Longest Novel Fall of the Republic Remaster

by morgan kingsley

In 2023, a middle aged author decides to stop running from his past and tell the truth of what happened when he was much younger, as a way to make peace with the past. As he delves into this, the more he learns of his experiences and other peoples experiences in the hellish town of Wayside, Minnesota. An au of the Digimon Universe that takes place in the United States. Rated M.

1. Volume 1

I also feel the need to state that I condone NONE of what is displayed in these stories, however I felt that this would be able to make a interesting storyline, which at the end of the day is the entire premise of creating a novel. Creating what I feel like is a interesting story, even if the themes in said story are disturbing

Written Between October 21, 2023 to December 2, 2023

Transcribed To Laptop Between December 2, 2023 to December 14, 2023

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It was getting close to the end of the year, and an author named T.K. Shioda let the reality of the fact that he was roughly half a century old really hit him. Not only that, but the fact that for thirty seven years, he had chosen to hide what has really gone down in his youth, all because of how scared he had been to put the past behind him.

As he realized that it was no longer right to hide from the past, and that telling the truth would not only help him find closure, but perhaps be able to get the world to see the truth of the monsters that the residents in Wayside had truly been, he felt that maybe it was time to stop running from the truth.

As he opened up his drawer in his main office, T.K. saw the filled up note books from when he was much younger, almost a kid still. And he thought of pulling them out to read them, study them, and make peace with them for the first time in so many decades that it almost felt wrong to put the demons behind him in such an official capacity.

So with that, he pulled the first one out, a composition notebook that was now older than a lot of the people that he had worked with, and had still been in decent enough shape that he could read all the pages to a decently good degree. And as he smoked his current Marlboro, he smiled at the fact that he had actually found himself wanting to almost live his past again. To be able to confront his past, and no longer let the people who hurt him continue to hurt him.

Then he opened up his laptop, feeling that once he put this up on his blog, and let people who wanted to read it be able to read it, then he would be able pit it all behind him, one volume at a time, and he would no longer have to run from the truth. And he smiled for a bit, he then went on to text from of the people who were close to him at the time what he planned to do, so they would see that he was actually going to able to put words to actions.

One of the people he told of this was his friend Lars Needlemeyer, who T.K. literally saw grow up and become one of the most influential people who lived in Wayside, and he felt that Lars would appreciate the truth here.

Once he left that text at sent, he took out some energy drinks, mostly Monster Zero Sugar, and started to have them since he knew damn well that he was going to need as many of them as he could get, even if it fucked up his already awful health to begin with, as a way to keep himself active and busy, as he began to write the first page.

Scene 1 – The Report (T.K. Pov)

On June 18, 1086, I was sitting down planning on my hang out with my friend Cody when I got the news report that changed the course of my life forever.

That was when I got the report that my friend, and slowly developing crush, Yolei, had gone missing. She was thirteen years old at the time that this had happened, and hearing the report fucking killed me. Because I knew that I failed her.

I promised her I was going to keep her safe. I promised her that no matter what happened, she would not be like the other girls who went missing. And it took less than a week before my word, which I had hoped would have been my bond, had been broken. And to be honest, I had felt like a failure.

The last day before she went missing, she and I were at the pizza shop, having a great time with Davis and Tobias. It had gotten to where even for just a we were like normal teens.

I knew, even then and especially now, that I would never forget the kiss that we had that night. The first time I ever got kissed by a girl, and in hindsight, the last time that anybody ever saw her alive.

After nearly ten minutes of me just staring at the television, scared of what happened, my first goal was to call Davis and Tobias both. Just get to sort of see what was on their mind and see if they were planning to look into the case here.

The first call was with Davis, as I felt like telling him first would be the best first move for him. Davis did answer really fast, which I was having a feeling was a sign he had already been ready to talk.

"T.K., did you get the fucking god damn news too? I mean, I don't know what the hell to do, and I knew that if Yolei is even alive, she would never forgive us." Davis said, and he sounded like he was on the verge of actual genuine tears here.

"I did. Do you know how Tobias is holding up? I feel like maybe we should try and talk with him. Are you okay?" I asked, knowing full well what the answer was. But I had felt like I needed to try and get support him for a bit.

As I asked him this, I heard of level of silence on the other end. "No, I'm not. My friend is fucking dead. And I never got to tell her how I fucking feel." He said, and I felt like I needed to respect his space some more.

To be honest, I wondered what I could do to try and make him feel better at all. "Well Davis, I am so fucking sorry." I said, feeling like I need to try and give him the offer to talk if he felt. But the silence was my answer.

"Okay. Will be over in a bit. Maybe we can try and find her." I said, feeling as if telling him this would get him to sort of try and be positive here. But it felt so fucking wrong though.

When I hung up, ready to go on and meet up Davis, when I was seeing Matt look straight at me. He seemed to try and hide his sadness as he saw me.

"T.K., I'm so fucking sorry. I know how much Yolei meant to you… I should have tried and been there for you." Matt said, and that was the first time I heard him straight up admit to one of his fuck ups.

"It's okay dude. I know that you're not intentionally trying to hurt my feelings. But I think we both know she's fucking dead, and I was able to do nothing to change it." I said, and I didn't want Matt to even pretend to give me false pretenses to her being alive when we both know full fucking well she was not. So I was feeling it was best to just try to move on.

"I'm off now." I said, feeling it was time to go and meet up with Davis, and just kind of see what the hell he was up to.

As I started to head on over to my friends house, Matt called out to me. I turned to him to see what the issue was here. "Let me bring you over."

I had no reason to argue with him, so I nodded, and I got in the passenger seat, ready to move this along. As we were driving along, I saw that Matt looking like he was ready to talk. "If something happened to Sora, I don't know if I will ever forgive myself." I looked at him, as if feeling like he was right about that.

"I don't allow that to happen." I said, hoping that saying that would get him to open up here. "You know, I don't want anything to get worse. After all, I still have a promise to Tobias."

"A promise that I have a feeling you won't be able to fucking keep." He said, and deep down, I knew that he was right.

"Look, I want to try and get you some help here. But I want you to actually get these girls home. No matter how hard this might be to accomplish." I said, not in the mood to hear him tell me off. Even if it was true.

"T.K., you know you're not going to bring Yolei home. You said it yourself. What makes you think Andrea will be any different?" He asked, and I shook my head. Not sure why this was any different at all.

"To be honest I think with Ocho looking for her as well, he and I will be able to fix this." I told him, feeling as if Ocho would be the one who be able to bring her home at the end.

"I mean I barely know him well… But I know that Ocho cared a lot for the girl, and he will bring her home." As I said that to Matt, I was hoping he would be able to appreciate the compliment.

Eventually, we pulled up at Davis's house, and I looked straight at Matt. "Thanks Matt. If I remember to, I will tell you if he does anything too stupid." I said, feeling as if Matt and I need to work together a bit if we wanted to make this work.

When I looked at Davis, I saw him looking really sad. As if he was really trying his best to not let the sadness be super clear to us. "Hey Davis, do you need to talk with me? I mean, she might be alive out there…" I said, and I knew full well that was never fucking happening. Davis shook his head at my comment.

"No. I just feel like I need to get to action here. I need to go on and find that girl as fast as fucking possible." Davis said, and I felt as if I needed to just be honest with him here.

"Dude. We can't fucking find her if you have no idea where the fucking hell she might be. We need to talk things through, and see if we can piece it together here." I said, and I was hoping that by saying this, I can be able to get him to calm down.

"I fucking know that. But she gave us no ideas where to look anyways so discussing this is a god damn fucking waste of time. Davis said, and I could tell that he was hoping that I would get to see his perspective.

"Didn't she mention her going to the church a lot? Maybe the guy there knows where she might be." I said, and I saw Davis looking as if he was seeing my point there.

"Yeah, she did… Buy she was saying that she wasn't wanting to go there anymore. You know, due to the fact that Brad has been there." He said, and I wasn't sure if that would be much of a fucking issue.

"What does Carbunkle have to do with Yolei?" I asked, and I was seeing Davis looking as if he was shocked I even asked him such a question to begin with.

"Because she has a feeling that the man is trying to find some sting operation or some shit down there. She think it was all a fucking lie." Davis said, and I could tell that even he himself was sort of wondering if she was right.

"Why in the world does Yolei think there is any thing like that in the town? I mean, or that Brad of all people is trying to fix this?" I asked, since I felt like unless they gave me a concrete reason to follow this, I would need to go to the church.

"Maybe you can ask him. Yolei is dead set though, or was I guess. That all being said, I guess that we don't have much else to lose. What else do you even think we can do to look for her?" As Davis asked this, I saw him look like he had been rather unsure of his abilities, and I could tell that it genuinely made him sad to the fact that he had no real lead on where to go now.

"I guess that we could see if Leo has talked to her at the arcade before she went missing. You know, all on one and what not." As Tobias said that, I was sort of considering what he had said. I felt like there was no reason to not go with it. But if I'm honest, I felt like it could potentially not really be for the best in any way shape or form.

"Okay. I guess we really have nothing to lose by at least going to him. That being said, I'm not sure if he will have any clue what we do to make it easier for us to find her at all." I said, but to be honest, I had also felt Leo was a person we had barely known, so there was no real reason to believe that he had a real clue what was happening.

"Come on. I just have a feeling telling him, and just asking him any questions at all, will be for the best. Worst comes to worst, he has nothing, and we lose nothing at all besides maybe an hour." Tobias said, and I was wondering if he had been projecting his feelings on the Andrea thing, or if he really did feel like that, and was just sort of really sad.

So with that, I felt like I really did not have anything to lose, and if it was true that Leo did have any clue at all, purposely not looking into it for any reason at all was not going to do any favors at all.

"Okay, let's start with that red head." I said, putting a fake smile on my face, as if to show that I really did not have any bad will to this idea, eve if the idea itself was insane. I could tell from how Davis looked that he was so desperate for any clue at all on what to do, that lterally any remote idea at all was going to make him go for it, even if it was hopeless.

Once we were at the arcade again, I could tell from Leo's face while he was starting to eat his nachoes, that he really did not want to see us there at all. As if he had been worried that we would give him a new reveal, which wasn't wrong.

"Hey guys, I don't know if you guys being here is really for the best." As he said that, I had no idea if he was just telling me that because he had no desire to deal with us, or if he really did feel that way. But what I did know was that I would not press him beyond just one simple question with Yolei.

"Have you ever met Yolei one on one, and gotten to talk to her?" I asked, and Leo looked like he really did not one hundred percent know, but was a bit lost on why I even asked him this in the first place. "We really need to know, so if you even so much as spoken to her, we really need to know."

"Yeah, like yesterday or the day before she came here and told me that I needed to never get involved in this case. I told her it was never my intention to, and that she did not need to worry." As he said that to us, he shrugged, and I could tell that he was a bit happy to exert a degree of confidence.

"She said she was worried that you all were getting way too deep into this stuff, and not taking the practical approach on going to places like the outskirts, or let the police on and take care of it." As Leo told me this, I could tell that he had felt like what he said made perfect sense.

"Yeah, I guess I can see that." I said, and then I saw Leo looked like he had wanted to try and find more he would have been able to tell us, as a way to sort of get us all to wake up.

"Look, I am not sure if I feel like you should even be looking into this in the first place. But I am smart enough to know I won't change your minds. So if you will do this, promise me you'll actually go to all the major locations here." As he said that, I had no idea what he meant.

"You know, like the piers, the train graveyard, those clubs, actually going to all the sectors. Like if you want truth, actually fucking look for it, and not brush it off." Leo said, and I wondered if deep down, he wanted to do this, but was too scared to. If this was the case, I guess I could try and use that to my advantage. And if deep down, he did care, I could tell him all I knew anytime I thought I would have a clue.

"If you know all that in the first place, then I feel like maybe you should be the one who goes out there, and actually makes a god damn difference." I told him, as I felt like sort of shoving his point back at him was a way I could be able to get him to just sort of leave me alone.

"Why in the world would I want to get into that shot when I am just simply trying to be a god damn kid still? I feel like you need to follow her footsteps. To just live your damn childhood." As Leo said that, the clear uncertainty in his voice was more of a indicator that I would be able to weasel my way into this.

"You don't sound too sure. I can hear it in your voice that you do not know. Maybe that is why this debate is possible." As I told him this, I could see that Leo had looked like he was completely undecided on what he really felt here.

"Look, my mom would hate me if I were to get into this, and I still have so much that I need to do. And besides, your friend has told you to knock it off. If even she says no, that is a sign that this is not for you to keep on making the matter worse." As Leo told that to me, I could tell that Leo had been kind of just sick of it all.

"What if she went missing?" Tobias asked, mostly as a test to see if Leo had any real thoughts on the matter. He took a deep breath, and I could see that he had wanted to try and be confident as he told me off, but deep down had no clue.

"Look, if she were to ever go missing, I would want to at least try and give the police a chance to fix it all on their own. I feel like the police should be given a chance to do their job." As Leo said that, he shrugged, as if he had no more real fight in him anymore.

I looked at Tobias, as if mentally begging him to let it go, since it was so clear we had nothing to gain here. As I told him this, he took a deep breath, clearly no longer wanting to let the subject get dragged on.

"I will take what you into a level of consideration. Have a great evening." I told him, and I had hoped that by telling him this, he would be cool with what I said, and that at least for now, we would be able to know I would respect his space. He was a good kid, and I knew that he really did in his words, deserve to be a kid without having a bunch of people going on to try and ruin it. At least for another year or two. So with that, the three of us left the red head, who reminded me of Brad, alone, to enjoy his nachos and game as we looked for leads.

When I was home that day, I was looking out the window. I had to really take a second to think about what I was going to do next. But to be honest, I had to take a second to think about if I trusted the police or not at all.

To be honest, I did not trust them in the slightest, but at the same time, I felt as if letting them take care of the job for me was the best I could be able to do. But as I thought, I grabbed the pack of cigarettes on the coffee table, and grabbed one, then I took the lighter. Ready to just try one out the first time.

When I finished, I walked back to the window, and lit it up. To be honest, as I took the first couple of puffs I ever took, I had been sort of feeling like I had a whole new life I needed to try and life.

Yolei had her chance taken away from her, and I felt like I was the monster for the fact that I did nothing to change it at all. And I felt at the end of the day, Yolei going missing was sort of my sake up call that I needed to try and no longer hide.

I also felt like Leo was a bit off when he told me that I was not taking things more seriously. That I was only going to be trying to look into all of this just for the thrill of the ride. To be honest, I hated that he felt that, but to be honest, I felt like since he did not know all the context, I could not one hundred percent blame him.

I opened up the window, and the smell was going to be much less than it would have been if all the tobacco had been allowed to build up, and I probably would not have been put in as much trouble as I probably should have.

I shook my head, as the other thing that had been getting on my mind was the fact that I had been feeling Davis would never be able to forgive me if he had known how much closer to Yolei I had gotten over time. If he had known about the kiss she gave me.

What I did know is that deep down, I was never again not going to make the most out of the life I was given at each day. I had a chance that most people never did. To see their flaws as early as early middle school, and show people that I really did fuck up a lot. I had known that if Yolei had still lived, and she would one day have seen me, the two of us could be able to just finally have a real smile on our fucking faces.

The sad truth about how it all turned out was that literally nothing I had tried to do made a god damn fucking lick of difference.

On January 23, 2021, nearly 35 years after her disappearance, Yolei's skeletal remains were found by people out on a hoke. Her body had been found crammed inside a broken wooden barrel, that had been lodged in between a ton of rocks on a mountain as a way to prevent a landslide.

The situation, which was already bad, was made worse when the reporter confirmed that she had been tied down on a arm binder, and a plastic bag was tied on her head. The autopsy reports showed that her death took less than six minutes once placed in the barrel, and that she had been long deceased before she was lodged in the rocks.

The worst part about it all, at least for the friend group involved in looking for her was that a camera with one tap that worked had been found in a little cave about a month after her body was found. When police looked through the tape, their worst fears had been confirmed.

The tape showed her live snuff recording, recorded by a man who was wearing a black mask. The man recording this could be heard pleasuring himself the entire time the recording was made.

Even nearly three years after the tape was found (October 21, 2023), the man who did this was never found, and after another month or two, the whole thing became old news to the average person. Yolei just became known as the thirteen year old girl who had been kidnapped and snuffed for a pedophiles pleasure in 1986, and nothing else.

The icing on the cake was the date on the bottom of the recording. June 18, 1986, 1:11 am. Her death had been 10 hours and twenty six minutes before T.K. saw the report. This meant for all summer, and most of the next 35 years before the news, he held out hope to find a girl who had been dead and cold before he needed to investigate.

Scene 2: Pizza Party (June 17, 1986)

The night before Yolei died, she, Davis, Tobias, and I were sitting down at a table, and I was seeing Tobias looking like he was trying to be chill about all the things now.

"Well Tobias, I do want to apologize to you for what went down at the arcade earlier." I said, and to be honest, I did not think Tobias was going to give a crap about me hanging out with Leo. Or merely just introducing myself to him.

"No, I was being stupid. You felt like he would help out, and to be honest, I should have seen it. I guess I was too hard on you." As Tobias said that to me, I was seeing him looking like he was a bit scared of what I felt here.

"Do you feel like if you talked with Rachel more, the two of you could be able to just put this all behind you?" Davis asked, remembering what had gone down and seemed to regret trying to butt into their fight during that fight this morning.

"No, I feel like we just can't come to any form of agreement, so I just feel as if it's best to just let it go." Tobias said, and I heard him sound like he was genuinely regretting kicking Davis out of the house over it though.

"Besides, if I'm being honest, that most recent fight was almost entirely my fault. I'm way too god damn stubborn." As Tobias said that, I slowly nodded, since I was able to respect his realness on it.

"Sorry for asking. I know you said you wanted to not worry about it anymore. Just got worried for you." Davis said, and I saw Davis trying to make it seem like he was holding himself down well.

"No, you have a fucking fight to ask. I just don't want to think about what it will be like." Tobias said, and he was seeing from the look on Yolei's face that she was trying really hard to hold back laughing.

"Stop being so focused on that. You were the one that wanted to go on a god damn pizza party." She said, and all three of us sort of nodded in agreement at that. Since she was right.

"True. I mean, I did want to try and forget about all that shit with that creepy pass church." Davis said, and I could tell from his reaction that he was clearly a bit upset about that talk with Brad he had.

I could tell that Yolei herself could tell what the issue was. She took a deep breath, as if hoping to get Davis to calm down a smidge. "Davis, forget what Brad said. That man just has a hard time letting go of all his paranoias."

"How many times are you going to try and defend this guy? I mean you know the man he is. All he is at the end of the day is a politician who will try and make it all go his way." As he said that to her, I was seeing Yolei look like she was a but hurt by his stuff.

"I am good friends with the guy, and I know he would never try and do anything to hurt us, at least not on purpose." Yolei said, and I was trying to be able to keep her positive attitude on the matter, even though I wasn't sure.

"Are you sure it's not just your parents who are good friends with him? And you're just kind of following suit?" As Tobias asked this, I was unsure where he was heading here.

"Regardless of details like that, I still feel like he deserves a lot better. And it's not his fault Shaun is sending him out to do a bunch of shit Brad himself doesn't like. You need to give him a fucking chance." As Yolei said this, I was looked down. I knew she had a right to feel this way, but it was still super rough.

"And regardless, that kid you met at the arcade earlier likes him a lot, so you need to consider that." As Yolei said that, that red head boy with the "Get Smoked" hat came to mind again.

"God, I have no idea what to think of that kid. I feel as if that kid is going to find all four of us to be fucking insane." As I said that, I kind of felt bad for him/ But to be honest, I still did not know what the hell I was supposed to say here.

"Well, I do admit I do regret going to the arcade because of that. I should have fucking know that Andrea had not gotten there." As Tobias said this, I was wondering what in the world his issue was there. I looked at Yolei, and I could see she was glad to hear Tobias admit to this.

"Well, you said it yourself. That you do not remember a single time she had gone down to the arcade." As Yolei said this, I was seeing that Tobias had lookd as if he was not really in the mood to hear her bring him down like this at all.

"I guess that I just wanted to know what I can do to keep her safe. But to be honest, Rachel is right…" Tobias said this, I was wondering what the hell he was going to say now.

"She said I should not drag myself into this shit, and that I need to let the police do this. And to be honest, I feel as if she might be fucking right." As Tobias finished off, I wondered where I could get him down to earth.

"But is that what you think you're going to do? Just drop this, and let yourself have a normal summer?" As Davis asked this, I was seeing him looking like he was a bit unsure.

"To be honest, I see no harm in trying. Rachel might be onto something. Must be nice to be best friends with a Reichenbach." Tobias said, referring to his sisters increasing friendship with Rob. Although I was scared that would lead to Rahcel making a lot of choices she would eventually regret.

"Do you approve of her friendship she has with Rob?" I asked him, and I could see that Tobias clearly felt like he was being cornered by my questioning, and clearly didn't like it.

"I don't fucking know." As Tobis said this, I felt like I needed to appreciate the fac that at least if for nothing else, he was being honest about how off she felt here.

"Do you feel like Rob resents us or something? I mean, he probably doesn't appreciate being all dragged into our stuff when his dad could get him into a lot of trouble over it." After Davis asked this, our pizza was brought down to the table. And Tobias dug right in with no wait.

"I doubt he does. But you need to be more careful. You don't want to do something that will put you on his dads radar." Yolei said, and I did feel as if though that was fair enough, and I could sort of get the point she was trying to make.

"Yeah that is true. I guess I'll just try to not say much to him then, as a way to not press the matter any worse than it is." As Tobias said that, he shook his head at how hard something like that would actually be.

"Impossible though. Given the fact that Rob and Rachel get along really well, and I'm bound to know more about what he wants to do. As Tobias said that, I could tell from the tone of voice that he was actually mildly upset over it.

I saw that from the look on Tobias's face that he was a bit upset with how things had gone. "Yeah, I just feel like at this point, I am sort of ready to try and put this all behind me. I never wanted this."

As he said that, I could see that he was sort of ready to try and put this all behind him, not to make it all worse for him. I had maintained to this day that if he had only had Andrea go missing, then he would have been able to put this all behind him. But with what happened to Yolei literally less than twenty four hours later, and later on what happened with Rachel some weeks later, that all seemed to be thrown out the window.

But before either, and specifically both, of those, the four of us spent nearly another hour and a half just genuinely getting to know each other as people, and sort of seeing what both of us wanted to do. I felt like the bridge between the two of us was closing a bit, and being able to see the world that Tobias wanted helped me appreciate him so much more.

When Davis and Tobias both left, Yolei and I were standing next toe ach other, and she grabbed my hand, and had a massive smile on her face. As if this was exactly what she had wanted. "Thanks for always being there for me. I really appreciate you just always hearing what I have to fucking say."

"I mean, I love those guys, but I feel like they will never understand what I am truly feeling here. They want to be heroes, but don't really show that they got how to be one at all." Yolei said, and I saw that she had looked like she was glad to know me for who I was.

"I just try and help out any way that I fucking can, and sort of see where to go from there." As I said that to her, I felt like I just needed to be utterly modest with her. To show her what I was really like deep down.

"I just feel like you're not giving yourself enough credit here. It doesn't always have to be you being all humble when people praise you for doing a good job here." Yolei told me, and with that, I was wondering where the hell I could go with that comment. I wanted to make her proud, no matter what happened.

"Look, I have a bad way of trying to say all this, but to be honest, I like you a lot, and I want to see how things can go from here." As she said that, I knew that she was wanting to have a relationship with me, and to be honest, the feeling was mutual.

Before I could say anything, she kissed me right in the lips, and in that moment, I was feeling like the entire world was perfect. The two of us both got exactly what we wanted, and I was feeling as if that was enough for me to get happier here.

When the kiss ended, I knew I was a total fucking idiot, and I knew that I was going to have the entire world make sense. I loved her, or I thought I did, and to be honest, I was ready to go on and try and see how things were, and see if I could be a good first boyfriend.

Scene 2.5 – The Soapbox Speech June 17, 1986

On my way home from the hang out, I was seeing a lower middle aged man giving a speech on top of a soap box. He wore a suit and a boy scout badge carrier on, and had some red hair that had gone a bit lighter with some mild grey streaks.

"We can't keep turning a blind eye to the growing issue of this town, and the people who live here. Every time we chose to not look at the problems head on, the amount of young women who go missing here is becoming too much to turn a blind eye on." As he said that, he looked at me, as if wondering what I would say here.

"I will continue to speak on these truths, as long as I can until the election. Please consider what I say, and my next speech will be on Thursday. Have a wonderful evening." He said, and then he looked straight at me.

"Hello. I can see at least one was interest in hearing me speak. I always get scared that none of what I say will stick to the landing." As he said that, I heard the sadness in his voice seeping in.

"I think most people are willing to just turn a blind eye at the problems this town face because they are scared to see and own up to the truth. At times like these, I feel a mild amount of resentment to my dad all these years later for letting me come here." As Todd said that, he proceeded to introduce himself. "My name is Todd Robinson. I am slowly trying to make a case for mayor of this town, although I know I will not get elected." As Todd said that to me, I wondered why he was so set on his idea that he had no chance of winning.

"I just try to instill in people that we need to change if we want to have any chance for Wayside to return back to when Count Cagliostro was the head." As he said that, I was beyond lost at the point that he was trying to get at here.

"Do you feel like the general population will even both to listen to you? I would want these mistakes to be fixed as well." I said, hoping he would see that nit al was lost if he was willing to give me a chance to work it all out. Todd took a cigarette out, as if feeling ready to give a real response to my inquiry.

"Well, I feel like if people did try and open their eyes more, then over time, maybe we can see the town change. But to be honest, I feel like this will never go down, so it is all entirely pointless to debate." As Todd told me this, I was seeing that in his mind, he didn't really know if he bought it all.

"What if your name?" He asked, as he was putting all his stuff away to try and get ready to be done for the day. I had no idea if I should tell him or not, but I felt like he would be a good ally.

"T.K. Shioda." I said, feeling a deep guttural feeling that even if I did not tell him, he would be able to find out anyway. So it might be best to just tell it to him straight up.

"Well, young man, I feel like if other people your age start to open up, and see what I am trying to do, then the world will be good." As he said that to me, I had no idea if I should buy it at all.

"I think I know some who will." I said, feeling as if I need to at least get to see what I was doing. "Tobias Wilson, a friend of mine, has been very affected by this, and I think he will do what he can for his cousin to return home." I said, and I hoped he would be willing to hear that.

"Yeah, I heard that name. I hope that he does well. But sadly his father and I don't get along very well at all, and I had to do what is best for me." As he told me this, I could tell from the look on his face that he as scared of the Wilson name.

I felt as if the best thing I could do was just simply not press the matter worse than I had, and to sort of let the situation be what it was.

"Just take it from me when I tell you that sooner or later, if you are not careful enough, I will have people who will just try and take advantage of you. I do not want that to end up happening to you." Todd said, and I wondered if he was referring to an event that had previously happened.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked, and I saw Todd look like he really wanted to tell me so much more, but had a hard time saying it. I wondered if he was too scared to say what was on his mind truly.

"I do, but not tonight. If you want to talk again, I will talk to you after my speech on Thursday." He said, and with that, he began to head off, and I stood there, wondering if I had wanted to be friends with a fucking politician.

What I did know was that I did not want to be enemies with the man, and that as a result, needed to see what was on his mind.

And as I felt like, I knew that I had to go on and do what I could here. If he was able to help me see what in the world was going on. Maybe if he helped me see what the hell happened to him, I would be able to help him out later, and the bridge would be closed.

Scene 3: The Wilson's June 18, 1986

Davis and I were at Tobias's house, and we were seeing him playing some sports with Gumball. I was shocked to see this, but I guessed Gumball was willing to put aside bad feelings and give Tobias the support that he needed.

"Hey. Sorry to hear about Yolei." As Gumball said that, I was seeing him look like he was so scared of what Tobias would say, and if either Davis or I would be holding up at all.

"Look, if you guys need me to leave, I can just try and leave you all alone." Gumball said, and he sounded like he was genuinely a bit sad at this whole thing, like he was feeling as if he had invaded something that was kind of none of his business.

"No, it's okay. She was one of your classmates. If you want to talk about her at all, then you have every right to talk." Davis said, as if feeling like there was no reason to try and oppose this.

"Well, that's really what it al comes down to. I really have no real bond with Yolei. She was just one of my classmates. And we barely got any real time together." As Gumball said this, I could tell that he was sounding like he regretted the way that things went.

"Well, I guess this shows that maybe in the future, we all need to take more time to know how our classmates are." Tobias said, as if he felt that was what really mattered at the end of the day.

"You can fucking say that again." I said, thinking of how I did not want to have a girl in my class become a victim of that awful sound or straight up die, and I have no clue who the hell they were. I would never be able to forgive myself.

"T.K., is there something you regret? That look on your face really gives off that impression." Gumball asked, and I was wondering if I should tell them about the kiss, or if I should be sort of keeping that to myself. I knew how much Davis liked her, and I knew he would not be too happy if he knew that I kissed her after she said that she liked me.

"I just wonder if I made the right choice a lot of the time. You know, a lot of what I've done has been pretty messy." I said, since that was still true enough, and it was something that had been kind of on my head.

"That's a fair point. But Rachel has told me the best thing to do is just focus on the future, and less on the past. Because what's done is done, and we're just wasting our time on it." As Tobias said that to me, I felt like I was ready.

"Well, have you thought Rachel is just sort of saying that in order to get you to not make her same mistakes? Maybe she is just thinking of the past here." Davis told him, and I saw him hoping really badly that Tobias was going to be able to just listen to him here.

"I bet she is. And I bet that she understands how this works better than me. We seem to just chose to forget that she is three years older than us. So I feel like we need to just try and listen to her more." Tobais said, as if he had hoped Davis would see that he did actually respect his sisters wisdom after all. Gumball still looked scared at what he was thrown into.

"Yeah, sorry. I guess I do sort of see the point you're making." As Davis said that, I saw that he looked a bit upset at the fact that it had felt like he was just being lectured every time he spoke.

"Guys, don't bullshit me. What are you all planning to do? You told me you were planning to just have a normal summer and life." As he said that, I looked straight at Tobias, and I hoped that one way or another, he was going to be honest with what he was going to do.

"I don't know. I definitely think I should take a day off to rest and hang out every week from now on. You know, have a life… But I would be lying if I said that I didn't want to look for Yolei with Davis and T.K." He said, and I nodded, able to respect the fact that he was honest about it.

"Yeah, that's probably for the best. I mean, Rachel did tell me that she was scared of your lack of sleep." Davis said, this time as a worried friend more than as a smart ass.

"I'm thirteen years old. I need to make my own choices on life now. And accept what comes. I'm not a god damn baby at all anymore." Tobias said, and I was seeing Davis look like he wasn't sure if he really bought it.

I felt like both sides of the equation were very valid, and that I had a hard time really making my mind up which side I agreed with more. I did know I was glad to hear he was able to see that he needed to take a day off every few days. "Well, I guess you have made your mind up. So I guess I just need to let it go."

Tobias nodded, and I knew he was glad to see at the end of the day, we were all able to sort of come to some form of compromise. Even Gumball looked like he was glad to sort of see that the tension had at least partially subsided.

"Maybe I can go on, and try to talk with my parents about what they know here. Maybe if we jus try and see if mom knows anything…" As Gumball said this, Tobias looked at him, as if wondering where Gumball was planning going here.

"What the fuck do you think your mom will even be able to do to help you out here?" Tobias asked, and I was sort of seeing him trying really hard not to show his uncertainty here.

"I get that it sounds ridiculous, but since my mom does have connections with Shaun, I do think she can be able to talk to me about what is happening here." Gumball said, trying really hard not to sound defensive. But I knew it did bother him, hearing how Tobias had been speaking of her.

"Look, I know it is hard to get it, but she really does seem to have a on what she wants here. So if I ask her for her help, I know she will give it to me." As Gumball said that, he just sounded like he was desperate, and really did want Tobias to give it a fucking chance.

"Well, sadly, at this point in time, I might as well go for it. I have nothing to really lose out on here." Tobias said, and then for the first time all hang out, he placed the ball down on the ground.

"Now, be straight with me dude… Do you feel like your mother really would be willing to help me, after all that I have done to you… I mean, we only just started to reconnect here." Tobias said, and I could hear he regret in his voice as he was saying that.

"Well, I told her we had been working on burying the hatchet, and if she does want to know more, just tell her you're sorry. I f you apologize to her, it will all be fine." Gumball said, but I could tell from his voice that he did not really sound so sure anymore and was just saying what was on his mind.

"Okay, I guess that's not too bad. Guess I might as well give it a go." As Gumball said that, I could tell he was ready to at least try and be responsible, and I was glad to see that he was able to move forward. Made me feel like he was a truly worthy friend.

Scene 4: Apology June 18, 1986, Evening

We were at Gumball's house, and I saw that Darwin, Anais, and Richard were out cooking for a bit. They all looked right at me, and then were shocked to see that Tobias was there to begin with. As if wondering what he was going on planning to do.

"Hey, is Nicole here?" Tobias asked, and I saw that Darwin was worried as to where this was heading. And I could see that we were all a bit worried about how this was about to lead.

"She's working tonight. Said that Shaun wants her to start to work on the factory that is being built a mile away from here." Richard told Tobias, and as I saw him cooking, I saw him turn over again, and start to piece it together what Tobias was doing.

"I thought that you and my son got in a fight a couple of months back. Gave him a fucking black eye, and you come here trying to be friends with him?" Richard asked, and I could tell that he was doing his best to hold back both a level of anger, and also impressment. I had never seen Richard exhibit either in our handful of interactions.

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened. I gave him my apologies, and I want to try and make things right. I just feel like a lot has changed." As Tobias said that to Richad, I saw that Richard was at least trying to see it in his angle.

"Well, that was almost two months ago. I feel like you need to really work on it to pull it through. But I won't turn you down a chance to make things right." When Richard said that, I saw Tobias slowly nod, as if that was something he would fucking take.

"Look, I also heard what went down with your cousin. Nobody your age should have to with that." As he said that to Tobias, I was seeing Tobias kind of look a bit upset that they brought Andrea into it, but seemed to get that it wasn't worth the fight.

"I'm trying to not be thinking too deeply on it." As he said that, I saw that Tobias looked like he was trying to keep his cool. To be honest, I was having a feeling that the subject need to change, if we were all going to be able to have any level of cool with this.

"To be honest, I feel like this is a summer that came out of hell. And that I made a ton of mistakes. Sorry for everything, but I feel as if I am never going to be a normal guy again." As Tobias said that, I was wondering if he needed some other form of help to make him feel better.

"Do you feel like you'll need to get some therapy here?" Darwin asked, and I saw that Tobias was looking as if he wanted to shoot the idea down, but had no real way of being able to do something like that. "You might be able to see what they will suggest to you, and it might work out."

"I don't know if I want to do stuff like that. I feel like they'll just pretend to be interested in my shit, but they'll just go through the motions of what they think they want me to hear." Tobias said, and he said it in such a confident way that I was almost able to believe that was exactly how things were going to go. And to be honest, I had no clue where this would go if we were going to let it all stew.

"So Tobias, do you have any other friends who can help you with your issues on Andrea? Or do you fee like you have to bring Gumball into this?" As Richard asked this, I was seeing Tobias look like he was horrified at how this was being turned into somehow his fault.

"Not really. I never realized how alone I was until Andrea went missing, and I barely had a single person at my side for me. People just got to the point they would rather hide from the bigger issues than help." Tobias said, and I saw that he genuinely looked resentful at this fact, which I suppose made sense.

"I guess that makes sense. Gumball did tell me he was scared about you needing friends at your side. But I never gave it much thought. Well, I hope you will find the people you need to help you out here." As Richard said that, he looked at Darwin and Anais, as if he had something new come to his mind.

"Have you had any chance to get to know my younger kids? Darwin and Anais." As Richard asked, I saw Tobias look like this was not a subject that he was really ready to go down.

"I have seen Darwin at school a few times, but I doubt I ever met Anais before." Tobias admitted, and I could see from the look on his face that he really could not recall, to save his life. As if he never so much as much her.

"Well, she's only eight years old. So it's not like you guys are close in grade at all." Richard said, as he talked, the house got a call from Nicole, which made Gumball tense up for a bit. I had no idea what the hell had made him so scared in the first place.

"I'll answer it." Gumball said, but I can tell from his tone of voice that he was a bit unsure. So I decided to follow him, so I could see what the hell the issue was.

Once I was in the room with Gumball, he picked up the phone, and for some reason, the look on his face was clear that he wanted to just get this done with as soon as he could.

"Hey mom. Sorry I didn't mee you at the store today. One of my friends with dealing with something, and I am trying to fucking help him out." Gumball said, and I could tell he had hoped that she was going to listen to him, and not yell at him relentlessly.

"Oh Gumball, I was wanting to talk to you about that to be honest. I have been really busy with a lot of commissions, and I don't know how much I can be able to really be around anymore. Don't worry about waiting for me for anything." As she said this, I could hear her both sound sad and relieved, to know that this wasn't going to be a burden for too much longer.

"Oh, okay. Thanks for telling me that." Gumball said, and he sounded like he was a bit upset here. As if he has felt like this was yet another promise that she was not going to be following through with. A fact of life, that by this point, sadly he had gotten used to.

"I guess I should have seen this coming. I mean, you have been busy for a really fucking long time, and I guess these types of things do sort of make sense." As Gumball said this, I could tell he was trying so hard to see it from his mothers perspective. But he was still very clearly let down there.

"Which friend were you helping?" Nicole asked, and I saw that Gumball looked to be worried of telling her the truth. But I think he knew deep down, that it was best to just simply tell her the truth, and to be fucking done with it.

"Tobias Wilson. And T.K. Shioda and Davis. I thought that they needed some help after a girl in my class went missing. Her name was Yolei. I just want to fucking help." As Gumball said that, he had hoped that his mom can see that he was trying his best to get her to see that perspective.

"I guess I get it. I still don't approve of your friendship with Tobias, but I have a feeling you're going to do all of this anyways. So I might we well just sort of fucking let it happen." As she said that, Gumball seemed to just be happy that she saw how fruitless it was to fight him here.

"Just make sure you know when to drop it, and accept if things don't exactly go the way you plan." Nicole said, and she was saying it in a way that heavily hinted that she didn't have a ton of faith in Gumball.

Gumball took a deep breath, as if he had felt that there was no way to hide it. He felt that his mother probably did get how the world did work, and was always going to keep things real, no matter how hard all of those truths were.

"I will mom. Just give me a chance to work it all out." Gumball said, feeling that at this age, thirteen, there was no need to worry about any of that at all. Then with that, he hug up, and looked right at me, as if hoping I wouldn't tr and ruffle shit anymore, and be cool with him.

He looked at me, and I saw from the look on his face that he was tired of how this had all gone down. As if she had felt like he was a idiot, and Gumball was tired of being treated like one. "Let's go back out before I get sick of this shit."

As Gumball left the house, he was leaving me there to wonder what I was even wanting to do now. Since to be honest, I was feeling that I was going to make no damn difference at all. I just was now at a point where I was going to see how much I could do before the end of summer break.

When we were outside again, I could tell his dad was clearly wanting to know what the talk had been over. "Do you want to talk to us about it?" Richard asked, as if he had felt like he needed to try and control what was going on here.

"Nothing really. She was mainly telling me that she was going to be doing a lot of work that she needed to do. As if that would make me feel so much better about everything. She has given me so many fucking promises, and I should know she wouldn't follow them." Gumball said, and I knew his father wanted to tell Gumball to knock it off. But deep down inside, he knew he had to let him say what was on his mind after all that had gone down earlier.

"Just try and be careful what you say about her to her face. If she heard you say all that, she would be furious at this. And there is literally nothing I can do to hold her back on showing her anger if you push her." As he said that, I was seeing Gumball look like he was able to see where his dad had sort of been coming from.

"It just sucks, alright. Am I just not allowed to feel that way?" Gumball asked, and he had hoped that his dad was going to get the picture, and get off his back.

"Let's just enjoy our dinner." Richard said, as if trying to hold his anger back a bit, since I knew this was in no way the first time this became a massive debate.

With that, knowing full well he was on super thin ice, Gumball just chose to let it go, and I got my burger and two hot dogs, and sat down. I did think of the concept of promises and one that I had already failed on.

I made a promise to Yolei three days before she went missing, where I told her I was going to keep her safe, and make sure nothing would ever happen to her. And not even a full week later, that had gone down the drain.

I thought at the time I made it, that I could be able to keep her safe. At the time, I had every single intention to go through with it. But I could have had no clue that just three fucking days later, she would not only die, but die in a way that there was literally nothing that I could have been able to do about it.

Scene 5: Promise Failed (June 15, 1986)

I was meeting up with Yolei, and I felt that I needed to speak to her all about what had been going on here. "What's on your mind?" I asked, as I felt like I just needed to sort of let her take the talk over, and see what I could do to make her feel better.

"Well, I wanted you to promise me something. I don't know how much you can do it. But I need you to at least try. But would you be able to promise me that no matter what happens, that you will keep me safe?" She asked, and I saw that she was being totally serious as she said that. I felt like I needed to tell her exactly what she needed to hear.

"I will keep you safe as long as I can." I told her, not aware that I was only able to keep her safe for a grand total of three days. Which I did not think even I could be able to imagine that things could have been that way.

"Thank you." Yolei told me, and I slowly nodded since I felt as if I needed to at least try my best to keep the promise. Even if the whole thing was a bit stupid, I just needed to run with the deal.

"T.K., I want to talk to Davis about why I am so scared. But I feel if I do, he will either not really get me, or he will try and take the burden of the world on by himself. And to be honest, I don't really want to have him take on the world." Yolei told me, and to be honest, I totally got her. She was right about him, and I knew deep down Davis was the biggest threat to his own safety.

"But do you think that maybe he will listen to you if you straight up tell him what you're scared of?" I asked him, and I felt like I just needed to try and be as honest with her as I asked this. I had no idea if she was going to actually listen to me here.

"I feel like he won't appreciate the shit I say because it will be calling him out directly, and I so sort of see where he is coming from." As Yolei told me this, I could see from the tone of her voice that she still did care about Davis a lot, and I felt like she really did want to avoid hurting his feelings if she was able to do so.

"I promise I will not tell him of this talk." I feel like I need to respect what she wanted. And like the other shit I said, at the time I had made the promise, I did intend on keeping it.

"I feel like Davis deserves so much better than what I have done to him. I have seen him try so hard on this whole friendship, and yet I haven't given him anything in return. I want to love him back, I really do. But for some god damn reason, I can't feel the same way. He deserves a good girl to love him back." Yolei told me, and I nodded. I had no desire to tell Davis what I heard. If I did, I would only break his heart, and by god, I did not want to do that.

"I won't tell him that you feel that way. Your secret is safe with me." I told Yolei, and that was the only promise, that for a while at least, I was actually able to keep. I was able to keep Davis from the pain of Yolei's true feelings, and at the same time, was able to keep my long, long, dead friend from losing the image that she had in the eyes of the public. And most of all, or at least the most to me, keep her image to Davis for a lot longer than I would have otherwise.

"I'm just really sad about all of this. I just feel like really let the guy down. Let's just forget about it for now." She said, and I really felt that what she wanted was the best thing I could do here. "I think I want to go with you to the skating ring."

I was shocked to hear her tell me that. Especially since to be honest, I sort of felt like I was going to be kind of on my own level. So I just sort of nodded. Feeling no need to fight with her if she truly felt this way.

"Thank you." She said, and once she had seen that I agreed with her wishes. As we were walking towards the ring, I saw from her look, that she had another thought on her mind. "So, have you been getting better at the skating?"

I sighed. I had no clue what in the world I was supposed to tell her. To be honest with her, I felt like it was at least partially her fault that it had gone down this way.

"No, I haven't been able to have as much time as I should to work on it. Just to be honest, I feel like every god damn time I try to work on it, I saw what I should be doing. Which is helping Tobias out. I just feel as if all the skating shit is useless when all of his shit is going on." I told her, feeling that was honest, but too fucking honest, and not enough to get upset at me.

"You need to try to do what you feel like is best for you. I mean, I love how much you want to help people here. But you need to do what is good for yourself. If you want to be able to get people to respect your vision." As Yolei told me this, I saw her look like she had hoped that I would at least try and listen to her.

"I guess that might be true. But it still feels wrong. If I am being fully honest. I just feel like I need to be way more caring about those who are around me." I told her, and that was when we were at the skating ring. She looked so damn glad to be honest, that I had no real clue what I was really going to accomplish. I guess just skate a lit, and put a smile on her cute face.

Once at the ring, and skating for a bit, I will admit that hour or so did feel really good. I felt like I could live the life I had wanted to, and not at all worry about what the hell had been going down.

After I had skated that hour or so, I looked at Yolei, and I was seeing that even if she was trying to hide it, she that what I was doing was rather cute. I knew deep down that despite the fact that I shouldn't be showing the way I felt, I could not really hide it at all.

"So Yolei, is that all you were hoping it would be?" I asked her, and I had no idea if I was being smart here. Getting her to just show even a small hint of emotion there. "I can keep going if you want."

"Sadly I can't. I need to do my next baby sitting round with Cody. I like the kid, but some times I find myself not wanting to do it. But then I remember what my parents always tell me about how I need to be responsible." Yolei said, as if she knew deep down he was right, but just fucking hated to admit so.

"Besides, despite how much I don't want to do the job, I do want to see Cody. I always like to sort of see how he is doing. And when we talk, I just feel like I need to be there for him." Yolei said, and whle she never told me, Cody did tell me that Yolei said she viewed him as a younger brother figure. Makes sense, since he had only been nice years old at the time Yolei died.

She and I held hands for a second, and to be honest, I wanted to tell her so many things. I wanted to tell her how much she meant to me this last year. But to be honest, I had no idea if this was going to be the best way to go at this.

"Tell Cody I said hi. And tell him that I am glad he found a person who he cares about as much as he cares about you." As I said that, Yolei nodded, and began to head off. As she left, I felt like there wasn't any way at all that I could tell her how I felt. At least not today. At least not when I had no clue what in the world the wording of my point would be.

Obviously, none of us knew it at the time, but that was the last time Cody got to see Yolei alive. And to be honest, I was glad it was when she was still a bit happy. When she felt like the town was not going to be against her.

I did not know at the time either that how much what happened was going to kill Cody. I never thought I knew how much Yolei had meant to him with his time with her. I felt like if I had known how much she meant to him at the time, I would have worked so god damn hard to bring her home specifically for his sake. Even though we would learn later on she had been dead before we even knew she was missing. I felt like he would be able to still respect the effort.

But deep down, I just felt glad to be able to have an excuse to keep up the skating life. Since Yolei herself told me that she had wanted this, and when people come to me on the matter, I was always able to use this as the best excuse I could. And I had hoped that in a way, I could eventually get good at it. You know, to be able to find some way to honor her spirit.

Scene 6 – The Baby (June 19, 1986, Morning)

Before the day got too late, I chose to meet up with Larry again, to meet his two to three day old son. But before that, I chose to meet up with Leo. To just tell him about the news with Yolei, and just be as honest with him as I could on the fact that this was going to be a romantic ending, and it was going to be more sad than it would not be, for his sake.

When he saw me, this time, I could tell that he seemed to be much more chill with me than last time. As if he was glad to see me. Which was a far cry from how he used to be when we used to be around each other.

"T.K., what brings you here?" He asked, and I could see that he was still a bit scared on what I was going to tell him. But to be honest, I felt like he didn't need to be too scared about where this was going. The two of us were going to be always there together.

"Well, I just wanted to tell you about what is going on here. My friend Yolei, who you saw at the arcade that one time… Well, she is gone now. And I am going to do my best to find her. She needs to stay safe. No matter how long it takes to get her back, so I might not be here too much anymore." I told him, and I could tell that Leo did look a bit sad at what I just told him, but the pieces connected.

"I guess that explains you coming over yesterday… But T.K., are you sure you want to do this? If you don't want to deal with this, then just let the police do it." As Leo said that, he seemed to try and see where I was heading with that. And he played his game while he waited for me to respond.

"I do. I trust myself the most. I am not too sure if I truly trust the police here. So I just feel like I need to do this all on my own." I told him, and I saw that Leo looked shocked there.

"The police are protectors though." He said, and I could tell that this was not the response he ever wanted to say. As if he hated saying anything at all bad about the police. I slowly nodded, since I knew one day he will be able to see the bigger picture.

"You will ever be able to see the truth if you think police officers are the people who keep us safe." I said, as I felt like I would be the one who would do more protecting than the police. Leo shook his head, as if he had felt like I didn't see the bigger picture at all either.

"If you feel that way, then I think you might be the one who needs to make some more peace with this." As Leo told me this, I felt bad about being lectured by a ten year old kid. Mainly because deep down, I wondered if he was right.

"You said that a girl you used to like came here a lot. But she was no longer coming?" I asked, feeling that I needed to press him on the matter here. With that, Leo looked at me, as if he felt like I needed to be real careful on where I take this.

"To be honest, I try to just forget all about that. I like to think either she no longer plays games, she moved away, or she is dead. I would rather her be dead than her no longer being able to stand me." After he told me this, I was shocked to hear him say that. I thought that I never would have heard anybody say that at all.

"Wow, are you sure you feel that way?" I asked him, and he slowly nodded. He really seemed to believe what he said. So I chose to leave him alone about it. "I mean, I feel like you are way too young to turn your back on people like this." I said, and I had hoped he was willing to see that he shouldn't talk like this at all.

"Look, I feel like you are going to try and fight this war one way or another. I am not going to stop you from doing what you want to do. I just feel like what you want to do is going to be really dumb. As Leo told me this, he stopped his game, as if he wanted to find out what he was going to pick up here.

"I just wanted to tell you what went down, and what I am doing. You are in no way forced to help me. But if you do, then great." I said, hoping that I would just get him away from his really dry attitude. But I felt like I needed to try and keep him from being super oblivious to the world.

"I don't know dude. I will have to think about it a bit. Let me be honest with you, a part of me feels like I should, but I'm not too sure if I am ready for this." He said, as if he were trying to sort of make a choice right here and right now. But it seemed like he wasn't sure if that was possible.

"Just give me a bit of time to think about it. I still want to do all these things. You know, like break the high score on my game, and just enjoy my time in school. I get that might not be what you want to hear… But I just feel like I need to be honest here." As he said that to me, I nodded. I felt like I just needed to be honest here, to make him feel better.

"If you ever need somebody to talk to, then I am always here for you." I said, and I saw from the look on his face that he was sort of thinking about what he would say.

"I am going to be heading out. I don't really want to make you hold up any longer." I told him, and I was seeing Leo look like he was trying to decide what the hell he was going to do now.

"What are you planning on doing now?" Leo asked me, and I had no idea what in the world I was supposed to tell him. If I was even supposed to tell him anything at all. But I felt that being honest was the best action.

"I am going to be meeting up with Larry. I want to meet his new kid. See if he needs any help here." I told him, and I could see from the look on his face that he seemed to want to actually go along with this for now.

"Fuck it. I think I'll go. Not too sure if I should be doing this, but it seems harmless enough." As he said that to me, I slowly nodded. I had nothing else to lose by doing this. SO I felt like I just needed to take a deep breath.

"Go ahead and at least finish the round you're on first." I said, and I saw from the look on his face that he really did not know if he had made the right choice here. As I told him that, I had no idea what in the world Leo would get by coming with me here. But I felt at the end, he probably did make the right choice.

We were there for about another ten to fifteen minutes before Leo was done with his current game. When he finished, he began to head towards me. He had a faint smile on his face, as if he was proud of the work he had done here. "I'm ready to head out now. Sorry for taking so long. I just wanted to make sure that I got to at least beat my current score. But I thought I would be done sooner." Keo said, and I could already tell that he was regretting his choices.

"Good job for that. Glad that you got to be happier for this." I said, and I had no idea what the hell I even cared about this for. Probably just a way to show him that I was ready to do what was best for him.

"Thanks. I really have no idea why it matters now. But it does to me." After he said that to me, I had felt like it mattered to him because he was still a ten year old kid, who still had a whimsical interest and still wanted to cling on.

As we went on our way to Larry's house, I saw that Leo really did look like he was trying to figure out what he was feeling, lost on his own. I wondered if he had any real clue on what he had gotten himself into, and why I thought I should have even brought him along.

"T.K., do you feel like Larry is even going to like you all that much? I mean, I know that the two of you have always been kind of at odds with each other." As Leo told me this, I saw him look like he had hoped that I would take what he said more serious.

"I don't care what the fuck Larry thinks. I am going to make him talk to me, and I am not going to be taking no for an answer at all." As I told him this, I wanted Leo to just kind of leave me alone about the matter for a bit.

"You say you don't care what he thinks, but then you go on and you tell me that you want to talk to him about all the things that happened here. I just sort of find your attitude on the matter to be rather odd. If I am going to be honest." As Leo told me this, I saw him looking look he was going to be dealing with a man who had no real consistent clue wat he had truly wanted to be doing.

"I might not like what his opinion on something is, while knowing that the opinion itself is what really matters." As I told him this, I saw that he had sort of been thinking about that. As if he had felt like what I said was kind of a big mistake. But one that he would be a part of, just in case he needed to keep me safe.

"Well, do you feel like with his new kid, that he might go on and tone it down as much as he could? Like he will be a lot more cool with helping all of us out?" As Leo told me this, I sort of had no clue what he was even going to accomplish there. I wondered if he had been trying to get me to see that I was wrong on my plan.

"I mean, I guess I sort of see that. But to be honest with you, I feel like as a sixty nine year old man, his beliefs are way too set in stone. Nothing will be done to change it." I told him, and I hoped that This would just get that theory to end before it would really begin.

As we were close to the house Larry lived at, I saw his girlfriend, who looked young enough to be his daughter, carrying a baby on her arms. When I looked at Lars, at mere days old, I never would have seen what Lars would be. Both the most important, and in a way, sadly the biggest monster of the town.

And I had been there to watch it all happen, and I could have changed it around. But to be honest, I really did not think I could have changed the man that he would have been anyways. I probably would have at best delayed what happened.

"Hey Larry." I said, and I saw him looking like he had sort of no clue what the hell he was supposed to tell me. Almost as if he was scared to talk to me. Like he had no idea what he would do, and with Lars just born, it would probably be for the worst.

"I just wanted to see if you were willing to introduce me to Lars. I was also sort of interested in how you were doing." I said, but I could tell from the way that Leo looked that he was clearly scared at what would come from this.

"Honestly, I am just trying to live a new and more honest life here. I have made a lot of mistakes, and I am trying to avoid those all with my god damn son here now. So I am sure you would see why this would not be for me." As Larry said that, I shook my head. Since in all honesty, I was in no mood to deal with any of this shit.

"What do you mean more honest? What types of lies have you had over the years? And I am sure that Lars will not judge you for the things you did." I told him, and he shook his head. As if he had been annoyed that I was trying to clearly pry some info from him here.

"Well, I just was able to do what I wanted, and always be able to justify it as me doing business. I don't know why, but it always seemed okay when I looked at it from the side of my job. But now I feel like with Lars, I should not be looking at all of this that way anymore." As Lars told me this, I felt like what he was saying was all fair enough, given everything.

"Your son never has to know any of that. Just simply never tell him what you did, and I am sure that he will be all cool with it if he ever were to learn the truth." I told him, since I had a feeling he needed to hear me at least try and give him some form of reassurance that none of this was going to get any worse.

"I know he doesn't. If I do a good job pretending none of this went down, then I feel like we will all be way better. I just hope that none of the people I have worked with will try and force me to go back to working like this with them." He said, and then he looked right at Leo for a bit.

"Who are you anyway?" Larry asked, and I felt like that was a very cold way of greeting a person. But I felt that was Larry still showing a hint of his more businessman like side. Which I guess makes sense when you go sixty nine years with no kids.

"My name is Leo Tanner. I am a ten year old guy who has been hanging out with T.K. lately." Leo said, as if asserting the fact that he was in the double digits was going to really make him seem like he was much more on top of the world to Larry than being nine would have.

"Oh yeah, I think I recall you at the arcade once or twice. Look, has anybody ever told you the truth?" He asked, as if he would find a way to try and get Leo to show any sort of reaction at all.

"What do you mean, the truth?" Leo asked, and I could tell from the tone of his voice that he was sort of hiding the way he had been feeling. "Tell me what you know. If you know something I don't, then let me know."

"Well, I think maybe you could talk to your mom about this. But you look a lot like one guy who has been working at Lazarus for quite a while." After Larry said that, I saw Leo look like he had been thinking about what Larry had just told him. He just shook his head, as if too scared to say more.

"I guess I should talk to my mom about this. There is no way she would hold out on me." After Leo said that, I could tell that he did not seem so sure if he actually believed what he said. As if he was scared to think on if she had lied to him or something.

"Wait T.K., didn't Davis say he was having a sibling on the way? Maybe Lars can hang out with her when she's born?" Leo asked, clearly desperate to try and just change the subject. As if he didn't want to think of what it was like to go any different way.

"Oh yeah, he did. But that is for Larry to decide, is that not?" I asked, and I could see that Larry looked like he was glad to see that we had been giving him any sort of respect at all. "And I feel like Lars will probably not be interested in girls, at least not yet." I said, not knowing that in thirty seven years time, Lars was going to be having sex with, and having children with, more teenage girls on a monthly basis than I would have ever fathomed.

"Regardless, you are deflecting the point here. If you wan to hang out with me, and help me out here, that is great. But to be honest, I feel like you need to sort of see the truth of yourself before you try and do all that" Larry said, and I was feeling like I needed to find a way to try and defend Leo for the way that Lars had been talking to him here. Since even to myself, it was feeling way too far.

"Look dude. I don't know who my dad is, and me looking like that guy is most likely just a coincidence. But if that is what I need to do to get you to trust me, then fine." He said and I could hear the detest in his voice as he said that.

"You will thank me when you do this. Trust me. This will be exactly what you fucking need." As he said that, I saw him looking as if he hoped that when Leo would get this truth, he would be able to respect Larry way more than he used to.

Leo and I looked at the baby, and I saw him look like he had wanted to say something, so he just shook his head. As if he was sort of feeling like he needed to get his sense of responsibility here. Like nothing else mattered but doing this.

"Want to just do this right now?" Leo asked me, and I looked right at him. I felt like I needed to be honest with him. Even if it hurt him to hear, I felt like he would at least be able to appreciate me being so there.

"I think I need to try to talk to my man for a bit. When I am done, I will meet up with you again. But for now, I need to talk to Larry." As I said this, I could see Leo ball his fist a bit. As if he felt like I had told him the worst thing he could have heard.

"Talk to you tomorrow. I will tell you what I hear." Leo said, and I can hear that he was a bit pissed off that I told him this. When he left, I looked straight at Larry, and I felt like I just needed to try and be straight with him. To be honest, I had no clue what in the world Larry even tried to do with Leo here. As if he had set this up, as a way to get Leo to sort of break.

Scene 7: Brad Carbunkle (June 13, 1986, Late Afternoon)

Yolei, Davis, Tobias, and I were all going to the church that had looked like it had not been used in decades. As we were there, we saw that there was a guy tending to the alter. Which had been a place where a bunch of plants had been planted, and happened to grow. I would later learn that this was one of the last places in all of Wayside that had a real form of environment in it.

He had been talking to a red head man, and I could tell from the look on Yolei's face that she was happy to see him there. And that this was how all her expectations would come together.

"Hey Brad. Glad to see you there." As she had said that to Brad, I saw the red head turn to her. She seemed glad to see that Brad was willing to give her any light there. I saw from the look on Yolei's face that she really did appreciate him.

"Thanks. Good to see you too. Just helping my good friend out. He said, and I could see that he almost sounded like he had regretted how things were going now.

"Sorry I have not been able to see you all that much lately. I just have been caught up in a lot of jobs." As he said that, it had seemed like he had a level of genuine remorse for all that he had said. Yolei's mind as he this, as she felt he was too hard on himself.

"It's okay. You have a job to do. You don't need to apologize to me for just working." She told Brad, and I looked right at him. This was the first time I ever met him, and I was just trying to decide if I was at all impressed with what he was like.

To be honest, even at that time, I just felt like there was something up with that guy. As if he was going to be my biggest enemy in the world. Or he was going to be the one that would help me see how it would all come together.

"Who are your friends?" Brad asked her, and Yolei looked like she was shocked to see him have any interest in that at all. She slowly nodded, as if she was just glad to see that Brad was able to give her any interest in her friends.

"They're Davis, Tobias, and T.K. They have been helping me out a lot the last few days. You know, after the grinding noise went off. I have been really god damn scared honestly." Yolei said, since it was true. But she did not want to cause Brad to be paranoid.

"Yeah, my manager has been telling me that I should try and look into that. But if I am honest, I have no idea if that is what I want to do." He said, and I could tell that he felt like he needed to kind of clarify what he meant when he said that.

"What I mean is that in all honesty, I feel like it is a lost cause to even look into that in the first place. My boss feels like there is a chance the girls can be found. But I feel like that is just never going to happen." As Brad said that, I could tell that Yolei looked like she was rather down by what he had just said.

"To be honest, I just feel like I might as well not even try." When he finished, he shrugged. As if he had felt like that was all he could have said in order to make it better for us all there.

"What do you feel like you can be able to do then? If you feel like you can't be able to learn the truth." Davis said, and I could tell that he had no real desire to hear any of this at all.

"I think the best I can be able to do is just get confirmation on if some of the girls are dead or not. Aside from that, I feel as if there is nothing I can really provide." As Brad said that, I had no clue if that was what he had wanted to tell us, or what he felt like he needed to tell us. Both sides of it were a bit hard to be sure of.

"That would really fucking suck, one way or another." I said, and I could tell that I needed to sort of give Brad a bit of a break. After all, if Brad had sort of seen that he failed, then I needed to be a bit more gentle with the guy. After all, he had been doing his best to really turn it all around. And I felt like I needed to really learn what forced him into all of this.

"I believe you can what is right at the end of the day." After Yolei said that, I would see that she was really hoping that Brad would at least consider what she told him. As if she thought Brad was really the only one who would be able to actually make any lick of difference.

"What made you even come here in the first place?" The pastor asked, and I could see that none of the three of us would have been ready for this. So with that, Yolei took a long and deep breath. Feeling as if would just be honest.

"Well, I thought I would come here based on things I heard. I think my friend said his older sister has gone here with her friend." She said, pointing to Tobias when showing which one she was thinking about.

"I think she said she went with a guy named Rob. And she said that she was planning on bringing the garden in Wayside back. Even if it was just only a smidge." She said, smiling at the thought of there being a garden in Wayside again. As if she had felt like it had been way too long since we had a genuinely pretty place in town.

"Rob Reichenbach What in the world was he even doing here?" Brad asked, and I could see he was now starting to get a bot scared of that. As if Rob seeing what a beautiful place this was would change his mind on a lot of things.

"Well, I think he was mainly wanting to see what in the world made Rachel so happy to be here. She had said so much about it that surely his curiosity would be able to get the better of him." As Yolei said that, she looked at Tobias, as if she hoped he would be able to back her up on this.

"I think the last time she has been here was about two weeks or so ago. You know, the girl with the dyed hair." Tobias said that, mentioning the hair to stir his memory. And he had hoped that the pastor would have a bell ring with that. He slowly nodded, showing Tobias he got what he was shooting for.

"Oh yeah, that does ring a bit of a bell. Never thought of it too much to be honest." The pastor said, and I could tell that he was a bit annoyed that the entire topic had been thrown down the drain because of this.

"Look, I am gong to be going home for the rest of the day. Go ahead and stay if you want. But please, don't do anything too stupid. I know it will be your guys fault if something does go down." As the pastor said that, he went off. As he was slowly out of the area, I could see that Brad had looked like he was a bit worried about what was in his mind. As if he had thought that the two of us were going to royally screw all of this shit up.

"Guys, tell me the truth. What in the world are you really here for? This stuff is not funny, and I will have no choice but to take things to my hands if this seems sketchy." He said, and I could ell from the look on his face that he had hoped we would not argue with him about this.

"What are you doing at the church?" Yolei asked, in an attempt to be able to turn the tables to him. He looked as if he had it cute that she tried to turn it around on him there.

"Well, the pastor told me some really interesting things. He said he was in the middle of working on a green house for the town. He said that his wife has a feeling she will die soon, and wants to leave something behind for the world. To show that she had done the right thing." As Brad said this, it had seemed like he had felt like this was really god damn dumb.

"Do you have any idea why she is so sure she will die soon?" Davis asked, feeling like he needed to press the one topic that did actually get his interest a bit.

Brad took a deep breath, as if he had felt that was a good enough question. "Well, to be honest, I am not one hundred present sure. Just things I heard." He said, and then I would tell Davis would not let it go at all.

"She said something about how when she was twelve years old, she went to a water fountain. At the fountain, she said she had a vision there. Saying that she passes away June or July 1986." Brad said, and I could tell he didn't buy it quite yet.

"So yeah, I don't know what it all means, and to be honest, I don't really know if I care enough to dig deeper into it. So you know, I just feel like it would be best to sort of let her be on her own world for now." As Brad told me this, I saw him look like he was almost unable to believe that he even said this in the first place.

"So you think she believes in things like superstitious bullshit?" As Davis asked this, I could see that Brad seemed like he really did regret what he said.. Almost as if he thought Davis would just accuse him of trying his best to stir chaos.

"I don't know if she does or not. But I do know she believes her impending death, and I will try to see where she comes from maybe at the end. You should try and do the same." Brad told us, and I could see from his composure that he really was trying to maintain as much cool as he could there.

"Look, I am not going to have this discussion for too much longer. I have a job that I need to do, and not a lot of time to do it. I am meeting up with Shaun, and he doesn't like it when people are late to his meetings." He said, in a very matter of fact way. As if this all made a ton of sense to him.

"You don't have to work with Shaun. If you don't feel like that is best for you, then don't fucking do it." After I tried to tell him this, I could see that Brad had looked to be a bit announced at the fact that I was trying to tell him how to live his life.

"It's what is best for everybody around me. And that is what matters the most. The people that I care about the most need me to do this. I am sure when you are far older, you will be able to see how big of a deal this is." As Brad said that, he placed his hand on my shoulder. He seemed to try to think of what he would even want to tell me now.

"You will get it one day. And when you do, we will talk again." As Brad smiled, he left the church, and to be honest, I wanted to beat that retarded smile out of his face.

I looked at Yolei, and I shook my head at her shit. "This asshole is the man you try and put all your faith on?" I asked, and I could tell she did not feel like this was how it was meant to be. She probably felt like I was not giving him enough credit as I had told her that. And I did not suppose that I can sort of see where she was coming from.

"Give him a chance. He will be a big help with the garden. Just give him some time, and you will get it." As she told me this, I really had no clue how in the world I was even going to tell her that she was giving him way too much credit. But maybe I didn't know the full picture of it.

"Let's just go." She said, and I could tell she was really mad. And I knew that there was no way in hell I would be able to fight her on what needed to be done. So we all left the church, and I felt like I needed to see the pastor again.

When we were heading off, that was when Tobias looked like he had been kind of thinking of what he would say. "I'm going to talk to Rachel about this garden. I want to see what happened. That made her even learn of this place to begin with."

"What do you think of Brad Carbunkle?" He asked, and I could see that Yolei clearly did not appreciate the fact that Tobias was bringing it up again. But it seemed like she knew that she needed to accept this for what it was, and she would just get used to it.

"I think he has good intentions. I will give him that much. But I feel like the way that he goes at it is probably where the issue is." He seems to be rather cold. As if he is scared of letting people see him for who he really is." I told them, and I could tell that Yolei looked like she appreciated the fact that I was at least trying to give him a gentle review.

"Yeah, I sort of feel that is fair." He said, and when Tobias was also agreeing with this, I saw that Davis knew it was best to just sort of go along with it now.

When we were out of the church, I was seeing that Brad finished his conversation with his boss. Then he looked right at us. Then he pulled put something from his pocket. He threw it straight at me, and I caught it with no trouble, despite being rather confused at what he was trying to accomplish.

"You might need those one day. You're a good guy. Just incredibly misguided. Just be sure not to do anything too stupid." As he said that to me, I slowly nodded, and he looked at the others.

"Just stay safe my guys. I don't want anything to happen to you all." After he left us alone, I opened up the small bag. There were two crystals in there. There was a blue one and an orange one in the sack. As I smiled at this, I felt like there would be no value in them. But maybe I could sale them or keep them just in case. It reminded me of the green one that I gave to Ness after I saw it from a meteor just a bit over a year ago, which feels like ancient history now.

Scene 8: Heritage (June 20, 1986, Evening)

When I was done with helping Tobias for the day, which I might be able to get to the details on later, I decided to follow on talking with Leo, and see what was on his mind. See if he had needed any help there.

At his house, I saw that Brad was there, and I was really unsure of what the hell I should even tell him. Leo looked right at me, and I can see that he was really not in the mood to deal with any shit.

"What is going on?" I asked, and Leo looked at me. I looked up, and I saw his mother was there as well. She looked like she had been finding my comments to be cute. Since I wasn't the one who had to deal with this shit at all.

"We were just having a bit of a talk. Sort of man to man, and we are clearing all this shit up." After Brad said that, I had to try and find a way to help Leo out a little bit. "It's none of your concern, and I believe the two of us have sort of gotten it all cleared up a bit."

"What the fuck do you mean? I asked, when he talked about the clearing it all up. I had no real clue what he meant, but I felt like for Leo's sake, I just needed to try and know a bit more.

"Well, feel like that is going to be for Leo to decide if he wats to talk to you about it. If he doesn't want to, then my lips will be sealed. I promise." As Brad said that, I wondered why he even cared what Leo had felt when it came to this.

"What fucking happened?" I asked him, and I was seeing Leo look like he had wanted to say more. But he just shook his head. As if he felt like he had been lied to for far too long.

"My whole life as been one big god damn fucking lie. And I feel like nobody cares." As he said that to me, I chose to stay silent. This disdain for the subject really showing through, and I felt like I needed to be gentle with Leo.

"Why is your life a lie?" I asked, since I felt like I needed to just show Leo that no matter what went down, I was always going to be there for him. He took a deep breath, as if trying to decide if he wanted to say anymore at all.

"Take a god damn look at me, and then look at Brad. I am sure you can be able to figure it out." As Leo said this, I sighed, and really took the time to look at both of them, trying to piece together the part that sealed the deal, even though it was pretty obvious.

I was able to figure out the obvious right away. The same hair color, and I was feeling like him being a read head didn't automatically connect the two beyond superficially. Then when I took a deeper look, that was when I started to sort of really figure it out, and I slowly sighed.

Beyond the hair, both had similar jaw lines. Both had brown eyes. Both had very similar noses. The skin color on both of them was also wildly similar. As I took a final second to look at them, I felt like I Just needed to be straight up with what I would ask Leo.

"Is Brad Carbunkle your fucking father?" I asked, and I could see that Leo looked like he was glad to see that I had been able to pick up on the issue was right away.

"Yeah, he just told me less than five minutes ago. Larry is right after all. It is all one big god damn fucking lie, and I fell for it so hard." As Leo said that, it was so obvious that he was trying to not get too upset. But that deep down, he was fucking furious.

He then looked at both Brad and his mom. "I can understand Brad lying. You know, keep up his reputation. Buy why did you lie to me mom? If it because of the truth of my biological mother?' He asked and I could see that his mom looked horrified at what heard.

"Never mind. I know you won't care nearly enough to tell me the truth. I'm going to hang out with T.K., and be with people who are at least honest with me." Leo said, and then with that, he was walking away. I looked at Brad and his adopted mother for a second.

"I will see what he says. Don't be shocked if he gives me nothing at all." I said, feeling like he had the right to be upset. But it do nobody any favors at all to have hatred.

"T.K. I hope that you know that I want nothing to happen to Leo. I just felt like him knowing the truth would only make it worse." After Brad said that to me, I then looked at his mother. Feeling the need to question her.

"When were you going to tell him the truth? And what did he mean, by the truth of his biological mother?" I asked, and I could see that she felt a lot of regret over all of it.

"I would have told him when who his real father was on his eighteenth birthday. At that point, it is entirely up to him what he wanted to do. I just didn't feel like the need to when he was a god damn minor." She said, and even I was already kind of at a point where I didn't want to hear it.

"Never mind. Let me just see what he tells me. Maybe I can be able to get the truth from him. See if he is willing to sort of bury it all." I said, feeling it was all my job, and I had nothing to lose here by taking the leap of faith.

"I appreciate it." She said, and I could tell that she had sort of felt really bad about what she did. As if this was the worst thing she could have done. As I began to walk off, I felt like I just needed to do my damn best to get Leo to see that at the end of the day, the answer would not make things better.

To be honest, I felt like Leo had every right to be pissed. His entire life in his eyes, in his words, was a lie, and I felt like he was having a hard time really being able to look past it. And I felt like in due time, unless he got more people he can trust, I was scared he would fall down a really bad path.

After nearly ten minutes of trying to catch up to him, I found him, and I could see that he had tried to hide the fact that he was genuinely fucking crying.

I felt like I needed to find anything at all to make him feel better. But if I am honest, I felt like I could never get him to feel like he would be able to gain back any degree of trust at all. I could tell a defeated man when he looked me in the face.

"Leo, maybe your mom had good reason. I don't think she was doing it to hurt you." I said, and I could tell from the look on his face that he had seemed to not buy a word of what I was saying at all. Like I was fed them to tell him.

"Even if she felt like she had a good reason, it should have still been my choice. That is the thing I feel like people just refuse to see." Leo told me, and I knew that he had every single right in the world to feel this way. And I had no right to take that away from him at all.

"Look, what's done is done. We got to just look at the future now. We need to see what the future holds." I told him, and I could tell that Leo had seemed like he was trying to sort of see what I felt. But it really did not matter at all. "And I wang to tell you that no matter what goes down, I will be at your side." I told him, and Leo didn't buy it at all.

"This is my life dude. This isn't a god damn joke, or something I can be able to brush off. My dad is a man who works for Shaun. And I know you do not like him at all. So yeah, it is kind of hard for me to be all chill with this." After Leo told me this, I shook my head.

"Look my dude, I want to be there for you. But I can't do any of that if you are barely able to give me any shit in return." I told him, and I was seeing from the look on his face that he had no real clue what he was supposed to feel now.

"I just need to think my dude. I want to know what I am doing myself. So dude, just try and give me some time to think about it." As he said that, both of us looked at the TV, and saw a news report that made both of us very shocked.

"The Terk Street Church and Garden was burned down to the ground today. There is no real indication on what had caused the event, but it is known that forty seven year old Olive Ryder was killed in the fire. As a result, her husband, fifty six year old Justin Ryder has said he has no intention of rebuilding the church. He said it should just be left alone. This is the second time a place has been destroyed when it used to be there. The first time was the mall that got burned down in 1963." She said, and I looked right at Leo for a second.

"What the hell went on there?" Do you want to look into that?" I asked, and I could see that Leo had looked like he found the idea to be a bit of a god damn joke.

"I have no idea. I mean, it might be kind of interesting. But to be honest, I have no idea if I want to get myself involved in an event that has nothing to do with me." He said, and I could tell that he was slowly trying to get a level of comfort here.

"Well, do you feel like you stull need to talk about Brad?" I asked, feeling like I needed to respect his wishes. If he was what it would take for Leo to give me anything at all, then I would do what it would take. Even if it wasn't really for me.

"Yeah, I think I do surprisingly. I just don't know why my mom thought it was best to lie to me. I feel like she must have at least tried to see that this would really hurt me." Leo told me, and I could tell that he was thinking about how he would say what he wanted to say.

"Maybe she was told to. Besides, what did you mean by your biological mom?" I asked, and I could tell that Leo looked like he didn't really want to tell me the truth. As if that was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Well, truth be told, my biological mother have birth to me when she was only fifteen years old." As he said that, instantly got what he was saying. He just admitted that Brad had sex with a woman eleven years younger than him, when he was already twenty five to twenty six.

The age gap itself on paper wasn't too big of a deal. But the fact that she was possibly even fourteen when Leo was conceived, means that Brad would be arrested for statutory rape if word ever got out on what he did.

"Have you ever thought it was for Brad's safety? I mean, if word got out, then his entire life might get totally god damn destroyed. I feel like that isn't what you would want." I told him, and I hoped that would get him to not hate Brad too much longer.

"I guess that's true. But if I am the product of my dad being a child molester, then I would have no clue if I even deserve to be alive in the first place." Leo said, and then he rubbed his eyes as he told me that, disgusted with himself. Disgusted with his mere existence.

"I am a mistake. I should have never even been born, and I feel like people just need to acknowledge that." As Leo told me this, I felt like was way too unfair, and he was taking it too hard on himself. It was not his fault that things went down the way that it did.

"Leo, you're not a mistake. Nobody would call you on." I said, and I hugged him a bit. And as I did this, I knew I needed to protect him at all costs. While also be a bit scared of the report on the church. To be honest, I really had no clue what to do. For the rest of tonight, I would be with Leo, and then tomorrow I would go on and go to the church, and see what went down.

"I need to just get to know Brad more. I mean, I might as well know who my father really is, and make the most of it. Clearly my mom saw something in him…" As Leo said that, he took a deep breath, feeling like there was no need to stall it off any longer.

"If that is what you feel like you need to do, then go ahead and do it. I will be at your side no matter what." I told him, wanting Leo to see that I never wanted him to feel like he was in any way useless there.

"I'm going to call him tomorrow. I will see what he wants to do with me then. I guess that I can see what he is really doing. Maybe my dad is a good guy after all…" Leo said, and I could tell that he was forcing himself to say every word he was saying.

"Good night. I'll tell you how it went next time I see you." After he told me this, he began to head off. I chose to sort of see how it all went from there. Maybe I can see what he had really planned. Just felt like it was what I needed to do.

Scene 9: Asking the Politician June 20 1986, Midnight

On my way back home, I chose to return to the soap box. I needed to see what Todd had known, and I was not going to take no for an answer at all. I truly needed to see what he knew if I would finally piece together more of what the plan needed to be.

When I was at the soapbox, I saw that Todd looked like he was about to wrap up his current speech. He looked at me, when he was done, and he had a shit eating smile on his face. As if eh was genuinely happy to see me there. "T.K., long time no see. Good to get ahold of you again." He said, and I could tell that he was trying to not show much of his bias. I smiled as I saw this. Knowing full well he was just happy to be around me at all.

"Well, there was a couple of things I needed to talk to you on. Mainly about Brad." I said, as I felt like I needed to straight up tell him what he needed to hear. As I said this, Todd instantly lost all color that was on his face.

"What about him?" Todd asked, and I could tell from the look on his face that he had hoped I would at least try and go easy on both of them.

"To be honest, I need to ask you if you knew about him having a ten year old son, Leo." I said, feeling that if I was straight up with him, I could get him to see that I was not too pissed with him. But I needed him to be honest.

"Yeah, I do know about Leo. That has been very hush hush. Slept with a woman who just started high school, and he was finally getting a real footing on his personal life. If people know that my brother is a child molester, then everybody will have their lives ruined." Todd said, and he seemed to think that being honest was all he needed to do with me.

"Are you saying you are enabling the stuff he does? Are you also saying that he does this more often?" I asked, and I hoped that by telling him this, I can get Todd to straight up tell me the truth of how often Brad really does this.

"I am not enabling him. What I am doing is just telling it go because I know it happened eleven god damn years ago. And now that Leo is almost in middle school, I need to be there for the kid if he ever wants me to. I can't just treat him like shit for what is now in the fucking past." As he said that to me, I saw that he had really hoped that I would take him serious.

"I guess I just need to think for a bit before I say much more. I just know that Leo is very hurt by what happened. And now he has no way to trust anybody at all." As I told him this, I could tell that Todd was looking like he was at least trying to consider what I told him. Then he placed his hand on my shoulder, and slowly grew a fake smile on my face.

"You need to be there for him then. If he can trust you, then you need to be the one who actually gets him to see the end of the path." As Todd told me this, I did not have any clue what this was going to give me. "You are like a big brother to him, and you need to follow on with that potential if you want to see him become a happy man again."

"What if I fucking can't?" I asked, and I saw Todd look like he was not going to take no for an answer. "I mean, I made a promise to all of my friends, and I need to follow through with that promise."

"You can do both. The greatest people in the world do not get bogged down by one thing that they can do, and then forget to focus on the rest. The greatest people rise above what has gone down, and start to follow their own path." As Todd told me this, I had to at least try and consider what he had told m to make me feel better.

"I guess that I do need to at least try." I told him, and I felt that by telling him this, I would be able to get Todd to at least try and have a level of confidence in me. "I mean, I feel like you're right. It is just hard for me to see, and I feel that is my fault." With that, I had nothing else to tell him.

"Do you think you'll meet up with him soon? After all, he is your nephew. I think you should try and be there for him." As I asked him this, I saw that he was scared of what I would do if Leo knew about Todd and brad being twin brothers, even though it was obvious since the only different feature they had was Todd had freckles and Brad didn't. If he knew he would never be able to live Todd down either.

"He doesn't even know that the two of us are related yet. That is a secret that only a handful of people know. And I would really appreciate it if you do not go around spreading that to everybody you meet." Todd said, and I could tell that he was trying really hard to hide the fear, and borderline seething anger he was actually feeling here.

"T.K., I trust you will be able to do the right thing. Leo is already dealing with enough as it was. You don't need to make it worse for him by revealing us being siblings." After Todd said that, I saw that Todd just hoped I would take him seriously.

"I trust you too." I said, and I had hoped I would not regret what I said. Todd seemed like a good guy, and one that genuinely wanted to make a difference. But I had no real clue if he actually would.

"Do you feel like you age going to want to help me with the speeches going on? I feel like I need to try and have some people who are younger, and capable of lending me a hand here." He told me, and I had no idea how in the world I needed to feel there.

"I can, if you feel like you need my help." I said, as I felt like I had no real choice on the matter. "I mean, what do you feel like you will need my help on in the first place?"

"Well, you're young still, not quite old enough to vote. If you had been, I would simply ask you and your friends to vote for me in the November election. But since you're not, then maybe you can be my sign holder boy." Todd said, and I saw him looking like he really hoped I would take that idea, and run with it.

"And to be honest, I feel like I will want to take you on a dinner tomorrow. You can even take some of your friends if you want. I want to talk to you about my platform, and how I plan to get some form of unity in this town going. And I feel like the best way to do that is to give a vision to the youth of the town." After Todd told me this, I saw him look like he seemed to be all cool.

"Okay. I can do that. I will see which ones want to come with me." I said, and I could tell that Todd looked like he was glad to see that I had been willing to give him the time of day to lay out his vision.

"Thank you. I feel like I will not win the election. But every single one who votes for me, and gives me the support that I need to drive the agenda that I had forward, I will take. I am sure you will get it soon enough." After he said that to me, I had no clue if it had really been true or not.

"Just be careful what you do." He said, and I slowly nodded. I didn't need him to tell me this. But Maybe I really did. You know, how things had been. And if the friends I brought were all going to actually listen to him while he laid out his vision all of us. I had hoped the vision would not be a damn joke.

"See you tomorrow." I said, and Todd gave me a card. The card had the name of the restaurant we would meet at. It was the Indian cuisine restaurant. A place I had never been to but always felt the desire to go to at least once or twice in my life.

"I will do my speech earlier tomorrow. We will be there at nine PM, and that can give us three hours to talk. They close at midnight, and I doubt they will be cool staying open longer for me and some middle school students." After he told me that, I did agree with him. There was no way that would slide.

I nodded, and I told him it would all work out. As I said that, I went off, and I began to think of what I would do to get my friends to agree with me on my plans. If they ever would agree with it at all.

To be honest, I felt that Todd was either going to be the man who would save Wayside. Or him willingly supporting his twin brother's pedophilia, and letting his brother have sex with high school girls constantly, was going to be the thing that would bring Wayside down into the shitter all in the name of his fucking family.

Scene 10: Gathering The Team June 21, 1986, Noon

The next day, I ha four friends I felt needed to see Todd when we all had dinner. Tobias, Davis, Leo, and Gumball. I felt for some way or another, all four of them truly needed to see what Todd would give them in terms of relieving the stress they all felt.

Tobias because I feel if he had known at least one major player was able to give him a sense that people cared, he would be safe. I knew that he was a great guy, and I felt that Tobias needed to stop being so jaded to the world and all the shit that was going on with it.

Davis I feel was scared for his soon to be born younger sister, and I feel that was going to be the one person who would help his paranoia. I feel that Davis was going to be one person who would sort of rise up to the big man, and tell those who oppose him what he would do to stand up to them. It felt like that would be his alley and what not. And to be honest, that scared me to the point where I was willing to do what I could to at least try and delay that downfall of his.

I felt as if Gumball was sort of out of the loop. And I truly did feel like he was the one person who needed all of the run down on what was to come. And I felt that if he really did want to help Tobias, he needed that extra info to sort of keep it all together. So I thought he would trust me more if he trusted a politician that I felt was capable of saving the town from danger.

Leo was one who I felt was becoming way too broken for a ten year old kid. I felt I needed to do what I could to open him up again. Even if that meant I would sort of get him to be uncomfortable. Which was by letting him see Brad's brother. I had thought if he saw Brad's brother was a decent enough guy, then he would come around and not feel too hard on Brad anymore. I felt like It was going to be worth a trye.

My first one was Tobias, and I saw once I was at his house that he had seemed to be out of it. As if he had sort of just accepted that he was never going to find out the truth. SO because of that, I had felt he was close to sort of giving up on everything he had.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you for a bit." I said, and I had hoped that he would at least kind of go along with what I wanted to do. He shook his head, as if he had not really wanted to do this at all. To be honest, I really did not blame him at all.

"What for? Are you going to tell me that we have no god damn chance of finding Andrea or Yolei? You don't need to tell me what I already have known for a while." Tobias asked, and I could tell that he was really not in the mood at all. I took a deep breath, and I hoped the truth would be able to calm him down a touch.

"No, I wanted to invite you to meet a man who I have started to work with. I feel like he will want to meet up with you." I said, as I felt Tobias was the one that even more than the rest that would truly need this. Even if it was going to be really hard for Tobias to see he tried to be a good guy.

"Who is this guy?" Tobias asked, and I could tell that he was trying so hard to seem like he was holding it all together. I felt like no matter how hard he had wanted to keep a good presentation and posture.

"A guy running for mayor. Todd Robinson. He's a really good guy, although he says it himself that he will probably not win the election. But I feel as if I will always be there for him no matter what goes down." I said, and I could tell from his face that he really did not like the idea of me going around to speak to a politician.

"I have no clue if I really want to see a political figure. He will be able to find a way to turn it to his advantage. And I don't know if he is somebody, I can trust to handle things that are as important as this." As he said that to me, I felt like Tobias needed to just see that this was my way of trying to help the town out, and this was not a set up.

"Tobias, I feel like when you see him, and get to know him for who he is, then you will see that he is a great guy. Not this awful human being that you need to be scared of. But to be honest, I feel like you have a right to be scared. But I know him." I said, and I felt I needed to keep the truth of Brad to myself. Both about him and Todd being brothers, as well as the fact that Brad liked to fuck teenage girls. I was sure that Leo's mom was not the first, and not the last, and that he was going to keep going. But I needed to keep that to myself.

"Okay. If you truly feel like I need to give him a chance, then I guess I can do this. I am not sure if I actually trust him yet. But I do trust you, and I feel that will be enough to have me give him a chance." As Tobias told me this, I saw that he seemed to sort of get himself a tad calmer.

"I am planning on getting the others together. I feel like you all need to get to see him. I feel as if this will make you calm the fuck down." As I said that, I saw Tobias look like he had no clue who the hell I was talking about. So I took a deep breath, since I had no idea why in the world he was taking no time to figure out who I meant himself.

"You know, Davis. Maybe even Leo and Gumball. I feel like the three of them also deserve to know what the hell is going on. Lying to them will not really get anything done. And I feel like they deserve to be angry at me forever if I keep those lies up with them." I told Tobias, and I felt like he was really needed to try and see what I had told him. I felt like he needed to see that would do this one way or another.

"Yeah, I guess that I need to see that. So who do you want to talk to first?" He asked me, and I had no clue if I was really sure. So I just went with the first name that came to my mind.

"I guess that I can talk to Davis first. I feel like he would be the one that would wat to talk to a politician the most." I told him, and I saw that he seemed to be down with going to Davis first.

As we had been walking, I could see that Tobias wanted to talk more. As if he felt like I was the only one that he could trust with his emotions.

"To be honest, I feel like my sister is taking the idea of babying me way too fucking serious. I just feel like I need to tell her that she needs to leave me alone." Tobias said, and I felt like that was all fair enough to say.

"Do you feel like she will actually listen to you?" I asked, and I could tell from his reaction that he didn't really know if that was going to be enough, or if he wanted to even try.

"She won't. Why the hell would she bother listening to me when she still treats me like I am two god damn years old?" As Tobias told me this, I did try and see where he was coming from. I feel like my shit with Matt hit too close to him to be able to say much at all.

"You never know if you don't try and see if you can be bale to get her to see your point. Just try and talk to her, and be a real man to her. Make your point clear to her. If you can do that, then you will be the one who will come out on top here." I told him, and I saw that Tobias looked like he genuinely wanted to see the point I made to him. He took a long and deep breath, not sure if he was at all ready to have this debate.

"What will I tell her? That she has no right to look out for me? And that if she does, then she is a god awful sister? Who is making it worse. If I do, she will never be able to forgive me at all." Tobias said, as if he needed to paint my quote in the worst he fucking could.

"Not like that. No need to be a dick about it." I said, and before too long, I was feeling like there was no need to press it further. When I had made my feelings on the matter very clear.

As I said that, to show I agreed with him, we were close to Davis's house. As we were there, I saw that he had been with Cody. I took a deep breath, feeling like a monster. I forgot al about Cody, and I feel as if he deserved to know the truth on what happened to Yolei.

"Hey dude. Sorry for not seeing you lately. I'm assuming that by now, you know the news?" I asked, and I could see that Cody seemed to be hurt by the fact that he clearly did not know the truth at all until today. And I knew what I had done wrong once again. I felt like I was a failure to everybody.

"Yeah, Davis is finally taking the time to pull me aside, and tell me what went down. I would have preferred to know a lot sooner. I was scared when Yolei did not show up yesterday. So I chose to get to the bottom of this." As Cody told me this, I saw that the sadness was far larger than the answer. As if he was just trying to hold back his emotions.

"Look Cody, I never meant to put you on the outs. To be honest, I just sort of forgot what I was doing. I had been so focused on Davis and Tobias." I said, feeling like there was no point to defend myself, since I really did fuck up, so owning up was better.

"Well, what is the plan now?" As Cody asked me this, I knew that was my mind. NO way in hell I would make a eight to nine year old kid be in the plan. Leo was already really pushing it. But on the other hand, I had been the one that brought Leo into this. So I was not going to try and bring even more into this crazy equation.

"I am going to be meeting up with a very important man tonight. I was going to see if Davis wanted to join Tobias and I on it." I told him, feeling that Cody did deserve to know the truth a bit. I could see that Cody looked a bit scared of what I had just told him.

"Would I be able to join? I want to know if he knows anything about Yolei." Cody said, and Davis shook his head. I was scared of what Davis would do if he got pushed too far, and how he might just go tell Cody off there.

"First off, I highly doubt that the man knows anything about Yolei specifically. Most people in this town don't give a single about her. But I guess I can tell you what I hear." After Davis said this, I saw that Cody looked like he was offended by the way that Davis said that. As if Yolei was just simply nothing at all anymore.

"Why can't I go? I feel like I deserve to know the truth. Does this happen often, and why are you trying to hide it from me?" Cody asked us, and I could see that Davis was at least trying to consider what he had asked. As if he had felt like he needed to tell Cody, and just sort of be done with it.

"Well, I don't want you to come along. I feel like you still way too young to be put up for this. That being said, I do have a bit of a feeling that you deserve the truth. What went down with Yolei is not the first time this has gone down. People in this town have a very bad tendency to go missing. And I feel like this is the last thing you need to get involved in. But I will tell you every single thing I hear. I will leave no stones unturned." After Davis told Cody this, I could see that Cody looked like he was horrified at this statement.

"Why do people lie about how things are then? No need to lie about this town being great, when this happens? I don't think I will ever be able to get over this. Yolei deserves to be here." As Cody told us this, I saw that he was just really beyond sad.

"They don't want you to get scared. They feel like if people can be able to do what they want, and not know the truth, then that will be a massive benefit. Nobody wants you to get hurry, and I will do what I can to make sure this doesn't get any worse for you. Have no idea if I can bring her home. But I feel like talking to this political figure will be what's best for me." Davis said, and I could see that he didn't really buy it at all. But he was able to try and give it a chance on the chance that it would work. Cody looked down, slowly nodding.

"Just try and see that nobody has any ill intent at all here. I just feel like we want to make sure you get to keep up your childhood a bit longer. Plus, do you really want to listen to a older politician talk with us for several hours?" Tobias told Cody, and looking back at it at nearly half a century old, I feel envois of when I was twelve to thirteen and thirty six was already a really old man in my eyes.

"Okay. I guess when you put it that way, I sort of see what you are saying. But I still feel like this is all a bit fucked up." As Cody said this, he looked down on the ground. He seemed to be thinking that this was all how things would be going down hill.

"I expect a call tomorrow about this. Do not play around with me here. I have the fucking right to know." As he said that, I saw him seem like he had been kind of trying to seem like he had his own level of control here, and did not want to lose it at all.

"Talk to you then. I promise that I am not going to hide it from you." Davis said, and I could tell that he had been kind of unsure if he had meant that promise. Or if he had just sort of wanted to tell Cody that as a sort of way to sort of keep Cody out of the lime light for the time being.

When Cody started to head off, a bit upset at how things were going, Davis looked down, and I saw that he really was not happy at all. I felt like he was feeling really bad about straight up telling Cody to shut the fuck up for all intents and purposes. And I think he knew Yolei would not want that at all.

"What do we do now? Will it just be the three of us?" Davis asked, as if he had felt like he was sort of ready to just get the ball rolling. I shook my head, not sure if they wanted this. But I didn't care, since it was my even.

"I have two more people that I feel like need to be there. I know Tobias will not like it, but I believe that Gumball does deserve to know the truth here. After all, he does seem like he wants to help both of us out." As I said this, I wasn't sure if Davis was down with Gumball or not. But at the same time, I felt that Davis would be reasonable enough to see what I was trying to accomplish and coming from here.

"I guess that makes sense. I don't know if Gumball wants to be with me. But I feel like you aren't going to be giving me a ton of options here. God damn it dude. Okay, who else do you feel like you want to bring into this?" As he said that, I took a deep breath, and to be honest, I felt like he would be way more down with this idea than he seemed to be with Gumball.

"I am thinking that I need to bring Leo to this. He sort of has been questioning his faith a bit, and I feel like I need to find any sort of way to get him to just see the positives of Wayside again." I said, and I knew that deep down, the idea would probably never work. But I felt like I needed to at least try to pull all this shit all together.

"Yeah, I guess I sort of see what you're saying. That is going to be hard to do though. I feel as if Leo probably has his mind made up though. So I have no reason to be in anybody's face about it all." As Tobias said that, I saw that he lookd kind of sad as he said that. I don't really know how much he was willing it hear me try and fight it.

"I just hope that this doesn't get to be too much worse. I mean, every time I talk with that guy, it always seems like he is sort of on the outs. Like he just wants to go back to that arcade again." As he said that, I felt Tobias was right about him. Which was why I was doing what I was doing.

"I think we should go to Gumball first, and see what he is up to. See if he even wants to do this." I said, trying to make it seem like I knew what was going down. I felt if Gumball didn't want to do this, then I feel as if that was going to be making things so much easier.

"How did you even meet this politician in the first place?" Tobias asked, and I had no clue if I should tell him all that we talked about, or just sort of leave the whole subject alone.

"To be honest, I found him on my way back home. When we talked for a bit, he was telling me of his vision that he had for the town, and what not. I feel as if he might be honest with me, and that is what matters." I told him, and I felt like there was no way that I could be able to fight him at all over it.

I felt that I would choose to not tell him about what Brad had done. I did not want him to know that I was going to be working with a man who fucked high school girls every week, and I felt like they deserved to still thinking he was a good enough guy, and not be worthy of all the hate that he will eventually get.

I felt that if the town had known what Brad had been doing, then Tobias would have never trusted me to make the right choices every again. So I felt that the truth needed to be concealed, at least for a while longer.

Once we were close to Gumball's house, I had a feeling that I was going to have to work super god damn hard to get him to feel as if going with us would be the best thing for all of us. And besides, I knew that he was going to be a man who would do what was best.

I saw Tobias nod at that. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Since he is relatively young for a politician. So I feel like that would make sense why he would care so much." As Tobias said that, I wondered how Davis felt about the whole thing. Since Davis was a good guy after all, and I felt like he was the friend that needed the most help.

"Don't trust people who run for office. Or at least trust your intuition more, I would say." Davis told me, as if he had been scared to even tell me more. Like he knew that I had made up my mind, so it didn't even fucking matter anymore.

Eventually, we were at Gumball's house, and I took a deep breath. I felt as if once I knew what Gumball would say, I would go on to Leo, and just get to know how he had felt this last day.

"Hey Gumball. Good to see you." Davis said, and he did seem sincere enough about what he said. "How have you bee feeling lately?" Gumball took a deep breath, as if he was just pretending to be all fine with this.

"Thanks. I haven't been doing too much. Getting ready for basketball this year." Gumball said, and I could tell that he did seem to be slightly happy about what he was planning to do here.

"Is that your favorite?" After I asked him this, I could tell that Gumball did not seem to be too sure what in the world he had been feeling there. I had no idea if he was just doing this because he felt like he really had no choice but to be honest about it.

"Well, I just feel as if it is the one that I will be able to sort of handle the most. Not the one that I really enjoy the most. I feel like that might be track or football." He said, and I laughed. I remembered when Ness was getting fit again in Onett, and his main thing was baseball. To be honest, I would be totally okay with never playing baseball again. To be honest, in my eyes, that sport had been utterly boring as shit.

"But to be honest, I don't want to go into seventh grade and just not do shit with my life. So I feel like this is something I can point to." As he said that I was sort of feeling like I just needed to get back to the point of what I was there for.

"Look Gumball, I am here for more. I want to talk to you about maybe joining us on a dinner tonight. I am going to be meeting up with a politician, Todd Robinson, and I feel like you guys need to come here." As I told him this, I could see from the look on his face that he did not seem to be too sure if he had been fully down with this.

"I have no idea if I feel like this is going to be good for me. The politicians here always seem to hate my parents, and I have no idea if I want to get dragged into this." As Gumball told us this, once again I felt like people were too tied down by the family loyalty shit that I fucking hear people show since it removed any choice and will to do what was best.

"Gumball, you are a teenager now. It is your choice on how you spend your afternoons. Nobody else is responsible for what you go on and do. So don't force yourself down those confines." I told him, and I hoped that Gumball would be able to hear what I was telling him.

"I know you're right. But I feel that I need to try and show a degree of respect to what they have been trying to do. I do not want to do anything that will make them hate me." After Gumball told me this, I saw him seem to think he knew where this would be going. "I guess that at the end of the day, I can sort of see what you feel though. So I guess that I can try it out." After he said that to me, I smiled to know that he was willing to take it for what it was.

"I hope you know that your parents will not hate you. If you truly feel that way, then I will have to try and find a way to make you feel at least a little bit better. To be honest, I hardly even knew how to start.

"Look dude, I know how they are. You do not. Trust me when I say that I know how they look at things." As he said that to me, I felt like any form of a fight here was not going to make a lick of difference.

"I'm not going to fight you here. I don't know them, you're right. So why in the world should I even bother trying to debate this?" I asked, as if there was nothing else to lose by telling him that. I knew when it was time to just let it go completely.

"Thanks T.K. for not fighting me on what I know. I hate it when people go on and act like they know what is going on more than I do. To be honest, it feels like a god damn insult when people act like that." As Gumball told me this, I saw that he looked like he was then sort of thinking about what to say now. "Who do you think we should talk to now? Or do you feel like this is all you want to do?" He asked, and I was shocked to even hear him show any interest in progression.

"I am going on and I think I am going to bring a kid along. I don't know if you ever met him. So this might be a good chance to sort of make this work. I think he is a great guy, who has been sort of broken by the shit that I have show him." I said, and I hated the fact that I said this.

"You'll know when you see him what he is like." I said, feeling like I would try and take him to the arcade. I just had a feeling that this was where Leo would most likely be if I were to find him in the town.

"Okay. What exactly did you do that made him snap?" He asked, and to be honest, I had no idea. Even know, I felt like there was no need to try and give him too many lies.

"To be honest, I feel like it was more like all the shit that went on with the town. I feel like I just started him down that path. But I didn't think that I was the only cause with all that." I said, feeling like I needed to try and give myself a modicum of credit to make myself not feel super down by what was going on. After all, I was not the one who had been causing all the shit going down and what not.

"Why are we heading to the arcade?" Gumball asked, and I smiled, feeling like he was being a bit silly by asking me that, since a moment of thought would have been enough to piece the whole picture together.

"Ninety percent of the town when he is out on town, he is at the arcade. He So I feel like there is a good chance he is there. To just sort of keep his mind off of things." I told him, hoping that would clear up a bit of my vision, and get Gumball to get off my ass for now.

"I guess that makes some sense." Gumball said, and he shrugged, as if he wasn't sure if he had any interest in pressing the subject any further. "I haven't been to the arcade in probably four months. So I feel like I don't have much of a leg to stand on here. If I am being fully honest."

When we were at the arcade about ten to twenty minutes later. I saw from the window that Leo had grabbed another set of nachos from the counter guy, and then went to the game that he would always play for extended periods. I took a deep breath, feeling sort of ready to leave him alone since I had done so much to hurt him for everything that happened.

"Do you feel like you want to turn back now?" Gumball asked, aware of the way I was sort of lost here. So I took a deep breath, and I felt like if for nothing else, I needed to at least apologize to him for the fact that he never needed to know the truth about Brad. And if I never met him, the truth of his real father would have never needed to be revealed.

"No, I need to do this. I feel like I need to apologize to him for what went down." I told him, and with that, I went inside. I had just sort of hoped that Leo would go on and accept it. And if not, then at least I could be able to say that I tried my best.

I walked to him, and before long, I took a deep breath, and went out of my way to make it sound like I had no desire to really hurt him as much. "Hey Leo, how have you been doing?" I asked, and I felt that this was what would sort of get him to just show a smile.

"Hey Leo, I just feel as if you deserve an apology from me. I should have never come to you about the Andrea situation. I should have just let you live with the idea that she lost interest in this place." I told him, and I could see that Leo was trying really hard to hide the feeling that he had been having. And I knew that none of this would work in any way.

"Look, what's done is done. Nothing we can fucking do about it now. I feel like both of us are just going to have to deal with the consequences of your actions." After Leo told me this, I could tell that Leo did seem to be trying to keep a open mind on what had bee going on here. As if he felt like it had all been thrown off.

"I feel like you need to make your own choices. You know, to forgive or not. I feel as if your mother does deserve a god damn chance to try and make it right." I told him, and I did not give a single shit what Leo would feel about what I said. I felt like it was time to just finally kind of be rough with him.

"Look, I know that you want to guilt trip me to do things a certain way. But I feel like I am still allowed to feel like what my mom is doing is a bit messed up. But I guess that in her defense, she did say she was going to tell me the truth when I turned eighteen." After Leo said that, he seemed to be feeling a bit unsure if he was angry as he said that, or just calming down.

"Tell you what?" Tobias demanded, as if he had to finally get in the topic. Probably in fear of what people might have been saying about his cousin, and how to defend her a bit.

"Who my is Nothing you need to know about. To be honest, I did not need to know about it, and I kind of fucking regret it." After Leo told him this, I saw that Tobias looked like he was rather shocked to hear him sound like he would try and tear Tobias down over what was a simple question.

"Sorry. I wasn't trying to be disrespectful." As Tobias said that, I could tell that he was a bit saddened on how he felt here. As if he was just sort of really bogged down by it.

"I was wondering if you would like to go with us to see Todd for dinner tonight? He said that he had wanted to talk to me about the plans that he had for Wayside shall he will the election." I told him, and I could tell from the way Tobias looked that he probably did not feel as if Leo truly deserved to be in the mix. As if he was way too young for this shit.

"But I feel if you know this guy a bit, then you might be able to find peace on who your dad is." I said, and I could tell Leo did not buy a word of what I said. I knew there was no way he would be able to buy all of what I was saying. But I felt that maybe I can just get me to really show I deserved a chance here.

"I think we both know that I am not going to believe a god damn word of that. And besides, what does my dad have to do with the politician?" Leo asked, getting more intense with the game. As if he was ready to bring me down if I had been lying to him. I really felt as if I was having no choice but to keep this together.

"Then why not see? If you are so sure, then go ahead and prove it. Show me that I am wrong." I said, feeling I needed to just sat that to get him to stop this shit. As I said that, I could tell that he had seemed to hate the way that I pressed him. But he was willing to give it a go, as a way to humor me.

"I guess I can do that. Might not be what I want to do. But I do suppose I don't mind being able to prove you wrong." He said, and I could tell that this was exactly what he did not want to do. But at this point in time, I wondered if he was feeling like there was no choice.

"Dinner will be at nine." So I guess that we can do whatever until then." I said, sort of feeling like this was the only way that I can get him to calm down a touch, and not be so god damn serious about how this was all going.

I looked at the time, and I saw that it was five twenty in the early evening. Which meant it was almost four hours go here. I could try to get Leo to agree with me here. But I also chose to just sort of let it be alone, since I felt like he had been broken enough as it was.

So, with that, the five of us spent those nearly hour just screwing around, playing games. We just sort of choose to not worry about what on earth Todd would tell us. If he wanted to pitch a bunch of shit to us, then we would deal with it then. If Todd had plans, I did want to hear them, but I had no idea for sure how much the others will have made up their mind, or lack thereof.

Scene 11: Current Politics (June 21, 1986, Night)

Just after nine in the evening, I saw that Todd was already sitting down, and he looked shocked to see me bring four of my friends along. As if he had thought that I would have brought like two at most. But I smiled, feeling the need to not make him get pissed off at the stunt that I had just pulled.

"Oh wow, if I knew you were going to try to bring half your grade level, then I would have probably asked them to book me an extra hour or two after close." After he said that, he sounded like he was slightly annoyed at how it had been. But he wasn't truly pissed off at how it had been.

"Hey, are you the great guy who is going to redeem Wayside?" Tobias asked, in a half way sarcastic tone. As Leo looked at him, I could see that he was realizing who Todd was. He took off his glasses, and looked at his hands. Sure, Todd was his uncle instead of father, so the looks weren't completely obvious. But now that Leo knew the truth, his mind was on over drive in piecing it all together and knowing what in the world he was now seeing.

"Well, I am trying to be. If you are wiling to let me have a chance to show what I feel I can ass to the table, then I feel like we can unite." After Todd said that, I can see that he had started to have a bit of a higher level of confidence here. Like nothing else in the world really mattered.

Todd sat down at a table, and all four of us did as well. I can tell he really was trying to not mention the fact that he knew who Leo was. As if wanting to confront him on it when only I was there for them to talk to each other. "Let's not talk about that until we at least order our meals first. Can't be on business without having a full mind to be able to focus on."

I ordered a thing of yellow curry and rice, and while I don't recall what they all got, I do recall that it really did smell great. I recall that I wanted to go there more often. I could also tell that Todd had looked like he had wanted to try and find the best way that he would be able to start the talk, and so in a way that didn't seem forceful to us.

"So you keep talking about your great plan to bring Wayside back to a level of greatness." Davis said, sounding like he was sort of off to his own world a bit. Probably felt that getting Yolei home was the main thing that mattered.

"Well, I feel as if the first step to that if hearing the complaints about the town, and try my best t bring my attention to how I can fix these issues." After he said that to me, slowly nodded, and Davis laughed at this, as if he was unable to buy the shit he had been hearing at all.

"Well, my friend Yolei and his Andrea cousin, are dead. They went missing, and with no sign of where they might be, I feel as if I am forced to take my own actions to make sure either I knew for sure, or I can bring them home." Davis said, and he shrugged, as if he had felt like the comment would bring out a sense of vigor that Todd hid.

"These things take a while to solve on top of being a candidate for mayor, I am also a private detective who spends most of his days on cases. How recent was the thing with your friend and his cousin?" He asked, and with that, Tobias cleared his throat, as if he would really capture how bis this had been to us much more than Davis, who was so clearly doing a cordial approach.

"Well, my cousin Andrea has been missing for over a month. The case with Yolei is about three or four days old." After he said that, I could see that Todd had looked like he had been unsure where this would go.

"Well, I have talked to Inoue parents, and they have both confirmed that she wasn't home much during summer. I believe there was a night that she just stayed over at Sheldon Lee's house. When she was babysitting Cody. Sheldon and his wife confirmed this when I asked them. Cody said that she had been acting rather paranoid, as if she had been watched." Todd said, and I could tell from the tone of his voice that he had seemed to be honest enough. I feel like the fact that he had tried to tell us at least some of the truth would get me cool. Davis and Tobias nodded, and I could see Gumball perking ip while Leo still remained in the distance.

"Sadly, while I know you will not want to hear me tell you this, sometimes these cases of the girls take months or even years to figure out. There are so many of them that it is hard to get them all. I just solved a case finally for one girl after five and a half years." As Todd said that, I could tell from the tone of his voice that he did seem to be genuinely hurt by this.

"Why does this shit take so long to solve? Do you need to hire an assistant?" I asked, as I felt like there was no need to be a total smart ass anymore. And I felt like this would give him a level of accountability that he might not have felt forced to show before.

"The work might take way longer to do since I am a free agent. But I feel like that is worth the price of keeping other people safe. I hope that you will be able to see where I am coming from here." After Todd said that, I took a deep breath, as if there was really no other way that I would have been able to respond.

After all, he did have a very sound reason. After that Gumball perked up. "Have you ever done any work with the Watterson family?" Gumball asked, not at all doing a good job hiding the fact that this was just trying to get Todd's opinion on his family. I could see Todd take a second to piece together the similar looks.

"Yeah, your mom is a bit rough around the edges. But she seems to be a rather proud of the way you all are. I feel like she is just scared to admit it because you all already have a bit of an ego." Todd said, as if he had felt the need to be totally honest here.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Gumball said, and I had a feeling he must have known about her well enough that in no way would he be able to fight that. But he just shrugged, as if there was nothing else that he would have done. "But I know she is just sort of trying to give us all a living, so it's good."

"Either way, I do mean it when I say that she is a great women who truly has done all she can to turn this around for your family." As Todd said that, I had no idea if Gumball would be truly won over by a shit ton of vague compliments that had not even been about him in the first place. I had a feeling it would only do Todd so much to say this all.

"Well, I will be sure to let her know that you view so highly of her. I feel as if she will really appreciate that." As Gumball said that, I had no clue what in the world he felt like he needed to really do.

"Anyways, I also talked with your dad. He has said he was willing to give a percent of funds that the Watterson Casino makes to my agency. He said a file reporter, who can look over my tens of thousands of pages of material, to sort of maybe see if that will help me with cases. Richard has always told me no space is better than clean space." Todd said, and I could tell from the look on Gumball's face that in no way did he at all believe what he had just heard. As if he the computing was just not all working.

"My dad said he hasn't really even been to that casino in nearly two years. Unless if he was lying to us. But why in the world would he lie about that of all the fucking things?" Gumball asked, and I could tell that he was sort of just having a really hard time sort of piecing it all together.

"He is probably lying because he doesn't know if you guys trust him. So he sort of has to do what he needs to in order to truly stand his ground. We meet up for about an hour or two every two weeks, and I feel like I will take up his offer on the assistant." As Todd said that, I saw Leo look like he had a new idea in his eyes.

"Maybe I can be that guy." Leo said, and I was shocked to hear the confidence in his voice. A level of confidence he usually would never show before. "I mean, I don't really want to go on in the field or anything. So if I just sort of stay here, I'll be useful." I could tell from Todd's face that he was really not buying this shit at all.

"How old are you?" Todd asked, trying to pretend like he had no clue who in the world Leo was. As if trying to hide he had known who his own fucking nephew was.

"Ten year old. Almost a fucking teenager." Leo said, and Gumball looked at him, and I could see that Gumball had looked like he had no clue what in the world Leo ad been trying to accomplish. After all in Gumball's eyes, Leo was a random ass ten year old who played arcade games all day.

"Look, I would rather have one of these four people do it. Anyways, I want to be honest, I feel like I know your fucking father. If he the one who works at the broadcast station?" He asked, and I could see that there was no point in trying to fight him there.

"Yeah, he has been there since he moved. Dad said that he is trying to have the best look at the town as he can for us. He feels like my family is better off with this move. What are you hinting at her?" I asked him, and I could see that Todd was sort of on the mood to talk there.

"Well, I feel a part of the town and the growing peace and prosperity for it will be to give the right information. Your father is a reporter. He needs to tell the town the truth. Even if the truth hurts at the end of the day. People will be able to respect it." After he had said that, I would tell that his words were right to some degree. But to be honest, I had no clue what in the world I was supposed to fucking feel.

"Take this business card. Tell your dad I want to work with him. I feel like the two of us can get a good deal here." As he told me this, I had no clue what in the hell I could do. He just handed me a card, and I had no idea what the hell I would do.

"What if he refuses?" I asked, and I could see that he looked like he had no real feeling this would go down. As if he had felt like at the end of the day, my dad would be able to see the bigger picture. "I just don't know if it will matter. But I guess you have already made your choice. So, I guess I have nothing to lose by at least trying to ask."

"I don't care what he says. You need to make him see that my plan is what is best for the town. He needs to at least give me a chance." As Todd said that, it was as if he sounded like he was truly desperate here. Almost as if he had just refused to even consider taking no for an answer.

"Okay. I guess I can try. That doesn't really mean that I feel like it will be worth all this time and effort that you want me to put in here." As I told him this, I really felt as if he I had nothing else to tell him. He was a good guy, and I respected the fuck out of Todd as a man. But in no way can I get him to really make a difference to my dads mind.

"My vision, and your father being able to tell the truth to this town, are both going to be worth it. I feel as if your father is a good enough man to be able to see the bigger picture." As he said that, I would tell that no matter how much Todd was trying to hide it, he truly had been scared out of his god dam mind. It was as if Todd genuinely thought he was the only one who would be able to put Wayside on track, and he had hoped I would be able to see that.

"What if my dads boss does not allow him to publish this shit? And all you want him to do is going to be put into waste?" As he said that, it had seemed like he was genuinely a bit sad that he had said that. Almost as if he was a bit of a god damn failure, and all he shot for would be ruined.

"Then make him do it on his own. I feel as if you are just really not at all seeing the bigger picture of how we can be able to solve this." Todd said, as if he had felt like I was not at all seeing the bigger picture. Almost like I was way too scared to admit how I could be able simply fight it.

"Fuck. You are not going to take no for an answer. So, I might as well just fucking do this." I said, and I could tell that the faster I went with this, the better it would be for all of us.

"That is how you need to do things when you are in office. You have to give it your all in order to make this in any way shape or form different. If you just sort of let it happen, then you truly have nobody at all to blame but yourself. You might not like to hear it, but that is the truth. You can only make it work if you truly give it a fight." As Todd told me this, He made it all sound as if it was just so obvious how it worked.

"Do you really feel as if anybody will listen to you. After all, you went on and done in the past. You gave so many people so many promises on what you would do with your detective agency, that you ended up getting so little of it done." As Leo told him this, I could see that Todd seemed a but hurt by what had really gone down. "Besides, you yourself said you are not winning the election."

"Leo, I have spent over twenty three years wondering about the shit that goes down in this town. And to be honest, my entire interest here has eaten me fucking alive. I feel as if I just need to know so much more than I do." As Todd said that, I had no clue if any of what he said was just trying to give himself a more positive light to appease Leo. Even just a small little touch. "I can't be told I don't care for the town when I have been on this longer than you have been alive." After he said that, I saw Leo look like he would at least try to consider what he was being told.

"Sorry. I guess I don't really know. But T.K., I feel like you need to take what Todd is suggesting. This might be the best thing you can do here." As Leo told me this, I felt like if even Leo had been telling me this, then I really need to just sort of listen to him. No point in making it worse than it was when even Leo of all the fucking people had been telling me that we should do this.

"Okay. I will do it. I might not really like doing all this right now, but if you of all people are telling me that I need to go ahead, and do it, then I feel as if I really have no choice." As I said that, I really had hoped that my lack of fighting this was not going to get him to feel like I was just all cool. I really had no idea why I even cared anymore. There was about less than zero things I would get if I would fight him on any of his proposals. Plus, it was really my dad's choice on the matter.

I saw Todd look like he was so glad to see me show any sign of being chill with him now. Probably had a feeling that he had nothing else to accomplish here.

"I have a lot for all five of you. I will be sending all five of you letters soon. I feel like we can be able to work with each other. To make it all work with each other. To make it all come together." As he said that, I could see that he had clearly hoped that we would all show some level of interest in his place. I could see Davis look a bit unsure what to say.

"What do you mean with these letters? Do you feel like I will get anything out of these?" Davias asked, and I saw that Todd had Davis cornered to a spot that he wanted Davis to be in. As if he had controlled what was all going on with the guy, which was what he needed.

"Well, I know about your parents having that daughter soon. I feel like the two of us can a way to sort of make this all work." As Todd said this, I could tell that Davis was a bit scared of what Todd had just told him. Which was a clear putting him to a corner.

"How the fuck do you even know about of that in the first place? I have only told a couple of my friends?" As Davis asked that, I could see from the look of fear on his face that he was trying to maintain a level of cool.

"Well, your family knows me decently well, and I have to work with them decently often. So for me, this is just a bit of my job to know. And I am here to actually help you be ready for when she is born." After he said that, I saw that Todd had hoped that Davis would actually be all he said.

"I hope you're telling me the truth when you say that. I don't really want to spend all this time believing you only for it to be all a big lie." As Davis said this, I had looked at the now empty dinner plates, and then at the contact info. I really did feel like I needed my dad to go along with the offer. I did feel like that was all I had in my favor to win both my dad and Todd over.

"There's no reason for him to lie about that of all the fucking things. I don't really feel like you need to doubt him." As I had said that, truly and deep down, I did doubt him on a lot of things, but I felt like he was indeed telling the truth as he told me that.

"Thank you for believing me. And for giving me a chance to have a talk with your dad I truly believe that when I have a chance to do this, I can get the world to see what I am able to do." After he said that, I saw that Tobias looked like he wanted to find more peace.

"Do you feel like this will really give us a chance to learn what happened to Yolei? If the entire town starts to know what in the world they need to go back and look for?" Tobias asked, clearly ready to just take this all a step further than before.

"I do." Todd said, and he said it with a large level of confidence. "And I feel like it will all come together very fast when it matters." As Todd said that, I saw Tobias slowly nodded. As if this had been what he had wanted to hear. This was what he really needed to give him any sense of comfort. Tobias nodded, as if he was able to take the answer for what it was for now.

Scene 12: The Skating Life (June 10 1986)

On the first day of summer break, I chose to hang out with my friends Davis and Yolei. Looking back at it now, that was the last time that I would truly be fully happy in my life. Where I did not have to deal with a lot of bullshit.

As the three of us were sitting down, I was watching the people skate around, and I could tell that they were having the time of their lives. I was so god damn jealous to see that they had been so happy. Like this had been what they had waited all school year for. And as far as I had known, it probably had been.

"Do you have any plans for the summer break?" I asked, and I saw that Yolei looked way less happy about it than Davis had been. As if she had no real life, or chance to be able to live a life that she wanted.

"Well, I am going to be doing all that babysitting with Cody. To be honest, I don't know if I want to really do it anymore. I find it no longer in my taste. But my parents are making it clear to me that they do not care at all." After Yolei told me this, I really had no clue if I would be able to find any way shape or form to make her feel any better at all.

"f you don't want to do it, then I feel like you need to just tell your parents. Tell them that you want to do really anything else, but it's still fine for you to help make money. Just say you want to do it in a different way. I am sure they will be able to get it." I told her, as if feeling like this was going to be super easy, and that she was not really looking at this in the easy way at all.

"But they are doing it all as a family favor and shit. They have told me that they feel as if they have to do this no matter what. I feel like I would be way more cool with it all if they would ever take the time to explain me what the favor is." As Yolei told me this, I was seeing Davis look like he wanted to try and find any way at all to make this subject a bit cooler here.

"Hey, you don't have to do that for like three more hours. You might as well try and just enjoy your time in the mean time." Davis said, and I could tell that he was more so just trying to remove tension. But I could tell from the look on her face that she truly was able to appreciate the fact that he was at least trying to make her at all feel better here.

"Look, I think if we are going to do this, we need to perhaps help him with his interests." As she said that, she winked at me, and I had no clue how in the world I would be bale to make her seem like I was going to in any way at all meet her interests.

"I want to help him with his skating." As Yolei said that, my jaw dropped as there was no reason for her to do that, besides as a way to just get me to sort of drop the subject of Cody.

"I have no idea why in the world you want to do that. But if you're honest about it, then I will." I said, and I felt like even if she didn't really see it, I was not ready to let her down at all.

"You know you want to." Yolei said, and I shrugged. I mean, I had no real reason to try and fight her on this. I felt like if she had genuinely wanted to, then I would be able to just at least borrow a board and give it a go.

"Let's go to the skateboard shop, and you will fine one there I'm sure. I feel like you will really need this to be able to sort of get out on your own." After she said that to me, I felt like I truly needed to respect Yolei's wishes here.

As we were walking off, that was when Davis asked me a question I truly was not at all ready for. "Have you ever gone skating before? Or is this a new habit that you will just pick up here?" As Davis asked, I had no idea why he cared so much about this to begin with.

"I think I have gone once. But I really like it when people just sort of feel like they can be able to ride like the wind when they go." As I told him this, I saw that to Davis, I saw that he had sort of known that I would be reacting that way.

"I just wasn't sure. Since I have even heard you talk about it too much. It felt like you were just sort of getting on it as a way to make yourself have a chance to be cool." Davis told me, and I had no clue what in the world he even had been so unruly about this. I felt like he had felt like I would ruin it all if I had only been doing it for a bit, and then would soon just drop it all.

"But have you been really into it before?" I asked feeling like I sort of needed to get him to see that he was a bit ridiculous with how he had been acting over me wanting to give it a go. And I could always give it to him if I lost all interest.

"Never mind. Clearly this is not going to do anybody any favors." After Davis said that, we all began to head to the skating shop. To be honest, I felt like if I was going to be fighting with Davis here over this, then none of this would be worth it at all.

"DO you want to skate too? I just never knew." I said, feeling like this would be what I would say to make him drop it. "Maybe we can take turns who uses it." When I said that, I could tell by this point in time, Davis was looking as if he had hoped I would just drop it, and not press him on the matter any further, and we can just get the damn board.

Eventually, we were actually at the skate shop, and I took a bit of a look around the shop. Mainly to look and see if any of them had any form of interest to me at all. As I looked around a bit, I was sort of only having one that even kind of won my attention. It had blue wheels, a yellow board with a few blue stripes all over it. I saw that it was from a place called "Pallasades."

"Is this going to be your first board?" The guy behind the counter asked. I looked right at him, guessing it was a bit obvious from the way that I had been looking around that it was clear I had no idea what the hell I was getting myself into here.

"Yeah, I've only skated a couple of times, to sort of see what it's like. But to be honest, I'm just glad to try something new." I said, and I took a couple of shrugs, not sure what else I was supposed to say. I grabbed the Pallasade one, as if I could be able to go with it. I smiled for a bit, and then looked at Davis and Yolei, as if ready to make my purchase, glad that it was fast at least.

"Well, it looks like you got a good idea on what skateboard you should start with. That is a very basic one that allows you to sort of get in the flow of what you need." After he said that, I began to bring it to the counter. I saw Davis and Yolei both look like they were happy to see me actually do this.

"Twenty five dollars kid." As he said that, it seemed like he was just looking at this from a purely business perspective. As if he just viewed me as a number and nothing more. And I guess when you run a shop full time, you sort of have no real choice on what to do here. I pulled out my money, and handed it to him. That was nearly half my weekly allowance that my parents gave me.

When the board was officially mine, we left the shop, and began on over to the skating ring. To be honest, I had no real clue if I was really ready to do this in the public or not. To be honest, I really did not feel like I could have been somebody that you would actually root for.

We reached it soon enough, and as I looked around, I saw that one of our classmates had been there. He looked to be really sad. Which made perfect sense when you knew the context of who he was.

"Hey, how about while you train for a bit, we go on and talk to Tobias for a bit? We don't feel like you need to force yourself into this." As Davis said that, I took a long and deep breath. To be honest, I had no real desire to argue, even if I did genuinely want to see how well Tobias was doing.

So with that, I started to skate around the ring for a bit. I had no real clue if I really wanted to do this. But to be honest, I wanted to waste my money even less. SO I felt as if I might as well at least try, and just sort of see how this could be able to work out.

After about half an hour, when I started to get a bit confident and comfortable. I lost a bit of track, and hit a bump, and before I knew it, I crashed and landed on the ground with my right arm having the first impact and I felt an immense level of pain. Almost as if my arm had broken, and it really hurt to even be able to focus on anything at all.

I got up, and I Saw that Tobias was looking at me. As if he was sort of choosing what he had even felt about me in the first place. I could see that to be honest, he probably just felt like he would be forced to talk with me. Not that he would actually want to really talk with me. I started for a couple more minutes, just to pretend like I was not at all finding the situation to be way too embarrassing to actually handle, and in too much pain.

But before long, I decided that enough was enough, and I was hurting too much, so I went over, just to finally get the subject done with. "Hey, how have you been feeling?" I asked, feeling like I would just sort of go with the easy one.

"Not good. Trying to not let how things are here really get to me though." Tobias said, and I feel as if this was the first time he was actually going to be willing to talk to me about how much what happened with really Andrea mentally killed him.

"Yeah, I sort of guessed that you had not been holding up well at all. I mean, do you feel like you have any clue where in the world you will be able to find Andrea?" I asked, and I did not care at all if I had sounded like I was being a bit heartless here.

"Well, I have no clue. That is what kills me here. No matter how hard I try to sort of get any kind of a clue what I feel like is a good spot to look, I learn it will not work out as well as I had hoped, and that the clue was just sort of a tad worthless." As he said that, I had no clue what in the world he had felt like sort of let him down.

"What have you done so far?" I asked, feeling like if I could see where he had gone, I could be able to see where he had gone, I could be able to sort of help him with calming down, and making peace.

"Well, I have tried to see if her favorite teacher would be able to give me a clue. But he went nowhere, I guess I should have sort of seen that one coming. But still, she told me she was close with him. So I thought he would have been able to even give me a paltry hint on what I needed to look for." As he said that, I could tell from how he spoke that even he knew how silly he had sounded here.

"Which teacher was this?" I asked, and I had no real clue what in the world I was even supposed too so. I mean, I felt like if I was to help him out, I needed to have as much context here as I could.

"The creative writing teacher, Mr. Love. The one who tells her to always try and pursue her dreams." As Tobias said that, I could see that he had seemed to be a bit unsure what the heck he had even wanted me to tell him.

"Oh yeah, I have heard a bit from him. To be honest, I have a feeling that Mr. Love might just sort of be a bit of a creep. Just sort of at the job for his own gain." I said, and I did not give any amount of a fuck how I sounded as I had said that. I felt like I just needed to be honest there.

"I feel like the police might be right. I need to just drop the fucking subject, and not press it any further. After all, I never intended to hurt Rachel with her thinking I am basically throwing it all away with my act." As Tobias said that, it had seemed like he truly regretted all that he had said. Like he was a bit of a monster with his search.

"How many times have you talked with the police about what you are doing?" I asked him, and he was standing up. As if he was desperate to just sort of get this over with. I had a feeling that no matter how much he tried to not make it clear, he really was pissed off at me talking about it.

"Like twice. To be honest, I feel as if they are scared that I will hate them if I know the truth. And they are right." As he said that to me, I then slowly nodded. I felt like I really was on the right track.

"Do you think they are choosing not to tell you everything on purpose?" I asked, as if I needed to sort of see where in the world he was project his feelings about the police. Tobias laughed, as if he had felt like he was not at all seeing the bigger picture.

"To me at least, it isn't about the fact if they are lying or not. It is all about what they are lying about. Trust me when I say that I do not trust them in any way at all." As Tobias said that, I slowly nodded, as I did sort of feel like deep down inside, Tobias was probably right, and that was what fucking was killing me. But then before long, Yolei was looking at the time, and she seemed shocked at how fast it went.

"Hey guys, I feel like I am going to have to head out soon. Can't really make them wait for too long." Yolei said, and then she grabbed a piece of paper. She then wrote her number down, so she would be able to get Tobias to call her if he wanted.

"If you ever need a friend to talk to, and just sort of open up to, then I will give you as much as I can. I don't know how much I can be able to really help you out. But I feel like I needed to offer at least." As Yolei said that, she had a faint blush on her face. As if she was proud of him being to go out and actually be in the world once more. As she started to head off, she looked at us, as if she was really worried for all three of us, but especially Tobias.

"Do you feel like you will truly be willing to just drop this?" I asked him as I felt like Tobias really needed to just be honest as I told him that. He took a deep breath, as if he had known deep down, that this outcome was never feasible.

"I have no idea if I can. I wish I would, but every time I feel like I am ready to move on, it comes back, and I just start to get really mad again." Tobias said, shrugging as he told me that.

"I want to trust the authorities, and I want to get people to see that it's not like we're all good after just a couple of days of me taking time off of school." As he said that, the utter despising that he had was beyond tangible. "But I doubt anybody really cares. I feel like we are all just talking about something that will make no difference at the end of the day." As he said that to me, I nodded, and I felt like I needed to get him to just tone it down with me a smidge.

"Dude, I know we never really took the time to hang out before. But I know you are clearly in pain. And I will do what I can to help out as much as possible. I will be a friend, or even help you with this if I need to do so." I said, now sort of feeling I needed to go with it.

"Yeah man, I really do appreciate it. I feel like I am just kind of at a loss on what I really want to do here. But I guess there is one thing I do sort of want to check out." As he said this, I slowly nodded. If he was willing to tell me, then I would be all ears. "I want to try and meet up with her boyfriend, and see if there is a chance that he had something to do with it." As he said that, I took a long and deep breath.

"I am probably just going to call Yolei when I get home tonight. See if the two of us can actually be able to get along in any official capacity." As he said that to us, I had a feeling that was going to have to be good enough.

"To be honest, I feel like she probably just needs to get some new friends. And to be honest, I feel like I am not really the friend that she needs." Davis said, and I heard him sound like he was ashamed of himself. As if he had felt like it was all his fault this happened.

"Well, I can't be a great friend if I am too focused on the bullshit that is going on with the case. But I guess that it's really not that big of a deal." As Tobias told me this, I took a deep breath, and I knew the next question might hurt him just a tad.

"if you feel like the case will hinder how you can be able to make friends, then I feel like that alone is more than enough for you to fucking let it go." I told him, and I could see that Tobias was at least sort of considering my statement.

"Well, I mean, I am talking with you guys right now. Plus, if I am honest, have no real clue if I have any real friends even before what had gone down. I feel like a lot of the people who talk with me even before this seemed to only be doing it because my family is rich." As he said that, I kind of felt like he was not really giving himself enough credit.

And to be honest, I felt like that was kind of what I needed to step up on. "I can come over tomorrow, and I can tell you everything I know. Maybe we can see where to go from there." I said, and I saw Tobias look like he had sort of had to decide if he really wanted that at all.

"If you really want to do that, go ahead. I don't know if that is the best case though." As he said that, I could tell that he had sort of seemed to be a bit out there.

"I do. I feel like you deserve a lot better than what you have. Especially since it seems like you are a great guy, who got dealt a really bad hand." I said, and I as I said that, Tobias grew smile on his face.

"Thanks man. Should go home now. I need to think a bit before I do anything I might regret." As Tobias said that, I saw him seem to be really mind of out of it. As he started to head off, Davis took a deep breath. As if what he had on his mind was really huge. And seemed to think it would totally shake everything all up.

"T.K., before I go home, I want to talk to you for a bit. About something my parents told me, and it has sort of really taken me for a loop." As Davis said that to me, I took a deep breath. I guess I really had no choice but to sort of see where in the world this would go.

"Let's talk about this on our way home." I said, and then with that, I started to lightly skate along by moving my right foot on the board, and my left foot on the ground dragging me alone.

"Well, I never thought that I would say this, but my parents told me they were going to be having a second kid soon. They said that they had never really intended for this to go down. But I guess we really need to think about what to do now." As Davis said that, I remember how in all honesty, him telling me that was arguably a even bigger shock than the Yolei incident.

"Do you know if it will be a boy or a girl?" I asked, sort of feeling like going the generic route was going to be the best thing I could do. He shrugged as if he had kind of forgot that for a bit.

"Girl. Yeah, they said that on my way out today. But if I'm going to be honest, I hadn't been paying any attention. I could not believe what I heard. It just seemed out of the god damn world." As he said that, I had no idea what to tell him.

"Do they have a name for her?" I asked, and I could tell that he hardly cared about that small part of it. Especially since it was still seven to eight months out from us.

"Just some that have been suggested. I think of those is like June or something. But for now, I doubt that they really have a dead set name. To be honest, I feel like I am going to be a shitty brother. But they will be even shittier parents." As Davis said that, I felt like I needed to see what he meant as he told me this.

"Why do you think they will be awful parents?" I asked, and while I had a feeling he might be right, I felt as if I sort of needed to know why. After all, they all seemed to have a decently nice personality and have not really gone on and done anything wrong.

"Have a god damn daughter in this town is a fucking mistake. I feel as if they should move away if they really want to go through with having her. And if not, spare her the fucking pain of this place and god damn abort her." After Davis said that, I was so shocked to hear him straight up admit he felt like they would do the fucking baby a favor by just straight up aborting her.

"But this is the choice of your parents. You need to accept what they feel is the best choice." I told him, and I saw Davis look as if he had known I was right. Me wanting him to calm down and see the bigger picture was so big to me, I had forgotten all about the pain in my arm was in due to the fact that it was probably broken.

As I said that, and had hoped he would see my point, that was when the grinding noise had gone off. As I heard it go off a bit, I took and long and deep breath. I wanted to just try and pretend like this never went down, and that the god awful noises would not continue.

"You were saying? Look, I know you are right. They need to chose what to do with her. But at the same time, I am more than allowed to feel as if that choice is awful, and will only go on to make it all so much worse." As Davis said that, I could tell he was so firmly believing that it was not the right choice, that I needed to find something I felt as if the two of us would agree on.

"Do you feel like we should truly go through with the meet up with Tobias? I feel as if maybe we should." I said, and I had hoped that by going to that, and sort of bringing the talk to one I was more comfortable with.

"Well, yeah, I do feel like that is probably for the best." As he said that, I was glad to see that he had sort of agreed. That meant he was not at all too scared to make a difference when it was with friends.

"I want to know how in the world I can be able to help with him finding Andrea. I want to start to set a bit of a life that my sister can be more comfortable in. I don't know if I can, but I feel as if I can at least really give it my best go." As Davis told me this, I had no idea what in the world Davis could be able to do about this. To be honest, I felt as if there wasn't much to get out of fighting him.

"I hope you know what in the world you are truly getting ready for. If this fails, then I truly do not feel as if I will be able to do jack shit to be able to protect you." I told him, and I had felt as if being honest about it all was really the best I could fucking do.

"I know that is true. I need to face my choices, and just go on and run with them. And if the choices duck dick, then I will have to deal with it. But at the very least they are my choices." Davis told me, and I was really happy to see him at least try and admit that there was a very good chance that if he was not careful, then he might be in a grave before his sister was born.

"Thank you for seeing what I am saying. I really do not want to force you down a path. But I do feel as if your path isn't good." I told him, as if I had felt as if there was nothing else to lose. Wanted to be there for my friends, even if I had felt like doing this would mean I would just watch them get killed in front of my eyes.

Scene 13: The Emo Boyfriend June 22 1986

Eventually, I decided to try and see if we would be able to meet up with Ocho. Both of us had felt like we were going to really see what in the world he had actually done to be bale to find Andrea. Or if he just sort of gave up on the subject.

Tobias was with me, and I could see that Tobias wanted to see eve more than me if he had been able to even find a single thing that could help us out. Probably felt like Ocho holding out on us would eventually be doing us any favors at all.

"I had told Ocho that I believed in him. That he could be my hero. But he just gave me nothing in return yet. I mean, I guess I might be too hard on him, and he might have something up his sleeve after all, but I don't know." After he said that to me, I slowly nodded, and I sort of felt like I could be able to see it.

"I feel as if that is what becomes a issue. You start to believe the best in everybody when in all honesty, I feel like people will try to take advantage of you due to that." I told him, not at all sure what the hell he was going to react with her.

"Dude, I feel like when it comes to a person my cousin is dating, I feel as if I have to try and really look at the best I can look at them as." Tobias said, as if he had felt like this was just something I needed to give him credit on.

"I guess I can sort of see that. Didn't you say that you've only seen him like once or twice since Andrea had gone missing though." I said, and I did not mean it to be offensive when I said that. Like I genuinely did not know what the plan was, and I felt like I needed to get it.

"Well, he did come over decently often the first five days or so, but after the immediateness of the event, yeah only like once. I want to say it was like three of four days before you saw me at the skating park." After he had told me this, I felt like I needed to know what he did when he was there, if anything.

"Well, when he showed up, he came in with two shoe boxes. They seemed to be completely filled up with materials. I wanted to read them or see them, but he closed up the room after he placed it on her bed, and I have not been able to see it yet." Tobias said, and I had no clue what the hell I was going to say now.

"Do you think we should try and see if we can see what is in there?" I asked him, and I saw that he had looked like this was not at all what he was ready to even consider. But he smiled, as if he had thought that this could still work.

"Maybe after we are done talking to Ocho, I would sort of be a bit curious to see what we can fine. But for now, I want to be able to talk to him one on one, and see if he has found even a single thing that would be able to help us out." After he said that, I could tell that Tobias did not really seem to be all that sure with what he said, and just sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

Once we were at the house, Ocho looked at s, and he seemed like he was actually a bit upset to even see us there. As if our presence was going to be a massive mistake that would just proceed to make everything he was doing worse.

"I want to talk to you about my issues I have been having. I am starting to feel like you haven't been giving me the results that I have been promised." As he said that to Ocho, I saw that he had been trying to just hide the anger that he really felt.

"I'm fucking trying dude. I even got to set an appointment with Shaun Reichenbach, and that will be tomorrow morning. I will tell you how it all went. But I will be honest, I am not one hundred percent sure if this will be giving you the results that you want. I feel like you are going to set yourself up for a lot of let down if you think he will actually listen to me. I just feel like I need to be honest about how it is." As he told us this, I could see that Tobias had a new look on his face.

"Why not go on and talk to Rob then? I feel like he will be a lot more willing to talk to you about all of this, so why not at least try and see his point?" As he had told Ocho that, I could see that Ocho has looked like he sincerely wished that this could have been able to really happen. But I had a feeling he just sort of gave up on expecting it.

"I doubt that Rob really has a lot of respect for me. He always seemed to think that something was off. To be honest, I feel like the only reason we were able to even be friends to begin with was due to Andrea." As he said that, I felt like this was what we needed to say to get him to sort of just open up a bit more.

"Well, if that is what you guys have in common, then maybe you just need to give him a chance here. Even if your friendship isn't too strong, I feel like the hatchet needs to be buried for a common cause." I said, feeling as if I needed to just sort of get him to try and no longer hide behind what his due diligence was.

"I wish that it would work that way. But I don't really think it will. But I guess I can sort of tell him that, and see what is really on his mind." Ocho said, and then with that, he took a deep breath. "How has Rachel been doing? Do you feel like I need to talk to her soon, and see how she feels?" Tobias shook his head, and I could tell that he did not really seem to be upset at the question. Just more sort of unsure what the hell the point was.

"To be honest, I have no idea what Rachel is feeling. I feel like Rachel has sort of lost all the will she had to really fight. Can't really blame her. I feel as if she just wants to put this behind her, and one day at a time." As he said that, I could tell that even Ocho had felt really bad about that.

"Shit. I mean, I should have sort of seen that coming. After all, grief does a lot of different things for different people. So I should have just kind of not pressed it at all." As Ocho said that to us, I sort of saw that he was a bit pissed, but more at himself than he had seemed to be at either of us.

"I mean, I know I really do need to step up. I want to step up, and just see Andrea once again. But to be honest, I have accepted it will not happen." As he said that to me, I saw Ocho take a deep breath, ready to be responsible.

"I guess that I am sort of hoping that Shaun will see how big of a deal this is for Rob, and he will step up and just sort of tell Rob and I what we need to hear. Just to sort of give us literally at all to help us get it." As Ocho said that, I saw that he really did look like he had been having even any degree of hope at all.

"So you are going out of your way and try and place your hopes on a liar? I mean, I guess I can sort of see it. But to be honest, I feel like your best choice of action is to just sort of trust your own actions." As Tobias said that, Ocho took a deep breath, trying to think of a good retort that would make Tobias back off of him.

"Well, at least what I am doing is better than all the going around and lecturing me on all the crap I have done. At least I actually have been working my ass off to find anything. Like did you know that Andrea had a new friend who would go to the pier every day?" Ocho asked, and Tobias looked down, showing to Ocho that he indeed did not know about this.

"Yeah, they had been hanging out for a while. Her name was Meredith. Sixteen years old. I think they first met up during a school project. As Ocho said that, I could see that he had seemed to be a bit proud of all the intel that he had been able to gather up.

"Do you think I will be able to meet her any time soon?" Tobias asked, and then with that, Ocho pulled out a piece of paper from his pants pocket. He handed it to Tobias with a weak smile on his face. As if he had not really cared too much anymore.

"Those are the addressed of all the people that I gathered had any form of communication with her in the last couple of months. Talk to them if you want any clue what they know about her. But in no way am I going to try and press the matter on them any more." After Ocho said that, he had a faint smile on his face, just not caring much anymore.

"Oh that list has the address of Meredith as well as Leo, which showed that they were two people he had also talked to at one point, and I was wondering what he had told Leo when they had met. I felt as if Leo just needed to be honest with me when I pressed him on it.

"Thanks dude. I will see what I can find out from her. And I want to see what Leo says about your meet up." As I told him this, I saw that Tobias had looked like he didn't really seem to care too much.

"You're welcome. Maybe when you see how impossible it is for some of these people to give you jack shit, you might start to see that this whole thing is fucking stupid." As Ocho said that, I could tell from the look on his face that it had seemed like he was a bit more of just kind of tired to have this discussion in the first place.

"But guys, I feel like some of these people you really need to be careful on. I do not trust a word of what many of them say." As he told me this, I could tell that it had sort of seemed like he did not buy a word of what he said. I took a deep breath, breath as I had no real idea if any of that mattered.

"Talk to you when I find what I can. I hope that you're wrong though, and you might have just sort of been going at it the wrong way." Tobias, and I could tell that he really did not seem sure what to feel. I felt like he was just truing to create a bit of a bravado for Ocho to fall for.

"Good luck. And I guess I will tell you what Shaun says. I do not have even a smidge of hope on it. But I guess I need to give it a try." As he said that, I saw he had looked like he was almost glad to be able to sort of just try and prove his words right.

With that, I had felt like there was no point in making it any worse. So with that, Tobias and I were starting to head away. I was in no real mood to go and try to talk to all of them for tonight, since that was already enough work for one day. But to be honest, in the near I near future I would go on and I would meet up with every single person who was on the list, and see what Ocho told them.

Scene 13.5: The Showbox (June 23, 1986, Morning)

The next morning, I was at Tobia's house to see if we could find the show boxes, and then learn what Ocho had been trying to hide in there. I had a feeling that despite what we had known, if he had found out what was in the show box, we would finally have even more context that we had missed.

We saw that Rachel had been talking to Rob for a bit, and I saw that both of them had a level of happiness that they had both been missing out on. Which made me think they might have been a fucking couple. Rachel looked up, and saw us, and I saw that she was actually happy to see the two of us there. "Hey, we were sort of wondering what you guys were doing? You haven't really talked to us at all the last several days." As Rachel said that, Tobias took a deep breath, feeling like he might as well just stop with the bullshit.

"I am going to be taking Ocho's show boxes, and I am going to see what he left behind for Andrea." As Tobias said that, I could tell that Rachel did not want to hear that response at all.

"We told you to not look into that stuff anymore. We thought that you were finally listening to us." As he said that, I could see that Tobias knew that she was right. But at the same time, I could see that he was caring less and less with each day.

"Look, I need to make my own damn choices, and I have to do what I think is best for myself." Tobias said, and he was walking past her, and I followed him, as I felt like I just needed to get away from the toxic set up for what was going to come here.

"What if those choices are going to end up killing you? Do you know how much this family will never be able to move on?" Rachel asked, as Tobias took a deep breath, as if he had felt like that would not matter too much anymore.

"Then good luck. But these choices are still mine to make. And honestly, I don't care how much everybody I talk to hated it. After all, I am just doing what is necessary." As Tobias said that, he took a deep breath, and he slowly went to Andrea's room. By this point in time, I could see that Rachel must have known she had lost the fight, and that she would not actually convince him out of it.

Once we were inside her room, the two shoe boxes were still on the bed As I saw this, I smiled, since I knew that Tobias would be happy to see what Ocho had chosen to leave behind. He opened up the box, and he saw a bunch of things that had been placed in for anybody who really needed it.

The first shoe box mainly consisted of a stack of college ruled notebooks that had been filled from front to back. I saw from the looks of it that they seemed to be a combination of stuff written before Andrea went missing, to stuff made after she went missing. His relationship blossoming being the former, the investigation that ate him alive being the latter.

"I wonder if he was planning to post all of this as a way to show evidence to everybody. Or if he would want bring all this to the police." As Tobias said that, he saw the first box had a ton of pictures all over them. Mainly showing him and Andrea, or other various hang outs with his friends, and I could tell that Ocho still had a level of being the happiest man in the world.

"What's in the other show box?" I asked, and I could see that Tobias had wanted to spend some more time to read the stuff that Ocho had written, but most likely knew not to fight me on it.

"Yeah, I guess we can check." Ashe said that, I saw that the other show box had a few things in it. One was a very old map from 1963. This map had probably a hundred areas marked on it that were called "Mile Markers." As I saw that, I wanted to just pretend like I never saw it. I could tell that Tobias had been starting to piece it all together as well, wondering if that was our clue.

"Do you think we should go to those mile markers? I mean, we might be able to get some good clues that way." As Tobias said that, I took a deep breath, and I saw that he had wanted to press for more details.

"If our friends think that is a good idea, I'll go to them all." As he said that, he then looked down, and I saw that there another thing that took us both by surprise.

A letter from Brad Carbunkle. As we saw that, I saw Tobias look like he had known that reading that letter was going to be what he needed to see if Brad would be one of those people we could trust.

"Dear Ocho, I have read, and I do understand your frustrations with how things in this town have bee. I am very sorry to hear how much this has hurt you, as well as your friends and family. However, I am sorry to inform you that until further info comes up, if it even does, I will not be able to do much to bring any form of resolution to finding your girlfriend."

With how things in Wayside are, I must tell you that I have a very bad feeling you will probably never be able to learn the truth. I am fully aware that you must have the desire to try and learn the people who are responsible. But from what I have talked to the police about it, I have a bad feeling that she will almost certainly be far away from here.

You said it yourself, you have heard her talk about a desire to run away. You might not like it at all, but I feel like there is a good chance she just chose to leave the town, and try to start a new life away from Wayside. And as a man who has seen how much the women of Wayside have been brushed off, and never been given as much care as the men, one day you will see that this is far more likely than you might be able to think. I will try and try and see what I can see though. I do recall that the Wilsons did say that they have some family down in California. I feel that maybe I can try and dig into that more.

But, and I know that you might not want to hear this, but you need to just live your own life. You need to stop being tied down by this if you want to be able to actually make your life happen once again. You do not have to enjoy me telling you this, but I hope in due time, you will be able to see that I do care about what is best for you. And that in due time, you will see that I am not trying in any way to truly force you to a certain way of life.

I just want to warn you. Only about five or so months ago, my girlfriend of three years, Victoria, also became a victim of the labyrinth. She had been a few months away from her twenty third birthday. And once that did happen, my entire perspective of what I felt about this town changed, and I started to see what the pain of you are all dealing with much more. It was a wake up call of mine if I am honest. From the hear of investigation, Brad Carbunkle." The contents of the latter read.

Scene 14: Meredith (June 23 1986, Early Evening)

A few days after Yolei had gone missing, the day after we met Ocho, that was when Leo and I had chosen to meet up with Meredith for the first time. I had no idea what the hell to expect by seeing her. But I knew that I needed to just go on and give it a fucking go.

The entire time we had been heading there, part of me felt like this might not have been worth it at all. I mean, I had no idea who the hell she was, and trying to force this on her now after Andrea had been missing for over a month now, and I had felt as if it might have been bad to push this on her.

But I could see that from the look on Leo's face, that for some damn reason, was not going to back down on this at all. So, I felt as if I just sort of needed to go with it still. If for nothing else, to stop him from being so uptight here.

"Hey Leo, do you feel like you need to talk for a bit?" I asked, since I had felt like he had been kind of distant lately, and I felt like I needed to try and just find any kind of way to not press him on the matter at all.

"Well, I don't know how I feel. But for some reason, I feel as if just sitting on my ass all day isn't going to be what anybody wants me to do. So I am just going to see what I'll find." As he said that, I had no clue if he was being too hard on himself. But he had been rather distant, and I didn't know what to say.

"I guess I can sort of see what you're feeling." I said, and I had felt like being all chill with it was the best way to try and not make it any worse at all.

"Look, I have no idea if you going to be ready for what is to come. So if she starts to be rough on you, I will tell her that she needs to back off." I said, and I took a deep breath. Eventually, we were at the house, and as I was there, I saw her sitting down on a chair, wearing a blue dress, in a kind of way that she wanted men to swoon over her.

She smiled as she saw us, but more so in a way to just try and make it seem like she wasn't trying to be a fucking slut while interrupting her tanning. But I took a deep breath, feeling as I just needed to be honest about what I was doing here.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you a few questions about my friend's sister Rachel." As Leo told her this, I saw him look like he was now a bit confident. I could tell that he was sort of going to plow through the entire debate with as much tenacity as he really could.

"I barely got to even know her too well, and I feel like I can't really be able to help you much." As she said that to me, I saw that Leo was aware of the fact that this was bullshit, and he didn't like the fact that she was lying to him.

"She must have given you at least a little bit of intel on what she felt. Did she ever talk about Mr. Love?" I asked her, and I could tell that she was shocked at my prompt. Almost as if she had felt like I was putting her to a corner, and did not really appreciate it at all.

"Well, she has mentioned it. But I could tell from the way that she talked with me about him, that she had been utterly scared out of her mind about him." As Meredith said this, I saw Leo clearly thinking that she needed to take things even just marginally slower.

"What are you planning to do? You can't really do anything about a teacher that has virtual monopoly on the literature department of Wayside? Everybody loves that man, and you are really going to make it worse if you try and fight his authority." As Meredith said that to us, I could see that Leo looked like he did not give a single shit at all.

"I have no god damn idea what I will do. But I just have a sinking feeling that he has a couple of things going on up his sleeve. And I feel like he has a good idea what she was feeling. But to be utterly honest, I think he might know all about the writing she did, and what was really on her mind. So I feel like I just need to give this a go." Leo said, trying to just sort of show her that he truly was confident in what he was doing here.

"Well, if you really want to talk to him, then go ahead and meet up at his hall. I am sure if you talk with him a bit about what is on his mind, and what she was doing then you might get exactly what you want." As she said that to us, I saw that she was just sort of out on the world. There hadn't been enough to really get us to leave her alone.

"Fuck it. I have nothing better to do. I might as well show you, and get you both to meet him. I have no desire to any further than that though. I don't want to get involved in a bunch of shit that could get me in a lot of trouble." As she said that to us, I took a deep breath, as I felt like I needed to take it for what it was, since she did give us something after all.

I was shocked to hear Meredith even suggest this in the first place, but I sort of felt like I just needed to take the offer, and not shoot it down. After all, the fact that Meredith was wanting to help me showed deep down that she had a desire to really give Rachel some pace of mind.

"So anyways, what made you start to hang out with Rachel anyways?" Leo asked, kind of feeling he needed to just crack the case on that. She looked at him, and I could tell that she was a bit shocked to even see him want to know about her own past in a way.

"Well, we had a couple of common interests, I could tell, and we had been sharing ideas of stories with each other." As she said that to us, I slowly nodded, and I felt as if I needed to try and find a way to get to know more of those writings.

"Were they about real life?" I asked, and I saw Meredith look like she was a bit shocked at the fact that I even asked her that to begin with. Shocked to even see that I would have any remote amount of interest in the subject.

"Well, she had mainly been capturing her thoughts on there. She would write a lot about her day to day events. She said after a point she had felt like she was showing the world her own story. Mr. Love was a great teacher in that sense. He got people to feel like they could be able to be their own, and not be ashamed." As Meredith told me this, I could see that she had sort of seemed to still have a level of immense respect for Mr. Love.

"You feel like he was sort of a bit of a revolutionary then? But beyond that, you were saying that a bit of how he acted had really bothered her. I feel like none of that really adds up." I said, and I could see that Meredith had looked like she was a bit annoyed at the fact that I just did not seem to get it.

"You can be a man that rubs people the wrong way while also being a man who has done some great things, for the town. And that was the point that I had been trying to make. Mr. Love was a man who has rubbed us both the wrong way with the fact that it seemed like he was a bit of a sexual deviant. But when he is actually doing his job, it does seem like he really is a good guy." As she said that, she shrugged, as if feeling like I had no clue how to get nuances.

"But to be honest, I feel like he never really had a thing for me, so it really did not ever bother me too much what he was doing. I always had a feeling he would not actually try to hurt me." As Meredith said that, I had still sort of felt what was telling me was a sort of way to try and deflect what was going on.

"So, you are saying that you are willing to sort of look the other way because he was not making any sort of strange looks at you?" I asked, as I felt I did sort of needed to call her out on that. As I said that, I saw that Meredith did seemed to be a bit ticked off that I had said that, but she just took a deep breath. Clearly not in the mood to fight it at all.

"Look, I know what I'm doing here. I feel like if all you are going to do is just degrade all that I do, then I am not in the fucking mood to deal with it at all. I just feel like Mr. Love is not all that bad of a guy, and it's just that he is really strange and I feel like on certain levels, there is something up with that guy. That is all I was trying to say. But I stand there while all you do is just shit talk my choices." As she told me this, I had felt as if in a certain degree at least, I did need to respect Meredith's wishes.

Before too long, we were at the building that Mr. Love owned. Something called Love's books and stories, or something like that. As I looked at it, Meredith looked like she was a bit shocked to see how relatively empty the place actually was.

"Is he going to be emptying the place soon? I thought that he was going to be bringing even more shit in." As she said that, she took a deep breath, as if she had felt like she really had no choice but to check for more.

"You seem really scared. Do you have anything going on?" I asked, as I felt I needed to try and find any way to sort of calm her the fuck down, at least a smidge. She took a deep breath, and I could tell that it had seemed as if she was going to take a step that she never thought she would.

"I am going to try and see what is going on with Mr. Love. I just think it all makes no real sense. You guys are probably coming in, no matter if I like it or not." As she said that, I could tell that she had been feeling like this was a part of her destiny. I chose to not say anything at all, and I would respect her wishes on what she had been planning.

Once inside, I could see that Mr. Love had been sitting on a chair, and I saw that he looked like he had aged a year and a half in a matter of just the two weeks that we had been in summer vacation.

"What are you guys fucking doing here? I don't really think it would be wise to be here right now." As he said that to me, I could see that Meredith looked like she had been willing to take the conversation over, since I felt like she had a million thoughts on her mind that really bothered her.

"What made you finally decide to start putting away your shit?" She asked, and I could tell that she was almost feeling bad for this. He looked at her, and he took a deep breath, clearly a bit sad at what she said.

"Got a promotion. I love this place, but to be honest, I need to try and put this behind me." The new place will give me more space, and more clarity, on what I feel." As he said that to me, I slowly nodded, as I felt like that was a fair enough reason. But ultimately not that important.

"Are you not going to be teaching her anymore then?" I asked, as if there was nothing else I could be able to say. He took a deep breath, and I could see that he had clearly taken that question into a level of consideration.

"I have no idea what I am going to be doing now. All that I do know is that I just need to really branch out. Like Larry Needlemeyer said that due to his son, he wants his kid to have a good tutor, and he said he was willing to pay me to help him out." As he said that, I could tell that Meredith had been rather shocked at what he had just told her.

"Why in the world do you think he went to you of all people?" She asked, and I could clearly tell that she had been slightly bothered by this. He looked at her, and I could tell that he really did not get what her issue with his comments were.

"Well, he knows that I am free lance, and I will do what people need me to do. And that is why all my words and employment fluctuate all the damn time. But to be honest, being there for the youth of the town is what I always strive to do." As Mr. Love said this, I could tell that Leo was trying to hide the fact that he seemed to have no interest at all in this plan.

"Look, I am not here for that. I want to talk to you about my friend's cousin who has been missing for a while. Andrea Wilson. I was told that you had seen her a lot." As Leo said that, he took a long and deep breath. He looked like he was ready to thrown down with Mr. Love if he needed to do.

"No, I know about her, but I do not know what happened to her. To be honest, I always felt like she was in the wrong crowd. I could see over and over again that she had been really unsure of what she was doing. Almost as if she had felt like she made the wrong choices. But I was fifteen once, and I know what it is like to slowly have to find who are you, and pick up from all the mistakes you made. I was not going to interfere unless I had felt like her very safety was in danger." As Mr. Love said that, I was both able to respect that, but at the same time wanted to scream at him over this.

"Anyways, I did know her. She talked to me about how one of her friends was going o be making a bonfire at the beach, and to be honest, I could tell she had been a bit scared of what would happen if the police caught her friend." As he said that, he shrugged, as if he had felt like it didn't matter now. So, what was the point in bringing it up in the first place?

"What was his name?" Tobias asked, as he balled his fist, and then unclenched it, and then did that same motion a second time. As if he was trying to find a way to release the pressure he had been building.

"Julian or Julius. I can't remember which. But I do remember that Andrea said he had spent a summer in juvie last year due to all his shit related to arson." Mr. Love said, and then at that Meredith snapped her fingers, as she had remembered what had happened, as if it was easy to just forget that shit.

"Yeah, when he set off a fire cracker in the school bathroom. I remember just feeling really sorry for the people who had to deal with fixing all that." As she said that, Mr. Love smiled, and he took a few seconds to look at her, and really appreciate her body.

"Well, that just shows that you have a degree of empathy that a lot of your age do not. A lot of people that age, myself included, if I'm being honest, would just have been too busy laughing my ass about it to not really give any level of a shit." As he said that, I could tell that he had finally looked like he was much more willing to just show the more natural, and social side, of himself, as a way to just sort of kick back and have a good time.

"Anyways, I have a lot of things to do, and I do not have a lot of time at all, and I feel like I just need to kind of get back to work." As Mr. Love said that to us, he looked at both Meredith and Leo, and I could sort of tell that he really did feel bad for what he had heard, and that deep down, he did want to at least to make Rachel and all the others feel a little better.

"Well, truth be told, I feel really bad for all that has gone down. But you need to know that I only know much, and in no way can I be the man who helps you all out with the issues." As he said that to me, he left the building. As he was gone, I could tell that Meredith had looked like she had wanted to grab his stuff, and try to read over it all.

"Should I go for it?" She asked, clearly referring to looking at all his materials. As she said that, I could tell that Leo had looked like he really did not want to try and risk it.

"I think if we press it, he will know what we did, and I do not think he would be cool with us looking at all of this." As Leo said that, I would tell that Meredith did not seem to be too wool with what he said. As if she had felt like he was not taking the leap of faith to do what was needed.

"You were the one who told me that you wanted to know what Mr. Love had done, and now that you have the chance to learn, you are now just going back and not fucking doing it? I feel like what you are saying is kind of destroying the whole point of everything here." As she said had said that to us, I could see that Meredith was both pissed at us, whole also trying to guilt trip us.

"I did say that. But now that we're here, I have no idea if this is really worth it." As he said that, I could tell that Leo did not care if he was sounding like he was taking things back. But he could tell that from how Meredith had looked at him, that she clearly did not want to argue with him. So, with that, Leo took a deep breath, and he seemed like he was ready to put it all to the test, to just do the damn job.

"Okay, I guess a little look around is not going to kill us." As Tobias said this, the three of us went to certain tables in the room, trying to see what he would find. To be honest, I felt as if the three of us were going to get in so much trouble just by being in the area to begin with.

When I saw one paper, I saw that there were some directions to two different places in the town that we should probably try to look into. I saw that they both had dates written on them. Probably all of the times that he had gone there. One of the dates was four days ago, and on the second address the date was six days ago. "Isn't one of those the address of the broadcast station?"

As Meredith asked me this, I saw that the one from six days ago indeed had the same address of where my dad worked. The date before that was thirteen days ago, then twenty, and then twenty seven. Which made it clear to me that this was a place he would go to every week on the date. Which meant he would be going there once again tomorrow, and I knew that this would really be the place I would go to next. "Okay, he will be there again tomorrow. And I am going to met him there." As I said that with confidence, I had no idea if all that said confidence was going to really get me killed one day.

"The other one is interesting too." Tobias said, and he pointed at it. As I looked at it, I saw that the name of the other place was Mile Marker Seven. As I looked at it, I had known that he had gone to the mines at one point. And I shook my head, and I knew that I would have to go and check it out.

"That will be in three days from now. We will need to try and find Mile Marker Seven, and I am going to see what else he might be hiding there. I don't know if either of you want to come with me to either of those, but for the sake of being a good friend, I am more than willing to go either way." As I told them this, I could see that both Meredith and Leo looked like they really had no clue what in the world the two of them should do.

"I guess maybe we really should come with you. We might be able to find more if we go with you." As Meredith said that to me, I could see that she really did not like this idea at all. But that at the end of the day, she was not going to back down.

"Alright. See you both tomorrow night. I will see what I might be able to find before. Just to give us even a smidge of an extra context." I told them, and with that, I took a deep breath, feeling as if I really had no choice on what I could do. I just took a deep breath, not ready to go down now.

Hoped that when I would meet Mr. Love tomorrow, especially if Meredith really did show up, then I could be able to kind of force him to tell us what we needed. To be honest, I was sick and tired of nearly two weeks or this and for Leo's sake, I needed to finally get to the bottom of this. I was kind of scared of the fact that I needed to tell him everything for fear of him learning the truth anyway, and becoming a independent agent if I lied to him.

Scene 15: Azulongmon's Shrine (June 24 1986, Midnight)

On my way home, to prepare for the talk with Mr. Love, I chose to meet up with one of the locations marked on Ocho's map. Mile Marker 12, which was a shrine to a deity named Azulongmon. I had no idea at all what the deity was, but I did know that I needed to go there to see what the hell Ocho had left.

Once at the shrine, at the edge of the Sector Seven exit, nearly two hours from my house, I went up the ladder that had clearly looked like it had not been used in at least a good five to six years. Which for all I knew, it probably had no. Once inside the shrine, I saw the wall was covered with a large painting of a blue dragon. I didn't know at the time that this was my first ever exposure to a Digimon.

Also in the shrine was a box that had looked like the dust had been covering up the intricate deigns on purpose. I walked to the box, and opened it up. And when I saw what was inside, I saw what looked like a warriors set up, for a lack of a better way to put it.

There was some suit that had been placed there. A white two piece suit that had dark blue shoes, with the top piece having two large black buttons to help the suit lock together. Then there was a set of orange gloves that both had a red circle in the center, and then an orange scarf for me to put on. Then in the last piece was a white mask to cover the top half of my face, with a orange strip on the bottom for each cheek as a way to tighten the mask in a harness.

After that, I decided that I would try it on. So when I finished looking, I got myself completely naked except for my underwear, and then I placed the suit on myself. In order to put the mask on, I had to sort of mess around with my hair a bit, and make it a jumbled mess. As I got it all finished up, I felt a little tight, but for the most part I was shocked at how good of a fit the suit was, and how much I had actually liked it in general.

I looked at myself on a side mirror, and I saw that the look actually gave me a level of confidence that to be honest, I never had, and I felt like I had a reason to take on the world. I then smiled, as I chose to look down on the other thing that was in the box.

I saw two sets of hilts that were split in half. I picked one of them up, and I saw a green button on it. I then looked at my pants that had been brought to the side. I took the small bag Brad gave me out of the pocket, and removed the two crystals that I forgot about.

I then placed the orange crystal in the slot that had been open that fit perfectly. When I finished, I placed the two halves of the hilt together, and locked it in. I took a deep breath, and turned on the green button. With that, a orange blade came on, and I smiled as I saw what I now had, and what I would do to show my friends that I has basically had a lightsaber, or as close to one as I could get.

Then I grabbed the second set of hilt halves, and then I placed the blue crystal in the slot that was meant for it. As I placed the two halves together, and then locked it in one piece. Then with that, I pressed the red button on this one, and out came a cyan blade, a tad lighter than I had expected. But still blue to a degree, and I stared at both the cyan and orange blades for a bit longer before I turned them both off. As I did, I then saw a name on the right orange glove that gave me a clue what I was supposed to expect.

"Justin Ryder. 1951." As I saw the name on the glove, I took a deep breath, and then I took a second to try to think about what I would do now. I felt that the best thing to do was go and meet up with Justin and just talk to him about what he had known of this town. Because clearly he was not just a fifty six year old pastor who was just trying to do god a service. He was a man who had fought, bleed, and sweat for the town at one time.

I grabbed what was left of my pockets from my regular clothes, and then put them in the pockets of the suit, then I began to head off after putting the hilts of the two blades in a front pocket that had been made just for that. Once I was out of the shrine, I looked up at the shrine of Azulongmon, and I had also hoped that Justin would be able to explain to me what Azulongmon even was in the first place.

As I thought of that, I heard the grinding noise go off again. I was not shocked to hear it, but I was shocked to hear it after only two weeks from the last time. This had by far been the shortest time lapse between two rounds, and I had no idea what to do. But I began to head off to Mr. Ryders house, and I had a feeling that if Anybody would be able to completely get me ready for what was to come, it would be Justin Ryde, and I felt that as long as he was honest with me, then I would finally be able to come to terms with what I could so to have any chances of saving the girls in Wayside.

When I was part the church that had been burned down, I eventually got closer to the address that Justin told me about. When I was there, I knocked on the door as hard as I could. After a few seconds of waiting, that was when Justin knocked on the door, and he looked right at me. It was clear from the look of horror on his face that he knew what I was here for when he saw the outfit I wore.

"How did you fucking find that?" He asked, and I took a deep breath. I knew that the way he acted showed that deep down inside, he knew that there was no way he would be able to hide the truth at all. "And better yet, how many people know about what you found?"

"I just fond this today. I saw one of the mile markers led to Azulongmon's shrine, and I went there. I found this place because I want to do all I can to bring the truth out. I wanted to see if you would be able to train me on how to fight." I told him, getting desperate on how I talked because I knew I needed to be if I would get his attention.

"Training in the ways of the samurai is not an easy task. And even if you do pass the trails, there is no real proof that you will be ready for what the Digimon are like, or the people who actually lead this town. You will be forced to live a life that will demand pretty much all of you have envisioned of your life to be all thrown to the side." As Justin tried to warn me, I took a deep breath, as if I felt this was what my life needed now.

"I need the lessons. I have some friends I want to protect, and I feel the only way to do so is to fight. And the best way to fight is to get the training I need." I said, taking a deep breath, as I had hoped he would hear my determination.

"Well, if I do train you on how to fight, I must make it clear to you that I will not hold back. And as you learn more, I will tell you all the secrets here, of the Digimon, and of what is hidden in this town. And you will not be ready for many years to truly fight." As he said that, I nodded, and felt that was fair.

"Then meet me at the back." As he said that, I nodded, and I followed him for a bit, and with each step, I felt as if I needed to mentally prepare for all that had happened, and for what all of my new intel would give me, especially on how I would save Yolei if I can.

Once we were in the back yard, I saw a small fencing circle laid out. "I never really learned how to use a gun, if you were wanting to know. I used a lot of physical weapons, which gives you an advantage because people are never expecting you to bring those to the battle. So you will get the element of surprise." As Justin said that, I should have been ready for what he would ask next, but for some reason, I wasn't really ready.

"I assume you saw the weapons I left behind. Have you made anything with those yet?" As he said that, I grabbed both of them from the pocket, and threw one to him. He turned on the orange blade, and stared at it for a second before turning it off. "Olive always thought I was lying when I told her about these things. She always thought that I was trying to prepare for something that would never come. But I always did know better, and always did expect it."

"Do you feel like you could have been able to prevent Olice from dying?" I asked, and I felt as if I had no choice but to shot it to him straight as was. "And what exactly did she tell you she was feeling like you were lying about?" As I asked him this, Justin looked down as if Ihe knew I wouldn't buy it at all.

"The monsters in the town. Those Digimon I mentioned earlier. They are very real, and there is nothing that I can do to change it. They come by every once in a while. And when I was your age, I tried my best to fight them all off, and also fight for Wayside with the missing girls, when the cases were still relatively new. But to be honest, nothing I did got them any closer to being home, and I only felt myself get more and more angry." As Justin said that to me, I had no idea what the fuck I could have told him to make it any different.

"Did you ever bring any back?" I asked, as I felt that getting Justin to talk me here in any capacity, was going to be the best I could do to get him to just talk to me like a regular old guy. And to not give me any damn lies on what I can do to give my friends any encouragement at all.

"One did come back. Her name was Mildred. But she was scared from the labyrinth for the rest of her life and refused to speak on it. But when she did she said she wanted to kill her monster. She committed suicide by slitting her wrists in her bathtub when she was twenty seven, a little less than ten years after she was saved." Justin said that, and I was slowly nodding at this.

"A man named Jimmy Whit, who would one day get the deserved he deserved. He was killed in 1964, a around three years after Mildred took her life. I will tell you more about it. But for now, it's best we pick this up later, when I give your first practice match." He said, giving me back my hilt before I looked at it, tempted to say more, but chose to abstain from it, as a way to just not piss him off any more than I already had, especially since he agreed to train me already.

Scene 16: Labyrinth (July 31 1986)

About five or so weeks after Justin Ryder had started to train me, I felt like I really needed to try and branch out to the town, and see what I would have been able to do now with a bit of experience on getting ready to fight and what not.

To be honest, my main thing of interest had been learning more about what Brad said in his letter. When he said that Victoria had been a victim of "The Labyrinth." The fact that this had been a very clear name that had shown that this was a well known place in town that had been known about for a very long time. And I felt that if Victoria had been victim of this place, then this "Labyrinth" would be the best place to start looking.

So as soon as I grabbed the white training suit from Azulongmon's shrine, I left with my sabers, and went to the forest. I had no real idea why, but for some strange reason, I had a feeling the forest would be the best first place to look.

As soon as I was in the forest, at first I did follow the main path, and then as soon as I reached the tree house, which I had known to be Mile Marer One, I took a deep breath, and I felt as if I would check there again if I was starting to get beyond lost and lacking leads. But for now, even though I had no idea for sure, I had feeling that there was going to be some answers at the one remaining entrance to the mines.

So I started to go off of what I had vaguely recalled when I went out in the town before. Trying to see if I could find it before too long. I will say one advantage to the suit was that it gave me a lot of extra warmth when compared to my regular old clothes. So I had less of a issue being able to just push along, and not think of how cold I really had been, despite it being basically August.

Once I had started to sort of get in a zone where I had not been paying too much attention to what had been going on around me, I had heard a form of growling noise. This took me off of everything that I had been thinking about, as I checked around.

I turned around, and I saw a monster that looked like Cerberus, and had glowing red eyes. I took out one of my blades, with the Cyan tint showing off, and I remembered what Justin said to not do anything until my enemies would make the first move.

The monster jumped at me, and one of the things that I learned was how to be quick on my feet. Just quick enough to not et hit by the Digimon as they would come to me. Then I grabbed the hilt by both hands, since even with my five weeks of training, I still did not know how to actually fight with dual wield at all really and would only do it if I really had no other choice.

The monster grabbed a tree branch from their left mouth, and flung it to me, which I sliced down with my blade. Cutting it in half, and I took a long and deep breath, trying to decide what to do next. And it was at this moment, not even confronting those who were apart of labyrinth that I would really regret not taking what Justin said to heart. I should have listened to him, and at least waiting to the end of summer before I did any moves at all. Since that extra month or so would have made me comfortable with a blade at least.

The monster came to me and pushed me down to the ground before I had time to react because mentally I had been very distracted. And once I hit the ground I grabbed the weapon again, and I sliced one of the three heads off, which had immediately flopped to the ground before it blew up to dust. The Digimon had looked to be utterly furious at what I had done. I smiled a this, as I knew that I could be ready for everything that came to me.

It was at this moment that I started to realize that I would be fighting way more of these things than I could have thought. If this was what the Digimon were, and I wondered if I would have to fight more of these going forward if I would have any chance of being able to figure out where the missing girls were. And I wondered if these Digimon might have been the ones who did this to all the girls to begin with.

The Digimon jumped up again, and then before long, I chopped the Digimon in half, and it fell down to the ground, and then when I was done, I looked to the mines again.

I did not want to waste anymore time on this, so I began to head off after turned my saber off, and I had hoped that what was in the mines would give me some clue. After another hour or so of walking, Id did eventually see what I thought was the entrance, which got my hopes up.

Before I went in, I recalled once more the talk that I had with Justin before I went in. How mad he had been for me throwing it all away just to look now. "Look T.K., I get that you want to at least try and learn the truth before the end of summer. I don't agree with it, but I get it. But that would give you another five weeks to train." As he said that, I shook my head.

"I have to do what I can do to help my friends. They will do this, no matter what I fucking say." I tried to get him to see my side of the debate. But I could tell that he did not care to hear what I would say at all.

"A little over a month ago, I gave you that armor as a way for you to don hope for Wayside. If you get killed tonight, then the potential that I gave you will be wasted. All that I wanted to do is gone. And your chance of being able to bring peace to us all is fucking gone." As Justin told me this, I tried to hear it, but at the same time, I hardly really got it at all since I had a fucking job to do.

"You gave me the outfit, and I am glad you did. But every day that passed is a day that increases the chances of Yolei and Andra being dead. How can I justify that when even Rachel has been gone for a while too?" I asked, and I saw that Justin looked as if he really did consider what I had just said.

"I can't force you to feel a certain way. But I can do what I can to tell you when I feel as if the path you are on will only make it worse for you. And I will not stand idly on that. If you want to do this, I hope you survive, and I will continue to train you. But if you die, then you have nobody to blame but yourself." As he said that, I slowly nodded, as I felt as that was beyond fair, and did keep me on a bit of a leash on where to head now.

"I will not die. I will comeback tomorrow, and I am not scared of what is going on here." As I told him this, I saw from the dim look on Justin's face that he did not really know what to expect. He did feel as though I would regret what I had just told him.

Once I stopped thinking of what he told me, and I started to feel as if he had been right, I chose to go in, and I would see what the hell I would find in the mines. I had felt that if I could find even a single clue, and survive, the training would be worth it, and I would continue as I prepared more and told my friends.

Once inside the mines, I saw Brad hovering over a bed that had looked like it had been there for a while. As I looked around more, I was shocked at how many beds I saw, and a bunch of old boxes that had clearly been shipments of dry food. I took a deep and calculated risk, as I thought of leaving.

"What the fuck is going on?" I asked, as I felt like I had no real other choice but to just see where in the world Brad was taking this. I had hoped that he would be honest with me as I had a right to know the truth.

"How did you find this place?' He asked, and I looked around, as I felt like I was needing to just try and find a way to coherently place what I was feeling so he would not see the level of confusion and hatred that I had here.

"I am clearing the mines up, and moving all of what I have to a cleaner and more natural place. The mines are not suited for a business like this." As he said that, I could tell that he was going to tell me what type of business this was, and I would finally have a level of peace.

"What business are we talking about?" I asked, as I felt like I really needed to know the truth. As I said this, Brad took a pistol and then he pointed it at me. "Are you seriously going to kill a thirteen year old middle school student to hide your tracks?" I asked, feeling the need to hold him down at least a smidge here.

"I don't have to kill you. But I can make you bleed, and wish you were dead. The last time I saw somebody wear that outfit, I thought that man was my hero. Now I see they are my bane." As he told me this, I brought one of the sabers out, ready to use it, and even kill Brad if I had needed to. But I chose to wait a bit.

"Are you planning to rape more high school girls and force them to have your babies? Are you ready to just violate girls like Rachel and then justify it because you have kids like Leo who actually have a fucking heart and soul?" I asked, and Brad kept a scaringly cold glance at me as he pointed the gun at my ribcage.

"You know, you're a great guy. But I saved Wayside by what I did. You're right, Leo isn't the only one. You might not like it, but I have no choice. Maybe when you sake up, you'll get it. But for now, I guess the case is closed, and this is how our investigation ends." He said, and as I was about to turn the saber on, he shot me right in the right side of my chest, and I fell down to the ground, blessing out and passed out, only alive because my armor took most of the damage.

Epilogue To Volume 1 – December 2, 2023

When he had finished typing out the first volume of the story, T.K. had looked down at what he had been doing. He had felt like everything he had written was only just a start to him being able to make any degree of peace on the events that had happened thirty seven years ago.

In his eyes, he could not believe he had been avoiding it for so long. Maybe if he had actually started to write all of this so much sooner, then he would have made the peace he had needed a long time ago, and maybe he would have actually been able to give himself the illusion of him start to get happy.

Even knowing the truth about what had happened to Yolei for nearly three years, he was still left wondering about all the women he needed to save. About that girl Meredith, and if perhaps saving her would have been what Leo had needed to sort of get himself kind of on the right tracks again yet. Tobias

He had felt beyond all else, that more than everything else was his biggest failure. The fact that he had not been there for Leo when he was still not having an easy time getting over what went down with Meredith, as well as the Brad being his father reveal. Both were way too much for a ten year old kid to handle.

He ended up getting a call from a number he had not seen in a very long time. He answered the phone, and he had expected to hear the seventy three year old voice of Todd Robinson. Instead what he got was the voice of his twenty three year old oldest son.

"Hey, are you T.K. Shioda? I was wanting to ask you if you would be able to help me out?" As he asked that, T.K. took a second to think about it. Then before long, he had decided that lying would do no favors, and less so if that man would help him out with detailing the world.

"Yeah. I'm currently working on my current book right now, so I do not have a ton of time to hang around. But what is on your mind?" T.K. asked, feeling that there was no choice but to just sort of be open to what Todd Jr. would tell him.

"Well, I found your email account, and I wanted to help you with that. I have a journal detailing a bunch of things my siblings and I dealt with, and I sent you photo copies of all the pages." After he said that, T.K. had a strange feeling that this was what he needed. So he took a deep breath, choosing to take what he had. Since he knew deep down that any intel he could get on the town, and their current politics, would really help him a ton.

"Hey, will you need me to go to Wayside and meet up with you all? I think I can meet you if you need." As T.K. asked this, he could tell that this might be the best way to try and close the bridge between what he was simply told about what was going on, and actually seeing it.

"If you want to do that, I will not stop you. That being said, I really do not want to force you into this." As he said that to T.K., there was a bit of silence, and he could tell that Todd had not really wanted this at all, and was a bit scared.

"I haven't been there in nearly two decades. I feel like I have no choice." T.K. said, as he started to slowly gain a smile of confidence in what he had wanted to say. "And besides, I feel like we need to sort of discuss the terms of our time together if we are to keep this up."

"Yeah, sorry about emailing you and calling you without consent. I just feel like I really have no choice. And I hope that when you real all my stuff, you will be able to see that." As Todd said that, T.K. could tell that he was only marginally sorry. But had been more sorry that he had been called out the way that he had, clearly for not showing the best type of behavior.

"When I show up, I will give you all the terms and conditions to working with me, and I am not really going to take no for an answer. I need to know what your siblings are all really like." T.K. said, and he said it as if he was just trying to make it seem like no matter what happens, he was the man who was behind it all.

The call ended with Todd Jr's agreement, and with that, he looked over at his wife and kid. December 14, 2023, was going to be his tenth birthday. And for the sake of Wayside, as well as the story, he was going to have to most likely miss out on his tenth birthday. And to be honest, he hardly cared. He had a feeling he and his kid did not get along all that well anyways, so what was done was done.

"I'm going to be out on a business meeting. Will be back as soon as I can. But don't hold out hope that it will be too soon." T.K. said, as he went to his car, and he began to start up the engine. He had a spare laptop and notebooks in case these things happened, and he was going to see what he would find. He looked at his house, at the time having no idea how long it would be before he went home, and started the car, ready to just be done with it, and out the past behind him.

Before he left his home town completely, he diverted the car down a long path that nobody had gone down in a long time, and he knew that this secret path was going to be his best bet.

After about ten minutes of driving, he got out of the car, and went to where he buried his old weapon. One that he had not used in a long time, and one he had hoped he would never have to use in Wayside. But deep down, he had known that his chances of needing to use it were going to be rather high.

When he finished unburying, he saw that the weapon was still there. He pulled it out, and smiled, as he turned the button on. A small blue blade came out, and he felt that by coming back to Wayside, he would be able to provide himself redemption, as well as be able to get revenge for Phineas and his friends who died many years ago.

He should have known better than to try and train a high school student who had no idea of the digital world. He also should have told him to have him and his friends wait until they were twenty one or twenty two before they made their assault.

Having them make the assault when they were still seventeen or eighteen years old, after just a mere three years of training, was his worst choice ever. And he had hoped that when he would return to Wayside, he would be able to kill Heinz Doofensmertz, and get revenge for those high school students.

He had also hoped that he would either be able to convince Ferb to return to the light, or if he needed, also kill him on his quest for revenge. He knew that there would only be two ways to finish this. Either he would kill them, and train a new apprentice to at least start the ability to carry the legacy. Or he died in the process and dies the honorable death of a warrior.

But for now, the job of being able to work with Todd Jr and his ten younger siblings, was going to be the best way that he would be able to get his revenge, start the arts he knew again, and beyond that, help those young men, and the one daughter, bring a degree of peace and resolution to a town that never had it.

The thing his master told him when he went through training all those years ago was that the hope of Wayside and the digital world would only be truly gone when the last of their clan died. And as a fifty year old man who had been fighting since the age of thirteen who now had lung cancer, he had hoped that one of Todd's children would have the grit as him, and write his story further after death so the world would know, and begin their own form of training if he offered, or else T.K. would die as with nobody to pick up his legacy as the last digidestined, and the last samurai