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.

2. The Hotel Conspiracy

August 28, 2037

When T.K. had finished writing the first section of the story, he posted it online, and opened up one of the emails that Ridge had sent him. It was just the first one in the giant list of documents, just to see what he was going to be reading. And to be honest, he was wanting to see how much detail had been put into this story, so that T.K. would see how much or how little he could actually use here?

He ended up calling Ridge once he was reading a couple of paragraphs of this text, since he was feeling like he needed to just see what Ridge was up to now. When Ridge did answer the phone, T.K. was feeling like the best thing do to was just get right to the point. Hopefully Ridge was actually going to give him something to work with, given the fact that he was supposed to be using this for the fucking book, and he was not sure if he was really ready for anything here.

"Hey Ridge, I just wanted to let you know that I published the first chapter of the book now, and I am planning on writing the second one for this weeks publishing. I read one of your documents, and while I think some of it might have been a bit too rushed, since you were just getting some general points across, I do think that I will want to use these documents to help with the story. I was wondering how many more you would be willing to send me?" T.K. started, feeling like he might as well just get right to the point here. He was hoping that no matter how things were, Ridge was willing to answer him.

"T.K., I have stuff regarding my brothers, and I have stuff regarding my other friends as well? Those were just what I was able to remember off the top of my head, and I was just in the fucking zone." He said, feeling like he would just be upfront about what the logic behind this was. Which was to say, that for now, there wasn't much of one, but that he was just sort of capturing a storm in his mind.

"Do you think that your story will get much traction? You know, considering the fact that I feel like people might be too unaware of the truth to really want to read it any further. I think that they might just simply be reading this online, if they ever find it in the first place, and they will simply brush the entire story off. I know that I would probably be feeling this way if I was to read it even five years ago." He said, feeling like he just needed to be utterly honest with Ridge.

"Frankly, I don't care if it gets a million views or just ten. As long as people are reading this, and they are seeing the truth, then they will be able to carry the torch forward. Truth be told, I have yet to tell most of my friends what I am doing because I know how much one of them got angry when I told him what I did, and I do not want to make him that angry again. Even if I think this is just him deflecting reality as much as he can." T.K. said, remembering how pissed Leo had been when they had their conversation even just last week. Seeing how much Leo was furious at this entire thing made T.K. realize that if he was not careful, he would truly be alone here.

"T.K., I tried to tell people that I was reaching out to you, and they were all thinking that me talking to you was a terrible idea. They all told me that if I did that, I was basically signing my death contract. Even my father seemed upset at the fact that I was considering this? Did you and my dad leave off on bad terms?" Ridge asked, feeling like he just needed to rip the band aid off.

"He was just more so very disappointed in me when we stopped talking to each other. He thought that I could accomplish more than I did. I thought so too. And now, in many ways, everybody I fucking know is being affected by my hubris, and by my confidence that I could be doing something better." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to not lie at all.

"Fair enough. My dad seemed to really think tat you were the future or something like that when you were much younger. Look, my dad is a old man now. Eighty seven years old. I do not have a long time to be with him anymore, and I would not be surprised if he passes away before he hits ninety. I think that if you show him that you are at least genuinely trying to make this story happen, then he might be able to rest easy." He said, feeling like he needed to get T.K. to at least consider this idea. As he was silent for a moment. T.K. knew full well that this guy had a valid point, and that it was not fair to refuse this.

"That is fair enough. I suppose I never thought of what Todd would want from me. I thought that he barely liked me that much, and I was feeling like I had made a lot of mistakes already. Maybe I will send you the link to the site that I have been using, and maybe just let him know that I plan on updating once a week or so, and that might give him some hope that this story will work." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to give Ridge something to work with, that was realistic.

"Dad told me that the main reason that he is so hard on you is because he knows that you are the last Digidestined, and he wants to make sure that the stories that the Digidestined went through do not die with them." He said, and then T.K. had to take a moment to consider what he had heard. He knew that there was some really good points there. Not points he wanted to hear. But good points nonetheless.

"When I get reminded of that, I remember the failures that I have caused people for so long. I have been a failure for the majority of my life, and I have been a failure in every single way that relates to the Digidestined. I could have done things so much better. But I did not, and I feel like people have every right to hate me for that." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to be honest when he said this.

"You need to be reminded of that because you need to remember what you promise you would fucking do, and then proceeded to not fucking do it. Those are things that I have a hard time sleeping with at night." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to not hide that.

"I mean, imagine if you had a bunch of friends, and then you were the only one remaining, and you failed to keep their name good and honorable? If you had to deal with something like that, then I would feel like you wouldn't be so fast to judge me anymore." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to be straight to the point with Ridge, and he was wondering how likely it was that Ridge would hear him.

"Lydia told me something similar. That when I am a good man, who has done everything that I could for those around me, and then I still end up getting beaten to fucking borderline death, then I would be able to understand what she had to deal with much more. And I suppose in a matter of speaking, I do see what she is saying more. I really do not want to admit that she might have a fucking point."

"Does this mean that your sister does not view you as a good man? That she has to explicitly make the distinction between the two things?" T.K. asked, being genuine, and not even trying to start something. He really did want to know, and he was already finding himself feeling bad for Ridge, feeling like Ridge had been dealing with a lot if his own sister was saying that about him.

"Either that or she thinks that the man who got beaten half to death by her own father is a better man than I am. And straight the fuck up, I might have to agree with her. I made a lot of mistakes in the past, and while I have always done what I could, I feel like they have never been enough." Ridge told T.K., feeling like he just needed to be honest about what had been going on, and he was wondering if T.K. was going to show even a smidge of sympathy for him.

"Wait, what the fuck? Where does all that come into play?" T.K. asked, and then with that, Ridge laughed for a moment. As if feeling like T.K.'s utterly shocked reaction was something that many people went through with all of this, and he felt like this was just a sign that T.K. did not know everything that had been going on. Which in a way, was both a good thing, and a bad thing.

"It's in one of the documents. I thought that maybe you would have seen it by now?" Ridge asked, and T.K. sighed in annoyance at that. As if really hating the fact that he did not do his homework on the subject much sooner, and he was going to regret all that for a really long time to come.

T.K. wondered what Ridge was thinking of his rather haphazard way of doing this. T.K. was regretting everything that he had done before he started to write this. "Dude, I have not read many of your documents. I spent most of this first week getting chapter one written and transcribing one of the journals that I had written. So yeah, that was kind of taking priority right now." T.K. said, sounding like he regretted even saying that, and he was sounding like he was hoping that Ridge would leave him alone. "Please understand that I will get to all of those eventually, and I really want to as well. I just need some fucking time. After all, the documents will be there forever."

"Fair enough. Alright, sorry for that. I guess that I do need to remember that you are trying your best here, and I feel like you deserve much better than I have been treating you here." He said, as if feeling like maybe if he was giving T.K. at least the illusion of being humble, then he would be giving Ridge a bit fo a break. Even if it didn't work, he knew that he might as well just at least try and see if he could pull this off.

"Ridge, I will be coming by soon. I have a lot of stuff that I want to talk to you about. I would want to know about your siblings, and I would want to know what damage you are currently causing to this whole thing. You know, I feel like that is the best way we can work from there." T.K. finished, hoping that maybe Ridge would be all chill with this for now.

"Please know that the others don't actually know that I did really send you those emails. So please keep that in mind before you do anything. I feel like if my siblings know that you have those emails, and want to talk with both of us, we are going to be having a lot of stuff to be discussing. I just did what I felt like was the best move here. I really hope that you do believe this." He said, hoping that T.K. was going to just listen to him for once.

"Well, I guess you will need to let them know in the next seven days, because one of those documents will be the next chapter of the story, and I hope that they will actually fucking read this." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to be straight up with Ridge. He had hoped that by pressing that on Ridge, that he himself was going to be jumping the gun on making sure that the job would actually be done.

"Fine. Have it your way. I just hope that I don't regret this idea. But knowing me, I will fucking regret it, and you will find a way to make me regret even fucking sending you the email in the first place." He said, as if feeling like he was already imagining this happening. T.K. smiled as he heard this, knowing how it must be like to feel like you are a bit lost, and overwhelmed, by everything going on here.

"I just have a bad feeling that dad is not going to make this easy for me once he knows everything. For some reason, ever since he started to do less hours as a private detective, he has always been rather rough with everybody. Maybe he is hiding something, or maybe he just feels like he needs to be in on the scene more. I don't know. But it is kind of hard to fully enjoy being around this guy." Ridge was saying, but in a more thinking outloud way. As if he was regretting where this had been going.

"Tell your dad that you feel like you are doing it in the best interest of the towns overall safety. I am sure that he will be able to appreciate what you are doing when he knows that you are genuinely meaning it with the best intentions." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to let him have this moment.

"I feel that can only appease him so much before he starts to get upset about things again. I have a feeling that he is scared of the fact that people have started to unveil things about him, and I think he believes that he has become the victim of several things lately. I don't know, I just have a bad feeling that this is going to get really fucking badly. And when it does, I expect you to not laugh at me or anything." Ridge said, and then T.K. decided to remain silent.

"What things have they unveiled?" T.K. asked, feeling like he needed to know if Ridge knew something that he did not. He was mentally prepared for this to go really badly. But at the same time, he was just hoping that it was something relatively innocent.

"The fact that he had at the very least known about a lot of these cases answers for far longer than he had let on. I don't think that he was exactly a part of anything, or at least I hope that he was not…" As Ridge said that, T.K. was taking a deep breath, as if upset at the fact that he even had to state this.

"Yeah, that does make a lot of sense. Yeah, I was feeling the same way as you did." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to not be beating around the bush at all. He was hoping that Ridge would appreciate his honesty more. He knew that the young man was now just starting to realize that the narrative that his father had given him his entire time was faltering, and he was feeling so bad for the guy.

"Look, I get that it might be hard to admit that your father might not be the best person in the world. But he is somebody that I have seen go through a lot of shit and stress. I wish that I could tell you more that would make you feel better. But I suppose that the best thing that I can do is just simply tell you that I believe that he had never intended any of this to happen the way that it is." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to give Ridge something to work with, as hard as it was.

"Look, Ridge, I think it would be best for both of us right now if we just end the call here. I feel like this is going to be getting to both of us right now. And I feel like we both deserve far better than this." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to give Ridge a way out of this, and not make things harder for him for no fucking reason.

"Fair enough. Talk to you next week." Ridge said, sounding a bit unsure of what to say now. But then he hung up the phone before T.K. could have the last word. T.K. smiled as he heard that, since it was reminding him of himself and how he would behave all the time when he was trying to have a moment where he was coming off as the bigger man in a debate.

Once the call was over, T.K. was sighing, since he was aware of how much of a fucking failure he had been as a writer so far. And a even bigger failure as somebody who would actually stand up for what was right. The last time he felt like he did something truly right was probably before Ridge was even born, seventeen years ago. Basically a full grown adult persons lifetime, and before that, was the last time he did something right.

He ended up closing his computer, and packing all his things up, and was getting ready to head out as he was feeling like there was no more need to fucking wait, and he needed to just get right to Wayside right now. He balled his fist once or twice, as he was accepting what was going on. But then after that, when he felt ready, he just decided that it was time to be heading out here.

For the next half hour, he started to pack all of his clothes that he would need for a one week trip into a suitcase, all the story materials he would need depending on where he decided to go next. Then he picked up a few other things that he might need such as a carton of Marlboro Silver Cigarettes, and two twelve packs of Monster Energy, one being the normal variant, and the other being the zero sugar variant.

He was scrambling a lot, and he was trying to just make sure that there was a method to the madness, to make it seem like it was making sense to it all. Once he was done, he was then looking at his house. Then he had one other thing that he needed to do before he ditched town for several days.

He ended up texting his wife. "Hey, I will be out for a week or so. I am currently needing to discuss with somebody about the book that I started on last week. Sorry for not giving you a larger notice. But this sort of came up." T.K. said, and then he hung up the phone, and then he was shaking his head as he thought of what was to come next.

"Fuck, this is going to be a nightmare to explain to people." T.K. said, thinking of what he was doing now. He went inside his car, and started to head on out. As he was thinking about what to say before he left, that was when his wife immediately called right back. Not even giving him a moment to think of how he could make a good excuse for them. He answered the phone, scared as hell as what they were going to say.

"Hey, I heard that you were heading out for a bit to meet up with a co worker on your novel? Would you be willing to meet up for a bit? I wanted to see what was truly happening." She asked, sounding like she had a combination of concerned for his safety, while also extremely annoyed at his lack of warning.

"Yes, I am. I have some stuff that I need to fucking do. I feel like there is no more waiting for this to fucking pass by anymore. There is no more games that can be played. I have a job that I need to do, and I need to do it now." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to be straight to the point with his wife. She might not get it, but she understood how serious he was about it, which was enough for her.

"Look, I feel like you need to let this go. I can tell from the sound of your voice that you don't really want to do this, and I feel like you need to not force yourself into something that is beyond your desire." She said, sounding like she needed to give T.K. some leeway here.

"I have to do this. I know that you might not understand this, but I have to fucking do this if I want to honor my friends from the years past. You might not understand how important this statement is, but I am the last Digidestined, and there is no way in hell that I can let something like this just go to waste. I would never forgive myself if I just let the story completely die with me." T.K. said, feeling like he needed to just get her to really hear him for once.

"What would happen if your story dies with you? If the legend of the Digidestined die with you? Are you sure that something like this would be a big deal?" She asked, sounding like she just needed to understand what his pressuring on this really was.

"If I let my story die with me, and the legend of the Digidestined doesn't spread after my death, then that means that everything that I did was all for not. Everything my friends did was all for not. And that is something that I would never be able to forgive myself for." T.K. said, feeling like this statement was the most true thing he had ever said.

"How long have you been the last Digidestined?" She asked, dropping all the concern of her voice. T.K. could hear her driving on the way to the house with the sounds of traffic, and her muttering under her breath in utter annoyance. She sounded like she was on the verge of blowing up on every single person who had been around her. T.K. was feeling terrible for her, knowing what she was going through.

"A while now. Longer than I would want to admit. Look, if I could see them all, and if I was able to apologize for everything that I had done to them, I would do so a million times over. If would make sure that none of them would ever think that I was lying to them about my feelings on the matter. But that is not how things are. Life is fucked up that way. Life is unpredictable, and life is a fucking middle finger." T.K. said, thinking of the news story as each one of them appeared on screen.

He had thought that soon enough, God, if there ever was one, would finally either take him next to spare him the pain, or would at the very least give him a sign that all had been forgiven. But when he looked at all the mistakes that he had made over the years, and when he looked at who he had hurt, then he wondered if he was able to ever not be punished for anything.

All that he did know though, was that he was sure that they would be even more angry at his moping around, and they would be even more angry at the excuses he could make. "Look, I feel like before long, I am going to burn in hell. In fact, I know I will. But I feel that at least this book, no matter how far I get, will make me feel some peace before the devil has fun with me for the rest of history."

"Why do you think you are going to burn in hell?" She asked, sounding scared of what her husband was meaning. If there was more to this than he was admitting. T.K. was thinking about just that, and he was thinking of how much he wanted to tell her more.

"Before the Devil met me when I was twenty one. He said that all the other Digidestined would go to heaven, but due to the promises that I failed to keep, when I die, I will be spending forever with him. He said that this is the only fate I deserve." T.K. said, feeling like he just needed to be straight up as he said that, as he remembered everything that he had discussed with the Devil that one fateful night in 1994, and the proof the Devil showed.

After they met up, and talked for a while, the two of them went to their place, and they ended up making love for the first time since T.K.'s sixtieth birthday four years earlier, because he felt like he was much too old to have something like this. But this was before he had realized that been hating himself too much to give himself the simple pleasures of life. T.K. did not know it at the time, obviously, but their sexual encounter on August 28, 2037, would also lead to the conception of his first and only child that he would have on May 20, 2038, two weeks early from a full forty week pregnancy. And despite the fact that he initially had no respect for the man at all back in the summer of 1986, T.K. would grow to realize that this man was the best person that he ever met in his entire life, and the only truly good man in Wayside, and named his kid Sheldon Oswald Lee with the Oswald Lee as a two part middle name. And his wife, despite being over an entire generation than him, was also decently old to become a mother as well, which meant that for both of them they knew not to have another once the news broke out. And this kid gave T.K. another resolve to write this book, as a way to make sure that his kid could know what his dad went through, and what his dad was doing to save Wayside.

---

Scene 11 Part 1: September 9 2024

It was early in the 2024 - 2025 school year when Stanley, and I went to the Dinosaur Hotel, to check up on how Manny was doing. Check up in how he was planning on going through the investigation for Becky. To be honest, I was well aware of the fact that he had no interest in actually getting a ton of help from us. But Iw as feeling like I just needed to see where this was going to go.

Stanley said that he wanted to see Manny personally, as he had thought that Manny was kind of holding out on virtually everybody else, and he was feeling like he was going to be the one person that Manny would be willing to talk to. I was not sure if I was buying this or not, but to be honest, I felt like maybe if he was willing to give this a go, I needed to just play along, and not fight this.

Once at the hotel lot, Manny looked down from his watch spot, and saw that the two of us were already there, and already wanting to talk to him. He slowly nodded, as if feeling like he was ready to just move this along now. He smiled, glad to notice that people were still wanting to talk to him in the first place.

"Come on up guys. I was hoping to run into you guys soon. Are Robbie Dan and Seth here right now?" He asked, hoping that this would move along. I shook my head, as Stanley and I were slowly moving along, although I was always way behind Stanley due to the fact that I was barely able to walk at a normal pace due to just being only four years old.

We got up, and then Manny looked right at us as soon as we walked in, and I could tell that Manny had looked like he was having just trying to decide what he wanted to say. "Hey guys, glad to see you're still here. How is Seth doing? I haven't seen him in a while, and I just hope that he is doing alright." As Manny said this, he sounded like he was having some regrets about what he was saying, and regretted this entire set up in a way that he could never explain.

"Seth is doing okay. He seems to be very focused on just getting back to school. I think that he is just trying to simply get ready for high school." I said, or my best version of that when I was four years old. Manny shrugged, and looked like he accepted the fact that this was fair enough, given the fact that Seth still had a life ahead of him.

"I have no interest in going back to school at all. Honestly, I think that I am just probably going to drop out, and focus on the fucking watch guarding here. It is the only fucking thing that I am good at, and what I do is good." As Manny said this, he sounded like he was more so trying to convince himself than anything else. But to be honest, I was feeling like maybe he was just sort of using this as an excuse to not go back to school more than anything else.

"I was wondering what you were planning on doing? You know, with the Becky thing. Do you have any plans on looking for her again?" Stanley asked, and then Manny sighed, as if feeling like this was the worst question that could possibly be asked, and that it was a waste of time to even ask such a thing in the first place.

"Of course I want to fucking look into this thing with Becky. There is no fucking world where I fucking do that. That being said, I want to do this with Seth, who is going to be going to school several days a week. In all honesty, I have no interest in doing this until the weekend or something. I know that if I try to look into this on my own, I will only end up getting myself killed..." Manny said, and then he looked right at Stanley.

"Even with you guys, I feel like it will just simply be a matter of sharing the same grave. You guys are too young to be able to understand what is really going on here, and I feel like you guys need to enjoy your personal life, without having to deal with me." As he said that, I was seeing him looking like he was genuinely ashamed to admit this in the first place.

"But what if you are wrong, and we can actually manage on our own?" Stanley asked, sounding like he was mildy offended by the fact that this question even had to be asked in the first place. As he said that, Manny just looked right at him, as if feeling like this was a response that only people who were truly in denial were ever going to make.

"Please don't bite off more than you can fucking chew. You know that is a terrible idea, and we both know that this is going to only possibly get you fucking killed." He said, and then with that, he took out a cigarette, and seemed like he was ready to say something that he knew that neither one of us were going to enjoy hearing.

"Honestly though, sometimes, I wonder if dying is a good thing after all. You know, because at least with this, it will be over, and at least with this, I no longer have to deal with what everybody is fucking throwing at me. Sometimes, I feel like such a thing would be fucking nice." He said, sounding like he was actually making some peace with this statement. And honestly, I have been so fucking lost, and so fucking scared, of what is happening here, that I feel like I just need to put myself first..." Manny said, sounding like he was really annoyed at the fact that he was even having to state this in the first place, and I was wondering if he was really sure what he was going to accomplish here.

"Please don't say such things. You might not miss this world if you die, but people here will miss you. You know, you miss Becky, and you don't even know if she is dead for sure or not. So I think that maybe you just need to remember that..." As he said that, I was seeing him sounding like he was just desperate to move this conversation along in a way that would make Manny not say things like this again, since these comments were kind of scary to him.

"I am allowed to feel however I fucking feel, it's not like I am committing any crimes for simply having feelings here..." Manny said, looking straight at Stanley, hoping that this response, as curt and rude as it might have been, would get Stanley to calm down, and see that Manny did have some fucking point here, and I was seeing Stanley looking like he was kind of feeling bad for everything he was saying.

"I never said you weren't. I just feel like this feeling might end up getting you fucking killed, and when that happens, you will start to realize how much you wished that you had lived." As Stanley said this, he was sounding like he was hoping that this response would get Manny to open up just a tiny bit more, and not press the matter any further than he had.

"Why do you fucking care if I end up dying or not? I am just a guy who has been dealing with my own personal demons for way too fucking long, and I feel like this is the best way that I can fix these issues." He said, sounding like he was hoping that this response would actually make Stanley stop talking for a bit.

"I am scared. Scared more than you can fucking imagine. I want to know what happened to Becky, and I want to bring her home. But on the idea that she is fead, and she has been dead for all these months, and I am just wasting my time away here, when I could have found out the truth, is something that has been eating me away." He said, as if he had hoped that we were going to actually listen to him now.

"Well, once you know if Becky died, then what will you do? Will you continue to just stay here, or will you finally start to live again?" Stanley asked, feeling like he needed to make his point here. He needed to finally make this clear to Manny, that his attitude, and his behavior, was not going to keep flying under the circumstances that it had been so far.

"Once I know one way or another, then I can finally accept what fucking happened. At least I can finally have the answers that I have been looking for. At least I can know what has been going on in this town, and I can accept the fact that one of the very few things that I had been holding out hope for is gone... If that is what you wanted me to say, then there... You fucking heard it. If you want to keep forcing more out of me, then you are going to be let down." He said, sounding like he was just beyond annoyed at this rate.

"Honestly, I am more worried that Seth hasn't accepted it yet. I think Seth is a very emotional man, and he has to always know the fucking truth here. I think he is somebody that has a hard time seeing that not everything needs to go a certain way for him to be happy." As Manny said this, he looked right at me, as if he was already expecting me to find a way to turn this over to Seth, and I was wondering if I even wanted to let Manny know this in the first place.

"Look, this shit is fucking tiring to discuss. I already know how I fucking feel about it, and I am fucking happy to talk about this later. But for now, I just feel kind of lost here." As he said that, Stanley then took a deep breath.

"I want to see if you can help me make sure that nothing happens to Lydia. That is the true thing that I am scared over. I don't want anything to happen to Lydia, and if it did, I would never be able to fucking forgive myself." Stanley said, hoping that honesty was enough to make the guy open up a bit more.

"Well, I guess that is fair enough. I always wondered if there was any actual intent on keeping her safe. Especially with Lars being her dad and everything..." He said, winking at us, as if he was feeling like it was nowhere near a secret.

"Yeah, fuck it, I guess that I would be interested in helping you guys out with that. Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be one big mega scene or something. And hopefully Lydia is actually willing to accept my help." Manny said, sounding like he was finally happy with this plan, and seemed like he knew exactly what he was willing to do.

"Tell me about Lydia. Maybe I can see if I can have an idea how to help then..." As he finished, he sounded like he was ready to take this. "And when that is done, maybe I can see your other friends, and see what they have to say. They might be smart on this subject as well..."

Eventually, I then agreed with the idea that I would tell him. But on one condition. "Come with me, and we can talk then." I said, feeling like this was something that I could work with. Manny sighed, feeling like that was fair enough.

Once we left the room, Manny seemed to be a bit lost here, and he seemed like he was really trying to find something to say here. "Ridge, I wanted to ask you something. And please don't fucking shoot me down or anything. Just give me a real answer that I can fucking work with... Do you think that Lydia's friends are actually good for you? Do you actually think that they will be the friends that you need to hang out with?" He asked, and I looked right at him. Deep down, I knew what he was trying to say. I knew where he was attempting to go with this, and in all honesty, I was not really sure what to feel here.

"I think they are. I think they just need a chance." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him. Manny sighed, as if feeling like I was completely missing the point of what he was asking, and he was kind of annoyed at this.

"I never said I wasn't giving them a chance. I just feel like I need to ask if you truly think that this is something that is good for you. I mean, you might be hanging out with people who will only be there at your side for a while, and then in time, they just go and ruin everything." Manny said, and he was sounding like he was wondering what the hell he was even going to say that would settle this down.

"I just don't want you to hang out with people who you think are going to be your friends, and then they turn out to not be your friends at all. You know, I know what it is like to have those people. I know how much it fucking hurts when you realize their true intentions. You're a really nice kid, and I just want to make sure that doesn't happen." He said, and I sighed.

"They're good friends to Lydia. They are good friends to me as well. That is all that I need." I said, thinking that there was nothing else to say here. I felt like saying anything else was only going to just make things more uncomfortable, and I was seeing Manny looking like he was just hoping that my placement was right here.

"I hope that you know what you are doing, young man. If you do not, then you are only going to make things harder for everybody here, and I feel like you need to be ready for that if this becomes the truth." He said, sounding like he needed to try and just give me that foreboding warning. Partly because he cared for me, and partly because he was frankly scared of where this was going to go.

"And when you say that they are good friends to Lydia, do you atcually fucking know that, or do you just fucking think that they are, and you are not actually fucking checking up on that? Because I feel like that is something you need to be way more careful on." He said, as if feeling like he needed to give a piercing warning to me. I shook my head, not exactly sure what he was planning on accomplishing as he was saying this.

"He is. I know it." I said, feeling like if he was going to take this the way that it was, then I just needed to be much more careful here.

"Okay. I will take your fucking word for it. For now at least. You seem to really believe what you are saying, and I do not want to be making thinsg worse for you." He said, feeling like he just needed to be honest there. There wasn't much to take here. He was trying to give me something to go with, and I felt like I was accomplishing nothing as I told him this.

"Anyways, despite what I am saying, and all the questions I bombard you with, I do respect what you are saying enough. And honestly, I don't really fucking care what is happening right now. I just want to move this along." Manny said, and then he thought of what to say.

"Anyways, honestly, I think the thing that I want to know right now, is do you feel like Lydia will actually be willing to talk to people if they try and convince her that Lars is not a good person. People have been trying to get her to listen to this for so long. She has fucking refused to fucking listen though." Stanley said, sounding like he was a bit annoyed at the fact that he even had to clarify this in the first place.

"She will never listen." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest as I said this. There was no need to lie to him, and no need to put him on a false pretense. I agreed with him, that her obsession with Lydia would get nothing done. But I hardly fucking cared at all.

"Is that why you are more worried about Lydia than you are worried about Robbie Dan? I suppose that makes sense, in its own way." He said, sounding like this was not really what he wanted to say, but more so just what he had to say in order to move this along a bit.

"In a way, yes." I said, feeling like I Just needed to be real there. Another reason why I was, in his words, more worried about Lydia than I was worried about Robbie Dan or Stanley was because Lydia was my sister. I could accept Robbie Dan or Stanley doing something stupid, as I was not related to them at all. But this was something that went way beyond anything else, and I was not going to be happy about it at all.

"Yeah, I suppose that does make sense then. Sorry for pressing so many questions onto you right now. I can just never keep myself respectful here." He said, sounding like he was regretting everything that had happened now. Almost like he was feeling like he was just a shitty person right now.

"Anyways, sorry for being so distant with you when you were just simply asking questions about Becky. That wasn't cool of me at all, and I feel like you shouldn't have ever had to go through that at all. Just please know that I never had any ill will when I was doing any of that. And I need to remind myself that you are just a kid, and that you deserve a certain degree of kindness here." As he said that, he seemed to be more sure of himself and of what he was saying as he kept talking longer and longer.

"I hope my friends never go missing." I said, feeling like that thought was something that I would never be able to get over. The fact that something like this even needed to be stated at all, when it never should have been, was the other thing that was making me more depressed the more that I thought about it.

"If they do, then I have no idea what to tell you. I will tell you that this is a fact of life. Even though it ever should have been." Manny said, feeling like he just needed to cut the shit here.

Eventually, we reached Robbie Dan, who was talking with Drake, and I was seeing them both looking confused, but also glad, to be seeing that we were there. Mainly to just end the subject that they were on, and wished that we would give them something else that they could think about.

"What are you guys doing here?" Drake asked, both glad that we were visiting them, but also scared at what this was going to mean, and I was feeling like they were going to be letting this kind of cloud their feelings here.

"We were just wanting to see how you guys had been doing lately. You know, since we haven't had a chance to speak to you guys lately, and I feel bad." Manny said, and then he was taking a moment to decide if he was wanting to be honest with him here.

"Do you guys know what Seth has been up to lately? I haven't seen him in a while, and I worry that he and I might not be on good terms anymore." Manny said, feeling like he needed to just be a bit more honest about what he was feeling here. The look on all of their faces looked like they were just trying to decide what to feel here.

"No, I have no idea how he is doing. Frankly, I think he doesn't really like any of us too much right now, so I feel like you might need to ask somebody else." Robbie Dan said, and then Drake looked like he was a bit unsure what to tell him here.

"He is probably talking to Lars." As Drake said this, I was seeing from the look on Manny's face that he could not believe that he had just heard somebody suggest that Seth would be talking with somebody like Lars to begin with. Especially since Seth always seemed to be the one who was the least interested in the whole Seth controversy.

"Why would Seth be talking to Lars? I mean, I suppose that I believe you, but the whole thing would be really strange..." As Manny said this, I was seeing him thinking this out, and seeming like he was actually trying to decide what he was thinking. Then with that, he just shrugged, not really sure what else he could accomplish here.

"He would be fucking talking to Lars, to see if all the shit said about him is valid. I think he is probably holding out hope that they are not. For better or for worse, Seth actually seems to want to keep a open mind about these things." Drake said, sounding like hoping that Manny would stop being so hard on him.

"I feel like this entire family is in denial about Lars for no fucking reason. Not that I can blame them. I mean I was in denial about the fact that a lot of my family are terrible people. Such as Ronald, and I still have issues with this fact." Robbie Dan said, and he was still hanging onto the Bobby discussion, which I felt like was more than fair enough given everything that had been going on.

"Oh yeah, I think I remember you mentioning something about your uncle being involved in some really shady business. Well, maybe you mentioned it to Seth or somebody, who then mentioned it to me." He said, sounding like he was just thinking of this a bit longer, and wondered if any thing would even make a tangible difference.

"God damn it, I just get angry every time I even so much as think about my uncle. He is a massive asshole, and one of the biggest pieces of shit that I ever have to deal with in my entire life. I want to meet Lincoln personally again, and thank him for what he did that day." He said, and then with that, he was wondering what he had just said.

"I know that my mom says that she still has some positive feelings about Bobby and what not, but there is no way in hell that I will ever be able to over look any of those things given what I know about him." He said, sounding ike he just needed to be honest about this.

"I highly doubt she was ever trying to claim that he was a good guy or anything, she was just saying that she can't get herself to hate him." Manny said, and then he looked right at Drake, as if feeling like he needed to ask Drake something, and he was hoping that Drake was actually going to be honest with the answer here.

"I don't know, I want to actually talk about this with my mom personally." Robbie Dan said, feeling like he just needed to be real with that.

"I think dad mentioned that case." Drake said, referring to Bobby Santigato. I was shocked to hear him show any remote knowledge on this subject at all. As he said that, I was seeing Robbie Dan looking right at him, as if feeling like he needed to know what Drake had been saying about his uncle.

"What did he say about Bobby? That he is a sick and disgusting piece of shit that deserved everything that happened to him and more? That he single handedly ruined an entire family all just for one person?" Robbie Dan said, showing the morose side of his feelings.

"I will be honest. I would rather have never been born and mom get sent down there instead if it had meant that those sisters were safe." He finished, feeling like he just needed to be as utterly real with his feelings on the matter as possible.

"Is that why you want to save Lydia?" Drake said, feeling like he needed to see where this was going, and if this plan was actually something that he had been thinking about for any extended period of time at all. To be honest, I was seeing Robbie Dan looking like he was trying to find the best way in the world he could explain his feelings here.

"To show the town that I am nothing like that monster? That is a part of it, yes. But also because Lydia is a woman who is worth dying for." RObbie Dan said, feeling like he just needed to be honest about what he was feeling here. I was glad to hear him sound like he genuinely believed in all that he had been saying.

"You are making him the monster for no reason. You don't need to keep hating this man as much as you fucking do, and you are just letting this guy have more power over you than you ever fucking need." Manny said, and then Robbie Dan shook his head as he was hearing this.

"You clearly do not understand what it is like to know that your uncle is a man who sold off nearly a dozen girls and openly fucking admitted it, and was proud of such a fucking thing. So yeah, I think you need to just get the hell away from me about how I am judging him too harshly or whatever the hell." Robbie Dan said, and then with that, Manny shrugged, and nodded, as if feeling the need to let him have that.

"Okay, I guess that one is true. I hate to admit it, but you do have a fucking point here. Not that I fucking like it." As Manny said this, he was then thinking of how he could compromise, and make the subject less uncomfortable with where this had been going so far.

"Sorry. I keep forgetting that not all situations are the same, and I feel like that is something that I have to fucking accept." As he said that, I was seeing Manny looking like he had genuinely hoped that this comment would be enough to make the subject move along, and be a bit less uncomfortable than it had been at this rate.

"Will I ever meet Lincoln?" Drake asked, putting down his play crown, and he was looking like he was willing to take things seriously for once. Almost as if he was feeling like at this rate, he just needed to be honest here. Drake looked like he was genuinely interested in where this was going. I could see him looking like he had to decide where to go from there.

"I highly doubt it. I think ever since mom told me the story, she has seemed to really regret it, and she has been trying to step back from those stories in general. I think that she might be scared to show anybody him, because she is scared of what this would mean for the larger public." As Robbie Dan said this, I was seeing him looking like he had to find something to say here.

"Drake, thanks for not fighting me constantly on everything that I feel here. I understand that it can be hard to hear so many negative things... But I feel like it has to be done." He said, sounding like he was considering exactly where this would be going.

"Can I meet with Lars?" Drake asked, and he knew that this comment was nothing like what Robbie Dan wanted to hear. As if he was purposely just saying this to piss Robbie Dan off. But he then knew that deep down inside, Drake was too young, and too innocent to truly get it, so he decided that maybe he needed to let Drake have this, and not press it.

"If you feel like that is something you genuinely want to do, then I suppose I will not fight this. He might not be the guy you expect though. And I am just trying to warn you that because I do like you." He said, sounding a bit annoyed that he had to say this.

"I thought you would have met him already. You know, given the fact that he drops by the house every month and hands and sum of money to you guys." He said, referring to the stuff he does for Lydia all the time. Which should have made it real obvious that he was Lydia's biological father, since he had been doing all these for a while now.

"I have met him, but I never really got to know him know him. I only know most of what he is like." He said, sounding a bit annoyed that he even had to clarify where this is coming from. Robbie Dan slowly nodded, feeling like this response was making sense, and when it was put this way, he was sort of seeing where Drake had been coming from here.

"Trust me when I say that once you get to actually know him, the appeal will die off very quickly. He will seem like a really nice guy when you first get to know him, but over time, it will seem like that appeal is all gone." He said, feeling like he just needed to be honest about what he was feeling.

"Lydia would disagree with you. She seems to think you are treating him too unfairly." Drake said, feeling like he needed to tell him the truth here. As if he wasn't sure if this was something that Robbie Dan knew or not, so he was feeling like he might as well just say what was really on his mind.

"I know that is what she thinks. And frankly, I don't care what she fucking thinks. She just seems to be into the mindset that this is something that we can fucking negotiate or whatever. But to be honest, I have lost all interest in debating this shit here. It was fun to argue and trade words with Lydia when it came to Lars for a while. But that appeal has completely fucking died off." He said, and then he thought of what he needed to say.

"Honestly, despite my harsh comments on the guy, I do like Lars more than a lot of the people in Wayside. At least he seems willing to own up to the shit that he has said and done. That is something that I do respect. Not something that I really am in love with, but I can see what he is doing, and I can fucking live with it. People like Rob Reichenbach, I have no idea what to think of." He said, sounding like he needed to put the blame on Rob. After all, he is the only one who he truly hated beyond everything else, and the only one here who he would actually wish ill will towards, if he he had needed to.

"Have you ever met Rob?" Manny asked, mainly to all three of us. Drake shook his head, as if that was something that was actually kind of sad to think about. Almost like this was something that he had wanted to do at some point but knew deep down inside, that he was never going to get the chance to do this.

"I want to though. Will I ever be able to?" Drake asked, feeling like that was a good way to just be straight up with it. As he said that, I was seeing Robbie Dan and Manny both looking like Drake had been too optimistic that this was something that could happen, and he had been thinking way too deeply into this.

"Maybe one of these days. I have no fucking idea. I think that you might be having a hard time with that, if you want me to be utterly honest with you." He said, sounding like he just needed to be honest there. I was feeling like Robbie Dan was genuinely trying his best to make sense out of this, but had a hard time doing this.

"I think the only one of your siblings that Rob has actually met might have been like Gabe and Todd. That I fucking know of." He said, sounding like he just needed to be honest there. Hoping that this would make him just drop the subject, and not keep pressing the matter any further.

"Maybe I can see what they think of him." As Drake said this, he sounded like he was hoping that his insistence on the matter was actually going to make this conversation move along in any way at all. Manny then thoight of what he wanted to say next. As if he had hoped that this conversation would move forward in a constructive way.

"Guys, do you understand that nothing is getting done here while we talk like a bunch of fucking politicians? Maybe we can actually move this along in a way that helps us along." He said, sounding like he was tired of this subject just going in a billion circles that had been accomplishing nothing.

"We're not talking like politicians," Drake said, sounding like he was genuinely thinking that this was still a nice and fun conversation. Which in his mind, I think it might have been. And honestly, I was feeling like it should have been that way. None of us were ever getting anything done with these talks, and they were all annoying and all over the place, so we just needed to let this subject go for now.

"You might think that you are not. And you might be thinking that this isn't going to accomplish nothing. But guess what, all these talks that we are having is just going nowhere, and I think that we both know that we need to end this before it gets much worse." As Manny said this, he sounded like he had just hoped that this would finally end.

"And to be honest, I think the larger issue is the fact that Rob hasn't taken the time to meet anybody. If he would actually bother meeting anybody, then I think people would respect and trust him more. But until he fucking does, then nothing will be done." As he said that, I was wondering what else would happen now.

"And my friend is still gone, and I feel like at this point in time, the public thinks she is a bitch who is made to die." As Manny said this, he was not giving a single shit if Drake did not like the dark language. He wanted to say what he wanted to say, and he was going to say what he needed to if it was the only way that it would make people listen to him, even just a smidge.

"Is that the one who hung out with Seth a lot?" Drake asked, feeling like he might as well see if he actually knew who this was. Manny looked at him, as if upset at the fact that Becky was just brought down to somebody like this, and he was clearly thinking that she deserved so much better.

"She was more than that. I know you don't mean it that way. But please, in the future, never refer to her as that again. I can't ever forgive myself if more people just think that she is somebody who doesn't matter anymore." He said, feeling like he just needed to be honest there.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you guys." He said, sounding like he was genuinely regretting this statement. Then with that, Manny sighed, as if feeling like he needed to try and just apologize for this. "Just that Seth never talks about her, and I wasn't exactly sure what the story was anymore."

"Never talked about her anymore?" Manny asked, and he was sounding a bit more upset about that than he was about what Drake has said. As if he had felt like that was something that he truly would have a hard time forgiving.

"I can accept you guys not knowing her very well. That is fine. You guys were too young. But Seth never talking about her anymore? That shit is fucked up, and I hate it." He was then wondering why he was even saying the things that he even had been saying. Almost like he was just chalking himself up to be feeling the worst things possible.

"What if he wants to move on, and be done with this? What if he is trying to be happy for once?" He said, sounding like he needed to maybe get Manny to think about things for once, and if maybe he could get Manny to see that not everything had to be fucking terrible. Not everything had to be a controversy.

"Well, if that is the case, then I might just have to fucking say that maybe none of us should be happy, and we should all be reminded about the suffering that we have been forced to deal with. This might be sounding harsh here, but it is the fucking truth. And I know that deep down inside, I have every right to be angry at here, because I know that deep down inside, I am the main person who is making this such a fucking issue here." As Manny said this, I was wondering how much he was genuinely meaning what he was saying, or if he was just trying to soothe things out even a smidge here.

"Okay, I guess I will remember that you are this type of person, after all…" Drake said, sounding like he was just genuinely disgusted at the fact that he was even having to say this in the first place. Not that I could blame him. He probably thought that Manny was supposed to be a good guy, and then to have this happen, was probably something that was really bringing him down here, and I did not really blame him if he was having a hard time making peace with such a thing.

"Look, don't try and make me the bad guy here, for just simply saying what I truly believe here. Not like I am saying these horrible things just to be a fucking asshole here. If you guys are having a hard time accepting the fact that I just have different views than you, then I feel like that is something that you guys will have to deal with on your own." He said, sounding like he just needed to be as straight up real as he could be here. Maybe a bit blunt, and hard. But he needed to say this, if he was to really make any fucking difference at all.

"Anyways, I think we all just sort of feel awful for what has been happening here, and I think that this whole thing is just over whelming us here. So yeah, I think that we just need to take a deep breath, and realize that we have been kind of making things twenty times worse for no fucking reason." As he said that, I was then wondering if he was truly feeling this way, or if he was just saying this as a way to try and de escalate this before it ended up getting any worse.

"You feel awful because you know that you are treating Seth horrible for no fucking reason, and you realize that you need to stop doing such a thing?" As Drake asked this, he was hoping that this response was actually going to get Manny to think about things here, and think about if any of these hills were worth fucking dying on.

"Well, maybe he does have a point, here Drake…" As Robbie Dan said this, he was looking right at Manny, as if feeling like he just needed to give Manny this much. The look on his face was as if he was regretting even mentioning this in the first place. As if he was feeling like once these words left his mouth, he knew that there was no way in hell that he was going to let them go.

"No, he fucking doesn't." Drake said, sounding like he was just hoping that the more that he said it, and the harder that he said it, the more that the point would be made. Everybody just looked right at him, as if feeling like they needed to be fair, and patient with him, and maybe consider where he might have been coming from. He must have been really scared, and he must have been wondering if people were really being nice here. I felt like maybe to Drake's mind, what was happening was unjust.

"If you fucking say so, I guess that maybe I am being a bit of a fucking bitch." Manny said, feeling like he just needed to say this as a way to make Drake just stop being a fucking baby over this. Almost as if he was feeling like he had no fucking choice on the matter. I guess that in a matter of speaking, he did kind of feel like this was the fucking case. Despite it all, I did fucking feel bad for everybody here. They were just trying to express their feelings here, and everybody was all going against each other, and making things worse than they had ever needed to be.

But despite everything, I could tell that Manny was feeling bad here. He was aware that at the end of the day, Drake was just simply looking up to Seth as a bit of a role model, so to hear him just being torn down by this speaking, in the way that he had been, must have been fucking rough for him. In a way, I was wondering if it was even fucking worth it. And in a way, I was feeling deeply bad for Drake here. Seth had helped him so much over the years, and had given Drake so much more confidence than he used to have. So in a way, this was a sort of betrayal, and I was feeling like maybe we just needed to give Drake this level of pity here before we made things twenty times harder than they needed to be for no fucking reason. I just looked at Manny, and I hoped that he would see this before the judgment got too intense. Especially since Drake was still only three years older than me.

A few hours later, Lars was at our house, and he knocked on the door. Lydia answered it, and then Lars walked right inside. I was standing there, and I was wondering where this conversation was going to be heading right now. I saw from the look on Lars's face that he was actually kind of worried about the updates that he was going to give us. Almost like he regretted everything that happened right now.

"Hello, I was wanting to check and see how you guys were doing. You know, since it's been a while. And I was hoping that school had been going well so far." He said, looking straight at Lydia, and I was seeing Lydia looking like she was a bit shocked to see Lars come here in the first place. Almost like she was wondering what angle Lars was going to be playing at here.

"My school year has been going well enough for now. I have been hanging out with Claire a bit, and you know, Robbie Dan has been rather nice to me so far." Lydia said, and then she looked right at Lars, as if wondering what Lars was going to do here. She seemed like she was really scared of Lars being here, and was wondering if he was planning on telling her something else.

"Honestly Lydia, I was wanting to just talk to you for a bit. I know that we haven't been as connected with each other for a while, and I know you and I don't always see eye to eye. But I think you and I are close to having a understanding with each other. After all, you have allowed me to show you around various places." He said, sounding like he was hoping that by talking like this, he could get Lydia to just open up a bit more. But the look on her face was looking like she was scared out of her mind where this was going.

"Dad, what are you meaning? I mean, I thought that you were the one who was telling me that we should not be hanging out as much? Why are you suddenly changing your tune on the subject?" Lydia asked, sounding like she was actually really annoyed at the way Lars talked here. But then Lars sighed, feeling like he was already regretting this line of conversation, and wished that he would have never made the comments that he did.

"I was originally feeling that way because I wasn't sure if you were really ready to understand everything that is happening here. I was wrong, and I feel like that is going to become a massive issue soon enough. People in this town, when they see how much you are going to try and find out what is happening here, will push at you, and force you to keep talking. As your father, I am just concerned for you, and I care about you much more than I can describe." Lars said, and then he looked right at me, as if wondering what I was going to be saying to this. I had no deal clue what I could tell him.

"Are your other siblings doing a good job watching Lydia to make sure that she is safe? You might not realize it, but I really don't want anything to happen to her." He said, sounding like he just needed to really sell the point of this being true.

"They are." I said, feeling like I just needed to tell them what they wanted to hear. Not that I was really sure how true that was, but I was not really in the mood to deal with Lars being all over me. Lars then took out a cigarette, and he was shaking his head, as if feeling like he was just not really believing in what was hearing. For some reason, he was just seeming to have a rather hard time accepting this.

"That's good to hear. If they had not been, then I feel like I would be talking to your father about how he is watching Lydia. I would make sure that I wouldn't agree with his way of avoiding the subject at all. I would feel like he has not been taking the responsibility that he had needed to take." He said, looking straight at me, and then he was smiling as he was thinking about how much of a iron grip he was truly having on us at this moment.

"He wouldn't do a bad job raising me Lars." Lydia said, this time referring to him by his real name. Lars looked right at her, as if noticing this exact moment. "Dad is a busy guy. Let him do this. He knows that he just has a lot on his plate." Lars then looked right at me, wondering what I would say.

"Do you vouch for what she is saying about your father. You know, he and I have always had a hard time fully getting along before. But I think that next time I see him, I might need to talk about my concerns with his job, and his management skills." Lars said, and then Lydia was about to say something, when Lars just sat down.

"I think it is not a very smart idea for you to talk to Robbie Dan anymore. I know that he is trying to be more respectful for people, and I respect how much he has improved… But he is a bad influence on you, and I feel like deep down, you know that he is. I don't even know why you keep defending that asshole when you know what he has been like in the past.

"Because you just said, that this asshole has been putting in the effort to fucking improve. I have no idea why you are hard on the guy that you just admitted is putting in the effort. You know that this is completely fucking unfair for him." She said, and then Lars sighed, and then he rubbed his eyes.

"Some people are just too far gone to be able to fix them. Your friend Robbie Dan is exactly that. You might think that he is somebody who can be redeemed, and you will try and fucking do this. But deep down, you know that there is no way that you can fucking fix him." He said, and then he was smiling as he knew exactly what he wanted to fucking say.

"Robbie Dan is not too far gone." Lydia said, sounding like if Lars kept this up, this would be the first real time he and her were going to have a real big disagreement. I was wondering if this disagreement was going to lead to something happening to one of those three before too long. And to be honest, I was scared of what lengths Lars would be going to in order to make Lydia see that he was right about everything that he was saying about Robbie.

"Yes, he fucking is. And one of these days, you will fucking see that before your affection for him clouds your judgement." He said, feeling like he just needed to be honest with Lydia there, Lydia just looked down, and I could tell how much she had wished that she could convince him right now. But deep down, she was aware that nothing she would say would convince him, and that was something that she felt like would become a huge conflict.

Scene 11 Part 2– August 16, 2025

Nearly an entire year after Seth, Manny, Stanley, and I were talking about going to Reppcon, did we finally actually fucking do it. At this time, Manny was still working at the Dinosaur Hotel, which in my opinion was still kind of cute, if I was being honest. And I was finding myself hoping that this situation was going to be not all that horrible to begin with.

Once we all met up outside the Dinosaur, I was shocked at how much Manny had aged in the last year or so. He went from being extremely skinny and still relatively short to get away with it to being two inches over six feet, and looking like he was basically a skeleton, and barely holding himself together at all.

"I was starting to think that we were never going to actually go on through with this plan. Honestly, I am just glad that we are finally doing this." Manny said, and he was sounding like he was regretting this plan now that it was going into action. When we were just simply talking about it out loud, and not actually doing this, that was one thing. But once we were actually doing this, I think he started to feel the dread kicking in, and he knew that this was a horrible set up.

"Manny, we need to do this. You and I both know that we have been putting this off for way too fucking long. Please just don't turn back now…" As Seth said this to Manny, he was then taking a moment to think about what was happening. "As much as I hate the fact that we all just collectively stalled this off for way too fucking long, I will say one thing that might work to our advantage is that now that Becky has been gone for well over a fucking year, people there might actually be willing to talk to us here." Seth said, seeming to hope that this was actually the truth.

"I hope you're right. I can counter argue by saying that there is a chance that they don't even fucking know who Becky is anymore. You know, given the fact that this was so long ago, that she might not even be a issue in her mind anymore." Manny said, feeling like he just needed to be utterly honest as he was saying this. I wondered if he was just looking for an excuse to escape this.

"Well, we can just go inside, and simply see if they even saw her there in the first place. There doesn't need to be a fucking mystery there. If they haven't seen her there, then we just ignore them, move on, and leave them alone. Simple as that. We both have other things that they are scared of." Stanley said, sounding like he wished that this conversation would move along, and not be dragged on as long as it had possibly been.

"I feel like they would never just willingly give that information up. But if you feel like this is a good idea, then I suppose that we can try. It's better than us just keep delaying, and better than us arguing about this whole thing constantly." Manny said, sounding like he wished that this subject would just end now. He had never wanted this discussion to even continue for as long as it had since it accomplished nothing.

We started to walk down to Reppcon, spending about an hour reaching there, despite looking much closer when we were in the distance. I was panting in fatigue the entire time we were heading in that direction, since to be honest, I was not expecting something like this would be taking so god damn fucking long in the first place.

By the time we reached the building, we were all sweating, and clearly feeling some regret over what had been happening. Manny was rubbing his forehead, as if he was realizing what he was about to admit out loud here.

"I barely have gone out more than a block of two beyond the fucking hotel. I never realized how fucking exhausting this shit really can be." As he said that to us, he sounded like he wasn't sure if he was finding this funny, or finding this sad. But either way, he was kind of realizing how much he kind of regretted living his life this way for so long.

"Well, what's done is done. We might as well just move this along." Seth said, but he was clearly still not very happy with how things had done. How for an entire year, every time they tried to set up this infiltration, either Seth, or Manny, would decide that they wanted to just delay this whole thing, and no progress had been made

As we were walking outside a bit, all five of us were looking around, and we were finding ourselves sort of shocked at how worn down this place had looked so far. As if it hadn't been in business properly for quite some time now. The rocket in front of the building, for example, had some of the inside work showing out due to people vandalizing the rocket and rain and rust growing on it.

"Was this facility in the process of shutting down soon? This looks fucking horrible." Robbie said, sounding like he had no idea what the hell he was supposed to say here. Then with that, he looked right at us, trying to find something else to say. "I thought you would have been able to see if something like this was fucking happening. You know, since you have been working at the Dinosaur Hotel for a year."

"I could just simply see the area in the distance. I didn't know the first thing about how it was actually being run, if it was actually being run at all. So please don't try and put this shit on me. I didn't think that any of this really ever mattered." Manny said this, he was sounding like he was really annoyed at the pressing that was going on here.

"Let's go inside. Maybe we can learn something from people inside. No need to be getting angry for no fucking reason." Seth said, feeling like he needed to try and fucking make this situation less uncomfortable for everybody involved. Almost like he was wishing that we never had to escalate things the way that we had.

"If you fucking say so." As he said that, I could tell that Robbie Dan was just playing along with this statement for now as a way to just simply try and reduce the amount of tension that was going on here. Robbie Dan looked around, and I was seeing him just looking like he was accepting in his mind that he might have just wasted a ton of time on getting himself involved in something that was not even going to matter in the long run.

We walked inside the fucking facility, and I was seeing that the inside was looking rather shiny, and I was wondering what was happening here. I was taking a deep breath, not exactly sure what else I was supposed to feel here. I smiled, feeling like I just needed to not think much of it.

"Is there anybody here? It looks like this place has never been used or something? Or that it gets sanitized a fucking ton." Manny said, feeling like he was needing to take a moment to consider what all of this was even fucking meaning.

"This is kind of fucking scary, if I am honest. Like at least if the area was torn to shreds, and looked like a total shit hold, you would know that this place is no longer being used. But this is not really nearly as certain at all." As he said that, I sort of felt like I understand exactly what Stanley meant.

Then with that, I was looking up, and I saw that the area had looked like it was still recently used. "Well, I think we should still look around, and see what we can find. No reason to be talking here." Robbie Dan said, sounding like he was just kind of hoping this would move along. I slowly nodded, and everybody else seemed to agree, and we decided to walk for a while. Seth took out a cigarette, feeling like he was ready for whatever the hell he would find here.

"Hey Seth, do you think that there is any chance that we will actually find Becky here?" Manny asked, feeling like he just needed to try once again to get Seth to admit that this whole plan was a fucking mess, and that they were both wasting their time here.

"Nobody said we thought we were going to find Becky in here. We accept the fact that there is no fucking chance that she will be going home. We are just simply looking at the best outcome here, considering the fact that it has been proven that she was here. Once we find out where she went from here, we can just leave this place, and be done with it." Seth said, sounding just annoyed at the fact that he was even clarifying this to begin with.

"And honestly, even if Becky were here, we both know that the chances of finding her were fucking slim to none anyways. So why even bother getting our hopes up for that?" He asked, feeling like he just needed to be honest when he said that.

As we had been talking, that was when there was a voice that called to our attention. "You're looking for Becky? She hasn't been seen here in over a year. And I highly recommend that you don't come back here trying to find her. Many people have been coming here looking for her, and we have all had to tell them the same exact things, and the people that own this place are getting tired of having to explain this to them over and over again." The guy said, sounding like they were hoping that the response would actually suffice with them.

"Do you know why she even came here in the first place? That part of the story has never made any fucking sense to me." As Seth said that, he looked right at the guy, and was hoping that there would actually be a fucking answer here.

"No, I have no idea why she would be here. But I assume that my bosses do know, and I feel like you should take it up with them before you ask anybody else." He said, and then with that, I saw that Seth was willing to take that response, since it was fair enough.

"Well, where is your boss, so I can fucking talk with them?" He asked, hoping that there would actually be an answer here. The guy shrugged, feeling like we were still young enough to where there was no reason for us to be considered any threats here. In fact, he probably just found us to be more annoying than anything else, and mainly just wanted us to leave him alone.

"They are on the second floor. They haven't taken any guests in a while. So please, make sure that when you see them, that you make it quick, and you do not talk about anything that they do not have interest in." He said, feeling like he needed to give us the proper warning, as a way to make us more aware of what was happening at all.

"Thank you for your time. We promise that we will not be dragging this meeting out longer than is absolutely necessary. We respect the fact that he must be a busy man." Manny said, feeling like he needed to take this conversation over, as a way to make it seem like there wasn't anybody who was pressing him too fucking hard.

As we were walking along for a moment, I was seeing Stanley looking like he was a bit cautious about how this was working out. He ended up just stating the one thing that deep down inside, I think we were all kind of scared to say out of the fear that deep down inside, I think we all knew that there was a really good chance that this was actually true.

"Do you think that maybe this is just a fucking trap or something? Like they know what we are wanting to ask, and they are going to be giving us false information in order to fucking follow a different path?" As Stanley asked, Robbie Dan sighed, sounding like that was the last thing that he had even wanted to think about is the truth.

"Well, honestly, if this does end up being the truth, then I suppose that this is something kind of coming to us. And to be honest, I am kind of surprised that anyody is here at all. You know, given everything that we were seeing earlier. I thought that we were straight up never going to find anybody." Robbie Dan admitted, considering how quiet it had been that entire time.

After a bit, we eventually reached the bosses room. The door was very clear, because it was labelled as such. Robbie Dan knocked on the door, and I was finding myself wondering why he was trying so damn hard to act like he was the leader of the group. He was not the leader of the group. In fact, he was barely the leader of anything, and he was acting like what he was doing the big heroic thing that he needed to keep doing for everybodys sake.

"Robbie, when we see the guy, I think you need to let us do most of the talking. I get that you want to be the man behind the wheel a lot. But the truth of the matter is that, I think you need to be a bit more careful. Especially since Becky wasn't even your friend to begin with." Manny said, trying to warn the guy, but then Robbie Dan looked like he was a bit annoyed at the fact that he was even being told this, once again, given everything that happened.

"Yeah, I fucking know. I was literally just fucking knocking on the god damn door. We don't need to be making a giant fucking issue here anymore. Not like it is that fucking big of a deal if I just fucking knock on a door." Robbe Dan said, sounding like he just needed to defend himself a bit.

"I just know that from stories that I heard, that you like to take the fucking lead head on. So I was just simply trying to let you know that you did not need to fucking do that." He said, sounding like he needed to just sort of put the point across.

"Yeah, maybe I fucking do like to do that, because I fucking feel like some people really leave me with no fucking choice on the matter. Did you ever fucking consider that? That I had no fucking choice on the matter, and you guys forced my fucking hand?" He asked, sounding annoyed as hell that he even had to explain any of this in the first place, and wished that the story would just end sooner rather than later.

"And besides, I have been just spending the last year working on my friendships. You know, with Lydia's lady friends, and with Stanley…" Robbie said, and then with that, the door opened, and the guy behind the door looked really annoyed that he was seeing us here. As if he was feeling like we all needed to quiet the hell down before he lost his cool.

"With all due respect to you guys, but can you guys just have your drama elsewhere? If you guys want to argue constantly, then that is fine. But please, just try and keep it down. And if you need to say something to me, just fucking say it in my office." He said, sounding like he was genuinely fucking pissed he even needed to say this anyways.

"Fair enough. In fact, I was wanting to talk to you for a moment…" Seth said, and then he took a moment to think this out. "I was wanting to talk to you about Becky, and what you might be able to tell me about her missing case? I read somewhere that one of the last places that she had been seen was actually at this Repcon Facility."

"Becky is one of my friends, who went missing a bit over a year ago, if you do not know or remember. Sorry for just kind of dumping that intel on you with little build up. I just kind of feel overwhelmed when I talk about her, and everything that is going on." Seth said, and then the guy stopped what he was doing, looked like he had been caught like a deer in the headlights there for some reason.

"Just tell me what you fucking know, and I promise that I will not be making things twenty times worse than they already are. I know that you have been really busy here, and I know that in all honesty, I should have just done this a year ago, when the subject was still fresh. But for the love of god, I need to fucking know what is happening here." As he said that, I was seeing Seth looking like he was hoping he wouldn't be too aggressive here given everything.

"Look, you coming at me with a million points of vengeance is going to not help you, or anybody else. You have some friends over here who really do not need to see you acting this way, and would rather you not. So how about we just settle down, take a deep breath, and look at this in a mature way. Because I know you are not going to enjoy this answer… But truth be told, I do not know everything about her, even if I wanted to. She did come here a while back, and then she just fucking left, and basically gave no fucking clue what was happening. I even fucking asked her if she needed some help. If she was with people. But she basically decided she was too fucking freaked out." He said, sounding like he was kind of scared of what we would say there.

"Do you know where she was going?" Seth asked, sounding like he was glad that he was technically getting something here. But at the same time, he was scared at where this was going. Almost like he had thought that this could blow up way worse than it did, but that this was starting to at least be sort of settled in.

"She said she was planning on running away from Wayside entirely. She said she was thinking something down south like Alabama, or maybe somewhere in New England like Maine. But I think we both know that neither of those plans are coming anywhere close to happening. That fucking news report said she went missing like maybe two or three days after she had come by." As he said that, he looked at Manny, and had a shit eating grin on his face.

"You come at me, all high and mighty, but the truth is that you guys probably don't know the simple thing that is probably right there in front of you." He said, and then Stanley decided to interject, feeling the need to say something.

"What the fucking hell do you mean? Anything you can give us, then I think we will fucking take." Stanley said, feeling like anything that would be given to us at all, in any way shape or form, was going to be for the best.
"She told me she was staying at the Dinosaur hotel. She said that she was going to be there until she had enough money given to her by an anonymous source, that she could get on train, and escape. But guess what? That never fucking happened. My theory is that either somebody found out her plans, and she was taken away before that happened, maybe by somebody in the hotel, or the source was a set up, and they took her instead. Point of the fucking matter is, check the god damn hotel before you come at me, guns blazing, and pretending like I am the one who is behind this all." He said, sounding like he was actually genuinely kind of hurt at this.

I was seeing Manny looking like he was wanting to say something, to fight back, and make it clear that he did not really think this was true at all. But then he took a deep breath, and started to realize that maybe there was a chance that this was fucking right, and he was starting to realize that maybe he need to actually listen this assholes advice.

"There's no way." I said, feeling like I just needed to state that, as a way for everybody in the area to sort of share the same disbelief. But deep down inside, I knew that he was right. Deep down inside, I knew that there was no reason to pretend like this was not the truth. And I felt like this was a fucking mistake for us to pretend like it hadn't been.

"Yeah, well, I think you need to give it a fucking check. Check the footage, or whatever. Do something that makes it clear that you gave it a chance, like look at the hotel logs, and then when you look at that, and still feel like we have something to do with it, then we will look for it." Then with that, he closed the door on us, barely giving us a chance to understand what the hell was even fucking happening here.

"Fucking hell. If this is true, and the answer has been there the whole fucking time, then I would be so fucking pissed off at myself, for not seeing it. I feel like I would almost deserve to fucking be torn to shreds over that." Manny said, and he genuinely sounded like he was regretting everything that he was doing up until this point.

"Guys, I am going to check this right now. If you want to come with me, then that would be awesome. If not, then I would not blame you at all for this. I can understand if you guys just need some fucking time to be alone, and process everything that is happening here." As he said that to us, I was seeing him looking like he genuinely hoped we were going to do this. As if he was hoping we could give him some reprieve from what was happening here.

"I will go with him." Stanley said, sounding very sure of himself as if this was the best choice he could make here. Then with that, Seth looked right at Robbie Dan, as Seth stopped holding me around, and he looked like he was kind of wanting to say something.

"Okay, see you guys there in about two hours. Once we meet up again, that would be a good moment to confront Jeannie May. Then after that, we will discuss what to do from there. Robbie Dan and I have some stuff to discuss. That I feel like we both need to just get off our chest before the fight continues on any longer than it has." Seth said, and Robbie Dan looked like he was genuinely scared there for a second. Then he slowly nodded, as if he had accepted the fact that this was his fate, and that he just needed to take this for what it was.

"Okay…" Stanley said, sounding like he was kind of scared of what was happening here. What Seth was planning on doing with Robbie Dan. Knowing that this was probably going to lead to a very uncomfortable subject going forward.

"Besides, it tactically makes sense. Say if something happens to one group on our way back or something, the other group stays safe, and then we can just all meet back up, put this whole thing behind us, and be done with this." Seth said, sounding like he had hoped that this was making a bunch of sense, and wasn't going to create any controversy.

As Stanley and Manny left, with it being very clear that Seth was only just trying to get under Robbie Dan's skin a bit more, Seth and him started to walk along, and I was following them a bit. But we were going at a much slower pace, as to make sure that we were not just with the other two guys anyways, which would have defeated the whole purpose of the split up to begin with.

"Robbie, I wanted to talk to you for a while, and I understand if you feel like you aren't really ready for something like this yet. But truth be told, I just wanted to say that I think that maybe going forward, it might be best if you try and avoid the siblings. They might not be ready to trust you yet, and to be honest, I did not really blame them quite yet. I think that they believe that you are still sort of in this for yourself, and I feel like you have a ton of work ahead of you, to prove that you are the team player that you want to be. And to be honest, I do fully support you, and I do fully want you to understand that I will be there at your side, regardless of what happens now. I just feel like you need to show people that you are actually being sincere." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response as going to be enough to actually get Robbie Dan to take it and not leave it.

"Seth, I want you to be honest with me, why in the world are you trying to support me so fucking much? I was so rude to you back then, and I feel like if you do not want to be around me, then I would never be able to fucking blame you at all. I just think that you need to be more open about what is happening here." As Robbie Dan said this, I was seeing him looking like he was a bit upset at the fact that he was having to say this.

"Frankly, I can't help but feel like you are just playing games with me, and to be honest, I am kind of pissed off at the fact that you are thinking that this is something that I would be willing to just go along with." Robbie Dan said, and then he slapped himself a bit.

"I can tell from the way you are acting that you don't fucking believe in that stuff. You want to keep pretending like you are chill with everything going on here… But deep down inside, you are just trying to hide the fact that you wish that you could have more help here. And I am giving it to you. All you have to do is just accept the offer, and I will fucking do whatever I can to help you out." Seth said, sounding like he was seeing what Robbie Dan was like deep down inside.

"I will accept it. I do want to accept it. I just have a hard time coming around to things. It is not your fault at all, and I feel bad for even remotely presenting it as if it was. I just have a hard time really putting my feelings on this in a way that works out. So yeah, I am deeply sorry for that." As Robbie Dan said this, he sighed in annoyance.

"Truth is, I am scared of what is happening here. I am scared that I just need to start lying to people. I do not want to start lying to people, I would hate lying to people… But I personally am starting to see that I might have no fucking choice on the matter at all." I said, feeling like I just needed to be honest with him here. "Truth be told, I almost wish that I had never met you guys, and if I could do it all again, I would have refused Bebe's offer to meet to you guys in person."

"You do not need to start lying then. You can just go home right now, leave this whole thing behind, pretend like this conversation never happened, and then you can say that you know nothing, and it would be the truth. I think that this is fair enough. You are making this much harder on yourself than you need to be, and I think that you are aware of this." Seth said, sounding like he had hoped that this response was actually going to stick.

"What would I tell Lydia if I was trying to be honest, and not lie then? I mean, maybe there can be a modified version of the truth, where I tell her some stuff, and then not all? Do you think that something like this could work out?" Robbie Dan asked, sounding like he was genuinely trying to play more honest here, but had no idea how in the hell he was going to do this at all.

"How about you just simply tell her that you were working with Stanley to help him with helping Manny find out the truth what happened to Becky. Simple as fucking that. There is no need to make things over the top. She doesn't usually care for all the details. You know Lydia enough. You're only a grade higher than her. You can just tell he this, and then she will be satisfied, and then she will leave you alone." As he said that to Robbie Dan, he was finding himself wondering why Robbie Dan was having such a hard time coming around to this, considering the fact that the answer was right there, and he knew exactly what he had needed to do.

"I guess that I can fucking do that. Not that it would be the best idea in the world. I still think this can go horribly wrong, horribly quickly. But I suppose that I want to give you a chance to show me wrong." As Robbie Dan said this, he was sounding like he was kind of happy to just go along with this idea, since he was thinking that there was no reason to hide behind it at all.

"Good. Look, you know at the end of the day, I am just doing what I can to move you forward. I am in no way trying to make things worse for you, and in fact, if you wouldn't be so fucking stubborn all the fucking time, you would see that this is actually the fucking truth. You would see that we are just simply giving you all that you fucking need." As he said that, I was seeing him looking like he was just wishing that this degree of fatigue would finally be over, and now that both sides have stated their needs, there was no need to press this any further.

"I know, I know, I know. I wish that I was listening to you much more than I fucking had been. I feel like that is my worst mistake if I am honest." Robbie Dan said, feeling like he just needed to be totally honest there. But then with that, I wondered what else we were going to fucking say now.

"Honestly, I believe that out of all your siblings, you have actually been the one who has been the least harsh with me. It seems like you are the one sibling in the family that actually seems to understand that I am just simply trying to do my best here, and not make things any worse for everybody here. I always feel like some of the siblings hate me, or at least hated me…" Seth said, looking straight at Robbie Dan, and feeling like he just needed to be straight up with what he thought was going on there.

"Well, I hope you give me a reason to keep believing in you, and that you don't prove me wrong. If you do, then I would be rather disappointed… I am putting a lot on stake for you, and I think that you need to try and live up to that." Seth said, feeling like he just needed to be utterly there with him, and not give Robbie Dan any scape goat here.

"Fuck, you are putting a lot of expectations one, and I feel like there is nothing that I am fucking do to really live up to them." As Robbie said this, he was mostly trying to sound like he was having some fun here, but in his mind, he was freaking out, and he was really letting what was going on sink in, and that was something that he fucking hated.

"And Robbie Dan, I know that you are seeing what I am seeing with Stanley. I see that you see that he is getting way too into this situation, and we both know that he needs to stop this before it gets too deep." And I think that you are the only one who will make him fucking listen. So please, just be a good friend, and make him start to settle down, and have a real discussion about why he is doing this.

"Yeah, well, I would feel like a hypocrite if I called him out on any of this, when I have been doing that exact same fucking thing. So no, I will not judge him, or hate him on, for any of that shit. If anything, he has been doing a better job at it than I have been, and I need to give him that understanding." As Robbie said that, I was seeing Seth looking like he was actually fucking pissed at the fact that Robbie Dan had said that in the first place. As if he was genuinely feeling like Robbie Dan was being incredibly irresponsible there.

"Just give him a talk. That is all that I fucking ask. Give him a talk, make him see my side of things, and see what he says. If he still refuses to listen to reason, I suppose that I will give this a go, and I will leave you alone." Robbie said, feeling like he just needed to let this go.

Once we were back at the hotel, Manny and Stanley were both looking right at us, and I was seeing them looking like they were both just glad to have us there. And they confirmed to me that they had not been waiting for us nearly as long as I had been dreading, and that they were actually already mostly done with discussing things.

"So, when we talk to Jeannie, we are just simply going to ask her what she knows about Becky staying here. And if she knew anything about this, then why did she decide to take me in. I want to know if this was a plan that she had, and that she was trying to just keep me under wraps or something. You know, I just really need to know what she was thinking here." Manny said, feeling like this was what he needed to work with.

"I want to know if this was some fucked up, bullshit, fucking way, to keep me close, to not get me to turn over a fucking shit ton of investigative leads. If she had been doing this as a way to keep me away from the fucking scene, then I suppose that she did a good job. You know, keep your friends close but your enemies closer." Manny said, starting to walk in. Stanley started to follow him, with Seth, Robbie Dan, and I slowly following, and getting scared on what he was doing.

Once inside the main office, Jeannie looked up at us, and I was seeing that Manny was looking scared to be around her. As if suddenly all his courage had fucking died, and he was now realizing that at any fucking second, if he slipped up, then everything that he had been doing would just go down the fucking drain. "What brings you down here. Haven't seen you face to face in nearly a year. Was there something that you wanted to report?"

Stanley, in his fashion of not being able to keep to himself, decided that he would give the answer before Manny was able to, before Manny was able to actually make an answer that would at least sort of pretend to keep things light.

"Actually, we are wanting you to report to us." He said, and that response made the woman look like she was genuinely pissed off here. As if wondering if Stanley knew that doing so was going to be walking on extremely thin ice there.

"Who the fuck is your friend here? Does he not realize that by showing disrespect, I will not want to be talking to any of you right now?" She asked, and then Manny did look at Stanley, as if he was feeling like Stanley did kind of deserve that.

"I was wondering if you knew anything related to the case about Becky. You know, we have not talked about it at all lately, and I was wondering if you could maybe explain some things to me." As Manny said this, he looked right at her. "I had heard that she had been staying here for a couple of days before she had went missing. Can you confirm, or deny, that this is true?"

"Yes, she was. I thought that you had already known this. You are usually very perceptive of these things. So I suppose I wonder why you haven't been able to fucking figure this out yet." Jeannie asked, and I was seeing Manny looking kind of offended at the fact that this was where she was taking this.

"Was it true that she went missing during her stay here? If that is true, do you perhaps have any fucking idea what might have happened to her?" Manny asked, and Stanley was walking around, pacing like crazy, as if feeling that Manny needed to grow a pair of balls, and say what had truly been on his mind.

"That is not something that I fully know the answer to. She might have, but I do not really know. All that I know is that she went missing a little while before you started to work here, and I felt bad for you, and I decided that I would take you in, and let you work here for a while." As she said that, I saw Manny looking like he was not really buying a single word of what she was saying.

"Would you be willing to let me look at her reservation details?" Manny asked, and he clearly felt like this was the only way that he was going to get her to open up. She looked down, and she looked like she was genuinely ashamed of what he was asking. Almost like she had known deep down inside, that this was going to be a massive fucking issue here.

"If you really think that you need to look at this, and find some degree of closure on her case, then I suppose that I will be willing to do this." Jeannie said, and then she was going to her cabinets that she only had the key of, and she was starting to look through them all. I was then seeing her looking like she was willing to start talking a bit more now.

"I will admit, I was wondering why a girl her age was trying to get a hotel in the first place. I did start to think that she was just simply wanting to enjoy her Spring Break or something." She said, and I was hearing from the tone of her voice that she was turning around, and just trying to make excuses.

I was seeing even Manny looking like he was aware of the tone that she was using, and that he was aware that at this point, he knew that in some way or another, Jeannie was somebody who was in an act, and she had been caught in it, and she was simply trying to get the hell out of there, because she was scared of where this would be going.

Eventually, she pulled out some files, and she was looking at Manny, as if feeling like she needed to try one final time, to get him away from this. As if she was feeling like everything had depended on it. "Please, do you really feeling like this is a good idea? I mean, you know that she is gone. She might not have the official confirmation on it, but I think deep down inside, you know that there is a good chance that this is probably the truth."

"I am going to be looking at this, and you are not going to tell me no. I need to fucking know what happened to my fucking friend, and if you are not going to provide me any help, then I suppose that you need to go fuck yourself." Manny said, and then he ripped the files out of her hands, and I was seeing Jeannie looking like it was at this moment, she had accepted that things were the way that they were.

"If you do not let me look through these, then I will just simply look for this information on my own. And I will fucking quit my job if I have to. So either you let me read these now, or I will just take this information on my own, and I will do whatever I need." He said, smiling at this, sounding like he was proud of himself to be putting a personal spin on this whole thing, given all that had been happening.

Manny left the room, with not just the files for the reservation, but as we learned, the files we would need to learn the truth of what happened to her beyond just the hotel thing. But for now, we did not know that, and for now, I was seeing Stanley looking at Jeannie, as if trying to just simply make her feel a bit better about what was happening.

"Look, you might not see it right now, but you are doing the right fucking thing." He said, and I was seeing Jeannie looking right at him, with a smidge of murder in her eyes, as if feeling like Manny had been wrong about every single word that had left his mouth in that moment.

"Doing the right thing is subjective. You think you are doing the right thing, because you want to make yourself feel better. But deep down inside, you are only making things twenty times worse." She said, sounding like she just needed to be brutally honest with what was going on here.

I could tell from the look on Stanley's face that he was accepting the fact, way too young in life, that these things, were just the facts of life, and in a way, he almost felt kind of glad just finally accepting these things and no longer being scared of these things. Almost like he was willing to take this.

"All is fair in love and war." He said, sounding like this would be a good line, and good come back, before leaving the hotel as well. As he said that, he sounded like he was so proud of himself for what he had said. Almost like he was thinking this was one of his best quotes, which in all honesty, I supposed that it was. But when we all left, we went straight to Manny's room so we could look at the Becky files.

Once in his room, I was seeing Manny looking like he was just glad to finally be getting the answers he wanted this whole time. He was just wishing to finally end this, and not press this any further than it had been at this. "If this even helps me get the closure that I want with Becky, then I need to read this. I have not been able to rest well at all given what had been happening." He said, sounding like he just needed to be honest about what he had been feeling. He was looking like he was lost as hell here.

"Promise me you will be careful though. I really don't want you to do something that will hurt you, and put you in danger. You're a good guy." Seth said, sounding like he needed to do what he could in order to get him to just open up a bit more. Hoping that by doing so, he was actually willing to fucking listen for once, and not fight things.

"I will be careful. Don't worry. I will not let things get any worse for anybody here. I promise you that fucking much." As Manny said this, he was opening up the first folder, and when he was seeing that it was mostly just generic reservation stuff, he was clearly looking like he was a bit let down, and wished that he hadn't really gotten his hopes up for this. But then before he was ready to call it quits, Stanley was about to say something.

Then with that, sounding annoyed, before Stanley said something, he picked the folder back up again. "I fucking hate this. Becky stayed at this hotel for eight days. From May 14 to May 22 2024. During this stay, it has seemed like she had barely gotten outside at all. Almost like she was scared of something. Reports on the file state that she had only left her room once or twice a day, and even when she did, she seemed to be looking around scared, and not wanting to do anything."

"Then there is a list of various charges that were placed on the room. It looks like every night at around 8 pm, she would buy two half liter bottles of water, and one energy drink. There also seemed to be some reports about some people coming to visit her during her stay, but I have no idea who those people." Manny said, and then with that, he just seemed annoyed.

Stanley was looking like he was wanting to just look at the next folder, and move this subject along in a matter that would help everybody out. I was wondering how annoyed that Stanley was getting, at mainly just wanting to move this subject along, but not being able to get any real progress done.

"Hey, there is another folder. Why not fucking just give it a quick look for a second, before you just immediately give up on it?" Stanley asked, feeling like he just needed to get Manny to look at the thing that was clearly in front of him. He shook his head, sounding annoyed as hell here.

Then he caved in, feeling the need to let this go, since he felt like he just needed to play along. When he looked at the second folder for a second, he looked like he suddenly had his entire world end in front of him. "A fucking letter, that Jeannie May Crawford made, for Labyrinth… I should have fucking known. It makes too much sense now. I will read it to you guys, and see what you guys think." He said, sounding like he was disgusted at what he had just said. Feeling like he just needed to take this, and run with it for the time being.

"On May 17, 2024, I, Jeannie May Crawford, sign this bill of sale to send fifteen year old Becky Stein over to the Labyrinth. She has been at this hotel for several nights, and throughout her stay, people have come looking for her, and business is running low. On May 22, 2024, Becky will be taken away and sold off to fifty nine Ocho Tootmorsel, who will be his three hundredth customer." The note started, and I was seeing Manny looking like he was accepting the fact that this was the case, annoyed at the fact that he did not see the writing on the wall sooner, and looked like with what he had known now, he was ready to fucking murder Jeannie, and get justice for Becky.

"Becky Stein has no clue what is going to happen, and I have to make sure that she is staying here for another five days. I will tell her that somebody will be coming to pick her up, on that date, and I need to make sure that nobody knows what is happening here. They need to be unaware of the fact that this transaction is moving along, or else everything we have done will just be thrown down the line." The bill of sale started to turn into more of an open rambling.

What was noticed was the fact that the paper had been signed on the bottom. This made it very clear that this was made official, and that any doubts about her involvement were now gone, and that this was something that had been set up this whole time, and I could tell that Manny had seemed to very much regret everything that he had been saying.

"Look, I have no idea what you guys are planning on doing right now… But let me tell you right now, I plan on fucking killing that woman. Jeannie has been housing me for over a year here, knowing what I wanted to know, and just pretending like she had no fucking idea what is happening here. She is just pretending like this is all fine, and that nothing can go wrong here. She lied to me about the one thing I wanted her to be honest about. I can't let her live with that knowledge." Manny said, sounding like he was ready to take matters into his hands.

"No, I would rather do this with you." Seth said, sounding like he was willing to just go along with this idea right now. Feeling like he had virtually no choice on the matter at all. Almost like he was ready to get some revenge as well, and hoped that this was actually going to work out even half as well as he had been expecting.

"If this woman has been lying to us for no fucking reason for over a year, and she has been trying to hide her faults here, then I want her to be put in jail, or even dead." Seth said, and then with that, Manny sparked his face up, as if he was thinking of what Seth had just said there. The smile on his face was kind of scary, but at the same time, I did want to be involved in whatever he was thinking here.

"I have the gun…" Manny said, feeling like with this thought process in mind, he was willing to just go through with this idea, and see what could happen here. "You know, I think that maybe I will want to do that as well. Killing Jeannie May Crawford…" As he said that, all four of us in the area instantly grew cold, and wondered how literal he was really going to be here.

"If you guys want nothing to do with this, I do not blame you at all. But that seems so tempting now that I feel like I just need to fucking do it. I need to just make sure that she never has a chance to do this to anybody, ever again." As he said that, I was seeing him seeming like he was willing to just go along with this, and not fight it any further.

"No… God damn it… Look, there is no promise that she will never do this again, and I suppose that we all know this. So I guess we might as well just fucking do this, and see what fucking happens. I think this can be a really bad idea… But fucking hell, why the hell not…" Stanley said, and I was finding it scary, how much he was actually agreeing with this idea, and I wondered if everybody was actually thinking this shit out at all, and I wondered what they were thinking.

"If you are actually serious about this idea, then I will be willing to help out. Only today though. If you want to do this even tomorrow, then you guys are out of luck. I think this is a terrible idea, but I know that you guys are going to do this no matter what." Seth said, and I was seeing him looking like he could not believe for a second of his life that those words just escaped his mouth. And he was looking like he had wished that this had never been said. But at the same time, I felt like what was done was done, so we might as well just go along with this, and see what was to come.

Seth looked right at me, and then he shook his head. "But I can't let my brother in on this. He is just a five year old. He needs to stay away from these things, and not make them any worse. I love my brother, and he doesn't deserve this." He said, sounding like he just needed to get this point across. As he did, I shook my head, feeling angry at this.

"I have a right to be." I said, feeling like I had earned everything that had happened. I had been involved in everything my whole life, and I was feeling like at this point, I deserved to know the truth, and I was feeling like if they were going to go through with murdering somebody, then I felt like I needed to be a part of this. I needed to actually see if they were going to truly do this or not. Anything else, would be a fucking disgrace, and would be only making me feel worse here.

"Let him along. He wants to help out, and I think that he needs to give this a fucking go. I understand that you do not like it, but I think like there is no reason to not let him have his." Manny said, smiling at this, and then Robbie Dan shook his head.

"Killing somebody is a fucking insane idea? Are you guys literally thinking this out at all? Do you know that if you do that, then everybody in Wayside will know that it is us? So there would be no fucking point in doing it. Everybody will know what we did, and will know that we just pulled off the worst idea ever." He said, sounding like he just needed to try and be the voice of reason for once. Like maybe if he started to bring down reality enough, we would listen to him.

"If you do not want to join us, I do not blame you at all. Nobody will blame you at all. You just need to give the word, and we will let you get out of this normally." Seth said, feeling like he just needed to let Robbie Dan have this moment. Robbie shook his head, feeling like he just needed to end this subject before it got too escalated.

"I will do this on one condition. This is one thing you absolutely fucking allow me to not tell Lydia the truth on. Please, for the love of fucking god, let me have this one at least. There is no way in hell that I want her finding out any of this right now." Robbie Dan said, sounding like this was one time he needed to put his foot down, and he had hoped that we were actually going to listen to him.

Seth slowly nodded, as if feeling like for once, this should go without saying. But then he decided to stop being so hard on the guy, and decide that he would just open up, even a smidge, to allow Robbie Dan this one fucking mercy, in a matter of speaking.

"Yeah, don't worry my dude. This is one thing that you definitely have a fight to fucking lie on. And I don't think anybody will judge you on that." He said, feeling like he needed to just let Robbie go there. As he said that, I was seeing Robbie Dan looking like he was more willing to keep this going.

"And if this happens, I need you guys to allow me to have some fucking way out of this. Some form of assurance from all of you guys that you will let the public know that I had no desire to do this? Can you please, let me have this?" Robbie Dan asked, sounding sad, defeated, and in a way, without beating around the bush, fucking broken at the fact that he was even having to say this in the first place.

"Well, trust me, I will do it in a way that the public doesn't even know we did it." Manny said, sounding like he was ready to push this forward. "And when this is done, I am going to get my revenge on Ocho Tootmorsel as well. He will fucking die as well, but in due time. First, I have to fucking learn where he is in the first place, and what not. But this is something that I can fucking do…" As Manny said this, he sounded like he was ready to take this further.

Manny seemed like he was so sure of what he had said, that I was feeling like I just needed to take this, and run with this. "I will bring her out to the front of the hotel, where she is directly facing down from the dinosaur, and when she is in sight, I will take her out." Manny said, sounding like he knew exactly what he was meaning, and had hoped that this would work out.

"What will we do when Lars eventually asks what is happening here?" Robbie Dan asked, feeling like he just needed to see what the next step of the plan was going to be. The look on their faces, all of them, were faces where clearly none of them wanted to talk much further on the matter than I had just started.

"When Lars eventually asks, we will pretend like we have no fucking clue what is happening here. We will just simply pretend like Jeanne had just simply been murdered on her way out from work on day, and we will get him to actually believe this." Manny said, sounding like he was actually believing what he was saying, and had no doubts here.

"And I hope that he will never ask to begin with anyways. He has no fucking reason to ask to begin with, and if he does, then I feel like he just no longer trust anybody anymore." Manny then pulled out the gun from under his bed, seeming like he was ready to do it. "If this is going to fucking happen, it needs to happen tonight, before I change my mind, and start to think that this is a terrible idea." He said, feeling like he just needed to be honest there.

"Okay, well if this is happening, then I suppose that we should just do this, and get this over with. I think that this is one of the worst ideas of all time, but I suppose that we have no reason to hide from this any longer." Robbie said, sounding like he understood what was happening.

"Alright, we should just get the ball rolling then. Thanks for taking the time to do this." Manny said, and then with that, he was staring out the window. He must have fucking known how terrible this idea was, and known that he was going to hate this so much.

"How are you going to convince Jeannie to actually come out, and talk to us over there? There is no way in hell that this is going to work? She will see from a mile and a half way what we are doing, and she will fucking turn against us?" As Seth asked, he was hoping beyond god, praying to god, that we would actually fucking listen to him here.

"I am going to convince her that I am not bitter, and that I do not hold resentment for what she did. Once she hears that, I will tell her that I need her help with something related to the dinosaur outside. Once that happens, I will get her out there, and we will see what is happening, and everything will be fucking perfect." As Manny said this, he was sounding like he was just thinking about how likely this whole thing was going to actually pull through.

"What if she doesn't buy it? What if she instantly calls it out, and sees that you lie to her?" Robbie Dan asked, feeling like at this rate, there was nothing to fucking lose. He was going to get the story straight, and he was going to make sure that people listened to him, no matter what was happening, and no matter if she liked it or not.

"I don't care if she doesn't buy it at first. I will make sure that she buys it eventually. She will have no fucking choice but to... And I think that she would want to put this whole thing behind us, and I can use that to my advantage." Manny said, and then he was smiling.

"After all, there is no other day time watch guy. And when she thinks about her job, and what she is missing out on here, everything will come together." He said, sounding so sure of himself, and sounding so confident, that I was feeling like I just needed to give him this, and I needed to let him have this moment.

"I guess..." Seth said, sounding like he didn't really like this whole thing either, and was already having doubts. But he was still trying to see the good in this, and he was still trying to see where this could possibly work, so he just needed to fucking take this, and run with it.

"I fucking hate to admit, but if this is what we need to do in order to make sure that Labyrinth gets more taken care of, then I suppose that this will be worth it. Everything that we are doing has to be done in the name of Labyrinth and defeating it." He said, sounding like this was exactly what he was feeling, and that was not at all something he was holding back on.

Seth then looked at Robbie Dan, and he looked at Stanley. Not at me though, probably because he was hoping that I was still too young to get this, and that he felt like they needed more convincing anyways. "I mean, this is a really good point. We need to stop this whole thing. We can't keep talking about how much we hate Labyrinth, and then not fucking change it at all. We have to put aside our feelings on the matter, and end this." Seth said, feeling like he just needed to say what was really on his mind.

"Fine... I suppose that you guys have a point. I just don't like the idea of deliberately getting ourselves killed here. Even if there is damn good reason for this." Robbie Dan said, now starting to realize how much he preferred life, and how much he wanted to live for it, and now that it was getting threatened, he was feeling like he needed to make his point.

"What the hell am I going to accomplish here though? I mean, I want to be involved in this, and I want to fucking fight for you guys as well. I have earned the fucking right to be a part of the fight..." Robbie Dan said, sounding like he was wishing that we were going to fucking listen to him.

"Let's do this right now. Get this little apology thing going, and hope it fucking works out." Manny said, standing upright, not having any fucking reason to hide this. "I feel better about doing this already, and I feel like once the deed is done, I will be one step closer to getting justice for Becky. Then all that I have to do is make sure that I take out Ocho Tootmorsel. However the hell I can fucking even make this happen." He said, sounding like he was piecing together his own gameplan here. A gameplan that might be dangerous. But it was dangerous in the way that he had wanted it to fucking be.

Once we were leaving the hotel room, Manny walked right towards the lobby, where he was secreting hoping that Jeannie hadn't been already gone for the night. He was hoping that this plan was actually going to work through. He was scared out of his mind though, since he was scared that she would just basically tell him that she would never forgive him for the way that he had treated her.

"Even if she doesn't accept my apology, she would never put that before the business. I feel like at the end of the day, that is the thing that will make her just listen to whatever I fucking say. In a way, that gives me way more ifluence on what she is doing than she might believe. Honestly, I would have never given her a second thought if it weren't for what that guy in Repconn said. That asshole knew what was happening this whole time, and he didn't do anything." Manny said, as we walked inside. When we were inside, Jeannie looked up at us, both scared, and shocked at the same time. Then she calmed down, as if feeling like she needed to give Manny a chance.

"Hey, I just wanted to apologize to you for everything. I was in the heat of the moment, and you didn't deserve that reaction. I feel like I was being incredibly rude, and I feel like I need to think things out before I say them. So yeah, sorry for being so hard on you." Manny said, hoping that saying this was going to be enough to get her to calm the hell down.

She sighed, as if feeling like she needed to be a good sport here, because she knew that Manny had been hurting, and she knew that he needed to try and give him something more to work with. "Glad to see that you are able to keep a open mind on your flaws. You're a decent guy, but you need to be more careful on how you talk to people here." Jeannie May said, hoping that this comment would make it very clear that this was a one time thing.

"Well, I know that we both want to do what is best for this hotel, and that is something that we can agree on. So I think that we just need to be putting the worst of it behind us. I think that if I was constantly judging you, then I would only make things worse." As Manny said this, I was seeing Stanley and the others looking like they were wondering if they would genuinely patch things up, and this crazy ass plan wouldn't happen, or if he was still thinking of the job.

"And to be honest, I am not as angry about it as I used to be. You know, the whole Becky case. It's been well over a year since she had been missing, and in a way, I have been able to get over it for that reason. The pain doesn't kill me anymore, and I feel like if it did kill me still, then in a way, that would be my fucking fault." He finished, and then with that, Jeannie looked like she had needed to just find a way to keep this conversation from going on too long, despite her being glad that he apologized.

"I was wanting to show you something. There is something that I have been a bit worried about lately, and I was hoping that maybe you would help me out." He said, sounding like he was dropping the nice man act, and had hoped that she was going to fall for this statement. Jeannie looked at him, strangely, as if she was already feeling like he needed to be much more careful on what he said. As if she had never believed a word that he was saying.

"Okay, if you say so. But I need to get back here before too long. You know, counting up inventory." She said, and then I was wondering how likely it was that this project was even going to work out. The more that I thought about it the more that I had started to realize that this situation might be just failing before it even had a chance to come through.

All of us left the lobby, Jeannie included, and then Seth, feeling like he needed to try and do his part in making sure that this actually happens, despite how much he hated this idea, was taking his own lead on the subject. "It is in front of the dinosaur. We think that there might be somebody trying to break it down." He said, and then Manny was heading towards the stairs of the dinosaur hotel. The way that we were all acting did start to worry her a bit more. But not enough to actually say or do anything, and probably because she might have been assuming that she was reading too deeply into it.

"I am going to be helping them figure out where it is from up above. I can see things more clear from there." Manny said, hoping that this lie was one that they could believe. Jeannie looked like she had been trying to tell us that we needed to stop acting like this. But then she slowly nodded, as if feeling like this was going to have to be.

Manny, Stanley, Seth, and I were leading her in the right area. I had been following in the back, and I instantly regretted even getting involved in this at all. I was thinking it was a good idea in the moment. But the more that time passed, and the more that it was becoming a realistic possibility that this was happening, the more that I regretted even going along with this.

"I was thinking that Manny was never going to apologize for what he said. I thought that he was going to just convince himself that he had been in the right on every account. So to see him take accountability is something that does make me feel better. I was wondering if he was really a good guy after all." She said, as if she was feeling like she was just glad to be proven wrong here.

"He was frustrated at something we found out earlier. I am sure that nobody really expected this to go the way that it did. He just needed to vent his feelings here." Seth said, feeling like this was the best lie that he could ever make. Jeannie shook her head, as if feeling like this was something that she was never going to really understand.

After a few minutes, Manny was in his spot, while Jeannie and all of us were getting in front of the hotel. I was taking a deep breath, feeling like this plan just needed to happen right now. And I was feeling like I needed to just play along, before it was clear to me that I needed to leave this, and just drop this whole subject before it escalated

Once everything had been set up, and Jeannie was in front of the hotel, and Manny was in his watch area, I was seeing Jeannie looking at the dinosaur, and she started to turn to towards us, ready to tell us that we must have mis seen something. But then before she said anything, after about ten to fifteen seconds of him aiming, Manny fired the gun, and in about two seconds, Jeannie's face became a giant splatter on the ground. Her body fell down right afterwards, and with that, all five of us, had blood on our hands, despite the fact that only one of us actually fired the gun.

Seth, Robbie Dan, Stanley, and I, all immediately ran to his hotel, where we would be hiding what we did, and we were hoping that nobody was going to piece it together. I could tell that Seth had been looking like he had started to wonder if any of this was really worth it. Or if he had just gotten himself into something that was going to only get me in danger.

After we had started to think about what we had just done, I was seeing Seth looking like he was really wanting to just scream at Manny. This whole thing made him hate whatever the hell Manny had been planning so much, and he was having no real way of being able to hide his sheer anger over what had been going on here.

"I hope that that was fucking worth it. If you ask me, it was not worth it at all, and I feel like if we end up getting arrested, then I will have nobody to fucking blame besides you." He said, sounding like he just needed to be as straight forward with this as he could. He saw from the look on Manny's face that Manny was not really caring at all.

"You know that it was very much worth it. Getting any remote amount of justice for Becky is well worth it. So please stop giving me any bullshit for doing what we all wanted to fucking do." He said, feeling like he just needed to be straight up with Seth here. I was seeing Seth looking like he had tried to argue here, but then just remained silent.

"Whatever you fucking say, you fucking asshole. I just hope that you know that I do not want to get involved in this at all." As Seth said this, he was thinking about the way that he could be able to say this, in a way that would not get Manny too upset here,

"I just have a terrible feeling that Lars is going to be on our fucking case about this real fucking soon, and when this happens, I feel like you need to know that you are going to have a lot of fucking explaining to do. I hope that you actually are ready to do this." He said, sounding like he had hoped that the threat would actually sink through.

"Seth, the job got done… There is no fucking reason for you to get so fucking angry here. Who fucking cares if the job was sloppy? What's done is done, and I think you need to fucking take this for what it is…" He said, as if hoping that telling Seth this was going to get Seth to just stop crying so much, and stop being so fucking on the fence, and wishy washy over this.

"And besides, if Lars starts to pester us about it, I have no reason to lie to him, and I will proudly own up that fact. If he tries to fight me on this, I will tell him that he should then open more up about what has been going on here." As he said that, I was seeing Manny looking like he was wondering how likely it was that Seth was going to actually listen to him.

"God, I just wish that I had listened to Robbie Dan about this. He seems like he is the only one here who is actually willing to acknowledge that this whole thing is a fucking mess." He said, sounding like he was unable to believe that he was feeling the need to give Robbie Dan something to work with.

"Now you guys are willing to fucking hear me out here? God damn it guys, if only you had been saying this earlier, then I might not be so fucking angry at you." Robbie Dan said, feeling like he just needed to be honest with Seth here. I was seeing Seth looking like he was not really in the mood to listen to this, given the fact that he was now the one who had been defending Robbie Dan and his beliefs, and this was what he was getting now?

"Well, you were saying all this stuff before we actually fucking did it. Before we fucking murdered a woman, in cold blood, in a way that everybody in the area would be able to fucking piece it together. So yeah, I think we were just not so sure if getting too angry at this was going to be worth it. But yeah, now we realize that we were wrong. Or at least, I fucking realize that I was wrong. Please, don't be too rough with me." As Seth said this, he was feeling like he just needed to be straight up here. Hopefully, at the end of the day, Robbie Dan was finally going to show some fucking forgiveness here.

"A second of rational thought would have shown that this was a terrible idea to begin with. So yeah, I am going to be a asshole about this, because you guys frankly deserve for me to be one on you." Robbie Dan said, sounding like he was thinking about how much this was going to just be made a million times worse. "I fucking hate this whole thing, and I fucking hate how you guys are making me look like the good guy here. That should have never fucking happened." He said, sounding like he just needed to be utterly honest there. As if he had hoped that we would listen to him here.

"But the fact is, revenge was served. So I guess at the end, it all worked out." Stanley said, as if he was piecing together what this was feeling like. As he was piecing together how good revenge must have felt for some people. But I was seeing that Robbie Dan was looking like he was just not really buying it at all, and seemed to be utterly disgusted as he was hearing this.

As we were talking for a bit, probably only about an hour since Jeannie had died, there was already a knock on the door. Which I suppose, at the end of the day, I should have not been shocked about. I was seeing that Seth was looking like deep down inside, he knew that this was coming from a mile and a half away, and Manny sighed, thinking that if this was how things had ended already, then at the end of the day, he was not too upset here.

Eventually, he answered the door, and he was already, lo and behold, seeing Lars standing there. Having a shit eating grin on his face. As if he had known that this was something that we had suspected that he was going to do from the start. He then shrugged, feeling like he just needed to soak in the fear, and the anger, that we were all feeling, since it was going to be too good to pass up.

"Well, are you guys ready to talk about what you guys just fucking did? That scene you just fucking caused?" He asked, sounding like he was ready to bash some fucking heads in if this was going to keep up any longer. I was seeing Stanley looking like he had now finally felt the regret of what he had done sink in, as he was now realizing that he was truly at the end of the fucking road. As if he was wondering why in the world he had ever agreed to this, since he was aware now that this was going to be the punishment that he could deserve.

"Well, we did what we felt like we had to do, and I think that I do not regret it a fucking bit." Manny said, feeling like he just needed to be honest there. He had hoped from the response, that maybe saying this, was something that would get Lars to see that jokes were not going to be had.

"You guys did what you fucking wanted, and you guys did it knowing full fucking well that this would put a target on your backs. There is no fucking what you guys felt like you needed to do to this, and I am not in the mood to even hear you pretend like this is something that was noble." He said, sounding like he was ready to just tear the shit down of all of us if this was the way that he was going to act here.

"I am going to have to clear up a ton of dirt here. You guys will be giving me so fucking much work to deal with, that I will be shocked if this whole thing ever fucking gets solved." He said, sounding like he was just then thinking about how he was going to present this to the public, in a way that would not cause mass hysteria.

"If people want to fight us over our choices, then I think that maybe we will have to accept our own failures here. Is that what you fucking wanted us to fucking say? That we should just accept what is happening here?" Manny said, sounding like if this was the issue, he would proudly take the issue, and stop running away from it. I was seeing Lars looking like he had no idea why the hell he was dealing with people who were never going to actually treat this with any respect at all.

"This isn't something that you can just have fun with, and negotiate around. Believe it or not, I do actually care for you guys, and I do want to help you all out. But unless if you guys give me something to work with, then how in the world am I able to do this for you? Just tell me why you guys did what you did, and I will be able to try and fucking help you." He said, feeling like this was all that he had needed to say. He seemed like he was already imagining the political downfall that would be coming here.

"We did it because it was confirmed that she was involved in what happened to Becky. I was just simply trying to get some revenge. Nothing more, nothing less. I hope that this shows people though that this isn't some fucking game in my eyes anymore, and I will not be taking this lightly at all." He said, sounding like he had hoped that this response was enough to make the main point rather clear here.

"So now you are admitting that you are barely any better than the people that you used to fucking hate. Doing things for the sake of revenge is not doing the right thing. I get that you are too young to understand these things, and I suppose that I do not blame you… But this is not how things are." Lars said, and then he looked at Seth and I both.

"I had to do this this way or else nothing would ever get done. You talk about doing what is morally right, and you constantly lecture me on things that should or shouldn't be done. But deep down, you are not actually going to fucking mean these. In a way, that kind of gives me some power here…" As Manny said that, he looked right at Lars, as if wondering if Lars was going to find himself agreeing to this statement. Not like he needed to like it, but just sort of see the logic there.

"Look, I will just try and keep the public away from you guys for a while. I will try and make it seem like maybe she just got gunned down by a passerby. I have no idea if they will actually believe the story or not. But for the love of fucking god, I feel like I need to fucking try at least." He said, sounding like he was hoping that this could potentially work out for the best.

"Anyways, I get that you wanted to do something for your friend, and that you were upset at what went down. I understand that you are right. I just feel like we could have done things differently here. But I suppose that you have already made your mind up on the matter. And I suppose, at the end of the day, I never really liked Jeannie all that much. She always seemed like she had something going on with her. I just could not quite place what it was yet.

"I wonder why she would just keep that information easily accessible. I mean, that is the thing that bothers me the most." He said, and then with that, he looked right at us, to ask one more question. "How did you even find out that Becky was here in the first place? I want to try and see if maybe I can avoid that information becoming public again, for everybodys sake.

As he said that, Seth shrugged, feeling like at this point, he might as well just be honest there. After all, Lars could always just find out what happened anyways, and there was no point in hiding it for that reason. "There was this guy at the Repconn Facility that told us that she stayed here, and we decided to follow his leads, and it turns out that he was right." Seth said, feeling like there was no need to hide.

"Okay, thank you for letting me know. I will talk with this man, and I will see what I can do to get him to not do something like this again." He said, sounding like he was taking this into consideration. "God damn it, do people know that they need to stop telling people shit all the time… I will make sure that this shit never happens again. People need to know that this is not a fucking joke, and they need to see that when they tell people things like this, that will only serve to make things a million times worse." As he said that, I was feeling kind of scared on where this could be going right now.

"Thank you for telling me the truth, and not lying to me about what is happening here. You know, I feel like many people are too fucking scared to just simply tell the truth these days, and I have to constantly deal with that." He said, sounding like he just needed too be honest there. "I will make sure that he doesn't leak this information again. The last thing that we need here is somebody who gets their head to fucking high in the clouds to see the mistakes that they are making." As he said that, I was seeing him looking like he wanted to say more, but just chose against it.

"Are you planning to kill the man?" Manny asked, sounding like he just needed to see what Lars was really up to. I was seeing Lars looking right at him, and I was seeing him looking like he was trying to decide what he was really going to tell the guy. Then with that, he just simply sighed, and felt like he just needed to be honest there.

"Maybe. I don't know. I will give him a chance to talk though. I feel like he deserves that much at least." He said, sounding like he was willing to just give a honest opinion there. "But don't do anything too crazy with this. I will not tell what you guys did to Jeannie as long as you never tell anybody what I might be doing here." He said, sounding like he had hoped that deal would work.

When Lars was leaving the room, I was seeing Manny looking like he was immensely regretting everything that he had done. He had known why this escalated to the degree that it did, and he was wishing that none of this went any further there.

"What a fucking asshole." He said, sounding like he just needed to say that. "God damn it, the whole thing felt so fucking good, and now I am having to deal with this asshole." As Manny said that, I was then wondering if he was going to try and just pretend like he didn't regret what was happening, when he clearly did regret it.

"But he did have a fucking point there." Robbie Dan said, hating the fact that he was admitting that for once, he was actually on Lars's side. "Honestly, I hope that this whole thing never gets brought up again." As he was looking right at us, he was shaking his head, and started to head off. He was sounding like he hated every second of what happened. Stanley left as well, and then Seth took me with him, and within less than five minutes, after Lars had left, we all left the area, and then I felt like it was over.

When I was home that night, I was then seeing the television the report of Jeannie May's death. I sighed, and I was already feeling like this was the worst thing that we could have done to fix this. In fact, I had felt like doing this was just certainly going to make things all twento thousand times worse than they already were. But then there was a call on the house phone. I was seeing from the look on Seth's face that he was already dreading where this was going, just as much as I did, and I was feeling like we needed to just confront this together, and see what we could find.

Seth answered the phone, and when he heard who was on the other line, he looked right at me, and slowly nodded, as he was seeing that nobody else was in the area, so we were able to make this work. He put it on speaker phone and I remained silent, feeling like I would just see where this was heading.

"Hey Robbie, sorry if you tried to call earlier. I was just getting home. The report is already on. Do you believe that Lars is actually telling the truth that he will be able to keep us away from the news here?" He asked, sounding horrified that he was even having to have this discussion in the first place. Robbie Dan then answered in a way that shocked me given how he had been constantly talking about Lars.

"Look, for all the non great things I can say about Lars, the one thing that I know he is telling the truth on is that he does actually like Lydia, and he wants to do what is best for her. Having me, you, and Ridge, all get charged, and then Stanley as well, with a criminal investigation, would be accomplishing the exact opposite of that. For the time being, with that in mind, Lars will be doing whatever he can to make sure that nobody is onto us. Sometimes, I have to give the guy some credit for actually following through with some good ideas for once." As Robbie told Seth this, I could tell that Seth looked shocked.

"Yeah, I guess that does make sense. Wow, I never thought that I would be hearing you of all people be saying this. So you think, at least for now, you should be banking on Lars actually keeping his word, and keeping this away from us?" As Seth said this, I was seeing him looking like he was not buying it at all.

"Yeah, we should be banking on that right now. You know, I suppose that maybe on some cases, Lars is not all that fucking bad of a guy after all. I mean, he does seem to care a lot about Lydia, and I think that he would always do what is best for her." He said, and then with that, I was wondering if Robbie Dan was finally coming around to seeing that Lars was a nice enough guy, who just had some fucking issues with talking to people.

"Okay, if you of all people is saying this, then I suppose that we should be doing this. But Robbie, if Lydia does learn the truth about this, then I do want to tell you that I am sorry for everything that happened. I know that you are trying your best to recover from everything, and I know that deep down inside, you deserve so much better than what is being given to you." As he said that to Robbie Dan, I was wondering if Robbie would listen.

"Anyways, thanks for not getting upset at me here. You must have realized that I did not think that this was a good idea at all, and I feel like these people are getting themselves into way too much trouble for no fucking reason because of this." As Seth said that, I was wondering if he was really meaning a single word of what he was saying, or if he was just explaining something that had been on his mind at this moment, and he was just sort of thinking out loud here.

"You weren't the one who came up with a dumb ass murder plan. The most you did was just simply went along with it, and decided that you were fine with us murdering a woman for no fucking reason." He said, sounding like he just needed to still call this guy out, and then with that, Seth just then remained silent for a moment.

"I do not like this idea, but I am going to be talking to Lars again. Maybe when he and I just talk for a bit, we might be able to sort of figure something out for both of us. And I suppose that if you want to know where this is going, then you can come along, and join us as well." Seth said, feeling like he needed to just give Robbie Dan the choice on the matter. He did not really want to make Robbie Dan be in charge of everything here, but he was feeling like, in a matter of speaking, he really did not have much of a choice on the matter.

"I will go. I would rather just know what Lars has to say than anything else. I have nothing to fucking lose here, so I will see what is happening here." As he said that, I hearing from the tone of Robbie Dan's voice that he was unable to believe that he was even agreeing to this in the first place.

"See you in front of Lars's office in half an hour." Seth said, feeling he might as well just go along with this idea for now, since he was feeling like he might as well just see what to say now. "God, this whole thing is so fucking ridiculous. I can't fucking believe that this is even fucking happening in the first place." He said, sounding like he was taking a moment to consider what was happening.

Seth hung up the phone, and looked straight at me, and he was smiling for a second, as if he was hoping that his way of acting here was going to give me some hope. "I guess we will be going on one more road trip for the evening, and I hope that it gives us all that we fucking need right now." He said, as he was sounding like he was rather unsure if this was really going to be working out for the best.

As he was picking me up for a second, he stared right at me in the eyes, and he was looking like he was on the verge of crying a she was looking right at me. I had no idea what the hell I was even supposed to be telling him. He looked like he was trying his best to be happy here. But deep down inside, he really was not, and he was feeling like soon enough, all of our shit was going to lead to our deaths.

"Ridge, I never wanted this to happen when you were first born. You're only five years old, and you are already dealing with so many things that nobody should ever have to fucking deal with." He said, sounding utterly depressed at the fact that he was even having to explain this in the first place.

Then with that, we went to the car, and Seth drove me down to Lars's office, and he brought me out of the fucking car. We then went inside Lars's office, where Robbie Dan had already been waiting for us. Once he looked at the two of us, and Lars was sitting down, looking utterly pissed the fuck off, that we were there in the first place, I was seeing Lars looking like he was wanting to find a way to destroy us.

"What the fuck are you assholes doing here right now? I thought that you guys got the memo that I needed you guys to be away right now. I already have had four calls about the incident you guys caused. Look, I might not be able to do anything about it, since Lydia literally fucking lives with one of you, and one of you guys are friends with her, but I feel like you guys need to try and stay away from Lydia for as much as possible for the immediate future." He said, sounding a bit upset here. He sounded like he had wanted to just make it very clear that the moment that Lydia started to become involved in this, he would stop at literally nothing to make sure that we were going to be taken down, and that we were going to get the punishment that we deserved.

"We want to see if you are actually going to be following through with your word on actually fixing this. Manny was the one who created this idea. I don't think either of us really wanted this. At the very least, if something happens to us, keep Ridge out of this. He is just a five year old kid." Robbie Dan said, and then with that, Lars was then smoking another cigar, feeling like he just needed to be straight up with what he was wanting to fucking ask.

"Did you guys find everything you wanted when you guys did this. I mean, you seemed like you were so sure that this was going to fucking be what you needed. So I might as well see if you guys got what you needed." Lars said, sounding like he was just in denial at the fact that he was even needing to say this in the first place.

Seth slowly nodded, since he was feeling like at least on his part, he got what he had wanted, and he was feeling so much happier about the fact that this did indeed provide the closure that he had wanted this whole time.

"Yeah, at least for myself, this was what I needed. Thank you for checking in though. I really do appreciate it. You know, I have been thinking about what it would be like if we started to work together. Would you be willing to maybe consider this?" He asked, feeling like he just needed to be straight up with the guy, and Lars looked genuinely horrified at this statement.

"Good. That is very good indeed. At least with that then, I can feel like something valuable is coming out of this, and I won't be feeling like you guys just went out of your way to do something that pisses me off." He said, sounding like he just needed to be straight up as he said this. Then with that, he looked right at me, and I was seeing him looking like he was so tempted to say more. But just could not find the words to put it.

"What about you? Or do you still hate my guts for no fucking reason, and there is just nothing that I can fucking do about that?" He asked, hoping that Robbie Dan would actually tell him the truth here. As Robbie Dan looked right at him, I was seeing that he was tempted to just give him the straight facts, and nothing else.

"I feel like there will never be a day where I will be able to look at you easily, I hope you fucking know that. And I hope that you don't take it too personally when I tell it to you straight up, that I feel like you are fucking delusional if you ever thought that something like this could fucking happen." He said, sounding like he just needed to spit that fire to him, and hope that we would actually fucking listen to him.

"And maybe you don't deserve that treatment. And I know for a fucking fact that I am being a god damn asshole when I behave that way. Trust me, I fucking get it. But at the same time, I feel like I just need to be honest when I say that. I just can't pretend like what has happened hasn't pissed me off too much to just look the other way. I want you to realize that I will have no real clear way of getting over this, no matter how hard I try." Robbie Dan said, and then he was wondering why he was being so harsh on Lars after all. Even he was wondering what the hell the issue was, and he was feeling like he needed to give Lars that release.

"What will you be willing to hear that will give you some willingness to give me a fucking chance?" Lars asked, feeling like he just needed to be honest there. As Robbie Dan looked right at him, he sighed, feeling like this was a fair enough question. Then with that, he sighed, feeling like he just needed to give him something to shoot for. Something to give him some mild hope after all. Given the fact that Lars has been dealing with a lot of shit, and after all, he was feeling like Lars could only deal with so much before he finally had enough.

"Lydia's mothers biological name. And her age. And if Lydia was the only kid you had with her." Robbie Dan said, and then Lars was sighing, feeling like this was something that he could roll with. Not something that he liked, but he was feeling like there was something of validity to this.

"Alright, I suppose that is fair enough. Selina Thompson. Fourteen years old. At the time, she was the youngest person I had ever slept with. Born March 12 1999. Lydia is the only one I specifically had with her. I only saw her again a couple of times after that happened. Look, I am not expecting you to like what I did, and I have full understanding why you would not. I am sorry that things happened the way that they have here, and I am sorry that Wayside is the way that it is, but there is literally nothing that I can fucking do about it, and I think you are on a very uphill battle if you even want to try and make this work." Lars finished, and I was seeing him looking like he had really hoped that this response was going to be enough to make Robbie Dan leave him alone, and not press the matter too much further. As Robbie Dan wanted to fight, but realized the situation we were in, and decided that he was going to let this go for now.

"Alright. Fine. You didn't have to tell me that, and I suppose that I need to accept this. You have a right to hold back on me. I might not like it at all though." He said, feeling like he needed to try and do his best to be charitable with Lars, while also still standing his ground firm, and not taking away the fact that this was how things needed to fucking be. Lars slowly nodded, feeling like he would take that for what it is, considering the fact that he was being given way too many things to begin with.

"Thank you. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to do my damn job. And please don't push this any further. You got what you wanted, and now I got to save your sorry asses." He said, sounding like he was finally at his wits end here.