I really want to take a moment and just THANK all of my spectacular readers and reviewers for being totally understanding of why I haven't been able to update often. You guys really rock, you know that? And I also want to thank everyone who wished me luck with my novel writing contest. Your support means SO MUCH to me! Every time I get stuck on my novel, I just think of my dedicated readers and it helps me get motivated and inspired, and I probably wouldn't be able to do this without knowing that all of you are behind me 100%! I love all of my readers like family!

And some news on how my novel is coming along. I've written 64 pages so far, and by the way the plot is running and how the rest of it is in my head, I'm about half-way done.

As for THIS story, I am COMPLETELY done... this chapter. At long last. So, FINALLY, enjoy!

Breakdown

Chapter 35: Interrogation

Hawk was best described as a vengeful man. He stopped at nothing to annihilate his enemies. And right now, his biggest enemy, more so than Gustavo, considering BTR was on a possibly definite hiatus, was all four boys of Big Time Rush. Not because they were busy making albums and performing on television and becoming all the more famous while under Rocque Records' label and not his, which they weren't, but because Clark was dead because of them.

And now that James Diamond, the most hated band member of Hawk's, was in the hospital, Hawk was going after the only member he had something on: Kendall Knight.

Kendall had attacked him, and he was an idiot for not regarding the camera in the corner of Hawk's office. The entire scene was on tape, and while yes, it was humiliating to admit that he'd been taken down by a seventeen year old kid, it was so worth knowing that the temperamental boy was paying the price of his actions.

Kendall Knight was now heading to prison, and though Hawk didn't know his sentence, he did know that despite losing an acquaintance, his plan to destroy Big Time Rush had worked out perfectly.

"He nearly got two of my best friends killed!" Kendall screamed, thrashing in the officer's grip. The cops ignored him as they shoved him into the back of the squad car.

"You're making a mistake! He's the one who should be getting arrested, not me!"

Kendall kicked at the window as the car began to pull away from the hospital.

"No, NO! James is still in there! He needs me!"

Mrs. Knight, Katie, Carlos and Sylvia could still hear Kendall's screams of protest as the police car turned onto the road.

They were no longer frozen with shock. It had worn off rather quickly while they had all been flinging questions at the officers as they led Kendall outside. Now was not the time to stand there in the parking lot and wonder what the hell had just happened. Now was the time to move, quickly.

But they had no way of getting to the police station; Logan had Mrs. Knight's van. Carlos whipped his phone out and sent a text to Logan explaining in minor detail what had just happened. It was slow going, considering he was texting one handed, but he got the message sent and slipped his phone back into his pocket just as Sylvia suggested they go back in to tell Brooke.

"What good will that do? !" shrieked Mrs. Knight, who was a little out of her mind right then. "My son is going to jail! I know what he did, and if the cops have proof, they'll throw him away, even if he is a minor! It was assault!"

Katie hesitated, her arm reaching toward her mother, but she pulled back. Nothing could comfort her at that moment. Why bother? She'd only make her mother even more worked up.

"Where the hell is Logan? !"

Carlos winced and checked his phone. No message. "I'm sure he'll be here once he gets my message," he said quietly. "Or maybe he's on his way back and that's why he isn't answering. He doesn't text while driving."

Mrs. Knight just gritted her teeth and began to pace frantically.

Sylvia looked uncomfortable. She wanted to go tell Brooke about what was happening so that she'd know why they weren't at the hospital if she went to look for them, but Jennifer was just so angry and frustrated...

Sylvia sighed. "Carlos, honey, how about you come with me to go tell Brooke. She'll want to know."

Carlos nodded. Whatever his mom said went right now. He didn't glance at either of the Knights as he followed his mother back into the hospital. He could hear Mrs. Knight cursing slightly behind him, just sane enough to mind Katie. He didn't turn back.

His mother walked briskly, tight-lipped, as she led him to the elevators. Carlos supposed he'd expected them to talk about this gigantic mess on their way to James' room, but what could be said? Lots, of course, but he wasn't sure how to put his racing thoughts into words, and he was sure his mother, though an intelligent woman, couldn't either. So they stood in the elevator and once off it strode down the hall to James' room in silence.

Upon arriving before the closed door of room 213, Sylvia hesitated. Should she knock? Just walk right in? Was it just Brooke in there with James, or was Dr. Anderson in there? Did they want some privacy?

Then a cloud of doubt overcame Sylvia; should she even bother Brooke and James with this information? James was already past the brink of cracking. His mind was shot. And Brooke was dangerously close to losing it as well. Neither of them needed any more inflections piled onto their already overwhelmingly weighed-down shoulders.

But wouldn't they want to know? And they'd find out eventually, anyway.

Sylvia blinked herself back to reality and saw that her ultimate decision, whenever she'd been planning on making it, didn't matter. Carlos had already opened the door and stepped in.

Sylvia bit down the urge to scold her son for just barging in. At least he hadn't been loud and obnoxious about it. She instead glanced past him to see Brooke sitting in a chair next to James' bed, where the injured boy lay asleep, breathing what seemed to Sylvia to be a bit too heavily, his chest rising shakily with every inhale, and the air shuddering unsteadily through his mouth with each exhale.

Brooke glanced over her shoulder to acknowledge the visitors, and gave them a miniscule smile. She didn't say anything.

Sylvia and Carlos made their way further into the room, growing nervous. How should they expect Brooke to react? Not well. She'd want to get all the details, she'd be urged to go with them to the police station, but she had to stay with her son. And she'd be wracked with an internal debate over whether or not to tell her own son when he awoke.

Carlos quickly took to staring at the floor, flinching and averting his eyes from Brooke's intense gaze. She knew something was wrong instantly, and the way her darkly-lined eyes narrowed intimidated him.

"What's the matter?" she questioned. "Dr. Anderson stepped out about three minutes ago. Said there was a commotion of some sort in the waiting area. What's going on down there?"

Well, they had no choice now. Brooke knew something was up, and she wasn't going to let it go. If they didn't tell her, she'd go down and find out for herself.

Sylvia let her eyes drift around the room once as she sucked in a deep breath before beginning to relay the recent events that had Kendall presently thrashing and shouting in the back of a squad car.

Logan lightened up on the gas pedal as a cop car sped by him. The sirens weren't blaring, and the car wasn't in obvious pursuit of any getaway car as far as Logan could see, but it was driving well over the speed limit, and was heading in the direction of the police station. Logan picked up the pace as soon as the car was out of sight. He needed to get back to the hospital as quickly as he could, and if that meant breaking a driving law or two- he hadn't bothered wasting time buckling up- then so be it. He needed to warn the others that Hawk was up to something. That Hawk had been in their apartment.

Though Logan was speeding, the drive seemed to take much longer than it usually did . And they'd been to the hospital enough over the past several months for him to know how the length of the drive felt compared to all the other times.

Of course, though, the drive was in reality shorter due to Logan's exceeding speed, but it seemed like forever before he finally swerved sharply into the hospital parking lot and jerked the wheel haphazardly so that he was parked diagonally, carelessly taking up two parking spaces. He flung himself from the van and dashed toward the entrance, only to stop short when he saw Mrs. Knight and Katie standing there, both pale-faced, Katie weary-eyed, her mother's flashing indignantly.

Logan skidded to a halt in front of them, panting. He knew something had just gone wrong. Apparently it was time for a chain of bad news to break out, as Logan blurted "Hawk was in our apartment! He made some sort of threat!" just as Katie cried out "Kendall just got arrested for beating up Hawk!"

Logan froze at that, and Katie and Mrs. Knight jolted at what Logan had said. Hawk had been in 2J with him?

Logan blinked. It suddenly made sense, in a sick and twisted way that only proved further that Hawk was behind this shocking news of Kendall's arrest.

"What I have in store for you next won't physically harm any of you- Well, I suppose that depends on how well or poorly behaved the new 'roommates' will be."

"I've already plotted my revenge and put my plan into action. All that's left to do is wait. I just want to give you a little advice."

"Start packing."

Logan's sudden fury was so complete and overwhelming that all he could see was a curtain of red. All he could hear was the blood rushing in his ears. All he could feel was the pressure building in his head, ready to explode out of him.

Hawk. Was. Done.

Logan was going to find him and torture him until he begged for mercy. Then Logan would torture him more, and it would only be when Hawk had gone through every amount of physical and mental agony that Logan would kill him. He should have done so when he'd had the chance. If Logan ended up in that cell with Kendall, so be it. He would stand behind the bars with his head held high with the knowledge that he had rid the world of its most vile, heinous creation.

But Logan wasn't thinking rationally, for once. He was too caught up in the delicious thoughts of driving a long, sharp blade into Hawk's body until every inch of skin oozed blood that he didn't notice Mrs. Knight shaking and shouting at him.

"Logan, what happened? What happened at the apartment? ! Logan, answer me!"

But Logan was lost within his own mind. An answer was neither formed nor capable of being spoken, as he hadn't even comprehended the frantic question being spewed repeatedly and urgently from Mrs. Knight's mouth.

She knew Logan was in some state of shock, so she resorted to the only method she figured would work. She slapped him, hard, across the face, and grabbed firmly onto his shoulders, looking him square in the eye.

"Logan, listen to me. Breathe. Just breathe. Are you with me now?"

Logan took in a shallow, shuddering breath, rubbing his stinging cheek, and exhaled quickly. He repeated the process, making his breaths deeper and slower, until finally sufficient oxygen returned to his lungs and brain and focused his mind.

"Better?"

Logan nodded almost imperceptibly, scarcely bobbing his head up and down once.

"Okay. We need to go to the police station. You can explain what happened on the way."

"Where's Carlos and Mrs. Garcia?" Logan inquired, feeling a bit more under control as he blinked away the last of the rage-induced red haze.

"They're telling Brooke. There's no time to wait for them. Text Carlos and tell him we left." Mrs. Knight held out her hand, and Logan dropped the keys into it before fishing his phone from his pocket and opening his phone to compose a new message. His fingers were shaking so badly that he had to have Katie type and send the message.

Logan's mind was whirling. He couldn't tell Mrs. Knight what had happened because he couldn't think straight. Everything just kept getting worse and worse. One impossibly horrible event after another. Was it ever going to end?

How was James doing right now?

Had Carlos and his mother already told James and Mrs. Diamond about Kendall?

Was Kendall being interrogated at this very moment? Would he go to jail? If so, for how long?

Would they ever stop Hawk?

Would BTR ever perform again? Or was the band dead? Over? No third chance.

Logan gritted his teeth and gripped his aching, reeling head.

Was it ever going to end?

"Where's my lawyer?"

Kendall sat in a small room, empty aside from the large table in the middle with a chair on either side. He sat in the chair furthest from the door. Officer Grant stood beside the table, eying Kendall with a scrutinizing stare . He was the head of questioning at the LAPD, a big, muscular man, with thick black hair and a menacing demeanor. He often got even the toughest of victims shaking, but so far Kendall was undaunted. He was feeling rather impatient and ticked off. He'd finally calmed down about halfway through the ride from the hospital to the station. He'd realized, though probably a bit too late, that freaking out and nearly letting himself threaten to do to the cops what he'd done to Hawk wouldn't help his case. Not in the slightest.

Kendall's anger hadn't evaporated as he was lead roughly to an interrogation room, and only then was he released from the tight handcuffs. While Kendall had waited for his interrogator to arrive, he'd sat alone in the room, absent mindedly rubbing his sore wrists and keeping his best poker face for the officers he knew were standing on the other side of the one-way glass window. They saw him. Kendall saw himself, too. He hated that, but it was precisely why he couldn't give anything away as he waited.

And now Kendall knew those very same officers who had been studying him were now listening in on this questioning session.

"If this turns into a case, then you'll get your lawyer," Officer Grant growled. "And you'd better hope you get a good one."

Kendall stared the officer straight in the eye.

After a moment, the officer began to pace, glancing away from Kendall briefly as he did so. His gaze roamed to the floor as he took three steps left, five steps right, five left, five right...

Kendall's eyes moved with the officer. His head didn't turn one degree.

Finally Officer Grant ceased his pacing and turned back to Kendall.

"You're familiar with Phil Hawk."

It wasn't a question. "Yes. I know a Phil Hawk," Kendall answered evenly. He'd already been warned about lying.

"He owns a company called Hawk Records, that is correct?"

"Yes."

"And you are in a band called Big Time Rush, under the label of Rocque Records."

"Yes."

"Your boss is Gustavo Rocque?"

"Right."

"And would you say Gustavo hadn't been signing much talent until he signed with Big Time Rush?"

"He hadn't been having much luck, no."

"And Hawk hadn't either?"

"I don't know much about Hawk. I don't work for him."

Officer Grant nodded. "Do you know if Hawk currently has anyone under his label right now?"

"I believe he doesn't."

"So his rival record company is working with a band, and he isn't. Rocque Records is making money, the name is getting recognized again. Unlike Hawk Records. If that happened to you, Kendall, would you consider that rival company a threat? An enemy, perhaps?"

"I don't think I'm at liberty to answer-"

"You're under law to answer every question I ask you."

Kendall sighed. "I would feel that way, yes."

"You'd feel what way?"

"I'd feel as though the rival company was an enemy." Kendall's voice was tight, strained with suppressed fury.

"So, let's use our imaginations here. Let's say Hawk is jealous-"

(Kendall nearly snorted at the understatement).

"-and plots against Rocque Records. He has nothing harmful in mind, just wants to weaken the company's reputation-"

"That's just as-"

"Ah, here's something you're not at liberty to do. Interrupt."

Kendall ground his teeth together behind his tightly pressed lips. Officer Grant continued.

"He never harms anyone. Doesn't even come in physical contact with anybody. Nothing bad happens to Rocque Records. The place is never trashed, violated, or even at risk of losing business. Bu Hawk tried to ruin the future of your band. And you won't stand for that. So what do you do? Hmm, Kendall? What do you do with a man like that?"

Kendall didn't answer. After a moment Officer Grant did for him.

"You'd pay him back, wouldn't you, Kendall?"

And then Kendall lost it.

"He nearly got two of my friends killed! He's the reason my best friend, my brother, is still in the hospital, just starting to recover physically only to be tortured mentally even more than he had already has been! Hawk destroyed my friend's life! He's the real criminal!"

Officer Grant was not affected by Kendall's shouts and accusations. He merely nodded as he continued to study the heavy-breathing, red-faced teenager. "That's what you've been saying. But here's the thing, Kendall. You have no proof of that. You can't prove that this man Phil Hawk had anything to do with what happened to your friend. However, we do have evidence that you assaulted Mr. Hawk."

Kendall didn't hear what was said next. He was shaking with blind rage, infuriated to the point where he was quite strongly urged to flip the table and storm out of there, likely with a few choice words directed at Grant.

Proof. There that word was, again.

Kendall wasn't sure if he cut Officer Grant off again or not; if he was talking, Kendall couldn't hear him.

"Proof! You want proof? !" Kendall laughed, from the wrong kind of hysteria.

"Attaining proof is also part of why my friend is so damaged. If you would just believe the good guys, he'd be a lot better off than he is now! But you all need proof! Evidence! I've learned that risking yourself to get proof isn't worth it! I don't know if you really do have evidence of me beating Hawk senseless or if you were saying that to get me to confess, but I do. Gladly. I gladly confess that I, Kendall Knight, assaulted Phil Hawk. And I have done so without regret. And, for the record-" Kendall glared at the mirror as he said this, knowing the men behind it were watching him with prosperity. "-I am not confessing for fear of getting caught in a lie. I am confessing..." He paused, feeling a bit dramatic. "To show that I am not ashamed of my actions."

Officer Grant stared straight at Kendall for a long time. The room was eerily silent. Finally the cop stepped back, away from the table. He gave Kendall a small smirk. "You just made this a hell of a lot easier for us, kid."

He started toward the door, turning around when he'd reached it. "You won't be getting that lawyer." And then he walked out the door, allowing the two officers who had been watching and listening from the other side of the one-sided window to enter the room and cuff Kendall. Again.

"Mom?"

Carlos snapped his head down and he smiled as he watched James' eyes flutter open. Thick lashes lifted, lowered, lifted again, revealing dull hazel irises. Carlos felt his smile falter. Those eyes used to sparkle, used to be so bright...

Carlos forced his smile to reappear and he squeezed James' hand tighter. "Close," he joked as his friend's cheeks reddened at mistaking his best friend for his mother. "It's Carlos."

"Sorry," James mumbled sleepily. "You're holding my hand, I thought..."

"Oh." Carlos quickly released his grip, but James didn't.

"S'okay," he murmured. "You can."

Carlos' smile was genuine again. He kept his fingers wrapped around James'.

"Where's my mom?" James asked after a yawn.

"She's talking to Mrs. Knight," Carlos answered quietly. "My mom's with her."

"Hmm." James let his eyes drift shut.

"So, uh, how are you feeling?"

"Tired. Sore."

James opened his eyes and glanced at Carlos' injured arm."What about you?"

Carlos looked surprised at the question. And he was. He didn't know why. Maybe it was because James was ignoring the big question mark. But he answered anyway.

"I'm fine. It only bothers me when I move it."

James nodded. The boys were silent for a moment, and just when Carlos thought James had fallen asleep again, said boy piped up.

"I still don't know it happened. Your shoulder."

There it was, the big question mark.

"Or me. I don't remember...I mean, that time when I freaked out. I saw...Dr. Anderson, he- he turned into someone else, and that someone else scared me so much..." James shuddered, and concern flooded Carlos' body as he watched his friend grow startlingly pale at the memory.

"Carlos, will you just tell me? So it can stop? The random pieces of memory, the name I can't remember. All I remember is doctor. Doctor. Doctor something. I want to know who hurt me, so that I can know who hurt you, and then I can do something about it."

Carlos noticed the tremors running through James' shaky form, and he moved from his chair to the edge of the bed, taking his hand from James' and wrapping his mobile arm around his broken friend.

"James...I can't just tell you. I know we've talked about this already, a lot, but not now. Right now is really not a good time-"

"You know, saying that only makes me more nervous," James stated.

Carlos lowered his eyes. Why hadn't he thought something could go wrong being left alone with James, even for just a few minutes?

"I- I still don't know if I want you to tell me. Any of you. Sometimes I just want to know so badly, but other times I'm scared...like right now. I'm scared right now, Carlos. Am I ever going to stop being afraid of what I don't know? Because even when I do know, I'll still be afraid. Won't I? Is there even a reason to be afraid, Carlos? At least tell me that. Is what happened scary?"

James' rant was confusing Carlos. His brain was obviously a little fuzzy due to the morphine and due to the exhaustion he was surely suffering from. Carlos had never been good at working under pressure, and this felt a lot like pressure.

"James, um, I don't think I-"

"Where's my mom?" James interrupted, and Carlos wondered if all this jumping around from topic to topic was supposed to be happening. Maybe it really was just medicine and exhaustion, or could it possibly have to do with the bipolar disorder? Or maybe another sign of the PTSD Dr. Anderson had told them about. Subconsciously avoiding the topic of the cause of the PTSD, or something like that. Carlos wasn't sure.

"She's talking to Mrs. Knight, James."

"I know, Carlos. You told me that already."

"Because you asked twice."

James sighed moodily and pouted, and Carlos was beginning to think that James' odd behaviour did have something to do with his disorder. He wondered if he should go scout out Dr. Anderson.

"Why couldn't my mom talk to Mrs. Knight in here? Is it something I shouldn't hear?" was James' next inquiry.

"Mrs. Knight isn't...here. My mom's talking to her on the phone."

James' eyes narrowed. "Why isn't she here? Where's Kendall and Logan, then ? And Katie?" It was the question Carlos had been dreading.

"They're not here either."

James' eyes widened, and suddenly he didn't look so tired anymore.

"Where are they?"

"I think your mom should tell you," Carlos practically whispered.

His uncharacteristic tranquility and the fact that Logan and all of the Knights weren't at the hospital broke through James' morphine induced haze. He tried to sit up, but pain forced him back down with a gasp.

"James, don't-"

"What is going on? Either get my mother up here right now or tell me yourself."

"James, just calm down for a minute, please-"

"What is going on, Clark? Something is, I know something is! I deserve to know what!"

Carlos was gaping, wide-eyed and open-mouthed. He blinked, once, twice. He unconsciously touched his ear. His insides had turned to ice, but the rest of him felt hot, and so he felt like he was going to melt. Or maybe faint.

"J-James. What did...what did you just call me?"

But James didn't seem to have noticed. He didn't look like he'd been smacked by a realization. He looked angry.

"Tell. Me. Now."

Carlos shook his head, weakly, dizzy. Did James honestly not notice what he'd just said? How?

"No. I-I'm getting your mom!"

And Carlos ran from the room, leaving James frustrated and confused and wiped out.

Carlos bolted down halls and skidded around corners. He ignored the shouts from nurses telling him not to run. He dashed toward the elevators and was relieved when one opened right away. He clambered in and pressed the button for the ground floor. He knew his and James' mothers were outside due to the no cellphone policy. There was nobody else on the elevator. As the door slid shut, Carlos leaned his head back and let out a rush of air, cradling his injured arm with his good hand, wishing he hadn't ran. It hurt now. But that didn't matter. He began to think.

Was this good? Or horrible? Carlos knew James had remembered something when he'd had that panic attack earlier, but now he was saying Clark's name without realizing it. This could be great, or it could be catastrophe.

Unfortunately, Carlos could see more ways for it to become disastrous than 'great'.

"He openly admitted, so there's no case. Plus they have video evidence. They haven't decided on a sentence yet."

Sylvia and Brooke winced as they listened to Jennifer's voice emit from the speaker. The fact was, there was going to be a sentence. Kendall could be put away for maybe just a few days, a month, or even years.

"They did tell me that because he's a minor and no weapons were involved, the sentence won't be as severe as it could have been. And I was fortunate enough to speak with Officer Gerald, the one who came to the apartment when we first found out about Clark. He was very nice and understanding, but of course he has to act under the law. But he's doing everything he can to make Kendall's sentence as minimal as possible."

"Well, there's the first upside we've seen in days. And it's not even official."

Sylvia sighed. Why did Brooke have to be so blunt?

"That's better than nothing, Jen," Sylvia assured her friend on the other end of the line. "Call us when you hear anything else."

"I will."

There was a soft click on the receiver, then a static buzzing. Brooke turned off the speaker and ended the call. She glanced up at Sylvia and sighed. Neither of them said a thing. There was nothing to say. Nothing worth saying, anyway. They knew what the other was thinking. It was what they were all thinking; about what a huge disaster everything was.

"Mom! Mrs. Diamond!"

The two mothers spun at the sound of Carlos' frantic voice, and both felt dread wash over them. He was flustered, red-faced and breathing heavily, practically panting. He was shaking. "James, he- he...he called me Clark! I don't- I mean, I think maybe he...He didn't even realize he'd said it, he just-"

Whatever else he was going to stammer out was cut off as Brooke ran past him. After sharing a brief look, he and his mother followed.

They saw Brooke disappear through a door they had never gone through despite their multiple visits to the hospital. They darted through the door after her and discovered it led to stairs; Brooke was too desperate to get to her son to wait for the elevator.

Sylvia and Carlos slowed down on the stairs, Carlos' shoulder bothering him. He bit back a whimper of pain as the fiery sensation tore through his shoulder, neck and arm. They had to get to James. He could worry about himself later.

They didn't catch back up to Brooke until she was in James' room. They rounded into the doorway and watched as Brooke made her way over to her son.

"Mom." James forced himself to sit up, tears automatically forming at the sharp pain in his stomach. Brooke noticed.

"James, sweetie, lie down. You recently had surgery and your-"

"Mom, Carlos won't tell me. So you tell me. Where's Logan and Kendall and Mrs. Knight? Why aren't they here? What happened?"

Brooke didn't hesitate for a minute. It was pointless. James was going to find out eventually; better to tell him now than to wait for him to find out by himself and be angry at her for not telling him.

"James, Kendall's been arrested."

James felt his breath hitch. What? Kendall got arrested? Maybe he hadn't heard right.

"Come again?"

"They're all at the police station right now. Kendall's being held there. Apparently the police had video evidence of Kendall assaulting Hawk. Kendall confessed almost immediately."

James shook his head slowly, not even aware that he was doing so. His mind was reeling. Why would Kendall confess? That wasn't like him; in fact, it was the complete opposite of what Kendall would normally do.

And, more importantly, how long was Kendall going to be in jail? Would he even be moved to a real prison, or would he just be kept over night at the police station?

"James?"

James blinked. "Hmm?"

"Are you alright?"

James considered for about half a second because coming to the conclusion that no, he wasn't alright. He wanted to reprimand his mother for asking such a question.

"I just...I need to get my head around this."

Brooke nodded. "Of course. I understand, sweetie."

Kendall Jail. Assault. Hawk. Wait a minute...

James frowned. Kendall was in jail for assaulting Hawk...But, when had he done that? And, why?

James realized that he hadn't been surprised when his mom had first told him; he knew Kendall had beaten up Hawk. But he couldn't remember why. James had a strong feeling that it had something to do with him being in the hospital.

James opened his mouth to ask why Kendall had attacked Hawk, but Brooke got her own question out before he did.

"James. Are you...remembering things?"

James paused, mouth still hanging open. He slowly closed it and realized that yes, he was. He remembered Kendall saying he'd assaulted Hawk, and he remembered a fight right after hearing that...But what had the fight been about, then? Kendall beating up Hawk had made a huge mess out of things, hadn't it? Was that why James and Carlos had been hurt? Because Kendall had attacked Hawk, and Hawk had gotten revenge?

James swallowed hard. Yes, he was remembering, but he didn't like the things that were coming back so suddenly.

And then, it wasn't just things coming back. It was everything.

Talking about counseling, going to counseling, meeting Dr. Clark, he was nice, getting better, putting the pieces of his mind back together, finally accepting his disorder, then, oh, god, the threats, the gun, the screaming, the nightmares, the police, the planning, the fights, the decision, the recorder on his phone, the pain and the blood and the gunshot...and...

Dr. Clark. The real Dr. Clark. The man who'd done this to him, who'd shot Carlos...where was he now? He was here, in this very hospital. James had seen him. His name had only minutes ago slipped past James' lips.

"Dr. Clark."

James hadn't realized he'd whispered the shudder-inducing name out loud. All he knew was that Dr. Clark was in the hospital at that very moment with a gun and a desire to kill him...

"James? James! Oh god, what's happening? !"

"Press the call button, damn it!"

And along with those shouts, crying. Familiar sobs, but James didn't notice nor care.

He'd finally cracked, right down the middle. He had officially fallen apart.

All at once, James wasn't James anymore. He was just a broken boy, sitting in a hospital bed, surrounded by three hysterical people, screaming and crying and yelling while he chanted.

"Dr. Clark, Dr. Clark, Dr. Clark..."

Ugh, I really had NO idea how to end this chapter, so I'm sorry if it's abrupt and a lousy spot to end, but this chap was getting long and I didn't have much time to work on it.

Well, I FINALLY met a deadline; I said I wanted to get this chapter out by May, and guess what? It's still April! I know, I know, huge accomplishment. And now time to go write some more novel! I think I may be going crazy, thinking this contest was a great idea...

Oh, right. JAMES! ! ! He's losing his mind! What have I done to him? ! I just can't help myself...Being evil's my thing.