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.

31. The Nice Guys

Chapter 2 Episode 13 The Nice Guys

August 26, 2022

When he was done with writing his current episode, T.K. got up from his chair, and he was feeling horrible for what happened to Joy. Knowing that she had mostly died in vain, and that everything Sheldon had done to bring her death out to the public had been thrown down the fucking drain at this point.

He sent a simple email to his wife and his publisher, to show them both that the episode was done, and then he started to drive on towards Wayside again, getting the rest of the drive done, and he was hoping that Cody would be still be showing some patience to him taking so long with this.

The longer that he was heading towards Cody, the more he was wondering if Cody even fucking cared about the book in the first place. To be honest, he probably thought that Cody was just simply trying to make all the excuses he could to pull this off for his own personal sake.

The entire time, he was wondering if Cody really even knew what T.K. wanted to accomplish with this book in the first place. After all, they barely even fucking got to know each other lately, and T.K. hardly got many people to support his project at all, to the point where he had nearly lost everything with his team mates.

The entire time he was driving back, he was remembering the last time he heard the grinder. Back in the 2000's, when he had thought that he would be able to pull this off, and finally end the conspiracy. But at the end of the day, he only just ended up delaying things by a little bit, and he ended up seeming like the bad guy, and everybody fucking hated him for what he had done.

The last time before that was in the early 1990's, when his fight had ended, and he had seen many people give up on it all, or fucking die, and that the darkness of the town had completely engulfed everybody else involved.

But to be honest, the one thing that T.K. was feeling like he could have done differently was be there for Gumball when things started to get worse for him. After all, Gumball was easily the most affected by everything that had happened, and T.K. felt like whatever Gumball had dealt with could have been prevented if T.K. had just simply been there for him this entire time. Something he utterly failed to do.

Eventually, he was getting closer to the town, and when he looked around, he was seeing that most of the town had been completely fucking changed around. Looking nothing like the town he had gone used to when he was growing up. He was wondering what the president of this company had thought when he was getting out of this in the first place.

When he was finally there, he started to slowly see why his brother always acted the way he did. After all, Todd did have a extremely fucking hard time letting things go, which in turn probably made Matt feel like he wasn't really trust worthy anymore, which was something that even if T.K. didn't like saying, he completely fucking understood, even if begrudgingly.

Eventually, T.K. pulled up at Cody's house, and then he was looking down on the computer, wondering how he was going to be telling Cody the news that there were only two sessions left with his father's story. He got out the car, and then he was starting to head to the door. Cody would not approve of the work he had done with the story, but at the same time, he was totally expecting something like this to happen.

Once he knocked on the door, Cody answered the door, and he was looking at him, confused as hell to what T.K. had done to take so long to even get there in the first place. "Dude, you took fucking forever to get here. I was wondering if you even fucking listened." Cody said, and then T.K. took a cigarette out, feeling like he just needed to pretend like this was what he was wanting to say.

"Sorry, I was writing the next episode of the story. One of the hardest ones that I did. But now I am ready to help you out." T.K. said, and he wondered if Cody would fucking take what he said. But then before long, Cody just simply nodded, and let him inside, not sure what he wanted to say.

"Have you finished with the stuff about my father yet?" After Cody asked T.K. this, T.K. was looking at him, and he was sighing, feeling like with the way that he was phrasing it, that T.K. was disappointing him for everything that had been happening in the first place.

"No, there are still two more video sessions to go through. I have been going through one every week or two, and I feel like the progress is starting to become super fucking noticeable. But yeah, I think within a few weeks, the final one will be ready to go." T.K. said, and Cody seemed like he was trying to be happy about hearing this.

"Well, at least you're putting your promise to actions. I have been thinking about how I am going to be talking to those kids, and make them listen to me again. But I feel like they want nothing to do with me at all." After Cody said that, T.K. was sighing, unsure of what to even tell him.

"Cody, I am going to be blunt when I say this, but I feel like they are not going to fucking listen to you. So I feel like you are trying too fucking hard to make this work. And I feel like they need to be making this conclusion on your own." T.K. said, and then Cody was simply seeming to have no interest in what he was hearing.

"T.K., those people need to have somebody set them in the right direction, and I feel like their father is not going to be the man who can pull it off. I feel like he is not even going to fucking try and get them to stop doing this." He said, and then T.K. shrugged, not sure what to say.

"Why have you not done it then, if you feel like this needs to fucking happen? I mean, you can do the job better than I ever will. Do you really look at me, and see me as a person who can spread morale? I can barely get my family to not want to fall apart." T.K. said, and he was trying to keep Cody down to earth the entire time that he was telling him this all.

"I tried to get them to fucking listen to me, but they claim that I am a man stuck to the past, or that the ones who do fucking listen to me just tell me that I need to go away, because my fucking words are spreading bad influence to those younger kids. It is fucking bullshit and stuff. But I guess that this does make some sense." Cody said, and then he looked at T.K. thinking of what he was going to say to make the situation better for them.

"I need the old magic that you had. You had a charm that made people fucking listen to you, and I feel like you need to activate that once again. But you seem to not fucking listen." After he was telling T.K. this, that was when T.K. seemed to just not have much patience to deal with what they were being told at all.

"Magic. That is one fucking way to put it. You know, I feel like I have completely fucking run out of that magic you are talking about." T.K. said, and then he simply shrugged, not sure what in the world he was able to say here.

"If that is the case, then can you fucking help me with what I plan on doing now. Destroying this fucking town, and making sure nobody involved in this business has a fucking chance to change this." He asked, and then T.K. looked at him, slightly unsure of what he was going to say.

"They need some hope, and my father had set up this whole thing, and I feel like I am the one who is going to have to change the course of action." Cody said, and then T.K. sighed, and sat down on the hood of his car, wondering what he was even going to be saying at all.

"Are you trying to get revenge here? I mean, if that is the case, then can you really say that you are doing what is best for this town?" T.K. asked, and then Cody looked at him, slightly tired of the way that T.K. was asking him all of the actions.

"I am not trying to get revenge. Nobody who I could get revenge against is even involved in this business anymore. So I feel like something like this would be a waste of time. But that being said, I do feel like this is something that I need to try and fucking fix." Todd was telling him, slightly annoyed with what he had been hearing for a while.

"And besides, if we do not do this, then those fucking kids are going to get into it. I already gave up on the oldest two. You know, Gabe and Todd. They're legal age now, and they already made their choice. I can't fucking change that. But the younger ones, who still are in school now, they need to fucking relax." Cody said, and T.K. was sort of seeing his perspective at this whole thing, as much as he was annoyed at this whole thing,

"Look, I fucking get it. I do see where you are coming from. I don't have to like it, but I do sort of see what you are saying here." T.K. was sighing and he was slightly annoyed as he was saying this, wondering why he had admitted something like this.

"That being said, I feel like we need to at least plan things out more. Like I don't fucking know, try and speak to fucking Todd about this in the first place. Maybe he knows something to say to this, to try and make things better." T.K. said, wondering if Cody was going to fucking consider what he said.

"I have tried to talk to Todd. I have been trying to be doing everything already. But Todd feels like I am just going back to what my father was doing in the past, and I guess that I do sort of understand him. Especially since everything my father had been doing in the past ended up getting him hurt by doing this." Cody said, and then T.K. felt like he needed to try and find something to tell him.

"I thought Todd and Sheldon got along decently well. Or at least more than most people did. Is this something that fucking changed over time?" T.K. said, and then there was nothing else to say. Cody shrugged, not too sure what to be telling him at this rate.

"Well, yeah, but I think that something like this has to fucking end when you have a giant family you are trying to raise, and when you have people that are trying to dig up their past. I do understand why Todd is like this. But I thought that his kids would have been more willing to listen to me right now. But I guess that I was a fucking liar for thinking something like this in the first place." After Cody said this, T.K. then sighed, not sure what he was wanting to tell Cody at all at this rate.

"I will try and see what I might get out of this then." T.K. said, and then he was taking a cigarette out, shaking his head. "I will try and see what I can say to them. But until then, we might as well work together to make this work out." After T.K. was telling Cody this, he was sighing, and shook his head at this. Feeling like Cody was being a bit insane.

"Tell me what you got so far. I might not like it, but I know for a fact that there is nothing that I can fucking change." T.K. was saying, feeling like there was virtually nothing else to be saying to make this whole thing any different at all.

"Well, if you are willing to fucking listen to me now, I can show you everything that I have seen. Maybe you know what to say about what I found here." Cody walked inside, and T.K. sighed, not really interested in hearing this at all. Eventually, T.K. and Cody went inside, where T.K. would pretend like this was something he wanted to deal with.

Once inside the house, T.K. was seeing that Cody's house was relatively organized. There was some clutter, but they were all stacked, and they were all placed around in a way where he would instantly understand where everything was.

T.K. took a cigarette out, and he laughed at this. As he was looking around, Cody smiled at him. "I have been planning on showing the kids this information, and getting them to fucking understand what we are getting into. Maybe if they read this, they will finally fucking get it." Cody said, sighing as he said this. T.K. looked around, hoping Cody was right.

…

Scene 1: January 21 1987, start

Sheldon sat down, and looks at his therapist, wondering what she was wanting to tell him, as he took out another cigarette, and felt like both of them would be feeling much better when this was done.

Sheldon: You won't be seeing me anymore soon. I feel like that is something you might be happy about. Next one will be the final one.

Therapist: I think you probably are thinking that I hated you or something like that. When all that was going on was I wondered where this was all going. So last one left off where Joy had died...

Sheldon: And, and not a week goes by where I do not blame myself for what happened. She deserved so much better, and I was trying to give her that. But I ended up failing miserably at this.

Therapist: Sheldon, her father was the one that ordered the hit. You need to give yourself a fucking break before you end up hating yourself even more than you had earlier. But I guess that you probably know this.

Sheldon: I know that I need to stop being so hard on myself. I mean, I can fucking see that. But the thing is that I feel like when I make a promise, and I tell her that something like this will be fixed, and then I fail to fix it, then that is my fucking fault.

Therapist: I guess that maybe it is because of the fact that I wasn't there when it happened. But I feel like if I was there, then I would appreciate the fact that you were at least trying to make it fucking work out for the best.

Sheldon sighed, and then he was thinking about that, and Joy's death, and that nothing that happened would justify that in his mind.

…

Scene 2: Inauguration (Day 1)

Todd and I were talking for a bit, and the television was on in his house casually. "What a fucking disaster. I think we should have been more ready for this. I almost can't even fucking blame Brad for the way that he was reacting earlier. Given the context, he probably does have a right to think that it is our faults we didn't save her." Todd said, and shook his head, hating the fact that he was admitting this.

"I tried to convince him that it wasn't our fault, and that we were doing our best. But he seemed completely uninterested in that. But I feel like everything we can tell him is just going to go in one ear and out the other. But I just wish that he would be willing to leave things alone with you. After all, you're a nice guy who has been through too much." I said, and I simply took a cigarette out.

"Honesty, given everything, I am amazed he was willing to even fucking talk with me at all. And not be acting like I was the fucking worst thing ever." I said, and then as we were talking, Todd pointed towards the television. I looked forward, to see what Todd was interested in. Not really having the heart to tell him that I didn't actually care all that much in all honesty.

"What the fucking hell is Harold doing on the podium?" As he was asking this, I was seeing Harold looking like he was hating every second of what he was getting himself into right now. Probably thinking that he was about to sell his soul to the devil.

"I was told by my father that effective immediately, I am supposed to take the position of vice president of his Wilson casino and business. He wanted me to be as ready as possible on the event of his death, so that way I could become president of the company right away." Harold said, and he was sounding like every word that was escaping his mouth was utterly dreadful. I sighed, feeling like I might have been failing my friend as a result of this.

"I will do my best to be learning the ropes of this company, while still getting the grades I need to graduate in my senior year, although I am worried that I might not have enough practice at that, since school starts in roughly three weeks." As he was saying this, Todd and I looked at each other, both clearly upset at what was happening. But I would also like to add that we were both completely unshocked at this as well.

"Well, I guess that this was going to happen eventually. Maybe his father is scared that he is going to die soon, and is trying to make a personal insurance plan so that the wrong people don't take over the company." Todd said, almost completely dropping the subject with Joy, and I slowly nodded, agreeing with him here.

"Great, now we have that to worry about. I have a feeling that if this keeps up, we might not be able to hang out with him too much anymore. Or at least be very careful with it." I said, and then I was shrugging, and I felt like nothing else I could tell him would keep Todd feeling better.

"Well, I think that maybe we can make it work. But what do you think you will get by talking to him so much? I mean, I think that we basically got everything we could possibly get out of him that we ever wanted." Todd said, and then he was shrugging, thinking about what he was saying.

"I don't know. Maybe just the certainty of knowing that he is not involved with this, and that at the end of the day, he is still on our fucking side." I said, and I was feeling like what I was telling him wouldn't really make much of a difference one way or another.

"But we know that he is not involved in this. His father might want him to be, and he might be trying everything he fucking can, but you already know that Harold is too deep into working with us to get involved in this." After Todd was telling me this, I was sighing, and I was feeling like any argument with him right now was only going to be getting him slightly annoyed with this right now.

"I just always get scared that Dakota is going to be proven right with everything that he said, and it turns out that Harold has been fucking leading us down this path as a way to get our guards down. I mean, the idea isn't that fuckin unlikely." I was saying, and I felt like nothing else I could say would be able to make my fucking point here.

"Who gives a fuck what Dakota thinks? You said yourself that he was a fucking asshole, and that you were not really trusting him that much anymore." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, feeling like everything we were saying was going to just be a waste of time.

"Just because he might be an asshole doesn't mean that it isn't fucking true. He might have the right idea, but the wrong way of wording it. And I think that this is something we need to at least just look at before we say anything." I said, and then I was shrugging as I was telling him this.

"Regardless, we are not going to get anything out of debating this. So let's just go on and fucking talk to Harold, and see what he might be fucking doing about this now." Todd said, and then he was smiling as he was saying this. I sighed, and I was feeling like I just needed to leave this subject alone. I went to my car, feeling like this was not going to fucking work, no matter what he might be thinking.

We were starting to drive on towards the house, and I was really having no idea what I was even going to be doing by talking to him this whole time. "Sheldon, I just feel like when Maurecia knows what we are doing, she is going to be wanting to fucking murder you." Todd said, and then I rolled my eyes, and I wasn't really in the mood to hear this at all.

"I don't fucking care what she is going to be doing. I think she probably hardly fucking cares too, so you are just making yourself sound silly when you say that." I said, and then I was shaking my head, and I really had no idea what in the world I was going to tell him.

We were at Harold's house again, and the entire time that we were there, I was seeing him looking utterly horrified at this whole thing. Like he could not believe that we were taking the risk by being here in the first place. "You do know that if my father sees you guys here, he is going to fucking blow a fuse. I think it might be best to just get out of here." After he was telling me this, I was shrugging, since I was hardly caring at all anymore.

"Harold, we want to help you with your new position. I mean, we know that you just became the vice president. We might not like what you are doing, but we are going to do whatever we want to do to help you." I said, and then I was feeling like telling him this was going to be a massive mistake.

"I don't want to fucking talk about it dude. I mean, I am not ready for this, and I might have to start talking to Jackie about the possible idea of breaking things off, for her safety. After all, she might have a small chance if she is no longer with me." Harold said, and then I was sighing, and I really have no idea what I was going to accomplish here.

"But I mean, I guess that there is nothing that I can fucking do about it now. After all, those people are going to be coming at us no matter what. Why do you even want to be with me now? With the fact that I now rule this fucking company, and now everything is my responsibility." After he was telling me this, he sounding like he was barely keeping his annoyance and anger here.

"Because we want to be able to make sure that when you take over the company, you are not going to be following what your father is telling you to do. We basically want to just make sure that you actually will stick up to your morals." After I was telling him this, I saw Harold looking kind of upset with what I was telling him.

"I know what I want to do. I feel like it if you two that are starting to lose sight on what you are doing. After all, Joy died recently, and you guys are going right back to this shit. I mean, don't you feel like you need to at least consider your future plans here?" He asked, and then I was sighing, and I wondered why he was also throwing us down like this as well.

"Harold, we are just trying to help here, so don't make things much worse by doing this." I said, and I was rubbing my eyes, and I was feeling like I just needed him to calm down. "Harold, you're a good guy, but I think you are trying too hard to look into this."

"Look, I want to help you guys. I really do. But I think you need to just let me do what I need to do, while you guys go into your own fucking arena. And we can just try and get to the same point. After all, we have the same goal. Just different ways of going at this whole thing." After he was telling me this, I was starting to try and listen to him. Trying to feel better here.

"After all, I thought you of all people would understand the issue with politics. How they need to be fucking held onto with simple agreements and compromises." As Harold said this, he looked at Todd, and I was seeing him looking like he was trying to find something else to say. To get Todd to not feel attacked by this.

"I am not my father though, so what he knows doesn't fucking reflect onto me as well." I said, and then I was smiling at this. Harold laughed as he was hearing this. Probably thinking that I was being a bit of a joke. "But the truth is that I feel like you are just needing to not let your father take over what you are doing too much. After all, you do have us at your side."

"My father is the one that is going to be there at my side, and when he dies, and I have to take over, then I have no idea what I am going to be doing. I am scared that it is going to happen in the next three or four days, and when that happens, I don't think that anything I can do will be making a difference at all." He was saying, and then he was shrugging as he had said that. Probably wondering if I could actually consider what he was telling me.

"But I guess that complaining and being upset won't make a fucking difference." After he was telling me this, he decided to just drop the subject, and not be thinking too much more on it anymore. He was rubbing his eyes, tired of everything going on around him now.

…

Scene 3: All Cards Are In (Day 2)

Soon after the discussion with Harold, Todd and I were at Mezmer's again, aware of the fact that Ashley's parents probably were working even more here, as a way to pretend like they were not too heartbroken by what was going on here.

"Todd, what are you thinking about right now?" I asked, and I was seeing Todd looking like everything in his mind was just coming to what he was feeling like was the most natural conclusion to something else entirely.

"I was thinking that now that we are at a point where everything is fucking lost either way, we might as well just give it all that we have. We have nothing to fucking lose now." Todd said, pretending like he was just having a badass presentation here. Probably thinking that doing so would callous himself much more than before.

"Yeah, but what do you think your other friends would be feeling here? I mean, for fucks sake, this is the last chance we have to turn around. I mean, Joy might not have wanted this if she were still alive. But since she is not, then why the fuck is that what we are judging by?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to finally just say the truth that none of us were wanting to fucking admit by this point in time.

"I don't fucking know what I believe anymore. But I mean, I feel like with her being dead, then that is even more fucking reason to fucking look deeper into what is going on with this. And besides, I feel like the sooner we get this over with, and the sooner we truly make peace over what is going on, then the better that things can fucking be." Todd said, and I was feeling like my next response was going to be one that I would regret.

"So you are officially never going to be giving up, no matter how much you want to let it go? I mean, if that is the case, then I guess that I might have to apologize for the shit that I was doing, and making things worse for you." I was telling him, not sure what I was even trying to make this about myself at all, when that was not the fucking point.

"Don't worry. I was going to be doing this sooner or later anyways. No real reason to be making things worse for you. I feel like just having you at my side is only going to be giving me more incentive to be checking things out now. But I guess that regret and guilt is hard to try and get over." Todd said, and I was shrugging, feeling like I just needed to try and see what he was saying, but couldn't be sure what in the world I was even going to say.

"I am going to try and go to the mines, and maybe see which ones my dad has not destroyed yet. Maybe that can give us some fucking time to figure out what is happening." After I was telling him this, I saw Todd looking like he wanted to believe what I was saying for once.

"So you are still feeling like your father is not lying to you? Like you can still trust him to give you all the information that he clearly has no interest in giving you. At some point, you are going to have to admit that he is only doing this because he has to, and not because he really fucking wants to." Todd was saying, and I felt like nothing he could tell me would be able to make me feel better about what he was trying to accomplish at all.

"I never said that my father was not lying to me. I said that I am sure that my father is just willing to help me out with the things that matter the most. Why is that so fucking hard to understand?" I asked, and I shook my head, feeling like the sooner he was understanding this, the better that things could possibly be for the two of us.

"I wish that I could have the same amount of hope that you have in him. But I just can't feel like this is something that I can justify, given everything that is happening here." Todd was telling me, and then with that, I was getting in my car, and Todd was closing his eyes, clearly thinking deeper about what he was telling me.

"But I guess that at this point in time, even if I do not like him, I do trust that he does indeed know at least something, and because of that, I am going to trust you when you talk with him. I just hope that this is not something that I totally fucking regret." He was telling me, as I was wondering what this guy was going to be playing at here. Basically admitting that he wasn't really trying for anything besides his own personal gain.

"So you are doing it this way because you want to basically get a upper footing in the grand scheme of things? I mean, I know that you are not going to trust me here, but shouldn't you at least be trying to pretend to work with me as well as yourself?" I asked, and I hoped to get him to calm down a couple of moments.

Todd and I started to head off, as I was heading to my father's office, and I would force him to finally talk with me, and I would finally get Todd to see that he was deserving of more than what I had been giving him all of this time. "But just try and let me have this talk with him. He deserves a fucking chance, and I just hope you can give him that for once."

Before long, we were at my father's office, and I was feeling like whatever I could say to Todd wad going to be fucking pointless. As we were inside, I was just focused on getting this talk done with, and not making things any worse.

He looked over at us, and I was seeing him looking like this was literally the last thing he wanted from us right now. "Guys, look, I am sorry for everything that happened. But you are not going to be accomplishing much by doing this right now." My father said, trying to defuse the situation.

"That is not it. I can accept the fact that you probably did not know much about that. After all, very few people in town did." Todd said, feeling like he was needing to give this man that much at the very least. "But the truth of the matter is that we feel like you need to find a way to help us out. Just give us what we fucking need." Todd was telling him, wondering what more he would say that can change the tone of the situation.

"What do you need? You better start talking as clearly as fucking possible here. I am dealing with all the shit that is going on because the fucking town is now in a uproar over the fact that one of your friends just got murdered in broad day light." He was saying, shrugging as he was telling me this.

"We want the people who were responsible for this put behind bars. And I believe that the people who did this are also responsible for what is going on. With the girls going missing all the time. We just believe that we need to work with you here." Todd said, and he was sounding fucking furious over what he was saying. Probably thinking that we were just trying to make things worse for him.

"Look, I still don't really know if there really is a conspiracy going on here. For all we know, you guys are fucking going on and on about something that for the time being, still has no prove." He said, and then Todd was looking utterly upset at the way that my father said that.

"Are you fucking serious? So now you are refusing to even consider anything your own kid is telling you? Wow, I feel like something like this should be shocking to me, but I couldn't be more shocked if I fucking tried." Todd said, and I was seeing that my father was actually seeming relatively hurt by the attack being thrown at him.

"Yes, I am serious. I feel like I need more information to go off of before I just go there. I mean, I don't think Sheldon is lying per se. But he needs to have concrete proof. Like recordings. In order to make any form of arrests. That one work with that guy you provided proof on, so that was fine. But this is different." He said, trying his best to keep patient with the shit that we had been saying.

Once Todd and I were out of the room, I was honestly really fucking pissed off that time, and I wasn't really sure what in the world I was even going to say. "I guess that maybe you could be onto something when you talk about my dad like that." I was trying to simply hold back my anger as I was talking to him about this.

"I have no idea how many times I have to say this before you let it go. I thought that after this many times, you would have gotten it in your mind." After he was telling me this, I just started to feel like I was ready to fucking give up, and go my own separate way from him.

"Todd, you know that your father is the way that he is. You have nothing to be worried about with him. But my father is the mayor, and for the last seven years, he has been at my side. It's only since I met you that things have started to get much worse." I said, and then started to fucking calm down for a bit.

As I was driving him to his house, Todd was then calming down a bit, trying to find something to say. "So Sheldon, I think we should go on and just work on getting the clues. Like you said, we need to go all in, and not be screwing around anymore." He said, and then I was sighing, thinking that without Harold at my side, things would be getting much worse.

"I will try and talk to Harold about getting to work with him more. If not, then I guess that I can always work with Dakota again. After all, we have been throwing him off for a bit." I said, and then I was feeling no reason to argue with him.

"You're seriously thinking about bringing him into this again? I mean, I guess that Ashley going missing might make him work with us. But that doesn't mean I have to like it." He was telling me, as he left the car, almost too angry to even look at this anymore.

As I was starting to leave Todd, and no longer really deal with him too much, that was when I was seeing one of my classmates, who had been walking by. As she was calling out to me, I looked over at her, and I was just trying to pretend like I wanted to deal with this.

"Sheldon, it's Cathy. I was wondering if we could possibly talk for a bit." After she was telling me this, I was sighing, since I was not sure if I was wanting to deal with this at all. But I was feeling like there was no point in leaving her alone. "It's about the investigation that you are doing, and I was wanting to fucking help."

…

Scene 4: Cathy (Day 3)

The next day, I was meeting up with Cathy, and the entire time that we were talking the more unsure of how I was going to be handling this entire thing. After all, she was probably going to be giving me bullshit that would not really be helping me out at all.

I was feeling like the best way to start this, was to just simply try and get to know her a bit more. So we were at Joyful Burger, and I was seeing Larry totally fucking on edge this entire time. And I was feeling fucking horrible for what was happening here. I just wished that I could have made him feel better here.

"So Sheldon, tell me what is going on with you lately?" She asked, and I was seeing her looking like she was trying to think of the best way to gently go at this, but just simply was not too sure what she would have wanted to say.

"Not much. Just been hanging out with my friends, and trying to make myself useful when looking at this town. You know, it can be rather hard to fucking do, but to be honest, I am enjoying this a lot." I said, and then I was looking at her, and I was seeing her looking really happy to hear me at least seem kind of interest in speaking to her.

"That seems to be one way of putting it. It seems like everything you have been doing has been getting yourself in danger, and trying to just simply last as long as you can. I have heard a bunch of things from my parents about the controversy that you are causing here." Joy was telling me, and I saw her looking like she was wanting to fucking make me uncomfortable for whatever reason.

"Well, it is hard to try and do so many things, and keep up a part time job. You know, like at the gas station." I said, and I was feeling like telling her this would be able to buy me some fucking time. She shook her head, not sure what she would have said to that.

"Part time job. What made you even want to get into the gas station in the first place anyways? I never thought that I would be seeing you interested in something like this in the first place." She said, and the truth was that I really didn't know what to tell her.

"Truth be told, I wanted to just do something with my time, and that was the best that I could fucking do to make it fucking work out. Simple as that." I said, and I was admitting deep down inside, that something like this was a bit anticlimactic."

"I guess that is fair enough. When you are our age, you don't really have much to prove to people, so just getting on the fucking scene will have to be good enough." After she was telling me this, I was sighing, and I wondered what her point was going to be now.

"Yeah, I mean, I just needed to do something, and those people were willing to give me a fucking chance. In all honesty, I was glad to be seeing that those guys were even willing to fucking work with me at all." I said, feeling like I just needed to try and take what I could get from this.

"Cathy, what is bothering you?" I asked, trying to be nice about it, but believing deep down inside that she was not really going to be adding anything to this, and that I was just going to have to try and find a polite way to be getting out of this discussion here.

"I don't fucking know, I just feel like after all these years, I need to know what you are actually even doing in this town? You have been looking around Wayside ever since you moved here, and everybody is going around and talking about you behind your back, acting like you're a god damn lunatic for acting the way that you do." She said, and then I was sighing, feeling like something like this made a lot of sense.

"Well, I don't want to be getting you involved in something that quite frankly is a fucking mess, and I would be better to just simply drop." I said, and I was shrugging, and I wondered if she was willing to fucking listen to me here. I was seeing Cathy looking like she wasn't caring to hear it.

"Sheldon, just tell me why everybody is suddenly acting like you're a massive fucking target. That is all that I want to fucking know." She said, and then I was seeing from the look on her face, that she was not wanting to dispute this at all. I simply shrugged, and I was feeling like I just needed to drop the subject.

"Well, the truth is that it is probably because I am the first person who has actually come close to figuring out what is happening. My friend Todd and I have been working our asses off every single night going in that forest, trying to track down all the sights the girls could have gone. We are not stopping until we figured out where this whole thing had gone down hill." I said, and I shrugged, hoping that this would be enough to satisfy here.

"But Sheldon, what if this fucking kills you? I mean, is it really worth the fucking risk?" After Cathy asked me this, I simply sighed in annoyance, so fucking sick and tired of that question, and wishing that I could never hear that for the rest of my fucking life.

"If it does kill me, then it does. Not like I can fucking do much about it then. But seriously, I feel like something like this would happen anyways. So in the mean time, the best thing that I can fucking do is just stall things out. After all, some of the people that I know have already died, people that deserved a chance to live much more than I ever did." I said, taking a cigarette out, feeling like I was just needing to be honest about the way that I had felt about it.

"What is going on Sheldon? Who do you know that already fucking died?" Cathy asked, and I was looking at her, and I was feeling like everything that I could possibly tell her would just be placing her on the fucking fore front of possibly getting herself killed.

"Look, I can see that there is no fucking fooling you. The fact of the matter is that people are being sold off, and my friends and I had found some evidence of that, and Todd and I are theorizing that it is either some form of drug or sex trafficking. You know that person who was found? Nora Wakeman? Well, she was a victim of that, and when she was found out, the people behind this all, whoever they are, decided to terminate her." I said, and the way that I was looking at Cathy was showing her truly how serious I was being this whole time.

"Wonderful. The most simple explanation of them all turns out to be the one that is closest to being real. That is something that I want to be surprised by, but can't be. But seriously, what are you going to do to even fucking change this at all?" She asked, seeming to just try and pick her words as carefully as fucking possible here.

"And now I am just trying to make that Todd and I learn the truth before another person goes fucking missing. We are getting so fucking close, that now we are within striking distance, and everybody involved knows this." I said, and then Cathy was sighing, unsure of what to fucking tell me.

"But why is the grinding noise going off so many fucking times this summer compared to every other year?" Cathy asked, and I smiled, feeling like that was a fair enough question. And one that I wanted to make sure that I put enough thought and effort into answering before I fully committed to it.

"That is probably because they are trying to get some extra business out of this before it fully goes down." I said, and I wasn't too sure what I would be doing right now. "And I feel like if you knew what was best for you, you would just drop this subject and let Todd and I be taking care of this going forward.

"Oh god, sorry for asking this. I just felt like I needed to try and find out what was going on. I didn't want to be making things worse for you. You know, I just always felt like something was going on. But I was feeling like I just needed to throw my hat in the fucking race." She was telling me, and I was smiling as I had told her this, feeling like this was something that really opened my eyes.

"Cathy, you have every right to be curious. But the truth is that doing so is going to be setting yourself up for so many fucking things, and I feel like you just need to be much more careful here." I said, and then I was simply not sure what to even fucking tell her at all.

"So Sheldon, why are you fucking even trying anymore? I mean, your father wanted you to be getting away from this, and it seems like most of your fucking friends want you to be leaving this alone as well?" She was asking me, and I was simply thinking deeper about what she was actually asking me.

"I mean, I know what my father fucking wants. I am not insane. But I sometimes feel like he is just trying to find something to hide the truth from me from. And that is why I feel like I just need to fucking look at what he is doing." I said, and then I was wondering why she was going to say at all.

"And besides, sooner or later, he will no longer be mayor, and when that happens, I have to fucking fight for this town. And I know that by that point, he will no longer be able to fucking save me anymore." I said, and then I was shrugging, and I wondered if she was willing to at least consider what I had been telling her.

"Sheldon, just make sure that you know what you are truly trying to accomplish by doing this. I mean, I don't want you to basically just be doing this as a vengeance of whatever." Cathy was telling me, and I was not really in much of a mood to listen to what she was trying to say at all.

"Cathy, I am sorry that I even decided to have this discussion with you. I should have fucking told you no, and even if I was sounding like a asshole by doing this, then I could have been able to fucking keep you safe." I said, and as I said that to her, I was seeing Cathy looking like she was just upset with the fact that I was brushing off her interest in the subject as much as I did. Probably thinking that I simply didn't care for her at all.

…

Scene 5: The Wilson Opening Party (Day 4)

I was talking to Brad and Todd, and I was seeing that both of them, especially Todd, was having something on their mind. Something that I knew for a fucking fact I was going to be fucking regretting if I was going to be speaking at all.

"I think that we should go to the Wilson Opening party for that new building, and maybe be there for Harold when he is going to inevitably have to make a fucking presentation for people." After Todd said this, he looked at Brad, and I was seeing him looking like he was thinking of more of what they were going to be saying at all.

"I really hope you guys know what you are fucking doing by getting involved in this. Seriously, you two are going to fucking be putting yourself at risk over something that is not all that fucking important." Brad said, and I was sighing, feeling like I just needed to try and find a way to be making him feel slightly better about what was happening.

"Brad, I think you need to give this idea more fucking credit. I mean, this might be the best way to get true justice for what is happening to Joy. I think you need to fucking at least consider that more." After Todd said that, I saw Brad looking like he was considering what Todd had said.

"Oh really? If that is the case, then I guess that I would be willing to throw my hat in the race. See if you guys can be able to help me out here." After Brad was saying this, he smiled, and I was seeing him suddenly so much happier about what we were going to fucking get ourselves into.

"Well, what are you going to be doing to get those guys to actually give you any information? I mean, you need to be careful about this whole thing. If you blow this, then nothing we ever fucking did will matter." After Brad was telling me this, I took a cigarette out, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and find a way to be making him feel at least slightly better about what we were doing.

"We are not going to be talking to them. We are going to steal the information, and get what we need that way." Todd said, and I was seeing Brad looking like he could not fucking believe that he was hearing Todd saying this. Probably thinking that Todd needed to at least consider how much worse he would be making things here.

"What the fucking hell? I mean, oh my god. You better be careful about what you are doing here. I mean, Joy already died because of how uncareful you guys were." Brad said, and I was really fucking pissed at the fact that he was telling me this. I felt like he needed to just be much more careful here.

"That is why we want you to be helping us. If something happens to us, then nobody is going to be suspecting something about you. So that way, when you go in there, everybody is going to be coming after us, and you can get all the information you fucking want that way." I said, and then I was seeing Brad looking like he was at least considering what I had told him.

"Okay. I guess that I can give this a fucking try. Not that I fucking like this. But I know that fighting this is only going to be making things much worse." After Brad was telling me this, I was seeing him looking like the uncertainty of his voice was just really dragging him down this whole time.

I was getting towards my car, and I was seeing that Brad had at least considered what we were getting ourselves into. As he was starting to smile, I was wondering why he was finding this whole thing so fucking amusing in the first place.

"Guys, I want you to actually promise me that you have every intention of actually finding Joy's killer. Every day that goes by, I feel more and more guilt over everything that I had done." As Brad followed us here, Todd then placed his hand on Brad's shoulder, feeling like he was needing to just give Brad some fucking slack over everything going on.

"We will. Just give us some fucking time. But you do not need to feel guilty. You had nothing to do with what fucking happened at all." Todd said, and I was seeing Brad looking like he was just trying to diffuse the situation as much as possible.

"I do feel guilty. I mean, if she hadn't spent so much time with me, then she would have perhaps been able to find the truth of the labyrinth. But she was trying to make me feel as great as possible, so she was constantly hanging out with me all the fucking time." After Brad was saying this, he was simply shrugging. As he said that, Todd looked utterly annoyed at this statement.

"That is not what Joy would have wanted. I think that if you knew what Joy was feeling, she never wanted to make you feel much worse. You were the only person that made things different." I said, and I was seeing Brad looking like he was trying to feel better at what I said.

"Okay, I guess that if this is true, then I will try and let it go." After Brad was telling me this, we got in the car, and then we were starting to drive towards Harold's house, hoping that this would be a time we could have a more civil discussion about the subject. Who knows, maybe Harold would be willing to talk to Brad given everything going on here.

Once we were at Harold's house, I was seeing him looking at Brad, and I was suddenly seeing him looking much less annoyed at Brad being here. Probably just happy to see that he wasn't completely fucking broken or anything like that.

"Look Brad, I am really fucking sorry about everything that happened with you and Joy. I mean, I wish that I was there for you, and made you feel better." After Harold was telling him this, I was seeing that Brad was clearly looking like he wanted nothing to do with hearing this at all.

"Look, there is nothing that I can fucking do to change this. Seriously, getting all up and business about it is not going to fucking change anything. All that I want to do is just focus on the job." After Brad was telling Harold this, I was seeing Harold looking like he was just totally regretting everything that he had been hearing at this rate.

"Look, you are not the only one who lost everything. I mean, if what I hear is true, then something could be happening to Jackie, and I can't even fucking comprehend what it will be like to lose her." Harold said, and he was shrugging, wondering if Brad was finally willing to hear what he was being told.

"Why would anything happen to her? I mean, people know that you are supposed to take the Wilson company over. There is nothing that they would get out of taking her away." Brad said, utterly fucking lost on what he was hearing. Todd was then feeling like this conversation was not worth continuing to have.

"I don't fucking know Brad. I would want to ask the same question. Why anybody would even want to fucking take that risk. But I guess that people just simply are not that interested in talking about anything like this at all. Anyways, the point is that even if you do not see it, I do really fucking feel sorry about this." He said, and then after he was telling Brad this, he was hoping that sooner or later, Brad would finally calm down, and stop being such a fucking asshole over this.

"I will just say that if I find out that your father was involved with what happened with her, then I never want to speak to you again. But I guess that I shouldn't be this fucking silly over it." Brad was saying, and he was starting to calm down for a moment. Thinking deeply about what he was saying.

As Brad was starting to head off, this was when Harold started to speak again. "Brad, I want you to know that I think that your mother might be planning on something soon. I have no idea what that might be. So I might be a fucking idiot for saying this. But I feel like if you want to truly get justice here, then you need to speak with her." Harold was saying, and Brad looked at him, unsure of what to even tell him at all.

"If she is, then I will try and fucking sort that out with her on my own. I do not need you guys to be giving me a fucking lecture on what to do with my mother." Brad was saying, and he was smiling as he was saying this. I saw that Harold was still just more taken back by his way of speaking than anything else at all.

"I just want to know if you are willing to let me go to the party that your father is throwing. I mean, I want to do nothing big or bad. I just feel like I need to fucking go out and have a good time." After Brad was telling him this, I was seeing Harold looking like he wanted to find something else to say. But just didn't have any response at all.

"I mean, if you promise to behave yourself, and not be bringing up the missing girls at all, then I feel like there is no fucking reason to be saying no at all." He was saying, and I was seeing that he was considering how much this could be going extremely wrong for him if he was not careful enough with this.

"Okay. Thanks. I really need to be doing something new. I can't keep being angry at myself, and being hateful to all the people that I fucking know." He said, and then he smiled, wondering if Harold would appreciate what he was hearing.

Harold was looking at Todd, and I, and I was clearly seeing him looking like he was hoping that we knew what we were doing by getting into this here. "I hope you two realize how much this is going to be really fucking pissing me off if my fathers party gets fucking ruined here." Harold said, and I was seeing him looking like he was not even really buying what he was telling us at all.

"Are you just trying to be a bad ass?" I asked, and I was smiling as I said this. Harold was just looking like even trying to speak to us about this was going to be driving him insane. So he was starting to head to his house, feeling like he was needing to grab something else, and head on out, to just enjoy his time with his girlfriend here.

"I am just going to be with Jackie right now. You guys better not get in the fucking way of this. I deserve to have one thing in my fucking life that is going my way." Harold said, and he was smoking a cigarette as he was saying this. Probably thinking that the more he was placing himself away from this, the better things could potentially be.

Brad got in my car. I looked at Todd, and I was thinking about how stubborn every human being alive in history was. And I was thinking about how much this was fucking driving me crazy, and why I was even getting involved in any of this in the first place.

…

Scene 6: Car Dealer Shop (Day 5)

I was talking with Harold the next day, feeling like I just needed to see what Harold was even doing when he would be vice president. "So now that you have had the job for a few days, and you are probably a bit more aware of what your opening is going to be, do you think you would be willing to let me come along?" I asked, and I was seeing Harold looking like he was just kind of a bit annoyed at this.

"The opening is for a car dealer shop. Don't worry, I originally thought it was a casino as well. But it seems like my father was changing plans on me without me knowing. Probably don't really mind though, as I wasn't really sure if there was any need to have yet another fucking casino here." After Harold said this, he shrugged, not sure what to even say to this.

"Oh fuck, I wonder if Jamie's father might be the one who is setting this up. I can try and fucking see if he knows anything." I said, and then I was seeing Harold looking like he clearly couldn't care less about something like this. Probably thinking that I was being a bit silly here.

"Are you going to be trying to speak to him about this now? I mean, he would probably tell you to go fuck yourself." He said, and then I was laughing as he was telling me this. Thinking that something like this might be true enough. But in all honesty, I was hardly even fucking caring at all.

"I want to see him. But I am scared that trying to talk to him about this will just cause him to resent me. But then again, this is Jamie we are talking about, and he knew that I cared for his daughter quite a bit, so he might be willing to listen to me here." I said, and then Harold was slowly closing his eyes. Probably thinking that what I was doing better be well thought out.

"Her father is not going to resent you. He will probably be slightly annoyed with what is happening, but I think he will mostly get over it in due time." After Harold was telling me this, I was starting to head on towards my car. I was seeing Harold looking like he was debating if he wanted to actually come along for this. Then with that, he closed his eyes, and decided to just come along.

He decided to come along. "If I am going to be the vice president of this company, then even if I do not like it, I might as well start fucking acting like it. So I might as well start going to the people that my father is working with, so I know what to do when I do have to take over." He said, seeming slightly upset as he was saying this.

As we were driving on, Harold was sighing. "I just hope that Jackie remains safe for a bit longer. I mean, I have given up on denying that something might happen to her. But if she remains safe until the end of summer, then I feel like my father would not risk something happening during the school year." He said, and shrugged as he said that.

When we were at Jamie's house, her parents were already talking with Harold's father. And I was seeing them all turn towards us, trying to decide what to feel about us being here. Probably finding our presence to be slightly annoying, and they had to pretend like it was.

"So Harold, deciding to help your old man out after all? I thought that you would be too busy going around and hanging out with all your friends to take your job seriously." His father said, in a half playful, half serious tone. Harold shook his head, and rolled his eyes, not seeming to be in the mood to hear this at all.

"I just want to fucking help. You do not need to be acting like this at all." After Harold was telling his father this, he was shrugging, trying to pretend like his father wasn't really bothering him. "I just figured that since you told me about the dealer shop, I would try to help out."

"Yeah, we were just talking about the way that we can get the business up and running with each other. He had talked about how he was feeling it was about time for him to help out with the town a bit more, since he knew that his daughter wasn't going to be coming back any time soon." Harold's father said, and he was doing such a good job displaying fake remorse I almost bought it.

Her parents looked at me, and I was seeing from the look on their face that they weren't really even all that angry at the fact that I didn't find her daughter. But I still felt like I needed to at least try and find a way to get them to calm down.

"I am sorry that I couldn't get it done. I thought that I would have been able to. I wanted so fucking badly to do this. I feel fucking terrible for this." After I was telling them this, I saw that they were just wishing to drop the subject for now.

"We know that you tried, and that is the thing that matters, Sheldon. You went out of your way to do something that most people in town did not do. At the end of the day, we can't stay angry at you forever." After her mother said that to me, I was shocked to hear her tell me this, and I was feeling like maybe after a year or so, she probably just let go. "If everybody else in town put in as much effort as you did, then we could have probably have been able to find her."

"Let's not be talking about this right now. What are you doing here?" Harold's father asked, trying to mostly maintain his relative annoyance at what he was dealing with. As he was asking this, I was then feeling like I just needed to try and plan what I was saying a whole lot more.

"Well, Harold was telling me that he was just needing somebody his age at his side for when he takes over the company, and that with how much I have been able to help him out, that I would be the best person for the job." I said, and then I was seeing Harold looking like he was slightly annoyed with the fact that I was making this the fucking story we were working with.

"I guess that does make some sense. Even though I do not like this or think it is a good idea, I was needing to have somebody at my side to help make the situation slightly les bad for me when I was growing up. Fine. But the thing is that I just want to make it clear that you need to let us take care of the job when we need." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, and I felt like what he was saying was fair enough.

"Sheldon, do you feel like you will be able to keep your own personal preferences and opinions aside? I mean, my son has a job to do, and you need to be letting him fucking do this job." He said, and I was shrugging, not really in the mood to be hearing what he was wanting to tell me.

"I will if I feel like what he is doing is safe for him, and not getting things too much worse for him. I mean, despite everything else, he is still my fucking friend." I said, and I was hoping that by telling him this, I could perhaps get him to at least consider what I had been saying.

"We're not going to be getting anything by having this debate right now." Harold said, deciding to just drop the subject. "So you guys are trying to work with my father about a deal. How close are you guys to reaching a settlement?" Harold asked, suddenly just getting us back on track. Jamie's parents looked at him, shocked to see his maturity to this matter.

"Yeah, we're just figuring out a date more than anything else at this point. We are trying to do it before the end of summer, or if not, then at least on a Friday night. That way it doesn't get in your studies." They said, and then Harold was pretending to have a expression of utter fucking joy when he was hearing this.

"Wonderful. Even though I barely learn shit when I am at that dreadful place." After Harold was saying this, he was laughing, and his father was looking at him, trying to hide his annoyance with the way that Harold was trying to pretend like he was the authority on the matter.

"Just do it. I mean, this is your final year. I mean, I know what high school is like. It sucks, and you hate it. But when you are done with this year, it will be over, and you never have to go back there." His father said, slightly feeling bad for what he was hearing.

"Alright, thanks for talking to me here. I will see what I can do to help out." After Harold said this, he was starting to head on off, and I was starting to leave. As I was leaving, I looked back at Jamie's parents, and I was feeling like I needed to try and find something to say to give them some hope on the subject again.

"I have not given up hope yet. I am still trying to find a way to make this work. Even though almost everybody else has seemed to kind of give up on this, I will not give up until I know what is happening, or nothing else can fucking be done." I was shrugging, hoping that sooner or later, they would listen to me.

When I was in the car, I was starting to drive off. I was seeing Harold, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and find something in order to make him feel at least slightly better about what was happening here. "You did a great job there. I hope that you fucking know that." I said, and took a cigarette out, and I was seeing him looking like he was still not really in the mood to hear this right now.

"Sheldon, I feel like when I see my father have these talks with people like Jamie's parents, they are falling for his shit way too well. I want to warn them to not believe what they are hearing. But I don't want to make things worse." Harold said, and then he was shrugging for a few seconds. "Who knows, maybe I am looking too deep into this. But learning what my father was doing makes that hard to not at look at that."

"I am going to need you to trust me. Even if you never trust him again, trusting me is going to be helping you out so much more." I said, and I was just trying to get him to calm down a bit. As he was looking at me, he didn't seem to care to listen. Or even want to listen to this. I just decided to drive off, hoping that I would find the truth about Jamie soon, for her parents sake.

…

Scene 7: Checking The Map Again (Day 6)

Todd and I were sitting down, and we were looking at the map, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was hardly really interested in having a argument with me about many things. I was wanting to speak to him for a bit, but I decided to not really say much, to make the situation slightly better for him.

"How many of them had been fucking demolished already?" Todd asked, and then I was rolling my eyes, feeling like the fact that he was going to try and make this all my fault, was going to be really fucking annoying me here.

"Every one that we already went to, since there was nothing to get out of those." I said, as the loud noises of the project going on were still continuing. After this point in time, I had gone almost completely fucking desensitized to what was happening. I was seeing that from the way that Todd was talking to me, that he was sort of feeling the same way. Even though he had no desire to say so.

"So that leaves all of these left." Todd said, and he was smiling, feeling like he was able to fucking calm down a bit. "We still have about three fifths of them that we can check. I think that now with Joy gone, and the fat that this was the best lead that we have, we need to just really put aside everything and work this out."

"Honestly, I feel like if my father knows what we are doing, and going in there, he will be fucking furious. I think there is only going to be so many times he will be willing to talk to me about this before he gives up on us, and just takes it into his own hands." After I was telling Todd this, I was seeing Todd looking like he was hardly even fucking caring at all.

"I am done having this debate with you. You made your feelings on the matter very fucking clear." After Todd was telling me this, I saw him looking like he was just beyond the point of even wanting to have a debate with anybody else here.

I went to my car, and I was seeing that Todd was just happy to see that at the end of the day, I was still willing to listen to his theories, and that he was no longer having to have a fucking fight with me. We started to driving towards the forest, and I was feeling like during this drive, whatever he wanted to fucking tell me, as long as it was no longer this fucking argument about my father, then I would be willing to listen to me.

Before too long, I was eventually at the forest, and I was getting out of the car, and as Todd and I were walking around, I was seeing Todd looking at the map once more. I looked up at the sky, seeing the smoke coming up, and I was wondering if my suggestion was even a great idea in the first place.

The entire time we were working around the forest, I was seeing Todd looking like he had wanted to find something to say to ease the situation at least a little bit. "Sheldon, I just feel like those men in black are going to be taking advantage of you by sending you to fight all these fucking monsters. They know you want to save Wayside, so they will pretend to use the monsters as a excuse to make this fucking work." After Todd was saying this, he sounded like he had no trust.

Before too long, we were getting near a mine, and I was feeling like I just needed to tell him to let it go. "I am doing what I must. And you are just simply not wanting to fucking see the bigger picture here." I said, and I was feeling like I needed to just force him to fucking drop the subject before he was getting too deeply into this.

As we were going inside, we were seeing that this one was looking like it was mostly empty. Just a few boxes that were already having a bunch of tape on it, so we couldn't just open them up, and see what might have been in there. "Todd, I am sorry. I feel like more and more of these mines are turning out to be useless." I said, and I was looking at the details on the box, to see if I could find much.

There was the Watterson name on the boxes, and most of them had seemed to be made a few weeks ago. I was then looking at Todd. "The dates are slightly before the demolition project started. So this one was clearly used relatively recent here." I said, and then I saw this wheels turning the entire time that I was telling him this.

"Maybe we can go on and talk to the Wattersons. Clearly they know something here." He smiling at me, and I was wondering if he was actually happy, or just simply pretending like this just to make me feel at least slightly different. I then was thinking about what else to say.

"So clearly this one was used recently, and then sometime in the last few weeks, the Watterson family started to clear this up, and still has some stuff that need to be taken out. I wonder what they were doing here?" Todd asked, and I was seeing him looking like he was finally feeling happier about the progress here.

"Alright, I mean, not really the answer we need, but I guess that we now know for sure that they are indeed involved. Which I guess was sort of obvious. But you know, better to always just get the truth irrefutably confirmed here." I said, and then I wondered what Todd was going to be telling me now.

As I was walking off, I was seeing Todd looking like his mind was wanting to say more, but just decided to leave the subject alone for the time being. "Todd, I got to admit, I feel like every time we find something like that, the idea that these mines are indeed where we need to look starts to get more appealing to me." I said, and then I was seeing Todd looking like he was not really in much of a mood to be hearing me.

"I just wish that Joy was here to see that we are busting our fucking asses off to be making this work. If she saw that box, then I feel like she would so fucking smug about it." As I was walking along, I was seeing Todd looking like he was not really too sure what to say.

"I guess I can mark this off the fucking map now." Todd said, and then he was crossing it off with a fucking X. "I guess that it honestly doesn't even fucking matter is your dad brings this one down." As he was saying this, we were getting towards my car, and I was wondering what else I was even going to be telling him.

"I was talking with Jamie's parents yesterday. Her parents are opening up a car shop, and that is the opening party that is being celebrated right now." I said, and then Todd seemed like he was honestly not really all that interested in hearing about that.

"I will admit, I was shocked to see that her parents weren't upset at me. You know, for failing to bring Joy home. I thought they would blame me for everything that happened here." As I said this, I wondered why Todd was even just remaining silent at this. I wanted him to express at least mild interest in what he said.

"So now they are basically corrupt, and don't care for what happened to their daughter anymore? Just moving on and becoming investors with the people behind this? Are you sure maybe they didn't sell her?" After Todd asked me this, I was disgusted with what I had just heard him say.

"Todd, what the fuck? Can you at least think about what you are accusing them of here? I mean, seriously, I was there with them when this happened. I saw how much they were upset here. So either they are really good actors, or they had nothing to do with it." I said, and then Todd was simply shrugging, still not showing any regret in what he was telling me.

"Dude, I think that at this point in time, for better or for worse, those are likely suggestions. That parents are involved. Not with every case, maybe not even with her, but in general, those must be the answers at least some of the time." He said, and I was wondering why I was even trying hard to have this debate with Todd about this.

"I hope you're not right." I said, and I was looking at him, and I was hoping that leaving it like this was enough to get him to know I heard this. I heard what he said, and he needed to just leave things alone, for my own fucking sanity here.

We were in my car again, and I saw Todd just looking like he was glad to at least get me to think. "I just really fucking hope that you are wrong. Please for the love of all that is good in this world. Be wrong." I said, and I was scared of if this meant that my father was involved or not. I didn't even want to consider this at all.

…

Scene 8: Harold's Condition (Day 7)

Todd and I were hanging out with Harold, and I was feeling like I just needed to get him to fucking open up about the idea of letting us not just go to the opening party, but actually be allowed to fucking look around, and check things out.

"Harold, I really know you don't fucking want to hear me suggest anything like this, but I feel like you need to be letting Todd and I go into your party, so we might be able to look around for what we can find." I said, and then I was shrugging, and I saw Harold looking like he was really not wanting to hear anything like this.

"You are not going to be ruining my fucking opening party. I do not want to be the one who has to answer to my father about how terrible I have been a vice president to this company. I don't want to be in this position at all. But since I am, I might as well be responsible." After Harold was telling me this, I was seeing Todd looking like he couldn't handle what he was hearing.

"But what about Jackie. You said you wanted to keep her safe? And that you loved her. This is complete fucking bullshit." Todd said, and then I was seeing Harold looking like he wanted to talk Todd down from the way he was acting right now. Since he was clearly not seeing the bigger picture at all.

"I want to keep Jackie safe. But I am unsure what this even has to do with my fucking opening party. That is all that I really need from you here." After he was telling me this, I sighed, and I was feeling like what he was telling me was fair enough, but I wasn't really sure how I was able to fucking convince him at all.

"Well, I mean, you are seeming to forget that Jenny's moms film will be there. And maybe I can talk to your father about the fact that he is intending to sale your fucking girlfriend. Maybe the two of us can talk something out." I said, and then I was seeing Harold looking like he was hardly fucking buying what I had said.

"I highly doubt that you are going to be getting my fucking father to talk to you about my girlfriends situation. If he is going to be talking to anybody at all, he will be talking to me." Harold said, and he was sounding utterly confident in what he was saying.

"I feel like I need to fucking try at least though. You know, it might fucking work, and that is the thing that I need to be looking at." I said, and then I was seeing that Harold was still not sure what he would tell me. He closed his eyes, just trying to find a way to hide his annoyance at what he was saying.

"Okay, well, if you are going to the fucking party, then I need you to promise that you are not going to be doing anything too crazy. Like going around and getting anybody killed. And if you want to fucking do that, then you need to take responsibility for this. Don't fucking bring the fault to me. I will have to try and fucking deny it if you bring it forward." Harold was telling me, and I sighed, not really wanting to hear it.

"I promise you that I am not going to be bringing you into something like this. This is something that Todd and I were going to be doing on our own anyways. I doubt that I will even be bringing Kevin or Jenny to this." I said, and then Todd looked at me, shocked to hear me even say that.

"I thought was for them to decide. If they wanted to be doing this, then they should." Todd said, and then I was seeing Harold looking like he was wanting to just simply argue with us. But then he was sighing, feeling that any argument was just simply not going to matter at all.

"See guys? This is something that you can't even fucking agree on, and you expect me to be fine with something like this? I thought that this was something that you would be able to fucking come together about." After Harold was telling us this, I was then wondering why Todd had to fucking open his mouth at this point. He had to fucking get in the way of my fucking point.

"Never mind. Forget that I even mentioned anything at all. I was just trying to understand everything going on myself." After Todd was telling Harold this, I was seeing that Harold was clearly looking like he didn't want to be hearing this debate anymore. Probably feeling like we were just helping him make his fucking point here.

As we were talking for a bit, that was when I was seeing Jackie pulling up at her car. As she was looking at us, I was seeing that Harold was looking super fucking happy to be seeing her here. He looked at us, and he was shaking his head. "We can talk about this later if you fucking want to. But for now, this is going to have to wait. Because we are not going to have this fucking discussion when Jackie is going to be here."

Jackie was looking at the three of us, and I was seeing her looking like she was utterly fucking confused what we were talking about. She was probably wondering why we were even having this discussion in the first place.

"What were you guys talking about right now?" After she asked me this, I saw Harold looking like he was utterly furious at this situation. As if feeling like Todd and I were just going along and making the situation a million times worse for her. But then Todd was looking like he was just trying to find some form of answer that would at least make her seem slightly less sure of what was going on here.

"We were talking about the girl who had died a few days ago. You know, Joy? We were friends with her, and we wanted to find a way to make her happier. But I feel like something like this was just simply never going to fucking happen at all.

"Oh shit, sorry to hear that. I mean, I knew you probably talked with her. But I thought you would never really been around her too much. Is there anything you need to be talking about?" Jackie asked, and she was looking at Harold, wondering why he was not wanting to speak about this. Harold looked at us, and I was seeing him looking pissed at how we changed this subject.

"It's nothing fucking important. I mean, as somebody who was there with them, they just preferred to fucking talk with me here." After he was telling me this, I was feeling like he was kind of being a bit of asshole to his own girlfriend. But I was feeling like it was best to just remain silent, and not say anything at all.

"Todd, I understand what it is like to have somebody close to you go missing. One of my friends went missing when she was around your age right now. I mean, after a few years, I have mostly let go. But in all honesty, at first, it was rather rough. But at the time, I hardly had anybody at my side, who could help me out." She said to Todd, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was just rather annoyed with the way she was making this all about her.

"I feel like almost everybody in this town gets it to a fucking degree, and that is why this whole thing fucking pisses me off. Nobody fucking cares anymore. They just get complacent here, and let the whole fucking thing go at this rate." Todd said, and I was seeing him really looking like he was barely even fucking caring at all.

"I guess that talking about this isn't really going to be making anybody understand the way that I fucking feel." Todd responded, feeling like there was no need to be talking to Jackie all that much anymore. "Sheldon, we might need to be leaving right now. Nobody wants us to be here right now, so we might as well respect their fucking wishes."

"Okay. I guess that I need to do this." I said, and then I was standing up, and I was feeling like there was no idea what to even be saying now. I was starting to walk to my car, and I was feeling Todd was just going to need to give me another fucking chance to just try and keep the focus on the subject.

Once Todd and I were in the car, I was taking a cigarette out, and I was shaking my head. "I feel like Harold might be almost getting too protective of her. I mean, I know that she is his biggest worry, but I feel like if she gets too deep with him, then he will only be making things much worse." I said, and I started to drive off, and I was feeling like Todd was just unsure of what to say here.

"Honestly, I do sort of see what he is saying. I think that was the main reason why I was trying so fucking hard with Joy right now. You know, just trying to keep her at least slightly safe here." Todd was telling me, and I as starting to drive off, unsure what I could say.

"I mean, I am scared to admit that I might never really be seeing Harold looking at things the same way as we do. And if that is the fucking case, then I feel like I will never be able to fucking change what is happening." I said, and I was feeling like everything that I could say was just never going to really get him to calm down at all.

"I don't know. I mean, Harold is scared. And if he is scared about everything, sooner or later, he will fucking crumble under the pressure." After Todd was telling me this, I wanted to find something to keep him at least slightly calm and collected the entire time we had been talking.

"So Todd, what do you think Harold will be doing when it is his time to finally make his fucking choices?" I asked, and I was feeling like I needed to fucking consider the idea that Harold might actually not be the man that we need. I was thinking that if Harold was not going to be the guy that we needed, then our time going forward was going to be fucking painful.

"I don't know. I think after a point, his choices will be nothing like we expect. For all we know, he might be throwing his life on the line for Jackie. I wouldn't really be too surprised by this, even if I do admit that it is not all that likely at all." After Todd said this, I was sighing, not sure what I even wanted to tell him at all.

As we were getting closer to Todd's house, I was feeling like I just needed to make him feel much better. "Todd, I feel like it might be best for you to just hang out with Maurecia, and be there for her. She needs somebody at her side right now." I was telling Todd, and I was hoping he would listen to me here.

Todd slowly nodded, not sure what to be feeling here. But then he just remained silent for much longer, and I was wondering how much I had made things worse for him. I just wanted him to be happier, despite how much he might not really seem to fucking care at all.

…

Scene 9: Justified Paranoia (Day 8)

Todd and I were at Kevin's house, and I was feeling like I needed to try and see if he was wanting to go to the party, and see if the two of us can make something like this work out. "Kevin, do you want to go to the car dealer shop opening party? We feel like going here will help us with figuring out some issues with this town?" I asked, and I was seeing him looking mildly annoyed with what I was asking him at this point.

"Not everything in this town is a fucking connection dude. You are just making so many fucking stories out of nothing, and that is driving me fucking insane." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, and I was trying to just find something else to make the situation better.

"I know that. But it seems like everybody in this town has a fucking idea what they are doing. That is where everything is fucking coming from. So can you just calm down, and see that the two of us are just doing the best that we can?" I asked, and I was seeing Kevin looking like he hardly fucking cared at all.

"I feel like I need to just find a way to end this once and for all. Go into the forest, and speak with the man in the purple jacket, and see what he fucking knows. I need to just to finally put that behind us." After Kevin said this, I looked at Todd, and I was scared at the mere idea of what Kevin was planning here.

"Do not fucking do this Kevin. That man will fucking kill you if you even fucking try that. And Sam is not going to fucking support this. He has already made it clear that he wants nothing to do with what you are doing right now." Todd was saying, and Kevin just looked at his ceiling, and I was hardly seeing any difference in his mind.

"Just tell Jenny that I was sorry for everything that has happened. I should have just been there for her, to make her feel better about this world and life. But I guess that I will never really get her to see this. If I die or whatever, just tell her that I was fucking sorry for everything. She deserved better than to be with me." After Kevin said that to us, I was wanting to get him to fucking stop this shit. And not be hurting himself much more here.

"Jenny does not feel this way about you. She has said many fucking times that you were the only one that really stuck out to her, and make her feel like she was actually mattered." Todd said, feeling like saying this would finally get Kevin to see the bigger picture.

"I don't know how she feels this way. I mean, I have barely been there for her. I wanted to be. But I wasn't. Not to mention she is a really hard person to fucking talk with, since she seems to just feel like she needs to get everything she wanted." Kevin said, seeming to be fucking annoyed with the way that I was talking about this at all.

"Maybe because you were the one person who was there when her mother died. It seems really fucking obvious why she trusts you. And I feel like you deserve better." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to get him to stop his fucking bullshit. As I said this, Kevin seemed like he wanted to fucking yell at me.

"I don't fucking know. I mean, seriously? I have been dealing with this man, and he is the only person that I am interested in right now. I want this man gone, no matter what fucking happens." He was telling me, and then with that, I felt like I just needed to shut up, and let him fucking yell as much as he was wanting to yell.

"You could just have left him alone when you got the restraining order on him." Todd said, feeling like he needed to bring that up to him, to remind him in a way, this was his fucking fault." I said, and then I was seeing Kevin looking like he had no desire to hear what I was telling him at all. Probably thinking that I was being a bit obnoxious.

"I need to go. If you want to go to that party, that is fine, but I have something that I need to work on. Take me to Shaun's office." He said, and I was sighing, feeling like this idea was fucking insane. But I knew there was no fucking arguing with him at all. I needed to just let him have what he wanted.

I drove the three of them over to Shaun's office, and in all honesty, I did not want to be doing this at all. I was hoping that I would not be framed for them wanting to have this conversation, and then suddenly this would be my fault for some reason.

Once he was looking at us, I saw him looking like he was clearly not happy to be seeing me here. Probably feeling like whatever I wanted to say, I just needed to get it over with. "Sheldon, I want you to fucking explain to me what the hell you are doing with these people, and why you feel like you had the right to bring them here without my permission." After he was telling me this, I looked at Brad, and I was seeing him looking much more excited.

"It was my idea to come here. Don't worry, I was the one who suggested Sheldon to do this." He said, holding his hands up, and I was seeing that Shaun was still looking like he was not really in the mood to be having this discussion at all.

"I just wanted to talk to you about my mothers opinion on the whole adoption. I had to juts know what you guys actually were doing." Brad said, and then the man was looking at Brad, and I was seeing him looking like he was actually kind of pissed at the way that Brad had started to approach him here.

"Honestly, I feel like you are too young to be dealing with these types of things. Your mother wanted you to stay away from this stuff, and even if she didn't, I feel like that is something that you need to be much older before you start to discover it." Shaun said, and then Brad was looking down, and I was seeing him looking like he was hardly fucking caring at all what Shaun was wanting to try and tell him at all.

"I understand that I might not be able to fucking understand it all. But I feel like I have the right to fucking try at least. I mean, everybody for the first thirteen years of my life basically just acted like I never had any idea what I was doing. Just basically shunned me for no fucking reason." After Brad was saying this, I was seeing him looking like he was just mostly upset about how he felt like he was never appreciated.

"Brad, you need to understand that there is nothing that I can do with how people treat you. That is something that you need to fucking change in yourself." After he was telling Brad this, I was seeing Brad balling his fist, and he sighed.

"I mean, when I know who my father is, and I know that no matter what I fucking do, I am going to be a failure next to him, then I start to wonder what the fucking point of what I do even is. Nobody wants to fucking help me out, and see the bigger picture. Just fucking tell me what I am missing out on right now." Brad was telling him, and I was seeing that Shaun was thinking a bit about what he was told.

"Honestly, I want to help you. Truth be told, when you tell me that, I do sort of see your perspective. Having the feeling that you are not going to be as good as your parents." After he was telling Brad this, I was starting to be shocked that he was showing any level of humanity towards Brad at all.

"But the truth is that I can't really provide you the answers that you clearly seek. Just make sure that you do not throw yourself down this fucking path just because you want to feel like you are the biggest person on campus." After Shaun said this, I was seeing him looking like he was clearly just trying to decide what to even say now.

"But Shaun, why does everybody feel like I am not even going to pull this whole thing off before I am even given a fucking chance? I just want to help out." As Brad was saying this, Todd was placing his hand on Brad's shoulder, and I was feeling like he was going to try and find something to help us out here.

"You were there for Joy when she needed somebody to keep her happy. When she needed happiness more than anything else, you gave it to her." After Todd was telling him this, I was seeing Brad shocked that Todd was bringing this up in the first place. Probably feeling that Todd was just trying to be making him feel better.

"Sorry about what happened. I heard what happened to her, and I was wanting to see you guys. But I guess that I wouldn't have had anything to tell you to make you feel better." Shaun said, and then Todd looked right at him, not buying what Shaun said for a second.

"If you actually fucking felt that way, you would have helped me find out what happened with her before hand." After Todd was telling Shaun this, I was seeing Shaun looking like he wanted to say more. But just couldn't fucking get himself to do so.

"There is only so much that I can fucking do when I am stuck in this office. You know, I can't control what people outside of this company are doing. And even then, I can't fully do that. Remember what happened with the man in the purple jacket." After he asked this, I was looking at Todd, and I was wondering if he was going to at least consider what this man was saying for a second.

"Fine. You got what you wanted. I will leave you alone. I guess that I will just have to fucking make my own way on my own." After Brad said this, he was sounding like he was hardly wanting to even have this discussion at all. As Brad was walking away, I was starting to feel much worse for both of them.

"I guess that nothing I think even fucking matters anymore. You know, people are just going to fucking get what they want, and I will have to sit aside, and let it fucking happen." After Brad was saying this, we were going down the elevator, and I felt fucking awful for him here.

"Why do you even fucking care dude? I mean, at least you know who your biological father is. Which is more than I fucking have. You have all the answers, and you got people to appreciate the contributions that were being made." Todd said, and Brad shook his head.

"I guess that you are not going to understand my perspective. But I am not going to be making you understand it. I know when to not fucking fight something here." Brad sighed, and decided to just remain silent as he was thinking.

…

Scene 10: No More Lies (Day 9)

The next day, I was speaking with Cathy, and I was hoping that speaking to her would be able to give her some feelings of co-operation about what we were doing. "Sheldon, what do you want to do now?" She asked, and then I was feeling like whatever I could tell her was just simply not going to listen to her.

"I was thinking about the fact that I want to fucking tell you that I no longer wanted to ever fucking lie to you ever again. If there is something you want to tell me, as much as it might annoy me to fucking do this, I will do this for your sake." I said, and then I was sighing, and I wondered what in the world I was even going to be telling her.

"Oh, wow…" She said, and I was seeing her looking like she was just shocked to be hearing me tell her this at all. I closed my eyes, and I was feeling like I just needed to be careful on what I was even going to tell her.

"If that is the case, then can you tell me what you and your friends have been doing? And why are you not seeing your main group of friends anymore?" After she asked me this, I was sighing, and I was feeling like I would just tell her what she wanted to her now.

"Honestly, I wanted to tell you everything that was going on here. But I just couldn't fucking figure out what I could say at all. I just figured that I would be honest with you when everything was going on." I said, and then I was shrugging, not really sure what I was even wanting to say.

"As for my friends, honestly, I have started to not see some of them as much anymore. Just some fights that I had with them, and I was feeling like my friendship with them was holding on like duck tape after a point anyways." I said, feeling like admitting this was just going to bring back all the wounds again.

"That really fucking sucks dude. I didn't want you to ever feel this way." She said, and I was shrugging, since I was feeling like I just needed to let her have her moment. In all honesty, I felt like she would never fucking understand how much it had fucking hurt to basically force myself away from my friends.

"The truth is that in all honesty, I feel like they were kind of becoming assholes in the long run. I feel like I hate admitting this right now, but there was nothing that I could do to change how bad they were here." After I was telling Cathy this, and I sighed.

"And then you have my failed romances, and that feels like it was all my fucking fault. I was the worst boyfriend in the history of the world, and I ended up making my girlfriends feel like I wasn't there enough." I said, and then I was seeing Cathy looking shocked to hear me tell her this.

"Sheldon, what the fucking hell are you talking about? Every time I have talked to one of your exes, they never once blamed you. In fact, they blamed themselves before they blamed you. And to be honest, I can see that. You never once lost what you were doing with people, and the fact that you were feeling like you were truly doing the right thing." After Cathy said that to me, I rolled my eyes, not wanting to hear this at all.

"I mean, let's not forget that you probably are the hardest worker in this entire school. I mean, having a job that you never missed a single day on. Getting max grades on every class since you first moved here. Everybody in our class wanted to be friends with you, chicks dig you because of your personality and not your looks. And then single handedly winning State competitions for Wayside on both Basketball and Track and Field all three years in high school so far. Honestly, you are probably the nicest person that I ever met, and I feel like you need more confidence." As she was saying this, I was considering what she had said.

"I mean, you never once bragged about your popularity, or your girlfriends. You are the type of person that most people in this school wish they were even half of. You might not see it with your sister going missing, but you could have really turned things around for the fucking best." After she was telling me this, I was sighing, since I was not really in the mood to be hearing this at all.

"Cathy, I have been trying to figure out what is going on with labyrinth. I mean, I feel like I am so fucking close as well. I mean, I have all the fucking clues on what I fucking need to be looking at. But nobody really hears what I want to say, unless if they are around me." I said, and then I was shrugging, not sure what I could get out of telling her.

"Sheldon, do you know what you are going to do when you find out labyrinth? Are you going to tell everybody the truth, and fucking help them prepare for fighting?" After she was telling me this, I was shocked to hear her ask this. I really had no idea what in the world I was even going to tell her at all.

"Honestly Cathy, I feel like if I fucking do this, then I feel like it would only be because I feel like there is no fucking choice for your guys safety. Your guys safety is the only thing that really fucking matters at all." I said, and I was shrugging, wondering what I could tell Cathy at this point.

"So if it turns out that it is nothing, and that I over reacted, and I fucking tell you guys this, it is not because I am just trying to get you away. It is because it is fucking true." I said, and then I was wondering if she was going to take this. "And to be honest, I am not sure if we are going to be real friends, since I hardly even fucking know you at all." I said, and I was feeling like I needed to be honest when I was telling her this.

"I know that. And I know that me trying to become friends with you might just be a bit annoying for you right now. Trust me when I fucking say this. That being said, I feel like I just needed to finally understand the truth. I mean, Sheldon, why do you feel like you need to be doing this all alone?" She asked, and I was shocked to be hearing her asking me this at all.

"I feel like this because I don't want people to die under my fucking watch. I want people to be safer when they are around me. I mean, I know that I am not going to accomplish this at all. I am not fucking stupid at all. But I feel like as long as I fucking try, then things would be getting much better." I said, and then I was really having no idea what in the world I could tell her.

"People to die under your fucking watch? I guess that I do have to try and fucking consider this. Do you feel like something like this might actually fucking happen?" She asked me, and I was rubbing my eyes, and I was feeling like there was no way that I could actually answer that well enough.

"I mean, I feel like one of these days, people will fucking hate me. I feel like I am already kind of pushing this this whole time. And in all honesty, I do not even fucking blame them for feeling this way at all. One of these days, I feel like I will find out what I could be do to pull this together. And then I am going to completely fucking blow things around." I said, as I was hoping the truth would finally get her to be shutting up for once.

"Sheldon, you are trying too hard. I mean, almost everybody agrees with what I say. I have talked with so many people, and the truth is that they all wish you would tone things down for a while, and see the value for yourself." She was telling me, and I really had no idea what I would do now.

"I have to put what I need to do first. I mean, isn't that the entire point of being a fucking hero? Just going around, and doing what is needed, without ever putting your selfish desires first?" I was asking her, and I was feeling like what I was saying was going to be making me sound like a piece of utter fucking shit right now.

"Sheldon, do you feel like you can talk to me about helping you out right now?" She asked, and I was looking at her, and I was feeling like I was needing to leave things alone for the time being. "I mean, I have no fucking idea how to fucking fight or anything. But I feel like I need to fucking try at least."

"Cathy, I have no idea what I would fucking want. After all, that is going to be putting you as a fucking target, and I feel like I need to just ask myself if that is fucking worth it. I feel like if I ever find something, then things might have gotten really fucking bad, and I am sorry that something like this ever happened." I said, and I was shrugging, and I wondered what I would even say to her at all.

"I guess that I will take that. But I guess that I can try and be a normal friend for you. Do you feel like something like this would be really nice for you?" She asked, and then I was slowly nodding, feeling like I just needed to give her some fucking credit here.

"I guess that I can try and give you that. After all, I have barely been able to give you what you needed at all." I said, shrugging as I had been telling him this for a bit. "Cathy, I mean, if you do not want to do this, then I feel like I would never blame you at all."

"Sheldon, why would I never want that, if I was literally fucking talking to you? I feel like that goes against the fucking point of doing this. If I wanted to never be friends with you, then I would have never given you a chance. But here I am, just wanting to hear you out for once." She was saying, and I was feeling like her statements would never get me to listen.

"I know. I just feel like I need to be careful here. You know, since I feel like that is the entire fucking point of this." I shrugged, and I was feeling like nothing that I could tell her would be making things better at all.

"Okay. Fine. I don't get it, but I will leave things alone. But that being said, I do want to hang out with you a bit. Just make sure you are sure you want to do something like this before you do anything else." She was telling me this, and nothing that I could have said would be making things any different at all.

"Cathy, you are going to be a great friend. I feel like I can already see that before anything else even fucking starts." I said, and then I was seeing Cathy looking proud as I was telling her this, like she wanted that more than anything else.

…

Scene 11: Catching Brad To Speed (Day 10)

I was seeing Brad the next day, and I was seeing him looking like he had wanted to see what I had fucking known. "Sheldon, can you please explain to me why in the world Joy wouldn't fucking tell me anything related to the case? I mean, I feel like I might have been able to contribute to this." Brad said, and I looked at him, feeling the need to just simply lie to him.

"Look, she wanted you to not get involved because we were literally looking at the cases of the missing girls, and we were feeling like this was something that you should not be getting involved in at all. He wanted you to have a normal life, no matter how much time it would fucking take." I said, and then he shook his head, not really in the mood to fight with me here.

"Brad, you might not see what she was doing, but she was trying to just make sure that beyond everything else, you would not fall down the same fucking path she did. She knew that if you did, then you would be like fucking Todd, and you would let this become a focus on your fucking life. She wanted you to be preserved." I said, feeling like telling him this would help him out a bit.

"This whole thing is complete fucking bullshit. I mean, if she had just simply told me what was happening, then I would have just given her everything that she needed." After Brad was telling me this, I sighed, and I felt like nothing I could tell him would make him feel better.

"I mean, I can't even fucking blame her. I mean, with the way you acted after your fucking mom was caught lying to you about several things, I feel like you probably need to be a lot more appreciative of what she was trying to fucking do." I said, and then I was seeing Brad looking like he couldn't believe what I had been telling him.

"Okay, that is one way to fucking throw me down the fucking drain, because I wanted to simply just help you out. But Sheldon, I feel like I need to be making my own fucking choices. I am going to check into this, and I am not going to be taking no for a fucking answer at all." He was telling me, and I felt like there was virtually no fucking point in even fighting with him about what happened.

"If that is the choice you are certain of, then maybe I can try and talk to Todd, and see how he might be feeling on the matter." I said, and then I saw him looking like he had not wanted to be fighting with me at all.

"Todd, do you seriously think that coming to him is really going to even fucking help us out at all. I mean, in all honesty, Todd has never seemed to be getting along with me. He always seems to be rejecting the idea of working with me." Brad said, and he was walking off, and I was sighing, and I felt like I just needed to try and find something to make him feel better.

"Well, he won't reject it with me if I tell him that this is something that we need to fucking do. Even if he rejects working with you on your own, he will not dare turn me down." I said, and then I was seeing him looking like he had hardly fucking bought a word of what I was telling him at all. Probably thinking I was just trying too hard for him.

I was going to my car, and then Brad was calling out to me. I wondered what he was wanting to say to me, so I calmed down, and I was feeling like I just needed to calm down, and let him have what he needed to fucking say now.

"Can you take over to Todd's house?" After he asked this, I started to sigh, and I felt like there was no need to fucking lie at all. So I nodded, and let him inside. As we were starting to drive there, I was calming down, thinking of how I was going to open up to him in the end.

"The truth is that I have been doing this ever since I promised my older sister's friend that I would be keeping her safe. Christen. She went missing when she was around your age right now. So like thirteen or fourteen. I had a crush on her." I admitted, feeling like the honesty would get him to open up a bit.

"And then soon after that, I started to try and look around, but my father did manage to convince me to give up at one point, so I started to just focus on my time with my family, and with my friends. With Dakota, back when we were still getting along, and Harold. For about four months or so, everything was perfect, and I was happier than I had ever been." I said, and then I looked at Brad, wondering if he would fucking listen to me here.

"And then when my sister went missing, everything was gone. Any chance of being happier, and finally being able to fucking let it go, was gone forever. I couldn't fucking be there for her at all. And that was when I became obsessed. Some days would be less bad than others, because I had friends or something to help me calm down. But for the most part, I was thinking about what I was doing. Which was failing my sister." I said, and Brad was thinking about what to even fucking say to this.

"So this is all a personal vendetta, that everybody else got involved in? You virtually thrown everybody else into this because you had to fucking know the truth? And nothing fucking else?" He asked, and I was looking right at him, and I was wondering what his issues with this even were in the first place.

"I don't really want it worded that way. But I guess that to a degree, what you are saying is true. I thought that I could do something right with it at least, but I guess that I was a fucking liar. You got me. I fucking messed up, and I fucking admit it." I said, and then I looked at him, wondering if he would finally leave him alone at this rate.

"And for the next six years or so, I actually mostly moved on. Day by day, the pain was getting less, and I was starting to realize that there was no reason to be getting any further into this. Then I started to date that girl, Jamie. And when the two of us started to date, things were great. For the first time in six years, everything felt perfect. Then she also went missing as well." After I said that to them, that was when Brad was sighing in annoyance, not even trying to hide it at this rate.

"So now that you were with her, and she went missing, and suddenly you ruined everything you had been working for the last six years just because of this. Do you feel like your sister would have even wanted you to be doing this?" He asked, and I was pissed at him saying this.

"I don't know what she would have wanted, and sometimes, I have to fucking idea if I even fucking care. I mean, after all, she is gone, and I can't fucking change this at all." I said, and I was feeling like saying this was the best way to make my fucking point.

"Oh great, so now your original motivation has been going down the drain? I mean, I should have expected something like this." He said, and I was wondering why I was even saying this in the first place. "So Sheldon, now that you have made clear that rules and personal issues are out the fucking window, what is your plan on going forward with this?" He asked, barely keeping his anger at bay at the moment.

"Stop trying to make me the bad guy right now. That is fucking ridiculous." I said, and then I shrugged as I really had any interest in arguing with him this whole time.

"So now, I saw that one of Todd's friends went missing, and I felt like the two of us could be able to work together to pull something out with this." I said, and then I saw that Brad was looking like this revelation was pissing him off a little bit.

"Do you feel like things would have been better if you just let them fucking be alone for a bit? I mean, in all honesty, with everything that fucking happened, that might have been for the best. And I think even you yourself would have been able to see this." Brad asked me, and I looked at him, unsure what the point even was here.

"I mean, of course things would have been that way. I now that. I can even fucking admit it. But I am not throwing my life away by doing shit that I hardly care about, like getting drunk parties at this." I said, and I simply shrugged, not really in the mood to be having this discussion at all in the first place.

…

Scene 12: Jimmy's Failure (Day 11)

I was at Jimmy White's office the next day, with Todd at my side, and I was feeling like the fact that Brad was not going to be here, and let us just take care of the job, was a good idea, since I was wanting to just focus on the fucking job at hand, and not have him constantly getting in my business here.

"Hey Jimmy, I know we have not been getting along lately, and that I have said some really not good things about you. But I want to change that." I said, and then I was looking at him, and he seemed to have no fucking interest in hearing that.

"Is this because your fucking father told you to do so? Pretending like I want to fucking hear some shit like this?" After he asked me this, I looked at him, and I wondered what his issue was right now. I wanted to clear some things up with him, and he was being a asshole.

"No, I want to just try and make things better between us. I mean, you tried to help with this town, and you became the mayor, feeling like you would be the one that would change things along." I said, I was smiling at him, feeling like getting him to calm down, and see my perspective, was going to be making things slightly better for us all.

"Yeah, but I fucking failed at it. No need to deny it. I was a shitty mayor, and I made things worse for you. I get why you hate you me. I really do. I should have been there for you guys, but I only gave you guys false hope, when I should have owned up to the fact from the start that I had no idea what I was even fucking doing." He said, and then I was nodding as he said that to me.

"Look, I only lived here for a few months when you were mayor. So I do not claim to know everything that happened here. But the truth is that I feel like you are the person that can get his father to change how he is doing." After Todd was telling Jimmy this, I looked at Todd, wondering why he was still throwing my father down like this. But I just choose to remain silent.

"I have tried to fucking help him. But he refuses to listen to anything. The only people that he seems to listen to are his fucking son, and that is it. I think you need to fucking find something else to do here." After he was telling Todd this, I sighed, feeling no need to find anything else to say.

"But the truth is that I wanted to be the guy who could end this. I felt like if I pushed for those six years, I might have been able to make a difference. But it seems that all I did was just tone it down. I mean, look at things this summer. It has been going on all the fucking time, and there is nothing we can fucking do to change it." Jimmy White said, and I was hearing him have a mild disdain at my father the entire time that he was saying this. I wanted him to fucking stop throwing my father under like this.

"Then tell my father to try and find a way to end this. I mean, he is working hard on the demolition projects, but that is not enough to be making things any different. We need to be getting deeper into this, and we both fucking know this." I said, and then I was seeing Jimmy White looking like I was simply trying to target him for what was happening.

"What will I fucking tell him? That he needs to somehow stop something that is totally out of his fucking control? I think you are needing to realize how fucking insane you are sounding when you say something like this. He will never listen." Jimmy said, hoping that what he was saying would actually make us at least consider what he was saying. As he looked at us, I saw him looking kind of tired at this.

"Honestly, I think you need to be happy that you guys are still walking out of this decently well enough. You know, I bet that there are some people who have wanted to fucking kill you, and if that ever fucking happens, then there is nothing that I can fucking do to change this." He was saying, and I wondered what type of angle I would be able to fucking play, in order to make things at least slightly decent here.

"Jimmy, I want to just know that I have not misplaced everything that I have been doing with you. I want to know that you and I are actually on the same page here." I was telling him, and I was seeing him already looking like his interest was waning when it was coming to speaking to me here.

"Sheldon, try and talk to your fucking father. I am not the mayor anymore, and I have no interest in running for another term, especially since I would be at least six years older than I was when your father took over, and I am already feeling the difference of how I have been able to handle things, and my energy." He said, and he was shrugging as he had said that.

"What actions did you explicitly take in order to stop this from happening? Tell me that right now. I mean, I really wasn't involved in certain things before, so I just don't know." I said, thinking about the fact that for virtually the entirety of Jimmy White's term, I wasn't really involved in the politics of this town.

"God damn it, you are going to make me fee like shit for admitting this. But the truth is that when I was mayor, I would try and make some deals with people. Such as for every woman that turned at least thirteen during my term, I would approach those families. If they agreed to give me ten percent of their earnings, I would give their daughter guaranteed protection for the equivalent of a full six year term, so for instance anybody who made the deal in July 1961 would have their daughter protected until July 1967. If they couldn't afford that, then five percent for two years." Jimmy said, and I was staring at him as he had admitted this, unable to fucking handle what I had just heard.

"So basically you used other peoples suffering as way to make yourself rich, and you probably don't even fucking regret this." I said, and then I shook my head as I was hearing this, feeling fucking sick to my stomach as he was telling me this, and I had no idea what else to change here.

"You don't have to agree with what I did, but I gave them safety, and I gave them six years of life. Six fucking years. That is not a short period of time. I saved nearly nearly a hundred girls by doing that this term. And I wasn't even keeping most of that ten percent. I would send roughly eighty percent of that to the towns infrastructure and other budgets. I only kept the other twenty percent." As he said this, I was unable to fucking believe that I had heard any of this. I wanted to just leave him alone forever, and never see him again.

"I just thought that you would have been able to stop it." Todd said, and I thought that with the way he said this, that he was going to fucking beat the shit out of this man. I was holding my hand up to him, to try and get him to fucking calm down, and not be getting too fucking upset over what happened, although he totally had every right to.

"I never said that I would be able to end this. I said that I would bring peace to this. I thought that I succeeded. But the with everything that is happening here, I realize how much I really went wrong. I only just simply delayed things. But that is something that I can't fucking change. I am not the mayor anymore, and that is not my fucking job." He said, and I knew that at this rate, fighting with him would be worthless.

"Well, I hope that you can enjoy that money that you were able to keep. I mean, I do thank you for making things less bad for a while, but that doesn't change how fucked up everything was." Todd said, and I was feeling like he was beyond the point of talking. I took a cigarette out, trying to look at both the good, and the bad, of what he did, since I wanted to be fair with him going forward.

…

Scene 13: Nothing Left To Hide (Day 12)

Todd and I were talking with Jenny that next day, and when we were talking to her, I saw her looking like she was clearly wanting to fucking say something to us. "To be honest, I want to go with you to the fucking party. I want this fucking film exposed, and I am not really going to be holding back at all. I want those corrupt men exposed for all the shit that they have been doing.

"Jenny, what is the truth is not really something that you want to fucking hear. Those people have clearly fucking done something to her, and whatever it is, it will fucking hurt." After Todd was telling her this, I saw that Jenny was looking like she was fucking not caring at all. I saw her looking like she was hardly fucking caring at all.

"No shit Todd. I want to fucking know though. Maybe for all I fucking know, there was something to justify it. Or at least explain it. That is all that I fucking want. I want to know what their fucking point of this was. And why they fucking killed her of all things." After she was telling me this, I looked at her, fearing that her insistence on the matter was only going to be making things much worse.

"Sheldon, what can you fucking do to help me out here?" After Todd asked me this, I was holding my hands up, feeling like he was needing to fucking leave me alone right now. I wasn't involved with this, so I wanted to just drop this subject as well.

"Jenny needs to be making her own choices. I might not agree with her choices. But we need to let her choose them for herself. If she insists that she needs to do this, then I feel like I need to be letting this fucking happen." I said, and then I simply shrugged, wondering if telling her this would finally get Todd to fucking calm down.

As I was telling Todd this, I saw him looking like he was beyond the point of fighting this at all. "Fine, you made your fucking point. No fucking point in fighting you at all about this." Todd said, and then he was throwing his hands up in the air, feeling like whatever he would say would only be making things worse.

"Thanks Sheldon for seeing the bigger picture. I feel like people need to see that at the end of the day, what I want to do is entirely my fucking choice." She said, and I was seeing her looking like there was no fucking arguing anymore. But then with that, there was something else on her mind here.

"But guys, what do you even fucking think we can be doing right now? I mean, Harold's father is a dick, and we both fucking know this." Jenny said, trying to get a fake laugh at least, but failing to fucking do so at all.

"Oh god Todd, I think we need to just try and wrap this whole thing up as soon as fucking possible now." I said, and I was shrugging, and I was not really fucking caring what Todd was going to be saying to me right now.

"Does your father know that you are wanting to go on a fucking revenge quest for your mothers death? I mean, he might not want something like this right now." I tried to tell Jenny, and then Jenny was shaking her head, not wanting to even consider anything like this at all.

"I would never tell him something like this. If I did, then he would never want to be speaking to me. He would find a way to blame you guys for everything, and then everybody's lives would be fucking ruined." After Jenny said this to me, I was sighing, considering what I had been hearing. I looked at Todd, kind of hoping that he would just drop the subject for the time being.

As I was heading off, I looked right at Jenny, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and find a way to make my views rather fucking clear with her right now. Since I knew that deep down, she would never want to listen to me at all.

"Jenny, do you think you should perhaps spend some more time with your father? I mean, he probably just wants to connect with you right now." After I was telling her this, I saw her looking like she wasn't really caring to hear what I was trying to tell her.

"I know that my father is not going to really know what is going on with me. I mean, I love how much he is trying, and I appreciate the fact that he cares for me, but I feel like he needs to see that I need to be with you guys before anything else." After Jenny was telling me this, I was then looking at Todd, and I was wondering what I could say at all.

"So basically you are throwing away the chance that you have to make something fucking work with him right now? I mean, your father might need the comfort much more than you could possibly fucking imagine. I just feel like it would be a bad idea to not at least fucking try." I said, and then I was getting in my fucking car, as I was seeing Todd looking like he was feeling like I was being kind of a asshole with the way that I had been treating her right now.

"Sheldon, leave her alone. You are making things worse for her right now." After he was telling me this, I then sighed, and looked right up at Jenny, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and find something to say to her, in order to soften the blow of what I was telling her.

"Look, just understand that I understand what it is like to lose a parent. And I feel like when something like this happens, somebody should take the time to really be with the other parent, and try to repair some damages that were caused. I have no idea what happened between you two, but I would not want this to ruin your teenage years." I said, and then I was seeing her looking like she was really just not interested in hearing what I was trying to tell her at all.

"Thanks. I will try and consider what you said." She said, and I was hearing from her voice, that she was clearly not that interested at all in hearing me. "I just feel like with some of the things that he called my mother, back in the past, I want to hate him for it, but I know every word of what he said was true. And that is the thing that makes me hate it even worse. Knowing that as harsh as he is, he isn't dumb." She was saying, and I was sighing, not sure what to say.

"I mean, I know about the sex life that she had been living, and the fact that she gave herself in her last months or living, and completely fucking left us behind. I mean, nobody could do that unless if they were a whore, like my father describes. And I guess that I just wish that I heard him earlier. Maybe if I did, then I would be able to fucking prepare for everything." After she was telling me this, she simply shrugged, and didn't want to say much more.

I looked right at Todd, and I was feeling like there was virtually nothing else that I could say in order to make the situation any different at all. "Sorry I even fucking said anything. I should have just kept my fucking mouth shut…" I said, feeling like I just needed to move on, and I was going to have to take what Todd said to heart, and fucking leave, before I made things much worse for everybody.

As I got in the car, Todd went inside as well, and I was seeing him looking like he was fucking furious at the way that I had acted this whole time. Probably thinking that I was the bad guy for the way that I had acted right now. "Sometimes, you really need to learn when it is best to just not talk…" Todd said, and then I was shrugging, not sure what I was even going to tell him.

Before I drove off, Jenny called me out again. "Guys, just tell me when the opening party is. I want to fucking help. I will try and be ready for this." She said, and then with that, I was starting to drive off, not really in the mood to debate any longer. As I was driving off, I was feeling like I just needed to try and find something to tell Todd, to be making him feel better about what was happening. But I decided that I would just remain silent, to not piss him off further.

…

Scene 14: Richard Watterson's Family (Day 13)

When Todd and I were meeting up with each other again, I was thinking of what to even fucking do at this point in time anymore. "Todd, I want to see the other casinos. I mean, I know that they are going to not really fucking help us at all. But I hardly fucking even care anymore. I need to take the fucking chance." I said, and then I was seeing Todd looking like he was not sure what to even tell me.

"Okay, I guess that we just need to do this. Especially since I am sure that you are not going to be taking no for a fucking answer." After he was telling me this, I was shaking my head, and then I was starting to head on towards the Watterson casino, where I was seeing that Todd clearly did not want to be heading there, but seemed to have no desire to be fighting with me at all.

The entire time that I was driving there, I was seeing that Todd clearly looked like he was hardly even wanting to have much of a fucking debate with me. "Sheldon, do you think that Richard Watterson even will want to talk with us in the first place?" After he was asking me this, I shrugged, simply not wanting to really have this discussion in the first place. I was kind of just over this.

"I don't know, and I hardly fucking care at all. You know, I am going to just do what I fucking need right now. If you don't like it, I don't fucking know what I can even fucking say at all." I said, and I was shrugging, since I was feeling that any debate with me was going to be a waste.

When we were at the casino, I was seeing that a few people were just hanging out with each other, smoking some cigars, and talking with each other. Clearly a man in his early to mid twenties, and I was seeing that Nicole girl once again. I couldn't fucking believe that this was happening in the first place.

The whole idea of seeing Nicole here, talking with these people, was just still getting a fucking reaction out of me. I couldn't fucking believe that she was willing to take the risk like this in the first place. I looked at Todd, and I was unsure of what I was even going to be telling him in the first place.

I got out of the fucking car, and then Nicole and Richard were looking at me, both probably feeling like me coming here was a fucking mistake. "What do you want to do here?" After Nicole asked me this, she was looking at Todd, feeling like she found him being here mildly annoying more than anything else. Although she was pretending like this didn't matter much.

"I was wanting to talk to Richard Watterson. See if he was able to fucking help me out with something." I said, feeling like I just needed to fucking lie as long as I could. As I did this, I saw Richard looking fucking confused as all hell what the fucking meaning at all.

"What the fucking hell would you want to talk to me about, and not my fucking father?" He asked, and then Nicole looked right at me, and I was seeing her looking like she was fucking pissed at me for the time being. Probably thinking that I was ruining her job.

"Guys, you are getting in the way of my fucking job, and you are going to be making a shit ton of conspiracies or some shit like that." Nicole said, clearly tired of this shit, and she started to walk towards us. "I am graduating in a year, and I need to get my fucking job in order." After Nicole said this to me, she looked at Todd, and then she shook her head.

"Do not let this guy change your fucking mind on various things. Sheldon usually has a good idea what is happening, but I feel like you need to just drop this for your own sake." After she was telling me this, I was wondering what her fucking point was right now. Why she was even doing this to begin with.

"Let him have his moment. He might be thinking that he is doing what is best. You know, brushing people off before they have a chance to talk might be making things much worse." Richard said, trying to be making her feel much better. She sighed, seeming to have no interest to hear what Richard was trying to tell her.

"You do not know this guy from school. He makes something out of everything, and only makes things much worse. If you were with this guy, you would understand my fucking hesitation." She said, and then I closed my eyes, feeling like whatever she wanted to say now, I was not going to change at all.

"Well guys, what do you want to do?" Richard asked, and then Todd felt like he needed to just get to the main point at hand, and not be making things much worse with Nicole and I, as he was already feeling the tension growing much worse with each passing minute.

"I want to fucking know what your parents are doing. My friend Sheldon and I are trying to figure everything out, and we were hoping that you would be willing to help me." After Todd was telling him this, I saw that Richard looked slightly unsure of what to even fucking tell me at this rate.

"Well, I feel like that is something that I will need some time to organize. After all, you are asking me to try and grab some secret information. And I need to make sure that certain pieces of info are actually allowed to be given off." After he said this, he was sighing, hoping that Todd would be willing to understand his perspective.

"I guess that this is fair enough." Todd said, slightly annoyed, but feeling like there was no fucking point in even fucking fighting this at all. Then Sheldon looked at me, wondering what in the world he was even going to try and tell me as a argument.

"I am sure that my parents are going to be more than fine with it. They just need to have some time to sort this all out. If they need something else, then I will try and fucking tell you." Richard said, and then I was seeing Nicole looking more and more like she was feeling like I just needed to get out of her fucking life right now.

"I hope that whatever you want to do, you do not fucking make things worse than they already are, with fucking rumors or shit." After Nicole said this, I was feeling like I just needed to make sure she was out of this when it was time for us to be talking.

"We are not starting rumors. If you were actually here, then you would know that everything that I have been looking into is more than fucking true." I said, and then I was sighing, annoyed as all hell that I was having to tell her this in the first place.

"Guys, fucking can it right now. I am not going to have this discussion right now with you guys. Regardless, let's say fucking tomorrow, we can meet up, and I will see what I was able to gather up tonight. Does that seem fair?" He asked, and then Todd seemed slightly annoyed at having to wait a day. But then shrugged, feeling no need to let it go.

"Okay, fine. You made your fucking point. I will fucking wait." Todd said, and then after he was saying this, he just simply decided to not really have much more to say at all. As we were thinking deeper, I really had no idea what to even say to change this.

"Got a bit of a temper. I like that. Makes it clear that he just wants to get the job done. I feel like whatever he fucking does, he will be doing a rather good job at this." After Richard was telling me this, he smiled, and seemed like he was finding the whole situation fucking hilarious.

"Honestly, I am just trying to stay out of this for the time being. I just feel like I needed the options on the table." I said, and I was shrugging, as I took a cigarette out. Richard seemed like he was finding this whole set up to be something he would appreciate.

"See you when it is time." After Richard said this, he looked at Nicole, hoping to just leave us alone, and I was seeing Nicole looking like she was wanting to fucking kill us for this.

…

Scene 15: Business at Mezmer's (Day 14)

Richard, Todd, and I sat down the next day, and Richard was pulling out a briefcase. As he was opening it, he was smiling the whole time. "Honestly dude, this was really fucking hard to get. My father wanted nothing to do with this, and I feel like you need to just be careful." He said, and then he smiled, thinking that our reactions would him a good idea of what we were thinking.

"I have a feeling that your father probably has a decent idea of what we are doing here. I mean, after all, the two of us have gotten a bit of a reputation among this place." Todd said, smiling as he had said this. I saw that he was clearly not wanting to hear this at all.

"Yeah, you guys do. But I feel like there is no reason to be hiding this so badly." Richard said, and then he was simply shrugging as he was showing us the papers. "It seems like both of my parents have been involved on some of these transactions. Usually one parent is more of the culprit. But I guess that this makes sense, given how things are."

"But guys, what do you feel like you are going to get from this in the first place? I mean, for fucks sake, you guys just come in here, without any fucking explanation, and you expect me to give you guys everything. I mean, I am not saying that Nicole is right. But I do sort of see what she is saying here." He was saying, and I was sighing as he had said this, not really in the mood to be having this debate.

"That is because Sheldon and I are trying to be as secretive about this as we can possibly be. If we tell you guys what we are doing, then that is going to fucking get you guys all scared, and possibly ruin the fucking point of what we had been doing." After Todd was telling Richard this, I saw Richard kind of considering what he had heard.

"I guess that makes sense. I guess that I am just worried that you are trying to get my parents arrested or some shit. After all, his dad is the mayor. And my parents are not bad people, despite what you guys might be thinking." He said, starting to insist on the matter.

"I am purely doing this on my own right. To be honest, my dad and I are starting to heavily disagree on the shit that we are doing this. So this is just between the two of us now." I said, and I was seeing Richard looking like this was not really what he wanted to hear.

"But you guys are going to take what is in there, and fucking wildly screw this whole thing up." Richard said, and I was seeing him looking like he wanted to just find anything to do to get this to move forward. I looked at Todd, wondering if he would understand what we were doing.

As Todd was looking at the data, he was looking right at Richard, feeling like whatever he would tell Richard, he was going to have to be really fucking careful on. "Your parents are already planning on something with Nicole, and you are still trying to find a way to try and explain to us why we are not being fair to you?" He said, and then he was placing the data on the table, for Richard to read.

"There is paper work being done about a transaction with Shaun Reichenbach? I mean, do you seriously think that with this information, you are allowed to try and act like they could do no fucking wrong." Todd said, clearly annoyed at what he was saying. Feeling like the need for him to say this was fucking disgusting.

"I have no power over what my parents try and do. You need to see that I am not them." Richard said, and then he was standing up. "I have nothing to do with what is happening to Nicole. I did nothing besides just bring her up as a potential employee. I have been watching her this whole time." He was placing both his hands on the table, as he was trying to have his teeth hold onto his cigar while the residual tobacco dropped to the table.

"Why can't people just do the right thing for once, and stop fucking putting themselves first? People just need to fucking see that what they are doing can be fucking disgusting sometimes." After Todd said this, I was seeing Richard looking like he couldn't really fucking believe what he was hearing at all.

"You guys can fucking hate my parents all you want, but I am just the one who is giving you the information. I am not the one behind this. For what it's worth, I can do whatever I can to make sure that Nicole is safe here." After Richard said this, he was sighing, feeling like his statements were only going to fall on deaths ears.

As Richard took a deep breath, he looked at me, and I was seeing him looking like he was just hoping that I would try and get him to see some fucking reason. "Look, at the end of the day, I am just a guy who is much closer to your age than the ages of the fucking adults running this town. You need to give me a break."

"I'll just try and keep a good eye on you guys, for Nicole." I said, feeling like what I was saying was fair enough. As I was saying this, I saw that Richard looked like he was wanting to say more. But then he just shook his head, feeling like everything we would say was just going to be a fucking waste of time.

…

Scene 16: Ready To Go (Day 15)

The next day, when I was waiting for Cathy at Joyful Burger, that was when Todd and I were seeing Larry coming up to us. For once, we were trying to leave her alone, and not be making things worse. But when we were looking at her, I figured that I just needed to let him say what he needed to say.

"Hey, I was wanting to tell you that you guys don't have to worry about dealing with me that much anymore. My father is going to be dying from his cancer rather soon, and when that happens, I will have to take over the fucking company. Which means you can do whatever you fucking want then, and I can't fucking stop you at all." After he was telling us this, he was sighing, and I could hear him sounding rather upset at this.

Todd looked at me, and he was looking rather shocked at this. "Surprised your father is still working as much as he is, when he is about to fucking die." After Todd said this, Larry was looking like he wanted to fight Todd on this. But then he just simply shrugged, and decided to not say much to fight with him at all anymore.

"You guys clearly don't understand how the life of the adults work. You don't get to fucking just relax, and not work when you are not in the mood." Larry said, and then he was sighing, and then felt like there was nothing else to fucking say at this point in time.

"The point that I am trying to make is that I am sorry to hear this. Good luck with taking that company over when it is time. I just hope that you are going to be able to handle this when it is time." After Todd was telling him this, he sighed, and I was clearly seeing him just trying to at least pretend like he was feeling really fucking bad for what was going on.

"Well, I am just getting all the work done, and I am just trying to just not reveal what is going on to the general public. My father doesn't want most people to learn about this yet. I guess that I just felt like you would have wanted to hear this. So there you fucking go." After he said this, he laughed, thinking that what he was saying was just going to be a waste of time.

"Just make sure that when you are going around, and doing your fucking annoying shit, you do not go around and tell people about my fathers condition. Just keep this between you guys." After Larry said this, he was starting to walk off, before he turned around to see us once again. Probably thinking that he just needed to say something very clearly to me.

"You might not understand, but my father was not a bad person. He always did what was best for the people he knew. Maybe not for the town, but he wasn't purely selfish." After he was telling me this, he went back to his room, and then that was when Todd and I were looking at each other, and I was wondering what in the world I could have even said to him at all.

Then I looked at Todd, and I was feeling like I just needed to get him to understand what he was getting into. "Yeah, I think that we need to at least try and respect his wishes. You know, after all, Larry has been dealing with our shit for quite a while, and I can see how he might be rather annoyed with this." I said, and then Todd looked like he was not really in the mood to even hear what he was saying at all.

"I don't want to fucking talk about it. If he wants to try and deny what is going on, then I feel like that is totally fine for him. But that doesn't mean that I want to fucking deal with this at all." He said, and then he was shrugging, wondering if I would at least consider listening to him at all.

"Why did you even bring me here in the first place? I mean, can you fucking explain that to me?" He asked, and then that was when I smiled, feeling like the fact that he was so ready to have this discussion was making me feel a bit better. Knowing that I could get this conversation at least somewhat back on track for the time being.

"I was wanting you to talk with a friend I have been talking with lately. Somebody who has been helping us out much more than you might be thinking." After I was telling him this, I was seeing Todd looking like he was hardly fucking caring to hear this.

"Should you really be making friends when you are dealing with this fucking shit right now?" He asked, and then I was sighing, and I felt like I just needed to leave things alone for the time being. I took a cigarette out, and I was feeling like he would never fucking understand this at all.

"A girl named Cathy has been talking to me a couple of times since Harold took the position of vice president. I think you need to fucking talk with her, and just fucking see her for yourself." I said, and then I took a cigarette out, and stared right at him, wondering if he would fucking hear this at all.

"Just make sure you don't throw her down this life as well. I mean, I feel like this would be a rather big fucking mistake?" He asked, and then I sighed, and I wasn't really in the mood for this discussion at all. With that, Cathy was walking inside, and I was seeing her looking like she was feeling bad for having us wait for so fucking long.

When Cathy sat down, she looked at Todd, and I was seeing her looking like she was having a rather mixed opinion of what to think of him when she was seeing him. "So are you the guy who Sheldon has been insisting on hanging out with lately?" She asked, and then that was when Todd looked at her, thinking that she was kind of being a bitch here.

"Well, he and I have been working on a lot of cases lately, and we feel like we are making something work out really well here." Todd said, and he was sounding mildly defensive as he was hearing this. Then he looked at me, and clamed down a bit, not wanting to be angry right now.

"Truth be told, I am just trying to be a good friend for him, and everybody else as well. I guess that I can't be too upset at him for making new friends, when I am doing such a poor job being a boyfriend." Todd said, and Cathy was looking shocked as she was hearing this.

"Oh no, we are not dating or anything. We are just trying to hang out, and become friends." After she said that to him, she looked at me, and I was seeing her looking like she couldn't fucking handle what she had just heard. I sighed, and felt like I would just let it go.

"Look, I think that we all just need to remember that at the end of the day, we are all in the same team here, and that we all want to be able to make this work out." I was telling them, hoping that I would be able to get them to all fucking calm down, and not be looking too fucking deeply into this at all.

"But is what Sheldon says true? That you guys are planning on going to the fucking opening party? Are you guys sure that this is a good idea?" She asked, and then Todd looked at me, and I was seeing him looking like he was wanting to strangle me for saying this to her in the first place.

"Yeah, I guess that we were planning on doing that. But we never really came up with a official plan. Just something that we wanted to fucking do, but haven't really come around to quite yet." After Todd was telling Cathy this, he clearly was wanting to find something else to say, but had no idea what to even say.

"Wow, I was expecting you to fucking deny it, to be honest. I guess the fact that you didn't shows that you are aware when to not fight a losing battle anymore." After she was saying this, she looked right at me, and I was sighing, and I wondered what her fucking point was going to be right now.

"Well, we are trying really hard to not be dragging other people into something when we are not sure how safe we are going to be with what we are doing here. So I think that his fear is understandable here. You just need to fucking give him some space here." After I was telling her this, I was seeing her looking like she was wanting to fight me.

"Sheldon, I just wanted to ask if you were even sure that anything like this is even going to be working out as well as you believe. I mean, I see that you guys are both going around, and trying to be the big fucking heroes, but do you feel like Harold will be willing to listen to this." She said, and I had no idea what to tell her.

"Well, Harold seems like he is willing to fucking hear people out, and give them a chance to fucking talk. So I feel like you need to give him some fucking time. After all, his father is the leader of just a subsection of this entire business. I think that it is obvious that this whole thing ties together." I said, holding my hands up, hoping to get her to think things out.

Then she looked at Todd, and decided to speak to him about something that was bothering her. "Look, what is going on with you? I mean, I really don't understand what your personal stakes in this matter is." She asked, and then Todd seemed to consider what she was asking him.

"I have a hard time remembering much of the stakes that were involved with what is happening. To be honest, the longer that we had been looking into this, the harder it is to really go back to my original motivation now." After Todd was saying this to her, I saw him looking like he was kind of disgusted at himself for admitting this out loud.

"I sometimes wonder if Sheldon is like that with his sister and his original crush, Christen." Cathy said, and then I was wanting to refute what she said, but decided not to, feeling like I would just let her have her statement, while I thought more on this.

"But regardless, I was just curious to finally meet you." After Cathy said this, she was smiling for a second, wondering if Todd was willing to start to open up with this for a bit. But then with that, I stared out the window, thinking about Larry's father.

I just hoped that he would be more willing to talk to me by then. I knew that in all honesty, he wouldn't. But I feeling like if he would, then things would be getting so much better, and I would be able to feel like things would start to work out for the fucking best. I just needed to be patient, or at least tell myself to be patient.

…

Scene 17: Unofficial Resignation (Day 16)

When I was meeting up with the leader of the man I black the next day, I felt like I just needed to try and find a way to be making him feel much better. To be honest, I was feeling like whatever I would say to him, he would be feeling like I was trying too hard to fix some issues that were never made.

"Hey, I wanted to apologize to you myself. I have not been doing the job that you wanted me to do, and I feel like I made a bunch of mistakes. You know, I feel like I should have been getting the job done much better, but I just didn't fucking do it. If you do not want to support me anymore, then I would not even fucking blame you at all." I said, and then I was seeing him looking shocked to even hear me admit something like this.

"Okay, I guess that I was wanting to talk to you about something like this myself. After all, things have been rough between the two of us, and I feel like we needed to talk a bit about that." After he was telling me this, I felt like whatever he wanted to say, I just needed to take it, for what it fucking was.

"I was wanting to know if you actually cared about this job as much as you should have. After all, I was trying to give you a fucking chance to show yourself, and prove to me that you actually want to do something good for us all. But here you are, always fighting with me every single step of the fucking way." He said, and then he shrugged at this.

"I do care about this job. I am just frustrated with your way of doing this. I feel like you and I aren't agreeing on what the best choice of action is going to be, and I feel like we just need to talk about that." After I was telling him this, I was seeing him looking like he was hardly caring what I would even say.

"I just feel like as somebody who has been going out there rather often, and knows what needs to be done, I feel like I need to be given more credit here. I need to be taking this operation over, if I want to be blunt about this." I said, and then I was seeing him looking shocked to hear me even admit something like this to begin with.

"Sheldon, you are too young to throw your life away like this. This is something you need to be one hundred percent set on. Not just something that you feel like you want to fucking do." After he was telling me this, I simply had no idea what in the world I was even going to say.

"But you know that there are the monsters here, and you are throwing away the best chance to fucking change this right now. Do you not realize how much of a fucking mistake this whole thing is?" I asked, and then I was feeling like I just needed to try and be honest with him when I was telling him this right now.

"Honestly, I feel like it might be best for me to just try and figure out what I am going to be doing with my life. I think that for both our sakes, once school gets back, I should probably just leave this all behind. But I am willing to continue working here until then." I said, and I saw that he was looking between furious, and almost kind of glad as he said that.

"What am I going to do though? Losing my best employee, who has been going out there the most? Even if I do not like the way you have been doing things, I have to recognize when you get results." He said, and then I was looking at him, feeling like the answer was super fucking obvious, despite what he wanted to fucking say.

"Train the others to do the job they need to fucking do. That is really as simple as it fucking is. If you do not like it, then that is not my fucking fault." After I was telling him this, I saw him looking kind of pissed as I was telling him what to do. Before I was able to get too far away, he sighed.

"Would you be willing to maybe do this as a weekend gig when you are back at school? You know, we can negotiate something." He said, and then I was shaking my head, not really in the mood to be having this discussion right now. He was being rather annoying, and to be honest, the way he was insisting on this was only starting to piss me off.

"I don't think it would be in my best interest to do anything like this, and the faster you see this, the better that things would be for both of us." I said, and then with that, I was walking off. "You need to understand something dude, I never really wanted to be a part of your empire. I thought that I could work something out, to go in my favor. But it was a massive mistake, and to be honest, I should have just dropped this subject." I said, and then after I was saying this, I simply shrugged, wondering if he would hear what I told him.

"And I hope that one of these days, the two of us can meet up at a bar, hang out, and just pretend like nothing is even happening. I feel like something like this would be rather fucking nice." I said, and then I was smiling as I was telling him this, but he was choosing to ignore what I was telling him. Which to be honest, kind of scared me more than I wanted to admit.

…

Scene 18: The Next Shift (Day 17)

I was getting ready for the next shift at the gas station, and I was excited to be talking to him, trying to give him some information, to be able to give me some context on what I was even going to do. When he looked at me, I was seeing him looking like he was just kind of upset with seeing me here.

"Sheldon, how are you today? You look like you are really fucking tired?" After he was asking me this, I was sighing, wondering why he was even asking me this. Why he was pretending to talk to me and have a interest in my perspective in the first place.

"Yeah, I am just trying to keep my mind on focus right now. You know, I can't talk about how much I want to help out this town, when I am just screwing around with my friends or something." After I was telling him this, I was seeing him looking like he had found what I found to be slightly silly.

"Dude, do you seriously think you are going to actually find out what is happening in this town, or will you eventually let it go, and see that what you are doing is fucking insane." After my boss asked me this, I sighed, wondering why he was even asking me this in the first place.

"I got to fucking try at least. I mean, seriously, what in the world am I going to be able to say to myself if I didn't at least fucking try?" I asked, and then I was seeing my boss looking like he was tired of fighting with me about what he was hearing at this rate. Probably thinking that I was still trying to do something that was out of my league.

"Dude, you have a job that you come in here to do. For those handful of hours, just focus on that shit, and let other people like the police take care of the job that they are meant to be doing." After he was telling me this, I was wondering if he was able to see what I was fucking meaning at all.

"So you only care about the company, and the job? I mean, nobody fucking comes here anyways, and you are worried about stupid shit that nobody even really fucking cares about at all." As I was telling him this, I saw him looking pissed at the fact that I was even saying this to him in the first place.

"Just because nobody else in this town cares about I am doing right now, doesn't mean that I have to stop caring about what I am doing." After my boss was telling me this, I was sighing, and I wondered what in the world I was even going to say in response.

"Look, Sheldon, let me be real. I know what you are doing. The truth of the matter is that I know what is happening in this town. I'm not fucking stupid. I was there all the fucking time. That I why I run away from the truth." After he was telling me this, I looked right at him, and I wondered why he even fucking cared at all.

"But your refusal to tell people that you know the truth is only making things much worse for everybody. If we worked together, so many people would be fucking saved." After I was telling him this, I saw him looking like he was considering what I had been telling him.

"I never really know what I could be able to fucking do dude. That is not a fucking joke. There is only a few things that I understand. But I understand that these people are the victims of trafficking, and if I was a betting person, I would assume that they would be sent to completely different states. No way they are doing anything else." My boss was telling me, and I was looking down on the ground, and I was wondering why in the world I was even having a discussion about this.

"I swear that when I learn where these people are being sent, I am going to hunt down all the people responsible for what is happening. I am not going to be leaving anything to the fucking table anymore." I said, and then I was sighing, and I saw him looking like he was hoping that I didn't really mean what I was saying when I was telling him this.

"And when that fucking happens, I hope that I will be making myself clear that I do not want anything to do with this at all. I want to just drop this whole thing off." After he was telling me this, I shook my head, and I wondered why we were even having this discussion.

"Yeah, you have. I am not going to be trying to fight you with this fucking shit. I thought that we would work something out. But I guess that I was a fucking idiot for even thinking that something like this could ever fucking happen." I shook my head, feeling like arguing with him would not even fucking matter at all.

"Sheldon, I hope that at the end of the day, you know that I am not trying to make things worse for you. I just feel like you are trying too hard to work something out that is beyond your fucking control. But I guess that nothing I could tell you would make you really consider this." When he was telling me this, he decided to start to walk off. "I am going to be heading out. Don't do anything stupid while you are on shift. If I find out that you are just using this as a excuse to look into this town's cases, then I am fucking done with you guys." When he was gone, I sighed, knowing he was not messing around at all.

When I was on my shift, that was when Cathy showed up, and I was looking at her. I was mildly annoyed with her being here, since I knew she was going to try and find something to say to make me feel different. "Hey Sheldon, I wanted to try and fucking talk to you a bit." She said, and I took a cigarette out, not sure why she was caring at all.

"Cathy, what are you fucking wanting to talk about?" I asked, and I was seeing her looking like she was thinking about what I was asking her. She knew that I was not really wanting to talk to her right now about this fucking case right now.

"I wanted to just try and talk to you about what you were planning on doing with this investigation during the school year?" She asked, and I was sighing, feeling like that was valid enough. I had no idea how I could fucking proceed this.

"Cathy, I have no idea. I mean, I still have the job to do. And then hanging out with my friends. While I do not want to admit it, I feel like I might only be able to do it during the weekends, like say Friday nights and early Saturdays." I said, and Cathy seemed to be mildly annoyed with the fact that I was admitting this out loud.

"You can't throw your fucking life away Sheldon. You are only making things worse by doing this." Cathy was telling me, and I was shrugging, and I was wondering what in the world she was wanting to tell me at this point in time. I felt like she would honestly not fucking care at all.

"I am not throwing my life away. But I mean, seriously, I can't lose what I have. But that is one of the main reasons why I want to know the truth during the summer before the school year starts. You know, if I can fucking learn the truth then, perhaps I could be able to make things a bit better. That way, I can fucking get some closure." I said, and then I was standing up, and walking out from behind the counter, and I was seeing Cathy looking like she was clearly not in the mood to buy anything that was happening.

"Sheldon, are you actually doing this for everybody else, or just doing this to be selfish? Or are you not able to fucking see the difference between the two of them now." Cathy asked, and I was unable to believe what she had just asked.

"Yes, I am doing this for other people. Why the fucking hell would I not?" I asked, more so just flustered as I was asking her this. But the truth was that I still had no idea what I was really even feeling right now. But I choose to not say anything at all.

"I don't know. I just feel like I need to be suggesting this right now. You know, just sort of see what you guys might know." Cathy said, and I was trying so fucking hard to be seeing where she was coming from. I really wanting to make her feel better, but I knew that I could not.

"Sheldon, I mean, I just feel like I want to know what your plan is going to be right now. I know you have been working rather hard. But I feel like you need to have some real friends at your side when you go through this." After Cathy said this, my cigarette fell down to the ground and I was really having no idea what I was going to be saying to her.

"Todd is my real friend, and over time, I started to run away from the people who are not my real friends. I thought that Dakota would be there for me, but it turned out that he hardly fucking cared, and that I was a fucking idiot for buying that shit at all." I said, and I was shrugging, wondering if Cathy would actually listen to me at all.

"I guess that the biggest thing that I am scared about is seeing you die. I do not want to be part of this, if you are simply just going to be getting yourself killed here." After she was telling me this, I was looking at her, shocked out of my fucking mind, unsure of what I was even going to tell her at all.

"We barely even fucking know each other. I mean, we interacted more in the last few days than we had this entire summer. So I am unsure of why you would fucking care if I fucking die." After I was telling Cathy this, I was wondering why I was saying shit like this, and only making things worse for her.

"Yeah, and that is something that I want to fucking change for the best. I want to fucking help you change this." Cathy said, and she was saying this with such sternness, that I couldn't argue with her, even when I was feeling every desire in the entire fucking world to do so.

…

Scene 19: Wreckage (Day 18)

Todd and I were at the tree house, and the two of us were looking rather tired, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and find something to say in order to make him feel better. I looked at Todd, and I was seeing him thoroughly annoyed, and I was feeling like he was just needing to find something else to say, in order to make this whole thing better.

"Sheldon, look, we have gone here a million times. Going to this tree house is not going to be helping out anybody at all." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, since deep down inside, I was aware that what he was saying was making perfect fucking sense.

"I know that Todd. I guess that I am just holding out hope that something is going to be found in here that I didn't fucking find." I said, looking at Todd, mildly annoyed at the way that he was constantly acting around me. He was not seeing the bigger picture, and I was hoping he would fucking stop.

But the longer that I was there, the more annoyed that I was getting, and the more angry that I had been feeling. I wanted to fucking snap, and I wanted to unleash some of the shit that I had been holding in this whole time.

"I just wish that I was able to destroy this fucking tree house, and make people regret thinking that this was anywhere near a good idea." I said, and then I looked at Todd, and I was wondering if he would actually listen to me for the time being.

"Sheldon, you are going to get arrested for this. If they see a fire or something, they would be able to instantly see you did this." Todd said, clearly losing some of his patience, and I was feeling like he was probably right. Didn't fucking mean that I had to fucking like it at all. But I was aware that there was no way that I would fight with him here.

"I don't even fucking care anymore!" I yelled, and then I threw some of the loose beer down on the ground, and sat down. "I mean, Cathy was asking me earlier if this was something that I was genuinely trying to do, or if this was just for my reputation." I said, and then I sighed, not sure what to even fucking say at all.

"But unlike Dakota, she was clearly asking this is a caring fashion. I knew it was not her intention to be making me feel worse about what she was doing. I want to be able to tell her what was going on in my mind. But I feel like something like this would be a waste of time." I placed my head to my hands, and I was feeling like I was being a fucking asshole here.

"Sheldon, do you know what you fucking think?" He asked, and I was looking at him, and I felt like nothing I would tell him would be making the situation any better at all. I was wondering why he was suddenly trying to tell me this in the first place.

"I don't fucking know Todd. That is the thing that I hate the most. Knowing that I can't give a fully honest answer, no matter how much I fucking try." I said, and then I was standing up, and I was starting to just kick some of the stuff, like the cupboards, angry and tired of what I was dealing with.

"Sheldon, calm the fucking hell down. You are making things worse by getting into this right now. Just fucking calm down…" Todd was telling me, and I was feeling like his way of talking to me was just trying to soften up the damage before it was getting much worse. I sighed, not really in the mood to have this discussion at the time being.

"How can I fucking be calm when I am doing this right now? Seeing people just going around and acting like nothing ever fucking happened right now is just a fucking mistake." After Todd was telling me this, I was feeling like anything that I could tell him was just simply not going to fucking fall to him.

"But you were literally just telling me that Cathy was judging you for various things. And I can see that you clearly care a lot about what she fucking thinks. Maybe you need to consider what she is telling you." Todd said, and I was wondering what the hell his fucking problem was right now.

"She wasn't judging me. She was just feeling like I needed to be more careful, and think more about my fucking motivations. That is all that she wanted to fucking ask me." I said, and I was seeing him clearly looking like he was not wanting to really hear it.

"Whatever you say to make yourself feel better. I just feel like you are getting yourself too close to the fucking sun, per se." After Todd was telling me this, I sighed, and I was feeling like nothing else even fucking mattered. I punched a small hole in the wall, just trying to keep myself from acting out on Todd violently.

"We need to get out of here. Clearly you do not want to be here. I don't even fucking blame you at all. But you are not getting anything out of this, and you are clearly just having a hard time really thinking fully." Todd was saying, and I was wondering why he was even fucking caring what was going on in my fucking mind.

I was then looking at the ground, wondering why I was even trying to fucking think coherently. "I just wish that Cathy was wrong. I hope she is. But if she isn't, and deep down I am just doing this for my fucking reputation, then I would never fucking forgive myself." I said, feeling like nothing else I could say would even fucking matter at all.

"Oh shit. That is what I was fearing to fucking hear." Todd said, and then I was really not sure what in the world I was even going to say at all. Nothing I could say mattered at all. Todd and I left the tree house, and I looked up at it when I was on the ground again. I was shaking my head, not really in the mood to be here at all. I was then walking off, thinking that I needed to, for Todd's sake.

As we were walking along, I saw that Todd was looking like he was thinking deeply about some of the stuff he was going to be saying, and I knew that deep down inside, I was not going to be in the mood to be hearing him at all. "Todd, is something bothering you right now?" I asked, trying my hardest to not be sounding like I was going borderline melt down mode. As I said this, I saw him looking like he hardly fucking cared.

"I don't know. I just want to make sure you are sure that you can handle what is happening right now. After all, you practically had a fucking mental melt down earlier, and I feel like I need to be making sure you do not do something like this ever again." After Todd was telling me this, I was sighing, since I was not really in the mood to be hearing what was going on in his mind.

"I know that I did what I did. I just couldn't fucking hold it in anymore. I was scared. I wanted to cry. I wanted to fucking express the fact that I was wanting to just basically say "fuck the fucking world" per se." I said, and I was feeling like nothing I would tell them would get them to fucking listen.

"Just please make sure you don't do that again. I am not easily scared, but that was kind of bothering me a bit, and I was wanting to try and find something to say, to make you feel better. But I wasn't sure what you were truly feeling." After Todd was telling me this, I looked up at the sky, and I felt like I needed to just remain silent.

I took a cigarette out, and I was feeling like whatever he wanted to say, I just needed to listen to it, and hear what he was feeling out, and not be a asshole about this all. "Sorry, I should be trying to listen to you guys more. I was making a big mistake. But to be honest, I feel like I just needed to express the feelings that I had in a more official way." After I was telling him this, I was seeing Todd looking like he was hardly fucking caring anymore.

"I'm glad that you are starting to see where I am coming from right now. This whole thing is fucking hard to hear, and I want you to try and feel better." After he was telling me this, I sighed, and I was feeling like he was just needing to say what he needed to say.

As we were thinking, that was when the noise went off again. When this happened, I grabbed the fucking knife in my pocket, and threw it right at the tree, where it landed, and I looked at Todd. "If I have to hear that one more time, I will probably just kill myself to never hear it."

…

Scene 20: Regrets And Drifting's (Day 19)

The next day, when I was speaking to Sam, I felt like I just needed to try and find a way to be making him feel so much better about what was even happening in the first place. "Sheldon, I can't help but feel like when we talk with each other, the discussion just feels totally fucking wrong right now." After Sam was telling me this, I looked at him, wondering why he was even telling me this in the first place.

"Well, to be honest, when you fucking refuse to fucking talk with me, and you just brush me off every time we are supposed to talk to each other, I feel like I have no fucking choice." I said, and I shrugged, wondering if he was going to at least take what I said into consideration at all.

"The worst part is that when we were growing up, we used to be really close with each other. We used to talk to each other about everything. And now here we are, several years later, nothing we are doing is even going to fucking matter at all." I said, and then I shrugged, wondering if he would actually listen to me here.

"I just feel like your wishes are never going to fucking come through anymore. I mean, you are basically expecting me to just pretend like nothing ever fucking happened at all anymore. But I feel like this is just too much for you to ask for." After he was telling me this, I was feeling like I might have been kind of a idiot for even bringing this whole idea up in the first place.

"I know, but I feel like our falling out, and the way that Kevin was affected by this, might have been making things worse for him. I mean, let's not forget that he has his life ruined this last year or so. I can't help but feel like our bitterness might have been at least involved." I said, and I was wondering if he would have even listened to me in the first place.

"Are you blaming me for what happened to Kevin?" He asked, and I was looking at him, and I was feeling like I just needed to be choosing my words carefully, in order to make sure that he didn't feel like I was still attacking him or anything like that.

"No, I am not blaming you. What I am saying is that if we had still been friends, and not fallen out, we might have been able to work together from the start to make this work out." After I told him this, I saw him looking like he had wanted to at least consider what I said. "You might not like me telling you this, but fucking think about it." As I said that, I saw Sam looking like he was just wanting to brush me off, but then he decided to not say anything.

"Great. This is exactly what I was wanting to fucking hear. Having people basically tell me that I could have been doing things so much better. But I guess that the truth is that I do sort of see where you are coming from right now." After he was telling me this, I saw him looking like he was thinking deeply about what I had been saying.

"You're not perfect. I mean, that is just a fucking fact of life. You do not have to be perfect to still be a decent person. I never once thought that you were a bad person. Just somebody who made a fair deal of mistakes. Fair enough." I said, and then I looked at him, and I was seeing him looking like he was trying to consider what I had been telling him at this rate.

As we were getting towards his car, I was feeling like I just needed to try and fucking ask him what was going on in his mind. "Do you have a plan right now?" I asked, and I saw him looking like he was finding my questions mildly annoying, but choose to not say much right now.

"I want to see who went missing that time. I mean, with the grinding noise going off again, we need to accept that there is nothing else that we can do to change this." After he was telling me this, I sighed, and I was feeling like there was no need to even fucking argue with him at all here.

"So now you want to be going down there, and being the big damn hero right now?" I asked, and I was finding this whole thing fucking hilarious. Always acting like he needed to try and one up somebody like me in the first place.

"No, that is not what I said. I am just trying to fucking help you out. Don't be a fucking asshole right now." He said, and then I smiled as I was hearing him say this to me right now. As we drove along, I felt like I just needed to find a way to break the ice when talking to him right now.

"To be honest, I was mainly just wanting to see your fucking reaction." I said, and then I was then wondering what I would be saying to him, to make him feel any different here. "Honestly, where do you even think you are going to be getting the information on knowing who went missing this time?" I asked, and then I looked right at him, wondering what in the world I was even going to tell him at all.

"The library is a good fucking area to start. And frankly I don't fucking care what happened earlier that makes you so fucking scared to be checking anything out right now." After Sam was telling me this, I sighed, and I was feeling like there was nothing else I could say to make him change his opinion on the matter.

As Sam said that to me, I sighed, and I just decided to let things go for once, and not fucking be fighting with her right now. Eventually, as we were getting closer to the library, I really had no idea what my plan was going to be, and I really felt like nothing I would say would even make a single fucking difference at all.

Once inside the library, I was completely fucking convinced that I wanted to just leave the area, and just put this whole thing behind me. I was seeing that the librarian was looking like I was only going to be making things much worse for her. Not that I could fucking blame her for feeling this way, given everything that I had been doing at this rate.

"I can't do this right now. I know what you guys are going to fucking want, and doing this is going to be fucking getting me killed." She said, and then I was looking at Todd, and I was feeling like I just needed to consider what she was saying. "You guys always get people killed, and never seem to consider what we are needing right now." After she was telling us this, I sighed, feeling like I just needed to hear what she said.

"But this is going to be helping the issues of this town. I thought that was the whole point of your organization? So what is making you turn your fucking back on it right now?" I asked, and I was seeing her looking like my way of asking her this was only making things worse.

"Yeah, it is. But that is before I realized that you guys were going to be taking advantage of this and make things worse." After she was telling me this, I looked at Todd, and I felt like I just needed to be much more careful with what I was telling her.

"But this is for the sake of helping the town out. I mean, in the long run, as much as I hate to admit it, this is what makes it fucking worth it." I said, and I was feeling like telling her this was going to be making me sick to my fucking stomach. As I said this, I saw her looking like she wanted to fight. But just couldn't.

"I hope that I do not fucking regret this at all. But if you insist that this is going to be the best choice, then I guess that I will have to let you guys in, and do your job." She said, and then gave Sam the key, and then she looked at him. "I am going to let him be the one that looks though, just in case." As she said this, I sighed, mostly annoyed, but felt like if this was what I needed to do, then I just needed to let the subject go for the time being.

Once Sam and I were upstairs, I was looking at Sam, and I was feeling like I would get his opinion on the matter that had been getting to my mind recently. I wanted to see what he was thinking about the fact that I was spending all that time with Cathy, and if he would help me get through that faster.

"So Sam, I have been hanging out with Cathy for a while, and I was starting to feel like I was falling in love with her, and I was wondering if you would be able to fucking help me out here." After I was telling him this, I saw that Sam was looking utterly shocked to hear me admit that I was starting to have some feelings for Cathy of all people.

"I will admit, I never expected something like that from you. I mean, Cathy. I knew that you tried to get along with her earlier, but I felt like something like this was a fucking terrible plot." After Sam was telling me this, I looked at him, and I wondered why in the world he was even saying this. After all, I was trying to be happier for once.

"I just wondered if you had any idea on how I was going to be able to make something like this work out for the best? You know, I feel like she is rather special, and I would honestly not want to make it worse." I said, feeling like I just needed to straight up be honest with him when I said this to him.

As I was seeing the look on his face, I saw him looking like he was just simply trying to decide what to be telling me here. "Alright, I guess that I can sort of see what I might be able to do to help you out here. I mean, I feel like the biggest secret is honestly to not bring so many fucking conspiracies to her, and make her feel like she was being talked to like a normal person."

"Yeah, I guess that I do sort of see where you are coming from. As much as I might not like to admit it." As I was admitting this, I was upset with myself, since saying this was basically me admitting defeat to the fact that I was not the best friend I could be.

"See Sheldon. You can see where people are coming from with this, and you are having a extremely hard time letting go. Don't fucking over think things. Nobody likes that." After Sam was telling me this, I was looking down at the papers again, not really in the mood to be dealing with this at all.

"Why do you have to be a ass sometimes? I mean, sometimes it is really fucking hard to be dealing with your shit. As much as it might be rude for me to fucking admit." I said, and then I was starting to drive for a while, feeling like I was going to only be making things much worse for him if I kept it up.

"Point being, truth be told, I am finding myself happier for once in my fucking life. And I feel like this is the girl I want to fucking date. Simple as fucking that. You know, I feel like it might be a bit earlier than I should admit. But I still feel like this is something worth fighting for." As I was telling Sam this, I was really having no idea what I could even fucking tell him, since there was no point in fighting any worse.

"That happiness should be used as your fucking motivation Sheldon. Don't you ever fucking forget that." After Sam said that, he was starting to look around the area as much as he could. "As far as I know, my motivation is making sure that my brother lives as many days as possible, as long as I live." As he was looking through the drawers, I saw him looking like he was mildly annoyed at what he was saying.

"Do you think that if this keeps up, you might be having the man in the purple jacket just fucking kill you instead? You know, as a way to get you off the market? I think that something like this is quite possible." I said, and I was seeing Sam looking like he was considering what I said for once.

"That is indeed possible. I will admit. But if that is the case then why in the world would I fucking change things as much as I have? I mean, we all fucking die at some point. No fucking point in changing the rate things are happening." He said, and I was feeling like every thing he was saying was utter bullshit, and only making things worse.

I pulled out something, and I was seeing a paper regarding Mrs. Jewels. "The fucking teacher that Todd was so fucking worried about. I think that there is nothing we are going to be fucking finding from her at all." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to be totally fucking honest as I was telling him this.

"Do you want to make that fact clear to fucking Todd? I mean, he might be wanting to be excessively idealistic in nature, but I feel like even he won't be able to fucking ignore facts when it comes time." After Sam was telling me, I slowly nodding, and I knew exactly what he was fucking talking about as he said that.

"I feel like if I try to tell him this, he might be accusing me of no longer caring about the people we are fighting for or some shit. He will find some way to be making me the bad guy, and I have no fucking interest in hearing it at all." After I was telling him this, in a rather blunt fashion, I was seeing Sam looking like he was having a hard time seriously deciding what I was feeling here.

"So basically making you the bad guy for no fucking reason. I guess that something like that makes some sense, given the way that he talks about people at times. Guess that I can't be too fucking shocked at that." Sam said, and I was seeing him looking like he was a bit pissed off as he was saying this. "Don't know why I care so much what he thinks. After all, he has only made things worse for me. But I guess that I just want to make sure he doesn't hate me."

"As much as that young guy might annoy me at times, he has been the one who has been working the hardest to be making this whole thing work, and I feel like I need to give him some fucking credit here." Sam said, and I was seeing that every word of what he was saying was still excessively forced, and not what he was wanting to say.

"I know, right? I mean, he might be the hardest son of a bitch to deal with. But I honestly put so much value into what he thinks." I said, and then I gave him the papers relating to Jewels. "Sorry to say that I think that the idea of finding out who the last girl was is a fucking wash."

As I was looking at him, I was feeling like I just needed to express my sympathy for everything going on for him. "I mean, I appreciate the fact that you care. The fact that you are not a fucking liar, or bullshitter like many people are. But I feel like there is only so much we can really get from this."

"Well, I do learn from the best." He said, and then I looked at him, and I was shocked to be hearing him say something like this. Even if he was just trying to make me feel better about what I was thinking, hearing him call me the best in any fashion was something that I could feel so much better over.

"Maybe you can see Cathy, and what she fucking knows. I do not want to admit it, but you already spoke with her, so you might be able to see what she knows." After Sam was telling me this, I was sighing, and I was hating this idea for the reasons he said. But I was feeling like I just needed to consider what he was telling me before I made it much worse.

I took a cigarette out, and I wondered why I was even wanting to entertain this idea at all. I hated the mere thought of bringing Cathy into this. But I knew that there was no fucking choice, and I felt like I just needed to go along with this if I wanted to make it work out well at all.

…

Scene 21: Desperate Cards (Day 20)

The next day, I was meeting up with Cathy, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and tell her the truth. I felt like she needed to know what was going on, and I felt like no matter what was happening here, if I could change this for her, the better things would be.

"Cathy, I need to talk to you, and I know you are going to be pissed, so please keep it yourself." I said, and then I was shrugging, feeling like simply being honest with her was going to be the best thing that I could be able to do for everybody else involved.

"Oh god, you better be coming in with some seriously good shit with the way you are starting this." She said, and I was shaking my head, hating the fact that she was finding the need to be making a fucking joke about this right now. I shook my head, tired as all hell, and not wanting to deal with this.

"Look, Sam and I were at the library yesterday, and I do not agree with the shit that he is saying, but he was telling me that in all honesty, I should be coming to you, and trying to fucking see what you might know about the fucking person who might have went missing lately." I said, and then I saw Cathy looking shocked as all hell that I was even bringing this up to her.

"Are you fucking telling me that I am just your guys fucking toy to be making a plan work out for the best?" She asked, and then I looked at her, and I was unable to believe the shit that she had just asked me. I was feeling like she needed to fucking think carefully before she even approached me that way at all.

As I was sighing, this was when Todd was showing up, and he was staring at the two of us, and I was seeing from the look on his face that he was worried about the shit that the two of us were going to be saying when he talked. I looked at her though, to try and ease the issue, and I shook my head, firmly, hoping to get her to fucking listen.

"I promise you that this is not at all what I am trying to do. I am just trying to fucking help you out as much as I fucking can. And sometimes, as much as I am disgusted to admit this from experience, but that might mean that I make people feel like I am targeting them a it." I said, and I was feeling like I just needed to shut up, before I made things worse.

When Todd was with us, he was sighing, and I was seeing the immediate regret of everything, and I was wondering why he was so fucking scared, since he was just trying to fucking help us out with what he had been doing. "Did you guys have a fight or something?" He asked, and I was looking at Cathy, and she shook her head.

"We're good. Nothing happened, and I was just shocked at a conversation he was relaying to me that he had with fucking Sam." After she was saying this, I sighed, and I knew that no matter what I said, I was going to be seen as the bad guy.

"Oh shit. I can only imagine what those must be like." Todd said, and he was sounding like he was utterly sincere with her as he was saying this. Then he turned towards me, as if pleading to hear that this was going along at least relatively civilly.

"Todd, do you feel like you are going to be having any chance of finding what happened to your teacher, or do you feel like this is a fucking dream you are fucking having?" I asked, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was shocked to hear me suddenly bring that up in such a firm matter. But before he was able to say much, I was shaking my head.

"I don't fucking know honestly." Todd said, and I was seeing him fucking shocked to hear me say this at all. I looked at Cathy, and I was feeling like I just needed to fucking be careful with this whole issue. "I don't see what the issue with at least trying would be."

I was then taking a long and deep breath. I felt like no matter what I was going to be telling them, I would be the bad guy no matter what, and I needed to fucking accept this. "I am going to be one hundred percent real when I say this, but I feel like the fact of the matter is that you guys are both too fucking idealistic."

"That is a lot coming from you." After Cathy was telling me this, I was shrugging, and I simply shrugged. "After all, your friend basically said that he was thinking it might be a good idea to be bringing me along to this ride, without any consideration on what I feel." She said, and I was shrugging, and I wondered why I was even arguing with this.

"I am not Sam. Comparing me to him is simply not the fucking same." I said, feeling like I was just needing to stand my fucking ground as I was hearing her talk about me like this. I looked at Todd, and I was wondering if what I was saying would matter.

"And even if we were the same, Sam has every right to be feeling the way that he did. His brother had to deal with a fucking stalker for the last several months, and his brother only barely got through this whole thing." I said, and then I was seeing Todd looking like he was thinking what I was saying was probably a really fucking tough gamble, and I was shrugging, feeling no need to be worried.

"Wait, what the fucking hell? Dude, if this is the shit that is happening, then I am going to preach to you that you just need to drop this. Let the fucking police or whatever handle this. If Kevin had to deal with this because of what you are doing, then this is a sign that it is time to let go." Cathy said, and I wondered if she would fucking care what I was feeling at all.

"This is something that you need to think deeply about before you fucking run off like this." She said, and then I was sighing, feeling like no matter what she wanted to say, I would simply not fucking get it. Or really even fucking care at all what was on his mind.

"I know Cathy. I know that I made way too many fucking mistakes, and that they are all climbing on. But listen, that man had already been around Kevin since like earlier this year, months before I even met Todd." I said, and then looked at Todd, and Todd simply nodded at this, to confirm that one to her.

"Great. Okay. I fucking get it. No matter what you guys want to say, I fucking get it." After she was telling me this, I was then feeling like she was already regretting everything she had been saying in the first place. Probably feeling like she just needed to say that, as a way to get me to fucking react.

"Sorry. I know that you guys don't mean anything wrong. But I just feel like when I hear this shit, and I hear that you guys are seemingly just letting it all slide, then I feel bad. I mean, I know that Sheldon is not that type of person." She said, and then she simply shrugged. "I guess that sometimes, I just let the rumors get to me, and bring me down."

"Then you need to trust me." I said, and I was feeling like telling her this would get her to fucking listen to me. "Trust me when I tell you that I am not doing anything that would be putting you guys in harms way, no matter what. Or at least not on purpose."

"In fact, I was the one that managed to save Kevin from what happened. With the fucking restraining order that was placed, that saved him." After I was telling her this, I was seeing that Cathy just seemed blown away at hearing that.

"Restraining order? Oh shit. That must have been hard for you to accomplish. Good job." She said, and then I was smiling as I was hearing this. I knew that at the end of the day, she wouldn't fucking hate me forever, even if she wanted to do so.

…

Scene 22: Out of Options (Day 21)

As Todd and were meeting up, we went on over to Harold's house, to see the condition on how the car shop opening was going to be. He saw us, and I was seeing him clearly annoyed with the fact that we were here in the first place. "Guys, what the fucking hell are you guys even going to fucking want now?" He asked, clearly just trying to at least pretend like our presence was still a relatively welcome one.

"We were wanting to fucking talk to you about the fucking opening, and if you know what is happening there yet." After I said this, Harold seemed to be relatively shocked that our time here with him was actually going to be so relatively mundane.

"My dad wants there to be something that celebrates my position before summer ends, so the last Saturday of the summer. Which as you guys know, is only a few days away." He said, and then he shrugged, thinking about what was going on now.

"Oh shit, that means that if we want to really crack this case open, we only have about a week and a half." Todd said, and then I was sighing, and I was feeling like whatever he was feeling I could be able to hold things off for a while longer.

"Well, to be fair, given everything going on with the grinder, and missing cases, my father had said that he was thinking about maybe extending the summer a week or two, to give some students a chance to settle down for a bit." I mentioned, and both Todd and Harold were looking shocked to hear what I was saying right now.

"What are you guys going to do with this information?" Harold asked, and I was shocked to hear him say anything like this. "I mean, if you are planning on something right now, then you need to fucking tell me what I need to fucking know." After he was telling me this, I sighed, and I had no idea what to tell him.

"We were just wanting to know, so we could have a fucking clue what is happening in this summer break. I am sure that you can understand this." After I was telling Harold this, I went to my car, and I saw him having no real interest in this subject.

As I was heading to my car, Todd started to follow me. But Harold was staying behind, probably thinking of what we were doing. He shook his head, as he was going back to his fucking house. Probably just wanting to be with Jackie for the time being, and pretend like there was nothing else to be worried over.

"What are you going to be doing with Harold when the time comes?" After he was asking me this, I looked at Todd and I was wondering what his plan was going to be for the time being. Why he even fucking cared at all what was on my mind.

I was at the forest, and I was starting to climb up, and I was seeing Todd looking like he wanted to yell at me, to fucking stop my fucking treck up, but I was not going to be giving him the fucking chance to get me to settle down for a bit. "I have no idea. I mean, I feel like he is still the best bet that I have right now. So I feel like we still need to go going along with my original idea right now."

"Why are you heading up to the fucking broadcast station again? There seems to be no fucking point right now. We already went there several times, and found something." After Todd was saying this to me, I sighed, not really in the mood to be hearing this at all anymore.

"I just want to be sure. You know, nothing fucking wrong with that." I said, and I was wondering why he was caring so fucking much what I was doing right now. "I mean, you know that we can't rule everything out. Just a fucking formality." I said, and then I was seeing Todd just looking like he was finding my insistence to be rather annoying.

"But when we go here, there is nothing to fucking find. We already checked this out before, so there is no fucking point." Todd said, and then I looked at him, wondering why he was always acting the way that he had done, and I was feeling his this was only going to be making things worse.

"I don't know. Just want to be sure. You know, I always want to have the clear mind." I said, and then I was feeling like saying this was going to be making my fucking point enough to him, without having him always question every move of what I had been doing at this rate.

Eventually, we were getting closer to the station, which was clearly in deep construction. "What the fucking hell would you think you would find here? I mean, the last time we tried, it just ended up being a massive waste of time. Nothing there fucking helped us out at all." Todd said, as if feeling the need to remind me of what was going on. I choose to just remain silent as he was saying this.

"I just always felt like we didn't give this place enough fucking look out. You know, I just feel like we need to be safe. I mean, what is the worst that can fucking happen? We just simply go there, and nothing works? It doesn't really fucking matter at all." I said, and then once we were there, Todd simply sighed.

"Will you be going? You know, to the opening party?" After Todd asked me this, I sighed, and I wasn't sure what my plan was going to be when the time came. I wanted to, since I was feeling like this would give me a good fucking start on what to do. "I still feel like that is the best thing that we can be doing for the time being."

"Yeah, I am still fucking going. I really have no choice if I want to find the truth here." I said, and then I was at the door of the station, which had a bunch of tape placed on it. I was then looking through the windows, and I was seeing that the are was completely fucking empty.

"Red herring or not, people clearly do not want us around here anymore. I feel like that should be enough proof that something is going on." I said, and then I looked right at Brad, and I wondered what I was even going to be telling him at this rate.

"Well, maybe it is because you basically destroyed the fucking area, and as a result, it is completely unusable. Have you considered that?" He asked, and I was wondering what his issue was, and why he was acting like this in the first place. Considering the fact that honestly, he was being extremely fucking rude.

"I wonder if it will even be worth it? Trying to find something when we have the party to wait for. I mean, that is enough to keep us going for now. So I feel like maybe I just need to fucking let it go, for the time being." I said, and I was wondering if Todd was going to be finding himself agreeing to this.

"Maybe it isn't dude. Maybe it is time for you to just focus on the things you already said you were going to do, and then go from there." He said, and then I looked through the window, and I was shocked at how completely empty the whole thing was.

"I can understand not using it anymore. That makes sense. But shutting the area down entirely is something that I can't really wrap my mind around, and I feel like we need to be more careful of what to say now." I said to Todd, and I saw him mildly concede to that wone, probably not wanting to admit he didn't think that part out though.

"I guess that is true. Maybe if they clear out all the information, something in there is worth keeping secrets. Okay, I guess that maybe you're right." He said, and I was really having no idea what to tell him. I then sat down and took a cigarette out, unsure of what to say.

"So no we have nothing to go off of, and this was all a giant fucking ruse and waste of time. I shouldn't have been shocked, but still." I said, and then I was feeling like this was something that I just needed to accept. I placed the cigarette down on the ground, not bothering to snuff out the butt, wondering if maybe this would set fire to the place, and create a clean slate for once.

…

Scene 23: Can Never Leave Behind (Day 22)

I was with my father the next day, and I was seeing him looking like he was clearly upset over something. "Sheldon, was there something you were wanting to talk to me about?" He asked, and then I slowly nodded, feeling like I just needed to try and be honest with him when he was asking me this.

"I was just wanting to be honest with you. Completely and totally fucking honest. I feel like the idea of me never coming back to this investigation is going to be fucking impossible. I want to know what happened, and every time I try and fucking drop the subject, it just becomes fucking impossible." I said, and then I looked at my father, and I was seeing him looking rather upset with what I was doing.

"I wished that I would have never heard that from you. But to be honest, I knew that was coming. I wanted you to be safer from here, but I guess that something like this was just never going to fucking work." After he was telling me this, I was sighing, and I really felt like there was no way in hell I would get him to argue with me.

"Well, if you would have just been more willing to work with me, then I would have never been this way. But to be honest, you kind of forced my fucking hand." I said, and then I was seeing my father looking like he was wanting to gawk at the accusation of saying that he was the one behind this.

"What the fucking hell? Making this my fucking fault now? I guess that I should have seen something like this coming." After he was telling me this, I wondered if he was actually upset at this, or just merely showing this off as a way to get me to feel bad for what I said.

"I just felt like I needed to just be one hundred percent straight. I mean, I wanted to get over this so fucking badly. I mean, I wanted to believe you were the one who could change this. But I was a fucking joker in my mind when I saw this." I said, and then I was sighing, wondering if he would fucking get what I felt here.

"But the truth is that I do feel like you are doing your best. But that might not be enough for the town. And I feel like that is something that I need to be clear about." I said, and then I was shrugging, and I felt like nothing I could say would make any difference.

"Sheldon, it hurts the most when I hear that you of all people are the one who is starting to reject the stuff that I have been doing. I thought that you would be the one who would support me when I was doing all this." After he said that, I looked at him, and I wanted to fully agree with him here.

"I never wanted this to become the life you lived. But I thought that when you told me that this was your plan, this was something that I could be able to fucking trust you on. It is only now that I start to realize how much of a fucking joke right now." I said, and then I was shrugging for a few seconds.

As I was getting ready for my next shift, my father was sighing, and I felt like he was needing to own up to me. "Sheldon, I should be the one saying this to you. Not the other way around. I wanted to just move you away from this bullshit, but I guess that you are the one making your own bullshit to make things work." After he was telling me this, I sighed, and I wondered what his endgame was here.

"Well, you wanted to prove yourself to me, and I feel like you did a decent job doing so." I was saying, and then I was feeling like saying something like this was just the best way to at least try and repair the damage I caused to him.

"I guess that I was just expecting too much. Expecting something to happen that just fucking couldn't. That is my fucking fault." I said, and then I smiled as I was telling him this, hoping that something like this could make him feel at least slightly different here.

"Well, I was your age once, and when I was, I expected my parents do something like this. You know, expecting them to be the ones who would turn my life around. But now I just see that they were the ones who set me in the right direction." After he was telling me this, I wondered what he was planning here.

"Yeah, I guess that maybe that is what I will be feeling some day. I feel like I do kind of need to feel this way right now." I said, and then I went to my car, no longer interested in hearing him say anything at all. I was done with this shit, and while I didn't want to admit this, I was kind of feeling done with my fucking father. He annoyed the shit out of me at times, and I was no longer going to pretend otherwise.

"Also Sheldon, I just wanted to know that I cleared it up with the school district. Given how bad things have been this summer, I am extending it to all schools by two weeks. So the year won't start until September 16th." As he said that, I smiled at this, and I started to drive off, happy to see he was holding his promises.

Once I was driving away, getting ready for another shift at my job, I was feeling like I just needed to fucking leave my father there. Maybe he would fucking get it at this point in time, but I hardly fucking cared anymore. That was his fucking choice, and not my problem anymore.

Once at the gas station, I got out of my car, and then I was walking inside, and I was feeling my father was going to be pissed at me no matter what I did, and that at this rate, I was just needing to fucking study my notes, and at least pretend like I was doing well right now.

I was seeing my boss looking like he was honestly not wanting me to be here right now. Just the look on his face was already showing that he was dreading this entire meet up. I went down, and looked at him, wondering what was going on in his mind, and what the issue was right now.

"Sheldon, are you planning on something right now?" He asked, clearly annoyed to be seeing me here right now. I smiled as I was seeing the look on his face, and I felt like nothing else even fucking mattered at all as I was saying this.

"Yeah, I was just wanting to fucking relax right now. You, there is nothing better than that at the end." I said, and then I saw that my boss was tired. "To be honest, I think that you are proving right. I do need to just drop this whole fucking bullshit about finding out the truth of labyrinth or anything. It is a massive god damn waste of time. Simple as that. And even I am starting to see this right now." I said, and I was shrugging, wondering what in the world I was even going to say.

"Finally glad to see you come around, and see that this whole thing is only making things worse for you. I was wondering when you would finally come around and see this." After my boss was telling me this, I took a cigarette out, and I felt like I was wasting my fucking time as I said this to him in the first place.

"Yeah, I mean, as much as I hate to admit it, I feel like you always have a better idea what you are talking about then I do. I thought that I would make something better for us right now. But the truth is that maybe I was always thinking I would be the only one who would make a difference. But now I realize that I fucking lied to myself by thinking this way." After I was telling him this, I felt like nothing else I would say would even matter at all.

"See. Sometimes, as trite as it might be to fucking hear this, but you need to just trust your elders that they know what they are talking about. Sometimes, you just need to accept that reality right now." He said, and I wondered why he was even saying this in the first place. Then he left me alone, and I was on my own for the shift.

…

Scene 24: What I Want To Fight For (Day 23)

As Todd and I were hanging out, Todd looked at me, and he was looking like he was just too tired to even fucking think about anything else. "Can I have a fucking cigarette right now?" After he was asking me this, I looked at him, and I was wondering what in the world I would even fucking say at all.

I took a cigarette out, and gave it to Todd, feeling like I just needed to fucking let him have he was needing. As I did this, I saw Todd looking like he was kind of tired, and I was really fucking tired of everything going on around me.

"Just don't fucking become like me, where you start to grow completely fucking oblivious to what you ever wanted to fight for. Honestly, I feel like this whole thing was my fucking fault." I said, and then I was shrugging, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him.

"I do know what I am fighting for. My friends, and their family that have been thrown down this fucking problem. That is something that I feel like I will never fucking lose some fucking sight on." After Todd was telling me this, I sighed, and I wondered why I was even saying anything at all.

"I'm sorry for the broadcast station. I know that I am being a fucking idiot right now. Just running around like a fucking detective who couldn't fucking change things. But I guess that nobody would want to help me out at all when I need it." After I was telling him this, I was seeing Todd looking like he hardly fucking cared to argue with me here.

"Dude, I am sorry for being such a asshole about it. I mean, I should have thought about what you were wanting." Todd said, and then I looked at him, and I was shocked to hear him admit something like this. I sighed, and I was feeling like I just needed to remain silent for the time being.

"I guess that after Joy died, I just feel like I am a fucking failure. You know, feeling like I could have made things better for her. But knowing that I didn't, and knowing that I was just wasting potential, makes me feel fucking sick to my fucking stomach." I said, and I was wondering what in the world I would even tell him at all.

"Do you know if Joy would have wanted you to feel that way? I mean, she might have been feeling this way at one time. You know, like you did wrong. But to be honest, I feel like you are not giving yourself enough of a fucking chance." After Todd was telling me this, I wondered why he was even telling me this in the first place at all.

"I don't know. I feel like I know she wouldn't. She would want me to try and be happier, and not hate myself." I said, and then I shrugged, wondering if people would fucking care about how much I was hating myself, or if they were feeling like this was a small price that I had to pay in order to make the fucking job work out for the best.

"I wished that I told her the fact that I was starting to fucking love her. I mean, I know that she would have never wanted to fucking go along with me. But I feel like I would have fucking tell her this." Todd said, and then I was shrugging, and I really had no idea what to tell him at all.

"I feel like something like this might have gotten her to think you were thinking too deeply into this. I doubt that she fucking would have returned those feelings." I said, and then I was feeling like I would just need to be totally fucking blunt about what I was telling him. As I said this, I saw him looking kind of burned down here.

When I was inside my car, I felt like I was needing to fucking think about what I was even fucking doing. "Honestly, I feel like I should have been able to fucking unite with Dakota to find Ashley. But now I just completely fucking brushed him off. I guess that when I realized how much of a asshole he was, I couldn't take it anymore." I said, and I really had no idea what to tell him at all.

"Do you seriously think that Dakota cares too much about something like this anymore? I think you just need to just realize that he might not have been all that bad of a guy." Todd said, and I looked at him, wondering what the hell he was saying.

"His way of treating you was one of the things that made me realize how horrible he fucking was, and you are suddenly acting like he was not all that bad of a guy? What the fucking hell is wrong with your perception here?" I asked, and then I was seeing Todd shocked at the way that I was suddenly acting here.

"Yeah, but I feel like I need to let something like that go. I mean, I might not appreciate it. But I am not going to fucking change this." Todd said, and then he shrugged, wondering what I was even saying now. "I mean, if I have stopped caring, then why should you?"

"Alright, if you fucking insist, then I will try to drop it. After all, you do know what you want to fucking fight for, and I feel like that is something you need to fucking be proud of." After I was saying that to Todd, I wondered if he would fucking listen to what I was telling him.

I took a cigarette out, and then handed Todd one as well. "At least you know what you are fighting for. I can respect that." I said, and then Todd smiled as he was seeing me being sincere enough here, and I was feeling so fucking proud of him, even if he was not wanting to hear me say it.

"Can you take me over to Maurecia's?" Todd asked, and then I looked at him, feeling like he was needing to stay away from her. Given the fact that she was changing his perspective on a lot of things, and I wanted to make sure that he was doing well enough.

"Alright, I guess that I can fucking do that." I said, clearly not wanting to do this. But I knew that fighting him about this was not going to be making things any different. So with that, I started to drive towards her house, and I was just telling myself to just keep quiet, and not be making a fucking deal out of what was going on at all.

"Sheldon, is something bothering you right now?" Todd asked, and I was clearly seeing him looking like he was considering what I was expressing. But then as he was seeing me, I decided that I would just leave things alone for the time being.

"I just wanted to make sure that you knew that you and Maurecia were going to be good for each other? To be honest, I feel like she might not really be the person that you should be with." After I was telling him this, I sighed, and I was feeling like I just needed to be honest with him. He shook his head, not wanting to fucking hear it.

"I really am not in the mood to be hearing this right now. I mean, I know what you are going to say, and to be honest, this is going to just be rather annoying." After Todd was telling me this, I sighed, and I was sighing, not sure what in the world I was even going to tell him at all.

"Okay. Sorry." I said, and then I decided to just respect his wishes for now. Feeling like anything else might be kind of pushing it, and I did not want him to be upset me. Or too much at the very least. Even if I was feeling minor annoyance was something that was kind of annoying.

As I was looking at him, I shook my head, and I felt like I just needed to give him credit. "I know that you are doing what you feel like is best. So I can't even get too upset with you right now." I said, and then I was shrugging, wondering what in the world I was even feeling right now. I felt like nothing I could tell Todd would be making him feel any better at all.

…

Scene 25: New Sightings (Day 24)

Todd and I were talking with Sam the next day, on his request, and we were going around searching the town anyways. Although I was seeing that Sam clearly did not want to get involved with this in the first place.

"So Kevin has reported seeing sightings of that one man in the purple jacket again. Normally I wouldn't really think too much about it. I would try and fucking forget about it. You know, move on with our life. But I feel like that man is going to be making things much worse for us." Sam said, and we were seeing that the demolition cars were starting to drive off once again.

"So you think he is going to be doing something to Kevin?" I asked, and then I was looking at Sam, and then at the moving cars. "Do you think they are already done with the project? Or maybe they are taking a fucking break." I said, and then I took a cigarette out, and then I looked right at them.

"I have no idea what he is going to be doing to Kevin. And in all honesty, I want to know what I can do to just be at my brothers side for when this guy is going through with whatever his fucking plans are going to be. But I guess I have no idea why in the world I am even bothering to fucking talk with you guys about this, when you gave shown virtually no interest in this subject at all." As Sam was telling me this, I really had no idea what to even tell him at all.

"Kevin was saying that this guy seemed much worse than before. You know, like he was actually planning on something, and I just want to make sure that he knows what he is getting into. I feel like maybe if I just talk with him a bit, and try to sort things out, then things might be a bit better." After I was saying this, I was not buying a single word of what I said. But I needed to at least fucking try.

"Just make sure that you don't get yourself killed over this guy over or anything like that." I said, and I was mostly trying to be funny as I said this. But I was really having no idea what else I could say. When I was seeing one of the demolition cars driving by, I held my hands up, and I was feeling like I needed to just get them to talk.

The car parked, and I was seeing him mildly annoyed, and I was feeling like I just needed to be making my point really fucking careful here. "Hey, I was wondering if the mine demolitions are done yet? Or are they still in the process of happening?" After I was asking him this, he looked like he wanted me totally gone, or else I was going to be pressing his buttons.

"Yeah, we are almost done. There is one of them left, but that one is probably going to be destroyed before the end of the summer." After he said that to me, I was smiling at this, glad to know that there was one left, even though there was clearly a reason why that was even happening in the first place.

"Can I go on and see that final one?" I asked, and then I was seeing him looking rather annoyed at my effort to try and make this about myself right now. "I mean, I promise that I don't plan on doing anything. I just need to check something out for a bit, and see what I can get from there." I said, feeling like whatever he wanted from me, I just needed to be careful here.

"Honestly, I think your father would not want that, and I wonder why you even fucking care about this in the first place. It is just a fucking mine. Who cares?" After he was asking me this, I sighed, and I really had no idea what I was even going to be saying at this rate. "Besides, we do not want people to see what is in there. Let's just say that there are some pretty disturbing stuff in there. But I do not want to go any further with it than that." After he said that to me, he started to drive off, and I was sighing in annoyance, wishing that I knew what I was saying.

As he was starting to drive off, I looked right at Todd and Sam, and I was feeling like this was going this to be a waste of my fucking time. "Well, I guess that now we need to be going on and finding out what the fucking hell is in there in the first place. I think that whatever happened to you and your brother will have to be put off to the side for the time being." I told Sam, and I was seeing Sam looking like he was fucking pissed at what I was even telling him in the first place.

"Are you seriously putting these mines at a higher priority to my brothers safety? What the fucking hell is wrong with you right now. My brothers safety is really the only thing that I feel like matters. After all, if you guys had just focused on what needed to be done, maybe you would have fucking saved Joy earlier after all." He said, and then that was when I was feeling like I needed to just beat the shit out of him.

"What the fucking hell dude? I have been going around as hard as I fucking can, and doing whatever is possible for her life. After all, we almost got it figured out. I think you need to realize that maybe you should have been helping us this whole time." I said, and then I saw Sam looking like he was wanting to say more, as there were more demolition cars starting to drive by.

"Guys, we are not going to be getting anywhere if we constantly fight each other over this. We need to fucking think about what we are doing before we make things any worse for us all." After I was telling them this, I held my hands up in the air, hoping to get them to all fucking calm down for a while longer. '

"Besides, I think we all know that we kind of dropped the ball when it comes to this, and going around and pointing fingers at what is happening here." As Todd was telling me this, I looked at both of them and I felt like I just needed to find a way to at least slightly soften what had happened.

"Look, I think you need to just let me fucking find the last mine. Super fucking quick and easy. Nothing big. Once I know where it is, and what I am getting myself into, then everything will be fine." I said, and then I shrugged, pretending like I was going to keep a casual presentation here.

"And then after that, we can work on the man in the purple jacket." I said, and I was seeing Sam looking like he was mildly upset at what was going on right now. I rubbed my eyes, not sure what I was even going to be saying at this rate.

"When is that party going to be anyways?" After Sam was asking me this, I was seeing him just looking like he was pretending to be interested. "I mean, if that film is playing there, then maybe that might be the big break in the case that you guys need right now." He was saying, and I was slowly nodding, as if feeling like he was not getting the fucking point.

"Wow, now you are starting to see the bigger picture here." I said, and then I was sighing, not sure what in the world I could even fucking say. "I mean, that has to beat everything else. No matter what you think of that man, this is the entire town we are talking about here. Not just you're your brother at stake."

"Look, I said that I understood your perspective. That never meant that I had to fucking like it. I just want to fucking put this shit behind us no matter what, and I don't even fucking care how long something like this takes." After Sam was telling me this, I sighed, and I was then wondering what to say.

"The end of the month." After I was telling him this, I shrugged for a second. "I am going to be going there. I understand you not wanting to. But I feel like I have no fucking choice." I said, and I felt like nothing else even fucking mattered at all, regardless of anything else.

Eventually, we were at Mezmer's, and I was seeing that Sam was looking mildly tired and annoyed of what was happening. "What happens if you find nothing at the fucking party anyways?" After Sam asked me this, I sighed, and I was sighing, unsure of what to even fucking tell him in the first place.

"I don't know. I mean, I guess that would mean that I would have to admit that I was fucking wrong. And I will try and find something to keep me going anyways." I said, simply shrugging, and I was wondering if he was going to actually listen to what I said.

"Do you feel like you can actually get Harold to support you here? I mean, you are heavily relying on him here? Much more than I am comfortable with." After he was saying this, I wondered what his fucking point was here.

"I mean, what I do know is that he is the best bet that I have. And that is something that I need to fucking remember." After I was telling Sam this, I saw him looking like he was just mildly annoyed with what I had been telling him.

"If you fucking say so, I guess that I will just leave things alone." After Sam was saying this, I saw him sounding like he was just trying to hold back what he was feeling here. "But Todd, do you think that Sheldon might actually be onto something? You know, with those fucking mines?"

"I know that those are the best bet that we have. Joy was able to show us this. You know, if you doubt us, that is one thing. But I feel like you need to be careful with what you tell Todd." After Todd was telling Sam this, I saw him looking like he had wanted this subject drop for the time being.

"Yeah, but I mean, she ended up dying. So is this whole thing really fucking worth it at all?" Sam asked, and then he didn't know what to say. "In all honesty, if nothing is found at that party, you need to fucking admit that maybe you need to just work with me about this fucking guy in the purple jacket. He is clearly the one with the best bet here."

"But his employment is terminated, and you guys had made a restraining order against this man. So I feel like maybe you just need to see that there is more to this than you fucking admit." Todd said, and I was seeing him looking like he was trying to just be calm here.

"I mean, he might still have connections you dipshit. Just because he is no longer working there doesn't mean he doesn't have people that he is talking with. Just fucking think about that before you say anything." After Sam said this, he looked at me, looking like he was wanting me to fucking help me out here.

"I know. But that doesn't explain the fucking restraining order. I am going to be blunt, I feel like this whole thing is just hard to fucking explain. Much harder than you are wanting to fucking admit." After Todd was telling Sam this, I saw Sam fucking pissed at the way that Todd was acting around him at this rate.

"Maybe he just doesn't fucking care. This might be making the entire point thrown out the window. I mean, as much as I hate to say this, but I feel like he is going to do whatever he wants to do, and he will never even fucking care about the restraining order." After Sam was saying this, I saw him looking like he was utterly defeated at what he was admitting.

"Well, is that is the case, then I am sorry for failing to protect your fucking brother. But I mean, we really did fucking try." After Todd was saying this, I was seeing him looking like he was hoping that Sam would fucking listen to him this time.

I was hating being here. Feeling like I had let Ashley down by being here in the first place. And I really had no idea what I was going to say to Dakota if I ever saw him again. He might think that I was wrong for ever doing this. But I don't care.

As were getting ready to fucking leave, that was when Cathy was coming along, and she saw the three of us here. I was seeing her looking like she was genuinely trying to decide if she was wanting to be seeing me or not. I was tired, and I was feeling like dealing with her right now was not something I wanted to deal with.

"Guys, what are you doing right now?" She asked, and then I looked at her, and I was feeling like I just needed to pretend like nothing else was fucking happening. "Did something happen again?" She asked, and seemed to be slightly worried about what was going down.

"We were just trying to come to a understanding with each other. Seems to be a bit harder than I thought would really be possible." I said, trying to just make the situation slightly more appealing to have her hear.

"God damn it. Always have to find a way to be super fucking vague about what you are doing. I can't tell if this is something that makes it better, or worse." Cathy said, and then she looked over at Sam, wondering what she was going to want to say to him.

"Sorry for never really getting to be there for you earlier Sam." She said, and she sounded sincere enough as she was saying this. Sam looked like he was hardly fucking caring to hear something like this in the first place.

"It's okay. I wasn't really speaking to you earlier. So I feel like it kind of balances out." After Sam said this, he looked at me, as if telling me that I needed to find a way to get her out of this, for her own safety. As I was looking at him, I wondered what the fucking issue with him right now was.

"And honestly, I was kind of being a asshole that summer, to be honest. I just felt like when Sheldon told me that you were hanging out with him, that he was starting to lose some sight on the important things going on here." After Sam was telling her this, I saw her looking like she was just trying to decide what to be saying to that.

"Yeah, you kind of were. But I knew that Sheldon liked to hang out with you, so I thought that you were having something that I never saw." She said, and then she simply shrugged as she said this, feeling like she had made her main point.

"I never really thought that you two were going to be growing attached to each other again. I thought that you guys were going to kind of hate each other forever." She said, and then she looked at me, as if wondering if what I did was something to make this better.

"Well, I think that desperate times call for desperate measures. And to be honest, I feel like we were both kind of running out of steam on hating each other." After Sam said that, he looked at me, and I was wondering what his fucking point was right now.

"Desperate measures…" She said, thinking about what Sam was saying, and almost finding the whole thing to be kind of ironic. Then she looked at me. Wondering what to even fucking say at all. "What would you be saying to this?" She asked, and then I sighed, wondering what her point of this was going to be.

"I don't fucking know. I am just trying to survive another day. I mean, the party is coming up really soon, and I am still convinced that this is the best way to go at things." I said, and then I was shrugging as I said this, wondering if she would be willing to listen to me as I was telling her this at all.

Then with that, Cathy sighed, and then she was placing both her hands on my shoulders, and I was shocked to be seeing this. "Just be safe. And when you find out the truth, don't let your anger and hatred cloud your judgment. Try and see where they were coming from?" After she was telling me this, I looked at her, and I was in gawk at the fact that she was telling me this about the missing girls.

"You do realize that those people are behind everything. It is going to be really hard to be happy to hear their reasons, and their bullshit to justify this. I thought that you of all people would see where I am coming from." I said, and then she shook her head as she said this.

"I know that. But I also know that they have to had their own reasons for this. And I want to fucking hear what those reasons are before I instantly judge them for everything. I think you need to fucking understand that." She said, and then I was slowly nodding, feeling like there was no point in arguing with her about this now.

"I will be careful. That much I can do. Everything beyond that though, I will have to fucking see." I said, and then I looked at her, and I was feeling like what she was saying was fucking insane. I couldn't believe that she was even fucking thinking this could work out at all. Then I looked at her, unsure of what to even say in response to this.

…

Scene 25: Opening Ceremony (Day 25)

After picking up Todd, Jenny, and Brad, as per planned, I started to head on towards the opening ceremony. Begging and praying to myself that this was actually going to be working out well enough, and I was feeling like whatever they were wanting to do here, I just needed to try and be there for them.

"So I think it might be best if we split up into two teams of two. You know, get more ground covered that way. Sheldon and I are going to be heading up to the top floor, while you two can do whatever you fucking want to buy some fucking time." Todd said, and then he was shrugging, feeling like what he was saying was making perfect sense.

"Alright, I might not like this, but I guess that you have your fucking reasons." Brad was saying, and I was seeing from the look on his face that he wanted to try and fight this. But then he looked at Jenny, who was just looking like she was even more bothered by this than he had been.

As we parked the car, and we were seeing the flashing neon lights, and people going around, and thirty something men with their hot twenty to twenty two year old girlfriends, I was taking a cigarette out. "Well, one thing that I can say for sure about Wayside is that it is a down right expectation for every man in this town to hook up with women young enough to be his daughter." I said, and I wasn't sure if it was something that grossed me out or not.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, I don't think I've seen a single married couple in this town where the wife wasn't at least like seven or eight years younger than her husband. As much as I hate to admit it, it makes sense due to the fact that younger women go missing or die all the time." Todd said, and then he was shrugging, and then he sounded like he was barely containing his inner vomit, as we were walking out of the car. I looked at Jenny, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and find something to say to her in order to make her feel better.

"Jenny, we will find out the truth. I mean, I think we already fucking know it. But I think that getting the confirmation will be best." I said, and I was seeing Jenny looking like she was trying so fucking hard to believe what I was telling her.

"I wish that I could believe you." Jenny said, and then she seemed like she was totally expressionless. Probably feeling like there was no point in even saying at all anymore. Probably feeling like whatever she would say would just be a way to deflect her disgust at the entire situation.

As we were in the shop, we were seeing Harold looking like he was so fucking happy to be seeing us there. "Guys, you have no idea how glad that I am to be seeing you guys here. I was hoping that you would be showing up eventually. I eventually got my father to calm down to the idea of you guys showing up. Took a long of fucking time and effort though." Harold said, slightly annoyed at what he was saying.

"Harold, I know that you are not going to be liking what I am about to tell you, but I think you need to just let us go in here, and do our own thing, so we can fucking take that film that Nora Wakeman as working on." After I was telling him this, I was seeing Harold looking like he did not want this at all.

"Oh god, I knew that there have to have been some form of fucking plan that you were having here. I was trying to keep some hope alive that this was not going to be the way it would turn out. Can you please just try and keep yourselves safe while you are doing this? And don't try to do anything too dangerous with my father." Harold said, and he was looking up, just trying to decide what in the world he was even wanting to say at all.

"If you do not want to do this, then just leave us alone." I said, and I was hoping to get him to just leave us alone, and not get too annoyed with this. Harold was closing his eyes, probably just trying to find a way to tell me that he wasn't buy a fucking word of what we were telling him.

"It's more of a matter of what my father will be fucking doing if he finds out. He will be fucking killing you all, and I don't even fucking thing he will care about you being the mayors son anymore." After he was telling me this, I was feeling like I just needed to let it go for the time being.

As Todd and I were walking along, I was seeing Brad kind of having a bunch of questions in his mind, and I was feeling like I just needed to answer his questions, so he wouldn't be asking more of them much later. "Guys, what do you think he has against you all? I thought that he was going to be on our side?" After Brad said this, I sighed, and I wasn't too sure what in the world I was even going to be telling him at all.

"Honestly, I think that he is just stressed, and that he doesn't really hate us. I think you are just making bullshit up. If he does get upset at you guys, then I will just try and calm him down." I said, trying to make him feel slightly better here. As I said this, I clearly saw Brad not buying a single word of what he was saying.

As we had been walking along, I looked at Jenny and Brad. "Look, I am not asking you guys to get involved in this at all. Just fucking do whatever you can to keep yourselves safe. That is all that I fucking want. I mean, if you want to investigate and do shit like that, then that is fine. But don't make any rash judgments that are going to be getting you guys killed." After I was telling Brad and Jenny this, I was seeing both of them looking mildly annoyed at what I was saying to them.

"Well, if those guys come towards us, I think you need to just let us do whatever we fucking can to protect ourselves." After Brad was telling me this, I was rubbing my eyes, feeling like arguing with him was not going to be fucking worth it, and I was feeling like I Just needed Todd to get these to fucking stop.

"Okay. But only if you literally have no fucking choice. If it is something that you can fucking help, then don't fucking do it. Simple as that." I said, and then I was sighing in annoyance, feeling like maybe telling him this was going to be driving me insane. I felt like Brad was going to just do whatever he could to make me leave him alone.

Brad looked at Jenny, and he was rubbing the back of his head. Clearly just trying to find a way to break the tension, due to the fact that he had no idea what to even fucking tell her at all. "Hey, so how are you anyways? I mean, we never really took the time to talk during middle school." After Brad was telling Jenny this, she shook her head, and seemed like she was only pretending to have some interest in this conversation.

"Well, honestly, I just had more friends to hang out with than you. I mean, I guess that maybe I could have at least said hi or something. I don't know. I just assume that you were not even really all that interested in this in the first place." After Jenny was saying this, I was seeing her already kind of feeling bad for what she was saying. Probably feeling like whatever she said would not really settle down well with Brad.

"It's okay. I wasn't really somebody who had the courage to go out there and see people anyways. I just felt like doing this when you guys clearly had friends you wanted to see instead, would have made me feel fucking bad." After he was telling Jenny this, I was seeing her looking like she was wanting to say something else. Probably something to soften the blow. But then she just rubbed her eyes, feeling like there was no need to be having much fight with this at all.

As Todd and I were in the elevator, I was seeing Todd looking like he was just trying to decide what he was wanting to say. "Honestly, I feel like they are going to have to just get over the strained introductions soon. After all, we have a lot of work to do if we want to get this done soon enough." Todd said, and I was looking at him, and I was honestly mildly annoyed with the fact that this was the way he was talking about the situation.

"I don't think that they are all that strained. I mean, she probably just finds it strange how he is trying so hard to be finding a good connection with her. After all, they never spoke once in their lives. So I feel like something like this does make some sense. But I do think that they do need to work together much more." I said, and I was wondering of they were even going to be capable of doing that going forward.

"Whatever you say. I mean, I will try and look at this in your way. But I feel like you just need to be careful here. If they do not start burying the past here, then I might have to start doing this myself." After Todd was saying this, he simply shrugged, and I was seeing him looking like he was wanting to put his foot down a bit.

"I just feel like at the end of the day, Jenny is more fucking worried about her mother getting avenged than anything else. I feel like the idea of her getting friends is something that she probably doesn't even want to consider for the most part. I mean, I might not like it, but I feel like I totally fucking understand where she is coming from, and I do try to have some pity for her." After I was telling him this, I saw him looking mildly unsure what to say here.

"I just wish that she won't let what happened to her drive her to insanity, and not be looking at the picture here." Todd said, and I was wondering what he was saying, and I was wondering if he was low key throwing some dirt at me. But I was choosing to not bother saying this to him.

"Be careful who you say that to. I mean, I have a hard time really letting things go at this point." I said, and I was shrugging, feeling like maybe telling him this was going to get him to at least slightly leave me alone.

"Sorry. Maybe what Maurecia said was right, and I do need to think about things before I say them more." Todd said, and I was seeing from the look on his face that he was actually looking kind of sorry for saying this. I was feeling like whatever I would say, he would simply not fucking listen, or care. So I was just going to focus on the job, and noy make things worse.

Before too long, Jenny was getting ready to confront Harold's father, when he was walking by. As she called out to him, he looked at her, and I was seeing him start to realize what was going to be happening. "What were you thinking when you did this?" She screamed at him, and then Harold's father started to look like he was about to freak out here.

"I was doing what I had to, in order to keep my son safe, and not let anything happen to him." He said, and then Jenny was literally putting her foot down, not really in the mood to deal with his bullshit right now, feeling like he was giving her shit just to make her fucking calm down for a bit.

"Your son has nothing to fucking do with my mother, and you fucking know it. I do not buy what you are saying for a fucking second!" She screamed at him, and then he was closing his eyes, feeling like there was no need to even be fighting this at all.

"The truth is that your mother wanted this. She was scared for you, and she wanted to make a deal with me. If she went instead, then you were guaranteed safety until you graduated high school. She gave you six extra years to be happier." After he said that, this was when Jenny starting to really consider what he was saying.

"What the fucking hell was she thinking?" She killed herself for me?" She asked, and then Harold's father was smiling as she was saying this, feeling like her starting to see the reality was something in order to get her to grow up, and stop being entitled.

"You are now starting to see the fucking point. Not everything starts to fucking go your way, and that is why I am so fucking glad to see you see the truth for once." He said, and then he smiled for a second, wondering if she would start to finally let things go for a while longer.

"What can I even fucking do about this now?" She asked, and then Harold's father was seeming to happy with what he was hearing. He was feeling like he was just going to change how everything would go, so that he would become the fucking winner of this.

"You can take advantage of the fact that your mother gave the ultimate sacrifice. Maybe be thankful for once in your fucking life, and stop fucking crying for once." He was saying, and then that was when he was seeing Jenny looking like she would have found something to argue. But then she just gave up even wanting to saying anything at all.

"I sometimes wish that maybe it was me instead. You know, so she would be able to live, and give more advances to this town." She said, and Brad was starting to understand where she was coming from. He wanted to make her feel better. But then he sighed, and I was seeing him looking like he just would remain silent for now.

"I hope that you know that you should never do something like this with your fucking son. He deserves better than being your fucking toy." After she was telling Harold's father this, I was seeing him really consider what he was already thinking, to just at least make it seem better.

"Leave my fucking son out of this. If you keep bringing him up, then I will probably have to take you out of the picture the first chance I got after you graduate." His father said, and this was when Joy was utterly shocked to even hear him say something like this in the first place.

"I hope that I never have to speak to you again." She said, and I was shocked to be hearing her tell him this, and she was starting to walk off, and I was feeling like she was going to do whatever she would to be bringing him down, to let him see where he had gone wrong.

As Harold's father looked at us, I was seeing him looking like he was wanting fucking murder me for what had been happening. "One of these days, you will see what you are doing that was wrong. But I guess that you will never see that. Always feeling like you are the big fucking man on campus." He said, and then he was starting to walk off, and then called to me once more.

"Do not fuck up my party. This opening is to bring things forward. But of course you never understand." He said, and then with that, it was just the three of us guys alone, and I was wondering what I was even going to be able to say at this rate.

Jenny was then coming towards Todd, and hugged him for a bit, basically throwing him into supporting her for a while longer. As she did this, Todd was looking at Harold's father, trying to be making her feel as good as possible. But he really had no idea what to tell her at all.

I wasn't there when this part happened, but Todd told me of his hardest part in the entire mission, and when I heard about it, I wanted to hug him, and support him, while he was going through his fuckin pain, and not be dealing with the fact that he was dealing with monsters.

I gave Todd a gun, just in case, and I told him that while he should use it, he should only be doing it if he was feeling like he was genuinely in danger. I was seeing Todd looking like he was mildly annoyed with the fact that I was talking to him about this, but he was starting to head up, trying to head to the room where he felt like the film would most likely be in.

-I was staring at Sheldon, and I was feeling like everything he was just telling me was simply a way to make me feel like I needed to be careful when I was heading up there. So with that, I was slowly nodding, and I felt like I just needed to let him think that I was being safe.

"Just don't do anything you will regret." After I told Sheldon this, I started to run towards the room, and I was feeling like I just needed to be careful with what I was doing. I did not want to use this gun, but I was stupid to not at least consider it when the time was coming.

As soon as I was about to fucking open the door, I was hearing the grinding noise going off for several seconds. I screamed at this one. Like actually fucking screamed at the top of my fucking lungs. I was wanting this to fucking end. And I knew it wouldn't fucking work. I was feeling like my rage was building up every time that I heard this, and I was wondering why they were doing this again.

Ashley was dead. And I think that even if I wanted to help Dakota with this, it would never fucking work. He must have known that something like this was just never going to fucking happen. As I felt this, I was starting to head on in, feeling no need to hide my feelings here.

When I was in the room I was feeling like the film might possibly be in, I saw that Mr. Needlemeyer was there, and Maurecia was with him. I was super fucking upset as I was seeing this, and I was ready to fire at him if I needed to. I was shaking my head, wanting to take him out. But I felt like he needed to explain.

"Todd Robinson. What are you doing here right now?" He asked, and then I looked down on the ground, and I was letting go of the gun, placing it in my pocket. I wanted him to at least think that I was willing to fucking talk with him, and not blow his brains out.

"Why are you with my girlfriend right now?" I asked, and Maurecia looked at me, shocked to hear me admit that this was what I felt about her. I saw from the smile on her face that this was what she had wanted to hear.

"Oh my god, Todd is in love. What a fucking shame. I wish that you would never have gotten involved in this. Maybe if you hadn't, then you might have fucking made it." After he said that to me, I was shaking my head. I was not letting this fucking man get down under my skin. I just needed to get him to shut up.

"What are you even going to be doing with Maurecia? Just fucking tell me!" I demanded, feeling like I needed him to just shut up. I was feeling like this was all happening way too early in my life. Thirteen was way too young to have my entire life thrown down the fucking drain, and it was pissing me off the more that I was thinking about it.

"I am going to be taking her. Sure, she might be a bit young now. But some people prefer that. And in all honesty, we can make it all work out. Some people will be willing to take her in, and I will get richer from this. After all, she wasn't going to be adding much to this town when she would be growing older anyways, with her terrible grades and academics. In a way, I might be doing Wayside a favor." After he said that, I was hating the fact that he was saying this.

"And don't even think about coming towards me. Take one step closer and I will fucking blowing her god damn head off, and nobody will get anything out of this. And then I will have to find a new person for her spot. After all, I am on high demand. Maybe somebody like your friend Dana." After he was telling me this, I was wondering why I was even going to be asking him this in the first place.

"Why are you bringing people into this? They deserve better than you are giving them. Wayside was supposed to be giving people hope, and yet you only care about supporting money and shit. And how do I not know you are the one who is going to take her? With the fact that you and your son constantly fuck younger girls all the time." I said, and I was feeling like I needed him to open up about what he was doing here.

"We are doing this for the greater good! Twenty five percent of all funds I make with my transactions go to the development of Wayside! I am giving you guys tens of thousands of dollars every single year, and you are claiming that I am not looking at the bigger picture of this town." He said, trying to hide his fucking fury as he was saying this.

"Look, thanks for telling me about my father. That helped give me mental clarity on what I need to be doing in this town. But that is about as far as my praise for you is getting, and I feel like I need to just end what you are doing before you make this much worse." I was telling him, and I was feeling like I just needed to be as firm as possible when I was speaking to him here.

"Wow, you are no longer being a fucking bitch about your father? I think that maybe this just shows that deep down inside, you know that man was a miserable piece of shit who couldn't do anything right?" After he was telling me this, I was then looking at Maurecia. She was looking like she needed to find something to say.

"No it is nothing like that. I just am able to see the good things he did. Such as bringing me to Wayside. Helped me feel like I actually fucking mattered for once in my fucking life. And I can see that maybe my biological line is not nearly as important as anything else. I don't care who my real father is. He wasn't there for me." I said, and then I was shrugging as I was telling him this, and he sighed as he was hearing this.

"You are still in middle school. You are having your whole life ahead of you, and you threw it away because you tried to throw things away from this fucking town. I care about this town more than you care about people who actually need this help. When you are much older, you will probably see what I am meaning." He was saying, and I was shaking my head, feeling like I just needed to end his rant about bullshit, and not give him what he wanted.

"I know that I had my whole life ahead of me. But I would rather die at thirteen, and do my part to save Wayside, then die a geriatric like you going around and raping girls who just graduated high school. I can't help but wonder if Larry only got his taste in women because of you, and he would have been a normal person without you." I said, and then I was seeing Maurecia looking like her fear was just becoming tangible. Like she would never be able to fucking hide this at all.

"You think he got it from me? Todd, he was the one that taught me what things were like. Every since he was a child, he had his preferences that way, and I thought that he needed to see things differently, when it was me who needed to." He said, and then I was seeing him looking like he was actually being sincere about what he was telling me.

"Just let Maurecia go. She is innocent, and she had nothing to do with this job. She deserves to be happy, and have a chance to live." I said, and then Larry's father was shaking his head. Feeling like he would never be able to let me have something like this. I sighed, and I was feeling like I just needed to accept what he was telling me here.

"That is not fucking happening Todd. This is not the way that things need to fucking go down." He said, and then as soon as he had said that, I took my gun out, and I fired the gun at him three times. He dropped Maurecia after the first one, and he started to walk back.

Then when he was in front of the window, I fired again, and he fell down, and I ran to the window as this happened, as Larry's father splattered on the ground, dead, and several people started to walk in different directions, and then run off as they saw this.

When I was done, I ran over to Maurecia, and I was wondering why she had not gotten up yet. When I grabbed her, and held her in my arms, I saw that one of the bullets hit her right in the heart. I took a deep breath, and I realized what I had done. "Maurecia, I can get you to the hospital." I said, trying to hold back my fear, and be there for her.

"Tell my brothers that I was sorry for not taking my classes more seriously. I loved you Todd." Maurecia said, and then I was slowly nodding, feeling like I just needed to try and make her feel like there was a fucking chance. Even when I knew deep down that there was not.

"I loved you too. I wished that I had been there for you when I was with you earlier. I was ready to try and make things worse for you. Just give me a fucking chance, and I will keep you safe." I was feeling like whatever I could tell her would not fucking resonate with her.

"Todd, please tell me that nobody else in our friend group will be falling victim to this business. I need you to fucking promise me." After Maurecia said this, I was slowly nodding, and I was feeling like nothing I could tell her would make a difference.

"I love you." I said one final time, feeling like I just needed to make this as painless as possible. Maurecia closed her eyes, as she passed away. I felt defeated after my big victory. I helped ensure a better heir would be in the Needlemeyer business with Larry, but I lost one of my first friends. And out of the female members of my Wayside group, all that were left were Dana and Jenny. And I needed to protect them as long as well as possible. I just hoped the others would fucking forgive me.-

When Todd and I met up again, I was seeing him looking like he was utterly saddened by something. "Todd, is there something you need to talk about?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to give him the fucking chance to open up with me. He shook his head, not wanting to speak about this.

"I had to kill Larry's father. He had Maurecia at gun point, and was threatening to sale her off. I had to do this if I wanted to keep her safe." After Todd was telling me this, I was looking down on the ground, and I was wondering what in the world I could even tell him at all.

"And I couldn't save her. I didn't see at the time, but she was shot. And there was no doctor that we could find to bring her back." Todd was saying, and I was feeling like him admitting this was something that I just needed to be silent on. I just needed him to grief, and just be there for him if he needed it.

"Todd, I have no idea what in the world I could even fucking tell you at all. I thought that we could be able to fucking work this out." I said, and then I was seeing Todd looking like he hardly fucking cared at all. "But do you need to talk to me about this? I can do this if you need." I said, kind of putting my foot down as I was saying this.

"I just want to make sure that it wasn't fucking invain. I am going to grab that film. And I will fucking expose Wayside once and for all. For real this time. Just do what you can to help me out. But I am doing this no matter what." After he was saying this, I was sighing, and I felt like there was no fucking choice but to just let him have what he needed.

"Dude, I want to fucking help as much as I can. Can you give me some fucking idea on what I need to do to help?" I asked, and then Todd was sighing, seeming to just want to drop the subject a bit. Todd was starting to walk off, and I was feeling like I was being useless this entire time, and I fucking hated that.

"Just don't get in the way if that is the truth." After Todd was telling me this, I was slowly nodding, and then he was gone. I took a cigarette out, and I had no idea what I was even going to be doing to change what had happened. I was feeling like Todd was never going to forgive me for not saving his girlfriend. But that was not my fucking fault, I felt like.

As I was starting to see Todd wandering off, and going to the room where he was hearing the projector was being played. I was then feeling like the main thing that I needed to do was finally just fucking buy the fucking guy time. And not fucking be wandering around like a fucking idiot.

As I was going down, I was feeling like I just needed to find those men in black, and perhaps see if I could get them to fucking focus on me, and not focus on anybody else at all. I was hoping that with every passing second Todd had, he would be able to get him closer to not only getting the film, but being able to fucking escape.

The longer that I was heading down, that was when I was already seeing the boss of the men in black. As I was seeing him here, I was already closing my eyes, and I was feeling like I just needed to fucking shut up, and not be saying anything at all.

"What are you fucking doing here? You were supposed to be the guy who was going to be saving this town from the monsters? You had a fucking job that you needed to do, and you are here just throwing away your fucking job!" After he was telling me this, I was looking right at him, wondering why he was even talking to me in the first place.

"Get out of my fucking way. I have a job that I need to fucking do." I said, and then I was seeing the man looking like he clearly had no interest in hearing what I was even wanting to be telling him at all. Probably feeling like I was just making a bunch of excuses to not do anything.

"I thought that you were going to fucking go against the norms of this town, and fucking become the person that we fucking needing. But every time I see you, there is something that you manage to do, and you make me wonder why I ever even made the mistake of trusting you in the first place." He said, and I was feeling like his anger at this was just finally showing him that at the end.

"I thought that I wanted to be helping you guys with the monsters, but I feel like this is something you are just doing this for your fucking reputation. You hardly fucking care about everything else at all." I said, and then I was seeing him looking like he was barely holding his frustration back, and seemed to want to murder me right then and there.

"I want you to have a fucking chance to explain your perspective. Did you ever fucking care about the monsters at all? Did you actually want to fucking help your father, or were you just saying this as a way to give yourself some leverage in this fucking town?" He asked, and I was sighing, feeling like this question was fair enough, given everything that was going on.

"I did care. I want what is best for this town. I love doing that. But I thought that helping the town out was by destroying the monsters, and keeping these things back. And for a time, I was really fucking happy. I was finally feeling like I was doing something important." I said, and then I was sighing, unsure of what I was even going to tell him.

"I thought that the two of us could finally come together. But the truth is that you guys don't care for the missing girls. Which was the main things that I was scared of. I thought that you guys would be willing to fucking help me out here. But now that I think about it, I feel like I was being a fucking joke to you all." I said, and then I was sighing, and I wondered what I could do to change this.

"Sheldon, why do you fucking care about those people going missing in the first place? Something like this was just how the town was meant to be, but you never really wanted to understand that?" He asked, and I was closing my eyes, feeling like whatever he wanted to tell me, I was simply just not going to fucking get it at all.

"I care because people have had their families destroyed because of this business. Nobody seems to care about what people want, and when the reputation of the business if the only thing on the line, then people just fucking go their own way." I said, and I was going to my gun, and I felt like I needed to kill him before he had a chance to fight me.

"I hope that before too long, you will see the bigger picture, and you will see what you are doing is wrong." After he was telling me this, he was getting ready to pull out his own gun. "Sheldon, I really wanted you to stay with us. You really were the best person that I had hired in many years. I thought that we could have worked together here." He said, and I was shaking my head, not wanting to hear what he was saying.

"That was another thing that I could never get over. These people who were supposed to know what to do much better than me, and they were supposed to be doing this job for me, and then I am here doing it for them. This is never something that I should have done for you. But you seemed to fucking never care at all." I said, and I was feeling like nothing else could be done. But then I was seeing that we were beyond the point of discussing things at all anymore. He was going to try and kill me, and I knew that I had to kill him if I wanted any chance.

As he was firing the gun at me, I ducked to my side, and I was pulling my out, and then I fired it right in his chest twice. As I did that, I sighed, and then he fell down to the ground. As I walked up to him, I stared down at him, wanting to see what he was feeling.

"I thought that maybe we could have fucking seen some reason with each other. But I guess that something like this was just never going to fucking happen." I said, and then the man was coughing up some blood, upset at my words.

"You made the fucking choice to not listen to me. That is your fault entirely, and we both fucking know this. You should have listened to me when I was telling you that I wanted to work with you. But I guess that you value yourself much more than you expect." He said, and then I was laughing at him, wondering what he was even fucking meaning as he was saying this.

"Sheldon, you know, despite how much worse you have made things, I do feel proud of you in a way. You always seemed like you were willing to fucking do what was best." As he was saying this to me, I closed my eyes, not wanting to hear him trying to praise me at this rate.

"I wish that I would be able to say the same about you. I wanted to buy what you were saying, but I guess that you never wanted to consider what I was telling you here. You just made your fucking mind up that I wanted to throw life away, and not even fucking care." I said, and then I was wondering why I was even telling him this in the first place.

"Sheldon, you might not see it yet, but we had the same goals. We still do. Harold and you have the same goals. But the way you guys are going at it is what is different. But I feel like with you refusing to fucking understand that, that this is where your faults are coming in." He said, and then I was not really wanting to listen to him at all. He knew that he was bullshitting me.

"The world would be a better place if we just were able to fucking see eye to eye. But I guess that we were going to be seeing anything like this." I said, and then I was starting to see him close his eyes, and I felt like I got what I wanted from this fucking asshole.

As I was starting to head off, I was feeling like the two of us could have made it work, if we just opened up with this. But I guess that he would never want to see that I wanted to fucking work with him. I wanted him to tell me more. But he would never fucking care what I was doing here at all.

Todd and I were running down the hallway, and when we were running, we had seen that Brad was talking to his mom. I was closing my eyes, not wanting to deal with this at all. I looked at Todd, and I swear my patience was barely fucking keeping itself together.

"What are you fucking doing here?" His mother asked, furious at the fact that Brad was here in the first place. Then she looked at us, and I was seeing from the look on her face, she was just trying to not lash out at us, and murder us for what we had been doing.

"To be honest mom, I wanted to see if I was able to run into you here. I felt like I just needed to know why you have not been fully honest with me." Brad said, and he was sighing, feeling like he was just needing to start to defend himself a bit more. She looked at Todd and I, and I saw her looking like she was thinking that we were traitors to this town. But I was not wanting to even remotely give her the satisfaction with this in the first place.

"I have been making some theories, and I was feeling like at this point in time, it is time for you just simply let me know if what I have been theorizing is true or not." Brad said, and then he was smiling at her, wondering if she was going to listen to his firmness on the subject.

"Well, I can tell you one of them right now. You know that person next to you, Todd? You and him are biological siblings. Todd was the other son that I was supposed to get, and then I didn't. I was supposed to have both of you, and yet he was sent away to those parents who did not care for him nearly as much as they should have!" She yelled, and I was looking at her, and I was unable to believe that she was saying this in the first place.

"I have no idea what you are talking about. My parents are doing everything that they could to be keeping my family together. You are just simply making assumptions that are not fucking true." After Todd was saying this, he was starting to feel like he needed to fucking stand up for himself for once in his parents life.

"You have no idea what you are fucking talking about. You might be thinking that you know what your parents are fucking doing, but you are just as oblivious as ever. But Brad, I have done everything that I could for you, and I need you to fucking see that." She was telling Brad, hoping to keep him happier.

"I want to believe you so fucking badly. I mean, for the first thirteen years of my life, everything had been going on so fucking well. But now, all these years later, I feel like I just need to fucking think about what is going on here. I mean, I don't doubt that you did your best. But maybe your best could have been wildly different." After Brad was telling her this, he wondered if his mother would finally listen to him here.

"Those friends of yours are starting to brain wash you into believing that I have ulterior motives. I am not this fucking person, and I need you to fucking understand that." She said, and then I was seeing her looking like she was just wanting to pretend like she was holding off some anger, but nobody fucking bought it at all.

"I don't know. I want to fucking believe you. I truly do. I want to believe that everything you are saying is correct. If that is the case, then things would be so much fucking easier for everybody. But I feel like something like this is just never happening." Brad was rubbing his eyes, feeling like he was just needing to try and stand his ground as he was telling her this.

"I am not wanting you to be seeing those people anymore. You are starting to believe stories that are not true, and you are starting to believe the stories that are simply not fucking true." After she was telling Brad this, Brad was then choosing his own side. As if feeling like he just needed to be his own person, and not a product of what people were trying to make him.

"Mom, I have to make my own choices in life. You literally fucking confirmed that Todd and I are siblings, and you could have fucking told me this when I first met them. If I had known this, then I would have understood your side of things a bit better." As Brad was telling her this, he was feeling like making his choice was now going to finally make her see that he was no longer going to be walked on.

As I was starting to walk off with Brad and Todd, she was calling out to Brad again, feeling like she was needing to try and get him to be more open about this idea. "I am going to be going through with the adoption. He is going to be coming home soon." After she was telling him this, I was seeing Brad looking like he had no idea what in the world he was even going to say at this point.

"Well, I hope that we can work together to make this work. Hopefully you won't fucking lie to him when it is his turn." Brad said, and then with this, he was starting to walk off. Then with the two of us were leaving his mother, and I was wondering how much things were going to repair over time. Or if he was going to resent her for the rest of his life, and just pretend like he was getting along with her, for the sake of the adopted kid.

When Brad was looking at us, away from everybody else, I was seeing Brad looking like he was thinking deeply about what he was going to be saying at this point in time.

"I just feel like I am treating her wrong. I mean, I know she is trying her best, and I want to be there for her, and I was kind of hoping that things can fucking work out. But I feel like now when I speak with her, both of us are going to be at each others throats, and wondering why we did this." Brad was saying, and he was shaking his head, feeling like nothing else he would say could even fucking change this.

"Do you feel like you are going to be at your mothers side when she is raising that kid? I mean, I think we all know that this is the best thing you can do, and that fighting her like this will never help you all." I said, and then Brad was looking like he wanted to kill me for saying that. But then he decided to just let it go for a bit.

"I will just try my best I guess. After all, I know that at the end of the day, she is trying to make things work with me. I feel like I just need to give her some patience here. Even if it is fucking impossible to handle her bullshit sometimes." After Brad was smiling at me for saying this, he was thinking nothing else of it now.

"Sorry for trying so hard to get you to talk so much about this. I guess that I am just worried that at the end of the day, you will not be able to be there for the brother, because you are too focused on trying to make a fucking point with her or something." I said, and then I was wondering if he would at least have thought about what I was telling him.

"I know that your heart is in the right place, and I want to have some patience for you with this. I guess that I just have a hard time really looking at things brightly, when I know that at the end of the day, I am going to have to at least try and overlook my anger over her, and see that she is just doing her best right now." Brad was telling me, and I was seeing that he was finally aware of what he did wrong.

"I love my family, and I do not want that to be left for debate. I just feel like sometimes, I can't deal with their shit anymore. I hope that makes some fucking sense." After Brad was telling me this, I was seeing him looking like he had thought that all debate about this would relatively subside after a point.

"I guess that I see what you are saying. I mean, I do feel that way with my friends at times. Like the things they do just leave me wanting to just fucking scream at a point. Always feeling like everything they are doing is just for personal gain, when I am the only one who truly wants what is best." Todd said, and I was looking at him, really upset at the way that he was saying this about me in front of me.

"I mean, I guess that I should not be surprised to find out that you are my brother. I think that something like this is pretty fucking obvious in hindsight. I guess that I just thought that maybe there was some other explanation. But you seem nice enough." After Brad was saying this, he was seeming like he was just trying to be fixing this situation, and make it as least bad as humanely possible.

"Sheldon, are you going to be getting back to your investigation? I mean, all those people are probably looking for you right now. Especially with your interest in taking the fucking film." After Brad was saying this, I smiled at this. Knowing that at the end of the day, he was just trying make me feel slightly better about what was going on.

"Yeah, I was supposed to be doing this, but I just felt like I needed to help you with this before I went too much deeper. It seems like you are holding up well enough though." I was telling him, hoping to be making him feel better for what he was dealing with. Brad seemed like he had no interest in hearing me trying to make him feel better.

"Fair enough. I mean, I have no idea that this was going to happen. I should have known, and I was starting to kind of wonder if something like this was really fucking worth it. But I guess that now that I know everything that I needed, I can finally leave things alone." Brad was telling me, and then with that, he was simply seeming to have no idea what in the world he was even wanting to say at all.

"So Todd, what are your fucking plans now?" Brad asked, and then Todd was laughing at this, feeling like subject changing to him was fucking hilarious. But then he rubbed his eyes, feeling like there was no point in trying to dodge it.

"I am just going to try and be there for my friends, and that is fucking including you. Hopefully we can pull some shit together." Todd was telling Brad, and I was seeing Brad looking like he was shocked to be hearing Todd giving him this. "After all, we're brothers. We need to fucking act like it now. Especially for your younger adopted one." Todd tried his best to be making a good joke out of this at the end.

As Todd and I were working around, and I was seeing Brad looking like he was just trying really hard to calm himself down. But before we were able to have much of a discussion, that was when Harold was behind a podium, and I was seeing him looking like he was just trying to not let the chaos be getting to him.

"Hello everybody, I hope that you are enjoying this opening party. As you guys are aware, for the last handful of days, I have been learning the truth of how to be the vice president of the my fathers company. I am not ready for this responsibility, but I feel like I have no fucking choice but to go on and just make with it that I can." After he was telling us this, I was seeing him looking like he could not want to discuss at all.

"Truth be told, I feel like when I am here, I feel like I am being given a chance that I should have never been given." He was saying, and then as we were saying this, this was when we were seeing the projector behind him starting to change.

Harold looked at the screen, and I was seeing him looking utterly fucking terrified, not sure what in the world he was even going to be saying to change the situation at all. "This is not something that I was trying to plan. I have no idea what is going on." After he was saying this, he was sounding scared out of his mind what he was getting himself into at this rate.

When the film was playing, that was when we were seeing that the film was starting up, I was looking around, unable to believe that the fucking film was starting up. This is not something that I was predicting was going to happen, and I was scared out of what I was going to see. In all honesty, I was not wanting this to fucking happen at all.

It was showing Nora Wakeman walking up to Harold's father, and she was starting to speak to him. "Hey big guy, I got something you want to see." She was saying, and then everybody in the area was suddenly looking rather scared. Probably wondering what was even going on at all.

"Todd, the film is being played. This is not what we were wanting. We were just wanting to fucking grab it." I said, hoping to get him to fucking take this seriously. As I said this, I was seeing Todd looking like he was trying to decide what he was wanting to say.

"Fucking hell. What the fuck are we going to be doing to change this?" Brad asked, clearly sounding like he was starting to accept how horrible this whole thing was. As he said this, I was looking at Brad, and I was glad to be seeing him taking this whole thing much more seriously for once.

As we were talking, this was when a few of the men in black were starting to run towards the film, and Harold was starting to run down the podium, to try and stay away from his responsibility over what was even happening in the first place. I was glad to be seeing him starting to take what was happening much more serious.

As I was seeing them coming closer to Harold, I brought my gun out, and then I fired it at one of their faces, and killed them. When they fell down on the ground, dead, I was shaking my head, unsure of what the hell I could do. I started to run away from the area, so the man would be more willing to come after me for once, and buy Harold some time.

As I was leaving the area, I was looking at Brad and Todd. "Try and see how Jenny is doing. I have a feeling she might be the one who is playing this." I said, and then I was seeing both of them looking utterly horrified over what I had just suggested. Probably both of them thinking that I might have been thinking too deeply into this here.

"Are you going to be safe?" After Brad was asking me this, I was sighing, and I was having no idea why in the world I was even going to be thinking about giving them something to be feeling much better about. But I decided to just not be thinking much about this whole thing.

"I don't think that something like this is even going to fucking matter. You guys were always the biggest priority here. Jenny especially. If I have to die in order to give you guys some time, then I will fucking have to accept this." I said, and then I closed my eyes, unable to believe what I was just telling him when I had said this.

As I was starting to leave, this was when Todd and Brad were clearly annoyed with what I was dealing with. I felt like they both needed to fucking see the bigger picture. Before I was able to get too far away, another one of the men in black were coming to me. The one that was hanging out with Harold earlier.

I shot the gun in his chest twice, and he fell down. I was unable to believe that I was even doing this in the first place. So with that, I started to head on away, and I was wondering why I was even fucking bothering trying to pretend like I was still the fucking hero of the day. We both knew that I was never going to be the hero, and that I needed to just fucking stop pretending at this point in time.

As I was walking up, Harold was calling out to me, and to be totally honest, I was kind of annoyed with the way that he was suddenly trying to talk to me. But I was feeling like I just needed to pretend like this was not something that was kind of annoying to me at this rate.

"Sheldon, what is going on here? How did that fucking film start playing anyways?" He asked, and I was sighing, since in all honesty, I had no idea how in the world I was even going to be telling him this in the first place. To be honest, I was feeling like he would just be relatively annoyed at what I was doing.

"I don't know. I am making a theory that Jenny is the one that started to play them." I said, and then I was seeing Harold looking like he was barely holding his patience back as he was hearing this.

"Sheldon, can you fucking get her to stop doing this? This is the worst possible timing, and I can't fucking believe that I am even fucking having this discussion at all." After he was telling me this, I was seeing him looking like he had no other way of talking about this.

"I can fucking try, but I have to fucking find her in the first place. And do you seriously think that I even fucking know where she might be in the first place?" I shrugged, feeling like maybe I just needed to get him to fucking shut up with this shit. As I was saying this, he just decided to keep things to himself.

"Can you at least not go around, killing people? I mean, my father is going to fucking head towards me, and blame me for everything, if this fucking happens at all." After he was telling me this, I was slowly nodding, and I was sort of trying to see what he was saying.

"I mean, I literally had no fucking choice but to. They were the ones that were fucking coming towards me, and I had to if I was going to have a chance to fucking survive." I said, and then I was seeing Harold looking like he was so fucking tired for arguing with me all the time for this in the first place.

"I know why you fucking did what you had to, but that doesn't mean that I need to fucking support it. You fucking killed several people in my fucking fathers new shop, and I am supposed to be fucking happy about what is happening. But I guess that you hardly fucking care at all." Harold said, and I was really not wanting to listen to him tell me this at all.

"After all, you are the vice president of the company. Any time your father is not here, you are the one who is supposed to be in charge. You can fucking do whatever you can to get these people to fucking stand down." I said, and I was seeing Harold looking like he was clearly not in the mood to have a debate with me right now.

"Sheldon, I am your fucking friend. But I can't fucking let this shit slide if you are going to be keeping this up for any fucking longer." After he was telling me this, I was wondering what I would be able to do to make him feel any different at all.

"Are you going to be letting your father fucking win, then?" I asked, and then I was seeing Harold shocked to be hearing me even suggest something like this in the first place. But then he was choosing to let me say whatever I wanted. Probably thinking that I was being a asshole for bringing him down like this.

"It is not my father who even made this corporation anyways. Why are you fucking throwing him down the bus? Never mind, do whatever you want with the fucking movie. But do not fucking make me the one who is responsible for everything that is happening." After Harold was telling me this, I was really having no idea what in the world I would even fucking tell him at this rate.

"Do you know where the projector would be presenting the film anyways?" I asked, and then Harold sighed, as if feeling like what I was asking him was being stupid. Probably wondering why I was suddenly making him the man who was supposed to know this.

"I don't fucking know where it could be. Maybe they are in the top floor. I mean, let's not forget that this shop just opened up. Your guess is honestly as good as mine." He said, feeling like he was needing to remind me of this. I closed my eyes, feeling like there was no point in even fucking arguing with him at all.

I started to head back to the top floor once again, and then Harold was closing his eyes, feeling like he was needing to just get back to talking to me in a serious matter once again. "Sheldon, can you at least give me a fucking idea what I am supposed to be doing right now?" After he asked me, and then I was shrugging, not sure what in the world I would even mean at all.

"Maybe just tell your fucking father that things are taken care of, and that you do not need to be worried about them at all. Maybe he will be willing to fucking listen to you for once." I said, and then I was sighing, wondering what in the world I was even going to tell him at all.

With that, I was starting to head up, and I was going to be just trying to stay away from Harold's father, mainly feeling like he needed to just stay away from me, if he was wanting to keep himself safe, since I did not want to kill him at all. I hated the fucking idea of killing him, but I was feeling like there was no fucking choice.

Before I was fully away from him this time, I was looking at Brad, and I was feeling like I just needed to say something to him make the situation slightly less bad here. "Brad, just do whatever the fucking hell you want." I said, and then took a cigarette out, and I was seeing brad looking relatively unsure of what to even say here.

"I will see if I can talk to Harold again. I mean, I know that he won't accept, but you know, I might as well just give this a fucking chance." After he was telling me this, I was really feeling like this was not going to be going down the way that he was expecting.

"Dude, I feel like you need to be careful what you are wishing here. I feel like Harold might not want to do anything like that. He hardly knows what he is wanting to do, and I feel like you might be wasting your time with this?" I tried to tell Brad, and then he was starting to head off again.

"Anything is better than constantly feeling like I might be a massive mistake." After he was telling me this, I was seeing him starting to head on out right away. When he was starting to walk on towards Harold, I was then continuing to smoke my cigarette, wondering why I was even fucking caring at all.

When Brad was gone, I was feeling like this might be the first time that I was going to truly show Cathy that she was wrong about the way that she was feeling about me. I was feeling like if Cathy truly understood how much Brad was starting to feel broken after I got in his life, then she would not be willing to fucking defend me at all.

As I was starting to head down the stairs, not wanting to think about what I had done this night already, and I was seeing Harold's father coming towards me. He looked at me, as if clearly trying to decide what he was wanting to even do with me in the first place.

"Sheldon, why did to come in here, and ruin my sons job here? All you do is come around, demand to have things down your way, and everybody has to fucking follow your bullshit." After he was saying this to me, I was seeing him looking like he was clearly getting to the point where he was no longer even wanting to pretend to listen to me, and that he was going to kill me. Or at least try.

"I just wanted to grab the movie. One of my friends already has grabbed it. If you do not want me to be here, then we should have been working together from the start. Just let us get the movie, and then we will be moving on." I said, and then I was feeling like I would have been able to start to convince him of this, soon enough.

"You know that we are keeping that way from the general public, as we do not feel like people are going to be ready to handle this at all. But I guess that you are not going to want to hear the bigger picture." After he was telling me this, I looked down on the ground, and I wondered why I would even entertain this discussion at all.

"The movie was going to be played by Harold, as he has been supporting what I have been doing this whole time. And despite how much he might not want to admit it, he does know what you are doing with his girlfriend, and he is trying to prevent this from ever happening." I said, and then I was seeing him looking furious at what I had told him.

"You told him what I was going to be doing. Why did you do something like this?" Harold's father asked me, and then I was closing my eyes, feeling like whatever he was going to ask me was going to be just a way of trying to make me the bad guy, which I was not really in the mood to be hearing at all.

"I mean, you will never understand how bad things had been. People need to have a person who can do the job for them. They are too stupid to see the bigger picture." He said, and then I sighed, feeling like this guy was slowly losing his ability to sound like the good guy here.

"I mean, you want to know why I am doing this with Harold. You're right, he is no longer going to have to hold back. He isn't a child anymore, and I think that this whole thing is not all that fucking concrete as you might be expecting things to be." I said, and I saw him having no interest in hearing what I had to tell him.

"I did it because I wanted him to understand that not everybody is really there to support him, and that he needs to fucking make his own choices on what is truly best for him." I said, and then with this, Harold's father was closing his eyes, trying to hold his anger back, as Todd was showing up, and then he was yelling at me to get my attention.

"Sheldon, I got the movie, just take it." He said, and started to roll it towards me, and I was slightly annoyed with the fact that he was doing it this way. But then I grabbed it when it was close to me, and then I was starting to run off, and pushed Harold's father to the ground, where I saw him looking like he wanted to just straight up murder me.

As I was running along, that was when Harold's father and I were well out of eye sight, and he jumped on me. I rolled down to the ground, and then the film was starting to roll away, and he punched me on the back of my neck.

I then turned around, and kicked him in the chest, which then made Harold's father take a step back, and then I was starting to take another couple of steps closer to the film, trying to just grab it before it was too gone.

He came back at me, and then punched me in the face, and chest a few extra times. I was shocked at how much of a punch he was able to put in, and I thought that he might have been out of fighting in my mind. But here he was, proving me severely wrong with my theory.

Then I kicked his knee, and then when he started to wobble as a result of this, he started to go down to the ground and then I started to punch him several times in the chest, and then he was fully on the ground, where I started to get on top of him.

"We can work something out, if you are able to give me a chance." After he was telling me this, I was punching him a few more times in the face. I was looking at the film laying down on the ground, hoping a car wouldn't fucking show up when I was here.

"Why would I work with a man who is going to clearly turn behind my back soon?" I asked, and then he was coughing as he had said that to me, I was placing my hands on his neck, and then I was starting to put in pressure, to strangle him to fucking death.

"But Harold doesn't have enough experience." He said, trying to get me to stop, and I was considering what he had been saying. "I need to be there for him while he becomes the heir to this company that he needs to be."

"I will be there for him, even when nobody else is going to be. I just need to have some fucking time to be able to make this whole thing work out." I said, and then I was sighing, feeling like telling him this would be making him feel slightly better. But I was pressing harder, hoping to just end his tyranny, and we would be able to start to recover this town much more.

When I grabbed the film, I was holding my knife in my pocket. I was hearing Harold's father calling out to me, and I walked up to him, trying to be making him feel a bit better. As I stared down on the ground, I was wondering what to even fucking tell him.

"What do you want to fucking talk about?" I asked, trying to pretend like I was wanting to have this discussion with him. "You lost, and I am going to expose everything you have been doing, and your reputation is going to be fucking thrown down the fucking drain." I said, and then he coughed.

"Honestly, I just want to know if I was really that bad of a father. I wanted to do what was right for Harold, and make him feel better. But I guess that maybe everything that I had been doing was wrong this whole time." He said, and I was starting to feel bad for what he was telling me right now.

"You just needed to fight for what your son wanted. I mean, you sold your fucking son's girlfriend off. And you are suddenly acting like you are a fucking victim here. I mean, everything else I could be willing to negotiate. But this was where I had to draw the line." I said, and then I was sighing, feeling like this would get him to listen to me.

"I thought that I was doing what was right. I mean, this town was a fucking mess. I wanted to change it, but I ended up fucking failing. But I guess that people will never really want to listen to me once the truth is revealed. I thought that I would just take what Sherman started up, and turn it for the best." After he was telling me this, I felt like whatever he would say about Sherman would either show how horribly he understood Sherman, or retroactively destroy Sherman's reputation in my mind.

"I will make sure that Harold doesn't fall down the same path you did. You truly knew that he was going to be the best bet for these people. I feel like that is why you couldn't fucking kill me. Because you knew deep down inside that I was going to be the best bet for him." I said, and then I was seeing Harold's father coughing up once again.

"Just let me fucking die. I do not want to keep living like this. I do not want to keep talking to you when I know you are only delaying the inevitable." After he was telling me this, I then smiled, knowing that as horrible as it was to admit, I had been wanting to do this for fucking years.

"With pleasure." I said, and then I took my knife out, and stabbed it into his neck, and then when he started to fade away, I was starting to head on towards my fucking friends, feeling like I would be the hero of the day, when I would have the chance to truly show them that I mattered.

I was wondering what Harold would truly do if he was president of the company. I felt like he was going to do a better job than most people were giving him credit for. But I felt like he needed to see this in his eyes, and not be having everybody fucking around, and trying to force him into a feeling of uncertainty.

When I was done with Harold's father, I was grabbed the film, and I was seeing that there were people trying to come towards me, and I was feeling like I just needed to try and be careful with what I was planning on doing. So I grabbed the film, and I had a gun with me, just in case if I needed to defend myself from those who were coming towards me.

As I was walking down, I was having my hands up, and I was hoping beyond all fucking hope that nobody would fucking try and take me down. I knew that if they did, then I would have no fucking choice but to defend myself. And in all honesty, I was not really in the mood to be dealing with people trying to kill me, when I would have no choice but to fight back as well.

Before long, I was seeing another couple of men in black coming in my direction, and I was holding my gun up. They were already taking their own guns out, but before they were able to fight, I just shot them both in the eyes, and they fell down on the ground, dead. I was smiling, not because I enjoyed killing people. But because it was the opposite of what I had ever wanted to do.

Before too long, I was seeing Todd looking down from the second floor, and I was seeing Jenny with him, and they were both smiling at me. Finally feeling like they were friends with the right type of person, and I was feeling like I just needed to accept the fact that despite being several years younger than me, these were my true friends.

I was sitting down at the side of my car, and I was taking a cigarette out, unable to really keep back my desire for a fucking smoke anymore. As I was starting to take the smoke, I was feeling like I was finally able to be happier. I was finally feeling like for once in my entire life, I was the hero that I wanted to be. I was the person who deserved to finally have people respect me, and not be the most despised person in Wayside anymore.

As Brad left the building, he looked over at me, and I was seeing him smiling. He looked so happy to see me here. I was seeing him looking like he was just simply trying to hold his excitement back. But he was walking towards me, while Todd and Joy were coming down as well.

"Sheldon, you fucking did it. I never thought that you were able to fucking get it honestly. I honestly believed that it was a fucking false idea. I should have given you more fucking credit than I did earlier." After Brad was telling me this, I was sighing, since in all honesty, I was not really in the mood to be hearing him trying to tell me this at all.

"I thought that I would have finally done something right for once. Finally made people see that I was no longer a complete fuck up anymore." I said, and I was seeing Brad looking like my statement was something he would be able to be proud of. And seeing how proud I had made him, was something that I was feeling so much better over already.

"Sheldon, this is fucking huge. This is going to fucking really bring down all the conspiracies. You are the greatest person in this entire world." Brad was telling me, and I was seeing him looking like he was just trying to find something to stop being so fucking worried about everything else.

"I thought that I would do something right for once. I guess that I did just that. You have no idea how much it really stands out to me, to finally be the person that everybody needed me to be, and not what everybody was telling me I was like just to be making me feel better." I said, and I was seeing Brad looking like he was hardly fucking caring what I was saying about myself anymore.

"Sheldon, when I first met you, I was thinking that you were going to be nothing but a fucking punk. I guess that I was fucking wrong about the way that I was acting around you. I guess that I should have given you some credit." After Brad was telling me this, I hardly cared what he was saying about me anymore. He could be saying the most heinous things about me, and I wouldn't even fucking care at all.

"I guess that sometimes, when I really put my mind to it, I can truly accomplish something big. But I feel like I need to just hide this, so that way nobody else would be able to find me." As I said that to him, I was seeing Todd and Jenny finally make it down. As I was seeing them here, I was wondering if they were going to say much to me at all. Or if they were going to just focus on Brad, and focus on the fact that the job had been done.

"What did you do in order to get it?" After Todd asked me this, I was seeing both him and Jenny looking at me, and they were clearly trying to get me to open up about certain things. I was wondering if they were trying to judge me or something. I was closing my eyes, and I was wondering what I would even fucking do in order to get them to leave me alone.

"I had to fight Harold's father for it. I don't want to be the one that breaks the news, but he didn't make it. So like Larry, I guess that Harold will have to take over his own familys business." I said, I was rubbing my eyes, and I wondered why I was even saying this. I should have just remained silent, and not told them the fucking truth, since they would probably now fucking hate me.

"Oh shit. I guess that something like this was going to happen. I just hope that those handful of literally fucking days as vice president will be able to get him ready for the job. Because this is going to be a big fucking deal for him." After Todd told me this, I was looking right at him, and I shook my fucking head. Not really in the mood to have this debate with him.

"I know that his son will do a better job than him. At least Harold will be willing to fucking hear me out when I fucking approach him. That enough is already enough for me to trust him, and give him a chance." I said, and I was looking at him, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was kind of scared of what I was even fucking saying at this rate.

"Wonderful. You need to give this to your father. Regardless of if he agrees to take action or not, he will know something in there." Todd said, and then I was holding up my right hand, and I was feeling like I just needed to bring them back down to reality, and stop fucking getting on my business here.

"Well, first we need to watch the movie, to even see if there is anything in there that will expose what we need. I mean, the conspiracy had to have enough connections to make it work out." I said, feeling like as much as I wanted to have hope, I needed this information to actually fucking connect. I couldn't just jump into this, show my father information, when it was all fucking useless.

"I mean, as much as I hate to admit it, if it turns out that your mother's death was just a bad event, and not involved with some fucking theories, than that is something that we need to fucking know now, and not later, when we try and give this information to somebody, and it turns out to waste time." After I was telling her this, I was seeing that Jenny was just looking really upset at the suggestion that her mothers death was going to be worthless.

I was going in the car, and all of us were getting in. I was seeing that the others were looking kind of happy to finally leave this place behind. I was seeing that most of the area was totally fucking destroyed. I was taking a cigarette out, trying to just focus on the job that I had.

As I was starting to get ready to drive off, I was seeing Harold running towards me, and I was sighing as I was seeing this, and I was feeling like I just needed to let him have his fucking point. But in all honesty, I had no fucking interest in hearing what he was going to be telling us.

"Sheldon, did you get what you were looking for?" After Harold asked me this, I was slowly nodding, and I was showing him the film. I ended up placing it under my car seat, so the men in black, and various other people would never be able to fucking see what I had done. I looked at Todd, Joy, and Jenny, I rubbed my eyes for a few seconds.

"I am going to be using this as a way to find the fucking mines, and I will be showing this to my fucking father when I have the chance. Maybe he will finally see that there is no reason to deny the fucking truth now. I feel like he will have to fucking understand what I have been doing." I took another cigarette out, feeling like I Just needed to be happy for what I had finally getting.

"What do you want me to be doing now?" Harold asked, and I was feeling like I just needed to pretend like I wasn't the one who had literally killed his father. If he had known what I had done, I would be convinced that he would never want to fucking speak with me again, and I was hating the idea of any of this happening.

"Just make sure that when people ask you what happened, you do not tell them what I had done. Just lie about us, and give us some time. I am sorry for everything that had happened. But there was no choice but to do what I had fucking done." I said, and I was seeing Harold looking utterly fucking confused at what I had been talking about at this rate.

"What the fucking hell are you talking about? You have like ten seconds to explain what is happening." After Harold was telling me this, that was when one of the men in black started to run up to us, and I was really worried about what he was going to be saying to us once he knew that I was the one that had murdered his fucking father. I just hoped that he would omit the part that I was the one who did this.

When he was there, he looked at Harold, and he was looking like he was sick to his stomach at what he had seen. "Harold, your father was found dead just now. This means that you are going to have to become the president of the company. We might be able to hold off your swearing in for a couple of days, while you wrap things up. But soon enough, you need to fucking take over." After he was saying this, Harold was looking at us, and I was seeing from the look on his face, he was clearly wondering if we had known something.

"Wonderful. I don't even have enough experience with the vice presidency of the company. I literally just fucking took over. I have no idea how I will be able to hold off and run a fucking company." Harold was saying, and I knew from the look on his face, that he was too fucking scared to fucking even think properly. As he had said this, I was wondering if I had made a fucking mistake here.

Then Harold looked at the four of us. "Look, you are probably needing to leave. I am going to have to wrap things up with this right now, and start fixing the damage. And I will try and see how I can fucking run this company while dealing with my final fucking year of high school." He said, clearly pissed at this. I started to feel like I really had made the wrong choice here. And I was feeling like I just needed to have what I had.

"Sorry about everything. Good luck trying to figure some things out. We did everything that we needed to do. I hope that you can be able to do a better job running this company than your father did. I think you will be able to bring peace and compassion to this town." I said, and then I was starting to feel like he would actually take what I said to fucking heart, and not be getting defensive over what I had told him.

"I will be willing to talk about this when I am not dealing with my fathers fucking death dude. This goes beyond everything else here." After he was telling me this, I was wondering if I was going to ever get away with seeing him again.

"Thank you for being a good friend." After Harold was telling me this, I was feeling like he was going to regret ever being nice to me when he knew the truth of what I had done. When he knows that I was the one who killed his father, he would probably never fucking forgive me at all. And he would probably think that I ruined his life by making him take this company over.

As we were all leaving, Sam was coming up to my car. I was having to stop what I was doing, and I looked at Sam, and I was annoyed as all hell that he was doing something like this in the first place. I looked at Todd, and I wondered what I was going to tell him.

"I need you at the hospital right now. I know you guys were probably doing something really important right now, but you guys need to know what is happening right now." Sam said, and he was sounding extremely firm. As he said this, I took out my cigarette, and I was barely keeping myself calm at the way he was approaching me right now.

"Sam, what the fucking hell is happening right now?" I asked, and I was trying to keep myself calm and collected. Hoping that by doing this, Sam would feel the need to at least pretend like he was keeping himself calm at this. I was seeing from the look on his face, that Sam was hating himself for this.

"Kevin is beat up really fucking badly. I will explain absolutely everything when we get there. But you need to be there for him, or else things are just going to be getting much worse. I am not sure how well I can be there for him." Sam said, and he was having a tear in his eye the entire time he said this.

"Oh god, I was fearing something like this would have happened. Sam, tell me what I need to do to make this better for you." I said, and then I was seeing Sam looking like he had no idea what in the world he would have been able to tell me. "I feel like this is probably my fucking fault. Even if I was not the one that did this, then he probably was beat up as a result of the shit that I am doing."

"Just go there, and see for yourself how bad this truly is. When you see what he has been through, I think that there is no way to have any fucking hope at all." Sam said, and he was getting in the passenger seat, and Todd was forced out of it. He was probably a bit pissed off, but for now, he was willing to let the subject go for now.

"Sam, I am sorry for this. I should have never gotten you involved in this. If I had known how bad it would become, I would have just never fucking done this." I said, and then I was shaking my head, feeling like there was no need to even try and find something else to say. He would never forgive me.

As we were driving towards the hospital, I was wondering if Sam had a plan on what he was wanting to do. Truth be told, I would never be able to change what he wants to do. But I was hardly fucking thinking I needed to say more. So I might as well just try and be a supportive and emotional friend for him.

Todd and I were at the hospital, as Sam had requested, and once there, I was seeing Kevin on a hospital bed, and he honestly was looking like he was barely even alive at all. I looked at Sam, and I was really upset with what had been happening.

"Sam, what on earth fucking happened here? I mean, Todd and I were away, and we were at the casino, finally clearly some fucking things up." I said, and then Sam was looking like he was hardly even fucking caring about what was happening here.

"The man in the purple jacket found him. He was on his way to Jenny's place, and nobody was looking, so there was nothing we can fucking do to change this." Sam explained, and I was seeing Sam looking like he was regretting every moment of this.

"Oh Sam, I never thought that this was going to fucking happen. I honestly thought that the two of us could turn this whole thing around. If you never want to speak to me again, then I guess that I can fucking understand. Many people say that Kevin was the only truly innocent one." I said, and I was seeing Sam looking like he was hardly even fucking caring at all.

"I don't want to fucking hear it. I mean, my younger brother almost died. And you expect my biggest fear to be that people are going missing. I can hardly find myself caring what is happening with that when I am not sure if Kevin will come back at all." Sam was telling me, and then he was taking a deep breath, wondering what to even tell us now.

"I don't even fucking care anymore. I am going to find that man, and I am going to stop until he is gone. If you don't want to help me anymore, then that is fine." After he was telling me this, I looked at Todd, and I was wondering what he would say in response.

But Todd just simply didn't even fucking seem to be wanting to say much, since he knew that Sam made his fucking mind up. "I am going to kill him, and if I have to go to prison for the rest of my life, then I guess that will have to do." As Sam was saying this, he was holding back his tears, and I knew nothing I could say would make a difference at all.

"Are you sure that you don't want to make a plan about this at least first?" I asked, and then Sam was shaking his head. He hardly seemed to have any plans on what he was going to do, and just seems like he was wanting to fulfill personal satisfaction here.

"I don't wany anybody else getting in danger because of him. Anything that happens now will be on my own." Sam said, and then with that, I was feeling like this was something I needed to let him do. The mines were my fight, and the man in the purple jacket was his fight. And I knew that more than ever now.

When I was leaving the room with Sam, I was looking at him, and I felt like I just needed him to listen to me. Really fucking carefully. I was not going to be having much of a fucking debate with him about this right now. "Sam, this could end up being a really fucking bad idea. You need to at least consider what you are doing. This is something that will get you in prison if you do this." I said, feeling like I just needed to fucking hear me.

"Sheldon, I don't fucking care. This is something that I need to be doing, and I am going to be doing this, even if you do not want me to be doing this." He said, and then I was sighing, and I was seeing from the look on his face, that he clearly had no fucking intention of hearing me tell him otherwise.

"Sam, I just feel like I need you to at least consider what you are saying before anything else. That is fucking all. I mean, if you fucking do this, then would Kevin really want you to do this. I have been having to have this debate with myself when it comes to Joy." I said, and then Sam was shaking his head, not wanting to hear my bullshit at all.

"If I am not even sure that my brother will survive, then how in the world am I going to be having that as my biggest fear right now? I think that by this point in time, I got to do what I feel like is the best for the family." He said, and with how firm he was trying to get with me here, I was feeling like nothing else was going to matter.

"I see that there is no fucking way I will get you to listen to me. I just felt like I needed to at least fucking try and get you to think about what I was saying. I thought that maybe you could have done that." As I was saying this, I was wondering if Sam was going to actually go on and kill this man.

"And the truth is that he is the one that started to come towards my family. He even got a restraining order against him, and he is still fucking doing this. I have every fucking right to do what I want to do right now. And the thing is that deep down, you fucking know that I am right." After Sam was telling me this, I slowly considered what he was telling me at this rate.

"Just make sure that when you do this, you are going to be safer at least. Just try and think about what it would be like if your parents lost you as well. They would never be able to fucking forgive themselves." I said, feeling utterly certain when I was telling him this. He was shrugging, simply seeming like this was something he could hardly fucking care less about at the end of the fucking day.

We were back in the room, and I was seeing Jenny looking utterly fucking wrecked. Much more than she had been when her mother died. As I was seeing this, I was closing my eyes. I felt so fucking wrong for everything that I had been doing, and I was feeling like I just had no way of ever making things up with her.

"Jenny, do you need to talk for a bit?" I asked, feeling like I needed to at least try and offer this to her. She looked at me, and I was seeing from the look on her face that she wanted to fucking scream at me for even saying something like this. I just decided to remain silent, and not say much more.

"No, I don't really fucking want to talk right now. Everything that happened is your guys fault, and you fucking know this. I feel like you should have at least thought this stuff out more before you went around and fucking got my boyfriend nearly killed." Jenny said, and then I was feeling like for once, I just needed to fucking stand up for myself.

"You were the one that went with Todd, Brad, and I, to the casino. You were the one that wanted to find out what happened to your fucking mother. I gave you everything you fucking wanted. And now I'm the fucking bad guy? What is going on here? I just simply did the job that I felt like needed to be done." I said, and then I was sighing, wondering why I was even having this argument with her in the first place.

"Sheldon, why do you always feel like you need to be getting the last word in on every fucking situation? Always have to make everybody feel bad for what they went through. I just feel like I should have been with Kevin when it mattered the most." She said, and I truly wanted to let her have her fucking feelings be let out.

"All that I am saying is that in all honesty, I feel like this person would have fucking done this sooner or later, regardless of what we wanted to do. So getting upset at me, and blaming me for just simply trying to be a good citizen and friend, is fucking bullcrap." I said, and I wondered why I was doing this.

"None of that will fucking matter guys. I will be the one who will go down, and I will make things right. You do not need to be angry at each other." Sam said, and then after he was saying this, I was sighing, and I wondered what in the world he was going to fucking plan here. But I decided to just remain silent, and not say much.

Jenny looked at him, and she nodded. For some reason, when he was saying this with such fucking firmness, she was believing in him. Heck, I was starting to hear him for once, when he was not holding back the strictness of what he said.

…

Scene 26: Wayside Is Indestructible (Day 25)

I started to drive to the mayor's office, feeling like after all this time, it was time for me to present my father with the information that I found. I was feeling like at this point in time, my father might actually fucking be proud of me for once. I didn't want to make assumptions, but that would be nice.

"I just really hope that this is going to be what we need to finally blow this whole operation sky fucking high. These people are gone, because of this business. And now with this film, everybody is going to have to believe what we are saying." As Todd said this, I tried to look at it as happily as he was, but had a hard time doing so.

"Honestly, I wish I was able to see things as well as you do. If I did, then I feel like I would be a much happier person than I am currently." I said, feeling like being honest was the best way to get him to simply open up a bit more.

"Well, maybe you need to stop looking at the worst side of things, and look at the positive way of looking at things. After all, you were the one that was always coming towards me, and you were telling me that I just need to look at what I am doing, and looking at the bright side of things." Todd said, as he was leaving the car. I sighed, unsure of what to even fucking tell him at all.

I got out of the car as well. "And besides, I am sure that your father would be at least willing to check this out for a bit. Surely he wouldn't fucking at least look at the movie." Todd said, and I was shocked to hear him say this. I saw two empty chairs, and started to head towards there, with Todd following me as well.

"I never thought that you would be saying that about my father, since you seemed dead set on the idea that he is this fucking asshole who has been setting things up in the town." I said, and then I was seeing Todd looking like he was almost kind of regretting what he was telling me at this point.

"I just wanted you to be careful with what you were doing. Simple as that. And I feel like since he has admitted that he is always willing to at least look at things, then I guess that maybe I am not needing to worry about him looking at the film." Todd said, and then he was shrugging, feeling like he was needing to just make the subject slightly less strange for both of us to be having.

So Todd and I were sitting down, and I was taking a cigarette out, and I was just feeling like it was best to not be trying to be too smug about the victory that we had just went through. "You know, at the end of the day, we did the best that we could, and we managed to finally get the location of the mines. At the end of the day, we just needed to finally stop bullshitting around, and actually fucking focus on what was important." I said, and I was seeing Todd looking like he was sort of trying to see what I was saying.

"Sheldon, I mean, I know you're right. But at the same time, I feel like I could have done so much more for Joy, and kept her alive. But I feel like with her death coming no matter what either way, it would have never mattered." Todd said, and I was seeing him looking like he was sort of trying to look at the bigger picture, in a slightly less bitter mind.

"Just try and think about how much she would have felt better knowing that you did everything that you could to at least extend her time in this world. That alone should make you feel better." I said, hoping to make him feel better, but clearly it didn't.

Before long, Joy's father showed up, and I was seeing that he was clearly looking like he was just pissed as all fucking hell that we were here in the first place. Probably blaming me for everything going on. "Congratulations you two, you got everything you wanted. You made everybody in Wayside realize that I was the worst dad in the entire world." He said, taking out a cigar, and seemed unsure what to say.

"Now I have no wife, no daughter, no job, and Jenny's mom is gone. So basically everything is ruined now. If you had just left things alone, it would have only been the fourth one." He was saying, and I was looking right at him, and I wondered how in the world he would have been able to say this with such confidence, and not see that he was being a asshole by doing so.

"Do you seriously have no fucking regrets over what happened at all? I mean, this is something that destroyed everybody here, and the biggest thing you are worried about and having no fucking job?" Todd asked, and then Joy's dad looked utterly furious at what he said.

"I regret everything, but I had no fucking choice. There was nothing that I could do to make things any different. I thought that I could keep things better for my fucking daughter. But it all failed, and you made everything fall apart around me." He said, still clearly not taking any responsibility over what was going on here.

"But now that you guys got what you fucking wanted, are you actually going to finish what you started? After all, you might as well. You got the fucking information, and you got the motives, and now you know what we were doing. So you might as well bring down the fucking place." He said, and then he shrugged as he was saying this.

"What are you going to be doing now?" I asked, and I was asking this to try and actually get to sincerely know him. I wanted to get him to know that there was still a chance to pull this off, and that maybe he was going to be able to have a better life once things were all starting to settle down.

"I am going to be trying to get a fucking job. You know, since there is nothing. Maybe in due time, as the weeks and months pass by, more people are willing to give me a fucking chance." He was saying, and then Todd was starting to smile, knowing that he completely fucking ruined what this guy was doing in his life.

"So good to know that in due time, everything that this town has been doing is going to go down. The girls are finally going to be saved." Todd said, and then after he said that, Joy's father laughed. Thinking that the way that Todd started to think that was just hard to really get over.

"That is not going to happen. You guys might be too young to realize this right now, but the truth is that Wayside is indestructible. Everything you are going to be doing is only going to be delaying the worst. There is nothing you can do to truly change what happened." After he was telling us this, I was trying to tell if he was just saying that to get me to lower my guard. Or if he was sincerely meaning that.

"If delaying is the best that we can do, then I am going to do just that. Delaying all this shit from getting worse." Todd said, and he was smiling as he was saying this. Hoping to get Joy's father to see that at the end of the day, there was nothing left he was doing to have animosity here.

"Have a good night. And just remember that if you fail, then you ruined so many peoples lives. But if you succeed, then perhaps ruining my life will be worth it. Either this is the best choice you made, or the worst mistake. Either way, I don't think I will be speaking to you again long enough to find out." He said, and then he was leaving us alone, wondering what I would even do about this now.

When he was gone, Todd was then smiling. Thinking about what he was going to accomplish now. "Sheldon, we got him on tie down, and that is enough to be making me feel much better." Todd said, and he smiled, thinking about what we were now accomplishing by doing this.

When I was in my car, and the two of us were looking at the film, I was smiling. I really had no idea what in the world I was even going to be telling him. "So Todd, I feel like you are probably seeing my fucking point. The fact that at the end of the day, the only thing that changes is the fact that the sun set a couple of times. Nothing really was made different. Nobody got in trouble." I said, trying to make him see my perspective here.

"Well, Harold is going to have to become the president of the company soon. Do you feel like he would be feeling the same way that you do right now? After all, this might be the last thing he ever fucking wanted." Todd said, and then I was shrugging, not really sure what I was even going to be telling him at all.

"Yeah, I feel like that might be something that I could have done better. But I feel like at the end of the day, Harold will see was needed. But I guess that this is something that I will have to fucking check up on him soon." I said, and then I was shrugging, and I wondered why I was even saying anything like this to begin with.

"His father fucking died, and it was our fault. I think that it would be a miracle if he was even willing to see us again in the fucking first place. But I mean, that is for you to fucking figure out." Todd said, and then he was rolling his eyes at what he was saying. Probably thinking that I needed to just see that I needed to take more ownership over what I was doing.

"Yeah, I fucking know it is our fault. I never said that it wasn't. I am just simply saying that I feel like at the end of the day, Harold will probably be seeing that he was going to have to take over the company, and that this was nothing I could fucking change." I said, thinking about the fact that Harold was only vice president for a handful of fucking days.

"Yeah, true. Didn't really have any time to get used to what the company is actually like, and I doubt he learned much, if anything. Sort of like a person only getting like a week of training before he was forced to fight in a giant war against somebody who has been fighting for three or four decades." After Todd was saying this, I was considering what he was saying, and why I was even taking the time to deal with this.

"Well, I do think that at the end of the day, he will be up to the challenge, and I feel like that is the thing that does make me feel better. Knowing that he truly is doing what he needs to fucking do." I said, and then I was smiling, and I wondered if what I was telling Todd would even fucking resonate with him at all.

…

Scene 27: New President (Day 1)

The next day, Todd and I were sitting down, and I was taking a cigarette out, and I was super happy to finally just relax for a bit. As I was smoking for a bit, that was when I was seeing Harold behind a podium, and I was seeing that he was clearly wanting to not be having this moment at all. He closed his eyes, and then was ready to speak.

"I have waited a couple of days in order to wrap things up, and think things over for a bit. But as you might know, my father is dead. He died while the car dealer shop was being opened. I do not know all the details, and in all honesty, that is not the part that fucking matters." After Harold said this, he seemed to just consider what he said.

"As a result, even though I know that I am not ready for something like this, I am going to have to take over the presidency of my fathers company, effective immediately." Harold started to get much more serious with this. "I might not know how to run a company, but I feel like I need to take my responsibilities seriously."

"I regret that this is what things have started to become, as I know that my father was a man who brought many people together, and he thought that he would be the answer to this towns issues." After Harold said that, I laughed at this, and looked at Todd, wondering what he was wanting to say to this.

"I promise that I will do my best to keep the company together, and I will be going over to some of my fathers constituents, to see what they might be able to tell me to help myself out. Even though I know it will take years, if I ever, get as good as my father, but I promise that I will at least fucking try." After he said that, Todd and I looked at each other, and I was feeling like I just needed to be happier.

"So it is done now. I just hope that you feel like you made the fucking right choice with this." After Todd was telling me this, I looked at him, and I was wondering why he was telling me this. I was doing the best that I could, and he was treating me like shit for no reason.

"I feel like I had to. It was something that I did to defend myself. If he was willing to listen to reason, then I would be willing to make this work." I said, and then I was shrugging, and then I started to head to my car, not wanting to get people to ask me why in the world we were even talking about this to begin with.

Once in the car, the two of us drove for a while, and eventually went to Kevin's room in the hospital. As we were looking at him, Todd just tried to find something to say, to make himself feel slightly better about what was happening.

Kevin opened up his eyes, and he was looking like he was just shocked to be seeing us here. "I never thought that you would be here tonight. I thought you would just try and fucking leave me to suffer here." After Kevin was telling us this, I was seeing Todd looking shocked to hear me say this.

"The truth is that we are both very scared for your safety. I mean, honesty, we both feel terrible for what happened. In all honesty, I feel like everything that has happened is our fucking fault." Todd told Kevin, and I was seeing Kevin looking like he was in utter pain the entire time he heard this.

"You guys did not force me to pursue the man in the purple jacket. And even if you did, I feel like I needed to try and fucking see what he had known." As he was saying this, he tried to find something else to be asking me. I felt like I just needed to be honest with him here.

"Has Jenny been here for me so far?" Kevin asked, and then Todd felt like he was needing to just be honest with him. Todd looked at me, and then I was slowly nodded. Feeling like Kevin needed that confirmation for his own fucking sake.

"Yeah, she has been checking on you every day around two in the afternoon. I know it has only been two or three days, but I feel like she is going to keep doing this." I said, and then I was just feeling like I just needed to remain silent the entire time I said this.

"Man, I should be checking on her when she comes back tomorrow. Thanks for letting me know. I was scared of her no fucking coming to see me. After all, I failed in protecting her, so why would she bother with something like this?" As he was asking me this, I felt like I just needed him to fucking shut up, and not be acting like this.

"Sam is saying that he is planning on taking care of the issue for you. Do you feel like you would want him to actually do this." I said, and then I was really having no idea what I was going to tell him at all. "I don't feel like you can change his mind. But maybe I could."

"I don't want to even fucking bother dealing with this guy at all. No matter what happens, I will just want to put this behind me forever." After he was saying this to us, I sighed, and I felt like his response was fucking dangerous. But I also knew that he needed to make his choices on this matter, and not be coming towards us when it comes to this choice.

"Well, we hope that you will be able to recover soon enough. Just don't do anything that you are going to regret right now." After I was saying this to Kevin, I was feeling like I was wanting to just show him that no matter how much he might have hated me, I really did fucking care about him more than he would have possibly known.

I was starting to leave, and Todd was simply thinking about what we were going to do before he found anything to say. So with that, he decided to just follow me for a while, and I was feeling like whatever Todd was going to suggest we do about Kevin, he just needed to be much more careful here.

When he was outside of the room with me, I saw him looking fucking tired. "Sheldon, what the hell are you going to fucking do to keep Kevin safe? I mean, he might try and fucking stop his brother. And I have no idea if he will be able to do this at all." After he was telling me this, I shrugged, and I was really having no idea what I wanted to tell him at all.

"I don't fucking know what Kevin is going to be doing about that man anymore. I think that we just need to be much more careful here." I said, and I was starting to head towards my car, really having no idea what I could do to change the future.

Once we were in my car, I was then feeling like what Todd was going to tell me was just going to be a giant fucking waste of my time, even though I was going to be a asshole with the way that I approached things.

"Sheldon, are you going to speak to Harold? I mean, even beyond the fucking business, that man did lose his fucking father. Maybe you need to just be there for him. At least show him that you are looking away from the job, and you can feel bad for him." He said, and then I was shrugging, feeling like I just needed to be straight honest with him.

"I don't fucking know dude. I feel like if he knows that I was the one responsible for this, he will fucking kill me. Straight up fucking kill me over this. And I wouldn't even fucking blame him at all for this feeling. After all, he was seeming to kind of get into the slow ease of the role." I said, and then I simply sighed, wondering if Todd would fucking understand my feelings here.

"That is a risk that you need to fucking take dude. Even if you do not want to fucking hear this, you need to just do it. Please, just take the fucking jump." Todd said, and I wasn't really wanting to fucking hear this. He had no idea how much this would fucking scare me. I was shaking my head, not wanting to fucking hear him at all here.

"Todd, why do you fucking care? I mean, I don't really feel like he needs to know the fucking truth about my killing the man. That is something that he doesn't need to know." I said, and I was putting my foot down as I had been saying this. The entire time that I had said that to Todd, I was looking at him, not wanting to say anything else to argue with him.

"I care because lying is only going to be fucking making things a million times worse. I feel like people deserve better than the bullshit you are putting them through, and I feel like at this point in time, I just need to fucking call you towards this." After he was telling me this, I just decided to leave this alone, and not argue with him at all.

"Look, I feel like he probably already knows, and that he is just waiting for me to fucking be honest with him here. I feel like that is something that I just need to accept for the better for myself." I was telling him, and I was shrugging, not sure why I cared so much in the first place.

"Well, if that is something he knows, then the two of you need to sort this shit out on your own." He was telling me, and I was feeling like any form of argument was only going to be making things much worse for us all. As I was starting to drive off, I was feeling like I just needed to get Todd focused on the next job that we were doing.

"Let's just make sure that what happens to Kevin is for the best right now." After I was telling him this, I simply really had no idea what I was doing at all. "I mean, I was seeing Jenny so fucking happy, and then Kevin almost dies, and everything that happens is my fucking fault. I hate this so fucking much."

"I feel like Jenny is going to have to accept that the two of us did the best that we could. And if she doesn't like it, then that is her fucking fault. There is only so much we can fucking do." After Todd said this, I saw him looking like he was hardly giving a shit about her feelings anymore.

I was just driving along, and I was feeling like the next thing that mattered was the set up of how we were going to change this. "We need to go to the fucking mines now, and fucking change this. That is our best bet, and the film fucking proves this." After I was telling him this, I saw that Todd looked like he was hardly wanting to debate with me right now. Probably thinking I was trying too hard to take responsibility for something we needed to still be united on.

...

Extended Scene 1: Anxiety Part 1

I was meeting up with Steven, and I was feeling like after everything that had happened, I needed him to see that I had not completely fucking given up on working with him. I just had a hard time really focusing on the job at hand, and I was hoping that he would forgive me.

"Steven, I just wanted to apologize to you, for everything that had happened lately. You know, with the missing girls, and the truth of what happened to Shari. I wished that I was able to fucking forgive myself here." I said, and I wondered if Steven was able to fucking listen to me here, or if he was just simply not caring at all anymore.

"I just wish that Shari was still here, and I feel like when I hear everybody having a great time, no longer fucking caring, it just makes me wonder if I am wasting my time doing this." He was telling me, and I was feeling like I just needed to remain silent for a bit.

"Todd and I have everything we need. We can make this work out. Just give us some time, and I can assure you that I will bring this all home." I said, and I was hoping that he would be willing to listen to me.

"Yeah, and then what will happen once you guys got it all? Fucking running around, and showing the police everything you guys have? They are not going to be falling for that fucking trick. I don't think anybody will." Steven said, and I was wondering what I would have to do in order to get him to just fucking listen to me for once.

"The police will never listen to us. I am not even going to fucking try and talk to them. They are all fucking assholes, who only care about their fucking reputation." I said, feeling like I just needed to not really mess around. Steven deserved to know the fucking truth, and I was going to give him exactly that.

"Do you think you will be able to bring justice to Shari?" He asked me, and I sighed, since I was totally unsure what in the world I was even going to be able to give him there. To be honest, I felt like anything I could tell him was just going to be a bullshit fucking appeaser.

"I have no idea. What I will do though, is give it everything that I fucking got. I will not sleep until I got everything taken care of." I said, and I was seeing Steven looking like he was so glad to hear me tell him this.

"And I feel like Shari would want you to trust Todd." I said, and I was looking up, as I was seeing him coming in, with some bandgaes, and I was seeing that he was still looking like he was completely fucking worn down from dealing with the shit at the casino.

Steven looked like he was trying to understand what he was wanting to say now. He was shaking his head, simply looking like he was no longer in the mood to listen to any of this anymore.

"So Todd, do you still trust Sheldon?" Steven asked, and I was wondering why he was even saying it this way. I was sighing, and I wondered if these two were going to get into a fucking fight.

"I trust him more than I trust ninety five percent of the people that I fucking know, and that is enough to keep it going." Todd said, and then he smiled. "Besides, with the shit both of us have seen, I think we both know that beggers can't be choosers." As he said this, I was wondering what the point of that was.

"He was telling me that he was going to fix everything that happened with Shari." He said, and Todd was looking like he was really hoping that I wouldn't be going around, and saying shit like that.

"Well, Sheldon is a really fucking ambitious man, as you would get to fucking see if you knew him long enough. Just don't worry too much. I know that he is going to fucking try." Todd said, and sat down, and I let him have another one of my cigarettes, since I could clearly see that he fucking needed it.

"Thanks. Sometimes I just need to fucking calm down, and not deal with shit. To be honest, I am surprised that we are still alive most of the time." Todd said, and then Steven was smiling, having something else on his mind.

"What did you even do to get so injured anyways?" He asked, and then Todd was sighing, and I was seeing that bringing that up was the opposite of what he wanted to fucking deal with.

"To be honest, the truth is that I was working with Sheldon on finding out about that film that Nora Wakeman was working on. Had to get into a really bad fucking fight about it." He said, and I sighed, not sure what to even fucking say here.

"Why do you guys even care so much about that fucking film anyways? It's a random movie that nobody is ever going to fucking watch anyways." Steven said, and he sounded like he was kind of pissed that we were even talking about this at all.

"Truth be told, we have to fucking try at least. I mean, this is the only way we can find out why Shari was in that well." Todd said, and Steven looked like he was fucking pissed that he was even having that brought up to him in the first place.

When I was home, I was feeling like this new promise was going to have to go beyond anything else. I needed to do this for Steven as well. After all, he lost everything he had because nobody took his requests seriously enough. Part of me was wondering if he even wante dto ever fucking see me again.

…

Scene 28: January 21, 1987, Ending

When Sheldon was done, he was then staring at his therapist, and he was wondering if she was going to be saying anything to him, to make him feel any differently.

Therapist: Wow, you were a fucking hero at the end of the day. You gave people something to hope for. To be honest, I feel like you need to remember what you did for them...

Sheldon: Hero. That is one way to put it. I wish that I was able to look at it that way. To be honest, if people thought that I was a hero, they would have fucking saved me when it was my time...

Therapist: Who knows what would have happened if Larry's father, and Harold's fatehr, had kept the job up. Even if you do not see the truth yet, you were the one that changed things for the better for the people in this town.

Sheldon: Joy's father would disagree. You know, when I heard his perspective, and how he was affected by this, I was starting to feel like I was wrong to even judge him for everything that happened. I feel like I should have given him more of a fucking chance to explain himself.

Therapist: Now you are caring about what her father thinks, given eveyrthing that had been happening? I feel like that is a fucking mistake.

Sheldon: He clearly felt like he was having no choice. And when I talked with him, he clearly seemed to regret what had happened, and I feel like hating him over this is not going to be getting anything done for us.

When Sheldon was done, he was feeling like he had no way of really getting her to see his perspective, and to be honest, he was tired of trying to get her to listen to him, as she would never fucking get the way he felt.