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.

2. Volume 2

Written Between December 14, 2023 to January 4, 2024

Scene 1: December 14, 2023

The thing is, I had only been three years old at the time that the events I had gone through started up. And even then, I was mainly just there as a person who was just in the scene. So all of these early stories, until I would get much older, are all kind of hard for me to explain. But for the sake of my family, and to help the town of Wayside, I need to at least try and tell what I know.

My name is Ridge Pinter Robinson, and I was the eleventh and youngest sibling born in a long line of family members. I was born on August, 22, 2020, just a couple of months before Donald Trump had been elected to his second term as president. I guess a good way to get the ball going on this is to tell you all about my older ten siblings. I will go at them in the order of which they had been born in, so starting with Todd Jr.

Todd Jr. was the oldest, at twenty three years of age, born April 12, 2000. He is one of the two siblings who no longer lived in the house we grew up in. He was a man who worked at the video store ever since I was literally a baby of only a couple weeks old. He has a twenty one year old girlfriend named Bebe Santiago, who he has been seeing roughly two years now. And in the last year or so, Todd has started to work full time with a thirty seven year old philanthropist named Lars Needlemeyer, and also streams on Twitch roughly thirty hours a week, meaning that Todd was basically always busy in his life.

The second oldest of the line up was Gabe, twenty one years old, born on October 2, 2002. He worked at a hotel for about a year and a half, and seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. He used to have a interest in fashion, but from what I would learn later on, but he grew out of it after he began to work at the hotel. I do know that Gabe was also very much opposed to all the stuff that Todd had done, and felt that he felt as if Todd was being taken advantage of. As of late 2023, Gabe had not been in any form of long term relationship, and I would always be able to look at that being more than a bit odd at the time.

The third one in the line up was Josiah, who was 18 years old, born May 16, 2005, and is the last of the three siblings as of late 2023 who had at least graduated from high school, and currently attending college. He was studying criminal justice, but in the meantime, he was a normal guy hanging out with friends and sort of getting into music. He loved things such as guitar, but he said it himself that he never thought he would make it big. Also a large part of why he wanted to go into criminal justice was because he had wanted to help his friend Rhett out. Who was trying figure out who had murdered and then raped his mothers body about three or so years ago.

Next up was Seth, at fourteen years old, born February 15, 2009. Seth used to want to go deep into the comedy sketch when he was younger. But, and he never really explained to us what it was, when he was twelve years old, in 2021, something happened to him and his friends, and most of that comedic demeanor was gone. He said it now felt wrong to place a bunch of jokes into the world when the world was a place that was barren and broken. He had told people that he just wanted to do his best to focus on things such as his studies and his friends. After this, for most of the last two years, he has been rather into technology and programming, which Josiah said was already odd to him.

After that is Jack, twelve years old, and born November 23, 2011, and he was still trying his best to get into sports. Every single year he would try a new one out, and he would do pretty good in them. But even with that, he only ever had a couple of them that he had actually stuck with for any long period of time. Basketball was one that he seemed to be really into, and always came to that one every season when it would get into March. At this point, due to how much he had played all these sports, he really was in many ways the most popular of our siblings in that everybody knew who he was now.

Lydia was next, and was the only female out of all eleven siblings, and she was ten years old. Born on July 28, 2013. She was into all sorts of things, and was a jack of all trades, and for most of the last year or so, she had been building a real solid bond with Lars. She said to me that he was her hero, and that she had wanted to do what she could in order to make him proud of her. Out of the eleven of us, she is not only the one who has been able to hang out with all of us the most, but she also had the largest variety of good friends, having a good half dozen or so friends she hung out with basically daily. And one of them, Bebe's eleven year old brother Robbie Dan had clearly swept her heart over with how much he had helped her out, and made her feel like a normal person who did everything she could to learn.

The oldest of the younger five brothers was Henry, just under nine years old, born January 1, 2015. Out of all of us, he was the one that already seemed to be the most into things like horror and the supernatural. He has gone into many talks about how much he believes in things such as aliens, and ghosts, and glitches in the matrix. Claiming that denying them is denying history as well as a lot of things denying what truly was the easiest answer to a lot of things. He also is already into a huge emo phase, as he has all black clothing and fully dyed black hair. His best friend is a guy named Logan, who looked like a eight year old version of Lars, and when I would also thing on it, Logan also looked a lot like Lydia, and she also looked like Lars to a degree. One thing I did see about Henry his interest in the calling Logan and other guys, especially his age, cute which I would later learn what that all really meant, especially from him.

Dylan was the older of the two six year old twins, born June 20, 2017. Dylan had shown a interest in all things hard labor. He was into cars, he was into the designs of the, and how to repair them, and why they could only be able to work a way. He wanted to get into the repairing industry when he grew up, and he said he would do all it would take to make it work. And when I heard the vigor, and the fire in his voice, I knew full well he would do it. And I can tell that determination was a quality that none of us had when we were six years old, or I certainty wouldn't have then, so I felt like he was going to do great.

Drake was the younger of the twins, and the not nearly as driven one. But he was also the more polite one in return. He always did seem to really want what was best for those around him, and I can tell that no matter how much he had a hard time showing it, he was always wanting to be in the main scene with us all. He was into things like art, and he had spent most of his spare time drawing, writing, or creating something that would show the type of guy he really was. He loved it, and I was glad for him. But I would later see how bad a lot of those were when I would get a lot older, and could be able to see things objectively.

Calvin was the youngest one except for me, at just five years old, born July 11, 2018. He did not let his age get him back though since he was always reading, and a lot of what he read was about science, and how the world worked. I think he also would go on a lot of walks that were much longer than any five year old child should ever be able to go on, now that I think about it. But he always would say when asked on it that it was always about the journey, and how much he needed to make a journey of his own without being bogged down by the shit around him, and I could respect his desire for an adventure.

So that is the full intro. I feel that now that I got us all introduced, going forward I can be able to focus on more events that actually matter. And I can be able to finally get all the details that I had sort of missed out onto come together. It might not be the best story in the world. But it is my story, and it is one that I feel should be told, especially to help people like T.K. be able to truly see all of the truth.

Scene 2: December 16, 2023 (Josiah Confidant Rank 1)

Around half way through December, my brother Josiah was playing with his guitar, and I could tell that he had been in a very happy mood. I smiled as I watched him play, and I will admit, as a three year old, at the time, his music truly had been top notch. After about three songs, he placed his guitar down, and looked at me for a bit.

"How do you like my music?" He asked, and I could tell from the look on his face that beyond all of this, he clearly just seemed to want a degree of affirmation that he had been doing a good job. I took a second to think, and nodded in approval and wanted more.

"Good." I said, and I loved seeing the look on his face get bright, and seem to think that my level of affirmation truly had been what he wanted to hear. But before he could ask more, and get extra details on what he had wanted to do, he got a call from his friend Rhett, which I could tell he was both happy to get, as well as sad to get.

"Let me take this call for a bit, and see what Rhett has to give me." As Josiah said that, he smiled, but it was a very clearly forced smile. As if he had not really wanted to do any business with people today, and just have a normal day where he could just have a level of fun for once.

He picked me up on his left arm, as he took the call from his right arm, and he did seem to be much happier about it when he had me with him, and he looked at the guitar as he began to head off. "Hey, I thought I said I can't really be able to help you out today." As Josiah said that to Rhett, the reply Rhett gave made it very clear he was in no mood to play games with him tonight.

"You said you didn't want to do this shit. You didn't say you can't, so you're not able to turn back now and just say that you straight up are not able to do it." As he said that, I took a deep breath, since I had a feeling Josiah and Rhett had gone down this path more than once, and Josiah was sick of it.

"Look, can I at least have some time to get ready for this? I have a tight deadline of like five days before the concert, and I need to practice more." As he said that to Rhett, I was glad to see Josiah be able to actually stand up for himself for once in his life.

"Yeah, that's fine. Look, I know that you might not want me to do this, but I feel like there is no other way." As Rhett said that, I could tell Josiah himself had no clue what in the world this was leading to, and that he was just simply going to have to let it happen.

"I'll be there in a bit. Just don't do anything too dumb." As he said that, Josiah hung up, and then he looked right at me, and I could tell that he was pissed. "You can come if you want." He said, as if shocked that the words had ever left his mouth at all.

Then he looked right at me, as if he was choosing what to do with me. He then smiled, as if he had felt like his choices were all going to make perfect sense. "You know, you're a god kid, and I want to bring you along. Just don't do anything too stupid." As he said that, I could tell that he did seem to be a bit let down by even saying that. I knew that I needed to go with the offer, a I loved my brother.

He placed me in the baby seat of the car, and then started to drive off. As he was getting ready to head off, I could tell from his face he was a bit upset with himself, as if he had done something that he was upset at himself over. "Hold on. I forgot something. Give me a bit of time to tell Lydia what I am doing. I told her that I needed to do something to help her out. But if I'm going to be one, then that is out of the fucking window." As Josiah said that, I had felt as if he did not need to beat himself up as much as he was doing here. There was no reason to believe that Lydia would be upset at him forever, in my eyes at least.

"Hey Lydia, I know that I said I would be there for you and Ruby. But to be honest, Rhett called me up and requested me to help him out. I'll try to be as fast as I can, but sadly there is a very good chance I will not e able to meet up with you after all. If you want, I am able to do anything you want me to." He said, and he sent the text. The look on his face as he sent the text showed that he was pretty damn sad. Then with that, he turned the car on, and began to drive off to Rhett's house, trying to just not let the issues get to him.

After ten to twenty minutes of driving, Josiah reached Rhett's house, and I wanted to talk to him mire, but to be honest, I had no idea how to help him. So when he picked me up, I felt as if I needed to say anything at all literally. "Sorry." As I said that, Josiah shook his head, as if he felt like I was being way too hard on myself for what Rhett was doing.

"Don't worry Ridge. Just know that when you get older, you are going to have to spend a lot of time choosing how you spend it. And one day, you will be forced to spend time throwing away what you want to do, in order to actually accomplish what you need. But please try and do your best to do what you want with your time as well." As Josiah said that to me, I was glad to see that he was at least trying to give me genuine advice as a brother, and I felt that I would try to use each day as best as I can despite being just three years old.

He carried me to where Rhett stood, and he looked at both of us. I could tell from the look on Rhett's face that clearly he was not at all happy that I was here. But he took a deep breath, and shrugged, as if he had felt like he knew he just needed to accept Josiah's choice.

"Hey Josiah, I want to talk to you about me and Chelsea for a bit. I know you don't like what I am going to do, but I feel like I don't have much of a fucking choice." He said, and Josiah looked as if he knew damn well what Rhett was saying was going to be one of the worst choices that Rhett would go on to make here.

"Look Rhett, I get that Chelsea wants to to have the kid with her, but I still feel like we're too young, we have only been out of high school for a handful of months. I feel like you need to find any kind of different path here." As Josiah said that, Rhett rubbed his hair, as if he felt like Josiah was not at all getting where Rhett was wanting to take this conversation at all.

"Look, regardless of what I want to do or not, it's too late." Rhett said, as he took out a plastic piece, that at a much older age I would get was the first pregnancy test that I had ever laid eyes on. Josiah looked at it, and shook his head at what he read. As if he had felt like this news would be the worst news he ever saw. Josiah looked at it, and shook his head at what he had read. As if he had felt like this news would be the worst news he ever saw.

It as positive, and with that, it was all going down way or another. "Josiah, it was her weekly one, and I feel as if you just need to accept the fact that it's going to happen, no matter if you like it or not." He said, and the tone of his voice made did seem to be one of regret as he now saw the hole that he was going to be in.

"I am going to be a dad of my own, and I am going to have to be ready for the rest of my god damn life." As he said that, Josiah placed me down, and put both his hands on Rhett's shoulders and seemed to try to be as calm as he could as he replied. "Well, you made up your mind. So now that this is how it is, what is going to be your next move?"

"I'm going to try and talk to dad for a bit. Hopefully he and I can be able to bury the hatchet now. I am going to need his help. Especially with him being acquitted from moms death. Maybe I can get a second part time job at the casino." Rhett said, as he started to realize that he had never stepped foot in the casino since the 2020 December incident.

"I just hope that you know I will need your help, regardless of everything else." As Rhett said that, he had hoped that Josiah would see what Rhett needed, and would not run away from it, no matter how much he had not wanted in on this journey.

"I feel as if you are not going to be giving me much of a choice here. So I might as well just go with this, and be done with it." As Josiah said this, I could tell that no matter how hard he wanted to be chill with it, he truly was just wanting to stay as far away from this as possible.

"And besides, with Ridge already almost four years old, if he had wanted to, maybe he can be able to help us out." As Rhett said that, I looked at him, as I had felt that I needed to try and show him that I was ready for this, especially since I had wanted to show that I was ready to help out in any way that I could.

"I guess." As Josiah said that, I could see that he did not buy what he said at all, as if he had felt that I would go on and fail one of these requests one day. With that, Rhett took a cigarette out, ready to just look at the world at large in front of him.

"I'm going to talk to my dad about this soon enough. Hopefully he will be able to talk to me like an actual adult, and not be talking to me like I'm twelve." As Rhett said this, I saw that he really did not seem to be happy with saying any of this at all.

"And I really am sorry for calling you out here like this. I just feel like I needed to be clear cut with you on this now." As he said that, Josiah slowly nodded, as if he had felt like he was bullshitting him to a large degree.

"I was supposed to help Lydia out, and I have a feeling that she just does not like me at all anymore. Who knows, I guess I just feel like I'm not good enough." As he said that, I felt as if I needed to try and find a way to help Josiah see that he did not need to feel this way at all.

"You are." I said, as I had felt that he needed to just see that no matter what else went down, I needed to get my brother to see that I did not hate him for trying to do his best to balance it all out.

"Thanks. I just don't get it at all. I feel as if I'm just doing all the wrong things in my life, and I don't know how else to describe it." As he said that, he picked me up once again, and I could see that Rhett looked like this was what he felt like he needed in his life. "I hope that when the kid is here, they will be able to see that I am doing my best here, and they will not hate me at all." As he said that, I could tell that Rhett seemed to be ready to just say more on how he really felt if he had needed to fucking say it.

"I am sure it will be fine. And I am sure you will prove me wrong. But it just feels wrong." As Josiah said this, he got a response from Lydia, and I saw him looking like he was a bit scared of what she would say.

"Why is it that you guys do this, then get upset at how much I trust Stanley and Robbie Dan? At least they are men who keep their word." As Lydia's text sent this, the look on Josiah's face made it clear that despite how much he wanted to pretend it did not hurt him, deep down the way she responded to him cut super fucking deep.

"Damn. I was not expecting her to react that way. If you need to go and take care of her, I totally understand." As Rhett said that, I saw him looking like he had really felt like he was kind of a monster for the fact that he placed that on Josiah. I saw Josiah looking like he had no real feelings there.

"Thanks for apologizing. And I do wish you and Chelsea all the luck in the world on that kid. And I am sure when the time comes, I will be there for you." As he said that, the night sky looked like the greatest thing that I ever seen at the time, and it was the first time I had ever really looked at one before and would remember the experience.

"I should get going. I need to try and meet up with Lydia for a bit, and just see how she is. God, I feel like this is going to be a god damn mess." As he said this to Rhett, I saw Rhett looking like he had so much more to say, but probably decided to just let it go for the time being to not make it worse.

"Tell me how it goes. Tanks for taking the time to see me." As he said that to him, Josiah and I started to head off, and I saw that Josiah had looked like he was glad to see that Rhett was not going to give him any bullshit or any real excuses.

Before long, Josiah placed me back in the kids seat, as I looked at the sky again, having no real clue what the hell I would need to do here. With that, he got into his driver seat, turned on the engine, and seemed to be by and large undecided on how much he was angry at Rhett, or had been sort of kind of get over it.

As he was driving off, I Josiah would proceed to tell me what the other side of the issue was that made him angry at himself and at Lydia. But not at Rhett.

"The worst part is that I get where Lydia is coming from when she tells me this shit, and all of the shit that I have done wrong over the years." As Josiah said that to me, I had no real clue how in the world I was to react to what he said.

"If you are to follow my advice on one thing, do not at any cost make a person a promise if you know full well you will not be able to keep it. They do deserve better." As he said that, I could see that to be honest, I had no clue what I could have said to change all that.

"Okay." I said, as I felt like I had nothing else to say here. If he wanted to ell me that, and give me no clues on what to do, then I would be alone here.

"Look, you will see soon that people would not respect the lies, or you telling them these things because in due time they will feel used." As he said that, I took a second to think, and I nodded, knowing how sincere he felt about this even if I did not get it all.

"I will." I said, and I felt as if that was the best way to show him that at the end of the day, I will do my best to be a better man than him, and be the person that he felt like he really should have been.

"Thanks Ridge. I know that you do not get it yet, but I think in due time, you will do very well. I just have a good feeling that you will be the one who will break the curse on problems the family has here." As he said that to me, I had a bad feeling that I will not really be able to live up to his hopes here.

"And to be honest, I feel as if Lydia will keep a good eye on you to not make it worse." As he said that, I felt as if I had needed to just listen to him here.

"Lydia has always felt a bit burned by all the stuff we have done. So I feel like as long as you break the trend, then at least one of her brothers will be a real success in her eyes." As he said that, I felt as if he had been placing way too much pressure on me to make it work. But I knew that he had hope, and I knew this was a way to show much he loved me that he wanted to really push my odds of success forward.

Scene 3: December 17, 2023 Rhett Confidant Rank 1

The next day, I had been sort of thinking of what was going on with Rhett, and I had a feeling that I would need to try and meet up with him for a bit, and see how exactly he would really need my help with the kid.

But I didn't have to think about it too much over all because that next evening, Rhett showed up to the house, and I could see from the look on his face that he was not too happy here.

"Is Josiah here?" He asked, as if he really was not in the mood to play around here. I shook my head, as I had felt like he needed to try and speak with other people and not really get involved in what Josiah had been doing since in all honesty, it really was not the best ide at all to drag Josiah into a bunch of shit that he probably did not want to have any part of. And I would do my best to sort of get him to see otherwise.

"He's not." I said, since he had left the house and went to Lyda to try and sort of bury the machetes with her, as a way to get her to see that he had no ill will to her at all. And I felt that he wanted her to see that he would try to be more of a man of his word.

"Well, fuck." Okay. I have a very good feeling I know where he is. Want to talk for a bit?" He asked me directly, and I nodded at this, and as I agreed, he picked me up, and walked out of the house as he brought me to his car.

"I want to talk to you about a few things that you should be ready for in this town for when you get older. Unlike your brothers, I don't think deflecting the whole thing is going to do anybody any favors." As he said that to me, I he shook his head, and I had no idea what the hell he meant as he said all that. But I chose to not say much else as a way to respect his space for now.

"What for?" I asked, and I hated how I wasn't still fully able to get full sentences, and all of my points were really rather short and succinct since I had wanted to be able to stand my ground as I talked with him for any period of time.

"To be honest, I want you to get a fresh set of eyes to show you that your family has lied you to a lot, and that there is always something going on. Your oldest brother, for example, has been avoiding my questions for a long fucking time." As he said that to me, I felt that I needed to just sort of try to defend Todd Jr if I felt like I could.

"What's the lie?" I asked, feeling like I needed to give him a chance, and I felt like he needed to just give me no crap at all. He took a deep breath, and then he gripped his wheel as if he felt the anger once again come back.

"Have you ever met his boss, Lars Needlemeyer?" He asked, and I knew who he was. The man that would come by and talk to dad about Lydia's progress every month or two, which always got me confused what he was even trying to do. But I knew I needed to just go with this.

"Every month." I said, and with that, Rhett nodded, as if he had sort of known that was the case. So he nodded, feeling like he was ready to press the matter to me a lot more. I took a second to see him just carefully caress his beard, as if he was trying to choose what exactly to say.

"Would you believe me if I were to tell you that Lars is Lydia's father? I know that it might not sound true, but I have a strong feeling it is true." As he said that to me, I was very confused. Since, at three years old, I didn't get the full concept of biological dad or simply dad by being raised. And at the time, I was not bothered by Lydia's looks. Todd, Gabe, Dylan, Drake, and myself had read hair like dad. Josiah, Seth, Jack, Henry (when not dyed), and Calvin all had brown hair like mom. Neither of which Lydia had, but I didn't get it then.

"Never mind. You are too yoing to get it. But I am ninety five percent sure it is true. I just need to get into Lars's office, and I will have the confirmation that I fucking need." Rhett said, and then he finally started to loosen the grip a bit on the wheel to show he was getting over it.

"I will help you out. You're a great kid. All you need to do is just trust me." As he said that to me, I slowly nodded since despite how much he had rubbed me the wrong way, I did have a feeling he would tell me all he really did know.

"But trust me when I say that I truly do feel like your brother is holding back a lot of information. Even when Bebe tried to talk to him, he always shoots her down now. They used to be so tight together, and now he is hiding from her too." As he said that to me, I will admit that I did consider what he was telling me and I knew that I did need to listen to him.

He parked at the park, and he smiled as he saw the look on my face go up in a sudden level of complete excitement. As if he knew that I wouldn't be getting upset at him anymore. "I know you might not like it, but I feel that the best thing for you to do is just keep an eye on Todd before you try and jump all to trusting him on every word he says. As he said that to me, I just felt the best thing I could do was just keep him talking.

As I was on the swing though, I did have one thing come to mind, and I felt as if he had needed to just be honest with me here. I had a feeling that his response to this would be able to help me see why in the world this was even such a big deal to begin with.

"What made your dad get so mad at you?" I asked, and I knew that no matter how much he did not want to hear me ask him this, he needed to just tell me if I were to have any level of trust to him.

Rhett clearly looked like his world would break if I tried to press him further. He then placed his cigarette back in his pocket, as he looked straight at me with a dead pan face. "I had accused him of being the one who created the contract to kill my mom. At the time I said it, I truly felt it. My dad and I were not on good terms at the time." As he said that, he took a deep breath, as if he had regretted what he had told me.

"I mean, I was also so god damn flustered when it all went down. You're way too young to get it, but when you go home one day, and you see your moms raped corpse tied up with a bullet in her head, I dare you try to keep a normal reaction." As he said that to me, I had no clue what the hell any of this had really meant. So while I chose to just not say much in the way of fighting him, I did have one question on my mind.

"Why did she die?" I asked, as I felt I really needed to try and just get him to give me any details at all. He shook his head, and I could tell that he truly regretted what he was going to tell me, as if it had all been my fault.

"Well, about a year before she died, mom and dad divorced. They sort of grew apart, and they started to disagree on how they wanted to raise me. As well as their vision of what should be going on in Wayside. They decided to divorce, and after that I was forced to chose which one I wanted to live with. If I wanted to live with my dad, and have a better upbringing, or live with my mom, who raised me so much better, and with much more compassion." Rhett said as I can tell from the tone of his voice that he really missed his mother, and he loved her a lot more than he loved his father. Which even at that age I could tell.

"She chose to bring him to court over his choices, and there was a lot of shady business he had been in. Things that I will never forgive even now, and she was getting close to winning all the cases. But she was murdered before we had been able to get to the end. And the timing of when it seemed like he was about to get convicted, and then she gets brutally murdered, all seemed very suspect. Honestly, the timing just really threw me off." As he said that to me, while I did not get it at all, I did hear the tone in his voice that he would have a hard time ever being able to forgive his father for what went down at all.

"And since she is now long dead, he never went any closer to conviction and the majority of people have just dropped it." As he said that, he took a deep breath, as if he had made peace with it all, and chose to not make me have to listen to anymore.

As he said that, he sat down on the next swing from me and he put on a clearly fake smile. "I wouldn't let it bother you. You seem to not get all of it, so I would be cool if you just sort of put it behind you." As he said that, he patted my shoulder, and I could tell that he wanted to be happy. And I knew that was why he wanted the kid, so he could be happier once more in general.

"Will you be a good dad?" I asked, knowing that was the best way to see what was truly on his mind, and he sighed, as if that was the best question anybody could be able to ask him.

"I will try. But I have no clue if I will. But I don't feel l I can be worse than what most people have done. So I guess I do have that for me." As he said that, I slowly nodded, as I had felt that was one hundred percent fair for him to say.

"Look, I know that Josiah feels I will never be ready. But I will do this, and I hope that I can put my words to action. I hope I can be able to kind of show that I am not going to be bogged down by what went down with my mom over three years ago. I know a lot of people feel like I can't be able to handle it all, but I want to show them that they are wrong about what they feel. I want to show them that I am capable of so much." As Rhett said that, he shrugged, as if sounding silly in his head as he told me this.

So with that, I had felt as if Rhett knew all that he had needed to do, and I felt as if I did not need to ask him too many questions. He chose his path, and I would go with him on this as much as I could despite being only three years old, and stull had a long way to go. But maybe if Rhett showed what he could do, then one day, over time, Josiah would see that Rhett would be a good dad.

Scene 4: December 18, 2023 (Jack Confidant Rank 1)

The next day, I was out watching Jack play with his friends and practicing basketball. As I saw how much fun they were having, I had thought about how much Jack really would succeed at sports if he made the big leagues, and truth be told, I was happy to see how well he had done.

After a bit though, he stopped playing, and he looked right at me, and I could tell he had a lot of questions on his mind, and had seemed to want to just get straight to the point on what he felt. "Ridge, did something happen to you lately? You seem really let down here." As he said that, I looked right at him, not sure what I should even tell him to begin with.

"Just stuff that Rhett told me. And I have no clue how to feel about it." As I told him that, I was shocked at the full sentence I gave him. I could see that even Jack himself was shocked at what I had just gave him.

"Don't worry about what Rhett says. He's a really busy guy, who has a hard time understanding his social queues. But I think he seems like a good enough guy here, and I can see why Josiah likes to hang out with him. But if you take my advice, then just ignore it." As he said that to me, I had no clue what else I could tell him.

"Regardless, I am still trying to get ready for my basketball tournament the end of the week. I have no clue how in the world I am going to do there. Of course, I want to win the game. But if that can't really happen, then what in the world can I really do about it?" Jack said, as if he had accepted the fact that there were just some things that he really could not do to change what is already done.

"Is Marcus on the team?" I asked, and then I saw Marcus look like he had been a bit sad at my question, and I knew right then and there that even if he did serve on the team at one point, almost certainly was not on it anymore.

"Not anymore. I used to be on the team. But I quit a bit ago after I had a ankle injury, and I was forced out of the sport for a bit. Now I just play with Jack for the fun of it, since I still do enjoy the sport." As Jack said that, I could tell he had been really let down by what he was telling me.

"Sorry if I walked in on a super touchy subject with you guys. Seems like you have this talk about Rhett a lot, and I don't want to make it any worse." As he said that, I could tell that Marcus seemed like he wanted to end this as fast as possible, for his sake due to clearly not wanting to get involved in this.

"It's okay. I feel like both of us are just trying to come to some level of understanding." As Jack said that, I could tell that Jack had hoped that I would be able to agree to what I had been hearing. As he said that, I just slowly nodded, as I hoped that being all chill here would get Jack to be all chill with me at least for the time being. As they were playing, I was both engrossed, but also felt like I had one really big question on my mind that I could in no way hide.

"Have you met Lars?" I asked, mainly for both of them, but especially Marcus. As I asked this, I saw Jack look like he had no clue why in the world I would eve bring him up in the first place due to how little had any real connection with the man.

"Not that I know of. He does go to school events a lot, and he always seems like a great guy. But I know nothing about him really aside from how he looks a lot like a couple of people in my grade. But I never really talked with the guy before. I always have a feeling he has a bit of a complex where he feels like he is on top of the god damn world." As Marcus said that, I was shocked to hear him turn around and say that after he had been decently positive to us.

"Yeah, I met him plenty of times. He does those monthly or so meet ups with dad after all. Do you have anything on your mind with him?" Jack asked, and I could see that he had felt like he had no real choice but to see where this would take him. I took a deep breath, as I had no clue what to feel here at all.

"Just things Rhett said." I told him, hoping that would be the start, the middle, and the end of it. And besides, I felt that what Rhett did was no big deal. All it did was just give me a lot, and I mean a lot, to try and think about.

"What did he even say exactly? I can't keep hearing about this if you are never going to give me any answer at all." As he said that, he threw a perfect pitch, and the ball went through the hoop in a perfect matter. He then looked right at me, with a smile on his face as he seemed to decide what he had wanted to tell me here.

I didn't want to tell him this, but I did feel that just sort of being real with him was all I could be able to do as a way to get him to get him off my back about it at least for the time being. But as I was about to speak once again, it happened once again.

The grinding noise, that I had grown to hate with all of my heart and soul even my short life so far, went off, and as I heard this, I wanted to seriously just scream. That noise would not have been nearly as bad as that. It hadn't gone off in over four months, since August 9th, and as I heard this, I hated myself for once even thinking that we were in the clear and did not have to hear this at all anymore.

After ten to twenty minutes, when it was done, I looked right at Jack and Marcus, and as I saw from the looks on their faces, they clearly were not happy to hear what went down earlier either. "I thought that there was the promise that we would hear it less often this year." As Marcus said this, I could tell that Jack looked like he knew that the promise had at least partially come true, even if not to the extent that he clearly had wanted.

"It's only gone off like five times this year. That's by far the lowest for a year since I started school." Jack said, and as he was in sixth grade, that was a good six years he was going off of. So he was referring to a decent sample size that did show that he was clearly showing some form of awareness of what went down.

"It still sucks, like a lot. And I am more than allowed to think that this is awful." As he said that to Jack, I saw that Jack deep down had known that what Marcus had said was truly valid, and I knew that this did give me one small thing here.

I saw that due to the noise, and how we could all have common ground on how much we did not like it, we could all be able to just drop the topic with Rhett for now. And with us no longer on about Rhett, that meant we were able to stop being on a subject that I hated.

So with that in mind, that did mean that for once, I was able to look at what happened on a mildly more positive way. So with that, for the first, and hopefully the only time, ever, I was actually glad to hear the grinding noise, and to be wondering what the hell the labyrinth was to begin with.

But with that, I did have one thing on my mind that I felt that I needed to ask him. "What goes on with the noise anyway?" I asked, and I knew that by opening this up, I could be able to get some final clues here.

"Well, death." Jack said in such a matter of fact way I had felt like I needed to just drop it for now. As I did not want to press him on it any worse than I already did. But I could tell that he was not happy about it at all and there was no way to hide it.

"Why though?" I asked, and I had felt that if he would just tell me what was going on, then I could be able to sort of get why he was all up in a jiffy over what would go down in the first place.

"People go missing when it goes off. They go to the place where bad things happen, and they will never return. When you get older, you will see exactly what I fucking mean." As Jack said that, I felt as if I just needed to take what he said, and just sort of be cool with it, and not make it worse at all.

"Look Ridge, I really do not want to talk about this too much longer. You are way too young for this, and it hurts me when I think of it because of Lydia." As he said that to me, I saw Jack look like the thought of it made him want to cry, and I felt that as a result I really just needed to leave it alone for his sake, as a way to just not hurt his feelings at all anymore.

"I am going to go back to train for the game. I have so much to do in the next four days, if you want to hang out go ahead and stay but if you want to talk about the girls or the grinder or Rhett you need to just drop it." As he said that to me, I felt like it was best to just drop it for the time being.

So with that, I went to my room, and I felt as if the best thing to do was just respect his wishes, since I did not want my family to hate me at all for wanting information here.

Scene 5: December 19 2023 (Seth Confidant Rank 1)

The next day, I saw that Seth had been hanging out with Manny for a bit. As I looked at Seth, I saw that Seth looked to be a bit focused on his job. I wanted to talk to Seth about what was going down, as I had felt that he would be more honest with me about what was happening here than Jack or the others were.

I could tell from his face that he clearly felt like he did not have much to lose here, so he might as well just go with it, and do what I wanted him to. Which was able to help give me a tad bit of leeway.

"Hey Ridge, how are you?" Seth asked, and I knew he was a bit bothered by the grinding noise here, and I hated that he felt like he had been let down. Almost like the shit this town was like was just what he had grown to expect at this point, and had no desire to go down this debate once again.

"Good. Getting over the loud noise." I said, talking about the grinding noise, and I saw him look like he had been cool with what I had told him. He then placed his notebook down, as if he had been thinking about what he had wanted to tell me. Almost as if he needed to just be straight up with me on what he was going to do.

"Honestly, I am going to try and look for what that is. I have a really good ass reason to want to look into this, and I feel as if I have every reason to go along with it." As Seth said this, I had no clue what the hell he was going to try and accomplish here. Why he had felt like he had a great reason to try and look at all this.

"Why?" I asked, as I felt like he needed to be straight up with me about why he was always doing his best to ignore what was going on. Seth took a deep breath, and he looked at Manny.

"One of my friends went missing, and I Want to find out what went on. She never told me what was going on with her, and I want to do what is right." As she said that, I looked down, feeling like I should let it go.

"Who?" I asked, and as I asked him this, Manny placed his shit down, as if he had no real desire to be hearing us kind of be in a bit of a stalemate. So I felt I just needed to let it go for now.

"Becky. We haven't been able to see her as much lately, but she was a great friend, and she did not ever deserve this. But I feel like you do not need to get worried about any of this since it is none of your concern." As he said that, I did feel a bit annoyed at the fact that he had just tried to tell me off as I asked him a valid question.

"Sorry about that." I said, as I had felt like that was a big enough thing to be upset over. But in no way was I supposed to be able to fix this for her, and I had hoped that neither Seth nor Manny could be able to really expect me to push this through. But to be fair, I did feel like Seth would be decently reasonable here.

"I knew her for nearly three years before this. I actually was one of the people who helped her in school for a bit, but I feel as if the two of us started to really feel a bit different about all of our goals, and our interests. And I feel like that was becoming a real big stake in our relationship." Seth said, and I had no clue what the hell the controversy was to begin with.

"What happened?" As I asked him this, I could see that Manny had looked like he wanted me to shut the hell up about it, because I was now delving into a topic that he himself had wanted to forget.

"She had some issues with her teacher, who honestly was a really awful human being for reasons I refuse to fucking talk about. Just know that he used people for his own gain, and showed no remorse for what he did. He did what he could to get the money that he wanted, and his own desires." As he said that, I had no clue what he really meant there. But I could tell that it fucking made him really mad to discuss.

"Yeah, you do not want to talk about any of that to him. It is probably the worst thing to bring up regarding school." As he said that to me, I could tell that Manny had simply looked like he had just wanted to end the subject as fast as possible. I knew that like my other siblings, Seth would avoid giving me any real answers and to be honest, it had really made me mad that he was avoiding the discussion at all, as it had felt like he was just thinking that I would not be able to get what he was saying.

"Okay. I get it." I said, as I felt like there was no point in pressing it anymore. I was curious on it for a bit, but if people were too scared to tell me what was going on, I had a feeling that maybe I had found my way to something I should have never been allowed to get myself involved in to start with.

"Look, the truth is that the town in general wants to try and let it go. I agree with it in the sense that I believe that it is best for us to sort of just try and move on past it." As Seth said that, I could tell he really wanted to try and make it seem like his choices, even though he was being a total dick about it, was for the best, and that I needed to just see what he was doing.

"Besides, doesn't even really matter at all when she is gone now, and her statements won't really even appear to see the light of fucking day." As Seth said that, I took a second to think about what he was saying. I felt like he was scared of just forming what he had wanted to tell me out of pure fear.

"Where are you going?" I asked, and I saw that Seth had looked like he had started to look like he had wanted to say more, but was scared of what I could do or say if I pressed him on anymore.

"I am going to be looking into what happened to Beck and I am going to bring her some degree of justice. But I don't really want to force you guys to get involved into something that is beyond your boundaries." As Seth said that to me, I really had no clue what else he had wanted me to say here.

"Where will you start?" I asked, and before I could ask any further, the man that I had asked about several times the last few days pulled up on the house. As he got out of the car, I got a few seconds to really look at him, and see how he was on a superficial look.

I could tell from every month that he showed up, that he had a sense of confidence that I couldn't really place. As if he had known that to a degree, he had owned this town, and he fucking knew it. And he wasn't afraid to show it off to anybody.

And when I saw the looks he had, such as the dark black hair that covered his eyes, and how it was the exact shade as Lydia's hair, that I could believe he and her were related in some way. But I had no idea if I could be able to believe that her was her father.

Eventually, he was in the house, and before he was even able to have the time to put his cigarette out on our extremely overflowing ash tray, Seth looked like he was ready to ask him some questions.

"What do you think of the grinding noises that went off yesterday? I am going to be going out to try to find my friend. And you are not going to stop me from doing this. And I don't give a shit if I am going to get in trouble with my fucking dad. I have to make it work out at any cost." As Seth said that, he looked right at me, and then Manny, to see what Manny would say to the comments he made.

"What do you want to do? Just act as if nothing happened, and that sitting on our asses is just going be the answer here? While you're putting a fuck ton of money on that magnet train, real world issues are going down." As Seth said that, at the door to the house, I could tell that Manny was screaming at him on the inside to shut the hell up to not make it any worse. But at this point in time, Seth clearly did not give a single shit.

"Last time I checked, your dad is the one who is supposed to be going out and actually solving those cases for us. I am not the one who was hired to take care of all that shit when I am already being the god damn fetch boy for the god damn entire town." Lars said this, the fatigue he had usually wanted to hide did start to seep through a bit, as if he was no longer scared to show the way he truly felt here.

"Yeah, but he's seventy three, almost been old enough to retire for an entire decade, and sooner or later he really needs to just stop for his own health." As Seth said that to Lars, I saw that he was now ready to just leave this place, and not deal with Lars at all anymore.

"Maybe work on some different types of fetch quests if that is what to want to do." As Seth left the house after that added comment, Manny decided to follow him, and that left just Lars and I alone in the same room together.

"Reminds me of myself when I was fourteen." As Lars told me this, I had no idea how in the world this was anything that he would actually want to admit in the first place, but I shrugged it off.

"I'm sure when you hit that age, you will see it for yourself." As he said that, the tone and confidence of what he said was making me buy it even if I did not like this thing at all. But then with that, he sat down, and I felt like I really had no choice but to ask him my main thing.

"Are you Lydia's dad?" I asked, and I could tell that the look on his face was furious at the fact that I asked him such a question, as if I pulled up the one topic that was one hundred percent forbidden to talk about.

"That is none of your god damn fucking business." As Lars said that, I knew it was best to drop the subject due to the fact that even at just three years old who barely understood shit in this world, that level of vitriol was enough to pretty much be pleading guilty and that it was a real sight that while he tried to hide it, Rhett was truly right here, and that Lars really was her father.

Scene 6: December 21 2023 (Drake Confidant Rank 1)

I decided to try and drop it for now, so I went to Drake to try and just have a good time with him. Especially since I felt like he would do a much better job sort of having me see what was wrong with Dylan than Dylan himself would. I felt like Dylan was too scared to talk about his opinion on his situation, but I could tell that he did indeed have one.

"Hey Drake." I said, as I saw him writing something, and while I wanted to know what it is, I felt as if I needed to just be honest with him about my thoughts on the Dylan thing, and then we would be able to sort of hit off after that bit. Drake looked up at me, and I could tell that he had been a bit shocked to see me there to begin with.

"Hey. Was there something you felt like you needed to talk about?" As he asked me that, I felt like I needed to try to just be honest with him, and I hoped the two of us needed to just find even one or two forms or common ground to help us both out.

"Dylan? What's with him?" I asked, and I could tell that Drake was a bit shocked to see me even bring this up. As I did, he took a deep breath, as if he felt like he had no real choice but to just be honest with me here.

"He's already working with that black haired guy." Drake said, pointing to the picture with him and Lydia. Now that I was sort of seeing the truth about Lars, and his connection with Lydia, I felt sick seeing Lars with her knowing that Lars was just was going to try and use all of us for his own gain. I felt like he was somebody I could get all of the annoyance over, and why people just could not be able to trust him.

"Why?" I asked, as I had sort of felt like I needed to see what in the god damn world it was that everybody saw in the guy that I fucking could not.

"About the magnet train. Dylan wants to see it." Drake said, as I could tell that he clearly did not see what in the world my hold up on the matter was, and why I couldn't just accept it.

"Where is it?" I asked, as I now heard it a few times, like from Seth yesterday. And I had to know what the real issue was here. As far as I knew, I had a feeling that Lars had been working on it for a while, but I had no clue what else it really was here.

"It's going to span across the entire top of the town. If what Dylan says is true, you can be able to see it through the entire city." As Drake said that to me, I could tell that Drake looked like he had not really wanted to talk about it that much. As if that was the last thing he wanted to do, and I guess I could see that. So I felt like I needed to try and find another way around this all.

"What do you think of it?" I asked and I could see that rake had looked like he was kind of tired of the discussion already, and wanted me to sort of drop the subject. But I mean, at least I was talking about a decently harmless thing, and I felt like I should not be treated terrible over it at all.

"I don't know. I ever thought of it too much. But for Dylan's sake, I just try to keep his space about it since it's not that big of a deal." As he said that to me, I was glad that I could get a bit of a more real response there that was not just him shooting me down there.

"What are you writing?" I asked, as I felt that if it was clear that he didn't want to talk about Dylan, then I would try and find a way to bring the subject to one that I had a feeling he would be able to actually want to talk about me, and not shoot down.

"I don't know. Just what I think the grinding noise is, and make a story out of it." As he said that to me, I did see that he was a bit more excited to talk about this than he ever was to talk about the magnet train at all.

"Is it monsters?" I asked him, and I could see that Drake did seem to think about what I had asked. He had sort of felt like the question was valid enough as it was, but I had no idea if he ever really thought of it too much.

"To a degree, yeah. Not really too much of what you want to hear though. The stories aren't really stories, just descriptions." As he said that to me, I looked down at the pages, and to be honest, I was just having a bit of a hard time even being able to read what like eighty percent of it even was to begin with since Drake had horrible hand writing, even to my standards.

"Have fun with it." I said, as I felt like there was nothing else I was going to be able to say. After all, I had no clue how the hell I was supposed to react. I mean, it wasn't really for me at all, but if it was how I would be able to get him to talk to me more, and want to hang out more, I really did not have much of a choice at all but to sort of just go with it.

"Oh yeah, I will. I have been thinking of putting you in it." As he said that, I had no idea why in the world he would even want to put this up for debate. I was in no way interesting enough to justify this.

"What for?" I asked, as I felt like I needed to see where he would go with this. If I would be the great addition, he thought I would be.

"As a way to add more into the story. I just think it will be fun to have you in it." Drake said, and the smile on his face made it clear to me that he really wanted to do this, and had hoped that I would eventually relent and go with it. And I felt like I needed to let him have what he wanted, as a way to just let it the fuck go.

"Okay. If that is what you want to do, I guess I can." I said, or at least that was the gist of what I said. Probably in a far less professional way to be honest, since I was at three, I could not sentences with that much meat.

"Thanks dude. I always wanted to try new stories out." As he said that, we both looked up and saw that the television was on a report that made me start to see more of what Seth was feeling now that I saw it was not a story he had embellished.

I was seeing a picture of Becky on the screen, and her showing off the cutest and most contagious smile of all time, and as I looked at her, I could tell that what Seth did to help her out had clearly worked, as she had been much happier here than she probably ever had been before.

"Fourteen-year-old Becky Whitmore has been reported missing for the last two days and as of yet, no clue has shown up as to where she could be. A report with Rhett Bean will be airing Saturday evening where he will be responding to most of the questions that have come up in the last handful of days." As the reporter said this, there was a clip of Seth that showed up on the screen, and I saw from the look of fatigue on his face that he was losing a shit ton of sleep over her case.

"Well, once again this is the same thing that should have never gone down, but due to the political climate of the town, and people not taking the time to do a fucking look in the mirror, people start to think that this is all normal and will go away." As he said that, I could see that he seemed proud of the way he was able to stand up for himself.

"Do you think Seth will actually fix it?" Drake asked, and I had felt that at the core of my heart, that no amount of how much Seth might try to change fate, he could not.

So, I shook my head, as I felt as if the brutal honesty was something that I knew we all needed, even at my age to sort of just open up discussion.

"Kind of saw that coming." As Drake said that, I could tell that Drake had wanted to say more. But he looked down, and I could tell that he was able to accept th fact that this was totally true for now.

"Hey Ridge, do you want to help Seth out?" He asked, and I had no clue if that was really want I had wanted to do. There was no way in hell that I could be able to help him at all. And Drake was three years older than me and clearly had more interest in the subject than I did, so I felt that if it was anybody, it should be him.

"You do it." I said, and then I sat down, feeling like that was what I needed to say to get him to just get me to stop being the subject of debate on a situation I had no clear desire to at all be involved in.

"For your story." I said, as I had felt that would be able to get him to see what the plan was. As I said that, he got a smile on his face, and I knew I was able to get him to see where I was coming from.

So, with that, Drake stood up, and I could tell that he was ready. "Thanks Ridge. That was what I needed." As he said that, I knew one thing for sure. I knew that at that moment, I had gotten his love, and his trust back, and now the two of us were able to sort of start our confidant relationship with each other to be happier on both ends.

"Do you still have your stores?" I asked, as I felt that was a good question. He looked at me, and from the moderately sad look on his face that he had been let down by my question. He didn't and now I knew he fucking didn't.

"No." As he said that, I could tell from his reaction that he was not proud of himself. That he hated that the fact that this even had to happen in the first place. "Dylan threw some away last year to make space for his projects."

I took a deep breath, as I had felt like it was all able to come together even just a smidge more than just the information of him working with Lars. "The fight?" I asked, referring to the argument that he and Dylan got into last year. I didn't know, or remember a damn lick about it, but I have heard about it more than once, and I have always felt it was strange to see him and Dylan basically fracture over such a small thing.

"Yeah, that was what we fought over. I just wanted him to admit how shitty it would have been if I destroyed his stuff to make room for my stuff." As Drake said that, I saw him look like the annoyance in his voice was becoming extremely easy to detect, as well as his discontent.

"I won't do that." I said, as I wanted him to just simply see that even if we did not know each other as well, I would get him to show I had a tad bit more respect for his stuff than other siblings did, and I had wanted that to sort of just be the final initial bindings for our eventual relationship.

Scene 7: December 23 2023 (Lydia Confidant Rank 1)

Just before Christmas, I went on to meet up with Lydia. I had felt at the end of the day, no matter how she hated it, she had needed to really think of what it was like if Lars was her real father.

The looks, I was able to brush off, and look at just people in Wayside having similar looks. But when he reacted with such a venomous way he did when I asked the question, nearly trying to pretend like it did not kill him to have to be confronted, was the confirmation that I had needed.

And I had hoped that if and when Lydia gets asked about it, she will see before long that it was the truth, and that Lars had been lying about what was going on as a way to be able to save his ass from misleading us all.

"What's on your mind?" Lydia asked me, as if I could tell that she was beyond a bit annoyed at me not really telling her what I had been thinking, and that finally just going on and breaking the silence was the best way I could help keep this going.

"I'm doing good." I said, and with each second, I had been thinking more and more on what I needed to do to make her feel even the smallest bit more able to talk to me about what she was dealing with, and maybe in due time, hear me tell her the truth on what went down with the Lars issue.

"Do you want to talk?" She asked, and I could tell that she seemed to just want to be done with this. So with that, I took a deep breath, and I felt as if I could be able to ask her a few things that I felt she would be able to actually talk to me on, and maybe I could be able to talk to her about Lars once she opened up even just a little smidge.

"How are your friends?" I asked as I felt I needed to tell her that as a way to get her to open up more with me. I also really did want to hear more about what she was doing with people such as Robbie Dan, a guy I had literally only talked to once in my entire life until then.

"Doing good. Going to be going out to spend Christmas eve with Robbie and Stanley and we're going to go and check the town around. If you want to know how it went, I'll let you know." As she said that to me, I slowly nodded because I did the best I could to sort of see where she was coming from.

"Got any new ones?" I asked, since I felt like they had been hanging out with the same handful of friends for far too long, and I felt that for her sake, it would be best to try and branch out just a tad more.

"Not any long term ones. Like the ones I made recently." She said that to me, I saw her look like she was ashamed of how it had sounded to say that.

"But a few strong ones are better than a ton of softer ones." As she said that to me, while the way she said it could use a lot of work, I did get the point of what she was trying to say to me.

"Can I meet Robbie?" I asked, and I saw her look like she was a bit unsure of what to tell me. Almost as if she was scared of what I would do if I would even meet Robbie in the first place. But to be honest, I didn't care at all.

"Only if he wants." Lydia told me, as if she had hoped that by saying that, I would get her to be a bit more at peace. She had such a shit eating grin when she saw how much I was willing to sort of just go along with it.

"What about Stanley?" I asked, and I could tell that Lydia looked like she was a bit scared to talk about Robbie. Almost as if she had felt like I should not put myself to that subject. I knew, even at just that young, I had really needed to know more about what had been going on, and what she was hiding from me.

"His dad is a bad man." As she told me this, I saw that Lydia looked like she had been really meaning it, and she had hoped that I would stop being at her throat on that subject. But that made me want to know even more on what went down, as I felt like I deserved to know what lies I was being led down at the moment.

"Why?" I asked, and at that second, she just looked at me, as if she was resenting the fact that I was asking her so many god damn questions in the first place, and that she was feeling like I had sort of placed a lot of pressure on her for no god damn reason at all which got her upset.

"When you get older I'll tell you. But for now we should drop it. In return, I'll let you meet Robbie tomorrow." As she said that to me, I took a deep breath, as I had known that she was not going to take no for an answer with the dropping Stanley's dad thing, and I was in no mood to fight it at all.

"Do you love him?" I asked, and at the age I had no clue what love really was, but I knew that it was meant to be a sign that you were a great pair with somebody, and that you would be the one for them. So I wondered if Lydia thought Robbie was the one.

"I don't know." As she said that to me, I took a deep breath, as I really had no idea why I had asked that in the first place and it had felt totally useless.

"Sorry." I said, as I had sort of felt like I pushed it way too hard, and I didn't even know why in the world I had even cared so much to begin with. As I sort of clearly showed that I was a bit let down by how I failed her, I felt like I needed to just try to be more careful on how I was feeling here.

"It's okay. I just often wonder the same thing right now. And I feel like I need to be more careful on what I am doing." As she said that to me, I had to wonder what degree she did need to be careful. "Let's just drop it. I will take you to him tomorrow, and you can be able to get to know him a bit better."

I slowly nodded at that statement, and I felt like I would get to take that as a good starting point. But I wanted to just tell Lydia that if she did love Robbie, she needed to pursue what she could with him.

"What are you really here for?" She asked, and I knew that at this point, there was no reason or way that I would be able to hide what I was here for. I wanted her to know what I thought of Lars.

"Lars." I said, and I could tell that Lydia was very lost on what I was trying to accomplish. "What do you do with him?"

"Dad and him work a lot together, and Lars has been vital to the success of the town. I think dad said he helped Lars get into the job he is in." Lydia said, and even if not on purpose, I felt as if she was not looking at the question I asked her, so I needed to try and just push her a it further.

"But what do you do?" I asked, as I felt like putting extra emphasis on the you this time would get her to see what I had truly tried to accomplish here. She nodded, as if she got it now.

"He helps me with school, and attends dance events." As she said that to me, I had no clue what to say here, if I had anything to say to that at all. I had a real clue why he did all that, and I felt like Lydia was a fool to not see it.

"Do you know?" I asked, wanting to push her further into telling me the truth, or at least to be able to see a reason why this would be the case.

"I don't know, or really care. He's trying to help, and that is all I care about." She said, as if what I said was fair enough, and she had hoped I would try and leave it alone.

I felt that if she truly did not care, then I would have to find a way to get her to see that this was not at all the ways she would treat it, in time at least.

"He looks a lot like you." I told her, as I felt that by saying that, I would see if I could get her to talk ore. She took a deep breath, and I think she knew I was right, and was not wanting me to remind her. But that was enough to get me to see that I got her a bit.

"I know. Dad said it was no real big deal though. And I feel like is right." As Lydia said that, I knew that dad was trying to hide it then and I was finding myself feeling like he was in the wrong here.

"You aren't bothered by not looking like us?" I asked, the first and foremost being the clear pitch black hair that she had showed with Larry. Lydia looked like I was being a bit stupid about what I said, as that was really obvious to any rational person.

"I'm a fucking girl. Clearly, I look different from you. Why do you even care anyways? It's not that big of a fucking deal." As she said that, I wanted to say more, but I felt I had no real gain by doing this now.

I felt like Lydia was not at all getting it. And I had a feeling that either it was on purpose, or she was genuinely not getting it, and at this point both sides were beyond annoying.

"Okay. If you say so." I said, as I felt like she did not want to get it. So as I started to walk away Lydia rubber her eyes for a second. As if she was already making theories.

"Did Seth put you up to this? Trying to get you to have a change in mind? Because I want this to end right now if it is." As Lydia told me this, I took a deep breath, as if she had hoped I would be honest with her here.

"Rhett and Seth." I said, as if I had felt like telling her the truth would get her to not want to look at me like I was the god damn devil for no reason at all.

"I should have fucking know. Rhett has hated Lars for years and years and has gone out of his way to make him look like shot. Don't listen to him because all he wants to do is start shit." As she said that to me, I had thought on it, and I felt I needed to let her say that as she knew far more about it than I would ever be able to. And I felt I needed to probably just give her a rest.

"Makes sense." I said, as a way to concede she might be right. And I knew that she probably would force herself into being on the right of it all.

"Thanks for not fighting me on it. I know how it all is, and I know that people just hate to admit that Lars might just be a good guy after all." As Lydia told me this, I knew from the tone of her voice that she was forcing herself to say all this as a way to stop it.

"Never thought that Robbie of all the fucking people would be the one who would give him the most chance. At least Robbie tires to fucking pretend to keep a bit of a open mind." As Lydia said that, I could tell that she was hoping that I would take what she said to heart and be able to remember it all.

"Okay. I get it. Robbie is a good guy." I said, as I saw Lydia put a faint smile on her face to show she appreciated me trying to be nicer about it.

"And you will see that it's the truth when you meet him." As she said that, I felt that her firm confidence on the matter was more than enough for me to take what she said to mind. But despite this, this was the first real talk I had with her ever, and it did help me have a bit more respect for her and her confidence.

Scene 8: December 24 2023 (Robbie Confidant Rank 1)

The next day, I met up with Robbie, as Lydia had promised me, and when I saw him, I could see that Robbie looked like he was a bit unsure if he had really wanted to see me. But I could tell that for Lydia, he put on a fake smile, and had seemed like he was willing to pretend like he was cool with this.

"So what did you want to bring Ridge over for?" He asked, clearly a bot annoyed that he was having to have this talk in the first place. As he said that, Lydia looked as if she was a bot annoyed that Robbie was taking so little time to even pretend to be cool with me being here.

"Because he as a right to get to know you. He is my brother after all. You don't have to be a dick about it." As she said that, I could see that he was a bit shocked to see her react the way that she did, but he seemed to take it with respect.

"I was just a bit shocked is all I was trying to say." As Robbie said that to us, I had felt I had needed to try and just earn a bit of his trust and his respect by trying to really get to know him.

"How are you?" I asked, as I had felt that was a good way to try and sort of get him to open up even a tad. He took a deep breath, as if he had known that no matter how much he did not want me there, he would just work with it now.

"Doing good. Just been thinking of what all my new years resolutions are going to be." As he said that, I had no clue what in the world those even fucking were to begin with.

"What are those?" I asked, and I could see that Robbie took a second to think of what I had asked him. Almost as if he had felt like my questions were all fair enough given how young I was and everything.

"A list of goals that you make at the start of every year, that you try and fulfill that year. It is basically a way to give you a list of things you should do, and how you want to go at them all." As he said that to me, I had to take a second to think of what exactly he was telling me.

"What do the goals have to be?" I asked, I asked, and I saw that Robbie looked shocked to see that I was actually showing any amount of interest in what he had just told us.

"Anything you fucking want. Just do your best to make sure that all of the goals are actually at least decently realistic. I think that is what really makes the most difference." As he said that to me, I was thinking of what he just told me.

"Okay." I said, growing a bit of a smile as I had thought of what I could try to get done next year, as the life I had made was all going to be like. I had hoped that I could get Lydia to see the truth on Lars.

"What are your resolutions?" I asked, as I had hoped that he would give me some honest answers here. He took a deep breath, and I could tell that he was just sort of thinking of how he could tell me all of it, but do it in a way that would be good for my age, that would be both appropriate, and could get me to get it.

"Mostly about being a better friend. And then some stuff I did want to look into on my own." As he said that to me, I chose to just not say much on it at all. I had felt I would get nothing out of it at all.

"But yeah, I just feel as if I am not really the best friend out there, and I don't really know what else to say." As he told me this, I saw that he had really been let down by the fact that he was admitting that he was a bit of a shitty friend to Lydia.

"Lydia likes you though." As I said that, he took a breath, as if he had felt like that was obvious, but not really a fact that mattered in the long run.

"I know that. She has put in no attempt to hide it at all." As Robbie said that, Lydia had a blush on her face, as if she had felt like getting called out like that was not really what was best for her to hear at all.

"Sorry." Lydia said, and I could tell that she had felt bad about how she had been called out the way that she was. "I had also been thinking about what I want all my resolutions to be as well. But I don't really have all that many off the top of my head." As she said that to us, I could tell that Lydia had already been pretty happy with herself for the most part.

"I guess one that I had is I want to be a more kind sister to all ten of you. Less on the fence and seemingly ready to just always pick a giant fight. I guess I can always be a better friend as well." As Lydia said that, I had to take a second to chose what the hell was on my mind as she said this.

"Do you have one?" Robbie asked me, and I could tell from the tone of his voice that it was just a vague way of keeping some degree of interest in the talk, to pretend like he did want to up with me. It seemed like in all honesty, nothing I would tell him would actually get him to want me here.

"No. Maybe make some more friends. Like you and Rhett." I told him, and I could see that Robbie had looked like he had been able to appreciate the fact that at least my goal was one that people could look at and be able to respect.

"Well, I guess that it is a goal that makes sense. But to be honest, I don't really know if you should go and lose some sleep over this at all. And I feel like you just need to focus on you." As Robbie said that, I had no clue what he was meaning since me taking the time to try and get friends was literally my way of reaching out and trying to be a better version of myself. Henry told me a few months ago that in order to have a good life that I could be happy with, I really needed to go out and make some friends that I would stay with.

"But I am." I said, and I had no clue why in the world I was getting toe to toe with this man for no good reason. "I want to be as social as Lydia is." I finished, as I had felt that by propping Lydia up like that, people would give me a bit of a break here.

"Well, a part of that comes from the general personality that you carry. If you just believe stuff you say, soon enough it will come true. But you got to actually believe in what you are saying for it to work out." As she said that to me, I could tell that Lydia at that moment was doing exactly as she told me. Say stuff with a butt load of conviction and do it in a way that I would have no choice but to just go along with what she said.

"Do you agree?" I asked Robbie, and the look on his face showed that he was proud of the way that Lydia already was able to carry herself in general.

"It all makes sense." Robbie said, and I could tell that he had a degree of calmness that I did not have, and I had to know how he was able to actually play it all out. And I hoped he was willing to fucking teach me.

"Just do what you can, and I am sure it will all be able to come together. Just start to believe in yourself, and in due time, you will be able to find a degree of peace that you are already freaking out over. At the end of the day, it's not all that important." As Robbie said that to me, in a rather half interested tone, I was able to see that he dd not really care all that much.

"Okay." I said, as I had felt that if I tried to press any further, I would only server to make them more angry, and I felt like they were already giving me a lot of stuff to work with.

"Anyways, I need to go and talk to Stanley in a bit. Lydia, if you want to join, go ahead. But if not, then I guess that this talk is over." As he said that to me, I could tell that Robbie was fine if Lydia came, but not fine if I ended up joining the ride for no reason.

"Yeah, I'll go. Ridge, I'll see you again later. Try not to do anything too dumb. And thanks for coming." As Lydia said that to me, she left, and I had no idea what the hell I would do with what I had been told here.

When I was left alone, I sincerely had no clue what in the world was ahead of me. But what I did know was that at the end of it all, going into 2024, I did know that I had needed to at least keep up the advice to a point.

When I was done that day, I met up with Robbie at the house again, and this time, it had seemed like he was a bit happier than he had been a few hours before. "Hey Ridge, I had wanted to say that I was sorry for the way I treated you earlier. You really deserve so much better than me being a god damn dick for no good reason."

As he said that, I could tell that he had looked like he genuinely felt bad. "Look, I just feel like I need to not take shit out on you. You're a fucking kid, and I guess I need to remember that you don't know it all. I guess I am also scared. I turn thirteen in twenty days, and I feel as if that is all coming to me. I feel like I am nowhere close to ready here. You know to being a teenager." As he said that I would see later that the teenager years was that very hard period where a person was still a kid, but also not really a kid at the same time. So, him being in that both range was a bit hard to handle, as it would be for all teens.

"Look, I am scared of what I want to tell Lydia. I mean, it sucks because I do like her a lot, but I feel the best thing to do is tell her that we shouldn't see each other. I mean, I don't want her in danger anymore." As he said that, I felt as if him being friends with her was the best thing he could be able to do for her sake.

"But if you like her…" I said, and the concept of him not talking to her despite how he had felt was really making my head hurt, and I felt like he needed to look at all of his real feelings.

"Look, I got myself tied up in a really bad spot. I got deep in debt with a few people, and now I feel like if I don't get myself out of this, my friendships will all be in a lot of danger." As Robbie said that, I had no idea what the hell he was talking about, and to be honest, I had no clue if I really did want to have any clue at all.

"I guess Bebe was telling the truth when she said that I needed to be more careful on all the shit that I say." As he said that, I felt as if I needed to just sort of see what the hell he meant there.

"What did Bebe tell you?" I asked, as I had felt like I just needed to see why in the world Robbie Dan had been so let down by what she said. Why he needed to go out of his way to sort of make a big stink of it.

"Basically, she told me that I needed to let the adults do all the work. That I would only serve to make it worse if I was to press it on. So I guess that she might be right. I thought at first, she was just sort of keeping out of helping her out. Like I was not at all ready for this. But now that I'm here, I can see that I am nowhere near ready at all. And I was a fool for ever thinking that I was." As Robbie told me this, I knew that he felt like he was a level of disappointed buy, I felt that I needed to get him to calm the fucking hell down.

"I just wanted to help my sister see that I wanted to be responsible. That I was ready do do what was right. But maybe that is not my job, or if it is, I am not old enough for it yet. I love my sister, and I wanted her to see that I really did want to at least try to be a real team player." As he said that to me, I knew exactly what he meant. I wanted my family to be able to love me one day as well, but I felt that I had not been doing my job on making myself really earn that love.

"I get it." I said, as a way to get him to see that deep down inside, I did not want him to feel so bad about it anymore. I mean, I felt that if Robbie truly wanted to sort of show his more vulnerable side, I would be fine with him showing that to me, especially since he really did deserve to have the right to vent things out.

"So yeah, I feel like this is really what is best for me. I want to about it more, but I feel like there is nothing at all that I will get out of it." As Robbie told me this, I then saw him look like he had wanted to try and be able to find a way to make me feel better by just the words he told me.

"I feel like you will be able to see what will be able to see what will be able to make your siblings love you more. I have a full faith that you do already have the solution in line, you just need to be more honest on how you go at it. You need to delve deep into yourself to be able to make it work." As Robbie said that, I had to feel like I would take it for what it was, and to not hurt the way he had been looking at me.

"I will." I said, feeling that in due time, my siblings will all be able to see that one of these days, I was not a kid anymore, and that I needed to be involved in all the adult talks like a god damn adult should fucking be.

"Good. I feel like your siblings are just waiting for you to show that responsible side." As he said that to me, this time when Robbie left I felt as if we were on a much closer bond with each other.

I felt glad that Robbie did take the time to come to me, and apologize to me, and we were able to bring a level of peace with each other, and I felt that Lydia was right to fall in love with him.

Scene 9: December 28 2023 (Rhett Rank 2)

A few days after Christmas had past, I was seeing Rhett in the house again. By that point, with nearly a week and a half since what happened with our last meeting, and I had felt as I needed to find a way that I could tell him how much I respected the fact that he chose to be honest with me, and not at all give me any shit with Lydia.

"So Ridge, what are you going to do?" He asked, in a way to just show that he was wanting to have a good time. I had felt at this point, I should just straight up be real with him on what it was.

"To talk to you." As I said that to him, he seemed to be a bit shocked at what I said. As if what I said was going to be the last thing I should say, and I would not get what I wanted when we talked with each other.

"To be honest, I don't know what you will be getting out of talking to me. I feel like you might be kind of giving me way too much credit." As he said that, I felt like I would just need to be real with him, and not let him down at all. As I thought this, I saw from how Rhett looked that he had been losing patience.

"Does Lars have any others?" I asked, him, and I saw that he had to take a second to think on what I had just asked him there.

"Any other kids." I said, as I had felt that if I had been more on what I was asking, I would get what I would want. As I said this, he then suddenly looked as if he was sad to hear that, like he knew what Lars really did.

"Well, if this you showing that you accept that Lars is indeed Lydia's dad?" He asked, and I slowly nodded as I had nothing to lose by saying this. After all, the way Lars reacted to my question was my oldest forever seared in memory for me.

"I do." I told him, and from his reaction, I had known full well that was what he had wanted to hear. So, as I showed him that I had converted to this reality, Rhett then looked like he was ready to answer my question, and let me know it all.

"Yes, he has others. I would believe so anyways. The only one I know with one hundred percent certainty is Lydia though. To be honest, I had a good theory on three or four others." As he said this to me, I then felt like I had no real choice on what I was going to ask as my next question.

"Who do you think?" As I asked this, deep down I knew there was no way I could be able to handle it all on my own but I felt I needed to give it a god damn chance to see if I can help.

"Well, one of her own friends Lily. Another one is Logan. I feel those are very likely to be his children. Then another one my age, Liam, I think is one of his first if my theory is correct, if not the first." Rhett said, all in a professional straight tone.

"Logan? The one who hangs out with Henry a lot?" I asked, as I had wanted to get him to just help me make sure I was fully able to see where Rhett had been coming from here, and why he was sure on Logan.

"Yeah. I had been hanging out with Henry for a bit, to help him have a couple of clues on what he should be doing for school. I recall him talking about how much Lars would come to visit Logan's house, and like with Lyda would give the family a certain amount of money a month. I think he said something like three hundred bucks a month." As Rhett said that, I had to take a second to think about what Logan was dealing with in regards to Lars.

"Do you know if Lars will confirm?" I asked, as I had felt that by asking him this, he would just give me any clue at all what was going on with Lars. If he ever said it straight up, that might get the respect of more people.

"Honestly, I highly don't he will tell anybody the truth at all. I feel that he will try and pretend like he just had no clue what is going on when people are confronted with the shit they do. They will always hide like a bunch of fucking cowards." Rhett shrugged, as if he ha felt like that was all in the politics of life.

"Okay." I said, as I had felt like I needed to at least try and see what he was meaning. But to be honest, I had a feeling I was still way too young to be able to really see what the bigger picture was.

"Especially if my theory on who Lydia's real mother does get proven true. But I am keeping that all to myself." As he said that, to be honest, I had felt like what he was saying was a bit of a fucking cop out. And I had felt that if he was serious about wanting me to help him out here, he needed to stop bullshit from me here.

"Will you fucking tell her?" I asked, as I had felt that if he would not tell me the truth, then at least Lydia should be allowed to know what the truth was since this was the whole reason the debate had even come up in the first place. Which had been a real game changer over the course of my very short life.

"When I feel like she is ready to learn the truth. If not, then I feel that the best thing to do is just make sure that if does learn the truth, that she still sees that she has nothing wrong with her at all, and that she is a great woman." As he said that, I felt as if I had to take the time to truly learn who he was talking about, and why he was going out of his way to talk about Lydia that way. To show that she was not a mistake or something?

"Is that why your parents divorced?" I asked, as I had felt like that was a good reason. If one of them had been planning to tell Rhett the truth, but the other had felt that doing that would only serve to make it all even worse. As I said that, Rhett seemed to be shocked at the fact that I had asked that in the first place. I could tell that in no way at all was that what he expected me to say.

"I think it was a part of it. To be honest, my dad and I always had a bit of a disagreement on how he handled things with mom. But to be honest, I feel as if they both were going to be tempted to split up regardless. To put to bluntly, the love they had for each other had been growing less and less by the year, and I was able to see that well." As Rhett said that, I had no clue how in the world I was supposed to react there.

"I think that whatever the reason for the divorce, there was a ninety percent chance that my mom was on the right side of how history went. And I feel that deep down inside, my father knows this, and that is why he is too scared to go on and face the fucking truth." As he said that, I felt like that was enough to make me feel like I would be able to just live with this answer.

"But just don't think too much on it, for your sake. My dad sucks, that is all you need to fucking know." As Rhett said that, I saw a faint smile on his face like he enjoyed the shit talking of his dad.

And I had felt that as long as Rhett was willing to tell me more of these secrets, then I could be able to trust him, as the man who would be the only answer I had to all of this shit.

"Look, the truth is I feel like you are way too young to be able to see the bigger picture of what is happening. And besides, you're kind of the last person who has any reason to learn this stuff." As he said that, I took a deep breath, and I felt as if being honest would have to be good enough here.

"But I'm allowed to be curious." I said, as I had hoped that by saying that, he would be able to have a level of respect for the fact that at least I was being honest about my low stakes, high investment, of this entire thing.

"And that is fine. I am just saying you don't need to get too deep into this, because at the end of the day, it's not all that big of a deal. The stuff with Lars is one very small piece of the puzzle, and I think the truth is that in a way, even if I do find all there is to him, there are so many other things to look at it will hardly be able to make any level of difference at all." As Rhett said that, I could tell that his confidence in all that had been going on had been basically gone.

"How deep does this go?" I asked, and I could see that he did not want to answer that at all. As if he was too ashamed to admit how far he truly felt like it did.

"It does everywhere in this town. There is basically no way out of it, and you are kind of fucked if you try and push it more. So I just think that at the end of the day, almost nothing I do will make any amount of difference in the slightest." Rhett said, and I was shocked to hear him sound like he had basically kind of give up on what he felt. I took a deep look at what was around me, and I felt bad for what he said. I could tell that he was extremely let down.

"Would your mother want you to continue?" I asked, as I had felt that maybe he has needed to think from a larger perspective on what he was dealing with. And I had felt that maybe if he had looked at it again, he would be able to do better.

"I don't fucking know what she would want. And to be honest, I have no idea if it would really even make much of a difference at all. I am sort of on my own here, and I God damn know that to be a god damn fucking fact." As he said that to me, I felt that maybe his mother would have grown to hate the man who he was starting to be. A man who basically chose to have no god damn hope in the entire world.

"I think it's best we dropped this for now." As Rhett said that, he placed his hand on my shoulder, and I could tell that he had felt bad for what we had gone into.

As Rhett started to leave me, I could tell that he had looked to be a bit tired, and I could tell that he was just trying to keep me out of it all. I guess I could see why, but it hurt to see that he was going to refuse to even give me a chance to prove myself.

Scene 11 – January 1 2024 (Lars Rank 1)

It was the first day of the new year, and at first I was with Henry since it was his ninth birthday. The last year to go until he hit the double digits, which at the time when I was still only three, to me was the first step to becoming a true man, was when you would hit the double digits.

The first thing I asked him was simply "Do you got any goal?" When I asked, referring to the whole new years resolution things for the majority of the year, he had looked at the ceiling, as if he had to think about what those goals would actually have been. So he just shook his head there.

"My goal is just to have fun. Not much else to shot for." As he said that to me, I can see that he was a bit upset at something else going on. "I guess I do want to try and sort some things out with my friends. Like I have one who I feel like is off in his own world and is not holding up super well at all." As he said that to me, I could tell that he felt glad to be able to release some of his thoughts on what he was dealing with.

"Who is that?" I asked, as I had felt that maybe I could see what the hell the issue was. He shook his head, as if he had felt that despite their issues, his friend did not deserve a bunch of people talking about him behind his back, since that was still rude.

"Logan. He and I have had some talks lately, about Lars. I think Lars really does bother Logan quite a bit. But I don't really think it's all that big of a deal here. I try to not think too much about it." As he said that to me, I felt that was his nice way of telling me that the conversation was now over.

As he was looking at the film he was watching, I really badly wanted to ask what he was watching, but before I could I heard a knock on the door. When I looked to see who it was, I saw that it was Lars again. And I had a feeling that he was here to drop off another set of money for Lydia. Even though I had no clue how he thought monthly drops of money were going to be enough to substitute not actually taking the time to raise his god damn daughter.

"Hello." I said, as I had felt that being cordial with him was the best way that I could be able to get him to talk with me here. He seemed to take a second to pensively think of what he was going to fucking say to me.

"How are you? Enjoying the new year?" He asked, and wen he looked a Henry, I could tell that he had tried to decide what to say to him. And I had a feeling our previous spat really got to him a bit worse than he really wanted to say.

"Yeah, I am." I said, and to be fair, it was true at that moment. I could see that he was glad to see that I was saying this. He took a deep breath, and then I was shocked at what he said, especially since Henry was still there, and at the time, I thought he wouldn't ever dare bring it up anyways.

"I am assuming that you are not going to bring up what we discussed to anybody else? I feel like this a topic you do not fully understand yet." As he said that to me, I saw him look like he had been really hoping that I would take the hint, and just god damn drop it.

"I won't." I said, and with that, he took a deep breath, and I could see that he was willing to just drop it for now. Then he looked right at Henry, and placed on a smile across his face to chose where he wanted this to go now.

"Happy birthday. I hope that you got everything you had wanted. Sorry if your brother and I are also got a little bit intense there." As he said that, he smiled a fake smile to try and appease us to thinking he was still a bit of a team player here.

"What did you and Ridge discuss?" Henry asked, and I could see that he was a bit off put by the way that Lars had talked, and Lars took out his next cigarette to try and just keep Henry from saying more shit for a bit.

"Just a bit of business. To be honest, I feel like it won't really do anybody any favors to go down this discussion right now. And to be honest, if Lydia is not home, I need to talk to Ridge." As he said that, I took a deep breath, since I had no clue what on earth we would discuss anyways.

As I saw Henry look at us, I could tell that he was a bit bothered by where this would go. But I knew that he could respect that the best thing to do was to just drop the topic for now at least.

When Lars pulled me to the side in dads empty office, since dad would not be home for many hours, he took a deep breath, as if he had felt like he needed to be honest with me. "Ridge, this is not a god damn joke. You need to not ask anymore questions about me and Lydia."

As he said this, I had felt as if this was not a promise that I could be able to keep. There was no way that I could be able to just not say anything related to Lydia and especially if he had other kids, which did seem to be a confirmed deal if any of what Rhett told me was true at all.

"Is Lydia your daughter?" I asked again, as I had felt like I had no choice on what to say now. I had felt as if he needed to just see that this was no way in any way shape or form going to be a topic that I would drop with him.

"I think we both know that you already know the answer to that., and I feel that you are the first one who will hold me down for this." As he said that, I had to defend myself here.

"Do you have any others?" I asked, and as I asked that, the looked on his face showed that this had been the last thing that he had wanted to hear me ask. And I feel that at this point, all he had needed to do was just be honest with me.

As he heard me ask that, he just composed himself while he sat down. "Well, some others. But that is not really anything that you need to know about at all." As he said that, he then shrugged. "It all comes down to the name of the job. I have a lot of work that I need to do, and that is a part of it.

"Why?" I asked, unable to get what the hell had been going on. Why he was needing to have kids all the time in the name of the job, as he had called the term. Point was that none of it made any sense to me, and I wanted to know it all so I could be able to fucking get it.

"I got my job offer when I had just turned eighteen. I had felt as if I had no real true path in life. And to be honest, as I got into the job, and I started to work rather hard on it, I had started to realize that it was all so much fucking fun. It was all something that I wanted to fucking do more. And do it because it was fun, not because I had to." As he described his job like this, he then took a deep breath, as if think of what to say now.

"What I do for this town does not have to be popular, and it doesn't need to be an emotionally endorsed way to look at things, but what I do is effective and good for the sake of the town in the long run." As Lars said that to me, I then felt like I needed to ask him the one question that for some reason was on my mind, that I felt like I needed to finally establish.

"Who is your most recent kid?" I asked, and as I asked him this, I could tell that Lars had looked as if he just needed to let it happen, and not at all hide from what I had been asking him due to how much I had felt like I could be able to use this effective ammunition.

"She was born about a week and a half ago. Maybe you will want to be there for her, since you're technically a man in comparison. You might not be too awful with them. I have another in a few weeks, and he is going to be sent off to Indiana for a new family." As he said that, he grew a genuine smile on his face and then he pulled a card out, and wrote names down for me.

"There you go. That is a freebie one. If you want to see them, go ahead. But I am not going to give you anymore, and if you don't, then be my guest." As he said that, he placed an envelope with four hundred down for dad to take it when he came home.

"Logan Muller." The name on the card said. This confirmed what Rhett said about Henry's friend, and as I saw that, I had a feeling that I would take that for what it was. I had to go with it, and I had felt like if Logan would get to really know me, then I could take the chance to be a real friend.

Scene 12: January 3 2024 (Logan Rank 1)

A couple of days later, I ended up meeting Logan. I felt like I needed to just talk to him for a bit about what Lars had been like with him. I felt like I needed to see if Lars would be able to actually be a fucking decent dad to Logan or not. Or if over time, he was just putting on a façade to make it look like he was able to make a difference he wouldn't be able to make.

When Logan looked right at me, I could tell that he was a bit shocked to see me there in the first place. So I felt like I just needed to be one hundred percent real with what I had been truly feeling. "Ridge, what the fucking hell are you doing?" He asked, and I could tell that he was pretending like me being there did not really bother him, but truly it really did rub him the wrong way.

"I wanted to talk." I said, and I could tell he was a bit pissed off at the fact that I had been trying to talk to him about things that had not really been any of my business. Then with that, he then placed his wallet in his pocket.

"What about?" He asked, and I could tell that he had been hoping that I was not going to be giving him any shit at all. He then probably started to think that Henry put me up to it.

"Lars." I said, and I could see that he seemed to be a bit shocked at what I said. He took a second to think of what in the world he would even tell me about him to begin with.

"Look, I'm going to be honest, I don't really know him nearly enough to be able to justify talking to anybody about it." As Logan said that, I could see that he had been trying to look like he wasn't really in the mood to talk about the man at all. But I felt that I did need to pressure him on it a bit.

"You look like him." I said, and I felt that telling him this was the best thing I could do to be able to get him to at least acknowledge that I had been listening to what people in town had been saying. "I just thought you knew something here."

"I fucking know that. Every god damn year I had been seeing that more and more. But I had no real clue why. Do you have any fucking clue why?" As he asked me this, I could see that he was getting sick and tired of this getting brought up on several occasions.

"Like I wished that I had been able to get to know him better. But let me be honest, every time I talk with him, I just feel like he only has one thing on his mind. Numbers and deals. That is the only thing he cares about." As he told me this, I could tell that he had looked like he was almost feeling bad for me with the way he had been so dismissive.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to pester you." I said, and I knew that was bullshit from the way that I had talked. But I had needed to find a way to get him to get off me on the matter, and not make it any worse for myself there.

"You fucking did, and you know it. But at least you took the time to apologize. So I guess that I'm not too upset here." As he said that to me, I could see that he had seemed to not really have much interest in batting around the bush with me anymore on the matter.

"Anyways, Henry had never made the connection of who I look like. He seems to be on a world of his own. Last time I tried to talk to him, I recall he talked about cute guys and what not. That was the main thing on his mind." As he said that, I could tell that Logan did not want to talk any further about it.

"Do you want to know more?" I asked, and as I asked that, I would see that Logan knew exactly what I meant. And I could tell that he did not really know how in the world he was supposed to even react to this.

"Yeah, I kind of wish I could be able to know him better. But to be realistic, every time I ask around about it, my parents always just seem to get really mad about me bringing it up. Clearly they are scared to have me pursue the matter too much." As he said told me this, I saw that at the end, Logan seemed to be really damn brought down there.

"For some strange reason, I think he might be related to me. Like an uncle or something. That would explain his monthly stops to drop off a set of money only to leave again." As he said that to me, I could see that at least he was able to start to put all of the pieces together, and see in general the familial connection that was there.

"Sorry for mentioning it." I said, as I had felt that was the best thing that I could do. "I'll try to just drop it." As I said that, I made sure to put extra emphasis on "try" as a way to show that if it did come up again, then I could be able to have a bit of a way to get out of here.

"Don't worry too much about it. I am trying to just let it go. I feel we both looked too deeply into this. And I don't really know what else I am supposed to say. I guess that maybe I can just set all of my goals up for the year, and I could try and work on them. My dad has always told me that my resolutions are the best way to get myself to have a busy life and what not. I guess that I can sort of get it." As he said that to me, I saw him look like he had been a bit uptight over that.

"Do you have any in mind?" As I asked that, I could see that he was a bit shocked to see me show any interest in the subject at all. Then with that, he sat down and looked at the random ninja movie that had been playing.

"Well, to be honest, I feel like best thing I could do is just hang out. You know, try out a ton of various things. See what type of hobbies will be able to form." As he said that to me, I could tell that he had been honest there. I could tell he truly had no god damn clue what in the world he had truly wanted to feel, or really could be able to feel here.

"Which ones have you tried?" I asked, and I could see that he had no real clue what in the world he had wanted to tell me. I could tell that at the end of it all, he had been really unsure where to go there.

"Well, I tried stuff like sports. They have been really god damn rough on me. I guess I have yet to try stuff like skating or hiking. Maybe I could be able to work on those soon." As Logan said that to me, I could tell that he did seem to be at least partially considering doing stuff like that, and that he could have fun with trying that type of stuff.

"Do you have anything you want to try? Or are you too yoing to really be able to see the world for what it was?" As he asked that, I had felt like he was taking it too personal there.

"Not really. Just make friends." I said, as I had felt that was the best way that I could be able to start to put a good life forward. A life that I had felt I could be able to be proud of. And I had felt that was all that I could have been able to get done.

"Well, I hope that you don't lose sight of that goal, and that your friend that you find will be the ones that you'll want." As he said that to me, he took a deep breath, as if he had thought that my entire plan was going to be very flimsy at best, and not really the one that he would really want me to try and work on. Suddenly, he got a call from his cellphone.

"Thanks for calling. Yeah, I was planning on coming over in a bit. I just was talking to somebody for a bit, and got a bit distracted." As he said that to the person that he had called, there was a bit more debate before he hung up the phone, and then he looked right at me and I knew that was his way of just trying to end the discussion.

"Well, I have to head out to meet up with Henry for a bit. I am going to be busy for a while. All in the name of the job. I will talk to you soon. Just keep working on your happiness." As he said that "name of the job" bit, he winked at me as if hoping I would get the reference, and I could tell that he had clearly wanted to talk longer later, but that he was not really wanting to do it right now and for the time being he just wanted to leave the subject alone and not make it any worse.

"And I hope that you don't mind that I am going to be spending more time with my regular friends and what not. You're a good kid, but truth be told I feel like you should wait until you're older." As he said that, I tried to respect his choices, even if I still thought it to be rather rude to end like this.

As he left, I felt as if the conversation itself was fine, but he had just needed to try and get him to see that I was on the right track with my comments here.

Scene 13: January 5 2024 (Dylan Rank 1)

A couple of days later, I saw Dylan looking over the blue prints oof the project he had been working on with Lars, and I saw that he had looked like he was a bit tired, and wanted to try and just get some fucking rest.

"What is that?" I asked, since while I had known that it was the magnet train, I did not really know all the small details that went on with the train, or why it was suspended in the air with a bunch of beam towers.

"I am working on a train with Lars. A monorail, is the type of train it is. Lars said he wanted me to test this out, and see if this project is truly best for me right now." As he said that to me, I saw from the shimmer in his eyes that he had known what was really going on here.

"I thought you liked cars." I said, with the mild need to challenge him here. As I said that, he looked right at me, and I could tell he clearly did not think that I was looking at the bigger picture as I asked him this.

"Trains are like mega cars." Dylan said, and the sound of his voice, as he got more and more excited to speak, made it clear to me that he couldn't believe that I was not really looking at the bigger picture. That I had been kind of just refusing to really broaden my horizons.

"I mean, I guess I see that." I said, but I was still having a hard time really being able to look at what he calls the bigger picture here.

"Just try and not think too much on it. Think about what you can get by just doing all that you ever wanted." As he said that, I had felt as if I had needed to press him on the matter. So with that, I felt that I needed to take the new leap of faith here.

"Do you like working with Lars?" I asked, as I had felt I needed to hold my ground. As I told him this, I saw that he had to take a second to think a bit deeper on what I just asked him.

"He's nice." He said, which I had felt like did not really help give me any kind of real answer or not, and I had felt like I had just needed to try and either change the subject, or press him even further on it.

"But does that mean that you actually like to work with him?" I asked, as I had felt like this was not at all giving me any answer at all. As I had said that to him, Dylan had looked like he was a bit tired of me trying to press him to say anything at all.

"I do. He helped me learn so many things." He said, and I nodded at that, as I had felt that this was a real response, and I had felt that I could be able to respect where he had been coming from now that he was willing to actually be a bit more honest with me.

"Will you want to teach me?" I asked, and as I asked him this, he took a second to think about the question I asked, as if such a thing was really going to be worth the time.

"I will have to think about it. I feel like it could be a bit fun. But to be honest, I have no idea if it will really be worth it the time. You need to find your own goals, and you own desires. I can't help you with that." As Dylan said that, with a level of clarity greater than what any six year old should have been able to really convey, and I had felt that I had needed to just let him say what he needed to say.

"Okay." I said, as I had sort of felt like that by saying that, he would be able to see that I was willing to at least try and be an adult about how I went at this.

"If you do find what you want to do, then I will stay by your side, and I will help you through. I won't ever turn you down." As he told me this, I slowly nodded, as I had felt that he was telling me the truth as he had told me this, and I knew that no matter what, he would be the one person who would be able to find his joy in life.

"I think that you need to bury the hatchet with Drae." I said, as I had felt like I needed to move the talk along in a way that doesn't stall us all out. He took a deep breath, and I could tell that Dylan really did not seem to be chill with me trying to lecture him here.

"Look, I would love you." As he said that, I grew a smile on my face, and I was proud of what he said. Since it showed me that he was willing to put it all behind him. "But I feel like the two of us argued way too much, and I can tell from the look on his face, and the tone of his voice that I really went too far this time. And now I have to deal with the fact that my brother I used to be the closest with now just god damn hates my guts." As he said that to me, I could tell that he was really trying his best to hide his true heart break here.

"I just thought he could be able to appreciate the work that I do with the monorails. But I guess that I need to think about what he wants to do with his life too." As he said that, I could tell that most of his desire to fight anybody had been completely thrown off.

"I just feel like it is all my fucking fault here. And I feel like I can't be able to apologize enough to him." As Dylan had said that, I had a feeling that he was taking things way too seriously, and he needed to get off the high horse now with the self-deprecating comments.

"Then just tell him you won't do it again. Simple as fucking that. If you don't want to make him hate you, that is it." I told him, and before you said it, I know there was no way in hell I said all that in that wording. But that was the general point of what I had told him.

"Okay. I guess I can try to do that. Doubt it will work though." As he said that to me, I saw him look as if he was really having no choice on the matter. "Thanks for taking the time to reach out, and take the time to know what I feel though."

As Dylan came together, I could tell that he had been starting to just be happy that he could not be completely judged and hated for all the shit that had gone down to be able to pull it all off. "You're doing good." I told him, feeling that statement would be the best thing for him.

"Thanks. I sometimes need to be told that. Especially since I am not so sure myself." After he told me that, I could see that he had been dealing with a lot of self esteem issues.

"I'm sure we all appreciate you." As I said that to him, I had no clue what the hell I was even supposed to tell him to begin with. I felt as if he needed to see that all of the work he did would not be put to waste, that he was a sibling that would do many great things if he already at six contributed more to the town than all ten of us ever had.

Scene 14: January 11 2024 (Stanley Rank 1)

A few days later, When Lydia had not been home yet, I heard the doorbell ring. I answered it, and I saw that it was one of Lydia's friends, who had come over to see how she was doing/ When he saw me, I was a bit shocked to even see him there at all.

"Hey Ridge, is Lydia home yet?" He asked, and I shook my head. It sucked to know that I wouldn't be able to really get to know him on a more personal level. But I had felt that being honest with him was the best thing that I could really fucking do.

"No. What are you up to?" I asked, as I had felt that he needed to really hear what I was feeling. "Do you not want to hang out with us?"

"It's nothing personal, dude. I just feel like you are too young, as well as the fact that I have been real friends with Lydia for far longer. I am sure that deep down, you will be able to understand what I am saying." As he said that, I could tell that Stanley had hoped that I could be able to understand how he was coming from here. I took a moment to accept his reason for what it was.

"I suppose that I fucking get it." As I said that to him, I had to then chose what I would ask him next. If he was willing to give me really any god damn details at all.

"What are you and Lydia doing?" I asked, and as I asked that, Stanley looked like he really did not want to tell me that. But I also felt that he had known that I probably would not drop it, so to tell me what it was would make the whole thing better for both of us.

"We are going to be talking about my plans. My dad and I had some real issues, like Rhett and his dad. And I think there could be a chance I have move back to my hometown In Oregon. I just feel like after three years of being here, nothing is good for me anymore." As he said that to me, I felt that once Lydia would know the truth here, she would never be cool with what Stanley was planning to do.

"How long do you think you will still remain in Wayside?" I asked him, and as I asked that to him, I could see that Stanley almost did not seem to really know the answer to that.

"I am sure that I will stay at least for the rest of the school year. You know, maybe even stay through middle school so I can start high school fresh. But that is still about two years off, and I have no idea if I can handle living in Wayside for six years. But I know I can handle at least until the start of summer break." As Stanley said that to me, I could tell that he genuinely had hoped that I would be willing to just leave it all alone for now at least.

"That's a good start at least." I said, as I had felt that if Lydia had wanted to use this, she would truly be able to have some kind of a way to convince him to be able to stay for even just a bit longer. Like through the entire summer, and then every few months from there. After all, she did have five months to be able to make it work. I could see from the look on his face that he knew I would try to pull out at least some degree of machinations.

"What are you thinking?" He asked, and I could tell that he did not seem to trust that I was really going to let it go. I felt that he wouldn't be down to hear me say anything at all about this. He would make me feel like I had no idea what I was saying, and I was not in the mood to hear him talk to me as if I was a dumbass just because of the fact that I was three.

"Lydia will try to get you to stay." As I told him this, I could see that he was well aware of this, and the fact that he did seem to be bothered by the fact that I had been saying this in the first place. As if he had not wanted to be dragged down by what a girl nearly two years younger than him wanted him to do.

"I'm going to be twelve in a little over a month. I need to start to be on my own. I am not letting people harass me into making a shit ton of choices that re not for me." As he said that to me, I had to think about what he was saying. I mean, I did sort of get what he was saying. Even if the whole thing was a bit strange for me to try and wrap my mind around. "And I feel like Lydia has no real grasp of what the world is like, and while I love her to deal, she needs to try and just see the bigger picture."

I felt that I had needed to try and find a question that might not be for him, but I had no real choice but to just go with it. "Look, what does she not see?" As I asked that, I could see him looking to happy to kind of be able to genuinely debate.

"Well, I feel like she does not take the missing girls thing seriously. It's as if she genuinely believes nothing will happen to her. She is a bit of a fucking idiot." As he said that, it really hurt to hear him call my sister that. But he was upset, and I had no real idea what else he felt like he could be able to say as a way to be able to just make his fucking point.

"And to be honest, I feel like if I try and get her to see things my way, she will simply refuse, fucking god damn refuse, to see reality. And there is no point in talking to a person who does not show respect for how the world really works." As he told me this, I felt the best thing to do was just accept that I had no clue what the hell was going on here.

"Sorry." I said, as I had felt that there was no god damn other way that I could be able to get him to see as if I had been listening to him, and that I would not be pressing him too hard on it.

"It's okay. It's not like you know how this all goes. If you did, I am sure you would be more willing to be patient or take my side. So as far as the two of us go, you are fine." As he told me this, I could see that he had hoped that I would take what he was saying, and just be willing to go along with it for now.

"Sorry for always being such a hard ass. I just want to get Lydia to see that no matter how hard she tries to make life go the way she wants it is not always really meant to be this way. And if she sees that as cheap, then I really do not give a shit at all what she thinks." As he told me this, I had sort of felt like there was no real other way to say what I had been feeling.

"But I feel that I would also never have been this way if it were not for my god damn dad. I feel as if what my dad did all these years has really made me feel like people are just god damn liars, and god damn assholes." As Stanley told me this, I felt that he was taking it on the others, and that to be honest, there was no reason to have him be so harsh on all of us. Then with that, he ended up just pulling out his phone. As if he had been thinking about what he had really wanted to do now.

"Look, Lydia deserves a lot better than how I treat her. But I guess I have a hard time really being able to convey how I feel to her. Maybe I just need to call her, and tell her that I am really sorry for how I am talking to her. While I feel her attempts to keep me here are beyond annoying, I know that she has the best intentions in the end." As he told me this, he smiled for a second there.

"Thanks for saying that." I told him, so glad that he had been willing to kind of step back, and see that he was sort of being in the wrong here. He took a moment to think on what he had told me, and how the hell I would be able to see that he was not at all doing anything wrong telling me this.

"Look, I love your sister. But I feel as if she just refuses to see that I am not the man that she wants me to fucking be. And I can't be able to get her to see that." As he said that to me, I felt as if I was wasting my time there with him.

But at the end, it had seemed as if Stanley had the compassion to see that at the end of the day, that Lydia always would want him to be happy and that he would show her that this would go a long way if she worked with it.

Scene 15: January 16 2024 (Todd Jr Rank 1)

When I had come home that day, I saw Todd looking at me. I did not really know what the hell I was going to expect when I saw him. But to be honest, I was glad to see him, and I had wanted to make him feel a bit better seeing me here when he was busy.

"Hey Ridge, how are you?" He asked, and as he smiled at me, I had felt that there was no way in hell that any of the shit Las was doing with him was really setting any bad influence. He was just doing his job, and I trusted him to be able to make the right choices when it would come time to be able to really make those choices.

"I'm doing well. What are you doing?" I asked, still having the feeling that this was all wrong. I had no real reason to feel this way, but to be honest, I had no clue what the fucking hell I was to expect here.

"Well, I was just talking to dad and Gabe about the job. You know, I have a lot of work that I need to do, and I don't have a ton of time to be able to see dad about it." As he said that, I then had to decide what the hell I was going to say to him now.

"Is it the work with Lars?" I asked, and I could see that Todd had looked like I struck a real chord there. And I knew that this was the last thing that he had wanted to hear me ask him.

"Yeah, well, he is a large part of it. But Ridge, I feel like you do not need to get involved in what went down. I have a job that needs to be done. And I have no real choice on the matter. Please just try and get to have a normal life. I am doing the best job I can for your sake." As he said that to me, I had no real clue what in the world he had wanted me to tell him.

"What does Bebe think?" I asked, as I had felt that if I could get him to be real with me on that part, he would stop his shit for a god dam second, and he would see that I was not at all trying to antagonize him as much as get to know him.

"She does not know, because I know that she would never be able to see the bigger picture and approve. She will only look at the emotional side of things, and not the logical. I know her enough to know how she is." As he said that to me, I had felt like this was a good sign that maybe Todd was not really much of a saint at all.

"And I'm going to be honest, I love her too much to throw it all away for my job. I feel like I need to just find a way to keep this all to myself, and not be able to make things worse for anybody. My job is what is best for Wayside, and I god damn know that it is." As he told me this, I could tell that deep down, he had known that if this kept up, he would be hated.

He got a call from Lars, and I could tell that this was the last thing that he had wanted to do right now. As if he had enjoyed our talks a bit.

"Yo dude, just talked with my brother for a bit. I will be there in twenty minutes. Don't worry, I always make sure nobody is following me." As he said that to Lars, he hung up, and then he looked right at me, as if he hoping that I wouldn't say anything at all to the others.

"Hey Ridge, if you really want, we can talk later. But I really need to do my damn job.' As he said that, he headed off after patting my head. As he was gone, I saw that he dropped his notes or something, and I picked them up.

As I read the note, I could already start to piece it all together. And I could see why Bebe would hate Todd for it.

"Tiffany Morris. Born January 12, 2024. Father, Todd Robinson Jr (Born April 12, 2000). Mother, Lilit Marcus (born February 10, 2009). Mother died to complications on childbirth. A statement from her father Lars Needlemeyer will be given shortly. Lilit's body was sent through the meat grinder, with her remains buried in the Sector Three eastern farm for crop growing. Tiffany will be placed in with the Morris family as expected, as their first daughter, following three older brothers adopted from Labyrinth: Peter Morris (Born May 20, 2016), Stephen Morris (Born December 19, 2018), and Gavin Morris (Born August 31, 2021). As of the time of her birth, this is Todd's forty third kid from the labyrinth." The statement read, and as I read this, I could see that this was what would make Bebe hate Todd if she ever found out the truth.

And I knew then what the grinding noise from three days ago was. And it made me so sick to my stomach that I threw up on the ground because I knew that it was because my oldest brother had sex with a fourteen year old girl, and had a kid with her, then put the kid up for adoption, and then when that girl died, sent her through the meat grinder. I wondered if this was the first time Todd had sex with a girl many years younger than him, and I knew it would not be the last.

I had a feeling though, in due time, I would be able to move it past me. It was not my job to pass judgment, and I would never try to claim that I knew what was best for anybody at all at my age. And for all I knew, maybe Bebe really did know, and maybe she had accepted it as a fact of life, and di not choose to make it worse for anybody.

And at the end of the day, Todd was still my brother. No matter how wrong what he did was, I could never be able to tell him off. I could never be able to make him lose a member of the his family because he probably made the wrong choice.

So when the time comes, if I was able to, I would find a way to make Todd see that no matter how wrong what he did was, I would never hate him. I would never be able to hate the family.

I knew deep down inside that Todd must have had a good reason to do all the things he did, and deep down I knew that once he cleared it all up, I would be able to see where he came from, and I would be able to love him again.

Epilogue Scene: August 22, 2037

It was my seventeenth birthday, when I was sitting on top of the hood of my car, and I was having a cigarette, and casually listening to the news about Donald Trump's passing away, who not only was the most recent president to serve two terms in office, but was the third in my lifetime to have passed away (Jimmy Carter on January 17, 2027 being the first and Bill Clinton on October 21, 2031 being the second). As I had been barely paying attention to the news that didn't really have much interest to me, I was thinking about the offer that Lars had made me. And to be honest, I had felt like the more that I had thought about it, the more that I felt like maybe at least giving him a chance to sort of explain what he had been thinking would have been for the fucking best. So, I took my phone out, and was staring at his contact information.

I was surprised that at fifty one years old, he was still working on this town's preservation and progression as much as he had. In fact, it seemed with each passing year, his desire to make a difference was growing larger and larger. The thing was that despite the fact that I initially didn't like him at all, due to him being Lydia's biological father, and the fact that he never found her despite it being nearly ten years since it had happened, I did grow to like him a decent amount.

I mean, when I was over half a century old, I had hoped that I would be able to fucking keep up a level of grit and determination that I was too unable to support. I ended up hitting the call button on Lars's number, as I felt like I needed to talk about the job offer, as well as something else that had been bothering me.

The fact that my dad, Todd Sr., and my uncle, Brad Carbunkle, were both eighty seven years old and not only were still kicking more than any human that age range should, but still looked like how they did when they were thirty five to forty years old. Especially with the mountains of cigarettes they both smoked, and both guys still had lungs that were "healthy as an ox" by our doctors last evaluation. I mean, I just had a feeling that since they were already middle aged when Lars was even born, and Lars was already on the down hill slope to one hundred, that would be one thing that we can both be able to agree on was strange.

"Hey Lars, I wanted to ask you something. You were saying that you were planning on giving me a job offer? What were you thinking here?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to try and get him to tell me anything at all. Lars was silent for a second, as if he had thought about what I had asked him. Almost like he was glad to see me not divert.

"Yes, I was hoping that you would be interested. I have been thinking about all the conversations that we have had over the years, and I feel like you deserve to have a bit of the truth on what is happening here. Maybe you and I can come to some form of agreement on what the best direction for your future is." As Lars said this, I felt like I needed to ask him something else.

"The two of us have been at odds with each other ever since I was just three years old. I was the one that called you out about how much I thought you might have been lying about what went on with Lydia." I said, feeling like I just needed to see if that was going to bite me in the ass, and he was going to use this against me.

"You were upset that your sister was gone. I feel like that is perfectly fair, and you have the right to be upset at what happened. I should have been more open about what was going on there. I just felt like you were too young to get involved in something like this. And I am sorry that I did not trust you to be able to handle anything like that yet." As he said that to me, I was taking a second to think about what he was saying. It did seem like what he was saying was realistic enough for me to be able to believe.

"But that didn't give me a right to lash out on you, and talk to you like you were a fucking monster. I was very let down by what happened, but I should have never blamed you for being the one who was at fault here. That is all that I am trying to say, and I feel like you deserved so much fucking better than what I fucking gave you. So yeah, I really am fucking sorry." After I told him this, I had hoped that he was going to listen to me at least a tad here.

"Well, I appreciate the fact that you took the time to apologize to me, and the fact that you are considering working with me. How about we meet up right now, and we can discuss the specifics of the job. We can come to some form of agreement." After he said that to me, I slowly sighed, since I felt like this was either going to be the best choice that I made in my seventeen years of life, or the worst one.

"Okay. See you in a bit. Let me just tell everybody that I am going to be busy for the evening. Where would you like to meet up?" I asked, and I could see that he was taking a second to consider what I asked him. Then he slowly nodded, as if he had felt like he could see where I had been coming from here.

"How about we meet up at the skating park that my friends used to enjoy going to when I was younger. The one that is going to be demolished in November and replaced with a new Wall Market." As he said that to me, I slowly nodded, since I had not been there too often. But I did go there once or twice, just as a way to see a bit more of what the past was really like.

"Okay. Be there in half an hour." I said, feeling like I could take this idea, and then I was wondering how in the world I would be ready to meet up with this guy, and get him to see that no matter how much we had been at each others throats, the two of us were going to be able to start to become real allies here. I don't know, I just felt like something like this was going to be pretty nice once the ball really got rolling.

"You better not be fucking late. I am not going to be happy if I stay around, and waste a lot of my time waiting for you and then you just fucking ghost me." As he said that to me, I felt like I was deserving something like that. So with that, I ended the call, and I felt like my brothers would hate me for what I did.

After all, I remember when I was fourteen years old, and I tried to press Seth on the matter with Lydia, and he basically made it very clear to me that he had wanted me to shut the hell up on the matter, and not be pressing him on it any further. Making it very clear to me that me asking him all those questions really pissed him off.

To be honest, I had felt like my brothers were trying way too hard to pretend like what happened with Lydia never happened, and that this was making them to be a bunch of fucking cowards who would rather turn their back on the world than take responsibility for what was actually going down here.

Eventually, I did reach the skating ring, and when I was taking my cigarette out, I remembered something that Todd said to me. He told me that Lars was one of the most dedicated people to helping him out with his first full time job all those years ago.

When I heard about how much that Lars had been able to actually set him own that right path, and I heard how much Todd has been able to really talk about how Lars was a upstanding guy, I knew at the end of the day, that I was always going to be far too harsh on Lars, and that he should have always been given a fair review of what was happening.

I looked at the skating ring, and I had wondered what made Lars give up skating in the first place. Why he had started to take his job way too fucking seriously, to the point where he had basically forgotten about doing what was best for him, and nobody else. I was having a feeling that Lars would probably be more liked by the community if he just showed his more human and vulnerable side of reality, and not the presentation of him being a calm businessman with none of the appealing traits at all to show it.

Before I was able to think about the childhood that I was trying to still cling onto all because of the fact that I legally had a year until I was an adult, but I knew it was over a long time before that, due to things with my friends and family, I was hearing his voice calling out to me. I turned around, and I looked at him, and I saw that he was a bit let down to be looking right at me.

"So Ridge, the offer was made nearly two months ago. What made you decide that you wanted to go with this after all?" As he asked me this, I then took a deep breath, and I felt like I just needed to try and be honest with him. I felt like if we were going to work together, I needed to stop hiding from him.

"Well, to be honest, I feel like there a lot of things in your stories that I want to have checked out. Plus, if you are even telling me half of the truth with Lydia, than you are at least putting in more effort than everybody else. And besides, I guess I was too harsh on you when I was calling you out as an uncaring and shitty father." As I told him this, I saw that he was taking a second to be a bit hurt by what I was saying.

"Look, I understand that people think that there is all this stuff that I can do. But I am still only one man, and despite being a man who has a lot of friends in Wayside, I am still a man who is bogged down by a bunch of political bullshit. I mean, Lydia is not the first time I ever had a daughter who went missing." As he said that, I was then taking a second to think of what he had said. I had an idea of one of the other examples of who he was referring to.

"To be honest, I wish that you never found out about Lydia being my biological daughter. I should have never taken all those monthly visits to the house, where it was becoming increasingly obvious with each visit who I really was." As Lars had told me this, I was seeing that Lars had looked like that was all that he was able to say in response.

"No, you did the right thing Lars. Lydia wanted to know the truth, and you were just helping her see the truth. You did nothing wrong by simply helping her see the truth." I said, and then I felt like I could just ask him who I had felt like he was referring to. "Are you talking about Lily?" I asked, the other one of Lydia's friends, who had gone missing three years after Lydia did.

I mean, I shouldn't be super surprised that this happened. After what happened with Lydia, all three of her main friends went missing roughly a year after one another until all four of them were gone. And nobody seemed to be shocked that all four of them were gone before any of them even graduated high school.

"Yeah, that is one of them. You know, I have a lot of kids in this town. I hope that you understand that I never felt like I had any choice on the matter, and I think in due time, you will start to realize that you will have no choice but to just let the things in Wayside happen normally." As Lars said that, I was having no idea what the hell he was referring to.

"To be honest, I don't think anything that happens in this town is a normal event. With all the girls who go missing, to the unclear messages that are being sent, all the fucking construction projects going on here, the towns borderline encouragement for the men to marry women who weren't even born when they go into middle school, and then the fact that my dad and uncle are nearly a century old and haven't aged a god damn day in fifty years." I said, and then Lars was shrugging, as the cigar in his mouth was starting to hang a bit loose.

"Well, I have been teaching a couple of my sons the things happening here. You know, Logan? The one who used to hang out with your brother Henry when they were kids? Well, I have been slowly getting him ready to take over certain facets of the business. He's a twenty two year old young man, and I think that in due time, he might be able to be the head of the Marketplace being put up here." As Lars said that to me, I was then taking a second to get back to the point of what he was trying to make.

"What are you wanting me to do? Bragging about your son's progress is not all important to me." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him, and get him to see that I was not really in the mood to play around at all.

"Yes, we were getting to that point. I was thinking that maybe we can meet up at where the old high school used to be. You know, the one that got moved a handful of years back. I think that you would like to see some things there, that might help you understand everything better." As he was saying this to me, I had to take a second to think about what he was doing.

"Okay. I guess that I can do that. But why would the answers be there?" I asked, and he looked at me, and had a giant smile on his face, as if he was able to respect the fact that I was showing even a remote amount of interest in what he said. As this was what I needed to say to move this forward in a positive light.

"You will see soon enough. And when you do, I think you will be able to understand the grand vision of what Wayside is doing much more. I feel like that is something that you will be able to appreciate a lot more. And if I am wrong, then I guess that things were just never meant to be." As Lars said that to me, I had a feeling that this was going to be a hint that this was going to be the worst thing that I could ever imagine.

"When do you want to do this?" I asked, and I saw that he was happy to see me open up even just a little bit. "I mean, I am going to try and find a real job soon enough, and that means that I can't screw around too much."

"Maybe sometime in the next few days. I think it would be best for you to see the truth before the summer is over." As he said that, I took a deep breath, as I felt like that was his way of telling me that we were not going to be having this discussion tonight, no matter how much I pressed it on him now.

"I guess that does make some fucking sense. I don't have to fucking like it though." After I told him that, I saw that Lars looked like he was thinking of what else he was going to be telling me. And I had a feeling that whatever he was going to say next would really piss me off.

"Look, I know that there's that one girl you fucking like, and I feel like you have a very good chance at winning her over in due time. I think the main thing you really need to fucking do is just find it in yourself to have the confidence to actually pursue that for what it's worth." As he said that to me, I had no clue what else I was even supposed to say. I felt like I needed to question him, and see if he really did know what he was saying.

"Do you actually know who that is though?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to get him to talk more. As I said this, he took a second to think, and he snapped his finger before the answer did come to him, as if he couldn't believe he forgot for a bit.

"Miku." He said, and then he smiled for a second, and I slowly nodded, and I was thinking that since he knew her name at least, I might as well listen to him here. I had wanted to ask her out soon, but every time I tried to get the courage to do so, I would always just get scared, and reverse my position. I had felt that by the time she hit her seventeenth birthday, which was only nine days away, I would finally need to take the courage to ask her. And since I just barely had a week to get the courage to ask her finally, by my arbitrary deadline, I had a feeling it was just never going to happen.

"Well, see you in a few days, and maybe the two of us can figure out something for the two of us to agree on. I appreciate the fact that you are at least willing to listen to me now. Shows that you have a better sense of direction than your fucking brothers." As he said that to me, he headed towards his car, and I was feeling like I needed to see what the issue with the school already was.