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.

20. The Labyrinth (remaster in progress)

Episode 2: The Labyrinth

Scene 1: Eight Years Later

May 27 1964, After School

It was near the end of my senior year of high school, when I would finally be a legal adult, out doing my own thing, and at this point in time, for the first time since my mothers death, I was feeling perfectly happy and fine.

Not only was I well ready to graduate, but with how my grades were this term so far, and the subject of finals, I knew not only would I still keep my 4.0 GPA regardless of finals, but the principal told me that I was going to be the valedictorian, as even the next closest person down on the list only had a 3.72 GPA.

So esentially I was able to relax for the last couple of weeks, and no longer worry about things at all. I was reflecting this when I was out smoking some cigarettes with Dakota, who was then looking right at me.

"What do you plan on doing after graudation?" Dakota asked, and I shrugged, not sure what I was going to tell him. I had no idea what I was planning on doing.

"My dad said that he was fine if I decided to take the first summer off, and just enjoy the three months or so of freedom. Honestly, I'm probably going to try and fucking take it. You know, with how much shit has been going on in life, I feel like I just need have some time to myself." I said, finally feeling like I could just take a deep breath for once.

"And to be honest, I'm probbaly going stay away from college for the first year or so. Slightly extended break from school. Get a job or something in Wayside, and try to get my own place. And once it's been a year or year and a half, I might just leave Wayside, and go to college in some other state. Just start over." I said, snuffing out my cigarette, and I was glad to be seeing Dakota looking like he was finally showing interest now.

"Are you going to be going to prom?" He asked, and I was feeling like him asking me this just had to bring up the fact that I didn't have a date.

"No, I will probably stay home. To be honest, might be best to just work on school. Especially since I don't even have a fucking date and what not." I said, trying to at least make him see my point. Dakota shrugged, thinking I looked too deep into it.

"Well, you can still go, even without a date. I mean, we leave in a couple of weeks. Don't want to lose the chance to have some fun one last time." After Dakota said that to me, I wondered why he was trying to force this onto me. But I decided I was no longer in the mood.

We started to drive to the mall, which was finally back up and running after it had to shut down last year, and the entire drive Dakota seemed to think of what to say. "Look Sheldon, I know that you're still thinking about Riley. But I think that you know that there's nothing we can do about it now. Her remains were fucking found. She's dead."

I remembered the news reports a few months ago. There was a box on the side of the road, a driver went past it, checked it out to see why it was randomly there. Inside the box was her rotting head chopped off.

The DNA proved it, but even without that, my dad and I were able to take one look at it, and confirm it was her. After over seven years, we finally got one answer: She was dead. And on one hand, the confirmation gave me a ease of mind.

Ever since then, I had been relatively secluded, and hadn't really been the person that I once was. But I was also wanting to know more.

"But now there's even more questions. What about the other girls? Where was Riley before she died? Why was it just her head? And if it was just starting to rot, then that means she had only been dead for at most a couple months. What happened? Her death only gives me closure on what happened, but gives me more reason to doubt everything else." I said, feeling like I just needed to be real with him.

"Just make sure that you at least try and fucking remain careful here. People are going to be riding down you if they know that you are still into this. I don't mind, since truthfully, a lot of it is strange as hell. But just be safe." He said, and I was shaking my head at this.

Before long, we eventually made it to the mall, and got out of the car. "I mean, like Sam I can see being interested, but please don't tell Harold. We both know that won't go anywhere. And Ashley is where I really put my foot down." He said, and I was sighing in annoyance at this.

Ever since Dakota started dating Ashley back at the start of second semester, she was like eighty percent of what he talked about. I mean, it was kind of cringe, but I did understand it, and he was just trying to be there for a girl that he clearly liked a lot.

"I might as well buy a fresh suit if I am going to be going." I said, and started to head to the men's dress section. As we were looking around for a while, I was feeling glad that Dakota was willing to deal with my bullshit after all.

I looked around for a few minutes before finding one that I did like. It was a blue suit that actually was just my perfect size. I looked at it for a few seconds, and then I was showing Dakota, wondering what he thought of it.

"Yeah, you should totally fucking go for it." Dakota said, as he smiled at this. Then with that, I was then thinking about how happy that my father would be if he was seeing me even just simply going out to prom in the first place.

Ever since Riley had been confirmed dead, I only focused on my grades for a while. Aside from Dakota, who literally lived next door, I only talked with friends if they were at school, and even then I only started to just kind of open up to that, as before the last two weeks or so, sentences would be all they got.

I broke up with the girl I was dating just a couple days after the news, although thankfully she was more than understanding, and I just decided to spend that time to focus more on the sports, that I already trained for rigorously for hours a day, and was already the best member of the town.

Eventually, I bought my suit, and looked down at Dakota, feeling like it was time to leave the area. I went right to the car afterwards, but before I was able to leave, I saw one of my classmates walking past me, and she called out to me, stopping her and her other friends.

"Hey Sheldon, I just wanted to say that I was sorry for everything that happened. I know that we're leaving school in a couple of weeks, but if you wanted to just talk to me about it, then go ahead." The girl, Emily, said, and I was shocked that she was willing to even discuss this in the first place, considering everything.

"Yeah, I was wondering, would it be possible that you might want to go to prom with me this year?" I asked, and I was seeing Emily and her friends looking shocked at the question. I won't even pretend it was spur of the moment. But I was desperate.

"Oh yeah. that would be cool. I don't have a date or anything." She said, and I was glad to see that at least she was excited for this as well. I wondered what in the world I would talk to her about, since before today, we only talked like once a year.

"Alright, well, see you then. And I hope that we don't strangle each other." I said, and I was laughing at this, and Emily rolled her eyes, thinking that I was being silly for no real reason, and that we were going to be fine.

"Well, it's good to see you guys. We'll have to be going though." Dakota said, referring to his meet up with Ashley. I felt like he needed to stop trying to force this to end. But then I shook my head, and we started to head to my car, where I put my new suit down in the back seat, to make sure I didn't get cigcarette ash on it.

Once we were out of the car, Dakota looked at me, and I was seeing him looking like he wanted to just talk about what was going on. "Surprised you were able to get her to say yes so easily. I guess your resume will never stop being good." After he said that to me, I was sighing, not sure what in the world I was even going to be saying at all.

"Well, she's nice, and I feel like she deserves a fucking chance. No reason to not let her fucking have it." I said, and I shrugged, feeling like he was needing to calm down, and not be making a fucking journey out of this.

"I wasn't arguing. Anyways, I feel like you always had it in you. But things just always make you lose sight of that." Dakota said, and I was feeling like I needed to beat the dead horse once again. I felt like he just needed to get it.

"To be honest, with the fucking shit going on here, and the fact that I am convinced that labyrinth really is real, I never really have the chance to move on." After I said that, I was seeing Dakota looking like he was not really sure what to even say to this.

"To be honest, I believe you, and there is something going on here. But let's just at least graduate first. And then once we graduate, if you want to learn more, then let's go." Dakota said, sounding desperate, and I was feeling like I would let him have this, for his own sake.

"Yeah, sure. I guess that it might be worth it to just do things this way." I said, feeling like this is something literally dad would be telling me, and maybe that is true, toa certain degree.

Eventually, we were at Ashley's house, and she was clearly glad to be seeing the two of us here. "Thanks for coming guys. I was thinking about prom, and wondered if you guys were getting ready." She said as she was looking at the suit that I bought, and I wondered what her plan was.

Before we could talk further, the grinding noise had gone off right then and there. As that happened, I took my cigarette out, feeling like I did not need to make my point at all. I expressed how much this shit pissed off over and over again. No need to beat down the bush any further.

Every time I was feeling like I could start to get happy, and personally I move on even just a inch, that thing comes up, and it completely fucks with me in the head. I wanted to just get to the bottom of it, for my own closure sake.

---

Scene 2: The Red Head Boy

May 27 1964, Evening

That night, when I was heading home, I was deciding to see if maybe Kevin might have known something. I don't know why, but it just felt like the right call to make. So with that, I headed on over, and if Sam saw me, I would just simply explain to him the situation, and I was sure he would get it.

And to be honest, I wanted to get back on at least speaking terms with Sam once again, and I was feeling like this was the perfect chance to strike. After all, even Dakota and Ashley, who I kind of had some strain with at times, especially with Riley incident, suggested that it was time to make up with him.

I eventually drove my way to Sam's house, mainly to see what Kevin knew, and I was just meantally pleading that Kevin was going to be willing to talk to me, and not give me any shit for what happened, especially in light of the way that I have been acting lately.

Once there, I was seeing Kevin talking to a red head guy already, and I was wondering if maybe I decided to come over at teh right time. I left the car, out of natural habit, and when Kevin and the guy looked over, and saw me, I was seeing them both just staring at me, wondering what the hell I was even doing here to begin with.

"Sheldon, what the fuck are you doing here?" Kevin asked, and he was sounding more shocked than angry, and I was taking that as a sign that maybe I would be able to talk with him still, and that I just needed to be more careful of how I started this whole discussion.

"Well, I just wanted to talk to you about something. I was wanting to make sure that you were doing fine, after that grinding noise went off earlier today." I said, since in a way, despite everything, and the fact that Sam and I kind of stopped talking with each other, I still viewed Kevin a younger brother.

"No, we're not doing well at all. I was actually just talking with my friend Todd about it just now. One of our classmates, Shari, was the one who went missing." Kevin said, and I looked at Todd, wondering what he would say here.

"It's true, and I was suggesting my idea that maybe we go on and check around town, to see what people know about it." Todd said, and I was taking a cigarette out, feeling like Kevin of all people needed to tell Todd that this was a terrible idea, and should not be done.

"You really do not want to fucking do that. Kevin, you know how that shit turns out when it happens. It will eat your life away, and everything you did will be gone." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and put my foot down for once. I was seeing Kevin looking like he hardly cared anymore though.

"There is nothing that I can do to change it. I mean, my friends need the comfort of knowing that I tried." Kevin said, as I looked right at him, and I was feeling like this was going to get him killed if he actually did it.

"What do you think Sam would be saying to this?" I asked, feeling like I needed to try and just make my point clear for once. As I was saying this, almost on cue, that was when Sam left the house, and he was looking at the three of us talking.

"Saying to what?" Sam asked, and then Todd was looking like he would just take the fall for once, so that way Kevin would be fine, at least for now. I was stomping my cigarette out, feeling like Kevin might be the one thing that unite Sam and I together again.

"I was suggesting that the two of us try and find Shari, since she is gone, and I was hoping that I might be able to find something." After Todd admitted that, Sam was looking right at me, and I was holding my hand up, as if telling him to keep me out of this one.

"I literally just got here. In fact, I was wanting to check up on him to see if he was doing fine after everything that is happening." I said, and I was seeing Sam looking like he was willing to buy it, for the time being at least.

"Kevin, I am with Sheldon on this one. Getting into this is a terrible fucking idea, and it almost seems to be asking for trouble." Sam said, and then he looked right at me, trying to decide what he wanted to say now.

"So Sheldon, what do you think? How do you think he should be going at this?" He asked, and I shrugged, feeling like there was just no clue what in the world I would even fucking tell him at all.

I have no fucking idea honestly. Look Kevin, I know that you want to help, and I know a large part of that is entirely my fault, for getting you guys to always act like this. But I fele like you need to listen to me when I say that this is not going to be the best idea." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and be honest with him here.

"If you do not want Kevin involved, then talk to me. Sam doesn't have to worry about his brother getting in danger, and he can still learn what I know when it happens. Everybody's happy." Todd said, feeling like he would just have to try and make it seem like this was a deal.

I sighed, feeling like I would take the idea and I was hoping that Sam would not try and fucking fight this one. He sighed, and I could tell that he probbaly was aware that there was no need to fight this.

"Okay. I guess that I might have to go with that idea." Sam said, and then he was looking right at me. I was seeing from the look on his face that he was just having a lot of regret, a feeling that was totally mutual.

"Look Sheldon, I know that I made some mistakes, and I know for a fucking fact that I was a total asshole most of the time. But I was hoping that maybe we could just put all that behind us. After all, I do miss hanging out with you." He said, and I smiled as he admitted this, since the feeling was mutual.

"I mean, in all honesty, you were probably my best friend, and when Riley's death became public, I wanted to talk, but you just didn't want to talk to anybody." He said, and then Todd was raising his hand, to try and get into the discussion, and see what was happening.

"Okay, I know that you guys have known each other forever, but to those who are not caught up in the Wayside lore, per se, who the fuck is Riley, and how did she die?" Todd asked, and I just shook my head, not wanting to talk about it.

"My older sister. She died a few months ago, and I am trying to figure out why." I said, giving him the super duper ultra short version. I looked at Sam, and I was thinking of what to even fucking say then.

"Look, we're graduating in like twelve days, and after that is done, we're going to be thrown into the world, and at that rate, there is nothing left to do besides just figure out how in the world this is all happening. I am probably not going to college right away as well, so I might as well." I said, and I saw Sam looking mildly annoyed with what I was saying.

"This is a terrible idea. But I guess that I am also kind of curious as well. I mean, I guess that when you have things like this going on for so long, you can't help but be at least somewhat interested." Sam said, and I saw him just looking like he could not handle this idea.

"Buy guys, you do realize that Shari was one of my friends, and I deserve to know the fucking truth of my friend as well." After Kevin was saying this, I was feeling like I just needed to be as careful as possible with this.

"Look, I am willing to tell you what you want to know. But the fact of the matter is that you're going to go to high school in a few months. I really would not want you to lose out on your chance of enjoying some of the most exciting years of somebody's life because of the fact that people in Wayside are pieces of shit." I said, and I was seeing Sam looking happy to see the fire in my speech once again, finally showing no hostages.

"Okay, if you say so." Kevin said, and I could tell from the way he was reacting, that he was not buying a fucking word of what I was saying. Which was a god damn shame, and I had hoped that I would have been able to get him to at least think of me as a honest guy.

"Anyways, I am surprised you decided to see me. I mean, after all, everything just kind of went down hill with us at one point, and I wasn't sure if you were wanting anything to do with me." Kevin said, and then Todd was stepping forward, feeling like he just needed to talk again.

"So Sheldon, have you been able to get anything during your years of living at Wayside? I mean, for fucks sake, that is the main issue that I have right now." After Todd was telling me this, I wondered why the hell he was speaking like this at all.

"Not really. I mean, I always start to kind of get a bit closer, and feel like I have a chance to make a big break through, but it turns out to be a waste of time." I said, hating the fact that I was telling the new guy this.

"So basically you are just going off of a hunch, and you really don't understand what you are doing." As Todd kept hammering at me, I felt like I was just going to be useless here.

"Look, I know what I am doing. But this shit is so fucking tightly locked, I can't explain it. Maybe we should just talk about this someplace else, and maybe we can understand." I said, and I was seeing him looking like he was kind of annoyed with the fact that I was pushing him like this.

"Fine. If you think that is going to make things better. But to be honest, I feel like I just am kind of being left out here." Todd said, and he sounded really annoyed with everything, and I was actually considering what he said.

"There have been people who tried to help me find out more, but then every time we get somewhere close to the truth coming forward, they just vanish. Like into fucking thin ass air. Trust me when I say you would know if you were there. I will tell you soon if you want." I said, and we agreed to see each other at Mezmers.

I started to head home, feeling like if Todd actually went through with what he was planning, then perhaps he was going to be a good partner to have at my side. And besides, I was feeling that as long as Kevin was staying safe, that was the main thing that mattered.

---

Scene 3: Truth and Reconcilation

May 28, 1964, School Lunch

That next day, when I was sitting down to eat, that was when Sam walked up to me, and I saw him looking like he was just kind of thinking of something that he needed to get off his chest. "Hey Sheldon, I just want you to know that I am sorry for not being that great fo a friend lately, especially after the news with Riley. I will admit, I think I was just scared." He said, and I was slowly nodding, not sure if I wanted to hear it, but at least he was trying.

"Sam, honestly, I just didn't know how to talk to people about that. I mean, I had waited nearly eight years for a break through in her case. And then the big break through is that she had her head chopped off. I mean, I was just too numb and shocked to have a clue what to say." I said, and I felt like I just needed to be honest, and let the reality all sink in.

"Sheldon, I know that it was a lot for you to handle, and that is why I should have taken the time to see you, and try and console your pain. But I just turned away, and did nothing. And I feel like that is even worse than any possible outcome." He said, and I really just didn't know what I wanted to say now.

"Honestly Sam, I think that another part of it is that I wanted to make sure you were doing well with Kevin as well. I was scared you guys were starting to rift apart, and I wanted you guys to have a chance to rebound." I said, and I was just trying to figure out what I was even going to accomplish by saying all of this in the first place.

"I think Kevin is just more focused on making sure that his friendships are doing well. Not that I can blame him. At least it is giving him something to fucking fight for." Sam said, and I wondered if I really knew what to tell him.

"Do you know that Todd guy very well?" I asked, and I was feeling like the more that I was talking with Sam, the more that I was slowly feeling like I could finally just relax. There was less of that tension than I was originally dreading, and I knew for a fact now that Sam was just glad to know that I wasn't upset at him, or feeling like we were ready to fall apart.

"That guy always seems like a fucking wild card to me. I have no idea if he is going to be the greatest person I ever met, or somebody that can really just ruin my life." Sam said, and I was slowly nodding, thinking it was strange he was talking about a middle schooler in that fashion.

"But he seems rather popular among his classmates." Sam said, and simply shrugged, thinking that could work to Kevin's favor in a way.

"Yeah, and to be honest, him and Kevin seem fucking tight." I said, aware of the fact that that sounded instantly strange, but I hardly fucking cared at all.

"From what Kevin told me, he and Todd were basically best friends from the day that Todd moved to this school. Sort of like what we were, until you know what." Sam said, and I slowly nodded, and I agreed with that sentiment, that when looking really deep at it, Sam was probably my best friend.

"Well, I do want to try and fix that Sam. I mean, I was also like this with Harold, and even Cathy." I said, thinking about the fact that I had started to really become friends with Cathy again, until this point. "But Sam, I am not sure if you even want to be friends with somebody who has this level of baggage under them and what not." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest.

"Yeah, I tried to talk to Cathy about it. She basically just had no interest in digging that up though. But it seemed like she was just really sad about that. And Harold comes to me every week to see if you have finally started to talk to me again." Sam said, and I slowly nodded, as Sam was thinking of something else.

"If you are going to look into this shit, then I am going to help you. Even beyond the fact that you're my friend, there is something going on with Kevin that I want to check into." Sam said, and I looked right at him, shocked that this was coming up suddenly.

"What the fucking hell happened with Kevin?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to get right to that, since I always felt a need to protect that dude.

"He has been working with some man with a purple jacket. I have seen the guy come by all the time, claiming to be somebody who worked with dad before, and every time he tries to talk to us, when dad is around, he basically tells us he wants us to not talk with this man at all." After he said that to me, I was shrugging, thinking that was ratehr fucking random, considering everything.

"Sadly, I can't be sure if I ever seen that man before." I said, and I felt like I would be real with him, even if it meant that this was not the answer he was fucking hoping for. But I would not make bullshit up.

"Yeah, that was exactly what I was expecting. That really fucking sucks though, and kind of throws my plan out the fucking window. But I guess that I can try and find something else." He said, and then he was rubbing his hair, and I was seeing the growing despair on his face, clearly showing that he hated everything about this.

"Why would he go after Kevin, and not you or something like that?" I asked, since Kevin was still a middle school student and therefore had all of high school to go through, whereas Sam and I were leaving high school in like eleven days.

"I think it was something about Kevin making a big paper that the guy liked or something like that. At least that is the excuse he keeps using, and in all honesty, I have no idea what that man was fucking doing. I tried to tell Kevin to not get into this, but he seems to just hardly fucking care anymore." Sam said, and sounded mildly annoyed with this, and I couldn't even blame him at all.

"Strange. Did you ever try and see what the paper was about? That might be able to help give context." I said, and then Sam was thinking for a few seconds, and I saw him start to have a look of utter terror on his face, as he was starting to figure it out.

"Kevin told me that he has a theory that the monster sightings that people claim to have seen are not only true, but be from a source of a different world. The topic was about unexplainable things from his past, and he mentioned that one time you, me and I were in the forest when we looked for your sister three years ago." Sam said, and I slowly nodded, feeling like that was fair enough.

"His paper was the only one in the entire class that got a perfect one hundred, and I think Kevin said the guy was there during those few days, when the speeches were being made." As he finished, he shook his head, unable to believe that the answer was there.

"Holy fucking shit. Did Kevin crack a case without us even knowing? If that is true, then we need to tell him, so that way we can be more careful here." After he was telling me this, I looked right at him, since that escalated so fucking quickly that I had no idea what to think here.

"I don't know. But if I'm being blunt with you, I think that what is going on with Kevin might be more important than anything we have learned so far. I mean, you got a answer to Riley. Even if you didn't like it." Sam said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like even though he was right, it was in no way shape or form the answer that I wanted.

"But I want to help dad learn why Riley died." I said, and then Sam was looking right at me, and he was just waiting for the point where I would start to see where he was coming from.

"Yeah, and helping me with this will do just that. These things are all connected. I have never been so fucking convinced of anything in my entire fucking life, and I need you to see this." He said, and I started to see where he was coming from, in a degree.

"Well, I am only agreeing to look into this with you because this is Kevin we are talking about. If this was any other random person, I would say no." I said, feeling like I just needed to be real with him as I said this to him.

"That is fair. I would not ask if it was for somebody other than Kevin anwyays, so we are good." He said, and I was slowly nodding, feeling like since we understood each other, I was happier with this than I thought that I would have been. I took a long and deep breath, not sure what I would even fucking say now.

"Sam, do you have any idea if Kevin even wants to talk to you about that? I mean, for fucks sake, it always seemed like you two were barely able to see each other eye to eye." I said, and I was seeing Sam looking like he was annoyed at the fact that I said this.

"I mean, I don't know what to fucking think anymore. I mean, I will admit, for the longest time, I thought these ideas were all fucking bullshit and what not, but now I can't be sure anymore. And that scares me more than anything." After he said that to me, he looked like he was just worried about what I would even fucking tell him.

"I never thought that things were really going on with labyrinth either. Just people runninga way or shit. Then Riley shows up, decapitated, and my entire perception of the world as I know it is completely thrown away. I mean, I guess that I should have listened to you this whole time." Sam said, and he looked right at me, wondering what I would say to this.

"And the worst part is that it seems like the general public got over it really fucking fast. Everybody talked about it for like a week or two, and then completely fucking moved on, as if nothing happened." Sam said, and shook his head, sounding furious at that, and I was glad to see that he was seeing where I was coming from..

"Let's just see Kevin after school, and if that Todd guy is there, I might as well let him come along." I said, and I was shaking my head, unable to believe that I had been saying this in the first place.

Sam agreed, and I was taking a deep breath, happy to finally just be able to chill out for a bit, and then with that, I took a cigarette out, and I was just hoping that I could be able to focus on the rest of senior year, and keep up my 4.0.

---

Scene 4: The Digital World Theory

May 28, 1964, After School

Sam and I went to the middle school, where Todd and Kevin were, and I was seeing both of them looking scared of what the two of us were doing here. "Hey Kevin, I know this is not what you wanted to fucking talk about, but I was wanting to ask you about that paper again." Sam said, and Kevin shook his head, not in the mood to do this.

"Todd was the one that came up with me making the paper anyways. He heard my stories, and thought they were a great subject material. But where is this coming from?" Kevin asked, and I was looking at Sam, feeling like he needed a good response, with how Kevin was reacting.

"Because I am trying to help Sheldon learn about the man in the purple jacket. And besides, I think we all know that it might not be a great idea to look into you know what." Sam said, and I was feeling like his sudden firmness on the subject was something that kind of bothered me, since I wished we could look into this.

"Well, why don't we go someplace else at least, and just talk there." Todd suggested, and then with that, I shrugged, and we went on over to the skating park, and I sat down, wondering if Kevin was still into that stuff like he had been in the seventh grade.

"Well, it all started that day in the forest a few years ago, when we saw that thing that looked like a... Swamp man... I guess you can say." Kevin said, and shook his head at that. "I was never able to fully get over it, then on top of that, earlier this year, our friend Dana was telling me she was making a book about it."

"Yeah, she told me on my first day here about those things. I never really got it all. In fact, I knew about the monsters for almost a whole two months before I dealt with the first-missing case." Todd said, and I looked right at him, and I wondered what Todd was going to do here.

"Kevin was telling me about this scientist named Kenta, and that he had read a bit about his research, and Kevin just used that as a stepping stone to get even further into his theory. Spent nearly two weeks in the library after school, never returning home." Todd said, and then Kevin went from there.

"I came up with the theory, after I read about cases all over the country, that there are certain door ways. Usually one or two in each state, and that these weak areas have more sightings than basically every other part of the country. And that one of them is only a couple of miles from Wayside." Kevin said, and I looked right at him, wondering if he was going to actually present this theory publicly.

"I know that this might sound like I am trying to make something out of nothing, but I read that once every two to three decades or so, the sightings get even worse. As if it's like a massive deletion, per se. And that one of these happened around the time of the mine explosion. So I am theorizing that maybe the explosion might be connected." Kevin said, and I was taking a cigarette out, and I was feeling like I just needed to be honest with him.

"Most people in this town will not appreciate you bringing labyrinth, and the tragedy into your theory. People are literally going to instantly throw away the entire theory." I said, and I waved my hands around, hoping to get him to stop this. "I mean, I am not going to get upset, but I think you just need to tread lightly."

"You're not fucking listening to me! I think that maybe this might have had something to do with why people go missing. What if they end up being killed by monsters." Kevin said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like I was just needing to be honest with him as I responded.

"A monster wouldn't slice my fucking sisters head off, and then throw it in a box and placed it on the side of the road, for a fucking driver to notice it." I said, and I looked right at him, and I was hoping that after I placed it down like this, Kevin would just drop the subject for a second.

"Yeah, I guess that is true." Kevin said, and he looked down on the ground, and I was seeing the shame growing on his face, as if he was thinking about what he was hearing. "But even if they are not connected, the fucking reality is that members of the biggest company in town think something is there, and I think their suspicions confirm it." He said, and stood up, holding his first out, hoping that I would fucking understand.

"How about we all take a deep breath? We all have personal reasons to want to go into this. That is fair. But the fact is that screaminf about it won't help. I mean, regardless of our own reasons, my friend Shari is missing too, and this stuff is still going on. There needs to be a fucking plan here." Todd said, kind of getting into the pep talk mindset, and looked at all of us.

"Yeah, you're right. Look Kevin, I appreciate the fact that you want to help out so much. I really do. But the fact of the matter is that I think that if you get too deep into this, then people will be looking out after you, and then everything is going to go to hell." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest.

"But you are already doing this to begin with. And you seem to hardly care what people are thinking of you in the first place. So I don't really see where the difference is to be completely fucking honest." After he was telling me this, I looked right at him, and I was feeling like he was just trying to piss me off.

"Well, yeah, I guess that you can fucking say that. But the truth is that I mainly just started to realize that I want to help my dad here, and the two of us are on the same team, and that is really what it comes down to." I said, and I was shaking my head, wondering why in the world he was trying so hard to press this.

"Your dad is the fucking mayor Sheldon. I know you don't want me to say this, due to how loyal you are, but the thing is that I think your father might be a part of the things going on here, and you are just simply refusing to admit it." After Sam was telling me this, I looked right at him, wondering what he was even trying to accomplish here.

"I know that he is the fucking mayor Sam. I was one of the people who pressed his fucking election the most, and I have been trying to support him throughout his entire term." I said, and then Todd looked right at me, and seemed shocked at this sudden revelation.

"Your dad is mayor? Do you think that maybe I can try fucking talking to him, and see what he fucking knows?" He asked, and I was shaking my head, not sure what in the world that would even accomplish, considering the fact that my dad was always to himself.

"My dad doesn't really like spending his time talking to younger people, since he feels like they might be kind of getting in the way of his research. My friends are some of the only exceptions." I said, thinking about how he refused to talk to people like Steven even.

"Well, I think that you should try and fucking force him to fucking talk then. After all, he can't ignore the will of the fucking people, when he was elected to do so." After Todd said that to me, I was sighing, and I considered what he was telling me.

"I will talk to dad, and see what he fucking has to say. But do not expect it to be going anywhere." I said, conceding, and I was also kind of hoping that maybe Todd was right, and I was just thinking too deeply into this, for the time being.

"Thanks. Even if it fails, it will make me better, knowing that at least the option was used." Todd said, and I was wondering why he was trying to take control here suddenly.

"And Kevin, I do believe the general theory of your paper. I really do. That is not what I was trying to say. But I don't really think it is connected to the missing people." I said, feeling like at this point, I just needed to be as nice as I could with him.

"I guess that makes me feel a bit better, knowing that you're not just thinking I'm bullshitting." Kevin said, and I looked right at him, feeling like I just needed to be much more careful with how I went at this, for his sake.

"Look, how about Sam and I take care of looking into labyrinth. Then you and Todd can look into the monster shit and what not. That way we cover two grounds at once." I suggested, and I was looking at Sam, hoping that he was going to take my idea, and not argue with it or anything like that at all.

"I guess that makes some fucking sense. And besides, even though I think the monster theories are at least a bit out there, I know that labyrinth is all real, and that is why we need to fucking take that the most seriously." Sam said, as I was feeling like for once we were finally right.

"Hey Sheldon, I know that we barely know each other, but thanks for taking the time to try and hear what I say out. It makes me feel much better." After Todd told me this, I slowly nodded, feeling like I just needed to take what he said to heart. After all, this was a guy I hardly knew, and he was already showing trust in me, and I needed to not blow it.

"Alright. I will do whatever I fucking can to make it work." I said, hoping that telling him this was going to make him feel much more inclined to go along with what I said, and what not.

"Yeah, he is one of the most dedicated people that I have ever met when it comes to this. You do not have anything to worry about with him." Sam said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like the fact Sam actually believed that was truly shocking. And to be honest, I felt like he was just trying to really mend the fence, or something like that.

I was taking a cigarette out, as I was getting in my car. I turned the engine on, and I punched my steering wheel. I was not going to be down with Kevin and his friends getting dragged into my bullshit, and I was feeling like everything that I had done was always my fucking fault.

Sam was right about everything he said, and I was tired of pretending like he fucking wasn't. Then with that, I sighed, and started to drive home, hoping dad wasn't going to hate me for the shit I would ask him.

---

Scene 5: Distrust Growing

May 28, 1964, Evening

That night, I went home, and despite the fact that I had no desire to, I needed to talk to dad. I was seeing him looking like he was rather busy with his job, and I was really not wanting to waste my time talking to him, especially when he was always working so fucking hard, and I was scared he would think I was being ungrateful.

"Hey dad, I wanted to ask you some fucking questions." I said, and he looked at me, and I was seeing him looking mildly shocked to hear me coming here, to talk to him at all, and he sighed, feeling like there was no point in brushing it off now.

"I was wanting to ask you about how the investigations are going. Especially with the grinding noise last night." He sighed, and looked mildly annoyed, and borderline pissed off, that I was bringing this up right now, considering the fact that he knew where this was going to go.

"What do you want to know?" He asked, and I knew his reaction was because we went through this dance and routine every single time a woman went missing, and at this rate, he was probably just tired of dealing with this. I knew I had to go at this in a way that did not accuse him of knowing something.

"Well, I was just wondering if you found out who killed Riley?" I asked, hoping that after over three months, this man would have gotten his shit in gear, and stopped screwing around. I loved my father, but he was trying too hard to play around red tape.

"No, I have no idea who killed her. I have been wanting to know that shit for a long time. This is my fucking daughter here. And I would never let her down." He said, and then he was standing up, and looked right at me, as if wondering what my response would be now.

"Sheldon, are you starting to doubt that I can do the job?" He asked, and I looked at him, and shook my head, not wanting to make it seem like that was what I was saying at all.

"No, nothing like that. I was just wanting to see where things were. If I am being real with you, I just hear a bunch of people at school always talking about you, and I wanted to see if I was going to be able to help dispell the rumors and what not." I said, and then my dad was shaking his head, seeming to hardly fucking care at all.

"People in your age range always feel like they are the top of the world, and know everything going on here. But they never fucking know the context. Or they just refuse to fucking understand it, for various reasons. This is something that I am used to by now." He said, and I was sighing, really not sure what I wanted to say here.

"But what if there is some truth to what they are saying? I mean, wouldn't it be a terrible idea to just brush the idea off without even giving it a single fucking look?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to try and press my father on this more.

"To be honest Sheldon, I understand that they are probably doing it out of good intention. But the truth is that they are making a lot of theories that they have no idea what in the world they are getting into." He said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like he needed to just give me more.

"Well, if you admit they are doing it with good intention, then I feel like you just need to be more honest with the town. I know you have been working rather hard on finding the truth here, and yet you aren't telling me anything at all." I said, feeling like I just needed to try to press him harder on this, for his own sake.

"Sheldon, I need you to just let me do my fucking job. This is serious shit. Your sister died, and we don't even know how long ago it was, or if the other girls in this town are dead yet. If there is a shred of a chance that any of them are alive, I will do whatever I fucking can to make them return home. And if they died, you can bet that I will at least give that family closure after what happened with us." He said, and I was looking at him, still trying hard to believe him.

"I know it's fucking serious, and I know you're probably the one person in this town who is still giving a fucking shit. That is why I need you to just tell me what is fucking happening." I said, not caring if I was sounding harsh, and not caring if he was going to be upset with me here.

"But these stories about monsters, and skinned men, and what have you, running around, taking people. It's fucking ridiculous, and I think you know this. You're eighteen years old. You're not a child anymore. You need to see the more realistic options." He said, and I shook my head.

"I understand that it sounds ridiculous. It does to me too. But the fact of the matter is that I know what I hear, and way too many people have talked about it to make me brush it off. And I think if you heard the stories as well, you would feel the same way as well dad." I said, not even holding back anymore. As I continued, he looked like he wanted to tell me off.

"Until there is proof beyond a doubt that this shit even has a chance of being real, I am going to focus on the practical side of things, and seethe god damn truth for what it is." He said, and then I was sighing, knowing that I couldn't change his mind.

I was starting to get a bit upset with the way that my dad was brushing me off like this, and I was feeling like he was simply deflecting the point of what was going on. I was annoyed as hell with this, and I had no idea what to say.

"Look Sheldon, I know that I am kind of being a bit of an asshole, and I am sorry for that. But the truth is that I feel like this is something that should not be taken lightly at all. I can't lose my wife, daughter, and then my son all within a decade." As my dad said this, I looked right at him, considering what he was saying.

"I hope that it makes you feel better when you hear that I am not doing this without my friends and other people. I would never put my life in such danger alone. Not after some of the shit that I had to deal with earlier." I said, and I was seeing my dad almost look kind of happy to hear that.

"I always liked that Sam guy. Even Harold grew on me over the years." My dad said, and then he looked right at me, and looked like he had to ask me something important, and I took a long and deep breath.

"But I think you need to let Dakota know, especially with his own cousin, that I never wanted to make him feel like him and his issues weren't important. But there was only so much that I could have done at the time." He said, and I was shaking my head, not really sure if I cared to hear this right now. I knew that he was just trying to sweeten the deal, and make me feel a bit better here.

"Well, if I'm being completely honest, I think that Dakota has given up all hope in the system, and thinks that you guys are assholes who don't care about his issues." I said, and I was shaking my head, wondering why he would even tell me this.

"And the thing is that despite how much I want to blame him, or think that he is being unreasonable, I know deep down inside, he is being realistic. I think the thing is that I know what you and your friends are dealing with, but I just do not have the measures to try and fix it." He was telling me, hoping that I would listen to him here.

I sat down on the couch, and looked right at him. "I wish that I could trust everything that is being told to me. I do not want to doubt anybody, or anything. But I think I know that I can't ever get over the shit that I have seen." I said, and I wondered if I was playing too close to fire as I was telling him this in the first place.

"Trust the fact that I wouldn't withhold things from you when I know that you value the information as much as you value myself." He said, and I looked right at him, wondering what in the world I was even going to tell him.

"I'm also sorry that I never really asked you how you were feeling, after Riley died. I thought that you were going to be fine with all your friends, and I just never took the time to reach out to you. I am so fucking sorry for that shit." He said, as I was feeling like him saying this was just a way to deflect it all.

"Well, to be honest, I have no idea how I felt. I mean, I feel like the fact that she will never get to see how life would be for her going forward kills me. I loved my sister more than anything, and I just fucking brushed her off, with fucking nothing at all." I said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like the conflicting nature was hard to handle.

"Well, I think that if I'm being honest, I think we both kind of knew that she was dead. After all, it was over seven years since it was all found out. I wanted to pretend like nothing fucking happened, but I guess that this was just impossible." After he said that to me, I shook my head, not sure what to tell him.

"Look, the thing is that there is an eighth grade student named Todd who moved here when the school year started. In the couple of days I have known him via Kevin, it seems like he is going to look into this with or without anybody helping him out. I am going to check into this, no matter what." I said, hoping I could get him to hear what I said, and consider it deeply.

"And since I have already made it clear that I would be helping Kevin out no matter what, I am going to just do whatever I fucking can." I said, and I was aware that telling my dad this was going to be getting him upset. He would not trust what I did, and he was going to probably use whatever excuse he could to tell me off. In all honesty, I wasn't sure if I was able to trust him here.

"Kevin. Well, I am shocked he is going to high school next year." He said, and refused to go any further than that, and in all honesty, I did not blame him, as a way to not make the issue worse than it already fucking was in many ways.

I was feeling like trusting dad was either going to be the thing that saved me and my friends, or was going to be the thing that would destroy my chances to pull this off. I was smart enough to know there was no in between on the whole situation.

---

Scene 6: Fires Rekindling

May 29, 1964, Lunch

The next day, at lunch, I was sitting down, thinking about what Sam and I had dicussed when I was seeing somebody who I hadn't talked to since the minute I learned of Riley's death, coming over. She sat down, and looked straight at me.

"Hey Sheldon." Cathy started, as if it wasn't like totally awkward that we were suddenly meeting up like this all of a sudden after several months. "Sam told me that you were going to be looking back into the cases once again. At first I refused to believe it. But now I see there is no changing you." Cathy said, and I was wondering if she seriously came for fucking that.

"Are you just here to fucking lecture me about my life choices? Because if that is the case, then I am not in the fucking mood." I said, not even caring if I was being a asshole or not. I just needed to get her to leave me alone.

"No. I am not going to. Everybody already has, and to be honest, I feel like that would not be giving either of us what we fucking need. What I wanted to do was instead just see how you had been doing, since it had been so fucking long." She said, and I slowly nodded, unable to fight that one.

"Yeah. You're fucking right about that. I need something more. Something tangible, that can give me the feeling that I am not going fucking insane with everything going on here." I said, and I was wondering if she fully got where I was coming from.

"Sheldon, I was also just scared that you did not want me around as a friend anymore. You know, after the fucking fight that we had gotten into earlier." She told me, and I was remembering that shit like it had just happened, and I was telling myself to stop thinking of the fucking pain.

"Well, I guess you can say the feeling is mutual there. After all, I said some horrible things to you as well. Talking about how I could see why Jamie was having a falling apart with you. That was really fucking low, and I went way too fucking far." I said, shaking my head, and finally felt like I needed to just own what I did.

"You really did hurt my feelings. But the fact of the matter is that I arguably said some even worse things. Such as how Riley would be ashamed of you. I have no idea why I ever said something like that." She said to me, and I slowly nodded, thinking we were starting to maybe see where we both went wrong, and at least if for nothing else, achieve a degree of closure.

"Well, I think the reality is with Riley, that you might be right. I hate to admit it, but if I was my sister, I wou;d be ashamed of myself as well. So I guess that I do sort of see where you are coming from." I said, feeling like I just needed to be fully honest with him as I said this.

"Sheldon, I do want to know what happened to Jamie as well. With that in mind, I want to know where you plan on fucking starting, and that way I can be able to fucking help you out." As Jamie told me this, I looked right at her, shocked that she was telling me this in the first place.

"Well, if we are both wanting this, then we are in agreement. Let me see if I can try and get something together. Like any form of evidence, such as shit that my father might have gathered." I said, feeling like now that the two of us were in agreement, then we might as well get to fucking work.

"And Cathy, try and get in contact with Natalie. I will want to see her again as well. After all, I really did make some mistakes with that as well." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest as I said this.

"Natalie? Oh shit. Yeah, I haven't even been able to speak with her at all lately. She has been so much more focused on college exams that it is a fucking disaster trying to reach out to her in the first place." She said, and I sighed, having no idea what in the world I was even going to say.

"Where does she want to apply to?" I asked, and then Cathy looked at me, shocked to see that I was willing to show interest in that subject all, given everything that had been going on. She slowly sighed, and thought about my question.

I took a cigarette out, and then thought about what I would say now. "How about we just can going to school the rest of the day? Just hang out for a while, and talk to each other, and see how we are doing." I said, hoping that this idea would appeal to her at least somewhat, and from the look on her face, I could see that it was.

"Yeah, we should. I never liked it much here to begin with. Besides, we leave in a week and a half. Not like anybody is even going to care." She said, and I was glad to see that she had agreed to my plan, and with that, I had a larger smile on my face than I normally did.

"I really did want to hang out with you again. But I guess that I just got too upset to do so. I don't know what went into me. I guess that I just was upset at the fact that you seemed to kind of distance yourself from me." I said, and with that, I shrugged, not sure what else to even say now.

So with that, we got out of the cafeteria, and drove to the beach, where we met all those years ago, and I was going to just try and be patient with everything that she was going to tell me.

Once at the beach again, Cathy looked right at me, and I was seeing her looking like she was just trying to decide what she was wanting to fucking say here. "Sheldon, when you give your graduation speech, I feel like it might be best to just stay away from the missing peoples cases." Cathy said, and I looked right at her, shocked she was even bringing that up.

"Well, I wasn't really planning on it. So I feel like you are fine." I said, and I sat down, unsure of what I was wanting to tell her at all. Because to be honest, I feel like trying to get a read on her was going to be fucking impossible.

"I was going to be giving off some random stuff about how we all need to be united, and see the future for what it has to hold and what not, and tell people that no matter what would happen, I would be there to support them no matter what." I said, feeling like I would just leave it there.

"I think that this is a much better speech to give at graduation then some shit about how I basically don't have a lick of trust in our governmental system and what not." I said, and I was shrugging, feeling like she needed to relax a bit, and not get too scared now.

"Well, it's really fucking cheesy. But that sometimes will be fine enough, and I think that it will be fine enough to get the general opinion off of the whole missing girls thing for a bit." She said, and I was shrugging, not sure what I was going to even tell her.

"Yeah, and that is mainly the logic that I am going to be going with. Just good enough. Nothing more. Nothing fucking less." I said, and then with that, I felt like I just needed to ask another question, that I knew she was not going to enjoy.

"So Cathy, what are you going to be doing when you graudate? I knew you were thinking about a career in politics. I think you said something along the lines that if a female can get into office in our town, then maybe that would lower the risk of women going missing." I said, and I was not sure if I got it right, or if I agreed. But it was something that I wanted to believe.

"That is exactly my logic behind it. I feel like if I can get the women in this town to see that they can be successful, then they will feel more willing to actually do shit. Because if there is even a remote chance it is as simple as run aways, I want them to have hope." She said, and I was slowly nodding, feeling like I just needed to let her have that opinion.

"Well, I hope that you know that if you do this, I will support you in every way that I can. I want to make sure that my friends will always know that I will never turn them away." I said, and I was shrugging, wondering if she was going to buy that at all.

"That makes me feel much better." Cathy said, and then I was glad to be hearing it. Since that was the entire fucking point, since in no way in hell did I want her to feel like she would be forced in on this whole thing along.

"You know, I always wanted to just come back here with you again. Away from everything else. Away from pain, and suffering, and the shit related to missing girls. But I guess that perfect of a fucking solution was never meant to be." I said, and I was seeing her looking like she was trying to decide what to say here.

"Yeah, I mean, I miss the days when we were ten years old, and only one person we knew was affected by it. When you were able to be so fucking care free, that it made me fucking jealous." After Cathy said that to me, I was shaking my head, not wanting to fucking hear it.

"But to be honest, I think we both knew that there was no way in hell that something like that would ever have fucking happened. I mean, not a month goes by where I don't find myself thinking again that I wished that I would just wake up, and it was the day Riley went missing. But this time, she was home." I said, esentially acknowledging that I had made my peace with Christen, but Riley was a different level entirely.

"My only regret is that you went out with Jamie instead." Cathy said, suddenly, and I looked right at her, shocked as all hell that she had admitted that so openly, and I was wondering what I would even say to this. But before I could respond, she continued.

"I love you. I have since the day you helped me with the glasses. I know you have no interest in me romantically. But I felt like you deserved to know how I truly feel about you." She told me, and I was shocked that she admitted that so suddenly, and openly, and I could tell from the tone she was one hundred percent sincere.

I then thought about what it was to me, to keep going with this. What my priorities were in life. Which honestly were to make sure that my friends were going to avoid going down the same path that I did. That they would never end up fucking broken like I had turned out to be. I knew it was a long shot, but I needed to take the chance.

---

Scene 7: Todd's Plan

May 29 1964 After School

Todd and I were sitting down at Mezmers, and I was seeing him looking like he had absolutely no desire to be having this discussion right now. "Look Todd, I understand that you want to help find Shari and what not, for your friends. But we need to have a consistent plan here, to make it fucking work." I said, as I looked Todd directly in the face, hoping he would get it.

"Yeah, I know. I tried to talk to her parents, and got jack shit for it. Almost like me asking them all these questions was just a waste of their fucking time." After Todd said that, I sighed, not sure how I was going to let him know that this was the norm here.

"Well, I think that you'll grow to quickly realize that you're never going to get far by being a good person in this town." I said in a off handed comment, thinking it would sound cool, without thinking of any potential impacts such a comment would have been able to actually have on the guy.

"Well, that's kind of fucked up, and almost seems to be the opposite of what people try to tell me all the time growing up." Todd said, and I was shrugging, thinking that this was something I wouldn't be able to change, for better or for worse.

"Well, that is something that you can't really change in this town. The faster that people grow to accept that the better things are. I do not want people ruining their lives the way that I fucking did." I said, placing my foot down, feeling like I just needed to try and make my plea to him.

"I fucking know that. But I have a plan on how to make it work." After he told me this, I looked right at him, feeling like I would give him a chance to explain. Maybe his way of looking at things would open my eyes.

"I am planning on talking to that Carbunkle woman. I think she has a son in my grade level, so I can just tell her that I want to hang out with him more, but that before I do this, there was something that I needed to know." Todd said, and before I could ask further, he held his hand up.

"It's because she was the most affected by the mines earlier. I think that either she knows what is going on here, or can at the least point us in the right direction." After he said that, with such certainty in his voice, almost felt wrong if I tried to argue.

"I also wonder if that Sherman guy is still alive. Maybe I can try and fucking speak to him, and see what he might know. I mean, I know it's a long shot, but I promised my friends that I would try and fucking find her." After Todd said that, I felt like his insistence on the matter was fucking ridiculous.

"Truth be told, I have no idea. I think if he was though, he would be in the senior home. He was already middle aged when this whole thing started, and that was twenty six years ago." I said, thinking that he was probably still alive, but he was definitely no longer working, as I could tell with the fact that I don't remember seeing him lately.

"I think that in the entire time that I lived in Wayside, I have only ever seen him one time. And that was a couple of months after Riley went missing, when he droppped by the house with Jimmy White, to talk to dad, and he saw me, and said that he would watch my career with great interest." I said, as I shook my head there.

"That was seven years ago though. And as a result, is not really something that we should be going off of." I said, and I was hoping that Todd was going to understand what I was fucking saying.

"Well, shit. Still, I might try and ask her about that much then. See if he is even fucking alive, and see where to go from there. I think that we have so much work to go off of here, that we need to just fucking focus." Todd said, as I was mentally just hoping that this would not blow up in our faces, liek I was fearing that it would.

"Well, if Sherman is indeed alive, then I guess that I can try and talk to him as well. See if maybe he would be willing to work with me due to my father being a massive influence." I said, and then Todd was nodding, as if already forgetting that my father was mayor of Wayside.

"Yeah, if I'm being real with you, I forgot about that connection. Do you think your father would actually be enough to convince Sherman to go with this idea though?" After Todd asked me this, I was shrugging, not sure what I was going to tell him.

"It better be. But to be honest, I think that for both our sakes, with events and graduations and summer coming up, i think what might be best is to wait until summer starts up and what not. I mean, the last day is on the seventh. So only a week and a half away." I said, and Todd seemed to consider that for a bit.

"Yeah, I guess that if we're just talking about a week and a half, I guess it might be best to wait. Besides, I can try and talk to some of my friends, see if they knew anything that Shari was up to before she left. And maybe we can still meet up and make some plans. In case the Carbunkle and Sherman one fail." Todd said, and then he stood up, and placed his hands on the table, as if remembering something else.

"Oh yeah, one of my friends, Kevin was talking about you the one time you were by yesterday. He was saying that his brother wants to try and connect with you again since it's been a while." Todd said, and I looked at him, shocked at the way he was suddenly changing the subject just like that, without any prior warning.

"Sam? Yeah, I will admit, I would love to try and bury the hatchet with him, after the recent argument that I got with him after what happened with my sister." I said, and Todd was confused as hell what I was talking about.

"What fucking happened?" Todd asked me, and I knew that there was no way in hell that I was getting out of this one, now that he had heard me talk about it. I sighed, not sure where the hell I would even fucking start with this.

"Well, my whole interest started about seven and a half years ago when my sister Riley went missing. Sam kept insisting that she was gone, and I was still holding out hope, at least at first." I said, and then I looked around, hoping no random person was listening to this story.

"Then a few months ago, somebody found a box on the side of the road, and checked it out, and her rotting, decapitated head was in the box. The tests confirmed it, and esentially any remote chance of me holding out hope is entire gone now, because she had been murdered, and we never knew it until later." I said, and shook my head at this story.

"Given the state of her head, it was probably a couple of weeks prior, and when I think about it, I do vaguely remember the grinding noise had gone off around the time her death would have been." I said, smiling, and pretending to be glad over any news at all.

"Oh shit. Are you saying that the rest of her body, went into the grinder?" Todd asked, and I was closing my eyes, since that was the last thing that I wanted to say, and it was making me feel sick to my fucking stomach even thinking that sentence, but I knew he was right.

"Yeah, I think she was, and that I failed in the one thing that I was trying to do the entire fucking time. But to be honest, when I told Sam about it, he was yelling at me for not seeing the truth earlier, and said that he was thinking that the police were involved in what happened with her, but I was too oblivious to see the truth. And maybe he is fucking right." I said, balling my fist, and I wondered why I never took the time to see the truth until then.

"Do you think the police would have something to do with it? I mean, I think that the idea needs to at least be considered, for everything to truly work." After he was saying this, I couldn't believe that Todd was falling for this shit as well.

"Well, honestly Todd, I think that if they were, they would probably be the most corrupt police in the history of america. And I fucking hate the fact that they are just willing to totally fucking let everything slide." I said, and I wondered why in the world I was initially so against it all at first. Maybe I was just thinking that there was more good will in this world than I thought.

"But anyways, I think that maybe at least trying them out might not be the worst thing in the world. They might be willing to tell us something. And at this rate, I think that I would be a fool to not take any ideas into considersation." I said, wondering why in the world I even let the rabbit hole be opened up like this.

"But yeah, I think that talking to Sam would be nice. I mean, I still get along with his brother, and to be honest, I would not want to completely ruin something with Sam because I was too stubborn to fucking listen to him the first time." I said, feeling like when I put it that way, I would flash a sprinkle of it being my fault in there, to make me have a bit more fo a reputation.

"I will see if I can come up with any other plans. My father has been mayor for nearly a year and a half now. I think that maybe I can try and talk to him about some of the stuff that he might have worked on." I said, feeling like his response was going to be the one that mattered the most.

"I'm just worried that maybe if there is something going on here, that he might be involved. You know, on a quiet pay out or something like that. After all, everybody in this fucking town might be involved in something." After Todd told me this, I shook my head, not sure what to say there.

"My father would not be like that. Maybe if he never had Riley, and it was just me, I could maybe see that theory. But he loved Riley. He fucking said it." I said, and I was thinking that Riley alone was enough to debunk the entire theory right there.

I looked at Todd when he was done explaining his plan, and making me see that maybe he was not totally fucking crazy after all. I was feeling like maybe I could actually see where this could lead. I grew a smile on my face as he was talking, since I now knew that maybe I just needed to give him more credit.

---

Scene 8: The Mother

May 29, 1964, Evening

Todd and I went over to Shari's house, wondering what her mother would be willing to tell us. Although to be honest, I was having low hopes, since I was feeling like there was a good chance she would just see us once or twice, and then tell us off or something.

Todd knocked on her door, and she answered it, as if slightly annoyed with what was going on. "What do you want from me?" She asked for a second before seeing who it was, and when she realized it was Todd, she seemed to ease up a small hint. Although not by a ton.

I was wanting to see what you fucking knew about what happened to Shari? I was wondering if it might have been possible that she might have talked with you about something or another..." Todd said, as if he was a detective. She looked at him, wondering what he was trying to get at.

"I don't know what fucking happened to my god damn daughter. If I did, I wouldn't be sending people out to find out where she was and what not." She said, and Todd was holding his hands up, as if to get her to calm down.

"That is not exactly what I asked. What I fucking asked was if she might have said something, or did something, that tipped you off. Because if there is, then that can be rather fucking helpful for me." Todd said, and then he sighed as he said that to her.

"Well, I don't. She just up and vanished. I tried to reach out to everybody. Do you know her by chance?" She asked, and I was shaking my head, but Todd nodded, as a way to save me from that moment, and give her time.

"Yes, she was one of my friends at school, and we were in the same class together." Todd said, and then he sighed as he said this, feeling like the entire thing was falling apart real fucking quickly.

"Well, my daugther was innocent, and she did nothing wrong. And her entire life was cut short by this. This bullshit, that nobody seems to fucking care about. I feel like I am wasting my time just standing here, when I could be helping her come home." She said, and then with that, Todd was slowly nodding, as if he understood.

"I do see what you are saying mam. I am aware that you are probably in a lot of emotional pain, and even more turmoil, over what is happening. But there is nothing that I want more than the answers to be found." Todd said, and then with that, she was looking right at him, and she was seeing that there was sincerity to what he was saying.

"For some reason, I believe what you're saying. You don't seem like all the other people that were clearly full of shit." She said, and Todd was slowly nodding, as if happy that she was willing to talk at least, and not be throwing him down anymore.

That is exactly what I was hoping you would say. I never wanted anybody to feel like I was doing this for personal, or political gain. I have a friend, and I respect the hell out of him as a friend, but he just screams that minset. And I try to fix it, but I feel like something like that would be a waste of time." Todd said, and he was shaking his head, feeling like he just needed to be honest.

"So when I tell you that I will take any and all information you give me, and I will use it to the best of ability, I am not lying to you, and I am not trying to gain any favors. I am purely doing it because it is right." Todd said, and he was staring firmly at the woman, and I was wondering how deep this was going to go. Since in all honesty, I was kind of feeling like he was going to really go too far.

With that, she let us inside, and as we sat down, I was feeling like it was time for me to get right to the job, and I was hoping she would be iwlling to talk with both of us in full detail.

Once we were sitting down, Todd was thinking hard on what he wanted to say. "I know that you are very worried about your fucking daugther, and that is why I promise that I will do everything to bring her home." Todd said, and then he was sighing, hating the fact he repeated the same adage he already used.

"I understand that you do not want to trust the police. I do not think most people would in this town." Todd then looked at the wall, where he was seeing some photos of Shari already there, and he shook his head.

"Well, the police already came by here today, and they were esentially telling me that nothing had been found yet, and I told them to look harder, because some stuff she usually had were taken from her room. Such as a journal." She said, and I was slowly nodding.

"Can I take a look in her room? I mean, I could understand why you wouldn't like it. But I feel like there is really no fucking choice." I said, feeling like I would just try and be honest with them.

"Yeah go ahead. But it was trashed when I went in there. Which was another sign. She is a very neat person, and never left her shit tossed around." She said, and I was shocked to hear her insistence on the matter.

"Thanks for the permission. We probably would have had to anyways, but having you explicitly say so makes things better." Todd said, and I was shocked to hear him admit it this way.

She slowly nodded, as if she was understanding the context of what he was saying, and chose to not be too upset with what he said. So with that, we went right to her room, after she told us which one it was.

Once in her room, she wasn't kidding. The place was fucking trashed, and I was looking right at Todd, wondering what he was going to be thinking of this. "Well, we have to look through everything to know what to say." Todd said, and shrugged at the reality.

I went right to her dresser, wondering what types of clothes she took. But after a bit of looking through, that seemed to be the one part that was relatively intact, for better or for worse.

"I've been here before, and she always had everything neatly organized. Almost to a point where it felt kind of wrong." Todd said, and I looked at him, wondering what the hell he even fucking meant when he said that.

"Well, one of the things she always had was a little box with her favorite things. Like the stuff she had gathered up over the years." Todd said, and he was heading right to the drawer, to see if it was even still there in the first place.

"I want to see if she still has it." Todd said, and then I sat down, and took a cigarette out, wondering what the hell I would have even fucking found there in the first place. Given everying that happened.

"What in the world would I even look for here? You know, considering the fact that I know absolutely nothing about Shari and what not, I feel like I would probably just be fucking useless here." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest.

"Well, Shari was friends with Stephen." Todd said, and I looked right at him, and I was shocked that he was even mentioning that name at all. But then I wondered if Riley's friend from all those years ago even knew anything now.

"Yeah, that reminds me of one of Riley's friends from back then. Before she went missing, she was friends with a guy who had totally bought into the monster shit and what not, and he was one of the first people that helped me learn that they even fucking existed." I said, and I was shaking my head, wondering if I could find him now.

"Have you tried to talk to him lately?" Todd asked, and I was shaking my head, feeling like there was no point in wasting my time with something like that. Considering the fact that he never really liked hanging out with me too much.

"Waste of time. I barely even knew him to begin with, and to be honest, I don't even know if he lives in Wayside anymore." I said, feeling like I just needed to snub out this discussion before it even had a chance to fucking begin.

"Well, go and fucking see him. He might have something after all. And if he does, then we need to get that information as fast as possible." After Todd said that to me, I was slowly nodding, feeling like there was no point in fighting him.

"Okay. If you fucking say so." I said, not really in the mood to argue, and I was also feeling like if I could see him again, then maybe some of this conversation could help me figure out where to go.

I got back up, feeling like I just needed to get back to my fucking point, since screwing around too much was only going to be making things much worse for everybody else involved.

I saw a picture of her wearing a karate robe, and a black belt. I looked right at Todd, wondering if he even knew about this in the first place. "Did you know that Shari was into karate? Maybe we can ask her mentor about it." I suggested, and I was seeing Todd looking like he had totally forgotten about that.

"Oh that asshole is a total prick. But if you insist that there might be a chance that he knows something, I might as well ask him." Todd said, and then he was sighing, and sounded like he would just go along with this for the time being.

"Asshole or not, Shari probably spent a lot of time with him, and I think that we just need to fucking do this. I am not saying that you have to like him though." I said, and I was shaking my head, not sure what in the world I would even say now. Todd seemed totally distant to the idea.

Feeling like the two of us were having at least the bare resembalance of a plan on where to go from here, I was now finally feeling like I could relax a bit, and I would be able to fucking tell my dad that I was going to be doing things my fucking way.

"After school tomorrow, we head straight over to the black belt hall, and see what that man knows." Todd reminded me, and I nodded, annoyed at the way that he was treating me like I was fucking two years old or something.

"And I will see Steven tonight or tomorrow." I said, and then I was shaking my head. "Maybe we can even fucking do it after we are done talking to the black belt guy." I said, feeling like I needed to just give this plan at least some fucking chance of working. With that, I started to head home, but decided to stop by at one of my friends houses, to see if I could get info from them.

---

Scene 9: Just Business

May 29, 1964, Late Evening

I pulled up at Harold's parking lot, and eventually went to his door. When I waited for a few seconds, Harold opened, and seemed shocked that he saw me here to begin with. "Hey Harold, I just wanted to see how you had been doing lately."

As I said that, Harold looked down, and I saw him looking like he was thinking about that, and wondered it was even fair to be dragging me down this fucking path to begin with. But then he simply shrugged. "Well, since we're graduating on the 8th, dad is having me officially take over as vice president of Wilson Inculperated on the seventh, and get part of the business." Harold said, and I was slowly nodding, since I thought we already knew that was going to be how things went.

"Do you even want to take over though? It always seemed like that was something that you were being forced into as a child. But now it seems like he is not giving you any choice now." I said, and I was shrugging, feeling like I just needed to try and show him some fucking pity on the situation.

"Well, it doesn't matter what I want or not. Dad has made it very clear that it is my duty as his son to follow in his footsteps, and to be honest, I am not in the mood to be arguing with him anymore." Harold said, and then he was shrugging as he said that.

"It always seems like everything in his mind is just business." Harold said, as I realized that there was no way I was actually going to be able to help him out here.

"Well, I am just kind of jealous that you always had a dad that seemed like he was willing to be there and support you and your wishes no matter what. I mean, he never tried to force you into the political field, and I feel like that is really important. To let people make their own choices." Harold finished, and then he changed the subject to make it happier.

"Well, I wanted to tell you about my new girlfriend." When he said that, I looked shocked at this. I was having no idea why he would suddenly talk about somebody he was dating after giving a really serious talk about him and his dad. But I was shrugging, and shook my head, and decided to remain quiet.

"Her name is Jackie. You probably don't know her too well, as she's a grade lower than us." He said, and then I slowly thought of the name, and shook my head, and decided to remain silent, and decided to just let him continue.

"Well, anyways, I have been dating her for about a month now. But you were focused on the whole Riley thing. Which is perfectly fine considering the fact that her death confirmation rattled you up. But I wanted to tell you." Harold said, and I was sighing, feeling like the fact that he was making me the bad guy was making too much sense here.

"Sorry about that. I have been having a lot of people tell me that lately. I feel like a disgusting friend for how much I ruined my time with you guys. I just thought that with Riley being gone, there was never a sign of happiness." I said, and I was feeling like there was no other way to put it.

"Well, I mean, I never blamed you. And to be honest, she wnated us to together a while before I announced it anyways, that way we could just be at peace if we broke up." After he was saying this, I slowly nodded, feeling like something like this did make some fucking sense. Even though I did not have to like it.

"Regardless, I think you need to talk to your dad about maybe just not working in the company anymore. After all, if you tell him now, then he would have eight days to figure something instead." I said, and then he shook his head, feeling there was no way that would eever fucking happen.

"You know how my fucking father is. Once he makes up his mind, he never turns away. That is his fucking motto. He always gets what he wants, and he never cares what he has to do in order to make it happen." Harold said, and then he shrugged. "And besides, after the previous vice president died in that car crash a few months ago, it seemed like he was using that as an excuse to do it."

Harold then got much quieter at this part, as if scared of what his father would say if he knew that this was being said. "To be honest, I always had a feeling that my father had set that whole thing up, to take him out of the picture."

After he said that, I immediately killed my cigarette, and felt like I needed to end this discussion. It was well beyond what I wanted to fucking discuss here, and I was feeling like he needed to just stop this right now.

"Harold, if your dad hears us talking about this, then he might actually fucking do something to both of us. I think we need to stop this right now." I finally felt like there was no way to put it nicely anymore. I then took a deep breath, hoping that maybe I was just over thinking this way too much.

"I am just saying what I theorize. Not that I am saying that it is true. But I guess that maybe I just need to be more careful when I say these things. Because you're right. I have idea if these things are true or not." After Harold said that, I was sighing, since I felt like I just needed to be calm about what he said. After all, he was just simply giving a fucking opinion.

"Yeah, I guess that I need to relax. I just feel like if your dad knows what is going on here, then I might have made quite a few risks with some of the shit that I have said." I said, and I was simply sighing, thinking that I was just probably too focused on the bigger picture to not see that at the end of the day, this man was always involved in shit, and always will be. After all, he was a big businessman, who had been involved with Lazarus. Both of which were a combination for issues.

Harold was getting up, and he put down the drink he had. "I guess that I just always knew it was going to happen, and now that it is happening, I am just a bit upset with the fact that there is nothing that I can do to change it. Maybe I was wrong for ever thinking that things could have gone differently." Harold was saying, and I was hearing that despite the fact that he had wanted to pretend otherwise, that he was rather upset with this whole thing, and it was the outcome he really just did not want at all.

"Does Jackie have any thoughts on the matter?" I asked, and then Harold was shaking his head, seeming to think that he needed to be blunt as possible with his response.

"I love Jackie, but there is no way in hell that she would provide any fucking help to talking about this. She doesn't know the first thing about business to save her fucking life. Always has total idealism. She would just find some fucking excuse for my father, to work in his father, and to be honest, it would just be a fucking waste of time." He said, and then I sighed, feeling like I just wasted my time even saying it.

I felt so fucking bad for him, but I was feeling like I just needed to be honest with him. "Look Harold, I am going to be real with you now. I came here to see what you know about a missing girl. From eighth grade. Woman named Shari." I said, feeling like I just neeed to get right to the point.

"Shari? I literally never even heard of that name before. Honestly, I stopped thinking about the middle school after like tenth grade. That place fucking gave me so many bad memories, and that principal fucking creeps me out beyond fukcing belief." Harold said, and I was seeing the insecurity in his face when he was saying this.

"Yeah, I kind of guess you were going to say that. And I guess the second part of my statement, is more of a request than anything. But when you are vice president, can you please be able to tell me everything you fucking know, and that way I would be able to see what I might be able to learn." I said, hoping that Harold would accept my prompt. Given everything that was going on.

"I mean, I promise that I will fucking try at least. I mean, I doubt it will fucking work at all. But I feel like if I am company president for a while, he will have to start taking red tape away from me, and as a result, I can finally start helping you out more." After Harold said that to me, I smiled, since I was seeing that he was actually willing to even consider this in the first place.

"Trying is all I fucking want Harold. Thanks for that. It makes me feel so much better knowing that I was always able to fucking trust you going forward." After I said that to him, I was seeing Harold looking like he was hardly sure what to even fucking say here. Probably felt like I was trying way too hard to appeal to him here.

"And you are not to tell anybody that the source comes from me. You can tell people what you know and shit. But to tie it to me is going to get me killed." Harold said, and I was slowly nodding, feeling like I just needed to respect his wishes as he said this.

"Fair enough dude. I feel like you got to save your own skin when you do these things." I said, feeling like he was a friend before he was a business partner, and I wanted to honor that more than anything else.

"Sheldon. Stay fucking safe. I don't think anybody wants to find your head in a box." Harold said, and while the comment itself was in poor taste, the meaning was fair, and I nodded.

"You're right." I said, not wanting to make the issue any worse, and I was taking another cigarette out as I was heading to my car, feeling like I just needed to get away from here. After all, Harold had his entire life just tossed.

I was glad at the end of the day that he found a girl he liked, and at the end of the day, that was more than enough for me to feel like I needed to fight for him. He needed happiness, and I needed to help with that.

I drove home, feeling like even though I was of age, until I graduated high school, I was still under my dads care (a agreement that he and I made), and therefore I needed to be home before midnight. Which I made it with the nick of time, 11:53 pm. I went straight to my room, before I even realized he wasn't even home that day. But I didn't want to risk it.

---

Scene 10: Two Patrollers

May 30 1964, Lunch

The next day, when we were out at lunch, Sam and I were talking to each other, regarding the situation with Kevin, and the men wearing the purple jacket. I was feeling like even if I did not fully buy into the bullshit, I just needed to play along. And make him feel like he was being listened to for once. Which was all that I wanted to make him feel.

"So Sheldon, I am glad that you are taking the time to actually see me. I know that you like to pretend that I over think things all the time. But I know what I am fucking doing all the time. And I fully believe something is going to happen to Kevin soon." Sam said, and I was seeing him looking utterly convinced.

"Look, I just need to listen to the evidence that you already have." I said, not really in the mood to try and listen to him make this out to be like some nice reunion. He was giving me a job, and I was going to do the fucking job. No matter what it fucking took.

"Well, yeah. That is the hard thing. I tried to go to my fathers office, and see what I might find there. But when I go inside, it seems to be empty all the fucking time, and it seems like he has taken the effort to make sure that his stuff can't be read." He said, and I was wondering why he was suddenly bringing his dad up here.

"What does your fucking father have to do with this?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to at least see his reasoning. Before I fully comitted to this idea.

"Well, he told me when I mentioned the guy to him, that they used to work together all the time. My father told me that he was one of the first people in this town that made the theory about the monsters." He said, and then I remembered all those talks with Steven, and I remembered my promise to go to Steven as soon as school was done today.

"And did he make theories about different worlds and what not?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to try and get him to focus on that for now. He looked at me, shocked that I was bringing that up suddenly.

"Different worlds? No, not that I fucking know of. Why in the world would my dad be thinking this?" He asked, and then I was shaking my head, feeling like him not even looking at the possibility of this was already making us lose this fucking fight.

"Because Todd was bringing that idea up once. And to be honest, I fucking believe him. I think that either there is a alternate world, or if the monsters are real, then Kenta might be making some in his research lab. Which the mere idea of that fucking scares me." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him here.

"Honestly, I would believe the latter far more. That actually seems like something Kenta would be willing to do. You know, tamper with fate and all that shit. I think you need to look at that option before anything else." He said, and I was shocked to hear him have such a hard stance on the topic. I was finding it beyond strange.

"After all, that would explain why these things only appear in Wayside, and virtually nowhere else ever. And I think it would explain why Kenta wants to hide his stuff so much. because he knows that if people knew his shit, then things would be much worse." He was telling me, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to buy this at all.

As we were talking, two of the men in black pulled up at the school, and started to look around. As we were watching this, I was seeing from the look on his face that Sam just did not have any remote trust in them at all.

"To be honest, I do not trust those assholes at all. I think that they are going to be to to blame if anything happens here." Sam said, and then they were starting to walk to us. As I saw this, I looked right at Sam, wondering what I knew.

I shook my head, wondering why these people were going to waste their time on talking to us. Especially since Sam had been away from me for so long. I wondered if I was seriously ruining his life this much, that I dragged him into something he had no business being a part of.

"Just act natural. Don't let them get in your face about these things." I said, feeling like I would try and make him feel at least somewhat better here. Sam was looking at me, as if finding me giving him advice on this to be fucking rich, and that I just needed to not act like I was superior or anything like that.

"You are the one they are probably targetting anyways. Give me a fucking break." He said, and I slowly nodded. Thinking he had a good enough point. Even though I did not like it at all.

Before long, the guys were standing in front of us. "We were hoping that you would be able to help us with a investgation that we are running right now." He said, and then I was looking right at Sam, and I was for once rather confused on where this was going to go.

"Sir, I am afraid that I am not going to be able to help you out unless you give me more details." I said, feeling like I would play the role naturally. But to be honest, I was finding him to be kind of strange. I took a cigarette out, hoping he would just be on with it.

"Well, as you might know, recently another Wayside student went missing, and we are trying to see what we can learn. Any amount of help would be great." He said, and there was a level of utter comtempt as he was saying this. As if feeling like the fact that he even had to go down this route at all just upset him.

"Well, go to the fucking middle school then. That is where she was at the time she went missing." I said, not even caring if he was going to be pestering me for more questions. I was already not in the mood to deal with him now.

"Do you know who she was?" He asked, and I shrugged, thinking that this wasn't exactly true. But I was feeling like he was going to be at the palm of my hands, and that was enough to make me feel like I was on top of the game.

"Her name was Shari. I had some friends who went to school with her. She has been missing for a couple of days, and there isn't really anything at her house. My friend and I already went and fucking checked." I said, feeling like if I could just shut them down, then I was going to be the one that would come out at top of this all.

"Do you know which one of her friends that I could talk to?" He asked, and I was feeling like this was the part where I was going to be covering for Todd. After all, he was close with me, and I needed to make sure that I did not burn my bridges with him right now.

"Stephen. Shorter guy. From his pictures, it seemed like he wears green a lot. But that is all that I know about him. Sorry that I wasn't able to help you out more." I said, feeling like if I could buy Sam some time away from this, then that was going to be good enough for me.

"Thanks for the discussion. But are you one hundred percent sure that you don't know more?" He asked, and I was looking right at him, wondering why he was even trying to ask me this in the first place.

"No, I don't. I wished I did though. But my father hasn't been able to talk with me lately. All his job and shit." I said, and I was hoping this would remind them to stay away from pissing me off. As my father being mayor was going to be something they needed to respect.

"Well, that makes sense. When we tried to talk to your father, he did mention that he wasn't too sure if you were going to be able to give us any hints at all." He said, and I was slowly nodding. Feeling like this made some sense here.

"And to be honest, even if I did, I don't think that I would be very comfortable sharing those things with you guys." I said, feeling like I would just throw some shade in there, to get him to get off my back.

"I wonder what your father would believe if he heard you openly admit to something like this?" He asked me, and I was shaking my head, not sure what in the world he was even trying to accomplish here. It seemed like he was trying to scare me into giving him something.

"Look, I am just trying to have a good time with one of my friends. I really do not need you to be getting in my business here." I said, and I was standing up, hoping that I would get him off my fucking back. As I said this to him, Sam decided to get in there, and try to give me some leverage. Which I was so happy for, knowing that he wasn't going to let me be screwed.

"We were supposed to be heading to class soon anyways. I need to head home, and help my younger brother Kevin out." He said, and then as he said this, that was when one of the men in black stopped Sam to ask him another question.

"Kevin? Does he know anything about what happened with Shari?" He asked, and I was seeing Sam instantly freeze, and I was feeling like this freezing was a better indicator that the answer was yes than anything else. I was silently berating him for doing this.

"Well, they did go to the same class together, so they probbaly interatced." He said, and I was seeing him looking like he was pissed that he had just admitted this out loud. I was wondering what would happen as a result of this confession.

"Thanks for your guys co-operation." They said, and I was seeing that they were both looking like this was a perfect answer, and combination. They started to walk off, and I was seeing Sam looking like he wanted to fucking scream as he did this.

"God damn it. Why did I fucking say that? I made a really fucking bad mistake." He said, and then I was shaking my head, feeling like he needed to give himself credit here. It wasn't his fault this happened after all.

"Don't worry about it dude. Things fucking happen. Just don't get too upset with how things are. People make stupid mistakes all the fucking time." I said, and then I was feeling like telling him this would give him something to feel better.

We headed to class, where I was feeling like I needed to go through with talking to Steven. If he knew anything at all, then I needed to take it, and I needed to let him know that I was appreciating his input no matter how trivial it might have seemed. All information counted.

---

Scene 11: The Monster Hunter

May 30, 1964, After School

After school that day, per the promise that I made, I decided to head right towards Steven's house. Hoping that he would still be there. Or if he wasn't, then the person there would be willing to tell me what was going on here.

I knocked on his door, and after a bit of waiting, and me already starting the next cigarette, he answered the door, and looked shocked to even be seeing me here. As I had just suddenly come from thin air.

But what shocked me even more was what he was doing. He had a police uniform on. And the idea of him being a officer just shook me to my core. I never thought he would be doing that at all. And it was feeling so fucking wrong now.

"Hey Steven. I don't know if you remember me. But I am Sheldon Lee. My older sister used to be friends with you years ago." I said, hoping he would take what I was saying into a level of consideration.

"Oh yeah. Riley. I remember her. But why are you here right now?" He said, sounding extremely on edge. As if he was expecting this to be some fucking evil plan or some shit like this. I was shaking my head, feeling like I would just be honest with him here.

"Well, first, I have to know why you became a fucking police officer." I said, feeling like I just needed to press him here. As I said this, I saw him looking like he was just simply scared of what I would say.

"Well, I became one because I hoped that if I got into the system, and saw what was going on there, I might be able to make a difference. But I have been presented with such a large amount of red tape that my plan basically is a complete failure." He admitted, and I wondered what else I would tell him.

"But if you want to know, then yes, I have been doing this all for them. I thought that I would be the one who could be able to solve the mystery. But that ended up being a game of delusions." He said, and I kind of felt bad for the way he said this.

"Don't fucking blame yourself dude. To be honest, if it weren't for my dads job, and what he has been doing, then I would probably have done the same thing." I said, and he looked right at me, and then he seemed to remember.

"Oh shit, yeah, you're right. He became mayor, didn't he? Oh yeah, I remember hearing about that. It blew my mind that he was willing to try something like that at all." After he said that to me, I was slowly nodding. I mean, I did sort of see why that might be shocking to the casual person.

"Look, I am not asking you to trust those assholes that work with my dad. But he has been doing so much to help me out, that I think you need to trust him." I said, and then I decided to get right back to my point.

"That is a tall order. But I guess that this makes sense. You and your dad were always tight together." He said, and I was looking down, hating the fact that he was just trying to make it about family loyalty.

"There is more to it than that. He has been working his ass off since he became mayor." I said, and then as Steven was walking by, I was feeling like I needed to get him to talk for a bit, and get him to fucking open up here.

"Have you found anything related to Christen? You know that I saw that fucking scarf." I said, feeling like I would remind him of what he saw. He looked right at me, and I was seeing him shocked that I even remembered that at all.

"Shocked that you still remember that to this fucking day. You seemed like you were totally fucking out of it." He said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like I needed to get him to shut up about that.

"I remember it because it was one of the worst days of my life. Riley fucking went missing that day, and it seems like nobody fucking remembers that detail." I said, feeling like I just needed to bring that part up to him. He sighed, and slowly nodded at that.

"To be honest, I almost forgot about that being the same day. Well, I want to let you know since you are here now that I did try and talk to your fucking dad. But he just brushed me off, and told me that I needed to stop chasing fairy tales. He has made it very clear to me that he does not buy a single thing that I could tell him." Steven said, and I was shaking my head at this statement.

"What about when Riley offered to show that picture to him? Wouldn't he have said something about that? It was massive." I said, feeling like I needed to call him out on this. It was feeling like a big fucking lie. And I needed him to stop this.

"He said that he would look into it, and then never expanded on that ever. To be honest, I feel like he never really looked at that, and was just telling her this to shut her the fucking hell up." He said, and I could hear from the tone of his voice that he was disgusted with what he said.

"I can try and fucking ask him what he knows." I said, feeling like I needed to at least offer the idea to him. As I said this, he was shaking his head, finding my interest in the subject to be a bit hard to really get excited for.

"I haven't gotten anything." He said, and he was sounding like he was tired of this discussion. And I was not wanting to let it go out like this. When he was a massive fucking player here.

"What about the current case? Has anything shown up there?" I asked, pressing him as much as I felt like I could, given what I knew. As I said this, he looked at me, and he looked like he was just trying to simply figure out what my main motive.

"That Shari girl? No, nothing at all. And I think that it is going to remain that way. Things have been rather hard to come by here. Sorry about this. But I think that you just need to accept the fact that you probably lost." He said, and I wanted to find something to say. To make him more open here.

"Has her mother at least tried to connect with you guys?" I asked, hoping that I could be able to get him to talk here. As I said this, he shook his head. I was feeling like this was the worst case then. If she had not been talking to him, then that means that she was probably not even going to care anymore.

"That is the last thing that I wanted to fucking hear. She seemed really broken by this. So I thought maybe that would have given her some motivation." I said, and he shook his head as I said this.

"It never fucking works that way dude. I think that you are buying into the delusions if you think for a second that she is as remorseful as she says. She is just doing that to get people off her fucking back." He said, and I was unable to believe what he had just said.

"You weren't fucking there when I was talking to her. I mean, I could see from the look on her face that there was a level of sadness. Like she could not believe that this was even fucking happening. And I promised her that I would do whatever I could to get her back home." I was telling Steven. But then Steven shook his head as he heard this. Thinking back to simple times.

"Never make that promise to people. If you do, then they are going to expect you to hold to them. And then when you can't, they are going to treat you like you're fucking Hitler. And then your reputation is gone." He said, and I was shaking my head. I felt like he was fucking wrong. And there was no way around it.

"And when you make a promise, and it fails, it is going to remain with you the rest of your life. You will never get over it. You will never be able to undo the pain, and the truma you are dealing with." He said, and shook his head. He then took a cigarette out. "Saying that you want to try is better than a outright promise is that sense." He said, finally finishing his point.

"But a promise might give them hope." I said to him, and I was hoping that maybe this would make him budge in his beliefs. But as I was looking right at him, and I was seeing that his expression had not changed, I was seeing that I was wrong with my assumptions. I wondered what I had done wrong.

"Look, I appreciate the fact that you are trying to make me feel better. But this is not going to work as well as you believe. I have seen some disgusting shit here. I was one of the people who was at the site when Riley's head was found." He admitted, and I dropped my jaw. I wasn't believing what the hell he said. I shook my head, hoping that he was ot serious at all.

"And you never went to tell me that you saw that?" I asked, and I was feeling like I just needed to get him to admit the fact that this was messed up. I wanted to trust this guy, and he was simply not giving me the material to work with to do so.

"Because when I tried to, you were already having a clearly hard time. It was visible to any person that you did not want anything to do with this. So I decided to respect your space, and your wishes, and I decided to let you go." He said, and I was seeing from the look on his face that he meant every word of what he said.

"But honesty is the hardest thing in the fucking world to get. And I need that to keep me going." I said, hoping that by telling him this, he would at least think about what I said.

"That is not how Wayside works. Let me be real with you. It fucking kills me to tell you this. But Wayside values honesty less than it values reputation." Steven said, and I was considering what he had just said. And I was feeling like he might have been right. At least from a certain point of view.

"I need to get to work. Try and just focus on graduation. If your dad saw you here, then he would be furious with this. He would never forgive me for tainting your mind, or whatever garbage would want to give." He was telling me, and with that, he was leaving me alone. I shook my head, feeling like what he was saying was beyond strange.

As Steven was gone, I was thinking of what he had just told me. Of promises sticking with me the rest of my life. It was a bit strange that this was the lecture he was giving me of all things. It was just showing me that despite everything that has happened, and the fact we never connected anymore, he was willing to work with me.

---

Scene 12: Insanity's Idea

May 30, 1964, Evening

When I was with Todd that night, feeling the need to explain to him what had been going on lately, I saw that Todd was already looking like he was planning on something big. And to be honest, that look on his face kind of scared me. "So you were telling me that your friend became a police officer, and that he didn't have enough information to give you?" He asked, and I slowly nodded.

"Not sure if I fucking believe in him though. After all, he is a police officer. Which just screams lying in Wayside. But I think that he might be the exception." I said, and I was willing to be proven wrong. But for now, there was no reason for me to think that I was.

"There is only way way we can find out if he is or not." He said, and I looked right at him, wondering what te hell he was meaning. I took a cigarette out, hoping that the idea wasn't going to be fucking bullshit.

"I want us to go to his house, and see if we can find something there." He said, and I was slowly taking a deep breath. I was hoping that this was a fucking joke.

"No way is that going to work. My dad is willing to defend me on a lot of shit. But there is a fucking line that he would draw. And this is fucking it." I said, feeling like I needed to put my foot down for once in my life.

"Well, we will never know unless we take the fucking risk. And that is something that I think we both need to do." He said, and I could see from the look on his face that he was looking like he was no longer hiding the fact that he felt this way to me anymore.

"Sheldon, don't you want to know if he is lying about Riley? I think we both know that the whole story is fucking bullshit." He said, and I looked right at him, thinking that he was just fucking insane for even trying to do this in the first place.

"I do want to know. And I guess that there is a very high chance that I would never find out by just playing along normally. So I guess that I might as well be willing to try and see what I could find." I said, shaking my head. Feeling like I needed Todd to admit responsibility if this went down hill.

"But if we can't find a open window or some other way in, then we just drop it. And we try and ask him some other time. Fair enough?" I asked, hoping that me at least trying to relatively compromise was willing to get him to feel better about this. He slowly nodded, and I took a deep breath. Glad that he was willing to listen.

I went to my car, and Todd was as well. I was thinking that whatever we were going to find here, it was going to probably be something that I would regret ever getting involved in. After all, if Todd sincerely believed that he was lying, and it was true, then it would break my fucking heart to know what he was hiding.

Eventually, we were at his house, and it was entirely dark. Which meant either he wasn't inside, or he was asleep. Todd and I got out of the car, and then we went to the front door, and we slowly opened it. I was looking at Todd, and i shook my head. Unable to believe that this was even going to be working out in the first place. But with that, I went right inside. Hoping that this would actually net us something for my own sake.

Once we were looking around, I was telling myself that I really fucking hoped that my father would not hate me forever if I actually went through with this idea.

There was a office, and we went inside. I sat down, and Todd was keeping guard, which was fine. Because I wanted to take the blame for this if it failed, even though it literally was Todd's fault. As I was looking, I was seeing a few folders that I never looked at before.

"Shari Scott." I said, and then as soon as I said that name, I was seeing Todd instantly stop what he was doing, and look over to me. Wondering what the hell I was doing.

"Is he working on her fucking case, and lied to you?" He asked, and as I was looking at the files, I was starting to see that maybe he was right this whole time. But I shook my head, feeling like I just needed to be careful.

"Maybe he just got the fucking folder. Give him a fucking chance." I said, and then I was looking through the paper for a bit. Wondering if there was anything I could find.

"Mile Marker was found near the town well. Along with a part of her purple hoodie." I read, and then I closed my eyes. I wondered why Steven wanted to lie to me about this of all things. And it made me wonder if Todd had known the whole time.

"What do you think about those mile markers anyways?" After Todd asked me this, I simply shrugged, not sure what in the world I was even going to say now.

"I don't know. They're not as helpful as I thought that they would have been. Any time I look into it, it seems like there is no real clear answer on why it was there. Maybe their favorite spot." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest about the fatc that this was a waste of my fucking time.

"Not surprised. It seems like most of the things in this town don't really fucking add up, no matter how fucking hard we look." Todd said, and then I continued looking. Hoping to see if I could find one related to my sister.

Eventually, I did find on with her name. I was shaking my head, as I grabbed it, and then I put it on the table. I knew that I was certainly going to regret this soon enough. But I was hardly caring at all.

"Riley Lee. Found deceased in March 1964." The start of the file read, and that wasn't really bothering me too much. I was used to that part. Especially since she had been dead for several months now.

"Her mile marker had been found near the top of the mountain, closer to the broadcast station than the start of the forest. Part of it contained pieces of a project she worked on with her friend, and the prior missing person, Christen." After he said that in his notes, I was shocked that it took that long to find it. Especially since I wasn't even the one who fucking did.

"He knew where her fucking mile marker was, and he didn't fucking tell me what he found? Why in the world would he lie about something like this?" I asked, and I wanted to talk to Steven again, and see what he fucking knew. I was seeing Todd looking kind of scared of the look on my face.

I then looked at the file once again. "The grinding noise went off again a couple of days before Riley's body had been found. Which leads me to believe that they threw the rest of her body in there, to hide everything, but kept the head as a message." The note said, and I balled my fist as he was going down this path. I knew that it was right. But that didn't mean that I had to fucking like it at all.

"According to various notes, one of the pieces of information regarding Riley was found soon after she went missing. Mayor at the time Jimmy White, had a note discussing a business transaction, and it was made like a week after her disapperance." The note said, and I wondered what Jimmy White would have wanted with my fucking sister.

I was wondering if Jimmy White had sold my fucking sister. Especially after the promises that he made that he would try and fucking help my father bring her home. After he promised me that he would be watching my career with great interest. He was fucking lying to me.

"And then there was a follow up to that, which was roughly eight and a half months after the first part with Jimmy White. Something about one of the other families in town getting a large sum of thousands of dollars. I don't want to make my theory right now, but I am starting to have something in my mind." After the note said this, I stood up, not sure what else I was even going to be saying to this at all.

I just simply looked at Todd, trying to find something to say. To make me feel any different at all. "I can't deal with this at all." I said, not sure what in the world I was even wanting to say.

"Do you think that maybe Steven had something to fucking do with it?" He asked, and I was shaking my head, feeling like something like this was not exactly true. But lying was not worth it at all.

"No. But that doesn't change the fact that he lied." I said, not sure what else I could fucking say. I hated the lie, and I thought Steven knew better.

When we were done looking around, Todd and I left the house, closed the door, and then we went straight to the Wilson park, and then with that, I was finally able to start to break down.

"Why are the police not doing anything about this? I thought that people would take their job seriously, when my father was the fucking mayor of Wayside, and he is watching over everybody in the first place." I said, barely keeping my calm demeanor at all. It just hurt me, knowing that Todd might have been right.

"I was trying to fucking warn you that these things would happen. There is only so much that youc an trust people, before they will start to turn on you. I feel like my principal is the same way, despite liking him." Todd said, and I looked right at him, wondering how he could feel this way.

"I want to talk to my dad about this soon. Maybe he might know why people are fucking lying all the time." I said, hoping that I could try and keep my calm. After all, dad was not a officer, and I was having a feeling he might know what was going on here.

"I think you need to realize that you dad might be on this as well. And I think it might be a really bad idea to constantly trust the guy." He said, and I looked right at him, thinking he was a asshole for saying this.

"I really fucking hope he's not. If he is, then I don't want to even fucking think about what will happen." I said, hoping that Todd was fucking wrong here. I wanted to have some innocence. Believing that my father was still going to be trying to bring justice to what happened to my sister.

I was taking a cigarette out, and started to smoke it. As much as I hated to admit it, I was starting to think that maybe what he said was having a fucking point. And I was thinking that maybe I was wrong to just brush him off.

---

Scene 13: Petresa

May 31, 1964, Morning

When I was at school the next day, before classes began, I was sitting down with Sam, feeling like we just needed to talk. After all, he and I had a lot of stuff that we just needed to really get off our chest. Especially if we were both going to actually really get along during this investigation. As we were looking right at each other, I just felt like I needed to break the mold for a bit.

"Sam, I think we just need to try and just get some things across. I want to make it clear that I have the full intention of making sure that the kid makes it." I said, referring to Todd. I did not want Todd to fall down the same shit path that I did, and i was wanting him to see that I was a guy who had made some really big fucking mistakes in my time.

"I agree. I would not want anything to happen to him either. But I also want to know what you are going to do with him." Sam said, and I looked at him, wondering what angle he was playing at here. Because in all honesty, I was kind of worried what his plans woukd be.

"We were talking with that one friend Riley used to have. You fucking know, Steven. He has become a police officer in the years since Riley went missing." As I said that to him, I saw Sam looking shocked at this revelation. As if he expected that even less than I did.

"Yeah, I know right? Especially with all the shit he used to say earlier. I assumed he wanted away from that forever. And the worst part is that he still doesn't fucking tell me what he is doing." I said, and I was pissed off at this. Knowing that his lack of communication was going to be hurting everybody else.

"And he was telling me that there was nothing he found. That he was barred off because of a bunch of red tape. One of those bullshit excuses I hear all the god damn time." I said, barely holding my furstration back, because it was exactly the shit that my father would fucking say.

"Are you thinking of reaching out to him again?" He asked me, and I was shaking my head. I honestly felt like there was no reason to do this at all. After all, with the files that Todd and I read, I knew he wouldn't help me out. But Sam did not know about that, for better or for worse.

As we were talking, that was when one of our classmates, a woman named Petresa approached, and I was sighing. I was not wanting to talk to her, since she had always been a fucking bitch to me when we knew each other in school. And it was hard to deal with. But I felt like I needed to hear her out, to at least pretend to be cordial.

"Hey Sheldon, I was wanting to see if I could be able to get a favor from you." She said, and I was looking at her. Furious at the fact that she was asking me this suddenly. But I knew that given everything going on, she probably felt like she really needed to, and had no fucking choice.

"What for?" I asked, cautiously fair to her, and feeling like I just needed to not be a total fucking ass this whole time. As I said this, I was looking right at Sam, and I was wondering what he was going to say. He just simply seemed shocked to see her come along to begin with

"To be honest, I have a feeling that something is going on with Don Prima." She said, and I looked at her, shocked beyond belief that this was the thing she was asking for help on. A man that I barely ever talked to once in my entire fucking life. But I decided that I would just keep it to myself.

"What do you think he needs help on?" I asked, feeling like if I could see why this was on her mind, then I might be able to sort of see if I could actually get her to admit the bigger game here. As I said this, I was seeing her looking like she couldn't believe that I was pushing like this.

"Don Prima? I mean, I barely even talk with the gut at all. I mean, the last time we got into any conversation was when prom happened last year, and he was worried that I would try and take the king from him. Which was never happened, since I was never going anyways." I said, shrugging, feeling like I just needed to drop this subject for now. I was hoping that by kind of explaining it this way, she would be see this was insane.

"Look, I know that you never really talked with him, and that we never got along. You know, with the stuff about me calling you a man slut and everything that one time. But this is something that is fucking serious to me." She said, and then I was taking a cigarette out, feeling I just needed to understand.

"Why the fuck is it important anyways?" I asked, hoping that I would get that piece of information. As I asked this, I saw her looking like she was glad that I was finally indulging her. Sam looked like he was just totally out of this, which I did not fucking blame him for at all.

"Because I fell in love with the guy, and I am scared that he might be part of that conspiracy you guys always talk about. And I want to make sure that he doesn't do anything he ends up regretting." After she said that to me, I was shocked at what she had just fucking told me.

Sam suddenly got interested there, and I was seeing him looking like he was hoping that she would go very slowly with everything now. "Hold on, you think he is actually working with these people? So you do admit that something is happening in Wayside?" Sam asked, and then with that, she slowly nodded.

"I felt like such a fucking idiot for not buying the shit you guys were saying. I was just thinking you guys were over thinking it, and that there was something to explain this. But Don has been acting way differently lately. And Sheldon, I want you to help him before he goes too far down." Petresa said, and I was slowly nodding. I looked at Sam, and I was shocked at this whole discussion to begin with.

"I guess that maybe I was also just in denial. I was feeling like there was no way that shit would ever prove to be true. But I guess that was just me trying to find a way out of the truth. Guys. I trust you enough to think you will try and fix this issue." She said to me, and I was slowly nodding at this.

"Okay. If this is something you are covinced in, then I will try and see if I could talk with him. Maybe convince him that since graduation is near, there is no need to hold onto popularity, and we can just start being normal friends." I said, hoping to make this work out.

"Thank you. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you willing to do this. I was scared you were never wanting to do this." She said, and I was shrugging. Not sure what else I would fucking tell her. She and I had issues. But she was needing help, and I was feeling like I just needed to grow up, and let her fucking have it.

"And Sheldon, please don't judge him. He has been through a lot in his life. There are things that I think need to be understood." She said, and I was confused at this. But then I decided it was her trying to protect the man she liked, and I was feeling like I needed to respect her wishes. Or at least fucking try to.

"What made you believe this anyways?" Sam asked, feeling like he would at least try and get a guage on his behaviors. I felt like that was a fair starting point, and I was looking right at her. She sighed, finding this inquiry to be a good starting point.

"Well, beyond the fact that he has been incredibly distant, I was seeing him talking with one of those men in black. And when I finally confronted him about it, he said he would meet up with them every second weekend for something related to a job. So he fucking admitted it." Petresa said, and I slowly nodded. Accepting the explanation for the time being.

"Oh fuck. What the hell would he even want with those assholes anyways? I wonder if they just gave him a really good offer he can't refuse." Sam said, and i was hearing the fear in his voice. As if he was just now really letting everything settle in on how dangerous this can be.

"Look, Don and I never really have the time, or choice, to get along. But this is something important. And I hope that by talking to him, I could get him to maybe open up a bit, and see that this could go down a very bad hole." As I told her this, I was feeling like she needed to be happy at the choice that I was making. The look on her face showed that she was.

"Can you try and talk to him after school, or at least in the next couple days before graudation?" After she asked me this, I was shaking my head. I felt like that was too soon of a notice. After all, I was dealing with working with Todd, and I felt like if I tried to speak to him then, eveyrthing would be screwed over.

"Maybe during lunch. But that is the only time I can before school gets back on Monday." I said, thinking that if she would accept that, then I would have to be happy enough. As I looked at her, hoping she would accept that, she took a long and deep breath. As if feeling like there was no point in arguing.

"Okay. If you say so. I hope that you can get him to talk. I do not want him to do something that I know he will regret." She said, and I was slowly nodding. Fully agreeing with her sentiment. And as much as I hated to admit it, I knew this was going to be my perfect way in to making this work.

"Tell me everything you find. This is relaly important to me." She said, and as she was looking intently at me, I was feeling like I needed to just not go that far. But I felt like she was not going to take no for an answer, and that was something that I would just have to fucking accept.

"Okay. I will tell you as much as I feel like I can." I said, and then we shook our hands on it. As I was heading off to my first class, Sam looked at me, and I was seeing him looking like he could not believe that I actually agreed to be helping her out. "There was no other way. Hopefully she will get out of this positively."

Sam slowly nodded, and I was hoping that my plan would work. No, I would make it have to work. This was something I had to do for my own self. And it was at least a stepping stone I could be able to work with if I really needed it.

---

Scene 14: Don Prima

May 31, 1964, Lunch

At lunch that day, Sam and I were heading towards Don's lunch table, and I was glad to see that Petresa was willing to still give us the go ahead to do this. I sat down, and I was looking at Don, feeling like I just needed to be careful with everything that I would tell him. After all, I had no idea what was really on his mind at all.

"Hey Don, I just wanted to talk to you for a bit." I said, and then he looked right at me, and I was seeing him looking rather shocked to even be seeing me here in the first place. Probably thinking that I was planning on doing something. "I just figured that since school was almost over, and we're grauating in eight days, that it might be time to just bury the hatchet."

As he was looking at me, I was seeing him kind of shocked to see that I was coming to him about this. And I was seeing him looking like he was considering what I said. As if feeling like maybe I was already on the right track given everything. "Yeah, you're right. It has been several years since we started going to school together. You're probably right. Let's do it." He said, and I was shocked that it was that easy. I looked at Sam, and I was trying to decide what to say here.

"But that does not automatically mean that we need to start pretending to be best friends. I just think hating each other is beyond it's shelf life." As he said that, this was the comment that I was expecting the whole time. And I was almost kind of glad that he was being transparent like this again. Made me feel like there was at least a sense of honesty between the two of us.

"That is fine. But I was hoping that you would be able to help me out a bit though." I said, feeling like I really needed to ham up the character. As I said this, he looked right at me, and I could see that he was not buying a word of what I was telling him. "I need some help on finding a job and everything. And my father is too busy handling his own shit for me to try and rely on him. So I think I will be needing your help." I said, hoping that the further I sale this, the more he would buy it.

"How do you know what I am doing?" He asked, and I was hearing a mild amount of fear in his voice. As he said this, I was smiling. I knew right then and there that Petresa was not lying. And that was enough to make me feel like I would make this work. I looked at Petresa, and I figured that I would keep her out of this, for her own sake. After all, I did not want to ruin trust.

"I just seen some things while coming home. People coming by your house. I just assumed that there was something you were doing, and what not." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and pretend like this was something that I was planning on this whole time. I was looking at Petresa, and I was hoping she would fucking come along and help me.

"Well, the most that I can do is just tell them to come by your place, and talk to you. But since your father is already the main man behind everything, I think we both know that there is no reason for you do that." He said, and I was furious at the fact that he was telling me this in the first place.

"Look Don, just tell him. Maybe let him meet the guys you work with once or twice." Petresa said, and I was feeling glad at the fact that she was willing to give me some fucking coverage. Made me feel like I was not totally in this alone. As she said this, Don looked at her, shocked that she was the one telling him this of all people.

"What do you fucking know Petresa? You have no idea how hard it is to deal with these things all the fucking time." He said, sounding upset at the fact that she was telling him this. But then he sighed. "Look, since Petresa asked me to, I guess that I would be willing to give you something." He said, and then with that, he was taking a notebook out. Which had a bunch of notes on them. All discussing due and delivery dates, and I was seeing that one part of it was a list of his schedule going through the rest of the year.

The next of which was the 7th of June, which was the day before graduation, and one week from now. I was feeling like I needed to try and really become friends with him in the next seven days. As a way to see what I could get from there.

He wrote down the name of the people that I should see, and the address that they worked out, then he handed it to me. "Please don't ask me about this ever again. This is serious shit, and I do not want anybody in my way." Don said, and then he was looking right at Petresa, and I was seeing that he was trying his best to hide the fact that he was pissed at the fact that she was trying to do this in the first place.

"Look, I know you have been doing great so far in school, and your dad is like the main man and everything. But don't fuck my job up. And if they do take you in, please just fucking be careful. This is not something to be screwing around with, and this is not a fucking joke." He said, and I slowly nodded. Almost forgetting the role that I was supposed to play for a few seconds with the intensity of how he said that.

"Thanks Don. I really needed the help. Especially since as you said yourself, I was so busy in high school with grades, that I forgot to put in applications for jobs, and that really fucking screwed me over." I said, feeling like I would play the character as well as I could. As I said this to him, he smiled, and I was seeing that he looked like he was almost glad to see that I was giving off any bullshit at all.

"If you fucking say so. But I have a feeling this is going to be a massive issue if you are not careful enough." He said, and I was shrugging. That was a risk that I was willing to fucking take, and I knew that at the end, it was going to fucking pay off at the end. I was just glad to see that he was willing to look at reason at the end of the day.

"And if it is, I will apologize to you personally, and I will make sure that I will make up for things at the end." I said, feeling like I would just try and soften the blow for him, and make him feel that no matter what was going to happen, I was not going to simply make him feel like he was being taken advantage of at all. He deserved better than that, and I would give that to him.

He was then standing up, and took a cigarette out, as if feeling like he just needed to try and see where I was even coming from anyways. "So Sheldon, do you think your friend there will need the help?" He asked, and I was shaking my head, knowing that Sam would not take that offer. I knew he would never involve himslef i something like this regardless of how much it would have helped him out or anything.

"No. I wouldn't want to get involved in that at all. You guys can keep doing your own thing. I am just trying to make sure that Sheldon is keep himself safe." After Sam said that to me, I looked right at him, wondering what angle he was going to be playing at. Then I shook my head, not in the mood to argue with him.

"If you fucking say so. It is a good gig, and I think that you would be smart to take it up." After Don said that to Sam, I was seeing Sam looking like he was just trying to hide his discomfort at what he was hearing. "And besides, my bosses would never believe me if I was telling you that you wanted to get involved in this. They would probably think that I was just trying to pull their leg or some fucking shit like that."

"I would not even fucking blame them if they felt that way." After Sam said that, he was sounding like the joke was already running out, and he was wondering how much longer Don would keep up the whole act of acting like everything was all fine and dandy.

"I have no idea. But I do trust you enough to call me out when I feel like I am getting too deep into something. After all, you have already done that several times with me over the years." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and make him feel like i was not forcing him into anything taht he would regret, or whatever. As I said this, I saw Sam just looking like he wasn't buying it at all.

"I guess that I am just worried that he is going to say something, and then choose to not follow through. You know how Don has been over the years, and I doubt you can deny that is possible." He said, and I was shaking my head. I had no idea what I was supposed to even be telling him at this point.

"Yeah, I suppose that I do see what you're saying. But I don't fucking know. I wish that I could trust him as much as you do. I guess that these choices are the issues that come with being an adult." He said, and I was feeling like adulthood was a very complicated context to go with.

"Sheldon, do you feel like your father would be upset if he knew that you were doing this?" Sam asked, and I was shrugging. Not caring at all anymore what my dad thought/ If he didn't like it, that was his fault, and maybe he should been more open with me back then.

"I think he would probably be curious more than anything else. Wondering what the logic behind the choice is. But I doubt that he would actually be super upset with it." I said, and I was feeling like this was something that made sense. After all, with my dad as mayor, he was going to be too busy to do anything.

"Yeah, I guess that makes some sense. Sorry for asking. I just felt like I needed to ask. After all, I know that there have been times your father was super upset with some choices that you made." Sam told me, and I remember those very well. But at the same time, I was also feeling like what was done was done, and that there was no point in digging up the past for no real good reason.

I was smoking a cigarette at the end of this all, looking at Sam, and wondering what he felt. "I have a feeling our life out of high school is going to be fucking hell." Sam asked me, and I was shrugging. I felt like he was probably right. But at the same time, whatever happens, happens, and I would have to deal with the prices later.

---

Scene 15: Five Years Tops

May 31, 1964, After School

Todd and I were sitting down after school, before I needed to get ready for my date, and as I was smoking a cigarette, I was wondering what I was going to want to say. But I just decided to just remain totally real, and not be making things any more complicated between us.

"What is on your mind?" I asked, feeling like I needed to try and be fair to him. He looked at me, as if glad to be hearing me ask him this. He shrugged, and shook his head as I said this. "Is it related to how long this has all been going on?"

"Yeah I mean, this shit has been going on for so long that I think that it might be impossible to do anything about it. Sheldon, I think you need to see reality. It is never going to change. No matter what we might do to try and fix it." As Todd said that, was feeling like I needed to strongly consider what he was saying. Especially if it was bothering him as much as it clearly had.

"Well, if we really stick to it, then I think in five years tops, things will be shown to the world. I think we just need to be patient, an dnot get upset if people are not seeing it right away. Some people really need time to process everything they hear in times like this." I said, and I was feeling like as much as I hated it, I needed to be charitible to the townspeople." I told him, feeling like the more open I could be with him about the reality of this situation, the better he would adapt, and accept things.

"I hope you're right. This is going to really turn out to be the worst case for everybody involved if you are wrong." He was telling me, and I nodded. I mean, I had no reason to believe it would take more than that. And if I was being honest, I was hoping that I would find something that would force dad to own up to the shit I was going to tell him.

"I know that. But I have enough hope in the system, and my fucking father of all people, that I think this will work out." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and make this situation a bit better for him. "Just give him a chance, and maybe go and check him out when you have the chance." I suggested, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was just not sure what to feel.

"I guess if you really feel that way, then maybe I should." He said, sounding mildly annoyed, and I was wondering what the issue was going to be. "I just feel like trusting people could really become a big issue. And I think your father might be somebody you need to be more careful of. As the mayor."

"Please don't try and bring my dad down again. I mean, if he was guilty, then he wouldn't be going against the people that killed Riley. He would have maybe tried to pretend to be sad for a bit, and then he would have already moved on. That is already a sign that he's good." I said, hoping that I would just try and get Todd to tone it down with the hate mongering he had on my dad.

"Well, if it's his daughter, then clearly things are going to be different. He might be a bit hurt that something like this happened. Just don't try and defend him so hard that you end up making the worst mistake of your life." He was saying, sounding like this was clear and obvious. I shook my head. Not sure what I would tell him at all.

"But besides, I wonder what you're planning to do about Steven. I mean, those papers clearly showed that he was aware something was going on. Do you feel like you might try and force him tell you?" As Todd asked me this, I was thinking about how much I really did not want to burn trust with this man, no matter how hard it was going to be. After all, he was one of the people I was still sure was relatively on my side with Riley.

"I think that regardless, I will keep the shit he does away. For his own sake, and mine as well. After all, given everything he had done, I feel like he deserves that much at least." I said, thinking that what I said was going to be fair enough. "But Todd, what are you thinking you are going to do?" I asked, feeling like if I pressed him on the matter, he would finally open up.

"Well, I mean, I think that I might just simply tell my friends the basics for far. Just tell them that you and I have been looking around for a while, and that so far, we have found nothing. Besides, I don't know if I even want them to know anyways. With the exception of maybe Kevin." He said, and I was slowly nodding. I was in full agreement with him here.

"I hope you don't end up telling Kevin too much. If we do, then Sam is already going to be down my throat, and I really don't want him to be a fucking asshole over this." I said, hoping that by telling him this, he would appreciate the fact that at least i was being open about the fact that I was mainly just doing this for me.

"Sheldon, don't you have a date to go on tonight?" He asked me, annoyed that I was trying to tell him what to do. I looked at him, mildly shocked that he even remembered that in the first place. But I slowly nodded, feeling like maybe it was time to just get ready for that right now.

"Yeah. With Emily. I just hope that it goes well." I said, and then I was standing up, and starting to head to my car. But before I got too deep into it, that was when Todd called out to me, and I was looking over at him. Not sure what in the wolrd he was planning on accomplishing here.

"Are you sure that you don't have feelings for Cathy instead?" Todd asked me, and I was shaking my head. There was no reason for me to even remotely believe in something like this in the first place. "I mean, from what I heard from Kevin and everything, it feels like things have been going on forever."

"I don't know, I mean, I have helped her out so much, and I guess that maybe I just like her as a friend. Or almost like a younger sister in a way." I said, and when I mentioned younger sister, I was seeing Todd confused. But that was probably because he did not know about the whole me getting held back a grade thing. Which I almost certainly did not want to become something he knew.

"I just felt like I needed to ask, just in case. Nothing else to it." Todd said, and I decided that I would respect his space, and that I would respect the fact that he was at least trying to make it work out for the best. As I was taking out my cigarette, I was wondering what the plan was going to be.

"I appreciate the fact that you seem to at least be trying to help me out here. I guess that I should be more patient with you." I said, feeling like I would just try and be nicer to him. "But Todd, I think that we just simply need to get to know each other a bit better. How about this? After my date tonight, come to my place, and just tell me everything that has been going on with you this last year."

"I don't know if that is a great idea. But I guess that maybe trying that out wouldn't be so fucking bad." After Todd was saying this, I nodded. Thinking that this was exactly what I wanted to hear. "But I feel like I need to know a bit more about you in return. Like why you are doing this. You know, beyond the whole Riley thing."

"To be honest, that is where it almost all comes down to. I mean, if I can't change the fact that she's dead, I can change the narrative that the person who did it never got caught." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him here. As I said this, I could see that the look on his face was rather conflicted, and could not make his mind up at all.

"Just be sure that when you look into this, and you try and make things work, you do not fucking shoot for something that you literally can't do anything about. Just look at the things you actually can fucking change. And people might be able to respect that much more." I told Todd, feeling like I just needed to tell him this. That way he never followed my path.

"Like I remember still thinking that Christen might be alive. Even after the time when I found her fucking scarf floating down the mountain. I thought that this was a sign she was alive, and I just needed to double my search. But with dad, and the fact that Riley went missing that day, he literally never let me have the chance to do this." I said, mildly annoyed, and feeling like this was all his fucking fault for doing things this way.

"And let me guess, nothing about her has ever shown up since?" Todd asked, feeling like he would pretend to play along, and pretend to be surprised. As I looked at him, I shook my head at the fact that he was talking about this so carelessly. But then I slowly nodded, feeling like I would just be totally honest.

"Yeah, you got that right. And I was pissed at that when I was younger. Now, if something shows up related to a case at all, then I am fucking happy. Because at least that is showing that there might be a small dent that I might be able to break through." I said, feeling like I would explain my perspective as well as I fucking could.

"I guess that is one thing that comes out of still having innocence in you." Todd said, and I was laughing at this. He did not truly understand what it was like to lose innocence yet. But he will. And when he did, I would feel so fucking sorry for him. But I choose to keep that to myself. I was then opening up the drivers seat.

"Well, see you tonight. And you better not fucking flake out. I want to hear everything you say." I said, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was pissed that I was trying so hard to force this on him. As I was watching him nod, I was happy to know that he was not going to be making any excuses as to why he wouldn't. After all, if Todd was going to do this, I needed to give him advice on how he should do this, for his own sake and safety.

I went to my car, hating the fact that I knew Todd was right. After all, he was having a much better read on me than most of the people that I know. And I was feeling like Todd just needed to stop trying to throw my fucking father under the bus. He had been trying so hard to make this work.

---

Scene 16: Prepartion

May 31, 1964, After The Date

After my date with Emily was over (which I will describe in the next one), I decided to go through with my meet up with Todd. I felt like this was the best choice of action. Especially given everything that was going on. I picked him up at his house, and drove him to my place, where I was just pleading with god that this was actually going to be going the way that I was expecting.

As we were heading to my place, I saw Todd looking like there was something else on his mind. "Okay, Sheldon, be honest... Do you really want to listen to me talk about this stuff in the first place? I have no desire to force you into something you don't have any interest in." He said, and I took a deep breath, feeling like if he kept asking this, the less interested I would be in doing this.

"Look, the way you constantly are acting like something is about to go down or whatever, makes me worried that doing this is a bad idea. So just tell me what is really going on in your mind." I said, hoping that I did not sound too harsh. But then Todd seemed a bit taken back by the way that I had worded my point. Then he just simply looked down.

"Well, I am not sure about bad idea as much as I am not really sure this is something that should be worth discussing. I mean, let's not forget I did kind of force you into doing some things that I am well sure you wanted nothing to do with." Todd said, and I was slowly nodding, feeling like he did kind of have a point as he was saying this. But I was choosing to not say anything at all.

"Well, what's done is done. I am not going to hold you down for this. And besides, I feel like maybe there are some pieces of the puzzle that are missing right now." I said, feeling like I needed to try and be more gentle with him. So with this, I decided to try and take things one step at a time, and not press him too hard or anything.

"I think another thing that makes me unsure if I should tell you this all is because a lot of the story is super hard to fully believe. And I say that as a man who has to go through this all. It is fucking ridiculous to even imagine half the shit I was saying is I had not been involved with it at all." Todd said, and I wondered what he was really meaning here.

"Why are you so insistent on that?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to try and see if I could get him to open up now. After all, even the stuff about monsters wasn't so ridiculous. Given everything that I had seen so far, that would be the least of my worries.

"Well, because I feel like this school is just full of crazy fucking people. Like literally crazy. I have no better way to say it right now." Todd said, and then he sighed as he said this. "Look, I just have no idea what I am supposed to even fucking believe in anymore. I just think people have all lost their marbles, and are not doing a good job even pretending like they still have them."

"And to be honest, when I started to find out about the missing girls, I almost wasn't even fucking shocked. In fact, I was kind of surprised when I was learning that people were taking greater issue to that than the fucking monsters. I mean, fucking christ. Monsters running around the city, and destroying everything. I would assume that is a bit more important than everything else. Because that can put everybody's life in danger." Todd said, and the thing is that I did see where he was coming from, and I did not even disagree with him.

But the idea of saying that was the most important thing, was a bit hard to really divorce emotions from reality. I think that the thing is that I am still letting my past history sort of get in the way of what is probably realistic. And I was wishing that I was able to tell him a bit differently. But I just kept to myself, for his own personal sake.

Eventually, we were at my house, and I was feeling like whatever else Todd was wanting to warn me about, he just needed to fucking say it for his own sake. "Look, if there are other things you want to discuss, then I will do the best that I can. But to be honest Todd, I just don't know what I can fucking tell you."

"Just tell me that you are not going to judge me for the story. That even if you don't believe it, or agree with my choices, that you will not judge me." He said, and I was looking right at him. Shocked that this was the thing he was so worried about. But I could see the look of desperation on his face, and I knew he was being utterly serious.

So with that, I was slowly nodding. "Yeah, I will do my best to not judge you. After all, I made some really bad mistakes in my life as well. And I wouldn't feel right saying anything." I said, feeling like I needed to just be gentle with him. As I was looking at him, feeling bad for his issues, I just started to calm down.

"Thanks Sheldon. You have no idea how much that really does mean to me. I never wanted to think of what it would be like if I found out that you were secretly having a negative opinion of me or anything." Todd said, and I was feeling like i just needed to keep all of my thoughts to myself. At least for the time being. For his own sake.

"Well, I feel like regardless of any thoughts either of us have for each other, we need to put the job first, and just work on what is important to the two of us." I said, and I was hoping that did not come off as preachy, or me basically saying that I did not like him. I was just trying to make a point that there was no room for us being angry at each other, when we had this very fucking important thing to look out for. That was all I was trying to say.

"Oh... That is not what I was expecting you to say." He said, as we went to my bedroom, and I was glad that my father was too busy with his work to even so much as notice me or anything. He probably thought that the date went well, and that there was no reason to be worried. And if that was the case, then I could do whatever the hell that I wanted.

"So Todd, let me ask you something very important. Do you regret making the friends you have, and do you feel like you would have just stayed to yourself if you knew better." I said, feeling like I needed to pressure him into opening up about this. Todd looked at me, and I was seeing the scared look on his face. I wondered if he was worried about how I would judge him and what not.

"Well, I don't regret making my friends and everything. What I will admit I do regret though is letting my emotions run in the way of reality, and then not seeing the fact that I should have just simply stayed quiet. There was no reason for me to do the shit that I did, and I ended up doing it anyways. Partially out of pure interest. But I guess that the novelty was also getting to me." Todd admitted, and I was glad that he was man enough to admit the truth, and not be playing around, or giving any bullshit at all.

"And who knows, I feel like almost everybody is the same way at one point. They think they want to get involved in something, and do their own thing. But then when that time comes, they only end up making things much worse. And then I end up becoming the asshole for sending all my friends to this. Even when Dana was the one that brought me into it all." He said, and I was holding my hand up, hoping he would slowly down long enoug for him to just reach a normal starting point.

"Who the fucking hell is Dana, and what did she do?" I asked, feeling like that was probably the most important starting point. Todd slowly nodded, and was seeming to be glad that at least I was at least taking a mild level of interest in what he was saying. But I was hoping that he was not goingto be giving me any level of bullshit at all.

"She is a classmate of mine. On like the second day of school, she brought me to her house,a nd told me about these monsters and shit. To be honest, the whole thing is fucking stupid, and I am not sure if I would have ever bought into it if I never saw these things. But now knowing what I know now, I literally have no fucking choice but to believe everything I hear." He said, sounding like he was just mildly upset with this. Almost like it was disgusting to him that things went down this hill.

"Do you think Dana would be very receptive if she knew that you were feeling that way?" I asked, and Todd was shaking his head. Feeling like that was probably the best question I could have asked him in a very long time. "So basically she is one of those people that can never see where she might be heading in the wrong direction at all?"

"Not exactly. But she is very uncomfortable with people calling her out on her work, and she insists that people just need to look at the bigger picture of what she is trying to accomplish here." She said, and I slowly noded. I guess that maybe what she was thinking in her mind was perfectly normal. And thatw as something I was accepting to a degree.

"That reminds me of my dad. Every time I try and push him on the things going on here, he gets very touchy, and tells me basically that I need to stop pressing him harder. I think he genuinely doesn't see that I am laying all my bets on him, and that I want to see him suceed." I said, but I was feeling like from the way that Todd was looking at me, that he was not sure what to tell me.

"I have my thoughts on why he might be doing things that way. But I know that you're not going to want to hear it, so I will just keep it to myself." After Todd said that to me, I looked right at him. I wondered what he was thinking. If he thought my dad was involved here. But I choose to not come to that conclusion.

I was taking a cigarette out, and I knew that I needed to be patient with him, and just at least try and see where he was coming from. After all, he was just simply wanting to help out. "This might take a while to go through. And I think that it will probably have to be split up into a few days, to try and make things easier for both of us. But I am glad that I get a chance."

---

Scene 17: Todd's Story Part 1

(Todd's POV)

September 3, 1963

So my story started the day that I started my eighth grade year at Wayside. When I was there, I was looking up at the thirty story tower that was the middle school, and I was utterly blown away by what I saw. When I finished blinking, and being utter transfixed by what I was seeing, I was hearing somebody calling out for me, and I looked around, and I was seeing that it was Kevin for a bit. This being the first time I met him, I saw he was shocked to see a new student here to begin with.

"Hey, are you a new student here?" He asled, and I slowly nodded, and as soon as I did, he was looking super fucking happy. Like this was exactly what he wanted to fucking hear. "My name is Kevin." He held his hand out, and after a few seconds, I sighed, and then smiled, and took it.

"Todd Robinson. Transferred here because of a work related project my dad got. But from what I hear, that is extremely fucking common." I said, feeling like I would try and keep the commentary to myself. As I said this, I saw Kevin looking shocked that this was the context of yet another move.

"Why would they not just hire more people who already work in Wayside? That just never made any sense to me. They have people who work here already, and would probably kill for another fucking job here." After Kevin said this, I simply shrugged. It was not my place to decide in fact.

"I don't know. My father was telling me that they liked to do stuff like this to expand the family pool in Wayside. Make sure nobody runs on repetitive genes or some shit. It makes no fucking sense. But he seems to enjoy being here." After I told him this, I simply shrugged. Not having any other reason to go down this rabbit hole than I already had.

"Anyways, this place is great. Once you get used to it, it will be like you never want to leave." Kevin said with so much genuine exictement part of me wondered if he ever been out of Wayside, or if he was just making assumptions based on the experiences that he had here. But to be honest, I was not sure if I was too shocked either way.

"I hope you're fucking right." I said, feeling like I would keep the uncertainty to myself. Especially since in all honesty, he seemed way too excited about this. "Anyways, I just hope dad doesn't force me into this shit. He always seems to press the idea that my life is on a straight line, and that nothing I will do can change destiny and shit." I said, and I was shaking my head, feeling like the whole thing was bullshit. But I was in no mood to fight him here.

"I just hope this year is better for me than last one. Last school year was a fucking disaster, and it felt like I was about one step away from going insane. But I feel like now that I know what my mistakes were, then everything can start to improve." After Kevin said this, he shook his head. Feeling as if there was no reason to be arguing with me about this situation at all.

"Well, it seems like that is something that I can't really fucking fix if it gets to that level again, sorry to fucking say." I said, and I was mainly just trying to be having fun with this. But I could tell from the look on Kevin's face that he was not really sure if he was buying this. So I felt like maybe it was best for me to just not say much more, to not hurt his feelings.

"Yeah, that is what I was expecting you to say. But truth be told, I think that I am fine with that. Most of the shit that I was doing was almost setting me up for failure anyways. If I was being fully honest." He said, as I wondered what he was going on about. I just hoped that he was not making things worse for himself by saying this.

"So Kevin, why did you feel so lost? Were you just trying to chase a girl who you liked?" I asked, feeling like I just needed him to be honest as he was saying this. He sighed, and I could tell there was a minor agitation that I was resorting to this level of banter. Given the fact that I had simply not known more about his situation.

"Well, I guess that is a part of it. Had a crush on one of my classmates, named Jenny." Kevin said, and then he smiled, as if he was thinking about the good times that they had together, even beyond anything else. "And to be honest, I am not angry at her. I was not ready for something that I thought that I could handle. But the other part was something that I wished I had just simply never gotten involved with in the first place." Kevin said, and shook his head as he said this, sounding genuinely upset.

"I tried to get the highest grades in my class. I was so desperate to show everybody that I was not some fucking idiot. That I knew exactly what I was fucking doing. But then I kept screwing up over and over and over again. I honestly should have just accepted being good enough. But instead I tried for something that I don't think I was ever going to accomplish." Kevin said, and I could hear the heart break in his voice as he said this.

"But this year, I am just going to be my regular self. Nothing else. No more, no less. That is something that I can now see is perfectly fine." After Kevin said that, he was shaking his head. I wondered if there was something he was genuinely wanting to say. But was having a hard time doing so, given everything else.

"What do you fucking think? Do you think that I am being smarter this time around because of that?" He asked, and I was slowly nodding. I had no way of being able to fight that. After all, he was clearly having a look of relief on his face. As if glad to just be hearing that his assumptions weren't going to be false after all. And besides, I did not even know who he was after all.

"Well, yeah. And maybe if I just be myself, and don't try any stupid shit, I might be able to get Jenny to actually fucking like me this time." He said, and I was seeing him looking like he had hoped that I was willing to buy along with this shit. I looked right at him, and I was feeling like what he was saying was just something that I could not fucking confirm, to save my life.

"Just don't force me along with this. Because I have no idea how in the world I am going to be able to help you." I said, feeling like I just needed to be fully honest with him as I said this. I saw Kevin giving me a smirk, as if he was thinking that I was being ridiculous. But then he shrugged, as if considering what I had said, and decided to just leave it at that for the time being.

"Okay. If you fucking say so. But don't you want to deal with stupid shit all the time?" He asked, and I laughed at that. "Sorry. I was probably trying too hard. My older brother says that I often times have that issue. Where I try too hard to be funny, or something." I sighed in mild annoyance at that. But I was feeling like he wasn't doing anything wrong, so I just needed to be respectful and patient with him as he was explaining his feelings.

"How is your older brother?" I asked, feeling like there was a very good chance I was going to regret going down this rabbit hole. But at the same time, I just felt like there was no fucking choice. As I said this, I saw Kevin looking like he was glad to see that I indeed took the bait, for now at least. And with that, I esentially gave him permission to do whatever he wanted.

"He's okay. Ninety five percent of the time we get along rather well. But after some things that I dealt with, and experiences with one of his friends, he always seems to make it very clear that I need to be keeping myself as safe as possible. It can be rather exhuasting to deal with these things all the time. But I know that deep down, he does have the best intention." Kevin said, although he did not seem like he bought what he said.

"Yeah, that is basically family for you. I have a good time with my parents usually. But when they get upset with me, they act like I just shamed them or something." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest about it. "But I guess that parents always expect their kids to be more than they are. For better or for worse. I think the issue is that people don't often times see that until it is too late." After I said that to Kevin, I hoped that saying that would be enough for him to see where I was coming from.

"I guess that you do sort of get used to it after a point." Kevin said, and he was making it sound like he was still not too sure. Not that I could blame him. It was probably hard to convince yourself of certain things when you were unsure if it was the truth or not. So I would keep my comments to myself.

"Well, school does start rather soon, and I think we need to get going." After he said that to me, I slowly nodded. There was no way in hell that I could be able to keep my focus on this discussion any longer. I wanted to know him better. But at the same time, I did not want the teachers to hate my guts on the first day of the year.

The bell rang to go to first period, and I was having no idea how much this would end up being the best year of my life. And I had even less of an idea of how much this whole thing was going to come tumbling down in a fucking blazing glory all because of the fact that I was simply not fucking careful enough with my choices.

I went to class, and I sat down, wondering what was ahead of me. Not sure if I was going to hate my dad for choosing this school, and what not. After all, my previous life in California was something that I enjoyed very much. Being able to go out and surf at the beaches and what not, it felt wonderful. I never once felt like I was having to deal with any stupid shit.

Although I did enjoy moving here, I guess that everything that happens is going to be setting me up on this trajectory for the rest of my fucking life. I feel like until these missing girls are finally put to peace, or resolution comes through like with Riley, I will never be able to leave Wayside without feeling liek I cheated the people who lived here. And I would never fucking want that at all.

---

Scene 18: Todd's Story Part 2

May 25, 1964, Evening

On the final Saturday before I met you, I ended up going to the fair with Dana. As we were going around, I wanted to apologize for my prior behavior, and I wanted to make her see that I was not trying to bring her down at all. I just felt like everything that had happened was all a sign of things just going off in a totally random ass direction that I was not expecting whatsoever.

I got right to it. "So Dana. I wanted to apologize to you earlier for the things that I had said, and the things that I did earlier. You know, calling you crazy, and saying the shit about the monsters was all bullshit. I didn't believe you when I started to work here. And I treated you like shit. I should have been more careful with your feelings." I said, feeling like if I said it this way, then she would probably at least consider my apology.

"To be honest dude, things happen. I knpw the whole thing was ridiculous. I know that there was no way in hell any rational person would fucking buy into it. I'm not stupid. But I knew what I was saying was true, and I was glad that soon enough, you were able to see that." Dana said, and I still did not know how I was supposed to feel here. It was still all feeling fucking wrong.

"But Dana. What do you think you're going to do now? I mean, school is ending, and we're going to go into high school. I have no idea if it would be a smart idea to keep getting involved in this." I said, shaking my head. I was hoping beyond all fucking hope that Dana was going to not take too much offense to what I was saying.

"I don't really care what people are going to say about me. I am going to do what I need to for myself. Simple as that. You and I have seen everything for what they are. And I feel like I know you will support me on my goal to get people to see the truth." She said, and I was shaking my head. Truth was a hard concept to wrap around.

"And the thing is that I feel like once people start listening to me more, with better evidence, then there is a chance that the people who went missing could either come home, or at the very least there can be a bit of a fucking answer to all of our questions." After Dana said that, she shook her head. Then went on to say something else that I feel like she needed to say.

"But Todd, I think we both know the main reason we're here is to enjoy ourselves. Nothing else." She was telling me, and I slowly nodded. I knew she was right. I knew that in the end, Dana and I were just trying to really become normal friends again. And that neither of us wanted to be having this feeling of uncertainty going forward.

"Yeah. You're right. Forget that I said anything. I think that I am just having a hard time focusing. I guess the end of the year has been dragging me down as well. Knowing that I won't see you guys again for another three months." I said, and I was depressed at this. I wanted to see them again, and to enjoy my time with them. But I also knew that they would probably not fucking try and make it work either.

"Do you feel like now that you have a grasp on what Wayside is like, do you think that you will be more ready for high school?" Dana asked, as we were at the cotton candy stand. I was getting some money ready for her. Since I knew that she probably wanted some. And it gave me some time to think on my answer.

"To be honest, I guess that I am more ready. But fucking hell man. How in the world was I supposed to be getting used to some random place like this. Wayside made me more confused in the first twenty four hours than anything I did back at my old town ever made me feel in my life." I said, feeling like maybe that would help make the point decently well.

"Fair enough. From the stories that you gave us about your older town, it seems like it was very boring in comparison to the one we live in right now." She said, and I was slowly nodding. But at the same time, part of me was wondering if boring was such a bad thing. I wasn't sure. But what I was sure of was that I wasn't going to worry about that place anymore.

"To be honest, I sometimes think that going back there will be nice. But then I think of the things that I have gotten here. Such as friendships, and your guys respect. I just think that I am happier with you guys now. Despite the fact that this whole thing is fucking ridiculous." As I said this, I was feeling like it was hard to admit this. Especially since I wanted to go back to being a normal guy again. But it was all a fucking joke, if I was being honest.

"Do you know if your other classmates even think about you anymore?" Dana asked, as we were heading away from the cotton candy stand, and she was eating it. As she said this, I looked right at her, feeling like that way of wording it really had no fucking tact at all.

"Probably not. And to be honest, since I hardly do the same with them, it's perfectly fine. I don't want them to try and pretend like I was their best friend or something like that, when I hardly remember most of their names." I said, feeling like I would just be honest about it as possible. As I said this, she was slowly nodding. Feelung like she would take it for what it was.

"I guess that I would just not be happy if everybody I knew and went to school with just started not remembering me." She said, and I was feeling like what she was saying was fair enough. But I was also feeling like there was no need to worry about something so relatively unimportant at the end of the day.

"Well, most of those people were kind of assholes anyways. Nothing else to say about it. Always judging others, and always trying to be the coolest people ever when they never were." I said, and I shook my head. In all honesty, there was no loss to this, and I was feeling like Dana was over thinking how big of a deal this whole thing was anyways. I really had no stake in the matter at all anyways.

"If you fucking say so. But I guess there's no point in talking about this right now." She said, and I was slwoly nodding. I was glad that at least she was willing to drop the subject. "So Todd, do you think you might ask anybody out on a date soon? You know, the dance is coming up soon?" As she asked this, I was looking right at her, wondering if she was hinting at wanting to go out with me or something.

"I have no idea. I mean, I feel like with everything going on, and the fact that it feels like most of you guys like me, then it would really suck to do so. I know that I will burn bridges with several people if I go out with somebody." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with her as I said this.

"Well, I think the only one who might really have a problem with it is Maurecia. So I think maybe it might be best to talk with her first." She said, and I was shaking my head. I was not going to let Maurecia force her way into doing things her way just because of her crush. But at the same time, she did need something. To show that her time in Wayside was still positive.

"I guess that I will consider it. But to be honest, I am not sure if I want to fucking do this out of god damn obligation. She always seems really fucking clingy, and forceful in her desires. And to be honest, it is fucking annoying." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with her as I explained this.

"Well, maybe she is clingy because she knows that you are the right man for her, and she feels like you might be making a massive mistake." She said, and I looked right at her. I wondered why she was suddenly saying it like this. I wasn't sure if she was the right person for me, and that was teh thing that mattered at the end.

"Either way, the whole thing is a fucking mess." I said, feeling like at the end, I needed to press my opinion down on her more. I guess that I was also just wanting to see if there was a mild chance that Jenny and Joy could work out. I knew the latter was probably impossible. But the former I was feeling like had a small chance.

"Just be sure on what you're doing before you do something. I guess that is all that I can fucking say." She said, and shrugged. As if feeling like there was no reason to continue down this road. Probably aware that I already made my mind up for the most part.

"And besides, I guess that a part of me wonders if maybe we can make it if we just try again. Have you ever thought there was a chance of that happening?" She asked, and I looked right at her, shocked beyond belief that she was suddenly asking me this. I shook my head, not sure what to say.

"I just never thought of it." After I admitted this, I was feeling like it would hurt her more if I lied. If she wanted to try, then we could. But I just could not see it at all, if I was being fully honest.

Dana ended up hugging me near the end of the night, and she was starting to really soften up. "Todd, I hope that you know that I never stopped liking you. I just knew that you needed to do more with your time, and that you were focused. And that is fine. But don't leave me out of it." She said, and I shook my head. Not sure what to say. But then I decided to just hug her back. Feeling like she just needed the comfort of a friend more than the comfort of a promise.

"I will." I said, feeling like I just needed to tell her this, and make her feel as great as possible. "Dana, I am so thankful you were a friend in my life. Even if we were a horrible couple." I said, feeling like I would leave out the part where at least a part of that was my fault. Since I did not want to make things worse for myself. I already had enough to deal with as it was.

And one thing that I knew right then and there, was that no matter what happened, and no matter how hard things were, I was never going to give up on Dana. I was never going to make her feel like I didn't appreciate her. Or her friendship. She was a pill to shallow at times. But that didn't change the fact that I still liked her a lot, and I wanted her to be happy.