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.

1. Interuppted By Fireworks

August 21, 2037

It was on this day, when T.K. Shioda, a sixty four year old author, was staring at his computer screen. As he was looking, he was fining himself realizing that he was getting too old for this song and dance. Getting too old to do this job any longer, and he was feeling like sooner or later, he needed to accept the fact that this job was really not for him anymore, and that pressing it was not going to help out anybody anymore.

That being said, he was finding himself that there had been one more book that he needed to write. One more adventure that he needed to tell the world, for them to see what he had been going through. What his friends had gone through, all those years ago. He felt like deep down inside, he had no fucking choice on the matter.

The events were fifty years ago, he finally told himself as he took out a cigarette, staring at the computer screen that he had been using for so longer. He looked up at the time, seeing that in just an hour or so from then, the sun would already be setting. And when this happened, he would be in his prime time, and he was thinking of why he was always stalling something that deep down, he needed to do anyways.

After all, he had felt that not telling the story of the events that he had gone through in Wayside, no matter how justified he might have felt it might have been, was only going to be set to make things twenty thousand times worse than it already had been.

The worst part was that he had known that nobody was ever going to fucking believe the stories that he would tell. Nobody would listen to him, and everybody would just accuse him of making a dark story of a product he had already sold off years ago.

Thirty eight years ago, people came over to his home town, asking for various clues on what happened in his past, and still being relatively young at the time, and being somebody who needed money, gave them a very bastardized version of the events that happened, giving them a story that only contained very basic details of the truth, as a way to avoid having to confront the truth for even just a little while longer as he could live in peace.

After that had happened, and a fifty four episode television series for children was made out of it, which ended up getting three sequels that ended up ruining the lore of the other events that happened in the past and the future, his friends and family basically decided that they wanted nothing to do with him anymore.

They wanted to basically make it clear to them that they would never forgive him for anything else. In the end, T.K. did understand why they hated what he did. He basically made a joke out of the pain that they had all gone through in the years past. In his way of trying to prevent himself from thinking of the pain, or at least preventing others from knowing his pain, he ended up making people who were no longer in this world, for many years in some cases, still alive. Still somebody people can look up to.

In his eyes, his main excuse for the matter was that he had felt like sooner or later, if the idea of alternate universes was actually proven to be true, then he could just say that this was actually true in another timeline, and that just because this timeline didn't have these events happen doesn't change the fact that it really did happen, just somewhere else from here.

But first, he was deciding that after fifty one years of his adventure starting, and thirty eight years after he had sold his soul to the devil, that he was going to fucking turn around, and he was going to do things right this time. He was going to write the story the way that it was meant to be, and he was going to make sure that it was actually published in some form of way.

Even if it only ever got published online, and even if people barely read it, if he was able to get it out there, for the world to see, then he could make peace with what happened. He could make peace with the fact that he made a massive mistake, because of the fact that he would be making up for it.

A mistake being fixed thirty eight years later is still better than not fixing it at all, he was telling himself, and he was feeling like some people would see it this way as well. Maybe if they saw that he was finding his way again after losing it, then they would be much more willing to help him, and give him the support to make things right again.

He opened up a word document on his computer, and stared at the blank document for a moment. He then proceeded to look down at the drawer that was labelled as a collection of all the things he had made from back then, as well as the stuff that his colleagues and their colleagues all gathered and made over the years. He pulled out a extremely filled up black composition notebook.

The notebook read "Interrupted By Fireworks." As he read this, he smiled faintly. The name that he retroactively gave the notebook numerous months after he finished writing it, because he had a feeling that he would want to write it out for publication.

As he was read the first couple of paragraphs, he had started to realize that he hadn't read more than a page or two of this in the last fifty one years. He wrote in several of these notebooks, filled them all up, and saved them for months and months on end, but he never actually took the time to read through them, and see if these were even worth using when it came to telling those he knew this story.

That being said, he was somewhat glad to be seeing that he had something like this, rather than nothing. Because with this, at least he had something to work with. As he was then opening up his email, there was something that he had put into his starred section, that he had promised himself he would read later on. And now, he was feeling like this was the time to do so. He pulled up the email, which was being read as being from Ridge Pinter Robinson.

The name of the man who sent him this email was what got him so interested in this email in the first place. Ridge's father had been a man who served as one of the best politicians in Wayside history. A man of true honor, at least in his opinion, and was one of the few people that he still had full respect for even despite him losing virtually all respect and hope in so much of Wayside.

The top of the email, which also contained many, many, word documents, like a couple dozen of them that he noticed, was sent June 16, 2037. The date itself, on the surface, wasn't really much to look. But both Ridge and T.K. knew exactly what this meant.

This was sent on the fifty first birthday of one of the most famous people who has ever been born in this town. Lars Needlemeyer. A man that T.K. both greatly feared, and greatly respected. And he knew that all of it, both good and bad, was one hundred percent T.K.'s fault, and that he had nobody to blame for how Lars had turned out besides himself. Not even Lars's father, who was actually almost significantly less bad than T.K. had been.

"Hey T.K., I have no idea if this email address even works, in fact I would be less shocked if it didn't than if it did… Anyways, my name is Ridge Pinter Robinson. I am the sixteen year old, youngest son, of Todd Robinson, who you knew for well before any of my siblings and I were even born. My father said that you were one of the strongest and best people that he had ever met. After all the great things that I had heard about you, I decided that I needed to at least try and write to you. I feel like I need your help with getting the story of what I had seen out there. Do you think that something like this would be possible?

I have laid out several documents detailing these events out for you. Ranging from basically when I was a baby until recently. If you want to have more, I will keep making more, and you just simply need to reach out for them. Want to make sure that whatever happens, there is a chance that I can make Wayside have a chance of peace again.

Please, if you still use this email, come around to me, and let me know what happened, and I hope we can be able to work together. Even if you never respond to me, at least use these as a way to give yourself an idea of what Wayside was like back then."

This was the heading, and for over two months, T.K. had been going back and fourth, unable to decide if he was wanting to tell this story or not. Every day for the last two months, he had been weighing the pros and cons of doing this. Some days feeling utterly certain that he had wanted to do this. Some days, he had felt like he just needed to leave this alone. But by now, he had felt like over two months later, when he had now made his choice, he needed to respond to Ridge finally, and let him at least know that he had gotten the email, and he was planning on using them all in order to bring peace and prosperity to the Republic.

"Hey Ridge, this is T.K. responding to your message. Sorry for not talking to you two months ago. I was scared of coming back to this story, if I might be honest. I thought that just hiding from it would be much better for myself, and be able to give me some form of peace. But I was fucking lying, and I feel horrible for that.

Truth be told, I am planning on finally telling the story of what happened to me, my friends, and I suppose even you, now. I feel like there is no more time to fucking hide from this. I guess that I feel like after all this time, there is no reason to keep up the running away.

Thank you for giving me these documents, and I will make sure that I will use every single one of them. I will go and return to Wayside next week, when I finish transcribing the first bit of this story. Maybe then, we can fucking talk further, and we can come to some form of an agreement to push this through.

You are a good guy. Tell your dad that I will be glad to see him. Now, I must get to work." T.K. said, sent the email, and sighed, feeling like there was nothing else to fucking hide. He was just glad that now he pulled the trigger, and was just going to get the ball rolling.

With that, he ended up making a call with one of his friends who were around when he first started to deal with all of these issues in the first place. When the voice on the other end answered, T.K. took a deep breath, feeling like he just needed to be honest with the guy, and he had hoped that this guy would actually be willing to go along with his idea. Especially since he was feeling like if he wouldn't go with T.K.'s idea, then he was going to be truly lost.

"Hey, who is this?" The voice on the other end, having no happiness that he used to have as a child, asked, and T.K. knew that talking to this guy was going to be a massive risk. Knowing that truthfully that guy probably did not even really want to be talking to anybody in the first place. Which T.K. deep down felt like had been fair enough, given what was going on here.

"My name is T.K. I was wondering if I was speaking to Leo Tanner right now." T.K. said, at least trying to pretend like he didn't know. He didn't want to make it seem too obvious to Leo that he had kept the number that they didn't even talk with for years, just in case something like this would happen.

"T.K., what the fucking hell do you want? I thought that I had made it abundantly clear that I wanted this conversation to end between the two of us. I feel like you had been looking at this extremely irresponsibly, and currently nothing so far has been telling me against this." Leo said, feeling like he needed to get T.K. to humble himself back into not being aggressive on him when he was just trying to make his own life start to be happier.

"Look Leo, I understand if you are upset with me, and I understand if you do not want to be talking to me at all. But trust me when I fucking say that I am going to tell you something that you would want to fucking hear. I am finally going to start writing the book about our journeys, and I am going to be finally telling the truth of what had happened in Wayside over fifty years ago. And all the other stuff as well. I am really hoping that you will be able to help me out here. You know, help a fucking friend who is struggling with doing the right thing…" T.K. said, sounding like he had hoped that they would actually listen to him here.

"No, I am not upset with you. I am more wondering why you decided it was a good idea to not do this for over half a century, and then when everybody has moved on, and accepted the fact that you're a real piece of shit for leading us down this road where he thought we had a chance of moving on, all of a sudden, you come along, and you tell me now that you are suddenly ready for the story to be told? Frankly, I just have a hard time understanding why you are doing this now?" He asked, and then T.K. accepted the fact that this was probably how things were going to be.

"That is not important. I am finally doing things now, and I am finally making the truth be known to the world now. I thought that you would be happy for me to finally put the truth out there. I thought that you of all people would want this from me. And now you are suddenly angry at me for no reason?" T.K. asked, and Leo was laughing at this, because it was showing total lack of awareness on his level that he thought that Leo was just getting angry 'for no reason' at this.

"For no reason? Are you fucking kidding me, T.K.? There are more than enough good reasons for people to get angry at you doing this. If you unironically think that there is no reason for me to get angry at you suddenly wanting to do this again, then you seriously have lost all fucking fine tuning with the world. I am finally moving on, and I actually made the most of my life." Leo said, and he was more so wondering if T.K. was actually going to listen to him here.

"Well, it fucking feels like for no reason when nobody actually does anything about it. People just get overly angry at the things that happen here, and then seem to just kind of drop the subject, as if it were no real big deal or anything." T.K. said, as if he was genuinely hoping that the message would make to Leo, and that Leo was actually going to at least consider his response.

"T.K., you simply are just not making me happy with this stuff. I don't really want to listen to you trying and justify you acting like you have the world on lock, and you really don't. If you want to write this book, then go ahead, but I don't really feel like I have any desire to help you out here." Leo said, and then T.K. thought about the apology that he had made so many times, but all in a half assed way.

"Look Leo, I know that I have made many mistakes in the past, and I am proud of none of them. You deserve so much better than what has happened here. I wish that I never went into that arcade. I wish you had never found out what happened with your mother. I wished that you never found out that Brad Carbunkle was your father. I feel like if I can go back in time, and prevent you from ever learning, I would fucking be doing that right now." T.K. said, hoping that this response was going to be enough to make Leo get the message.

"Look, T.K., I don't care about Brad being my fucking father. That shit is the past now. What I care about is the fact that you keep pretending like you are the hero of the story, when you are nothing of the sort. There is no way in hell you are going to fucking save the world, or save anybody you care for, when this is how things have been this whole time. You can't even fucking save yourself from making the worst mistakes of your fucking life." Leo said, feeling like he just needed to really sting this through to Leo.

"Leo, I am just trying to finally do the right thing here. You know, I know that I am a fucking asshole, and I know that on several cases, I made promises to you that I was never able to keep. You know, like the one time when you killed that guy at the casino, and I promised you that nobody would ever learn what you did, then they fucking did? I am so fucking sorry for failing you there, and I feel like I should have helped you out so much more than I fucking did." T.K. said, remembering his schools face when they had learned that he had killed a man when he was just a ten year old kid.

"Look, how do I know that you aren't going to just write three or four chapters of this, realize that you are in over your head, and then you fucking back off? You know, pretend like none of this even fucking matters? I feel like that is what happens every time you try and do this?" Leo said, and then T.K. felt like maybe this response would be the thing that Leo would need to hear to finally trust him again.

"Because this time, I am going to be putting it online, and I am going to be making sure that no matter what happens, they will never get deleted. Once they get put up, it's done, and that's that. This is the best thing that I can do to finally make sure the story is being put in the world, not blocked off by any publishing companies, and I finally have a chance of putting peace for us all." T.K. said, feeling like this was going to be the best thing that he could even accomplish here.

"Oh, I guess that might be able to fucking help out more than I thought. Okay, so maybe you do have a fucking point here." Leo said, and he was seeming to drop the act, since he was finding himself wondering if maybe this was a good idea after all. Especially since as long as any progress was made at all, then there would be some form of closure to be had here.

"Okay, that seems like a good idea. Talk to you soon about it. I have to get back to work, but maybe this is a good idea after all. I can dig this. Thanks for giving me a fucking chance here." Leo said, hung up, and then T.K. was left to stare at the document once again, and this time, he was now finally realizing what he had been missing out on, which was just a source he could put any progress he made shall he fall before he could finish, because there was so much material that he probably never could.

Once he was done, he ended up thinking about how bad this whole thing was going to be if Leo was basically telling him off. He had thought that Leo was actually going to be there for him, and let him have these moments. But if he was straight up annoyed with what T.K. was doing, and not giving T.K. any fucking break, then he was never going to hear the end of it with the people who had been there from the start.

Eventually, T.K. saw that he had already gotten a response from Ridge, which was shocking to him, considering the fact that he took two months to reply to Ridge, and then Ridge replied in than half an hour. "Hey T.K., glad to see that you're finally responding to me here. I was wondering if you were ever going to reach back or if you even got the email to begin with. Anyways, let's meet up at the dinosaur motel next week, where we can discuss things a bit more." Ridge said, and then T.K. sighed at that.

"Thank you for finally taking the time to write this book as well. I feel like we both needed to do this from the start. When you finally get the ball rolling, I hope that you know that I will be with you every step of the way, even when it looks like nobody else will be." That was the second and last paragraph of the email. T.K. slowly nodded as he read this. He felt like this was making sense.

Ridge did not know what T.K. was like, and T.K. felt that once Ridge knew what T.K. was like, he would not be feeling this same way at all. He would probably be telling T.K. to go fuck off, and that he needed to actually handle this whole thing much more responsibly than he had been.

Another reason, that he did not admit, for him to start writing these stories, was because deep down inside, he was scared of the grinding noise. That awful sound that would keep coming off over and over and over again. The one that made him feel like he was about to fucking die at all times. The one that bore into his school, every time he heard it. The one that made him lose all hope in humanity when he would hear it go off.

The grinding noise reminded him of his ultimate failures, and how much he had been unable to keep his promises every time he heard it. His wife knew that he had been hearing it in his mind on nearly a weekly basis, and she knew that it was the worst thing that any man could deal with. It made him think of all the friends that he had who fucking died, because he was able to do the right thing.

T.K. was hoping that soon enough, when she found out the truth of these writings, that she would know why he hid the truth from her for so many years. He had hoped that once she started to realize the stakes of what was actually happening in his personal life, she would see that he had no choice but to fucking lie to her, and hide this from her for so fucking long.

The worst part was that she had no idea what truly happened, and only what he said. Due to the fact that she had not even been born at the time that his journey took place, there had been no feasible way that she could understand it all, and he felt that was the thing that made it the worst to discuss because none of it could ever truly make sense.

T.K. then started to think about what a good start would be. He was wondering if any specific point at all would be the best starting point. What he did know was that technically, no matter where he went, people were going to be missing out on a lot of context, and he was thinking that he had just needed to be as fair as he could with that.

But he decided that the best starting point was to just take the composition book that he had, and he was going to just write it from there, and after he wrote that first notebook, he would just see where to go from there. Maybe he would look at one of the other notebooks, or maybe he would talk with Ridge again.

As he was getting the book going, he decided that a good schedule, at least to start with, would be one chapter every week. Would give him enough time to realistically write these all out, while also being quick enough to get any potential viewers a chance to stay on top of the book without too many slip ups. And once he made that decision, he decided to just write the following composition notebook down, in its entirety, as he would use that as the starting point for putting the story together.

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Scene 1: July 4, 1986

It was on the fourth of July, about ten to twelve days after Leo had learned the truth that Brad Carbunkle was his father. I was seeing from the look on his face, that he was still not really able to get over this whole thing. He looked straight at me, as if feeling like he needed to be utterly honest with me before things started to seem like they were letting up here.

"T.K., I want to be honest with you, I feel even more lost than I did when this whole thing was told to me. Back when I found out the truth about Brad, about the fact that Brad is my fucking father, I found it extremely fucking easy to hate his guts, and to pretend like he was a terrible fucking human being. But now I feel like I was being very irresponsible about those feelings. I have seen him a couple of times since then, and part of me starts to think that maybe he felt remorse for what he did." As Leo said that to me, I slowly nodded, since I felt like what he was saying was completely fucking fair here.

"I thought you were obsessed with the idea that you wanted to kill him when you had the chance? You were seeming like this was exactly what you wanted to fucking do, and now you are suddenly acting like this is the opposite of what you want? Where in the world did this logic come from?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to be straight the hell up with this guy. Leo looked right at me, as if trying to tell me how I was not helping him at all here.

"This logic came from the fact that now that I have had some time to fucking cool down, I am starting to realize that my mother was right about Brad Carbunkle. That he is not that bad of a guy. He is just simply a guy who is horribly misguided, and a guy who thinks that he has to target everything on his own. When in all honesty, he does not have to do that at all. That is the logic of where I am coming from here." Leo said, sounding like he had hoped that this response was enough for me.

"And besides, I know that this is exactly what my fucking mother was trying to tell me. My mother has said over and over and over again, that all that I need to do is just see where he was coming from, and I will realize that he was doing the right thing." Leo said, sounding like he had no idea if that really was the truth at all.

"Honestly, I think the other thing that bothers me to admit, is the fact that the more that I think about it, the more that my mother pisses me off than Brad did. At least with Brad, I understand that he was just doing a job. At least, that is what he told you and I. But my adopted mother, I should say, just rubs me the wrong way. There was no reason for her to do that. She just fucking did it, and as a result, she ended up making a person suffer. She ended up making my biological mother suffer." As Leo said that, I felt like that was taking it a bit unfairly for her. After all, his mother was just trying to have a kid, she didn't really do anything wrong here.

"What job was Brad doing, if you don't mind me asking? You were saying that he was just doing a job, and he hurts you less as a result. But then you proceed to just not tell me what that job is at all." I said, feeling like I just needed to bring that up with him. Maybe he was actually willing to be straight up with me for once.

"My dad told me that he had no choice on the matter. He said that he would literally fucking die if he didn't do this. And to be honest, for whatever reason, there is a part of me that believes in him when he tells me this. I wish that I could be able to explain myself better. I really fucking do. But I just happen to know that he is telling the truth here. Something about a strange gut feeling. And I was talking to him about me meeting up and getting to know his politician brother." He said, referring to Todd, and I was sighing, feeling like something like this was actually a really good idea.

"Honestly, I wish that I could explain what I really feel here much more. The explanations that I constantly have are bullshit to the highest caliber. And I fucking hate that about this all. I keep making a bunch of explanations that only make service level sense. And I feel like it will only be short time before I blow up everything." Leo said, and then with that, there was something else he wanted to say.

"When was the last time you talked with your mother over this? She would fucking hate you if she heard you say that." I said, feeling like I just needed to give him a fair warning here. He was really towing on dangerous territory. And I was going to support him, if I needed to, but I was feeling like he was fucking himself over to a massive degree here.

"I talked with her about this relatively recently. Like on the 27th or something. She was telling me that she was scared of the fact that I was letting this whole Brad thing determine my entire personality. That she was scared that I was not letting myself grow a different set of opinions because I am letting my hatred here take everything over." As he said that to me, I was seeing him looking like he had been just thinking hard about what he said, and thought that it was all just needed to fucking stop there.

"She said that she was happy that I was finally willing to look at the bigger picture of my father though. Which I will tell you right now, is going to be a fucking tall task. She is telling me a bunch of things that I am frankly not really ready for." As Leo said this, I then slowly nodded, and I decided that I was going to just let this one go, as to not make it worse.

"I told her that the biggest thing that made me change my mind about instantly hating him is the fact that I knew that this is not what you would want. Honestly, you might not see it yet, but you are a good influence for me." Leo said, and I smiled as he said this, since hearing this made me feel like I was actually truly doing the right thing here.

"And Tobias is a nice guy, but I feel like that is another thing that I want to avoid. I want to avoid just hating people, and just having an extreme bitterness to everybody here. I feel like that is something Tobias has a issue with. You know, being bitter. And I think you know exactly what I am fucking talking about here." As he said that, I shrugged, feeling like I just needed to roll with this here. After all. Leo knew exactly what I had been feeling here.

"Be sure you don't tell him that. I mean, I think that you are kind of right there. But the truth is that Tobias has already made his path clear. He knows what he is doing, and in his mind, what he is doing is the only thing that makes any sense." I said, thinking about how much Tobias has grown into a stubborn man with how much he had been trying to just focus on justice and nothing else here.

"Look, it hurts talking to Tobias, I can tell that you agree with that. Every time you talk about him, and you talk about the things he has done, you have clearly just seemed to feel lost on this. Please, just don't let him go off and do anything more than what he has done. He is only going to make things twenty thousand times worse for himself. How about we just drop this entire thing. You said you wanted to just watch the Fourth of July fireworks. So we might as well just do that right now, and see what we can get out of it." Leo said, sounding like at this rate, he was convincing himself more than he had been convincing me. As if he had already known that I was willing to do this, and he was needing to pretend like I wasn't to make himself feel slightly less bad about what was going on. It was slightly annoying, but I supposed that I did get where he was coming from. It was to hide from himself.

"Tobias is a good guy. He just has a hard time really stating his view points in a way that doesn't make things harder for anybody else." I said, and I was feeling like saying that he was a good guy, and then proceeding to say something like this was a fucking joke. I knew it was a fucking joke, and I fucking knew that I needed to stop making excuses for people who had always been just making shit much harder for themselves for no fucking reason.

"Well, when you realize that being a guy who snaps at people just isn't a good person in general, like myself, then I feel like that is going to be the next logical step for you." He said, and I sighed, feeling like I just needed to let him have what he wanted. He wanted to sound like he was high and mighty here. So I might as well just let him have his moment.

"T.K., do you think that you would be willing to come with me if I meet up with my dad right now? I might be able to get him to talk to me here." Leo said, feeling like I might as well just see where this could go. I was then wondering what the plan was. "The fireworks don't usually start until around nine or so. We got another three hours or so to go. I want to meet him, and you were saying that you thought some of your friends might be coming here. So why not just take the time to meet them, and see what they say?" He asked, and I felt like I just needed to be real with him.

"Look, I think that my friends don't really want to talk to Brad or anything here. I will be willing to talk with him though. Just make sure when you see him, you don't go out of your way to antagonize him. You have said on multiple occasions that you want to give him a chance here. So when you see him, just maybe be nice." I said, and I was aware that I was trying to accomplish a very hard, very uphill battle. But for the love of god, I needed Leo to see the bigger picture here.

"Is Davis the main one that doesn't want to talk to Brad? You know, because of his theory that he was involved in Yolei's death?" He asked, and I slowly nodded, feeling like I might as well just cut to the chase there. There was no reason for me to lie about this, given everything that had been happening here. He has stated himself on several occasions that he felt like Brad was at fault for what happened to Yolei, and while I did not agree with him, I was beyond the point of arguing with him.

"Yeah, Davis has never really liked Brad after Yolei's death. I feel like accusing him of being the one responsible is fucking stupid, and I feel like there is no chance in hell that Brad actually did do something like this. But I also feel like I need to just let him have his thing, and not fight him so much here." I said, and I was seeing him looking a bit scared of what he had just said. He had almost looked like he regretted even saying a single word here.

"T.K., I just want to do what is morally right. If you think that just leaving Davis alone here, while he deals with his hatred for Brad, is how to accomplish this, then I suppose that I will give you a fucking break here. Not that I think it is a great idea, at all. But I suppose you already have made your mind up here, and I suppose that I just need to be a good sport here." Leo said, sounding like he had hoped that this response was going to be what I wanted to hear. To some extent, it was, I guess, but at the same time, I was feeling like he needed to actually show that before he started to play the moral high ground.

As we were talking, that was when I was thinking of what we could do now. "Want to talk to my brother again? You were always seeming to be interested in going with that…" I said, feeling like I might as well just throw the idea out there. I could see Leo looking like he was not really buying that this was a great idea, but seemed to accept the fact that this was the choice that I had made, and decided that he was not going to fight it or anything.

"No, I want to talk to Davis tonight. Or tomorrow, depending on how long it takes with dad. I want to see what his plans about his younger sister are going to be. I know that he was talking about making sure that his younger sister stays safe. I want to make sure that he actually knows how to handle this." As Leo told me this, I sighed, since in all honesty, I felt like Leo was just going to be very let down with this comment. I sighed, since in all honesty, I was feeling like if he was being sincere in his efforts to make things work with Davis, then I supposed that I might as well just sort of see what I can get out of this. Even if I thought that it would go nowhere, I might as well pretend like it would.

"Okay, I guess that we can talk to Davis after this. I have no idea if he will actually fucking listen to us though. But I feel like there is something worth trying here." I said, and I was shaking my head, unable to believe that I even had to explain that in the first place. "I will say though, that I do think that when his sister comes into life, she will be a good influence on him, since I feel like that will do a great job bringing him down the growing up path." I said, feeling like I just needed to tell him this, in order to make him hear me out.

"I have no doubt that Davis genuinely believes that what he is doing is the best thing for June when she is born. But I have a bad feeling that something like this is just not going to be true. Color me paranoid, but I just feel like I would rather play it safe than play it sorry, and if that bothers you, then I am fucking sorry for offending you." Leo said, sighing, feeling like he needed to just be honest with what he said.

"And I will tell you right now, when I have a younger sister of my own, I would like to also believe that I am doing the right thing for her. I just have a feeling that deep down, I know that this will not be true at all." As Leo said this, he shook his head, sounding like he was rather saddened by the fact that he felt like he needed to be honest there.

"Do you think that your mother will actually adopt a second kid, given everything that is happening here? I think that if she fucking tries, all she would accomplish is getting people on her throat." I said, feeling like I just needed to be utterly honest with him here. He shook his head, as if he was ready to just tell me that I had been wrong, and that I needed to back off of lecturing him too much before things were going to get any worse.

"I think that she will do what she feels like will be best for her. She will find whatever excuse to justify it, and she will never really get the story right. But I feel like you might be right. Look, let's go on and just meet up with Brad, and I think that will be for the best." He said, sounding like he was hoping that I would just listen to him. I slowly nodded, feeling like I just needed to take this.

"Overall though, I doubt that she would actually do that though. She might want to try and act like she is in the power position here and everything, and that whatever she wants goes, but deep down inside, I think she doesn't want to ruffle too many feathers, and I think that deep down inside, she does still care about me the most out of anybody. So if she knows that it would mean a lot to me for her to not do something stupid like this, then she will accept it, and drop it, and leave it alone.

"I have never grown to hate the people that I have constantly been interacting with as much as I have grown to hate people like my mother. I just feel like when my mother just looks at me with a straight face, and pretends like what she did was okay, and I just have to keep living with her. I think that is the part that sickens me. The fact that I have to keep living with her, and pretending like what she did was okay, when I know deep down inside that it is not.

The longer we went along, I felt like I needed to ask something new. "So you know Todd Robinson? Well, I have been interacting with the dude a lot lately, and I was feeling like maybe when you see him, you could be able to get to know more about this guy, and maybe we can work together." I said, feeling like I just needed to put the idea out there. It was a perfect idea, and I had hoped that maybe it could be beneficial to both of us here.

"Yeah, I know him. I don't know much about him. I heard that he was running for mayor or something, and that he and Brad are brothers. To be honest, I have no idea if I want to interact with a guy who enables this type of stuff just because the person he is enabling it with is his brother." Leo said, sounding like he was just relatively tuned out from this discussion.

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, Todd is a much better man than Brad is. Unlike Brad, who I have some doubts about when he says he is in this for the right reasons, with Todd, I believe that he genuinely is, and I believe that it would be wrong to assume that he isn't just because you know nothing about this guy." I said, hoping that he was actually going to take what I said, and he was actually going to fucking listen to me here.

"Well, maybe you are just believing in that because you want to believe that some people in this town aren't just in this for the public fame. But I know, and I believe that full well. I know what the people in this town are in for, and I am done pretending like that is not the fucking case here." He said, and I wondered how much he truly believed in that.

"Why would Todd be in this for the public fame after he has spent several years, nearly decades even, dealing with these things just to keep all of us safe? He was the the one who spent several years trying to help Sheldon with his stuff, and you know that this man has no true public appeal at all. So you know that this isn't really going to be worth it." I said, feeling like I needed to mention this to him, in order to get him to calm down a bit.

"Look, people can change in time. I feel like you need to accept the fact that people can just fucking change in time, and that not everybody is the way that you expect them to be. Sorry if that hurts your feelings, but that is the fucking truth." He said, sounding like he just needed to give me the reality bomb. I shook my head, since I was feeling like this was not a reality bomb at all, and just him looking at this in the most Debbie downer way that he possibly could look at this.

"I know people can change in time. But I feel like Todd isn't one of those people. There is no way in hell that he is one of those people. If he is, then everything is just all going to be thrown down the drain, for no fucking reason… And I feel like Todd would see that he only made things twenty thousand times worse for this." I said, and I just felt like I needed to stop pretending to myself that people here actually cared about anything other than their own public opinion.

I was starting to wonder what it would be like if Leo was actually telling the truth. If it was true that Todd really did change, and he really was like the others. If he did, and if he was like the others, then I feel like I would want nothing to do with this anymore. If the one person who I felt like was actually trying to save Wayside, or at least was pretending to, was also evil, then I was fucked.

"Look, I accept that it might be true. But I don't really want to do that. I feel like if he really has turned on us, then nothing else is going to be done. And I think at that rate, I don't even want to imagine what the world is going to be like. I just want to have some hope that people here are actually good people. Why is that so fucking hard for people to accept here?" I said, feeling defeated the whole time.

Eventually, we reached Brad's office, and I was seeing Leo looking like he was glad to finally be doing something like this. "God damn it, I hope that I don't regret coming in to talk to this piece of shit. Deep down, I have a feeling that I know that I fucking will. He will find some excuse to turn this onto me, and make me the bad guy here." Leo said, and then he seemed to smile at calling his dad a piece of shit.

"I don't know. There is just something enjoyable about calling my dad that. Makes it clear that I understand where he really is on the totem pole." He said, as if this was exactly what he wanted to accomplish. Then with that, we walked inside the office, and I was seeing Brad looking down, reading some files, and looking like he was really tired.

"Hey guys, good to see you here. Look, I know that I have apologized to Leo before, but I have not apologized to you quite yet. I wanted to apologize to you, T.K. You know, that argument must have been really intense to get into, and I feel like you deserve better than to be dragged into something was beyond your understanding." He said, and I was shaking my head. I was not really wanting to hear him telling me this, since to be honest, I was feeling like he was just telling me something that wasn't really for me.

"No, I am sorry that I got caught up in a family conflict that seems to be way beyond anybodys interest here. I should have just left this alone. I was there, caught up in the controversy of Leo finding out the truth. And I am left wondering which side I think was truly correct here." I said, feeling like I Just needed to be honest with him here.

"Have you made up your mind on who you think was right?" Brad asked, feeling like he would bait me here. I was aware of what he was trying to accomplish, and I was aware that he was trying to basically alienate one side or the other, so that way either side would know if they wanted to judge me or not.

Frankly, I did not really want to deal with their stuff today, so I decided to at least try and play it safe and in the middle, even if it was impossible. "Honestly, I have no idea why you did what you did. But I suppose that with you doing it, what's done is done. I'm not going to play the super unforgiving game though, since to be honest, I assume that you did have a reason to do the stuff that you did." I said, feeling like I just needed to be straight up with him.

"I did what I did because I was thinking about the future unity of Wayside here. I was thinking about what I could be able to do in order to keep the town going here. Look, your mother, your biological mother, was a goddess in my eyes. She was brilliant. I still remember the way that she looked. But I had a job that I needed to do, and I had no other choice on the matter." Brad said, sounding like he had been hoping that the statement would settle.

"Unity? What fucking unity of Wayside are you going on about? There is fucking none, and you know that what you are saying is just a paltry excuse to justify the things that you have constantly been doing here." Leo said, sounding like he needed to be honest there.

"Trust me when I say that this is something that has been working out for the better of this town, and that you are just simply not seeing the bigger picture here. If I was able to show you everything that proves my point here, I would do so, and you would never have any doubts about what I have done. But I feel like you know that there isn't much else to be gaining here.

"This town doesn't need people like you at the helm. You must see that, and yet you keep acting like this isn't true. Why even bother pretending like this isn't true?" Leo asked, feeling like he needed to just be ready as he said this.

"You know that I can tell that you're not actually sure of this. You say that stuff, and deep down, you don't really believe in me. You want to pretend like you are at the top of the world, that you know all the true morals and ethics of Wayside, but that is not how it is at all." Brad said, cutting the tip of a cigar off, and starting to smoke it.

"I do believe it much more than you might think. You have given me no reason to not believe it. All you keep doing is just brushing off the point. Let me ask you something then, do you know how many other kids that you have here?" He asked, and I was seeing him looking like he had hoped that this response would actually settle through to him.

With that, Brad seemed to stop and think for a few seconds. He seemed to be taking this question with as much seriousness as possible. He seemed scared at what he said. "I know of some, but they don't know that I am their biological father And they don't know that I don't want them to know. They don't see that this is the best way out of this for all of us." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response was going to be the best answer he could give.

"And I certainly don't know of them all. I feel like if I did know of them all, I would probably never be able to get over such a thing. To be honest, I am happy for everything that has happened here. I am happy for the fact that I don't have to deal with anybody here any longer. I just want to be happy for once." As he said that to us, I was seeing him looking utterly disgusted at this.

"Brad, do you really deserve to be happy when you admit that you have done these things on a constant basis? When you admit that you know that what you are doing is wrong? Do you not realize that you are admitting that you don't get to be happy." He said, sounding utterly annoyed at this statement.

"When you grow up, you are going to be having a hard ass time seeing things for the way that they are. If you are going to be reacting this way constantly to everything, then I have no desire to deal with this." Brad said to Leo, hoping as if this response was going to be enough to get Leo to not fight this any longer than he had.

"Dad, I will never grow up. If this is what growing up is like, I would rather be an immature kid forever." Leo said, and then I looked out the window, hoping this pissing contest would be over. Brad then shook his head, sighing, and feeling like he needed to take a different approach.

"Do you got any plans for tonight? You know, when I was your age, Fourth of July was always the best part of the year." Brad said, and then Leo slowly decided that maybe if Brad was genuinely interested in this discussion, then he needed to let Brad have this.

"Yeah, I am going to be watching the Riverwalk Fireworks. I have been waiting for them for the last year. Do you have anything that you want to do?" Leo said, and I was shocked that he didn't mention me or anything. I wasn't upset or anything, but I did think that he would mention me.

"I am going to be having a dinner with the president of Lazarus. We are going to be discussing important business details. After that is done, I will probably watch some fireworks at the balcony of the companies building. And when I am done, I am going to be hoping on speeches and the campaign trail for a while. I am going to have to try and help Todd get elected to the office of mayor." Brad said, and then Leo felt like he just needed to throw a snipe at the guy.

"Are you just doing that because he is your brother, and you feel some fucking forced loyalty to your brother as a result? Or do you actually want to do this?" He asked, and I was seeing him looking like he had hoped this response would actually get Brad to talk.

"That is a part of it. But I do also want to actually bring this town forward, and I feel like he is the best bet that we have here. He knows how to get the people to actually be excited about their choices. That is something that nobody else here can do." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response would actually be enough.

"I wish that I believed you." He said, sounding like he was just feeling awful for that. "I wish that I believed every word of what you say. But it seems like you're more telling me to believe in Todd than to believe in you. I suppose that I can fucking do something like that." With that, Brad slowly nodded, feeling like he was finally understanding where this was going.

"Exactly. You just need to believe in my brother, and everything will be alright." Brad said, feeling like this was all that he needed to say here. "I hope that you consider what I am saying. It might not seem like the best option right now, but trust me when I tell you that it fucking is."

"I mean, it seems like there is no other fucking choice here." Leo said, sounding like he was kind of defeated at what he said. He sounded like he was just defeated here, and he sounded like he was ready to just give up on everything. "I thought that we could make things better here, but I suppose that this is not how it fucking works now."

"If you genuinely believe that I should be talking to Todd more, then how do you think I can go at that?" Leo asked, feeling like at this rate, he had accepted the fact that this was not going to work the way that he was wanting to, so he might as well just move this along as fast as possible, and get the band aids ripped off as fast as possible, for everybodys sake.

"Well, I think the thing you should do is, even if you don't really believe what you are saying, but just tell him that you want to try and make things better of this family. Tell him something that he will want to believe. And maybe if you say it enough times, he will fucking listen to you, and he will actually fucking believe in you. Who knows, maybe if I hear it enough times myself, I will be able to believe in your bullshit as well." As he said that, I was seeing him looking like he was hoping that this was one thing that Leo would listen to him on.

"Do you genuinely believe that he will actually have a chance to win the election? I really hope that he can… If he is even half the man that you claim he is, I hope that he wins this election, because nobody else here gives me anything to work with." He said, sounding a bit annoyed at the fact that he was even having to say this.

"I believe that this is the best chance that he has ever gotten. He tried to give it a go every term since he turned eighteen. The first time, nobody took him seriously since he had only been out of high school for a few months when the election happened, and barely got any votes at all. Then when he was twenty four, by then he had gone through college and had some experience hanging out with politicians. He had a tiny bit of traction, but still nowhere enough to win. Last time, when he was thirty, was the first time he had any run that seemed like it could be going somewhere. He still didn't really have any chance to win, but it was the first of three times where he did actually gain enough voters to where his name was actually on the results list, and wasn't just included in the write in section." He said, and then with that, Leo then sighed, wondering what else he needed to ask.

"Is he just going to keep running every six years until he finally gets elected? What if people just don't want him, and this is going to get increasingly clear each time? There can only be so many times that he can try and do something like this before it is clear that the town won't want him to win election." Leo asked, sounding like he was just kind of wondering what the hell the point of such a move would be.

"His friend over there has no fucking trust in Todd at all." Leo said, referring to Davis when he was saying this. Davis did not trust Todd at all, and I would even fucking argue in some extent he actually trusted Brad more than he trusted Todd. At least with Brad, Davis seemed like he was willing to pretend like he was giving him the light of day. With Todd, it had seemed like he was not wanting anything to do with the politician since the moment that he had met him. In all honesty, I was feeling like both answerers were fucking wrong, and I felt like this was a rather big mistake.

"Yeah, I think I remember hearing about that. Yeah, I'm not surprised. He is still upset over the death of his friend, if I am correct, and in a way, that is kind of clouding his judgment, and what he is really seeing." Brad said, feeling like he needed to be straight up as he said this to me, which I did not appreciate one bit.

"Can you fucking blame him though? He was told that people were actually going to fucking listen to him, and do things right this time. But nobody fucking cares. They are probably just more glad that he is not getting angry at them. And to be honest, I feel like the whole thing is bullshit. He is so angry at Todd, when in all honesty, Todd has very little, if anything, to do with what happened. He just feels like that is an easy target because he is a relatively young politician who had been hanging out with me." As I said that to Brad, Brad then finished the cigar that he was smoking.

"You know, I was wanting to ask you another question. I heard that you have been helping babysit Lars once or twice a week. You know, helping Larry get back into the grove of being a working citizen again. So yeah, I guess that I was wonder how you have been holding up with that lately." Brad asked, and I was sighing, since I was feeling like there was no reason to say anything.

"Well, Larry has seemed to definitely tone down a lot lately, and I think he has accepted the fact that maybe back in the past, he has been too harsh with people in the past. I think he is genuinely trying to do his best to fix that, but that he is having a hard time fixing sixty nine years of life style, and what not." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest and upfront with him.

"Larry and I meet twice every week, mainly for the job, and he has been talking about you lately. He says that he is actually very impressed with how quickly you adapt to things, and how quickly you seem to accept your losses and your mistakes when you do things a certain way. He seems to understand that you are truly trying to make things right here. I think that he sees you a certain way, and wants to help you thrive." Brad said, and then he looked at Leo, and shrugged.

"He has never mentioned you before, and I think that given how everything is, I think that you might actually rather prefer something like this. But truth be told, going back to T.K., I think that in a strange way, he kind of sees you like a kid of his own. At least ever since you started to step up, and help Lars here." He said, and I was shaking my head.

"I am not his son though. I have no idea why he would even really look at me as one. He told me one time, that when Sheldon was much younger, he sort of viewed Sheldon that way. Given the fact that when Sheldon was dealing with the fallout of his father, he had started to help Sheldon out a lot, and would sometimes give Sheldon a small sum of money to help him be on his feet." I said, and then I took a deep breath.

"Do you still want to talk about Sheldon? I feel like in a way, that would be best for all of us. You know how he is like, and we both know that constantly avoiding that subject is not going to really accomplish anything at all." I said, feeling like I needed to get Brad to just give me anything at all.

"No, I really would rather not talk about him. To do so would be to bring up too many bad memories. And I feel like there is nothing to fucking gain by doing this." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response was actually going to sink in. I had no clue if I was truly buying what he had said, or if I was just kind of going along for the ride here.

"But…. Dad…. If you want me to start to trust you again, that is going to be the way to fucking do it. You might not like it, but I feel like something like this would be the best choice." Leo said, hoping that by referring to Brad as his father, and therefore him acknowledging the truth, that Brad would be willing to just go along with what was happening.

"Okay, fair enough, how about this… I got an interview in like half an hour, got to talk to the press about the recent death of Olive Brown, and when I am done with that, we can meet up. How about we meet up for dinner or lunch on the sixth? And I promise you that I will tell you what I can about Sheldon when we have that meeting." As Brad said that to Leo, I could see that Leo had looked like he was wanting to just shoot this down, but had no real clue if this would work.

"The sixth? And you promise me that you are not going to delay again or anything? If you do, then I will have to just find out what other people are saying anyways, so there is no point in lying to me too much about this." Leo said, hoping that the response was going to just truly show through.

"I will not flake out on you. And besides, even if I wanted to, I think we both know you are smart enough, and annoying stubborn enough, that you will make me talk about this again. I know how things are here. You might be my son, but you have your uncle's personality. Which is yet another reason why I believe that you should try and trust him more than you trust me." He said, as if hoping that this response was one that would get Leo to open up a bit more.

"Anyways, yeah, well, how about this… You will have to learn your mothers identity on your own. If you can accomplish that however, I will tell you what you want to know about her. And I will not be holding back. Because if you can accomplish just that, on your own, then I will have no reason to lie to you anymore. At that point, you have earned the right to know the truth." Brad said, holding out his hand, as if hoping that this would be a deal that Leo would take.

Leo sighed, seeming like he was kind of annoyed that this was happening. As if he was feeling like this was a terrible offer. And one where everything that he remotely had building up was thrown out. But he also knew that he was a ten year old kid, who was dealing with a thirty six year old man. At the end of the day, he knew that his word would not compare to the grown mans, and especially since that grown man is his own father.

"Fine, you win, we'll do it your way. If I can eventually learn who my mother is, then you have to tell me… Everything… But if I never do, then I accept that I didn't earn the right to." Leo said, taking his fathers hand, feeling like he just needed to take this. He didn't have to fucking like it, but he was aware that this was how it was.

"I knew deep down inside, that you knew how to be reasonable with how you treated us. I know that this whole thing might be a bit hard to handle, and I get that you are scared, and wanting answers, but I know that this is something that you will be fine with soon enough. And besides, I feel like even if you do not see it now, you will see that there will be something much more satisfying about learning the truth because you actually worked for it than you learning the truth because it was given to you. Now, I think that since we both got a good sense of our deal, I do need to be heading off to work now, and I think you need to be heading out to hanging out with your friend." He said, sounding like this response would be good enough to make Leo open up just a bit more.

Once Leo and I were out of the office, Leo then took a deep breath, feeling like that would have to do for the time being. "God damn it, I was ready to teach that fucking asshole a lesson, but I suppose that this isn't how it fucking works anymore. Guess that this is how it is. Let's just meet your friend Davis, and see what he has to say. God damn it, I was so close to finally getting what I want, and then it all gets thrown down the fucking window, as if it never fucking mattered." He said, and then with that, I had no idea where this would go.

"Okay, but just be nice to him. Davis is a guy who has a hard time accepting what has happened, and I think that he wants to actually murder somebody before long. I am scared that he will actually do something that is extremely fucking reckless before too long. And when that happens, I have no idea if I can even do anything to stop him. And the worst part is that he doesn't even care. He is just so obsessed with getting revenge for Yolei, that nothing else fucking matters to him anymore." I said, feeling the need to get be utterly real with him.

About half an hour later, we reached Davis's place, who had been doing pull ups using a tree branch outside. He looked like he had no real focus on anything going on around him, and was just purely focused on the fucking pull ups. I could see from the way that Davis was just working on this, that he had been doing this for a while. When he saw the two of us there, waiting for him to react, he dropped down to his feet, and grew a smile on his face, and looked like he was actually happy to be seeing us here. Almost like he was thinking about the good memories that we could have here.

"Are you going to watch the Fourth of July fire works? We were wondering if you wanted to come along." I said, feeling like I just needed to jump right to the point, and see what he says. Davis took a deep breath, feeling like he needed to take the offer with some amount of consideration.

"Yeah, I will probably. I am just kind of getting myself in the zone of my work outs. You know, since I have a lot that I want to do." Davis said, sounding like he was a bit annoyed that this was a discussion that he was having to have in the first place. Then he looked at Leo, as he let go of the tree branch, and then shook his head. "I still want revenge, and I still want justice to be done. Until that gets served, I will not rest, and I don't care if people don't like my pestering about it." Davis said, sounding like he was no longer caring at all if people didn't really like it.

"But you do need breaks. And I think people would rather have you take the time to watch the fireworks than just work yourself to death over this. Just take a moment, and breath. Live a little." I said, and then Davis sighed, feeling like there was nothing to say.

"The worst part is that it happened over two weeks ago, and I have not been able to find a single clue that can help me out finding out who did it. Which means that everything that I am doing, and currently am doing, has been a waste of time. Some days, I just accept the fact that I will never find out what happened to her, and I make peace with that. Then I see people who are on the news, talking about other things as if this never happened, and then my anger grows again." He said, sounding annoyed at the fact that he was even needing to say this.

"But yeah, I suppose that I should watch the fireworks tonight. Will give me something to do that isn't involved in me getting angry at everybody around here. And besides, I want to get to know more about you anyways. You know, beyond the whole Brad thing. Such as why did you take a liking to Andrea in the first place?" Davis asked, hoping that this question would be a good starting point.

Leo looked like he wasn't even sure if he was wanting to answer that quite yet. Then he sighed, feeling like there was no reason to deny him knowing. "To be honest, I liked her because she was nice and she was a person who was a couple years older than me that helped me out at my game. She made me feel valued, and she made me feel like I was important. That is a feeling that I have a hard time taking away." Leo said, feeling like he needed to just be honest as he said that.

"I just felt better when I was around her. And I wanted to ask her out on a date, because of that. But I suppose that something like this will never happen. Even if she had never went missing, she would never want to go out with a guy like me, who constantly fails at everything." As Leo said this, I instantly wanted him to take back what he had just said. That wasn't fair for him, and I wanted to make it clear to him that I didn't want him to be saying things like this anymore.

"You're a good kid. Don't sell yourself short because of this. She wouldn't have gone out with you now, but maybe in ten years, when you were an adult, she might have been willing to." Davis said, hoping that this would get Leo to chill out a little bit. I could see from the look on Leo's face that he was not buying a word of this, and thought that Davis was just telling him what he had wanted to hear.

"You don't really know if I am a good kid or not. You barely ever interacted with me before. How the hell can you make those guesses?" Leo said, sounding annoyed that he was being told this, because deep down inside, he knew that this was not the truth. He was feeling like whatever the hell Davis was telling him, he was just simply telling him because he wanted to have some degree of the moral high ground.

"I don't really know, know, but I have seen the way you talk, and the way you seem to have self awareness of everything that is going on here. In all honesty, I think I have a pretty good idea on the type of person you really are. And I know that you are trying to sell yourself short because you're not sure if you truly deserve this or not. But I will tell you right now, that you do deserve that." Davis said, sounding tired and annoyed.

"Look, I think the best thing for you to do is go out there, and either play your arcade games again, or find a girl your age who is willing to give you a date. Go out there, have some fun, and live a bit. That is what you need to truly do, if you want to make yourself feel better here." He said, sounding a bit annoyed that he was even needing to tell Leo this in the first place.

"If you fucking say so." Leo said, sounding like deep down inside, he wasn't even really against the idea at all. Almost like the more that he was thinking about it, the more he was wanting to just throw his hat in the ring, and actually try that out, and see if this was actually going to fucking work out.

"I do fucking say so. And I do think that once you actually give that a go, you will see that I had the right idea after all." He said, sounding like he was hoping that the statement was enough to get the subject to change. "But I do think that we should go out and watch those fire works. Honestly, the more that I think about it, the more that I think it is a smart idea to do so."

"T.K., can you fucking help me out here? Maybe he would be more willing to listen to you here than he is willing to listen to me." He said, hoping I would step up. I shrugged, since I felt like he was never going to really listen to me here.

"I can fucking help you out." I said, and then I was looking at Leo, feeling like what I was going to say was going to be a bit of a harsh wake up call, but I was also feeling like maybe I just needed to be straight up with the guy for once if he was going to listen.

"Leo, the whole thing with your mother is in the past. No matter what you might want to do, she will never come back, and I think you might need to accept that before you go down too deep into this rabbit hole. I get that wanting to know more is a super great idea, and that you would want it. But that is not how things are going to work out." I said, and I knew that what I was saying was not what he wanted to hear. And I respected the fact that it was not what he wanted to hear. But at the same time, I was feeling like there was no point in hiding around the bushes for no real reason here.

"And besides, you said you wanted nothing to do with this. The only reason you have gone as deep into this as you have is because you're fucking obsessed with the idea of finding out what happened to Andrea. I genuinely believe, deep down inside, you wouldn't give a single shit what happened to your biological mother if you had never found out Brad was your father. And you wouldn't have ever found that out if it weren't for Andrea's case. And frankly, I regret even telling you this shit. I wish, straight up, that I never said anything." I said, feeling like I just needed to be utterly frank with him as I said that this.

"Its not obsessed when it is just simply making sure that you guys follow through a promise that you made to actually find her, and then you guys have not been following through with the promise at all. It is just simply me making sure that you actually do something right." Leo said, and I was seeing him looking like he had hoped that his response would actually settle in for once. "And honestly, can you fucking blame me for wanting to know more?"

"However you fucking look at this, you are making this way harder than you had ever needed to, for no god damn reason, and now everybody else will have to accept your bullshit here. You could have just simply let this whole thing go, and yet you made it twenty thousand times harder for yourself for no fucking reason at all." Davis said, sounding like he was just kind of annoyed at the fact that he even needed to explain this to Leo.

"Leo, I just want to ask you something, and I hope that you actually give me a honest answer here… But do you think that anything you are doing is realistically accomplishing anything? Do you think that getting angry at anybody is really making anybody actually want to work with you at all?" He asked, and I was seeing Leo looking pissed off at the fact that he was having to deal with this in the first place.

"I think it is accomplishing more than you want to admit. One thing it makes me aware of is that despite how much you might try and claim otherwise, you are not in it for anybody besides Yolei and everything else related to her. Not that I blame you. All that I am trying to say is don't give me any high and mighty lectures when you don't really know if you can hold your own here." He said, hoping that this response would get Davis to be a bit more open, and not really try to fight back or anything like that.

"Speaking of Yolei, there was something else that I wanted to know… You were saying after you told me that Yolei died, that there is something about her parents trying to have another kid? Do you want to fucking explain that to me?" Leo asked, and I was seeing Davis looking like he was horrified at the fact that he even brought that up in the first place. As if he had wished that Leo had not mentioned that in the first place.

"Yeah, I fucking heard that. Her parents are pieces of shit, but there is no way that they would actually do something like that. There is no way in hell that they would jump to having another kid so fucking soon after Yolei died. I mean, I just can't fucking believe it. But if they do end up having a second kid, then I suppose that June can always be her friend, and I suppose that I would rather have that than anything else." Davis said, as if feeling like despite how much he hated Yolei's parents, and would never take the time to try and fucking hide it, he was feeling like this was one thing that would be taking it way too far.

"Do you think that when June is born, that I will be able to help take care of her?" Leo asked, not even sure why he was mentioning this to Davis. I could see from the look on Davis's face that he was not sure if he wanted that for a fucking second. As if he was feeling like whatever Leo was going to do, his shit was going to just drag June into this whole thing. And he knew deep down inside, that this was only going to make things twenty thousand times worse than it had already been.

"I mean, if my parents feel like you can do a good job helping raise her, then I suppose that it should be allowed. I just have no idea if it would be a good idea. I am worried that if we let her in on too many things, then sooner or later, she is going to get dragged into things that she had no real place ever getting involved in." As he told me this, I shook my head, since in all honesty, I was not really in the mood to hear what was on his mind.

"Do you think your parents are good people?" Leo asked, and he looked up at his mother and father, making stuff in the kitchen, and his mother sitting down, to give herself a bit of a break. Roughly two months into the pregnancy, which means if my math was right, she would be born in late January or early February. Davis had a smile on his face.

"I trust my parents more than I trust anybody elses parents. At least they are willing to let me talk about my concerns with June, and let me talk about my concerns with Yolei's case. So yeah, I trust them more than I trust anybody else here. And I hope that doesn't bother you guys too much." He said, and Leo was shaking his head, feeling like he needed to chill.

"And I certainly trust them more than I trust Yolei's parents. I told my mom and dad that if something ever happens to June, I will be proud to spend the rest of my life in prison killing the man who did something to her. Like if she becomes a Labyrinth victim or something, then I will not be holding back at all." As Leo said this, he sounded like he was not holding back at anything that he had been saying here. He felt like he needed to just be honest with how he had been feeling here.

"But the worst part is that if Yolei's parents do end up having another kid, I am going to have to play the long game. I will have to pretend like I am their friend, and their partner, and that I will stay at their side, through thick and thin, and I will have to really sell that I am in this no matter what happens. I need them to believe in me when I say that I will not judge them. They need to believe in the story that I will tell them." Davis said, sounding like he was actually buying what he was saying, and knew what he needed to do to make this work.

"Sorry. That was rather deep. I shouldn't be popping off like that to you, when you don't even know what the hell is going on here. I just need to keep things to myself, and not make things twenty thousand times worse than they already are." As Davis said this, he was sounding ashamed of what he was saying, and he was ashamed of the fact that this was how life turned.

"No, I appreciate the fact that you tell me these things. That is the stuff that I want to know. That way I can be able to fucking help you out. When you don't give me anything else, then how else am I supposed to fucking help?" Leo asked, and then he shrugged.

"I guess at the end of the day, we are all in this for selfish intentions. So it isn't fair to judge any one of us for this. But if we are going to be looking at this with selfish intentions, then we might as well go at this with good executions." I said, feeling like maybe this was something that we could be able to come to some form of an understanding on. I saw from the look on all of their faces that they were scared as hell at what was happening here.

"Okay, yeah, it seems like this all makes fucking sense now. Anyways, I am going to be seeing dad on the sixth. He and I are going to talk things out, and maybe reach a understanding with each other. Maybe I can get dad to tell me more. And he and I did make an agreement. He said that if I can find out who my mother is, then he will then finally tell me the truth about what is happening here. Which I suppose is fair enough." I said, wondering how likely it was that this was actually going to work.

"Damn. I thought you were dead set on the idea that your dad was a monstrous piece of shit that could not fucking be reasoned with. So what made you change your fucking mind?" Davis asked, half way trying to make fun of Leo's comment from earlier. But also half way because it was a genuine question, and he was trying to see where this could fucking be going right now.

"I don't know what I fucking believe anymore. I believe that my dad is a piece of shit, but I also believe that he is a man that can be reasoned with. I don't fucking know what I think of him at all. I just think that I need to do what is best here. And if that means that I save face by going along with my dads shit, then I suppose that means that I will have to save face by going with my dads shit." Leo said, sounding like he was mildly annoyed at the fact that he had to explain any of this in the first place.

"And besides, I know that his brother is running for mayor of Wayside. So I suppose that I might need to fucking go along with that idea for now." Leo said, sounding like he could not believe that he was finding himself wondering what it would be like to have friends with a man like Todd Robinson, all for political gain. In a way, he was probably feeling like what he was doing was just as bad, if not even worse, than anything else that could go down.

"Yeah, T.K. was telling me about Todd's campaign. I wish I can meet him soon. He seems like a really nice guy, and I hope that maybe he can clear some things up with us." Davis said, sounding like he was hoping that I would take what he said, accept the statement, and use that as a offer to make a meeting between the two guys happen. And to be honest, I was willing to go along with it for the time being at least, and I hoped it wouldn't be a massive mistake.

"Trust me, you will not regret taking the time to truly get to know him. He is the one person that I can say with a fucking load of certainty will actually fucking listen to us when we tell him what we want to do." I said, feeling like I just needed to be straight up with him, and I hoped that he was willing to actually listen to me.

"Anyways, the fireworks is coming up in less than an hour. We need to get going here, and actually fucking make sure we make it on time." I said, feeling like maybe that was something that I needed to do to remind them that we were still just school students, and that we were needing to just take some fucking time to have some fun here, and no always be on each others throats all the time. There was no reason to worry about this.

"Yeah, T.K.'s right. Let me tell my parents what we're doing. I promise that I will drop the shit with Yolei and all that when I am there. I want to watch the show. I know that Yolei would want me to have fun watching the fireworks as well." As he said that to me, I slowly nodded, since I felt like this is exactly something that Yolei would want.

"Was Yolei a fan of the Fourth of July?" Leo asked, and then Davis sighed, sounding like he wasn't really interested in discussing this anymore. Almost as if he was just sort of dragging himself through most of this discussion by now.

"She liked it enough. She said she liked hanging out with friends more than the holiday itself though. Which makes sense. She was always somebody who just wanted to have a good time with friends." Davis said, and then he shrugged.

"In a way, that was her most attractive trait. The fact that she was so easy to get along with. The fact that she was such a kind person who always seemed to care what everybody else was doing. I always thought that she was the one person that when the time came, I could always tell about my issues to, and she would be willing to fucking listen to me here." Davis said, hoping he could help paint the picture in Leo's head.

As we were walking along, Leo had a giant smile on his face. Hearing Davis sounding happy to talk about Yolei, rather than sad or upset at her death, was something he wanted to hear. He wanted to hear him open up, and actually show some fucking personality to that side.

"If you had a chance to know her, you would want to be friends with her as well. She was… intoxicating." As Davis said this, I saw him looking like he was trying to hide the fact that he was a horny bastard, and the fact that he loved her. Leo must have seen what was going on, and he knew that this was the best way to know him as well.

Before long, we eventually reached the river walk, where we were going to watch the show. I looked behind me, and saw that for once, Todd was no longer giving off any speeches, and I was seeing Larry sitting down with Lars on a chair a bit away, but I decided that unless if they spoke to us first, that it was best to leave them be.

"I know that I will never be a friend like Yolei… I know that you will never see me the same way that you see her. That being said, I do hope that in time, I can still be a good friend." As Leo said this, he sounded like he was hoping that we were actually going to listen to him a bit. Davis slowly nodded, feeling like he needed to take that for what it was.

"It's okay. You're already off to a better start than some of the people that I fucking know. At least you seem to understand that you are not like her, which is more than I can say about some people." As Davis said this, he sounded like he was genuinely feeling bad for what he was saying. Almost like he was aware of the fact that he was kind of being a dick here. But in a way, he was almost not even caring.

"I think another good idea is maybe when June gets older, you can tell her about what Yolei was like. Get her to see why you fell in love with her in the first place." As Leo said this, he had hoped that this was a idea that Davis could go with. I was seeing Davis looking like he was actually considering what Leo had just told him. Then with that, he slowly sighed, feeling like this could work.

"Yeah, maybe you're fucking right. June should know what one of the greatest women in the world were like, and she deserved to know why I loved Yolei so much." Davis said, and then he was looking at the sky, and the sun was starting to set, and Davis had looked like he was glad that the road was going to be a nice one going forward.

"My parents told me that one day at a time makes the pain grow less and less. I hate to admit, that I feel like maybe they have a fucking point here. I just need to fucking take this slowly, and see what can happen here." Davis said, and he was almost finding himself actually believing in what he heard.

"I tried to ask them if they had something similar happen to them. You know, the straight up belief that they had when they said that seemed way too clear to be something that they were just making up. I hope that when they learn that I actually had some fun at tonights fire works, that they would actually be supportive of what I am doing." Davis said, and I was hearing him sounding like he was just hoping this could actually work out.

"But to be honest, I could tell that they wanted me to just drop the subject, and I decided that the best thing to do was just fucking respect their wishes for now. Even if I do not fucking enjoy it." Davis said, and then with that, Leo was taking his hat off, which I hadn't seen him do, and I was smiling at the fact that he looked like of good without his hat on.

In fact, it made me wonder why in the world he even bothered wearing a hat all the time, given the fact that he looked better without it than he did with it. But I was choosing to remain silent for now. "What is your favorite holiday?" He asked us, and then I was taking a moment to consider that.

"Halloween." I said, feeling like nothing could beat Halloween if I was honest. There was something so fun about that day, and just being able to look like a total goof ball and everybody expects you to do so. Davis then thought about it.

"Either today or New Years Day." Davis said, sounding like he wasn't really sure if he actually believed in this or not. With that, I was seeing Leo looking like he was willing to just take this. Then with that, I wondered if Leo really had a favorite holiday or not. The first explosion went off, which was really large, and loud, and spread across several hundred feet.

I kind of wished that this was during the era of cell phones, that way I could be able to fucking record what I was watching. I was seeing somebody in the area about thirty feet down, recording the show with some random video camera. I smiled at this, seeing Davis looking all chill. He seemed like he was glad to finally have some friends with him.

"I was scared that I would be going alone. You know, watching this show without any friends or whatever. To be honest, I feel like in a way, I don't really deserve to have anybody at my side." He said, sounding like he just needed to be honest there.

"You do deserve to have people at your side. You might not see it. But you are a great guy, and I think that Yolei was trying to get you to fucking see that. But you seem to never understand that about yourself." I said, feeling like I just needed to call Davis out.

Before Davis could ask, another red, white, and blue set of fire works went off. The noise from these ones were so loud they actually kind of hurt my ears a little. Then another one that was basically a glorified sprinkler went off, and I was thinking of what to say now.

"I wonder if Tobias would come here if we had simply asked him to join." I said, since I was having very high doubts that this would happen. To be honest, I think that Tobias was probably having a much better show than any of us.

"I think I heard something about what Rob said to me once. He was saying that he was planning on telling Rachel how he feels about her. But then he said that every time he tried to talk to her, whenever he did talk, his words would just get interrupted by fireworks, and that he could never finish his sentence." Davis said, thinking of what he would say.

As another set of fireworks went off, larger than the sprinklers that immediately proceeded it, Davis then sighed. "Words interrupted by fireworks. Deep down inside, I know that would have happened if I tried to talk to Yolei about my feelings here. They would all drown away." As he said that, he seemed to take that into consideration.

"Do you think Rob will try and tell Rachel again?" Leo asked, and then Davis shook his head. There was no way in his mind that he was going to give this a second try. He must have felt like everything that he did was all going to be for waste, and that he just needed to take the moment for what it was.

"I doubt that he will. I feel like he feels like a coward. Like I do as well. Maybe that is going to be a common weakness that I have. And I fucking hate that about both of us." Davis said, sighing, and feeling like there was nothing else to say. He hoped that he was wrong, but deep down, he did not think that he was wrong at all.

"I mean, I believe that he deserves a chance to be happy and with the woman that he loves. But at the same time, I accept the fact that nobody in Wayside gets what they truly deserve, for good or for ill." He said, feeling like he just needed to say what was on his mind straight up, and not beat around the bush at all with this.

"Why did you feel like Rob cowarded away anyways? I mean, you know who he is. He can basically get anything that he fucking wans. So I have no idea why he wouldn't just fucking run with this." He said, feeling like he just needed to be honest. I could see that Davis had clearly looked like he was feeling like Leo was just never able to understand what it was like to want to ask somebody you loved out, but never be able to do it.

"Look, all that I want to do is make sure that he won't lose out on his chances like I fucking did. I think that is the best thing that I can get here. He deserves to be happy, and if he will be able to avoid the mistakes that I have made, then I feel like that is enough." He said, sounding like this was all that he could fucking say here that made any real sense at all.

Another set of fireworks went off, a mirage of golden and silver going off for nearly five minutes before it started to die down, and before any of us were feeling the real need to say anything at all. When they started to die off, I was seeing Leo looking like he was wanting to say something that probably sounded way more deep in his mind than out loud.

"You know, I can see how Rob might have had his words interrupted here. That was awesome." Leo said, not feeling any other need to say anymore. With that, Leo smiled, and looked like he was completely ready for everything that happened here.

"Do you think that Rob would like me?" Leo asked, and then Davis was shaking his head, feeling like he just needed to be straight up honest with that. He must have known what Leo would have wanted him to say, but deep down inside, he didn't really feel right just telling him what he wanted to hear, in order to make tensions between the two of them not as hard as they were.

"To be honest, I think Rob would be scared of you. I think he would be put off by how forward you are, especially for your age. He would be thinking that you are not giving enough careful thought to what people feel and what not. So yeah, I think he wouldn't appreciate you." Davis said, feeling no need to lie about things just in order to make Leo feel slightly less bad.

"He would be scared of me trying to tell the truth then?" Leo asked, feeling like he just needed to say it honestly. As he finished, there was yet another set of fire works going on. This one a more green one than the ones that we had seen before.

"I wonder how much money gets used on this every fucking year…" Leo said, feeling like that was something that he could not help but wanting to figure out. Davis looked at him, shrugging, as if he was not really caring about something like that too much, given how small of a deal it really was.

"Probably hundreds of millions. I mean, each set here probably costs a good five thousand dollars here." Davis said, feeling like he just needed to be utterly honest there. "And since ten or so are set off on just this show alone every year, that is like fifty thousand dollars. Just from this part of Wayside. The city as a whole probably spends a good couple million dollars on the show every year."

"But to be honest, I never thought about it at all. I never really thought the situation was interesting enough to warrant any real thought." Davis said, and then with that, the fireworks had another set go off. This time there was bit of a cyan taint to them. Which was a bit of a fun color, but not really one that I felt needed to be done.

There was another flood of Fireworks, that went on four nearly ten minutes this time, where there was a stream of them going off and around the entire riverwalk, ranging from mild sprinkles all the way to giant massive explosions that felt like the Death Star blowing up. I was smiling the entire time that I was watching these, taking in the moment to wonder how many more of these I would be able to watch with Davis in the years to come.

When we had some time to watch more of the show, and the show kind of died down, I was seeing Larry slowly walking up to us. As if he was going to enjoy the bullshit that he was going to tell us. And in all honesty, I was having no idea if I really wanted to hear it either.

"Hey guys, I can see that you had a good time watching the show. I decided to bring Lars down here. To give Karen a break for a few hours, and to let him see what the pretty fireworks are like. Sadly he will probably not understand what they are like for a while." He said, feeling like he just needed to be honest about what was happening in his mind. "Glad to see that you're not going around and getting yourselves into trouble today. That was the last thing that anybody here needed." He said, and I was seeing Leo looking like he was slightly embarrassed at this comment.

"Well, you're making me regret this." Leo said, sounding like he was hoping that Larry would take the comment with a grain of salt. Larry just shook his head, as he handed Lars over to Davis, as a way to get Davis to calm down, and have a moment with the kid, and to help Davis see what Larry was now truly fighting for here.

"Ha ha, very funny dude. I was trying to give you a nice compliment, and to thank you. Don't need to be pissing it away for no fucking reason." Larry said, hoping that his response would actually be enough for Leo to tone it down for the time being. Leo just shrugged, not really sure what else he was even supposed to be saying now.

"I know you were. I thought that you would have some fun with me just being a shit head." Leo said, feeling like he would be upfront about how he was feeling. Then with that, Larry and Leo shared a small laugh. As if Larry was feeling like he would let Leo get away with this for now, if Leo was genuinely being a nice enough kid to not be too much of a hard ass here.

"I like you enough. You're a good guy. Just hope that you don't ruin this by making things any harder than they ever needed to be. Brad was saying that this was the thing he was scared of you doing, was just blowing everything way out of proportion." He said, sounding like he would just be honest with Leo here, and hope it worked.

"I won't." Leo said, and I could tell from his response, that even he was aware that he wasn't sure. "Thanks for not being totally rude to me. I wish that I can give dad that."

"Your dad will want to meet up with you soon enough. He has said that he enjoys talking to you when he saw you before. I think you just need to give him some fucking credit here and not make things twenty times harder for him as a result." As Todd said that, he was sounding a bit annoyed as hell at the fact that he even had to say this in the first place.

"He enjoys talking to me?" Leo asked, sounding like he was genuinely shocked to hear that. "When was the last time he told you that? Must be before I went off on him today, and made him my deal." Leo said, as he was feeling like he just could not grasp what he had said at all.

"Yeah, he told me that a few hours ago. He said you and him made a bit of a deal, that he felt would be beneficial to both of you. It seems like he was rather happy to work with you guys and everything. I think that you need to give your father another chance before you judge him too hard." Larry said, and then Leo just looked like he was trying to decide what to say.

As we were all starting to head off, that was when the shot that changed our lives happened. We were all having a good time, ready to go home, when there was a loud gun shot that went off, and we saw one of those political figures, who had been running for mayor, fall down to the ground. His face ninety percent blown off, as he was laying down as if nothing happened.

"What the fuck just happened?" Leo asked, sounding horrified at this. He then took a few deep breaths, looking around, and I was seeing him looking like he wanted to just curl up in a ball, and pretend like nothing he saw was real at all.

"Well, I think Todd's chances of winning the election just shot up. And he didn't even have to do any campaigning." Davis said, as if unable to really think of a better response, and had to just say what was on his mind to tone it down to something more tangible.

"Do you think that I can ever learn who this guy even was in the first place? Like what the fucking hell is happening here?" Leo said, and Larry had stayed behind, trying to hide Lars from needing to see this. I was feeling like for once, this was something that he was doing right here. And this was something that I could role with. I then felt like whatever happened, we just needed to take this, and run with it.

"No, I would rather not know. If we press into that of all fucking things, we are going to set ourselves up for even more shit for no fucking reason. So how about we just fucking drop it for the time being, and not fight it any longer." As Davis said this, I was seeing Leo looking like he was not quite exactly happy with this response. He was looking like for once, he needed to do things on his own, and just make the risks that he needed to make if it was to actually make any real tangible outcome difference.

"Come on Davis… This could actually end up being really important, and you are just shooting this down for no fucking reason. I think we need to take this with stride." Leo said, sounding like he was actually feeling like this could work out if he was willing to put in the work hard enough. I was wondering if he was actually believing in this, or if he was just saying this, to sort of make himself feel like he was really onto this whole thing without any issue here.

"I want to go home, and fucking throw up. I was having the best day ever, and then this fucking shit happens." Leo said, and then he started to head off. I was wanting to chase after the kid, since I felt like he was needing a person at his side. But I knew that he needed to be alone for the time being. I was aware of the fact that if I press him any further, nothing else was even going to matter at all.

As Leo had left Davis and I alone, I was taking a moment to consider what was to come. "Davis, do you think that you have any real opinion on this matter?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to get him to give me any response at all. Davis shrugged, feeling like there was nothing to accomplish here. He was just glad to see that Leo was finally taking a moment to not talk about how much he hated his father.

"No, I just never thought that I would see a murder live." Davis said, looking up at the top of the building where he had assumed that the shot was made. "I want to check into that. Want to help me with looking for that soon? I think we can get something good here."

I slowly sighed, and nodded. I felt like I just needed to take this idea, and run with it. "If you think that it would be better to do this, and not bring Leo along, then I suppose that we might as well just go with this." I said, feeling like I needed to give Davis the idea that I was down with this. And given what was happening, I was not exactly against it either. I was feeling like maybe this could work. "And we only tell him anything if we feel like there is no fucking other choice. I think that is simple enough."

As Leo, Davis, and I started to head off for the night, in three separate ways, that was when I was feeling like I needed to set up for what I was going to tell Brad when he and Leo and I meet up in two days. And I needed to make sure that my point was perfect. I needed to make Brad believe in every single word that would come out of my mouth, as doing so would really be the only thing I could accomplish here. I just hoped that none of the chips that I set up were going to be making a bad reputation for Leo or anything like that, since he was the main player here.

Scene 1 Part 2: July 5, 1986

The next day, I decided to see Leo again, just to check up on him after what happened. You know, with the assassination, and the fact that I was scared for how he must have been feeling. I was aware that he had been having a really bad week so far, and I was feeling like I just needed to try my best to make him feel even a smidge better here. Especially since he was a good kid, and I was feeling like he deserved so much better than what he forced into.

I was at his house, and he was sitting down on a fucking chair, looking like he was just off in the world, not even sure what he felt here. "What do you fucking want?" He asked sounding annoyed as hell at the fact that this was even happening in the first place. "I don't want anything to do with this anymore. I want out of this right now. I regretted ever coming to hang out with you that day. I regret ever wanting to learn who my fucking father is. I regret every single thing that I have ever fucking done in my entire life, and I wished that I could get out of this."

I sighed, since deep down inside, I knew what he must have been feeling. I understand how he must have been scared, and I understand why he must have been feeling like I was the main reason behind this. In all honesty, I did not blame him at all. I was just feeling like I needed to try and find some way that I could make him feel more open here.

"Leo, I one hundred percent get where you are coming from. I do. I get that you are probably finding yourself regretting all the choices you have made in your entire life. I get that you want out of this. I get that you have grown to hate life. But I promise you, with all my power, that I will do whatever I can to help you out." I said, and then Leo shook his head, sounding like he wasn't really in the mood to hear me tell him this at all.

"Look, I don't fucking want to hear it. You told me that you would keep me safe. That this wouldn't fucking happen any longer. But that is not the fucking truth, and now I feel like nobody likes me." He said, sounding like he just needed to be straight up there. "One of these days, hopefully you will actually help me find some fucking small measure of peace."

I was then looking down, and I felt like I just needed to make him feel better. "How about this? I know a bit about your family. So maybe I can introduce you to my older brother. Maybe you can fucking see what he is like." I said, feeling like I needed to just close the bridge even a little bit more.

"Okay… Sure. I guess that would work. I would be interested in knowing more about you, I suppose." Leo said, sounding like he was pretending like this was something he wanted to do at all. But deep down inside, he was just going along with this, and acting like he wanted to know more, when deep down inside, he was finding himself barely fucking caring at all.

"Alright, I will bring you to him right now." I said, and then we started to head off. I was just finding myself glad that Leo was actually agreeing with this, and that was something that I felt like I could work with. "Does your mother know that we actually saw the assassination happen?" I asked, feeling like I might as well just see where this could go.

"No way in hell would I ever tell her anything. She would fucking freak out, and she would be acting like this was the worst crime in history." Leo said, as if he was already picturing her attitude, and her way of acting holier than thou with this.

"Look, I don't really want to talk to her at all anymore. If I never have to hear her again, then I feel like I would be in a much better place." Leo said, sounding angry at the mere mention of his mother, and wished that I would just fucking drop her.

Eventually, after nearly an hour of trekking, we made it to my house, where Matt was going to be going on a date with Sora. I was seeing Matt looking annoyed at the fact that he was even seeing us there in the first. Well, annoyed that he was seeing me, and confused that he was seeing Leo as he genuinely had no idea who the hell Leo even was.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Matt asked me, and I smiled, since I was glad to be seeing him actually showing some interest in the subject. I then felt like as long as he was actually interested in getting to know Leo a bit more, then I might as well bring this subject forward.

"His name is Leo Tanner. He is a guy a few years younger than me, and I have hung out with him the last couple of weeks since we met at the arcade." I said, not wanting to admit to the part where he was in this due to the Andrea case. Matt hated the fact that I was in this Andrea case, and honestly, I didn't blame him.

"Oh okay… Yeah, well, if you don't mind, I am going on a date with Sora, and I feel like I would rather not be distracted by something like this right now." He said, and then he looked at Leo, as if he was aware he might have been coming off as a bit of an asshole, but hardly really cared.

"Matt, don't be a fucking asshole. They were wanting to just talk for a while, and I think as long as they are polite about this, then why do you have to be so hard on them?" Sora asked, looking right at Matt, as if she hated the way that Matt was acting.

"Because I doubt that you would want to actually be doing this while we are on a date. And besides, I highly doubt that they are interested in talking with us at all. They are just pretending like they are." As Matt said this, he sounded like this was making perfect sense.

"I don't mind getting to know more about T.K.'s friends. He seems like a nice enough guy as far as I know." Zoe said, and I was wondering if she was just trying to piss Matt off here, or if she was genuinely feeling this way. Either way, I could tell from the look on his face that Matt did not look too happy at all here. As if he was feeling like he was just deliberately, and constantly being ignored for no fucking reason here.

Matt looked like he had a feeling of murder in his mind over this idea. As if he had just wished that he could enjoy this date with Sora, and not be dragged into something like this. But at the same time, I was aware that he was already kind of giving up here.

"Fine, you win. I guess that I will do this. I don't fucking like it. But I guess that none of that fucking matters anymore." He said, sounding like he was a bit bitter at this statement. As if he was wishing that his feelings were taken into some more consideration here. Not that I could blame him. I mean, I knew that he was in love with Sora, and I knew that he wanted to go on this date with her, and that this was something that I had not been giving him.

Once we got in his car, Matt looked like if this was something he had to do, he might as well see what he could learn about Leo. Since he was aware that things were just not going the way that he wanted, so he was going to just let this happen, to make things a hundred times earlier for himself.

"So Leo, what do you think of T.K.'s friends?" Matt asked, and he was already looking like he regretted asking this, considering the fact that he had known that Yolei recently died, and he was feeling like he should have just kept these comments to himself.

Not that I could blame him. He simply wanted to go on a date with Sora, and this was happening. "Well, Davis is nice enough, but incredibly hard to read. Tobias seems like a nice enough guy, but he seems like he is kind of out of the world, and not really wanting to talk to anybody." Leo said, feeling like that was the best way he could describe this. "I never really got to know Yolei, when she was alive. And I wished that I had a chance to get to know her much better. From what T.K. says, she was a fantastic person, and she was taken from us way too soon."

"Look, I never thought that I would see the day when somebody I knew would die so young. I mean, I fucking get it, and I get why that bothers T.K. so fucking much. It would bother me too, if I am honest with you." He said, feeling like he needed to give me this much.

"Yeah, I know that I will never be able to truly show how much this bothers me. You know, I just wish that maybe I could be able to be more humble here than I used to be. But I suppose that such a thing is never meant to be." Matt said, and he was sounding like he was mostly ashamed of how things had gone here. I was wondering if he was hoping that this apology would be enough to get me to forgive him. "Honestly though, I wish that I was able to tell Yolei that she was the friend of yours that I did like the most out of them all."

"Well, yeah, too fucking late. But I know that I am just being a fucking asshole with that, and I don't want to be rude for no reason. I mean, I feel like Yolei would not want that at all." I said, feeling like I just needed to say that as my way of honoring the woman that Yolei was, and the fact that she was a much better woman than I ever would be.

"I think that I am more worried about Davis than anything else. I feel like he has already decided that he hates your guts, and I do not blame him at all." I said, looking right at Matt, since I was feeling like I just needed to be honest with my brother here. He did not have to like it, but I felt like just bullshitting around him would answer nothing.

"Well, when I have the chance to apologize to Davis, I suppose that I can fucking try. You know, see if he would accept me just not beating around the bush or anything like that." He said, sounding like he was wanting to believe that this could work. But deep down, he was not really thinking it ever would at all. Which in all fairness, I think was making some sense.

"I don't even think he needs much more than a simple apology. No need to make a giant scene out of it." I said, partially because I genuinely believed that, but also because I was feeling like there was a chance that this was actually going to work.

"If you fucking say so. Anyways, Sora has been kind of giving me shit about how I should be nicer to everybody and what not. How I need to stop being so fucking hard on everybody. In a way, I feel like there is a chance that she might be right." He said, sounding like he was sort of ashamed of the fact that he even had to admit this. I could not blame him, given how lost he was.

"Well, because you fucking do. You might not want to admit it, but people will not want to work with you if you are going to just simply be a fucking asshole to them, and not give them anything to work with." Sora said, sounding like her patience for the matter was beyond played out at this point, and she never forgave Matt if this was the way he was acting here.

"Okay, you fucking made your point. Are you thinking that making a fucking issue out of things, and not telling me anything else is going to be making things any better? No, it is not. You are only going to just get me more angry at you." As he said that, I was seeing Sora looking like she was kind of disgusted at the fact that he was saying this in the first place.

"Anyways, look, point I am trying to make is that I want to try and make things right here. I want to be a good brother, and I wanted to apologize to you for everything that I have said. I wanted to apologize to you for feeling like you were not really committed to doing the right thing or whatever. I was an asshole, and I know that you are doing your best." He said, sounding like he was then thinking of what he wanted to say, but had no idea what to say.

"Have you ever seen his other friends, Leo?" Matt asked, sounding like he might as well just see where this would go. Leo looked right at him, and looked like he was shocked to be seeing Matt actually show some interest in the subject. Then with that, he shrugged for a second.

"I only saw Tobias, and I feel like I never really want to meet the others. I feel like if I tried to do so, I would be sort of lost, and I feel like everybody would tell me to stop bothering them…" He said, and then he simply seemed not sure what to say.

"Matt, can I ask what you think of Brad Carbunkle. And don't lie to me please. Just tell it to me straight… Do you think he is a good guy?" He asked, and I was seeing Matt looking like he was a bit confused at where the hell this question came from. Then he sighed, sounding like he would just say what was on his mind, for the sake of honesty, and to not make the matter any worse.

"I think he is a nice enough guy so far. Just kind of rough, and has never spoken more than two sentences to me. Honestly, I don't care that much." He said, sounding like he was finding the question to be a bit random, and wondered why he was even having to discuss this.

"Why does everybody want to insist that Brad is not that bad of a guy? I don't fucking get it. I feel like people are just too fucking nice to this guy because he is popular." Leo said, sounding horrified at this, and sounded like he just needed to say what was on his mind. I sighed, feeling like I just needed to get him to calm the hell down, and stop freaking out too much.

"Look, what the hell are you talking about? I genuinely don't get what you are saying." He said, and then Leo was taking a deep breath. Almost as if he was ashamed of this fact. Ashamed of simply who his fucking father was, when there was nothing else that he could do about such a thing.

"Brad is my fucking father. He was somebody who fucking lied about this for a really long time, and now that I know the truth, I have to pretend like this doesn't just disgust me beyond belief." As he said that, I was seeing Leo looking like he had no clue what else to say.

"God damn… Sorry about that. I genuinely didn't pick up on that. I probably should have. Since you guys do literally look the exact same. But to be honest, I think that he isn't that bad of a guy, and I think he probably had a good reason to lie to you. So I think you need to give him some slack here." He said, sounding like he had hoped that maybe Leo would listen to him, and I was wanting him to stop because he did not realize the can of worms he was opening there.

"Yeah, there is a good reason he lied. Because if he didn't, then people would realize that he ended up having sex with a fifteen year old girl when he was twenty six, and nobody would be willing to let that go." He said, sounding like he was a bit annoyed at this statement. As if he was hoping that Matt would see where he was coming from.

"Why do you say your mother was fifteen? Is that actually true?" He asked, feeling like he needed to see where this was going. Sora looked at Matt, as if feeling like she needed to tell him to keep these comments to himself, especially when they kind of lack tact, and he was feeling like this was only making things worse.

"Because my adopted mother fucking said so. She told me when I was seven years old that my real mother had me when she was fifteen, and that this was the reason why I was sent up for adoption." He said, sounding like he needed to just not deal with this argument since it wasn't really even accomplishing much there.

"So yeah, why would my mother be telling me something, and then big plot twist? It is a fucking lie… That would make no fucking sense, and I would feel like she would only be making things worse for everybody if she did that." He said, and then Matt was holding his hands off the steering wheel for a second, as if to throw a surrender sign up.

"Okay, you made your point. But in all honesty, is that nearly as big of a deal as you are making it out to be? I mean, I doubt it really matters that much the age difference…" As he said that, I was wincing at the can of worms he just opened up by saying that.

As he said that, I was seeing Leo looking like he could not believe that Matt was even saying such a thing in the first place. Knowing that this shit was happening, and the fact that Matt did not seem all that bothered at all by this, was something that he could never really be able to get over.

"Matt, are you fucking serious dude? There is no fucking way you actually feel this way… I mean, what if your girlfriend doesn't feel this way. Also sorry, I didn't catch your name the first time, what is your name?" Leo asked, almost feeling bad at the fact that he had just kind forgotten something like this. Sora sighed in mild annoyance, but seemed like she was willing to accept the fact that this was the case.

"Sora… My name is Sora. Anyways, I do got to agree with Leo here. It is kind of a big deal, and I feel like more emphasis should be put on it." She said, and then she looked right at Matt, as if hoping that her being upfront with that was enough to get Matt to take a breath, and see where she was coming from. But the look on his face made it clear that he did not enjoy this at all.

"Well, what do you guys want me to fucking do? I can't fucking fix the issue for you all, and you are insane if you think that I am be the one who brings everything together…" He said, sounding like he just needed to be honest there. He knew he might have sounded rude as he said this, but at the same time, he just felt like he needed to be as honest as possible there.

"I just want you to not brush this off as being no big deal, when it is clearly a very big deal. That is all that I fucking want. Show that you understand how serious this is." He said, hoping that this was a statement that Matt would be willing to roll with.

"Okay, fair enough. After all, if I didn't know who my father was, and I found out that he was somebody who had done this, I suppose that I would fucking hate it. I mean, I don't really fully understand the full issues… But I do suppose that I fucking get it." He said, sounding like he just needed to be honest with Leo, and felt like maybe Leo would appreciate him opening up a bit more, and not just brushing things off as a non deal anymore.

"Anyways, do you think that you and Brad are ever going to be able to be on good terms?" Matt asked, sounding interested enough to know. As he said this, I could tell that Leo had looked like he was not exactly sure how he was feeling about that.

"Honestly, I have no idea how I feel about my dad. I feel like he is a decent enough guy, I suppose. But he and I have a long way too fucking go. And I think think he needs to just own up to the things that he did. You know, beyond me. Once he does that, I think I will respect and trust him much more." As Leo said this, I was seeing him looking like he had hoped that he could walk away with that answer.

"What I do know is that I don't want to hate him. I don't want to just be holden down to him forever and ever. But I feel like I sort of have no fucking choice on the matter. He has been leaving me in this spot though, and I think that once that changes, then my attitude will change. But I don't know, maybe I am a bit of a asshole. I feel so fucking lost here." Leo said, feeling the need to just be honest there.

"Then how about you just tell hm that you understand why he did what he did, and that you respect the fact that he is a man simply just trying to do a job? Maybe if you feel him this, then he will be fucking happier. Maybe you will actually get him to fucking work with you more." He said, and I was having no idea if this was actually true or not. But I was feeling like he just needed to run with this.

"I suppose that I can fucking try to do that. Not that I fucking enjoy it though. I suppose my dad is a nice man. Everybody else seems to think he is. I am the one who is still being the asshole of the decade around him." He said, sounding a bit annoyed at this. Eventually, Sora was then opening up, wondering where this was coming from.

"How did you even find out about him being your real father?" Sora asked, and then Leo rolled his eyes, as if he was no longer wanting to talk about that day. She shrugged, as if feeling like he just needed to talk a bit more.

"I found out about this because I remember my mom saying to me that I have actually seen him quite often, and I did not see it yet. So I started to piece it together, and when I saw him at the fucking house that day, talking with my mom, and just simply seeming like he was in charge of everything, that was when I pieced it together. I felt so fucking stupid for not picking up on it sooner. I felt like a fucking idiot for not seeing what was right in front of me.

"My dad is a terrible human being. Or at least I think he is a terrible human being, and I am just letting this go on for far too long. The fact that nobody seems to realize that he is not the person that we want him to be…" As Leo said this, he sounded like he was taking this for what it was, and had hoped that this response would really start to settle on through.

"And to be honest, I think the truth is that I always knew that Brad Carbunkle was my father. I always had a feeling that there was something up with him. He seemed to look a lot like me, and he was always taking way too much interest in me. In a long story short, there was just too many things that made it too obvious to me that this was the truth. I mean, I now wonder how I had been in denial for so fucking long." Leo said, feeling like he just needed to be honest here.

"I always fucking knew. Yeah, I always fucking knew. I don't know why I keep pretending like there was ever any point in time, where I didn't truly know what was going on. I think the reason why I kept pretending like I didn't was because I was too ashamed to admit that this was the case. I think I was too ashamed to admit that I had no real plans of action." Leo was saying, mostly to himself now, as he was sort of accepting the fact that he couldn't believe that he was holding onto this for so long, when he had no real need to.

"Why do you think your mother chose to not tell you who your real father was?" Sora asked, sounding way too interested in this discussion. Matt clearly looked pissed the hell off at the fact that this was taking over the main discussion, and not even really being about him anymore. As if he was wondering why in the world she was taking so much interest in him, when they were supposed to be on a date with each other.

"I think she didn't want to say it because she didn't want me to hate my father forever. She must have thought that deep down inside, he was a good man, and that he should have been given more respect than I gave him earlier. I suppose that maybe this is true. I just have a hard time really being sure if I fully agree with this or not." Leo said, sounding like he was accepting what had happened. "And to be honest, I do get where she is coming from."

Eventually, we pulled up at the mall, and I was seeing Matt just then turning around to look at us. "Look T.K., despite everything that I had said to you earlier, I do respect you a lot. You are a good enough guy as it is, and I feel like you have every right to want to help out your friend. But that being said, I was on a date with Sora, and I want to keep that date up. Please don't take this personally, but I would rather be on that right now." He said feeling like he just needed to be honest and brutally to the point as he said that. I sighed, and I was feeling like he was basically making it very clear to me that this conversation was fucking over.

"Matt, we are on the date right now. Things took a change from plans, but that is fine. I want to know more about this kid. And I haven't had a chance to clear things up with T.K. yet. So would you be willing to just be a good sport, and let this happen?" She asked, sounding like she was hoping that by telling him this, he would actually listen to her.

"Why do you keep insisting on this thing happening this way? There is no reason to do things this way… They are both old enough to do their own thing for the evening, and I think that is fine enough." As he said that, I felt like there was no reason to keep pressing this for so fucking long.

"Sora, I appreciate your efforts, but my brother clearly doesn't want me around… So I will respect his wishes…" I said, looking right at Matt, and I was not even going to try and hide the fact that his way of behaving was pissing me off. He was a fucking asshole, and I hope that he fucking knew this. But for now, I felt like I just needed to just move this along.

"Look, I suppose that there is one thing I do want to fucking know…" Matt said, looking straight at me, and he seemed like he had hoped that I would actually answer his question. "Do you know anything about that assassination yesterday? I know that you were hanging out with Leo at the Fourth of July show, and I was wondering if you had known anything about who died…"

Leo shook his head, sounding like he was not ready to have this discussion. As if this was the last thing that he had ever wanted to fucking discuss here. "Honestly, that was too much for me to fuckin handle. I saw it happen, when he hit the ground, and fucking died, and the gunshot…" Leo said, as if he was suddenly having terrible memories just trace back to him. Memories that he had wished that he had never had.

"Yeah, we were both there. We were with Davis, and Davis was just telling me about Yolei, and how he was feeling about her. But yeah, I think that he was a bit scared about this. He was saing that he knew that he should just kind of move on from the whole Yolei thing, because this is what Yolei would have wanted him to do. But he was just having an extremely hard time doing so." He said, and I was seeing him sort of feeling bad for this. Almost like he regretted mentioning this in the first place.

"Yeah, I am not surprised that the main thing he was focused on had been about Yolei. Everything with Davis seems to be about Yolei. I don't blame him at all. I just wished that he would get a therapist about this or something. You know, since in all honesty, he is only setting himself up to be in a really shitty spot for the rest of his life." As Matt said this, he seemed to be kind of thinking about what he had ust said. Almost like he was sort of tip toeing there.

"And I think that Davis seems like he doesn't want things to change. He doesn't want this to not be about Yolei. She is the woman he loves. Or at least fucking loved. Don't know if you can love a dead person, if I am honest." Leo said, sounding like he was thinking about how hard that sounded, and how gross it sounded, but it was true.

"Why would he want them to change though? He knew her for like seven years." I said, feeling like despite how much Davis and I had been on each others throats since the minute that Yolei died, and I was convinced that things would never change and come back to normal, and I was accepting that. I was an asshole to the guy, and if he was never wanting to forgive me, then I knew what needed to be done here. I was seeing Leo looking like he was well aware of the fact that his comment was going to start some really bad tension. Not that there wasn't some to begin with. But it seemed like he was aware of the fact that he was hurting all the chances that he used to have.

"Okay, I guess that I was being way too rude there. I just sort of say things that are on my mind, without giving them much thought. I mean, I know that it's an issue I have." He said, hoping that apologizing to this, and making it clear that he understood where this was going now.

"Look, I just got annoyed that you guys said that you were going to figure out what happened with Andrea, and then that never fucking happened. I just felt like there was a promise, that was laid out, and then that went down the fucking drain here." Leo said, sounding like he just needed to make his position on the matter clear enough for everybody.

"I would have never given a shit, or given this a second thought, until you guys decided to bring me into this, like I ever wanted to be involved in this, and then now all of a sudden, I am having to deal with everything here." Leo finished, and I was seeing him looking like he had hoped that I would admit this around them.

"Yeah, that is the truth. I feel like I just kind of owe it to this guy." I said, feeling like I would just be honest there. I didn't like this situation, but at the same time, I knew that this whole fucking thing was my fault, and I was feeling like the longer that I put it off, the worse that things could fucking get. Matt and Sora both looked at us, and I could tell that what I had just said was something that they were both kind of expecting, and both kind of dreading as well. Because it was too close to home here.

"Anyways, Matt, what were you planning on doing with Sora?" I asked, feeling like I might as well just sort of see where this was going. If he was so dead set on this happening, then I supposed that I just needed to give it my best chance.

"Well, we were planning on going down to the ferris wheel, and we were just going to talk for a while, about certain things. I just feel like I needed to sort of what plans she had for the rest of summer." Matt said, and then he looked right at Sora, feeling like he might as well just move this subject along, even if Leo and I had to watch it.

"I don't have very many plans this summer. I wished that I fucking did, but I feel like there are too many things going on in my personal life to really make this happen. You guys are a mess right now, and I feel like every time I try to talk to you guys, the whole thing just ends up getting worse and worse." Sora said, as if she was annoyed that Matt had made such a big deal over this, when this was literally all that he had wanted. He made a deal out of something that was virtually nothing at all.

"What plans do you have this summer?" She asked, feeling like she might as well see where Matt had been heading with this. As he asked this, I could tell that Matt had been a bit shocked to even hear this. He shook his head, wishing to just keep her away from talking to him any further.

"I was originally planning on going back down to Onett for a few days. See how the gang is holding up. You know, since it had been a while, and I was just hoping that they were doing well. But I think that such a thing would not really be worth it." He said, feeling like he just needed to be honest there. He didn't really even know what he wanted to say now.

"No, you should be allowed to do that. I suppose that I would be interested in getting to know what that place was like. But I know that from how he talks about it, that T.K. probably has no interest in doing that." Sora said, looking straight at me, and I was slowly nodding. There was no way in hell that I was having any interest in going back down there, unless if I had no choice.

"Yeah, I think that that this town has passed me by, and I feel like going down there is only going to accomplish so fucking much." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest about the fact that I had no desire to go down there even with siblings or anything. I wanted to, day by day, just try and put this whole thing behind me, and not make the matter any worse than it was.

"Yeah, that was what I expected you to say. Not that I am upset with that response at all. To be honest, I'm glad that you seem to finally be putting that behind you forever. You had no idea how tiring it was hearing you constantly bring up that place, and constantly trying to make something happen that was not meant to be." Matt said, sounding like the fact that this is now explicitly what I admitted was something that gave him much more hope than he had ever wanted to admit.

"Yeah, and I know that even if I did want to come, you would refuse to take me with you. You would make all the excuses that you could to make it not happen. At least with what I am doing, I am just moving the ball along as fast as possible on this rejection." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him here. I did not have to like admitting it, but I was not going to beat around the bush at all.

"Actually, that is where you are wrong. I would actually let you come with me, because I know that it would either be that or you going on your own, where I would not trust you to do the right thing at all. At least with this right here, right now, I can keep a eye on you, and I can make sure that you know what you are doing here." He said, sounding like he just needed to be straight up there.

"The issue is the fact that I think that I would never want you to bring any friends, or tell anybody what we fucking find. I would want this to be just between us, and nothing else." Matt said, feeling like he just needed to be honest there. "And I have no real feelings that you are going to be actually following through with that. You would make any excuse, any justification, that you needed, to just go through with the idea of telling people.

"Fair enough. That does sound like something that I would fucking do. I don't like to admit it, but you seem to have a better grip with knowing how I am than I want to admit." I said, feeling like I just needed to be utterly honest with Matt here. He slowly nodded, as if feeling like the fact that I chose to be honest there, was something that he could take. Maybe this was a sign that I was willing to finally engage, in his mind, and that was why he fucking liked it.

"I guess that if I do end up going to Onett, I will tell you what I saw there. You know, I suppose that you do deserve to know the basics of what happens there." He said, sounding like he was willing to run with this. He didn't have to fucking like it, but he was aware that this was probably the closest thing to a compromise that we could make, and he was willing to accept this for what it is.

"Thank you Matt. I appreciate that much more than you know." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest there. As I said this, he shook his head. He looked like he was unable to believe that he found himself agreeing to this in the first place. Not that I could fucking blame him, considering what happened. I just think that he was a bit surprised to hear me finally give him anything to work with at all.

"Make sure that you don't abuse this information. I can already picture it in my head, what you are going to fucking do once I tell you everything. But maybe I am wrong, and I fucking hope that is true." Matt said, sounding like he was finally hoping that saying this was going to be what he needed to say in order to make me feel better.

"I will not abuse this information. I don't fucking want to abuse it anymore. I feel like you deserve better than this." I said, feeling like I just needed to give him this, as a way to just sort of make him feel better here. I then looked at Leo, who was clearly looking like he was not buying what I had said at all. In all honesty, he was trying his best to believe what I was telling the truth. Almost like he was wanting to believe that I was telling the truth, as much it killed him to be doing all of this.

"I will take your word that you at least want to try that." Matt said, which was his way of admitting that he was wanting to give this a chance, which I supposed was going to be better than nothing at all. And I was supposing that maybe I just needed to take this, and not fight it any more.

"Look, I guess that what I want to say, when I see you guys, talk this out, and seeing the way you guys seem to understand each other, makes me feel like I never want to have these issues with my father. I hate the guy, but I feel like if he is willing to give this a chance to work, then maybe I just need to give it my best run as well." As Leo said this, he seemed to be more accepting of where this could go now. And I wondered if he was aware of what he was saying. If he was finally basically giving Brad that sense of open discussion for once.

"And I think that your father would appreciate that. You can decide for yourself if you feel like your father deserves that, or if he does not. But I suppose that you can make your own choices on that matter." He said, sounding like he was taking this into consideration, and had no idea what the hell he was even feeling here.

"And he told me that I should also go on and give my uncle a chance." Leo said, and then with that, Sora looked at him, wanting to know this as well.

"Who is your uncle?" Sora asked, and then Leo shrugged, feeling like he had no reason to lie about this, so he might as well just go on and tell her the truth.

"Todd Robinson. One of the guys running for mayor of Wayside. I am not really all that interested in that, if I am honest. I mean, I suppose I hope he does well. But I don't really care that much if he wins the election or if he doesn't. How about you guys enjoy your time at the Ferris Wheel, and tell us how it went when you are done?" Leo asked, hoping that this response would get Matt to be more willing to head this. Matt smiled as he heard this. As if he was feeling like maybe Leo was not a bad guy after all.

"Yeah, I think maybe we should. Hopefully something at the mall will be cool. I do hope you're happy guys. I know that I was a asshole earlier, but here we are. Just don't do anything too stupid while you do this." He said, and then he was thinking about what to say.

"And it is nice to meet you both." Leo said, to Sora and Matt, who seemed to both appreciate the fact that he was willing to admit this. As if this was something that they were happy with. They were glad to see that he was a good sport here.

As Matt and I and Sora and Leo were all around, I was glad to see that Matt and I were coming to any vague form of understanding between each other. I was scared we never would accomplish such a thing. It made me feel like he and I were just going to be at each others throats forever and ever, and let me promise you that this was the last thing that we wanted. Hearing the two of us finally come together, and let this go, was something that I think was best for both of us here.

July 8, 1986

A couple of days after the hang out with Leo when we were talking to Brad and Todd during the meal (I will get back to that because I do want to discuss that, but I want to have a full session for that), Leo and I were meeting up at the arcade again. This was the first time all July that Leo had looked like he was not utterly pissed off beyond belief at what was happening. He looked like he was actually pretty chill with everything that had been going on, and I was feeling like I just needed to run with that for now.

"You know, truth be told, I feel like the more time that I have to come to terms with what I heard, the more that I realize I was a fucking asshole to everybody. T.K., please understand that it was never my intention to be a total asshole to anybody here. I was overwhelmed. I was scared. I was feeling like I just needed to fucking hold my own. I wanted to tell my dad what I was truly feeling here, and I made some big mistakes here." He said, feeling like he needed to just be honest with this.

"Leo, I like you a lot, but what you are doing is a bonified example of you biting off more than you fucking can chew. You decided to try way too hard to make something work, and then it fucking didn't. You need to accept the fact that what is done is done, and that you need to stop making a big fucking scene out of this." I said, feeling like I just needed to be straight up with Leo here. If he didn't like it, then I didn't give a single shit.

"Fuck you T.K. I have the right to ask the questions that I have, and I have the right to be pressing people the fucking way that I fucking have." He said, not backing off here. I sighed, feeling like I just needed to take this, and not be too hard on him here. He was right, and I felt like I needed to be honest.

"Okay, sorry. I know you are having a hard time with everything, and I feel like I need to be more considerate of that when I talk to you. I fully own up to that shit, and I feel like you have every right to get angry at me here." I said, feeling like I just needed to let him have this. Partially to shut him up, but mostly because it was actually fucking true. And mostly because I was upset at myself.

"Thank you dude. I mean, I know that I am being silly here. I know that I am just making shit out of nothing. And I know that I need to fucking grow up, and stop pressing this matter any further than I fucking have. I just can't fucking do things that I fucking easily, if I am honest." He said, feeling like he was just needing to tell it to me straight up. Which in a matter of speaking, I suppose I did respect.

"Anyways, look, I just feel like after that talk with Brad a couple of days ago, I do have some understanding of what he is dealing with. You know, why he has to keep lying, and why he feels like he is forced to continue this fucking job. In a way, I feel like I sort of have to empathize with him more, and work with him more, or else everything that I have been saying is gone down the fucking drain." He said, sounding like he just needed to be honest with me.

"Look, I am not exactly sure if I like the guy yet, but I suppose that I don't really hate him as much as I once fucking did. I sort of suppose that he did the right thing, to a extent, given what had been happening. And I feel like I just need to keep that in mind before I judge him too hard. I just hope that when the time comes, he will finally tell me what I want to know. You know, with who my mother is." He told me, and then I was slowly nodding, feeling like I just needed to take this, and I needed to roll with what he was saying. Deep down inside, I knew that he had a valid point, but I was just having a hard time seeing this for what it was, when this was going down.

As I was watching Leo play his game, and trying to get better at it, that was when we were hearing a voice calling out to us. We turned around, and we were seeing that it was a guy who looked like he was about a year or so older than Leo, but a year or two younger than me. He had brown hair, and he had looked like he was trying to impersonate a super hero with a red towel that he was wearing behind him.

"What are you guys doing? Are you even fucking playing the game anymore?" He asked, both annoyed, and genuinely confused at the same time. Leo looked right at him, as if he was feeling this kid needed to back off, before he ended up doing anything too rough here.

"We were just talking about why my dad is a piece of shit, but also why he might not really be a fucking piece of shit after all. Trust me, you want nothing to do with this conversation. I have no interest in talking about this anymore, myself, so I don't really blame you guys if you do not want to talk about it either." Leo said, and then he was taking a moment to try and pretend like he was more interested in the game before going back to the kid, and dropping the tough guy act, to just be straight up with him.

"Hey, by the way, aren't you in my school. I feel like I have seen you around before. Is there anything that you wanted to tell me?" He asked, and I was seeing him looking like he was genuinely wanting to drop the act. In a way, he was actually sounding like he was kind of wanting to know about this guy. Maybe it was just to change the subject, and maybe it was genuine, but at the same time, it was good for both of us.

"Oh yeah… I remember a few months ago, I was complaining about not getting the toy from under the cereal box. And you were right there. That feels like a million years ago." He said, sounding like he had started to gain some interest in the subject again.

"My name is Shawn Spencer." He said, finally feeling like he needed to drop the act, and just be honest here. As he said this, I could tell that Leo was snapping his fingers, remembering the conversation again. I was then taking a breath, feeling glad that he was finally showing some interest in talking to somebody else. Some interest in talking to somebody that wasn't going to be dealing with him trying to do some big explosion of the Labyrinth or some shit that was going on with it.

"Who is this guy you are hanging out with anyways?" Shawn asked, sounding a bit lost over this. I shrugged, feeling like I would tell him whatever he wanted to know. I had no reason to not tell him, if I was honest. If it would make him start to trust us a bit more, then that could be working well for Leo, and I was feeling like Leo needed to have as much help with this as possible, and I would do whatever I could to make it happen.

"T.K. I am a couple years older than you both. Have been trying to help Leo with the whole piece of shit father thing. You know, dealing with a dad that you don't respect can be a bit of a hassle." I said, and then Shawn looked like he could not believe that he was hearing something like this. Anything related to a kid not loving their parent. Anything related to a kid not respecting their parents. The whole thing seemed so fucking alien to him, just from one look on his face.

"Cool. Anyways, sorry to hear that about your dad. My dad is super awesome." Shawn said, and I decided that I would entertain this whole thing, and see what he was willing to tell us. After all, he seemed very content with what his dad was like, and I supposed that I did want to know what his dad was doing.

"What job does your father have?" I asked, feeling like I needed to find a way to show him that I believed in him, while also showing him that I was still not fully buying this quite yet. The smile on his face looked like he was excited to talk about his dad.

"My dad is a cop, and he protects Wayside." Shawn said, smiling widely as he said this. "Have you ever met Henry Spencer?" He asked, and I shook my head. In all honesty, I had never even heard of the guy, and I felt like a random police officer was not really anything that I had too much interest in.

"No, never met the guy." I said, and then Leo slowly nodded. I sighed, and wondered where in the world he even met this guy in the first place. He was just a fucking kid. How in the world has he met Shawn's dad before? But I chose to just remain silent, feeling like I would keep my thoughts to myself at this rate.

"Yeah, I think I saw him in the school conference once." He said, and I was smiling, and I calmed down a lot. That made way more sense, and I was feeling like a fucking idiot for not picking up on the fact that it was something as simple as this. Shawn then looked like he was confused about something else. As if he was kind of scared of something else. I wanted to know what the issue was.

"Why do you hate your dad so much?" Shawn asked, sounding like he was way too focused on this to focus on anything else. Leo looked right at him, as if feeling like he just needed to not bother telling Shawn this yet, as he was feeling like Shawn needed to just fucking enjoy the fact that he and his father were still going along great. But then he sighed, feeling like he just needed to tell him the truth, and maybe slowly turn Shawn against Brad.

"I don't hate him as much as I did a few days ago, I talked with him, and he seems like he is trying his best. I just feel like he isn't that great of a guy. I feel like a lot of what he has done has been a fucking façade, and people have been falling for it like no tomorrow." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response was enough to get Shawn to back off of him, and not make too many more comments here.

"Why did you use to fucking hate him?" Shawn asked, and I was seeing that this was a question he was going to keep pushing, and pushing, and pushing, until we really had no fucking choice but to just answer him.

"Again, I feel like everything that he has been doing is a fucking façade. Hard to support a man who doesn't put in the effort to show his true self. Simple as fucking that. If he is not going to show people what he is really like, then how the hell am I able to think for him?" Shawn asked, feeling like he needed to just be straight up here. Shawn looked slightly shocked to hear this sudden anger here.

"Do you know who Brad Carbunkle is?" Leo asked Shawn, and then Shawn shook his head, as if feeling like this was a bit strange to suddenly throw onto him. He was not picking up the fact that this was actually going to lead somewhere. Which I suppose might have been a good thing, given what was going on.

"No idea." Shawn said, sounding kind of scared where this was going to go. Leo smiled at this, as if he was just glad to see that maybe Shawn was not falling for the act after all. But then before Leo was able to be in his victory any further, Leo decided to be straight up.

"But my dad has heard of him, and I think Gus might have talked about it at school once." He said, and then he looked straight at Leo, wondering why Leo was pissed off here. As if Shawn had just given the worst possible answer to this question of all time. I sighed, feeling like Leo needed to give Shawn a twinge of space here. After all, Shawn had no idea what the hell was happening here.

"Can I see Gus, and see what he knows?" He asked, feeling like he needed to just make Shawn tell him everything here. Shawn looked a bit worried about what the hell was happening here. Then with that, Shawn just slowly nodded, feeling as if he was almost having no choice.

"I guess, if you really feel like you need to talk to him, but I don't even know if he is around right now." Shawn said, and then he was shrugging. "I think he is visiting family in Santa Barbara. He will be back for the summer camp event in a few weeks. He and I are both going to that." Shawn said, and I was wondering if he was just using that as an excuse to not have to deal with this conversation anympre. It didn't take a fucking genius to see that he was extremely uncomfortable with this entire talk, and if you wanted me to be honest, I did not blame the dude at all. The whole thing seemed really rough on him, and I did not blame him for not really wanting to be a part of it.

"Okay, fine, I guess that we can fucking wait." Leo said, and I was shrugging, since I was feeling like he was way blowing this out of proportion. There was no reason to be freaking the hell out over something like this. If Shawn didn't want to talk about it, then why the hell did it fucking matter? He was allowed to make his own choices, and not press the matter.

"Look, if Shawn doesn't want to talk about it, we can't fucking force Shawn to talk about this. I mean, I think that he needs to make his own choices here." I said, feeling like I just needed to make the point, and I was seeing Shawn looking like he could not possibly describe how thankful he was to have me trying to cover for him right now, given what had been going on here.

"Thank you. Sorry for I bothered you. I guess I do want to ask something though… Has there been any news updates on the grinding noise recently?" He asked, referring to the one that happened a few weeks ago. I shook my head, since I was not really in the mood to talk about such a thing. I rubbed my eyes, feeling like if Shawn wanted to talk about this, then I might as well give the guy this. After all, he seemed like he was a good kid so far, and I did not want that to become an issue later.

"No, we have not heard much about that. This is what half of what we are doing is focused on. We are trying to get some answers here. And I suppose that if you are also interested in this, then we have a sort of no harm no fowl." I said, and I was seeing Leo looking like he could not believe that I was talking to Shawn like this, and that now I was finally willing to go along with this.

"Well, when you want to talk more, I want to know more about that. Can you guys give me that much?" Shawn asked, feeling like he needed to see if he was going to be able to expand his luck here. With that, I was seeing him looking too scared to think about anything else. Then he looked right at Leo, and then he took a deep breath, feeling like he needed to accept what he heard.

"Brad is the father, isn't he? And you're a clone…" He said, telling it straight up. The look on Leo's face looked no words could describe how much pain he was in hearing somebody actually refer to him as this. Knowing that it was true, and knowing that this was how he was always going to be seen, no matter what fucking happened right now.

"I'm so sorry…" Then he turned towards me. Then he shook his head at this one as well, and he was thinking of what to say. "Your father is the news broadcaster? You don't want to hear it, but your dad is also in this whole thing. In some ways, he is actually running it too…" He said, feeling like he was finally needing to just spit the straight facts, and I was shaking my head as he said this.

As he was leaving, that was when I finally had it. I needed to know what Shawn knew, and I needed to see what the hell Shawn was meaning by 'helping run it' since I was feeling like he was needing to not leave something so big onto me, and leave me wondering what the hell he was trying to accomplish here.

"What the fuck do you mean? That my father is helping run this?" I asked, feeling like I just needed to be straight up with him. He might not have liked the way I was suddenly at him. But when he mentioned my dad, everything dropped, and that asshole needed to give me so much more than anybody else had given me earlier.

"Your father was given a job here, and he is forced to work under super stressful situations for you and your family. Despite this though, he has found himself in the midst of everything, and he seems to be enjoying what he is doing. You might not see it yet, but you can't fucking trust him anymore." Shawn said, and then I felt like I needed to be upfront with what he was meaning.

"Why the hell are you saying this? How the hell do you know this?" I asked, feeling like I Just needed to be straight up with him. Shawn then put his finger to his forehead, and with what he said next, he ended up setting himself down a path that I don't think any of us were ever expecting him to go down.

"I am a psychic. I happen to know everything. Talk to you guys later." He said, and then he was walking off. I did not believe for a second that he was a psychic. But at the same time, I was wondering what it would be like if he was telling the truth. Maybe if he was being honest, then he might have been able to help us with this more. And maybe the kid would actually have a bigger piece of the puzzle than he imagined.

I looked at Leo, and then I was shaking my head. I just refused to fucking believe it, no matter how much proof he might have of it, I was feeling like giving him anything related to believing this whole psychic thing was much more credit than he was fucking deserving here.

"Psychic? What a fucking joke. He must just be really smart and hyper observant. But I guess that maybe he thinks the situation is still funny. Still though, I suppose that if he picked up on this already, I would be interested in knowing more of what he fucking knows." I said, feeling unable to believe that I was actually admitting this shit out loud. I felt like it was a fucking joke that I was even giving this any credence. Leo smiled, happy to see me flustered.