshole at times, and I feel like sooner or later, when both of us are old enough to live somewhere else, the two of us might not want to ever talk to each other at all." I said, feeling like this was something that I would have to probably get used to.

"But she is your sister. I mean, people tell me that when you have somebody in your family, then you need to be there for them as much as you can. Or at least fucking do your best." Cathy said, and I was hearing from the sound of her voice that she was not as sure if she was able to buy into that as well. But I saw that she was seeming to genuinely believe it. So I decided that I would let it go for now. Since she was just voicing an opinion.

"I know that I should. But at the same time, it does go both ways. If she is not going to make the effort, then everything that I do will be a waste of time. And then it goes on in a fucking loop forever." I said, feeling like I just needed to rest my case, and then we would be able to see where this would even go.

"Yeah, I guess that is fair. Seeing how it goes both ways. I never really think things out that way though." She admitted, and I was seeing that her saying this was a good sign that no matter what she said, it was all going to simply never get through to her. "So Sheldon, do you know what your dad would say if he knew that you were feeling this way?"

"I don't know, and frankly, I do not want to know. I feel like if I try to talk to him, then he would make some random lecture, an then demand that I try to make up for it." I said, feeling like that was close enough to where I didn't want to take any risks with the issue at all.

"And to be honest, I don't want to say anything to her, because I do not want to risk her thinking that she was feeling a total different way, and then suddenly I'm a fucking monster for thinking that way." I said, hoping that I would just end this discussion as fast as I could, for my own sake.

"Sorry I asked these questions. I just wanted to know how she was feeling about your mothers death. But I suppose that this is not something that you would know unless if you asked her yourself." As she said that to me, I was glad she seemed to drop it for now.

When lunch was over, I was finding myself glad that I was not having to force myself into this debate with Cathy anymore. I knew that she was probably meaning well, and that her hear was probably in the right place. So in that sense, I was not upset with her. But at the same time, it was feeling like we were just playing a fucking game was each other, and to be honest, it was hard to justify playing it any longer.

I mean, I was feeling like I needed to give Cathy more credit than I had already, and that she was trying her best to be a proper friend of mine. But at the same time, one of these days, I would just want to go down to Arkansas, at least one time, to see my mothers grave. To at least pretend like there was a connection between the two of us once again.

---

Scene 19: Coming Out

December 8 1956

Before I was leaving to hang out with Sam that day, Riley was walking up to me, and I was seeing her looking like there was some really serious shit on her mind. I was confused as hell what she was planning on doing, but I did not want to be rude, so I figured that I would let her talk for a bit.

"Can we talk for a bit? There are some things that I need to discuss with you." She said, and I looked at her, confused what the plan was going to be, but I had no desire to be rude, so I nodded.

"What do you need?" I asked, and she was feeling like she needed to get her composure, and I was walking on towards Sam's house. "You have until I get to Sam's place to say what you need. After all, I need to leave." I said, feeling like I would be fair, and give her a relatively decent chance, while making my conditions clear.

"Well, Sheldon, I want to let you know that I was very jealous of your growing ond with Christen. I thought that if she was hanging out with you more, then she would never want to be around me anymore." Riley said, and then I looked right at her, wondering what to say.

"She was friends with you first." I said, and shook my head, not really sure where in the world the issue was, and then she was closing her eyes, as if disgusted with herself on what she was going to admit, for some reason.

"Well, if I am being honest, I really liked Christen, and was wanting to ask her if she felt the same way." She said, and I looked at her, and I was shocked, but I had nothing else to fukcing tell her. After all, this was way beyond my league.

"And I know that people would never want to be around me anymore, if they knew that I love women, and that I would want to be with one when I grow up." She admitted, as I was just trying to decide what to say. I mean, she was still thirteen, and even I knew that was still way too early to talk about love.

"Riley, it's okay. I wanted Christen to like me, but I feel like she probably was better off being your friend instead." I said, and I was not even trying to make her feel better. Deep down, I knew it was true, and I was seeing her looking shocked that I said that to her.

"Well, I mean, you were always having a good time with your friends, and I have been holed up in my room all the time, Especially after Chirsten went missing, and I was seeing Steven trying to help me break out of that mold. But he just doesn't get it." Riley said, as I sighed, having no idea what to tell her.

"Well, if that is the case, then you need to try and reach out to Steven again, and just get him to see that you appreciate everything that he has done for you. Maybe that would be something he would respect." I said, feeling like I just needed to tell her that with full conviction.

"Well, I always had a feeling that dad did not like Steven very much, and felt like Steven was kind of just a bad influence, and to be honest, I am not sure what to feel about that." Riley said, and I had no idea what in the world I could say to change that.

"Well, if that is the case, then I guess that maybe you should try and talk to dad again. I think that the guy deserves a fair bit of credit for everything he said to you." I said, hoping that telling her that would make her feel better about this.

"Sheldon, do you hate me? For liking Christen too?" She asked me, and I looked right at her, wondering why in the world she was asking me this in the first place, since it was totally out of nowhere.

"Truth be told, I also was jealous of you. To be honest, I know that your a better person, friend, and sibling than I am. To be honest, I wish that I was like you, and I think that makes me jealous." Riley said, and I was rolling my eyes, feeling like she needed to stop this fucking appeasing game since I did not want to hear it.

"Well, dad seems to still believe in you, and I think that should be enough to make you feel better. Honestly, I think that you're over thinking things. I'm always scared that I'm going to learn that dad hated me this whole time or something like that." I said, and I was hoping that maybe I was over thinking this. But I think that was not likely.

"Don't worry about it." She said, and I was seeing her looking like she was happier than before, now that she had made her confession. "Hey Sheldon, how do you enjoy your friends right now? Have they been treating you well?" She asked me, and I looked right at her, kind of surprised at the sudden question, but I truly had no idea.

"Yeah, they have. They have shown me everything in this town, and to be honest, I think that moving here was the best choice. I always felt like I was playing on thin ice when we were down in Arkansas after mom died. As if I was any second any from having a breaking point." After I said that to her, I was shrugging, having no idea what to even fucking say.

"Yeah, I knew that you weren't taking it well, and I was always feeling like I needed to talk to you, and see if I could help. But to be honest, when I saw how much you were having a great time with your friends, I figured that in all honesty, I shouldn't bother anymore, considering the fact that there was no need to get in your business about it." Riley said, and I had no idea what I was even going to tell her.

"Well, I guess that I can sort of apply the same logic to you. After all, for most of the first few weeks we lived in Wayside, you barely seemed to want to do anything, and then it seemed like you were starting to get out a bit. Then Christen went missing, and I was supposed to help you out, and then I didn't. And now any progress you made of going out again was thrown out the window." I said, feeling like I needed to take responsibility for the things that I did wrong, since I should have been there for her.

"I loved Christen, and I wanted to try and make that clear to her. I wanted to try and see if we would be friends forever. And I remember when she was gone, and I went to my room that night, and cried harder that night than I ever did. More than when mom died. It was like everything that I had been penting up for months had finally let out again." She said, and she sounded disgusted at what she was saying. As if she was just wrong for ever thinking this way.

"I'm just worried about what it will be like if I ever end up crying like that again. You know, like I did when mom died. I'm scared of being seen as weak." I said, and I was hardly caring what people thought of that. I shook my head, since in all honesty, I wanted to cry, and feel relieved to do it, but I was never going to get that.

"There's nothing weak about crying. It will just happen when you finally need to." She said, and I looked right at her, and I was considering what she had just said, and I felt like that was a great sentiment, in all honesty.

"I guess if you want to say that, then I suppose that's true. But I just am not too sure. Whatever. Sorry for kind of turning the whole thing into a bleak conversation. But Riley, I want you to know that I don't judge you." I said, and then we went in for a hug.

It felt genuinely right to have the hug, and I was happy to finally be open with her about everything that was going on. When we let go, I smiled to her.

Eventually, I was at Sam's house, and I looked at my sister, and I was seeing her looking extremely vulnerable, and I hugged her for a bit, realizing that she needed my support. I might have been her younger brother bilogically, but emotionally I was further along than she was, and therefore in a sense, I was almost the big brother.

But when I was done, I looked at Riley, and I was nodding. "I hope you find happiness one day, when things are easier. I love you. But I need to be with my friend." I said, and then I walked to Sam's door, where I knocked on the door, and Sam immediately answered, as Riley was leaving.

"Did something happen between you two?" He asked me, and I was shrugging, feeling like I needed to keep that to myself, feeling if I told him, then that would be ruining the trust that Riley had in me, and I was not willing to risk that, for any fucking reason at all.

"She was just telling me a really important secret. Nothing that I should be telling other people though. Not if I don't want her hating me forever." I said, being real with him, and Sam shrugged, hardly caring.

"So Sheldon, I know your eleventh birthday is in a few days? Is there anything you will want?" He asked, and I was shaking my head, not sure what in the world I was even going to tell him. To be honest, I was feeling lost after all Riley had told me.

"I have no idea what I would want honestly. I guess that what I want is for everybody in our friend group to be truly happy, and not hate each other anymore." I said, and I was shaking my head, knowing that this was way too vague for Sam to really help.

"Yeah, after everything that I heard you guys talking to each other about, it doesn't surprise me. I know that Ashley has had a hard time really letting go of the things Dakota told her earlier." After he said that, I shrugged, not having any idea what to say.

"I tried to tell them what I was thinking, but to be honest, I don't really think that anybody fucking cares about that anymore. I don't even think I see that employee there in question to much. I heard that he quit, and went to visit family west or something." I said, unsure why I was even talking about a incident from several months ago.

"Well, I think that it's just how things are now. For better or for worse, people are going to be just trying to act like they are the best people for the job." Sam said, and he started to head off of the porch, and then he was heading to the park again.

"Try to not think about it man. Enjoy life already." He said, and I was following him, feeling that the best thing to do would be to just support Riley in whatever she needed from now on, and that I would never let her down, even if we had massive fights and what not.

Scene 20: Jimmy White Speech

Decemer 14, 1956

On the last day of the second to last week before Winter break, my class and I were forced to listen to a history lesson speech given off by some guy who was running for fucking mayor or something. To be honest, I really had no interest, and I was only there mainly because I just didn't want to really stand out.

"Hello everybody, my name is Jimmy White, and I recently just got elected mayor of Wayside in this election. But I wanted to talk to you all about a bit of a history lesson. The story of how we started to become the town we are." Jimmy started, and he was taking a cigarette out, sounding like he was actually really excited for this.

"Every year around this time, I come to the fourth grade class to help them understand a bit about the mines, and why they are a integral part of what happened of the town. So in 1935, there was a massive explosion that happened in one of the mines, that destroyed it, which started to cause a trickle down effect." Jimmy said, and I could hear that the subject was still kind of hard to talk about.

"After the first explosion was caused, it was quickly discovered, as much as I hate to admit it, that one of the hardest workers there, a twenty four year old named Ewan Carbunkle, hadn't been able to escape, and died in the explosion. This left his parents and six year old sister to survive the pain of the mistake." Jimmy White said, and I was wondering how things continued after that.

"After the death, there was a law suit that was placed against the current mayor, and they ended up winning it, and despite the fact that everything seemed to start to wind down, the town population had started to leave the town." Jimmy said, and I was hearing that there was a bit of disgust in the part of the story he wanted to tell next, but decided against it, for some reason, and decided to keep telling the story as it was.

"But there were some people who were determined to try and stick it out. So in 1938, a little less than three years after the explosion had gone off, and the business of the mines were shut down, a guy in his fifties, named Sherman Peabody, who in his words, already had his life behind him, decided to take things into his own hands, and created a adoption agency, and started working on trying to reopen the mines again." Jimmy said, and I was shocked that anybody would do this.

"And now we are able to thrive and live because Sherman was able to take action in changing the situation of the town. I stuck by his side the whole time, even when there was some minor disagreements, I was able to look at the results, and see that at the end of the day, what he did was truly right." Jimmy finished, and I was confused at that last part of the story, and I wondered what the hell he was talking about.

"Despite the hardships that were being fought in order to get there, we are making more money then we ever were on the mines before, and our entire way of life has started to turn around for the best, and in a way, I feel like maybe this was all a sign of fate, and what things were meant to be like." Jimmy said, and I was confused at that part.

"And if it weren't for that, we wouldn't have the town and legacy that we currently had right now, and your town is now one of the greatest places in the entire country to live in." Jimmy tried to hold a upbeat tone to what he was saying, but I could tell that there was a hint of force in what he was saying.

When the main story of the speech was done, he was more willing to let us ask some questions. So at this rate, I decided to ask one that I was hoping would actually kind of get him to see that I was going to try and help him out when I was older.

When he saw my hand, he was looking like he was realizing that he had never seen me before. "Sheldon Lee. We moved here a few months ago." I said, feeling like I needed to give him some pleasentries in order to make him feel better.

"Oh yeah, your father and I have been working together every Tuesday and Friday for the last few months. Hope you enjoy this town as much as he does. Anyways, what was your question?" He asked, and I was glad that he was no longer going to be doing the random pleasantries.

"Why are the mines called labyrinth? I heard it was part of the folk story people in this town use to describe when people go missing." I said, and I could see the teacher next to me get a pale look on his face, as if wondering why in the world I made that fucking question, and he was shaking his head, as if hoping that I could stop.

"Well, truth be told, the reason it was called labyrinth was because the boys who worked down in the mines called it that. All the mines were actually inter connected, and rather difficult to go through if you never really had the proper training on how to go through it." After Jimmy said that, I looked at him, and I was suddenly excited to know there was a actual reason behind it, and now I knew what that fucking reason was.

The next part of the speech was esentially a back and fourth between me and Jimmy, and I could tell that most of the students and teachers there was actually more interested in that than they were in the story itself.

"So did all the mines get destroyed, or just one of them? Because if it was just one, then certainly you guys could continue working." I said, with a level of thought and effort put into it that no ten year old ever should be having. I looked at Jimmy, wondering what he would think of my statement.

"Truth is, after the law suit was made, part of the condition was that all the mines would be closed permanetly. No more business. They said they wanted no fucking repeats of what happened. That being said, they were willing to budge a bit when they saw Sherman's solution, and they were able to get several other families involved in the project as well." Jimmy asked, and I saw the look of minor worry in his eyes.

"A couple of the families, I will list now, to ease your interest, are the Needlemeyer family, which I am sure you met Larry by now, where he and his father championed the whole thing. And the Wattersons, who wanted to help because their new born son Richard was born the year of Sherman's solution. There were others, but I decided to let you have those." He said, and I was slowly nodding, not sure what to say to this now.

"Why did Sherman decide to open up a adoption agency instead of something like a farm or what not?" I asked, feeling like the question was fair enough, especially given my lack of context. As I said that, I was seeing Jimmy looking relatively shocked that I picked up on that early on.

"Well, that is a concept that I am sure you will all understand when you guys get much older, but for now in a rather simple way of telling it, people were having a hard time having children." He said, and left it at that. As he said this, I was confused what the context was. But to be honest, I decided that it might not be wise to push the matter further.

"But why did he decide to try and fix the mines again? Was he wanting to start the business again, or use it for something else?" I asked, and from the look on Jimmy's face, and how clearly he had gotten flusttered as all fuck at what I was saying, was a sign that I was stroking the fire, and that I was getting close to cracking the case.

"Well, truth of the matter was that he was planning on using it for something else. After all, most of the material had been seeped out of their anyways, and upon inspection, he and I were able to figure out that the mines would have had to close down in roughly five or six years anyways, even without the explosion." He admitted, and I was feeling like I just needed to get to the bottom of this.

"So yes, he was using it for something else entirely. A storage area, I suppose you can call it. But I feel like you would be best to not worry about all that. This is a history lesson, not a getting every single minor little detail possible that you can here." By this point, I could tell that he was no longer really wanting to talk, and he just wanted to get this over with.

"But what does this have to do with the girls going missing all the fucking time?" I asked, not even caring who was listening to me anymore, and I could tell that this was the first of many debates we would have.

"That was something that started after all of this was settled down. We have been looking into that. Please understand that the stories are not as inter connected as you want." Jimmy said, clearly coming up with responses on the fly.

Jimmy checked the time, and saw that he had gotten over anyways. "Oh shit guys, I was only supposed to be here for forty five minutes, and went nearly twenty minutes over. I really do need to be going." He said, and then with that, he was looking right at me, as if trying to decide what he wanted to say.

"Look, I appreciate your interest in the subject. Always great when one of the students here actually seem to want to know what is happening here. But I think that for now, you need to focus on your own school work for the time being. That is right now." Jimmy said, and then he started to head off, and I could see the entire auditorium was looking right at me, wondering what the hell I was getting myself into.

When the speech was done, I was walking out of the room with Dakota and Ashley. "That speech was so fucking boring. I wonder when they are going to understand that most people don't care about something that happened nearly twenty fucking years ago."

"The only reason I cared was because of the mines." I said, giving relative affirmation. Although the 20 years ago did stick out to me, it's important to remember at that age, 20 years was like ancient history and beyond.

"I wonder how that Carbunkle lady is doing? Must kind of suck to lose your older brother when you're so young." After Ashley said that, Dakota looked at her, as if bored at her passion over the subject.

Scene 21: The Day Everything Went Downhill

December 21, 1956

It was the last day before winter break, which also happened to be my eleventh birthday, when I was sitting down with Sam at the cafeteria, trying to just enjoy my time. "You seem to still be thinking about that speech that Jimmy White gave last Friday. What is making you so obsessed with it?" Sam asked, and I looked at him, wondering what in the world I would even tell him.

"I think just the idea of the mines is creepy, and also strangely exciting at the same time. I wanted to just simply know what happened." I said, feeling like I needed to just calm down, and not be upset here.

As we were talking, that was when a police officer showed up, and the principal was at his side. "Sheldon Lee, we need you to return home immediately." The officer said, and I was getting up, and I was looking scared, and wondering what the hell I was supposed to say here.

"And before you go, I know that you have been a star student so far, and because of that, given the circumstances, I gave a notice to your teachers that you will be exempt from all homework assignments during break. Good luck." The principal said, and at this rate, I was beyond confused, but I left without a seconds thought or being able to form the words to counter argue.

I was taken home, in about fifteen minutes without a single word from the officer, and when I tried to talk, I would give up half way through the sentence, or I would just realize very quickly that it would be a fruitless endeavor.

When I was finally inside, I was seeing my father talking to another officer. I sat down, wondering what to fucking say. "Dad, what the fucking hell is going on?" I asked, beyond the point of hiding my pure annoyance at the fact that I was given absoluetely nothing at all.

Now that I was actually home, and things settled down, dad turned towards me, and I was seeing that the officer was looking like he was much more willing to talk. "Truth of the matter is that your sister hasn't been seen all day, and there are no details on where she might be. We fear that something happened to her."

"Do you know anything at all? Any clues on what made Riley possibly want to leave?" Dad asked, looking right at me. "I noticed you guys were starting to close that gap between you two in the last few months."

"Well, to be honest, she never once believed the story about Christen running away. She believed that she was taken. Her friend Steven Walker constantly said that he felt that girls were forcibly taken and sold off for drugs." After I said this, that was when I saw the officer and my dad looking at each suspiciously.

"My sister was telling me that she was in love with Christen, and told me that she was scared that I wouldn't like her anymore, when she told me that she was sexually attracted to only women." I said, feeling like at this rate, with her gone, it didn't even fucking matter if her secret was open or not anymore.

"Well, Sheldon, people who, let's just say, are attracted to the same gender, often times have a hard time really fitting in society today. I do not think it is entirely impossible that her feelings could be part of it." My father said, and I was hearing him sounding utterly pissed that he even had to explain this.

"Do you know where she might have gotten lately?" The officer asked, getting right back to the point. I then remembered something, and again, I knew that with her being missing, this secret no longer mattered.

"She would often times go to the tree house. She went to the labyrinth party that Christen went missing at. She said she liked to study there, or just be alone for a couple hours before she would have to return home." I said, and then I shook my head, hating the fact that I was having to tell them all her secrets now.

"She was also telling me that she was slightly down in the gutter. After mom died, she was rather distant lately, and she told me about a week ago that she was jealous of me, and part of the reason she was always hostile to me was because she knew that I was a much better person than her in every single way, and that she was proud of the person I already was." I said, and I was feeling like what I was said was absolutely horrible, and that she deserved so much better than she was getting lately.

"She also didn't have very many friends. Steven was really the only one who stuck with her after Christen went missing. Everybody else was claiming that she was acting strangely, and they decided that they were kind of over it." I said, and I hated saying this, unsure of why my sister was being so despised here.

"Do you know where Riley and Steven hung out all the time?" My dad asked, and I sighed, feeling like when they find her, they better keep me out of the record, so I wouldn't get in trouble for all the shit that I had been telling them.

"Well, either the waterfalls, because Riley claimed she liked the view, or the sport fields at the high school, where she would watch the games every once in a while. She was telling me that she was trying to adjust to Wayside but just couldn't. She claimed that the move to Wayside had ruined everybody's life here, and sometimes would get upset at dad for everything. She would also say that she was wondering how I was able to make things work out so well here, when I was losing out on some of the best parts of Arkansas." I said, finally taking a breath.

"Thanks for giving us some information. It at least helps paint a picture of what she was like lately. Which is a lot better than nothing. I will try and see if that might have something to do with fidning her." The officer said, and then he sighed. "But I will need to talk to your dad for a bit, so you'll have to go to your room."

After he said this, I was furious. I wanted to fucking help him out, and I wanted to be the one that helped bring justice to Riley. But he was not giving me the chance to do such a thing at all. It was feeling so fucking wrong, and I wondered why he didn't care to help me.

I was told to go to my room, so the officer and my father could talk, and I was so incredibly furstrated with the way they were acting, that I decided to just comply. When I was inside, like on cue, I got a cue on my room phone that my dad bought for me having straight A's first term.

I answered it, and heard Harold on the line. "Hey, I just got the news. I can't help you today, but my parents are away this weekend, so let's fucking meet up and look for your sister then, alright?" Harold said, and I complied right away, knowing at least one person supported me.

Feeling like I was being useless, and wanting to actually do something for myself to get my sister home, I ran out of my house, not even giving the officers or my dad time to respond, and the first area that I went to was the one area that I would be certain would give me the information that I needed. The tree house.

I looked around the tree house for several minutes, before I saw something that caught my attention. I remembered vaguely the tally marks that were placed on the wall earlier. There were forty one the first time, and I found it rather odd. When I looked this time, there were forty three now.

In less than a god damn second, I instantly knew what that meant. They had been counting the amount of girls who had gone missing since the mines exploded in 1938. Forty three girls had fallen victim to this scheme. Roughly one every five to six months. I couldn't believe concrete evidence was right there.

I knew for sure that what Steven was saying was probably true, and I was wondering why in the world I would even fucking deny such a thing now. But now I was feeling like I needed to try and give myself some time to properly think about what the plan was going to be going forward.

Before I was giving up on the tree house, I saw one final thing. A etching that my sister made a while ago. She told me about it, but seeing it live was depressing, and I was wondering what I could be able to do to ever get her to forgive me. It was a heart saying "Christen and Riley." And it was at that moment, that I realized she didn't even try to hide her feelings anymore.

Eventually, I gave up on the tree house, feeling like nothing would be fucking found there, so I remembered the broadcast station, and I felt like that would be the best area to really crack down on what was happening. And to be honest, Iw as feeling like I was about to lose whatever joy I ever got from Wayside, and I was starting to feel like this city could be exposed for the fucking facade that it really was.

Once I was looking around, I started to head towards the waterfall, wondering if I could be able to find something there for a while. The entire time that I had been heading in that direction, I had been completely emotionally lost, and feeling like I was being worthless.

I wondered how Harold would be able to help me out when I saw him tomorrow. He probably would be comoing up with a bunch of crazy ideas, and he would probably be trying to help me lift my mood, but deep down, I was feeling utterly against hearing it now.

When I was at the falls, I was remembering the times that I had with Dakota and Ashley during the summer, and having the memories permanetly tainted by what had happened. As I was looking up, I started to remember the broadcast station, and I wondered what I would be able to find if I went up there a bit. It was a hail merry, but given what I heard, I wondred if maybe that was where the Shiny Gentleman was located.

Once I was done running up the hill, to get to the broadcast station, that was when the grinding noise went off. I got on my knees, and wanted to scream. But before I could get the scream out, there was a scarf flying down towards me. I grabbed it before it got away, and after a second of looking, I realized it was Christen's scarf. I wanted to cry. Christen was dead. And Riley would be too if I didn't work hard enough.