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.

30. The Friendship Not Meant To Be

Chapter 2 Episode 12 - Friendship Not Meant To Be

August 12, 2022

When T.K. was done with this current writing session, he left his room, and he was starting to walk off. As he was leaving, Matt was coming up to him. "I think it might be bets if I leave soon. You seem to be rather busy, and I feel like you are still having a hard time really getting deep into this commitment." After he was telling T.K. this, the writer seemed to be virtually uninterested in hearing anymore about what his brother was thinking.

"I was hoping to just maybe balance the two of these things out. But with my publisher, and the dead lines, and all the other bullshit going on, I just feel like something like this is just going to be too hard to accomplish. Plus the fact that I am getting emails from other people, to try and go on and meet with them as well. I feel like I am going to have no fucking choice but to just head on over.

"What do you think your family is going to say when they know what you are planning on doing? I mean, I know that you managed to get them to calm down for the time being, and not be too angry at you. But your kids are getting older with every day, and there is only so much you can do before they demand information." Matt said, and T.K. shrugged at this.

"And when that happens, I will tell them one step at a time. But until then, I am going to have to respond to Cody's emails, telling me that I need to meet up with him. I think he might know that I am working on this story already." T.K. said, and Matt sighed at this revelation.

"You're going to be going back to Wayside, and you seriously think that nobody is going to be getting in your business about that? I mean, it is only going to be a matter of time before every single person who works in that company is going to notice you are there, and that you plan on bringing the company down once again." Matt said, trying to make his brother step down for now.

"Look, I know that this is fucking true. But the fact of the matter is that Cody needs my help, and we all live under the rule that when one of us needs help, it is within our best interest to try and help them. You must remember that mindset we fucking came up with." T.K. said, and then he took a cigar out, hoping to get his brother to help him out.

"This is part of the reason why I always had a hard time connecting with you. Because you aways felt like you needed to be the one to be right. Never fucking stepping down, and seeing when you need to just let something go." After he was saying this to T.K., they both remained silent for a bit.

"That is because unlike everybody else, I was never able to fucking let go. I wanted to let go, and pretend like I was able to just laugh at this all like you guys. But that is just not fucking possible at all." T.K. said, and then he was going to his far, and he was looking at Matt, and simply shrugged.

"Go ahead and do what you need to do with your family. I will need to respond to Cody's emails, and I will see what I can get then. And when I am done with that, I will be coming back, and I will explain everything to you that happens." T.K. said, and then he was hearing his wife coming down towards them.

"You're leaving to Wayside? I have read the fucking stories so far, and you seriously think you should be going back there right now? Do you not realize how hard it is going to be to explain to somebody that their father is basically going to be sending himself to a fucking death sentence." She said, and T.K. simply shrugged.

"Well, at least at that point in time, he no longer has to deal with wondering when I am going to be stepping up, since I will be fucking dead at this point." T.K. told her, and he was simply shrugging as he said that. Feeling at this rate, there was no need to hide how much he was hating his shitty job raising his children.

"Wow, you don't really mean that, do you?" She asked, and then T.K. just simply had nothing else to say. His wife was never going to understand that his anger at how poorly he had done in the past was starting to reflect on that as well, and that there was only a matter of time before he was feeling like he would no longer have any patience for himself.

"I will email you the new episodes every time I am done with them, like with my publisher. Read them if you want or not. And when our kids are ready to read them, then go ahead and show them. But until then, just let me figure out what I can do here." T.K. said, and then he was starting to drive off, leaving them both alone.

When he had been gone for a while, he was feeling like whatever Cody fucking wanted to tell him in his email was going to be the next fucking step to figuring this whole fucking case out. After an hour or so on his way to Wayside, he opened up his email to see what Cody sent him.

Hey T.K., so I heard that you were writing down the stories of my father, and what he was doing, in a book. Thanks for actually taking advantage of those tapes. Maybe after all these years, he will no longer be looked at as a fucking maniac. I just wished that this would have happened much sooner, when he still could have been able to really take advantage of it.

You have no idea how much it hurt to have some casual people claim that maybe he was the one that killed Jenny, when he literally couldn't have since he was at work that way. And knowing that nobody would ever listen to you, because they look at you as a broken fucking child.

To be honest, the fact that there are people who still care about justice truly being done to this town is giving me some fucking hope, and I just want to pull this whole thing off. No amount of words can describe how much I want to thank your determination to see things through to the end.

I might have wished it was done much sooner. But regardless, that is not the reason I am contacting you. I am contacting you on the fact that I want your help with a issue relating to Wayside. You see, there is a large family of people who live there, that have been starting to pick up what you were all doing earlier.

I have been trying to help them a bit with this, to make them see that this is no big deal for them to worry about, but that is slowly not fucking working. Sooner or later, they are going to see that I am not the person for the job, like I claim to be.

The oldest two are really trying hard to look into this, and with the youngest one already nearly two years old, once they start really fully forming sentences, and can understand what they are getting themselves into, then I feel like they will start to fucking want to know more as well.

Truth be told, I am starting to realize I am not, and I never will be a mentor figure that I thought I could have been in your stead. Even if your ways of doing things are fucking insane most of the time, they are still valid enough to work things out.

If you can come here, and just fucking help me out here, then that is all that I fucking need. I wonder if it might be possible for you to work things out, and perhaps just fucking take down this business while you can. I get that you are starting to feel yourself as too old, or any of us for that matter. But these people have a future. Yeah, sure, they're not kids anymore, or at least some of them, but that doesn't mean that they need to throw away their lives.

But who knows, for all I know, you are never going to get this email, and I am just wasting everybody's fucking time by even fucking trying to do this. And if that is the case, then I will have to see how in the world I will be able to do what nobody else would be able to do.

I just wondered how you were able to do it for so many years. Knowing the truth, and knowing what was going on down there. Without wanting to give up hope in humanity. I feel like if I had known this whole time, I would have wanted to tear down this entire town. Over the years, the more that I realize that my father might have been right to not get me too involved in this.

I think that is the scariest thing in the world. The fact that over the years, I am starting to realize that my father was right in everything he had been doing and saying. When I am no idealistic, and I am being honest, the more that I realize that I should have given my father a bit of a break from the shit that he had been doing.

Just come by when you have the chance, and we can perhaps work this whole thing out. And perhaps I can get these people to finally start having hope in this future. If such a thing is possible. I don't even know if I have hope or anything anymore. I think that I might be beyond hope at this point. But that is for them to decide, and not myself.

When he was done with this, he wondered how long it was going to take to not only get there, but basically live there for a while. He would probably have to be there for a few months, and that alone was already going to be making things worse for his family. And at that rate, he was just simply not in the fucking mood.

And when he was seeing that Cody was actually the one who was still there, trying his best to actually be there for the younger generation, then he was wondering if it was really in his place to be getting so deep into writing, when the moment was all that he could really change, and that Sheldon's legacy had already been sealed.

The one thing that T.K. was absolutely certain of was that no matter what he would choose, he was going to potentially just make life worse for that family. A family that truly did not understand why the world was a mess, and why at this rate, Wayside was beyond saving, and if he had been a crueler person, might have declared it as just simply better to fucking glass the entire town.

…

Scene 1: Therapist Session Starts

Sheldon was getting in the office, and he was sitting down with his therapist, and he was seeing from the way she was looking at the notes, and she was seeing how things had been read for far, that she was just trying to simply decide what she was wanting to do

Sheldon: You seem rather deep in thought right now. Is there something you need some help with?

Therapist: Just thinking about the story so far, and I feel like I just need to understand why you were still holding out so much hope for things to turn out better when things were clearly already starting to fall apart under your grasp.

Sheldon: I was feeling like I had everything right there. You know, about to work. But then everybody decided that I was needing to be their fucking guardian angel, when I was hardly fucking able to care for myself.

Therapist: I feel like maybe your life would have been a million times easier if you just simply left this behind. I mean, after all, nobody probably would have judged you.

As he heard this, Sheldon was starting to feel like his therapist was never going to see the bigger picture, so just continued the story, and didn't bother with this debate.

…

Scene 2: Ready To Go

I was at Joy's house before I left that day to pick Todd up and get some weapons for the job. When I was there, I felt like I needed to try and find a way to be making her feel so much better. If such a thing was even fucking possible to be doing at all.

When she answered, I saw her looking like she was feeling slightly better. "Hey Sheldon, are you actually going to eb getting ready now, or are you just going to be screwing around?" She asked, and I was looking at her, wondering what her fucking issue was. She was seriously not seeing that I was pushing myself to my limits.

"I am going to be picking up some weapons with Todd. We are going to be gone for a few fucking hours. And when we get back, we will be both getting right to work. If you want to help us, then that is wonderful. But if you do not want to, then I do not fucking blame you at all." After I said that to her, I saw that Joy was looking like she was kind of coming around to what I had been saying.

"Okay, thanks for the update. I really needed that to be one hundred percent fucking sure." She said to me, and I was seeing that no matter what was going on, nothing else fucking mattered at all anymore.

"I know that you might not be thinking that I believe in you, or that I am on your side. But I am. I do believe every single word of what you say, and I feel like you need to take that fact with pride." I said, referring to her insistence that the fucking answers are in that fucking mine. I knew that Todd would never get it, but there was no reason to ever bet otherwise, or think it would be going any other fucking way at all.

"Just give us some fucking time, and everything is going to turn out well. You might not fucking get it. But that is all we need." I said, not really too sure what I was even going to be doing at all.

"Sheldon, you better make this work. I need as much time with Brad as I possibly can. I will be with him in the mean time. But with every day that I can have with him, I can help him see that he matters more than any of us do. He is a scared guy. Much more than either of us." After Joy was telling me this, I sighed, and felt like I needed to just let her have her fucking moment.

"If you fucking say so, I will do that." I said, feeling like I just needed to not be saying too much one way or another. "I mean, I know he is new to this all, but I don't want your feelings blinding you if things get too much fucking worse." I said, feeling like I just needed to fucking be honest with her as I was saying this.

Todd and I bought some stuff down at the weapons store. Generic stuff. Mainly things that he could be able to use alongside with me, and I also bought him a knife, as well as several full restocks of ammunition. Point was that we were just being extra sure. Since especially earlier, I already gathered up a lot of shit from the Wilson casino. So my basic planning wasn't too much.

"We better be finding what we need soon, or else I am going to be running out of money really fucking soon. And there is only so much that forty dollars a week from the gas station will be able to help me out." I said, sighing, realizing that I needed to pick up even just one extra hour on my shifts. Maybe coming in at three instead of four would be nice.

"I might have to start talking to my boss about doing an extra hour every day starting next week. The extra ten dollars a week might be good insurance in case something happens." I said, and took out a cigarette, thinking of what I said. With that, we were out of the store, not really in the need to be at that fucking place for much longer.

After Todd and I were done gathering up some stuff, we stuffed our weapons that we had gathered at the back of my trunk, and I was giving Todd a cigarette, knowing by this point when to read his mannerisms of when he clearly wanted one

But when that happened, I was feeling like I just needed to see what the issue was, since it was always fucking followed up by something that he wanted my thoughts on. "Todd, what is bothering you right now?" I asked, and I saw him looking really fucking tired here.

"Not much. I just still feel like we are making a massive mistake bringing Joy into this shit. I mean, she is still dealing with her fucking father, and dealing with the fact that he is down her fucking throat all the damn time!" Todd yelled, and then I was feeling like I did get what he was saying.

"Look Todd, I literally can't fucking do anything about her. She already made her fucking choices on the matter, and you should at least accept them for what they fucking are." I said, not really in the fucking mood to be dealing with his shit right now.

"I know that deep down you are right. But it still fucking bothers me that this is the shit that I have to fucking deal with. You know, people who are constantly getting in the way of what we have to do. Joy seems to understand that this is all that matters now. But for some reason, you are not wanting to admit that." I said, and I was aware that I was sounding like a fucking asshole as I was saying this. But at the same time, I hardly fucking cared.

"Let's just go and pick her up. I am really not in the mood to be dealing with this." He said, not really wanting to have much of a argument as we were dealing with this. "I know she is insisting we check all the fucking stupid ass mines. And I think I do not need to tell you that this is all a bad idea. But I mean, what else can I fucking do to change things?" He asked, and he sounded like he wanted to fucking scream as he said this.

"I mean, we wanted to do this earlier. So there is no reason to be backing out of it now just because you might not like what is happening." I said, wondering if I could get him to at least hear what I was saying. As I said this, I started to drive off, and Todd was then thinking about something else.

"The weapons we gathered. Are you sure that they will be enough to prepare for this fucking shit that is going on. In all honesty, I feel like we are going to need something better if we are going to actually have a real fucking chance." Todd said, clearly annoyed with what he had been saying so far. Probably thinking about the fact that we were in way over our heads, and we both knew it.

"I hope that they are. There really should be no fucking reason to believe that it would not be. I just think you need to show a bit more patience on the fucking matter." I said, hoping to make him feel slightly better at what was going down.

"Okay. I will try and listen to your judgment for the time being. I just think that you should be going down to the Wilson casino more, and maybe pick shit up that way. They might have newer supplies you can use." Todd said, and then I was shaking my head, aware that at the end of the day, nobody really was going to think I had a great plan.

"I just fucking hope that Joy will be able to live long enough to be able to see what the truth is, and get it revealed. If she did, then I feel like some of this would have fucking been worth it." After Todd was telling me this, I sighed, wondering what the point of this even was.

"I mean, if that is what you are worried about, then sure. I am more worried about her relationship with Kevin, and seeing if maybe that can fucking work out." I said, and then I simply shrugged as I was saying this, not sure why I was so deep in this debate with him in the first place.

Eventually, we were at Joy's house, and she was already waiting outside. She was clearly not really in the mood to be hearing our excuses to be taking so long to be gathering up our supplies. She was always super fucking in our face about everything that we had been doing.

"Where do we go to first?" She asked, not even taking a moment to screw around. I was wondering what the hell her plan was going to be, and I wondered if she knew that this was going to possibly go south really fucking quickly if she was not careful.

"I don't fucking know. I mean, we are kind of in a blind race right now. You are talking about nearly thirty locations or so that I have never once considered!" Todd snapped a little, and looked at Joy, wondering if she would finally get out fucking crazy this whole thing really was.

"I know that we are in a bad spot, Todd. You do not need to remind me. But I thought that with your guys resources, and Sheldon being fucking insane, you guys would have found something." Joy said, clearly trying to hide her annoyance at the whole thing. Probably thinking that both of us were being completely unreasonable.

"Well, I mean, I think that Todd and I almost past by one when we were going to that broadcast station earlier. I remember there was a slightly caved in area. So I think that might be the best starting point." I said, hiding my annoyance at what was going on between the two of them.

"See? You guys can fucking work with me more, if you would stop being so fucking uptight about everything." After she was telling me this, I smiled for a second, and I was feeling like the three of us were needing to remember at the end of the day, being a team didn't involve us being at each others throats for no fucking reason.

As I was saying this, I parked my car, and we were getting out, and we all started to distribute the supplies as much as we could carry across three people. "Joy, I want you to be fighting as little as possible. Given the fact that you are already in the most danger out of the three of us. Only fight when you have to." I said, smiling as I had said that to him, hoping she would get it.

"Fine. Have it your fucking way." She said, clearly not wanting to fucking hear it at all. As we were walking up, I was taking a cigarette out, and started to smoke it for a second, as I was seeing Joy looking like she was relatively annoyed at the fact that I couldn't let it go for more than a couple of fucking hours.

Before too long, I remembered the path that we had to be going if we were already going to be moving up towards the radio station. "We need to be going this way if we want to reach that mine that I was telling you guys about earlier." I said, and then we were starting to walk that way.

"See, he does know what he is doing Todd. You need to fucking be patient, and not be acting like what he is doing is a fucking terrible mistake." After she was telling Todd this, I saw Todd looking like he was not really in the mood to hear what she was telling him.

"Patient. That is something that I feel like you can't really lecture me about when we are talking about the lives of several people in Wayside at stake. So please spare me the fucking lecture." Todd said, and I was seeing him looking like he was not really in the mood to be having this discussion at all.

"You are fucking impossible to be dealing with sometimes, I hope you fucking know that." After she said that to Todd, I was laughing, and I was wondering why they were acting like a married couple when they were just meant to be really good fucking friends.

"You know, if you guys would spend more time working together, and less time arguing with each other, then you guys would be able to make things fucking work for once." After I said this, I was feeling like they both just needed to fucking stop with this debate.

"After all, you guys have the same goal, it is just the way you guys are going about it that you fucking oppose, right?" I asked, feeling like I needed to remind them of the situation that they were in right now. I really had no idea what in the world I was going to get out of this argument.

Before too long, we were walking up the pathway, and I was feeling like the longer that we were doing this, the more that we needed to just remember the bigger picture of this all.

"Let us not forget that at the end of the day, every single fucking minute we are wasting with arguing, instead of planning or acting, is another minute that something can happen. We have no idea when the next grinding noise is going to go off. And when that happens, we need to be more careful." I said, thinking about what to tell them before it got too heated.

"Sheldon, I am sorry about the stuff I said about your father. After he expelled that one guy from the job, I realized then that I was wrong. But I couldn't comprehend that idea before." Todd said, and I was looking at him, shocked to hear what he was saying, and shocked to hear him open up.

Eventually, we were at the caved out area I saw. "Let's just go inside, and not fucking screw around anymore." I said, feeling the need to fucking focus now, and not delay shit more.

Once we were inside, I was seeing Joy and Todd looking as if they were both considering what they were going to be doing once this whole thing was starting to fucking wrap up here. They both went inside, not really in the mood to be having this discussion at this rate.

Once they were inside as well, Todd was lighting up one of the flares that I bought at the store. I felt like he needed to wait a bit longer for this. But I was also not in the mood to be having this discussion with him for the time being.

As I started to look inside, I was seeing that the area looked like it had recently been emptied out. Several boxes were lying about, and one or two bed were there, with what looked like clothes laid around on them.

I was shocked to be seeing this. I looked at Todd, and I was sighing, feeling like he needed to let go of his hubris, and admit that Joy was finally onto something, and that he was going to have to rely on her to be making this actually work out.

"So, I guess that there has been something going on here. Now I think it is time to just fucking figure out what in the world it was before we get even further here." After I said that to him, I was seeing that Todd looked like he was not really wanting to hear me rub this fact into his face, and that I had made my fucking point earlier with all of this.

"But what about the other ones? And what was even going on anymore anyways? I mean, why would anybody set up beds in a fucking mine like this? It makes no fucking sense." Todd said, feeling like his patience at the subject was kind of running out. I was wanting him to calm down, as he was only going to be making things worse like this.

"I don't know Todd. But we do now know that this place has been used before. And I feel like this is something that we need to take." I said, feeling like saying this was all that I fucking needed to make this work. "But what do you think I should be doing right now anyways? I think that this is the best lead we got, and sooner or later, we are going to have these people on a leash."

I looked at Joy, and I was feeling like I needed to give her credit. "You are doing a great job with this right now. Just make sure that you do remember that we still have several more to go before we know for sure. We need to be safe." I said, feeling like the reminder was what she really needed.

Scene 3: Not Going Back In There

I was getting in my car, when my father was coming towards me. I was sighing in annoyance as he was coming towards me. "What are you wanting to talk about?" I asked, trying to hide my annoyance at what he was doing. "I am supposed to be getting right to work right now."

"When you say work, do you mean going around and running around the forest and start to look for monsters right now? You are not going to be going down there right now?" He asked, hiding his complete fucking annoyance at this.

"Yeah, maybe I will be. There is not much you can fucking do about the stuff that I fucking agreed with my friends on. Do you seriously think that I am going to going to be able to listen to anybody right now?" I asked, and started my engine.

"If you go back in there, then we need to be having a serious discussion right now. You need to see that there is no fucking point in doing all of this anyways." He said, and then I was sighing in annoyance, not sure why I was even doing this.

"If I do come back home anyways. I am doing everybody's job here, and I think you are starting to realize that I am better at this than everybody else here." I said, and then I was smiling as I said this to him. My father started to think about what he was wanting to say in argument, but then just decided against it.

"Sheldon, you need to stop doing this shit right now. I can't even understand why you think that the way you are doing this is even worse." After he was telling me this, I was starting to drive off away from him, and I was seeing that my father was looking fucking pissed.

"What is wrong with you! I never told you this was something that you were supposed to be doing in the first place." He said, and then I was completely away before he could say anything else. As I was driving off, I was heading towards Todd's house, and got nothing from that at all.

Eventually, when I was at his house, Todd was wondering what in the world to be telling me. "Sheldon, was there something that has been bothering you right now?" He asked me, and then I was sighing, not really in the mood to be having this discussion at all.

"I had a debate with my father, and he was starting to get on my fucking nerves. Honestly just acting like he is the only one that has any fucking say in what I am fucking doing. Always going around and telling me that I can't handle shit in my entire fucking life at all." I said, and Todd sighed, not really sure what to be telling me here.

"I am sure that your father doesn't really feel that way at all. You just need to be giving him a fucking chance." After Todd was telling me this, I was sighing, and I was not really in the mood to be hearing this. "To be fair, you are getting involved in a lot of things your father probably doesn't want you to get involved with at all."

"My father knows that I am doing what I can to help him out. He knows that I have been getting work done much better than he has ever been, and that he has no right to really judge me at all." I said, and then Todd was starting to head towards my car, and he clearly had no interest in the subject at all.

"Sheldon, do you think that we should be leaving Joy out of this right now?" He asked, and I shook my head, not in the fucking mood to be dealing with this at all. "I think that she might already be seeing Brad in the first place."

As I was heading to the forest, I saw that Todd was wanting to find something to say. "Honestly, I think we need to just focus on the mines. I mean, Joy proved me fucking wrong about the fucking mines." Todd said, still sounding mildly annoyed at that concession, as if thinking that the fact that people were in this town who clearly knew what they were doing more than he was were kind of slightly annoying to him.

Once we were going inside the forest, that was when I was then wondering what else to be saying. "Are you upset at the fact that we are going to be finding something in the mines? I mean, I guess that it might make some sense, not really wanting to say this." I said, unsure of what else I was even wanting to be saying to this at all.

As we had been walking along, I was wondering if Todd was even wanting to speak to me all that much anymore. "I just think that Joy would be much better without having me at her side, being with Brad, and helping his re-entrance back into society." Todd said, sounding like he was just wishing that this subject would have made things much worse.

Eventually, before too long, I was then looking at Todd and sighed, unsure of what the fucking hell I had been planning. "Todd, I think we might have to take a notebook, and slice off all the mines that we have already gone too, that way we know which ones we don't need to be going to." I said, and then I was starting to head off again, and then Todd was looking slightly annoyed at this whole thing.

"What are you fucking planning on doing now?" He asked me, and then Iooked right at him, and I was hoping that this whole thing wouldn't get much worse. "I mean, we were supposed to be looking in here right now?"

"I am going to be heading towards Harold's house, and then take his fucking fathers map, so I can use it to help me out." I said, and then I was seeing Todd looking like this entire idea was fucking insane. But then he sighed, not really in the mood to be having a argument about this. So with that, he got in the car, trying to hide his annoyance at this whole thing.

I started to drive on my way towards Harold's house, and the entire time that we were heading there, I was seeing Todd looking like he was rather uncertain of what I was doing. Probably thinking that in all honesty, what I was doing would only be making things much worse for everybody else.

"Harold will not want to fucking work with you, and I think you need to fucking know that before you set yourself up with getting too fucking deep into this." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, and I was just feeling like I needed to let him have his fucking moment.

"I don't fucking care what Harold wants, he knows what we both fucking need, and he will be doing whatever he will to make that work. That is something that he has set himself up for, so I think you need to let it go too." I said, trying to hide my relative annoyance at this whole thing.

Before long, we were at Harold's house, and I saw him looking like he was just kind of hoping to get this whole fucking thing over with as soon as humanely possible. To be fair, I was almost able to see where he was coming from, as much as I hated to fucking admit it.

I was seeing Harold about to head out of the house, and I was already seeing that Harold was wondering what the fucking hell my plan was going to be. The way he was closing his eyes in utter annoyance was a good sign that this was not something that he wanted to play with.

"What are you doing here tonight? Don't you understand what you are doing by constantly coming here? I am trying to fucking focus on my love life with Jackie, and you are always here coming along and getting in my way." Harold said, sighing in annoyance as he was seeing me here.

"I just want to see your fathers map once again. I promise that I will be super fucking quick, and when I am done, I will be leaving you again. That is all that I fucking need…" I said, hoping he would listen to me for once, and not be questioning what I had been doing. He sighed, clearly not in the mood to debate anymore.

"Or do you want to actually come along, and see what you might be able to fucking find?" I asked, and I was seeing him looking like he hated the fact that I was even suggesting something like this in the first place.

"I shouldn't. But maybe I can fucking see what I might be able to do right here that can give you some time alone here." He suggested, taking a deep breath, feeling like he needed to just be much more careful with what he had been doing.

We were inside the house, and I was seeing that Harold clearly looked like he was not wanting to actually do any of this in the first place. "You better be quick about this, because if my father was aware of all the shit you guys are planning on doing here, then he is going to want to fucking kill us." Harold said to me, and I was not really in the mood to be hearing what he was trying to tell us right now.

We went inside, and the entire time that we were going up the stairs, I saw Harold looking like he was trying to find something to say. Something to really capture his point, and make it clear that this was not going to be something he would tolerate.

"I mean, I feel like I don't need to state to you how much things can really get so much worse if you aren't careful enough here. I mean, you know those men in black are on the payroll of my fucking father, and that they can turn on you at any moment." Harold said, rambling, and seeming to mainly be speaking for his own fears than anything else.

Once we were at the top of the stair case, Todd was thinking of what to be saying next. "You really just want to make sure that this girl you are with stays safe, no matter what happens? Is that what is happening? I mean, I guess that I can fucking understand." Todd said, hoping to perhaps get Harold to tell him, and if them just simply having a casual conversation was the best that they could get here.

"Yeah, I think that is a part of it. Although another part of it is the fact that as much as I might sound selfish for saying this, but I am finding myself wanting to continue living as time goes on. I want to just be happy with the people who have been there for me for the longest period of time." Harold said, and got to his fathers office.

"And let me tell you right now, my father can really be a fucking asshole. If you think you have seen what it can be like, then you are fucking insane. You have only started to scratch the surface on what he can be like." Harold said, and I wondered how upset he really was about this whole thing.

We went inside, and then with that, Harold was for the first time seeing the inside of his office. He was taking a second to really look around and see what the area was like, and I wondered what he was going to accomplish here.

"What is my father doing with all of this information in his own fucking house? I mean, does he seriously think that this is the best place to hide it all?" Harold said, and then Todd was grabbing one of the copies of the map.

"He is going to fucking find out that you are taking this shit. Are you fucking kidding me with this? You are not going to be taking my fathers shit that easily!" Harold said, sounding like he was trying to demand things. But I was seeing Todd looking like he couldn't have cared less.

"Yeah, I know, but I don't fucking care. Your fathers information is the best stuff that we can access, and we both fucking know this." Todd said, and then he sat down with the map, and he was getting ready to knock off the places that we had already seen.

He looked at the two entrances that we had already located, the one that was destroyed, and the one that I found with Joy, and he crossed both of them off with a massive X. "Those are two that we have already been too. Joy wants to find them all, since she is convinced that these places are really where we need to be doing. And in all honesty, I can sort of see where she is coming from."

"So that is what you are going to be doing… Wasting your fucking rest of your summer looking around some fucking mines, trying to see if maybe there might be something in there. Honestly, that is going to be a waste of fucking time, and we both know it." Harold said, and he sounded like he wasn't really too sure.

We made it out of the room, and then Todd looked at Harold, finding something that he felt like he needed to say, so that both of them could be able to come to some form of a understanding at this whole situation.

"I didn't believe that anything would be here at first either. But then Joy, Sheldon and I found some beds and clothes in one of the mines. Some empty boxes as well. Clearly people are fucking going in here, and now aware of what they are doing." Todd said, hoping that he would be able to get Harold to at least consider what was going on here.

"God damn it dude. What the fucking hell were boxes and beds doing in one of the mines? Wow, you are almost able to always find a way to get my interest in this thing. I mean, how can you make sense out of something that seems to be fucking broken." After Harold was saying this, I saw him looking like he was kind of losing some interest.

"So now you want to fucking come along? We could really fucking use your help if you were willing to fucking do something like this." Todd said, and I was seeing Harold looking like he was utterly conflicted by the way that he was being pressured in this conversation.

"God damn it, I might want to go along on their quest anyways. But can you at least allow me some time to cancel my date with Jackie? Or maybe have it early or something like that. After all, Sheldon still has his job to be doing." After Harold said that to me, I was starting to walk down the fucking stairs once again, since I did not really want to have Harold or anybody else mention that fucking job, since I was feeling like it was time for me to be doing something differently.

"I know Harold. I was the one that got fucking hired. But what do you expect me to be doing when you have everybody going around, trying to find out about dead teachers and shit?" I asked, and then I was seeing Harold looking like he was totally out of his fucking mind this whole time.

"What do you mean, dead teachers? Why are you suddenly going on and on about that?" Harold asked, clearly not having much interest in anything else at this moment. I saw Harold looking like his mind was running at a million miles per hour, and needed all the clarification that he could be getting here.

"My teacher Mrs. Jewels went missing, and there was photos of a car wreck. Her car. A woman was found in there. Dead and burned down to a fucking zombie crisp. But here is the fucking twist: Most people she knew say that body wasn't here. And Sheldon and I heard a teacher doing a business sale to sell her off." Todd said, and then he shrugged, thinking of wat to say.

"So that means that they sold my teacher off, and then they killed a random ass woman who probably looked slightly similar as a way to hide the fact that they are pieces of fucking shit. So two females in this town had their lives ruined in one round. That is what Sheldon fucking means." Todd said, clearly losing his patience the entire time he was speaking to Harold.

"You would probably know that if you were not busy trying to impress your fucking father, and not trying to get laid with your girlfriend. But Sheldon and I are doing real ass work here, and you are clearly not seeming to be able to figure out when things are right there in front of your eyes." Todd said, and then he was also heading down, and starting to reach towards the door to leave.

"Is that how you treat every single person who has given you a chance to prove yourself, and be a member of society? I mean, you seriously need to consider the fact that I am letting you leave my house with my fathers work." Harold said, and I was hearing that his voice was starting to crack the more he was speaking, as if he was aware that what Todd was telling him really did have some fucking level of truth to it all.

But as we were out of the house, that was when Harold was following us. "But what would they even want with your teacher? That almost seems too old for the people that usually go away?" He asked, and Todd was simply shrugging, either not knowing, or simply not caring about those fucking details.

"I don't know. I mean, I wish I did. If I did, then I wouldn't be forcing myself to be running around pretending like I am some fucking cop." Todd said, and then I shrugged as he was saying this, feeling like what he was saying did have some fucking truth to this.

"And I am just basically being the fucking dealer here, always making things much worse for everybody who is here." I said, and then I was smiling as I was saying this to them, and I got in the car. I was feeling like I needed to approach this at a better rate than how Todd was trying to treat the situation here.

"Go ahead and have your date with your girlfriend. We both need to be doing shit anyways. Might as well not be making a big fucking deal out of this. You're right, I need to be heading to work. When I am done, you better be here and your date better be at least wrapping up. Then Todd, you and I are going to go in the mines. We are not bringing Joy because she needs to be with Brad right now." I said, trying to make it sound like I was the fucking leader here.

As soon as Todd opened up the door, ready to be heading off, the grinding noise was going off once again. For one of the final times before I found out beyond a shred of a doubt what really had been going on in this fucking town.

"Are you fucking kidding me? I can never get away from this shit!" Todd asked, and I was seeing him looking like he was kind of just beyond this whole thing. "I mean, I thought that we would finally be able to go more than a week and a half without this fucking bullshit going on for once."

"Yeah, this summer has been the worst one yet with this. Usually it would go off like once every other month or so. You know, often but not to the point of annoyance. But now it feels like we can barely go a week. You would think the Fed's would be brought here by now." After Harold was saying this to us, I was seeing him looking utterly sad over this all.

"I just wish that I had been able to just pretend like things were all fine, and that nothing fucking happened. But now that I know something like that will never fucking happen, it just feels worse. After he said that to me, I saw him looking utterly tired over this.

"Fine. After your shift tonight, I will tell Jackie I am not avalible after nine, and we can work on finding the mines then. You already have two. Let's try to shoot for one or two a day." After Harold was saying this, I was slowly nodding, agreeing with his plan.

"If we do it that way, then we will have it all done by the end of the summer. Which is my personal goal." I said, and then with that, I was getting in the car, unsure of what the hell I was even going to be doing at this point.

As I was going off, I saw Todd looking like he wanted to find more to say here. "I think that maybe we can go on and fucking see who went missing this time. I fear that it might be Joy." Todd said, and he was sounding disgusted at this idea. Probably trying to just picture the moment in his mind.

"Yeah, I will drop you off at her place, just simply see if she is alive in the first place. Then I will be doing my shift. We meet up back here at nine, and take Harold with us." Is aid, feeling like the more command I showed here, the better things would be. I was the only one who had even a pretender of a idea what the hell we were needing to do, and that was enough to make me work.

"What if this all turns out to fucking fail? I mean, truth be told, I feel like things are simply not going to turn out as well as you might believe. There is only so many times we can fucking bullshit things here, before it seems like we are out of fucking luck." Todd said, and I was feeling like I just needed to at least consider what he had been saying.

"I have no idea dude. I mean, I think something like that might be happening. But I think we are both making a ton of progress. And I feel like when Joy learns the truth, everything is going to be for the fucking best." I said, and then I was starting to drive off, feeling like I just needed to keep myself slightly more focused on the issue.

I eventually was at Joy's house, and Todd was getting out of the car. "Nine, right?" After Todd asked that, I nodded, and then Todd thanked me, as he left. I was going to the gas station, hoping that my boss wouldn't hate me for being late by about five or ten minutes, I mean, it happens, but it was still my duty to be there. And I still wasn't yet. So it bothered me.

…

Scene 4: All Nighter

After I was done with my shift, I was picking up my friends, and we were starting down the fucking path, and as we were getting ready to go inside, I saw both Todd and Harold were looking like this was the last thing they were wanting to fucking do. I knew that I needed to be careful with how I approached this, for their own fucking sake.

"Are you sure that any of this is even a good idea in the first place?" Harold asked me, and I was sighing, since in all honesty, I was not really sure what I could be saying. I sighed in annoyance, since in all honesty, I did not want to deal with him being a stupid asshole when it was coming to this.

"Let's not forget that you were the one that wanted to come along with this shit. You really don't get to be playing the victim card here." After I was telling him this, I had hoped that I would get him to remember how things were with this earlier.

"You're right. You made your fucking point. I just wish that I knew what I was getting myself into this whole fucking time. I just feel like there is something that is making me think about all the ways this could be going wrong." Harold was telling me, and I was slowly nodding, trying to understand where he was coming from.

Once we were at the forest, I was sighing, and I wanted to try and keep myself together, and not be making things harder for all of us. But I choose not to think about it, as I took a cigarette out, and told my friends to remain calm and collected while I was looking around, and keeping things at bay.

Eventually, as I was going around, Harold was looking at Todd's map, probably feeling like he was needing to try and find some way to be making himself contributing to the event. "I think that we should be going along to the left. It seems like one of them is only a tenth or so of a mile away." Harold said, sighing, and unsure of what to say from there.

"Damn it, okay, let's do that. Although there is no way in hell they would be dumb enough to have one of their locations be over there." Todd said, trying to pretend like he wasn't finding this whole thing to be dumb. But he decided to not say much anyways.

"You never fucking know. People are fucking stupid, and we both fucking know it. Let's not pretend like we know what the hell we are getting ourselves into all the fucking time." Harold said, sounding like he was mainly just trying to convince himself more than anything.

As we were walking along, I was seeing Harold looking like he was trying to find something else to make the discussion at least slightly more bearable given all that is going on, and I wondered why I was even getting myself into with this whole thing.

"Guys, if you never believe what you are doing, then stop wasting my fucking time getting into this. This is getting fucking annoying to hear about on a constant fucking basis." I said, at the point in time where I was no longer wanting to hear stupid fucking banter.

As we had been walking around for a while longer, that was when we were at the next mine entrance. One that looked like it had been slightly caved down, and I looked at both Todd and Harold, and I was sighing. "Put that one off the map. It seems like we got another one taken care of." I said, snuffing my fucking cigarette for a bit.

Todd placed his map in his pocket, not really in the mood to be dealing with much else. I was going inside, and as I was walking around, I was seeing that most of the shit that could have possibly been in here was completely destroyed, and not even fucking usable anymore.

Todd and Harold were both muttering under their breath about their destroyed clothes that came from the walking. "So Harold, how did Jackie take the idea of you cancelling the date anyways? I mean, she was probably pissed, and I hoped that maybe things would have been better.

"I mean, she wasn't too happy with it, but I think she was seeing that there was no way she was going to be able to get out of it. So she decided to just let the subject go, and hope that we both knew what we were getting ourselves into." After Harold said this, he was sounding fucking furious at this whole thing.

"Sorry about that. I mean, I know that it should have been your fucking choice, and not the shit that I am constantly fucking telling you. Look, all that I am trying to say is that I am sorry that this whole thing happened." After Todd said that, he shrugged, hoping that maybe Harold would hear what he was saying.

"I don't want to fucking talk about it. When I get my next chance to talk to her though, I am going to be making it clear that this was your fucking idea. And I am going to get myself out of this shit as much as possible." Harold finished, and I really had no idea what in the world I was even going to be saying now.

"Guys, I really like that you are trying to make things up with each other, and not be fucking crying all the time here. But this is not really the fucking time for this." I said, clearly at my wits end with this shit, and not even fucking trying to hide it.

As we were walking along for a few seconds extra of silence, I was looking down on the ground, and I was taking a second to think about what I had been saying. I was picking up something, and I was seeing that it was a destroyed back pack, and I opened it up, and saw that it was for a hiker in the woods.

"So I guess that maybe this is not where we were kind of hoping to find this, but this does count as one of the mile markers." I said, and then pointed to the "Seven" that was written on it. I then was standing to the side of the wall.

"To be honest, I think that maybe they picked her as a way to say that maybe she died in one of these mines. And now when I look forward, you can't really get too much more." I said, trying to take a few extra steps before the mud and water was too much to fucking bare.

"Strange. I never thought that one of the mines would be those mile markers that you were talking about earlier." Harold said, feeling like he was just needing to mention where he was going wrong. But he hardly seemed to fucking care.

"So now that we know where another one is, do you want to continue, or call that good, since we did meet your goal of the day?" Todd asked, and he was looking at Harold, wondering what Harold was going to be saying here. He shrugged, not seeming to know or care.

As I was sighing, I really had no idea what the fucking hell I was even going to be doing now. "No, I think that it might be good to let it go. We got the next fucking location down, and I do not want to know what Joy would be saying if she knew that you guys got multiple locations." Harold said, and then Todd was shaking his head, looking at the mud on his shoes.

"So how long has she been gone anyways? I mean, her backpack said number seven. Do you think that maybe there are other people who could have died or gone missing here?" Todd asked, starting to calm down, and adopt a much more serious, and less full of it tone.

"I don't know. I mean, for all we know, she might be alive though. You need to stop looking at the worst possible outcome." After Harold was saying this, Todd shook his head, clearly not in the mood to be hearing all of this.

I got outside, and I was seeing all three of us were completely fucking covered in dirty. "God, do you think that we are even going to find the answer at the end of summer? I mean, all we do is argue, and give up after an hour or two every time? I think that we need to be more careful about this whole thing." Harold said, and then he was moaning the entire time. Unable to believe this had happened in the first place.

"I don't know. I mean, do you seriously think we are going to find jack shit when we are getting completely fucking covered like this? Seems almost counter productive at this point in time." After I said that to them, I was hearing another police siren.

"Probably about the grinding noise that just fucking went off. And here we are, having to pretend like there is some chance that they will be brought home. Especially by the police. When we all fucking know something like this is never happening. I feel like all I am doing is a waste of time here." I said, trying to hide the fact that I was clearly losing all fucking hope in what happened.

"I don't know. I am just worried that it is going to be Joy this time. I mean, sooner or later, I am going to be running out of luck, and she is going to be gone. Either she will be found dead, or missing. And either way, I feel like it will be happening before the end of summer." I said, trying to keep myself calm and collected here.

"Shit. I feel like we need to be more careful with what we fucking wish for. I mean, before we know it, all the females in our group are going to be gone, and everything we did was a waste of fucking time." After I said that to them, I really was totally out of league on what was going on.

As I was starting to walk away, I was feeling like I just needed to get much more serious about what I was saying. "Do you guys feel like you need to be seeing Joy before you do anything else?" After Harold asked this, I looked at Todd, and I was feeling like I just needed to consider what he was saying.

"I mean, I feel like if I try and talk to her now, she will instantly brush me off. Especially since she is talking with Brad, and I told her that she needs to be focusing on him, since there is no reason to think it will go any better without him." Todd said, throwing his left hand in the air. He seemed to be relatively out of it, not sure what he was thinking of what to say.

"If I was being totally real with you, I feel like a part of me is going to miss the chances that I had with Joy. I mean, I thought that maybe if things between me and Maurecia failed, then I could have a chance with her. But I guess that this is no longer a debate." Todd said, and then I sighed.

"Are you basically admitting that in all honesty, you do not really like Maurecia still?" I asked, feeling like I needed to try and pry that. As I said that, Todd shook his head, clearly sounding unsure of what to be telling me. Probably thinking that I was being a bit unreasonable here.

…

Scene 5: The Monster Manual Complete

The next morning, that was when Todd and I met up with Joy once again, and she was seeming to be calmer than she normally had been. Clearly seeming like she was willing to at least consider what she had known this whole time.

"What did you guys do yesterday? Normally you at least drop by and tell me what was going on? I mean, I didn't mind, I was able to just focus on working with Brad, which was enough to make it worth it. But to be honest, I was feeling alone, and I was feeling fucking confused." She said, sounding totally fucking lost the entire time she said that.

"We were feeling like you needs some time away from what everybody was doing, and I felt like you were just too focused on something that in all honesty, you could probably never fucking change." I said, feeling like I just needed to be totally honest with her, and not be beating around the bush so fucking much.

"Yeah, I mean, I want to be angry at you, but deep down inside, I know that what you are saying is fucking true." After Joy was telling us this, she seemed to be rather annoyed at the fact that everything I was saying was totally true, and she couldn't fucking change this.

"Regardless, what did you find anyways?" She asked, and then Todd simply shrugged, thinking that what we found was not really enough to be warranting any mention. But she was giving us the look as if she was going to insist on this, until we told her the truth, one way or another.

"Truth be told, we just simply found one of the mines. But it was all muddy and shit, and therefore virtually has no fucking purpose. But if for nothing else, another one has been chopped off the list." After he said that to Joy, I was wondering if there was more depth that needed to be given, or if that was good.

"God, I wish that I had been there with you when you guys found that. Even if it was not nearly as helpful as I thought, it was still something that I thought could have helped us out here." Joy said, and she shrugged, and then I wondered what we were even going to be doing now.

"Do you have something else in mind?" I asked, trying to hide the fact that I was not in the mode to be dealing with this too much. She looked at us, clearly hoping that we were going to at least try and listen to her for the time being.

"I was planning on maybe going to Dana, and seeing if her monster manual is close to being finished. In all honesty, I really have no idea what in the world that would be doing to help. But I just feel like it would be best to have that in case." Joy said, and I really had no idea what I was even going to accomplish by doing this.

"Okay, I guess that there is no real reason to be holding off seeing her for any fucking longer." I said, and then I was starting to head towards my car, feeling like I just needed to be much more careful with what I was doing. It all just seemed to be one big fucking haze that I just couldn't understand at all.

As we were driving to Dana's house, I was seeing Joy considering what she was wanting to say now. Probably feeling like she needed to be as careful as possible with her words as humanely possible, to not be making things any worse for us.

"To be honest, I thought when Dana was coming to us about her plans on making books about monsters and shit earlier, I didn't want to hear it. I thought she was trying too fucking hard to come up with a explanation didn't really need to be made. And now I feel like I was a fucking idiot for not giving her a chance now." Joy said, and she was sounding so upset, and conflicted with what she had been saying. Probably feeling like she was now a asshole for ever saying that.

"Well, to be fair, we all felt that way. So you do not need to be beating yourself up over something like that. I highly doubt a single person thought that this stuff sounded totally fucking sensible, and didn't have at least some bullshit here." Todd said during the drive, but I was seeing Joy looking like she was still not really in the mood to be hearing Todd defend her.

"Well, I wanted the truth more than I wanted anything else. But Sheldon, how can I be able to look at the truth, and what needs to be done, when I refuse to be looking at stuff that everybody in this town has stated to at least be plausible? I mean, I feel like I made a bunch of mistakes here." Joy said, unable to get over how much she hated the stuff I had been doing.

Eventually, we were at Dana's house, and I was sighing, unable to believe that at the end of the day, Dana would truly get it the way that she wanted, where she needed it. At the end of the day, everything was going to be the way she had wanted it.

I knocked on the door, trying really hard not be to scared out of my fucking mind what we were going to be happening in the first place. Before long, Dana answered the door, and she was both shocked, and relatively excited about what I had been doing here in the first place.

"What are you guys needing?" Dana asked, and I could hear in her voice that even with everything going on, she knew that at the end of the day, we were going to be asking her to be giving her all the fucking help that she can give us. She knew that at the end of the day, there was not nearly enough to be going with.

"I was planning on seeing if any of the monsters were going to be in the mines. And we were hoping that you would be able to fucking help me with that." Joy asked, and then she was looking at Dana, keeping her calm and collected demeanor as much as she could. Which was going to be incredibly hard to truly maintain.

"I knew that my work was going to matter at some point. Hearing you fucking admit that is so fucking great. Like you have no fucking idea." After she was telling us this, she was heading to her room, and we walked a couple steps inside, to hear what she was planning.

"I am going to be grabbing the fucking manual that I have been gathering up this whole time. Hopefully you will be able to make better use of it. Sooner or later, I was going to have to take this to the public. Maybe you can help it." Dana said, and I was wondering if she was deeply aware of what was going on here, or if she hardly really cared at all.

"Dana, I think you need to realize that if we are going to break this lie, you are going to have to convince everybody in the friend group of what we have been doing. We need as much help as we can possibly get here." Todd said, and I was seeing him looking like he was trying to just remain focused on the bigger picture of what was happening.

"The only lie that the town has been living is the one where we all thought that there was no such thing as monsters. That we did not live in a war zone." After Dana was telling me this, I was wondering where she was even coming up with this fucking statement. Probably thinking that this whole thing was just all figured out.

"Just take what I have, and see if they can be found at the mines. And destroy every single one that you can. That is the only way that we can be able to keep Wayside safe." After Dana was in her room, saying this, she was sounding more and more frantic about this whole thing. She was clearly having a hard time focusing on the bigger picture anymore.

"Dana, take a god damn breath. We are going to be fine. You just need to see that we are not going to be making things any worse for anybody else." After Todd said this, he was sounding like he was remembering how he was once, and that was something that was really starting to drive him down a really dark path.

"Yeah, I know that I am going to be fine. I just have a hard time really calming down, when I know that all of my friends are in danger, and that I am the one who could have made things much better for everybody." After she said that to us, she was handing Joy the book.

"Just make sure that you can make this all fucking worth it. That is all that I fucking care about." After Dana was telling me this, I was starting to head away, really having no idea what I was even going to be doing at this rate.

"We will. You were the one that helped me realize when I first moved here, on the first week of seventh grade, that there is more to this town than I could have ever imagined." Todd said, as he was walking off, not sure what his plan would be saying to make this whole thing work out.

As Todd was leaving, Todd looked back one more time, and felt like he needed to say something else. "Honestly, I am glad that you did what you did. I mean, I now realize that everything that happened was all my fault. But I did love you. I did do the best that I can. And I think there will always be a small part of me that loves you for what you did." He said, feeling the need to show pure honesty.

"If it weren't for you, I would never be sure what I could have done to make myself a better person. I feel like I would have never been the person you needed from me." Todd was then finished, and then he was leaving the room, and Joy was thinking about what Todd was telling her.

Then Joy and I left, as Joy was looking at the manual, thinking hard about what Todd was saying, and what he fully meant. "Did you mean what you told Dana? If you did, then I feel like you need to do whatever you can perhaps win her back. Because maybe she is the one you should be with." After Joy said that to Todd, I saw Todd looking like he was kind of finding the comments to be bullshit.

"Maybe. When this whole thing is done, I would not be too opposed to this. But I guess that you have no interest in hearing that. But for now, can we just fucking focus on the job, and not be distracted by random things such as love stories?" Todd asked, barely hiding his annoyance at this. As he said that, Joy seemed kind of pissed at the way that he had acted. But she knew he was right, and went to the car again, feeling the need to just drop it all.

…

Scene 6: The Next Mines

The next day, when Todd and I picked Joy up, she was still reading a bunch of notes from the book that Dana handed her. I was seeing that she was clearly looing really tired of everything that was going on here. "Joy, I think that you know you are not going to be finding any fucking monsters in the mines. So I feel like this is going to simply be a waste of a fucking time." Todd said, and I was hearing him sounding like he was just wanting to prove a point.

"Well, I think that considering we both found some fucking random ass beds in one of the mines one time, I think you are beyond the point of being able to reasonably say that we are not going to be finding something in there. So I think you need to be more careful of what you are saying here." Joy said, and then Todd simply shrugged, thinking about what to say there.

"It seemed like another one is right next to where the waterfalls are. Kind of shocked to not find that one earlier. But I guess that maybe we might be able to go there." Todd said, sounding like he was willing to give it a try. He looked at Joy, wondering what she would have said.

"That is strange. I thought that we would have at least stumbled on it once. I guess that we can cross that off the map." I said, and Todd did just that, as I was taking a cigarette out, and we were walking towards the area. I saw that Joy was looking much less interested in doing this than she wanted to admit.

"Do you think that maybe this place isn't possible to reach. Like maybe it is closed off or whatever?" She suggested, and I shrugged, thinking that what she said was a fair enough assumption. "So you might just kind of be wasting your time trying to go in there." After she was saying this, she was sounding clearly very uninterested in this whole thing. Trying her best to sound at least neutrally interested.

"If for nothing else, if nothing is there, then maybe we can learn some more about those monsters. You know, due to the fucking fact that monsters are probably in the area, and we are going to be walking into a fucking death trap right now." I said, and looked at her, wondering if she would at least consider what she was saying.

"Fair enough. I just hope that we don't end up going there, and then we see that it is another one of those destroyed mines." Joy said, and then Todd was thinking of a new way to say this in order to make her feel slightly better about this.

"If for nothing else, at least we can knock off another thing from the list." Todd said, shrugging, as a way to try and make us feel better for what had been happening. I sighed, not really wanting to have this discussion at this point in time.

Eventually, we were at the waterfall, so we had to start taking the search a bit more seriously, and focus on the general area a bit more. I was seeing Todd and Joy looking like they were both not wanting to really do this at all. Not that I can fucking blame them, given everything going on here.

"I am sorry for leading you guys down this path right now. Knowing that there is so much shit that we need to be doing right now. I just feel like this is really the only choice that we have right now." Joy said, and I was wondering why she was suddenly acting like this over something that really was not that big of a deal.

Before too long, we were seeing a small walk down. "I think that is officially our ticket to finding out where we are needing to be going." I said, and then smiled at the two of them. Both of them looked mildly annoyed with my sudden excitement over this. But they choose to remain silent as we were walking down the path.

"If for nothing else, I can say that this summer has been interesting. I never thought that I would be hanging out with a ton of people from high school. The whole thing just seems like a strange story, to be honest. So seeing things turn out this way, are rather fucking odd." After Todd said this, he was sounding like he was mostly just mildly amused more than anything else.

"Well, I guess that there is nothing that we can fucking do to change this. But I mean, no point in making a giant fucking deal out of this." I said, feeling like there was no need to be speaking any further on this at all. But before too long, we were seeing a area filled with a bunch of rubble.

"So I guess that this was another one that was destroyed and closed off. I think that there is no reason to stay here now." I said, feeling like I just needed to get this whole discussion over with. But before we were able to continue any longer, I saw that Todd was clearly thinking things out a bit further. Probably just trying to decide what he was wanting to say in counter argument.

"I wonder why some mines are closed off and others aren't. You would think that with twenty five years, the would try and shut these all down by now? So it just simply really makes no fucking sense at all." After Todd said that, he shrugged for a few seconds, not sure what to think.

"I might have to come to my father, and commission these to be entirely destroyed. Most of them are. So there is no reason not to do so for the rest. Maybe that can further prove that he is a good guy." I said, and then Todd and Joy looked like they were both feeling like what I was saying was a fucking stupid idea, and that it would never fucking work.

"If you still seriously think your father is somebody who is willing to help us out, then that shows that you have seriously drank the cool aid when it comes to believing the shit that he says. You are so fucking desperate for truth and answers, that you do not see that the most obvious solution would be that he is the one behind it all." After Todd was telling me this, I looked at him, pissed at his way of insisting on this.

"I am not going to be having this discussion with you right now. I feel like you need to realize that doing this is going to be making things much worse." After I was telling him this, I was seeing Todd and Joy looking like they were relatively unsure what to believe here.

Before we were able to leave, we were seeing one of those monster dogs coming towards us. I was taking out my baseball bat, and I was sighing, feeling like I just needed to be buying Todd and Joy some time. "I will be fighting this thing. You leave right now. You guys got what you wanted today. Knowing the location of another mine" I said, not wanting to deal with them arguing with me, on top of the shitty things that they keep saying about my father.

Todd and Joy started to leave, which was giving me some time to focus on the fight, without them in the way, so I didn't have to deal with their safety for the time being. And when they charged me, I smacked it with my baseball bat, and sent it down. They went down, I was starting to go up the pathway, feeling like I just needed to buy my fucking time.

As I was starting to run up the hill, thinking of how I was going to approach my father relating to the information about possibly destroying the rest of the mines, the monster started to run towards me once more. I smacked it again, and then slammed down on their face. I saw Todd and Joy turn around, and look like they were wanting to see if they would be able to help me out here.

"Sheldon, do you need some help with that?" Todd, and I was seeing Joy running down, much to my request, and I was glad that at least she was listening to me for the time being. As Todd was coming back up, I was muttering under my breath, slightly annoyed with what I was dealing with. I didn't want him here, since I wanted to keep him safer from this shit. And him coming back here was doing literally the exact opposite of that.

"Just get out of here!" I yelled, but Todd was heading back, and he was not wanting to fucking hear it at all. When he was with me again, he took out one of those hand guns I handed him. I was muttering to myself about how I really did not want that to be used. Especially by him. But I was seeing that it was a useless endeavor. So there was no point in it.

Eventually, he fired a shot at the monster, and it was at the head. When the shot was fired, I kept smacking the monster again, and when it was clearly that it was done, I was running away. Todd started to run along with me, and we were catching up with Joy as fast as possible, to not cause any fucking time lapse being made.

As we were going along a bit, I was seeing Joy looking like she was starting to mildly regret what had been happening. "You guys probably do realize that fighting those monsters are only going to be getting you fucking killed faster. I mean, have you guys ever thought about what you are getting yourselves into?" She asked, and then Todd was laughing at this, finding her way of going at this hilarious.

"Are you fucking serious? You are the one who is going around, and basically admitting that you hardly even fucking care if you get killed anymore. So please just spare me to the fucking lecture." Todd said, and then Joy was sighing, not really in the mood to be having this discussion with Todd once again.

"Because I'm aware that there is nothing that I can fucking do to make things any fucking different dude. I know that I am going to be getting killed either way you go at it. So there is no fucking point in changing what has happened. I know what I am getting myself into. I am trying to keep you safe." She said, and then Todd was remaining silent, kind of wanting to fight this as much as possible. But then he just shook his head, not wanting to fight any longer.

"I just care a lot about making sure you and my friends are safe. Isn't that all that fucking matters. Making sure you have a chance of actually getting out of this all alive?" He asked, trying to get Joy to see his perspective.

"Regardless, we did find another place we were looking for. And that is all that we need. So let's just settle on that for tonight." He said, trying to just find the relatively good side to focus on. Then with that, I was seeing Todd looking like he was just wanting to have a different perspective on everything going on.

"I will present my findings to my dad, and get him to destroy the rest of the mines. In the mean time, go ahead and enjoy your life." I said, and then I was sighing, feeling like I just needed to say that to keep them from feeling too bad. Both Todd and Joy looked like they knew that I was beyond the point of debate.

…

Scene 7: Failed Reports

I was speaking to my father next day, and I was feeling like I might be able to appeal to him somewhat with the discussion about the mines, so that way he might be willing to actually fucking listen to me for once. "I was wanting to talk to you about the mines, and why I feel like at this point in time, it might be best to start shutting those down, as they are becoming a really big fucking issue for those in town." I said, and then I was seeing my father looking kind of shocked to hear what I was suggesting.

"Sheldon, do you not realize how much funding that would take, and the fact that this would probably destroy what little is left in that forest?" My father asked, and I was looking down, considering what he was saying. Feeling like I just needed to be careful.

"That is fine. I mean, we can replant trees over the years. I mean, I will even be willing to help lead the rebuilding effort." I said, hoping that I would get him to at least see that I was willing to make this work. Although I could tell from the look on his face he wasn't happy for it.

"But you can't even lecture me with that. When you guys are building factories, and casinos all over town. Sooner or later, people are going to realize that there is no chance to have a proper economy in this town, so even fucking trying will be a waste of fucking time." I said, and then my father just remained unsure of what to say for a few seconds longer. Probably thinking I was burying myself deeper into trouble the more that I was doing this.

"That is true. I mean, I don't even know which ones need to be destroyed or not. I mean, I can guess that I can offer a commission, and see what must be done. I might not like it, but I guess that this whole thing can work. Let me see what Shaun Reichenbach might be able to give us." After he said that, I was glad to know he was at least considering what I was telling him.

"But I mean, I feel like over time, you might be asking for too much. You are already the one behind that one guy losing his job, and Shaun is fucking pissed at that. He claims that you guys are ruining his investments. Not that I know what to say to that. But regardless, I feel like you need to be more careful here." After my father was telling me this, I was aware there was nothing left to be telling him.

"Dad, I am doing what is right in this town, and even if you guys do not like it, I have to do what I need for the peace and prosperity of this place. That is why I am so fucking frustrated with everything going on. Because I sincerely feel like nothing I need to get done is getting fucking done." I said, and then I looked at him, trying to calm down, and trying to not be angry at this. But I just couldn't help it.

"Sheldon, that is not for you to fucking decide. I have been pushing harder than you ever know. I haven't been able to properly sleep for almost this entire summer, because of the fact that I am worried about what you are doing. You are going to be getting yourself killed if you keep doing this, and you seem to not fucking care what happens as a result." After my father was telling me this, I kept myself from getting too upset with what was going on.

"I am sorry that you felt that way. But there is nothing that I can change about the fact that things are fucking bullshit in this town, and we both know that they are bullshit. And that nothing getting done is only making things worse. So let me fucking get a pass when I am starting to get to the point where I am getting too fucking into this for my own fucking good." I said, and I was not giving a shit what he would be saying to this after that.

"So now you are even pretending to have the good of the people in your mind when you are going around, and throwing your life on the line. At least with earlier, I was able to kind of get over it, since you were putting on the illusion that you were thinking things out a bit. Now I don't even have that from you." My father said, and I was feeling like his way of attacking me, and throwing me under the bus, was only going to be making things worse for me. I knew what he was saying probably had truth to it. But that didn't change how much it was sucking to fucking hear this.

"Just do what I fucking asked. You know, bring down the mines. You know that sooner or later, somebody is going to go in one of those, and fucking die. I mean, I found the supplies of a girl who went missing once. You know, one of these days, you are going to have to take what I say at face value, and not be fucking lying to me for once. And the sooner you do that, the better." I said, not even holding back my anger at this.

I was about to leave the house when my father was calling to me. "Where the fucking hell are you going? Can you just stay here for one fucking day? You know, not putting yourself at risk for no god damn fucking reason?" As he said that, I sighed, feeling no need to be going too much further into this.

"I am going to be seeing my friends. The ones who have been dealing with my things this whole time, and know that nothing I have been saying is making this work." I said, and then I was heading to my car, not giving my dad any time to fight with me, or try and act like what I was doing was stupid. I didn't want to hear it, so I was not giving him ammunition to think this way.

Once I started to drive off, I was taking a long and deep breath, considering the shit that I had been telling my father, and considering how much deeper of shit I was getting myself into for the way that I had been acting. I was only making things worse as we spoke.

Before too long, I was at Joy's house once again, and she was already heading away. I called out to her, before she turned around to me, and looked like there was something of a reluctance in her face. Not wanting to deal with this discussion.

"What are you planning on doing right now? I have something that I need to do. So unless if you know what you are doing here, I need to be on my way to seeing Brad." After she said that, I was sighing, and felt like I needed to just give her a update on the shit relating to my personal issues.

"So I was requesting to my father that he would start working on the demolition of those mines, and he said that he would be willing to do it later. So I guess that I got some of what I wanted." I said, and I was seeing from her face that she was fucking pissed at this idea. Probably thinking that I ruined everything that I had been doing.

"Sheldon, we are supposed to be going in there, to find out the truth. You going around, and commissioning your father to destroy them is only making things worse. What the fucking hell were you thinking when you agreed to this?" She asked, and I was seeing her anger flowing through, and I was feeling like I just needed to be more careful with what I was doing.

"I know. But I will maybe just show him the ones that we already went to, and had stuff in there. That way in due time, he is only taking down the ones that we do not need anymore." I said, hoping that with the way that I was saying this, I would be able to get her to calm down. And not get super upset with what I did.

"Just give me a fucking chance." I said, and then Joy was looking like she was at her fucking wits end with this shit. Probably thinking that I was selling the company out, and that everything that happened was my fucking fault, and that I needed to just be responsible for what I did.

"I am just going to be heading over and seeing Brad for now. I just need to be with him right now, and think about what you were telling me." After she was telling me this, I was seeing her starting to head off. I was feeling like I just needed to ask her a super fucking obvious question. But I was feeling like I just needed to try and see what she would be saying.

"You really trust Brad more than you trust anybody else here? I guess that makes sense, considering the fact that in all honesty, he is probably the only one who truly knows where he is in this world. Even if he is not seeing it yet." I said, and I was hoping she would at least appreciate the compliment that I had been giving her boyfriend.

"Yeah, and unlike everybody else, he actually makes me feel safe for once. Makes me feel like I have a chance on making this whole fucking disaster mean something. You guys are great to help me out. But I think we both know that you are not really the person who can make us safe. Just more assured." Joy said, and I chose to not argue with her on this.

"Sorry for everything. I mean, I feel like at the end of the day, there is nothing that I can do to really make things any different. Just at least slightly less bad more than anything else." I said, hoping to get her to at least try and calm down with the way that I acted here.

"I will try and see it your way. I really will. But no fucking promises. That is all that I can say here." After she said that to me, I was slowly nodding, feeling like what she was saying was fair enough, and that I needed to let her have her moment.

With that, Joy was gone, and I was left wondering what I was going to say to her next time. She needed to see that I was not the bad guy. That I was the only one who really had a idea what I was doing. But I guess that maybe something like this was just simply not possible.

I took a cigarette out, and felt lifeless once again. Fucking lifeless, and a minor sense of useless too. Not sure what I was doing. And not sure why I was doing it. I pounded my steering wheel. Knowing that soon enough, it was only a matter of time before my friends and father were all completely fucking done with my shit, and that I would be left to basically rot all on my own.

…

Scene 8: More Questions

The next day, I was with Todd once again, and I was feeling like I just needed to explain my issue with Joy so far, and maybe get his help on the issue. After all, I needed his help more than he would possibly fucking know.

"I think Joy might be kind of pissed at me right now." I said, driving towards the forest, not really in the mood to be seeing her right now, and I was just more focused on getting the job done with Todd than doing anything else right now.

"What did you fucking do to her to make her angry again?" Todd asked, not really seeming all that interested in this discussion. I sighed, wondering what in the world I was even going to tell him. "I mean, she seems like she was always upset no matter what."

"I don't know. I mean, I was just talking to her about how I discussed with my father the possible idea of a demolition of the mines, and that maybe this would be a good way to keep people safe. But I told him that I was checking out all the ones that had been destroyed." I said, and then I was looking at Todd, hoping that he would be able to see that this was insane for her to be so upset over.

"Oh god, I can sort of see why Joy would be upset over that. I don't exactly agree with her way of acting about it. I just feel like you need to come up with a damn ass good reason to be doing this before she gets upset." After Todd said that to me, I was parking the car, and I was getting out of it.

"And that is why we are going in the forest again, and we are going to continue the job. We already found four of them, so we still have a long way to go. I mean, if we go with what we said to Jenny, I mean Joy, and find one or two every day, we will get this taken care of." I said, and then I was seeing Todd looking like he was considering everything that I had just told him.

Once in the forest, I was then seeing Todd grabbing the map once again, looking really tired, but also like he was beyond the point of arguing with me about this. "Okay, I just hope that we all know what we are doing. This shit is extremely dangerous, and I am kind of losing my mind pretending like I want to do this."

We looked along for a while, and then Todd nodded. "It seems like the closest one is about a mile up the hill. To the right. No wonder why people called these mines fucking labyrinths. It feels like they are all so fucking close with each other." Todd said, and I was walking along, just trying to get this subject over with before it got too much worse.

As we had been going up, I was feeling like I just needed to ask another question. "So Todd, how has Jenny been lately? I haven't seen her in a while, and I am scared for her sake. I think that I just need to be there for her more.' I said, and then I sighed, not sure what in the world I was even going to say now.

"I don't know, I mean, after the time she was calling us fuck ups, and pretending like we did nothing to help this town out, I just kind of got really fucking pissed here. I mean, I shouldn't let small things like this get under my skin, I am aware of that. But it sucks knowing that she will never fucking like me that way anymore." Todd said, shrugging, and not really having much else to say here.

"I think she was just upset here. I mean, I will agree she probably should have worked on her wording here. But the truth is that she probably would have said that anyways, due to her being insane frustrated. You are the one that determines how you take something like this." After I told him this, I saw Todd still looking like he wasn't really buying what I was saying.

"I mean, I just thought that she would have seen first hand how much I am working my ass off to be making this shit work, and then here she is, feeling like I am this useless piece of shit, and that everything that happened was all my fucking fault. I just wish that she knew what she was saying before she said it." Todd said, trying to hide his anger as he said that.

"I think that she is just under a lot of stress. Wishing that certain things can work out, and then when they are not, she feels like she is being attacked. I mean, I do sort of see where she is coming from. Even though I do not agree with her at all." I said, and then I was looking at her, and I wondered what I was even going to be getting out of this.

"I know that deep down inside, she has every right to do something like this. But I just feel like I just had really fucking let her down. She deserves better than what we are doing, and I think the worst part is that deep down, as much as I hate it, I know that she might be fucking right. That I really am a complete fuck up, and that I only make things worse with what I am doing." Todd said, and then he shrugged, unsure of what to say.

"Just don't let it get under your skin is all that I can say." After I said that to him, I eventually made it up to the area that Todd had told me about. This one was appearing to be mostly closed off, and I was trying to see if there was a way we could be able to go inside.

"I wish that I would be able to look at it the same way you do. But I guess that something like this is just not how I can do things. I wish that I was able to have patience like you." After Todd was admitting this, he shrugged, and simply just didn't have much that he was able to say to the event at all anymore.

Once we were looking around, I was seeing Todd getting a little bit above the entrance, seeing if there was a way he could go down. He was seeing a small hole going down, and waved me over to it. As I was walking up to see what he was wanting to show me.

"I want to see if maybe I can go down there." Todd was suggesting, and I was placing my foot in the hole to see what I could be able to fucking do here. But as I was getting a bit lower, that was when my foot was already hitting something.

"I think that maybe this one is also blocked off. My feet are just hitting rubble any time I try to do shit." I said, and then I shrugged for a second, and Todd was looking like he was kind of tired, and felt like maybe that was the best turn out that he could be able to get here.

"I just wish that I wasn't feeling like we were getting nowhere with this. I mean, we already checked off five of these things, and we still have nothing. I feel like I just am wasting my time checking this whole fucking thing out. I mean, I know Joy isn't totally full of it with the two times we have found something. But every time we find one, and there is nothing, then I feel like there is no point." After Todd said that, he simply shrugged, and was not really in the mood to hear this at all.

"And I mean, I feel like it won't even be all that horrible of a deal when you try and tell your dad what you are doing. In all honesty, I feel like destroying these probably won't even be much of a different." After Todd was telling me this, I was feeling like the fact that he was aware of what he was meaning, and the fact that he wasn't really trying to hide his bullshit was able to make me feel much better here.

"Which is why I feel like telling him what I was doing was important. I needed him to hear what I was doing. Maybe get him to go along with it." I said, and then I was shrugging, wondering if Todd was willing to hear what I said. "I just wish that when I was trying to tell Joy what I was thinking, she wouldn't have been fucking furious at me over what had been going on.

"Well, regardless, I feel like we are both wasting our time discussing this. I think that we both know there is nothing we are going to be getting out of this massive discussion." Todd said, and then he was shrugging, not really seeming to be in much of a mood to have a argument with this at all.

"I need to leave right now. Not like we are getting much out of this anyways." I said, and then I was walking down, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was wanting to say more. "Todd, I know that you don't want to be here right now, and I think we both know that this is getting increasingly frustrating, being in this fucking place."

"Do you even think your father is going to be going through with the project? You know, the one about destroying the mines? I think that something like this will probably not really happen." After Todd was telling me this, I simply shrugged, feeling like what he was saying made perfect sense. But I was in no mood to really be having much of a debate about this.

"I mean, he was talking about how it was bad for the environment of Wayside, and I was telling him that I didn't believe that he was actually caring about that, and that he was just telling me this in order to get me to get off his back. Honestly, I feel like he is just trying to do a bunch of things that improve his popularity, and as a result, he only making things worse." I said, hating the fact that I was saying this about my father, since I wanted to still keep hope in him. But he was making it hard.

"I just wish that he was able to settle down, put his foot down, and just focus on what needs to be done, and not give a shit about the risks of his popularity or other shit. But I guess that when you deal with elections, you only care about what is best for you." After I said that to him, I shook my head, unable to fathom that I was admitting this in the first place.

"I mean, I never wanted you to be hating the guy, but I was feeling like you needed to just fucking see that there was something he was doing this whole time. He is not the beacon of truth you want him to be. And I feel bad for saying that to you. But I feel like sometimes you just need to fucking hear that." Todd said, and shook his head at me.

"Can it. I really don't want to fucking hear this." I said, feeling like I just needed to stand up for myself here, and not be taking shit anymore. As I said this, I saw Todd just feeling like there was a form of regret to what things were turning into here.

…

Scene 9: Party Reservations

Todd and I were at Joy's house again, and she seemed to be far more willing to deal with our bullshit this time, and she was seeming to be far less angry. "So I was thinking of a way to help you guys out with the journey. I figured that getting upset, and fighting you over this all the time isn't going to be fucking worth it." Joy said, feeling like she was needing to calm down a bit. She shook her head, feeling like she needed to just calm down a bit.

"Wow, that is a lot coming from you." Todd said, in a slightly smart ass tone. "Anyways, so I heard that after some time and deliberation, the annual summer party that the Wilson casino always has is going through, and that during the party, there will be a opening to another car shop or some shit like that." She said, shrugging, and then I saw Todd looking like he wasn't sure what to feel here.

"No offense, but what the fucking hell is this going to be doing to help us out? I mean, this is about a car shop, which has nothing to do with the missing girls." Todd said, and then Joy looked at him fucking pissed, and she was hardly keeping her anger in. Todd decided to shut up after this, to not risk pissing her off more.

"Look dude, if you would let me finish… My father said that he wasn't able to go due to a certain contract he was doing with Sheldon's dad and Shaun. But that he was planning on letting me have his ticket, as a minor apology for what had happened. I think a good way to make this work is to let you guys go instead, and let you figure out what you need to find." She said, and then Todd slowly nodded, sort of seeing her point.

"And I think that when you guys go in there, since everybody is going to be so fucking busy with their bullshit, and celebrating the opening and the party, you guys can go inside of the fucking party, sneak up to the top floor, take the film with Nora Wakeman, and perhaps grab even more than that if you are lucky. In all honesty, I feel like this is your best bet to make it work." Joy said, and Todd started to see the logic, and he was smiling, feeling like he was now finally more at peace here.

"Okay, that actually makes a lot of sense. I should have just been patient, and let you say what you needed to say. My god, I think that when they are too distracted, we can make this work. But that is still several days away." Todd said, and then Joy was handing him the ticket.

"Take my fucking ticket. Use it to get in. That is the best chance that we have. If I die before then, then they will take the ticket away, and then it will all be for nothing." She said, calming down a bit, and hoped to at least make her point somewhat clear.

"What should we be doing in the mean time?" Todd asked, and then he looked right at Joy, wondering what her plan was going to be. She simply shrugged, thinking what Todd was asking her was really fucking stupid, and he needed to think about what he was saying.

"We are going to be continuing what we are doing. Also, I have another request for you guys…" She said, starting to become a lot more humble, and a lot less of a bitch as she was saying this. "When you guys go, please bring Brad along with you guys. He deserves to have something to take with him to make this all better for him."

Todd sighed, clearly having no, idea what he was planning on going to tell her. And if such a idea like this was even going to fucking be possible in the first place. "I mean, I can try and see if Brad would want to come along. But I think you will have to see that something like this might be kind of hard to do." He said, and then he shook his head.

"I don't fucking care. That is a request that I need to hear you grant. I want Brad to see that I care about him a lot, and I want there to never be any fucking confusion. This constant going around, and not letting me have what I need is only going to make things worse." Joy insisted, and the more she was saying this, the more that I was seeing that Todd was just losing his power to fucking fight this whole thing in the first place.

"Okay, fine, you made your fucking point. I might not like this at all. But I feel like I will try and find a way to get him along. After all, you are right, he does deserve better than this." He said, and then he shook his head, not sure why he was even arguing anymore.

"Already bad enough, considering the fact that Joy is going to want to fucking go because of her mother dying and stuff. As if thinking that she needs this for closure on what happened to Nora." Todd said, and then he shrugged, simply having no idea what in the world to tell her. "I mean, I think Jenny has a bigger vendetta about this whole thing than any of us do, even yourself."

"Can't really blame her. Her mother getting sold off to prostitution, and everybody simply pretending like nothing is happening, and she is supposed to pretend like everything is all fine. I would be fucking pissed if I was her, to be fucking real with you." Joy was telling us, and I was feeling like she was still at least partially blaming herself for what had happened.

"I mean, if my mother had that, I would be upset. But to be fair, even Jenny herself realized it was her fault. With the fact that she used to be a sex worker, before she went to science after Jenny was born." Joy said, and then Todd was simply looking upset at the fact that this was turning into another case of victim blaming.

Todd looked at the paper again, and considered what he was reading. "Sheldon, do you think going here is going to be a good idea? I mean, if you want to do this, then I will have to go along with this? I just feel like we need to be thinking things out better." After Todd asked me this, I sighed for a second, feeling no need to get into this issue.

"I think that it is a gamble, but one worth taking. You know, just because at least it is something that we haven't tried yet. And who knows, maybe when the casino is busy, we might have a better chance of working this whole thing out." I was telling Todd, who in turn decided that it was time to just let it all go.

"Also, we still need to check up on other people. You know, Myron and Steven mostly. After all, we have barely spoken with them in a super fucking long time." Todd was saying, and as I was going to my car, to get ready to leave again, that was when Joy was calling out to me once again.

"Seriously, you are going to be going to them? I thought we all agreed that they are not the people we need to be looking at to make this whole thing work out." Joy said to us, and then I was seeing her looking like she was kind of just giving up on these feelings we had.

"I mean, there is no reason not to fucking try. I mean, seriously, what is the worst that can fucking happen? They tell us that they have found nothing. That almost seems to be something that we should be expecting." Todd said, simply feeling like he was needing to give her a reason to buy what he was doing. As he did this, Joy shook her head, unable to believe this at all.

"Okay, go ahead and waste your time with them whenever you want. Just don't do it when I am around." She said, seeming rather determined to not deal with this shit at all. She got in the car, and then she considered what to say now.

"So you guys were gone for a while yesterday? What happened there? Was it relating to finding more of the mines?" She asked, seeming to kind of give up on idea of forcing herself to be coming along. "I just wish that you didn't find anything that could prove my point, or if you did, then I get some of the credit at least."

"Yeah, we tried. But again, we found nothing. I feel like that is sort of the name of the game when you are dealing with this. The way I look at it is that if nothing is found, then at least we can knock off another thing from the areas to look." Todd said, shrugging at this, and not really seeming to have much of a interest in what he was telling me.

"So I didn't miss out on much. But my god, at the rate we are going, it will be taking forever to be going through all of these. I feel like maybe this was a fucking terrible idea after all." She said, shrugging, and I was seeing that she was now just planning on finding something witty to say.

"What did you seriously think you were going to get out of going there? I mean, surely, you must have seen that something like this was simply not going to actually add up. I think that maybe these people really are going out of town, and that finding them is going to be impossible, because none of us can just fucking leave this place without being instantly noticed!" Todd yelled at Joy, hoping to at least get her to think about what he was saying. Joy looked down, suddenly considering what Todd said, especially since he was giving off the really angry tone, and this was making her see she needed to be careful here.

"So you are saying that giving up is the best fucking option? So many people are going to be fucking furious if they hear you say this. They will be accusing you of not fucking caring anymore." After Joy said this in response, Todd sighed, feeling like her completely missing the point was something he should have expected, given how she is.

"I am not saying that we should give up completely. What I am saying is that we need to strongly consider that maybe looking into this is not going to be healthy, and that doing this is only going to make things worse. And that we need to at least think about if we are spending our time and resources in the wrong place." Todd said, hoping to at least get some damage control.

"Wonderful, I never thought you of all people were going to be saying this." Joy said, and then she was just remaining quiet as she considered the prospect of what he was saying.

"I mean, if you of all people are saying it is not worth it anymore, than maybe it is true. That we are just objectively wasting our fucking time with this. I never wanted to say this." She admitted, but felt like admitting this was the only other way.

…

Scene 10: Inviting Brad

I was at Brad's house with Todd, and I was feeling like having Joy not with us was going to be making things a million times easier for me. Not having her constantly question my wording of everything, and acting like she was so much fucking better than me on virtually everything going on here.

Once Brad answered, he was looking at Todd and I, and I was seeing that he was clearly not interested in hearing what we were having to say to him. "I was hoping that Joy would be here. You know, I want to just ask her on our next date." Brad said, smiling as he was saying this, kind of trying to keep his patience to relatively at bay, given everything going on.

"Well, she was wanting to give you something, and maybe you can discuss it with her then." Todd was saying, and handed him the note. He was taking a long and deep breath, hoping that he would be willing to do this. "She said she wasn't really in the best place lately, and needed some time to decide if she was ready to commit."

"But she was wanting you to have a chance to have a good time. Especially away from all the bullshit of us trying to figure this fucking stupid town out. Sorry for always bringing her along with this. But she was the one that suggested we get into this in the first place." As Todd was telling Brad this, he was seeing Brad looking kind of unsure of what to say.

"Wow, she really does care about me. Yeah, I think that I might be willing to go. Only so much I can deal with bullshit here before I feel like I am losing my patience." Brad said, and I was seeing that he was looking like he was just wanting us to leave his fucking place.

"You know, I feel like you are making things worse for her the more you are doing this, and I just feel like the longer you constantly try and get her to speak to you about various things that really don't fucking matter, and at the end of the day, I feel like most of this is really fucking her over. But I guess it doesn't matter what I fucking think." He said, acting like he was beyond the point of caring anymore.

"She was the one that wanted to be doing this. It wasn't anybody elses idea. So please spare me the fucking lecture right now." Todd said, no longer wanting to hear it. "If you want to help her feel better about things, then fucking reach out to her yourself. I am sure she would be more than willing to tell you all you need."

"Well, at least when I am with her, I make her feel like she is not going to get attacked. I give her a feeling of safety that none of you ever fucking give her. So I think that I have my right to stand my fucking ground here." Brad said, and I knew that he was not wanting to hear what we were saying.

"I mean, I guess that is true. But what do I fucking care?" I asked, and then I was feeling like I just needed to get him to clam down a bit. "Brad, if you want to go to that party, it is your choice. If you don't, then that's fine. Just do what is right for you." I said, and then I was seeing Brad kind of calming down for a bit.

"This is fucking ridiculous guys. You clearly want me to go there, and if Joy wants me to be going as well, then I really fucking have no choice but to do so. So you are leaving me in a fucking pickle right now." After Brad said that, I was feeling that any fucking arguments that he wanted to make were all going to be fucking pointless.

"I just notice that my girlfriend clearly doesn't want to be dealing with you guys that much anymore, and I don't even know if I can fucking blame her that much anymore. Everything you guys are fucking doing is fucking ridiculous. And now I am starting to wonder why I was even exerting as much patience as I was earlier. I was told growing up that I just needed to do what was right, no matter what." Brad said, and then Todd was clearly looking like he was beyond the point of fighting this with Brad at this rate.

"Brad, we are all on the same side here. You are the one who is just acting like we have this fucking death wish against your girlfriend or some shit. That is not what is going on. Surely we can reach a understanding with each other." I said to him, and I was seeing Brad looking like he was having no interest in hearing this at all.

"I just want to see Joy come home, and be safer. Not deal with anything that she is clearly out of her league on. That is all that I fucking want. Is that so fucking hard to be asking for here?" Brad asked, and I saw him looking like he wanted to just see what we were going to be saying in response here.

"In order to do that, she needs to have a person looking out in the town for some clues. This is where we are coming in. If she is having people like us with her looking into the truth, then things are going to be fine. You are the one who is not seeing the bigger picture." Todd said, and then Brad nodded.

"I'll just go to the party. Let's leave it at that." Brad said, clearly no longer in the mood to be fighting with this. And I was seeing him happy to go to a party, even when he was clearly feeling like we were pushing his fucking patience way too fucking far with this all.

…

Scene 11: Number 6

Todd, Joy and I were back up again, and we were in the forest, and we were in the agreement that we would just knock one more off the list, and then go home after that. Simple and clean, with little effort. As we were going along, that was when Todd started to look at the map.

"The worst part is that most of the rest of these are deep in the forest." Todd said, sounding like he was growing to dread what was happening. He sighed, and then sat down, wondering what he was going to be saying at this rate.

As we were going along, and listening to Todd's instructions, we were eventually in front of another one. Which was a bit further away from the others. Todd wrote his X on it before we went inside, and once inside, we saw that there was a car inside.

It looked like it had been used relatively recently, and when Todd was looking around, he was seeing another thing that made him kind of lose patience. A bed that was on the ground. I had some female clothes on there, and what I would later quickly piece together was a condom.

As we were looking, there was a red X sprayed on the wall. And then there was a writing down below. "Condemned, to be destroyed in Septemebr 1963." As they said this, I looked at Todd, and I was feeling like I might have gotten some more of the side effect than I was really wanting.

"Oh fuck, I was not expecting this to actually fucking work. I think that maybe what I told my dad might have some fucking bearing after all." I said, and I was sighing, feeling like nothing else would be able to make the situation at least slightly less bad.

"Great, now that means that one of the best leads that we got was ruined because you wanted the fucking truth to be revealed." After Joy was saying this, I sighed, feeling like there was nothing else that I could be able to say to make the situation better for us at all.

"I didn't think he was going to get to work on it right away. And besides, what is with this car in the first place?" I asked, in mor annoyance at what was happening. I patted it with my hands, and then I shrugged, not sure what to even fucking say now.

"I don't fucking know. Perhaps it was left gathering up everything. But if that is the case, then that means that it was just left behind within the last couple of days, at most. Maybe this means that we can get something together here." Joy said, starting to feel a bit better here. I was wondering if this was the way that she was hoping things would go now.

"See, now you are starting to come around to this. We know what we are doing more than you want to admit." Todd said, and then he smiled as he was looking at Joy, and wondered if she was wanting to hear his shit anymore. She shook her head, not interested in any of this anymore.

"This is a fucking disaster." Joy said, and I was hearing her having a slightly amused look on her face, feeling like she needed to just make fun of us no matter what was going on, in any circumstances.

"So I tried to let Brad know that you wanted him to go to the party. He said he was willing to go, but he was saying it was our fault that this all was happening in the first place. And I feel like I can kind of see where he is coming from." Todd explained, and I was hearing him sounding like he was clearly not really in the mood to be hearing what excuses Joy was having for him. She looked down, and kind of felt bad for that as well.

"Look, I am sorry for that. But I think you need to think about where he is coming from. As a person who doesn't know everything, he might be thinking that you are setting things up. I mean, I will discuss this with him, and I will get him to calm down. But I feel like what he is saying does have some sensible conclusion." Joy said, and then Todd sighed, aware that she was going to be saying this.

"So just fucking tell him what happened, and maybe he will change his perception. You are making things worse by not telling him the truth." Todd said, clearly beyond his point of patience. As he was saying this to Joy, I saw her looking like she knew that what Todd said had a level of truth to this.

"I don't know if that is going to be wise." Joy said, and she was sounding like she wanted to just get out of this conversation as fast as possible. "At least we got another one of the fucking mines taken care of. At least that is fine." Joy said, and I was feeling like this was her showing that she was beyond the point of talking about this now, and I needed to just let the subject go for now.

"Fine, let's just go home. We all got what we fucking wanted." After Todd said that, he sighed, and then he was leaving the area, and I felt like everything that Todd said was a waste of time. I rubbed my eyes, and I was feeling like nothing else that I could say would even change the situation at all.

As I was leaving, and I was leaving Joy alone for a second, I saw her looking excited to just be alone for a moment, and not dealing with the shit that Todd was saying. Probably thinking that it was his fault that everything was happening in the first place. But this was not going to matter at the end.

…

Scene 12: Update

The next day, I was seeing Jenny once again, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and find something to tell her in order to make her feel at least slightly better, and not be making things much worse. "So, are you still hanging out with Kevin, and dating him?" I asked, and then I was seeing her looking like she was clearly not in the mood to deal with this at all.

"Yeah, we are still going well. Honestly, I am going to be real with you, I would rather be hanging out with him, than doing all this investigation stuff. To be honest, I feel like I never really want to be looking into any of this anymore." After she was telling me this, I was sighing, since I felt like having this discussion with her wasn't going to be helping me at all.

"Sorry that I tried to make things any worse. I thought that maybe you would have wanted to be look into this much more than you did, and I thought that with your interest in learning about your mother, that we would pull this together. But I hope that maybe you can forgive me." I said, and I felt like I just needed to try and fucking do as much damage control as I could do here.

"Don't bother Sheldon. I already know that nothing I can say or do would be making things any fucking different. To be honest, I just feel like the fact that you are working with us as much as you have, I feel like I need to take it." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, feeling like I just needed to be much more careful here.

"Wow, I was just trying to fucking give you some suggestions, and here you are, throwing away every single thing that I am saying. But I guess that makes sense, considering the fact that you are just wanting to move on here. Not that I can really blame you." I said, and then I was shaking my head, feeling no need to get any further here.

"I mean, I just feel like I need to hear what Kevin is telling me. You know, about the fact that you and Todd are fucking hungry for answers, and nothing else. And as much as I might not agree with him here, I do sort of see what he is saying." After she said that to me, I was sighing, feeling like I just needed to let her have what she said, for our own sake.

"Todd has been saying that as well too. I feel like when so many people are saying this, then maybe there is a small level of truth to what they say. As much as I fucking hate to admit it." I said, and then I shook my head, wondering why I was even saying this in the first place.

"I should just remain silent. I am only making things worse by constantly getting in your business right now." After Jenny said this, she just decided to not be saying too much else, to not create too much controversy with all of our stuff.

"I can tell you are planning on going on a date with him soon. I can see it from the look on your face, that you are just trying to get ready to be with him." I said, and then after I said that to her, I saw her shake her head. Not really in the mood to be discussing things with me right now.

"Yeah, I do want to go on a date with him. But Sheldon, can you promise me that no matter what is happening, you are not going to let Kevin get himself in danger? Just stay with him, and be there for him as much as you can." After she said that to me, I was slowly nodding, feeling no longer the need to be saying much to her.

"I think that Kevin is the last person we need to worry about when it comes to danger. The fact that he refuses to basically do anything, and not get too deep into this is a good sign that he will be the only one that is truly safe when the time fucking comes." After I said that to Jenny, I saw her looking like she was refusing to fucking buy a single word of what I was telling her.

"That man in the purple jacket is only making things worse for him. He is coming to me every single day, and he tells me that the man seems to be getting closer and closer. That contract termination only seemed to buy him a few days. You did not get him away nearly as much as you thought he did." Jenny said, and I wondered if I needed to tell Sam what she had just told me.

"I think we need to be telling Sam this, and we can see if he is going to be able to change this." I said, and she was shaking her head, and I saw that nothing I could say to her would make things any fucking different. I looked away, feeling a loss of the will to argue.

"Don't tell Sam this. Don't fucking make this worse than it already is. Kevin is already at his wits end, and I feel like you need to fucking remember that this is the opposite of what he needs." Jenny said, feeling like the argument here was only going to be getting worse for both of us here.

"I hope that you know what you are talking about." I said, and I decided to not fight this, for both our sakes at this rate. But I saw Jenny looking like she was not in the mood to debate anymore. But I figured for her sake, it was best to remain silent.

…

Scene 13: Back Room Confession

Later on, I needed to speak with Sam. I needed to get him to realize that none of the work we had been doing have been having jack shit of a effect on making Kevin safer. And that maybe this was something we needed to be more careful here.

When we were meeting up, I was feeling like I just needed to be much more careful with how I was going to approach this subject. Knowing that no matter what I said, Sam was going to be convinced that I was personally attacking him, and I felt like I needed to just not let him have the ammunition to have these feelings.

"Sam, I feel like I need to tell you something that you are never going to want to fucking hear. And I hope that you forgive me for this. But it is relating to Sam." I said, feeling like I just needed to approach this with as much humility as possible.

As I said this to him, he looked at me, and I was seeing him looking like he was just hoping that I would be much more careful with what I was saying. "Kevin, I have done everything that I can to try and make this fucking work. Don't tell me that I have failed here." After Sam was telling me this, I sighed, feeling no way to get out of this.

"I need you to get back to fucking reality, and not be fucking lying to anybody at all." I said, and then after I was telling him this, I saw him looking furious with the way that I said this. "But regardless, I have reason to believe that the man in the purple jacket is still trying to get Kevin to work with him. Fucking restraining order and termination of contract be fucking damned." I said, feeling like I just needed to get him to hear what I said.

"No way would he be stupid enough to do something like this. Surely if he did try to do that, then everybody would be able to fucking notice." After Sam was saying this, he was sounding like even he was not buying it for a moment. Probably wondering what he would do to make things different

"Sam, I feel like you need to be much more careful about what you are feeling. I think we both know that your reluctance to be seeing the truth is going to be furthering this fucking lie." I said, and I saw Sam looking like he was starting to sort of see that what I was saying was me just trying to fucking help. But he didn't want to hear it at all.

"I need to talk to Kevin soon. Maybe he would be willing to fucking listen to me now. Thanks for being honest with me dude. I needed that more than I needed anything else." He said, and then after he was telling me this, I sighed, feeling glad to hear that he was willing to open up for once.

"Just make sure that you do not get hurt while you are doing this. I think that Kevin needs to know that you are still on his side before anything else." I said, hoping that for once, he was not wanting to fucking fight with me here. As I said that to him, I started to walk off, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and find something to tell him. To keep things more real with him.

"Sam, I know you might not want to hear this, but I feel like there is a good chance that you are going to have to take matters into your own hands. Completely and totally. Kevin needs the fucking assurance, and I feel like that is what you can give him." I said, as I was seeing the look on Sam's face turn into a face of utter and pure horror.

"You are right. I might not want to fucking hear you admit that, but the truth is that I have known for a long time that if I want to destroy what this man is doing, then I have to fucking do this on my own." Sam said, finally gaining some confidence in what he was saying for once.

"But Sheldon, if something happens to me, like I fucking die, then can you promise that you will take over? You know, keep my fucking brother safe. That is all that I fucking care about right now." As Sam was getting more clarity, I felt like there was no reason to be fighting his fears, and fighting the feeling that he was getting. That he was not enough for everybody.

"I will do whatever I can to keep Kevin safe. You have my fucking promise." I said, and I was seeing him calming down as he was hearing this. Probably aware that I would fucking keep Kevin safe, no matter what was to come, and I was feeling like there was no reason to make things worse.

"Thank you. But I will try and take care of things myself. Without having anybody else at my side. I feel like this is a battle that I need to be doing on my fucking own." After Sam said that, I was hoping that he would not be taking this whole thing too fucking far.

I slowly nodded, feeling like there was no reason to be fighting him. No reason to be trying to act like I knew my shit better than he did, when in all honesty, I was fucking way out of this compared to him. I took a cigarette out, aware of the promise that I just made him for his brother.

As we were driving off, I was starting to head to the forest once again, and I was seeing Sam looking utterly horrified at what I was doing. Probably wondering what my fucking plan was, when I was not giving him any insight.

"Dude, what the fucking hell, we need to be more careful about what we are fucking doing here. These people are probably watching every single fucking movement that we are making right now." Sam said, and he was on the verge of yelling at me at the top of his lungs as he was saying this. I sighed, and I was feeling like I just needed to let him have his moment.

"Joy need us to be going down there, and finding out the truth of every single mine in this town. That is all that I have to fucking tell you. If you do not want to be working with me, then that is fine. But do not fucking tell me what I am needing to fucking do right now." I said, barely keeping my annoyance at bay. As I did this, I saw him looking like he wanted to hit me in the fucking face.

"God damn it, I feel like you are missing the fucking point entirely. I swear before long, you are going to be the fucking death of me, and I have no other way to fucking put it." After Sam said that to me, I saw him looking like he was wanting to send daggers to me, but decided yelling at me wasn't worth it.

I got out of the car, and then I looked at Sam once again. "Let's not forget, you are the one that wants to fucking help your brother here. So you have no fucking way to back down here." I said, and then I was seeing him looking like he was beyond the point of wanting to fucking argue with me on this at all.

"Okay, I feel like trying to change what is happening is only going to be making things worse. After all, you are right, I do want to fucking help you guys." After Sam said this, we were looking along, and I was feeling like I just needed to give him a basic run down of everything that had been going on at this point in time.

"Todd, Joy, and I have been looking around Wayside, trying to find the various mine entrances. Feeling like if we look around hard enough, we will be able to find the fucking screw that will pop this whole damn thing loose." I said, and then I looked at Sam, wondering if he would be willing to hear what I said.

"Why would there be anything at the mines? Nothing is being worked on there anymore. I think that this would be a waste of fucking time." Sam said, and then he shrugged, simply not feeling much interest in speaking further here.

"There have been random things, such as beds, and one of the mile markers, that have been found. So I feel like you need to be giving it much more credence than you are wanting to admit. If you would just simply be fucking patient, then you wouldn't be acting like there is no fucking answers." I said, and I shrugged, simply not in the mood to hear much more of this mans whining here.

"Wait, hold on, what is going on over there?" Sam asked, suddenly changing the subject, and I was feeling like I just needed to be calm and collected while he was leading the way away from what we were supposed to be doing. But as we were walking closer, I was seeing that he was bringing us to the tree house again.

"We are not fucking going there dude. This is going to be a waste of fucking time." I said, holding back my patience as I was telling him this, and I was seeing Sam looking like he was hardly giving a single shit what I was feeling, and I was feeling like it was best to just let him have his fucking moment.

"Would you just shut up for a fucking moment, and let me just handle things for once?" Sam asked, trying to hide how fucking pissed he was at me. I sighed, and I felt like it was best for both our sakes to not be getting in his business here. Knowing full well he was having no desire to debate with me anymore.

"So what are you fucking planning on doing here?" I asked, feeling like I needed to be gently getting him to communicate with me what his fucking plan was. Sam looked at me, pissed that I was not really fucking seeing the effort that he was putting into the subject, and I felt like I needed to fucking calm down, and not be too rude to him.

"Why is Mr. Wilson's car there? And the Sheriff? And even Jimmy White?" He asked, and then he looked at me, considering what he was going to be saying, and considering how he was going to be saying this to me, and not be utterly fucking pissing me off here, since I knew before he even started, that this was relating to my fucking father.

"Dude, do you think it might be possible that your father might be involved in this honesty? I mean, he is the one who is over riding everything, and I feel like there is a level of accountability that you need to be giving him depending on how fucking deep he is going here." Sam said, as he was staring down, feeling like he was needing to hear what they were all going to be saying to each other, before we were just leaving the subject alone.

"The next transaction is already on the route." The sheriff said, and then he was taking a cigar out, and smiling as he said this, as if proud of the fact that he was admitting to the fact that he was throwing everybody that he knew in this town down the drain for his own benefit.

"Business is having to be done so fast with all the connections that are being made. Shaun is unable to meet demand, and now he is getting to the point where even people who are just casually noticing this stuff are starting to see how things are going. I think this man needs to be much more careful about not getting too close to the fucking sun." Jimmy said, and he was sitting down on his car.

"Are things lined up, Mr. Wilson? You do know that your turn is expected to be coming up soon, and that it is only a matter of time before people expect you to fucking deliver." After Jimmy said that to his business partner, Harold's father looked like he was rather disgusted at the fact that he was being targeted.

"My son is noticing what I am doing. I don't think there is too much that I can do to console him. I mean, we are talking about his fucking girlfriend after all." Harold's dad said, and I was unsure of how I was going to take that. Knowing that they were going to be targeting Jackie next, was almost too good to pass up on.

"You are holding everything up with your bullshit right now. Sooner or later, we are going to have no fucking choice but to just do this. At least with this idea, we are giving you a chance to handle things nicely." Jimmy said, and then he was calming down, thinking of a new way to make his point, to get Harold's father to not feel attacked.

"Look, you said it yourself. You said that you are feeling like your son is no longer a child, and that soon enough, he is going to have to take the responsibilities of vice president more seriously. I don't mind your mindset of waiting until he graduates. But that is only ten months away." Jimmy said, and then the sheriff was laughing as he was taking another cigarette out.

"Why do you guys always act like what you are talking about is somehow the deepest shit in the history of the world? We both know that no matter what happens, most people are going to forget about everything you are doing after a fucking week." After the sheriff said this, he was then feeling like he was just needing to pick his words carefully.

"I will admit that Mr. Lee is really making things hard. Always listening to what his son wants him to do. That man is going to fucking cater to his kids every needs, and make things worse for everybody involved. I fucking guarantee it." After he said this, I was ready to ball my fists, and get down there for a fight. But Sam placed his hands on my shoulder, to not get me to do something this stupid.

"The irony is that this man has some of the worst dirt out of everybody that can be dug up, and everybody is forced to just let it go because he has become the beacon of hope in this town the last seven years. And that son of his is basically the ultimate paragon that lets people under thirty believe there is a fucking chance." Harold's father said, with a level of pure disdain in his voice, that was beyond tangible even to myself.

"Don't let your angers towards that guy get in the way of everything else. We know that he hates the way he hangs out with your son. You made that extremely fucking clear. But making a fucking scene out of this isn't going to be helping anybody out." Jimmy said, trying to just calm the situation down, and not be making it much worse.

"I just wish that I was able to get my son to see that everything he is doing with this guy is the biggest mistake he could possibly make. But regardless, I guess that you're right. I need to move forward with the transaction with Jackie. I know my son will probably never forgive me. But hopefully I won't be alive when he learns the truth." He said, and I felt like I just needed to fucking expose this shit as fast as I possibly could.

"Triple the price too. People are having greater demand, and now have to pay triple the price for getting top priority. I might not like how the rules are, but that is how it works, and that is how it will always be." The sheriff said, and then I was looking at Sam, and I was feeling like there was no more denying what was happening here, for either one of us at this rate.

With that, they were all leaving, and driving off. Sam looked at me, and I was feeling like I just needed to calm down, and I just needed to find something to say, in order to make myself feel better about what I was hearing. Not able to comprehend what they were saying about my father.

"I know you do not want me to admit it, but I feel like you need to now see the truth. Your father is involved in this shit, and at this point in time, there is no fucking way you can fucking change it." He was saying, and I heard him sounding like he was trying to not hurt me when he said this.

"The girls are fucking slaves of drug trafficking. At least now we finally know the fucking truth." I said, and I sighed, feeling like the truth was both really nice to know, and the worst thing in the entire fucking world to deal with at the same time. And I hated every second of it now.

…

Scene 14: Must Warn Them

Later on, I was meeting up with Sam, and I was feeling like I just needed to finally make him feel much better about what he was hearing. I knew that there was no way in hell that could be able to make things any different. "I think you need to go on and fucking tell Harold what you found. He might not want to hear it, but I do not fucking care anymore." After he was saying this to me, I was sighing, feeling like there was nothing that I could fucking do to change his mind.

"If Harold knows his father is setting his girlfriend up for death essentially, then everything that we worked on is going to be thrown down the fucking drain. And I think we both fucking know this." I said, trying to get him to fucking calm down, and not get too upset about what I was doing.

"Yeah, but that will fully show us what side Harold is really on. If he really supports you, or if he is just trying to fucking get your guard down. This is the best chance we have here." Sam said to me, and I was sighing, feeling like I just needed to remain quiet.

"I guess that maybe this does make some sense. God damn it, I hate the fact that this is what we are having to get ourselves into." I said, sighing, feeling like there was no need to stay away from the truth any longer.

As we were getting in the car, I was sighing, since I Was feeling like we needed to come up with something that we could both be able to fucking agree with. "I think we need to just make sure that Kevin does not know the truth. After all, Kevin can be rather sensitive with this shit." I said, and then Sam was slowly nodding, as if feeling like there was no need to even argue with that.

"Well, maybe that is a sign that he isn't fucking crazy enough to do something stupid as hell." After Sam was saying this, I was just hoping that Harold would be willing to fucking hear what we were going to fucking tell him. Maybe if Harold knew that this was the truth, then he would finally see that there was no reason to be hiding behind any form of bullshit anymore.

We parked at Harold's house, and I was just hoping that nothing I could say or do would be making anything much worse here. "Sheldon, I think we both know that I am fucking right. We need to fucking tell him everything that we know, and not be giving off any bullshit." After Sam said that to me this, I just felt like any form of fighting him was only going to be wasting both of our times going forward.

Eventually, when there, Harold was already getting ready to hang out with Jackie, and I was having a feeling that no matter what I told him, he was simply going to be over reacting, and blowing this to sky high without any fucking leads.

"Harold, we need to tell you something about Jackie. It is related to your father, and we feel like you need to fucking know." I said, and then I was seeing him looking kind of confused at what I was trying. Probably feeling like I was trying to play a fucking game with him here.

"Can you at least make it quick. If you are going to tell me some bullshit to not date her, then I will not want to fucking hear it." After he said that to me, I was sighing, feeling like trying to get him to fucking listen was only going to be the hardest thing in the entire world.

"We think your father is selling Jackie off as a way to make you have a greater focus on getting the job done. He doesn't fucking care about her, or what is going on with her at all." I said, feeling like I just needed him to fucking see the truth ahead of time.

As I said this to him, I saw that Harold looked like he genuinely did not believe what he was saying. Probably feeling like I was just trying to give him a level of bullshit here. "Sam and I heard the conversation at the tree house. With him, the sheriff, and Jimmy White." I said, and the entire time I was speaking, I saw Harold looking like he was just barely keeping his patience.

"Why would my fucking father do something like this? He knows how happy I am with her, and he knows that I would do everything for her." After he was telling me this, I sighed, feeling like I was never going to be making anything better for him.

"And the worst part is that deep down inside, I know that he might be willing to fucking do this. But that is something that I can't really get over. I thought I was closing the bridge between him and I." Harold said, and he was clearly just tired here, probably thinking that all bullshit was gone.

"I am going to see my father, and see what he might fucking know. Perhaps if I see him, then he would be willing to at least hear what I have to fucking say." After he said that, Harold sighed, kind of feeling no fucking need to hide anymore.

"We just feel like you deserve to fucking know the truth. And that is something that I hope you can fucking take with you." I said, and then I sighed, wondering if he would actually fucking listen to me for once. But then I saw him looking tired, and he was heading to his car, not even so much as wanting to speak with us for the time being.

"Okay. I will just have to see what I can fucking get from this. I hope that my father will do a damn good job explaining himself before I feel like I am about to blow a fucking gasket." After Harold said that, I was seeing him looking like he was just totally overt this whole thing.

"If you need any help, just tell me what is going on, and I will do my best to fucking help you." I said, and then Harold was raising his hand, as if not wanting to hear a god damn word here. I was starting to head on to my car, feeling like I was really risking things getting worse between all of us.

"I don't want or need any help. This is something that I need to do without any help. I trust that my father has his reasons, and I am going to just simply try an fucking learn what they are. But before that, I need to just go on my date with her. At least when she is with me, then I do not need to be worried about where she is or anything like that. Thanks for standing by my side when nobody ever fucking does." Harold said, and then got in his car. Before he drived off, I decided to tell him what I was thinking.

"That attitude about not wanting or needing anybody to help you? That is the shit that I am getting myself into. It has made people fucking hate me, and think that I was this horrible human being. I do not want something like that from you. You know that Jackie will not want to hear anything like this." He said, not seeming to want to hear what I was doing.

"Yeah, I know that what I am doing is destructive. But do you seriously think that I fucking care at all? I have to understand that I need to accept what I am doing. But I feel like if Jackie hears this, then she might go a wall, and she might be doing things herself. At least with this, I have a small chance of pulling this off." Harold said, and I didn't buy a single word of what he said.

As he was gone, I was looking at Sam, feeling like I just needed to stand my ground with the shit that Sam was doing, since the truth was that he was making things so much worse for everybody else involved.

"You got what you fucking wanted. Are you fucking happy now? Now he probably hates us for the shit that we did." I said, and then I was sighing, feeling like I just needed to calm down, and not be yelling ta him for doing what he was feeling like was right.

"I will admit, I didn't expect him to react that way. But I guess that something like this does make some sense. But what else can I fucking say dude? You seem to just always have a fucking sense of knowing what you really want." He said, and then he was going to his car, where I was feeling like the best choice of action was to just remain silent here.

"Let's just fucking go, and pick this fucking talk up later, when I am in the fucking mood to be dealing with this." I said, and I was feeling that sort of putting my foot down was all that I could accomplish. As I was starting to leave, I wondered if Sam even knew what we were supposed to be doing.

As I was driving off, I wondered what I was even going to be doing now. "Sam, I am sorry that I was such a bad friend earlier. I got so fucking wrapped up in this. And the truth is still there about your fucking brother. But nothing is going to come out of this." I said, feeling my apology was something that I just needed to say to make him feel better.

"Don't bother. This whole thing just feels wrong. And I feel like I made some mistakes by not taking things seriously from the start. I mean, yeah sure the man in the purple jacket is gone. But the truth is that sooner or later, somebody else will come along and start this whole bullshit up yet again. Nothing we are going to do will be making things any different." He said, and then I was feeling like nothing else I could say would make any difference.

"You never knew how bad it could be getting. Nobody fucking did. Trust me when I say that. I want to just let it be known that it really is not just fucking you." I said, and I was hoping that saying this would finally get him to fucking calm down, and not feel like he was about to fucking explode.

Before long, I saw Sam just looking absolutely out there, and no longer like he was certain of his feelings. Like he was in a dangerous mindset, and I wondered what I could even change from the bigger picture.

…

Scene 15: Nice Love

I was seeing Harold later on, and I was feeling like I just needed to hear what was on his mind. Not try and fucking give any bullshit, or make things any worse for him. I felt like I just needed to really hear his opinion on what we were telling him with Jackie.

"Harold, sorry about the news with Jackie. I mean, I should have realized that you probably did not want anything to do with that. And here I am, just making things worse for you." I said, and then I saw him looking kind of tired, and I saw him looking absolutely uninterested in what I was trying to fucking tell him.

"No, I am glad that you told me everything that you learned. That way I can fucking know what the hell I am going to do. I need to just try and speak to my father about what he knows, and I feel like I need to no longer hold back from my father here." He said, and then I looked at him, hoping he wouldn't fucking get too deep here.

"Are you going to fucking kill him?" I asked, when I was seeing the look on his face. Seeing how fucking furious that he looked. I was not wanting to do this, even though he had a million good fucking reasons to.

"I am going to be tempted to do so. But I feel like if I do that, then everybody is going to automatically assume that I had something to do with it. And I am not going to be giving his friends the satisfaction of knowing that I know what they were doing." Harold said, and I saw him looking tired.

"Why not just leave this to somebody who no longer cares if people hate him or not? I mean, you can fucking leave it to me." I said, and then I was looking at him, wondering if he was willing to hear what I was telling him. He simply seemed to not care at all.

"I don't know. Don't ask me to give you some fucking deep answers that I have never thought much about. I just know that I am going to talk to my father, and I am going to try and work something out with him. Maybe we can come to a understanding…" He said, hoping to at least get me to consider what he was saying.

"Okay. But how are you and Jackie doing? Have things gotten worse since you found out? You know, just due to the lingering anger that comes from this?" I asked, and I was seeing him looking like he had no interest in really having this debate at all.

"I am just focused on our love story. Nothing more. Nothing fucking less. Simple as that. Jackie deserves to have a person who can take care of her at her side. Not a man who is only just fucking everything around, and only merely pretending to have all the answers.

I got in Harold's car, as we started to drive on over to Jackie's house, where I was seeing Harold trying really fucking hard to have at least a relatively mixed emotional opinion on this whole thing. If such a thing was even possible.

"Just don't bring anything like this up with her when you speak with her. Keep this fucking shit away from her, and the two of us will be able to fucking get along." After he was telling me this, I was seeing Harold looking like he was no longer in the mood to have any discussions relating to this at all.

"Okay. Fair enough. I wouldn't want to know if I was basically the main target of some fucking trafficking crime." I said, and then I was feeling like I just needed to ask him something else. Something he would not want to answer. But I hardly fucking cared.

"Do you still want to try and find a different solution than your father being involved?" I asked, and then he shook his head. I was wondering if he was just being stubborn, or feeling like he was needing to see reality for what it was.

"No, my father is the one behind it all. And we fucking know it. Lying about it is only going to be making things worse, and I feel like I just need to get over my fear, and my uncertainty." Harold said, and then I felt like there was no longer any point in fighting him on this anymore.

Once we were seeing Jackie, she looked over at us, and I was seeing that she was both really happy, and really scared. Happy for the sight of Harold. But her fear over seeing me here, when she knew that me being around always meant shit was about to hit the fan, I just decided to not say much, unless if absolutely important.

"Don't worry about me. I am just simply hanging out with Harold. I have no fucking stakes in this." I said, trying to make her feel at least slightly better. As I said this, I saw her looking like she was trying really hard to not be super upset over what I would clearly mean.

"To be honest, I really don't even need to be here. I am just trying to help a friend, and make him feel better about the shit he is getting himself into." I was trying to be making her feel as nice as I possibly could about this.

"Harold, you seem like you are kind of on edge lately. Do you want to tell me what has been bothering you lately? I mean, maybe we can fucking work something out." She asked, and I was seeing Harold looking like he was kind of fucking tired, and I was seeing him looking like he was scared to tell anybody about the truth.

"Honestly, I am just scared of losing you. I don't want to see you gone, and I want to have a good life with you when we graduate. I have seen you for a little over a month now, and every time I see you, I start to feel like I am becoming a better person." After Harold was telling her this, I was seeing her looking utterly shocked to be hearing him admit to something like this.

"Getting sentimential, are we? Thanks for saying that. But what has gotten you so interested in telling me this?" She asked, and then Harold looked like he had wanted to just get out of this. But then he looked at her, and I was seeing him looking like he was kind of warming up to the idea of just being purely honest with her, no matter what.

"Don't fucking make fun of me. You are the first person that I have ever met in my entire life that I know that I want to really make things work with. You have been willing to listen to me on all my shit, and you have actually made me feel like I matter when talking to anybody. I feel like it would be a massive mistake to be letting things slide right now." After he said that to her, I saw that Jackie considered what he was telling her.

"Okay, sorry, you're right. I do need to show more civility when I talk with people. I just guess that it is all so strange to me. Knowing that there is somebody in the world who truly values me as much as you say." She said, and took a sigh, not wanting to get any further than that.

"But Harold, I am going to be safe. There is no reason or anybody to fucking consider me. You need to just look at the life you have, and you need to be happier." After she told Harold this, I saw Harold looking like he wanted to fight her as much as he could here. Hoping to see her admit that she was wrong.

But when he was clearly seeing that she had no intention to be doing so, and she was sticking to her fucking guns the entire time she was saying this, that was when Harold was sighing, and he was feeling like when she knew the truth, then things would change. But until then, he would give her the happiness of being oblivious.

"I will need to be going. You guys are clearly needing to talk for a bit, and I feel like I need to respect that." I said, feeling the need to at least pretend like I was still able to show professionalism here. As I was leaving, that was when I was starting to feel like sooner or later, Harold will have to own up, and just tell her the truth.

"Sheldon, wait. Hold on before you fucking leave." She said, and then I looked at her, wondering what bullshit she was planning on telling me now. I took a cigarette out. Not in the mood to listen to her try to make any fucking excuses for what had been happening.

"I wanted to just apologize for the way that I was acting earlier. I know you are just trying to help your friends, and that I should be more patient with you and everything that you have been doing. I guess that I am just frustrated, and upset at the bullshit that everybody in town presents. You know, I feel like what I am saying is valid enough." She said, and I sighed, feeling like I just needed to play along with what she said.

"Don't worry about it. People make assumptions about me all the time. Nothing that I really want to deal with anymore. People just seem to think that I am this fucking incompetent idiot who can't fucking handle his shit at all." I said, and I was hoping to get her to feel bad for the shit that she had been saying to me lately.

"Wow, you have away of making yourself always come off as the one being attacked. Regardless, I just wanted to let you know that I had been thinking about some of the stuff that I said and did, and I feel like I just need to possibly change my way of doing things. After all, us hating each other is not going to fucking help." Jackie said, and then I opened up the door.

I was in no fucking mood to deal with it. "I mean, I have heard great things about you from Harold, and other people. I just guess that I didn't think of the idea that somebody who was praised that much would really fucking deserve it. Especially when the praise seems to come from trying to fix something that is too broken to fucking fix."

"I thought that you guys would have at least wanted me to fucking try. This goes beyond my fucking sister. My fucking girlfriends, or whatever. I mean, people die sooner or later. If it was just Riley, then I would have let things go. You know, bad luck, shit happens. But this is beyond everything." I said, and then I was balling my fist together, hoping to make my fucking point.

"But how do I know that you are not in on it? You know, like your father might be. He is the mayor of the fucking town. He probably knows more about what is happening than any of us ever will, and he is here just letting it all go." She said, and then I was wanting to argue with her. But then I was choosing to come up with a different response.

"Go and talk to your boyfriend if you want to talk about people who are unreliable. His father is one of the most corrupt people in the entire business. And we are just supposed to let that one go." I said, and I was seeing Harold looking furious at what I was doing.

"My father is not me though Sheldon. We all know that I am not my fucking father. I deserve to be given another chance." After he was telling me this, I was smiling, knowing that I was getting him flustered. Because this was showing that he was still a good guy, and not buying into stupid corporate bullshit.

"I never said you were. I know you are not. But your father is not one to be trusted." I said, and then I was starting to drive off for a bit, and I was feeling like I would only be making things worse for everybody if I kept this up. I needed them to be happy, and to do that, I needed to fucking go.

…

Scene 16: Reunion

When I met up with Joy later, I was wondering if I was even going to be able to get her to be willing to talk to me about her issues going forward. I was feeling like I just needed to see if Todd was able to fucking help us out here.

"Is there something bothering you right now?" I asked, as we were driving towards the mines, and I was feeling like I just needed to get her to open up, and I was wondering if I was going to have to pick Todd up before we went too deep into this.

"Todd has the fucking map. We need to get to him, and see what he fucking knows." I said, and then I saw her looking completely uninterested in what I was saying. "Look, if we do not bring him with us, then things are going to fucking get delayed. You know that bringing him along is the best option we have."

"I know he is, but I feel like bringing things to him, to just try and act like everything he said and did was right, and that I was a fucking idiot for ever thinking otherwise, is not something I want to fucking deal with." After Joy said that, I was feeling like her saying this was just a clear sign she wanted to take over.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be fucking doing this now." I said, and then I started to drive off towards his house again, and I was seeing her looking like she wanted to fucking strangle me for what I was doing. But then she just choose to remain silent.

"So you are basically doing everything your way, and you don't fucking care who you are walking over?" She asked, and I was slowly shrugging, feeling like I just needed to take what she was saying, and not even fucking deny what she said.

Eventually, I got to his house, and then Todd was already getting out, and he had his map with us, and I was wondering how long it was going to take for Mr. Wilson to start to realize what Todd had done, with taking the map, and I was choosing to simply not think about it at all.

"You should be giving me that map. That way I can just do whatever I fucking want, and not have to deal with people walking in my fucking way." Joy said, with a rather stern voice, and Todd was shaking his head, as if feeling like he was needing to throw that idea down the drain before it went any further.

"I am not going to give you this map. I got to create some insurance to make sure you don't run around, and do some insane shit." Todd said, and shook his head. As he said this, I was seeing Joy looking like she was sort of beyond the point of even fighting this.

As I drove along, I was feeling like Joy was going to find a way to get this. She knew that she was able to get whatever she wanted, if she was pushing hard enough. And she was able to use virtually every single excuse she wanted. And she knew that none of us were even going to be fighting what she was saying.

"You do realize that my father is going to able to know that it was you guys, and when he knows that you are going out of your way to go against my wishes, then I feel like he will be willing to assist me in bringing that to a end." Joy said, and then Todd was laughing as he was saying this.

"The man who literally sold you off to die? You are claiming he is the one who is going to be stopping this? I think you need to at least consider your threats before you fucking make them." Todd said, and then I saw her looking like she was officially at least considering what Todd was telling her.

"But the town doesn't know that he is the one that ordered the fucking hit. That might be able to give me some fucking time to get things to work." As she said that, I was wondering if she seriously believed that this was going to be able to fucking buy her amount of time at all.

"Yeah, that is true. But I feel like you are just trying way too fucking hard to make this work." Todd was saying, and we parked the car, and I was looking at both of them, feeling like I was just needing to place my fucking foot down when it came to this debate.

"You guys need to fucking stop with this fighting. Todd, we have six discovered, and we need to pick up from there." I said, feeling like I just needed to get away from this discussion. I needed Todd and Joy to at least pretend like they were willing to fucking work together.

"Sheldon, is there something you are aware of, that you are lying to me about?" Todd asked, and I was sighing, feeling like he was probably aware of my fucking cues, knowing that he had worked with me all this time. As he asked, I sighed, feeling like anything I could tell him would only be making things worse.

"No, just something that I found with Sam, and nothing that I want you guys to fucking know. If you ask about that again, then I will have to make you fucking drop the subject." I said, and then I saw from the look on Todd's face, that he was hearing what I said.

"I just thought that we were supposed to fucking trust each other, and you are not giving me this at all. I know that there are things that you do not want to tell me, and that is fair. But outright holding things back from me is no longer how things will work." He said, and I was feeling no need to discuss this anymore.

We got out of the car, and we were walking along, and I was seeing that Joy was clearly looking like he was thinking of a way to make me open up once again. Probably thinking that just some simple nudges were all that I fucking needed here.

As Todd and I were walking along, I was feeling like I needed to go at this with a much bigger level of safety net. Something that would buy me deniability in case if I needed to get the hell out of this. "Where is the next location we need to discover?" Joy asked, before I was able to find more excuses.

"I don't know yet. I haven't been able to focus on that as much as I wanted. That is my fault in all honesty." Todd said, feeling like he was needing to admit where he was messing up when it was time to do such a thing, although he clearly hated it.

"I think the next one is a while away, since we kind of went the wrong fucking way." Todd said, sounding upset with himself more than he was upset with anybody else. Which was nice, as at least I was getting my back off of things.

"Wow, if you wouldn't keep fighting with me all the time, then this would have never fucking happened." Joy said, and Todd looked at her, and while we were walking along, he seemed clearly beyond the point of anger with her way of treating him this whole time.

As we were getting on the right path again, I kept looking around, hoping nobody would notice what I had been doing, and I was hoping that before too long, I would stop getting so fucking uptight over things that really were at the end of the day, not that big of a deal.

Eventually, we were at the next mine, and when we were there, it had looked like it had started to just get covered by plants and other natural life, and as I was looking around, it was becoming increasingly clear that this place was not going to be a good hint at our investigation.

"Great, it seems like even beyond demolitions, we now have to deal with environmental over grow over time." I said, and then I was sighing, not really in the mood to be dealing with anything else right now

"I mean, I am surprised that it took even that long for us to find a mine like this. I mean, this type of thing seems like it would be really fucking normal." After I was saying this, I shrugged, hoping that they were going to consider what I had been saying.

Before long, I decided to at least try and go in, and see if I could be able to destroy this place. As I had been trying to bring it down, I was taking a long and deep breath, wondering why I was even getting myself into all of this in the first place.

"You are seriously going to go in there? Do you not know how much shit is probably in there right now, that you are going to be getting all over you?" After Joy was asking me this, I was laughing at her way of talking about this. Seeing just how grossed out she really was over something like this was absolutely hilarious.

"Well, at least I am not standing around, doing nothing and just judging people." I said, feeling like that was a good come back. As I looked at her, I saw her looking like she was kind of upset with the way that I counter attacked her. But she just choose to remain silent.

Once her and Todd both went in, clearly just out of feeling bad for what I was doing, they were looking around, and both were utterly grossed out by what they were dealing with. As we were all in there, we were seeing that the water above had also nearly caved in the area.

"I would have thought that at least one of these mines would have had the answers we needed. I thought that I was onto something." Joy said, clearly upset at herself over this, and I was feeling like I just needed to let her have her moment. Not really in the mood to argue.

"Well, it really did seem like you might have been right earlier. I mean, I hate to say it, but your theory was quite possible earlier. Sorry for not taking it more seriously." Todd said, and he was sounding like he was really regretting the way that he had treated her this whole time.

"Sometimes, I just don't want to deal with your guys bullshit. But I guess that you probably already know that rather well." Joy said, and I was hearing her tough presentation starting to break down a bit. Probably wondering if everything she said was even fucking worth it at all.

"Joy, you do not need to act tough anymore. We know that you are scared, and fucking hell, we both are too. This is something you are only making worse for you with your way of going at it." I said, and then I felt like there was no reason to be saying much else here.

"Let's just leave now. I am not really in the fucking mood to deal with you guys judging me right now." Joy said, and I was hearing her sounding like she was on the mold of breaking. I decided for her own sake, that I would just let it go. After all, like I was trying to tell her, she deserved better than what I was doing, and I was regretting my way of talking to her.

…

Scene ?: Brad Apology

I was talking with Brad the next day, and I was feeling like I just needed to approach him with a more direct fashion compared to how I had been going at things. Make him feel like I was not really attacking him at all, since in all honesty, I was feeling like doing this was only going to be making things worse.

"Hey Sheldon, I wanted to apologize for the way that I acted after you were telling me that Joy was giving me that invitation to the party. I was scared that you guys were just trying to fucking set me up with something, and I was scared that I was just becoming a fucking piece to a puzzle." After he said that to me, I was sighing, since I didn't want to hear him tell me that. I was hating the fact that he was basically throwing me under the bus. But I was feeling like I could kind of see where he was coming from, to a fucking degree.

"Look, I feel like you need to understand that Joy loves you too much to be doing something like this. You would not want to worry about something that she is doing." I said, and I was hoping that telling him this would be able to make him feel slightly better here.

"Honestly, I wished that I could believe everything you say. But the thing is that she has been hanging out with you all, and I fear that what you guys are doing with her are only making things worse." Brad was telling me, and then I sighed, feeling like I just needed to hear what he was saying for once.

"But I guess that I am no longer able to hide from what I have to do. So tell me, what are you and fucking Joy planning on doing going forward? Is it just you and Todd? A army of two bringing down this entire town?" He asked, and then I laughed, feeling like the way he was saying this was fair enough, and I could almost sort of see what he was telling me.

"No, I still have Sam and Kevin. And I think that I don't need to go into too much personal details when I say this, but Sam is going to be much more involved in this than you might be feeling like he will. There is some real personal stake that he has at the matter, and that is going to make him the best person we fucking can rely on." I said, and then I was seeing Brad looking utterly shocked as I was saying this to him.

"Okay, well I guess that I will have to listen to your fucking suggestions when you say that. Hopefully you actually know what you are fucking saying though. After all, this is some real fucking shit we are talking about here. And I feel like I need to know why Joy is so upset more than anything else." He said, and then I was sighing, not really wanting to tell him more there.

"Trust me when I say that something like this is not the way you expect things to go, and I feel like that still needs to be on her fucking terms." I said, feeling like I needed to just fucking stand my ground when I was telling him that I was absolutely not fucking budging when I was telling him this.

As I said that to him, I saw Brad kind of thinking about what to say. As I was heading to the car, and I was going to be leaving him alone, or leaving him to forced to come along for the ride. Either way, he was needing to fucking make his fucking choice, and I was no longer playing along at all.

"Sheldon, I want to try and fucking talk to Joy again. Maybe if she talks to me again here, then we can work something out here." Brad was telling me, and he was getting to the car with me.

The entire time that I was getting ready to sit down, I sighed, and I was feeling like I just needed to be more careful with the shit that I was wishing for. Knowing that nothing that I was going to be saying would be making things any better for us at all.

"Brad, I hope that you know that at the end of the day, I am truly at your side when I get involved in all of this. There is no other way that I can say that. But I feel like you have every right to be upset with Joy for the choices she is making. But I also know that she is allowed to make her own choices on the matter, without getting in her business here.

"Wow, I never thought that you would be saying that. In some ways, that makes me both feel better, and feel so much worse. Because now I can't help but wonder why she is doing her shit. I feel like I need to know more now." Brad said and then I was sighing, and I was feeling like what he was saying was making a lot of sense. But I choose to not make any statements on it at all.

"Just telling you what you need to fucking hear. You know, I feel like lying to you is only going to be making things worse." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with Sam with every word of what I said.

"Damn it. I never thought that I would be dealing with this right now. But thanks for telling me this. Maybe when I approach Joy with this statement, she will be willing to fucking talk to me about this shit again. Thanks for telling me that." He said, and then I was sighing, feeling like saying this was only going to be making things much worse for everybody involved, and I already regretted every word that escaped my mouth.

…

Scene 17: Todd's New Choice

Later that night, while I was with Todd, studying all the evidence that he had gathered up, I was seeing him clearly just losing his patience over what was happening. He looked like eh was about on the verge of having a fucking freak out. And I was feeling like I just needed to try and be there for him, to support him on the things that he had been dealing with.

"Todd, do you need somebody to talk to?" I asked, and then Todd looked at me, and I was seeing that he was clearly looking tired of all the shit, and like he just wanted to vent his annoyances at me for the stuff that he had been dealing with.

"Honestly, I just feel more and more like this bullshit about the towns mysteries is getting to me. I feel like everything that I have been doing is just making me lose my confidence that we can even fucking find something." Todd said, feeling no need to be lying to me about the way that he was feeling.

I was feeling like telling him about what Sam and I had dealt with earlier, seeing those people make it very clear that they knew everything, was just something that he needed to be spared. I felt like if he knew the truth, then he would probably have never wanted to speak to a single person again.

"Sam and I tried to go in the forest earlier, and tried to find something. But he seemed to not really have much interest in the subject, and I just kind of fucking gave up on it. I feel like Sam and I are never going to really find things out if we work together." I said, feeling like I needed to keep the lie up this time.

"When are you going to see that Sam and you are not a good duo, and are only making things worse? You guys get into debates all the fucking time, and you are setting us all back." Todd said, and then he was taking a long and deep breath, about to say something he knew he would regret.

"I am going to be heading back in there. Alone. And I am going to see what I can fucking find there. I feel like I need to just do things without having everybody constantly getting in my fucking way." Todd said, and then I looked at him, hoping he didn't really mean what he said.

"Todd, going in there alone is going to get you killed, and I do not want to be a part of that." After I said that to him, I saw Todd looking like he was not really wanting to hear much of the bullshit anymore.

"I know it might not be safe anymore. But at least I can be sure that I can take care of it efficiently. You know, that is all that I am shooting or at this point now. Efficient. But I feel like I need to just sort of see what you might know here." After Todd was telling me this, I was sighing, and I was feeling like there was nothing else that I could be able to fucking do to change this all.

"Sheldon, I want you to tell Maurecia that if something happens to me, that I was sorry for not being there for her, and for constantly brushing her off. You know, just being the worst type of person that she would be meeting." Todd said, and I felt like nothing else that I could be able to say to him would make him feel any different at all.

"Todd, if you are doing this, then you need to tell her yourself. She needs to hear from you that you are wanting to keep her safe. You do not need to be having me constantly cover up for your shit. And I can even be there for you, if you need to." I said, and then I shrugged, as I was seeing that Todd was looking like he was wanting to fight with this so fucking bad, but just remained silent.

"I guess that I can fucking do that. Damn it, I am not going to find myself liking this, aren't I? Okay, you're right… I will try and speak to Maurecia, and I will try and see if I could be able to get her to be more open with talking to me about this all." He said, as if hoping that if there was a god, he would be forgiven. I was seeing him start to leave, and not really want to have a discussion about this anymore.

"Sheldon, I know you gave been a great friend so far. And you have been there for me, trying to deal with my bullshit for once. In all honesty, I feel like you deserve better than dealing with me talking to you the way that I have, and I feel like it is all my fucking fault." He said, and then he shook his head, hoping that being as honest as he was would get me to at least talk with him a bit more.

"While you deal with Maurecia this time, then I feel like I might be able to take care of this myself. You talk with her, and I look in the forest, and I will find whatever I can fucking find." I said, as I was seeing Todd looking like he wanted to fight what I was doing.

"Alright. Let's meet up in a couple of hours. We can talk about this more then." After he said that to me, I slowly nodded, and then I was going to my car, feeling like Todd would be able to take care of things on his own, and I was wondering if I was making the right choice by having Todd just be all on his own without my help.

A couple of hours later, Todd and I met up again, while I was trying to take care of things, and while we met up again, Todd was telling me about how the meeting with Maurecia went, and to be honest, it went better than I was expecting to, given all the stuff going on: I'll give a paraphrase about what happened.

Todd was at Maurecia's house, and he was taking a second to collect his thoughts when she answered the door. "Hey Todd, how are you doing?" She asked, pretending like this was something that she was both expecting, and wanting to be doing.

"Before you say it, I know that I have been really doing a terrible job on working with you here. You do not need to be telling me this shit right now. But I was feeling like maybe it was time to work something out here. You know, see if we can recover this shit before too long."

"Todd, I just have been wondering if you were indeed telling the truth when you were telling me that us dating each other was going to be a terrible idea. I never wanted to admit it, but I feel like maybe you weren't wrong after all." Maurecia said, and Todd was almost feeling glad to be hearing her finally step up and tell him this.

"To be honest, I feel sort of the same way. I kind of feel like everything we have been doing lately has juts been driving us further and further away. And I feel so fucking sorry for that." After Todd said that, he hoped she would at least hear what he was saying.

"I mean, I still like you, and I still feel like if we work together, the whole thing will be turning out well. But I feel like realistically, your mind if already too set on other various things to really justify going forward with this shit." She said, seeming to think about how she was going to stand her ground.

"I had fucking tired to fucking listen to you here. But you were never wanting to fucking listen to me here. I thought that if I pressed you on this, and made things clear. But I feel like I understand what my father says. When he tells me that girls can be insanely stubborn." Todd said, trying to at least make it sound funny when he said this.

"I thought you were just being modest, and that to be honest, you were just trying to find a excuse to not have to go on a date with me. I never thought that what you were saying could have a level of truth to it. But now that I do know, I feel like I just was a fucking idiot for ever trying to deny things." She said, as Todd sighed at this statement.

"Maybe my brothers were right after all. Always telling me that I needed to fucking just focus on my grades, and actually look at my future. Always telling me that social bonds were bullshit. I mean, I never wanted to buy it earlier. But now, I feel like I need to just accept the fact that I do not know damn shit.' Maurecia said, and then Todd considered what to tell her.

"Hey, if for nothing else, at least you actually have compassion for people you know. If anything, you were the first person that made me fee like life in Wayside was not going to be too bad. I mean, Dana was a great help. But I feel like when I see you, and the stuff you always did, to just try and fucking help everybody out, I feel like you were always a better candidate with Dana was." Todd said, hoping he didn't seal his fate as he said that.

"I thought that you really like Dana, and that you were just trying to fucking prove yourself to her that you're bad shit man." Dana said, and she smiled as she was saying this, hoping to get Todd to feel slightly flushed out.

"Oh my god, you are not making this easy for me. I am trying to fucking apologize to you, and make you feel better. But you are not making this easy for me at all." Todd said, feeling like he was needing to just tell her the way he was actually fucking feeling here.

"The thing is that despite everything, and despite the fact that deep down inside, I do know that I need to probably just let things go for a bit, I still want to be with you. I want to try and fucking pull this whole thing together. And I feel like, as much as I am projecting here, that you are wanting to make this whole thing work out." She was telling Todd, and as she said this, Todd looked like he wanted to fight her, and wanted to get out of this. But just decided to remain silent at this.

"Yeah, I mean, sure it is projecting, but the truth is that I do want to make something work. Or at least try. I mean, I feel like that might only be making things worse. But things are already fucking miserable enough as it is. Might as well just run with it." After Todd was telling her this, he sighed, and he was seeming to regret everything he had fucking said here.

As Todd and Maurecia seemed to think about things a bit, both of them were clearly thinking about what they had just said, and what he was going to be getting himself into with all of this "So Todd, I know you are probably not wanting to hear me say this, but do you think that maybe we should be giving this another chance?" She asked, and Todd sighed.

"This is not a good idea at all. If you want to do this, then I feel like it is worth a chance. I just feel like we both need to be taking this more carefully." Todd said, and then he was thinking about what he was going to be telling her now.

"I think going forward, we need to establish a platform of pure honesty with each other. No more bullshit, and no more lying to each other to just give ourselves any credence." After she was saying this to Todd, that was when Todd simply had to take a second.

"I just hope you know what you are saying when you tell me that. I mean, this can really fucking go wrong if we are not fucking careful." Todd said, feeling like there was no reason to say much else. "I just wish that I could be able to tell that to other people, and they would be willing to fucking listen to him."

"I know that it can go wrong. But I think you of all people would say that it might be worth the fucking gamble. And that is all that I fucking want to do. This is something that we both deserve, and anybody who pretends otherwise is fucking insane." She was saying, and Todd just simply decided to keep things going quietly for a while.

"I will try. That is all that I can promise you. And I feel like Sheldon is right. I do need to be growing the courage to be talking to you all about the stuff that I am feeling, and not fucking lying here. I hate to admit it, but I feel like most of the time, he knows what to judge better than I do." Todd said, wondering if what he said could even make any difference.

"You really admire that guy, don't you? I think you need to just remember that at the end of the day, he is a person to, and that he is not perfect. So just try and remain careful here." She said, and then Todd was sighing, not really in the mood to be hearing this at all.

"I think that he is the best bet that we have in a very fucking corrupt world, and that is all that I need to be fucking saying." Todd said, and then he looked down at her, wondering if she would actually listen to what he said now. "I just hope that my hope isn't fucking misplaced."

When I looked at Todd, I was feeling like I just needed to be happy for him, since at least he was standing up for himself, and showing that no matter what was happening, he was still not giving up hope on this turning out well.

"Wow, so what do you think about doing now? I mean, we can't fucking go around chasing things that we are never going to fucking change." I said, and I was wondering if he would say anything. By this point in time, we were deep in the forest, and I was seeing Brad looking kind of scared of what we were doing here.

"You got something on your mind?" I asked, feeling like I needed to give him a fucking chance. "I mean, whatever it is you're thinking, it would be best for both of us that you just fucking spill it out."

"What the fucking hell dude? I was just thinking about what I was wanting to say in response. Truth be told, I feel like going in this forest so late at night is a terrible idea. I mean, I know you want to show Joy that you are fucking serious. But this is beyond something that either of us can fucking plan for." After he was saying this, he sounded like his patience was reaching its absolute limit.

"And to be honest, I feel like the whole idea that Maurecia gave me, about pure trust, and not giving each other bullshit, is the best idea that she has, and I feel like maybe I need to give it a chance. I mean, what is the worst that I can get out of this? Just people who might be thinking that I am kind of being a asshole?" He said, shrugging for a second.

"You were the one that said you would never be able to trust her judgment when it came to fucking anything at all, and here you are, suddenly going around, and fucking acting like she is the one person in the world who has a better idea what to be doing than everybody? This whole thing is just fucking ridiculous." I said, and then I was simply not really in the mood to deal with this.

"That was before she started to fucking make me feel like I am going insane with all the shit that I am doing. So yeah, of course I am going to be giving her a better sense of judgement than I was expecting." Todd was telling me, and I decided to just simply let it all go for now.

"Really, now of all times, you feel like you are going insane? Out of all the times in the world, this is what is finally fucking doing it? Not this bullshit that we keep acting like we can just pull out of our fucking ass." I said, trying to make him feel like I was being playful. But he simply didn't bother.

"In all honesty, just fucking leave me alone about this. I know that I am just finally making some progress here." Todd said, and then he sighed, feeling like his self worth was more important than anything else. "I just feel like I am getting closer and closer to no longer feeling like my contributions even matter anymore."

…

Scene 18: Kiss Under The Night

Remembering the time frame that I had to pick Brad and Joy up for their dates, I started to head towards their houses. I went towards Joy's first, mainly because I knew her more, and knew that she was more likely to want to be speaking to me than Brad would be, even if Brad was Iighting up.

Once I picked up Joy, I noticed she wore a purple dress this time, and she walked right in, as I was seeing her looking a bit more uncertain of what she was going to be feeling when she saw me here. "Thanks for helping me more than anybody else was willing to. I mean, I feel like when I talk with Todd and some other people, neither one of them care about me anymore. Probably all feeling like since this is going to happen anyways, there is no point in getting so worried anymore."

"And I know that you do not want to look into the forest as much as I do. I understand that I pissed you off when I did that, but I guess that I just felt like there was no fucking choice. Todd doesn't understand that I know what I am doing more than he probably knows what he is doing. He probably thinks of me as some form of a idiot, but I am not." Joy said, and she was trying to show her frustration at the whole thing, but just couldn't really explain it.

"I mean, I just don't know if there is nearly as much you will find there as you believe. But that is just my personal belief on the fucking matter. And I am not really in the mood to be arguing with you about this, since you already seem to be showing me that I am probably wrong." I said, shrugging as I said that to her, not sure what to tell her now.

"Sheldon, believe me when I say that I fucking know. And believe me when I say that my patience for this shit of you guys acting like I do not know what I am talking about is really getting on my fucking nerves. I know better than you do on some issues." Joy was telling me with a level of confidence, and assuredness that I never wanted to argue with.

"Okay, I just wanted to bring up the idea. I never wanted to be making you feel like I was attacking you. I really fucking didn't. I just feel like when I am here, then all the shit going on in town is just making me have a harder time believing what I am doing." I said, feeling like I just needed to more careful with my wording.

Eventually, I parked the car at Brad's house, and I was feeling like I just needed to find something to say to make her feel better. "I hope you understand when I tell you that it is ever my intention to make you feel like you are not being heard. I just feel like I need to be more careful going forward." I said, hoping to make her feel at least slightly better here.

Joy got out of the car before I had any chance to react. She clearly wanted to see Brad before she was doing anything else. Seeing the extra emphasis that she was putting on her paces made me smile. I wanted her to know that no matter what was happening, her happiness was more important to me than anything else was.

Once Brad was out of the house, with a black suit, I wondered what in the world I would even do to make things any different. I took a cigarette out, and I was wondering if this was a quiet summer fling, or if it was going to actually be something that would last much longer. But that would beg the question on if Joy was even going to be alive through the rest of summer break, or if she would fall victim to the bullshit in town.

He got in the car, and then he looked right at me, and I saw that he was wanting to just act like things were all casual around me. "So Sheldon, how have you fucking been tonight?" He asked, and I heard that he seemed almost too excited to even fucking care what was going on.

"I'm doing great. Not as great as you are though. With that fucking shit eating grin, and that level of confidence that I wish I had." I said, feeling like I just needed to let him have the moment. As I said that to him, I saw Brad looking shocked to hear me being so humble with him.

"Yeah, I mean, you can't have a date with the best girl in town and not be excited." Brad said, and then he patted Joy on the shoulder. I felt like that was a relatively odd symbol of affection. But I needed to remember that Brad was still relatively fresh on the social world, and that he was just simply doing the best he could.

"You are just giving me too much credit now." She said to Brad, and then Brad was shaking his head, not wanting to hear the fucking modesty either. So with that, I was laughing, and I felt like I needed to just get myself out of this whole situation, and not make things much worse.

"Take us there." Joy said, pointing to the fountain, and I nodded, not really feeling like it was a good idea to argue with the lady in town. So with that, I started to drive there. I was feeling like the fact that she was going to a nice secluded area was a sign that she wanted to make this the best night of her entire life, no matter what. They got out of the car, and were ready to go. I smiled, as I drove off, wanting to give them a couple hours.

As I was picking Brad and Joy up that night, I saw them both under the street light, and both of them clearly looked like they were enjoying the others embrace quite well. And as I was seeing this, I was suddenly feeling like maybe it was no longer in my place to be saying much, and that maybe I just needed to be careful.

"Brad, I just hope that things are not as I fear, and that over time, things will calm down, and that I can be able to be with you later." She said, and then after she said that to Brad, I saw him looking like he wanted to find more to say, but just simply seemed out of it for the time being.

"I hope so too. It is hard seeing you like this, unable to remain happy when you of all people deserve that chance more than anybody else." After Brad was telling her this, he simply seemed unsure of what to say about the subject.

With that, the two of them came in closer, and I was taking a cigarette out, and I felt like I just needed to be at their side for when this whole thing worked out. The two of them came in for a kiss, and I closed my eyes for a second, glad to know that their feelings for each other were now official, and that I just needed to take the moment that I could to just appreciate the fact that they were both moving along at a great rate, and that I did not really need to be making sure they moved along anymore.

As I was starting to drive off, I was seeing that both Brad and Joy looked over to see me, and they were both looking like they felt kind of sad to be seeing me drive away, and leaving them alone. Probably feeling like I wasn't really needing to do this anymore. But I decided to not say too much.

And in all honesty, I felt like I needed them to be happier without me. They were already having their own time together, and I did not need to be making it worse by constantly coming towards them, and constantly trying to infringe on the hours that they had with each other.

Besides, when I knew that in all honesty, they love was bigger than their fears of this town, that was more than enough to keep me happier. And when I saw that, I wondered if I was ever going to be able to have that feeling with any girl ever. Or if perhaps that was something that I could never be able to fucking get, and that there was no point in trying.

I went home, feeling a sense of utter clarity, and feeling like I would finally be there for them all when the time was right. And in all honesty, I was starting to feel like their feelings, as young as they might have been, were probably meant to be.

When I was nearly home that day, I was seeing that Brad and Joy were coming towards my place. I was wondering why in the world they were doing this in the first place. After all, I wanted them to be happier, and not worse with this.

I was about to leave, and when I was ready to go inside, when they caught up with me. "What were you wanting to talk about?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to be much more careful with what I was planning on doing.

"We saw you there, and you were seeming like you were ready to pick us up. Sorry that we did not see you earlier. I guess that you could say that we were just too in the zone to do anything." After she was telling me this, I saw her looking like she was regretting what she had said. Probably feeling really fucking bad for what had happened.

"Honestly, I am just trying to not be too worried about various things right now. But I fee like you need to see that no matter what happens, I will never get in the way of you guys feeling better." I said, and I was getting ready to leave, and drop the subject, before they tried to continue.

"Sheldon, is what Joy says true? That you guys are looking for the fucking mines, and trying to figure out the correlation between them all? If that is the case, then would you want me to be able to fucking help?" Brad asked, and I was looking down on the ground, and I was feeling like I just needed to hold back my uncertainty about this whole thing.

"Yeah, it is true. I mean, I thought that you would have never wanted to be looking into something like this in the first place. So I thought that I might be doing you a fucking favor by simply not forcing you into this shit." I said, thinking a bit more about what I wanted to do.

"Well, I mean, if it involved keeping Joy safe, and not getting her in danger, then it is a price that I am willing to fucking pay." Brad was saying, feeling like he needed to choose his words carefully here. "Sheldon, I do not want this to get any worse. Do you want me to be helping out?" He asked, and I sighed, not wanting to tell him no, since his safety was a huge priority.

"Honestly, I do not want yet another person getting involved in this shit at all. This is something that I am already regretting bringing anybody into as much as I have. But I guess that nothing I will be telling you will make things any different." I said, already aware that what I was saying was a lost fucking fight, and that I was wasting my time.

"But if it is to keep Joy safe…" Brad said, and I held my hand up, not wanting to be rude, but I needed him to see that I was not in the mood to have this discussion with him at all. I wanted this to end before it had a chance to begin.

"Brad, I do not want you to be getting involved in this, period. I am sure that Joy does not want you to be as well. And we will be keeping Joy safer than ever before. You need to give me a fucking chance here." I said, and I saw him looking like he was trying to consider what I was saying.

Brad looked at me, and then he looked at Joy, and I was seeing him looking like he was wanting to find something else to say. "Joy, how long is it I going to be taking for you guys to fucking trust me?" He was asking, seeming that his patience on the subject was completely fucking out the window.

"I really don't want this. I want us to just focus on what is best for us. Please do not bring yourself deep into this hole." She said, holding her patience back, and she was shaking her head, hoping that sooner or later, Brad would fucking calm down here.

"And Brad, I want you to just remember that the most important thing for you to be doing is making sure that you just remain focused on working on your friendships with everybody. I want this." She said, and then as she was saying this, I was seeing Brad looking like he was consider what she was telling him. Trying his best to not be angry at the whole thing.

"You're right. I need to just fucking clam down, and I need to remember that I care about what you want more than anything else." Brad was saying, and with that, I saw him calming down for a few seconds. "I just guess that in all honesty, I want to be useful for once in my entire fucking life." After he said that, he shrugged, not sure what he was feeling.

"You are being useful Brad. You're making me feel so much better every single time that we talk with each other. That is enough to make you useful." After she said that to Brad, I saw him looking like he was sort of seeing what she was telling him. He sighed, and calmed down for a few seconds, considering what to respond with.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks for telling me this. I need to sometimes open up, and see that maybe I am just not meant to do the same thing everybody else is." Brad was saying, and then with that, he looked right at me, and calmed down once again. "Thanks Sheldon. Please just promise me that no matter what is happening, you will be keeping her safe for me. That is all that I fucking want." Brad said, starting to calm down for once, and I was glad to know he was no longer upset at this all.

…

Scene 19: Reporting What We Saw

I was trying to talk to dad about what Sam and I saw. I felt like he needed to hear what we were fucking doing. Maybe he would actually take us seriously, if he was aware of how bad it was really going to be fucking getting.

"Dad, I need to talk to you about what Sam and I saw when we went to the fucking forest one time." I said, and then my dad was already looking annoyed at the fact that I was going to be basically trying once again to tell him what he was supposed to be doing with his fucking job.

"Sheldon, you and your friends need to fucking stop going in there, and let me be doing my job. This is getting insanely out of hand." My father said, and he was sounding like the longer he was dealing with this, his patience was never going to fully come back. As I saw this, I decided to approach carefully.

"That is not the point Mr. Lee. Many of us have been brought down by a fucking lie. One that is destroying the town." Sam said, feeling like the more he was standing his ground, and not letting my dad get in the way of what he was saying, the better things would be.

"Mr. Wilson, and Jimmy White, have been selling people. Sheldon and I fucking heard him have a transaction with the sheriff. They are destroying everything that people had been living for. I do not know why, and I do not know where these girls are going. But I feel like Mr. Wilson is the one who is behind this all." Sam said, feeling that the more he was standing his ground, the better things were going to be.

"You are making assumptions about some of the most trustworthy people that I have worked with. Jimmy White was the one that helped me with my investigation on bringing my daughter home when she went missing. If anything, I feel like I need to be there for him in his time of need." After my father was saying this to Sam, he sighed, feeling like he just needed to go at this gently.

"But what if Jimmy White was elected because of a lie? I mean, I do not want to think about that. But if he was lying to us all, then that would be making some fucking sense. Because he would know what we wanted to hear, and he would be able to give everybody just that. I do not have to like it, but I can't really trust this man." I said, not really sure if my statements were going to sink through to my father.

"So you are going to be ignoring reality, just so you can suit the issues you have right now? Sheldon, I really want to support your stuff, and I have to give you credit for the information you have brought forward. The information about the man in the purple jacket. You did a great job, but it is time to let the adults do what they need to do." My father, and then Sam was sighing, thinking about what he was wanting to say in response.

"Thank you for what you did. You did bring safety to my family. For that, you have my utmost gratitude. But the truth of the matter is that I believe that nothing people say is going to change what has been set in motion. That man is going to get what he fucking wants, and I am going to be fodder for his shit." After Sam said this, he was clearly giving off his disgust the more he was talking.

"And even if I wanted to be able to do more, the issue is that Lazarus is all set on corruption and buy out offers. Sometimes these things are what is needed to be done for a good economy. Economics don't have to be pleasant, but ignoring reality is not going to be making things better." After my father said that, I was sighing, feeling like I could see his point.

"I just feel like I am getting mixed signals. One day, you seem to the closest thing to true justice this town has to offer. But then on other days, you are just a buy out of it, and let it happen. I feel like I need the fucking answer." After Sam said this, I saw him looking like his feelings just needed to be shown, no matter how rough the feelings were.

"That is because I have a lot of hoops I have to be playing through if I want to make things work out. At the end of the day, I just have to do what is right for me and my family. And if that means that I never tell people what is truly going on, then that is a price that I fucking have to pay." After my father said this to Sam, he was thinking deeper about what he was even saying now.

"So you admit that at the end of the day, you are just trying to be a politician, getting what you need out of it at the end of the day. I thought that things were going to be different when we work together here." Sam said, and then my father was standing up, and he was taking a cigar out, just clearly out of his patience with the shit that Sam said.

"This has gone on too fucking long. You both need to get off the war path, and you guys need to just let me do whatever I fucking can to make it work." After my father was saying this to both of us, I saw him looking like he wanted to say more. But then just couldn't really have the will power to fight. Sam and I just left the room, not wanting to discuss this with him anymore.

Once we were out of the room, Harold looked at me, and I was seeing that he was looking like he was going to be taking a giant fucking gamble over what he was about to say. But I was feeling like I just needed to hear what he had to say, and get it over with.

"Sheldon, I think you need to see that your father is not the beacon of truth that you want him to be. He is clearly with holding information, and he knows what they are doing. I think that it would be best for you to just finally force the information out of him." After he was telling me this, I was taking a deep breath, not wanting to hear him say this.

"Not this today. I mean, I might be pissed off at my dad right now. Especially with all the shit that he does. But I feel like there is still some hope to be having right now." I said, and then I was wondering if I was able to even fucking buy what I was saying.

"Damn it Sheldon, when are you going to stop telling yourself what you want to fucking hear, and just see reality for what it fucking is? Your father just simply doesn't want the truth to be leaked." After he said that to me, I sighed, not sure what to even tell him now.

"But why would my father be upholding to these lies if he was aware what happened? I mean, this is his fucking daughter who went missing. There is no way he would allow something like this to fucking happen." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to consider what I was saying for the time being.

"Because your father probably knows what happened with Riley, and is either forced to remain silent for your guys sake, or he is the one that set it all up, and he knows that he is running on borrowed time before everybody else sees it." He said, and then he sighed for a bit.

"After all, you heard those guys talking, and them mentioning that your father has some of the biggest dirt that everybody has here. I think that this is far more likely than you would want to fucking admit." After he was telling me this, I slowly sighed, and felt like I needed to at least consider what he was telling me.

I was then just starting my engine, and I was starting to head off. I was not in the fucking mood to hear this, and I was not wanting to hear him basically act like he was aware of what was going on more than me, and that I was being stupid for acting the way that I had done.

As I was driving towards Joy's house, I was seeing Sam looking rather confused what the hell I was even planning on doing right now. "Where the fucking hell are you going? My house is in a completely different direction?" He asked, and then I looked at him, kind of annoyed that he was not seeing the hints at all.

"I am heading over to Joy's house right now. I am going to try and fucking see how she is doing. I would rather be dealing with that than dealing with the bullshit you are accusing my father of doing." I said, and then I looked at him, wondering what I would even fucking tell him.

"So now you are going to be dragging her down this fucking path too? I mean, you do realize that you are only making her have a harder time with this because of your own insistent bullshit." Sam said, and I was sighing, not really wanting to hear his complaining about what was going on. All he was doing was just complaining about my every movement.

"Yeah, I am, because I really have no fucking choice. But she is the one that wants to help me see this through to the end. After all, she was the one that really starts insisting on the mines being the area of investigation. And in all honesty, I am running out of options. And I am at the point where anybody who wants to help me out I will fucking take." I said, and I was shrugging, not really sure what to tell him.

Eventually, we were at her house, and knocked on her door. When she answered, she looked over at Sam, and she was looking at me, and I was seeing her looking like she was really not interested in hearing what we were going to be doing right now.

"What fucking plans do you have right now? I have been thinking about the letter I was going to be writing to Brad. I mean, I have so many things that I want to say, but I feel like when he reads it, he will be starting to see that I am on my last hours." She was saying, and then I was thinking about what I was going to say.

"How long have you been working on that letter?" Sam asked, and Joy was looking at him, and I was seeing her looking like she was simply not wanting to deal with his constant questions, and acting like he was better than everybody else.

"All fucking day. I mean, I want to give it to him when I see him tonight. But I feel like something like this is going to just not work. It is hard to really state my regrets to him, and the pain that I am going to force him through. He is the biggest regret that I have right now." She said, and then I slowly nodded, trying to understand her feelings about the matter.

"Do you seriously think that this Brad guy is the best option for you? I mean, it seems like you are just more focused on other various things, that you going around and dating people might not be the best option to go forward." Sam asked, as Joy was leaving, and when she looked at Brad, I could see that she was fucking furious at this prospect.

"No, I don't really have any idea why you would say something like this. He has been there for me more than anybody else has been, and you are just making it worse. I want to look in the mines, to find something to help me out." After Joy was telling us this, Sam looked like he was slowly regretting what he was saying.

"I don't know how you guys are. I was just feeling like I needed to say something like this, in order to help you understand that things would get much worse if you are not careful enough." Sam was saying, in order to get himself slightly less at her anger levels, but then she was sighing, and seemed like she was having no real interest in this at all.

"Well, maybe you need to learn more about the situation before you go on and make assumptions like this." She said, holding her patience to a really thin level. "I mean, I just feel like I need to get every moment that I fucking can with him, for when I pass away."

As she was walking off, Sam decided he was needing to start to put his foot down, feeling like he was needing to just see what the fucking hell was going on here. "What do you fucking mean with your fucking death? Is there something you guys are not telling me? Why are you thinking about dying?" He asked, and then I looked at him, feeling like I just needed to be more careful with what I was saying.

Joy then looked at me, and shook her head. As if thinking that Sam was being stupid. "Are you seriously asking this right now? The truth is that I am going to be the next hit on a list. My mother was gone, and I am going to be soon to follow. This is because of the fact that we found out what happened to Mrs. Wakeman." She said, and then Sam was looking like he was unable to believe what he had been hearing.

"So you are basically going to be getting yourself killed soon, and you are still going out in the town, and just hanging around with random people." Sam was saying, and I was seeing him close his eyes, clearly not wanting to say what he was thinking, but felt like he was starting to have no fucking choice in this.

"Do you feel like you are going to need to have people around you, and protect you?" Sam asked, and then Joy was sighing in utter annoyance, clearly having no interest in this discussion. Probably feeling like Sam was going to get more done than he really would.

"I don't want to deal with any bullshit about people pretending like they can fucking protect me, and then it later turns out to be fucking false. In all honesty, I am fucking over this shit, and I feel like I need to know you guys are not really going to be making things worse." Joy said, and I was seeing her looking like she wanted to fight what I was saying, but then decided against it.

"Isn't that something you literally fucking need though? To have the certainty that people are going to be there for you, and protect you when it is fucking needed? I mean, I hardly know you, but I feel like you need to not reject this entire idea." After Sam was telling her this, I was seeing Joy looking like she was hardly fucking caring anymore.

"Just let me talk with my fucking boyfriend, and we can discuss this later. But for now, I am not really going to want to fucking hear this at all." After Joy told us this, I was seeing Sam looking like he had wanted to fight this, but then just decided against saying much.

"Okay, fine. Whatever you fucking say, I will fucking do it. But Joy, just remember that people are going to be there for you no matter what." After Sam was telling her this, I was seeing Sam looking like he was not really wanting to handle this anymore.

"Sheldon, you need to get better about having random people get to know me who suddenly act like what I am doing is the saddest thing in the entire face of the universe. It can just get fucking exhausting to deal with this shit." She said, and then I simply shrugged, feeling like Joy just needed to take what she had.

"But at least you have somebody who can fucking help you out. Isn't that enough to keep this fucking going." After I told her this, Joy simply shook her head, and seemed like she just wasn't interested in hearing this anymore. Probably thinking that I was trying too hard to try and make her feel differently about the stuff she was getting into.

"Having Brad help me out was well more than enough. Now if you don't fucking mind, leave me alone." She said, and then she walked off. I sighed, feeling like there was no point in saying anything else anymore. I was just hoping she knew that no matter how much she hated what I was doing, I would be at her side, waiting for her to talk when she fucking needed.

"Do you think you can trust Brad?" Sam asked, and I simply shrugged, feeling like if Joy trusted him, then that was really the only thing that fucking mattered, and nothing I would say even fucking matter at this point in time.

…

Scene 20: Brad's Letter

I was with Joy, and I was seeing her handing something to me. I was looking down at it. "Don't fucking tell me that I don't need to do this. I am trying to be ready for when Brad has to accept that I am dead." Joy said, and then I was looking at it, and I saw that it was her letter.

"Joy, do you feel like you need to be giving this one to him specifically? I mean, I feel like something like this is something you need to be confronting him about before things get any worse." I said, and I was seeing her shake her head. Seemingly not really in the mood to be heading what I was telling her at all.

"I do not have the courage to see what he feels if I gave him the letter. If I did, then I feel like I would just be seeing him have his heart utter fucking broken. I feel like this is something you need to fucking do yourself, when I am gone. And if I don't die any time soon, then I will be fine." She said, and started to insist on this. I was sighing, and I really had no idea what to tell him.

"So you are basically forcing me to do something that I have no idea how to fucking handle? I mean, I think you need to see that Brad will want to have the clarification on your own. And when he knows the truth, from you specifically, then he will be able to fucking recover. But this will not be able to happen without you." After I was telling Joy this, I was feeling like I needed to get her to fucking hear what I had been saying. I needed her to fucking hear me no matter what it took.

"I just think you are also not possibly seeing that there is a good chance that we might be able to pull this whole thing off. You need to basically accept that I am fucking doing everything." I said, and then Joy was sighing, and shook her head, clearly not wanting to listen to me at all. Not wanting to hear me give her any bullshit that she knew she would not be able to fucking buy.

"I know that there is nothing. You know that there is nothing, and we both fucking know that no matter how much you are fucking trying to make me feel better, nothing is going to work. I am beyond all the attempts of nice words to make me feel differently." Joy said, and I wondered what in the world I even could be able to accomplish out of this.

"I just hope that Todd knows how to handle this. This will not be what he fucking needs here. Brad is going to fucking kill me if he hears any of this. But I think you already fucking know this." I said to her, and I was seeing Joy looking like she was thinking about what to do.

"Yes, I know that Brad is going to be fucking broken. And that is why I need you to fucking do this for me. I just feel like this letter is the only form of closure that I might be able to give him." She said, sounding like Brad was now the only man she would ever fucking fight for.

I did not know it at the time, but years later, Brad told me what was in his letter, and in case if you were curious, I will tell you what it said now: Brad, I hope to tell you no matter what that everything that I have been doing has been to make sure that you have the best life that you can when I am gone.

As you know, I am dead at the time you are reading this. Something that I wanted nothing to do with, but now that it has happened, I am prepared to fucking accept it as fact. I want to let you know that no matter how much you might not be ready for this, that I loved you more than I loved everybody else.

I hope that you know it will never be personal when I never told you what the town business is life. I have only wrote down what I learned in one of the letters, Sheldon's… It is not a fucking personal thing, due to the fact that in all honesty, I wanted you to have the chance we never had.

As soon as I met you, I knew that I would never want to be making you feel like you had to do this job. You never had to do the work that was beyond your understanding. I was wanting to do this because I knew that I was going to die eventually.

The reason that I knew I was going to die one day was because of the fact that my father sold Jenny's mother, and a part of the clause of sale was that if her bill of sale was ever exposed, my mother and I would both die within a month or two. With very passing day, I thought that maybe I had a chance of being safe. I thought that there was a small chance that I was lucky. But then my mother died, and it was gone.

Once my mother was dead, I knew that I needed to get every day that I could get, and when I met you, I had something else that I had to fight for. A person to make happier in the times that I fucking could be able to make yourself happier.

Brad, I think you need to understand that I just wanted what was best for you. Which might have inherently made the idea of working with this town's case just be a terrible idea. But I wanted to just know more than anything else that my father really was doing the main shit that he had done.

But with each passing day, I started to feel like I was at peace with everything that happened. Because at the end of the day, I was able to make you feel slightly better, and I was able to give you memories. And that is all that I fucking needed. And I know that one of these days, when you are older, you are going to reminiensce about what is going on about we had done.

Once I had realized that what I did was finally the right thing for once, and I knew that you truly loved me, I knew that I would be able to be happier. And that every day was just a extra day that I could make things work. Even though I sound like a cold monster when I say that about myself, I have no idea what to do differently.

And I knew that unlike everybody else, you are the one person who knew what you wanted in your life. You were able to set yourself on the same wave of goals as you should. I never need to worry about you. I never need to worry about the times when I am with you, because I know it is all the way that things are meant to be.

But at the end of the day, as much as I hate to admit it, I know that I will never be the woman you deserve. We all know that at the end of the day, no matter what I did, you still should have had something that I was never able to fucking give you. And that you need to find that on your own, for your own sake.

And last of all, at the end of the day, I feel like after all of these years, and never being able to have something that can truly make me feel like life can be much different, I want you to know that at the end of the day, you truly were my joy in life. In the weeks that we knew each other, I was aware that if I had lived long enough, we would make it and would have gotten married. I love you more than you would ever know. And I know you can do everything you set out to do. From your own joy in life… Joy Whitaker.

"Just don't tell me that everything is going to be fucking fine. We both know that it is not. We both know that this is something that we need to accept, and I feel like I am starting to sort of see you come around to this. I just want to know that he can handle things when I am gone." After she said that to me, I looked down at it, ready to deliver the letter when it was all said and done.

"Okay, you made your point." I said, feeling like I just needed to fucking find something else to tell her. "So how are you and your father making up with each other? I mean, you were talking to me about how much you wanted to make things work out with him."

"Not really as much as I was wishing. I was hoping that for once, we could work things out. I was feeling like things were kind of pulling out. But it seems like my hopes were all a bunch of fucking lies." She said, clearly not wanting to hear what I was saying at this point.

"Every time I talk to him, he seems like he is too scared to try and talk to me. Probably think that I am fucking worthless, due to the fact that I am going to be dying sometime soon anyways, so there might be no fucking point anyways." After she was telling me this, I sighed, and I was wondering what would have happened if I was like this with my father, if I had been a woman, who had been forced into something like this.

"He doesn't feel that way. He probably knows that you are just scared of what could fucking happen, and he probably wants to pretend like he is not at fault for what is happening. But we both know that at the end of the day, no matter how many times he lies about things, and no matter how many times he wants to tell you what he did was right, he will never forgive himself." After I told her this, I saw her not really having a huge opening here.

"I want to so fucking badly just ask him why he did what he had done this, and just get a level of fucking closure. Closure is something that really fucking matters to me more than anything else." Joy was telling me, and I was hearing her clearly looking like she was upset at the fact that she was even having to say something like this in the first place.

"Just tell your father that no matter how much things hurt now, that you care for him. You will get him to fucking hear that nothing can change what you guys got. And when that happens, maybe there is something that can finally change what happened." I said, and then I was seeing her not buying it too much anymore.

"I don't think he will ever fucking hear this." She said, simply shrugging, not really in the mood to hear it anymore at all. "One of these days, when he goes, he might be able to fucking see what he had done that was wrong, and maybe he would be willing to join us, and we could be a better family once more." Joy said, unsure what to even say now.

…

Scene 21: Joy's New Idea

I was meeting up with Joy once again, and when Todd and I were ready to be speaking to her, I was seeing her looking like she was much more confident in what she was planning on doing. "What the fucking hell are you fucking planning?" I asked, and she was smiling, and I was looking at Todd, feeling like I just needed to keep my thoughts to myself.

"Honestly, I was thinking of a new plan. Which was that when we would be going around more, we would be recording everything. That way even when I die, there are not only some memories that you can have with me, but if we find something good, there is irrefutable evidence that can be shown to the masses." After she was telling us this, I was sighing, feeling like this idea was going to be a turning out for the best, if we were much more careful here.

"Okay, I feel like that is something that makes some good amount of sense. Just make sure that you do not do something that is clearly going to get a ton of people to suspect us." I said, and then she was shaking her head, as if clearly not giving a shit about something like this at all. Probably thinking that I was a being a bit of a cry baby about this.

"That is way beyond something that you can fucking do, and you fucking know that. So just let me do whatever I fucking want, and you are going to have to take it, or fucking leave it." After she said that to us, I sighed, no longer in the mood to be hearing this.

As I was getting to the car, and then Joy was taking her camera out. "What happened to the one that you got that one time anyways?" He asked me, and then I shrugged, aware that this was simply not going to be for the best anymore.

"I think it might be fucking gone, if I am going to be fucking honest. And to be honest, I feel like there is no reason to be looking at that anymore." I shrugged, not really in the mood to be hearing what she was thinking here.

"Damn it. That could have been some really fucking good evidence, and now it is fucking gone. But I feel like there is no reason to be getting in your business about this." After she said that to me, I was walking towards my car, while Todd was looking like he was at least trying to keep a relatively neutral expression on this whole thing.

I got in the car, where Todd and Joy were getting inside as well, and Todd was feeling like he was needing to just break the ice a bit more. Not really in the mood to be hiding, and not in the mood to be brushing the conversation away to make things better. "So Joy, how are things going along with you and Brad anyways? I mean, you haven't really told me anything here." After Todd said this, he seemed like he was kind of calming down for a few seconds.

"He and I are doing great, and the two of us have really been having the time of our lives. I mean, I will be honest, all my times with Brad make me start to think that perhaps it is wrong to be looking into something like this in the first place. I just feel like he is making me really start to lighten up this whole time." After she was telling us this, I shrugged, not thinking too much of this at all.

"Isn't that a good thing? Knowing that you are really just pushing along with him. I think you perhaps need to take what you can get here." After Todd was telling Joy this, I saw her starting to opening up again, and I was seeing that she wanted to argue with that for a bit.

"I do know what you are saying, but I have no idea what the fucking hell to say in response. It all just goes all over the fucking place, and I just feel like this is wrong." After she said that to me, I was then starting to think of what to do now.

"I hope you do not mind the fact that Harold and us looked into some of these mines too. I feel like there was no fucking choice but to be doing this. But to be fair, the stuff that we did find really didn't help out at all." I said, trying to just do some damage control over what was going on.

"You guys really do not know how to approach people when you are apologizing. I mean, I didn't like what you did, but I was able to fucking see the bigger picture, something that clearly you guys think I fucking refuse to do." She said, clearly just wanting to drop the subject as she was saying this.

"I just feel like you need to accept the idea that you are trusting the wrong people when you are constantly coming towards Harold with information. He is going to be pushing you all away sooner or later, when he realizes that it is the only way to save his skin." She said, trying to sound nicer here. But just couldn't.

As I was driving towards Jimmy White's office, I was seeing both Todd and Joy looking annoyed at this idea. The recording going on, and we both knew that I was going to try and find a way to be making Jimmy tell us what he had known.

"Dude, you know he is not going to fucking play along with this shit. This is going to be a waste of fucking time." Todd said, barely keeping his patience at this. I sighed, and looked at him, wondering why he wasn't even giving me a fucking chance. I took a cigarette out, not wanting to deal with his bullshit for the time being.

"I know. But I mean, he might be willing to if he feels like it will be leading to us leaving him alone. So I feel like something like this might be worth it." I said, and then I was seeing both Todd and Joy looking like I was fucking insane the entire time that I had said this. I went inside, not giving them ammunition to whine at me about this.

Eventually, once I was inside, I was seeing Jimmy White looking like he was wanting to find a way to force me away immediately. "Look, I wasn't going to be asking anything. I just wanted to see if you knew anything related to Mrs. Jewels." I said, and then Jimmy looked at us, and I was seeing that either he didn't notice, or didn't care, about the camera.

"I have nothing to do with that, honestly. You can't be expecting me to fucking know everything right now." Jimmy White said, clearly hiding his annoyance. "But I mean, you probably are on a good bet right now, considering the fact that I do think I heard something about her once."

"I think I heard that she died in a car crash, and that the staff have been looking into finding her replacement." After Jimmy was saying this, Joy was shaking her head, clearly not wanting to fucking hear what he was saying. Probably thinking he was just giving her a bunch of bullshit.

"We both know that this is bullshit. Everybody who knew her knows that the body composition wasn't the same." After Joy said this, Jimmy was sighing, thinking about how he was going to respond to her yelling at him, like a little fucking bitch.

"Listen, all of you, this is fucking crazy. Do you seriously not realize that everything you are saying is sounding like you are getting involved in some fucking conspiracy? This is all fucking bullshit, and you guys know it." Jimmy White said, clearly hiding his annoyance as he was saying this.

"That is because you are telling us shit that is clearly fucking bullshit, and I don't want to fucking hear it. What did you guys do to my fucking teacher!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, and Jimmy was trying to calm down, and not give off too much reaction to her over reaching here.

"Listen guys, I want to help you as much as you guys truly need it. But this isn't fucking helping. I am not able to fucking help you when you are not giving me a fucking chance to do so. This whole coming in and demanding stuff isn't helping me." Jimmy said, and then he was adopting a form of professionalism. Then he looked right at me, pretending like this was something that he wasn't going to be too upset by here.

"And besides, your father told me that you are no longer allowed to be coming to talk to me. He knows what you are fucking doing, and he thinks you need to stop fucking doing this entirely." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, since I was not really fucking caring at all. I felt like I needed to stand my own fucking ground.

"My father just wants what is good for him. He hardly fucking cares what I am doing, as long as it doesn't ruin his reputation. In that sense, I think that he is the same as most politicians." I said, and then I was seeing Jimmy looking like he was relatively amused by this statement. Probably thinking that he needed to tell my father that he heard me say that.

"My god, if your father fucking heard you say that, he would be fucking pissed me. He would probably be going around, hunting down every single one of your friends, and tell you that you are no longer allowed to meet them anymore." He said, and then he was sitting down, seeming to have virtually no interest anymore.

"I don't care what he thinks anymore. If he did, then he would have come around, and truly asked me what I was needing to be doing. So I don't really care what he believes anymore." I said, and then I was shocked to be hearing myself telling him this. Probably thinking that what I said was just a giant fucking mistake at this rate.

"But as for your teacher, she is dead. I am sorry to tell you that. I mean, I think there is no way to fucking change that. The only thing you can fucking change is if you can fucking reveal what killed her. But it is a open and shut fucking case. You know, somebody dies in a car crash. Nothing too fucking strange." He said, and then he was shrugging, not sure what to believe now.

"If that is the case, then we will do just that. Reveal what killed my fucking teacher." She said, and then she was smiling, pretending like his way of speaking to her wasn't bothering her too much at all. He looked at Todd and I, wondering if we were going to be doing anything to change the way she was acting here, since she was acting out of line, we both fucking knew this.

"Look, there is nothing that I can fucking do about this. And you fucking know that. She already made her fucking choice up here. Simple as that." I said, and then he sighed, not really seeming to be in the mood to hear what we were telling him at all anymore.

"Please don't tell my father what I was doing here. He needs to just not know what I am doing." I said, and then he shook his head, wishing to find something else to say to fight this. But then he just simply decided that fighting this was no longer really fucking worth the argument. So with that, we left. And we saw Joy press end to the recorder, feeling like that was a good first step.

…

Scene 22: Ready To Lose It

I was picking Todd up the next day, feeling like I just needed to try and find out what was going on here. As we were heading on over to Joy's house, I was feeling like I just needed to clear some things up with him, and try to see what was going on in his mind.

"I see that Joy has been having a lot of stuff on her mind lately, and I feel like I needed to try and see what is going on in her mind. Maybe I can try and make her feel better. But I feel like this might end up going really fucking badly." Todd said, and I was sighing, feeling like I just needed to calm down a bit.

We were going to Joy's house, and I was feeling like I needed to entertain what he was saying, since in all honesty, I did not even disagree with what he was saying. But I felt like I just needed to be more collected on what he was telling me.

"I think that she is planning on her next proposal to Brad. I have no idea what she might be doing. But I am not going to be letting her ruin things by making her life utterly miserable on her last hours." After Todd said that, I was feeling like I just needed to be much more careful with how I was approaching this whole thing.

Eventually, when at her house, I was looking at Todd, and I was feeling like I just needed to be much more careful with how I wad handling things with him going forward. I did not want to be making things much worse for everybody else involved.

"Todd, don't do anything you are going to regret." I said, hoping to keep him calmer, and not to be doing anything. As I said this, Todd looked at me, and I was seeing him looking like he was simply not really in the mood to deal with this.

"I will never regret just basically doing what I feel like needs to be done." Todd said, but before he was able to continue, that was when Joy was already leaving the house, and she was turning on the camera, and I was wondering what she was planning to be saying now.

"Hey guys, I was planning on asking Brad something, and I was wondering what you guys were thinking." She said, and then I looked at her, sighing, and felt like I just needed to clam down, and listen to her proposal.

"I think that I might go on and talk to Brad, since I feel like I am ready to lose my virginity, and I was hoping that he would be willing to do it too." She said, and then I looked at her, shocked to be hearing her tell us this. But I had no idea what I was even going to say to this in response.

"Oh god, Joy, are you sure that something like this is really a good idea? I mean, Brad might turn around and go against this idea. I think that you just need to be much more careful." Todd said, and I was seeing him utterly annoyed at the fact that he had even needed to say this.

"Yeah, I am sure that something like this a good idea. I mean, he likes me, and I really like him. I feel like that is the whole point of virginity. I am going to talk to him, and see what he fucking says." She said, and I saw Todd looking like he was just feeling terrible for her, probably unsure of what to feel.

"Todd, spare me the bullshit. I mean, we both know that I am going to be dying soon, and I feel like I deserve something nice for once. Surely he will be able to see where I am coming from now." She said, and Todd was thinking about another question to ask her. One she clearly wanted to not hear.

"Does Brad know you are going to be dying soon? I mean, if he knew, then I could sort of see something like this working. But if not, then I feel like this whole thing is going to head down a fucking path of insanity." Todd said, and I was seeing him kind of just hoping that she would be at least willing to consider what he was telling her for once.

"No, he doesn't. I don't want to fucking break his heart though. I mean, if he knew that I was going to fucking die soon, I would have no idea how much I would be bale to fucking forgive myself here." She said, and then I was wondering what I could be able to say that would show I was seeing where both of them were coming from here.

"God damn it Joy. You need to be honest with him if you want him to see how important things are. If you do not tell him the truth, then I feel like I will have no fucking choice but to do this myself." After Todd was telling her this, I saw him looking like he was barely keeping his cool together. I saw Joy looking like she knew what he was saying deep down.

"Todd, why are you always trying to fucking get in the way of my love life? I mean, I don't get in the way of you and Maurecia. I am just thinking that maybe it is time for you to show Dana that you still have feelings for her." She said, and I was feeling like I just needed to calm down a bit.

"Just fucking tell him what you think. Let him fucking decide. You guys are both looking too deep into something like this, and I think by this point in time, you are both acting extremely ridiculous. What happened to the idea of recording all our findings? Now you are recording all your arguments." I said, feeling like I just needed to get them both to see how insane they were being here.

"This guy always seems to have a tendency to try and be right about everything, right?" Joy asked, and then Todd was laughing as he was hearing this. I was sighing, feeling like he was completely fucking missing the point of what was going on here.

"I know, it can be a bit troublesome at times. But I feel like you sort of get used to it after a point. Not much point in getting upset about it now." After he was telling Joy this, I was seeing him kind of smiling the longer that he was saying this. I really had no idea what my next stage of attack would be.

I was getting in my car, not in the mood to be dealing with this bullshit at all. Joy and Todd got in the car, and then I started to drive towards Brad's house. "After all, nobody knows what he is truly in need of until we talk to him." When I was finished, I felt like I just needed to be much more careful here.

"Joy, are you sure that this is something that you have thought out? I mean, I get that you say you are ready for this. But I feel like maybe we just need to be thinking things out a bit further. That is all that I am trying to say here." Todd asked, now just trying to come off as more pitying than before.

"It doesn't really matter. Not like I will be living long enough to regret it eventually. So I think I can fucking do whatever I fucking want, and see how things go from there." After she said that to me, I considered what she was saying. For better or for worse, she was right.

When I parked at Brad's place, I considered her point. I mean, I knew to a degree, what she was saying. But I was fearing that she would be going a bit too far with it, and I was feeling like I just needed to be more careful with what I was going to do here.

"Just do whatever you can. Not much that I can fucking do about it now. I just wish that this wasn't such a random detour of what we were doing earlier." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with her about my general feelings on the subject.

Joy was leaving, and then she looked at the two of us. "Do whatever you guys want. Meet up with me later. Just don't do anything too fucking stupid while I am gone." Joy said, and then she was starting to head away. I saw Todd looking furious at this whole thing, and I was wondering if he was needing to just talk about it at all, or if there was no fucking point at all.

"Wow, what a fucking waste of both our times. Her trying to just pretend like she is going to be sleeping with somebody. We have bigger things to deal with than her fucking love life." After Todd said that, I was starting to drive off, feeling like I just needed to be safer here.

As I was driving off, I felt like I needed to calm Todd down by any means possible. No matter what was happening, I felt like I needed to just try and make things not nearly as fucking bad as they used to be. "Todd, I think that she just needs some happiness. Nothing wrong with that, right?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to get him to think better here.

"I know that. But she was always the one going around and judging me and other people for doing the exact same shit. So by now she is showing herself as a absolute hypocrite by doing this. And let's just say at this point in time, I am just kind of getting tired of this all." After Todd was saying this, he simply shrugged, and had nothing else to say.

"Oh my god Todd, just let it go. For both our sakes, just let it go, and focus on the main job at hand." I said, feeling like I just needed to get him to see how insane he had been by acting like this. He looked at me, and I saw that he clearly wanted to protest really fucking badly.

"Fine. You win. Not like I am going to be getting much out of this anyways. I know that I am being silly for the time being." Todd said, and then he was shrugging, and simply decided to not say much more to this at all. As we were driving home, I wondered what I could even do now.

As we were going along, I felt like I just needed to get the subject back to a normal pace. Not really making much else from this. "So Todd, what do you think we need to be doing now?" He asked, feeling like he was needing to just get right to the fucking point now.

"I don't fucking know. I got so wrapped up in my annoyance that I forgot what I was supposed to be doing." Todd said, and I was feeling like him admitting to this was something that I was going to have to pretend like this was not bothering me at all. And that I was totally fine with this all.

"God damn it. Let's just scrap tonight. Maybe we all need a break anyways. Thinking about this all is only making things worse for both of us. So I think maybe a break would be best." I said, trying to make him feel better here. As I said that, I saw Todd looking slightly unsure, but not really in the mood to fight.

…

Scene 23: Leave Her Behind

I was meeting up with Todd the next day, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and fucking see what he was dealing with. "I think that we should just continue our job, and not be dealing with any of that bullshit at all." Todd said, and he was clearly trying to make it seem like we were having a having to not worry about her at all. I was sighing, feeling like I just needed to leave things alone.

"You sound like you're almost jealous in a way. Even if you do not want to admit it." I said, and I was shrugging, feeling like I just needed to be honest with the way that I was talking to him. Todd just simply seemed to have no interest in what I said.

"If you are suggesting that I still have a thing for Joy, and that I am jealous that she is meeting up with Brad, then you need to fucking let that shit die right now. I have nothing like that going on." Todd said, and he was sounding like he was just annoyed with the way that sometimes I would insist that things would be done my way.

"I am not suggesting that at all. What I am suggesting is that you are upset that she is not spending time with you working on this whole thing, and that you are upset that she is just trying to lead a happy life that isn't fucking filled with people just being depressing, and acting all business like." I was telling Todd this, and I saw from the way he was looking at me, that he wanted to fucking fight what I was telling him.

"Sheldon, that is not it at all. I mean, she is allowed to do whatever she wants. What I fucking want is her to be honest about what she is doing. If she wants to hang out with Brad, and not worry about everything, then she should just fucking tell us. She is just fucking flaking out all the time now, with Brad around, and not telling anybody what is going on." As Todd was saying this, I was taking a deep breath, and I was sort of understanding what he was saying.

"I guess that's fair enough, even though I don't want to fucking admit it at all. But the truth is that there is nothing we can fucking do about it." I was saying, and I was kind of having no interest with pushing any forward with this. Once I was going to the forest, I was feeling like the fact that Todd might not like Joy that much romantically, but I was feeling like he was starting to rely on her.

"I just think that you depend on her a lot more than you want to admit. As a friend. I mean, she is somebody who you know is going to be affected by this a bit. But you are too scared to try and really make her feel better. Because you don't know." I said, and then I was feeling like saying this might get him to consider what I was saying.

"I just guess that I am scared of what I will do when she is gone. I was supposed to depend on her, and make her stay safe. But now that I know that she is contracted to die, and I don't even fucking know when, that is just eating me alive. I want to just fucking know when it happens, so I can start the grieving process." Todd said, and then he was shrugging, and seemed kind of out of it by saying this.

"You don't have all the answers. And that is going to be fine. But there is nothing you can fucking do about that." I said, and then I was really having no idea if Todd was going to be taking hat I said. He was just sounding slightly annoyed with how I was trying to make him feel better.

"Sheldon, I know that everything you say is right, but the truth is that I feel like I deserve to have all the answers. After everything that I have been pushing, I just feel like I made so many fucking mistakes here. And I feel like every time I see one of my classmates, and they start to talk with me more and more, I feel like I am becoming increasingly a giant fuck up.

"They do not feel you as a fuck up. The one time Jenny said that, she was just trying to get at you, and make you feel like she. She probably didn't really feel like this." I tried to make him feel better. As I was telling him this, I was seeing Todd looking like he was still not sure what he was wanting to say. But that he was just trying to make this get slightly fixed.

"I wish that I was able to look at it the same way as you." As Todd was telling me this, I was wondering why I was even telling her this in the first place. Before too long, we were getting in front of one of the mines. As I was here, I was taking a cigarette out, and I was feeling like we were going to be fine.

"Looks like it is mostly unusable. But surely there has to be something to find here." After I said that to him, I was sighing, and while I was annoyed, I was glad that it was seeming like we were able to knock off another thing off the checking list. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. But I just felt like I needed to at least try and see.

I was starting to look around, and then Todd was shaking his head, seeming to not want to deal with anything that was going on at all. "Sheldon, I think we both know that nothing is going to be found there. So please just stop with that." Todd said, and the annoyance he was giving off was fucking tangible. But I was hardly fucking caring at all what he was feeling.

"I mean, I have to fucking try, right? You were the one that always told me that no matter what is happening, I have to fucking try and make something come together. So just keep the bullshit to yourself." I said, and then I was shaking my head, and I was seeing Tai looking kind of fucking tired with this.

"Sheldon, this mind is literally fucking closed off. We need to be looking around for the other ones. Even Joy would be telling you that this is fucking stupid." After Todd was telling me this, I sighed, and figured that he might have been right as he was saying this.

"Yeah, that might be true. But what the fucking hell else am I supposed to be doing? I mean, unless if you got a better idea, then I feel like I am just going to have to keep fucking doing what I have been doing." I said, and then I was feeling like I just needed to fucking calm down.

"I don't know dude. I mean, in all honesty, I don't know if I ever fucking could give you any clues. But I think that the two of us are just going to simply be wasting our time with these. I mean, we already seen several mines. Most of which were either out of commission, had like two things of bullshit in there. Nothing that we can actually fucking use at all." Todd said, and then I was sighing, thinking that what he was saying was true to a degree.

"But I mean, we already went to the broadcast station, and nothing was found there. Turned out to be a complete fucking waste of time. And then most of these mines have been. So I feel like I am just sort of fucking desperate at this point in time." I said, feeling like the honesty was all that I fucking needed, to show that was getting near my wits end.

"But Joy seems to know what she is doing. She said to you that she feels like she cracked the case, but there is no way that the entire theory rests on the mines. Surely she knows something else that she is just not fucking telling us." Todd said, and rubbed his eyes, not really sure what to tell me now.

"Yeah, and that is why we need to keep looking along, and see if there is more to this than we expected. You are needing to just see that she probably has a bigger picture deal in mind, and I might not like it, but I feel like deflecting all the bullshit is only going to be making things much worse." I said, and I was feeling like it was time to just get right back to business.

…

Scene 24: Irresponsible

I was at the gas station again, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and pretend like I wasn't dealing with this bullshit at all anymore. I was feeling like as long as I was working, then I would at least be able to pretend like I was having a normal life, and that nobody could fucking judge me too much.

"So Sheldon, thanks for coming in. I just feel like when I see you always going around, and trying to push yourself to extra heights, I start to wonder if your safety is even fucking possible at all anymore." She was saying, and then I was sighing, not sure what I was doing.

"I know what you are planning in telling me, and that you want to give me a fucking lecture about what I need to do to make sure that my job performance doesn't get much worse. In all honesty, I'm not in the fucking mood." I said, and then I sat down on the chair after I clocked in, and took a cigarette out, unsure of what to do now.

"I'm not going to be giving you a lecture. You have made your thoughts on the matter very clear. What I was wanting to ask is if you were going to be able to still do your job, at a normal rate. I mean, I just don't want to see you lose grip on your life with everything going on." He was saying, and I was feeling like I Just needed to ask him what he was truly getting at here.

"Are you suggesting that you are worried that I am not going to be following through with my adult responsibilities? I am trying the bets that I can and I feel like I need some more fucking patience here." I said, and I was hoping that telling him this would be able to get him to calm down. He looked at me, as if seeming unsure what to say.

"I don't know what you are going to be like. You have done great so far, but this is still summer season, and I have no idea if you are actually going to be making things work out well during the school year. I just want to make sure that you have the intention of doing so." After he was telling me this, I sighed, and I was feeling like there was nothing else that I could say to argue.

"Wonderful. Basically admitting that you have no fucking confidence in me at all. That is totally what I fucking want to hear." I said, and I was shrugging, and I was feeling like no matter what I was going to be saying, I was only going to be considered to be making a scene this whole time.

"Just do your damn job." He said, and then he started to walk off, and I was sighing, and I was feeling like nothing that I could tell him would be making things any better at all. When he was gone, I was sighing, and I was taking a seat, unsure of what I was even going to be telling him.

Before he was gone, I called out to him one final time, mainly as a way to try and get the idea of a slightly longer set of shifts in his mind. "Hey when school starts up again, I was thinking maybe I could extend an extra hour on my days. Either come in at three and leave at eight like usual, or still start at four, but stay until nine. Just figured I would let you know, so you can decide if one of those is possible."

"Okay, I will see what I will be able to do." He said, and he was both shocked, and seemingly kind of glad to be hearing me give him that. When he was gone, I was sighing, and I was hoping that I wouldn't be regretting what I told him.

Once he was gone, I was shaking my head, and I was telling myself that I just needed to be careful with how I was doing things from now on. I knew that he hated me, and I was aware that I just needed to be rather careful. Not pulling any crap at all. Especially since things were getting increasingly at odds over time.

When I was on work for about an hour, Todd came in. When he was here, I was wanting to tell him off. To just let me fucking work on my own stuff. But I was choosing to remain silent, for our own sake. "Sheldon, I was hoping to be finding you here today." Todd said, and I was slowly nodding, feeling like I was just needing to listen.

"What are you planning on fucking doing now?" I asked, clearly at my wits end with my patience towards this guy. As I was saying this, he sighed, and clearly was wishing to pick his words carefully, to not get me too upset.

"I was wanting to talk to you about everything. You know, I feel like I made a bunch of mistakes, and I just made things worse for Joy. I wish that I could be able to come to her, and tell her that I was sorry for how much I treated her like shit in the past." Todd said, and I was shocked to hear this.

"I mean, I know that deep down, I am in the wrong. And what you were telling me was fucking true. I know that I do not really have a right to be acting the way that I do to her. She deserves better than that." Todd said, and then he looked at me, wondering if I had any response to that at all.

"But I guess that I am just wanting to make sure that the job gets done, no matter what happens, because if it doesn't, then we will all be fucked. What do you think we should be doing?" He asked, and I was sighing, and I was feeling like I just needed to be more careful with what I was doing, to make her feel better.

"I have no idea what to tell you Todd. That is something you need to find in yourself, before you make things any worse. I mean, there are still other friends you have. Like Kevin. Or Sam. Even Harold seems willing to help you when the time comes. Point is that I feel like things will work out well, if you are just willing to reach out for the fucking help." I said, and then I was seeing Todd looking like he was considering what I had been saying.

"Kevin. I want to hang out with him so fucking badly. You know, Kevin is something that I really fucking trust, and I feel like maybe I should just make that fact clear to him." Todd said, and I was already hearing him getting much more confident, and he was sounding like he was no longer hiding behind fears.

"See, you have people who can help you out if you fucking look for it enough. You just need to really show them that you are willing to fucking commit." I said, and I was feeling like the longer that I was telling him this, the more that Todd would be coming around, and no longer falling into a feeling of utter fucking anger and rage.

"I guess that I do sort of see where you are coming from. And maybe I should sort those things out before I go along and pester Joy again. You know, since she probably does need to have somebody who she knows she can trust. And only fucking Brad can provide that for her. As much as I fucking hate to admit it." When she was finished, I was seeing her sort of coming around to what she was saying.

"I mean, I told Maurecia that I was going to be there for her no matter what, and I feel like maybe it is time for me to start making good on that fuckin promise." Todd said, and then he was smiling as he was saying this, feeling like he was finally happy to start getting more in the mood for dealing with this.

I decided to just remain silent from this point forward, and not be making things worse for him at all. "I think that we both should have stayed away from dating unless if we were sure we fucking could." I said, smiling as I said that, feeling like this was entirely my fucking fault. Todd laughed at this, smiling at the fact that I was bringing us both down.

Eventually, when my shift was done, I was feeling like whatever I was going to be telling Todd about, I just needed to be fucking honest with him. Not giving him any bullshit at all, since he did truly deserve better than what I was doing.

I looked at Todd, and I was feeling like no matter what I was telling him, he was going to just be unsure of how to respond. I felt like he deserved to have somebody who would actually help him out, and not treat him like utter fucking shit here.

"Todd, I want to let you know that no matter how bad things have gotten, I still think you are the best person for the job. Just remember to not let your ambitions ruin your way of looking at things." I said, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was relatively annoyed with what I was telling him. Probably thinking that I was coming off as preachy here.

"I just wish that I didn't hate myself so much anymore. I mean, I feel like I am the monster for getting everybody involved in this. And I feel like it is time for me to just face the fact that I was the worst friend in the world, and that nobody who is sane will like me at all." After Todd was telling me this, I was sighing, and I felt like I just needed to remain silent here.

"You are not a fucking monster dude. You need to be giving yourself a fucking break. You were doing what you thought was right. There is no reason to be hating yourself over this." I said, and then I looked at him, and I wondered if he was willing to fucking hear me at all.

As I was driving along, Todd was thinking a bit more, just not really fucking listening to me anymore, and I was feeling like I just needed him to think about what he was wanting to say now. "I think that talking to Kevin is the only thing that I have right now. To make me feel better." Todd said, and he smiled, and I was shocked to hear him go with the idea.

"Ask and you shall get what you wanted." I said, and then with that, I was starting to drive on towards Kevin's house, and I was hoping that he wasn't going to be going on and telling me to turn around, and act like he hadn't wanted this in the first place.

Once I was at Kevin's house, I was seeing Todd looking like he was thinking deeper about what he was wanting to say. I knew that what he was going to say would deeply bother me, so I was feeling like I just needed to remain silent, and let him say what he was saying to say.

"Sheldon, I wish that people would just reject me eventually. You know, acknowledge that I made some mistakes, and throw me away. It is what I fucking deserve." After Todd was telling me this, I was sighing, and I felt like there was no reason to be getting in his business for what he was saying. If he sincerely felt like that, then I guess that I just needed to let him feel like that, for whatever reason.

"I think that you need to remember that you are dealing with a person like me. When you have that going on, then I think you need to fucking relax when it comes to overly judging yourself." I said, and then I was sighing, and I felt like what I was saying was a waste of time.

"But everybody fucking loves you, and you are always making everybody feel like you can let their fears be eased. That is something that I can't ever fucking do. So just let me fucking say what I feel like I need to say, and don't fucking fight me with this." After Todd was telling me this, I sighed, and I was feeling like nothing I could say would make things any different at all.

Eventually, Todd was leaving the car. "I mean, before this whole labyrinth thing, everybody was respecting me, and thinking that I was the one who could save everybody. But now everybody sees that I am a fucking idiot for giving everybody that hope, and I feel like I was a idiot for even thinking that I could be able to do something like this."

I was getting out of the car as well, feeling like I just needed to give Todd some comfort in what I was doing. But before long, he walked up to the door, and then he soon got Kevin to responding, and I was seeing him looking like he was just too tired to argue with anybody at all.

"Hey Todd, how have you been doing?" Kevin asked, seeming to just be happy that Todd wasn't rejecting friendship entirely. As he was saying this, he looked at me. "Keeping him out of trouble, I hope?" He asked, and he was just trying to be playful with this more than anything. I smiled, feeling like I was going to play along, and let him have his moment.

"Yeah, I mean, I was planning on letting him just hang out with you guys for a bit. I need to be going anyways. Sorry for showing up like this, I just felt like he needed to do something new. And Todd is also wanting to just hang out with you guys more." I said, and then I was getting in the car, and Kevin called out to me.

"Thanks again for being there for me, and making sure that guy leaves me alone. Even if it fails, the effort is something I appreciate." He said, and then I nodded, and started to drive off, feeling like I just needed to let him have that moment.

….

Scene 25: Demolition Project

I was speaking with my father, and I was feeling like I just needed to find something to say, in order to make him feel much better about what was going on. "Dad, I was wanting to talk to you for a bit. About something that I feel like we need to properly address." I said, and I was seeing my father looking like he was happier to see me here, so we can talk.

"Hey, we can talk about that in a bit. But for now, I was wanting to talk to you about the demolition project that I was going to set up earlier. I was thinking about what you were saying, and you're right. I just didn't really know the best way to go at this project without making it too much worse." My father said, and he was sounding like he was relatively happy to tell you this.

"Oh yeah? I wasn't expecting you to say that to me actually. I thought that you were dead set on not going through with that project." I said, and I was thinking about what I was getting into. Knowing that he was willing to work with me, made me feel much better about what I was doing.

"Well, I mean, at first, I wasn't. But once I realized the bigger picture, I was feeling like I just needed to fucking go with it." My father was telling me, and I was sighing, since I really felt like this was going to go down hill super quickly if he wasn't careful.

"But I was feeling like if it was the way to get you to see that I was actually serious about getting this job done. I mean, you have been going around, and telling me lately that you were starting to feel like I wasn't taking this job seriously enough, and I felt like I just needed to show you that no matter what you might be thinking of me, I would never turn my back on you or anybody else." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, and I had no idea what to tell him.

"Dad, I know that I have said some bad things in the past. Some things that would make you lose hope in me. But I was feeling like I just needed to tell you the truth, because in all honesty, I felt like I wasn't sure if you were to be trusted." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to get him to fucking calm down for a second.

"And yet you are going around and fucking yelling about trafficking and conspiracies. I mean, I will be honest, I feel like a lot of those things would be possible. But the truth of the matter is that nobody else will listen to you." After my father said this, I was listening to him, and I was hardly caring at all.

"It is not my fault that the people in this town are pieces of shit who think they are better than they are." I said, and then I was walking off, and I was starting to head towards my car, and I was not wanting to listen to him tell me that I was wrong for saying what we both knew was true.

I started to drive towards Todd's house, feeling glad that my father was actually going through with the project, since I was feeling like it was time for him to be showing me that no matter what was happening, he was willing to fucking make me feel better about what was happening.

Once I was there, I saw Todd looking like he was already heading back home after hanging out with Maureica, and I was feeling like whatever he was doing with her, he needed to be more careful about. Considering the fact that in all honesty, I was relatively sure that in all honesty, she was not going to be a good influence on what he was going to be doing from now on.

"Hey Sheldon, what were you doing here?" He asked me, and then I was feeling like I would be able to give him the good news. I was feeling like he might not like what I was going to tell him, but unlike Joy, he might be able to see the moral merit to what we were doing.

"I was going to tell you about the fact that my father finally approved the demolition of the mines. I mean, I was hoping that he would go along with it. But I will admit that I wasn't expecting him to do it so relatively soon. I thought he would take a year or two to make it work out, and I would have to remind him every couple of months." I said, and then I was sighing as I had been telling him this.

"Oh shit, I will admit that I wasn't expecting that to happen. I mean, I thought that he would have just waited it out, and not fucking let the project be going through at all." Todd said, and then he was shaking his head, and I knew that what he was saying was relatively reasonable.

"Todd, this is huge. If this works out, then this will finally be showing that my father wants to work with me, and that is going to give me some fucking hope here." I said, and then I was just completely fucking over this shit.

"Yeah, I guess what you are saying is true. Maybe this will be able to get Joy to listen to the idea that you keep giving us, that we should be listening to your father about what he is doing." He said, and he was sounding like he was totally unsure of what he was telling me. Probably just trying to make me feel better.

Once Todd and I were checking other areas around, I was feeling like I was just needing to be fair to him. "So I think that the fact that you and Maurecia are doing so well is something that truly makes me happier. Knowing that you have gotten through this pain and suffering, and were able to get something out of it." I said, and then after I was telling him this, I saw Todd looking like he was clearly just not wanting to hear my statements.

"I don't want to hear it. I know you never liked her that much, and I am still not sure if that is justified, or if I was right this whole time. But the truth is that I am at the point in time where I am hardly finding myself even fucking caring anymore. I just want to get this shit over with." Todd said, and I was feeling like I just needed to be much more careful with how I was speaking to him, with his stubbornness.

"Okay, sorry for even saying anything. I guess that I should have expected that this was the way that things were going to go here. Always at the top of your antsy game." I said, and then I was smiling as I was saying this, and I wondered if Todd was going to laugh as he heard this or not.

"I just feel like when Joy is gone, it is just going to be you and me, and there is nothing that I can do to change the way things are. And I do not want you to be hurting because of my unwillingness to listen to you or anything like that." I said, and then after I was telling him this, I hoped that getting him to hear what I was saying was going to just get this to be a change in attitude.

"Sheldon, I think you need to understand that in the grand scheme of things, the stakes of my love life are really fucking low. Nothing that I can fucking do to change things." Todd was telling me, and the thing was that deep down inside, I was aware that what he was saying was true.

"I know that is true deep down inside. I mean, do you not realize how much it fucking sucks to have Emily just gone from me, because I am looking at this stuff? I wanted to be happy with her, and that is something that I will never fucking get at all. But I accept that things just have to be that way." I said, thinking of how well Emily and I had done so far.

"Sorry, I know you are trying your best to be helping me out. And I do appreciate the time you are taking to make me feel less bad about everything. But I feel like something like this is just not worth getting upset over. After all, things are all done." Todd said, and then he was sighing, thinking about the demolition project, and what this was going to be meaning for us going forward.

…

Scene 26: The Back Room Meeting

Later on, I was at the casino, ready to meet the boss who as leading the men in black, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and make my fucking point with him real fucking quick. When I was there, I was already seeing that the man was looking furious at the way that I was at his door, trying to just get ready for a discussion with him.

"Sheldon, what are you doing here? I thought that you were going to be too busy hanging out with your friends, and trying to fucking play hero to come back here, and try and fucking change anything. So what makes this different?" He asked, and I was feeling like his way of asking me this was going to drive me insane.

"Dude, leave me the fucking hell alone. I just wanted to try and fucking help you out here. I mean, we both have the same goals in mind, just different ways of going at it. I thought you of all people would be able to see that." I said, and I was seeing him looking like he was really keeping his patience to a minimal level right now.

"I mean, the fact of the matter is that you are the only one here who has anything remotely showing combat experience, and we need your help to survive in this fucking world. Those monsters are going to be going into town, trying to fucking kill everybody. Especially if those mines start getting destroyed." The man was telling me, and he was taking a cigarette out, and hoping that I would see the bigger picture.

"I know that I am. Which is why I am wondering why you guys fucking refuse to listen to me when I tell you guys that going out there is going to be a massive fucking mistake." I said, and then I was hoping that I would get him to settle down, and not be fighting me anymore.

"It will be a bigger mistake to let those monsters go around and terrorize the fucking town, and you know it. So please just fucking accept it when I tell you that I know what I am fucking doing. The man was saying, and I had no idea what I was going to do to fight him at all.

"Just promise me that when the monsters start getting into town, and attacking everybody, you are actually going to be doing your part to stop them from making things worse for everybody. If you were older, I would probably make you the second in command due to the fact that you have some experience." After the man was telling me this, I was shocked to be hearing him actually admit something like this to me.

"Okay, I fucking promise. But I need your fucking help. I have a theory that the mines are the source of where the girls are going missing, and I feel like I need to fucking go in there to find out what is happening here." I said, and I was feeling like telling him this was probably going to be the biggest mistake of my life. But I was feeling like I just needed to at least try.

"That is none of your fucking business, and it is not related to the job at all. You have to remember that we have a certain line of duties that we need to be following, and you need to fall back in line before you start to get ahead of yourself." He said, only focusing on this job, and not looking at the bigger picture.

"You only care about the job, and nothing else. This is the issue with older people. They only care about super stupid bullshit that doesn't even fucking matter at all." After I was telling him this, I was starting to head out, and the man was clearly upset with what I said.

"That is because the job is all that I am given to fucking do. And you going around, and acting like you need much more is only making things worse. I heard about everything you are doing, and how much people are finding your activity to be putting people at edge." He said, and then I had nothing else to say.

"Well, maybe you can use your fears of the mines being destroyed and the monsters as a way to get people to fucking halt the demolition process. I mean, we only have several weeks to prepare if this project will be going through." I said, and then I was shaking my head. "And what are you going to do in the mean time? Try to teach other people who are older and far more qualified at this than me, how to fucking fight in the mean time?"

He was seeming fucking pissed at what I was saying. Probably aware of the fact that I was the one who was finally making her see how many mistakes he had made so far. "Sheldon, I have no idea how these people will listen to me, and you need to fucking remember that the best way to boost moral is to get people to have a fucking role model." He said, and then I shook my fucking head.

"Then maybe you should see to yourself that you can get them the moral that you are desperately wanting them to have. I can't fucking do your job anymore, and I need you to fucking see that." I said, and then I was seeing him just wanting to kick me out.

"In the mean time, I guess that I will continue to work, without you at my side." I said, and then I was starting to head off. When I was starting to leave, I went up the stairs, feeling upset that this man was no longer wanting to work with me. But as I was leaving Harold's father seemed to be waiting for me.

"Sheldon, what are you going to be doing now? Are you going to be coming along, and harassing my son again?" He asked, and then I was shaking my head, not really in the mood to deal with this bullshit at all, and not really wanting to hear him judge me.

"I am not going to, and even if I was, then I feel like that is not really for you to be worried about right now." I said, and I was feeling like talking to this man was just going to take what little patience I had, and throw it out the fucking window.

"I am trying to train him to be the man who can take over this company over the last few days. That way is something happened, then it wouldn't be completely last fucking minute. Any day now, he is going to get his inauguration as vice president of my company. And when that happens, I do not want him to be seeing you ever again." He said, sounding like he was needing to be as firm as possible with what he had said.

"Maybe you should be thinking about what your son wants because you make things worse for him." I said, and then I shrugged at that. "I mean, this company has proven to not really be the best direction for the town, and we both fucking know it. So you acting like this is the best choice for him to, is only going to driving further resentment among him."

"I mean, I know what you are planning on doing to his girlfriend. Selling her off like fucking meat. Probably to just be some fucking sex slave. And you are here acting like you somehow have the right to be telling me what to do." After he was telling me this, I had no idea what in the world I would even say,

"That is something that falls under the strictly business category. And he doesn't know, so there is no need to be too worried about it. And I am sure that he will find a new person to mate with sooner or later." After his father said this, I was laughing, thinking about the fact that he had no idea over the fact that he was completely wrong.

"I think you need to see that he is smarter than you believe. And when he knows the truth, he will never speak to you again. And at that rate, you will have deserved it more than anybody else." I said, and then I was sighing, wondering what I was going to be telling him. I left him, hoping he would see how much of a monster he had become before too long.

I was meeting up with Todd soon after this, and I was just so fucking furious that I felt like I just needed to calm down, by venting to him, and I was hoping that he was willing to fucking listen to me, and deal with me being a bit of a cry baby about what I was dealing with.

"Todd, can we fucking talk about how shitty the adults in this fucking town area, and how much they are just making things worse when trying to push along for their own fucking self interest?" I asked, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was a bit shocked to be hearing me say something like this in the first place.

"I mean, if that is what you really want to talk about, then I guess that I can fucking do that." After he was telling me this, I was feeling like I just needed to get right to the point, and not be giving him any bullshit at all on this.

"Thank you. My god, I have so much stuff that I can fucking vent about, when I just think about the things going on here." I said, and I was shrugging, wondering what I was even going to be saying to all of this.

"I was talking to the guy who owns the man in black sub section of the Wilson company, and he seems to completely fucking refuse the idea of working with me, and I feel like I need to get him to see that doing this is a massive fucking mistake. But he seems completely unwilling to even consider what I said." I told him, and Todd simply sighed.

"I mean, we did fucking all tell you so. There was no way in hell he was going to be willing to work with you when he knows that you are cracking down on something as big as this." Todd said, and I was wondering why he was suddenly feeling like this was the time of his lecture.

"I don't know, I thought maybe he would see that this was something beyond everything else, and that this needs to be looked at." I said, and I shrugged, and I was feeling like I was being stupid, now that I was explaining this.

"This man works for Mr. Wilson. Of course he will not care about anything but his personal preference. And here you are, suddenly pretending like you matter." Todd said, feeling like at this point in time, he was needing to just give me reality, and not be playing along with my shit.

"I mean, you were the one telling me that Mr. Wilson is going out of his way to sell people off to sex trafficking, or drugs, or something. Maybe even fucking both if he had to." After he was telling me this, I did think more about this.

"Yeah, I know. I mean, Sam confirmed that to you. But seriously what the fucking hell was I to expect? I thought that sooner or later, he would give up this shit, and maybe even just straight up be forward with me. But now he just wants me to destroy monsters, and nothing else." I said, thinking about how much I was hating the idea of just becoming exclusively a fucking monster hunter. It seemed totally fucking unappealing to me, and yet here I was, essentially having to do it.

"Just make sure that you do not let your emotions on the truth get in the way of what you have to fucking do. I mean, you do not want to admit it, bit when we start to learn about what your father is doing, then you are going to have to finally see that the honey mood period is fucking over." Todd was telling me, and I was shaking my head, unable to believe what this man was trying to force on me.

"Yeah, I know what I need to do. And if it does turn out that father is truly involved, than while I would be disgusted at this, I would have to accept the truth. I just hope that we both know what we were getting ourselves into with this." I said, and I was wondering why I was even saying any of this in the first place.

"So are you actually going to be doing that? You know, just fighting monsters? Or do you feel like you will try and do something else? I mean, we still need to figure out to do about the demolitions." Todd said, and then I was laughing, feeling like I needed to bring that up to.

"He did say that he was upset with this idea, about destroying the mines so soon. So he might be able to at least delay what is happening with the mines. If not delay, then maybe slow it down to give us a few extra days. I don't know. I mean, I doubt it will work. But I want to give this a chance." I said, and I was feeling like if this was the case, then I needed to fucking take the chance with this.

"Okay. If that is the case, then I guess that I do need to listen to him for a bit, and see what he might be able to fucking pull off. But do not get too comfortable with him. He might just turn around and reveal that he won't fucking do this at all." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, and I felt like his way of handling this was never going to change.

"See. I do know who I am talking with. So please just leave me alone when it comes to what I am fucking doing." I was telling Todd, and I was hoping to slightly humble him as I was talking this whole time. But then I was feeling like doing this wasn't even going to matter at all.

Eventually, I was thinking about the monsters, and I was thinking about what I would do when they attacked Wayside. I mean, if this did happen, I had to listen to that guy. And I needed to fucking go with what I would. And I was seeing from the look on Todd's face that he was thinking deeply about what he wanted to be telling me now.

…

Scene 27: Renewed Purpose

When I was seeing Joy the next day, and Todd was with me, I was seeing that he was instantly not wanting to judge her nearly as much as he already had. I was already seeing that at the end of the day, he was simply regretting the way that he had been acting earlier.

"Joy, I apologize for the way that I had acted earlier. I mean, I should have known that something like this was going to really bother you. I just guess that sometimes, I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut, and I guess that sometimes, I just that out to you guys." Todd said, and I could hear from the tone of his apology that he had no interest in saying this. But that he was just trying to simply avoid any real trouble.

"I don't really want to fucking hear it. I mean, people just say and do whatever they fucking want, and they never give a single fucking thought to what I might be feeling here." Joy said, and then she shrugged, thinking that made her point well enough.

"Wow, I guess that I can say that I really fucking messed up this time. I mean, I thought that no matter what would happen, we could just make things work." Todd said, and then he was thinking of something else to say, to make himself feel better.

"So how are you and Brad doing? I'm not trying to come off as judgmental. I just want to make sure that he is treating you well, and that nothing bad is happening." After Todd said that, I saw Joy looking like she hardly had much to say to what I told her.

"He is doing great. I mean, the two of us talked for a bit, and it seems everything is working out. I just feel like I just need to focus on the job going forward. Nothing else besides getting results, and bringing down the people who are behind this all." Joy was telling her, and I was sighing, feeling like there was no need to try anything else on her at all.

"So are you thinking that maybe the best way to work something out with him in the long run is to sacrifice your time with him now?" Todd asked, trying to understand where she was coming from. "I mean, I just feel like you need to remember what will be keeping you happy."

"Don't give me that crap Todd. Let's just go and do our thing." She said, and then as we were driving off, that was when I felt like I needed to suggest something else. Something that neither Joy nor Todd would enjoy. But I didn't really care, since I felt like this was the best time.

"I am going to have to go to the Sheriff's office, and see if there is something that I might be able to pick up there." I said, and I was hoping that neither of them were going to be wondering what the hell I was even doing there in the first place.

"Why would you thin for a damn second that the sheriff is going to be giving us jack shit? He will fucking just throw away everything you say, before you have a fucking chance to tell him anything." She said, and then I sighed, aware that she didn't understand what Sam and I had seen. And I was feeling that maybe I just needed to tell them what I saw.

"Well, Sam and I went to the fucking forest one time, and we were seeing the sheriff talking with Jimmy White and Harold's dad. The sheriff has been on this the whole time. Or at least he is complacent on it. And I want to see what I can do in order to get him to crack his presentation, and get him to open up, and have us get all the answers." I said, and I was feeling like what I was saying was super obvious, and I was wondering why I was even remotely shocked at what had been happening.

"I mean, I thought that everybody was aware that he was probably involved in what happened. That is why I am shocked to see that you are willing to try and see him at all. The shit he is saying is probably just a way to get you to talk again." Joy said, and she was rolling her eyes, and I saw that she was simply having no interest in this whole subject at all.

"Well, isn't that the best fucking reason to be seeing him? You know, because of the fact that he is involved, and he needs to be held accountable for everything that is happening here." I said to her, and I was hoping that I would get her to just fucking shut up, and not be trying to pass too much judgment on the matter.

"If you say so. Just don't be surprised if this whole thing turns out to be a piece of crap and fails. Since there is no way in hell he is telling you anything. And I am not going to pretend like this is going to get us what we fucking need." She said, and then I was rubbing her eyes, simply not really in the mood to deal with this.

"At least I am having new ideas, that just isn't going in the mines all the time, and burning myself to death from the sun." I said, and looked at her, wondering if she was willing to listen to what I said then. Once inside, I was seeing that the sheriff was already talking with somebody, and I was already aware that just getting to talk to him was possibly going to not work out.

"I am busy, so unless if you have something important, then I need you to leave." He said, not caring who any of us were.

"We were wanting to talk about something that I feel like is going to help out with this towns mysteries. I think that people are being sold into some form of trafficking." I said, and then I was seeing the sheriff looking like he was actually slightly scared of what I was saying. He was taking a deep breath, hoping that I would calm down.

"Do you have any proof of that?" After he asked this, I was looking down, and I was seeing Joy looking down for a second. As if not wanting to do what she was wanting to do, but felt like there was really no fucking choice on the matter.

"I do. It's in my fathers computer. He was the one who was behind what happened to Nora Wakeman. She was sold off, and when she had her purpose fulfilled, she was killed, which was how Todd and Sheldon found her body earlier." She said, and I was shocked to be hearing her still not wanting to throw her father under the bus, despite everything else.

"I will have to go to your fathers place and look at what you claim. If what you say is true, then immediate action will have to be saying." He was saying, and I was wondering what was going to be done. I was seeing Joy looking like she was regretting what she was saying. Probably thinking that maybe her father would have to be killed.

"I want to let you know that what you are doing is going to be a huge help with bringing down what had been going on in Wayside. We have been looking or every lead that we can fucking get." He was sounding like he was just basically keeping his patience at bay, not wanting to even fucking think about what was going on.

"I mean, it is the least I can do. Sooner or later, I am going to fall victim to what happened, so I might as well just see what I can do in the mean time, and pull this whole thing together." Joy said that, I saw her looking like she wanted to say more. But then just choose against it entirely.

"I will see if there is a protection plan that can be set in motion. You could potentially be having a part in saving Wayside if this all turns out well." He was telling her, and I was seeing from the way that Joy looked at him, that she did not buy a single word of what he was saying. But she was appreciating the fact that he was willing to at least pretend.

"Don't bother. Nothing is going to change it anyways. Just delay it all. I have given up on trying to change this all." After she was saying this, I was feeling like there was no way in hell that we could get her to open up at all, and that this was all going to be a waste of time.

Once we were in the car again, I was looking at Joy, and I was feeling like I just needed to find something else to say, in order to make her feel much better. "Joy, it seems like you regret what you did here. Do you want to try and talk about that." I said, and then I was seeing Joy looking like she was not wanting to hear my bullshit again.

"I mean, I still feel terrible for my fucking father. You know, he has been working harder than anybody else here, and he is being misunderstood. I hate him for what he did. Nothing will ever change that. But I still feel like I just need to be there for him." Joy was saying, and then I was feeling like nothing that I could possibly say would be making the situation any different.

"And now I feel like once they find his evidence that can incriminate him, then he is going to be losing everything that he has. I guess that I am just saying that I feel like things could, and probably should, have been much different than what they are already." Joy said, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was slightly mixed with what he was hearing.

"I guess that I can try and understand. After all, at the end of the day, I can't hate my fucking parents forever. They lied to me about the adoption. And that still pisses me off. But the truth is that in all honesty, I probably should have seen it coming, with the fact that we look nothing alike." Todd was starting to feel less judgmental at her, and I saw him looking like he was fully regretting what he had been doing this whole time.

"I mean, at the end, I guess that I am just saying that despite everything going on, I do not want to see my fucking father die. I just thought that I wanted things to be different. But I do not want anything like this to happen." After Joy said that, she was just feeling like everything she was going to say was all just a level of bullshit to be making her feelings more heard. But that there was nothing to fucking do here.

"That is fair. I mean, I just feel like I can't really get it all. I want to fucking get it. I feel like I should fucking get it. But the whole thing just feels wrong. Like you are supporting a man who ruined everything, and you are just trying to let it all slide what happened." Todd said, and at this rate, he was no longer caring what Joy was going to think about this. Probably felt like nothing else would matter.

When I was certain that this was going to not get us anywhere else, I just decided to quit, and leave him alone, and not be making this any worse.

…

Scene 28: Not Meant To Be

I was meeting up with Joy later on, and when I was starting to speak to her, I was feeling like I just needed to try and fucking be open with her. You know, start to show my feelings on the situation, and admit that in some ways, I was kind of a piece of shit friend who should have never bothered getting to know them.

"What are you doing Sheldon?" She asked, as I was getting back in my car, ready to fucking go. I was taking my cigarette out, and she was looking at me, and I was seeing that she was clearly looking like this was driving her crazy to hear this.

"I am going to continue what we both started. This is what you fucking wanted, so I am going to be giving this to you." I said, and I was barely holding in my annoyance when I was telling her this. As she was going inside, she looked like she was kind of fucking pissed at the way that I was acting.

"What the fucking hell Sheldon? I mean, couldn't you fucking have asked what I was wanting to do before hand?" She asked, and she was clearly just trying to find something else to say to make her point. But then she shrugged, and decided to just remain silent here.

As I was starting to drive off towards the forest, to continue the job, I was seeing Joy looking like she was wanting to fucking scream at me for doing this. But then she was sighing, and just decided to remain silent, and not be pressing my luck, when it was clear that I didn't want to hear it.

"I was thinking about things, and I was thinking about how much I had fucked up this whole thing. And I feel like at the end of the day, I was never really meant to be friends with people like Dakota or Ashley. In all honesty, I feel like they were kind of toxic people. To the point where even after she went missing, I was helping you guys more than I was helping Dakota with this." I said, hating the fact that I was admitting this to her. But not fucking caring at all.

"Are you saying that you should have removed some toxic people in your life sooner? I mean, that is something that is interesting to hear, but why are you dragging me out like this, to tell me that." She said, clearly annoyed with what I was doing. I simply didn't care.

"Yeah, I guess that I am saying that. And that I feel like if we were in the same grade, and I knew how things were like with you, I feel like I would have fucking tried to make something like this work. You know, really push something that I thought would be impossible." I said, smiling, as I was looking at her, and hoping that she would enjoy what I said.

"Wow, I will admit, I never expected something like this at all. I mean, hearing that does make me feel better in a strange sense. But I have no idea what to really think of that. Do you feel like you truly know what you are saying?" She asked, and I slowly nodded.

Once at the forest, I was heading past the tree house, and I was taking a cigarette out again, trying to just focus my mind on the matter. "Honestly Joy, I think that you are one of the strongest people that I have ever met in my entire life. And I feel like you deserve so much fucking more than what people are doing to you." I said, and then I was shrugging, feeling like I just needed to continue standing my ground on my point.

"I mean, I feel like knowing that you of all people respect me that much, and are willing to work with me here, just shows that maybe there is a sign of hope that I know what I am doing. Thank you for telling me this. It makes me feel so much fucking better here." She said, and then she was simply seeming to be fucking lost with what she was telling me.

Eventually, we were getting towards one of the mines that we had already discussed, the one that Todd and I found all those weeks ago, but felt like a million fucking years ago at this point in time. "Honestly Joy, I feel like when I talk with Joy, I see him looking like he wanted to tell you something. Like he was in a forbidden love." I said, feeling like what I said was bullshit.

"Todd, I mean, I feel like if he was feeling this way, then he needs to do a much better job at showing it than how he has been doing. In all honesty, I feel like he is kind of just being a bit of a dick about it." After she was telling me this, I was feeling like I just needed to let her say what she felt.

"I mean, maybe people just have different ways of showing feelings than you expect. All that I am saying is that when I see him, and I see how fucking lost he is, that he is truly in love with you, and that you need to just try and either get him back, or get closure. And I know that you love Brad, so I would say the latter." I said, and then I was seeing Joy looking like she had no way to word this.

"I have already made my choice. Brad is the best man I ever met, and he is the only one who isn't tainted by bullshit. I feel like you need to just let me have that without making things too much worse." She said to me, and I was feeling like I was going to have to accept what she was telling me, for both our sakes.

Once I was at the car, I was looking at it. I was seeing that by this point, it had been completely cleaned out. I was shocked as I was seeing this, and I dropped my cigarette out of my mouth. Unsure of what I was feeling. I rubbed my eyes, and I was already wanting to scream as I was seeing this. Feeling like I just needed to be fucking careful.

"Todd and I found this earlier, and now it is gone. What the fucking hell is happening here? Trust me when I say that I have no idea what is happening here." I said, and then I looked at her, and I was hoping that she would buy what I said.

When Joy was seeing the look on my face, and I was showing her how serious I was with this, I saw her calming down, and I was seeing her looking like there was no point in freaking out here. "Maybe those people who work at this business finally are wise to your shit, and finally decided to cut the serpents neck." She said, and I shrugged.

"I mean, that might be possible, but that would still fucking suck, let me tell you. I mean, if this is the case, then I feel like maybe Todd and I are going to have to start going at this faster, to find out the truth. Such as taking days off my shifts, and coming here." I said, and I was sighing, not wanting to do this at all.

"Just be careful dude, with what you fucking wish if that is the case. But I feel like you are probably right. You need to be fucking moving along. I will try and tell Todd this, and I feel like he will agree." Joy said, and then as she was telling me this, I was slowly nodding, and I was feeling like I just needed to be much more careful with what I was wishing for.

"I mean, this was one of the fucking mile markers. This was supposed to be a piece of evidence that we were going to be showing to people to show that we were not fucking lying. And now we are here, and we have nothing to work with." I said, and then I really felt like I was fucking lost about everything that I had been doing at this point.

Before things were able to get too deep into discussion, we were hearing a long explosion noise. Something that made both Joy and I instantly get out of the discussion. "What the fucking hell was that?" Joy asked, almost more scared about this than she was scared about losing her life eventually. Which she seemed to make a disturbing amount of peace with.

"Maybe that is the demolition project that my father was talking about. Oh shit, if this is happening, then I feel like we need to be working on this much more. I thought that he would hold it off until I told him all the places that were still open. I thought we had more time." I said, and I looked at Joy, finally seeing that what she said was right this whole time.

"Damn it, I am so fucking sorry. I feel like I should have considered what you had said more. Okay, I have to speak to Todd about this right away, and I feel like he knows that there is no fucking choice that we have but to make this whole thing work out." I said, and I was now getting to fucking business, and I was feeling like there was no point at all.

"Thank you for getting right to work on this here. I just hope that we both know what we are fucking doing here. God, I never thought that things were going to be getting to this point." Joy said, and I was seeing her looking like she was trying to just calm down, and pretend like she was actually fine with everything else going on here.

I was getting towards my car, and Joy was running with me. And once we were in the car, I was feeling like Joy wanted to say something else to me, to make me feel better again. "I really meant what I said, when I was telling you that what you said made me feel a million times better." After she said that to me, I was slowly nodding, feeling like this was not the time.

"Yeah, and I still fucking meant it when I said it. Trust me when I fucking say that." I said, and then I was seeing her looking like she was wanting to debate more. But then she was choosing to just remain silent about what she was saying. Probably thinking that saying more wouldn't really fucking help anybody out at all.

Eventually, when I was at her house again, I was then thinking about how to close this. "Talk with him, and get closure, or get with him. And I will talk with him about the mines, and how to get to fucking work with that." I said, I sighed. "Because I feel like our deadline is moving up quite a bit if we want to make this work."

When I was telling her this, I was seeing her looking ore mixed on what I was saying, but coming towards it without too much issue. "Yeah, I will fucking do that. I just hope that you are going to be right. If not, then I feel like we are both getting ourselves in trouble." She said, and I nodded, not really caring, and not sure what I was even going to accomplish with all this debating with her.

…

Scene 29: Investigating The Explosion

I was with Todd that night, and I was seeing him looking terrified of what he had heard. I was glad to be seeing that he was no longer trying to project and that he was taking this as seriously as I had been. "Sheldon, what is going on?" Todd asked, and I was feeling like I would just give him my theories about what was happening.

"I think that my father might be bringing down the area because of what I requested for him that one time. So I am going to be heading down to his office, and see if my theories are fucking true." I said, and then after I was telling him this, I saw Todd looking like he was thinking this was a fucking terrible idea. But he choose to just simply not argue with it.

"Oh yeah, the demolitions. I thought you said he was not going to be looking into this until you had told him all the locations that still needed to be destroyed. So you basically got the assumption all fucking wrong." Todd was saying, and he was not sounding too thrilled with what I was saying.

"That was what I was thinking. I didn't expect it to actually fucking turn out that way. So please give me some fucking slack here." I said, and I was feeling like the more that I was standing my ground, the better things were going to be with him. I saw him looking like he was hardly sure what he wanted to say.

I was getting in the car, and then I was seeing Todd looking like he was just thinking of what I had been saying. He probably thought that what I was doing was going to only be making things worse for everybody. "Sheldon, please try at least to just talk him down from doing this more. That is all that I fucking need." He said, and then I was shrugging, feeling like this idea was just not going to happen.

"Sheldon, what do you fucking need me to be doing right now?" After Todd was asking me this, I was sighing, since I had no idea what to tell him. I mean, I remember the talk that I was having with Joy, and I was feeling like I needed to tell him what I was thinking, even if he had hardly wanted to entertain the idea of what I was saying.

"I think that when you have a fucking chance, you need to be going on to Joy, and you need to be thinking about how to get some closure with her. She needs that more than anybody that I fucking know." I said, and then I was seeing Todd looking like he had no interest in hearing what I was telling him at all.

Before long, I was at my father's office, and I was feeling like I was just needing to find something to say to him, in order to make him start to open up with me, and not give me any fucking shit. I was hoping that Todd would understand that no matter what was happening, I would never give up on the truth at all.

As Todd and I were going on, I saw him looking like he was just trying his best to keep calm. I didn't even fucking blame him for the feeling that he was having. "Dad, I need to talk to you about something right now." I said, feeling like I just needed to get him to calm down for a bit.

"What were you wanting to discuss?" He asked, and then I sighed, feeling like I just needed to keep him listening to me for a while. "I have a lot of work that I need to do, and I need to stop distracting myself with various fucking things." He said, and then I sighed, feeling like I just needed to not hold back at all.

"I was wanting to talk to you about the mines. I was aware that you were planning on already destroying them, and I appreciate the fact that you are trying to help me out here, but I thought that you were going to wait until I told you which ones needed to be destroyed." I said, and then my father was sighing, feeling like what I was saying was fucking insane.

"I have a job to do, and I thought you of all people would support me just trying to do what was best. So where is this suddenly fucking changing?" My father asked, and I was sighing, and I was feeling like I just needed to think carefully about what he had been asking me. Knowing that if I didn't pick my words wisely, then things would go down hull quickly.

"I was wanting to be that way. I still do want to be that way. But I feel like I need to make sure that you are not going to be doing anything that is going to compromise the investigation, and making sure that the people who are responsible for this shit all fucking get exposed." I said, and then I was seeing my father looking like he could not really care to hear what I was telling him.

"I am working my ass off on this. You need to see that nothing I have ever done has been to stop you from having the best life possible. We have the same goal. Just different ways of going at it." My father was saying, and I was sighing, and I wondered what I was going to even fucking tell him at all.

"Dad, I need to know that I am not going insane with everything going on here. You know, I want to trust you as much as I possibly can. But I feel like until we start being more honest with each other, then I feel like that is just simply not going to fucking happen." I said, and then I was sighing, and I wondered what I was going to accomplish by telling him this in the first place.

"Sheldon, you do not realize how much stuff that I need to do, so I had to get on it when I had the fucking chance to do this." My father said, hoping that I would listen to him for once. I was looking at Todd, and I felt like I just needed to find something else to say.

"So that was the explosion? How long do you think it will take to completely close them all off?" I asked, and then my father sighed, as if thinking at least a little bit about what I was saying. I was feeling like whatever he would tell me would give Todd and I a relative time frame.

"I think that at the rate things are going, since we are emptying everything out before we destroy them, that things will be done by the end of summer. Maybe October if things take too long." After my father was telling me this, I was sighing, and I was feeling like what he was suggesting was better than nothing, and that I just needed to work with it for now.

"Okay, thanks for letting me know. I will try and keep that in mind before things get too much worse." I said, and then I was taking a cigarette out, thinking deeply about what I was going to even be doing with the rest of this.

As I was leaving, my father was calling out to me once again. I turned around to him, wondering what I was even going to be saying to him before he was done. "Sheldon, what are you going to be doing now." He asked, and I was thinking about what I would say in response.

"I am going to be heading down and continuing my job. Regardless of if you like it or not. I feel like there is no fucking point in even fucking bothering to change it." I said, and then after I was telling him this, I was seeing him looking really fucking over this shit.

As I was seeing my father looking like he was thinking about all the arguments in his head, to get me to fucking stop with this shit, he was then shaking his head, feeling no need to be fighting what I had been doing at this point in time.

Eventually, when Todd and I were in the car, I was seeing Todd still looking like he was overly anxious. Probably thinking that what we were going to be doing was only going to make things much worse. "Sheldon, I have no idea how many times I am going to have to fucking tell you that your father is just doing what he needs to do for his best interest." Todd said, clearly not in the mood to be having this debate with me. I shook my head in anger as he said that.

As I was going along, I was sighing, feeling the need to just simply not talk about my father, and how much Todd clearly hated him for no fucking good reason. "Todd, I want to just focus on the job, and this constant fighting is not going to be helping anybody out at all." I said, trying to keep things down to a contained level.

"But what is Joy going to be doing? She was the one that was championing this whole investigation in the first place, and you are seeming to just let her not have to deal with this bullshit at all." Todd was telling me, and I was shrugging, feeling like he was needing to see the bigger picture of what was happening.

"I know that she was. But with the mines demolitions going on, and her focus on Brad, I feel like it might be best for her to just focus on her love life, and the two of us can pick up this job for her instead. I mean, I feel like when we both look at the bigger picture, the two of us can sort of see that this is not a bad idea." I said, and I wondered if what I was saying would make him fucking listen to me.

"Yeah, I guess that is fair. I mean, with Brad and everything, I think she is probably just thinking about what will be happening with him. And I guess that I do sort of see what she means." After Todd was saying this, I saw him looking like he was not really wanting to handle this at all.

Once we were at the parking lot of the forest again, we were seeing a bunch of police cars already there, probably at work making sure that nobody was stupid enough to be going inside to try anything out. Todd looked a me, feeling like he was needing to find something to say.

Todd and I were out of the car, and one of the officers was already seeing what the two of us were going to be doing. "You two are not supposed to be in here right now. We are starting a demolition project of the remaining mines. Orders from the mayor." After he said that, I sighed, thinking of a way to make my proposition clear to him, without getting him too annoyed here.

"I know what the mayor wants. But since I am his son, I was wondering if perhaps it was possible for me to go in there, and check some things out on my own." I said, and Todd was looking at me, and I was seeing that he was upset with how much I was taking advantage of being the mayors son. But I was hardly fucking caring anymore. I had no fucking choice.

"Even if you are his son, we are given strict orders. And we have no intention of breaking them, under any fucking reason." He said, and then I was sighing, and I was starting to feel like nothing that I could tell him would get him to listen to me. I wasn't stupid. I knew how these men operated.

"God damn it, this is not what I was expecting things to be like." I admitted, and I was taking a deep breath, wondering what I was going to do to change things up with this discussion. "Sorry to take up your time. I was just trying to fucking help." I said, and then I was seeing the officer looking like he was starting to get some fear in his eyes. Probably thinking that I was on his business, and going to take him down if he wasn't careful.

Once Todd and I were in the car, I was looking at Todd, and I simply shrugged, feeling like I just needed to let him rub it in, if he really wanted to. But he was clearly not seeming to want to deal with this at all. I was feeling like maybe that was just something he wanted to leave alone.

"Sheldon, I know that you think because of your father, everything is going to be fine. We both know that there is only so much that you can do before everybody is going to be going after you." Todd was telling me, and I was shaking my head. I wanted to get him to see that I was on the way to make this fucking work.

"We will just have to go in a different entrance. One that the police have not seen. I am sure that the two of us can work something out if we look hard enough." I said, and I was confident enough in what I was saying that Todd seemed like he was kind of willing to at least pretend to work with me about what I was doing.

"I just hope that this is going to fucking work. After all, I was supposed to be listening to you, and relying on your shit here." He said, and I was sighing, and I wondered why he was even trying to give me any lectures about what I was doing.

"I know that this doesn't seem like the best option to be going off of here. I get that. But I feel like I am onto something here. I feel like you guys just need to stop being so dark and cynical with this. I feel like when I have enough time and effort to do something, then I can pull this off." I said, and then after I was telling him this, I was seeing Todd just closing his eyes, and counting down the ways that this could all go so wrong, and we both knew that they could be going wrong.

…

Scene 30: Brad Heartbroken

When I picked Joy up later, I was seeing that she was clearly looking like she was upset at what was doing. I sighed, and I wondered what I was going to be doing here. "Joy, did something fucking happen to you?" I asked, and she looked at Todd and I, and I was seeing her looking like she was not even caring at all what I would say.

"No, I mean, I feel like Brad is not taking the news very well. I told him the truth about the fact that my father might be selling me off, and that you and Todd are trying to stop that from happening. He is getting much more serious about the idea of you guys going down there, and finally finding out what was going on." After she said that to me, I sighed, aware that nothing could be done to change this.

"I mean, you yourself said that you weren't expecting that to go so well. So I feel like something like this is to be expected." I said, and then I was seeing her looking like she truly just did not want to fucking hear this at all. Probably thinking that I was just trying to rub her statements in her face.

"I know what I fucking said. But that still fucking pains me to know that Brad might not fucking trust me anymore. And I feel like now that he knows that I might be dying soon, he might not want to be hanging around me anymore." Joy said, and then she was shaking her head. "I just hope that he will be able to see that we had been doing so well that we need to work together."

"Well, give him some fucking time, and I am sure that things will be fine enough over time. Just make sure that he is ready to talk about it when it is his time. Do not fucking push him at all. He will probably feel like you are just making things worse for him." I said to him, trying to get her to be aware that there was nothing to get out of this.

"I know that what you are saying is true. I know you just want me to make sure that he is doing well. But that is just something that hurts me to hear. The fact that Brad probably hates me now, and he probably is going to start thinking that I am just taking advantage of him now." As she was telling me this, I was seeing her looking like she wanted to say more. But just couldn't get it in herself to say this at all.

"Joy, that is the risk you run when you try and bring your own personal emotions into this. You are starting to see that something like this is not nearly as happy and go lucky as you might be thinking." Todd said, and his anger was starting to fucking show. As he did that, I was shaking my head, feeling like he was lacking some real tact here.

"Spare me the bullshit Todd. You are the one that is letting your feelings for every single woman get in your way, and you are making things worse for everybody." She said, and then Todd was sighing, and made sure that he would remain silent here.

I started to drive towards the forest again, and Joy was looking like she was relatively upset with the fact that I was heading on towards there. Probably thinking that there was no fucking point in even going there anymore. "Those people are going to destroy all the mines anyways. So what is the point anymore?" She asked, and I was shaking my head, not giving up hope yet.

"You were the one that believed things could be working. And I want to fucking believe that there is a chance too. You just need to give me some fucking time, and I will make this whole thing work out." I said, and then I saw her looking like she was just not really buying any of this bullshit anymore.

I parked the car a bit away from the police cars, as I was getting out of the car. "If you do not want to fucking come, that is your choice. But this is my choice, and I am choosing to go inside the fucking forest, and I am going to make things right." I said, and balled my fist in a rather of fact way. I saw her looking like she was too tired to even fight this anymore.

As I was saying this to Todd and Joy, I knew that they were both looking like that were about to regret what they were going to be saying. I was hoping that they were going to appreciate the boldness that I was trying to display here.

"This is not a good fucking idea. I just want to make that fucking clear right now. I never really liked the idea of going in these fucking forests. But since you are clearly thinking something like this is the best choice, then let's just fucking go." After he was telling me this, we went inside, and Joy took a second longer, thinking for a bit.

"What do you need?" Todd asked, and he was sounding much more sympathetic, and he was sounding like he regretted the way he had been acting earlier. As he did this, Joy was thinking harder. Probably just trying to decide what she was going to tell him.

"I need to go on and see Brad soon. I feel like I am going to be making a massive mistake by doing anything else. Please fucking forgive me." She said, and then Todd was starting to nod. I was feeling like the longer he was seeing her like this, the more he was starting to see that fighting this was going to be doing nobody any good.

As Joy was starting to leave, I was seeing Todd looking like he was just starting to already feel less worried knowing that she was going to be alive for at least one more day. "Thank god she is starting to see that doing something like this going to be making things worse." Todd said, and I was seeing him looking like he was regretting the way that he was talking now.

As we were walking down the forest, I was seeing Todd looking like he was thinking about what he was finding himself agreeing to. "Sheldon, I wish that I brought the maps with me this time, but I forgot. Do you have a general idea where we need to be going?" He asked me, and I was seeing him looking tired as all hell here.

"God damn it. You're right. That is going to be making things much worse again. Okay, let's just try and see what we can find." As I was saying this, we were walking along, and the entire time that we were going along, the two of us were needing to be much more careful. Knowing that the police were around, I could tell that Todd was rather scared of what we were going to be getting into here.

"The main issue with going down here all the fucking time is the fucking police. They will eventually grow wise to what we are doing. And when they see us here, then what will we fucking do to get them away?" Todd asked, and I was feeling like what he was asking was fair enough.

There were flashing lights going around, and probably checking to see if there were people here, given the fact that Todd was talking a bit earlier. But as they were doing this, Todd and I remained silent, and I was seeing him looking like he really fucking hated himself for saying anything in the first place.

When they were gone, Todd and I were starting to walk quietly again, and I was feeling like I was starting to sincerely regret getting us into this in the first place. "I think going forward, we should just probably scrap the fucking forest idea. Damn it, I thought that we were getting somewhere with this now." I told him, finally accepting that I was fucking wrong this whole time.

"God, maybe Joy was right with her wishes to just be hanging out with Brad. After all, I feel like Brad is probably becoming the only sane person in this entire fucking town." Todd said, and he was sounding like he was just trying to be funny here, and not too scared.

The longer we were going, I was starting to feel like I needed to find the glass half full perspective of this. "Hey at least I can say that I am probably no longer needing to worry about the monsters. Even if that means that I don't get to work with those men in black anymore." I said, and Todd was looking at me, as if thinking that was almost a good thing. As doing so would require me to go back to my normal way of going at these talks before.

"Good, I was feeling like those men were starting to become the source of corruption, and I feel like they were starting to make you lose sight on what you needed to do." Todd said, and I was sighing, and I was aware that no matter what he was going to say, he would never hold back on telling me what he was truly believing. But I decided to just simply not respond.

"I mean, at least I was going out of my fucking wat to push a investigation to move along. So I feel like you need to be giving me some fucking patience here." I said, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was just trying his best to not show a argumentative mood here.

Before we were walking too long, I was rubbing my eyes, and I was feeling like there was no need to be too upset with him at all anymore. After all, he was already kind of starting to show some signs of moving on from this debate.

As we were getting close to one of the mines, we were already seeing a few officers, and a construction guy talking about the demolition of that one. I was sighing, aware that there was no way in hell I was going to be heading down there anymore. "Why the fucking hell are we fucking bothering to be dealing with this in the first place?" He asked, and seemed to be slightly annoyed with what he was telling me.

"Let's just get out of here." Todd said, and then I was seeing him looking like he was beyond the pointy of debating this. He shook his head, and I was seeing him looking like he was wanting to hold back his mood to argue entirely.

"Can we talk for a bit?" I asked, and I was seeing him looking like what I was asking was fucking insane, and I needed to think about what I was asking him before we went too deep into this. But I saw that there was nothing left to do now.

"If we have to fucking talk, let's at least not do it in this fucking forest." Todd said, clearly just wanting to strangle me for even suggesting something like this in the first place. As we were walking along, I was wondering how much I was pushing him to his limit, and I was wondering if it was even worth the risk going forward.

I wondered how long it was going to take for Todd to just eventually go insane when talking to me. I was already seeing that he wasn't wanting to be dealing with this at all. "I am sorry for being so hard on you. I just feel like you know that you need to do better." Todd said, and I was upset with the way that he was saying this.

…

Scene 31: Dad

I started to head on over to Todd's place, and I was going to get this work session on the fucking road, and I was hoping that the two of us would just get the job done as fast as possible. I was shaking my head, taking a cigarette out, and trying to fucking concentrate.

I eventually reached his house, and Todd opened up the door, and I was seeing him looking kind of tired, and I was seeing that he was wanting to get this over with. "I mean, I am not going to bother going in depth about what I feel here. We both already know." Todd said, and I sighed.

"Todd, this has been working out well enough. I think you need to give Joy a fucking break. After all, neither one of us are fucking perfect right now." After I said that to Todd, I saw him looking like he was considering what I had been telling him.

"I don't know. I mean, I just feel like Joy needs to be more focused on the things that matter to her. I can tell she fucking hates this. And I do not blame her. I hate this shit as well." Todd said to me, and I saw him looking like he had wanted to elaborate further, but just couldn't.

As Todd and I were driving off, I looked at him, and he had that fucking red bandana again, and I was wondering what the point of this was in the first place. But I decided to not say anything, since we were already having that discussion once, and his apparel wasn't my business.

"I mean, I never seen Joy look like she was so fucking happy. She is literally on the top of the world, and I feel like I am making things worse by just bringing her into this whole thing. After all, she is dating Brad, and she seems to be really happy with him." Todd said, and then he looked at me, wondering what I thought here.

"It just reminds me of what Jenny and Kevin are doing. I mean, I never really took Kevin to be the type of person to be able to date well, but he is doing great." Todd said, and he was smiling as he said that. "I am proud of my fucking friends."

We were at Joy's house, and I looked at Todd, and I felt like I needed to just find something to tell him to make him feel better. "No matter what happens, we both know that your friends really appreciate all the hard work and effort you have been putting in. Never fucking think otherwise. I want you to remember that you are doing wonderful." I said, and Todd seemed like he didn't even know what else to be telling me at all.

We went to the front entrance, where she answered right away. "I was hoping that you would be coming here soon. There is only so much time that I can be here before I feel like I am going insane from the way that my family is now." She said, and then I sighed, happy to relief her of pain.

"Is it your dad again?" I asked, feeling like I needed to just simply ask in a nice and quiet way. She looked like she was simply wanting to deny this. Simply act like there was nothing going on with her and her father.

"Yeah, I mean, I want to be happy with him, and I want to act like there is nothing to be worried about with him. I mean, I still have fond memories of him. But the whole thing just seems wrong." She said, and I was feeling like I needed to just let her have her moment.

"You can't really ever be happy with the man that deliberately sold your life away, and is about to fucking kill you." I said, and I was hoping that telling her this would get her to feel better about what was her very fucking justified way of looking at things.

"I know, I mean, I understand what you are saying. And I know that we are both fucking right. But I just feel like I still have some love for this guy, even with the mistakes that he had made, and the shit that he was doing, I still can't be fully upset at him forever. Even though I fucking want to be." She said, and shook her head at this idea.

As I was driving to the forest, I was seeing Joy looking utterly on top of the world. "I know that what I am doing is the right way of doing this. I just know that we have shit there. I mean, look at everything we fucking found. All the ones that we learned were wasted entrances, and the ones that were good. We got stuff." She said, and I was hearing her looking like she was trying to just convince herself more.

"Joy, we were all agreeing with you earlier. We never wanted to do this, but that didn't mean that you weren't the one with the best fucking leads so far." Todd said, and he was sounding like he had not wanted to admit this. Probably thinking that doing so was a sign of acknowledging failure.

"Why did we never fucking go there earlier?" She asked, and then I was sighing, feeling like she needed to stop with this fucking question, since I was feeling like she had asked this several fucking times.

"Joy, I feel like you have been asking this a billion fucking times. We didn't because we never felt like there was much fucking point. How many times do we have to fucking explain this to you?" I asked, and I was slightly annoyed with this whole thing. Not even pretending to try and show anything different.

"I know that this is the official reason. But I feel like there must be more to this than you fucking admit." Joy said, not wanting to fall for my bullshit. And I was wanting to just get this over with, to not deal with this at all anymore.

We got out of the car, and we were starting to go inside the forest. "So which ones were closest to this place?" Todd asked, not remembering which one it was anymore. He shook his head, annoyed as hell at this whole situation in the first place.

"I think it was about a quarter of a mile that way." I said, pointing left, as I was vaguely remembering what I was supposed to be doing. As I was leaving, that was when Joy and Todd started to follow me, probably wondering if this was actually the correct way, or just simply the way that I thought that things were supposed to be.

"God, if it turns out that the main answer isn't in the fucking forest, then I feel like this whole thing might be kind of a waste of fucking time. I mean, we have gone here so many times, with no fucking answers." After Todd said that, he was rubbing his bandana to get the sweat off of him.

"Why did you even bring that bandana in the first place?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to play along with him. Todd looked at me, and I was seeing him looking like I would just never fucking get this at all.

"I am just trying to keep the sweat away from me. And besides, you know you were tempted to bring one as well." Todd said, and I didn't have that temptation at all. But the sweat point was enough to temporarily appease me, and get off his back about this, since that did make some fucking sense.

"Guys, you sound like a old married couple every time you have these arguments. My god, it is so fucking silly." After Joy said this, I sighed, and I was feeling like I just needed to let her have her fucking witty moment, even if it was slightly annoying to be dealing with.

We were at the front of the mine. Number 13, as we had recorded. I was about to go inside, I was seeing both Todd and Joy looking like they were shocked to be seeing me planning on going inside.

"Shouldn't we be grabbing some weapons first? You know, just something that we can defend ourselves with in case we fucking need?" Todd asked, and then I shrugged, thinking that while he was right, I did not want to ruin this chance.

"Todd, do you seriously want to ruin this chance that we fucking have? I mean, come the fucking hell on, we need to be going there." I said, and then I was seeing Todd and Joy looking scared out of their fucking minds out of what I was planning on doing, now that we were here.

"Oh my god, we finally have a place to look at next. Tomorrow, we all meet here at noon." I said, and looked at Todd and Joy, looking at the mine that had a still usable entrance. As I did this, both Joy and Todd were looking like they were ready to fucking go here.

Knowing that we finally had a area to go off of, Joy and Todd nodded at this. "If we find something here, then I just want you to know that I really enjoyed this journey so far. As crazy as it is, this whole thing is really great." Todd said, admitting that deep down, he was having the time of his life.

We got in the car, and I was starting to laugh in joy. I could not believe that we were getting so fucking close to pulling this whole thing off. I saw Todd and Joy looking both like they were going to be winning everything that they would have ever fucking wanted.

We were starting to drive along, and I was wondering what I would tell her and Todd. "God, I can't fucking believe that we are pulling this whole thing together. I mean, I feel like we are so fucking close to the truth, that I can fucking taste it." I said, and I was feeling jumpy, and knowing that I would finally have what I wanted for once in my fucking life.

"Brad is going to be so excited to hear that we don't have to be looking into this too much anymore. I know that he never agreed with this stuff before. And I hope that this shows that we are so fucking close to finally putting this all behind us forever." After Joy said that, I wondered what I was going to tell her.

"Honestly, Brad is not nearly as bad of a guy as I thought that he was going to be. I thought that he was going to be a fucking asshole, and he would only care about himself. But maybe I needed to give him more credit." After Todd said that, I could hear the clear regret in his voice. Probably feeling like he was wrong.

"I mean, I never thought that I would learn what the idea of love was until I met him." Joy was telling us, and I was feeling like I just needed to let her have her fucking moment.

"Joy, thank you for giving me a chance to finally do what was right for once in my life. I mean, things are so much better with you being there with us." I said, and then I felt like she needed to take the credit for being the hero here.

As we were at Joy's house, she was looking at me, and she was clearly looking like she was just kind of unsure of what she was feeling right now. "Guys, thank you for being there for me, and helping me out as much as you can. I mean, I really appreciate the effort you guys have put in. It makes me feel so much better." After she said that to me, I sighed for a bit.

"I mean, we have to in order to help one of our friends out." After Todd said this, he was smiling as he was looking at her, and I was seeing her looking like she was just trying really hard to fully appreciate the effort he was placing in to make her feel better.

"I mean, I feel like I am being useful. I never thought that I would be saying that. Feeling like I am finally mattering to the fucking world. I just wish that I was there for your all earlier." Joy said, and then Todd sighed, unsure what in the world he was feeling.

"I mean, knowing that I would have had a huge part of the truth finally being revealed to the world, finally makes me feel like I am the woman that I need to be, and not the person that everybody acts like I might be." Joy said, and she was starting to head home, trying to find something that she was wanting to say, in order to feel so much better.

"Joy, you never needed to worry about what you were doing. You were a great friend, and you have put in so much time and effort to pulling this through. Just be happy." Todd said, smiling at the compliment he gave her.

"Wait until I tell Brad about this tomorrow. He is going to be so fucking happy, and he is going to want to hear all about my accomplishments." She said, and I heard her sounding like she wanted to just like melt in his arms, due to her growing love for the man.

As we were talking, there was a car that pulled up to the house. Joy looked up, and she was trying to find out what was happening. Before she was able to continue, a gun was pulled out, and it aimed at Joy, and shot her in the chest three times.

The car started to drive off, and then Joy fell down to the ground, and she was looking right up at the two of us, and she started to bleed out a bit more. "Dad, why did you kill me?" She asked me, and then I instantly realized who it was, and I was shaking my head, and I was unable to believe that this was what happened.

She closed her eyes, and died right then and there. As she was gone, I looked up at Todd, and wondered what he was going to be saying to this. He seemed like he was trying his best to hold back his anger, and trying to figure out what in the world he wanted to do now. "We need to finish what she fucking started. No matter what happens."

…

Scene 32: The Consequences

I was talking with Brad, feeling like I just needed to give him the news myself. I was feeling like out of all the people that were with him, I was the only one who would be able to sell it to him that Joy had done everything that she could to make things work, and I wanted him to know that no matter what happened, I had the biggest respect for his girlfriend.

"Brad, I know that it hurts to hear, but Todd and I did everything that we could, and we were all starting to think there was a small chance this could turn out well. It was something that we couldn't fucking change." I said, and I saw Brad looking like he was wanting to hit me so fucking bad. Which I didn't even blame him for at all.

"You were supposed to make sure that she was safe. I thought that you were the one that would let her come home. And now she is fucking dead, because you couldn't fucking keep her out of this." Brad said, and even at the moment, when I was hearing him speak, he was trying to keep his anger at me, but knew deep down there was nothing to do besides just fucking cry.

"Brad, listen to me, I was wanting to bring her home. I wanted to give her a chance to be happier, and have a life. When I realized that something like this was just not possible, I realized that I was wrong with everything that I had been doing. Trust me when I say that I am so fucking sorry here." I said, and I was wondering if he would fucking listen to me.

"But why did you fucking agree to let her go into this in the first place? Surely you realized that getting her involved in this was a terrible fucking idea. Now she is gone, and you are the closest to fucking blame for this." He said, and then I was sighing, and I wanted to fucking scream at him for his behavior, but I couldn't get upset.

"Brad, I want you to know that no matter what happens, and no matter what you might believe, your girlfriend wasn't just a good friend. She was a fucking hero, and she was the one that brought everybody together. Everybody would have fucking loved her if they truly got to fucking know her." I said, hoping that would be able to get him to feel slightly better.

"Todd was starting to realize how much of a hero she was near the end as well. They fought all the time, but from the look on his face, he was clearly able to see that she was the best person for this fucking job." I was hoping that saying this would get him to now finally get it.

"Todd knew that? Oh my god, I never thought that Todd of all people would see that. I thought he hated her. I thought that he wanted her fucking gone. But knowing that he cared for her, even in his own fucked up way, almost does make me feel better." After Brad was telling me this, I was wondering why I was even so worried about his reaction.

"I promise you that I will do everything I fucking can to destroy those men who were responsible for her death. She deserved so much better, and I will be giving her friends that chance. Like Maurecia, and Dana…" I said, and then Brad was seeming like he hardly cared for those people, and was just more focused on her death.

"I just wonder why she of all people deserved it. She was doing better than everybody here. She was a wonderful person, who went out of her way to bring happiness to everybody. I was feeling like a normal person when I know deep down inside that I wasn't. But her efforts really helped." He said, and I was shrugging.

"She did nothing wrong. She was just with a family that was living on borrowed time. That is all that I can fucking tell you for your own safety. She would never want you to get involved. She loved you too much to get you into this. She wanted you of all people to never fucking get exposed to the truth." I told Brad, and I was wondering if he was even willing to fucking listen to me at all.

"Spare me the bullshit dude. You know what happened to her, and you are lying to me. I want to know what happened. If I know, then I can recover." After Brad was telling me this, I was laughing at that. Nothing would possibly start a recovery process with this fucking town. It was too far out.

"I have been looking into this stuff since you were six years old. Trust me when I tell you that there was no way in hell you would e able to recover if you knew the truth. The resentment would be worse. If anything, my resentment is fucking through the roof. I feel like I need to just try and fucking talk to my father about all the bullshit he gave me." I said, and then I was shaking my head at what I was admitting.

"Your father is the worst mayor of all time as far as I am concerned. If he actually fucking cared, he would have fucking gotten the job done. But he doesn't fucking care. He only cared about his reputation, and you fucking know." Brad said, and then I was wanting to really tear him a new one when he was saying this.

"You want me to avenge what happened to Joy, don't you? If that is the case, then don't be a fucking asshole for once in your fucking life." I said, and I was looking at him, and I was wondering if he was willing to listen to me. Brad looked down, upset at what I was telling him.

"I do want that. But I want to fucking know that you actually fucking care what happened to her. That she was not just a fucking toy for you to use to get what you fucking wanted. She is gone, and you hardly seem to have a fucking reaction besides 'oh shit.'" Brad said, and then I was shaking my head at this, unable to fathom what he was saying.

"Dude, what is wrong with you? I was the one who was there when it happened, and when I was there, I couldn't believe myself. She is dead because I decided to seek Todd for help. Simple as that. And I will never back down from the truth." After I told him this, I saw him looking like he was thinking about what I was telling him.

"I know that deep down inside, you're right. I know that I shouldn't be angry at you for what you did. I just feel like when I just know that she will never be back, I feel sick to my fucking stomach. And when I know you were there, and I wasn't. I mean, if I was there, I feel like I would have blamed myself for what happened. But I know that this is wrong." Brad said, and then he was shrugging as he was telling me that.

"Can you promise me that she will be the last one? That you will keep his other friends safe? I mean, I feel like my part in this story is done." After Brad was telling me this, I was shaking my head, and I was feeling like I just needed him to get involved in what was right for him.

"I will promise that I will try until there is no more fight left in me. That is the best that I can fucking do. And I think that you need to just take that for what you can." I said, and then I was seeing him looking furious at the way that I was speaking to him here. Probably thinking that I hardly had any care.

"I loved her, and seeing her gone really fucking hurts to know. I mean, I know that deep down, you did all that you fucking could. But I just feel like I need to make sure that I never allow myself into this spot again. Reject the idea of love." Brad said, and I laughed at him when he was saying this.

"Love will come back to you one day, with or without your permission, and I feel like you are just making things harder for yourself by pretending like you can reject bullshit." I said, and then I was seeing him looking like he wasn't fucking caring what I was telling him.

"I hope that you are wrong. I really fucking hope that you are wrong. I don't think I can handle another round of this. Another round of broken promises, and false senses of hope and security." Brad was telling me, and he was shaking his head as he was saying this. I was hating the fact that nothing I was telling him would simply get through to him.

"I do understand your fears. I do understand how much it feels like you lost everything, and that you are a broken man. After all, my sister is probably dead because of this shit. And I can't even fucking change that at all. I mean, for gods sake, I tried to reach out to them, and tell them that I wanted to help them, but that is impossible." After I said that to him, I was seeing Brad looking utterly over everything he was dealing with at this point.

"But that is your sister, and not your fucking girlfriend. Those are two different fucking things Sheldon, and you fucking know it." After Brad was telling me this, I was sighing, and I was feeling like he wouldn't fucking get it, with his moms obsession with having a second son, to the point she consistently turned down any offers for a daughter.

"Brad, we both know you will never have a sister. So I feel like you have no real right to be getting in my business about how to handle this at all. Losing a sister is just as bad, in some cases worse, than losing a girlfriend. Especially since I lost my sister and my mom in the same year. The only thing that makes my moms death slight less bad is knowing that she died of a normal disease." I said, and then I was looking at Brad, wondering if he would at least hear me.

"Sorry." Brad said, and he was sounding like he was barely meaning it at all. Trying his best to just give off the sympathetic impression when in all honesty, he was just trying to not give off any fucking fighting at all.

"But just know that Todd and I are going to pick up on it tomorrow, and we will not be backing own until this is done." I said, and I was feeling like there was nothing else to fucking say at all. As I said that to him, I was seeing Brad starting to look like he was starting to calm down a bit more.

"Thanks Sheldon. I mean, I believe that you are going to do your best. Todd might be a bit harder to fully accept, as I hardly know him. But you, I can trust, and I will start to fucking trust." After Brad was telling me this, I was smiling, and I was glad to be hearing him giving Todd some fucking credit here, and not dragging the guy down for no good reason at all.

I took out a cigarette, feeling like the two of us were getting closer to being happy. I wanted that to be the normal going forward. But I wasn't sure what I would be doing going forward.

…

Scene 33: Therapist Session Ends

When Sheldon was done, he was remaining silent for a bit, and thinking about things for a bit, and thinking about the fact that a thirteen year old had died before she had a chance to live.

Therapist: Sheldon, I am so sorry. When it fucking happened, there was nothing that you could have done, since it all just happened so fucking fast.

Sheldon: I know that deep down, I was able to do everything I did. I want to not hate myself for this anymore. But I feel like the longer that I am here, the worse the whole thing is getting.

Therapist: Have you tried to talk to anybody about what happened at all? Or have you just kept this to yourself?

Sheldon: I talked with all her friends, and as you know, Brad. I mean, I wanted them to open up if they needed to. But over time, it was clear they wanted nothing to do with this at all.

Therapist: I mean, I wonder how long it took for Brad to be able to move on from what happened. I don't think I would be able to handle something like that if I was him.

Sheldon: Honestly, I am not one hundred percent sure he got over it. I think after a point, he just stopped showing his disdain towards me. Probably thinking that I never fucking cared.

Sheldon just saw himself out that time, not wanting to deal with any bullshit, and feeling no matter what she said, she would never fucking understand how much he wanted to die after all.