10 years later

Bobby was just writing something in his journal when his little brother, Alec, entered and sat down on an empty seat in front of him. Alec is an endomorph type build and a couple inches shorter than him, with the fatness of his cheekbones like their mother, but a fat nose like his father. He had the same hair as Bobby which was a buzzcut, but Bobby's grew an inch taller than his, and his same green eyes are always superior and welcoming. Bobby closed the journal as he stopped writing, and put it inside his trench coat pocket, along with his pen which was stuck on the plastic spiral of his journal. Alec smiles as he sits down, "Hey bro, so freaking sorry I came here late."

"Nah, you're straight. I haven't ordered anything yet."

The waitress stopped by at their table, a short young woman with long brown hair, she nicely spoke with her tangy voice, "Are you boys ready to order anything or you still need time?"

"Oh uh, yes. We're ready." The lady then pulled out her notepad and her pen for their orders, "I'll just get Shrimp Alfredo with garlic bread on the side." Alec stated.

"And what about you?" The lady turned her head to Bobby.

"Hm, maybe chicken parmesan with the same side of his, garlic bread," The lady wrote down their orders and then spoke again.

"Any drinks?"

"Water." They both said at the same time, that made the waitress chuckle a bit.

After she was done writing, she gave them a nod and walked away to holler over the chef. After 5 seconds of silence, Alec cleared his throat, and clasped his hands on the table.

"So, how are you today, Bobby?"

"Didn't I tell you this yesterday? I'm fine."

Alec rolled his eyes in sarcasm, "Yeah, yesterday. I'm talking about today."

"Alright."

"I see."

Once again, they fell into an awkward silence. That's when the waitress stopped by at their table again with their glass cup of water and placed the fogged cups in front of them. Alec smiled and thanked her while Bobby gave her a swift nod as in "thank you." Alec took a nice tentative sip, then set his cup down.

"So, explain to me why are you doing this, Alec?"

The younger brother raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, why are you doing this? Coming here to see me? Bro, it's been 10 years, a decade I should say. I don't think I'll ever get back all my memories. Even if I do regain them, it's all going to be forgotten anyways cause I'll forget about them the next day. How do I know? It's all in my journal."

"You mean your dream journal?"

"Whatever you call it. So why is it?"

"Bro, I'm your brother, and brothers always help no matter if they're younger or older. I'm here for it as well."

"But you're doing a lot more than me. You have responsibilities as a husband, father, and an officer. Like, your family and career is way more important, dude. I don't want you to sit here and waste your whole time on me."

"But Bobby, you're part of my family too."

Bobby lowered his peer, "Am I actually?"

"Yes! You are of course!"

"I mean, you and I know that I'm not the Robert everyone knows me as. I'm a different person… another Robert. A stranger… a mu-"

"Don't you dare say it." Alec quickly interrupted that last statement.

"What? A murderer?"

Alec rolled his eyes in disbelief, "Oh geez. Look, it's not your fault at all. I say this all the time. It was an accident!"

"I was the one driving the car!"

Alec raised his hands in a calm, but aggressive behavior, "Enough already! Just stop! Listen, what happened that day is still an urban mystery. There's a lot of possibilities that could cause the accident. Maybe it's your fault. Maybe it's not. But the thing is, you just got to move on. Let it go, bro. I want you to move on, Bobby. I want you to be happy. I'm getting sick and tired of you carrying all this guilt to yourself. Feeling miserable."

With anger, Bobby banged his fist on the table, which had heads turning to their table, "I can't dammit! I can't! These dreams haunt me every night. I can't let this shit go and just… move on!"

The waitress came with their food, as she looked between the two, "You boys alright?"

Alec nodded without looking at her, "Yeah. I'm sorry."

She shrugs and sets their food down on their table, "As long as you two don't break anything, you're straight."

The brothers watched her walk away from them. Alec patiently waited for his older brother to say something but Bobby was just silent as he began to eat his food. Alec sighed as he picked up his fork, "Look, no one is stopping you if you need help. There's nothing wrong with it either. Like I said, we're family and I will help."

He and his little brother began eating in silence. The sounds surrounding them came from other customers, the radio, the staff, and the television above the counter.

"Uh, Jackie. Could you turn up the volume please? I think something's going on down our town," said a customer.

Without questions, she did what the customer asked. Her interest quickly became attentive by the news on the television. Bobby looked up while Alec turned in his seat, "Hm, a massive fire in the Still Town Apartment?"

"Oh wow, those poor people!"

"15 people died? What happened?! Were they trapped inside?!"

"Oh my god! Look at those flames!

Bobby tensed as he saw flashes of images.

Black humanoid creature, staggering around the fog. Its eerie white eyes glowing against it. The scent of burning corpses on his nostril. We have to leave this place right now! Blood on his arm. All the screaming and shouting.

"Bobby?"

Bobby quickly blinked into reality. He didn't notice he was sweating profusely and breathing heavily. Alec's brows narrowed in worry as he stared at Bobby's pale reaction. He was trembling so bad that he had to drop his utensils. Bobby looked down on his trembling hands and clenched them into fist. He squeezed his eyes shut and began to shake his head.

"Something's wrong, bro?" asked Alec in concern.

"N-No. Just… having a headache."

Alec didn't insist. He called in the waiter, Jackie and asked her for another glass of water. She came back 15 seconds later and Alec quickly gave it to his big brother, "Here, drink it."

"Why?"

"Don't ask. Just do it."

Bobby pursed his lips as he began drinking it. He drank the water and set it down on the table, "Happy now?"

"No. I'm really worried."

"Oh my gosh. I told ya, It's nothing. I'm just having a headache, for crying out loud."

"Alright. I'm just saying."

They silently finished their food and after that they left the restaurant with Alec leaving a tip on the table. Alec shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked with his brother, "So… how's work going for you?"

"Pretty well."

"Dude, I still can't believe you became a detective officer. I mean you finished off your college year on what was it that you studied for? Psychology?"

"Yep."

"Yeah, that."

"It really comes in handy, especially while you are doing profiles."

"But you took it for 2 years."

"3. Although I may have studied Philosophy for about a year. I graduated within that year, then took a course for my P.I. job in Columbus and finished that off in 3 years."

"Columbus?! Wow, dude. That's amazing! The fact that you got your license for the PI at the age of 23, is astonishingly crazy to me."

"Mm-hm."

"Wait. What was your first case, if you know?"

"Divorce."

Alec stopped his steps, "Hold on, what?!"

Bobby shrugged, "Other word, child custody. The daughter goes to the wife, and the husband, who in which the family owns a business in Cleveland, had to pay child support to his wife. He claimed that he was bankrupt but the wife didn't insist that and hired me. Turns out, the man was a millionaire! So I helped and combined the information and evidence to present to the court."

"Awesome sauce!"

"Eh. It's really not a big deal."

"Well, what's your most fun case?"

"Murder."

"Oh really?!"

"Yeah. Let me tell you one. There was a missing person's case. Officers took over after I started the report but then the family told me to do a detailed investigation and I did. Though I assisted with the police, they didn't do enough at the station. I came along and helped them out to solve the case. That's how I was recognized and hired to assist with the police."

"So how is it so far?"

"Mm, well Zanesville is pretty much a safe place, can't state the difference between that and Spoonerville. The crime has been lowered now so, we rarely have any intentional or serious crime going on. Some days I just help out neighboring towns like the south of Zanesville or something."

"Well, I'm proud that you're doing well at that, bro," said Alec as he patted on his brother's shoulder, "Anyways, I can't be here for this long. You know me, I have some stuff to do as well. I have to get back home early."

"I Understand. Drive safe, bro."

"Yeah, I will. Oh hey wait! I completely forgot! Someone dropped this at my house for you, I don't know why. It's either because the address was messed up or they just got the wrong person, and by the way, I didn't open it, so no worries," said Alec as he pulled a medium sized tanned envelope from his bag.

Bobby took the envelope. There was nothing but his name drawn on the envelope. He laid his eyes back up to his younger brother, "I wonder why. It wasn't posted. Wait, someone came by and dropped this for me?"

"Yeah. But I don't know what it was though."

Bobby opened the envelope and there was a picture and a drawing inside. He pulled it out and his eyes began to widen as well as Alec's.

A picture of him and his friends, Max and P.J. There was dried blood splattered on the corner of the picture. He turned the picture around saw the writing which says,

STILL TOWN

5/12/2000

His hands began to tremble and Alec grabbed the picture from him, "Wait a minute… This… wasn't this the photo y'all took before the accident?!"

Bobby pulled out the drawing which had a bear drawn on it. The same drawing that was drawn on the board at home. It also had some writing on it but it was little to see. He looked closely, and his eyes read,

Hey man, thinking about coming back to Still Town next time?

Oh yeah! That's a promise right there!